You have been saved with a great salvation. While you were yet a sinner, rebellious and hostile to God, He, out of mercy, chose you unto salvation. He says, “You did not choose me but I chose you” (John 15:16). He chose you not because of any special merit, but because of His love for you. From the beginning He saved you by grace and not by merit.
The Bible says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God ‑ not because of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8‑9). You were saved by grace through faith. The faith was not something that originated in you. It was a gift of God. The one thing that you contributed in your salvation was your sins, and God contributed everything else. If you were saved on the basis of works, then you should have cause to fear that when your works do not measure up to the required specifications, you will be rejected. But thanks to be to God! It all depended on the gift of God to an undeserving sinner ‑ the gift of faith. God does not repent of His gifts. The apostle said, “For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29).
God does not change us partially. He does not only carry on an external work. He changes from inside. He imparts His own nature to the repentant sinner. How can someone who truly bears the nature of God ever perish? No. Your salvation is deep and thorough, and He has given you His Holy Spirit as a guarantee that He will complete the work that He has begun in you. The Bible wants you to be confident of the fact that, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). The apostle wants you to be confident of that fact. Are you? If God had not meant to save you to the end, He would not have started at all; for that would have been a terrible waste of time. He knew you just as you are and decided that He would save you right to the end. He has begun with you and in you. He will finish it. Praise the Lord!
THE COMMITMENT OF CHRIST
The Lord Jesus said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me; and him who comes to me I will not cast out” (John 6:37). You were given to Christ by the Father. Christ will ensure that He does not lose you. Will the devil not frustrate the purpose of Christ to save you to the end? No. He cannot. He will try, but the Lord Jesus is stronger than him. Jesus said of the disciples, “While I was with them, I kept them in thy name, which thou hast given me; I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12). Jesus kept all the disciples, including even Peter who denied Him. He could have kept even Judas, had it not been that He let go so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.
THE SECURE ARMS OF JESUS AND THE FATHER
The Lord Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall 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 the Father’s hand” (John 10:27‑29).
You are in Jesus’ hand. That is enough security already. To add to it, the hand of Jesus is in the Father’s hand. You are doubly secure there. Keep listening to the voice of Jesus and keep following Him, and your security is fully settled.
There, in the hand of Jesus, no one can snatch you. To get at you the person or thing will first have to destroy and overpower the hand of the Father. After that he will have to destroy the hand of Jesus. Only after that can he get at you. Dearest brother, “Is there someone or something that can overpower God and the Lord Jesus?” No! There is no such thing. The Word of God says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, ‘For thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35‑39). The apostle said that he was sure. Are you sure? You should be.
Nothing else (not even the devil) will separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. You are wonderfully secure.
THE FACTS OF ETERNAL LIFE
The apostle John wrote, “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the son has life; he who has not the Son of God has not life. I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:11‑13).
Do you have the Son of God in you? If your answer is, “Yes,” then you have eternal life. If your answer is, “No,” then you have eternal death. If you have eternal life, it means that you have God’s life in full measure. Anything that can end is not eternal life. Eternal life means partly that it has no end in time. If you ¾ a child of God ¾ could perish, it would mean that what you had was not eternal life. But God has given you eternal life. Be sure that you will always have it in Christ. Know that you have it, and act with the authority of someone who will never perish. God gave His only Son so that you should not perish. If after you have received the Son of God into your heart, you should then go and perish with Him in you, then something would be seriously wrong with God’s purpose.
THE FACT OF THE INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT
At the moment of conversion, God puts His Holy Spirit in us. The indwelling Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance. The Word of God says, “In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13‑14). “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God. But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has commissioned us; he has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee” (II Corinthians 1:20‑22). “For while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee” (II Corinthians 5:4‑5).
You have the Holy Spirit in you. That is a guarantee that you will not perish. You have the life of God in you. You are eternal. God set out to prepare you for Himself that He might have you as a bride for His Son. Rejoice in this.
WHAT IF YOU FALL INTO SIN?
If you fall into sin, you should immediately confess the sin, forsake it, and keep going on with the Lord Jesus. The Bible says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10).
If you enjoy sin and continue to practise it, you should rest assured that you are a child of the devil and will perish unless you repent.
SAVED. ETERNALLY SECURE IN CHRIST.ANY RESPONSIBILITY?
To be eternally secure in Christ carries with it very serious consequences. The Bible says, “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Ephesians 1:4). Your election to salvation also includes an election to holiness and blamelessness. If you do not co‑operate with the Holy Spirit of God so that He renders you holy and blameless in Christ, you will find out that your election to salvation is without meaning; for you are saved from sin. To continue to sin and proclaim your eternal security, is noise‑making. You must be holy; for He who called you is holy.
You were ordained unto eternal life. You were also ordained unto good works. The Bible says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). You are saved for good works. You are predestined unto good works. You are destined to obey the Lord in all things. If the good works are not forthcoming, if your character is not increasingly resembling that of the Lord Jesus, and if there are no souls being brought into the Kingdom, nor an increasing prayer life, then you are most likely not a child of God, and this assurance does not apply to you.
God’s grace to you must not be in vain. The apostle Paul said, “For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me ” (I Corinthians 15:9‑10). To be eternally secure in Christ means that you determine to work harder for Christ than anyone else, yet you realise that it is not you working, but the grace of God in you. Praise the Lord!
WHAT IF YOU DOUBT YOUR SALVATION?
Doubts are from the devil. Resist them. Look unto the Lord Jesus. Look away from yourself. Trust the Lord Jesus. He has made definite promises concerning you. He will not change His mind. He will also help you not to change your mind. You have been born into His family. He will see you through. The devil will ask for you that he may sift you like wheat, but the Lord will pray for you, and the Father cannot say, “No,” to any topic of His intercession. He loves you. He loved you while you were His enemy. He will not leave you now that you are His child. He has prepared a place for you. He will surely come and take you so that where He is, you may be also. Glory, glory, glory be to His name! He is wonderful. You, too, are wonderful in Him.
