In the last few messages, we saw that there is a distinction between sin and sins in man. We saw how God loves us and gives His grace to us, how His grace is manifested in His righteousness, how the Lord Jesus has accomplished all the work for us, and what His death and resurrection have done. Furthermore, we saw how man can receive God's salvation. Man does not receive God's salvation through the law, good works, confession, prayer, and many other things. In the last message, we saw how to believe and what faith is. In this message, we will continue with our study.
The Bible shows us that the duration of God's salvation is eternal; it is not temporal. In other words, God's salvation is given to man eternally, rather than temporarily. Once a Christian is saved, there is no possibility for him to perish. I am not saying that there is no chastisement for a Christian once he is saved. Neither am I saying that there will not be judgment and loss of reward if a Christian is not faithful in the Lord's work after his salvation. A Christian can be disciplined in this age, and also be punished in the millennium. I am not saying that a sinner will be disciplined. I am saying that a believer whose work is not approved by the Lord will lose his reward at the time of the judgment seat of Christ. If a believer has sins that have not been repented of in this age, he will receive definite punishment in the coming kingdom. All of these are truths in the Bible.
The Bible also shows us that there is no possibility of a Christian being lost again, once he is saved. In other words, once we have been saved before God, we are eternally saved. Man always has the thought that even though he is saved, he does not know whether he will become unsaved after a while. God says that we have passed out of death into life (John 5:24). But we wonder whether or not we can pass out of life into death. God says that we will not perish but will have eternal life (3:16). But we wonder if we will not have eternal life but will perish. We do not know if our salvation before God can be shaken. However, after we read the Word of God carefully, we find that once a person is saved, he is eternally saved. We want to consider this question from two sides. First, we want to consider it from the positive side. Later, we will consider it from the negative side.
In this message, we want to see from the Bible how God's salvation is eternal. If God's salvation could be lost, what would happen to man? Later, we will consider this matter from the negative side. We will consider verse by verse all the Scripture that seemingly speaks of salvation not being eternal and being able to be lost. We will see whether or not the salvation granted to us by God can be lost. In this message we will consider what is mentioned on the positive side. We must see clearly whether or not the Bible says that we can lose the salvation that we have received.