The freedoms we enjoy in the nation are great. We’re allowed to come and go as we please, worship whom, what, why, when and where as we please without the fear of the government. Freedom as we understand it isn’t free. Lives were sacrificed in order to defeat the oppressors who would put others in bondage. Freedom also involves the accepting of responsibility: individuals talk about their right to do this or that, but seldom vocalize their responsibility to society. The freedoms we possess secularly and religiously are often abused to satisfy the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of life.

            In the secular realm we often mistake freedom for the ability to do as we please: speaking evil of our government officials, or violating the boundaries defined by law as if it’s no big deal. This concept is often seen in the religious world as well. There is a misconception in the religious world that a child of God cannot sin in such a way as to lose their salvation. The idea that an individual who is saved cannot “fall from grace” is all too prevalent.

            Though there are numerous religious organizations, there are but two concepts that separate them all: doctrine and practice (what we believe and what we do). The doctrine of “once saved, always saved” stands in direct contradiction to the inspired word of God. The apostle Paul issued a warning to Christians, when he said, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12), as well as, “Ye are severed from Christ, ye who would be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5:4). There are numerous scriptures that deal with the danger facing the child of God, to give credibility to a concept of “once saved, always saved.”

            Christianity requires that the child of God maintains a condition of spiritual stability. Spiritual stability can only be maintained as it relates to the inspired word of God. The fleshly minded man says, “I don’t see anything wrong with it;” “It seems good to me;” or “It doesn’t say I can’t.” Mankind comes up with all sorts of reasons for doing as we please. Paul instructed the young evangelist, Timothy, and said, “Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). This passage not only affirms that the scriptures contain God’s plan for man, but also that the scriptures contain “every good work” that God intends for man to do. When doctrines are established, or works are introduced that God did not authorize, the child of God falls from grace. The history of the children of Israel speaks volumes in this area. When the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, “took each of them his censer, and put fire therein and laid incense thereon, and offered strange fire before Jehovah, which he had not commanded them. And there came forth fire from before Jehovah, and devoured them, and they died before Jehovah” (Leviticus 10:1-2). What Nadab and Abihu did was introduce something into the worship that God had not authorized. There was no discussion of the matter, there were no excuses that would have sufficed: the fact is, when they “offered strange fire before Jehovah, which he had not commanded them” they failed to sanctify God before the people. As a result of this event, Moses said to Aaron, “This is it that Jehovah spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified” (Leviticus 10:3). When the children of God fail to adhere to the scriptures, and introduce works that God has not commanded they fail to sanctify, they fail to glorify God. When they do so there is a death, a separation that takes place, they “fall from grace” as assuredly as Nadab and Abihu. Jehovah told Israel, “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments of Jehovah your God which I command you” (Deuteronomy 4:2). Jehovah also told Israel, “What thing soever I command you, that shall ye observe to do: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it” (Deuteronomy 12:32). The same God that warned Israel not to diminish, nor add to what had been delivered, also said, “I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues which are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book”(Revelation 22:18-19). When John wrote this letter, he was writing it to Christians. These Christians were warned that “God shall take away his part from the tree of life.” It’s obvious that you can’t take from someone what they never possessed: The child of God can sin, so as to be lost. The danger is not imaginary: maintaining spiritual stability is a duty to which every child of God must attain.