βWho shall separate us from the love of Christ?β (Rom. 8:35).
True Christians have been saved from the penalty of sin for one reason alone: because of βthe love of God, which is [manifested] in Christ Jesus our Lord.β
St. John wrote by divine inspiration:
βHerein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation [satisfaction] for our sin. We love Him because He first loved usβ (I John 4:10,19).
Let us understand this clearly and remember it always. It is not our love to Him, but His love to us, that saves us β and it is His love to us that keeps us saved. This is where we must begin the Christian life.
A wayward husband returned to his grieving wife one day, after many months of living in sin. Sobbing his heart out in remorse and shame, he told her how often he had longed to be home again with the wife he knew to be so true to him. Asked why, then, he had not returned sooner, he explained that he was ashamed; to which his wife replied: βJohn, I want you to know something and never forget it: I love you.β John sobbed in response: βWho wouldnβt want to live for a woman like this!β
Just so it is the knowledge that Christ loves us no matter what; that nothing shall ever separate us from His love; it is this that makes the sincere believer determine, by Godβs grace, to be always true to Him.
Thus the Scripture doctrine of the believerβs eternal security in Christ by no means leads to careless living. On the contrary, it affords the greatest possible motivation to βlive soberly, righteously and godly in this present worldβ (Titus 2:11,12). source
