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Transcript 226C — Can God "Give Up" on a Christian?
CALLER: I'd like to ask a question, and I'll take my answer over the air. You mentioned to a caller that there is a time when God will give a person up to, I guess, his own sinful nature. Does that also refer to Christians?
HC: I'll try to answer that question.
The question is raised: In the light of the Biblical information that there's a time when God gives a person up, because of his continued sinful desires, can that also refer to Christians?
Now if we're talking about born again believers, of course this could never happen. Let's think about this for a moment. What are we saved from? We're saved from our sins, from the guilt that comes against us because of our sins. Christ became sin for us. He paid for all of our sins. He stood guilty before God on our behalf, for all of our sins, and God poured out His wrath upon Him, so that the penalty was completely paid.
Therefore, there is no way in which a born again believer could ever be given up by God. A born again believer is safe in the hands of God forever. His sins have all been paid for. There is no sin that he could ever commit that would ever estrange him from God. The Bible emphasizes that we have eternal life, we cannot come into judgment, and nothing can separate us from the love of God. No one can snatch us out of His hand. These are all statements that the Bible uses to emphasize the certainty that we will never be given up by God.
Now however, the word Christian frequently is spoken of in a broader sense. Many many people call themselves Christians. And they really believe that they've accepted Christ, and they have a relationship with God through Christ. Therefore they are Christians.
But for everyone who is a born again believer, who has actually become a child of God, there are others who call themselves Christians who never became born again. Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3, "Ye must be born again."
You have to become a new creature. And the only way this can be is by looking at yourself honestly, that you are a sinner, hopelessly lost, You're under the wrath of God, and there's nothing you can do about your sins. Then you begin to cry out to God for mercy. And you throw yourself on the mercies of God and trust in Christ as your Savior. This is the path to salvation.
But there are many people who have a different idea of what salvation is. They are quite convinced that they are saved. They use the words "blood of Christ" and "the virgin birth" and "the resurrection," and "salvation." All of these terms are used. But to them salvation means to accept Christ as my Savior, whatever that means. We're not really sure what that means. It means that I'm on the bandwagon for Christ. I'm identified with Christ. I am trying to live like a Christian would. I'm trying to study the Bible and do what a Christian does. And I'm really desperately trying to live the good life, so that I will always stand approved before God.
Now such a person would end up in hell, because effectively he is trying to get to God by his own merit, by his good works, by his own personal worthiness. And this kind of a path is not the salvation of the Bible. That is not the path that leads to becoming born again. That does not lead to the path of grace. That's a path of works. That's a salvation that is in the mind of man, not the salvation of the Bible.
And I'm afraid there are going to be many many people on Judgment Day who will say, "I accepted Jesus as my Savior. What am I doing here?" And the reason is, they have never become born again.
The path to becoming born again is the path of first becoming of a broken and a contrite heart, of seeing the ugly, ugly, dismal truth about myself, that I'm a sinner, and that I'm in terrible trouble with God, and that only in Christ is there a way of escape.
Well, thank you for sharing that question.