Bruce Collins, Evangelist

Ecclesiastes 7:8 Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.

It is better to finish something than to just start it. Many start a spiritual journey with the Lord but they don‘t finish it. As a young ruler, Solomon asked God for wisdom and God gave it to him. When Solomon dedicated the temple that he built for the Lord, he was faithfully serving the One True God. At the end of his life, he turned away from the Lord and built places of worship in Israel for other gods (See 1 Kings 11). No wonder Solomon, the discouraged depressed preacher in Ecclesiastes, says that the end of a thing is better than the beginning.

While our ultimate destinies are eternally secure after we trust in Christ for salvation, our practical day to day lives may not be so victorious. We are saved by grace and we are kept by grace. Grace does not mean that we cannot do anything to be saved because we are commanded to strive to enter in (Luke 13:24) and to believe Gospel (Mark 1:15). Believing in the Lord is likened unto receiving a gift (John 1:12). Grace means that we cannot do anything TO DESERVE the gift. God’s gift of salvation is a gift of grace (Romans 6:23) and God does not ask for His gifts back (Romans 11:29). I know some say that we can give them back, but I would be hard pressed to find a Scriptural example of that. I am eternally secure because I am depending on what Christ has done for me at the cross and not because of something I have done for Him. And I am glad that I can have that assurance today through the promises of Scripture.

Some feel that the only way we can know we are eternally secure is if we “continue to the end.” There are some Scriptures that seem to indicate that. Christians should continue or endure to the end, that is, they should be faithful to God throughout their whole lives after they are saved and should never doubt his promises. However, Peter was saved by Mathew 16 when he confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. But he didn’t look saved when he denied that he knew the Lord after Judas had betrayed Him. But he was. David didn’t look like he was enduring when he violated Bathsheba and murdered her husband. But he was. Solomon didn’t look saved at the end of his life. But he was. So I am going to let the simple Scriptures explain the difficult ones and not the other way around. I am going to take comfort in John 5:24 that says that when I trust the Lord, I have eternal life as a present possession. This verse also says that I will not be condemned and that I have already passed from death unto life.

However, since even Paul was concerned about being a castaway or one who did not have God’s approval at the end of his life, I too realize how easy it would be to end our lives badly. While we cannot lose our salvation, we can certainly lose our joy and the approval of the Lord who loved us and gave Himself for us (Galatians 2:20). Solomon likely made his mistakes when he was old and he was vibrant in his faith when he was young. I don’t want to end up like Solomon.

So while we are eternally secure in so far as our ultimate destiny is concerned after we have come to know the Lord, it is possible for us to deny the Lord like Peter did. It is possible for us to accept the lies of the religious world around us like Solomon did. It is possible for us to let sin destroy our relationship with God like David did. We can lose our reputations and our joy and our reward. While we may turn away from the Lord, He will be waiting for us with open arms, when we come to our senses. It is my conviction that those who are truly saved do come to their senses at some point in their lives unless they die an untimely death where they have no chance of making things right with God. We need to not only start this journey with the Lord, we need to finish it. And we will not be able to do that in our own strength. We will need the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:14).

Bruce Collins