If Jesus has one hundred sheep, how many will be found in the end? If all of them have experienced genuine salvation, how many of them will remain saved?
The question of a believer's security is immensely important. Can salvation be lost? One writer observed, “Where there is uncertainty concerning how salvation is attained, there will be confusion over whether it can be maintained.”
Many of us grew up hearing the phrase, “Once saved, always saved,” yet we may struggle to provide a solid biblical foundation for that belief.
Over the next three weeks, we will examine six reasons we can be secure in our salvation. Along the way, we will encounter an avalanche of Scripture that provides confidence, assurance, and peace regarding our standing before God.
ASSURANCE ONE: THE NATURE OF SALVATION
The starting point for understanding the security of the believer is one of the most familiar passages in all of Scripture. In Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, the religious leader asked how a person enters the kingdom of God.
Jesus' answer included these unforgettable words:
John 3:15-16 “that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.”
Three times within these verses Jesus uses the same phrase to describe the life given to believers: eternal life. By definition, it is a life that never ends.
Of course, this gift of life is received through faith. Scripture never presents faith as a work by which salvation is earned. Faith is the means by which we receive God's gracious gift.
After receiving that gift, what additional requirement does Jesus give believers to keep it? Nothing. His promise is not temporary life, conditional life, or probationary life. It is eternal life.
Imagine that instead of one hundred sheep, there are one million genuine believers. If even one of them is ultimately lost, would that not make Jesus' promise false? That individual would not possess eternal life after all. The promise itself would be void.
Other passages reinforce this same truth.
Eternal life is a free gift.
Romans6:23“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God...
Eternal life does not just begin when we are saved. From God’s perspective it is an accomplished reality. We have already passed from death to life. Because of that we will not now, nor will we ever see condemnation.
John 5:24 “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”
Not only does salvation over security from condemnation, but because we are secure we are assured we will never walk in darkness.
John 8:12 “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Jesus’ promised that belief in Him enables us to live and never die.
John 11:25-26 “Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Finally, Jesus promises us that we will never perish when we are in His hand.
John 10:27-30 “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."
There is no way for a believer to be removed from God’s hand once we have experienced salvation. We cannot perish by being taken out of his hand or in any other way. The Lord takes you and puts you into the Father’s hand, and then He covers you with His other hand. How are you going to get out?
We will not perish. John uses a double negative. We will not, never perish. In no way, under no circumstance will we perish.
ASSURANCE TWO: THE NATURE OF GRACE
No honest person would deny that we are guilty before God. We have sinned repeatedly through our actions, and we are sinners by nature. Left to ourselves, we rightly deserve God's judgment.
When it comes to sinful humanity, God has three possible options:
- He could condemn sinful humanity to judgment.
- He could compromise His righteousness. Any system that suggests God simply accepts everyone into heaven requires Him to lower His holy standard. Universalism diminishes God's righteousness.
- He could transform sinful people into righteous people.
The Bible clearly teaches that salvation is God's work of transforming sinners into saints. This work is accomplished exclusively through Jesus Christ. It is entirely an act of grace, completely apart from any righteousness found in us.
Salvation is received by grace and secured by grace. Assurance is not built upon absolution, church attendance, good works, Scripture memorization, or acts of penance. Assurance rests upon what God has done for us in Christ.
The classic passage explaining this truth is Paul's teaching in Ephesians 2:8-10.
Ephesians 2:8-10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we...
Following Paul's statement in Ephesians 2, we discover that salvation is entirely God's work from beginning to end. Notice the emphasis throughout the passage. We are saved by grace. Faith is the means by which we receive God's gift, but even our salvation is described as something that does not originate in us. The entire work points back to God.
The language Paul uses speaks of a completed action with continuing results. Salvation is not merely something God intends to do one day. It is something He has already accomplished on behalf of the believer. The moment we trust Christ, we enter into a new standing before God that continues into eternity.
If salvation can be lost through our failures, then it is no longer a gift received by grace alone. It would become a gift sustained by human effort. In that case, salvation would rest partly on Christ's work and partly on our own ability to maintain it. Yet Paul leaves no room for that conclusion.
God's purpose is to display the riches of His grace through redeemed people. He was under no obligation to save us. Salvation originated in His mercy, was secured through His Son, and is sustained by His grace.
Furthermore, Paul explicitly removes every basis for human boasting. If no one can boast in obtaining salvation, how could anyone boast in keeping it? God has made us what we are in Christ. Every aspect of our salvation points to His glory rather than our achievement.
This raises an important question: What are you trusting to get you into heaven?
Are you trusting in Christ alone, or are you trusting in Christ plus your church attendance, good works, religious performance, or personal faithfulness? The believer's confidence rests entirely in the finished work of Christ. Our hope is not Christ plus something. Our hope is Christ alone.
Scripture continues to reinforce this message in several important passages.
We are saved through His life, not through our works.
Romans 5:9-10 “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”
Paul's argument is compelling. If God reconciled us when we were His enemies, how much more will He preserve us now that we are His children? The greater work has already been accomplished. The lesser work of bringing us safely home is therefore certain.
We are saved by His grace that endures forever.
2 Timothy 1:9 “who has saved us and called us to a holy life — not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,”
Our salvation did not begin with our decision. It began in the eternal purposes of God. Before time began, God determined to extend grace through Jesus Christ. A salvation planned in eternity past is not likely to be overturned by the failures of a believer in the present.
Salvation is based upon mercy, not works.
Titus 3:5-7 “he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Sp...
The emphasis of this passage could not be more clear. Paul repeatedly directs our attention away from human effort and toward God's mercy, grace, and saving work. We are saved because God acted on our behalf, not because we accomplished something worthy of salvation.
If mercy initiated our salvation, grace secured it, and the Holy Spirit accomplished it, then our confidence rests in God rather than ourselves. The same God who saves sinners is the God who keeps them. Our assurance is anchored in His character, not our consistency.
Taken together, these passages teach a powerful truth: salvation is a work of grace from beginning to end. We did not earn it, we do not deserve it, and we do not maintain it through our own efforts. The God who saves is the God who preserves.
THREE APPLICATION TRUTHS
1. God's Word Is True, and God Is True to His Word
Because of the nature of salvation and the nature of grace, believers possess the promises of God. Our confidence is not rooted in emotions, circumstances, or performance. It is rooted in the character of God Himself.
When God makes a promise, He keeps it. If eternal life is truly eternal, if grace is truly grace, and if salvation is truly the gift of God, then believers can rest in the certainty of His Word. Our assurance rises and falls on the trustworthiness of God, not on the strength of our feelings.
2. God's Promises Remain Final and Irreversible
Nowhere in Scripture are these promises withdrawn from genuine believers. The passages we have examined consistently point to a salvation that is secure because God secures it.
The promise of eternal life is never redefined as temporary life. The gift of grace is never converted into a wage earned through continued performance. The believer's standing before God is based upon Christ's finished work, and God's promises remain as certain today as when they were first spoken.
For that reason, we can live with confidence rather than fear, assurance rather than anxiety, and gratitude rather than uncertainty. God means exactly what He says.
3. God's Grace Places Us All on Equal Footing
Consider the Christian who leaves home, family, and comfort to take the gospel to an unreached people group. Imagine that person eventually gives his life in service to Christ.
Now consider the believer who comes to faith late in life and has little opportunity for visible ministry.
Will one receive salvation while the other receives something less?
Grace answers with a decisive no.
Every believer stands before God on the same basis: the finished work of Jesus Christ. We are not saved by the amount of our sacrifice, the extent of our service, or the length of our faithfulness. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone.
Certainly, Scripture teaches differing rewards for faithful service. However, salvation itself is never presented as a reward for achievement. It is God's gift to all who believe.
That truth removes pride from the strong believer and despair from the struggling believer. We all come to the cross the same way. We all receive forgiveness the same way. We all enter the family of God the same way. And ultimately, we all give glory to the same Savior.
Conclusion
The first two foundations of assurance are the nature of salvation and the nature of grace. Eternal life is exactly what Jesus promised, life that never ends. Grace is exactly what Scripture declares, God's unmerited favor poured out upon undeserving sinners.
If salvation is eternal life, and if salvation is by grace alone, then the believer's security does not depend upon his ability to hold on to God. It depends upon God's ability and determination to hold on to him.
And that is a foundation solid enough to build a life upon.
Next week we will examine two additional reasons believers can have confidence in their eternal security, continuing our study of the six biblical proofs that assure us we are forever in Christ.
