Ephesians 1:14
“The Holy Spirit is the down payment on our inheritance, which is applied toward our redemption as God’s own people, resulting in the honor of God’s glory.”
Without the Holy Spirit, there is no salvation let alone the possibility of staying in the faith but would eventually fall away from the truth.
In Genesis 1-2, Adam and Eve were created in perfection (without sin) but in that state couldn’t achieve true perfection (Genesis 3) because they were living sinlessly apart from the indwelling Spirit of God. God was trying to show through the first man that without God living in us we will not stand a chance.
Let us take a look more in depth: Man was brought forth without sin and God gave them (Adam & Eve) 1 command to obey, folks just 1. Satan was allowed to tempt them to see if they would obey the Word of the Lord or sin against the Lord. Even in their perfection (without sin) they couldn’t hold on to it, why? Because apart from God we can do nothing but through God who lives in us we can do all things (1 John 4:4 & Philippians 4:13). Getting back to Adam, Satan deceived Eve but according to 1 Timothy 2:14, Adam knew full well that eating the fruit was sinful in the eyes of God and in their perfect state ate the forbidden fruit anyways having that full knowledge, in Adam’s case, right after they ate it, spiritual death occurred first with physical death occurring slowly.
What a great and awesome God we have that He planned from the beginning to give us His Spirit so that we may not repeat what Adam and Eve did.
What am I trying to say with Adam and Eve is that if one believes that we can lose our salvation then indirectly one is saying that it is up to us to hold the gift of eternal life and by the example of Adam and Eve who couldn’t keep themselves from sinning in a sinless state then holding to our salvation by our strength would be impossible for us to achieve today. If it were up to us to hold to eternal life we could not do it, no one would go to heaven plus it would turn the gift of God through Christ into a work salvation because one would get into heaven because he worked hard in keeping it. Denying Jesus the glory due to Him for giving us eternal life if it’s up to us to determine if we end up in heaven.
When a true Christian sin against the Lord and falls what happens? God goes into action and brings him back. I will show you some illustrations of this truth below.
Psalms 32:3-5
3 When I kept silent, my bones became brittle
from my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night Your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was drained
as in the summer’s heat. Selah
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to You
and did not conceal my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and You took away the guilt of my sin. Selah
We see in the Psalms above that God would not leave David alone until he would repent. God put a heavy burden in his heart that even affected him physically until he would turn from his sinful way and repent to get in right standing with the Lord. That’s how the Holy Spirit works, He will burden you until you repent and get right with God.
We also see this protection for the saints in Hebrews…see below.
Hebrews 12:4-11
4 In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons:
My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly
or faint when you are reproved by Him,
6 for the Lord disciplines the one He loves
and punishes every son He receives.
7 Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline—which all receive—then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had natural fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but He does it for our benefit, so that we can share His holiness. 11 No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the fruit of peace and righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
In verse 11 God’s discipline will not only bring back a Christian from backsliding put will strengthen his/her faith to produce fruits because they would have learned through Christ discipline a strong lesson. We see this with Peter in Luke 22:31-32 which says, 31 “Simon, Simon, look out! Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
Peter denied knowing Jesus Christ and after the third time of Peter’s denial he was heavily convicted by the Holy Spirit and he wept and repented. Jesus prayed to the Father to keep Peter’s faith from failing meaning keeping Peter from abandoning the Lord completely. Now, the question is did Jesus only prayed for Peter and does that include all believers? The answer in found in John 17
John 17:9-12, 20
9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world but for those You have given Me, because they are Yours. 10 Everything I have is Yours, and everything You have is Mine, and I have been glorified in them. 11 I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by Your name that You have given Me, so that they may be one as We are one. 12 While I was with them, I was protecting them by Your name that You have given Me. I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture may be fulfilled.
20 I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in Me through their message.
Jesus prayed for all Christians that our faith in Christ may not fail and we see through Peter what happens when our faith gets hit, we bounce back up not because we are strong but because our strength comes from the Lord.
Spiritual Minefield 