How Long Does Salvation Last?
Now that we understand that all are sinners, and all are offered salvation through the work that Christ did on the cross, we should come to an understanding of the word, “everlasting.” Perhaps you saw that word when we looked at John 3:16 earlier: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Everlasting means that once we receive salvation, it is forever! It does not come and go. It is for all eternity! You cannot lose it. If you could lose your salvation, it would not be everlasting.
In John 6:47, Jesus said “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”
Who Keeps My Salvation?
The reason that one’s salvation is everlasting is because of Who keeps it. First Peter 1:5 tells us that we are kept by His power. He does all the saving and keeping. If we had the power to save ourselves, then we would have the power to lose that salvation, but it is “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;” according to Titus 3:5.
Ephesians 1:13 tells us that upon receiving the Lord Jesus as our Saviour, we are “sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.” Then we are told in John 10:29 that God the Father holds us who are saved in his hand: “…no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
Since we are saved by Jesus, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and kept by the Father, none of which is done by our own merits, we cannot lose it! Jesus said it this way in John 8:36: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
Can I Be Confident in My Salvation?
We can be confident that we are saved, and build our lives on that confidence. First John 5:13 tells us that we can know – not “think so” or “hope so” when it comes to eternal life: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”