Harry Ironside stated that salvation was like Noah inviting a pagan in his day to place his trust in God’s Word and come in to the ark.
Some view salvation like Noah offering to put a peg on the outside of the ark.
“If you just hang on through the storm, you’ll be saved.”
Salvation is not dependent on our holding on to God, but on our being securely held by and in Christ.
We are eternally secure in Christ alone.
I have taken a break since Thanksgiving through New Years, from my series of blogs through Romans 6-8.
I am picking it up again and I will do the next several blogs on Romans 8:35-39.
In vss. 35-39 we see our eternal security clearly stated.
The question is asked, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?”
Paul then lists a seventeen-fold attack, which he shows is absolutely useless because nothing shall ever “separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
In vs. 35 Paul says,
“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”
We see he mentions the first seven possibilities that a believer might experience that we might think could come between us and Christ’s love.
They are listed here in a progression of intensity.
The first is tribulation, which is extreme pressure or external troubles, like false accusations or rejection.
The second is distress, which is inward anguish, like temptation or grief.
The third is persecution, which is physical or mental suffering at the hands of unbelievers and even by believers at times.
The fourth is famine, which is going hungry.
The fifth is nakedness, which is being in need of clothing for the cold weather or being destitute.
The sixth is peril, which is danger.
The seventh is sword, which is being threatened with death.
In vs. 36 we read,
“Just as it is written, ‘For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’”
Paul points out that he experienced them all (read 2 Corinthians 11:23-28).
This has been the experience of believers through the ages who go through similar sufferings; this is why he quotes from the Old Testament here.
Paul is reassuring believers that in those dark moments when our sufferings seem to hide the love of Christ, we are still eternally secure in His love.
A well can dry up, but a fountain that has resources deep into the mountains that will not dry up.
We are like a fountain, which has our resources deep into Christ, and His love for us will never dry up!
Blessings!
Pastor Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries