The Security of the believer’s salvation—part 2.
We saw last week that from Paul’s glorious epistle to the Romans that the believer in Jesus Christ is absolutely secure and safe after having been justified (5:1). The first proof that we saw which guarantees the believer’s salvation is that the justified sinner now has peace with God. There is no longer enmity. God is no longer at odds with the person. The person is no longer under God’s wrath. He has transferred from being under the wrath of God to under his loving mercy. Therefore, all enmity, war, anger, and hatred has been removed in Jesus Christ.
The second proof that shows why the believer’s salvation is secure is because the believer stands in grace. Hear what Paul says:
Romans 5:2 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand;
Romans 5:2 simply states that the believer, who has been justified and who now has peace with God, has obtained an “introduction” (better translation is “access”)—by faith—into this grace in which we stand.
It is only by the instrument of faith that the believer now transitions into the realm and sphere of grace. Once the sinner has repented and believed upon Jesus Christ, he is now standing in grace. It is absolutely impossible to go from standing in grace back to standing under God’s judgment and wrath.
One of the reasons it is impossible for the believer to lose his salvation is because the word in Romans 5:2 for “obtained” is a perfect indicative signifying emphasis. This verb is in the foreground and all the spotlights are shining on it. It signifies a past action with ongoing (and continuous) results lasting even to the present. This, then, would show that through Him (Christ, v.2), we who have been justified by grace (v.1) have obtained and will continue to obtain forever our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand. Do you see the emphasis on the verb?
It is absolutely impossible after the wretched sinner who has come to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith, who has also received access by faith into the realm and sphere of grace to ever revert back to the unsaved, graceless state of being under God’s wrath and judgment. It is utterly impossible for God to do this. For then, he would be a faithless father and an impotent father who cannot save and secure His children. What a diminished, distorted, and unbiblical view!
Furthermore, I leave you with one final Scripture which, in my mind, seals the deal in allowing no exceptions to this clear affirmation that we as believers are secure:
Hebrews 7:25 25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
The phrase “he is able to save forever” comes from a Greek phrase which could be literally translated “unto the completion” or “unto the perfection.” Obviously, Scripture shows that believers will never be complete or perfect until we arrive at heaven where we are made like our Savior. Thus, Christ, as our High Priest, saves forever, that is, until those who believe are made perfect and made complete in heaven! What a glorious verse! Therefore, I propose again that it is impossible for the individual, after having been justified and who has transferred out of the realm of darkness into the realm/sphere of God’s grace in which he stands to ever lose that solid footing in grace! It simply cannot happen. Scripture cannot allow for this. And certainly the character of God cannot allow this to happen.
