Psalm 96:7-10

Always Saved, Once Saved

A phrase that has been popular among those who do not believe a man can be saved one day, and lost the next day is, “Once saved, always saved!” I loved Brother Henry Mahan’s reply to that when he was asked if he believed that…. “It depends on who is doing the saving. If you had anything to do with your salvation, no I do not believe it. You will fall away. But if God is the One doing the saving, yes, I believe, once saved, always saved.” A more Scriptural statement may be, “Always saved, once saved.” According to 2 Timothy 1:9, we were saved before we were called. Saved is the purpose of God Saved in the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If we have always been saved in Christ, we will be once saved in our experience, and that salvation never ceases to be! The reason once saved always saved is true is because always saved, once saved. While some will be critical of this as giving hope to one who has not believed, that is reading into it what is not there. But what is there is, “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore, with lovingkindness have I drawn thee” (Jer. 31:3).

Pastor Todd Nibert

Good News!

“Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy place?” (Psalm 24:3).

THE ANSWER COMES, “He that hath clean hands and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully” (Psalm. 24:4).

Then none shall ASCEND, much less STAND in His holy place; for there is none clean nor pure. Wait! There is ONE! All of these conditions are fulfilled by ONE, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. “No man hath ascended up to heaven but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.”

THERE IS A MAN IN GLORY! A man who was made of woman, a man who walked the earth, a man who lived in human flesh, a man who was tempted in all points as we are, a man under the law, but a man who was holy, harmless, and undefiled. This man knew no sin, had no sin, and did no sin. He not only ascended and stood, but He is accepted and seated by divine direction on the right hand of majesty.

ANOTHER QUESTION COMES. What is all that to me? It is good news to me, for THE MAN IN GLORY is not a private individual but a REPRESENTATIVE, acting in the place of others. He is authorized by the Father and appointed as the federal head of a chosen race. All that He has done, accomplished, and perfected in life and death is imputed to those who believe, as if they had done it themselves. HE IS OUR HEAD. And if the head is risen, ascended, and accepted, so is the body!

Being one with Christ, all believers have clean hands, pure hearts, holy souls, and truthful tongues, and are seated with Him in the heavenlies. Can you believe on Him? Can you rest your soul in Him?

Pastor Henry T. Mahan (1988)

GOD’S GOSPEL

‘That gospel of the glory of the blessed God’ (I Tim. 1:11), in the salvation of sinners is the most wonderful, the most amazing, and the most glorious “Good News” which ever fell upon human ear! It is in every way characteristic of its Author and suitable to the desperate need of spiritually dead sinners (Eph. 2:1-7). It manifests the holiness and righteousness of God in justifying the unholy and unrighteous, the infinite love of God in saving those who are altogether unlovable, and the infinite power of God in creating life in those who are “dead in trespasses and in sins.”

This salvation is fully accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ for His people, for sinners. There is FULL! FREE! ETERNAL! salvation for lost, undeserving, hell-deserving sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ! This salvation comes to sinners freely, by grace, through faith (Eph. 2:8, 9). They hear the “Good News;” they believe the word spoken; they trust in the Lord Jesus Christ through the Word – and they have Christ! and they have life!

When food and drink is set before the hungry and thirsty, they eat and drink with thanksgiving. When Christ and life is set forth before (declared, Gal. 3:1) lost, guilty, condemned, hell-deserving, dying sinners, they embrace Him and live upon Him with thanksgiving unto the triune God. They “worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3).

Dear believing sinner, rejoice with thanksgiving and praise unto our great God and Saviour. Dear lost, unbelieving sinner, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou SHALT be saved” (Acts 16:31).