Hey! I hope you are all doing well. Jesus does indeed draw us to the Father through the Spirit. I was led to God this was, God drew me in and convicted my heart - without that I would have never admitted to being a sinner and wanted salvation. It's more than that though!
Once you are saved, you should spiritually CRAVE righteousness and SEEK your Lord with all your heart - by loving God and seeking Jesus, little by little, studying the word, praying, never ceasing, you will slowly change, slowly love, walls in your heart will fall, you will become in love with our God in a way that's so indescribable. It truly is amazing. I'm a little over 6 years into being saved and I can testify that I am a completely different creation. I can't wait to meet Him.
I read this yesterday:
Eternal Security
(by Wil Pounds)
Can the Christian know with assurance that he has eternal life? The Scriptures promise that whoever believes on Jesus Christ as their savior shall have everlasting life. This great Biblical doctrine does not rely upon a few proof texts, but is the broad teaching of the whole Bible.
The Bible consistently teaches that no one whom God has brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ will ever go to hell or be lost again. This is the Biblical doctrine of perseverance of the saints. God never starts a project that He does not finish. He is persevering. If God has started something in your life, He will finish it. If you have been born again, justified by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone you need never fear that you will be spiritually lost again. You were dead in your trespasses and sins until the Holy Spirit regenerated you spiritually. God never begins a project that He does not finish. Moreover, when He does it, God does it perfectly!
Yes, legalism teaches just the opposite. Legalists do not want the believer to have the security of God's sovereign grace and redeeming love. Spiritual insecurity and immaturity keeps people depending upon these religious leaders and their system rather than confidence and trust in God alone. It is the revealed will of God that each regenerate person should have assurance that he or she is a new creature in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 John 5:13). May the Holy Spirit enlighten our minds and our hearts to these wondrous truths.
The Bible consistently teaches us that when a sinner believes in Christ as Savior at one moment in time, God keeps the believer secure forever. He does not have to keep on being "born again" over and over again. However, He does when necessary discipline an erring Christian as a beloved child. Salvation once possessed cannot be lost. This belief in God's merciful and secure salvation is not a license to careless living, but on the contrary is a powerful incentive for godly living (John 10:27-30; Romans 8:38-39; 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 1:4-9; 12:12; Hebrews 10:14; 12:6-13; 1 Peter 1:3-5).
In Philippians 1:6 the apostle Paul teaches us, "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Has God begun the good work of salvation in you? Have you been born again? Has He put His life in you? Have you confessed your sins to Him and put your faith in Jesus Christ as your savior?
God began a good work of salvation when you believed on Christ and He will consummate it when Jesus returns. "Being confident" is in the perfect tense in Greek indicating the apostle Paul had come to a settled conviction earlier about their salvation and he still is confident that it was true. Salvation is the good work of God (Ephesians 2:8-10).
First John 5:13 reads, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life." "These are written that you may know," no just know, but "to know with a settled intuitive knowledge." You can have eternal life by believing in Jesus Christ (John 20:31), and know that you have it. Despite anything Satan and the antichrist suggests believers do indeed possess eternal life now. The assurance of one's salvation always rests essentially and satisfactorily on the direct promises that God makes to the believer in His Word.
We know that we have eternal life! There the witness of the Spirit within the believer and there is the witness of the Scriptures. "To know" often rendered "to be sure," "to be assured," "to have no doubt." "I write you this so that you may know that you have eternal life" (TEV).
We do not earn eternal life; it is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-10). Jesus Christ is the gift. We receive Him. "He who has the Son has life" (1 John 5:12). Do you have the Son? We receive the gift of eternal life by faith. Not to believe is to make God out a liar.
The Holy Spirit inspired the apostle John to write the Gospel "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, you may have life in His name" (John 20:31). Have you put your faith in Jesus Christ? Do you have His life in you? He went on write his epistle to give assurance to those who have believed on Christ. "These things I have written to you who have believed in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13). Do you have this assurance of eternal life? You can know with absolute knowledge that you are having eternal life. "You have" is in the present tense, indicating that you already have eternal life; it is not a future promise, but a present reality.
John 10:27-30 teaches us "eternal life" is the gift Jesus gives His sheep now (Jn. 6:27, 40; 1 John 2:25; 5:11). "No one shall snatch them out of My hand," Jesus said (Jn. 10:28). "No wolf, no thief, no bandit, no hireling, no demon, not even the devil can pluck the sheep out of My hand" (A. T. Robertson). From the man’s outlook we become one of His sheep by believing on Jesus Christ, and from the divine view we believe because we are His sheep. Colossians 3:3 says, "Your life is hid together with Christ in God." Moreover, verse twenty-nine tells us the greatness of the Father is the ground of the safety of the flock. "No one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand." "I and the Father are one" (Jn. 10:30). "Shall never perish" is a strong double negative affirmation in the Greek like, "they will indeed not ever perish." The security of the sheep is found in the ability of the Shepherd to defend and preserve His flock. Thank God, the security of the believer does not depend on the ability of the believer, but our great sovereign God and Savior Jesus Christ. No one is strong enough to snatch the believer from the Father's hand. It is double security because Jesus holds us in His hands and the Father has His hands around Jesus! Jesus and the Father have the closest possible unity of purpose (Jn. 10:30). Jesus and he Father are One in will and goal of salvation for all who believe on Christ.
"Eternal life" here is characterized as a gift from God, not something earned, which will "never perish," and "no one can snatch them out of my hand," and "no one can snatch them out of My Father's hand." Our salvation can never be stolen or taken away. This is true eternal security; we are safe in the Father's arms. Who can separate us from the love of God? None! (Romans 8:38-39).
