Continue In The Faith

After a person becomes a Christian, is he required to do anything else in order to be saved eternally? If the new Christian wants to go to heaven when this world is over, he must heed to the words of Jesus in Revelation 2.10, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (ESV). Unfortunately many in the religious world reject the necessity of faithfulness. Some teach that we cannot sin so as to fall from God’s grace, or that God’s “special Providence watches over”1 the welfare of those chosen to be saved and causes them to “persevere to the end”2. This perseverance is said to be “not upon their own free will,”3 meaning that the Christian is not responsible for his going to heaven and, consequently, is not responsible for his going to hell. Is this what the Bible teaches?

Faithfulness in Doctrine

In order for heaven to be our home we must remain faithful to the truth of God’s Word, the doctrine of Christ. We must preach and teach “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20.27, ESV). We must be a part of a church that demands such preaching and teaching. Paul’s parting words to Timothy, a young preacher, included, “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage…” (2 Tim. 4.2, TNIV). To be faithful in doctrine, we must teach and preach everything in God’s will, the positive and the negative, the things we like and the things we don’t like. When we preach and teach we must speak “the very words of God” (1 Pet. 4.11, TNIV). We cannot “go beyond what is written” (1 Cor. 4.6, ESV). We cannot add anything to God’s Word and we cannot take anything away from God’s Word (Rev. 22.18-19; cf. Deut. 4.2). If we are going to spiritually live and go to heaven in the end, we must “live...by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4.4, ESV).

What is the result of not “abiding in the doctrine of Christ”? “Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God” (2 John 9, NRSV). If a person does not have God he is not going to heaven. Paul told the Galatians that anyone who preached a gospel that was different or contrary in any way to the gospel proclaimed and confirmed by the apostles was to be accursed (Gal. 1.6-9)! Paul told the Christians in Rome to avoid people who taught things that were different and contrary to the teaching of the apostles “for such persons do not serve our Lord Christ” (Rom. 16.17-18, ESV). If a person is not serving Christ he is not going to heaven.

We must be faithful to God’s Word in all that we teach and preach, and we must be part a church that does the same—a church that does not have creeds, catechisms or councils, but that takes it stand on the Word of God and the Word of God alone!

Faithfulness in Devotion

It is not enough to be faithful in what we teach; we must practice what we preach. “Anyone...who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin” (Jas. 4.17, NRSV).

But simply doing things that are “religious” or that seem good to other people does not constitute “obedience of faith” (Rom. 1.5). In his mountain message, Jesus said that many people who were very zealous and involved in many religious activities would not go to heaven. Well, then who will go to heaven. “Only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven” will spend an eternity in heaven (Matt. 7. 21-23, TNIV). The point of difference is that the very zealous and very religious people who would not be allowed to enter heaven were doing things that, though religious, were not a part of God’s will or Word.

James said, “Do what the word says; don’t just merely listen to it, deceiving yourselves” (Jas. 1.22, original). In the same passage he reiterated this and said, “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, [not being a] hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (Jas. 1.25, ESV [original]). The one does, the one who acts in accordance with the law of Christ will be blessed and ultimately spend an eternity in heaven.

Saving Faith Is Steadfast to the End

In Hebrews 10.36-39 Paul says that we “have need of endurance so that when [we] have done the will of God [we] may receive what is promised,” meaning our “reward” (v35) in heaven. We must “live by faith.” We must “not...shrink back” and be “destroyed.” We must do the will of God by “faith and preserve [our] souls.”

To the Corinthians Paul said, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15.58, ESV).

In Colossians 1.21-23 we learn that if we are going to be saved in the end and spend an eternity in heaven we must “continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that [we] heard” (ESV).

Conclusion

Paul told the Galatians that we can “fall away from grace” and be “severed from Christ” (Gal. 5.4, ESV). In the word of Peter, “what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?” (2 Pet. 3.11, NASU). He provided the answer earlier in the same letter by saying, “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1.10-11, ESV).

1 Baptist Bible Fellowship International Articles of Faith, Article 15, http://www.bbfi.org/beliefs.htm
2 The Baptist Faith and Message, Chapter 5
3 Presbyterian Confession of Faith, Chapter XIX, Sections 1-2

That which has been is what will be,
That which is done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
- Ecclesiastes 1:9

Get Ready, Get Set, I Do...
By Charlie Brackett