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Falling From Your Secure Position....


Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen. (II Peter 3:17-18) 

          I'm not going to tiptoe around it. This passage seems to cast doubt on the issue of eternal security. I'm not sure it actually does, but it seems to. Years ago, I read a story of a school located along a busy road. The children huddled near the building. When the school erected a fence between the road and the school yard, the children spread out and played freely. Was their position with the fence really any more secure? No, a car or truck could still have injured or killed them, but they felt that their position in the yard was more secure because of the fence. So the question may not be "Can one lose one's salvation?" so much as it may be, "Can one feel insecure about one's salvation?" The answer to the first is debatable. I believe God is omnipotent and that He can and will assure salvation to those who have laid hold of it, but others would say I'm wrong. The answer to the second question is "Absolutely!"
         Peter appears to agree. He tells us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because it is in understanding grace and in knowing Jesus that we maintain our sense of security. It is also by His grace and our knowledge of Him that we will maintain our security if it can be lost. Eternally secure or not, the answer is Jesus Christ.

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