The Eternal Security of the Believer

Is it scriptural proof, or is it fiction? Among professing Christians, there is a division on this subject. There are some who believe that once saved, they would put it, always saved. There are others which say, you could be saved today and lost tomorrow. The Armenians would take that view. The Calvinist would take the former view, once saved always saved.

For myself, I am always distrustful of schools for interpretation, and I would say that we who are Bereans, that is to say, we who are testing all we hear and say by the Word of God, always hesitate to attach ourselves to any school. We will extract all we can from any thought, but the final test is, What sayeth the Lord in Scripture. And so it is with this subject, and with that, let us bring it before the bar of God, and see if it teaches one or the other. We had better start off with this fact, that the Scripture teaches collaboration in three tenses, Past Present Future.
PAST - starting when sin is removed
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
PRESENT - our old man is crucified with him, is freed from sin’s power
Rom 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign
Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
FUTURE - gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity
Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Freed from the power of sin, Freed from the presence of sin, Because one day we are going to be conformed to the image of His Son and we are going to be spotless and holy as He is. Now if one believes that you can be Saved today and Lost tomorrow, you can heartily ascent to the past aspect of sin. Yes, you can say, I am being saved from its power, but I’m not infallible, I might slip and fall. And if I slip and fall, I can possibly lose Salvation. So they cannot believe, really, in a future Salvation for themselves, because they might miss it, they might slip and fall and its gone forever. Now that seems a pity doesn’t it, seeing as how Salvation is Lost if that is so. Well, we need to turn to the Word of God, and see if our initial supposition is founded in Truth or Fancy.

Col 2:13 "…having forgiven you all trespasses". Note the past tense. If all means all, then this means past sins, present sins, future sins. So if All sins have been Forgiven, is it possible that any one sin can cause a loss of Salvation? If God says He has forgiven All sins, and we remember God’s Principle, He says that not only does He Forgive, but He Forgets.

What about that?
"I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jer. 31:34). If God can Forgive and Forget, and Put them behind His back, and all of those glorious Figures in Scripture, then how is it that one can trip that believer up and make that believer insecure about God’s Infinite Loving Mercy, Infinite Wisdom and Grace, His Unbounded Will, and take hold of the idea that the believer can forfeit Salvation?

What I thought we could do, is bring a number of Scriptures together and then think of them as a whole, where we can come together and see that we can honestly come to the Lord’s Salvation plan for us, and then Lose it through any fall or slip of our own.

In John chapter 10, starting at verse 27, we read, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and They Shall Never Perish," (does that look as though they can, well no - because The Savior says they can’t; They Shall Never Perish, and not only that) "neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand". (And the next verse says they can’t be plucked out of the Father’s hand)
Joh 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

Well, if that isn’t a guarantee, then I don’t know what is! Three statements there. Three unambiguous statements saying They Shall Never Perish, strongly brought before us by the Savior Himself:
They are in my hands
They are in my Father’s hands
They cannot be plucked out
No exceptions made, He didn’t say they shall never perish until they slip and fall. Let’s now turn and see what Peter says, 1 Peter v. 3:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively (Living) hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance Incorruptible, and Undefiled, and that Fadeth not away, Reserved in heaven for you, Who are Kept"

(Kept by who? Kept by You? Oh no, that wouldn’t be good),
"Kept by the Power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

Kept, or guarded until the last time. That is future, at the Resurrection. So there is no doubt in Peter’s mind that some could go on for a short time, or even for a long time and then slip and lose Salvation. They’re kept by the power of God right on till the End. Now lets go to Philippians 1 v 3. Paul is thanking them for receiving him and all their loyal fellowship, and he says:

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; Being confident of this very thing", Now, what’s is "This Very Thing"? Well, its this:
"that He (God) which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" Look at the word perform, "will finish it".
He who has begun is going to finish.
Well, Can God finish His work if you have fallen away? Well, that can’t be true can it? God doesn’t do His Work by Halves, I think that what some have forgotten, is that the whole thing from start to finish is God’s work and not the believer’s.
He is the One who Saves
He is the One who Begins
And He is the One who Finishes

He doesn’t say, ok, now I’ve started you off and now you can go on on your own strength, oh no, Never. He who has begun is going to finish His Glorious Work. And Loved ones, if that wasn’t so, can’t you see, that the Plan that is made known in the Bible would never come to its Glorious Finish. It would be ruined, because some, who the Lord had Redeemed, just wouldn’t be there. Lets go back to the words of the Savior in John 17:11:

"And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are".
Keep them, Guard them Father
Through thine own Name

Now, do you think that anyone is going to snatch Salvation away when they are guarded like that? Paul and Peter says you are guarded till that day of Glory. The Savior says the same thing.

"While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept",
He had kept them, He has kept them, and He keeps telling them that, they’ve been guarded, they are kept:

"and None of them is Lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled".

He’s referring to the 12, primarily, but surely this is true for all that are His. The Lord has guarded, the Father has guarded, None of His are Lost. But that’s not all, come down to v 24:

"Father, I will", Now, I can’t say that, I can’t go to the Father and say "I will" (see the 5 I wills of Satan in Isaiah 14:13-14), I can’t make demands like that! I have to come to the Father in supplication before the Great and Mighty God and pray for His Will, but this is The One Who Is Equal, Who Has Said, "I and the Father are One".
"Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world".

This is the Will of The Son! now, are any going to drop out? are any going to slip and be turned away from God’s Glory who He has already foreordained and now making clear to all whom He Loves? Of course not, that just wouldn’t do, Christ says, All that thou hast given me will be with me and not one will be lost and they will see my Glory. Is that prayer of the Savior going to fail?
Surely this prayer cannot fail, "I have kept them", and has His Power decreased, is He not able to complete His Plan for His children? Of course not.
Jesus Christ the same
yesterday,
and today,
and forever. All the true seed,
He has kept,
He is keeping,
and He they will be with Him, every single one. You can be sure that this is absolutely true, Praise His Name. lets go to Romans chapter 8, where we find the Godhead and His Love, who says:

"If God be for us, who can be against us?" Well, its not even worth considering is it? if you’ve got Almighty God for you, on your side, and that is then expanded, in verse 26 telling us we’ve got the Holy Spirit helping our weaknesses. He’s on our side and He’s making intercession for us, then later on not only the Holy Spirit, but the Lord in Glory.

Now those who believe that they can be Saved today and Lost tomorrow, they’ve got the Holy Sprit constantly interceding for them, AND they’ve got the risen Savior who’s doing the same thing, and then apparently that isn’t sufficient to Keep them. They can fall into some sin and then lose everything. Do you believe that? I can’t, I can’t, because I believe this is Absolutely Effective, and not only that, the Glorious challenge at the closing of this chapter would not be true if you could be saved then lost finally through our own failure. Paul says of his persuasion in verse 38:

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord".


Now wouldn’t it be Stupid to say, after all that language, that well, I might sin and lose God’s Salvation? Well lets take that and take comfort from it.
NOTHING can separate you from God’s Infinite Love, for God Is Love, and He is not the God of the Dead but of the Living, and not only that, but if your life is Hid in Christ With God, then NOTHING, NOONE, can take you, not even you yourself. Well, where does it say that you might ask, lets turn to Colossians 3, the first verses:

"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory".

Well then, what’s all this talk about losing something, because it is certainly safely hid With Christ IN God. But there must be something that says I can lose something, Yes, yes, there is something you can lose, but it can’t be speaking of the same thing, for God cannot contradict Himself. Lets go to Titus, where we find written to us who are Gentiles,
"Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began".

He has promised us before the world began a sure hope, something we can most certainly hold and keep as our own truth, because if it is His Truth being made known to us, then it is our Truth as well. Now there are different spheres of blessings in the Bible, and although you CANNOT lose your Salvation, you can lose your prize. There is much to look at regarding the difference between your Salvation and continuing on in Faith for the receiving of a special Prize, or you can "draw back" so as to lose this Prize, but the Prize is not your Salvation.
Salvation is a gift,
"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.not of yourselfs, lest any man should boast," (Eph 2:8-9)
The Prize is the Prize, it is the something in addition to your free gift of Salvation,
"the free gift is of many offenses unto justification", we read in Romans 5:15,16,18.

And you certainly want to continue on and receive the Prize, to be standing and hearing the words "Well done My good and faithful servant". Now, there is talk of working out your own Salvation, and this has to do with continuing on in your Faith and receiving the Prize. Work out your Salvation is to work for your Prize, or draw back and cast it away for some short term frill, casting off God for the moment. And THAT friends, is something every individual must seek to work out INDIVIDUALLY, to "work out your own Salvation".

This is a very, very short study on this Most Glorious Subject, which is nothing less than the Goal of God's Redemptive Plan for the Ages. A very short look into this vast subject, for there is so, so very much, much more to look at, but I thought this might help some come to terms with the scare tactic, doom and gloom type teachers who have something else on their minds, (usually your money), because it just is not so beloved. God Love You More Than You Know And More Than You Can Know.

In His Grace, to His Glory. Amen.