Eternal Security

Introduction

It is important for believers to have eternal security in order to have a foundation on which to live. Many profess to be believers in God but are unsure of their eternal home. This can cause the believer to have a diminished outlook regarding spiritual things. Those who struggle with this issue are also hindered in their spiritual growth. They believe that salvation is something controlled by their service to God. This philosophy of a "works salvation" is fueled by the idea that man somehow influences his eternal state, when in fact this view is not found in the Scriptures. The verses that are used to defend this position have erroneously been molded to fit the viewpoint of the believer.

Salvation

In order to understand the eternal state of the believer, salvation is paramount. The word "salvation" is used over forty-six times in the New Testament and the first meaning is deliverance. This term expresses spiritual deliverance based on the necessity of Christ's death on the cross. In the Old Testament, Isaiah 45:22 considered what Christ would do when he told the readers to "look to me and be saved". Verses in the books of Matthew, Acts, and Ephesians focus on the manner in which salvation is brought to mankind. Matthew 1:21 gives the proclamation that "He will save His people from their sins." Acts 16:31 expresses that "believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved." Ephesians 2:5 says that even when we were dead in trespasses, man is made alive together with Christ. Hebrews 5:9 draws attention to the complete deliverance because of who Christ is. Essentially, salvation is the deliverance from the penalty of sin. Salvation occurs at the moment in time when we, by faith, accept God's free gift and are redeemed. Salvation is eternal life through faith and faith alone.

Reconciliation

Christ's death on the cross completed the plan to restore man's relationship with God. Reconciliation is evident in 2 Corinthians 5:18-21. Jesus became sin so that mankind could be found righteous before God. This represents an eternal covering of sin. This covering can be seen in the Jewish system of sacrificial offering as an expression of God's Old Testament judgment for sin. God required an animal to be slaughtered for the sins of people, and its blood covered their wrongs. Because this was only a temporary covering of sins, this command would have to be repeated every year. A new sacrifice would be chosen to represent the sins of the nation. The ancient sacrifices pointed to Christ and what He would accomplish by sacrificing His own life. Our complete reconciliation with God is made possible through Christ's sacrifice for our sins and our sinful nature. Our commitment to living for Him thereby continually purifies us. Through this sacrifice, God rendered sin powerless so humans escape the consequences of sin.

Deliverance

By trusting in the death of Christ on the cross, the sinner is freed from all sin; past, present, and future. The retroactive deliverance of sin releases man from its penalty. This is commonly referred to as justification. "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." To be justified means that the believer is made righteous. If the sinner is to have righteousness that is acceptable to God, it must be divinely provided. Lloyd Olsen writes that righteousness is imputed on the basis of something outside the ungodly sinner; namely obedience to Christ and His righteousness. There is absolutely nothing man can do to contribute to his justification. God declares the believing sinner to be forgiven and credits them with righteousness. "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." To be justified is to trust only in the person and work of Jesus and no one and nothing else as the object of our faith, righteousness, and justification. Present deliverance of sin is sanctification. Sanctification is the Holy Spirit's application of the work done by Jesus to the life of the believer. Philippians reveals God's working in us for His good pleasure. God set us apart at salvation to be used according to His divine plan. He has eternally sanctified us in His Son. "That you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and are renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man who was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." God, reestablishing His relationship with us, puts us through a process that changes our heart, referred to as regeneration. Regeneration, or new life, brings man a new set of values and alters the man. "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins... even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)." Mark Driscoll reveals that regeneration gives the believer a new heart from which new desires for holiness flow and, a new power through the Holy Spirit can live like, for, and with Jesus. Sanctification and regeneration are complete in the life after death, when the spiritual nature of the believer will be perfected. Future deliverance releases us from the presence of sin, referred to as glorification. The believer in this life and in the life to come will never be called upon to render any just payment or experience suffering for any sins, since the complete payment for his sins has been fully and forever paid. Glorification is the future and final work of God upon Christians, when he transforms our mortal physical bodies into the eternal physical bodies. Clarification is made in 1 Corinthians 15:52-53. "For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality..." The believer, according to Romans 5:1-2, has hope in the glory of God.

Man's Need

The need for salvation is derived from man's sin. It separates him from a relationship with his Creator. Without Christ, man is guilty, and sentenced to death. There is none righteous according to Romans 3. All of mankind is corrupt in word and deed. His hope does not rest in the confession of his current nature, but a conversion or regeneration of his present state. Simply acknowledging his faults will not put him