Part 2 of 3 - Our Secure Position Is In Our Faithful Lord

This Article is part of a multi-part Study Series called Eternal Security of the Believer.

 

We who placed our faith in Christ to receive Him as Savior "hath already been blessed with all spiritual blessing in Christ," and in God who "chose us before the foundation of the world." God the Father did all the work of salvation for us ... in and through Christ's cross... offering us "salvation by grace through faith alone in Christ, as the GIFT of God" (paraphrased Eph 2:8-9). How can we then be lost to Him simply because after we received His free "gift" of salvation, we are yet unfaithful to Him at times and still commit some acts sin?

It was God; "Who hath (once and for all) Saved Us, and called us with an holy calling, NOT ACCORDING TO OUR WORKS, but according to his own purpose and grace, which Was Given Us In Christ Jesus Before The World Began" (2 Timothy 1:9). Our salvation was; "NOT By Works Of Righteousness Which We Have Done, but According To His Mercy He Saved Us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5). Our growth in righteous living comes by only His ongoing work of renewal within us. We learn to let go and trust Him to be our life and Lord (governor) mostly as we endure life's God ordained trials.

Paul writes these words to Timothy concerning all of us who are at times NOT faithful to the Lord; Paul says the Lord always remains faithful toward us. "If We Believe NOT, yet (still) He (the Lord) abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself." (2 Timothy 2:13)

We need to consider how it was that we were initially reconciled to God and saved in order to see how it is that we are to be kept saved. Paul says we were initially "saved by GRACE, through faith, it is the Gift of God, NOT of works, lest any man boast (Eph 2:8-9). To this some skeptics would say, "Yes, we are saved by grace, BUT then we need to love God, be faithful, and work for God in order to please God."

Paul tells us exactly how we are kept saved and in God's favor, regardless of our success or failure.  AS (Gk., hos, same manner as) Ye have therefore Received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: (Col. 2:6). Paul is saying, the same way as we were saved, which was "by grace through faith in Christ," is exactly how we are to "walk," being kept saved. We began by being "saved by grace through faith," we also then "received Him (Christ)" into our spirit (Col 1:27). Paul says we are to also "walk" daily on the very same basis as we were saved. We can walk confidently trusting in God's love and grace as our eternal security. We can be confident that ultimately, Christ will bring us to living victoriously, with His rest and peace in our souls.

Then skeptics may say. "But we need to love God in order to be kept saved and in God's favor." But Paul says its the other way around - nothing can separate us from "the love of Christ." "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ." It's significant that the Apostle Paul, in his thirteen epistles, never once tells us about his love for Christ... Paul is always telling us about Christ's unconditional love for him and for others.

By contrast we see that "the Law" is required for righteousness from the book of Exodus right up to and including to Jesus' words in the Gospels. Jesus commanded Israel; "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God" (Mat 27:37). The terms of "the gospel of the grace of God" (Act s20:24) that Paul received from Christ to teach the "body of Christ" puts it the other way around, telling us how deeply God loves us — and also that God's love begets... our love in return. Paul wrote: "The Love Of Christ Constraineth Us ..." (2 Corinthians 5:14)

The Apostle Paul experienced discouragements that would have caused him to give up the work of the Lord a thousand times, but he could not. Why? Because, "the love of Christ constraineth us" (2 Cor. 5:14). Paul's trust in God's love is what bore him along in his walk, having confidence in the Lord's unconditional love in the mist of trial. No doubt Paul had this very thing in mind when he wrote this. "For Thy sake we are killed all the day long…accounted as sheep for the slaughter" (Rom 8:36). Are we therefore defeated? Far from it.

Paul continues... "NAY, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that Loved Us" (v37). Not only do we win the battle of life; we are "more than conquerors." Such trying adversities only serve to draw us into still deeper dependence upon Christ, and to a closer fellowship with Him, thus enriching our Christian experience of Him. When people or nations engage in battle, generally no one wins; both lose. But Paul's personal experience serves as an example that in the Christian life, "tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril [and] sword" (Rom 8:35 AMP) bring us more than victory when our trials are borne for Him who loved us.