Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.” (John 10:27-30) Believers in Jesus Christ are compared to sheep in the Bible. They follow Christ in their hearts like sheep follow the shepherd. Jesus says that He gives those who believe in Him eternal life. “...I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish...” We do not give ourselves eternal life. Christ gives it to us. It is not our good works that earn salvation. It is Christ's death on the cross!
The Lord Jesus also says, “...and they shall never perish...” If Jesus Christ has given you eternal life, you will never perish in Hell. This is the same as God's promise in John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Simple faith in Jesus Christ brings eternal salvation to the sinner.
Everlasting life is not just simply existing forever. Everyone will exist forever somewhere. Those who do not believe in Jesus Christ as Savior are described by the Word of God as being spiritually dead. Death, in the Bible, means separation. Spiritually dead sinners are separated from God. When they die, they will exist forever, separated from God in Hell. When we put our faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, He gives us spiritual life.
“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;” (Ephesians 2:1)
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” (John 5:24)
“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” (1 John 5:11-13)
Eternal life is God's life. It is life with God that lasts forever and it is the privilege of knowing God forever. “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3)
“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” No man can pluck you out of the Lord Jesus Christ's hand! “Well,” you say. “I can pluck my self out of God's hand!” You are a man, aren't you? Some lady reading this might say, “What about me?” Well, the word “man” in this verse means “mankind” so it is talking about a man or woman. If you are a human being, you cannot pluck yourself out of Jesus' hand. That is what the Bible says, “...neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
People do not want to believe that they will be saved forever because it doesn't make sense. Despite the hundreds of clear verses that teach that believers in Jesus Christ have everlasting life with God, men and women still don't believe it. We must remember, though, that just because a thing doesn't make sense to our finite, human minds, that doesn't mean that it doesn't make sense to God! “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8, 9)
Also, some Christians have the tendency to dismiss hundreds of plain verses that teach that salvation is eternal, for a few that seem to indicate that salvation can be lost. What you believe about this issue has more than likely been shaped by what you were taught when you were growing up, and what kind of church you attend. In the end, we have to remember that the Bible is the suprememe authority. Tradition, or even someone whom we love, trust and have confidence in, cannot override the authority of Scripture. In 2 Peter 2:16-21, Peter tells us that he and other disciples were eyewitnesses of the glory of Jesus Christ. He tells us that they heard, with their own ears, the voice of God. Yet, he says, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” (2 Peter 1:19, 20) Peter saw and heard Jesus Christ, but he said that the “more sure word of prophecy” was Scripture. If Peter, one of Jesus' disciples, viewed the Bible as being more authoritative than his own eyes and ears, then maybe we should look at it in the same way. Here are some of the most popular verses that have been used to teach that salvation can be lost, and what the Bible actually says.
What If I Don't Endure To The End?
“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” (Mark 13:13)
If you do not endure to the end, you will not be saved (if you miss the Rapture and are living on earth during the Tribulation). Of course, no Christian will miss the Rapture or be left here for the Tribulation. This verse is talking about people who live during the Tribulation time, enduring till the end of it. Those who are alive when it is all over will be saved from physical death, and will enter the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ alive. With Mark 13:13, as with all other verses that you study, “context is king.” Never take a verse out of context to try to prove a point. Knowing the verses that come before and after the verse that you are studying, and knowing what the chapter you are reading is talking about, is helpful in finding out the context. If Mark 13:13 is studied in context, “enduring to the end to be saved” is clearly talking about the time of the Tribulation, not today. We must also remember that the word, “saved” in the Bible doesn't always refer to saving a person's soul. For instance, Matthew 24:22 says, “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved...” In this verse, as in Mark 13:13, “saved” refers to salvation of the flesh (or life), not the soul.
I Have Fallen From Grace.
“Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” (Galatians 5:4)
It would be a terrible thing for Christ to have no effect on our lives! That is what the first part of this verse is saying. “Christ is become of no effect unto you...” It is talking to a particular group of people. These are not people who get drunk or use drugs or commit other sins. The people here who have “fallen from grace” are those who are “justified by the law.” This verse comes from the book of Galatians which was written to Christians who had been deceived into thinking that they needed more than Jesus Christ for salvation and the Christian life. They were convinced that they also needed the laws of the Old Testament. To be “justified by the law” means that you are trying to keep the Ten Commandments and live according to the Old Testament so that God will count you as righteousness in His sight. If you are not trusting in the Old Testament Law, but rather, your faith is in Jesus Christ, then you are in no danger of falling from grace.
A person who chooses the Old Testament Law over faith in Jesus Christ has hit “rock bottom” spiritually. If I were to leave the high ground of living the Christian life by grace, to try to live it in the basement of the Law, then I would have fallen. It is not that the people to whom Paul was writing wanted to reject Jesus Christ. They simply wanted to add Old Testament Law to faith in Him. In Christ is love, hope and peace. In the Law is fear, burden and judgment. Therefore, a person who choses the Law over, or in addition to Christ, has “fallen from grace.” If you are in this situation, turn to God and start trusting in Jesus Christ alone. God will pick you back up and forgive you. You can start living by grace alone once again.
Impossible To Repent?
“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” (Hebrews 6:4-6)
These verses in the book of Hebrews are given as a hypothetical situation. If a saved person fell away from faith in Jesus Christ, rejected Christianity, and returned to the Old Testament Law, it would be impossible to renew them to a place of repentance. Notice, that the writer of Hebrews never says that His readers have done this. “But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.” (Hebrews 6:9) In other words, he is saying, “Even though we are speaking about people who fall from faith in Christ and cannot repent, we are not talking about you.”
“Falling away” is a situation that will never happen to you if you are a true believer in Jesus Christ. Believers will struggle with doubt. They may even be led astray by false teachers, as the Christians to whom Paul wrote the book of Galatians had been. But, they will never, in their hearts, reject Christianity and Jesus Christ. Listen to what the author of Hebrews says about himself and his readers. “But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” (Hebrews 10:39) True believers do not “draw back unto perdition (Hell).” True believers believe in Jesus Christ “to the saving of the soul.”
I could say that it would be impossible for a man, who jumped out of an airplane without a parachute, not to get hurt or die. As true as that might be, I am not about to jump out of a plane without a parachute. In fact, I have no intention of jumping out of an airplane with a parachute! The fact that I would break my body if I did jump without a parachute does, however, serve to remind me that if I ever do jump, I should check and double-check the parachute! The point here is this. A believer will never fall away from faith in Christ. But, when we are tempted to doubt, this hypothetical situation from Hebrews reminds us that the ultimate end of unbelief would be certain destruction. That, along with the promises that God makes to us, causes us to trust in Jesus Christ for our soul's salvation until the day that we go home to be with the Lord!