John 5
24"I assure you, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.
John 6:37-40, “37However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. 38For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do what I want. 39And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them to eternal life at the last day. 40For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life--that I should raise them at the last day."”
Romans 5
9And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s judgment. 10For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life.
Romans 8:1, “1So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”
Romans 8:31-39, “31What can we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?
33Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has given us right standing with himself. 34Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us.
35Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? 36(Even the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep."[12] ) 37No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. 39Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
1 Corinthians 14I can never stop thanking God for all the generous gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Christ Jesus. 5He has enriched your church with the gifts of eloquence and every kind of knowledge. 6This shows that what I told you about Christ is true. 7Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8He will keep you strong right up to the end, and he will keep you free from all blame on the great day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. 9God will surely do this for you, for he always does just what he says, and he is the one who invited you into this wonderful friendship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Ephesians 4
30And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he is the one who has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.
Hebrews 7
25Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save[1] everyone who comes to God through him. He lives forever to plead with God on their behalf.
Hebrews 3
5Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house, but only as a servant. His work was an illustration of the truths God would reveal later.
1 Peter 1
4For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for his children. It is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5And God, in his mighty power, will protect you until you receive this salvation, because you are trusting him. It will be revealed on the last day for all to see.
Jude 1:24, “24And now, all glory to God, who is able to keep you from stumbling, and who will bring you into his glorious presence innocent of sin and with great joy.”
All the redeemed once saved are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever. What is eternal security? It is question that bears discussion briefly. First before we can ask the question of what is eternal security?, we must ask what it is not. Many have confused eternal security with once saved always saved. While once saved always saved says that you can sin and keep on sinning and keep your salvation, if you read such texts as 1st John 1:5-10, Romans 1, and well most of the New Testament, you get the sense that to have this sort of view would seem to come in conflict with the fact that God is holy demanding retribution for sin, thus is why He sent His Son down to die for us on the Cross. If then this is the view of once saved always saved, biblically speaking it is incorrect and false. The correct view however is eternal security. In this brief treatise we will examine why this doctrine is so important.
First off I do not support once saved always saved. It supports living in habitual sin something I know all to well. You see if we hold to our thinking and our own logic we can justify our sin, but that isn’t what God expects of us. God expects us to see the Truth once the truth is represented. Perhaps the greatest verse on this is Romans 8:31-39 quoted above. It gives the sense that the believer is secure in His love and arms. During Jesus ministry He reached down into the humanity of people’s existence. As believers we are not perfect and we mess up. It is though that we are a work in progress marked for progression towards holiness. I know many do not like that word holiness, but we are marked for holiness. As God’s stamp, God will go at nothing to cause us to spark us forward in holiness cause He is holy Himself, and wanting for us to be holy since He created us as human beings to be holy and bear His image.
Romans 6 15So since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does this mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! 16Don’t you realize that whatever you choose to obey becomes your master? You can choose sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God and receive his approval. 17Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you have obeyed with all your heart the new teaching God has given you. 18Now you are free from sin, your old master, and you have become slaves to your new master, righteousness.
19I speak this way, using the illustration of slaves and masters, because it is easy to understand. Before, you let yourselves be slaves of impurity and lawlessness. Now you must choose to be slaves of righteousness so that you will become holy.
20In those days, when you were slaves of sin, you weren’t concerned with doing what was right. 21And what was the result? It was not good, since now you are ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. 22But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.
Romans 13
13We should be decent and true in everything we do, so that everyone can approve of our behavior. Don’t participate in wild parties and getting drunk, or in adultery and immoral living, or in fighting and jealousy. 14But let the Lord Jesus Christ take control of you, and don’t think of ways to indulge your evil desires.
Galatians 5
13For you have been called to live in freedom--not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love. 16So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict. 25If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. 26Let us not become conceited, or irritate one another, or be jealous of one another.
Titus 2
11For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. 12And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with self-control, right conduct, and devotion to God, 13while we look forward to that wonderful event when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. 14He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing what is right.”
It is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word which however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an exercise for sinful living and carnality. Eternal security does not teach us that living in sin is okay. Eternal security teaches us that while we sin, God will still meet with us and at our level of need even as He met those who didn’t know Him and those who did know of Him. Eternal security accounts for the fact that while each of us have sinned and stumbled at various points in our walks with God, God reaches into the core fabric of our being sanctifying us and cleansing us of our sins. Not only this though but to deny the doctrine of eternal security is to deny justification, regeneration, election and separation. God is absolutely holy and demands justice for sin. God does not approve of any form of sin but specifically prohibits believers in Christ indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the temple of God residing in the hearts of believers to be involved in anyway in habitual sin. If you read Romans 1 you will see, as well as other Scriptures along these lines. Habitual sin is a major no, no.
In tension between eternal security is sanctification. Every saved person is involved in a daily conflict the new creation in Christ doing battle against the flesh-but adequate provision is made for victory through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The struggle nevertheless stays with the believer all through this earthly life and is never completely ended. All claims to the eradication of sin in this life are unscriptural. Eradication of sin is not possible, but the Holy Spirit does provide for victory over sin (Galatians 5:16-25; Ephesians 4:22-24; Phil 3:12; Colossians 3:9,10; 1st peter 1:14-16; 1st John 3:5-9). So you see the point is that while we are justified by faith in Christ, positional sanctified (God no longer remembers our sin), we are also a work in progress which is progressive sanctification. The doctrine of eternal security is closely linked with the doctrine of progressive sanctification. There is also by the work of the Holy Spirit a progressive sanctification by which the state of the believer is brought closer to the likeness of Christ through obedience to the Word of God and the empowering of the Holy Spirit. The believer is able to live a life of increasing holiness in conformity to the will of God, becoming more and more like our Lord Jesus Christ (John 17:17, 19; Romans 6:1-22; 2nd Corinthians 3:18; 1st Thessalonians 4:3-4;5:23).
We see clearly then what eternal security is and what it is not. Eternal security is not pulling out your eternal life card and declaring yourself a believer. Eternal security rather shows us that we have to submit our lives before Christ as a living sacrifice, because He wants to make us holy, not through anything we have done or will do, but because of what He has done, and what He wishes to accomplish through us. It is this that is the foundation of eternal security. Is your faith secure? Are you sure that you belong to Him today? If not there is no greater day than today to make sure your faith is secure. Commit your life, the work of your hands and everything you do to give glory to the Lord.
If you are not secure in Christ, I urge you today to commit your life to Jesus Christ right now by changing your life through receiving Him. He loves you and wants to have a personal relationship with you today. All you have to do is repent of your sins and believe upon His finished work on the Cross. Then and only then will your sins be forgiven, and the blood of Christ applied to your life. Christ stands in the gap as the Sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the world. The only question now is will you respond as He speaks to your heart? The answer to that question will determine if you are eternal secure in Christ or not.
Pastor Jenkins
