Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”
Our Bible verse for today: “My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.” John 10:27-28 (CSB)
Our thought for today: “You cannot lose your salvation.”
“Once saved, always saved”. That neat little phrase captures the essence of an important Biblical doctrine known as “the security of the believer”. The doctrine of the security of the believer teaches that once you have made a sincere profession of faith in Jesus Christ for the salvation of your sins, you are saved and nothing can ever change that.
Some people struggle with this. What if you don’t “act” as if you’re saved? What if you claim to be a Christian but then you act like the devil? Or, what if you really were saved at one time but then you kick the dog, steal your neighbor’s newspaper, cheat on your wife, or even murder someone? Are you still saved then? Those are good questions.
In John 10:27-28 Jesus made it clear that if you really are one of His followers (if you ever made a genuine profession of faith to trust Him for the forgiveness of your sins), then you belong to Him, you have eternal life, and you will never perish. Additionally, just for emphasis, He emphatically states that no one (read Satan) will ever snatch you out of His hand.
Please note that Jesus made no mention there as to whether or not you are a good and obedient little sheep. He seemed to be referring even to the black sheep of the family. That passage teaches that f you really are His then you belong to Him for all eternity and nothing will ever change that. Here’s another one. In Romans 8:38 the Apostle Paul wrote:
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor power, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Paul ran out of words and rhetorical devices in his effort to explain that if you belong to God then there is nothing in all creation, nothing in the physical world or the spiritual world, no angel or demon nor anything else that can ever separate you from God. That, by the way, would include your bad behavior. “Nothing” in all creation can separate you from God once you are His.
The Biblical doctrine of the security of the believer is important and therefore it’s a subject God devoted a lot of ink to in the Bible. There is much more than we can adequately cover in a single devotional message, therefore we will continue this discussion tomorrow.
Oak Hill Baptist Church