By Pastor Chad
This world can be a hostile place. It can be difficult to live as Christ has called us to live in a world that opposes us. Has Christ simply left us alone to navigate this fierce landscape by ourselves? All Christians know the answer to that question: No.
In John 15:26 (among other places), Jesus promises to leave us a “Helper.” To survive the worldly aggression, Christ (through the Father) has sent the Holy Spirit. The Spirit fuels and empowers our faith. In fact, the same grace the Spirit supplies for all Christians to believe in the first place, is the same grace He extends so that we will persevere until the end.
I personally do not like using the phrase “once saved, always saved.” The phrase itself isn’t clear. It gives the sense that salvation is a one time act; when one is saved, he can live as he wants. That isn’t the biblical understanding of salvation. To be sure, salvation begins when one repents of his or her sins and believes in the gospel. But salvation is not over–nor is the process of salvation completed at that point. Salvation is a life-long process. If you are saved, the grace God gave you so that you could repent of your sins and believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, is the same grace He will give you to persevere in that salvation. Thus, we maintain our faith, not through human will power, but through the same grace that allowed us to have faith in the first place. As it is generally said by many, “You didn’t do anything to get your salvation and you can’t do anything to lose it.” If you are born again–truly saved–you cannot lose that salvation.
We can all fall into sin. And such a condition grieves the Spirit and tarnishes one’s gospel witness; however, a true salvation will be kept persevered by the power of God. That’s not to say, such a sinful condition is no big deal. Sin is always a big deal. Yet, our preservation of our salvation is not dependent upon our ability to avoid sin. Our salvation (if one is truly converted) is anchored in the unbreakable, inexpressible grace of God. Sin in this life will disrupt our walk with the Lord and result in earthly consequences, but it does not make our salvation null and void.