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Eternal Security
Can a person who has been
saved lose his salvation? This question has been a perplexing question to
many. Maybe you have been questioning the genuineness of your
salvation. Are you really saved? Are you really sure?
Although the phrase "eternal security" does not occur
in the Bible, phrases that are equivalent do occur. Phrases such as
everlasting life, eternal life, eternal salvation, eternal inheritance,
eternal redemption, etc. occur dozens and dozens of times throughout the
Bible.
Eternal security is not a separate doctrine from that of eternal life
or eternal salvation. It is one and the same. In fact, the only salvation
God offers to mankind is eternal. "For God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish,
but have everlasting life (John 3:16)."
God does not offer probation, but He offers salvation. God does not
offer a trial period, but rather, offers to completely save and give eternal
life to anyone who responds to His invitation to trust Jesus Christ as his
or her only hope of heaven.
Consider the alternative, that you could lose your salvation. By
virtue of the fact that you could lose it, would mean that keeping salvation
would depend upon your efforts or actions to keep it. In other words, a
person who says that he can lose his salvation for whatever reason is in
reality saying that he is trusting in human works to save him. Look at
Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace (mercy) are ye saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; NOT OF WORKS, lest any man should
boast." Salvation is not of works and therefore a person who is trusting in
his works is not and will not be saved. What are we saying? Plainly
stated: a person who says he can lose his salvation is not saved. Or he is
thoroughly confused and lacks assurance of salvation.
If you are not saved forever, then you are not saved. Let me say it
again. If you are not saved forever, then you are not saved.
Salvation, as taught in the Bible, is a present possession, received at
the time of the new birth or acceptance of Christ as one's personal Savior,
and is kept secure or eternal by God's power. Consider such references as
John 3:16; John 3:36; John 5:24; John 10:28; Hebrews 9:15; Hebrews 10:10;
Hebrews 10:14; I Peter 1:4-5.
Jesus Christ made the promise in John 6:37 that He would never cast out
anyone who had trusted Him as Savior for any reason. "All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise
cast out." He meant exactly that. There is no circumstance or instance
that would cause Christ to cast a saved person aside.
Some have said to me, "Okay, Christ won't cast me out, but I can cast
myself out." This is impossible. Read with me John 6:39 where Jesus said,
"And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that all which he hath
given, I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last
day." Jesus promises that He will never lose anyone who has come to him for
salvation and that this is the Father's will.
If any one saved person were ever lost, then Jesus Christ would be a
liar because, He said in John 6:39 that He would not lose one. If just one
saved person in all of history were lost, then Jesus Christ would be a liar.
Praise the Lord that Jesus Christ is a Savior who will deliver on what
He has promised. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me
hath (possesses now) eternal life (John 6:47)." Jesus Christ promises
eternal life as a present possession to all those who believe (trust) in
Him.
The heart of all the misunderstanding concerning this subject is the
fact that human works or merit have zero to do with salvation. Many
Scriptures make it so clear that we are saved by faith and not by
works. For example: John 3:18; Romans 3:24-28; Romans 4;5; Ephesians 2:8-9
and so on.
In addition to this, there are many clear Scriptures which teach that
anyone who is trusting in works (church membership, baptism, confirmation,
living the Christian life, etc.) in addition to faith in Christ will not be
saved (Romans 11:6; and Galatians 5:2-4). Thus we are to trust in Christ
only to be saved.
The work of salvation was finished on the cross by Jesus Christ himself
(Hebrews 1:3). If we want to be saved, then we must believe that Jesus
Christ finished the work of salvation on the cross, and receive it as God's
free gift (Romans 6:23).
"I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be
put to it, nor anything taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should
fear before him (Ecclesiastes 3:14)." (See also Romans 8:38-39.)
After we are saved, we should live for Christ out of love and gratitude
for all He has done for us. We will be rewarded for faithful service or
suffer the loss of rewards for not serving the Lord, but we will be
eternally saved (Corinthians 3:11-15). Also, if we live in rebellion we
will still be saved, but God will chasten us in this life and might take us
home to heaven prematurely. (See Hebrews 12:6-8; Corinthians 11:30-32.)
Salvation is by grace through faith. It is a free gift, and is wholly
without works (Romans 3:27-28; 4:1-8; 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9). The divine
order is first salvation, then works (Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 3:5-8).
"Blessed Assurance" is a favorite hymn of many who claim to be
saved. But it is only wishful thinking to those who believe they can be
saved today and lost tomorrow.
"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 (Romans 8:38-39)." A
saved person can know and be absolutely assured of his or her
salvation. Nothing can undo what God has finished (Ecclesiastes 3:14).
"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the
Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life (I John 5:13)."
* Written by Dr. Hank Lindstrom
The moment you put your trust in Jesus Christ, God who can read your
mind knows, saves YOU and gives you the Gift of God, eternal Life.
You do not need anyone to pray over you, or pray for you, because this is
between you and God in heaven. Because of your new trust in the shed blood
of Jesus Christ you are now a child of God. Before you trusted in Jesus, God
was your creator but now and forevermore he will be your father.
You are saved in a moment of time, because you are trusting in the
true Savior now, not working your way to heaven day by day which is not even
possible.
Once saved you can never be lost, for any reason. This is because you were
born spiritually the moment you put your trust in Him. Just like your
physical birth which brought you into this human world, your spiritual birth
gave you a new spiritual life that is permanent. You were born-again, made
righteous and holy in Gods eyes. In fact you have the righteousness of God
himself, your are sinless and perfect in God's eyes now and that's why you
can enter into a perfect heaven.
My favorite saying is:
God will not save anyone who is
trying to be saved, He will only save those who are trusting to be saved.
You MUST put ALL your trust in Jesus to be
saved, trust in the blood that He shed on the cross, trust that He is God in
the flesh, trust that He made the complete payment for your sins, not just
part; He paid for ALL of your sins (past, present, and future)! Trust that
He rose again from the dead after 3 days and 3 nights, and in return for
this trust, He gives YOU Eternal Life. All false Christians put part of
their trust in Jesus and part of their trust the Church and part of their
trust in themselves. If you put 99.99% trust in Jesus and 00.01% in
something else, you will go to hell. It must be 100% trust in Jesus and what
He did and 0% in you or your church! This
information in critical... (grace always cancels works!) You are going to
hell if it's by your works or you are going to heaven by Gods grace. It's as
simple as that.
So I guess the question comes down to who
are you trusting. Are you trusting yourself to get to heaven by being a good
person and giving lots of money to your church or are you trusting Jesus,
the lamb of God, that was slain for the sins of the world to get you to
heaven? You receive the Gift of God (Eternal Life) as soon as you stop
trusting in yourself, your church, your synagogue, your mosque, your money,
or any other works and put your trust in Him and Him ALONE, Jesus Christ,
Yeshua, The King of Kings, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the
Alpha and Omega, the Mighty God.
False religions are everywhere and
they will find you, the one true God and His plan of salvation must be
found.
If all this makes sense to you and
you would like to trust Jesus as your personal Savior right now then
tell the Mighty God in Heaven of your decision to trust Jesus Christ as your
only hope of heaven. Tell Him that you are no longer putting your trust in
your actions, or your church, or your church membership, or in your money,
or in your Rabbi, or in your synagogue or your Mosque but that you are
putting all of your trust in Him and the shed blood of the cross to pay your
sin debt. Thank Him for doing it for you! Thank Him for giving you the Gift
of Eternal Life that He paid for with His life. There is no greater deed
than that of laying down your life for another.
Will you trust Jesus as your Savior
right now, the one who shed His precious blood on the cross of Calvary to
pay for all your sins?
Sinners Prayer:
Lord, I admit that I'm a sinner & I don't understand a whole lot about the
bible, but I do believe that Jesus Christ died & paid for my sins in full,
by His death & shed blood on the cross. I trust right now the He died for
me, was buried & rose again from the dead and will live forever more. I
trust Jesus Christ right now to save me, to be my savior, to forgive my
sins & to give me the GIFT OF GOD Eternal Life. Amen
By reading this sinners prayer aloud, you
are putting your trust in God and His plan of salvation. You are not saved
by saying this prayer, you are saved the moment your mind made the switch
from trusting in yourself to putting your COMPLETE TRUST IN JESUS
CHRIST. That moment may have been five paragraphs up on this page or that
moment may have been on another one of our pages. You will not feel any
different, but you will be changed and changed for the better forever. Once
you have trusted Jesus as your savior and received his gift of eternal life,
this gift can NEVER be lost. You can NEVER go to hell for ANY reason.
Your past, present and future sins were paid in full the moment you put your
trust in Him. You are blameless and Holy in God's eyes now and FOREVER. If
you have eternal life today what kind of life will you have in five years?
ETERNAL! What kind of life will you have in ten years? ETERNAL!! What kind
of life will you have in 50 years? ETERNAL!!! God does not give probationary
life or temporary life, His gift is ETERNAL LIFE! Thanks be to GOD!
Why be good, now that I am assured of going to heaven? Because God's law of
sowing and reaping still applies to you and me. You will reap what you sow.
You will reap more than you sow and you will reap later than you sow. If you
drink alcohol like a fish, you will reap a diseased liver. If you smoke like
a chimney everyday, you will reap lung cancer. If you rob, murder, and steal
you will reap a life in prison. You will reap what you sow. I guarantee it!
Now that you are saved, when you do good things you WILL be rewarded here on
earth and in Heaven. And when you do bad things you WILL lose rewards that
God had planned on giving you here on earth and in Heaven. But you will NEVER lose
your guarantee of going to heaven. That can never be lost for any reason!!
You have God's word that your salvation can never be lost for any reason.
You did not earn salvation and you do not work to keep salvation! Eternal
Life, salvation, being born again, becoming a child of God, was, is,
and always will be the GIFT OF GOD.
Remember: If your not saved forever... you are not saved!
Why is this true you might ask? Because if a person is not sure that they
are saved TODAY / RIGHT NOW it means that they are still trying to be the
savior! They can't be sure they are going to heaven because they don't know
what sin's they may commit next week, next month or next year. We who have
trusted in Jesus alone, can have comfort knowing that all our sins have been
paid in full on the Cross of Calvary (past, present, and future sins). Jesus
has already died for my sins so I don't need to pay for any sin I have or
will commit in the future because Jesus already paid the price in full with
His blood. So called Christians who say that you can lose your salvation
because of suicide or murder or falling away from the church don't have a
clue what the Bible says and clearly have not trusted Jesus ALONE!
Biblical Salvation is forsaking
any other means of salvation but Christ and casting ourselves fully upon Him
for eternal life.
The Gift of God, Eternal Life can never be lost once possessed for any
reason. John 6:39 " And this is the Father's will which hath sent Me, that
of all which He hath given Me I should LOSE NOTHING, but should raise it up
again at the last day." You have God's promise that once you put your trust
in Jesus you can never be lost for ANY reason whatsoever.
"For the gifts
and calling of God are
without repentance” Romans 11:29 Again, God is telling you that this Gift of
God that you have just received is without repentance. He can never take His
gift back for any reason, no matter how bad you get, or how bad your sins
are it is not possible. God would have to cease to exist for that to happen
because He cannot lie.
Thanks for visiting GetGodsGift.
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