Eternally Secure in Christ COLOSSIANS 2:13-14

While many Christians know they are saved, they wonder about their eternal security. Does our behavior play a role in keeping our salvation? Examining what happened when we received Jesus as our Savior will bring us reassurance of our security in Him.

Prior to salvation, we had a spiritual problem. We were born with a nature inclined to rebel against God. Our inner self consistently rejected His rule and took charge. Because of our sinful state, we were spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1), under God’s judgment, and destined for eternal separation from Him. No amount of good works, repentance, or improved behavior could have changed our sinful condition. We required a divine solution. Knowing this, our heavenly Father provided what we needed through His Son Jesus (John 3:16).

On the day we trusted in Christ, our condition was changed from condemnation and death to forgiveness and life (John 5:24). We were given a new nature–one that wanted to please God–and adopted into His family (2 Cor. 5:17). God’s gift of salvation delivered us from eternal death, made us spiritually alive, and gave us eternal life. We cannot return to our dead, unforgiven state. Our new status as His children is permanent because it is based on what Jesus has done.

While our behavior may not always reflect our new nature, any mistakes we make do not jeopardize our salvation. Remember, it’s not our actions but Christ’s work on the cross that changed our condition. And nothing can undo a spiritual rebirth that came about through faith in Jesus (John 3:3).

They Will Walk in White

In your goodness, O God, you have provided for the needy.

Psalms 68:10

All God’s gifts are prepared gifts laid away to meet wants He has foreseen. He anticipates our needs; and out of the fullness that He has treasured up in Christ Jesus, He provides from His goodness for the poor. You may trust Him for all the necessities you may face, for He has infallibly foreknown every one of them. He can say of us in all conditions, “I knew that you would be this and that.”

A man takes a journey across the desert, and when he has completed a day and pitched his tent, he discovers that he wants many comforts and necessities that he has not brought in his baggage. “Ah!” he says. “I did not foresee this. If I had this journey to do again, I would bring these things with me—they are necessary to my comfort.” But God is already aware of all the requirements of His poor, wandering children, and when those needs occur, supplies are ready. It is goodness that He has prepared for the poor in heart, goodness and goodness only. “My grace is sufficient for you.”¹ “As your days, so shall your strength be.”²

Reader, is your heart heavy this evening? God knew it would be; the comfort that your heart requires is treasured in the sweet assurance of this text. You are poor and needy, but He has thought upon you and has the exact blessing that you require in store for you.

Plead the promise; believe it and obtain its fulfillment. Do you feel that you never were so consciously sinful as you are now? Behold, the crimson fountain is open still, with all its former efficacy, to wash your sin away. You will never come into such a position that Christ cannot help you. You will never arrive at a place in your spiritual affairs in which Jesus Christ will not be equal to the emergency, for your history has all been foreknown and provided for in Jesus.

¹2 Corinthians 12:9 ²Deuteronomy 33:25