This is day 4 of a video series called 21 Days of Once Saved Always Saved Salvation Assurance. It’s January 2022 and, in honor of the new year, my church in Marietta GA has asked us to dedicate 21 days to the Lord to draw closer to Him.  Over these 21 days, I’m going through 1 passage of Scripture a day that proclaims our salvation assurance in Christ and shows how salvation can never be lost or forfeited but is held securely in place for us by our heavenly Father so we can have confidence that we are eternally saved.

Today’s passage is Jude 24-25:

“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” (Jude 1:24-25 KJV)

This amazing passage stands as a testimony of God’s faithfulness toward His children. It gives us total assurance that it is God Who will keep us from falling away into unbelief or apostasy. It is God Who will not only save us but will be faithful to keep us secure in our faith so that no even one of His children will be lost.

There is a false teaching out there, particularly in the Lordship Salvation movement, which says that though you can’t lose your salvation by someone taking it from you, you can give it up yourself by returning to unbelief. They say it is possible for a saved believer to walk away from God and become once again lost, even though there is no evidence of anyone losing their salvation in Scripture. Still, they say it is possible for a saved believer to willingly forfeit their salvation and become apostate. This is a false teaching that is not supported in Scripture and I chose this verse from the Book of Jude to refute this blasphemous false teaching. There are many verses that refute this false teaching but this one in particular speaks of not only God’s faithfulness to keep us saved but how God Himself has taken on the responsibility to keep us saved.

The passage begins with this amazing statement:

“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling…” (Jude 1:24 KJV)

Right from the start, God tells us it is not up to us to keep ourselves from falling. Keeping ourselves saved is not our responsibility. It is God Who keeps us from falling away into unbelief, into apostasy. 

This theme of God being the One Who protects His children from falling is seen from the very beginning of the Book of Jude, starting in verse 1:

“Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:” (Jude 1:1 KJV)

Notice the phrase, “preserved in Jesus Christ.” God not only sanctifies us (or makes us holy) through the blood sacrifice of Christ, but He also preserves us in Jesus Christ. This word, “preserved,” in the Greek is the word, “tēreō,” which means to keep, to preserve, to tend to carefully, to guard, to keep one in the state in which he is. And that state is “in Christ.” God preserves us, keeps us “in Christ.”

So, in verse 24, where it says,

“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling…” (Jude 1:24 KJV)

it is speaking about God taking the initiative to preserve us, to keep us “in Christ” so that we don’t fall out of being “in Christ.” What this is saying is that once you are saved, it is impossible for you to fall away into unbelief and become apostate, to again become lost. We’re going to look at how God does this.

But more important than how God does this is why He does it, and it comes down to God’s character. What kind of Father is He toward His children?

When we think of the character of God, let’s first think of a human parent who sees his child falling into life-threatening danger. What kind of parent would stand by and knowingly let his child stumble, fall to his death and then go so far as to set his child’s body on fire? Is that a good parent? What would we think of a human parent who would do this? We’d think it’s criminal. 

Yet, that’s that people who maintain that you can fall away into unbelief are saying about God, that He would knowingly stand by as His children stumble into unbelief, allow them to die in unbelief and then finish them off by setting them on fire in hell.

Is that the God we worship? Is that the true character of God? Is that a good Father? No, of course not.

But God IS a good Father and He’s nothing like that. He is faithful to preserve His children in the faith and to keep us from falling.

So, how does God do this while still allowing us to have free will?

God has many “means” as His disposal which He uses to keep us from falling. Here are but a few of them:

• Warnings in His Word – that’s why those warnings are there. God uses warnings to gently tell us to stay on the right path.
• The sealing of the Holy Spirit inside a believer – the moment we are saved, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption. That right there should tell you that it’s impossible for a believer to fall away into unbelief because the Holy Spirit remains sealed inside the believer.  
• The work of the Holy Spirit to lead & teach us – So, as a believer drifts off into error or unbelief, the Holy Spirit is right there leading and teaching that believer back to the truth. 
• Warnings & encouragement from believers
• Teachings in the Word and in the church
• The Body of Christ working in your life
• God’s chastisement and discipline
• Allowing consequences of sin to happen
• Allowing sickness or disease
• Angels working in our lives
• Intercessory prayer
• Lifting God’s protection, allowing spiritual oppression into our lives
• Early death – “There is a sin unto death:” 1 John 5:16 – If none of these other means work to correct a straying believer, God may simply decide to take that believer home early.

These are just some of the many means God uses to keep us from falling away. God knows how to keep His children in the faith without violating our free will. When we’re saved, God doesn’t turn us into robots who can no longer choose the wrong path. But God knows how to use these many means to persuade us and preserve us so that we stay in the faith. The bottom line is that not a single saved believer, not a single child of God, will be lost.

It is God Who keeps us from falling. It is not our obedience or our striving that keeps us saved. God Himself has taken the responsibility for preserving His children so that none are lost.

Verse 24 goes on to say,

“and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory,” (Jude 1:24 KJV)

Notice that it is God Who presents us faultless. We don’t present ourselves faultless by our own efforts of obedience. God presents us faultless before the presence of His Glory. If it were up to us to present ourselves faultless, we’d all fail, every one of us. But God doesn’t fail, and He will present us faultless before His presence. We are faultless because He gives us His own perfect righteousness in Christ when we believe in Christ for salvation. We don’t stand in our own righteousness. 

And then we see the true character of God come through, for it says He does all this with exceeding joy:

“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,” (Jude 1:24 KJV)

This joy is not our joy, although we will be joyful when this happens. It’s speaking of His exceeding joy. This is speaking of the true, unending love that the Father has for His children. Far from being a Father Who will let His children fall away into unbelief and become lost, our Father preserves us and keeps us from falling, presenting us faultless before His glory with exceeding joy.

If you are a child of God, do you know that God has exceeding joy over you? Do you know that God will sing over you?

Zephaniah 3:17 says, 

“The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty One Who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17 ESV)

This is the true heart of the Father. He will sing over us with loud singing. Imagine that. He is not about to let even one of His beloved children perish by falling away. God’s throne works like a court room. When we place our faith in Christ, we become born again. Our sins are legally wiped from our record, and we are born into God’s family. We become children of God. That gives God the legal rights of a parent to intervene in the lives of His children. That gives Him the legal right to work on our behalf to preserve us in the faith. And He will do this perfectly so that none are lost.

Could we become lost? We’re not robots and those warning verses are real. But God knows how to preserve us in the faith and uses many means to keep us from falling so that none are lost. Not one single solitary believer in the history of Christianity will be lost.

So, the passage concludes with this:

“To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” (Jude 1:25 KJV)

It is God Who saves us. It is God Who keeps us saved. Therefore, to Him be all the glory. We don’t deserve any of the credit. We don’t save ourselves and we don’t keep ourselves saved through our obedience. He saves us and He keeps us saved. He persuades us and preserves us. He is the faithful and good Father Who leads His children down the right path so that none will be lost. This is why you can never lose your salvation.

So, let me ask you: Are you a child of God where God, your faithful Father, is working to save you and keep you saved? Do you have that assurance? Are you sure you are saved?

It comes down to this:

Salvation = God’s Grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Nothing more. Nothing less. There are no other requirements to be saved than to believe in Jesus.

Once you believe, you are born again, and you are forever a child of God. He is a good Father Who will never abandon you but will preserve you in the faith. 

If you are not certain about this, time is getting very late. Don’t take the chance of missing out on God. Prophetically, the current “Age of Grace” where God is giving people time to turn to Him for forgiveness is almost over. When it ends, it will be too late. God’s judgment is coming. Those who are not saved will be separated from God for all eternity. Don’t take chances with God. Don’t play with Him. Take Him seriously.

If you are not 100% sure you are saved, don’t put it off any longer. You can know with certainty that you have eternal life today. Do it now before it’s too late.

Making Sure You Are Saved Is As Easy As ABC

Admit to God that you have sinned.

Believe that Jesus, God’s Son, died to pay for
your sins 100%, was buried and rose from the dead.

Call upon Jesus and ask Him to forgive you and save you.

If you make that decision to call upon Him, God gives you this assurance:

“For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13 KJV)

If you are still not sure, I’ll include a link to a video I did called, “What is the Gospel (in 6 Words)?”

Thank you for watching.