Collectively Speaking (Addendum)

Many will object and say that warnings are pointless if believers can’t lose their salvation. Here’s an actual objection I found in a YouTube’s comment section:

In other words, a waning is meant to keep us on the right track… but it’s not really a warning. It’s just a bluff. Like “I’m going to turn this car around and go back home if you kids don’t behave.” That bluff may keep your kids inline, but you lied to them if you didn’t really intend to turn the car around like you said. This explanation doesn’t work.

This is a perfect example of reasoning according to the flesh (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:16). At the end of the day, what we think is irrelevant once it can be proven from Scripture that true believers can’t lose their salvation, and that God uses means such as warnings to keep His people in the race. It might not make sense to you, but it’s biblical. And if it’s biblical then the debate is over. I don’t understand how Christ can be both God and Man at the same time, but I believe it even though it makes no sense to me at all. The reason why we have many Trinitarian heresies is because people try to make sense of the Trinity. Think about that. One can know Christ and the Scripture according to the flesh [or] the Spirit of God. Which one will it be? If it’s the Spirit of God then we must think according to His ways and wisdom. We must allow His words to rule over our thinking (Psalms 119:11; John 17:17).

You say warnings are real, but so are God’s promises. I could easily flip this around, “Nah! Just kidding. The promises weren’t real. I didn’t really mean that the Spirit’s indwelling was permanent. I didn’t mean to say that he who has the Spirit of Christ belongs to Me and that the Spirit will abide in him forever…”

Are you beginning to see the complexities and nuances? We have both warning and assurance passages. Our goal isn’t to pit one against the other but to reconcile them. And in the final analysis, after working through the nuances, the only biblical explanation is that warnings are one of the means that God uses to preserve us.

Imagine you encounter a sign that reads, “DANGER: Electrical Shock Hazard. DO NOT TOUCH!” Would you touch it after reading the warning? If nobody touches it and nobody gets hurt, are we to say that the sign is useless? Or do we say that the sign serves its intended purpose, which is to keep people away from danger? The sign would be useless if, instead of protecting people, it caused harm. That’s what the warnings in Scripture are for. They’re there to help you stay on track and finish the race. Through these warnings, God will complete the good work He began in you.

Warning signs in and of themselves don’t prove that salvation can be lost, but it’s effective in in those who believes (1 Thessalonians 2:13), and it works (cf. Galatians 5:10; Hebrews 6:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:4). I say this not on human authority but divine. Consider Peter as a picture of true believers. Peter was sure that he wouldn’t deny Christ no matter what (Matthew 26:35; Mark 14:31; John 13:37). On top of this, we have Christ’s promise that Peter’s faith will be preserved (Luke 22:32), and that Peter will be with Christ in heaven, and that’s a promise from Christ pre-crucifixion (Matthew 26:29)!

Take a moment to ponder this: Did God’s words/warning fail to affect Peter, causing him to feel sorrowful (cf. Matthew 26:22)? You argue that warnings are useless if salvation can’t be lost, yet in this instance, Peter’s salvation was secure, and the warnings still touched his heart. If you claim to be a child of God and sin, yet warnings don’t bother you at all, then you should be concerned because Judas was not troubled by Christ’s words. Christ spoke to them all, and only the Elect were saddened, except for Judas (Non-Elect). Check out Matthew 26:20-25 for more details.

Conclusion

In John 16:1 Jesus says,

“These things [cf. 15:18-25] I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble [to keep you from falling away, ESV].”

His words and warnings protect us from stumbling, as they are effective in those who believe (1 Thessalonians 2:13; Psalms 119:11). I believe in the warnings, and so they will work effectively in me. His words and warnings will not come back void, but will achieve the purpose for which He sent them (Isaiah 55:11).

God has His way of dealing with each and everyone of us. Don’t assume that you can act however you want if salvation can’t be lost. Insult your spouse, and God may not answer your prayers. God will afflict and discipline us if we’re His child (Hebrews 12:5-11). His word is living and active, so is Saving-Faith!

“But,” says one, “You say they cannot fall away.” What is the use of putting this “if” in, like a bugbear to frighten children, or like a ghost that can have no existence? My learned friend, “Who art thou that repliest against God?” If God has put it in, he has put it in for wise reasons and for excellent purposes. Let me show you why. First, O Christian, it is put in to keep thee from falling away. God preserves his children from falling away; but he keeps them by the use of means; and one of these is, the terrors of the law, showing them what would happen if they were to fall away. There is a deep precipice: what is the best way to keep any one from going down there? Why, to tell him that if he did he would inevitably be dashed to pieces. In some old castle there is a deep cellar, where there is a vast amount of fixed air and gas, which would kill anybody who went down. What does the guide say? “If you go down you will never come up alive.” Who thinks of going down? The very fact of the guide telling us what the consequences would be, keeps us from it. Our friend puts away from us a cup of arsenic; he does not want us to drink it, but he says, “If you drink it, it will kill you.” Does he suppose for a moment that we should drink it. No; he tells us the consequences, and he is sure we will not do it. So God says, “My child, if you fall over this precipice you will be dashed to pieces.” What does the child do? He says, “Father, keep me; hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.” It leads the believer to greater dependence on God, to a holy fear and caution, because he knows that if he were to fall away he could not be renewed, and he stands far away from that great gulf, because he know that if he were to fall into it there would be no salvation for him. —Spurgeon