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How Do I Know I Can't Lose My Salvation?
by Bobby Bruno Jesus said I couldn't Let's take a look at John 10:27-30, and see what Jesus Himself said about our salvation: "My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them real and eternal life. They are protected from the Destroyer for good. No one can steal them from out of my hand. The Father who put them under my care is so much greater than the Destroyer and Thief. No one could ever get them away from him. I and the Father are one heart and mind" (MSG). Anyone who doesn't believe that Jesus was God needs to read that last verse very carefully. Jesus said here, and in other places, that He and the Father are one (John 17:11: Holy Father, protect them by the power of your namethe name you gave meso that they may be one as we are one.; John 17:22: I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one --both NIV). There was never any doubt in Jesus' mind that He was the Son of God and God Incarnate. Only as God could He take our sins upon Himself and grant us salvation through His death and resurrection. Only Jesus (as God) was strong enough to take on our sins in entirety for all time. But only, once we accept Jesus' gift of salvation, do we become His for all eternity. If Jesus doesn't have you by the time your earthly existence ends, then Satan will snatch you for himself. You must accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior now, before you die, so that you will be under His care, which as Jesus says above, "The Father who put them under my care is so much greater than the Destroyer and Thief (NIV). Satan doesn't care about you; he only cares about keeping you from worshipping God for all of eternity. Satan is angry at God because God won't give over His throne and authority to him. Satan has set out to destroy anything and anyone that God has made. Satan will not rest until he has destroyed as many people as he can that God has created. As the verse says, Satan is a destroyer and a thief. The more people he can turn away from being saved, the happier he is. He is a destroyer in the fact that he wants nothing more than to destroy your life by keeping you from God, and to keep you out of Heaven, where he won't be. He is a thief if he can steal you away from having a joyous life, and keep you in a life of misery and pain, and from obtaining Heaven. Satan doesn't want you to accept Jesus, because, once you do, he (Satan) has no power over you. Believe it or not, Satan will go after those who have Jesus more than he goes after those who don't. Satan wants to destroy a Christian's ability to spread the Gospel. If he can get us as believers to give in to just one temptation that the world can see, then he can effectively ruin our witness for Jesus in this world. What non-believer is going to listen to someone who sins just like they do? Remember, one less person in Heaven with Jesus is one more person in Hell with Satan, and Satan wants to populate Hell just as much as God wants to populate Heaven. Satan doesn't have to work as hard to take over the lives of people who refuse to see the salvation of God, he has them already. But we know God will win in the end. Once Jesus has you, you can rest assured that He will have you forever. Once you give your life to Him, Satan can no longer claim you as his. There is no other power in this universe that can snatch you out of Jesus' hand. If Jesus could rise from the dead in power, then He has enough power to hold you in His gentle grip. God promised me I couldn't and took an oath to secure it When God makes a promise, you can be absolutely sure that He will keep it. In Isaiah, God promised us a Savior (Isaiah 19:20b -- When they (Israel) cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them NIV), and then sent Him a few hundred years later to do what He promised save Israel and all of us who trust in him. God made a promise to Abraham (Genesis 17:5-6 -- What's more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram; now you will be known as Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. I will give you millions of descendants who will represent many nations. Kings will be among them! NIV), and He kept it. God made a promise to Noah (Genesis 7:4 -- "Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made." NIV), and He kept it. God made a promise to Moses (Exodus 3:10 "Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You will lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt." NLT), and He kept it. God made a promise to Jesus that anyone who would follow Him would be secure in knowing that they will be with Him in Heaven for all of eternity, free from Satan's grip, and saved from going to Hell. (See above: John 10:27-30) When God made a promise to anyone He called, He kept those promises, and blessed them with a life worth living. Every time God called someone, He promised them that the task He had set before them would be accomplished, no matter how inferior or inadequate the person called felt about themselves, or their ability to do what God wanted them to do. God's promises are solid and irrevocable. Once God makes a promise, it stays made, and cannot, and will not, be broken by Him or anyone else. Not even Satan has that kind of power. When God makes a promise and binds it to Himself, we can be sure that nothing, or no one, anywhere in this universe can break it. And when it comes to our salvation, when God has us back where we belong in His family, He guarantees that we can never lose it. Never! Hebrews 6:17-20a tells us that "God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given us both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence. This confidence is like a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain of heaven into God's inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us (NLT). What more can be said? This Scripture says it all for us. We are assured that Heaven is ours forever, where we will be in the presence of our Lord for eternity. Remember, God never promised us a pain free life here on this earth, but He did promise us that we are His forever, when we put our faith and trust in His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus said that we can never be snatched out of His hand, and God made a promise to Him and to us that His hand will never let us go. That is the hope we have as Christians that our eternal salvation is secure. Nothing -- let me repeat nothing can take us away from God once He has us in His grasp. Not Satan, nor other people, not even death can steal us away from God. Be secure, and live your life for Jesus to the fullest extent of His Will. His grasp on you is secure. "Scripture marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group." "Scripture Marked (NIV) taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved." Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. 1,470 Words Bobby Bruno was saved 15 years ago in a way that left him no doubt that Jesus wanted him to reach others with His great and abounding love. He started writing at the age of 12 and hasn't stopped since. He achieved Associates Degree in Biblical Studies from Ohio Christian University in early 2014. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |