If salvation depended in any way on my ability to keep it, I would lose it. Salvation is a complete and perfect work of God – 100% God, 0% me. That moment in time when I cross over from death to eternal life is irreversible. Crossing over from temporal to eternal is called JUSTIFICATION. By placing my faith in Christ, I am justified in the sight of God the Father as if I never sinned. Why? Because Jesus paid the full price for my sin not in part but in whole. My life became new when I chose to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and surrendered my life in obedience to His will. The walk with Christ after we are justified is called SANCTIFICATION. We walk in the Spirit of Christ by obeying Christ until the day of our death. Sanctification like justification is not by works either. We cannot stay saved based on our merits or good behavior. We walk by faith from first to last by faith in what Christ has done not in what I have done. We are justified and sanctified NOT by our works but by the work of Christ. We place 100% of our confidence in the character of Christ and no confidence in our works (the flesh). We do truly good works after we get saved as a matter of love for God (no selfish motives). We do not love to get God’s love, we already have it. We love because we are loved already not to earn God’s love. We are saved and sanctified to do good works not by good works.
All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, all of us deserve death. But, God demonstrates His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We never were good enough to get saved and we will never be good enough to stay saved. Yes, we are able to sin and we will sin after we get saved but that does not mean that God will reject us. Nothing can separate us from the love of God because it is not a conditional love that makes us subject to failure and loss. Rather it is an unconditional love that is perfect and gracious – NOT tied to our performance. This does not mean that God does not care about good works and that God is ok with sin. Just the opposite. God knows that we need to understand that His love is a GIFT from start to finish. He asks us in return to love Him the same way He loves us – unconditionally. Maybe this sounds familiar? Like when we get married.
There are no limitations on the promises within the wedding vows. I will love you for better or worse, sickness and in health, richer or poorer until death do us part. There are no conditions to the covenant! Likewise, when we get saved, we enter into a New Covenant with Christ. We give Him everything that we have and He gives us everything that He has and that includes complete forgiveness for all sin past, present and future. That includes complete acceptance with no conditions. That includes His righteousness which means that we are right with God until death delivers us into His perfection which is GLORIFICATION.
If you are a Christian, you are not on trial, you are not on probation, you are under an unlimited covenant not a contract with strings attached. This is not a license to sin rather it is the Blessed Assurance that God wants all of us to have through faith in Christ. If you are not a Christian, rejoice in the fact that you can become a Christian. God wants you to choose Him just like you would choose a marriage partner. This is not a one time decision and you are somehow ok with God. No, this is a surrender of your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ so that you are no longer in control of your life. That is a marriage decision that if you make it will be consummated in heaven according to Revelation 21.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
May you be greatly encouraged as you listen to the videos below. The first one features several prominent Christians teaching on this subject. The second video answers a few questions but the first question is on this subject (first 6 minutes).
