YEARS ago this subject was frequently and warmly discussed. Many people held to the opinion that a person once in grace was always in grace. Altho not so often a matter of contention, the doctrine is not by any means abandoned; it is still the cause of false encouragement to the backslider. As long as he indulges the idea that because he was once converted to Christ he can not be finally lost, he will be content to take his ease spiritually, and to cater to the lusts of the flesh that have drawn him away from the Lord. He will do so under the vain impression that in time the Spirit of the Lord will bring him back to the fold even against his inclination.
To those who are led by this delusion the apostle Paul says, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." 1 Cor. 10:12. And this warning is predicated on the "ensample" of those Israelites who came out of Egypt "of faith" (Heb. 11:29) and were baptized "in the cloud and in the sea" and "did eat spiritual meat," and drank "spiritual drink," drinking of "that spiritual Rock that followed them," which "was Christ." Yet they tempted Christ by murmuring, and were "destroyed of the destroyer." They perished in the wilderness, and were not permitted to enter the promised land.
A like warning is given in the third chapter of Hebrews: "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." This warning is also predicated upon the failure of those Israelites who came out of Egypt by faith, but fell in the wilderness.
The Scriptures also give us other illustrations. Balaam was a prophet of the Lord, but he fell away through a natural desire for this world's honor and riches. By his fall he became a common soothsayer, or diviner, after the manner of the heathen, and was eventually slain in battle, having joined the Midianites in their opposition to Israel. See Num. 24:15-25; 31:7, 8; Joshua 13:22, margin; 2 Peter 2:15.
Another striking illustration is the case of King Saul. Of his genuine conversion there can be no question. Saul was out hunting his father's asses, and stopped at the house of Samuel the prophet. Before parting with him the next day, Samuel anointed him to be king over Israel, and told him what should come to pass on his way home. Among other things Samuel said: "Thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy; and the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man." 1 Sam. 10:5, 6.
"And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day." Verse 9. And the record goes on to state that when Saul met the company of prophets, "the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them."5
But after Saul became king he departed from the Lord, and the Lord rejected him. He was not only rejected as the head of the royal line in which the Messiah should be a lineal descendant, but the Spirit of the Lord was altogether withdrawn from him. After the death of Samuel, Saul was confronted by a Philistine army and was much afraid. He inquired of the Lord, but the "Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets."
Then he sought a witch, contrary to the express command of the Lord (Ex. 22:18; Lev. 19:31; 20:6), and took counsel of her. He had so far departed from the Lord that he could not return; he had sinned away his day of grace; the Lord would have, could have, nothing more to do with him. In the battle that followed, Saul's army was defeated, and, to avoid falling into the hands of the Philistines, he committed suicide.
The life and experience of King Saul form a complete refutation of the deceptive dogma of "once in grace, always in grace." Such a delusion is altogether out of harmony with the Word of God. The words of Jesus are, "He that endureth to the end, shall be saved."