Now it doesn’t really make sense to even debate this! We are promised eternal life, as believers in Jesus Christ and of the gospel. It wouldn’t be forever or eternal if we could lose it, right? I sought Jesus when I was the absolute most insecure with everyone and everything, and my repentance was also a response from the call of God.
Here’s just how secure we are.
1. The Believer is Part of the Body of Christ - 1 Cor. 12:12-13, 27; Eph. 4:12; 5:30 (spiritual application - Job 41:17), Matt. 19:6; Mark 10:9; Eph. 4:12, 16; 3:6; Rom. 12:5; II Tim. 2:13.
A. In addition to being held securly by the Hand of Christ and God - John 10:28-30...
B. The believer is PART OF HIS HAND
2. The Believer is "in Christ" - Rom. 8:1; I Cor. 1:30; 15:22; II Cor. 1:21; 5:17; Gal. 3:27-
28; Eph. 2:10, 13; Phil. 1:1; Col. 1:2; I Pet. 5:14.
3. There is no condemnation to the Believer - Rom. 8:1; I Thess. 5:9-10; John 5:24.
4. The Believer "knows" Christ - II Tim. 2:19; John 17:3; John 10:27 - thus, the Believer can never be in the condition of Matt. 7:23.
5. The Believer is "born" of "incorruptible seed" - 1 Peter 1:23
6. The Believer is "sealed by the spirit" till the "day of redemption" - Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30; II
Cor. 1:22; Rom. 8:23 (1 Cor. 15:51-54)
7. The Believer is a "Joint-heir" with Jesus Christ - Rom. 8:17; Gal. 3:29;
8. Jesus is an Eternal being (John 8:58; Rev. 1:8, 11; Mic. 5:2; Eph. 3:11); being "in Christ," part of His body, and a "joint-heir" places the believer in the position that shares Christ's eternity with Him CURRENTLY - Eph. 2:6.
9. The Believer's "life is hid with Christ in God." - Col. 3:3
10. Nothing can separate the Believer from the love of God - Rom. 8:38-39 - which means, the believer will never be the subject of God's wrath (John 3:36), hate (Ps. 5:5), or condemnation (John 3:18).
11. The Believer's life is "everlasting" (John 3:16) and "eternal" (1 John 5:13), as opposed to temporary or pending. What good would the term "everlasting" be if it really meant "conditionally lasting." See also John 5:24.
12. The Believer is "chosen" - Eph. 1:4; II Thess. 2:13 - with as much favor and acceptance as Christ - John 17:24; Eph. 1:6;
13. The Believer is "elect" according to the foreknowledge of God - 1 Pet. 1:2
14. The Believer is "begotten again unto a lively hope" - 1 Pet. 1:3
15. The Believer is "kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" - 1 Pet. 1:5
16. The Believer is predestinated:
A. to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ - Rom. 8:29
B. to be adopted - Eph. 1:5; Rom. 8:23
C. to his inheritance - Eph. 1:11
17. The Believer has the Spirit of Adoption - Gal. 4:5-6; Rom. 8:15
18. The Believer is a Son of God - John 1:12; Gal. 4:5-6; Rom. 8:14, 19; Php. 2:15; I John 3:1-2;
19. The Believer has the righteousness of Jesus Christ - 2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 4:5; Rom. 10:10; 3:25-26; 5:17-18, 21; 10:3-5;
20. The Believer is led by the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:14) which will not lead him into hell.
21. Christ is in the Believer - Col. 1:27; Gal. 4:6; - Christ has the power over sin and death
and hell - Rom. 8:2; Rev. 1:18; I Cor. 15:56-57;
22. The Holy Spirit is in the believer - Rom. 8:11; I Cor. 3:16; II Tim. 2:14;
23. Believer is part of the Bride of Christ - Eph. 5:23-32; II Cor. 11:2; Rev. 21:2, 9;
24. The Believer is secured by God's greatness and knowledge despite serious doubts of the heart - 1 John 3:19-21.
25. Other New Testament believers give the example of having complete assurance of their Salvation which surpassed any contingency - 2 Tim. 1:12; Phil. 1:6; I Pet. 1:3-5.
26. The Believer didn't work to get salvation (Rom. 4:5; 3:28; Gal. 2:16; Titus 3:5), therefore the believer cannot work to keep salvation - 1 Pet. 1:5.
27. The present tense of "hath everlasting life" and the past tense of "is passed from death unto life" shows that salvation is a completed deal once the sinner "believeth on Him" - John 5:24.
28. God promised "eternal life" and He "cannot lie" - Titus 1:2
29. Possession of "life" is based on only one contingent - 1 John 5:12
30. The Believer's works may "be burned" but "he himself shall be saved" - 1 Cor. 3:15.
31. The Believer's body, soul, and spirit will "be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" - 1 Thess. 5:23-24
32. The believer is sanctified and perfected by the one offering of Jesus Christ for ever and for all - Heb. 10:10, 14.
Here’s the deal. Eternal life is through Jesus Christ and His finished works on the cross and our belief in that and in Him. If one can lose eternal life, then it was never eternal (John 3:16). It’s literally that simple. We are then sealed forever- and it is the Holy Spirit who regenerates us and produces fruits we need and cannot produce on our own. It is NOTHING of ourselves we are saved nor kept saved- it is the literal power of God Himself- working on our behalf forever and also within us.
The Christian's salvation is one hundred percent God's work. Man does not contribute anything to it. Our salvation is based upon the completed work of Jesus Christ on the cross. His resurrection proves His sacrifice for our sins was acceptable to God the Father. We come with no merits, no good virtue, or anything that would make us look good in God's eyes. We are helpless sinners, dead in trespasses and sins. We come with empty hands to receive God's free gift of eternal life. It is God's free grace received through faith in Christ alone. Saved by grace will be our theme throughout eternity. Because it is His work that saves, we can have complete assurance that He will finish what He began in us.
I give them eternal life" (John 10:28a).
Eternal life is His gift to them. Jesus lays down His life in death so that His sheep may receive His life. This life is a free gift, sovereignly bestowed on the believer. It is not merited or earned. "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). We deserve the death penalty because we are guilty sinners, but Jesus paid our debt. "The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Eternal life or salvation to use the apostle Paul's designation for the same gift is free. It is a gift. You cannot purchase a gift. You cannot earn a gift. It is freely given as a gracious gift. The sheep cannot perish because the Shepherd is eternal. He rose from the dead; He lives. No true saint of God will perish. (John 3:16, 36; 5:24; 10:10; Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 2:16, etc.) "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day" (John 6:40).
"I give them eternal life." John uses "life eternal" seventeen times. This life principle begins in the new birth or regeneration and makes us alive spiritually. Nothing dead can give itself life. The Son of God alone bestows this spiritual life. The Holy Spirit kindles faith in us. This life is "eternal," and goes on endlessly unaffected by physical death.
They shall never perish" (John 10:28b).
The original is even stronger. It is a double negative ou me: "they shall never – not perish, never." ou mē apolōntai eis ton aiōna ("they will not ever perish") makes better English.
"Perish" (appolumi) never means to suffer annihilation or cease to exist. The idea is to be separated from God or to be punished in hell.
Believers sin, but they have a perfect Shepherd who never loses a single sheep. Everything depends on the Shepherd, not the sheep. Our great Shepherd defends and preserves His flock.
Remember what Jesus told Peter the night before he denied Jesus three times? "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that
your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:31-32). Sifted, but not rejected. God perseveres with His saints. "His gracious power is all-sufficient to protect every believer forever," notes Lenski.
"No one will snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:28c).
How big is your God? In contrast to the ravenous wolves, our Shepherd is Sovereign. The wolf attacks and snatches away, but our great Shepherd guards His sheep. Nothing, and no one can touch His sheep without His permission (Romans 8:28-39).
No one can "snatch" them out of our Shepherd's hand. Harpazo has the idea of violence. Not even a violent snatching can remove us from the Savior's hand. "Our continuance in eternal life depends not on our feeble hold on Christ, but on His firm grip on us. . . . They will be saved, no matter what earthly disaster may befall" (Leon Morris, Gospel According to John, p. 521).
Where are you right now? You are in the Good Shepherd's hand. He "raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6-7). No one will snatch me out of My Savior's hand.
1. Definition: the work of God which guarantees that God’s free gift of salvation is eternal and cannot be lost, terminated,abrogated, nullified, or reversed by an thought, act, or change of belief in the person saved.
Since man does nothing to earn or deserve the free gift of salvation, he can do nothing to lose the free gift of salvation. God does not give with strings attached; he does not take back what He once gives. Eternal security is defined as an unbreakable relationship with the integrity of God, the perfect righteousness, absolute justice, and immeasurable love of God. It is an unbreakable relationship because God will not break the relationship regardless of what we do or fail to do.
2. God the Father’s purposes in salvation cannot be overridden. The same group He foreknew, He predestines, called, justifies and redeems., A careful examination of these verses shows that of those who are eventually glorified none are lost from those foreknown. Omniscience of God knows all the knowable, every contingency, possibility and permutation out to infinity. He perceives simultaneously, instantly, eternally, all the knowable. Foreknowledge is a subcategory of divine omniscience. In foreknowledge God distinguishes between the actual and possible and knows who of his creatures is positive at God consciousness and would respond to whatever impetus to be saved, and those who would not. God desires that all men be saved and so those who are foreknown are elect. In the divine plan set forth in the Divine Decrees God determined that in human history His sovereignty would co- exist with human volition so that His will would not override or abrogate human responsibility.
Rom. 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren;
Rom. 8:30 and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
3. God the Father’s omnipotence is more powerful than human attempts to negate salvation. He is able to keep the believer secure. It is God who saves, faith is merely the means, but the work is God’s so the preserving of the work is God’s.
Jude 1:24 ¶ Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,
John 10:28 and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.
John 10:29 "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
4. Argument from the character of God
God is omniscient, He knows all the knowable; He knows all the knowable simultaneously; and He has always known all the knowable. This means that billions of eons ago God knew you would exist. God knew every thought you would every have, He knew every word you would ever say, and He knew every thing you would ever do. He knew your motives, desires, wishes. Nothing you can ever do will surprise God.
God is omnipotent. God has the ability to do whatever is necessary to bring His plan to completion. When you combine God’s omniscience with His omnipotence we see that God knew all the facts, so God was able to devise a plan so great and vast and detailed that it included the solution to not only every sin you would ever commit, but every sin anyone would ever commit. No sin surprises God, no sin was left undealt with, no sin is too great for the plan of God.
To say or think that you can say or do something that jeopordizes your salvation is the heigth of human arrogance and blasphemy toward the character of God.
5. No one, angelic or human, can bring a charge or condemn those who are saved. Since Christ’s death covers all their sin and they have the righteousness of Christ imputed on the basis of faith alone, nothing can be charged against them. If any sin can undo a believer’s salvation, then either a. Christ’s death did not pay for that sin; or b. Christ’s payment was not enough so our persistence in obedience would also be necessary. (A) impugns the sufficiency of Christ and charges God’s plan with inadequacy and thus is blasphemy of the highest order, (b) places man’s salvation ultimately upon His own work and merit.
Rom. 8:33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;
Rom. 8:34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
6. To think you can help God is arrogance and reverses the plan of salvation. God saves us we do not save ourselves. Human failure cannot cancel the power, provision, or promise of God.
7. When you understand the dynamics and complexities of what God must do to save even one unbeliever you realize how complex it is.
Imputation: At the moment of faith alone in Christ alone God imputes to the believer the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. You are not saved because of any human righteousness but because of His righteousness. Therefore, you cannot loose salvation for a reason based on human righteousness.
Justification: God declares you to be justified because of your possession of perfect righteousness. Since that perfect righteousness is never taken from you; you can never lose justification. The imputation of divine righteousness is the only means of justification. Justification is an eternal relationship with God based on His integrity, not ours. It is based upon our possessing His righteousness.
Spiritual birth. At the instant of faith alone in Christ alone, God the Holy Spirit creates and simultaneously imparts to the believer a new human spirit. To lose salvation would mean that God would have to destroy that new human spirit.
Eternal life: At the instant of regeneration God imputes to that human spirit His very own eternal life. This is a free gift based on a promise. God does not steal back his gifts nor place conditions upon them. A gift is a gift. God would have to destroy your eternal life in order to take away your salvation. God cannot cancel eternal life once He has given it.
8. Jesus Christ prays continuously for us to be kept in salvation, since His prayers fulfill all the conditions for answered prayer, God always answers His prayers.
John 17:11 "And I am no more in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, the name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are.
John 17:12 "While I was with them, I was keeping them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
John 17:13 "But now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves.
John 17:14 "I have given them Thy word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
John 17:15 "I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.
John 17:16 "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
9. Christ as the head of the body cannot sever a member once joined to the body; 1 Cor. 12:13, 21
10. The character of God means that God keeps His promises. Since God is immutable, eternal, infinite, and perfect righteousness He cannot cancel the gift once it is given no matter how bad the believer is. Remember, Christ paid the penalty for every sin, so once that is applied, nothing the believer can do is "unpaid for."
2 Tim 2:11-13. "Faithful is the Word. If we died with Him [and we have, doctrine of positional truth], we shall live [the certainty of eternal salvation] with Him. If we endure [in suffering for blessing], we shall rule with Him [as mature believers in the Millennial kingdom]. If we deny Him [failure in the spiritual life], He will deny us [rewards, blessings in eternity]. If we are unfaithful [disbelieving, faithless], He remains faithful [and still saves] us], for He cannot deny Himself [because of Who He is]."
11. The Holy Spirit seals us at the moment of redemption which is our guarantee for protection and salvation, 2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13, 4:30; 2 Tim. 2:19
12. The syntax of Ephesians 2:8-9
"For by grace you have been [eimi plus a perfect periphrastic participle] saved in the past with the result that you stand saved forever through faith, and this [salvation] is not from yourselves; it is a gift from God, not by works, lest any man should boast."
The Greek perfect periphrastic in Eph 2:8 takes the sense of the tense of the participle, indicating the present results of an action completed in the past. This is one of the most emphatic expressions in Greek which indicates there is no possible loss of salvation.
13. Our position in Christ protects us. Rom. 8:38, 39
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing is able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
14. Identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection means that at the moment of salvation through the ministry of God the Holy Spirit [known as the baptism of the Holy Spirit], we are inseperably identified with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. Such identification once made is irreversible and provides eternal salvation.
Rom. 6:2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
Rom. 6:3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have
been baptized into His death?
Rom. 6:4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
Rom. 6:5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,
Rom. 6:6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin;
Rom. 6:7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
Eternal
ETER'NAL, adjective [Latin oeternus, composed of oevum and ternus, oeviternus, Varro. The origin of the last component part of the word is not obvious. It occurs in diuturnus, and seems to denote continuance.]
1. Without beginning or end of existence.
The eternal God is thy refuge. Deuteronomy 33:27.
2. Without beginning of existence.
To know whether there is any real being, whose duration has been eternal
3. Without end of existence or duration; everlasting; endless; immortal.
That they may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 2 Timothy 2:10. What shall I do, that I may have eternal life? Matthew 19:16.
Suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Jude 1:7.
4. Perpetual; ceaseless; continued without intermission.
And fires eternal in thy temple shine.
5. Unchangeable; existing at all times without change; as eternal truth.
ETER'NAL, noun An appellation of God.
Security
SECU'RITY, noun. [Latin securitas.]
1. Protection; effectual defense or saftey from danger of any kind; as a chain of forts erected for the security of the frontiers.
2. That which protects or guards from danger. A navy constitutes the security of Great Britain from invasion.
3. Freedom from fear or apprehension; confidence of safety; whence, negligence in providing means of defense. Security is dangerous, for it exposes men to attack when unprepared. Security in sin is the worst condition of the sinner.
4. Safety; certainty. We have no security for peace with Algiers, but the dread of our navy.
. Anything given or deposited to secure the payment of a debt, or the performance of a contract; as a bond with surety, a mortgage, the indorsement of a responsible man, a pledge, etc.
6. Something given or done to secure peace or good behavior. Violent and dangerous men are obliged to give security for their good behavior, or for keeping the peace. This security
in being bound with one or more sureties in a recognizance to the king or state.
I. What is security if it isn’t secure and lasting? A) Job 11:18- Take thy rest in safety
1) Heb 4:1-16- Christ is our rest
2) Matt 11:29- Rest for the soul in Christ 3) Psa 116:7- Rest for the soul
II. Salvation has always been by grace through faith
A) Heb 12:2- Christ the author and finisher of faith
B) Phil 1:6- He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it
1) Num 23:19- Hath God said and shall He not do?
2) Tit 1:1-2- God cannot lie
i. Eternal means eternal
a) John 3:15-18- Eternal and everlasting mean nothing if they pass away or can be lost
1. Rom 8:1- No condemnation
b) John 3:36- Hath everlasting life
c) John 4:14- Everlasting life
d) John 5:24- Believers hath everlasting life and no condemnation
e) John 6:27- Meat that endureth unto everlasting life
f) John 6:35-47- Believers have everlasting life and won’t be cast away
g) John 6:54- Hath eternal life
h) John 6:68- Words of eternal life
i) John 10:25-30- Eternal life given and none can pluck them away
j) John 17:2-3- Give them eternal life
k) Heb 5:9- Author of eternal salvation
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l) Heb 9:12-15- Promise of eternal inheritance and redemption m) 1 Pet 5:10- Hath called us unto eternal glory
n) 2 Pet 1:11- Entrance shall be into everlasting kingdom
o) 1 John 2:25- Promise of eternal life
p) 1 John 5:11-13- May know ye have eternal life
q) 1 John 5:20 Eternal life in Christ
1. Paul agrees
• 2Thess2:16-Everlastingconsolation
• 1Tim1:16-Everlastinglife
• 2 Tim 2:10- Elect to obtain eternal life in Christ
• Tit 3:7- Made recipients of eternal life by grace
• Acts 13:46-48- Denying everlasting life by unbelief
C) Eternal life is by righteousness
1) Heb 11:7- Noah righteous by faith
2) Heb 11:14- Abel righteous by faith
3) 1 Pet 2:24- Peter’s audience made alive through imputed righteousness 4) 1 Pet 3:8-15- Peter’s audience righteous
5) 1 Pet 4:17-18- House of God is counted righteous
6) 2 Pet 2:8- Lot righteous (certainly didn’t “endure” as is taught)
D) Eternal life is by the blood of His cross
1) Heb 9:12- Eternal redemption
2) 1 Pet 1:18-19- Are redeemed
3) 2 Pet 2:1- Denying the Lord Who bought them (unbelief)
i. 2 Cor 5:19- Reconciled the world
ii. Rom 5:9-11- Reconciled while enemies 4) Rev 5:9- Redeemed by His blood
i. Eph 1:7- We have redemption through His blood ii. Col 1:14- We have redemption through His blood
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iii. 1 Tim 2:6- Ransom for all
iv. Tit 2:14- Redeemed all E) Eternal life is “In Christ”
1) 1 Pet 5:14- In Christ
2) Rom 16:7- In Christ before Paul
i. Rom 3:24- Redemption in Christ Jesus
ii. 1 Cor 1:30- Christ our redemption F) Eternal life is by faith
1) Heb 10:34- Better and enduring substance (faith)
2) Heb 10:39- We believe to the saving of the soul (believe in order to be saved)
3) Acts 15:11- Peter believed in order to be saved
4) 1 Pet 1:5- KEPT b y the power of God through faith
5) 2 Pet 1:1- Having obtained like precious faith
i. Gal 2:11-18- Paul and Peter both justified by faith
G) Eternal life is by spiritual birth/creation through baptism into Christ
1) 1 Pet 1:3- Hath begotten us again
2) 1 Pet 1:23- Being born again
i. 2 Cor 5:17- All “In Christ” are new creatures
3) 1 Pet 3:18-21- Spiritual baptism and not water
i. 1 Cor 12:13- Baptized by Spirit into one body
H) Eternal life and salvation the same for the circumcision and uncircumcision
1) Acts 15:11- No difference
i. Rom 4:9-16- Same for both groups
I) Eternal life is by the foreknowledge of God
1) 1 Pet 1:1-3- Elect according to foreknowledge of God
i. Rom 8:29-30- According to God’s foreknowledge
J) Eternal life is by faith today and will be physically revealed at the Lord’s coming
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1) 1 Pet 1:5-13- Ready to be revealed at His coming
i. Rom 8:23-25- Hope for what is not yet revealed physically
K) Eternal life is by sanctification
1) Jude 24- God to preserve the saved
2) Heb 10:10-14- Perfected through sanctification
3) Heb 12:23- Written in heaven and made perfect
4) 1 Pet 2:24- ARE healed
i. Rom 8:29-30- Are sanctified
ii. 1 Cor 1:2- Are sanctified
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