Are You Sure You’re Saved?

Minden Cathedral photo by TUBS 2010

What does it mean to be “saved?” Salvation, or receiving eternal life in Heaven, requires believing that Jesus Christ is God, the perfect, sinless Sacrifice Who died to pay our sin debt (John 1:29). Cults that deny His divinity fail this requirement.

It requires acknowledging that we are sinners deserving eternal death in hell, and repenting of our sins (Romans 3:23; 6:23). This knocks out Satan and his minions who believe and know the Bible and know who Jesus is (James 2:19), but who feel their sins are justified because of their pride.

It requires believing the Gospel of Grace, putting our trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only way (John 14:6) to Heaven (unlike Buddhists and others who believe in multiple paths to nirvana). Faith, no matter how intense or sincere, is saving faith only if it is faith in Christ and His completed work of salvation on Calvary’s cross.

It requires a personal relationship with Him, recognizing that we are sinners in need of a Savior and making Him Lord of our life. This eliminates those with a "head" knowledge of Who Christ is and what He did, without a heart relationship -- many professing Christians may fall into this category (Luke 13: 23-27). As our former pastor once said, the distance between being lost and being saved may be only 18 inches – the distance between the brain and the heart.

Romans 10:9 [I]f thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Once saved, we are always saved, because:

When we are “born again” (John 3: 3-8) by confessing and turning away from sin, and by placing our faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus as the only Way to Heaven, we are indwelled by and sealed with the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 1:13-14; Ephesians 2: 22).

We did nothing to merit or earn our salvation, and there is nothing we (or anyone or anything) can do to lose it or take it away, provided it was a genuine, heartfelt spiritual rebirth (Ephesians 2:8-9).

We are in the double grip of eternal security – Christ holding us tightly within His hand, which is held tightly within the Father’s hand (John 10:27-29).

No sin, past, present or future, and no trick or trap of Satan or his demons or of evil men – nothing --could cause us to lose our salvation (Romans 8:38-39).

When we are born again, we are a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). One of the paradoxes of the Christian life is that we must die to truly live (1 Corinthians 15: 36-38). As we trust Christ as our Savior and turn away from our sins, we die daily to our flesh, that is, our sin nature, that would control us (Romans 6:6-14). We must fight this spiritual battle between our sin nature and the indwelling Holy Spirit by putting on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:11-17). The change that He began in us at the moment of salvation He will continue until He brings us home (Philippians 1:6).

Before the beginning of the world, God knew who would be saved by accepting His amazing offer of eternal life by grace through faith (Ephesians 1:3-15), yet the mystery is that He did so without taking away our free will to choose eternal life in Christ or to reject Him and suffer eternal death in hell. God makes no mistakes, and if we could lose our salvation, His foreknowledge would have been wrong. 

Romans 8 describes the domino effect of God’s foreknowledge: because of it, He has predestined believers to be like Christ, justified (made “just as if” we had never sinned), and glorified. Because of that, we are beyond condemnation: God is for us, so who can be against us? (Romans 8:29-37).

God saved us for a purpose, and each of us is fitted into His body as precisely as a stone block is fitted into a cathedral vault. If one could lose their salvation, the building would fall apart (Ephesians 2: 18-22).

Although we must daily fight the battle between sin, which ultimately results in death (Romans 6:23), and the new, abundant life we received at the moment of salvation through the indwelling Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ has won the war on our behalf. We know how it will all turn out; we can look forward not only to the Rapture but to His glorious appearing as we return to earth with Him to fight the Battle of Armageddon; and we can stand victorious on His promise of eternal life.

He has permanently conquered sin and death for all who trust in Him as Lord and Savior (1 Cor: 15:20-22; 55-57). Praise God for His amazing love, mercy and grace, allowing us to choose salvation through faith in His Son!  Praise God that He securely keeps that gift for us forever!

© 2013 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the archives

 

Our Shepherd Securely Saves Us

Of all the metaphors Jesus could have used to describe His followers, calling us sheep is not very flattering (Matthew 15:24; Psalm 119:176). Yet deservedly so, for compared to Him, we lack wisdom (James 1:5), strength (Psalm 6:2) and even common sense (Psalm 69:5). We tend to wander away from the path (Psalm 107:40) straight into danger (Psalm 141:9), and to follow a herd mentality that collectively as well as individually often gets us into trouble (Job 14:1).

Without His guidance (Psalm 119:105), mercy (Romans 9:16) and protection (2 Samuel 22:2) we are helpless, vulnerable to predators, and doomed to death (1 Peter 5:8). But His strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9), and He alone can save us (Acts 4:12) and keep us (Romans 8:39; 1 Peter 1:5). Sheep are simple creatures, and thankfully, so is the path to salvation – all we must do is believe (Acts 16:31).

Jesus criticized the Pharisees for not believing in Him, and therefore not being part of His flock (John 10:26). They were trying to confuse the simplicity of His message by adding to, omitting, and changing God’s Word (Revelation 22:18-19). Unlike the Pharisees, believers in Christ hear His voice; for He knows us and we follow Him (John 10:27).

Once we believe that He died to pay for our sins and reconcile us to Holy God (Romans 3:25; 1 John 2:2); that He was buried; and that He rose again (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) so that all who trust Him will live forever with Him (John 3:16), we have a relationship with Him in which He knows, guides and protects us and we trust , follow and obey Him (Psalm 23). This is so simple that a child can be saved (Matthew 18:3-4), just as a child soon grows to know, love and obey the parents who nurture, care for, and teach him (Proverbs 22:6; Ephesians 6:4)

In contrast, the Pharisees preached a doctrine of their own legalistic tradition (Matthew 15:3-6), in which salvation was based on following the law (Matthew 19:17-20), respecting religious rituals, and painstakingly counting out the tithe even from the seeds they gathered from their herbs (Matthew 23:23). But in this self-righteous system of salvation by good works (Galatians 1:8-9), they ignored the greatest commandment, which is to love God and to love one another (Matthew 22:36-40).

Although a good shepherd will guard his flock even to the point of jeopardizing his own life (John 10:15), earthly sheep eventually die from natural causes. But the Good (John 10:11,14), Great (Hebrews 13:20), and Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4) promises His sheep eternal life! (John 10:28)

Once we hear His voice, believe in, and follow Jesus Christ, we are His forever, for no man can remove us from His secure grip (John 10:28). He loves us infinitely (1 John 4:8), is omnipotent (Genesis 18:14) and all-knowing (Psalm 139:6), so it is His desire (2 Peter 3:9) and completely within His power and wisdom not only to save us (Hebrews 7:25), but to keep us and to give us eternal life (John 3:16).

Just in case we had any doubts about this, Jesus goes on to assure us that His Father is completely on board with this plan, being the ultimate backup defense. God the Father, Who is greater than all, gave all believers to God the Son for safekeeping, which is a fail-safe plan because Jesus the Son and God the Father are One (John 10:29).

To make it absolutely clear that once we are saved, we cannot lose our salvation, Jesus reassures us that we are in the double grip of His hand, surrounded by the Father’s hand (John 10:29-30). No one, nothing, no power could pluck us from the hand of God the Father, which surrounds the hand of God the Son, where we are securely kept from all evil, harm and danger.

The three Persons of the Trinity – God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit always act together, in one accord, for they are united in will (Luke 3:22). Therefore, the Holy Spirit must also participate in ensuring the eternal security of the believer.

Not only are we held securely in the impenetrable grip of Christ, and further protected by the omnipotent hand of the Father, but this fortress is also sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30). No question that in this sealed double grip we are eternally safe!

In contrast, the Pharisees’ grip is weak and their religiosity completely impotent to save (Matthew 23:15). When they attempted to capture Jesus for alleged blasphemy, He escaped out of their hand (John 10:33-39).

As our pastor likes to say, religion is dangerous, deadly, and will lead you straight to hell. We are saved not by baptism, attending church, or tithing, but by His grace through our faith in His death, burial and resurrection, not by works (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Ephesians 2:8-9). Those who are “good Baptists” or those of any denomination, but who have never believed in Him, heard His voice and followed His lead are doomed to hell (Mark 16:16).

They may protest that they did many good works in the name of Jesus. But He will counter that He never knew them, command that they leave His presence, and call them “workers of inquity” (Luke 13:23-28; Matthew 7:22-23). Saved or unsaved, we are all sinners (Romans 3:23), but those who have trusted Christ are forgiven (1 John 1:9); our sins are paid for in full by His shed blood (Galatians 3:13), and removed from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

He robes believers in His righteousness (Revelation 19:8), which is our wedding garment at the marriage feast, whereas those who have not trusted Him will be ashamed at their lack of this garment and be cast out into utter darkness (Matthew 22:2-14).

The parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:1-7) illustrates that we can only be found when we know we are lost. Notice that the ninety nine sheep are not in the safety of the sheepfold, as the hymn states, but in the wilderness, which is a type of sin. The Shepherd leaves the ninety nine sheep who are unaware of their plight and finds the single lost sheep, laying it across his shoulders all the way home, and rejoicing with his friends and neighbors.

Jesus explains the parable by saying that all heaven will rejoice over a sinner who repents, rather than over ninety nine self-righteous people who think they are holy, have no reason to repent, and have no need of the Shepherd.

To drive the point home, He then tells the parable of the lost (prodigal) son, who was lost but was found when he came to the end of himself, realized he was unworthy, and returned to His Father (Luke 15:11-32).

Some reading this may protest that the backslidden Christian is no longer part of Jesus’ flock. But to argue this would be to contradict the doctrine of eternal security. If we did nothing to earn our salvation, there is nothing we can do to lose it, even if were foolish enough so to desire.

The Great Shepherd made an eternal promise with His sheep, wrote it in His shed blood, and He alone can make us perfect (mature or complete) in every good work, according to His will, for His pleasure. His “everlasting covenant” means that it can never be broken by our own actions, omissions, or evil thoughts, nor by anyone, anything, or any power (Hebrews 13:20-21).

Praise God that through Christ, our pastors, deacons and teachers can be undershepherds, feeding His flock with pure motives, not for financial gain, and being good examples for believers to follow. Praise God that when Jesus Christ, the chief Shepherd, appears, He will reward these undershepherds with a crown of glory that will never fade! (1 Peter 5:1-4)

© 2017 Laurie Collett