“Sometimes our greatest witness is not when we’re standing on the mountaintop; it’s when we’re trusting God anyway as we go through the deepest valley. It’s finishing the race even if the cost of victory is death.” - The Baptist Paper
The question of whether the Bible teaches eternal security or that believers are “once saved always saved” is not uncommon at all. We might recall Nicodemus—a brilliantly educated Jewish leader—asking Jesus how things related to the new birth and salvation could actually be.1 In a sense, Jesus’s answers were so simple that they seemed to throw Nicodemus for a bit of a loop. But Jesus’s teaching in John 3 is very clear.2
“The questions raised by these passages are important and require answers. At worst, a misunderstanding can engender an obsessive or fearful introspection that risks damaging our relationship with our heavenly Father.” - TGC
“Peter’s argument here implies this: If refining fire is necessary for perishable gold, how much more is it necessary for imperishable faith? The gold perishes, but the faith—proven genuine in the fires of testing—does not.” - P&D
“The future inheritance for believers is not subject to death or decay since God Himself has protected it in the safest possible pace: ‘in heaven.’ These descriptions are decisive—the believer’s future inheritance is absolutely secure, not subject to forfeiture.” - P&D
“”Eternal security is one secondary issue—an issue which sincere followers of Christ debate—that has presented significant challenges for many congregants in the pews.” - P&D
“I am secure in Christ. I no longer have to fear death. I can never be condemned. No matter what I do, I cannot end up in hell. I am going to live like the devil and get away with it.” These last words reflect spiritual immaturity at best—lack of true regeneration at worst.
Fearing new believers might consider such a path, some Christians overreact. Some jettison the doctrine of eternal security and teach that a believer can lose their salvation. Others stress works almost to the point of adding conditions to salvation beyond faith alone. Yes, true faith works (James 2:26). But those works are not a condition for salvation but rather a result of it (Ephesians 2:8–10).
Can you lose your salvation? Some teach that you can. Others feel like they have. But what does the Word of God promise regarding the eternal security of those who have truly trusted Christ as their Savior?
If your eternal destiny relied on you, nothing about your future would be secure. But God designed salvation to depend on Himself alone. He offers salvation by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9). Jesus Christ finished the work of your salvation on the cross. He rose from the dead leaving nothing for helpless sinners to do but believe on Him (Acts 4:12). God not only saves you, but He also keeps you saved (1 Peter 1:5).
Reposted from Rooted Thinking.
Everyone who seeks to make disciples in obedience to Jesus Christ faces the same difficulty:
We all try to discern whether or not those we lead to profess Jesus Christ have genuinely believed.
None of us wants to give an unbeliever false hope of salvation if they have not yet repented and placed their faith in Jesus. And so, we all face frustration.
No. 872. Delivered by C. H. Spurgeon on Sunday Morning, May 23rd, 1869 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
“Being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.”—Philippians 1:6
