Confidence in our salvation

Yes, He is your judge, and has decreed your salvation.
One of the functions of the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of promise, which seals believers. That seal is not broken until the Savior returns to redeem those that have been sealed. You know the verses.
Most likely, you have been told, or read into, Hebrews chapter 6, that one may lose his salvation. So, instead of listing the numerous verses that deal with eternal security, let's deal with the one most people feel proves that it can be lost, and see that it doesn't say that at all.

Here is the whole chapter, bold emphasis mine.

HEB 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

HEB 6:2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

HEB 6:3 And this will we do, if God permit.

HEB 6:4 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,

HEB 6:5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,

HEB 6:6 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.

HEB 6:7 For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:

HEB 6:8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.

HEB 6:9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.

HEB 6:10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

HEB 6:11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:

HEB 6:12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

HEB 6:13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,

HEB 6:14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.

HEB 6:15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

HEB 6:16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.

HEB 6:17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:

HEB 6:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

HEB 6:19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

HEB 6:20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

This passage seems to be assurance of eternal security, rather than a passage against it.
It shows us things in the same manner we are consistently shown things in the bible.
First, there is an example of man's way. Man's way is to gather seeds, care for them, and then toss the the unproductive ones into the flames.
God's ways are never man. God doesn't see us struggling and toss us out. That's not his way. He has made an unrevokable promise to us of eternal life. As the saying goes, if you can lose it after a few years it wasn't eternal to start with!
As adopted members of God's family, he isn't going to "give" us back to our original father Satan. We are already grafted into the family. This world is no longer our home. Our Father is now God.
Have faith in your Father. He will not allow Satan to come and reclaim you as his, although he sure can try. Will God let that happen? There is nothing in the bible that says He will, but plenty that says He will not.
Anyhow, that's going off of Hebrews 6.
Hebrews 6 tells us that God made us the promise of eternal life, that it is immutable, and that it is an anchor for our souls. I believe it.
And I gotta go. I know that isn't an in depth explanation, but you know what? It's what it says, it's the promise of God, which is more than sufficient for you to ground your belief in eternal security on.
Gina

 

dizzydoc,

You can be 100% confident of your salvation when you despair of the all works of your imperfect life and imperfect faith and trust in Christ alone to save you.

 

John 3:16 (HCSB = The Holman Christian Standard Bible)
"For God loved the world in this way: He gave
His only Son, so that everyone who believes
in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 10:9-10 (HCSB)
9 if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord,"
and believe in your heart that God raised Him
from the dead, you will be saved.
10 With the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness,
and with the mouth one confesses, resulting in salvation.

I really don't know how you can be sure you are
saved, Sibling Dizzydoc, but i know how i'm sure that
i'm saved. First is John 3:16 (the verse favorite of more
Saved people than any other). Eternal life isn't very eternal
if it get interrupted. Eternal life is eternal at the
start, eternal life is eternal in the middle, eternal
life is eternal to the end -- oops, eternal life has no
end, well, eternal life is eternal always.

Next is Romans 10:9. I remember the time in April 1952
(i asked my mommy 3 or 4 years ago and that is the month
and year she said, i really don't remember the date
at the time, just the time) when i believed in my heart
that God had raised Jesus from the dead.
I remember the time 52 years ago when i first claimed
Jesus as my bossman (Lord) and when He became my ETERNAL
Savior. I really don't remember as a 60-year-old a lot
of what i did or thought as an 8-year-old. I just remember
this happening in my life, especially if i begin to wonder
"did i really get saved?"

I know that unless Jesus restrains them, some people are going
to start thier EASY BELIEVEISM, doubt building, rant.
Recommend you ignore them, i do

Jesus justified saved me at the beginning.
Jesus scantified saves me each day of my daily walk.
Jesus will glorify save me some day (maybe soon).
Jesus does the saving, and ain't nobody here gonna
put on Jesus that He can't save ETERNALY.

 

Amen, Siter Gina L. -- Preach it!

Gina L: "This passage seems to be assurance of eternal security,
rather than a passage against it."

No "seems to be" to it, it is an assurance of eternal security
passage. The logic is reductio ad absurdum.
An proposition to be disproved is made, here that a
saved person can be lost. The logic proceeds to
absurd conclusions. The absurd conclusions prove that
the beginning proposition is in error. So here in Heberews
chapter 6 it is proved that "a saved person can be lost"
is in error. Once a person is saved by Jesus, they don't
get unsaved (PERIOD).

 

To say that we are able to lose our salvation is to rob the cross of it's power and to belittle the death of Jesus for our sins!

Colossians 2:13-15
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it

1 I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other friends who have never known me personally. 2 My goal is that they will be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have full confidence because they have complete understanding of God's secret plan, which is Christ himself. 3 In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.


Or is the Living Bible
4 I am telling you this so that no one will be able to deceive you with persuasive arguments. 5 For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I am very happy because you are living as you should and because of your strong faith in Christ. 6 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to live in obedience to him. 7 Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all he has done. 8 Don't let anyone lead you astray with empty philosophy and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the evil powers of this world, and not from Christ. 9 For in Christ the fullness of God lives in a human body, 10 and you are complete through your union with Christ. He is the Lord over every ruler and authority in the universe. 11 When you came to Christ, you were "circumcised," but not by a physical procedure. It was a spiritual procedure – the cutting away of your sinful nature. 12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to a new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.

13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross. 15 In this way, God disarmed the evil rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross of Christ.

16 So don't let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new-moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. 17 For these rules were only shadows of the real thing, Christ himself. 18 Don't let anyone condemn you by insisting on self-denial. And don't let anyone say you must worship angels, even though they say they have had visions about this. These people claim to be so humble, but their sinful minds have made them proud. 19 But they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For we are joined together in his body by his strong sinews, and we grow only as we get our nourishment and strength from God. 20 You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the evil powers of this world. So why do you keep on following rules of the world, such as, 21 "Don't handle, don't eat, don't touch." 22 Such rules are mere human teaching about things that are gone as soon as we use them. 23 These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, humility, and severe bodily discipline. But they have no effect when it comes to conquering a person's evil thoughts and desires.

 

dizzydoc, one Bible reference comes to mind in this regard, which is John 10:27-29....

If this is not a security of the believers, then I do not know what is.

 

Indeed, we were!

 

What I like to think about is that we are adopted sons. Now a natural child has no choice and knows his father in the flesh. An adopted son knows even better who has chosen him to be a son. It is a very special status. The unwanted, the abandoned is rescued unto life. This is our estate in God. We didn't choose him; He chose us.

The confirmation comes as we live in Him as evidence of the Spirit of Christ that was promised, as Paul says In Galatians 4:5-7 "To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts...wherefore thou art art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ."

Cheers, and know Him. There is nothing greater.

Jim

 

The only checklist for salvation is 1 John. John said he wrote it one could evaluate one's salvation. If you conform 100% then you can know that you are saved. I don't know anyone who does conform 100%.

 

Conformation demands action, and regeneration requires only the action of God. We must have the desire to obey God's laws, but they are not conditional to salvation, else works would be a part of redemption. All of grace, or none at all.

Cheers,

Jim

 

HEY DD, welcome to the board. On a different thread recently I brought up what Jesus said to the woman at the well and I think it pertains here. I can put it in an equation.

A = I am 100% sure that Jesus said that "Whomever drinks of the water I give will NEVER thirst again" (my own paraphrase)

B = I am 100% sure that I drank from the water that Jesus gave.

A + B = C

C = I am 100% sure I am saved and headed for Heaven.

That is the assurance I cling to. The water, which is Christ, only needs to be drank once. We never thirst again after that. Even if we stray from our first Love we NEVER thirst again. My salvation and eternal life are a certainty, once I have drunk and I know I have drunk. Take care DD. Keep searching, wondering, and posting too !!

Great topic and great answers all!

In Christ,
Brian

John 4: [14] But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.