Sumter Pastor Joey Durham: No one can lose salvation through Jesus Christ

Posted

Today's devotion is "No One Truly Saved Can Lose Their Salvation," and my text is John 10:27-30, where we see, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." (KJV)

Please notice what my Savior said in our text! It is easy to understand that Jesus Christ gives eternal life, or eternal salvation, to all who believe on Him as their Savior and they can never perish or be "plucked out" of that eternal salvation. If we can believe what Jesus Christ said concerning how salvation is received, which is by grace through faith, then why would we not believe Him as to the duration of the salvation that He alone provides?

In the early years of the Church Age, some taught that although a person is saved by grace through faith, the continuance of their salvation depended upon their own works, which is error. This is what Paul penned in Galatians 3:1-3, "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (KJV) These individuals that taught error to the Galatian believers had "bewitched" them which means that they "maligned" the love and power and devotion of God's saving grace to those who are eternally secure in the salvation which God alone provides.

If the word "eternal" means "never ending," and it does, then how can anyone insist that eternal life can end under certain conditions, and may I add, conditions that Jesus Christ never gave? Many believers today are being deprived of the peace that God wants them to enjoy because they fear losing their salvation as a result of their own thoughts or actions. Failure to understand that every believer is eternally secure does not change this Bible fact that they are indeed eternally saved. It does, however, produce unnecessary fear and uncertainty, which can lead to doubting the Word of God in other areas as well. We must remember that just as our salvation is all of God, so is our safe-keeping all of God, too! This Bible truth will never foster an attitude that says, "Now that I'm eternally saved, I can live a sinful life, because I can't lose my salvation!" That will never be the attitude of someone truly saved by the grace of God. Dear believer, don't let anyone bewitch you into thinking that you can lose your salvation, because Jesus Christ has plainly declared, you cannot lose it!

Joey Durham is pastor at Open Bible Baptist Church at 180 Old Manning Road in Sumter. You can contact Pastor Durham at durham.joey@yahoo.com or call the church office at (803) 481-9315.