Declaring Doctrine | Part 20 | The Doctrine of Eternal Security
Alright well we’re there in John 3. Tonight we are continuing our series called Declaring Doctrine. We have been doing a systematic study on major doctrinal issues from the Bible. Recently we’ve been looking specifically at this doctrine of salvation. Recently we looking at the issue and tonight we are also going to look at salvation but specifically the topic of Eternal Security.
Jude 1:1 “1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: 2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. 3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”. It’s interesting that Jude here says that he gave all diligence to write on unto you of the common salvation. He wanted to write about salvation and about the things regarding salvation. And he said, when I stopped to think about salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith. And the thing is that today and even through the time of Jude, even the time of the first century, the gospel was under attack during the time of Jude. And it’s under attack today. There are many false doctrines and false beliefs and false religious movements out there that are attacking the doctrine of salvation. And one of the main ways that the gospel is attacked today is through this idea of eternal security. It is the attack against the doctrine of eternal security or what we call the eternal security of the believer. And of course the doctrine of the eternal security is a doctrine that teaches that a person once they are saved cannot lose their salvation. We often call it once saved always saved.
What I want to do tonight is just lay a foundation and give you 5 statements as to why we believe in eternal security, 5 statements why we can’t lose our salvation. Most people out there believe that you can lose your salvation. And I realize in a church like ours that this might be repetitive. It might be review. It might be something that you already know. But it’s always good for us to review the things that we know. And when we go soulwinning, we could encounter some people that need more than just the normal argument for eternal security.
5 statements, 5 thoughts as to why we believe in the doctrine of eternal security. And it’s good for us to preach about these basic fundamental things because it’s our job to earnestly contend for the faith. It’s our job to be continually fighting. Even in a church like this, if we don’t talk about it and don’t review it, people could creep in. That’s what Jude talks about. There are those who have crept in unawares and people will try to creep into a church like this and start doubting certain doctrines, start questioning certain things. So I want to speak to you tonight on the subject of eternal security. At Verity Baptist Church, we very much believe that once you are saved, you are always saved. You can never lose it. It’s not just something that we believe because we’re Baptist although most Baptists do believe it. It’s something we believe because the Bible teaches it. So let me give you five statements tonight, five thoughts, five arguments in regards to why we believe in the eternal security of the believer. Any one of these is enough to prove it but I’ll give you five of them and that way you can have them in your notes and ready to use them as you need them when somebody asks you about it our soulwinning.
Number one we believe in the eternal security of the believer because of God’s promise of everlasting. One of the reasons we believe in eternal security is because that’s what God promised. God promised everlasting life. Notice John 3:15 “15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”. That means they won’t go to hell. They’re not going to perish in hell. The word eternal means it has no end. He says he wants to give us eternal life. Then it says here in verse 16 “16 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.”. Everlasting means it will last forever. The Bible teaches that salvation is having eternal life or having everlasting life.
What I want you to notice is when you get everlasting life. Look at verse 36. John 3:36 “36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”. The word “hath” is an older way of saying our modern word “has”. Hath means to hold or maintain a possession. It means to hold in one’s use, to acquire or get possession of. It means to hold certain. The Bible says “he that believeth on the son hath”. Or we could say they have, they hold, they maintain in possession. To have in someone’s possession.
Because there are a multitude of verses that say eternal or everlasting but people claim that you get that once you die. But the Bible says “he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life”. This means you have it, you possess it, you get it the moment you believe. And this is emphasized as well throughout scripture. John 5:24 “24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”. John 6:47 “47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”.
Yesterday we were out soulwinning and I had the privilege of getting a young man saved who was a Spanish speaker. The question he was wondering about as I was giving the gospel was about people who go to hell and whether or not they exist and our conscious. I explained this to him and he understood it but it’s good for us to make sure we all understand this the Bible never calls hell life. The Bible calls hell death. The Bible calls it the second death. And when someone is in hell, they’re not alive. They’re dead. They’re eternally dead. And when someone is saved, they’re alive and they’re eternally alive. Jesus said I am the resurrection and the life. When someone dies who’s saved, when they die physically, they enter into the presence of God. They spend eternity in the presence of God. They are possessing everlasting life. But the idea is that they get it the moment they believe. When they believe, they have it. They possess it. You get everlasting life the moment you believe. And the Bible says that if you don’t believe in everlasting life, if you don’t believe that salvation will last forever, then you’re making God a liar.
1 John 5:10 “10 He that believeth” And by the way, this is always the word that comes up when we talk about salvation, “believe”. “10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.”. They’ve made God a liar. Why have they made God a liar? Because they don’t believe the record that God gave of his Son. When you don’t believe the record that God gave of his Son, you’re making God a liar. You’re calling God a liar.
Well, what’s the record? Look at verse 11. “11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”. Notice that the Bible says when you deny the fact that God has given you eternal life, you are denying the record that God gave of his Son. And you’re calling God a liar. You say well how is it that you’re calling God a liar if you deny that it’s everlasting life or it’s eternal life. Here’s why. Because our eternal security is dependent upon the fact that God promised everlasting life and that God keeps his promises.
Go to Titus 1. Often times when I’m out soul winning, I give people this illustration when it comes to eternal security and especially if they’re struggling with the idea of eternal security. I tell people “Look, if God gave you everlasting life starting today, starting right now, life that’ll last forever and is never going to end, when it is going to end?”. They will then tell me that it will never end. I’ll ask them if it will end in 5 years and they say no. I’ll ask them if it will end in a thousand year and they will say no. Then I say ok, “Let’s say you receive everlasting or eternal life today and then five years from now you walk in the bank and you rob the bank and you kill somebody. Do you think God will take away your everlasting life?”. Sometimes people struggle with that and say “I think he would take it away.”. Then I ask “Did it last forever? Because if it didn’t then God would be a liar”.
Titus 1:2 “2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;”. See, my hope for eternal life is that God cannot lie. My hope for eternal life is that God made a promise that God said it would last forever, that God gave it to me. I have it. I possess it the moment I believe. And from that day forward, if it ever ends then that would make God a liar. So why do we believe in eternal security of the believer? First of all because of God’s promise of everlasting life. God cannot lie and he promised us eternal life. That’s our hope for eternal life. Most so-called Christians out there do not believe in eternal security. But the Bible teaches it because of God’s promise of everlasting life.
Let me give you a second argument from the Bible as to why we believe in eternal security. We believe in eternal security because God the Father disciplines us but does not abandon us. At salvation, you became a child of God. John 1:12 “12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”. When we got saved, when we believed on Christ, when we called upon him for salvation, the Bible says that he gave us the power to become the sons of God. Jesus called it being born again. He says when you get saved, you’re born again. It’s not just a phrase but it’s reality. We’ll talk about that in a different sermon in the same series when we talk about the new man and the new creation that comes with salvation. But when you got saved, there was a new creation that was born. There was a new man that was born and you were born into the family of God.
1st John 3:1 “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”. When we got saved, we were born into the family of God and God became your heavenly Father. It’s good for us to be reminded of these things and it’s good for us to explain these things to people when we’re giving them the gospel. God as our heavenly Father disciplines his children when they do wrong.
Sometimes people think “Eternal Security is teaching people that they have a license to sin and you’re just telling people that they can just do whatever they want.”. It’s funny because there’s not that many churches that teach eternal security, there’s not that many churches that believe that once you’re saved you’re always saved. But the churches that do teach eternal security, those are usually the same churches that are preaching the hardest against sin. I mean find me a church in Sacramento that preaches harder against sin than Verity Baptist Church. You won’t find a church that preaches harder against fornication, that preaches harder against drunkenness, that preaches harder against whatever sin you want to name. You also won’t find a church that fights harder for this doctrine that you can’t lose your salvation. We believe in eternal security because God is our Father but we also believe that because God is our father, he’ll discipline you. See, the two go hand in hand.
Hebrews 12:5 “5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”. That’s a spiritual spanking. Now here’s what’s interesting. “7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.”. He’s saying if you can just live your life worldly and sinful and God never punishes you but you are without chastisement which we’re all partakers of then we are bastards and not sons. Don’t let that word offend you. That’s a Bible word. We just read it from the Bible. But a bastard is someone that doesn’t have a father. He says look, if you’re a so-called Christian and can just live however you want and you’re never punished, maybe God’s not your father. Maybe you’re a bastard spiritually. Maybe you’re not a child of God since God disciplines his children as any good father would.
Look, we don’t tell people to live however they want. What we tell people is that you can never lose your salvation. You’re secure in Christ. You became a child of God, God became your heavenly father. When God becomes your father, he’ll never stop being your father. But that does not mean that he won’t discipline you. It does mean though that he won’t abandon you.
Hebrews 13:5 “5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”. People you talk to think that God is your father if you believe but you will lose your salvation if you do bad. Look, no earthly father would send their child to hell if they do wrong and the Bible says this “11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”. God is a better Father than any of us and if we would never give up on our children then God will never give up on us if we are his child. One reason we believe in eternal security is because when we got saved, we got born into the family of God. God became our Father. We became his children. I became his son and that relationship will never end.
People say “Well you’re giving people a license to sin.”. Well here’s the thing. I have a heavenly Father and he’s going to chastise me. He’s going to scourge me and he’s going to give me spiritual spankings. And please understand this, if you’re saved then God will chastise you. If you sit there and don’t care what God says or the Bible says then be prepared for God to come down hard on you for your sin. But he’ll never take away your salvation. Once you’re in the family, you’re in the family forever.
We believe in eternal security. Why? Because of God’s promise of everlasting life. We believe in eternal security. Why? Because God is our Father and God the Father disciplines but he does not abandon. He will chastise us upon this earth. And look, on this earth God will chastise us. He will punish us now on this earth. He’ll correct us on this earth but he’ll never take away our salvation. And look, your earthly father might have failed you but God will never fail you. Even if your earthly father or mother abandoned you, God never will. He will always love you. He will always be there for you. He will chastise you as needed but he will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
Why do we believe in eternal security? Number 1 because of God’s promise of everlasting life. Number 2 because God the Father disciplines but does not abandon his children. Number 3 we believe in the eternal security of the believer because no man is able to pluck us out of the hand of God. John 10:28 “28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”. The Bible says when you and I got saved, we were placed into the hands of God. It says “and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”. Jesus is saying when you got saved, you were placed into the hand of Christ. That’s why the Bible talks about us being in Christ. We got placed in his hand.
And then Jesus said in verse 29 “…and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”. What does that mean? Well look, it means what it says. Nobody can pluck you out of the hand of God. Nobody can take you out of the hand of God. Nobody can take away your salvation. This is what people say “Well you don’t lose your salvation but you can give it back. God never walks away from us but we walk away from God. We can step away from Him and no longer have it.”. Here’s the problem with that. When the Bible says “28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”. See, the problem with the argument that says “I can take away my own salvation. I can give it back or I can walk away from God.”. The problem is that the Bible says no man is able to pluck them our of my Father’s hand and that includes you. I’m not stronger than God. I’m not stronger than Jesus. Even if I wanted to pluck my way out of the hand of God, I couldn’t. “28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”. See. that “no man” includes us. You cannot cause yourself to lose your salvation. We believe in eternal security because no man is able to pluck us out of the hand of God.
Romans 8:38 “38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 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.”. See, once I’m saved, nothing can separate me from God and from the love of God. No man can pluck us out of the Father’s hand. So why do we believe in eternal security? We believe in ternal security because no man is able to pluck us out of the hand of God.
And we teach our members to ask a series of question when we are out soulwinning. We ask them if they know for sure if they are going to heaven. Someone might respond that they don’t know. If that’s the case, the follow up statement is that “The Bible says that we can be 100%. Do you have a few minutes where I can show you how you can be 100%?”. We don’t believe to just start giving them the gospel until they run you out. We should ask first. Why? Because we’re looking for those that are interested. We’re not trying to waste our time with people that aren’t interested.
However, sometimes people tell us that they do know they are going to heaven. The follow up question is “Well let me ask you, what are you trusting to get you to heaven? What gives you that confidence that you’re on your way to heaven?”. If they say “Well, because I got baptized. I go to church. I live a good life.”. “Well here’s the thing. The Bible says something a little different than that. The Bible says it’s not based on baptism. May I show you what the Bible says?”. But sometimes you ask people “Well what gives you that confidence? What are you trusting to get to heaven.”. And then the response is something vague like “Jesus” or “The Bible” or “Faith”. Well who’s going to argue with that? It’s not really a wrong answer but we don’t necessarily know what they mean by that. We also don’t want to play 20 questions at the door and interrogate them. We want to try to identify this as quickly and as succinctly as possible. But we’ll ask the question “Is there anything that you can do to lose your salvation?”. Most people will say “Ya, if I kill someone or do something bad” or “Yes if I walk away from God”. Now if you ask someone that and they respond “Of course I can’t lose it. I’m secure in Christ. My faith is in Jesus.”. Then they are probably saved. We ask them about eternal security though because that is necessary to believe in order to be saved.
What are some things that we believe in regards to this? We believe God promises everlasting life the moment we believe. We believe God the Father disciplines but does not abandon. We believe no one is able to pluck us out of the hand of God. Here’s a fourth reason we believe in the eternal security of the believer. We are sealed with the earnest of the Spirit.
Ephesians 1:13 “13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,” Now I want you to notice, when do you get sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise? Because the Pentecostals will say that salvation is a process of believing, repenting of your sins, getting filled with the Holy Ghost, speaking in tongues. They say the Holy Ghost comes later in the process. But what does the Bible say? The Bible says this “13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,”. When do you get the Holy Spirit? When you believe. Now here’s what’s interesting. It’s called the Holy Spirit of promise. Well what else do you get the moment you believe? You get eternal life or everlasting life. John 3:36 “36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life:”. You get the promise of everlasting life the moment you believe. You also get sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. What promise? The promise of everlasting life. We were sealed by the Holy Spirit the moment we believed.
Ephesians 4:30 “30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God,”. That statement right there would make no sense if it wasn’t for eternal security. Because look. If I get the Holy Spirit when I get saved but then can lose my salvation, then why would the Holy Spirit ever be grieved? The Holy Spirit is only grieved when you force him because he has to be inside of you. He has to seal you with the promise of salvation and you force him to be inside of you while you do things he doesn’t like. See, people say “Well you’re saved but as soon as you do some sin you lose it.”. It’s always a made up list of sins that they are not personally guilty of. If there’s a sin that can cause you to lose your salvation then really any sin should cause you to lose your salvation. I mean the Bible says “if we keep the whole law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all.”. So if there’s a sin that can cause you to lose your salvation then any sin should cause you to lose your salvation. But that’s not what they teach. They’ll just whatever sins they’re not doing. They won’t say that telling a white lie causes you to lose your salvation since they are guilty of that. They’ll say being a drunkard or smoking or whatever sins they aren’t doing.
But look, if there’s any sin that can cause you to lose your salvation then really every sin should cause you to lose your salvation. And if any sin causes the Holy Spirit to depart then this phrase doesn’t make sense “and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God”. The Holy Spirit of God is only grieved because he’s forced to be inside of us while you listen to your stupid music or watch your stupid television or argue and do things that are wrong. So that statement proves eternal security because without eternal security the Holy Spirit will never be grieved. And yet, we are commanded to grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Notice “whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”. We’re sealed with the Holy Spirit.
Because of eternal security, the Holy Spirit is not leaving you. And because of eternal security, we grieve the Holy Spirit when we sin and we force him to be there. Let’s be honest, if the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove like on the day of baptism where you could visibly see him, you wouldn’t commit the sins that you normally do. Are you going to go to the bar with the Holy Spirit sitting beside you. But let me let you in on a little secret, he’s inside of you. Whatever sins you commit, the Holy Spirit is forced to come with you. If the Holy Spirit was physically with you then you would be nice to your children, you would be nice to your spouse, you would read your Bible every day, you would pray every day. But the Holy Spirit is always with you if you are saved. And he’s often grieved because of our sin, because of how we act, because of the things we look at and listen to. The Bible says “and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.”. That phrase only makes sense if you believe in eternal security whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption.
I don’t know about you but I want the Holy Spirit to enjoy the fact that he’s with me. I want to live a life that would be characterized as being filled with the Spirit of God. I’m afraid for some Christians that the Holy Spirit feels more like a hostage. He’s just kind of there and he’s stuck and he’s like “even so come lord Jesus because these people will not let me.”.
2 Corinthians 1:22 “22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.”. That word earnest is a financial term. It means a deposit made to a seller showing the buyers intent to purchase often used in a real estate transaction. Earnest money may be lost if the buyer backs out of the transaction. Oftentimes when you buy a house and you decide you’re interested to buy the house, it takes a long process to actually be able to buy it. Unless you’re paying cash for it, you have to get a loan and get approved and the house needs to be inspected and praised and there’s all sorts of things that could happen. The person selling the house doesn’t want to just take your word for it that you’re going to buy the house just because you say you want it. They will often ask for what is called earnest money. Sometimes that is a thousand dollars or more to ask the seller to take it off the market. And the thing about that earnest money that you give them is that if you back out and say “I changed my mind. I don’t want to buy the house.”, you lose that money. That earnest money is just a small amount of money. It’s not the amount that the purchase is going to be but it’s there to prove that you are serious in your intention to return and purchase this house.
The Bible says that when we got saved, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit a promise. Ephesians 4:30 “30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”. Look, salvation is free but it wasn’t to Jesus Christ. Salvation is a gift that was free to us but it cost God his Son. We were purchased with the blood of Christ. We are purchased and that’s why it says we are bought with a price. We belong to God but the transaction is not complete yet. You’re still on this earth. Jesus still has to return. It’s called the day of the rapture, the day of the resurrection when he completes his purchase. Until that day though, the Bible says that he has sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. He put the Holy Spirit down. He put the Holy Spirit as a down payment on you.
And the thing about earnest money is that when you put earnest money down and then you back down on the offer, you lose the earnest money. What does that mean? If God the Father decides to back out on purchase of us then he loses the Holy Spirit. And let me let you in on a little secret. He can’t lose the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God. How do you know you’re secure to the day of redemption? Because I’m sealed with the earnest of the Spirit of God. God put down the Holy Spirit as the earnest of my salvation to show how serious he was to finish his redemption.
Why do we believe in eternal security? Because of God’s promise of everlasting life. You say why? Because God the Father disciplines but does not abandon his children. You say why? Because no man is able to pluck us out of the hand of God. You say why? Because we are sealed with the earnest of the Spirit of God.
Let me give you a 5th reason. A fifth argument for eternal security is because Jesus paid for all my sins: past, present and future. Hebrews 10:12 “12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;”. 1 John 1:7 “7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”. Hebrews 10:17 “17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”. You say why do you believe in eternal security? Because Jesus paid for all my sins. See, the idea that somebody can lose their salvation actually makes no logical sense. And here’s why. Because if you ask somebody why Jesus died on the cross, they will say to pay for our sins. So if you ask someone “Did Jesus die for some or all of your sins?”. They will say all. “So when you get saved, which sins are forgiven? Some or all?”. They will say all. So when people say that they can lose their salvation for sins in the future, it doesn’t make sense since those sins were forgiven when you got saved.
Just yesterday I had a conversation like this out soulwinning. I was giving the gospel and he was a little hung up on this. I said “Let me ask you a question. How old are you?”. He said 30. “I said well when Jesus died on the cross 2,000 years ago, weren’t all of your sins in the future?”. He said yes. The Bible takes it even further. He’s the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. See, when Jesus died to pay for my sins, he died to pay for all my sins: past, present and future. They’re all paid for. They’re all under the blood. So there’s no sin I could perform that would cause me to lose my salvation.
Psalm 103:12 “12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”. I love that verse because the Bible says God took us and he took our sin and he removed them from us. He said as far as the east is from the west. The beautiful thing of that analogy, (and this only works if you’re not a flat earther. Hopefully we don’t have any of those here). It’s interesting that he doesn’t say as far as the north is from the south. Because the truth is that if I got on a plane and I started going north then I would eventually come to a point where I’ve gone as north as I can go. And on a globe, all of a sudden now I’m not going north anymore. Now I’m going south. And if I keep going south, eventually I’ll go as south as I can go. And then all of a sudden I’m not going south anymore. Now I’m going north. God understood that the earth was a globe. He said as far as the east is from the west. See, if I get on a plane and I start going east, there’s never a point where I will start going west. And if I’m going west, there will never be a point where I start going east.
He uses this analogy and says “12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”. What does that mean? It means that my sins will never catch up to me. Your sins will never catch up to you. They’re gone. They’re paid for. They’re out of his remembrance. Their sins and iniquities he will remember no more. So we believe in eternal security. We believe in the eternal security of the believer because when Jesus paid for my sins, he paid for all of them. Past, present and future. There’s no sin that could cause me to lose my salvation.
You say, “Well I don’t know what the big deal is if somebody just doesn’t believe in eternal security. I think they’re still saved.”. Well go back to Ephesians. Ephesians 1:13 “13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”. I want you to notice these words “in whom ye also trusted”. Salvation is believing on the lord Jesus Christ. But the word belief like any word can have multiple meanings. When the Bible says believe, it’s not referring to the fact that they believe in existence of something. You could say “I believe in bigfoot” and that means you believe he exists. But in reference to salvation, the Bible says the devils believe there’s one God and they tremble. But they’re not saved. Another definition for the word believe, which is the salvation definition, is to trust or put your confidence in. When the Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, it means to put your trust in Christ or to put your confidence on him and his sacrifice on the cross for our sins.
See, salvation comes down to belief or what you trust. That’s why I like to use the question as a follow-up “What are you trusting in to get you to heaven? What gives you that confidence that you’re on your way to heaven?”. Because that’s really what we’re asking when we’re asking do you believe. We’re not asking if they believe that Jesus existed. We’re asking what they are placing their trust and faith and confidence on. This is what the Bible is saying in Ephesians 1:13 “13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”. Why does the Bible use that terminology? Because when you believed, you trusted. You put your trust in Jesus and you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
What’s the big deal about eternal security? Here’s the big deal. If someone believes that they can lose their salvation based off something they do or something they fail to do then their trust is in themselves. That’s why they’re not saved. Because when somebody says “I believe in Jesus Christ. I asked him to forgive me of my sins. I’m saved” and I respond “Well do you believe you could lose your salvation? Is there anything that you could do that would cause you to lose your salvation?”. If they respond “If I stop walking with God. If I stop going to church. If I go back to drugs. If I go back to this then I could lose my salvation.”. Well here’s the problem. Then salvation is dependent upon that person. If you have to walk with God, go to church, then you’re not saved because salvation is “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”. And that word believe means trust or put your confidence in Christ. That’s why it’s a big deal. That’s why we must earnestly contend for the faith. Because look, you cannot believe you can lose your salvation and be saved.
People will say “You guys are so judgmental.”. Well here’s why you can’t believe that you can lose your salvation and be saved. The only reason you would lose your salvation is based off something you did or based off something you failed to do. And therefore your trust is in yourself. Salvation is trust in the Lord. Trust in God. See, eternal security is the doctrine that teaches that we cannot lose our salvation. You say why? Because my trust is not in myself. My trust is in Jesus Christ and eternal security is a doctrine that teaches that if my trust is in God for my salvation then God is in control of my salvation.
Jude 1:24 “24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,”. You say who’s able to keep me from falling? Not me. But God is. He can keep you from falling out of salvation. He can keep you from falling out of his hand. See, eternal security is the belief that my salvation is dependent not on me but on God and on Christ and it is God that keeps us from falling. So yes, we believe in the eternal security of the believer. You say why? Because of God’s promise of everlasting life.
Titus 1:2 “2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;”. We believe in the eternal security of the believer. Why? Because God the Father disciplines but does not abandon his children. We believe in the eternal security of the believer. Why? Because no man is able to pluck us out of the hand of God. We believe in the eternal security of the believer. Why? Because we are sealed with the earnest of his Spirit. And we believe in the eternal security of the believer because Jesus paid for all my sins. This includes past, present and future. And therefore I’m secure in Christ and he is able to keep you from falling if you trust and place your faith in Him.
Let’s pray.