This is an excerpt from my Introduction to a forthcoming book entitled, Once Saved Always Saved? Yes!

Here are thirteen Biblical reasons why eternal security is true.

1) Salvation is by grace. “For it is by grace you have been saved…” (Eph 2:8). Grace means you didn’t earn salvation. On the contrary, you earned death and condemnation, not salvation. “If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?” (Ps 130:3). The answer is no one. And therefore no one could earn salvation by being good. That’s why God, in His sovereignty and great mercy, decided to glorify Himself by saving people irrespective of what they deserved. If salvation is unmerited by you, and God gives it to you knowing all your future sins, then there is no logical or moral basis for Him to revoke it later due to undeserving behavior. If grace excludes merit as a ground for earning it, it also excludes demerit as a ground for losing it. What is given on the basis of grace will not be canceled on the basis of your poor performance.

2) Salvation is through faith. The one condition of salvation is to believe in Jesus. It’s really that simple. “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12, emphasis added). “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, emphasis added). “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” (Acts 16:31, emphasis added). Salvation isn’t a competition where God wants to exclude as many people as possible, but an invitation to save as many as possible, so He has made salvation as easy as possible. Crucially, being born again only takes a single act of faith. Some people think that salvation depends on continuing to believe so that if you ever stop, you’ll lose your salvation. But Jesus compared saving faith to the Israelites looking at the bronze serpent and being healed. They didn’t have to keep looking until the end of their lives. They were healed in a moment (cf. John 3:14). Likewise, one look at the Son—one act of faith—and you’ll be saved forever (cf. John 3:15-18). Saving faith is often described as occurring in a decisive moment (using the aorist tense, e.g., Acts 4:4; Rom 4:3; Gal 3:6; Rom 10:9; Eph 1:13). While Scripture exhorts us to continue in the faith for spiritual maturity and eternal rewards, the initial moment of faith is portrayed as sufficient to secure salvation. You don’t keep blinking at the cross to stay saved—one look and you’re in.

3) Salvation is given apart from your works. You’d never be able to earn your salvation. Your best day wouldn’t be good enough. That’s why God could only give salvation apart from your works. Salvation was never about your behavior. It is “not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph 2:9). “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:5a). “Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness” (Rom 4:4-5). If salvation didn’t start with your works, it won’t be taken away by your failures.

4) Believers are already justified. A Judgment Day is coming, and Jesus has been appointed Judge. “He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42). "For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead" (Acts 17:31). “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22). Jesus will be judging every thought, word, and deed. “This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares” (Rom 2:16). The good news is the Judge has decided that if you believe in Him, He won't judge you or condemn you (cf. John 3:18; 5:24). You're exempt! The moment you believe in Jesus, you are reckoned righteous and justified. "This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe" (Rom 3:22). “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God” (Rom 5:1). Justification is not a trial period, but a once-for-all declaration of righteousness. The sins you might commit in the future, which the omniscient God already knows about, do not negate your justified state now. The gavel has already come down: “Not guilty!”

5) Believers are already forgiven. All sins—past, present, and future—were imputed to Jesus (cf. Isa 53:5-6; John 1:29). The provision was made for everyone in the world (cf. 1 John 2:2), but the benefit is only applied to you when you believe in Jesus. In that moment of faith, you’re forgiven. For all of it. Even the stuff you can’t admit out loud. Forgiveness and justification are two sides of the same coin. “David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them’” (Rom 4:6-8). When you believe in Jesus, your sins are covered. God will never count them against you. How many sins are forgiven? Paul is clear: “He forgave us all our sins” (Col 2:13). Yes, all. That doesn't mean you can sin without consequence. God will discipline you for your disobedience, because He wants you to be free of sin's power and influence. But you can’t lose your salvation because of them. Whatever sins you think deserve losing your salvation have already been paid for and forgiven in Christ. God will never count your sins against you, because He’s already counted them against Jesus.

6) Jesus will not cast you out. People who deny eternal security think that God will do the very thing Jesus promised never to do: cast you out. “All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37). He won’t do it. You might deserve to be cast out, but He won’t do it. Remember, salvation is not about what you deserve! Some think Jesus is only referring to how He won't turn away any who believe in Him. That's true, too. But the context is all about the resurrection (vv 38-40). Come to Him once, and you’ll be raised in the end. That’s His guarantee. His welcome isn’t provisional, it’s permanent.

7) Jesus will never lose you. Once saved, there’s no risk the Good Shepherd will ever lose you. He made this promise knowing that you’d wander. The promise assumes you'll try to get lost. He intends never to lose you: “This is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me…” (John 6:39). If Jesus intends never to lose you, then you’re safe and secure, no matter how prone to wandering you may be. Your security rests on His success, not yours.

8) No one can snatch you from His hand. Wolves, lions, and bears threaten the sheep and it's the Shepherd's job to protect them. Likewise, when you believe in Jesus, you’re safe in His and Father’s hands. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 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. I and the Father are one” (John 10:27-30). Some people reply that we can still jump out. Not so! Jesus doesn’t say, “No one can snatch you away, other than yourself.” He says, “No one.” The same grip that protects you from being snatched away prevents you from jumping out. You’re in His and the Father’s hands, and no one, not even you, can break their grip.

9) God keeps you by His power. Your are not saved by your own power. You’re saved by His power and He’s promised to keep you safe: “This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet 1:4-5). If salvation depended on your ability to stay saved, you'd already be lost. Here's the good news: you’re not holding onto God—He’s holding onto you. God doesn’t just promise to help you help yourself, He promises to shield you until the end.

10) The Spirit has sealed you. When you believed, God put His mark on you. You were sealed when you believed: “When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Eph 1:13-14). And you’re sealed until the day of redemption: “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" (Eph 4:30). In both verses, the seal lasts until the day of redemption. You can grieve the Spirit, but that doesn’t unseal you. His mark is permanent.

11) God finishes what He starts. Some people think that salvation begins by grace, but it’s up to you to finish the job. But salvation isn’t your project—it’s God’s. And Paul clarifies that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:6). If you could lose your salvation, Paul couldn’t be confident that God would finish what He started. But since God does finish what He starts, once you’re saved, you’ll always be saved.

12) Nothing can separate you from God’s love. There’s not a power in the universe, not even your sins, that can cut you off from God’s love in Christ. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:38-39). This isn’t sentimental love—it's covenantal, saving love. Romans 8 starts with the promise that whoever is in Jesus will not be condemned (cf. Rom 8:1). The whole chapter is a case for God’s unbreakable commitment to the believer. And here we are told, in absolute terms, that no created power, whether death, or demons, or the future, can separate us from God's love. You're safe in it forever.

13) He is faithful even when you are faithless. As Paul told Timothy, “if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (2 Tim 2:13). That whole passage is enlightening. It's all about enduring in the faith so that we can reign with Christ (one of many eternal rewards offered to the victorious believer). If you don’t endure—if you end up being an unworthy or unfaithful servant—then you’ll be denied the right to reign. You can lose rewards. But you won’t lose your salvation. Even if you’re faithless to Him, He’ll remain faithful to you. That’s what He’s promised, and He will not deny His own promises.

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Send your questions or comments to shawn@freegrace.in.

Read his latest book, The Myth of Tithing and the Joy of Grace Giving by getting it from us or from Amazon.