Open Heaven 2 July 2018: Eternal Security: An Illusion II

Open Heaven July 2 2018 Memorise
Ye therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things  before, beware lest ye also,
being led away with error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness
2 Peter 3:17

Open Heaven July 2 2018 Bible Reading Ezekiel 33:12-20

The Fairness of God’s Judgment

12 “Therefore you, O son of man, say to the children of your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins.’

13 When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die.

14 Again, when I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right,

15 if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

16 None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right; he shall surely live.

17 “Yet the children of your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ But it is their way which is not fair!

18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it.

19 But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it.

20 Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ O house of Israel, I will judge every one of you according to his own ways.”

Open Heaven 2 July 2018 Bible in one year 1 Chronicles 23-25, Acts 20: 36-21:16

Open Heaven 2 July 2018 Message

Yesterday, we started reflecting on the doctrine of eternal security. We considered what this false doctrine teaches and the characters of its teachers. Today, we will be looking for the truth of what God’s word says in contrast to this doctrine. If there was no possibility of falling away and loosing one’s inheritance in Christ, the Holy Spirit would not have given the counsel we have in today’s  memory verse. In fact, the Holy Spirit in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 also warns:

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;”

Only those who occupy a high position need to fear a fall. The “falling away” in this scripture therefore refers to the falling away from grace of those seated with Christ in heavenly places. The possibility of a save person falling is registered in these scriptures and in several others (Galatians 5:4, Revelation 2:5). Open Heaven 1 July  2018

Also in today’s Bible Reading, God Almighty told Prophet Ezekiel the truth which disproves the doctrine of eternal security. The Lord is therefore warning everyone who chooses to live a godly life never to depart from the path of righteousness, or else his or her past righteous deeds will not be remembered on the day he or she departs to do evil.

Some people argue that nobody sends his child away to the lions because he or she sins, and so God will not judge His children for their sins. What such people don’t seem to understand is that you cannot equate the ways of God to that of mere mortal men.

Open Heavens July 2 2018

They fail to recognise that a person who continues to live in sin after being saved does not have the nature of God and is therefore not a child of God. This is made clear in 1 John 3:8:

“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

Furthermore, while forewarning us of things to come in Matthew 24:12-13,Jesus Christ said:

“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.”

In other words, the global increase in iniquity will not exonerate a backslider on the Day of Judgement. This is a lesson for those who think that because the world is changing, God  also changes his standards (2 Timothy 2:19). Beloved, it would be immoral for God to accept from us what he did not accept from those who ran the Christian race before us. Don’t be deceived; there is no eternal security. The wages of sin is death: this is the truth of God’s word that is forever settled.

Open Heaven 2 July  2018 Prayer point
Father please uphold me to the very end, and keep my heart away from false doctrine in Jesus’ Name.

We sincerely hope you’ve been blessed by today’s devotional message. Click the WhatsApp or Facebook button below the Hymn to share with your friends, families and colleagues. Please, drop a comment if you’ve truly been blessed by Pastor E A Adeboye’s message. God bless you!

Open Heavens 2 July 2018 Hymn 12

How sweet the name of Jesus

Verse 1:
How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds
In a believer’s ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.

Verse 2:
It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast;
’Tis manna to the hungry soul,
And to the weary, rest.

Verse 3:
Jesus! My Shepherd, Husband, Friend,
O Prophet, Priest and King,
My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,
Accept the praise I bring.

Verse 4:
Weak is the effort of my heart,
And cold my warmest thought;
But when I see Thee as Thou art,
I’ll praise Thee as I ought.

Verse 5:
Till then I would Thy love proclaim
With every fleeting breath,
And may the music of Thy Name
Refresh my soul in death!