First and foremost, it is important to realize that we do not earn our salvation in any way. Real salvation, which is being saved from the wages of sin and the wrath to come, comes from the Lord. We do not in any way save ourselves. God is the one who saves us.
The Bible teaches that salvation is a free gift that is not earned. When you become a Christian, it is not because you did something to earn it, it is because you received a gift. . Receiving a gift is not a work. When a person believes on Jesus Christ, as the Bible requires, they are accepting and receiving the gift of salvation made possible by Christ’s sacrifice . Unbelievers have not accepted this gift.
The strongest case that can be made for "eternal security" is the words Jesus chose to describe what we call “being saved” or “going to heaven.” Jesus used the words "eternal life" and "everlasting life," to describe being saved. If God gives you a gift that is everlasting, and you at some point don’t have it any more, it was not everlasting! Everlasting means “lasting forever. ” This may sound a little basic, but many people believe that everlasting life is not really everlasting, or say that you can at some point “give the gift back” as it were . The only problem is that you would still not be “living forever” if you ended up going to hell. Hell is where "the dead" are. Jesus said God is not God of the dead but of the living. Therefore, everlasting life is life that goes on for forever. If you have everlasting life, that means you will never die (and go to hell).
The Bible says we have been purchased by God, through the blood of Jesus, and that we are going to be redeemed some day. If you go to the store and purchase something, is there anything that the purchased item can do once you’ve bought it to cause it to not be yours anymore? Or in the days of slavery, people were literally purchased. There was nothing that person could do to change their master.
The Bible says that when we are saved, God gives us the Holy Spirit as a “seal” until the day of redemption, and also says that he will abide with us for ever (John 14:16). . Believers are sealed until the day of redemption, so it is impossible to break the seal prior to that day.
The Bible also speaks of the “earnest of the Spirit” . Just as someone that buys a house today has to put down an “earnest deposit” to demonstrate that they are serious about buying and intend to complete the purchase, God has given us the Holy Spirit to assure us that we are His, and that he intends to someday redeem us. Notice, however, that if the buyer fails to make the purchase, he also forfeits the earnest deposit. If you could lose your salvation, God would have to forfeit the earnest of the Spirit, which is of course, impossible.
Jesus likened salvation to being “born again” in John 3:3-7. Elsewhere in the Bible, we are told we are God’s adopted children. Can you imagine someone adopting a child, going through all the trouble of bringing him into their home, and then returning them to the orphanage if they rebel? Yet, this is what many Christians believe God does when his children rebel against him. Can you imagine a parent even telling a child he is going to take them back to the orphanage?
What a good parent does with a rebellious child is spank them. The Bible is clear that God expects parents to spank (“chasten”) their children (Proverbs 13:24). And in the same way, when we rebel and start living in sin, God chastens us. He chastens his own children, because they are his children. The unbeliever, however, will be judged not as a child, but as a condemned criminal.
In a very profound portion of scripture, Jesus washes the disciple’s feet. . Many people read this and only see the humility our Lord demonstrated, which is definitely part of the lesson . But there is more to this story than just being humble and serving one another. He actually demonstrates the fact that once we are washed our feet are the only thing we need to wash. We are "clean ever whit". We read:
Notice that Jesus told Peter that once someone is washed, they only need to wash their feet, but they are clean “every whit”. When we are saved, Jesus washes us in his own blood (Rev. 1:5). Notice that Jesus told the disciples that they were clean, except for Judas (who did not believe on Jesus (John 6:64)). Jesus said once someone is washed, they are clean every whit; only their feet need to be cleaned. Our feet are what we walk with. Likewise, the way we walk is often influenced by the world, and we start getting “filthy feet” walking in this sinful world; that is to say we fall into sin. The way we clean up our feet is with water (which is the word of God (Eph. 5:26)) . But as for the rest of us, once we are washed we are clean every whit. There is no need to ever get washed again.
Are you trusting in Christ's righteousness to get you to heaven, which the Bible says is imputed to us by faith? Or are you trying to establish your own righteousness by living a clean life and trusting that to keep you from going to hell?
According to the Bible we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus. This being the case, when does the blood of Jesus stop cleanising us? Or how do we become unredeemed? Is the blood of Christ sufficient to save us, or do we need to add to it? It is the literal blood of Jesus that saves us. The Bible says wthout blood there is no remission.
In Romans 8 we have a passage the Calvinists call "The Golden Chain", where those who are predestinated all end up saved in the end with no loss along the way. The important distinction I want to make here is that in Romans 8:29 it says those whom he foreknew he did predestinate. God predestinated those whom he knew would get saved, he did not just choose who would get saved. The Bible says he is not willing that any should perish. (2 Peter 3:9) But some people will perish....because it's up to every person to make their own choice. But everyone.....everyone who is foreknown ends up glorified. And in Ephesians 2:5-6, everyone.....everyone who is saved has been raised.
Think about this for a minute. If salvation is not eternally secure, there is only one thing that can possibly change your status as being saved. Jesus paid our sin debt in full, ascended up to heaven and sat down at the right hand of the father. His work is done. So he isn't going to change. If you think you can lose your salvation somehow, it can only be because of something you did. And the things that you do are your works. Sin is trangression of the law, so not sinning to stay saved is the same thing as following the law to stay saved. And the Bible warns us about following the law as a means of salvation...whether receiving it or maintaining it. Because if your outcome is based on what you are doing right now, basically Christ's death, burial and resurrection becomes of no effect to you....it's you that has to keep the law if you believe that.
Hebrews 4:3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Galatians 2:21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Galatians 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.I think if God were sitting here next to me right now and wanted me to emphasize anything at all, it would be the fact that it's about JESUS and WHAT HE DID FOR US.....NOT about US and WHAT WE CAN DO FOR HIM. I mean, Jesus was GOD and left his home in heaven to sleep on the ground, and be subject to all the frailties of human life. He lived a sinless life in a crooked and perverse generation full of false teachers who accused him of all manner of blasphemy and ultimately falsely accused him to get him put to death. He was put to an open shame, being stripped of his clothing, scourged to the point he was marred more than any man who ever lived, spit upon, smitten in the face by the priests, and led away to the most painful and humiliating kind of death ever known to mankind. His closest friends all forsook him, and he was left to die alone. And he was made to be sin for us who knew no sin. He had the weight of every wicked thought, every filthy abomination of mankind laid upon his bloody shoulders to bear. And if all that weren't enough, the Bible says he went to hell for 3 days and 3 nights. Hell is what is in the heart of the earth, not paradise. The paradise of God is UP in heaven, not DOWN. He did all of this so you could have ETERNAL LIFE. How can you add to this great sacrifice? Or what will you bring to the table in contrast to this? Your works are NOTHING compared to this. Let's talk about God's work! Let's talk about JESUS. I'm trying to say JESUS IS OUR SAVIOR!
Pastor Steven Anderson
Pastor Johnathan Shelley
Pastor Roger Jimenez
Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
