Once we put our faith on Jesus Christ alone for salvation and receive the atoning work of His blood we are:
(1) Washed in the Blood of Jesus Once-for-All (Hebrews 10:10) and forgiven of all sins past, present, and future.
(2) Born again by the word of God (1 Peter 1:23) and sealed (2 Corinthains 1:22) and indwelt by the Holy Spirit of promise (1 Corinthians 3:16) unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30).
(3) Become a “purchased possession” of God (Ephesians 1:14) without the ability to reject our salvation, since we are no longer our own and have been “bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20)
(4) Been “graffed in” (Romans 11:17) and adopted as “children of God” into God’s family (Romans 8:16) with an eternal inheritance in Christ (Hebrews 9:15).
(5) And we cannot earn or lose our salvation, since salvation is a “gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
IF Saved Always Saved
The Title of today’s sermon is: “IF Saved Always Saved”
And I say, “IF Saved …”
BECAUSE IF YOU HAVE NOT put your faith on Jesus Christ alone …
IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN washed in the blood,
IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN born again of the Spirit,
IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN sealed unto the day of redemption …
… Then you DO NOT possess ETERNAL LIFE or have the ASSURANCE OF SALVATION!
Because ETERNAL SECURITY – OSAS – ISAS – is for the believer alone!
& BY DEFINITION, the word “ETERNAL” means that is goes on forever.
John 5:24
Notice the phrase “hath everlasting life” is in the present tense.
IF you’re saved, you already have EVERLASTING LIFE …
& the Bible says that you SHALL NOT COME into condemnation!
• So IF saved, always saved … Once you have it, you can’t lose it – or you never had it to begin with.
& People who reject the DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL SECURITY are actually calling GOD A LIAR!
But we KNOW that God CANNOT lie!
Numbers 23:19 says: “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
Titus 1:2 says: “In hope of ETERNAL LIFE, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;”
& THE REASON why this topic is important, is because there are 2 closely-related fundamental doctrines of the faith which are under attack today:
(1) is Salvation by faith alone, apart from the works of the Law
(2) is Once Saved Always Saved or Eternal Security
The other reason that this is important, is because it helps us distinguish between true believers and false converts, who TAKE the name of Christ.
Here’s the SIMPLE RULE: If you don’t know whether you’re saved or not, it’s because you’re probably not saved!
& IF YOU THINK that YOU CAN LOSE YOUR SALVATION, then you’re not saved!
And I’m not talking about momentary lapses or moments of confusion or doubt.
We all get that from time to time …
But what I’m talking about is the so-called Christian who says that you have to MAINTAIN YOUR SALVATION …
… whether through obedience or good works …
… or that if you sin too much, you might lose your salvation!
• Now, I want you to abound in good works & to live a holy life, a life pleasing to God!
But the MOMENT OF SALVATION happens in 1 moment!
Whereas DISCIPLESHIP & growing in the Lord TAKES A LIFETIME!
& Preachers today are confusing the ONCE-AND-FOR-ALL 1-TIME Sacrifice of Jesus Christ for salvation …
… w/ a commitment to DISCIPLESHIP & they’re blending the 2 doctrines together into 1!
Think about it logically.
If you believe that you have to MAINTAIN your salvation –by good works or obedience –
… then you are not absolutely trusting in the blood of Jesus for your atonement …
You’re not absolutely trusting in Jesus by faith alone …
You’re not ultimately trusting in HIS WORK …
… but instead on your own SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS.
& That’s the ultimate rejection of the FINISHED WORK OF JESUS CHRIST ON THE CROSS.
• Why would Jesus have to die on the Cross, if you have to keep working at getting saved?
• His Sacrifice would be in vain!
NOW LET ME MAKE A BOLD STATEMENT!
EVEN IF YOU WERE TO WALK AWAY FROM CHRIST TODAY, and never do another thing for Christ again …
…. You would still not lose your salvation!
You would be disciplined & very miserable, & you would lose a lot of eternal rewards …
… but you would still be a child of God!
Let me prove it to you! Is your authority in the Bible today?
2 Timothy 2:13 (THIS IS PAUL SPEAKING TO TIMOTHY, A SAVED BELIEVER): “IF WE BELIEVE NOT, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”
So even if we were to stop believing, the Bible says GOD ABIDETH FAITHFUL.
Why can’t God Deny Himself?
Once you’ve been WASHED IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS, you can’t UNWASH the Perfect Blood which cleanses you once-and-for-all.
Hebrews 10:10: “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
It was a 1-time sacrifice for sins past, present, & future.
& once we’ve been washed, we’ve been SEALED.
We CAN’T REMOVE the sealing of the Holy Spirit from us!
But here’s the thing …
God won’t let you live as a BACKSLIDDEN Christian for ever …
• If you’re truly saved, God has a promise for you in Hebrews 12.
Hebrews 12:6-7: “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?”
Revelation 3:19 says: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”
So if we sin willfully or excessively or walk away from Christ, God will chastise us in order to bring us back to the fold!
And so we are to work out our salvation with fear & trembling.
That’s what that verse is talking about: “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
It’s not saying that we can lose our salvation, but …
We must have the fear of God!
Ephesians 4:30 says: “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
The day of redemption is when our flesh, when our bodies will be redeemed. It’s the day of resurrection.
So our spirit has been born again, but our flesh has not!
Once we are BORN AGAIN of the Spirit, our spirit is born of God, and therefore perfect.
Our spirit no longer sins. It can’t sin, it’s eternal (it will never die).
1 John 3:9: “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”
And people will confuse this and say I’ve stopped sinning.
That I no longer sin.
But what they don’t understand is that, “you’re SPIRIT does not sin! But your flesh has not been redeemed” & is in battle w/ your new spirit!
The two war together, and we have to work by the Spirit to put our flesh in subjection to our spirit.
Your flesh was from below, it was born of the dust of the ground, it’s earthy, it is of man … you carry the sinful seed of Adam … and your flesh will die.
But your spirit, if you’ve made Jesus your Savior, has been born of God and is eternal, so that it can never die!
1 Peter 1:23 says: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”
But We can grieve the HOLY SPIRIT now … by sinning.
Every time we sin, we grieve the Holy Spirit.
& You can QUENCH the Spirit, but you can’t lose the Spirit which dwells inside of you!
1 Corinthians 3:16 says: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”
2 Corinthains 1:21-22: “Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
What is an EARNEST?
When you go to buy a house, you put down earnest money, which is a deposit towards the purchase of that house.
In the same way, God has given us His own Spirit as a downpayment of our INHERITANCE IN CHRIST.
So we are sealed, bonded, graffed in to the body of Christ by His Spirit.
• And of the BEST PASSAGES to prove eternal security is the fact that the Bible calls us a “PURCHASED POSSESSION”.
LOOK @ Ephesians 1:13-14:
13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
We are not our own! We have been bought with a price …
… a purchased possession of God!
OUR SALVATION didn’t cost us anything! It was FREE for US …
But it was very costly for God, who gave up His only begotten Son so that, “whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Jesus became our SUBSTITUTE & PURCHASED US with HIS OWN BLOOD.
He became our kinsman redeemer, redeeming us from death & Hell and adopting us as children into His family!
• The wages of our sin earned us death & Hell.
• And so as a Just Judge, God will judge unbelievers based on their works.
And God will have no choice but to send them to Hell, as they come short of His glory.
But Jesus will stand in the place of the believer as our SUBSTITUTE at the judgment, so that we will be found perfect.
* In other words, the unbeliever will be judged by his works, but the believer will be judged based on His work!
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 also says that we are God’s purchased possession:
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
And so, IF WE HAVE BEEN PURCHASED by GOD, we are NOT OUR OWN.
We no longer have the power OR the ability to lose our salvation, even if we wanted to.
As a believer, we have the FREE WILL to walk in the Spirit or to walk in the flesh.
But we no longer have the option of walking to the point of losing our salvation!
The Bible says that we are “KEPT BY THE POWER OF GOD.
1 Peter 1:5: “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
And that should be a comfort to you!
Jesus said in John 10:28-29:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish [WHAT PART OF NEVER PERISH DO PEOPLE NOT UNDERSTAND?], neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me [we were GIVEN to Jesus], is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
Do you really want Him to let you walk away from Him in a moment of madness and lose your salvation?
Philippians 1:6 says: “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”
The Good Work which Jesus began in us IS the WORK OF SALVATION …
It’s HIS WORK & The Bible says GOD will PERFORM IT, not us!
That He’ll perform it until the DAY JESUS RETURNS.
• When You’re saved, YOU KNOW THAT YOU’RE SAVED!
… because the HOLY SPIRIT TESTIFIES with YOUR SPIRIT that you are a child of God.
Romans 8:16-17:
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
So those who wilfully refute the DOCTRINE of ETERNAL SECURITY, it’s because they’re NOT SAVED …
The Holy Spirit IS NOT testifying with their Spirit that they are saved …
SO:
#1: WE KNOW THAT WE’RE SAVED, because we have been WASHED BY THE BLOOD of Jesus …
#2 We have been BORN BY & SEALED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.
#3: WE KNOW THAT WE’RE SAVED, because we are a PURCHASED POSSESSION OF GOD.
WE ARE NO LONGER OUR OWN.
#4 WE KNOW THAT WE’RE SAVED, because we have been ADOPTED AS CHILDREN into the family of God!
Romans 8:14-15:
14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Ephesians 1:5 says that God has: “predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will …”
Romans 11 says that we have been “graffed in”.
* And as adopted children who have been grafted in to the Kingdom of God, we cannot lose our salvation!
When we act like disobedient children, God will discipline us.
But God will always be our Father, & we will always be His child, no matter what we say or do!
Galatians 3:26 says: “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”
Also notice that back in Ephesians 1:5, the Bible says that God has “predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself”.
Why would God predestinate us to eternal life, if He was going to take it back from us?
Isn’t God omniscient? All-Knowing?
It wouldn’t make sense … because He elected us based on His foreknowledge.
1 Peter 1:2 also says that we are: “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father”.
God knows the end from the beginning.
So why would God choose us, predestinate us, sanctify us, promise us EVERLASTING life …
… if He was going to take it away 10 minutes or 10 years later?
• NOW THE CRITICISM that’s thrown at Christians who DEFEND OSAS is that we want to use GOD’S GRACE as a LICENSE to SIN.
• They call it CHEAP GRACE, but it’s worse than that! It’s absolutely FREE!
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Salvation is called a GIFT & a GIFT cannot be earned.
So #5: A GIFT can’t be earned, it can’t be bought, you can’t work for it, you can’t pay for it! And you can’t take it back!
NOW THINK ABOUT THIS: THERE ARE NO EXAMPLES IN SCRIPTURE ANYWHERE of ANYONE EVER BEING SAVED and then LOSING their SALVATON.
You’d think that if it could happen, the Bible would be full of examples of people losing their salvation …
… but I challenge anyone to show me even 1!
And people will say, AH! What about Judas!
• But JESUS said JUDAS was “a devil”!
He said in John 6:70: “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?”
JUDAS WAS NEVER SAVED to begin with!
The Bible says in Luke 22:3 that SATAN ENTERED INTO JUDAS: “Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.”
SATAN cannot enter into saved believers. Real Believers cannot be possessed by demons!
Christians can be oppressed by demons, but they cannot be possessed by them!
• God NEVER KNEW JUDAS.
He knew of his existence, but He didn’t KNOW him.
The kind of KNOWING that saves is RELATIONAL.
It’s the FATHER & CHILD COVENANT RELATIONSHIP.
That’s why we are under a NEW COVENANT!
When we put our faith on Jesus, we enter into COVENANT with God.
Not the OLD COVENANT of the LAW, but the NEW COVENANT OF UNDESERVED GRACE.
That’s why MATTHEW 7 is such a powerful image of FALSE CONVERTS …
LOOK @ MATTHEW 7:21-23:
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Jesus says: “I NEVER KNEW YOU” …
… Not “I used to know you”
… NOT “I knew you once, but I took it away from you!
But, “I NEVER KNEW YOU”.
These were people who HIJACKED the name of Jesus & then BOASTED about their good works!
• They said: Have we not in “thy name done many wonderful works”?
• THEY WERE RELYING ON THEIR OWN WORKS, & not trusting in Jesus by faith alone!
• Can you image getting to heaven and boasting about all the wonderful works you did?
The Bible says that our righteousnesses are as FILTHY RAGS in Isaiah 64:6.
• Another Bible figure that people bring up to undermine ETERNAL SECURITY is KING SAUL.
Some people say that King Saul lost his salvation or wonder whether he was ever saved at all.
But King Saul is actually evidence for ETERNAL SECURITY.
& Also for the fact that God will chastise those who are backslidden!
KING SAUL was a DISOBEDIENT & BACKSLIDDEN King …
When Saul tried to call up the prophet Samuel from the grave, (which was a forbidden act) …
God allowed Samuel to come back from heaven & said to King Saul: “to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me:” (1 Samuel 28:19).
Samuel told Saul that he would die & go where Samuel was.
In heaven!
• King Solomon is another example!
He was led into apostasy towards the end of his life by his many wives … but he was still saved!
He wrote books of the Bible and built God’s temple!
King Solomon is in heaven today, even though he paid homage to false gods in the high places!
• King David, murdered Uriah the Hittite and committed adultery with Bathsheba, but no one doubts the salvation of King David.
IN CONCLUSION:
ONCE YOU’VE BEEN WASHED IN THE BLOOD, YOU CAN’T UNWASH YOURSELF!
ONCE YOU’VE BEEN BORN OF THE SPIRIT, you have EVERLASTING LIFE!
ONCE YOU’VE BEEN SEALED, you can’t unseal the sealing of the Holy Spirit!
Once you’ve been adopted as a child of God, you will always be able to call God, Abba, Father!
“for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” (Hebrews 13:5).
SALVATION is a GIFT that cannot be earned or lost.
Knowing that we are ETERNALLY SAVED should never be an excuse to SIN or to live a worldly life.
But, as believers, we can be SURE of our salvation.
Paul says in Romans 5:20-6:2:
20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
21That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
The devil wants us to think that we can lose our salvation!
And he has ministers out there, just like God has His ministers, and they’re preaching a false gospel!
But God who has promised is faithful & true!
Let’s end w/ John 6:35-40:
35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.
37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
