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Life is??? # 92 The Permanence of Salvation
** Secure Forever: God's Promise or Our Perseverance?. **
Date: 7/16/2017 7:51:28 AM ( 7 y ) ... viewed 645 times The Permanence of Salvation
When we trust Christ as Savior, that very moment, we are born again. We are born into the family of God and become children of God. This new birth is not the end, but rather the beginning. Just as human parents give birth to their children and those children are their children from that point on, once God gives birth to His children, they are His children forever.
There are no verses in the Bible that talk about us becoming "unborn" once we are born. Nor does the Bible teach that we can be born again, and again, and again.
The Scriptures are abundantly clear that once we are saved, we are saved forever. We have everlasting life. This speaks of Divine Preservation.
The Bible clearly teaches Preservation. But it is the Lord Who keeps us saved after we have trusted Christ as our personal Savior, not ourselves. Jude states,
"Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:" (Jude 1:1).
We are preserved IN Christ. This is also known as eternal security. And this is where many people become confused. Some believe that our preservation is in our hands and up to us. If it is up to us to keep ourselves preserved in going to Heaven, then we are in very feeble, even impossible hands!
We cannot keep ourselves saved any more than we can save ourselves to begin with.
It is just as impossible.
The Apostle Paul said it so eloquently in Galatians,
"O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus
Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:1-3). (italics added)
If we could not save ourselves to begin with, what makes us think that we can live perfectly enough to keep ourselves saved?
No, we are kept by the power of God (1 Peter 1:5). Since it is God who keeps and preserves us, we can never be lost once we are saved.
How do we know that salvation is permanent?
Is this just wishful thinking in the minds of some?
Is there any scriptural foundation to such a belief? Indeed there is!
Consider the following twelve reasons:
1. Salvation is permanent because Christ paid for all sin.
"Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:38-39).
The word "forgiveness" means "to cause to send away, to release one's sins from the sinner." All of our sins were in the future when Jesus died. If He has paid for any of them, He has paid for all of them. "All" in the Greek means 100% of all there is.
"When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost" (John 19:30).
The required payment needed to pay for our sins has been paid in full. There are no sins left to pay for. It is through that perfect, one time payment that our Lord Jesus Christ provides for us eternal redemption! If it is eternal redemption, then once we have been redeemed, it will last forever.
"Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us" (Heb. 9:12).
2. Salvation is permanent because believers have been declared righteous.
God is the one who determines who goes to Heaven and who does not. He has ordained that all those who trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior are justified, or declared righteous.
The Judge of the universe has spoken! It is settled! His verdict is clear,
"What shall we then say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us?
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns?
It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us" (Romans 8:31-34).
3. Salvation is permanent because everlasting life is everlasting.
Everlasting means eternal, perpetual, forever, endless, ageless, dateless, timeless, everlasting, infinite, permanent and ceaseless.
The Complete Word Study Dictionary states, "When referring to eternal life, it means the life which is God's and hence it is not affected by the limitations of time." The Bible says,
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life"
(John 3:16).
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believes on me hath everlasting life"
(John 6:47).
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24).
If everlasting life would cease then it would not be everlasting!
4. Salvation is permanent because God promises to never lose the one who trusts in Christ.
God promises that if you come to Him by faith He will never lose you or cast you out. What could be more assuring than this? It should settle the issue of eternal security once and for all. Jesus said,
"All that the Father gives me shall come to me; and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day" (John 6:37-39).
Verse 39 states the will of the Father. We are secure because Jesus promises to never lose us! If we can be lost after having been saved, then Jesus Christ is a failure and is disobedient to His Father. That, of course, is impossible. He was perfectly obedient in fulfilling the Father's will.
5. Salvation is permanent because the Eternal God does not give birth to temporary children.
On the human level, when you were born you became the child of your birth parents.
There is nothing that can undo that relationship, and no document nor statement can ever change the reality of that physical relationship. If it is true in the physical world, why would it be any different in the spiritual realm?
The idea of becoming unborn is nowhere, I repeat, nowhere, in Scripture!
"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12-13).
Salvation is a one-time occurrence. This could not be made any clearer than in the Gospel of John, chapter 3. Jesus said, "Ye must be born again." He did not say "Ye must be born again, and again, and again." Once you become a child of God, you are always a child of God!
6. Salvation is permanent because we are already glorified in the eyes of God.
This is an amazing fact! The believer is already seen as being in Heaven with the Lord.
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified" (Romans 8:28-30). (italics added)
We are already glorified (aorist tense) in the eyes of God. God sees us as though we have already left this earthly tabernacle, its confines, its sickness and disease. He sees us as though we have left behind our sin nature and its consequences in our lives.
If God sees it as an accomplished fact in the past, then it must and will happen to us in experience in the future, otherwise God is not God. What an awesome God we have!
7. Salvation is permanent because when you believe you are in God's hands, not your own.
I once worked with a man named Bill. Bill believed that if he were to sin after he had trusted Christ as his Savior, he needed to confess that sin before he died. If he died with unconfessed sin, Bill believed that he would be lost in Hell forever.
This idea is simply not found in Scripture. He simply could not understand the fullness and vastness of Christ's payment for our sin. In fact, he was trusting in his faithfulness of being sure he confessed his sins instead of trusting in Christ.
John 10:28 states,
"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand" (John 10:28).
This is a great verse showing the security that believers have in Christ. I like to think of the Allstate Insurance Company's motto: "You're in good hands with Allstate." While they may be a fine insurance company, you're in even better hands with the Lord Jesus Christ!
Verse 29 goes on to bring the point home even more.
"My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand"
(John 10:29).
We are secure in the hands of both the Father and the Son. But the Bible goes even further.
8. Salvation is permanent because a believer is sealed with the Holy Spirit.
Being sealed with the Holy Spirit can be illustrated by examining the historical truth of a king's signet ring. In the days of old, a king would seal a message or letter with his signet ring to guarantee that it was from him, as well as to protect the contents of that letter.
A specially crafted signet ring was made with the person's own symbol or name on it. This ring was then pressed into soft wax, which had been poured over the edge of the document, creating a seal of authenticity and protection. The impression made was proof that what was contained inside belonged to that certain person.
This is the exact word used in the Bible to explain this special ministry of the Holy Spirit. It is the Greek word sphragis.
Strong's Greek and Hebrew Dictionary explains: "signet (as fencing in or protecting from misappropriation); by implication the stamp impressed (as a mark of privacy, or genuineness), literal or figurative." The Holy Spirit is that seal of our salvation.
So as you can see, the entire Trinity is involved in keeping us saved. We are held in the Son's hand, enclosed by the Father's hand, and then sealed by the Holy Spirit.
"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" (Ephesians 1:13-14).
"And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" (Ephesians 4:30).
The Bible is clear that we are sealed and secured by the Holy Sprit until we reach Heaven. This is consistent and in harmony with the work of both the Father and the Son.
9. Salvation is permanent because, when you trust Christ, you become part of the body of Christ.
When we believe in what Christ did for us on the cross, we are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. We become one with Christ and every other believer in the body.
We become "body parts" of the body such as eyes, ears, etc. (Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-26).
The thought of parts "coming and going" is inconceivable. Yet this would have to be the case if you could lose your salvation. No, once you are part of the body of Christ you are always a part. Paul talks about the body of Christ in
1 Corinthians 12. The Bible says,
"For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit"
(1 Corinthians 12:12-13).
10. Salvation is permanent because eternal salvation is a gift, not a reward.
Our salvation does not depend on our performance, unlike all the other religions of the world. Every single other religion in the world is based on good works of some sort, and thus on the performance of the individual.
We see this in Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and many so-called "Christian" religions, such as Catholicism, Church of Christ, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, etc.
The Bible is clear. Salvation is a gift. Let me again state the obvious; a gift is not a gift if it has to be earned.
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast"
(Ephesians 2:8-9).
Thus, we can see, if we are not saved by performance (and the Bible could not be clearer), then whether we live faithfully or not has no bearing on whether we will go to Heaven or not. Yes, of course, we ought to be faithful, but that is not the issue in salvation. Salvation is an issue of GOD'S faithfulness, not ours.
If you are depending on being faithful to go to Heaven, then you are trusting in your faithfulness for your salvation. If you are struggling to hang on then you do not understand that salvation is a gift. Salvation is not something we achieve, it is something we receive, by faith. The Bible says,
"He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18).
11. Salvation is permanent because it is God who keeps us saved.
"To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time"
(1 Peter 1:4-5).
This verse is illustrated beautifully by how we secure a room at a hotel. When you call a hotel to make reservations, those at the front desk make reservations for you. You make your trip and then arrive at that specific hotel, fully believing that you have a room there. We would be somewhat surprised if there were no reservations waiting for us upon arrival. We fully expect and believe that there is a room waiting for us when we arrive, and in fact we should!
The truth is, many people have more trust in a Holiday Inn than they do in the Lord Jesus Christ! They will live their entire lives in fear that they do not have reservations in Heaven, even though God has promised them over and over that if they would simply trust Christ there would be a place waiting for them. There is no greater power in the universe than God, and it is He Himself who keeps us saved. We need to trust Him and believe what He says about our eternal home.
12. Salvation is permanent because God cannot lie.
If the Lord said that you have everlasting life when you trust Him as Savior, is it true or not?
God cannot lie, thus, it must be true. This point is something to stop and meditate on for a while. Paul's epistle to Titus states,
"In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;" (Titus 1:2).
God promises eternal life and we know that He promises it to those who believe. Do you believe God Who is infallible, or will you only believe man, who is fallible and prone to error?
The Bible says,
"If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believes on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believes not God hath made him a liar; because he believes not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life"
(1 John 5:9-12).
When we put our faith in Jesus Christ we are saved forever. We are safe and secure for all eternity. This is God's way of salvation and His promise.
The Scope of Salvation
As mentioned previously, being born again is the beginning of the Christian life, not the end. Many things happen to us when we trust Christ, the first of which is that we enter into an eternal relationship with God Himself.
Is salvation, however, simply just a home in Heaven?
No, it is far greater than that. Hand in hand with the permanence of salvation stands the scope, or nature, of salvation. There are three aspects we need to understand if we are to be balanced as Christians in our theology and spiritually healthy in our daily lives.
Let's look at them briefly:
1. The Truth of Justification.
This is the past tense of salvation. The moment a person believes, he has been saved, or delivered from, the penalty of sin. God Himself declares that person as righteous. This is justification.
Charles Ryrie states, "To justify is to declare righteous. It is a judicial term indicating that a verdict of acquittal has been announced, excluding all possibility of condemnation. Indeed, in Scripture, justification is invariably set over against condemnation (Deuteronomy 25:1; Romans 5:16; Romans 8:33-34).
The claims of God's law against the sinner have been fully satisfied. Justification is not because of any overlooking, suspending, or altering of God's righteous demands, but because in Christ, all of His demands have been fulfilled. Christ's perfect life of obedience to the law and His atoning death that paid its penalty are the basis for our justification (Romans 5:9)."
"Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:38-39). (italics added)
We who are believers are justified from all things. This would include anything we can do before or after we believe. It is all based on the finished work of Christ on Calvary!
It isn't the greatness of our sin that is the issue.
It is the greatness of the payment for our sin that our Lord Jesus Christ made for us. When we simply believe, the payment is good on our behalf and we are at that moment justified.
"Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law" (Rom. 3:28).
There are no good deeds of any kind that can be mixed with faith. God's sole condition for salvation is faith alone in Christ alone. Thus, based on the finished work of Christ, God is satisfied with the payment made for our offenses. Romans 5:1 states,
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:" (Romans 5:1).
God is the Judge and the Executor of wrath. We are by nature under the wrath of God, as stated clearly in John 3:36. When we trust Christ though, we are declared righteous and have peace with God.
2. The Truth of Sanctification.
Sanctification is the present tense of salvation.
It is deliverance from the power of sin. We have not only been saved, but WE ARE BEING saved. To "sanctify" means "to set apart."
It shares the same root word (hagios) as the words "holy" and "saint." The Complete Word Study Dictionary defines it as: "Holy, set apart, sanctified, consecrated, saint. It has a common root, hág-, with hagnós, chaste, pure.
Its fundamental idea is separation, consecration, devotion to the service of Deity, sharing in God's purity and abstaining from earth's defilement."
Sanctification in itself has three aspects to it: positional, progressive or experiential, and ultimate.
A. Positional Sanctification is what takes place the moment a person trusts Christ as their Savior. He is set apart to God and made pure and holy. It is our position in Christ.
The New Unger's Bible Dictionary explains: "Positional sanctification is just as complete for the weakest and youngest believer as it is for the strongest and oldest. It depends only upon one's union with and position "in Christ." All believers are "saints" and are "sanctified."
This is why Paul could call the Corinthian believers "saints."
He said, "Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:" (1 Corinthians 1:1-2).
Two very important issues arise in view of this epistle to this church:
1. They were literally called "saints." The words "to be" are italicized and not in the original text of the Bible. How could the Corinthians, under Divine inspiration, be called saints if they were not already saved forever and pure in the eyes of God?
2. The Corinthians lived in a very "unsaintly" manner.
How could true Christians live in such a carnal way?
The condition of this body of believers was deplorable!
Yet God Himself says they were saved.
The answer to this question is found in the fact of positional sanctification.
The way God saw them in light of eternity was not automatically reflected in their everyday lives.
However, in the eternal mind of God, they were once and for all sanctified, or set apart, and made holy. Their need was to yield to the Holy Spirit and obey God's Word for their sanctification to become a part of their everyday lives. We will look more in detail at the Corinthian saints in Chapter 5. This leads us to our second aspect of sanctification.
B. Progressive Sanctification is what we experience as Christians as we walk by faith, surrendered to the Lord and obedient to His Word.
This is what Christian growth is all about—being saved from the power of sin on a daily basis. We need to grow.
"As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:"
(1 Peter 2:2).
Make no mistake about it, growth in the life of a Christian is the express will of God in the life of every Christian. We are able to become more and more like Christ in our lives and character as we cooperate with the Lord and let Him have His way.
"But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation (manner of life); Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:15-16). (parenthetic text added)
Believers are given righteousness and holiness as a gift the moment they believe (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 6:23).
But the Christian life has to do with growing and maturing in our spiritual lives to where our position in Christ, which is our eternal standing in Christ, is reflected in our condition, or the way we are living our lives.
"Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:"
(1 Thessalonians 4:1-3).
Notice in verse 3 that experiencing the sanctification we stand in is the will of God. This verse clearly has a morally pure lifestyle in view.
C. Ultimate Sanctification is when we will be completely set apart from the world to Christ when Jesus comes back to take us home to Heaven. The Apostle John gave us a wonderful promise to look forward to in 1 John 3,
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope (joyful anticipation) in him purified himself, even as he is pure" (1 John 3:2-3).
(parenthetic text added)
In light of the fact that we shall be changed and be like the Lord when He comes back, we should live pure lives now in preparation of seeing Him.
In summary, when we trust Christ as Savior, we have been set apart to God. But as we yield to the Lord and cooperate with Him in our lives, we are being more and more set apart to Him in experience. One day we will be ultimately set apart from the world, the flesh and the devil when we are taken home to be with the Lord. This leads us to our third aspect of salvation.
3. The Truth of Glorification is the future tense of salvation.
Glorification is when we will be delivered from the very presence of sin. The Nelson Study Bible explains: "Glorification is the ultimate salvation of the whole person.... This occurs when we are face to face with our Savior....
At that time, God will completely mold us into the image of Christ." It is the ultimate salvation of the Christian in every way. We will ULTIMATELY be saved from this world into the presence of God forever.
As we have seen, the scope of salvation takes us from the moment we trust Christ through the entire Christian life and into God's presence in Heaven.
"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:"
(Philippians 1:6).
This verse illustrates all three aspects of our great salvation:
"He which hath begun a good work in you..." This is justification.
"Will perform it..." This is sanctification: past, present and future.
"Until the day of Jesus Christ:" This is glorification.
We see a similar description of the scope and aspects of salvation in Titus 2:11-14,
"For the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2:11-14).
"The grace of God that brings salvation..."
This is justification.
"Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world..."
This is sanctification.
"Looking for that blessed hope..." This is glorification.
Notice that a proper understanding of grace does not lead to licentious living but to truly godly living.
In summary, man has the need to be saved. He is born in sin, thus, separated from God. He stands guilty, condemned and helpless before God.
He is hopelessly unable to save himself and is therefore doomed to a Christ-less eternity in Hell. But the Scriptures declare,
"But God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
When a person trusts in Jesus Christ, believing that He died and paid for their sins and came back from the dead, that person receives eternal life as a free gift of God's grace, clearly illustrated in Ephesians 2:8-9.
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast"
(Ephesians 2:8-9).
The person who trusts Christ as Savior is safe and secure for all eternity. From that day on, the Lord starts working in his life to bring him to maturity and make him more like Christ in his character.
However, the believer must cooperate with the Lord for these wonderful changes to take place. To the extent he does cooperate with the Lord, he will change and become more godly in character. In all of this, we have the wonderful promise that, regardless of our successes and failures, we will see the Lord one day and be taken up into His presence, perfectly glorified and given a new body.
"For our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself (Philippians 3:20-21). (parenthetic text added)
What a wonder! There is no better life than the Christian life! There is no greater peace than to know your sins are forgiven! There is no greater joy than to know you have a home awaiting you in Heaven! We can rejoice along with Paul when he says,
"Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift"
(2 Corinthians 9:15).
Secure Forever: God's Promise or Our Perseverance?.
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