Eternal security is an important subject, but we don’t hear much teaching or preaching on this significant issue. The reason could be because it makes people uncomfortable, or it might sound religious. However, in the absence of those discussions, many believe that Christians have eternal security, but live their lives according to their own ideas and pleasures.
People on both sides of isle use scriptures to support their position on this eternal security. Today, I will share scriptures that advocates of eternal security use. In the next devotional, I will share scriptures that point the fact that eternal security is not guaranteed unconditionally.
What is eternal security? Some call it, “Once saved always saved!” It has to do with the belief that once a person has prayed a prayer of salvation, they are saved and will go to heaven regardless of how they live their lives. Those who believe that we have eternal security would point to the following scriptures to support their views:
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone 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 My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.” John 10:27b-30
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2Corinthians 5:17
This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. John 6:39
Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies….38For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:33 and 38-39
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:3-6
The above scriptures speak of God’s faithfulness and His power in regards to our eternal security. We can conclude the following from the above scriptures: First, it is God’s heart for people to come to salvation. Second, Jesus has paid the price for the justification of our sins, and His blood is sufficient to buy eternal life for us. Third, we become a new creation through salvation, are born again, and sealed with the Holy Spirit. Fourth, God adopted us and accepted us through the work of Jesus on the Cross. Fifth, Jesus has taken personal responsibility to be our Good Shepherd and to lead and guide us in life. He watches over His sheep, and the enemy does not have the power to snatch them out of His hands. Sixth, God’s love has no bounds, and the devil, death, or any other situation cannot separate us from the love of God. His love is unchanging.
The above scriptures show that as far as God is concerned, He is faithful, and He has the power to lead and guide us through life protected from attacks of the enemy.
Hebrews 11 recounts the lives of the heroes of the faith who testify to the above scriptures. God led them through difficult and impossible situations, but He ushered them to their eternal home. When we submit ourselves to God, He is able to keep that which we have entrusted Him.
I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.
