Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”
As you will read in the quote below in a moment, from Pastor Harry Ironside
(1876-1951), he simply believed that God finishes what He starts.
Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that
he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it
until the day of Jesus Christ:” Hebrews 12:2, “Looking
unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God.” I fully agree with that.
God finishes what He starts!
However, this Biblical truth is very different from the popular Calvinist heresy (taught by Paul Washer, Ray Comfort and John MacArthur) that someone who is saved WILL live a life of holiness, turning away from sinful behavior, and they will do good works. The Bible is full of examples of saints who CHOSE to live lives of sin (Lot, Esau, Samson, Solomon, Demas). This does not mean they weren't saved. There is a fine line between faith and foolishness! Dr. Ironside simply believed in the PRESERVATION of the saints, not the PERSEVERANCE of the saints. The former is solely a matter of God's faithfulness to finish what He starts in the life of each believer, the latter is conditional upon man's faithfulness to God, which is not part of the Gospel. Pastor Ironside simply believed in ONE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED, which he explains here:
The Spirit's Perseverance
In the second place, we base the doctrine of the eternal security of the believer upon the perseverance and omnipotent power of the Holy Spirit of God. Look at Philippians 1:6. Writing to these saints, the apostle says, when he thanked them for their fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, "Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Do you see that? Who began the good work in you if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus? The Holy Spirit of God did. It was He who convicted you of sin; it was He who led you to put your trust in Christ; it was He who through the Word gave you the witness that you were saved; it is He who has been conforming you to Christ since you first trusted the Lord Jesus. Having thus taken you up in grace, the Holy Spirit has a definite purpose in view. He is eventually going to conform you fully to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He never begins a work that He does not intend to finish. "Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." If when you were a poor sinner the Holy Spirit had power sufficient to break down your opposition to God and to bring to an end your unbelief and rebellion, do you think for one moment that He does not have power enough to subdue your will as a believer and to carry on to completion the work that He began?
People say, "I see you believe in that old Baptist doctrine of 'once in grace, always in grace.'" Or another says, "I understand you hold that old Presbyterian idea of 'the final perseverance of the saints.'" I do not know why this should be called either Baptist or Presbyterian, only to the extent that Baptists and Presbyterians agree with the Book, and the Word of God clearly shows that once God takes us up in grace nothing can separate us from the love of Christ so that evidently the expression, "once in grace, always in grace," is a perfectly correct one. But, on the other hand, I am not so enthusiastic about the other expression, "the perseverance of the saints." I believe in it; I believe that all saints—all really belonging to God—will persevere to the end, for the Book tells me, "He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" (Matthew 24:13), and if a man starts out and makes a profession but gives it all up, he will never be saved, because he was never born again to begin with, he was never truly changed by grace divine. On the other hand, the reason he endures to the end is not because of any particular perseverance of his own. What I believe in, and what the Word of God clearly teaches, is the perseverance of the Holy Spirit. When He begins a work, He never gives up until it is completed. That is our confidence.
Notice carefully what Pastor Ironside says:
“...the reason he endures to the end is not because of any particular perseverance of his own. What I believe in, and what the Word of God clearly teaches, is the perseverance of the Holy Spirit. When He begins a work, He never gives up until it is completed. That is our confidence.”
For anyone to claim that Dr. Ironside believed in anything more than the PERSEVERANCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, they are misrepresenting this dear man of God. Once saved, always saved! That is the great message here! Once a person “receives” Jesus as their personal Savior (John 1:12), the blessed Holy Spirit comes into their body to live (1st Corinthians 3:16-17). In theology this is called being “INDWELT” with the Holy Spirit. God the Father, and God the Son, live inside each believer in the person of God the Holy Spirit. This is the Godhead (or, “Trinity” if you prefer) abiding in us.
Also, please notice carefully that else Pastor Ironside said:
“and if a man starts out and makes a profession but gives it all up, he will never be saved, because he was never born again to begin with, he was never truly changed by grace divine.”
I agree with that 100%. When someone who once claimed to be a Christian, but now has renounced their faith in Jesus Christ entirely, they were never God's child at all. Granted, this doesn't mean Christians don't get depressed, discouraged and go through times of doubt. Consider John the Baptist, who in his despair in prison sent his disciples to ask Jesus an important question in Matthew 11:3b, “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?” John was so discouraged that He sincerely wondered if he had believed in the wrong guy. So, yes, Christians can have doubts, many of them, and still be saved. Dr. Ironside is talking about outright denial and rejection of the Savior. John the Baptist never wanted to reject the Savior, he just doubted for a time if he had the right one.
Now, I hate to refute Dr. Ironside, but he does get one vital passage of Scripture totally wrong, but it is not a major blunder in my humble opinion. Pastor Ironside misinterprets Matthew 24:13, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” This is a favorite “GO TO” Bible verse used by Calvinists to bolster up their strawman heresy that saints must “persevere” in holiness if they are really saved. But carefully notice Matthew 24:22, “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.” It is clear to me that the issue at hand is human flesh, and not salvation. Those saints who survive physically until the Lord returns at His glorious SECOND COMING, will go into the 1,000 year Millennial period with their earthly bodies. They will worship, work, enjoy God's goodness, marry, bear children, serve the Lord, and live in peace such as the world has never known. All of the believers who were taken at the Rapture, or died in the Tribulation, will go into the Millennium with our resurrected bodies (1st Corinthians 15:52-58), fashioned like unto the Lord's body (Philippians 3:21), and we will reign with Him for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:6).
But even though Dr. Ironside misinterprets Matthew 24:13, he plainly states, to repeat this quote again:
“...the reason he endures to the end is not because of any particular perseverance of his own. What I believe in, and what the Word of God clearly teaches, is the perseverance of the Holy Spirit. When He begins a work, He never gives up until it is completed. That is our confidence.”
It is very important that you see that this matter of persevering is entirely God's responsibility, and not ours as believers. Calvinists (e.g., John Piper, Ray Comfort, John MacArthur, Andy Bloom, Moody Church, Jack Chick, R.C. Sproul, Paul Washer and hordes more) ALL place the responsibility to turn away from sins upon the sinner. The believer's only part in salvation is to “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31). Everything thereafter is God's department concerning our salvation! There is no way that I can look at your external life, nor you at mine, and determine whether someone is born-again or not. Good works can be imitated. Love can be a false positive. Living a religious life means nothing. 1st John 3:23-24, “And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”
Harry Ironside believed in the perseverance of the Holy Spirit, with which I fully agree. As Dr. Ironside rightly says, if someone who once claimed to be a born-again Christian, now denies Christ as Savior, it just means they were never saved at all. Dr. Ironside did not ascribe to the Calvinist heresy that a person who still lives in willful sin, never repented, so their faith in Jesus is counterfeit. As 1st Corinthians 3:15 proves, not all saints 'persevere' in holiness, because this horrible man received no heavenly rewards, “saved; yet so as by fire” (1st Corinthians 3:15b). The Bible teaches that from the moment a person gets saved, God seals us with His Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:13, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” That is what Dr. Ironside believed concerning perseverance, which he rightly calls “the perseverance of the Holy Spirit” (not the saints). That is a far cry from the junk theology of John Calvin and his foolish deceived followers. Woe be unto anyone who dares to falsely claim that Pastor Harry Ironside taught that the elect must persevere to be saved! That is simply not what the Word of God teaches, if you have an inspired King James Bible.
“D.L. Moody used to put it very simply the elect are the 'whosoever wills' the non-elect 'whosoever wont's'. This is exactly what scripture teaches, the invitation is to all, those who accept it are the elect. Remember, we are never told that Christ died for the elect.” —Pastor Harry Ironside, a quote from his awesome book: “Full Assurance,” chapter 9
