Never Worry About Your Salvation Again

Chapter 1: Introduction & The Question of Salvation

Welcome to Truth Time, where you'll get a shot of the truth with no chaser. And now, your Truth Time host, Trey Searcy.

Here we are with another Truth Time transmission. I think I'll title today's discussion: "Listen to This and Never Worry About Your Salvation Again."

Eternal security—once saved, always saved—has always been a hot topic for debate, but not for those who rightly divide the word of truth. My eternal security relies on his faithfulness, not mine. That's why I tell others, if I lose my salvation, it's not my fault. It's the fault of Christ. Because more than two decades ago, I committed it to him. It's not mine to lose.

And that's the attitude—it's the attitude of those who truly trust Christ, as opposed to those who just give it lip service. Jesus should be the object of our faith. But for most, their own faithfulness is the object of their faith. For some of us, it's eternal security; for others, it's eternal insecurity. Which course are you on?

As someone who found rest in Christ, my heart goes out to those who have no assurance of their salvation. Life without peace isn't much of a life. I've been there. But I know what he saved me from, and I know what he saved me to. My former title was "sinner." Now it's "saint." Not because of anything I do, but because of what he did.

Chapter 2: Sin, Salvation, and Eternal Security

There was a penalty for sin. For the wages of sin is death. The solution was him—Christ. He gave his life for me. And now the gift of God is eternal life through him. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's the bad news. But God—Romans 5:8—in spite of that, God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Verse 10: For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. The number one problem for the eternally insecure crowd is not understanding what was done with the sins that once separated God from having a friendly relationship with humanity.

When the Father accepted the Son's atoning sacrifice, he stopped imputing sins to the world. Not knowing this has caused billions to spend their lives chasing God's forgiveness. Perhaps I'm speaking to someone here today. Maybe no one has told you that God stopped imputing your sins. A truth that can be verified—you can verify it yourself in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, 5:19.

How could the Father stop imputing sins to the world? Because the Son stepped in—he was made to be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). A price was owed. The price was paid.

And now, at the moment an unbeliever stops chasing forgiveness, stops believing in themselves, and believes on the Son, the Father declares them righteous and justifies them—putting them in union with his Son, making them a member of the family of God. The Son being the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29). And if you back up to verse 16, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Being declared to be his child, now that's eternal security!

Galatians 3:26: For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Some claim that the whole world is God's children. You hear that a lot, but that's churchianity, not Bible. The only children of God according to scripture are those who put their faith in Christ Jesus. And no child—listen—no child of God can ever become fatherless. Once a child, always a child. Once saved, always saved.

God never tells his children, "Hey, I'll be your Father until you mess up and sin." No. Salvation equals life, and it's called eternal life for a good reason—not probationary, not temporary. No matter how many times you stumble, no matter how many times you fall—regardless of all your many failures—once God gets a hold of you, he will never let you go. You're saved by grace and kept by grace.

What is grace? An unearned gift from God. When you receive something by grace, that means the giver has no expectation of getting something in return. Grace is not an exchange. Salvation is given as a free gift, and thankfully so, because we have nothing worthy enough to give God. Everything I have is worth less to him. It is finished and he doesn't need my help with something that's finished. All he wants is for me to believe that.

And no believer should ever worry about their salvation again. God promises eternal security, not eternal insecurity. But you see, sadly, it's a sad thing. Men are increasingly becoming self-centered instead of Christ-centered. Pride—a five-letter word with "I" in the middle. Here we are, imperfect, weak, and failing people searching for salvation through our own pitiful self-efforts. Talk about driving yourself bonkers. That's a sure way of doing it.

Glad you've downloaded the app and are here with us today. Get, um, Second Timothy chapter 1 real quick. See, the reason they say that you can lose it, you can lose your salvation, is because they don't understand it when we fall short—and we do. We do it daily.

Chapter 3: Paul’s Assurance and the Nature of Grace

Watch what Paul tells us. Second Timothy chapter 1, beginning with verse 12: Awaiting execution, Paul, writing from his prison cell in Rome, says, "For the which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us."

If Paul is our pattern (1 Timothy 1:16), why should we not have the same assurance he had? He entrusted his salvation, his eternal destiny, to the Lord and had no doubt about it. He was persuaded that the Lord was able to keep that which he had committed unto him against that day. That day—what day is he talking about? That's the day of Christ. Has the day of Christ come yet? Then how can you lose your salvation?

Paul knew he couldn't lose it, and so should we. See, Christ—his reliability is not like our reliability. In all our doubts and inconsistencies, he remains consistent. We can stop being faithful, but he remains faithful. God's grace is about him reaching down to man, not man reaching up to him.

Yet, we have thousands of pastors and millions of faithful church attendees who come together weekly and insult the grace of God, frustrating his grace. As Paul said, "I do not frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." This perversion of the gospel is common in churches today.

In Galatians 1:3, Paul opened the letter by saying, "Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ." Well, where's the peace? Where's the peace in thinking you can lose your salvation?

He continues in verse 6, "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ." So, some Galatians—they had abandoned that peaceful state of rest they initially received. They were already standing in grace but allowed some smooth-talking Judaizers to come in and convince them that they needed to trust in a work of the flesh.

Sounds like something that could have been written last week. Church buildings and social media preachers out here troubling others, saying you can lose your salvation. Only a proud and arrogant person could think there is something they can do in their ungodly flesh to make themselves acceptable to a holy God. What an outrageous thought to me. That sounds like someone who is Romans 10:3—ignorant of God's righteousness and spinning their wheels, going about to establish their own righteousness. As a result, not submitting themselves unto the righteousness of God, overlooking the fact that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who simply believes on him.

It's extremely important that we understand God's love, because love begets love. Some try to bring you closer to God with fear-based preaching. But it is his love that draws us—not rules, regulations, and a checklist of dos and don'ts. The preaching of the cross is what wins people to the Lord. It takes their eyes off self and puts it on him.

How the Son settled the sin issue at Calvary by dying for them all, which allowed the Father to stop imputing them. This is the message—the message that drives the devil nuts. He has in place multiple systems that have their followers chasing forgiveness. We call it "selfie-ity." It's by design, because if they learn what actually took place at Calvary, they'll stop focusing on themselves and chasing forgiveness, and start focusing on telling others about the finished crosswork.

As an ambassador, I have a moral responsibility to stand for the gospel of reconciliation. Ambassadors are responsible for telling others what most will not: that the Father's wrath, anger, and judgment was poured out on the Son. His blood sacrifice totally and completely satisfied the Father's anger toward the world's sins. The plan of how God would reconcile the world to himself—it went off without a hitch. The sentence was executed perfectly. And he's not angry with you in this time of grace and peace.

That's why—listen—that's why there's nothing you can do to lose your salvation. Denominationalism will have you believing God is angry with you each time you fall short. And then they'll give you something to do to get back into his good graces. They make Jesus the prosecutor as if he's against us, but he's on our side. He's our defense attorney. So, he's for us. He's our mediator (1 Timothy 2:5).

They'll have you believing Jesus is the accuser over there on the other side of the courtroom, wagging his finger and condemning us to hell for the sins we commit. That's another Jesus. The charges were brought, but in Christ, we're found not guilty. That's the verdict. A not-guilty verdict means we're not a candidate for losing salvation, because we've been declared innocent.

Chapter 4: The Power of Love and the Finished Work

A question I've yet to hear answered is: Did Paul ever lose his salvation? Think about it. Ask that question next time you're dialoguing with a limited forgiver. Because in Romans 7, he wrote, "For what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I." You can hear Paul's frustration here. He was doing things he hated. He goes on to say, "It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do."

Isn't that something? In just a few verses here, Paul completely destroys everything religion is built on. They want us trusting in our performance to be saved and stay saved. Yet here Paul admits that even though he desired to do good, he couldn't do it.

So again, the question: Did he lose his salvation? According to what's taught in the religious system, he should have. He said, "How to perform that which is good, I find not." So, in order for them to sell us the "you can lose your salvation" theory, we're going to need book, chapter, and verse. We're going to need book, chapter, and verse where Paul lost it. But if you can't find it—if he didn't lose it—then neither can we. If it's not in the book, we've uncovered objective evidence proving eternal security.

God gave us the gift of eternal security because, no matter how holy some think they are, while still here, we're still attached to the sin nature. Sin nature versus new nature. Old man, new man. Flesh versus spirit. It's a constant battle that we cannot escape until we shed this body. Our sin nature represents humanity's fallen condition. We inherited it from Adam. Believers and unbelievers alike are still genetically connected to Adam.

That's the problem with this flesh. Paul was no different, and it's why he struggled. We possess both the old nature and the new divine nature. And in Galatians 5, Paul addressed the eternal spiritual war that we're facing. We face it daily.

Verse 17: "For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Bingo. We have a match. That's Romans 7. He basically says the same thing again. See, we desire to do good, but how to perform good, we find not—just as Paul said. And the things I wish I didn't do, that I do.

But God gave us the solution. The solution is to get in Christ. To get in Christ means to line up, to identify with him. That solves it all. And those struggles that are brought on by the sin nature cannot affect our salvation. Salvation is not a job where you have to wake up each day, clock in, and work to keep it. God can't fire you, and you can't quit. Salvation isn't college, and you can't drop out. It's not a course you can fail, because Christ's test score is your test score. And that's what the Father sees when looking at his children.

Here's what we might call a basic or elementary question: If you cannot earn salvation, how can you lose it? I've always wondered that. There are different categories of people: there's the saved, the lost, the saved who act lost, and the lost who act saved. Oh, it's a mixed bag for sure. But one thing—listen—we can have assurance. There's one thing that's for certain: Once you are baptized into Christ, you can't be baptized out.

Chapter 5: Paul’s Struggle with Sin and Security

I'm so thankful that I answer to the Lord and his word rightly divided, not man. My moral responsibility is not to be nice, sweet, and passive. A real man of God will stand up to corrupt communication, look it dead in the eye, and face it head-on. Teaching believers they can lose their salvation—that's corrupt communication. Telling someone there's something they can do to get their sins forgiven is corrupt communication.

What's wrong with today's preachers is they teach tailor-made sermons to fit within the boundaries of what their audience wants to hear. But at Truth Time Radio, we have the luxury of not sitting under some sort of man-devised hierarchy. We don't answer to a school, a Bible society, or an institution. And that ruffles feathers, and that's why some are obsessed with campaigning against us. This is what they do when they can't control you. When they can't get you to join their herd, fall in line, and conform to what they say—when it comes to being controlled by men—I'm not a candidate. I'm not your guy. But neither was my pattern, Paul (1 Timothy 1:16). Neither was Jesus. They are who we answer to.

1 Corinthians 11:1: "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ." That's the line I want to be standing in—right behind those two. Paul is my apostle and Jesus is the one who told him what to tell me (Galatians chapter 1). What the Father required for salvation, Jesus the Son provided. Neither you nor myself are in that picture.

Now, if you're one of those who likes to include themselves in all the pictures at the barbecue—every family has one, they like to be front and center—my granddaughter Araceli, she's that way. Well, that's one thing. Enjoy yourself and have a good time. But you're not in God's picture of grace. That's reserved for his Son. And if you want to be in that picture, you have to do the opposite of jumping in front of the camera. You have to make yourself invisible. You have to get out of the way and get in him. He's the life of the party. He's the center of attention. The Father only sees him.

Is Jesus perfectly accepted by God? Then so am I—because I'm in him. When I come up before the Father, who does he see? He sees his Son. Whose righteousness does he see? That's right, his Son. I don't have any righteousness, but I'm in him. That's who I identify with, because I was spiritually baptized into Christ.

Before I forget, I have a poem here. A poem I think fits with this lesson. Written January 16, 2011. Author unknown.

Here goes:

I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered heaven's door.
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.
But it was the folks there in heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp—
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics, and the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swapped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.
Joe, who I always thought
Was rotting away in hell,
Was sitting pretty there on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus, "What's the deal?
I would love to hear your take.
How do all these sinners get up here?
God must have made a mistake.
And why is everyone so quiet,
So somber? Give me a clue."
"Hush, child," He said.
"They're all in shock
Because no one thought they'd be seeing you."

Well said.

Much of the confusion comes from mixing condition with position—our fleshly condition versus our spiritual position. One is but a vapor, here for a bit, but one day will vanish. The other is eternal. Once we exit earth, it'll continue in the heavenlies. Our position in Christ is unchangeable, unmovable. What God gives the believer is irreversible (Romans 11:29). He'll never repent, never change his mind about your eternal salvation. There's no takebacks. his promise to seal us until the day of Christ is immutable.

And if anyone adds anything to the free gift of salvation, let him be accursed. "Oh, Trey, you shouldn't talk that way. Your speech should only be with grace." I didn't say it. Paul did. Let him who teaches that—let him be accursed, because he's teaching another gospel, which is currently not another. But there be some that trouble you.

Trusting in anything other than Christ and his finished redemptive work alone—it'll leave you religious and lost. Today is the day of the Gentile salvation, and whomever will can come. And it's by grace through faith, not anything found in Israel's religion. Their program was postponed and temporarily terminated until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. This is verified in Romans 11:25: "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in."

The Bible, for the most part, is not hard to understand, but hard for some to believe. Faith plus works were involved in Israel's salvation, but not yours. Today, the only way to salvation is through Christ Jesus, the eternally existing Son of God the Father—believing that his death, his shed blood, and bodily resurrection was sufficient to forgive you of all your sins. Believe that and be permanently—not temporarily, but permanently—saved.

You become a child of God, accepted in the beloved, sealed until the day of redemption, free from condemnation, made the righteousness of God, and justified in Christ.

Chapter 6: The Solution in Christ and True Assurance

This has been Truth Time with Trey Searcy. Visit our website at truthtimeradio.com. Until next time, remember: When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest.