# The Reign of the Servant Kings

## Metadata
- Author: [[Joseph Dillow]]
- Full Title: The Reign of the Servant Kings
- Category: #books
## Highlights
- The concept and meaning of salvation in the Scriptures is multidimensional. For example, when we look at salvation with respect to deliverance from sin, there is a past aspect-justification, deliverance from the penalty of sin, and a present aSpect-sanctification, deliverance from the power of sin, and a future aspect-glorification, deliverance from the presence of sin. There ([Location 87](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=87))
- Although a believer can never lose his justification salvation, there are dimensions of glorification salvation that may be lost or gained if we take seriously passages such as Romans 14:10,1 Corinthians 3:15, 2 Corinthians 5:10, and 2 John 7-8. The danger of loss is real and to be taken with appropriate fear and reverence in light of the eternal implications. The opportunity of reward, on the other hand, with its glories of ruling and reigning with Jesus Christ in His coming Kingdom, are presented in the Scriptures as a great motivation for holy living in the present. ([Location 94](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=94))
- Both were struggling with the relation between faith and works. What do we make of a man who claims to have placed his trust in Jesus Christ but whose present life-style is a complete contradiction of the faith he once acknowledged? ([Location 111](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=111))
- The warning passages in Hebrews, for example, have entered prominently into the debate. As might be expected, the exegetical literature, in general, has divided along two lines: either these warnings apply to those who merely professed faith and subsequently fell away from a profession, thus proving that they never "possessed" faith to begin with, or they apply to true Christians who, through the sin of unbelief, forfeited their justification. ([Location 122](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=122))
- I accept the Reformed position that those who are truly born again can never lose their salvation. But I also accept the Arminian position that the warning passages of the New Testament (e. g., Heb. 6) are directed to true Christians, not merely professing Christians. There is a real danger here. However, contrary to the Arminian, the danger is not loss of heaven but loss of our reward there and severe divine discipline in time. ([Location 131](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=131))
- In 1973 the writer was given a set of tapes by Zane Hodges on the book of Hebrews. Those lectures resulted in a change of perspective on that book and ultimately to a different way of looking at the New Testament. I would like to thank Professor Hodges for the profound impact he has had on my understanding of the doctrines of eternal security and rewards. ([Location 144](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=144))
- Yet explicit statements such as these are sometimes difficult to accept. Could something as important as our eternal destiny really come to us only through believing and be “without cost”? ([Location 265](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=265))
- Western culture has become so thoroughly secularized and godless that simply living in it has resulted in many Christians getting mud on their feet. The church, instead of being a beacon of light, has often been penetrated by the very abuses which it speaks against. ([Location 273](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=273))
- Troubled by the prevalence of “cheap grace” in the church today, MacArthur has turned our attention to The Gospel According to Jesus, a book which he says is the product of four years of study on the subject of the definition of the gospel according to Christ. ([Location 278](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=278))
- He feels that many leading Bible teachers are saying “the only criterion for salvation is knowing and believing some basic facts about Christ.”2 The fallout of this thinking, he says, is a deficient doctrine of salvation; justification is not necessarily and inevitably linked to sanctification. People feel they can pray a prayer, receive eternal life, and then go on sinning. The answer, ([Location 282](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=282))
- The second major influence which has caused many to ask, Is free grace healthy? is a persistent theological tradition going back to John Calvin. Calvin and the Reformers who followed him told their readers and parishioners that faith alone saves, but true faith is a faith which results in a life of works. In fact, the final proof of the reality of faith is whether or not a man perseveres in good works to the end of life. Known as the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, this teaching emerged in its mature form3 during the Protestant Reformation. ([Location 289](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=289))
- However, in order to make his argument “air tight,” Calvin went beyond the Scripture, in our opinion, and taught that the gospel will necessarily and inevitably guarantee a life of holiness. This subtle change in the gospel was readily accepted by the Reformers because it completely negated the Catholic attack. When a person who claimed to be a Christian and yet was living a carnal life was set up by the Catholics as an example of the product of Reformation theology, the Reformers could now simply say he was not a Christian at all. If he was, he would not live like that. ([Location 296](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=296))
- Pelagianism manifested itself in resistance by Protestants in Holland to the notion that a true Christian can never lose salvation. Convinced that certain passages, such as Heb. 6, taught that falling away from salvation was a real danger, they argued against the Calvinist doctrine of unconditional security. ([Location 302](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=302))
- The very length and intensity of the debate has contributed in no small way to the traditional acceptance of opposing positions. Lest the reader doubt this point, consider the typical seminary student, the future teacher of the sheep. When a position differing from his own background or perhaps from that of the seminary which he attends is presented, he is likely to “check it out” by opening up the standard theology texts which support his view and learning the ancient arguments against his opponents. Thus, traditional arguments are passed on from book to student, from professor to pupil, and from pupil to the parishioner when he becomes a pastor. Pressed for time in the seminary, and without it in the church, he rarely has opportunity for original study which might challenge traditional interpretations. ([Location 312](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=312))
- Front loading the gospel means attaching various works of submission and obedience on the front end and including them in the conditions for salvation. ([Location 323](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=323))
- Back loading the gospel means attaching various works of submission as the means for achieving the final aim of our faith, final deliverance from hell and entrance into heaven. ([Location 331](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=331))
- Works are not a means, whether on the front end or on the back end. The only means necessary for obtaining salvation is faith, and faith alone: ([Location 355](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=355))
- A new Reformation may be needed in Western Christianity which sets forth the magnificent freeness of God’s grace as the only sufficient motivation for godly living. ([Location 389](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=389))
- If we come across biblical data that seem to contradict our system, we must reassess our system and not reinterpret that fact in light of the system. ([Location 884](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=884))
- The charge of antinomianism is also easily answered in that there is no greater inducement to godliness than the love of Christ, the unconditional acceptance of the Father, the hope of hearing him say “Well done!” and the fear of millennial disinheritance. ([Location 898](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=898))
- Just as Old Testament believers forfeited their earthly inheritance through disobedience, we can also forfeit our future reward (inheritance) by a similar failure. Loss of inheritance, however, does not mean loss of salvation. ([Location 953](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=953))
- We are therefore amazed to read in B. F. Westcott’s commentary on Hebrews: From these examples it will appear that the dominant Biblical sense of “inheritance” is the enjoyment by a rightful title of that which is not the fruit of personal exertion.20 ([Location 1040](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=1040))
- Kendall agrees, “In other words, salvation is unchangeable but our inheritance in the kingdom of God is not unchangeable. Once saved, always saved, but our inheritance in God’s kingdom may change considerably.”26 ([Location 1372](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=1372))
- The loss of one’s inheritance is not the same as a loss of salvation. ([Location 1376](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=1376))
- Yet there is a real danger. It is possible for Christians to lose their inheritance. The Epistle to the Hebrews illustrates this from the life of Esau: See that no one is sexually immoral or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit [kleronomeo] this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears (Heb. 12:16-17). ([Location 1377](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=1377))
- Esau forfeited his inheritance, but he was still Isaac’s son. He did not forfeit his relationship to his father. Furthermore, at the end of his life Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau regarding their future (Heb. 11:20). As Eric Sauer put it: Doubtless, birthright [inheritance right] is not identical with sonship. Esau remained Isaac’s son even after he had rejected his birthright. In fact, he received, in spite of his great failure, a kind of secondary blessing (Gen. 27:38-40b).28 ([Location 1381](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=1381))
- A Christian can deny his inheritance rights.29 ([Location 1386](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=1386))
- While this is not the same as losing one’s justification, the consequences for eternity are serious. ([Location 1388](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=1388))
- It is possible for a Christian’s life work to be burned up because the building materials were wood, hay, and stubble. Only those works done in obedience to the Lord, out of proper motivation and in dependence upon Him (gold, silver, and precious stones), will survive the searing heat! ([Location 1390](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007U79V1U&location=1390))