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Scripturally Based Answers For life's Questions
Answer-The Security of Salvation
There are two different teachings concerning the security of the believer’s salvation. Some claim that a person can lose it, and how they can or why they would vary a bit from group to group, and others claim that once a person is saved he is saved forever no matter what he does. I always say before we discuss whether or how a person can or cannot lose their salvation, we must first discuss how one can receive salvation. A person should never concern himself with losing it until he is sure he has it.
We have many messages on our pages and sites that explain how one can be saved. If you are not sure, please listen to the messages. We know that there have been many wonderful Christians on either side. Both sides have some reasonable points for their beliefs, and God wants it that way. The wonderfulness about God’s word is that it is perfectly balanced in this matter, as it is in all matters. I don’t think that we need to prove either group right or wrong; we can just see what the Scriptures teach about salvation and the security thereof. When we understand what salvation is, we also understand how secure it is.
What is salvation? I will just mention some main aspects of it:
Click-Titus 3:5,“He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness,
Click-I Peter 1:23, through the living and abiding word of God.”
When we receive Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, God creates us over again, not completely at the present, but our spirit is recreated, and our soul is redeemed.
Naturally, without salvation we are destined to go to hell without any hope of resisting it or preventing it, but that is where salvation comes in. The word “saved” means to be salvaged. God, through the person and work of Jesus Christ and by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, delivers us from our destination when we receive the gift of eternal life.
Salvation is also a deliverance from spiritual death. Jesus said, Truly, truly, Click-John 5:24-26
The word “redeem” means to buy back or to make valuable again. Without Jesus, we have no value to God. It is not that He doesn't love us, for He loved us so much that He gave His only-begotten Son to die on the cross for us, but we had no value. In fact, if we will not be redeemed and revalued, then we will be cast into the lake of fire. Not worth keeping. But, in Christ, we have sufficient value for God to give us His heaven and create a new heaven and a new earth for us.
The word “reconciliation” means being brought back into favor. There was an offense that our sin had caused with God. He was disappointed, angry and offended with us, but then He sent Jesus to reconcile the relationship, to bring people back into His favor.
Our sin did not only bring death upon us, but it also offended God. His anger was stirred against us, He was offended by us, and, unless there would be a sacrifice that would satisfy the offense, there would be no forgiveness. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ pleased the Father and thereby extended forgiveness to those who are willing to believe in Jesus Christ as their right to be forgiven. There has to be forgiveness for our inherited sin before we can have our individual acts forgiven, for it was our inherited sin that made us sinners. The sin passed from Adam was ingrained into our very nature, and before salvation, our very person, our character, is an offense to God. We have to be recreated, and then we can be free to live a life of forgiveness.
Hope is something we receive in Jesus Christ, not something we wait to attain over time. The Scriptures teach that those in Christ have hope; they no longer have to hope to attain it.
We often focus on God’s grace and mercy as our hope to approach Him and receive salvation from Him, and if it was not for those two, we would not have had a chance. However, the Scriptures also teach that believers are justified, meaning they have been declared “just.” Once justice has been deemed satisfied, the case is closed and the guilt-ridden person is deemed guilt free, just as though he had never been guilty in the first place. That is what God does for those that receive His salvation.
Luke chapter 15 tells three stories of restoration. It tells of a coin being lost and sought for until it was found and restored to the owner; it tells of a sheep that was lost and the shepherd forsaking the rest of the sheep until he found the lost one and brought it back to the fold; it tells of a rebellious son that left home but came back and was restored to his father. These are pictures of people being restored to God. Salvation restores us to the heavenly Father.
John chapter 3 very plainly declares that in order for a person to enter into the kingdom of the Lord, there must be a spiritual birth; there must be spiritual life.
How are we supposed to live the Christian life? Here are some things to consider:
Again, these are just a few of the many aspects of living correctly, but they help us with our attitude. Many people reject the teachings or beliefs of others, whether they are right or wrong, just because of the attitudes of the people that hold to those beliefs. Also, people are often afraid to embrace certain teachings because they feel that it will change how they live the Christian faith, and that it will be dishonoring to God. This is true to an extent, but it is also very deceptive. We must remember that the driving power that moves God’s people to live right is not solely hinging on belief. God uses love
Click-II Corinthians 5:13, 14 and those who have God’s burning love within them will seek to please God in all things.
God does not want the Christian life to be tense, but rather relaxing and joyful while still full of care. God’s people are supposed to be the ones that care; not worry, but care. Care for others, care for what is happening, and care about their own testimony. They are not supposed to be constantly concerned about what will happen to them or focus on themselves, but they are to be a good testimony for a lost world to see.
The evidence of the fact that salvation is by faith is in the Christians who live by faith. When God’s people live in doubt, the lost doubt that salvation is possible, but when they live a life that can only be described as a life of faith, the lost world sees that there is hope for them. It is not salvation by faith and then living a life by works or the law, but it is always faith. Salvation is by faith, and it is entering a life of faith. Faith is how we fully depend on God.
There are people that hold to certain beliefs and are very arrogant and disrespectful. The word fear can either mean being afraid, or it can mean having respect. The respect for God must be demonstrated fully in God’s people.
Courage, security and boldness are characteristics of God’s people. Doubt and unbelief are not supposed to be found amongst God’s people. As saved people we should live in confidence, not worry about our salvation but fully concern ourselves with the salvation of those who have not yet received the Lord. If you doubt your own salvation, make sure that it is taken care of. Ask God to show you, look at the Scriptures, ask for understanding, seek God with all your heart until that is sure, and then enjoy it. God bless you.
As believers, we are not on our own, the Bible says we are sealed by the Holy Spirit, Click-Ephesians 4:30—we are kept by God’s power,
Click-I Peter 1:5—we are disciplined as children,
Click-Hebrews 12:6-11. God is looking after His children. We can be secure, and we can live with confidence.
Regeneration
Deliverance
Redemption
Reconciliation
Adoption
Forgiveness
hope
Justification
Restoration
A Spiritual Life
Careful and carefree, but not careless
By faith
Respectful
Secure
