Is eternal security a "license" to sin?

An "ecclesiastic" once said to an ardent evangelist: "Say what you like, your doctrine of free grace tends to careless living." Such words should not be lightly brushed aside. Is there any truth in them? Are all those who boast of their eternal security conspicuous for holy living? Or is it not true that in some cases persons speak with the utmost confidence concerning their salvation while their ways merit stern reprobation? But is the remedy for laxity a general return to legality, with its banks of cloudy doubts and fears?

How often is this great fact overlooked to much harm and loss. Why, there are those who refuse and denounce the fact of the eternal security of the true believer because they think it opens the door to all kinds of loose living! They imagine that if once we were assured of an eternal salvation restraint would be gone; as though the only effective restraint is fear of the whip — the whip of eternal damnation. Grace is far more powerful in its effects than fear, even that fear that was engendered by the law of Moses.

I found our halls were thronged by people who were getting converted over and over again every few weeks. It seemed as though that old hymn, “Ye Must Be Born Again,” should really be sung, “Ye must Be Born Again and Again and Again.” That puzzled me, for I never read of anything like it in the Bible. Then I found that the falling away doctrine had a tendency to make people very careless indeed. Let me give you a concrete example. A young man in whom I was quite interested had been addicted to a certain sin in his unconverted days. After he professed conversion he turned from that particular sin, but he confessed to me privately that he had gone out in the darkness of the night, when no one knew where he was, and had fallen into the same sin many times. “How can you do it?” I asked him. “Well,” he said, “I always make up my mind that I will commit the sin and then get converted again when I come home.” I saw from that how dangerous was the doctrine of being saved today and lost tomorrow. The last time I saw that young man, he said to me, “It’s no use; this sin has such a grip on me that I cannot stand it.” “Don’t yield,” I said. “Let me call in several of the others and let us pray with you.” So four or five of us knelt and prayed very earnestly, but he rose again and clenched his fists, for he was in great agony, and said, “It’s no use. I am going out to sin, but I am coming back to get converted afterwards.” I never saw him again, and I do not know what became of him. That, you see, was one effect of this doctrine that a person loses his salvation when he sins but can come back again and get converted any time he desires. Certainly the Word of God teaches nothing like that. You can see that the Arminian view can be used to turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. It is possible for the other view to be misused also. But I want you to see that the misuse of any doctrine does not in itself prove the teaching is wrong. We need definite Scripture upon which to base our faith. If people have no conscience toward God, they can misuse any doctrine in the Bible. But what we want to get at is this: Are the objections brought against the doctrine of eternal security really tenable?

People say, “According to this doctrine, if I am saved and saved for ever, and cannot be lost, then I can go and do as I like.” Many honest people think that such a doctrine, as that preached today, is a doctrine that will lead to Antinomianism, that is to people doing as they like, sinning with a high hand, throwing aside all restraint whatever. People who talk like that

People say, “According to this doctrine, if I am saved and saved for ever, and cannot be lost, then I can go and do as I like.” Many honest people think that such a doctrine, as that preached today, is a doctrine that will lead to Antinomianism, that is to people doing as they like, sinning with a high hand, throwing aside all restraint whatever. People who talk like that

But some may feel disposed to ask, "Is there not danger in the statement of such a principle as this? Might it not lead us into the dark and perilous region of antinomianism?" Be thou well assured of this, thou art never further removed from that justly dreaded region than when thy soul is basking in the bright and blessed beams of God's eternal favour, and exulting in the stability of His unconditional and everlasting salvation. There never was a greater mistake than to imagine that God's free grace and full salvation could ever lead to unholy results. Man's notions of these things may have that effect, but wherever grace is fully known and salvation enjoyed, there you will most assuredly find "The fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God."

At the Feast of Dedication, commemorating the cleansing of the Temple and rededication by Judas Maccabaeus after the desecration by Antiochus, (See Daniel 8:9-14) the Lord continued His blessed teaching, ending it once more with a great revelation of Himself. He makes a most blessed addition to His previous instructions concerning Himself and His sheep. "I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." Here we have the comforting assurance of the absolute security of every sheep of Christ. Eternal life is a present and personal possession, not something which comes after death. It is therefore an abiding possession and cannot be lost. Then He Who is the Life and the Light, the Way and the Truth, assures us that His sheep shall never perish. Some say that He said "no one can pluck them out of His hand" but we can do it ourselves by living in sin, etc. This is fully answered by the correct rendering of His words, "they shall never perish." It means literally: "they shall in no wise ever perish." This is absolute; it covers everything.

Doubtless a difficulty will arise in the minds of many, viz. that if the Christian is once and for ever a forgiven person, then what about the sins committed after forgiveness is received? This difficulty will be considered in the chapter, which speaks of the individual responsibilities of the believer, i.e. chapter 10. Another class of objectors will doubtless say: "Then if a believer is sure of glory, it is only necessary to believe, and get forgiveness, and then, ever afterwards we can live as we like without fear of consequences." This objection is as old as the Gospel (see Rom. 6:1). And it is invariably met with wherever the true Gospel of God's grace is preached, from those, who neither know God nor the grace of God. It proceeds either from legalists, who understand nothing of the ruin of man, nor of God's remedy, and are entirely ignorant of the fact that with forgiveness of sins, God implants a new nature, with its new desires, etc., and that therefore it is impossible for the believer to desire to go on in his old way, or else it proceeds from lawless people, whose only desire it is to be free from the dread of hell in order that they may fearlessly live to their own lusts. In either case, the objectors betray themselves by their own words; for they shew that they have no idea of the hatefulness of sin, and assume that punishment is the only thing to be dreaded; so that directly the dread of punishment is removed, all restraint is gone. Nothing more need therefore be said here to answer such objectors; for they have no part or lot in Jesus Christ, and He will Himself deal with them in judgment when He comes again. Such an evil objection can by no possibility proceed from a humble and contrite heart (for such alone God receives and forgives), which hates sin far more than the punishment of sin; and would care nothing for a forgiveness and salvation, which still left one shut up to walk after the desires and thoughts of the natural heart. His object is salvation from sin, how then can he walk in sin?

It is in God’s house that the Christian learns his lessons. In the very lowest class, as it were, at the very beginning of our school-days we learn that grace does not mean licence or carelessness. On the contrary, grace has most positive teaching. “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:11-13).

The word of God assures eternal life to every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ; not a question of attaining eternal life after he believes, but a free and absolute gift at the moment. On the other hand the same word contains warnings, promises and exhortations, as if our salvation depended upon our own diligence. We know that there is a blessed and divine connection between the assurance and the warning. The Word of God is perfect. To sever the one from the other, because of human inability to grasp both, has not only divided believers into two opposing schools — and this is the lesser evil — but it has opposed one part of God's truth to another. This is not faith; in its root it is infidelity. The result is that those who are simply occupied with one side of the truth have evolved principles which are contrary to the plainest statements. For if because of the warnings to believers it is inferred that a soul born of God may after all be lost, what becomes of the assurance of eternal life? If on the other hand because life is eternal, this certainty is used to lessen, if net to deny, the sense of responsibility, then the solemn word of warning is practically set aside, that "without holiness no man shall see the Lord." So evident is it, that not a word can be omitted, added, or displaced, without marring the truth and injuring our own souls. The simple bow to the whole truth, and to such God gives unshaken faith.