A.W. Pink

Both Christians and unbelievers always ask, “Are you telling me that if someone just accepted Jesus as his Lord and savior and still lives in sin, that he is still eternally secure and on his way to heaven”?

No that is not what this doctrine teaches!

Then what does it mean?

To understand WHAT it means, we need to understand HOW one becomes a Christian in the first place. THIS IS VITAL for our understanding of all the other things pertaining to salvation.

“Basically there are THREE types of Christians. Preacher-made, self-made, and God-made ones. In the former are included not only those who were “sprinkled” in infancy and thereby made members of a “church”, but those who have reached the age of accountability and are induced by some high-pressure “evangelist” to “make a profession .”

The “self-made” class is made up of those who have been warned against what has just been described above, and fearful of being deluded by such religious hucksters they determined to “settle the matter” directly with God in the privacy of their own room or some secluded spot. They had been given to understand that God loves everybody, that Christ died for the whole human race, and that nothing is required of them but faith in the gospel. By ‘saving faith’ they suppose that a mere intellectual assent to, or acceptance of, such statements as are found in John 3:16 and Romans 10:13 is all that is intended. It matters not that John 2:23, 24 declares that “many believed in his name but Jesus did not commit himself unto them,” that “many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him lest they be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God,” which shows how much their “believing” was worth. Imagining that the natural man is CAPABLE of “receiving Christ as personal Saviour” they make the attempt, doubt not their success, go on their way rejoicing, and none can shake their assurance that they are now real Christians!

GOD-MADE CHRISTIANS on the other hand are a miracle of grace, the products of Divine workmanship [Ephesians 2:10]. They are a Divine creation, brought into existence by supernatural operations. The new birth is “not of blood (by natural descent), nor of the will of the flesh (his own ‘free-will’), nor of the will of man (the preacher’s persuasion), but OF GOD” (John 1:13)

~ A.W. Pink

Even these ‘God made’ Christians may initially be deluded into thinking that they became Christians because THEY ‘accepted Christ into their heart, by their own free-will etc’. But even as they begin to read the Word of God and are taught by the Holy Spirit they will begin to see that just as they had nothing to do with their natural birth, even so they contributed nothing to their spiritual birth! “Of HIS OWN WILL begat He us with the Word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures”! [James 1:18]. And they realize the truth of Jesus’ Words – “YE HAVE CHOSEN NOT ME, but I have chosen you”! [John 15:16]

These ‘God made Christians’ the Bible calls ‘elect’ or ‘sheep’. [Matt 18:11]And the Lord Jesus came to seek and to save these lost sheep. Now notice carefully, it does not say that Jesus will TRY to save these sheep. But that HE WILL save them! “and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for HE SHALL SAVE His people from their sins”! [Matt 1:21]

Another thing to bear in mind is that their repentance and the faith with which they believe are both gifts of God and a fruit of regeneration. A man does not believe the Gospel and get saved, but believes the gospel because he is saved. Now the Apostle says, that “the GIFTS AND CALLING of God are WITHOUT REPENTANCE”! [Romans 11:29] This just means that God did not give these gifts in the first place because of any MERIT which He saw in them and neither will He take back these gifts on account of any DEMERIT.

Please ponder the things which we have written. Either Salvation is completely a FREE GIFT 100% or YOU have a part to play in it and SHARE the glory which is only due to the Lord Jesus!