Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Sanctification (02/19/26)
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TITLE: Being Set-apart By And For God | Previous Challenge Entry
By Doug Laird
02/24/26 -
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One is eternal security, the other is post salvation discipleship.
There is the need to distinguish between what Biblical Christianity has to say, and what many “Christian” religions out there have to say, about eternal security, and what the post salvation life of discipleship is really all about.
Biblical Christianity teaches that once one has been born-again (1), the soul of the individual has been forever “saved” (2) from the impending wrath of God (3), awaiting ALL unbelievers. The born-again believer’s soul has been permanently sealed, and his dead spirit has been permanently regenerated (4).
The key words here being “forever” and “permanently.”
The foreverness and the permanency of eternal security is based on the believer’s one-time decision he or she made, to believe (5) in the atoning (6) Work that Jesus finished (7) on the cross; the irreversible (8) work of God the Holy Spirit that takes place at the moment one is born-again; and then and there, having received the irrevocable gift (9) of eternal life.
Eternal security means that one can never be any more or any less “saved” that what the individual became at the moment he or she was born again.
The born-again believer has now been positionally sanctified (set apart) from the unbelievers in this world who are headed for the lake of fire.
With the issue of salvation being forever and permanently resolved, the born-again believer then has the daily opportunity to be experientially sanctified, that is to be set apart from fellow believers who choose not to pursue the post (after) salvation spiritual life of Biblical discipleship.
Not everyone who fills the pews or stands behind the pulpit has been born-again, and not every born-again believer will embrace or remain in Biblical discipleship.
In the times that we are presently living, many born-again believers have chosen to take the Mark 4: 18, 19 path.
They remain saved, but will experience the 1Cor. 3: 15 consequences.
They, “…have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things enter (their minds) and choke the word and it (and they) becomes unfruitful (Mark 4: 18, 19 NASB2020 parentheses mine).”
Such born-again believers, “…will suffer loss (of reward), but he himself will be saved, yet only as (if running) through (a) fire (1Cor. 3: 15 NASB2020 parentheses mine).”
This is NOT how one should want the upcoming evaluation event of 1Cor. 3: 12-15 to go!
Many born-again believers are content to know that they are Heaven bound (10), and have no genuine interest to embrace or to pay the price (11) associated with Biblical discipleship.
In this, the devil is well pleased.
The devil knows he lost Round One when one was born-again, and that as a result, nothing can happen to cause him to lose his salvation.
But the devil can do much to pressure a weak believer to desert the spiritual battlefield of the Church Age.
Without having a Matt. 7: 24 edified soul structure and the Eph. 6: 13-17 body armor of an advancing disciple, a born-again believer easily becomes a casualty in the realm of spiritual warfare.
Many Church-goers attend what they consider to be worship services and go through the motions on a regular basis, but they are no further along the road to spiritual maturity than they were six months, six years, or six decades ago.
One’s level of spiritual maturity is measured by the amount of accurate Bible Doctrine that one has stored away in his or her edified soul structure (12), and his or her ongoing willingness to consistently apply (13) it to all the he or she thinks, says, and does.
Biblical discipleship is initially for the spiritual edification and spiritual growth of oneself, but with the long-term objective of participating in the Great Commission, evangelizing and edifying others.
In summary, there are two forms of sanctification.
The first is positional sanctification (being set apart) from unbelievers headed for the lake of fire.
Positional sanctification takes place if, and when, one is born-again.
The second is experiential sanctification (being set apart) from fellow believers who do not choose to embrace or remain in Biblical discipleship.
Through Biblical discipleship, the born-again believer is experientially sanctified (set apart) and prepared to execute the type of post (after) salvation spiritual life, here on Earth, that glorifies God.
(1) John 3: 7 (2) Rom. 8: 1 (3) Rev. 20: 15 (4) Eph. 4: 30/Titus 3 5 (5) John 3: 16: (6) 1John 2: 2 (7) John 19: 30 (8) Eph. 4: 30/Titus 5 (9) Rom. 11: 29 (10) Rom. 8: 1 (11) 2Tim. 3: 12 (12) Matt. 7: 24-25 (13) James 1: 22
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