The Saint's Guarantee

The precious doctrine of eternal security is vital in the believer's walk. Jude encourages the believer with these precious words:

"To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you...Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." (v 1-2, 24-25)

As with anything in life, the guarantee seems to be of much importance. When we purchase a new car, TV, or home, we want to know what the guarantee is; without it, it's just not worth the investment. And although I hate to compare salvation to the purchase of a new car, there is some insight we can gain from the picture painted- when we are called to Christ, He commands us to deny ourselves, to give up our lives, and to live solely for Him, without a guarantee, it would be hopeless. You see, if we are somehow responsible for keeping ourselves in the love of Christ, if we could somehow loose our salvation, it would be a scary walk of faith. Almost as if we were walking on egg shells. You see if we could lose our salvation, we simply would. Our total depravity would demand that. But if you are truly of Him, if you are truly saved through the work of Christ, if you have come to Christ through repentance and faith, you can't loose your salvation because you didn't do it! You love Him because He FIRST loved you!

But what about those who were at one time walking in the faith and now have gone astray? John answers that question in 1 John 2:19- "They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us."

Listen to what John MacArthur has to say on the issue, "And I'll tell you this. If the Lord can't hold on to me, what hope is there? If salvation isn't God's work, then I'm not going to get there. Do you understand that? If it's not His work and He doesn't hold me, and He doesn't keep me, and He doesn't preserve me, I won't make it. If God doesn't save me, I can't save myself. If He doesn't sanctify me, I can't sanctify myself. And if He doesn't glorify me, I can't glorify myself. If He doesn't keep me, I can't keep myself. I'm not good enough to save myself and I'm certainly not good enough to keep myself. I will never be worthy of salvation. I wasn't in the past, I'm not now."

Although you are being sanctified, and renewed daily, and are sinning less and less, you are never sin-less this side of heaven, and therefore you are never the one meriting God's favor in the work of salvation...EVER! His sacrifice is continually paying the price. We continue to violate God's Law. We continue to be, to one degree or another, idolatrous. We continue to be wicked. And believe me, the list is sufficient to condemn us all. How could we ever keep our own salvation? The thought is absolutely ridiculous.

Because the work is solely of God, and because HE is the one keeping us in the faith, there is no way to lose that precious salvation, rather, you are kept forever. Remember Romans 8, Nothing can separate us from the love of God. No one can ever condemn us. No one can ever lay any charge to God's elect. Nothing can ever happen that doesn't turn out to our good because whomever the Lord chose, He called, justified, glorified. "Rest, dear Christian, and join the celebration of verse 25. "To the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time...that's past...now...that's present...and forever...that's the future...amen, so let it be." All credit goes to the only God. There's only one. The only God who is our Savior. The only God who is our Savior through Jesus Christ. The only God who is our Savior through Jesus Christ who is our Lord. To Him be all glory, majesty, dominion and authority. None left for anyone else including us. We are there because He kept us. He preserved us and He presented us." (John MacArthur)

What's the point if there is no guarantee? The value of salvation is in the guarantee, you are kept forever, BY HIM! Let me close and encourage you with a word from Spurgeon: "And when I heard it said that the Lord would keep His people right to the end, when I heard it said that Christ said, '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 any pluck them out of My hand.' When I heard that said, I must confess...says Spurgeon...that the doctrine of the final preservation of the saints was the bait that my soul could not resist. It was sort of life insurance, an insurance of my character, an insurance of my soul, an insurance of my eternal destiny. I knew I couldn't keep myself but if Christ promised to keep me, then I would be safe forever and I longed and I prayed to find Christ because I knew that if I found Him, He would not give me a temporary salvation as some preach. But eternal life which could never be lost, the living and incorruptible seed which lives and abides forever for no one and nothing could ever separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."