Never Perish

Salvation is Safety

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 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 10:27-29.

When he (God) saves somebody, he is safe. If a person is not safe, he is not saved, and if a person is forever in danger of falling away, losing his salvation, and suffering in eternal damnation, he is not safe, he is not saved. In Romans 8:28-30, Notice that those who were chosen in eternity past are exactly the same people who will be glorified in eternity to come. Notice how Paul traces these same people from their being foreknown to their being glorified. No distinction is made between them; they are the same people.

One of the worst faults most people have is in failing to carry through with what they start. I have certainly had that problem. If I had carried through with all the sales campaigns I ever started, I would have made a lot more money than I ever did make. If I had carried through on all the study plans I ever started, I would probably preach a lot better than I do. But you can be sure that God carries through on what he starts. The religious world does not believe that. They believe he redeemed a lot more people than he will ever glorify. They believe he is doing the best he can with the help he gets, but he would do a lot better if he could get more help, if he could get better organized, if he could get more financial backing. But not so, God finishes what he starts.

Salvation is no Separation

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." (Romans 8:35-37)

Paul lists seven terrible calamities, and shows that none of them is able to separate any child of God from his love. Seven is a complete number. It signifies all of whatever is under consideration. If none of these great tragedies can separate any child of God from his love, there is nothing that can do it, because there is nothing bad that ever happened to anybody that is not contained in one or more of these expressions. Tribulation: that is all the worst things that ever happened to anybody. Distress: that is when you are in such trouble you don't know what to do, nor which way to turn. Persecution: that is when people are mean to you, because of who you are, or what you stand for. Famine: that is when you cannot provide yourself and those near and dear to you with sufficient food to sustain life. Nakedness: that is when you cannot obtain the bare material necessities of life. Peril: that just means danger, danger of being harmed, or danger of suffering great loss. Sword: that goes beyond danger; it signifies actual bodily injury.

Paul could not paint a darker picture of great and terrible tragedies, and he assures us that none of these things can separate God's children from his love. Having said all of that, you would think Paul had made his argument as strong as it could possibly be made. There is nothing bad that ever happened to anybody that is not covered by one or more of those seven expressions. But then he makes his argument even stronger.

Salvation is Shouting Ground

"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)

Sometimes human language is not sufficient to carry the burden that is loaded on it. This is one such case. Human language groans under the load, and cannot entirely support it, but it does sufficiently express the thought that there should be no doubt in anybody's mind as to what is being said. There is absolutely nothing which "shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." If this language does not make the point, the point cannot be made. Neither life nor death: nothing living nor dead can do it. That covers a lot of territory. Nor angels: no one on earth knows how powerful the angels are, but they cannot do it. Nor principalities nor powers: no organization of men can do it. No coalition of men can do it. No government of men can do it. Nor things present nor things to come: nothing that is, nothing that ever has been, and nothing that ever will be, can do it. Nor height nor depth: nothing above us and nothing below us can do it. Nor any other creature: that is the catch all. God is the one and only Creator. Everything outside of him is a creature. If the other expressions do not cover the ground (but they do) then this one does. There is nothing that can separate any child of God from his love.

In the last five verses of this chapter Paul is very nearly on shouting ground, and he builds to a crescendo, talking about the grace of God. I can almost see him now, as his chin begins to tremble, his hand shakes, and his eyes run over. Paul, the chief of sinners, has his eyes firmly fixed on his Redeemer. He cannot find any ground of hope in himself, and he will not even try. He knows, as every sinner should, that if he receives what he deserves, he will suffer eternally. Not one of us deserves a home in heaven, and if we were judged on our own merit, not one of us would ever be there. But Paul is not looking to himself, nor to any merit of his own. That is not the ground of his hope. He is looking to Christ, and his unchangeable, unwavering love of his own, as the basis of his hope of heaven.

Elder Harold Hunt 

This is an abridged article from Harold Hunt Selections Vol. 3. (Elder Brad Hansard)