Is The Believer Secure in Christ?

[Romans 8.28]

Security Of The Believer
An excerpt of a pamphlet I wrote.

Once I'm saved or born of God, can I still go to hell if I mess up? Consider the following.

John 6.44. "No man can come to me (Jesus), except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."

John 10:27-29. "My sheep (Believers in Christ) hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (28) And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (29) My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." (Notice here that we've been given to Jesus by the Father)

John 6:37-40. "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (Jesus won't cast us out regardless of our failures) (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."

Eph. 4:30. "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."

In the above verses, we have been given eternal life (That is God's own life without beginning or end from the moment we're born again), and Jesus says He will not let any one take us out of his hand. The Father will not let anyone take you out of His hand, and the Holy Spirit has sealed us until the day of redemption. How much more secure can we be than God telling us in His word that He is totally for us?

1 John 3:9. “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit (Practice) sin; for his seed (Jesus) remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." (Our new Christ nature can't sin.)

Romans 4:7-8. "Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. (8) Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."

1 John 5:1 (Repeated). "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him."

1 John 5:4. "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."

1 John 5:5. "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?"

1 John 5:18. "We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God (Jesus) keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not."

Revelations 3:5. "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels."

Philippians 4:3. "And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow labourers, whose names are in the book of life." (This is to show that we are in the book of life in present tense).

Romans 10:13-14. "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (14) How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?"

1 John 5:11-13. "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (12) He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (13) These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."

John. 6:28. "Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? (29) "Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent."

Hebrews 13:5. "Let your conversation (Manner of life) be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

Colossians 3:3-4. "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (4) When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory."

1 Corinthians 6:19-20. "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.”

Isaiah 49:14-16. "But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. (15) Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. (16) Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." Dear reader, you can believe and trust God because He cannot lie (Titus 1:2). He gave Jesus' life for us and promises He won't fail us. In (Luke 23:42-43) all that the thief next to Jesus on the cross said was; "And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. (43) And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." That thief didn't repent, obey any laws, become baptized, and get filled with the Holy Spirit, or attend church to be with Jesus in paradise! His statement that Jesus was going to His kingdom was acknowledging the fact he believed that Jesus was the Christ; he was saved at that moment. On this booklet's cover, there are only two crosses shown: Jesus' cross where He gave Himself for me, and the believing thief's cross. Like the believing thief, "I am crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). By accepting Jesus as my savior, my old man or Adamic nature was crucified with Christ (Romans 6:6-10), died with Him that day and I am free from sin and death. The other thief's suffering on his cross that isn't shown wasn't the end of his trouble, and is in a place you don't want to be. Read (Luke 16:19-31).

If you haven't accepted Jesus as your savior yet, you can be saved this very moment by asking Jesus into your life. Please don't put it off any longer, because you aren’t guaranteed one more moment of life. (John 3:15-18) says "That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (16) For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This doesn't say conditional life as many try to persuade you, but guarantees that you have everlasting life. (17) "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

To repeat (Romans 10:9 & Isaiah 1:18), "That if you shalt say with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and shall believe in your heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, you shalt be saved." and "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

It's time for you to make the most important decision of your life! (2 Corinthians 6:2. RSV). God says, "At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation. Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." Today is the day for you to become saved! Don't use the excuse of not accepting Christ because of some hypocritical Christian you've seen (Jesus isn't finished with them yet), I don't have the time right now, my church doesn't teach that, God is a God of love and wouldn't put anyone in hell, is there really a God (Nature itself teaches you there is), and what about the big bang theory and evolution? You may allow other similar reasoning to be the argument you present to God for not taking Christ as your savior when he is available, but you'll be the loser because Jesus is the only sacrifice and means of going to heaven given to man. (Acts 4:12) "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Jesus further says in (John 14:6) "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

 

[farout]

Romans8:28 good message. However what would you want answered?:groupwave:

 

[Peace Seeker]

Once I'm saved or born of God, can I still go to hell if I mess up? Consider the following.

I have considered this and my answer is I don't think so. Your post has a lot of scripture to back this up, some of them are amazing, ones that I have held on to. Such as John 10:27-29. Anyway, here's a few more :


Jude 1:24
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy

Psalm 121:7-8
7 The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
8 The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.

Ephesians 1:13-14
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation;
in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who
is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

2 Timothy 2:13
if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

1 John 5:13
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have
eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

If neither I, nor God can hold fast my salvation, then who can be saved?

 

[Romans 8.28]

Romans8:28 good message. However what would you want answered?:groupwave:

Thank you Farout. I suppose having additional ideas thrown at it much like the "Once saved, always saved" threads, though I'm hopeful I've included enough additional information on this thread it may lend additional light to the subject.

 

[HisFollower]

Notwithstanding God´s Word tells us instructive warnings as well, which cannot be ignored:

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
(Mat 5:20)
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.
(Mat 7:21)
Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
(Mat 18:3)
Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
(Rom 11:22)
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
(1 Tim 4:1)
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
(2 Tim 4:3-4)
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation,
(Heb 10:26-27)
For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from..
(2 Pet 2:21-22)
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
(Luke 14:26-27)
So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
(Luke 14:33)

 

[Romans 8.28]

Notwithstanding God´s Word tells us instructive warnings as well, which cannot be ignored:

Hi HisFollower. I reckon the differences we see in the word may be reason for the following admonition. Romans 14:3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.

I thank God that He loves us all in Christ, and that not of ourselves. The problem with my sin is that none of it was accidental; all was willful, yet God has not left or forsaken me through the years. He continues to lead me into paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

To me it is much like the song we sing: "When I see the blood." Exodus 12:13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Our righteousness is because we are in Christ; not of works lest we could boast That's the way I read it anyhow. Thanks for your reply.

 

[jari]

there were many false teachers in early ages of christianity and so is now. every occurance of false teachings in bible actually points to legalism.
Teachers forbidding to marry and eat certain foods or like in galatians they wanted to have jewish customs from the law, etc.
basically teachers who teach unnessary and harmful doctrines.

and these teachers probably had not accepted Jesus as their savior like its possible many christians had not either. hence falling away in hebrews (Heb 10) was possible
and turning away from the path of rightneusness which these false teachers did that Peter spoke about (2 Pet 2).

all have in common the unbelief in Jesus sacrafice and counting following God as unworthy thing due to unbelief.

so they may have tagged along but teached false things of unrightneusness and not of things of spirit and life.

in John's letter it also says that christians do not fall away as they truly belong to Christ but anti-christs and false teachers can do whatever as they never had their foundations from faith in Jesus.


(1Jn 2:19) They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

so i think we are secure once we accept Jesus as savior. He keeps us and our faith reminds us to whom we belong. He has also given indwell of holy spirit to believer.

 

[jari]

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
(Mat 5:20)

perhaps biggest problem entering God's kingdom is just that - self rightneousness. this is what this scripture is essentially about.
Pharisees were like example religious people of that time. but Jesus told them pharisees were not entering heaven......
they were complete hypocrites. which is why it wasnt really hard to be more righteuss than them, the people who wanted to kill Jesus.
which they did.

Luk 18:10-14
(10) Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
(11) The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
(12) I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
(13) And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
(14) I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.


it's always God's grace that Justifies us. And God also gives us His rightneusness.


Rom 10:10-11
(10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
(11) For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

 

[Romans 8.28]

I have considered this and my answer is I don't think so. Your post has a lot of scripture to back this up, some of them are amazing, ones that I have held on to. Such as John 10:27-29. Anyway, here's a few more :


Jude 1:24
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy

Psalm 121:7-8
7 The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
8 The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.

Ephesians 1:13-14
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation;
in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who
is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

2 Timothy 2:13
if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

1 John 5:13
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have
eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

If neither I, nor God can hold fast my salvation, then who can be saved?

Hi Peaceseeker, I have no idea how I missed your reply because I sure appreciate your comments and scripture you've brought forth, and I will incorporate that into my witness. Thank you so much in Jesus' name.

 

[B-A-C]

I look at the awesome list of scriptures above and I am reminded that we have a savior that loves us and cares for us. He will do everything to insure our salvation.

Peaceseeker: If neither I, nor God can hold fast my salvation, then who can be saved?

I think this is the wrong question. God is able, I have no doubt. But he will not force it upon us either.
There are people who get angry and curse God. I myself have been angry at God. Then they turn around the next day and ask for forgiveness. Thank God for grace!!

I do believe in something like spiritual suicide. People die everyday, hundreds of ways.
Heart attacks, cancer, heart disease, liver disease, car accidents, flying accidents, boating accidents, murder, .. the list goes on...
These type of death are uncontrollable, we have no control over accidents or cancer or heart attacks. Oh we can eat better and exercise more, but I doubt most of the these things happen to those who deliberately eat bad and don't exercise just so they will die tomorrow. I suspect they want to do these things, but just don't for whatever reason.
Then you have suicide. It is a deliberate act. Suicide cannot be an accident. It cannot happen by something that was uncontrollable.

I think we stumble through life and our sins everyday. I think there is forgiveness and grace for these things. But I also think if we reject Jesus enough times, God will eventually give us what we want and let us go back to our sin. I think it is extremely difficult to make this happen, but I believe it can happen.

 

[jari]

I think we stumble through life and our sins everyday. I think there is forgiveness and grace for these things. But I also think if we reject Jesus enough times, God will eventually give us what we want and let us go back to our sin. I think it is extremely difficult to make this happen, but I believe it can happen.

you only want to give up Jesus if your trying to hold with your own strength and get tired. Or you know not the value of Jesus to begin with or your again using your own effort to save your self.......

the way we see requirement for salvation to begin with is how we feel about giving up.

.

 

[Peace Seeker]

I look at the awesome list of scriptures above and I am reminded that we have a savior that loves us and cares for us. He will do everything to insure our salvation.

Peaceseeker: If neither I, nor God can hold fast my salvation, then who can be saved?

I think this is the wrong question. God is able, I have no doubt. But he will not force it upon us either.

Hi BAC,

My point was simply that God is not only able, but also willing and active in securing salvation for us. I think force is too strong a word and we tend to shrink away from it because we are so attached to our concept of freewill. Yet God has done may things for us that were not with our consent or freewill desires. As if God needs our consent, or advice, or approval of His doings.

While we were still sinners and wandering in darkness God loved us and gave Himself for us, that was done without our consent or will. He loved us first, then we loved Him, etc. So in a sense these can be construed as His forcing His will upon us to save us. And if He did that, it is not a stretch to me that He also purposes to keep our salvation safe.

So I don't think His plan was to send His Son to die a horrible death on our behalf, to reconcile us to God, to sanctify and justify us, to seat us in the heavenly places with Him, to love us with an everlasting love, etc., only to kind of leave it up to us whether or not we want to remain saved. When we are born again God gives us power and the right to become children of God. His power is able to keep His children secure.
God purchased us with His blood and made us His prized possession. And as much as we would guard our most prized possession, God does so much the more.

How can we by our own will and strength keep ourselves saved? When we have faith it is because God gave it to us. When we abide in Him it is because He has empowered us to abide in Him. When He gives us salvation it is no light thing that can be changed like one takes off a sweater.
God said He gives us eternal life. Not a probationary eternal life, but an outright eternal life.

I don't deny that we see people falling away from the faith all the time, but why they do and how it fits in to the sovereign will of God I don't know. And unless I can look inside their souls like God can, I will not wonder too much about why they fell away, if they were really saved or not, etc. Other than to just say if we abandon the faith we never had it in the first place.

Romans 5:10
For if, while 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!

I do believe in something like spiritual suicide. People die everyday, hundreds of ways.
Heart attacks, cancer, heart disease, liver disease, car accidents, flying accidents, boating accidents, murder, .. the list goes on...
These type of death are uncontrollable, we have no control over accidents or cancer or heart attacks. Oh we can eat better and exercise more, but I doubt most of the these things happen to those who deliberately eat bad and don't exercise just so they will die tomorrow. I suspect they want to do these things, but just don't for whatever reason.
Then you have suicide. It is a deliberate act. Suicide cannot be an accident. It cannot happen by something that was uncontrollable.

I don't think God would let a truly saved person commit suicide, spiritual or otherwise. Nor do I believe a truly saved person would want to do it. Also, not all suicide is necessarily deliberate, such as in cases of mental illness, demonic oppression, etc.

I think we stumble through life and our sins everyday. I think there is forgiveness and grace for these things. But I also think if we reject Jesus enough times, God will eventually give us what we want and let us go back to our sin. I think it is extremely difficult to make this happen, but I believe it can happen.

I agree with your sentiments here, especially the clarification in your last point about how difficult it is to happen. About rejecting Jesus enough times, only God knows how many times that is, but I am confident that it is more times than the average person has to worry about. I think balance is crucial. We don't want to limit God's stunning and expansive grace, nor do we want to abuse it.

We might feel that we have been so evil in our lives, fallen so far away, have really crossed the line this time, and felt that for sure there is no hope for us; yet there God is holding out His arms to us saying "come home".