Doctrine
"...they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."
John 10:28
Can a truly saved person ever be lost again? Many dear souls live under a cloud of fear, wondering whether one sin, one bad day, or one season of weakness might undo everything and shut them out of heaven. The Word of God lifts that cloud entirely. The believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is eternally secure — kept not by the strength of his own grip upon God, but by the almighty grip of God upon him.
Begin with the plain meaning of words. The Lord Jesus Christ gives His people eternal life. If that life could be lost, it would not be eternal at all; it would be temporary life on trial. But He calls it eternal, and He says plainly that His sheep shall never perish.
"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." (John 10:28)
Read the promise slowly: they shall never perish. Not "they shall probably not perish," nor "they shall not perish if they hold on well enough" — but they shall never perish. To say a saved man may yet be lost is to call the Lord Jesus Christ mistaken.
Salvation is not a wage you earn week by week and can forfeit by failing to work. It is a free gift, given once, by grace.
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23)
Now think: if you did not earn the gift by your works, you cannot un-earn it by your failures. Your salvation never rested on your performance in the first place, so your imperfect performance cannot overthrow it. What grace gave, works cannot take away.
Here is the true ground of the believer's safety. You are not kept saved by your own power — which would fail in a day — but by the power of God, which never fails.
"Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:5)
The Lord Jesus Christ holds His sheep in His own hand, and the Father holds them too — a double grip that no enemy can break.
"My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." (John 10:29)
Notice: no man is able. Not the devil, not the world, not your worst enemy — and since you are a man, not even you can pluck yourself out of that hand. Your security rests on hands far stronger than your own.
When you trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Holy Ghost sealed you — marked you as His own and guaranteed your arrival in glory — not until you should fail, but unto the day of redemption.
"And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." (Ephesians 4:30)
The seal is not set until the next sin; it is set until the day God takes you home. A seal that God Himself has placed, no man and no devil can break.
The apostle Paul reached for the widest words he could find — height and depth, life and death, things present and things to come — and swept them all aside: not one of them can separate the believer from God's love.
"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)
And over the one who is in Christ there hangs no condemnation at all — none now, and none ever.
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)
When you were saved, you were born again into the family of God. You became His child. Now a child may displease his father and be corrected, but he cannot become un-born; the relationship of birth cannot be undone.
"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." (John 1:12)
And the God who began the good work in you has pledged to finish it Himself. He does not begin to save and then abandon the work half-done.
"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:6)
Someone will point to people who once professed Christ and later walked away entirely. What of them? The Bible answers plainly: those who finally and fully depart show that they were never truly saved to begin with. They had a profession, but not the possession of eternal life.
"They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." (1 John 2:19)
A true believer may stumble, may backslide, may pass through seasons of coldness and sin — but he will not finally, totally, and forever abandon the Saviour, because the Saviour will not abandon him. The Lord Jesus Christ has promised never to cast out the one who comes to Him.
This is the old objection, and the apostle Paul faced it head on. If grace keeps us saved no matter what, may we not then live in sin? His answer is thunder: God forbid.
"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (Romans 6:1-2)
The truly saved person is a new creature who no longer loves sin as he once did. The very grace that saves him also teaches him to turn from ungodliness.
"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world." (Titus 2:11-12)
And when a child of God does sin, God does not throw him out of the family — He corrects him as a loving Father corrects a beloved son. Chastening is proof of sonship, not the loss of it.
"For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." (Hebrews 12:6)
See what rest this truth brings. You need not lie awake wondering whether you are still saved. God wrote His Word so that you might know — not guess, not hope, but know — that you have 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." (1 John 5:13)
This is not a licence to be careless; it is a foundation to build a whole life upon. The one who knows he is safe forever serves God not from the fear of being lost, but from the love of the One who will never let him go.
If you have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, lift up your head. He who saved you is able to keep you, and to present you at last before God without a single fault.
"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 24)
And if you have never trusted Him, then here is your invitation to a salvation that can never be lost. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ, trust Him alone, and receive the eternal life He freely gives — and which He will keep for you forever.
"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."John 10:28