FAITH AND FASTING

It grieves me every time I hear any believer in Christ doubting the security of their salvation. The thought a church would teach this fallacy breaks my heart, for it is a false teaching.

Let’s examine Scripture together and you will see this teaching cannot stand against the Word of God.

2 Cor 1:20-22
The promises of God are yes and Amen… God is the One who established us and anointed us and also sealed us and gave us the Spirit as a pledge (definition of pledge: security deposit to salvation/redemption).

Eph 1:13
(Christ…) in whom you trusted, after you heard the truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom after you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the pledge/security of our inheritance until the redemption, unto the praise of his glory.

Eph 4:30
(Don’t give place to the devil…) Grieve not the Holy Spirit, who has sealed you for the day of redemption.

2 Timothy 2:19
Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal: The Lord KNOWS them that are His. (He goes on to say… therefore, let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from sin…)

Possibly no verse promises we cannot be lost more than this one in 2 Timothy. The Lord KNOWS who belongs to Him and, although we can still fall in sin, He is the One whose knowledge of us retains possession of us. There is nothing we can do to make God stop knowing us once we were in relationship with Him.

Hebrews 13:5-6
…Be content with such things as you have: for he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me.

We need not fear what ANY human do to us, which includes ourselves! The Lord will not leave us, nor forsake us. This means, if we try to walk away, He comes with us!

Recall King David’s words in Psalm 139:

PSA 139.7-8
Where can I go from Your Spirit? or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend up into heaven, You are there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

We cannot leave the Lord, we do not have the power. Once we are His, He is with us no matter where the journey takes us (and no matter where we take us). It is why Isaiah compared our relationship with the Lord to that of a bride and bridegroom. “For better or worse”, He is ours and we are His.

Christ said in the judgment there will be some who say, “Lord, Lord…” but He will say to them, “depart from Me, I never KNEW you.” Matt 7:23

I’ve heard people say over the years upon hearing the news of a death of someone else’s loved one: ‘Did he or she know the Lord?’ But, really the question should be, “Did the Lord know them?”

You see, in judgment it will be about who the Lord knows. Keeping us is His job, not ours. If the Lord knows you, He cannot un-know you. Only those He never knew will be lost.

When it was our job to hang onto Him (pre-Cross, when we were under the old law), we failed miserably. That is why Christ came and died for us, to give us “a better Covenant”, so He could seal us and never lose us again. Humans had already proven too frail and weak to hold on in their own strength.

Christ, the strong, and the Holy Spirit, the sure, had to do it all for us. This is the heart of salvation. It was done by Him and will be held by Him. Once we believe (trust) Him, our salvation is secure because of Him, not because of us.

For those whom He knows, even the sin of rebelling, trying to walk away from Him has already been paid on the Cross. When we accepted Christ, we accepted His sacrificial payment for every sin, past, present and future. Therefore, every future sin, including running away, was already paid for!

If there is a sin Christ couldn’t pay for, then the Cross was pointless. The Cross was because of man’s weakness – if it still isn’t enough, then nothing is enough.

To say we can lose our salvation after we know Him and He knows us and we’ve been sealed by the Spirit is simply illogical and smacks up against the whole point of the life and death of Christ and of the purpose of the Holy Spirit.

From Strong’s dictionary, the word, SEALED (sfragidzo) means: to stamp with a signet or mark for security; also implies to keep secret or safely hide away from thieves. A seal confirms authentication, ownership, proof, belonging without doubt.

For anyone who knows anything about ranching, think cattle with the brand of their owner forever marked in their hide. It is far more secure than a tattoo which can still be removed.

A brand is permanent. Those cows may wander off, but the mark signals to whoever finds them where and to whom they belong. The whole point of the brand is so that they can never be lost. Ownership is secure, proven beyond a doubt. The permanent mark is the evidence.

That is what we have in the Holy Spirit. He indwells and seals us, we in Christ have become His temple. We are His property, He put down the security deposit and took ownership. You may not feel like the elegant temple that you are to Him, but you are still His home!

We can frustrate Him, grieve Him, and silence Him by living in sin, doubting or rebelling and more. We can invite unsavory characters to come hang out, those who would even attempt to destroy us. But, we as the Spirit’s house, His temple, cannot change ownership. We cannot remove ourselves from being His. He is the one with the power of ownership. It is written in stone, having been secured by the payment on the Cross and the Holy Spirit is the Seal which cannot be broken.

Dear friends, let no fear rule your life, especially the one which tries to tell you even your salvation isn’t secure. That is an insidious lie from Hell, and Scripture proves it when examined closely. Tell that lie and its companion, fear, to go back to where they came, in the name and power of Jesus!

Trust fall into the Lord and embrace His mark on you, His Seal, the precious Holy Spirit. We are safe in Him forever, and this truth will set you free!

[Postscript: It is my joy and privilege to promote this series by Dallas Jenkins: The Chosen, available for free on Angel Studios app or website, among other streaming services. FYI, no one is paying me to promote it. Words alone are not enough to describe its relevance, quality, Biblical authenticity, and heart. You will feel you are there, will fall in love with the disciples and first followers of Christ, and Christ Himself! Don’t miss it!]