RESOURCES — SHORT ARTICLES

 

SHORT ARTICLES BY TOM ELSEROAD
	2020-05-18	Security of Salvation - God's Glory
		1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 1Pe 1:4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 1Pe 1:5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. I have certainly read several theology resources that teach that a believer in Christ can lose or forfeit their salvation. If it is true then it would be important to know how to “hang on” to that salvation. I want to look at the not so popular verses that demonstrate salvation, beginning to end, is the plan and work of God. Does the Bible describe our Christian experience as something we must achieve to keep saved? Peter says in verse 5, that we “are kept by the power of God”. Is the focus on what we achieve or on what God achieves? Peter gives all the credit to God to keep believers secure in their salvation. It should be pointed out that all false religions are based on human achievement. Is there any hint at all that salvation is by works? The Bible says, if you believe in the person and work of Jesus, simply believing, you are justified or made right with God (Rm.5:1). There is no self-effort involved. It is a matter of believing what God has done in Christ. Man's natural inclination then is to say, “That is just too simple”. “There has to be more than just believing”. The believer today can ask, “How long is this salvation good for?” Paul says in Ephesians 1:13-14 that the moment you believed on Christ you were given the Holy Spirit as a “seal”. Eph 1:13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, Eph 1:14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. This seal stamps us as an authentic child of God. This seal (Gk. arrabōn) or down payment is our guarantee that what God began in us, He will complete. Php 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ What Paul is saying in Ephesians and Philippians is what God has started in us He will ultimately fulfill. Salvation is always based on what God has done and will do. He doesn't lose the people He redeems to glory. Heb 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. Heb 2:10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. God does not save people, and cross His fingers and hopes you will get to glory. It is God's purpose to bring us to glory. We are meant to be reflectors of Christ's glory. That is going to happen for every true believer in Jesus Christ. Paul calls us “vessels of mercy”. Does mercy imply that we deserve something? No. Mercy implies that we do not deserve it. Rom 9:23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory So those who are ordained to glory are those who get it through mercy. Simply put none of us deserve it! Paul says we are saved to be glorified (1Co.2:7). 1Co 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory Again Paul answers what it means to have Christ in us (Cl.1:27) Col 1:27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory When Christ entered into us it was so we will ultimately receive the hope of glory. One more verse, and there are so many along this theme. 1Pe 5:1 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed. Did you get that? We are called, those who "partake of the glory that should be revealed". That would be a good definition of a Christian. We are partakes of the glory that shall be revealed. Christ is not going to miss any of the glory He deserves. You see our hope of future glory is secured by God. When the Bible describes us "holding fast" (e.g., He.3:6), it is not so that we “win” salvation, but it proves that we are saved. Those who do not hold till the end, prove they were not saved in the FIRST PLACE. 1Jn 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. Pastor Tom Elseroad

 

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