Perseverance and Preservation of the Saints "Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed." (Acts 13.48) Look at how God must work in man before he will believe. "Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." (Hebrews 13.20-21) The issue of this fifth and final point is that salvation is the work of God's grace in man, and those whom God has appointed to eternal life will find their salvation in Him and by Him. He will keep them to the end, and He will never leave them nor forsake them. "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand." (John 10.28-29) Arminius taught that just as man chose to be saved, he could also change his mind and choose not to be saved. Man was also likely to lose his salvation if he did not work hard to keep in God's good favor. It is now easy to see that Arminius believed that it was man who secured his own salvation, just as Pelagius did. After all, he believed that man was sovereign and the final authority in eternal life, and there was no good reason why God should save anyone who didn't live up to his end of the bargain. The Reformers had a much higher opinion of God than Arminius, and they believed that salvation was entirely the work of God and entirely to His praise. If He will not save, none will be saved. If He saves some, they will be saved. Scripture again is clear on this matter - "Although my house is not so with God, yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. For this is all my salvation and all my desire; will He not make it increase?" (2 Samuel 23.5) "I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." (1 Corinthians 1.4-9) The message of the Gospel is that though we are unfaithful, God is faithful. It is not we who save ourselves, but He who saves us. This is His work and to His glory. "And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me." (Jeremiah 32.40) "being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1.6) Now there are some who exclude the possibility of losing your salvation from their Arminian theology. These people agree with the above verses in part, for they believe that once you make the decision to accept Jesus into your heart, nothing you can do or choose to do can cost you your reward of eternal life. This is often called "Eternal Security." They teach that salvation is still a cooperative effort between God and man, and that eternal life is granted as a reward for faith as chosen by your own free will, but that there are no other requirements for the Christian, nor will he necessarily exhibit characteristics of a Christian. But this is the cheapest definition of grace. It believes that grace is for the asking in words alone, and does not revere the work of God's Holy Spirit in the believer or the work of the Lamb of God. They say "it is not necessary that I obey, for I am willing to ask to be saved, and I have fulfilled my end of the bargain between myself and God, and now He must fulfill His." They say "ask Him into your heart, and it matters not whether He comes in, for you now have eternal life." Though many Arminians who hold to Eternal Security go on to encourage the believer to become more Christlike, they miss the point that it is God who saves and not their decision (as we have covered), and that God does not save apart from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit - "God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth" (2 Thessalonians 2.13) "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." (Galatians 5.22-24) Those who have considered themselves to be saved by their own decision will be cut down if God does not save them and produce His fruit in them - "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." (John 15.1-5) Likewise, those He does save according to His will spend eternity with Him - "the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful." (Revelations 17.14)