Eternal Security

Reading time: 4 minutes

What can motivate us to follow in Jesus’s footsteps? What helps us know we are okay to express our faith boldly? We can express gratitude for God’s tender care for us and Jesus’s example of suffering which ended with glory. As Jesus suffered and was glorified, so the same is true for us. We will suffer in this life but be glorified in the next.

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

1 Peter 1:6-7 NLT

When you review the whole history of the Savior in his life and death; his nights of care and prayer; his agonies in the garden; the stressful night he endured before his crucifixion; his despairing cry, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me!” (Matthew 27:46). Think how faithful he was to you; many nights alone in some cold mountain he persisted in solemn prayer to God. He suffered all this not for himself, but for you who were ruined. It was for you he toiled all his life of care — it was your miserable sins that crushed him in the garden.

Gratitude for God’s Attention to Detail

Oh, Christian! Christian! Remember with gratitude that you are not your own, but that you are bought with a price, and that price was the life of the Lord Jesus; therefore, glorify him in your body and spirit, which are his.

Make your home with Him. Tell your wants often to him in prayer, and when you are worried, tired, and distressed, cast all your care on him, for he cares for you. His all-seeing eye is always upon you, and he never will leave nor forsake you. He feeds the sparrows that have neither a barn nor a storehouse. There is not a living thing but that he keeps it, and why should we fear that he will not keep us? The very hairs of your head are numbered.

Again, we have been created in Christ unto good works, and these good works God has before ordained that we should walk in them. I am sure we should love God all the more and serve him all the better, when we feel that he is a fire around us and that he is engaged to save us, despite all our foes whether inside or outside of us.

Gratitude for Christ’s Example

Christ’s example motivates us. He pointed our feet in the way he would have us go. Yes, even more, he showed us by example the way.

There is gratitude even in a dog when you give him no more than a bone. Then let us think that we were poor, starved, rebellious dogs, who have been fed on the very flesh and blood of Christ, who has stooped to bind and heal all our wounds. When we were lost, poor, starving, and friendless, he hunted us from every place where we had wandered, took away all our grief and made our eyes overflow with tears of joy, astonished us with tokens of his wonderful love, forgiving, sweetly forgiving all our sins.

Dear reader, have you forsaken him, or left off following him? Are you tired of his service or company? Let me exhort you; I need it as much as you. Christians should never complain; why should servants complain when the Master complains not, though his suffering be greater than all the suffering of all his servants? Let us learn patience by looking at the sufferings of Christ. Homeless, often tired and wearied, and yet not a complaint escapes his lips — these are the best thoughts to stir us up to duty and not the fear of apostasy.

Instead of fear, we focus on gratitude for Jesus’s finished work and the assurance that our suffering provides as it confirms our faith.

This is post 7 in a series; you can read the previous post. This post started as the public domain works of J. H. Oliphant. While sections are the same in many ways, I modernized the language and added my thoughts to provide greater clarity for my readers.
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Reading time: 4 minutes

Whoever has God’s gift of grace, unmerited eternal life, can also have assurance that they will be in heaven because the Holy Spirit guides them into all truth. The true believer’s very nature is changed from being a slave to sin to being a slave to righteousness. Being a slave to righteousness does not mean that a true believer no longer sins, only that he is under grace, not the law.

Some people are against accepting the Bible’s teaching of eternal security because they think it allows (or encourages) genuine believers to continue in sin, putting their salvation in danger. Is it unsafe to set up the safety of saints in such strong terms because this will encourage them to be careless with their lives? If you feel that you are licensed to sin by the security that God has granted, you have not been rightly taught.

Believers are Under Grace Not Under the Law

Believers will sin less over time because they are under grace; they have been set free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2). Note that the Bible does not specify an exact time length that the believer must demonstrate this, except a lifetime.

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Romans 6:1-2 ESV

Here, we have this objection named in the scriptures, showing that it was brought against the apostles–that their doctrines suggested carelessness and living in sin. The fact that such an objection was brought against them is evidence that there was something in their preaching that led many to think that they did not believe in obedience to God. But let us hear Paul’s reply that highlights the new nature of believers. How can we who died to sin still live in it? This plainly shows that the Christian is dead to sin and that this is the reason why he does and should obey God. He has lost his delight in sin; he is dead to it.

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

Romans 6:14-15; 3:8 ESV

Believers are far removed from the law with its curse and are under grace. They do not do evil to bring about good! Who can doubt from these passages that the apostles taught that salvation was wholly of grace, and not in any degree of works? We see now that people who teach that possessors of salvation are free, are charged and slandered just as Paul was in his day.

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

1 Peter 2:15-16 ESV

These foolish men say, “If my works can neither make nor keep me holy, I would not care how I live. I would enjoy the pleasures of sin all the time.” But God’s will is that His people will silence such nonsense by a godly life–showing to the world that we are the sons of God and that it is our highest pleasure to obey him–that we feel grateful to him for what he has done for us in the past. Yes, even more, that sin has become exceeding sinful to us, so that we flee from and dread it as poison.

Grace is a More Powerful Motivator Than Fear

God’s grace grants us the precious gift of eternal life that we don’t deserve and cannot earn. We have found that all misery was brought by sin, and all our happiness is the hope of being delivered from sin. The scripture exhortation is “by the mercies of God” not by the fear of hell or apostasy.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Romans 12:1 ESV

Your greatest incentive to obedience is to think of all that Christ has done for you on the cross: his groans and death. If this will not prompt you, it is not worthwhile to threaten you with “falling from grace.” Mercy is more powerful than fear. Love drives out fear (1 John 4:18).

So, we believers can see that God’s gift of eternal life, and the security of it, are more than worth our obedience; we can delight in obedience, with thanksgiving, because of it. Look now to the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ’s love and guide you into all truth. Let nothing but His love motivate you to do the good works that God has planned in advance for you to do.

This is post 6 in a series; you can read the previous post. This post started as the public domain works of J. H. Oliphant. While sections are the same in many ways, I modernized the language and added my thoughts to provide greater clarity for my readers.
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Reading time: 4 minutes

Physical birth is a passive process for the one being born. No one takes credit for being born. The same is true of our spiritual birth. We are not asked to be brought into the physical world or the spiritual kingdom of God but are summoned by God. God causes our spiritual birth.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV

God Wills New Birth

In John 3, the Savior tells Nicodemus that he must be born again and that without it he could neither see nor enter the kingdom of God. New birth is not of the will of the flesh or man, but it is of God.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 1:12-13 ESV

Spiritual birth is of the Spirit and the Spirit acts however the Spirit pleases; it elevates one to be a son of God. He can say, Abba, Father! He is an heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ (Romans 8:15-16). Do not forget it; he is a joint heir with Christ. He is a partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).

Now, being born from above by God’s will, God guards us by His power. Jesus holds us securely. The evil one cannot remove our salvation. We have eternal life.

God Keeps Us Safe Because We are His Children

For every child of God defeats this evil world. We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.

1 John 5:4, 18 NLT

The eternal God is his keeper; and more, he keeps him as the apple of his eye, and “the evil one cannot touch them.” God’s children have overcome the world “because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world” (1 John 4:4 NLT).

Oh, to know for sure that we have this wonderful and secure plan of salvation — to feel that the strong arm of Jehovah is around me as a tender husband and that I am a plant of his own planting, that shall never be rooted up. If such thoughts as these would not encourage and comfort his poor, tried ones of earth, then I confess I am a stranger to all the sweets of the gospel.

David, in his affliction, would say:

Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.

Psalm 17:7-8 ESV

If David needed such a Savior, can we do with less than this? If he felt his need to be kept, we also need it. We, “who by God’s power, are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5 ESV). It is marvelous loving kindness in our God to be so intent on saving us.

We have evil adversaries, but thankfully, God who is all-powerful, justifies and Jesus intercedes for us. Therefore, no one can overpower Him to remove us from His grasp and kill us with condemnation (Romans 8:1, 33-34).

New birth is a miraculous transformation from spiritual death to life. Only God’s power is capable of creating us anew, and keeping us safe from all harm.

This is post 5 in a series; you can read the previous post. This post started as the public domain works of J. H. Oliphant. While sections are the same in many ways, I modernized the language and added my thoughts to provide greater clarity for my readers.
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Reading time: 5 minutes

Where the conscience is once cleansed from sins, it can never again be contaminated with sins. Proof: “He himself bore our sins in his body”; not part, but all of our sins (1 Peter 2:24 ESV). “He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26 ESV). Also, “the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7 ESV).

Certainly, we are to learn from such passages that each and every sin of all his people was “borne” and “put away” by him; and, if put away by him, salvation to his people is the inevitable result; for what is there to condemn us when all sin is put away? To say all our sin is not put away, is to deny the Bible; and to say that we can be lost, is to say we can be condemned when we are without sin.

Forever Cleansed by the Scapegoat

And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.

Leviticus 16:20-22 ESV

None can doubt this being a type of our Savior, and in it we see every sin and transgression, by this ceremony, put away. Then may we not reasonably suppose that every sin of ours, great and small, in word, thought, or action; yes, every transgression of ours, over which the law has cognizance, were all laid upon the head of our Redeemer, and by him forever borne away? This thought is full of sweetness to every Christian.

Jesus bore all our sins, past, present, and future, and made complete satisfaction for them. How can you despair? What surer basis could our hope have, and what could so fill us with love to Christ, and so inspire us with obedience? No thought so encouraging as, “Jesus paid it all, all the debt I owe.”

Forever Cleansed by the Blood

Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?

Hebrews 10:2 ESV

If one’s conscience is cleansed from sins, then what? “They have no more conscience of sins”; thus showing that whatever is washed by the blood of Christ remains clean eternally. Again, “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14 ESV). Query: By what are they perfected? Answer: By the one offering. Query: How long shall this perfection last? Answer: For all time. Forever. The word “forever” may be used in a limited sense, in some places, but here it is used in its most extended sense.

Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”

John 13:10 ESV

Jesus is saying that His “bathing” of believers results in a permanent clean (“completely”) at the deepest places in the heart. It is internal; it symbolizes the changed nature. The cleaning of feet represents the remembrance of, and dependence on, what has already been accomplished. It is an external cleansing. Confession of day-to-day sins, after a one-time bathing, restores outward behavior into alignment with the inner reality, keeping fellowship with Jesus fully unhindered.

The Savior also speaks of permanence through the analogy of bread. “This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die” (John 6:50 ESV); “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:51 ESV). “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:54 ESV); with many more such sayings.

Now let us ask, what is the state of those who eat his flesh and drink his blood? They “have eternal life;” “They shall never perish;” “They shall live forever;” “I will raise him up at the last day.” If one of them could be lost, would the Savior’s words be true when he says, “I will raise him up at the last day?” or, “He shall never die?”

Let’s consider Paul’s words to be true. “They have no more conscience of sins.” “One offering forever perfects.” This is what the Holy Spirit testifies in every saint; he breathes the sweet words in our hearts that the offering of Jesus by means of his blood, has secured eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12).

Is it possible that this eternal redemption could be overturned, or reversed, any day? Can we eat the flesh of our Savior today, and drink his blood, and tomorrow die and be lost? Is this what our Savior calls living forever? Is this eternal life? No, verily, such was not in his mind when he uttered these words; but he saw and well knew the safety of all who “taste that God is gracious” (1 Peter 2:3) and he spoke these words for their comfort.

This is post 4 in a series; you can read the previous post. This post started as the public domain works of J. H. Oliphant. While substantially the same in many ways, I modernized the language and added my thoughts to provide greater clarity for my readers.
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Reading time: 7 minutes

The Gospel is Good News only because salvation is permanent and not dependent on human effort to maintain it (Romans 9:16). If salvation were dependent on my efforts in any amount, I would not be able to keep it very long. The Good News is a positive motivation to abide in Christ and bear the fruit of His love.

The motive to love cannot come from fear of not performing. On the contrary, perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4:18). God doesn’t love us because He fears negative consequences. He loves us because He is love. Being made in His image, our love will have the same motive.

Good News: Salvation is Initiated, Maintained, and Completed By Jesus

God does not wait for people to turn, or even do anything else, but saves sovereignly. It would have been unlawful to deliver us without first redeeming us. “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14 ESV). The Holy Spirit testifies in us and to us of Christ’s death showing us the Good News, how:

• our cruel sins received their due in the sufferings of Christ;
• God is satisfied;
• the law is honored, justice fully met with all its claims, as if you had suffered eternally in hell;
• it was for you and in your place that Jesus died, and
• all this is true, and we poor, guilty sinners are saved.

This was Paul’s mind when he exclaimed with triumphant joy:

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one.

Romans 8:33-34 NIV

The Eternal Judge solemnly and in all truth (because of the death of Christ), says of us, “Just.” He says this not for anything in or of us, or done by us, but because of what Christ has done for us. Paul asks, “Who is the one who condemns?” Where is a power that can unsay what God has said? Where is the court of appeals? Who can say guilty of those whom God justifies?

Now, if there is no power above God, and none can set aside his decision, then the final salvation of everyone so justified is certain, unless God reverses his judgment. But this he will not do because with him “there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17 ESV). Besides, he knows who and what he justifies, and no evil conduct can come from one that he justifies that was not foreseen by him. Neither can any evil influence beset them that was not also of him foreseen.

Therefore, those whom God justifies are securely “sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30 ESV). To say otherwise is to say that God has taken to himself a bride, an heir, and a child, one that he knows will desert him and prove unworthy of the relationship in the end, or to say he did not know those he loves. Now, because we are sure God is free from such monstrous imperfections, we are sure the doctrine of the possibility of falling from grace is a libel on the character of God.

Paul also assigns the very reason why he justifies, saying, “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised” (Romans 8:34 ESV). He understood that Christ’s death was the whole ground of our hope and that because of his death, God could justify; but after showing that Christ has died, turning our eyes to the cross, where our elder brother and Savior was crucified, he leads us on to his resurrection, as though we were destined to enjoy the same glorious mercy; and that his being raised from the dead is a pledge to us that our bodies shall participate in his whole glory.

Then, the apostle makes another glorious revelation of Good News. Jesus “is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (Romans 8:34). This shows that Christ, after his death, resurrection, and ascension, is still intently interested in us — “who indeed is interceding for us” as though it gives additional strength to our hope. In all, showing that the heart of Jesus is set for us, to die for us, to rise even to heaven for us, and there before God, like a mighty advocate, to plead for us. All this because we are such poor, erring, sinful beings, so forgetful, so unmindful, that no part of our salvation dare be left for us to make sure.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Romans 8:35, 37 ESV

Good News: Salvation Comes Not Through Our Strength or Doings

What a blessed faith we have! What Good News it is! The believer only needs Christ to have eternal life, not self-effort to attempt to obey the law (John 14:6, 17:3; Romans 6:14). This happy, triumphant faith in Jesus hushes all fears. He is our hiding place from every wind and shelter from every storm. Because of this, David could say:

I love you, O Lord, my strength.

Psalm 86:1 ESV

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strongholdof my life;
    of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalm 27:1 ESV

Oh, Christian! Christian! If God is your light, life, and strength; if he is your shelter from the storm, what can harm you? Danger and deep trouble may be and are before you. But oh! Look, do look, “To the hills from which my help comes” (Psalm 121:1-2 ESV) and at the mighty bulwarks around you and sweetly and safely sing praises to God. Christ, as our advocate, has securely guarded every weakness.

To pay our fearful debt of sin, the dagger of Justice he received into his own heart, poured out his blood, not to make anything possible, but to make it sure with his eye fixed on one objective, our salvation. He suffered on the cross, and there, as a true and faithful shepherd, died. Language fails to express the intensity of his love for us. Our imaginations cannot do it justice, and when he arose from the dead, he still remembered the objective of his death, and now at the right hand of God, he prays for us making intercessions for us.

So, if apostasy or falling from grace is possible, it is also possible that:

• Christ’s blood is ineffective;
• Those purchased by his blood will remain forever in hell;
• God will not hear and answer Christ’s prayers, for he intercedes for us, and prays for every believer;
• Jesus, after all his pains, and after all that has been said of the virtue of his blood, and his power to save, and after all that we have hoped or believed of his influence and power in winning the hearts of sinners — yet after all this, he may be sadly disappointed;
• Heaven’s expected guests dragged down to hell;
• Seats in heaven unoccupied;
• God’s will not done (which was, “I should lose nothing of all that he has given me” John 6:39 ESV);
• The devil is a victor (at least to some extent).

Good News: We know that such fearful events as these cannot occur as long as God is the God of heaven and earth, and therefore we know that apostasy cannot be possible.

Learn more about the Good News of the Gospel.
This is post 3 in a series; you can read the previous post. This post started as the public domain works of J. H. Oliphant. While substantially the same in many ways, I modernized the language and added my thoughts to provide greater clarity for my readers.
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