FROM PASTOR TIM
As I mentioned during Sunday’s message, the second most frequently asked question of me over the years concerns whether or not a professing Christian can lose their salvation. It’s a difficult question to answer.
However, I do think the preponderance of the biblical evidence points to the idea that no genuine Christian can lose their salvation. And that means if someone recants or turns their backs on Jesus, they never were genuine Christians in the first place.
Thank you for the comments concerning my example of the groom and bride illustration. It was the best scenario I could think of to explain the difference between “restoration” and “renewal.”
The idea of the Perseverance of the Saints, or “Eternal Security” is tied together with God’s sovereignty. If God is in fact sovereign over our salvation, as I believe the Bible reveals (Salvation belongs to the Lord – Psalm 3:8; Jonah 2:9; Rev 7:10; etc.), then the basis of our hope for salvation rests solely on God. That should be a source of comfort.
Nevertheless, we would be wise to pay close attention to the Bible’s equally important, and prevalent message to persevere in our faith. The appeal to persevere is a means to help the genuine Christian hang in there for a lifetime; just as proclaiming the Gospel is a means to animate the elect.
In these days of almost biblical disasters such as the devastating earthquake in Morocco, which to date has claimed the lives of some 2,500 people, or the incomprehensible flooding in Libya that has claimed AT LEAST 10,000 people, we need to be praying.
We need to pray for God to work mightily in these places of immense loss, and we need to remind ourselves that life is fleeting, but eternity is not. Therefore, let us persevere and run the race all of our lives for God’s glory.
Rescued by Christ,
Pastor Tim