Assurance And Security...

"Our assurance is not based on our feelings, behavior...but on the character of God...." We may have a question of semantics here, but it seems to me that we are reassured by our subjective experience and objective faith in God's Word. Our ultimate "security" is in God's hands as we are inscribed on the palms of His hands (cf. Isaiah 49:16). We are sealed and a down payment has been paid to guarantee His promise. We are given assurance and security as a GIFT.

One cannot be "unborn" nor "unjustified" and so our salvation is as permanent as adoption can be. God's judgment of our justification is permanent. Christ is interceding for us, so who can be against us?

Do I understand you, that you don't believe in the final perseverance of the saints? Do you believe that it doesn't matter how you live as long as you know you are saved (antinomianism which is libertinism)? False security and presumption are wrong. Do you dichotomize (split into two factions) Christians into spiritual spheres? I don't believe some Christians can sin and say that it's alright because they are "carnal" Christians, but Christians can be carnal at times. (Look at the reality of Rom. 7--"Oh, wretched man that I am.") This is not a "Christian experience," but it is, nevertheless, the experience of many. This seems to be the anticlimax of the book of Romans but it is really the starting point--our END IS GOD'S BEGINNING according to Watchman Nee.

I believe you can fall away, but not absolutely, and finally. I do not believe that apostasy is a "clear and present danger" for the believer. I have heard it said that you should not believe in "eternal security" but perseverance. That means that we cooperate with God in our final security. I disagree with this, partly out of a personal experience where I can say I have strayed from the Lord and He has brought me back out of grace, and partly out of scripture.

The difference is not that we can say, "Now that I am a Christian I can go see a for fun and not worry about my salvation." I do not think any real genuine believer would ever say that it is only hypothetical. You can do what you want to if you love Jesus, but the things you want to do are different and are changed. We are held and kept in His hands and He has a tight grip on us. We do persevere in the end, though we may have our ups and downs and backslide, God, will heal us.

No Christian ever truly presumes on the grace of God or purposely goes astray; it usually happens slowly (he drifts away), by not being in fellowship or not going to church and waking up one day and realizing what you did, as God grants you repentance like the prodigal son. The Christian may go into sin, but he doesn't want to deep inside, he is just succumbing to temptation--it's not a temptation to some, who have no right to judge. God can cure him of his weakness and bring him back to the fold. If God allows it to happen, He has a purpose, because no one can thwart God's plan or resist His will.

One must understand that perseverance does not mean we will not sin frequently, or fall into it, but that our faith will not fail (David never lost faith, though he was out of fellowship for about one year). We should really give God the glory and stress the preservation that He does on our behalf. A word to the wise is sufficient: The Scriptural caveat is, "Let him who thinks he stands to take heed lest he falls" (cf. 1 Cor. 10:12). There, but for the grace of God go I. NB: Security and assurance can be distinguished but not separated--they go hand in hand and cannot exist independently.  Soli Deo Gloria!