We will prove from the ancient scriptures that the believer in Jesus Christ is saved for eternity.
John 3:16 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.
The believer in Jesus Christ repented from a sinful life, received forgiveness of sins, and received the Holy Spirit starting to follow the life of Christ. The believer starts a new life that is led and inspired by the Holy Spirit.
The believer in Jesus Christ is saved and is working out his salvation by believing and keeping the faith. That is a believing believer!
2Tim. 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Faith in Christ will be visible in the believer and should be a demonstration of what God can do in the believer's life. We can recognize genuine faith by the works people do or by the fruits they bear.
James 2: 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
We must exercise our faith in Christ Jesus who lives and works in and through us.
Gal. 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Col. 1:27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The believer in Jesus Christ has the responsibility to believe and walk in faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. God is taking care of all the other responsibilities. The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit are involved to secure eternal life for the believer.
Phil. 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
1 John. 5:13 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.
We can find 12 absolute reasons in the New Testament for the eternal safety of the believer.
A. DEPENDING ON GOD THE FATHER.
B. DEPENDING ON GOD THE SON.
C. DEPENDING ON GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT.
1. THE COVENANT OF GOD
God had a covenant with the Jewish people which is called the Old Testament. This was a conditional covenant. The Old Testament shows what man can’t do or accomplish; the New Testament shows what God can do working through man. When Jesus Christ came, He came to bring an end to the Old Testament to start a New Testament. God writes His laws in the hearts and minds of man.
Hebr. 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
God writes His computer program in our hearts and minds and puts His Spirit in us to let us walk in His ways.
Ez. 36:27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
We ask in His name, and He will do it! Believing in the New Covenant of God makes our salvation secure. Jer. 31:31-34, Hebr. 8:8-13
2. THE POWER OF GOD
God has the power to keep those who are saved.
John 10:28-30 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 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. 30 I and My Father are one."
We put our trust and faith in God the Father who has all the power to keep His promises to those who believe in Him.
Rom. 4:21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.
Read also: Rom. 8:31, Rom. 14:4, Eph. 3:20, Phil. 3:20-21, 2Tim. 1:12, Jud. 1:24-25
3. THE LOVE OF GOD
God keeps His children because He loves them. God loves all people but especially His children.
Rom. 5:8-10 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
If God saved us when we were His enemies, shall He not keep us more now we are His children? God loves you!
Rom. 8:37-39 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 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.
4. THE PRAYER OF GOD’S SON
God always hears the prayer of His Son, and He wants to save us to the uttermost who come to God through Jesus Christ.
Hebr. 7:25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
The Son always prays according to the will of the Father, and the Father always hears the Son.
John 11:41-42 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me."
Read also: John 17:9-12,15,17, 20.
5. THE DEAD OF CHRIST
Only sin could separate us from God's love, but this obstacle is removed because Christ died for all our sins.
John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
The unbeliever will perish, not because of his sin, but because of his unbelief, because he doesn’t believe in Jesus Christ.
John 3:18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
People can only perish because of unbelief. In the gospel of John, we can find what the greatest sin is, and that is unbelief in Christ.
John 16:8-9 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me;
Jesus Christ destroyed the devil who had the power over death. Jesus Christ won the victory through His death, and we can share in this victory when we die with Him and stop living for ourselves and start living for Him.
Hebr. 2:14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
6. THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
The believer receives eternal life by his conversion, eternal life that has no end.
1 John 5:11-12 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
This eternal life is the life of the resurrected Christ.
1Cor. 15:21-22 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ, all shall be made alive.
We are risen with Christ and walk in the newness of life.
Rom. 6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
We start to rule and have dominion with Christ through His resurrection, having a new eternal position in and with Him.
Eph. 2:4-6 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
We can rule and have dominion because we are resurrected with Christ, we have a new position, and the enemy is disarmed and made powerless.
Col. 2:13-15 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
7. THE INTERCESSION OF CHRIST
The prayers of the Lord Jesus Christ are critical for us believers and powerful to save us to the uttermost.
Hebr. 7:25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
The Lord Jesus Christ is praying for the believers, He lives to intercede for us. Christ foresees the attack of Satan on the believers and knows our weaknesses.
Luc. 22:31-32 And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren."
It was the prayer of Jesus Christ that was a guarantee for Peter to keep his faith, and keeping the faith means eternal salvation. Jesus Christ didn’t leave Peter, even when Peter denied Him three times. The Lord Jesus Christ is our Shepherd who watches over us.
Read also: Psalm 23, John 10:1-5, Rom. 5:10, Rom. 8:34.
8. THE WORK OF CHRIST AS OUR LAWYER. (Advocate, Intercessor)
A lawyer is a defender of a guilty person. In the Bible, we can find the Greek word "Parakletos" which means, "The one who is called at somebody's side". We can find this word in
John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Parakletos), that He may abide with you forever--
Here the word “Parakletos” is used for the Holy Spirit. That is why the Holy Spirit is called "another Helper". Christ speaks in our defense when we have sinned, and we receive the verdict of God that we are forgiven.
1Joh. 2:1-2 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate (Parakletos) with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
On the other side, there is Satan who accuses us day and night when we sin. Rev. 12:10 The Lord doesn't offer His apology for the fall of a Christian. He doesn't ask for compassion because the Lord is righteous and just and respects the Law. He only offers His fulfilled work on the cross for our sins. 1Joh. 2:2
We have eternal life because we trust in the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses us from our sins. Jesus Christ appears for us in the presence of God.
Hebr. 9:24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
9. REBIRTH THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT
Rebirth or the "birth from above" makes us partakers of His divine power and nature.
2 Pet. 1:3-4 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Like our human nature can't be taken away, so the divine nature we got when we became "born again" can't be taken away.
2Cor. 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Through the Rebirth, we become heirs of and with Christ with the same rights He has.
Rom.8:16-17 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Read also "born again" John 1:12-13, John 3:3-8, James1:18,1Pet.1:23
We received Christ and are born again, born from above, born from God. God can do exceedingly, abundantly, above, all that we imagine or ask through His power what works IN us. (Eph. 3:20) But don’t make the mistake of despising your birthright, God hates those who despise their birthright.
Rom. 9:13 As it is written, "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated."
Gen. 25:31-34 But Jacob said, "Sell me your birthright as of this day." 32 And Esau said, "Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?" 33 Then Jacob said, "Swear to me as of this day." So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
10. THE HOLY SPIRIT LIVES IN THE BELIEVER
The Lord Jesus Christ prayed to the Father to give us another helper, the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus said that the Holy Spirit should never leave us.
John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--
The Holy Spirit is called the eternal Spirit in the book of Hebrews 9:14
Hebrews 9:14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
The promise of the indwelling Spirit was already given in John 7:37-39.
Read also: Rom. 5:5, Rom. 8:9, 1 Cor. 2:12, 1Cor. 6:19, 1 John 3:24.
Luke 11:13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"
11. THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Bible tells us that we were baptized into one body by the Holy Spirit. We became part of the body of Christ, we became a branch in the Vine.
Rom. 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
We were baptized in the Holy Spirit, baptized into Christ, to become ONE body.
Gal. 3:26-27 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Other scriptures about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Matt. 3:11, Marc 1:8, Luc. 3:16, John 1:33, Acts 1:5 + 8, Eph. 4:5. (The Baptism of John is unto repentance, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit brings salvation)
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
12. THE SEAL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The seal is used to execute a legal document or guarantee the document's authenticity. At our conversion, we agreed to be bought free by Jesus Christ. We now belong to Him, and we are sealed for Him. The Bible tells us that we are sealed till the day of redemption.
Eph. 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
When we believe the truth about Jesus Christ and put our trust in Him, we get sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Eph. 1:13-14 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.
We are established in Christ, anointed in Christ, and sealed in Christ.
2Cor. 1:21-22 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
- These are the twelve reasons to convince the believer that he is safe for eternity. But this doesn't allow us that we can continue to sin. We must live blamelessly in Christ and should walk as Children of God trusting in His power, righteousness, and holiness.
Rom. 6:1-2, 15, Eph. 1:4, Eph. 5:27, Phil. 2:14-15, Col. 1:21-22, 1Thess. 2:10, 1Thess. 3:13, 1Thess. 5:23-24, 1Joh. 2:1.
