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CAN I LOSE MY SALVATION?

"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ, our Lord."
(Romans 6:23)    NKJV

"Because of His grace He declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life." (Titus 3:7)  NLT

"If my relationship with God depended on my being righteous and good, I would never make it. I have failed. Grace is being accepted by God even though I do not deserve it, even though I am not worthy of it."  WHY GRACE CHANGES EVERYTHING, Chuck Smith.

I WILL NEVER MAKE IT WITHOUT GRACE

"By the grace of God, I am what I am..." (1Corinthians 15:10)

"And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant..."  (1Timothy 1:14)

"If we are unfaithful, He remains faithful..." (2Timothy 2:13)  NLT

God's exceedingly abundant grace allowed me to be saved. And God's grace allows me to stay saved. I needed grace to be saved because I was a rebellious knucklehead.  And I need grace to stay saved because in many ways I am still a rebellious knucklehead.

"If you had to keep your salvation, you would certainly perish."   Charles Spurgeon

I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU OR FORSAKE YOU

After studying the Bible for 57 years I am pleased to make this statement: You cannot lose your
salvation. God will never stop forgiving you. God will never stop loving you. Salvation is not a thing you can lose, it is a person who will never leave you or forsake you.  (Hebrews 13:5) 

"Grace is not a thing, it is a person. Grace is all about Jesus.  Jesus did it all.  My only hope is in what Jesus has done, not in what I can do."  HOW THE GOSPEL OF GRACE WORKS, Peter Youngren.

GOOD NEWS: GOD WILL COMPLETE THE GOOD WORK
HE HAS BEGUN IN YOU

"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." (Philippians 1:6)

We do not struggle to finish the work of Jesus.  We rest in the finished work of Jesus.  When we rest in Him and trust in Him to keep us saved, we acknowledge that He is on the throne. When we take on the burden and responsibility of trying to keep ourselves saved, we only succeed in putting ourselves on the throne.  God calls us, draws us, saves us, and keeps us by grace. Faith itself is a gift from God. God gives us the faith, the desire, and the opportunity to be saved. We do not find God. God finds us.  You cannot lose your salvation because you never did anything to get it.  There is no Bible record of anyone ever losing their salvation.

ETERNAL SECURITY
THE END RESULT OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

"I have loved you my people with an everlasting love." (Jeremiah 31:3) 

We are not saved because we are good.  We are saved because God is good. We do not keep our salvation because we are always good. We keep it because God is always good.   God is love.  If you know God as love, it is a simple and easy thing to believe in eternal security. Love saves us AND keeps us.  We are saved AND secure.  We are secure forever because we are loved forever.

NO CONDEMNATION AND NO SEPARATION

Romans 8 begins with the good news of no condemnation IN God's Kingdom. It ends with the good news of no separation FROM God's Kingdom.  When we go back to Romans 7, we encounter a man without grace who cannot win, but in Chapter 8 we see this same man living under grace and he cannot lose.  Grace changes everything. 

LIVING UNDER GRACE –
LOVED, VALUED, ACCEPTED, AND FORGIVEN FOREVER

"Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:14)

Many Christians spend their lives in the bondage of Romans 7 – struggling and discouraged.  That is why many doubt their salvation. That is why many live in fear of losing their salvation. For Paul, Romans 7 was not the end of the road, it was the road that led to grace.  Paul knew that without grace he was lost...he was nothing...he was doomed.  And without grace, we are doomed.  Grace saves us. Grace keeps us.

GRACE PRODUCES ETERNAL SECURITY
SELF-EFFORT PRODUCES ETERNAL INSECURITY

Grace: The freely given, unmerited love and favor of God.

Self-effort: "I am carnal...what I will to do, that I do not practice, but what I hate, that I do." (Romans 7:13-15)

"As long as we are trying to do anything, God can do nothing.  It is because of our trying that we fail and fail and fail.  God wants to demonstrate to us that we can do nothing at all, and until that is fully recognized, our despair and disillusion will never cease."  THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE, Watchman Nee

MY SHEEP SHALL NEVER PERISH

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28)

CONCLUSION

YOU CANNOT LOSE YOUR SALVATION

YOU HAVE PERMANENT AND ETERNAL SALVATION IN CHRIST – PERIOD.

RECOMMENDED READING:   ETERNAL SECURITY by Charles Stanley

"These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life."   (1 John 5:13) NASB

 

MADE RIGHT WITH GOD

"For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands.  The law simply shows us how sinful we are, but now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ and this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are."      (Romans 3:20-22 NLT)

The most awesome thing about God is His gift of righteousness (Romans 5:17)  Righteousness means we believers have right standing with God.  Righteousness means we have been made right with God.  We bave been made right with God.

THE FINISHED WORK OF JESUS --
WHERE WE STAND WITH GOD

We are forgiven, victorious, and righteous in Christ, now. We do not strive and struggle for forgiveness, victory and righteousness. We proceed from a place of forgiveness, victory, and righteousness.

Question:  What must I do to make myself right with God.
Answer:    Nothing! Jesus already made you right with God.

Your Part: Realize it. Accept it. Enjoy it.

It's the good news of grace. Grace is a simple and easy thing. It is so simple and so easy, many people go through life and miss it.  Here is the good news:  We do not have to make ourselves righteous before we get saved and we do not have to keep ourselves righteous after we get saved. Jesus makes us righteous when we get saved.

Salvation is the gift of righteousness.
Salvation gives us right standing with God.
Salvation means we are made right with God.

"As long as we are trying to do anything, God can do nothing. It is because of our trying that we fail, and fail, and fail.  God wants to demonstrate to us that we can do nothing at all and until that is fully recognized our despair and disillusion will never cease."

Watchman Nee
The Normal Christian Life p. 167

"Because of His grace He declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life."  (Titus 3:7 NLT)
 

HEAVEN IS A CROWDED PLACE

"After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes with palm branches in their hands..."

(Revelation 7:9 NKJV)

John saw heaven. He said it is filled with a great multitude which no one could number.

A GREAT MULTITUDE WHICH NO ONE COULD NUMBER!!

"But, in a world full of sinful people, how could heaven be a crowded place?"

Because, in God's Kingdom, "The gift of God is eternal life." (Romans 6:23 NKJV)

THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE!!

Eternal life is a gift. Salvation is a gift. Heaven is a gift.

Jesus is a gift. Love is a gift. Mercy is a gift.

Grace is a gift. Righteousness is a gift. Forgiveness is a gift.

CONCLUSION:

God is love.

Love never fails.

God's plan of salvation is a total unconditional success.

Heaven is a crowded place

"God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God." (Ephesians 2:8 NLT)

"Because of His grace He declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life." (Titus 3:7 NLT)

Jesus proclaimed unmistakenly that God's law is so perfect and absolute that no one can achieve righteousness. Yet, God's grace is so great that we do not have to. By striving to prove how much they deserve God's love, legalists miss the whole point of the gospel. That it is a gift from God for people who don't deserve it. The solution to sin is not to impose an ever stricter code of behavior. It is to know God.

What's So Amazing About Grace
By Philip Yancey, p.210