Man’s Part in His Destiny:
There are many simple statements in Scripture revealing man’s part in his own damnation or salvation. It is not God’s will for anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance (John 3:16; 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9; Rev. 22:17). If people will not meet God’s terms, they will be lost (Mark 16:16; John 3:3,5; Proverbs 1:24-31); and if any turn away from the Lord after salvation, and persist in rebellion until death, He is not responsible. The fact that all are not going to be saved proves that man does have a part in the matter. In fact, if any man fails to be saved, it is his own fault, not God’s fault.
198 Things that People Can Do:
- To repent and believe the gospel; they are commanded to do so or be lost. (Mark 1:15; Mark 16:16; Luke 13:1-5; John 3:16; Romans 1:16; Romans 10:9-10)
- To accept or reject the gospel of their own free will (John 1:11-12; John 3:16-18; Romans 1:16; 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9; Rev. 22:17).
- To follow or refuse to follow Christ at any time (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Mark 10:21; Luke 9:23; John 12:26; 1 Peter 2:21).
- To stumble at the Word (1 Peter 2:8).
- To cast off first faith (1 Tim. 5:12).
- To cast away confidence (Hebrews 10:35).
- To fall from grace (Galatians 1:6-8; Galatians 5:4; Hebrews 12:15; Jeremiah 16:13).
- To fail of the grace of God (Hebrews 12:15).
- To fall from own steadfastness (2 Peter 3:14-18).
- To be lost after receiving eternal life (as in the case of Judas; see John 17:2 with John 17:12).
- To become entangled again in three things:
(1) the law (Galatians 5:1,4)
(2) the affairs of this life (2 Tim. 2:4)
(3) the sins of the world (2 Peter 2:20-22)
- To backslide after knowing God and become worse off (Jeremiah 7:26; Jeremiah 16:12; Matthew 12:43-45; Luke 11:26; John 5:14; 2 Peter 2:20-21).
- To turn from God and be lost (Deut. 29:18-28; Galatians 1:6-8; Galatians 5:4; 2 Peter 2:20-22).
- To be separated from God by going back into sin (Isaiah 59:2).
- To go astray (Proverbs 28:10; Ezekiel 14:11; Matthew 18:12-13; 1 Peter 2:25; 2 Peter 2:15).
- To leave one’s first love and be removed from Christ (Rev. 2:5-6).
- To become cold in love to God and man (Matthew 24:12).
- To forget ever being purged from sin by the blood of Christ (2 Peter 1:9).
- To err from the faith (1 Tim. 6:10,21).
- To perish if cease to hear and follow (Deut. 8:19-20; Deut. 28:20-22; Deut. 30:19; Matthew 18:14; John 10:28-29; 2 Cor. 8:11; 2 Peter 2:12-22).
- To make shipwreck of faith (1 Tim. 1:19).
- To neglect salvation and fail to escape wrath (Hebrews 2:1-3).
- To be renewed after backsliding (Psalm 51:10) unless they become apostate (Hebrews 6:4-9, notes; Hebrews 10:26-29, notes).
- To depart from the faith (1 Tim. 4:1).
- To depart from iniquity (2 Tim. 2:19).
- To depart from God’s Word (2 Samuel 22:23).
- To depart from God (2 Samuel 22:22; Isaiah 59:13; Hosea 1:2).
- To depart from following God (2 Chron. 34:33; Psalm 18:21; Psalm 119:102).
- To depart out of the way (Malachi 2:8).
- To depart from God in the heart (Jeremiah 17:5; Hebrews 3:12).
- To let the Word depart from heart (Deut. 4:9).
- To have the Holy Spirit depart from them (1 Samuel 16:14).
- To have the Lord depart from them (1 Samuel 18:12; 1 Samuel 28:15-16).
- To refuse to keep God’s commandments (Exodus 16:28; Neh. 9:16-17).
- To refuse to walk in God’s law (Psalm 78:10).
- To refuse to return, after backsliding (Jeremiah 5:3; Jeremiah 8:5; Hosea 11:5).
- To refuse and rebel (Isaiah 1:20).
- To refuse to hear God’s Word (Jeremiah 13:10).
- To seek for eternal life by patient continuance (Romans 2:7).
- To continue following God (1 Samuel 12:14-15).
- To be disciples, only if they continue in the Word (John 8:31).
- To continue in the love of Christ, or discontinue at will (John 15:9).
- To continue in grace (Acts 13:43), or fall from it (Galatians 1:6-8; Galatians 5:4; Hebrews 12:15).
- To continue in the faith (Acts 14:22), or to discontinue at will (1 Tim. 1:19; 1 Tim. 4:1; 1 Tim. 5:12; 1 Tim. 6:10,21).
- To be blessed, only if they continue in His goodness (Romans 11:22).
- To be blessed if they continue in the faith (Col. 1:23; 1 Tim. 2:15).
- To be finally saved if they continue in the truth (1 Tim. 4:16).
- To let eternal life continue in them (1 John 2:24-25), or have it taken away through sin (Romans 6:16-23; Romans 8:12-13; Galatians 6:7-8).
- To lightly esteem God, after salvation (Deut. 32:15-20).
- To be restored, if sin is committed (Galatians 6:1).
- To be corrupted again after escaping corruption (Exodus 32:7; Deut. 4:16,25; Deut. 9:12; Deut. 31:29; Deut. 32:5; Ephes. 4:29; 2 Peter 1:4; 2 Peter 2:12,19-22).
- To be corrupted from the simplicity in Christ, like Eve (2 Cor. 11:3).
- To be drawn away of their own lusts, die again spiritually and be lost (James 1:13-15).
- To draw back unto perdition instead of progressing with salvation of the soul (Hebrews 10:38-39).
- To turn their back upon God (Jeremiah 2:27).
- To slide back with a perpetual backsliding (Jeremiah 8:5).
- To be turned away back (Jeremiah 38:22; Jeremiah 46:5).
- To slide back like a backsliding heifer (Hosea 4:16).
- To look back and become unfit for the kingdom of God (Luke 9:62).
- To go back and walk no more with God and Christ (John 6:66).
- To be filled with their own ways (Proverbs 14:14).
- To play the harlot again (Jeremiah 3:6).
- To commit adultery again (Jeremiah 3:8), and not inherit the kingdom of God (2 Cor. 6:9-11; Galatians 5:19-21; Rev. 22:15).
- To return if they want to (Jeremiah 3:12,22), though not forced by God to do so (Rev. 22:17).
- To be bent on backsliding (Hosea 11:7).
- To be healed of backsliding if they will return (Jeremiah 3:22; Hosea 14:4).
- To have increased backsliding (Jeremiah 5:6).
- To have many backslidings (Jeremiah 14:7).
- To go backward, not forward (Jeremiah 7:24).
- To be assured that God will not forsake them (Deut. 4:31; Deut. 31:6-8; Hebrews 13:5), until they break His covenant (Deut. 31:16-17; 1 Chron. 28:9; 2 Chron. 15:2; Isaiah 1:28; Jeremiah 23:33,39).
- To forsake the covenant (Deut. 29:25).
- To forsake God (Deut. 32:15; Judges 10:10,13; Judges 12:10; 1 Kings 11:33; 2 Kings 22:17; 2 Chron. 12:5; Isaiah 1:4; Jeremiah 2:13).
- To forsake commandments (1 Kings 18:18).
- To forsake the right way (2 Peter 2:15).
- To sin until God will not have mercy again (Deut. 29:20; Jeremiah 13:14; Ezekiel 5:11; Ezekiel 7:4-9; Ezekiel 8:18; Ezekiel 9:10; Ezekiel 24:14; Romans 11:20-21; 2 Peter 2:4-5; Jude 1:5-7).
- To endure to the end, if they want to (Matthew 10:22; James 1:12; James 5:11).
- To be moved away from the hope of the gospel (Col. 1:23).
- To reap corruption instead of eternal life if they sow to the flesh (Romans 8:12-13; Galatians 6:7-8).
- To live and walk in the Spirit, though not forced to do so (Galatians 5:16-26).
- To die again when sin is committed (Romans 6:16-23; Romans 8:12-13; James 1:13-15; James 5:19-20).
- To become reprobate without Christ in them (note, 1 Cor. 9:27; 2 Cor. 13:5).
- To become haters of God and full of sin (Romans 1:21-32).
- To be given up by God to the lowest sins and suffer death and hell (Romans 1:21-32).
- To backslide to the point of despising and abhorring God (Leviticus 26:15).
- To walk contrary to God (Leviticus 26:21,23).
- To refuse at anytime to go on with God (Deut. 28:58-63; Romans 6:16-23).
- To provoke God to wrath (Deut. 32:15-20).
- To be destroyed of God, if they turn away from Him (Numbers 32:15).
- To turn their hearts away from God and be cut off in sin (Deut. 30:17-20).
- To be blessed again if they turn from their sins and confess them (1 Kings 8:33-35; 2 Chron. 6:26,37; 2 Chron. 7:14), and cursed if they live in sin again (2 Chron. 7:19; 2 Chron. 30:6-9).
- To turn again to the things of the world (Galatians 4:9).
- To turn aside after Satan (1 Tim. 5:15).
- To turn their ears from the truth (2 Tim. 4:1-4).
- To turn from their righteousness and die in sin (Ezekiel 3:20; Ezekiel 18:24-26; Ezekiel 33:12-18; Romans 8:12-13; Galatians 5:19-21; Galatians 6:7-8).
- To endure for a time and then fall away and be lost (Mark 4:17-19; Luke 8:13).
- To remember Lot’s wife, Lucifer, angels and others that warn of falling from God’s grace (Luke 17:32).
- To abide in christ if they want to, as they are commanded to do, or be cast forth as branches to be burned (John 15:1-6; 1 John 2:24-25; 2 John 1:9).
- To be destroyed if they do not continue to please God (2 Cor. 10:1-13; Jude 1:5-7).
- To be bewitched not to obey the gospel (Galatians 3:1; Galatians 5:1-7).
- To deny God and be denied by Him (2 Tim. 2:12).
- To love this present world again (2 Tim. 4:10), and be lost (1 John 2:15-17).
- To have an evil heart of unbelief in departing from God (Hebrews 3:12).
- To be hardened through sin (Hebrews 3:12).
- To come short of entering heaven and eternal rest (Hebrews 4:11).
- To be rejected and be burned (Hebrews 6:4-9).
- To suffer certain judgment and wrath (Hebrews 10:26-29).
- To be defiled again (Hebrews 12:15; 2 Cor. 3:16-17).
- To become blind and forget that they were one time purged from their old sins (2 Peter 1:9).
- To be secure and never fall if they want to be (2 Peter 1:4-10).
- To repent and do their first works again if they have backslidden (Leviticus 26:40-42; Deut. 4:29-30; Deut. 30:1-10; 1 Kings 8:33-34; 2 Chron. 30:9; Isaiah 1:18-20; Jeremiah 3:4-22; Jeremiah 4:1-2,14; Jeremiah 6:16; Hosea 14:4; Malachi 3:7; Matthew 23:37; Rev. 2:5-6; Rev. 3:8-21), or they can refuse to repent and be lost (Isaiah 1:20; Hebrews 12:25-29).
- To become a castaway (1 Cor. 9:27).
- To err from the truth, die again, and need to be converted again to have eternal life (Galatians 4:19; James 5:19-20).
- To be converted or born again more than once (see The New Birth).
- To be damned if first faith is cast off (1 Tim. 5:11-15; 1 Tim. 6:19-21; 2 Tim. 2:17-18; 2 Tim. 4:10).
- To hate and to lose eternal life (1 John 3:15).
- To sin again and not be a son that abides forever (John 8:32-34).
- To serve only one master at a time (Matthew 6:24).
- To be known only by acts of obedience (Romans 6:16-23, notes).
- To live after the flesh and die spiritually (Romans 6:16-23; Romans 8:12-13; Galatians 5:19-21; Galatians 6:7-8; James 5:19-20).
- To commit sin and be of the devil, not of God (1 John 3:8).
- To be deceived to think they can inherit the kingdom of God even if they sin (Romans 1:21-32; Romans 6:16-23; Romans 8:12-13; 2 Cor. 6:9-11; Galatians 5:19-21; Galatians 6:7-8).
- To continue to hold fast to the end (Hebrews 3:6,11-14; Hebrews 4:11; Hebrews 6:11-12).
- To be led away with the error of Satan (2 Peter 3:14-18).
- To become apostates (Hebrews 6:4-9; Hebrews 10:26-29, notes).
- To be sanctified by the blood of Christ, then backslide and trample it under their feet (Hebrews 10:26-29).
- To become unbelievers again (Luke 8:13; Hebrews 3:12; Hebrews 4:11).
- To become worthy of death (Romans 1:21-32).
- To believe in vain (__2 Corinthians__2 Cor. 15:2; 2 Cor. 6:1).
- To build again things once destroyed (Galatians 2:18).
- To have Christ formed in them more than once (Galatians 4:19).
- To be forgiven more than once (1 John 1:9).
- To labor for eternal life (John 6:27).
- To forget God after knowing Him (Deut. 8:11-14; Deut. 32:18; Proverbs 2:17; Ezekiel 23:35).
- To frustrate the grace of God (Galatians 2:21).
- To be moved away from the hope of the gospel (Col. 1:23).
- To be beguiled to turn away from Christ (Col. 2:18-19).
- To deny the faith (1 Tim. 5:8).
- To become wanton against Christ (1 Tim. 5:11-12).
- To harden their hearts against God and be cut off (Deut. 15:7; 1 Samuel 6:6; Psalm 95:8; Hebrews 3:8,13,15; Hebrews 4:7).
- To be decieved by sin (Hebrews 3:13).
- To refuse to keep under the body and become a castaway (1 Cor. 9:27).
- To live only if they hold fast to the Lord (1 Thes. 3:8).
- To have their souls saved from death more than once (James 5:19-20).
- To be in danger of damnation after they have been saved (1 Tim. 5:11-15; 1 Tim. 6:19-20; 2 Tim. 2:17-18; 2 Tim. 4:10).
- To serve sin again (John 8:31-34; Romans 6:16-23; Romans 8:12-13; James 5:19-20).
- To wither like a branch and be cut off and burned (John 15:1-6).
- To reap corruption instead of eternal life if they sow to the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21; Galatians 6:7-8).
- To remain God’s house, if they hold firm to the end (Hebrews 3:6).
- To be partakers of Christ, if they hold steadfast to the end (Hebrews 3:12-14).
- To let the truth slip from them after knowing it (Hebrews 2:1).
- To escape if salvation is not neglected after receiving it (Hebrews 2:3).
- To come short of eternal rest (Hebrews 4:1).
- To labor to enter into rest (Hebrews 4:11).
- To hold fast their profession (Hebrews 4:14).
- To fall away and be lost (Hebrews 6:4-9).
- To show diligence to the end or neglect and be lost (Hebrews 2:3; Hebrews 6:11).
- To become slothful and fail to inherit eternal life (Hebrews 6:12).
- To lay hold of eternal life or refuse to do so (Hebrews 6:18-19; 1 Tim. 6:12,19).
- To hold fast to deceit and refuse to return to God (Jeremiah 8:5).
- To hold to God or Satan as they choose (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13).
- To hold the truth in unrighteousness and be lost (Romans 1:18-32).
- To hold fast that which is good (1 Thes. 5:21).
- To stand fast or given in (2 Thes. 2:15; 1 Tim. 1:13).
- To lay hold on eternal life (1 Tim. 6:12,19; 1 John 2:24-25).
- To hold fast the profession of faith (Hebrews 4:14; Hebrews 10:23).
- To hold fast until the end (Rev. 2:25).
- To hold fast and repent (Rev. 3:3).
- To hold fast to their crowns lest others take them (Rev. 3:11).
- To sin willfully after they have received the knowledge of the truth and been sanctified by the blood (Hebrews 10:26-29).
- To receive fiery indignation and judgment if they sin willfully (Hebrews 10:26-31).
- To lay aside every weight, if they will (Hebrews 12:1).
- To make straight paths for their feet or be turned out of the way (Hebrews 12:13).
- To look diligently so as not to fail of grace and permit bitterness to defile the soul (Hebrews 12:15-16).
- To become fornicators like Esau, if they fail of grace (Hebrews 12:15-16).
- To refuse God and incur His wrath to destruction (Hebrews 12:25).
- To have grace again to serve God or be punished with fire (Hebrews 12:28-29).
- To go to perdition by drawing back (Hebrews 10:38-39).
- To fall through unbelief as did others (Hebrews 4:11; 2 Cor. 10:1-13; Jude 1:5).
- To become slothful and fail to inherit the promise (Hebrews 6:12).
- To flee for refuge and lay hold of hope (Hebrews 6:18).
- To follow peace and holiness or to commit sin and be lost (Hebrews 12:14).
- To be kept by God’s power by committing their lives to Him (1 Peter 1:5).
- To gird up the loins of their minds, to hope for, and to wait for salvation (1 Peter 1:13).
- To fashion themselves to their former lusts and be lost (1 Peter 1:14).
- To lay aside all malice and sin and be saved or live in them and be lost (1 Peter 2:1; 2 Peter 3:17).
- To sin and die again, or to live right and continue to live (Exodus 32:32-33; Ezekiel 3:20; Ezekiel 18:4,20-24; Ezekiel 33:13-16; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 6:16-23; Romans 8:12-13; 2 Cor. 6:9-11; Galatians 5:19-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Col. 3:5-10; James 5:19-20.
- To transgress the doctrine of Christ and be lost (2 John 1:9-10).
- To defile the “temple” of God and be destroyed (2 Cor. 3:16-17; Hebrews 12:15; Rev. 3:4-5; Rev. 21:27).
- To receive the Word of God with joy, continue awhile and then be lost (Luke 8:13).
- To incur the death penalty everytime a death-penalty sin is committed (Exodus 32:32-33; Ezekiel 18:4,20-24; Mark 7:19-21; Romans 1:18-32; 2 Cor. 6:9-11; Galatians 5:19-21; Col. 3:5-10; James 5:19-20).
- To continue to glorify God or refuse and be lost (Romans 1:18-32).
- To walk after the flesh and be lost any time they want to (Romans 6:16-23; Romans 8:1-13; Galatians 5:16-26; Col. 3:5-10).
- To live and walk in the Spirit, not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, and be saved (Romans 6:16-23; Romans 8:1-13; Galatians 5:16-26; Col. 3:5-10).
- To sow to the flesh and reap corruption, or sow to the Spirit and reap life everlasting (Galatians 6:7-8).
- To put off the old man and be saved eternally (Ephes. 4:22-32; Col. 3:5-10).
- To conform totally to the gospel requirements of holiness, without which no person shall see God, or live in sin and be lost (Romans 6:16-23; Romans 8:1-13; Galatians 5:19-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephes. 4:24-32; Ephes. 5:1-18; Col. 3:5-10).
- To obey the hundreds of warnings, commands, and terms of God and enter into life, or live half-hearted and indifferent and be lost (Jude 1:20-24).
- To profit by the past experiences of angels, demons, and men who were once in God’s grace then went into sin, and became lost; or they can foolishly reject all such examples and refuse all requirements of God to become lost themselves. See Twenty-one Examples of Beings Fallen From Grace, and 210 Plain Laws and Warnings; also New Testament Commands.
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