Eternal Security or Not?

I was talking with a friend yesterday and the issue of eternal security came up. My heart has been drawn to the book of 1 John because that is what I have been preaching through the last year at a rehab center. I go to this rehab center to preach, I am not actually in the rehab center :=) ).

In any case, we finished the book last week from 1 John 5:13-21 and i was amazed at verse 18. Here is what it says: 1 John 5:18 18 We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him and the evil one does not touch him.

I am convinced from this verse (and a host of others) that no person can ever, EVER lose their salvation after truly being regenerate. Yes I take a Calvinistic view on eternal security, Lord-ship salvation and the like, but here is the issue:

This verse says that "he who was born of God keeps him." Let me make a few observations that may help out:

(1) He who was born of God = this is the second member of the triune God, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is an Aorist Passive Participle which shows that it was a one time act in the past. In other words, it is contrasted with the Perfect Passive participle earlier in the verse ("no one who has been born of God sins" = this is the believer). So we know that the subject here in v.18b is the Lord Jesus Christ.

(2) Jesus then keeps him. The word for keep is tereeo. It has the idea of keeping, preserving, holding, or guarding. This is in the context of eternal issues. This is what the Apostle John began in the context of 5:13- 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life. The context here is the eschaton - not simply physical life or physical death.

(3) Jesus is the one who keeps him. This pronoun here (auton) refers back to the Perfect Passive participle "he who has been born of God" = the Christian.

Here is what this verse is then teaching. We know that every single believer in God does not continually (as a habitual pattern) live a life of sin. But on the other hand, He who has been born of God (namely, the Lord Jesus Christ), is continually keeping him and the evil one (Satan) is not ever going to touch him.

I made this statement yesterday, why don't we all chew on this today: I am utterly convinced - from Scripture - that if I could ever lose my salvation; if it were possible to forfeit the grace of God after being regenerated and justified; if I can genuinely once be saved and then at a later point in life lose my eternal security, then I would. In other words, if Geoff Kirkland could ever lose his salvation (from the Divine perspective), then I would, because there is no way that Geoff Kirkland could ever keep himself in the power of God. Geoff is a sinner. Geoff has a sinful nature. Geoff is still in this fleshly, sinful body. Yet it is because of the power of God and the security I have - not in Geoff Kirkland - but in the Lord Jesus Christ that I can confidently say with all 100% confidence that I am a believer and I am SURE that I am destined for heaven when I die - or when the Lord returns, whichever comes first.

May the Lord grant us humility and perseverance in our Christian lives.