Eternal Security
I. The Origin of Eternal Security
A. God's Sovereignty
"...for God so loved the world..."
1. Man is spiritually dead.
2. Man is Sovereignly drawn.
3. Man is supernaturally delivered.
Salvation is a work of God. It is not man reaching up to God but God reaching down to man. You cannot understand that truth and simultaneously believe that salvation can be merited or maintained by works.
B. God's Son
..."that He gave His only begotten Son..."
There is only one sacrifice for sin. If that sacrifice was not sufficient to cover all my sins, then there is no other sacrifice.
Many objections to eternal security are taken from Hebrews. Ironically, the purpose of Hebrews is to teach the sufficiency of Christ's death!
The moment I was saved I was given the righteousness of Christ Jesus. God sees me like Christ. To say that I can become sin again is to impugn the character of Christ.
It is an attack against His Sovereignty, His sufficiency, His sinlessness, His sacrifice, and His substitution.
C. God's Scripture
The question is not what did grandma say, or a preacher, or a neighbor. The question is "What does the Bible say?"
No church, preacher, denomination, or Christian is being faithful to the Scriptures who teach otherwise.
Some churches sing, "Blessed Assurance."
They sing, "When We All Get to Heaven."
But these same churches don't embrace eternal security!
There is not 1 person in the Bible ever saved, then lost.
There is not 1 principle that supports that false doctrine.
There is not 1 preacher or prophet that ever taught it.
There is not 1 picture that symbolizes losing salvation.
There is not 1 precept or passage that teaches you can lose your salvation.
There is not 1 provision for being saved again.
If you distort this doctrine you impact several other doctrines.
The doctrine of Sovereignty
The doctrine of Salvation itself
The doctrine of Sanctification
The doctrine of Sin
The doctrine of the Spirit
The doctrine of the Scriptures
ETERNAL SECURITY IS NOT A BAPTIST DOCTRINE, IT IS A BIBLE DOCTRINE.
II. The Objects of Eternal Security
"...whosoever believeth in Him..."
John 10 says Christ gives eternal life to His sheep. Not everyone who says "B-A-A" is a sheep! Many people don't believe in eternal security because they know too many professing Christians. I never want my lifestyle to be used as a reason why some people deny eternal security!
Some Christians are "Alka-Seltzer" Christians. They come forward to profess Christ... You drop them in some water, they make a fuss and fizzle for a little while, and they disappear only to leave a bad taste in your mouth.
The faith that fizzles at the finish was faulty from the first.
1 John 2:19 says, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us."
In other words, if you have it, you never lose it, and if you don't have it you never had it.
III. The Operation of Eternal Security
A. The safety of it
"...shall never perish..."
Some say it's arrogant to say you know you are saved. I think it's arrogant to think your salvation depends on you!
There are 4 Greek words for the word "never."
One word means "not at all."
The next word means "place, time, or purpose."
The next word means "male or female."
The next word means "perpetually and eternally."
When you put all of these words together, what Jesus really said was this, "They shall not at all in any place, at any time, for any purpose, whether they are male or female, perpetually and eternally, ever perish."
B. The start of it
"...but shall have..."
What the saved have is not just for the sweet by and by but for the nasty now and now.
John 3:36 - "He who has the Son has eternal life..."
John 10:28 - "I give eternal life to them..."
Notice the present tense in these verses.
C. The span of it
"...everlasting..."
Let me ask a rhetorical question, "How long is everlasting life?"
If you can lose it, it was only temporary. If you lose it, it was not "everlasting" and Jesus lied in John 3:16 (and other relevant passages).
D. The serenity of it
"...life..."
Conclusion
Let me share a personal testimony. I did not believe this doctrine as a child/teenager. I spent the first half of my Christian life in an "unholy fear" by constantly trying to hold on to something I could not have possibly lost. But my study of the Bible has firmly convinced of 3 things.
1. You can be saved if you will trust Christ.
2. You can know for a fact that you are saved.
3. Once you are saved, you are eternally secure.
Peanuts Cartoon - Lucy and Linus - Lucy asks if God will flood the earth. Linus says, "No. In Genesis 9 God said He would never flood the earth again." Lucy said, "That takes a load off of my mind." Linus said, "Sound theology has a way of doing that."