God started something in you.
At some moment in your past, He spoke to your heart. You heard His voice and responded in faith. He washed you, redeemed you, and made you His own.
But one important question remains:
Will He finish what He started?
Upon what basis can we confidently believe that our salvation is secure?
One truth stands above all others: our salvation does not rest upon our ability to persevere. Salvation originates with God, is sustained by God, and is completed by God. We are His workmanship, created and preserved by His grace.
Last week we began examining seven reasons believers can have confidence in their salvation because of the very nature of grace and the nature of God's saving work. Today we will consider two additional reasons for our security: the strength of God and the finished work of Christ.
Because of the Strength of God
Scripture repeatedly assures us that our salvation is secure because it rests upon God's power, not our own.
1. God's Power Is Sufficient to Save and Safeguard Us
Paul expressed this confidence in his final letter:
"That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day." (2 Timothy 1:12)
Paul uses the imagery of a deposit placed in a bank for safekeeping. We have entrusted our souls to God, and He is fully able to preserve that deposit until the day of our final redemption.
2. It Is the Father's Will That Christ Keep His People
Jesus declared:
John 6:35-40 “Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
Jesus came to perfectly accomplish the Father's will. What is that will? That none of those given to Christ would be lost.
If even one genuinely redeemed person could ultimately perish, then the Father's will would fail and the Son's mission would be incomplete. Scripture allows for neither possibility.
3. No One Can Snatch Us from the Father's Hand
Jesus offered one of the clearest promises of eternal security:
John 10:27-29 “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.”
Romans 8:33-39 “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus goes on to declare that His Father is greater than all and that no one can snatch His sheep from the Father's hand (John 10:29). Paul echoes this confidence in Romans 8.
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" His answer is emphatic. Neither hardship, persecution, suffering, demonic forces, nor any power in all creation can separate believers from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
4. Jesus Prayed for Our Preservation
On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus prayed:
John 17:11 “I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name — the name you gave me — so that they may be one as we are one.”
Christ entrusted His followers to the Father's keeping. The same power that saves us is the power that preserves us.
God is not merely powerful enough to save sinners. He is powerful enough to keep them.
Because of Christ's Work
Throughout this summer's study of twelve essential theological words, we have repeatedly seen the comprehensive nature of Christ's saving work. Every aspect of that work points to the security of the believer.
1. Christ Redeemed Us
"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace." (Ephesians 1:7)
Redemption means we have been purchased out of bondage through the payment of a price. That price was the blood of Christ.
2. Christ Purchased Our Freedom from the Curse
Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
The curse that belonged to us was placed upon Him. The penalty has already been borne.
3. Christ Secured Eternal Salvation
Hebrews 5:9 “and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”
Notice that Christ provides eternal salvation, not temporary salvation. His saving work accomplishes exactly what God designed it to accomplish.
4. Christ Removed God's Wrath
Romans 3:25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.
The wrath we deserved fell upon Christ. God's justice was fully satisfied through His sacrifice.
5. Christ Justified the Believer
Romans 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”
Justification is God's legal declaration that the believer is righteous in His sight. The verdict has been rendered. The case has been settled.
The sacrifice was sufficient. The judgment is complete.
6. Christ Forgave Our Sins
Colossians 3:1-4 ‘Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
Notice the word all. Christ's forgiveness is complete and comprehensive.
7. Our Lives Are Hidden with Christ
John 17:24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”
Believers are united with Christ and secured in God Himself.
As one theologian observed, our salvation is "double-secured." We are hidden with Christ, and Christ is seated at the Father's right hand. Our security rests not in our grip on Him, but in His grip on us.
Conclusion
Can you be sure of your salvation?
Jesus not only died for you, He prayed for you.
Just hours before the cross, He prayed:
"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory." (John 17:24)
Was that prayer heard?
Was it answered by the Father?
The answer is yes.
Believers may stumble. We may wander for a season. We may experience failure, weakness, and spiritual struggle. But those whom Christ has truly saved will never be finally abandoned.
Jesus testified:
"Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost..." (John 17:12)
Even now, Christ continues His ministry on behalf of His people.
I John 2:1 “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense — Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”
And Hebrews reminds us:
Hebrews 7:25 “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”
Our confidence is not found in the strength of our faith but in the faithfulness of our Savior. The God who saves is the God who keeps. The Christ who redeemed us continues to intercede for us. Therefore, our assurance rests securely not in what we do for Him, but in what He has done, is doing, and will forever do for us.
The believer's security ultimately rests on the strength of God and the finished work of Christ. And neither can fail.
