Safe and Secure
Devotions for Growing Christians
Safe and Secure
John 10:22-30 - Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
Can believers lose their salvation? Logically, we must conclude that believers could lose their salvation only if God’s standards of righteousness are lowered. Follow the logic. As Christians, we are far from perfect. Our daily lives don’t even come close to measuring up to God’s perfect standards. Therefore, if believers could fall from grace and lose their salvation, they would be losing it continually - unless the perfect standard that God demands is lowered to less than perfect.
If God’s requirements of perfection were not lowered, then what would happen us if we were to die between our continual prayers for restoration? What if we should overlook or forget to confess a sin which took us out of God’s family? What would happen if we were to die in our sleep after dreaming that we were involved in a sinful activity? Would we be lost forever, if we committed a “sin of omission” but didn’t realize it - and therefore failed to confess and ask God for restoration of salvation? What if we think we’re still saved, when we have actually lost our salvation? The “what If” list goes on and on.
Is our only hope to lower God’s standards, so that we can climb back in over a lowered barrier? No!
We can maintain God’s high standards of perfection, and believe what the Bible says about the eternal security of those who have put their trust in Jesus! Christians have the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed (or credited) to them! (Read Romans 5:12-21). So logically, if we agree that God’s holy standards demand perfection, then believers are eternally secure because they are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. If we don’t believe this truth, then what believer is not in a continual state of having lost his or her salvation every time they sin?
But what about serious sin in a believer’s life? The work of Christ on the cross is sufficient to save us and keep us saved - even when we sin (see Romans 8:31-39). People who only profess to believe and are involved in sin don’t have salvation - not because they lost it, but because they never had it in the first place. But backslidden believers don’t lose their salvation if they were truly born into the family of God. In 1 Corinthians 1-3, the apostle Paul said that the Corinthian Christians were carnal - living to satisfy their own selfish desires. But Paul didn’t address the carnal Corinthians as “lost believers” who needed to be saved again. He addressed them as backslidden believers who were not spiritual, who needed correction in their lives.
Theological Problems
Several dangerous theological problems are involved when people choose to believe that salvation can be lost. In fact, some of these problems come very close to heresy!
1. If we believed our salvation can be lost, we’d have to draw lines about “Which sins cause loss of salvation?” But the Bible does not allow line-drawing when it comes to salvation. The Bible says we must be perfect! (See James 2:10, for example.)
2. If we believe our salvation can be lost, we actually lower the value of the work of Christ! This is very serious. In effect, the person who believes salvation can be lost says that the work of Christ doesn’t cover all the believer’s sins - past, present and future. If this were so, how should Scriptures like Hebrews 9:26-28 be interpreted?
3. A third problem is that “eternal life” must be defined as something that a believer can lose! Therefore it is not eternal life, because, in this view, it only begins when the believer dies. That idea contradicts Jesus Himself, who says that the one who believes has (present tense) eternal life - when we believe! (John 3:16.)
4. In addition, if salvation can be lost, God’s character is maligned and defamed by inferring that He will “kick us out of His Family” if we don’t maintain our sanctification in our own strength. As our loving heavenly Father, God certainly disciplines us to correct us, and to guide us into paths of righteousness - but He doesn’t disown us or consign His children to hell if we fail to meet perfect standards in His family! No! He loves us, and as a kind father He works patiently with us. His desire is to develop us into followers who more closely resemble their Lord. (See Philippians 1:6 and 2 Corinthians 3:18.)
Safe and Secure
John 10:22-30 is one of the clearest and to-the-point Scriptures that teaches the eternal security of the person who believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Now let’s just suppose God really wanted to communicate in His Word the concept of “once saved, always saved.” That is, once you have personally and truly put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, and have been given divine eternal life, and have been declared righteous based on the finished work of God’s Son Jesus Christ, and have been brought into God’s own family, then you are one of God’s children forever and can’t ever lose your salvation.
How could God better communicate this truth in His Word - and leave us in no doubt as to the eternal security of our salvation?
How about John 10:22-30 for starters? John 10:22-30 is probably the clearest and most pointed Scripture that teaches the eternal security of everyone who trusts in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And those words were spoken by Jesus Christ Himself! What more could He say? How else could He say it more concisely?
“I give to them eternal life, and they shall never perish!”
- Dave Reid