Those who know me know that I agree 100 percent with Jack on the question of eternal security. A Christian can NEVER lose their salvation. Why? Because our salvation is held in God's hands, not ours. He is the one who guarantees it. It's right there in His Word:
1 Corinthians 1:8-9;
Colossians 1:22;
Philippians 1:6,
2:13;
Titus 2:14;
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24. How many times times God have to say it?
David understood this truth—that it is God who sanctifies us and purifies us and makes us fit to be in His Holy Presence—a thousand years before Christ. In
Psalm 19:13 he wrote, "Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous
sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression." As further evidence, if you go to Psalm 119 and look at the entire fifth section, you will see David fully understood that it is God Himself who is responsible for doing the sanctifying work in us. David wrote:
"
33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, And I shall keep it
to the end.
34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law; Indeed, I shall observe it with
my whole heart.
35 Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it.
36 Incline my heart to Your testimonies, And not to covetousness.
37 Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things,
And revive me in Your way.
38 Establish Your word to Your servant, Who
is devoted to fearing You.
39 Turn away my reproach which I dread, For Your judgments
are good.
40 Behold, I long for Your precepts; Revive me in Your righteousness.
Notice that David did not say "I will teach myself...I will get understanding...I will walk in the path of Your commandments...I will incline my heart...etc., etc." No, in every verse he called on God to do these things for him. And he says that if God does the work in him, he will be able to follow it. Only in verse 40 does he mention anything that he brings to the deal up front: he says, "I long for your precepts." Yes, the only thing David knew he could offer was his desire for God and His Word. That's it. And God called David "a man after His own heart." (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22) Now we Christians, thanks to Jesus Christ, do not even bring this desire to the equation. Philippians 2:13 tells us that it is God who works in us to desire and work what pleases Him. He does this for us through the living presence of the Holy Spirit whom He places in us when we
by faith accept Jesus Christ and His finished work on the Cross as being fully sufficient for our salvation, our sanctification, and our eventual glorification. The Holy Spirit in us is what changes us from the "old things (that) have passed away" and places within us the "all things (that) have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The entire contract between human beings and God is succinctly stated in Colossians 1—
"
21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled
22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—
23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard..." (Colossians 1:21-23a).
Note that it is God who not only has reconciled us to Himself through the death of Jesus Christ but it is also HE who will present us "holy, and blameless, and above approach in His sight." That is HIS part. Our part is introduced by the word IF. God says He will do the foregoing if we do the following— "continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard." That's it! The entire New Covenant —the complete contract between God and human beings—is expressed in one sentence. He contracts to do ALL the work, if we just place our faith in Jesus Christ and what He did. And even our part is not entirely on our shoulders, because Jesus says whoever comes to Him He will in no way cast out (John 6:37). He then goes on to say that He will lose none who are His (John 6:39); indeed, nobody and nothing will be able to snatch us out of His hand (John 10:28) or separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38-39.) Note that this passage actually says that nothing in all creation is able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is part and parcel of the promise God gave to His people, collectively and singly—in places such as Deuteronomy 31:6,8 and Joshua 1:5—that He would never leave us (i.e: physically depart from us) or forsake us (i.e: turn His heart from us) … a promise that is reiterated to Christians in Hebrews 13:5.
This security is why Paul wrote to the Corinthians with their shaky and sometimes corrupted faith to "examine yourselves
as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?" (2 Corinthians 13:5a) Paul was saying that an inspection of their faith—that is to say what their faith was placed in and the resulting evidence of the proddings of the Holy Spirit within them—would ensure them that they are indeed Christ's and heirs to all the promises..."unless, indeed, you are disqualified." (2 Corinthians 13:5b) What does that mean? The Greek actually conveys the meaning that the Corinthians by testing themselves whether they are holding to Jesus Christ alone will know that they are Christ's, because it is faith alone in Jesus and what He did on Calvary that is the sum total of our part of the contract with God. It is only that if by examining themselves they realize they are trusting in something else—another god, personal behavior, good works, religious activities, or whatever—other than "Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 1:23, 2:2) that they will discover they have failed the test (which is the actual meaning of the Greek word translated "disqualified".) So, brothers and sisters: where is your faith placed? Is your hope of salvation placed entirely and exclusively in Jesus Christ? Is He your A plan and you have no B plan? Then you are His. You are saved. And you are secure forever.
The entirety of the foregoing is why I can state with complete and utter Scriptural confidence that no Christian can ever be lost. You see, if you accept by faith that Jesus Christ is the source of everything we receive and the Cross is the only means by which it is made available to us, then the Holy Spirit HAS come to dwell in you and He HAS sealed you for all eternity (Ephesians 1:13; 2 Corinthians 1:22). Not only that, He has made you into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) and, thus, will give you new desires. After all, He is the HOLY Spirit, and His nature is that of God: pure and holy. What proceeds from salvation is what we call sanctification: learning to walk in God's precepts so that our behavior here on earth—and thus the proof that our witness about Jesus Christ is true—will reflect Jesus Christ and HIs beautiful character. This alone is what will draw others to salvation.
But one caveat to all this— our fundamental faith MUST be in Jesus Christ and what He did through His death and resurrection. If it is, then we will begin to desire the things of God. Now, it is possible that our outward behavior may not change for a long, long, long time. Hopefully it will to some degree; but it may not. However, our inward desires WILL change … more and more. A saved person can (unfortunately) still get drunk, get high on drugs, even cheat on their spouse, engage in unclean things such as pornography, and engage in a myriad of other unclean, worldly, ungodly practices … just like an unsaved person. The difference is that the saved person KNOWS it is wrong and truly desires to stop these things. His or her struggle is ongoing. And eventually, when they realize that Jesus has already won the victory for them and they place their faith for victory on that truth and become willing to sacrifice their own self will for God's will, they will find the Holy Spirit more and more producing the victory over that besetting sin until it is all gone and they walk in complete freedom. (This way all glory goes to God for what He does in them, and no glory will go to themselves for having overcome.) So, the saved person struggles against sin; the unsaved person will just continue on and on, seeing nothing wrong with any of it. The test Paul spoke of earlier is actually this— is your faith only in Jesus and do you desire to serve God in your innermost self, or not? If you do, then that is proof that the Holy Spirit is indwelling you and you are indeed saved. If you really do not care at all about the way you live, then it is evidence the Holy Spirit is NOT in you and therefore you are not saved. The solution (if that concerns you) is to immediately realize your need of salvation, be willing to change your thinking about God and sin, confess that you are a sinner and desire to change, accept that Jesus Christ paid the entire price for your sins, and tell Him you surrender your life to Him. That's it. If you mean that, then He will know; and without any doubt the Holy Spirit will come and take up residence in you for the rest of your life. He will give you new desires which will change the way you live, in order to make you an effective witness when you share Him with others. And then when you eventually die, you are guaranteed to live with Him, in perfection, forever.
So, unsaved person— there is instant hope for you if you want it. And saved person—you are already secure forever.
I pray this message helps someone in some way.
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