Continued from Part 1

VI. BREAK THE FATHER’S SEAL OF THE SPIRIT

Step six has to do with one of the guarantees of your salvation. When you are saved, the Bible teaches that you are sealed by the Spirit of God. Ephesians 1:13 teaches:

          In whom ye also trusted, after that ye

          heard the word of truth, the gospel of

          your salvation: in whom also after that

          ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy

          Spirit of promise,

II Corinthians 1:21-22 reads:

          Now he which stablisheth us with you in

          Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who

          hath also sealed us, and given the earnest

          of the Spirit in our hearts.

These verses teach that you are sealed with the Holy Ghost by the Father at the time of salvation. The Holy Spirit is not your sealer; He is your seal. A seal is something that fastens securely and which must be broken in order to be opened. Your salvation is secured by the Spirit of God. And not only are you presently sealed, but you are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Ephesians 4:30 states:

           And grieve not the holy Spirit of God,

           whereby ye are sealed unto the day of

           redemption.

The seal of the Spirit is guaranteed good unto the day of redemption, that is, the day when Christ takes us up to be with Him.

This means that you cannot become lost by breaking your promise to God. Since your security is based on the seal of the Spirit, no promise or commitment broken by you can void your salvation. The only way to lose your salvation is to break the Father’s seal of the Spirit. That is step six.

VII. CHANGE THE MEANING OF “EVERLASTING”

When you accept Christ as Saviour, you receive the gift of eternal, or everlasting, life.

Romans 6:23 explains:

          For the wages of sin is death;

          but the gift of God is eternal

          life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

John 3:15-16 further states:

          That whosoever believeth in him

          should not perish, but have eternal

          life. For God so loved the world,

          that he gave his only begotten Son,

          that whosoever believeth in him

          should not perish, but have everlasting

          life.

Please notice that Romans 6:23 and John 3:15 speak of “eternal life,” while John 3:16 speaks of “everlasting life.” When you are saved , you receive both. And while “everlasting” and “eternal” both mean without end, there is a difference in emphasis. “Everlasting” is a term of quantity and emphasizes length of life: everlasting as opposed to temporary. “Eternal,” on the other hand, is a term of quality and emphasizes the kind of life you receive at salvation: eternal as opposed to temporal or earthly. As Christ taught, He came that you might “have life” and that you might “have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

Probably the greatest thing about eternal life is that it is given as a present possession.

John 5:24 reads:

            Verily, verily, I say unto you, He

            that heareth my word, and believeth

            on him that sent me, hath everlasting

            life, and shall not come into condemnation;

            but is passed from death unto life.

When you hear the word and believe on Christ, you have (present tense) everlasting life. Nothing is ever said in scripture about receiving this life in the future. You have everlasting life as a present possession from the point of salvation.

This means that you cannot lose everlasting life. Think about this: if your life has ending today (you are going to perish), then it could not have been without ending (everlasting) yesterday. To lose everlasting life would be an impossibility. Therefore, since to lose everlasting life would be a contradiction of terms, there is only one way to lose your salvation. You must change the meaning of the word “everlasting.” That is the completion of step seven.

VIII. UNBIRTH YOURSELF FROM THE FAMILY OF GOD  

When you are saved, you are born again. This is the doctrine of regeneration.

Titus 3:5 states:

            Not by works of righteousness which

            we have done, but according to his

            mercy he saved us, by the washing of

            regeneration, and renewing of the Holy

            Ghost;

Notice that you are saved by the washing of regeneration. The word “regeneration” means to be reborn. You are said to be born again because your salvation is your second birth.

Read the teaching of John 1:12-13:

            But as many as received him, to

            them gave he power to become the

            sons of God, even to them that believe

            on his name: Which were born, not of

            blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor

            of the will of man, but of God.

While your first birth was physical, your second birth is spiritual (“of God”). By this new birth you become one of the sons or children of God.

Since you have been born into the family of God, you cannot become lost by denying your birth. A child naturally born cannot cease to be the father’s child, no matter what is said or what separations are made. So, an individual born into the family of God cannot simply cease to be the Father’s child. In order to lose your salvation, you must somehow unbirth yourself from the family of God. That is step eight.

IX. NULLIFY YOUR ADOPTION BY THE FATHER

Another benefit of salvation is your adoption by the Father. A saved person belongs to the Father by creation (He made us), by redemption (He bought us), by regeneration (we were born to Him), and by adoption (He adopted us). Concerning adoption.

Galatians 4:5-6 teaches:

            To redeem them that were under the

            law, that we might receive the

            adoption of sons. And because ye

            are sons, God hath sent forth the

            Spirit of his Son into your hearts,

            crying, Abba, Father.

In salvation you receive the adoption of sons. Therefore, through adoption, you also become one of the children of God (see also Romans 8:15-16).

You cannot become lost by simply ignoring your adoption. Adoption is a legal and binding change of parents whereby you lose your old parentage ( “of your father the devil,” John 8:44) and gain a new Father. You cannot lose your salvation by turning from your heavenly Father. You must somehow nullify your adoption by the Father. And so step nine ends.

X. SEPARATE YOURSELF FROM THE LOVE OF CHRIST

At the very moment any person accepts Christ as Saviour, another wondrous blessing takes place. They are placed within the center of Christ’s love. The love of Christ, which is beyond human comprehension, becomes your strong refuge. Read here in Ephesians 3:19:

            And to know the love of Christ, which

            passeth knowledge, that ye might be

            filled with all the fullness of God.

To know Christ is to know a love which is unknowable. This is one of the miracles of salvation.

This love into which you are placed is not only beyond human comprehension, but it is also the greatest power in the universe. Romans 8:35-39 states:

             Who shall separate us from the

             the love of Christ? shall tribulation,

             or distress, or persecution, or

             famine, or nakedness, or peril, or

             sword? As it is written, For thy

             sake we are killed all the day long;

             we are accounted as sheep for the

             slaughter. Nay, in all these things

             we are more than conquerors through

             him that loved us. For I am persuaded,

             that neither death, nor life, nor angels,

             nor principalities, nor powers, nor things

             present, nor things to come, Nor height,

             nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be

             able to separate us from the love of God,

             which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Notice that one by one those things which might separate you from the love of Christ are eliminated. And then, lastly, all other possibilities are at once denied by the phrase, “nor any other creature.” To be in the love of Christ is to be eternally safe from all the dangers which your soul might encounter.

In fact, you cannot become lost by denying Christ’s love. When you give yourself to the love of Christ, He takes you into His bosom of love. This love is so powerful as to deny any other thing to come between His love and the Christian. Yet, to lose your salvation, you must somewhere find the strength to separate yourself from this great love.

That is step ten.

When you are saved, you are spiritually translated to heaven. That’s right--at the point of your salvation, you are translated into heaven. Now this is not the physical catching up which is promised to come later, but it is a Biblically taught translation.

Look at Colossians 1:12-13:

           Giving thanks unto the Father,

           which hath made us meet to be

           partakers of the inheritance of

           the saints in light: Who hath

           delivered us from the power of

           darkness, and hath translated us

           into the kingdom of his dear Son:

Notice that you have been (past tense) translated into the kingdom of God. To translate means to bear across and is used in the Bible in reference to a taking up into heaven. Enoch was not found “because God had translated him” (Heb. 11:5). This translation puts you spiritually into heaven. Still skeptical?

Then read Ephesians 2:5-6:

           Even when we were dead in sins,

           hath quickened us together with

           Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

           And hath raised us up together,

           and made us sit together in

           heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

When are you raised up and made to sit in heavenly places? This occurs when you are saved. And where are these heavenly places?  In chapter one of Ephesians, verse twenty, Jesus Christ is sitting at the right hand of God “in the heavenly places.” The heavenly places are the abode of God. They are heaven itself. You see, the wonderful truth is that since you are “in Christ” and Christ is in heaven, then you are positionally and spiritually already in heaven. You are only waiting for your body and soul to catch up with your spirit.

Now, for the problem. You cannot become lost by failing to go to heaven. In Christ, you are spiritually already there. You cannot simply lose out on your chance to go there. To lose your salvation, you must leave the premises of heaven and remove yourself from your position in Christ. That completes step eleven.

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