Once Saved Always Saved

This is very plain. The Father grants permission for men and women to come to Jesus. The Father draws them and when He draws them, they will come. According to Jesus, our salvation depends on God, not on us. No one has a choice. Someone will say, “I do not agree. I decided to accept Christ.” That is true too. God chooses us and we choose Him. Notice the phrase in verse 37, “the one who comes to Me” implies the one whom the Father draws does want to come to Him too. This means that if you are not a Christian and you want Jesus to become your Savior, then God is drawing you. All you need to do is tell Him.

Has anyone been left out? Jesus says that He will lose no one. ALL will come. The Greek word He uses for “lose” is APOLLUMI which has the sense “to put out of the way entirely,” “to destroy,” or “lose” in the ultimate sense. What a wonderful comfort to know that Jesus will raise us up on the last day to go to heaven. Can we destroy ourselves? The answer is no, because Jesus said, He will raise up ALL that the Father gave Him.

John 10:27-30. The Holy Spirit is sending us a clear message. God chose to save us before we were born. The Father determines who comes to Jesus. Those whom He has chosen will come, and Jesus will not lose any. Jesus must have repeated this message several times because we find later in John that Jesus said,

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall 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 the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. (NASB) John 10:27-30

Some one may object to this conclusion and claim that we can jump out of God’s hand. If that is true, then the person who can do that is more powerful than Jesus and the Father because all of us are included in the statement “no one.”

If we want to contend that God allows us to jump, then we have another problem because Jesus said they were given to Him by the Father. This is not our choice!

Do you know your future salvation does not depend on you according to Jesus? Jesus said, “they shall never perish.” The Greek grammar uses a double negative to make the point that “they shall NO NOT ever perish.” It is the strongest Greek construction Jesus could use to make the point that He and the Father are in control of our salvation.

Ephesians 2:8-9. Our salvation was given to us before the foundation of the world. We could not earn before we were born. And we can not earn our salvation after we are physically born because,

THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD. (NASB) Rom. 3:11

Left to ourselves, we would not even come to God. The Holy Spirit must convict us of sin and draw us (John 16:7-11). In fact, even the faith we have has been given to us by God,

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. (NASB) Eph. 2:8-9

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation - having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. (NASB) Eph. 1:13-14

God has placed a “seal” on all Christians. The seal is the Holy Spirit living inside of us (1 John 4:13). The mark of a Christian is the presence of the Holy Spirit. The seal was an ancient custom that indicated ownership. God is saying His seal of ownership, the Holy Spirit, is a promise of our future inheritance. Once we believe, we are saved. That is it. God does not lie.

. . . who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (NASB) 1 Peter 1:5

The Greek word for “protected” is the present passive participle of PHROUREP. This means that God is actively “keeping us from escaping.” We cannot run away. We cannot jump out of the Father’s hand (John 10:29). In fact, this Greek word is the same word for “locked up” used in Galatians 3:23,

Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. (NIV) Gal. 3:23