PART ONE:
The Permanence of Salvation
When we trust Christ as Savior, that very moment, we are born again. We are born into the family of God and become children of God. This new birth is not the end, but rather the beginning. Just as human parents give birth to their children and those children are their children from that point on, once God gives birth to His children, they are His children forever. There are no verses in the Bible that talk about us becoming “unborn” once we are born. Nor does the Bible teach that we can be born again, and again, and again. The Scriptures are abundantly clear that once we are saved, we are saved forever. We have everlasting life. This speaks of Divine Preservation. The Bible clearly teaches Preservation. But it is the Lord Who keeps us saved after we have trusted Christ as our personal Savior, not ourselves. Jude states,
“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:” (Jude 1:1).
We are preserved IN Christ. This is also known as eternal security. And this is where many people become confused. Some believe that our preservation is in our hands and up to us. If it is up to us to keep ourselves preserved in going to Heaven, then we are in very feeble, even impossible hands!
We cannot keep ourselves saved any more than we can save ourselves to begin with. It is just as impossible. The Apostle Paul said it so eloquently in Galatians,
You stupid people of Galatia! Who put you under an evil spell? Wasn’t Christ Jesus’ crucifixion clearly described to you? 2I want to learn only one thing from you. Did you receive the Spirit by your own efforts to follow the laws in the Scriptures or by believing what you heard? 3Are you that stupid? Did you begin in a spiritual way only to end up doing things in a human way? (Galatians 3:1-3)
If we could not save ourselves to begin with, what makes us think that we can live perfectly enough to keep ourselves saved? No, we are kept by the power of God (1 Peter 1:5). Since it is God who keeps and preserves us, we can never be lost once we are saved.
Salvation is permanent because Christ paid for all sin.
“Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38–39).
The word “forgiveness” means “to cause to send away, to release one’s sins from the sinner.” All of our sins were in the future when Jesus died. If He has paid for any of them, He has paid for all of them. “All” in the Greek means 100% of all there is.
“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost” (John 19:30).
The required payment needed to pay for our sins has been paid in full. There are no sins left to pay for. It is through that perfect, one time payment that our Lord Jesus Christ provides for us eternal redemption! If it is eternal redemption, then once we have been redeemed, it will last forever.
“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Heb. 9:12).
THIS IS PART ONE OF A DEEP LENGTHY STUDY. I HOPE YOU FOUND IT TO BE INTERESTING.
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PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM