Last time we went over some very general truths that help the believer understand who he or she is in Christ. We are not the “new Israel.” We are like Israel in that we are also set aside by God, but we have very different purposes for our calling. Again, I will be pulling heavily from Clarence Larkin’s book, The Greatest Book of Dispensational Truth in the World.
What the Church Is Not
The church is not an organization, but a living organism. An organization can be rearranged, added to or subtracted from or otherwise. But an organism cannot be without causing mutilation or permanently destroying the integrity of the body as a whole. This is why no one who is truly born-again can become unsaved. Salvation has always come by God’s grace through our faith. The Law never saved anyone, but was the standard in which everyone would be measured by. Nationally speaking, Israel remained in fellowship with God when they kept the tenants of the law, until Israel/Jews got to the point where the Religion became more important than the relationship. (See Psalm 51:16-17; Jeremiah 31:31-34; 1 Corinthians 12:27; Romans 12:5.)
“And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch theout 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. I and My Father are one” (John 10:28-30).
For those of us in this dispensation our eternal salvation is a onetime event. Once you become “saved” you cannot become “unsaved” because it is God who does the changing in us, not us changing ourselves. But we, like Israel, can also step out of fellowship with God, and although the relationship suffers, our eternal standing in the family of God does not. In this Dispensation (Church Age) once you are truly born again, you become:
1. A new creation-something new means having never existed before and can’t become un-new (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15).
2. Sealed by the Holy Spirit until the Day of Redemption, which is the Rapture (2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:5).
3. Jesus promises that those who are given to Him (a new believer) He will not lose, nor can he or she be taken from Him or God the Father (John 6:39; 10:28-30).
So to teach that you can “lose” your salvation means that you can: A) undo what God has created B) Unseal the Holy Spirit’s permanent sealing, C) Overpower Christ by removing yourself from Him and His Father’s hand.
The Building
As previously discussed, we understand that the body of Christ is not an organization, but a living organism. But there is symbolism found in the New Testament that alludes to the individual believer as a building. Jesus first compared His body to the Temple (although misunderstood by the Pharisees) in that it could be destroyed (killed) and raised up again in three days (John 2:19). Paul and Peter later use similar symbolism to the Christian as individuals as both a building and tent in relation to the residency of the Holy Spirit. (See 2 Corinthians 5:1; Ephesians 2:20-22; 2 Peter 1:13-14.)
Read the rest at RaptureReady.com