The Love of God Is Our Security
There is nothing like the security of the born-again Christian. It has no parallel in any religion, worldview, or ideological system. The security of the Christian is the most freeing truth ever taught on the surface of the earth. Because God has elected us, we have become his children, and now live in his home of love (Eph. 2:11-22). In the miracle of miracles, we will never leave this residence.
It’s impossible to capture just how transformative this truth is. It means that nothing can un-save us. Nothing can un-birth us again. Nothing can pull the wrath of God out of a bottomless ocean, dry it off, and hold it over our head again. Our sin-problem is solved. Our guilt-problem is overcome. Our wrath-problem is no more. Our quest for security, for lasting love, is ended.
This is why it is strange that a good number of believers seem to have little salvific confidence. They live in a constant up-and-down state. We should all strive to live carefully before the Lord, yes. But when we consider a text like Ephesians 1:4–6, how can we avoid being tremendously heartened by God’s love for us? It reads:
[4] even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love [5] he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, [6] to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
We were chosen by God, and that is why we are God’s people. We were not selected for our performance, but because the Father wished to magnify “his glorious grace” (6). This glorious grace is not far-off or merely theoretical; it is what blesses us continually, flowing as it does from the finished work of the Son, Jesus Christ, the Father’s “Beloved.”
Our security is as strong as the Father’s will, then. And our security is as strong as the work of Christ that fulfilled the Father’s will. Hebrews 4:14–16 unveils the practical significance of the atonement of Christ:
[14] Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. [15] For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. [16] Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Jesus is our “great high priest” (14). Here’s the thing about having a “great high priest”; if you have one, you don’t need another one. Personally, that means that you don’t have to be one. The role of atoner, mediator, and Savior is filled. No further applications are being taken for these duties. Jesus was “tempted as we are,” and died on the cross for our sins, and so we may at all times and in all situations “draw near to the throne of grace” (15, 16).
All this amounts to a whole lot of security: incredible security, unlosable security, eternal security. We are loved by God, and he loves us as much as we could possibly be loved. There are many blessings we can have beside this, but honestly, this is the only one we truly need. Our greatest need is met. God has done this. Because of this, we live as Christians in the joyful knowledge that we are the beloved children of God, and always will be.
As mentioned above, it troubles me to hear so very many Christians say to me that they struggle with assurance of salvation. Some of them struggle because they are battling sin in a visceral way, and they need to overcome it in important ways. There’s much we could say about that essential fight; without holiness no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). But others struggle with assurance not because of a lack of spiritual zeal, but because they hear very little about the security of God’s redeeming love.
I’m not entirely sure why this is so common, frankly. Again: it troubles me as a reality in the church. It ought not to be this way. I wonder if pastors think that, in an antinomian context, they should play the love of God carefully as a subject. They don’t want to be heard in an over-the-top way, a mushy-gushy way, and they don’t want to unleash anything-goes behavior in their congregation.
I understand these instincts (and share them). But I fear that some preachers and teachers of the conservative evangelical stripe end up—unwittingly—giving their hearers not the full love of God, and thus the full security of God, but a half love of God, and thus half security for the Christian. The people of God end up feeling in such contexts as if the strongest theme of their walk of faith is “Be holy or else!,” where the far deeper biblical theme is “The love of God is your eternal security.”
The security of God’s love is the single strongest factor in motivating holy action. There is no better way to summon the people of God to holiness than to send a rocket-stream of the grace of God into their lives on a regular basis. They need to hear distinct themes from Scripture, but this is the anthem they need on repeat. This is not to quiet the call to righteousness, not one bit; it is to give it full depth and weight and effect.
You see this in children, don’t you? Which child would you rather be? I’ll give you two options.
Option 1: A child insecure in the love of their father and mother, rarely hearing of deep parental affection and total parental commitment, raised in a morality-driven framework of fear-based control that has as a key motivation avoiding the shame of wild children
Option 2: A child regularly and joyfully assured of the love of Dad and Mom, a love that is not merely stated but is demonstrated and modeled by tender, affectionate, kind, forgiving, shepherding action, all of which is aimed at winning the child’s heart to God by his grace
I think I know what most people would answer. Here’s some great news in theological terms: Option 2 is how God engages his blood-bought children. The elect of God, which is to say all who repent of their sin and trust in Christ, are those children. That is us. It always will be us. Nothing can change this; no one can change this; not even God himself will alter it.
Our salvation is firmly fixed in the heavens. We are secure in God’s love. If we doubt this, or better said, when we doubt this, we must look to the mists of time, and see that God chose us before the foundation of the earth in Christ. But not only there: we must train our eyes with special intensity on the cross of Christ, for it is there that all the Father’s plans came to glorious fruition.
There the Son empowered by the Holy Spirit consecrated himself to God as a sacrifice and fragrant offering. There Christ died for us. There love, eternal love, took on the most painful practical fulfillment possible, as the spotless blood of the Lamb of God was shed for us. Do you wonder if God loves you? Look to eternity past, and then look to the cross.
And then look ahead, to eternity future. You are not merely saved now. You are God’s child, and all your best days are ahead of you. Eternity is coming. Final healing is coming. Endless and uninterrupted joy is coming. It will all be here sooner than you know. Until that day, fight to see how much you are loved.
Your godly walk matters—it matters greatly. But your security is not found in you, Christian. It is found in God. It is found in Christ. It is tasted through the indwelling ministry of the Spirit active in you now. You are not sufficient to compel the Father to love you, but the death of Christ on your behalf was sufficient, totally sufficient. So here you stand, and here you live.
Your security with God is not weak; it is not half-security; it is the strongest security imaginable. Put differently: you are as loved by God as you possibly could be.