Secured Salvation

          Jesus' death on the cross did much more than make salvation possible.
     His death did not just provide a potential salvation for sinners, but it was an
     actual, effectual, definite atonement for His people.
          He fully accomplished and secured the salvation of His people!

          Believers can have an assurance that their salvation is secure, not because of
     anything they've done or something within them, but because of the redemptive
     and saving work of Jesus on the cross.

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          To understand how believers can have this assurance, we need to know the
     difference between SECURED salvation and APPLIED salvation.

          SECURED SALVATION is salvation assured by Jesus' death, securing or
     guaranteeing redemption, reconciliation, justification, and sanctification for God's
     elect.  These benefits are then APPLIED to them through the work of the Holy
     Spirit throughout their lives.

          For those who died before Christ's death, or were alive at the time and believed,
     those benefits secured by Jesus had already been applied to them when He died,
     because of God's decreed certainty of Christ's work of redemption for them.

          For the rest of the elect, those who were not yet born or those who were alive
     but hadn't believed when Christ died, the benefits secured at the cross by Christ,
     are applied only when God grants them faith and they trust in Him.

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          Jesus' death satisfied God the Father's wrath against them for their sins, but
     this propitiation must be received by faith ("God presented Him as a sacrifice of
     atonement, through faith in His blood."  Romans 3:25a), which is a gift from God.
     Until they believe, they remain God's enemies ("For if we were God's enemies, we
     were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been
     reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!"  Romans 5:10), even though their
     salvation was predestined and totally fulfilled by Christ ("For those God foreknew
     He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son ... "  Romans 8:29a).

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          Jesus died on the cross as a substitute for the people the Father had chosen and
     given to Him for salvation  ("All that the Father has given me will come to me, and
     whoever comes to me I will never drive away."  John 6:37). 
          Jesus secured their salvation, and its benefits - redemption, reconciliation, justi-
     fication, and sanctification.

         
          ON THE CROSS, JESUS SECURED REDEMPTION FOR GOD'S ELECT.

          "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is
     written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."  Galatians 3:13
          Jesus redeemed us (His people) on the cross.

          "He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves;  but He entered the
     Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption."
     Hebrews 9:12
          Unlike the High Priest in the Old Testament, who offered animal sacrifices for the
     sins of his people, Jesus offered Himself with His own blood, as payment for His
     people's sins, obtaining redemption for THEM, not Himself.  He had no need to offer
     sacrifice for Himself, as He was sinless.


          ON THE CROSS, JESUS SECURED RECONCILIATION FOR GOD'S ELECT.

          "For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the
     barrier, dividing the wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law with its
     commandments and regulations.  His purpose was to create in Himself one new man
     out of the two, thus making peace, and in this body to reconcile both of them to God
     through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility."  Ephesians 2:14-16
          "Jesus' death abolished Old Testament ceremonial laws, feasts, and sacrifices,
     which uniquely separated Jews from Gentiles."  John MacArthur
          When we are reconciled through Jesus' death, we are no longer Jew or Gentile -
     only Christian.

        
          "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of
     your evil behavior.  But now He has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through
     death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation - if
     you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in
     the gospel."  Colossians 1:21-23a
          We were at war with God, His enemies, because of sin, but He reconciled us with Him,
     through Christ's death on the cross (our faith obviously came later).

          "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and
     live for righteousness ..."  1 Peter 2:24a
          He bore our (believers) sins in His body, so that would die to sin and live righteously.


          ON THE CROSS, JESUS SECURED JUSTIFICATION FOR GOD'S ELECT.

          "After the suffering of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied;  by His
     knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities."
     Isaiah 53:11
          The Son and the Father will be satisfied by His atonement, and Jesus will bear the
     sins of those He justifies (His people).

          "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners,
     Christ died for us.  Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more
     shall we be saved from God's wrath, through Him!  For if, when we were God's
     enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more,
     having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!"  Romans 5:8-10
          God showed His love for His people by sending His Son to die for them.
     He justified them and saved them from God's wrath, through His blood shed for
     them, and His life lived for them.


          ON THE CROSS, JESUS SECURED SANCTIFICATION FOR GOD'S ELECT.

          "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up
     for her, to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word."
     Ephesians 5:25-26
          Christ loved the church (His people) and gave Himself up for her.

          "... while we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and
     Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, to redeem us from all wickedness and to
     purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good." 
     Titus 2:13-14
          Jesus gave Himself for us (His people), redeemed us from wickedness, and purified us
     for Himself, so that we would do good.

          "And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus
     Christ once for all."  Hebrews 10:10
          Jesus came to do the Father's will - to save His people and to make them holy through
     the sacrifice of His body once for all (time).

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          As you can see, Jesus death accomplished much more than making salvation possible -
     His death actually saved His people.
          A potential salvation that requires the cooperation of man to be effective, and may even
     be rejected, is not a finished work at all.

          Jesus fulfilled the mission His Father gave Him - to save His people, by shedding His
     blood, on the cross, for them!


                              Source:  Daryl Wingerd
                                            Christian Communicaters