Why Do You Believe in Eternal Security? part 1

Recently I have been asked in a couple of ways why I believe in eternal security.  I do not have time in these short daily devotionals to cover every reason why, but in the next couple of days I will share some of the reasons I have for believing my salvation is secure or that once a believer is saved they are always saved.

Rather than just offering a proof text such as John 10:29 that assures us that no one is able to “snatch them out of my Father’s hand”, which I believe is a legitimate verse to use in the teaching of eternal security, I want to look at Salvation and how it takes place.

Philippians 1:6 says, “Being confident of this very thing that He who has begun a good work in you will complete until the day of Jesus Christ.” I have always understood that the “He who began the good work” was and is God.  The translators of the King James and the New King James seemed to agree because they capitalized the pronoun “He”. 

But just how did God begin this work of salvation in me?  Ephesians 2 says, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, …But God, who is rich in mercy because of His great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).”

How dead were we?  Romans 3:10ff help us to understand our deadness, Romans 3:10–18 (ESV) ¹⁰as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;

¹¹no one understands; no one seeks for God. ¹²All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

¹³“Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” ¹⁴“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” ¹⁵“Their feet are swift to shed blood; ¹⁶in their paths are ruin and misery, ¹⁷and the way of peace they have not known.” ¹⁸“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”   As one man asked, “what can a dead man do?”  The answer is “nothing”, as a spiritually dead man I could not understand or seek after God.  I could not even look to Him for salvation because I could not understand the need.  I was dead.

But God in His rich mercy and grace “made me alive”.   He regenerated me and gave me the faith to believe.  Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV) ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

So in summary the first reason for my belief in eternal salvation is because of God’s promise regarding the process of salvation.  God began the work in me by giving me faith to believe in Jesus Christ.  This leaves me no reason for boasting or bragging because without His act of grace upon me I would still be a dead man lost in my sin.

Thank you for joining us at “First Word”.  Our prayer is that you too may come to faith in Christ as your Savior.

The video version of this is available at www.youtube.com/user/churchoflittleton  FW # 80