Firm Foundations – Session 12 : Eternal Life

Notes:

Eternal Life

Jesus, through the shedding of His blood, has ‘obtained eternal redemption’ for us, (Heb.9:12). Just like the children of Israel in the wilderness, Christians may wander around in the wilderness; but there is no going back to Egypt! Those whom God has saved are saved forever.

We are eternally secure:

1) Because of the Father

  • In the first few chapters of Romans God is portrayed as our Judge. And yet we see that He does not judge us because He has executed total judgment for our sins upon His Son in accordance with His righteousness.
  • Because of this we will never come into judgment for sin again, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life’ (Jn.5:24).
  • We have been taken out of the courtroom and brought into God’s family. God is now our Father, ‘For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God’ (Rom.8:15-16).
  • Our salvation did not begin with our ‘decision’ to follow Christ. It stretches from the eternal past to the eternal future, ‘For whom He foreknew, He also predestinedto be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified’ (Rom.8:29-30).
  • Salvation is God’s work from beginning to end.
  • We must not make the mistake of likening God to ourselves. He asks, ‘Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you’ (Isa.49:15). Balaam declared, ‘God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?’ (Num.23:19). In other words He is faithful even when we are not.
  • We must think according to Biblical revelation; not according to human reason. This will lead us to correct conclusions.
  • Note Paul’s conclusions in Rom.8:31-39.

2) Because of the Son

  • When we were saved we were given to Christ by the Father for safe-keeping. ‘All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out’ (Jn. 6:37).
  • We are double-wrapped in the Father and the Son. ‘…your life is hidden with Christ in God’ (Col. 3:3). ‘I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand’ (Jn.10:28-29).
  • When we believed in Jesus we were united with Him in His death, burial and resurrection.
  • We are now joined to Him so as to become actual members or parts of His body. ‘Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually’ (1 Cor.12:27).
  • That’s how secure we are; we are of one body with Him! If we could perish, Christ’s body would be dismembered.
  • In Rom.8:1, Paul says emphatically that there is no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus. This is an absolute statement. It means not now, not ever, not under any circumstances – never!
  • If God saved us when we were His enemies, how much more will He keep us now that we are reconciled to Him! If God loved us when we were before Him in our sinful state, how much more does He love us now that we are before Him in Christ who is our life! ‘But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life’ (Rom.5:8-10).

3) Because of the Holy Spirit

  • When we were saved we were also sealed with the Holy Spirit.
  • This guarantees our security until Jesus returns to take us to be with Him. ‘In Him you alsotrusted, 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, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory’ (Eph.1:13&14).
  • A seal is a proof of ownership. God has put a seal on us to demonstrate that we are His. The seal is the Holy Spirit Himself.
  • A seal is also a pledge of intention, like a deposit or an engagement ring. ‘Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a deposit’ (2 Cor.1:21-22).
  • We are sealed until the day of redemption, i.e. the day of Christ’s return. ‘And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption’ (4:30).

Register