Week 2: Your Identity in Messiah
The God of Isra’el wants you to have a deep assurance that by faith in Yeshua you are His child forever. This means you are forgiven, saved, and you have eternal life (for a more in-depth study on eternal life see my commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Ms – The Eternal Security of the Believer).
1. You are forgiven for all your sins through faith in Messiah’s atoning death and resurrection. This means that you have a right standing before God. You are justified. This is the act of God whereby, negatively, He forgives your sins and, positively, He declares them righteous by transferring the righteousness of Messiah to you through faith. It is a once-for-all-time divine act at salvation. Those accepted are now secure forever. It is not a reward for anything good we have done. It is not something that we cooperate with God in. Finally, our justification is not simply a matter of ADONAI overlooking our guilt; our right standing before Him is a result of all of Yeshua’s righteousness being transferred to our spiritual bank account by faith (Genesis 15:6; Psalm 32:2; Isaiah 54:17; Jeremiah 23:6; Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 3:28 to 4:6, 5:1 and 9, 9:30 to 10:4; First Corinthians 6:11; Galatians 2:16, 3:8-9, 21).
This is just what the TaNaKh (the Old Testament) promised: that Messiah would come and die for your sins as God’s provision for our atonement and forgiveness. But He was wounded for out transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the punishment that made us whole, and by His bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and yet ADONAI has laid on Him the guilt of us all (Isaiah 53:5-6). If you are not familiar with this section of Scripture, take a moment to read the entire portion of Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12. The B’rit Chadashah (the New Testament) shows us how God fulfilled this promise of redemption. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Yeshua Messiah (Romans 5:1; also see Isaiah 26:3).
The word justified means: to be declared righteous, or to have a right standing before God. This is the greatest transaction in history, our sin for His righteousness. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (Second Corinthians 5:21). In the TaNaKh there had to be a sacrifice, blood had to be shed, a death needed to occur. But because we are in Messiah (Ephesians 2:6), we have a perfect, absolute, righteousness before God. What is true of Him is true of you. Because of our faith, we have passed God’s final exam with an A+. He has given us His righteousness (Philippians 3:3-9; Romans 1:17, 3:21-22, 4:21-23, 8:19-22; 9:30; Galatians 3:21).
Because Messiah has fully atoned for your sins through faith in His death and resurrection, you are now completely forgiven and spiritually without spot or blemish before God. The Bible teaches: Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sin is covered (Psalm 32:1).
Your right standing before God is a result of all of Messiah’s righteousness being transferred to your spiritual bank account by __________.
Before salvation you were God’s enemy (James 4:4); but now, having been justified by faith, we have __________ with God through our Lord Yeshua Messiah (Romans 5:1).
To be justified means to be declared ______________ .
2. You are saved: In Messiah, you are completely delivered from all judgment for your sins. This is the same truth anticipated by the prophet: Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other (Isaiah 45:22).
As we might think of a fireman who goes into a burning building to save someone from a fire, so Messiah underwent judgment to save us from the fires of judgment. The idea of being saved is to be delivered from judgment for our sins, and adopted into the family of God (Ephesians 1:4-5; John 1:12; Galatians 3:26-29).
If you confess with your mouth the Lord Yeshua and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9). The Greek word for confess, homologeo, literally means same-word, that is, to agree with another. We agree with God about Messiah. So, to confess with your mouth means to acknowledge Yeshua as Lord. Real faith is what we confess as true.
Is this what you confess as well? Yes _____ No _____
The word believe (Greek: pisteuo) has a wide semantic range and can mean trust, faith, or believe, opposed to mere intellectual assent. We trust in the Scriptures, God’s testimony and promises regarding our salvation. To believe in your heart that God has raised Yeshua from the dead means you genuinely trust that through the resurrection of Messiah, God glorified Him and accepted His righteous death as atonement (payment) for your sins.
Is this what you genuinely believe? Yes _____ No _____
Please read Romans 10:9, replacing “I” and “my” for the words “you” and “your.”
If ___ confess with ___ mouth the Lord Yeshua and believe in ___ heart that God raised Him from the dead, ___ will be saved.
3. You have eternal life now! This means the God’s life dwells in you, now and for all eternity. This is the same truth anticipated in the TaNaKh: And ADONAI your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants – to love ADONAI your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live (Deuteronomy 30:6).
Eternal security means that once a person has undergone the real experience of salvation and has a truly experienced regeneration, that person cannot lose his or her salvation, either by committing a specific sin, or by ceasing to believe. It’s not so much that we can undo what we have done, but we cannot undo what God has done for us (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Bw – What God Does for Us at the Moment of Faith)! It is the work of the Holy Spirit that keeps us secure, not our own works: And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Messiah Yeshua returns (Philippians 1:6).
True salvation will produce genuine works of righteousness (spiritual fruit) in the life of the believer (First Corinthians 13:4-7; Galatians 5:22-23).
True salvation will produce doctrinal consistency, which is a test of genuine faith (Colossians 1:22-23; Second John 1:1-12). When people are saved, they may not know that Yeshua was born of a virgin. But when they do learn it, they will readily accept it. If they deny or reject this truth, then they probably weren’t truly saved to begin with (First John 2:9).
True salvation will produce godly living based upon what God has done for us, not on the fear of losing our salvation.
Sin in a believer’s life severs fellowship (First Corinthians 5:1-13; First John 1:6-9), but does not result in loss of salvation. Since we can do no works to gain our salvation, we can do no works to lose our salvation.
Persistent life pattern of sin shows a lack of conversion. This is the point of First John 3:6-10 where the present tense is used. A life pattern of sin does not show a loss of salvation. If anything, it may show that a person was never saved to begin with.
Perfection is not achieved in this life. Believers will continue sinning for the rest of their lives. No one will reach perfection in this life. But we should continue to be conformed into the image of Messiah, or mature, as we study God’s Word.
There is a difference between position and practice; between justification and sanctification. When we are justified at salvation, our position in Messiah is permanent, but because we still live in bodies of sin, our practice may not always show it. One of the best examples would be the church at Corinth. Paul referred to the Corinthians church positionally as being a sanctified church: But by His doing you are in Messiah Yeshua, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). But, according to their practice, they were one of the worst churches in the B’rit Chadashah. That is the difference between position and practice. Bad practice does not mean that position has been lost.
Eternal security is our position in Messiah. At the moment of faith several things happen, and one of them is being placed in Yeshua. This doctrine teaches us that somehow He is placed in us, and we are placed in Messiah, who sits at the right hand of the Father (Mark 16:19; Romans 8:34; Acts 7:55-56, Ephesians 1:20). As a result, there is a permanent union with Messiah and the believer that is set for eternity. Yeshua cannot be taken out of us and we cannot be taken out of Him. When God looks down upon us, He doesn’t see our sin, He sees His Son (And there are no abortions in heaven).
Positive verses: These verses would be the perfect place to temper the notion of eternal security and prove that we can indeed lose our salvation. But you don’t find any of those qualifications in the logical places you would expect to find them.
John 6:37-40: Is it ever possible for Yeshua to lose a gift from the Father? “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of all those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day” (John 6:39). So if one true believer ever loses his or her salvation, Yeshua would be out of the will of God. But that is impossible.
John 10:27-30: Yeshua builds argument on top of argument to affirm our security in Him, “My sheep listen to My voice; I know them; and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are One.”
First John 4:16-18, “We will have confidence on the day of judgment.”
John 5:24, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”
Romans 5:8-11 and 17: Since Messiah died for us while we were still sinners, how much more will He do for us now that we have been reconciled, adopted, justified, united with Him, and had all of His righteousness transferred to our spiritual bank account at the moment of salvation?
Romans 8:28-39: This is the strongest argument in the Bible for the eternal security of the believer. If this were the ONLY scripture supporting the security of the believer – you would have to say that it was established. “Who will separate us from the love of Messiah? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger of the world . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation (which includes you!) will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.”
My dear children [of God], I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Yeshua Messiah, the Righteous One (First John 2:1). Another reason we are dependent on the Son of God for our eternal salvation is His ministry of intercession. He interceded while still on earth (John 17:1-26), and He is still interceding for us. “Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Messiah Yeshua who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:34). “Therefore, He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
We are dependent on God the Son based on Messiah’s role as the Good Shepherd (John 10:27-30). There we are taught once again, that we have eternal life. If that life is eternal, then it’s eternal. If one can lose it, it’s not eternal, merely temporary. We shall never perish no matter what we do. Why? Because “no one will snatch [us] out of [Messiah’s] hand.” Yeshua concludes by saying, “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
The ministry of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh is one of sealing, and the purpose is to seal the believer up in Messiah so that we can never be lost. The emphasis is clearly that the believer has been sealed, not just temporarily, not just until we stop believing, but has been sealed until the day of redemption. Having been sealed, the final redemption is guaranteed, “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Messiah. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” The deposit is a down payment with the intention to purchase. God has given us Himself as the down payment; He has given us the Spirit of God (Second Corinthians 1:21-22; also see Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30).
What does it mean when a person who seems to have been a believer and has been active in the congregation, leaves, lives in the world, and doesn’t come back? Did this person lose their salvation? No. This is what that bible says, “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them [really ever] belonged to us” (First John 2:19).
Problem Passages for Eternal Security: Various groups do use different verses to try to prove that it is possible to lose one’s salvation. To be assured of our eternal security, we need to respond to these viewpoints.
The five warnings in the book of Hebrews: We must understand that there are three basic groups of people in view throughout this book. If one does not keep these groups in mind, the book becomes very confusing. The key to interpreting any part of Hebrews is to understand which group is being addressed. The primary message is addressed to believers. But periodically there are five different warnings (2:1-4, 3:7-19, 5:11-14, 6:1-8, 10:26-39) to two unbelieving groups: Jews who were merely intellectually convinced, but had not crossed over the line from knowledge to faith, and secondly unbelieving Jews. But some think that these passages are addressing believers who have lost their salvation.
None of these verses or examples actually teaches that believers can lose their salvation. On the contrary, once saved, believers can never be snatched out of Yeshua’s hand because they are kept by the power of God. We don’t keep ourselves; He keeps us. Thus, the problem passages can be explained as misapplications, while the positive passages cannot be disproven. So as believers we can be confident that we are eternally secure; however, the fact that we are eternally secure in our salvation does not give us the liberty to live like the devil (see my commentary on Romans Bq – The Background of the Messianic Mikveh).
Does eternal mean eternal? Yes _____ No _____
Can I lose my salvation? Yes _____ No _____
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