Eternally Secure
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Is it possible for
Christians to lose the salvation that is received by trusting Jesus Christ as
Savior? Not according to the Bible! There is more than adequate
Biblical proof that our eternal life really is eternal. Christ's Work is Sufficient to Keep us Saved Christ's work on the
cross is not an ongoing matter. His work of salvation is finished! ·
Jesus Christ is not
continuing to redeem us; He has once and for all redeemed us. "Being
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus" (Rom. 3:24). ·
Jesus Christ is not
continuing to satisfy God's righteous demands against our sin; He has once
and for all satisfied Him. "And
he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of
the whole world" (1 Jn. 2:2). ·
Jesus Christ is not
continuously becoming a sin substitute for those who trust in Him; He has
once and for all become a substitute us. "For
he has made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor. 5:21). ·
Christ's death did not
merely provide a chance for salvation for those who believe; He provided a
once and forever salvation. “And
I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish” (Jn. 10:28). Christ Provided Eternal
Life, Not Probationary Life We are given eternal
life, which by its very nature is forever life. "My
sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal
life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My
hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is
able to snatch them out of My Father's hand" (Jn. 10:27-29). The life which Christ
gives is not said to be temporary life or probationary life or life until we
sin again but eternal life. This life is insured by the everlasting hold of
God the Son and God the Father.
Would it be possible to do something, anything, to so spurn God's love
that it would cause Him to change His mind about our life and release His
grip on us? "All
that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will
by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own
will, but the will of Him who has sent Me. This is the will of the Father who
sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up at the last day" (Jn. 6:37-39). There is nothing that we
can ever do, not one thing, to cause God to cast us out. The casting out of a
child of God is simply not possible! God said it, and God always says what He
means, and He always means exactly what He says. Immersed Into Union With
Christ At the instant that we trust in Jesus Christ to save us, we are
baptized in one Spirit into the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). His
characteristics become ours. When Adam died, every member of the human race died in him. Just
as we received death by our physical connection with Adam, we receive life by
our connection to Jesus Christ. "For as in Adam, all die; so also in Christ shall all
be made alive" (1 Cor. 15:22). What kind of life does the Lord Jesus Christ have? He has eternal
life. But He does not merely possess eternal life; He is eternal life. By
becoming a part of His body, we inherit that forever life. "And this is the testimony: that God has given us
eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; He who
does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things have I written
unto you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that
you have eternal life, and that you may believe in the name of the Son of
God" (1 Jn. 5:11-13). His righteousness also becomes our righteousness. "And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness,
which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith" (Phil. 3:9). We also receive the same relationship that Christ has with His
heavenly Father when we are placed into Him. Since He is the Son of God, we
likewise become children of God. "For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus
Christ. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ (immersed into Him)
have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:26-27). This is a mysterious truth and that is
exactly what Paul calls it. "For we are members of His body, of his flesh, and of
his bones. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the
church" (Eph. 5:30,32). But God not only places us into His Son, He then seals us in Him
forever. Sealed
Forever In Christ
At the moment that believers are immersed into the body of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit seals us there. God the Holy Spirit’s seal becomes the guarantee that our position in Christ is secure. “In Him, you also, after listening to the
message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were
sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a
pledge of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, to
the praise of His glory" (Eph. 1:11-14). The
word “pledge” is the Greek word arrobon. It was often translated in
the ancient world “engagement ring.” An engagement ring is the symbol of a promise.
It stands for a guarantee that the person who gave it will fulfill the
promise. It is truly a pledge.
God has given to us His Holy Spirit to seal us “in Christ.” This is God’s pledge that guarantees
that we cannot ever get out of Christ. God specifically chose the word arrobon
to describe the Holy Spirit’s sealing ministry. “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge” (2 Cor. 1:21-22) 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 “For we know that if the
earthly tent” - The tent is a metaphor for our physical body. “Which is our house is torn
down” - Our human spirits live in an earthly tent which is our
physical body. One day our
physical body will die, if the translation (rapture) does not occur in our
lifetime. “We have a building from
God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We have a body made by the creative
genius of God waiting for us!” “For indeed in this
house we groan - In our physical bodies we groan.” “Longing to be clothed
with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be
found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened,
because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is
mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very
purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. (arrobon)” (2
Cor. 5:1-5). Note again the mention
of God’s pledge, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee that we
are going to get our new bodies. Sealed Until
Ephesians
1:14 tell us that we are sealed in
Christ "until." Until is a time word that signals the moment that
the seal will be broken. This seal cannot be broken by anyone but God. "Until"
points to the final redemption of the particular purchased possession (the
believer). The redemption spoken of here is not that redemption from the
penalty of sin (Eph. 1:7). That happens the moment that we believed in
Christ. But it speaks of the final removal of the body from the very presence
of sin. The Holy Spirit's seal becomes the guarantee that this future
redemption of the body will take place. “And not only this, but also we ourselves, having
the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in
hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for
what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with
perseverance we wait eagerly for it” (Rom. 8:23-25). It is as though God
places us into His Son and locks us up in Him until He calls us to be with
Him. Thus, the Holy Spirit's seal is the proof of our future redemption. "For
by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified"
(Heb. 10:14). This relationship to God
created by being "in Christ" is exactly what Paul had in mind when
he explained that absolutely nothing could separate the Christian from God’s
love. "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 created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:38-39). New American Standard Bible Word Pictures in the New
Testament; A. T. Robertson |
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