Held Fast by Grace

"If you could lose your salvation, you would." Those words from John MacArthur hit me hard when I was struggling with assurance as a young man. Today we're looking at one of the most comforting truths in all of Scripture – the security of those who belong to Christ.

John 6:37-39 "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me, that of all that he has given me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day."

I grew up in the church, and I struggled with the assurance of my salvation for years. I was terrified going to bed at night because I thought somehow, something I did, I would forfeit my salvation. But this passage teaches us a precious truth: if you are a child of God, you're held in the hand of God, and you can't jump out.

Jesus says, "This is the will of him who sent me, that of all that he has given me I lose nothing." Think about this: if salvation is entirely a work of God, and if God is strong enough to save you, don't you think He is strong enough to secure you?

We are not secured by faith – we are secured by the object of our faith, and that is Jesus Christ. In John 10:27-29, Jesus says, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand."

God is the Alpha and the Omega of our salvation. He is the finisher of our faith. He's the author – He began it. He's the finisher – He'll conclude it. He'll bring us home.

And I love this in verse 37: "The one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out." There is not a single person who has ever come to Jesus Christ that has been turned away. And the person that He brings to Himself, He'll never send off. He will actually preserve them. He holds us in His hand, and no sin, no suffering, no supernatural power can ever snatch a child of God out of the Savior's hand.

This is called the preserving power of God – the keeping power of God. It's a precious doctrine, especially for those who struggle with assurance.

There is no such thing as a person that used to be a Christian. First John says, "They went out from us so that it would be known that they were never of us, for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us." There are people that walk through seasons of sin like King David, but you cannot jump out, and no one will ever pluck you out of the Father's hand if you're a born-again believer.

We don't sing "I will hold me fast." We sing "He will hold me fast." The hymn puts it perfectly: "I could never keep my hold through life's fearful path, for my love is often cold; He will hold me fast. He'll not let my soul be lost; His promises shall last, bought by Him at such a cost; He will hold me fast."

Paul was convinced that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. He says neither height nor depth nor angels nor demons nor things present or things to come – nothing can separate us from the love of God.

Are you convinced of this? Because I wouldn't want to live a day not knowing that the God who saves me is the one who keeps me.

Stay dialed in.