WARNING AGAINST BACKSLIDING

“Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he falls. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:12-13). Paul the Apostle, through the inspiration of God, pointed out the possibility of a believer becoming cast away after initial evidence of salvation and a lifetime of service to God. He compared the Christian life to a race and emphasized the fact that a participant could be disqualified from receiving the prize if he/she does not run according to the rules. Therefore, there’s a need to maintain self-discipline and avoid those things that can cause a person to be rejected by God. “And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible, therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (2 Corinthians 9:25-27).

In his epistle to the Corinthians church, Apostle Paul continues this train of thought, apparently to warn some people in the church who felt eternally secured in their salvation even though they lived in sin. He warned believers against the danger of backsliding and thereby debunked the damnable heresy of the doctrine of eternal security. He emphasized that the great privileges that the Israelites enjoyed in their relationship with God were typical or illustrative of what believers in the New Testament enjoy. However, it is sad to note that despite those privileges the Israelites enjoyed, many among them who went into sin were destroyed, And the account of their failure was written to warn subsequent believers of all ages against the danger of falling back to sin.

There is no truth in the doctrine of unconditional security of believers. Those who are secured in Christ are those who continue in the word of God in true righteousness to the end. Believers can avoid backsliding by laying aside the things that bring temptations and taking necessary steps to victory through vigilance (1 Peter 5:8), prayer (Matthew 26:41), conviction (2 Timothy 3:14), trust ( 2 Timothy 1:2), Obedience (Psalm 119:60), resistance (James 4:7), and absolute surrender to God (Romans 6:13). As heaven-bound pilgrims, we must depend on the Lord for His sustaining grace and power. Our salvation, boldness at the throne of grace, conviction, and uncompromising stand on the truth is by grace. Without grace, we are as ordinary as other people.

We are most likely to fall when we are most confident of our own strength. Distrust in our strength makes us be vigilant and put our trust and dependence on God. This gave us the best security against all sins. God is able and indeed has promised to keep us from falling but we must look to ourselves (2 John 8). God is faithful to keep us from a tempting world full of snares. Though we are to be watchful and vigilant, he will proportion our burden to our strength. Hence, we should not be terrified or amazed when temptation comes. “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draws back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them, that believe to the saving of the soul”. May this be our portion as we continue in our pilgrim journey on earth till we see Jesus face to face in heaven.

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IN LIFE AND MINISTRY

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith meekness, temperance: against such, there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). The fruit of the Spirit is the true nature of Christ, produced by the Spirit of Christ in the lives of Christ’s followers. It takes Christ to be totally established in the believer before Christ-like virtues can be produced in him. The difference between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit is quite obvious. The flesh produces works; Spirit produces fruit. The works of the flesh are dead the fruit of the Spirit is alive. The one in the flesh, the other is Spirit. Therefore, for anyone to possess and manifest the fruit of the Spirit, he must have left human effort for the indwelling of Christ.

The necessity of conversion in the life of every believer before he/she can be enlisted in the work of the ministry is not negotiable. It is fundamental to His ministry. In the book of Isaiah chapter fifty-two verse eleven, it stated; “ Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord”. Genuine salvation experience is mandatory for any minister of God in particular. Paul’s conversion (in Acts 9:1-9, 21) preceding his ministerial calling and engagement typifies God’s process of engaging anyone in the ministry. One cannot explicitly expound on the experience he does not have practical knowledge of. Penitence, humility, mournful, and sorrowful repentance that leads to genuine salvation, are required from every guilty sinner. Forgiveness is certain and sure from God to every sincere sinner who without delay prays with fervency for his soul’s redemption. “Fruit of the Spirit” will immediately emerge in clear replacement of the works of the flesh in the life of every genuinely saved soul. Any minister that fails to have this experience will fall short of God’s standard of calling and become unfit for ministry as his life will betray his ministration.

The fruit of the Spirit comprising the nine Christian virtues is the evidence of the minister’s experience of the new birth. These nine-fold virtues are bound together and manifested in love which is the central controlling quality required in Christian living and service. The redemptive work is conceived, delivered, and operated in love. Love, therefore, is the totality of the ministry. Every other virtue in the fruit of the spirit revolves around love. Joy is love exulting. Peace is love reposing. Long-suffering is love untiring. Gentleness is love enduring. Goodness is love in action. Faith is love believing. Meekness is love under discipline, while Temperance is love in training. Possessing the “fruit of the Spirit” is making heaven out of the ministry here on earth.

For every believer to keep the “fruit of the Spirit” however, he must abide in the Vine and be pruned (John 15:1-8) regularly. He must ensure the unbroken relationship with Christ the fountain of his fruitfulness; He should always allow the Lord to reproof and chasten him when necessary and ensure chastening as a true child of God (Hebrews 12:11). He should ensure unbroken prayer fellowship and devotion. The Bible should constantly and regularly be his companion and guide through constant meaningful study with a willingness to obey. He must distance himself from sin, every appearance of evil and the world, why keeping involved in the work of the Lord without delighting in the bread of idleness. Daily self-examination and prompt correction where necessary will make him reputable, waiting for the Lord.

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH

Justification is the act of God’s grace through which one receives forgiveness and remission of sins and is counted righteous before God through faith in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. Having thus been cleared of every guilt on sin, the regenerated stands before God as though he had never sinned. Now,he’s totally forgiven and the sins forgotten. God looks at the redeemed not on the basis of any personal merit but in the light of what Christ has accomplished for mankind by his substitutionary death on the cross of Calvary."Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law?of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith” (Romans 3:24-30; Please read Romans 4:6-16).

To actualize the benefits of salvation in Christ Jesus, the sinful man should acknowledge his helplessness and hopelessness in this life, and his desperate need of Savior. As he is incapable to provide solution to his problem of sinful nature or change his eternal destiny of damnation (Isaiah 59:8), the need for justification becomes crystal clear. To meet the price of divine justice, due price needed to be paid. Man lacked both the capacity and purity to afford this. It therefore required the sacrifice of the spotless Lamb of God, unstained and without blemish in Himself to pay the necessary ransom with His blood for the expiation of man’s sins. It’s instructive to note that the nature of sins is not such that man could handle on his own or by merit of his good works (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Just as water baptism cannot justify the Gentiles so also is circumcision cannot justify the Jew nor water baptism the Gentiles. And by the standards of God’s righteousness and holiness, full church membership or confirmation does not suffice to justify any one. The faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary can assure a repentant soul the full justification through faith by the grace of Jesus.Before justification, sinner had works of the flesh of different category as stated in (Galatians 5:19-21) but as a new creature, he has divine ability to manifest the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Therefore, in the lifestyle, conduct, disposition and speech, the redeemed by Christ’s Blood are more like Him, having been quickened by the Spirit of the living God.

The misleading concept of justification by works, as an article’s of man’s religion, is opposed to justification by faith because it denied the grace of God and dishonors the blood of Jesus Christ. The reference in the General Epistle of (James 2:14-26) may the interpreted amiss by cursory reader of the Scriptures, where it asked. “But wilt thou know o vain man, that faith without work is dead? The basic point being stressed by the Epistle of James is that works as referred to in the scenario are a compliment of justification by faith. Whereas, Paul the Apostle in his Epistle to Romans, chapter four is essentially doctrinal, and the practical is based upon the doctrine, that of James is essential practical, the doctrinal element being purely incidental. Hence, a man is justified by faith without works, in another sense, we see “how by works a man is justified, and not by faith only”. This explained the justification by faith before God, and justification by works before men. Properly understood, none really is mutually exclusive.