Colossians 1--Once was lost, Now I'm found

And you who were once alienated and enemies by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled...through His death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in His sight if you continue in the faith grounded and steadfast.

In this verse, I find the essence of my salvation. I once was alienated from God and His enemy because of my wicked works. I was a traitor to all of His ways and there was nothing in me that desired God. I was dead in my transgressions.

BUT....

Jesus did it all. He reconciled me to God by the blood that He shed on Calvary. He chose me before the foundation of the world. I don't know why. There was absolutely nothing about me that was lovable. But for some reason, He picked me. And I am eternally grateful!

And not only has He cleaned me from all past unrighteousness, but He continues to cleanse me and perfect me. Not that I will obtain pure righteousness in this life. But when I see Him face to face in His glory, the process of sanctification will be complete.

Those who continue in the faith are truly His. They are true believers and WILL be saved from the judgment to come. God alone knows a man's heart and knows if he is truly one of His elect. But I believe that those who are truly His will persevere, because He will sustain them. This does not mean that they can consistently and habitually sin. For the Bible would say that those who profess Christ, but continue in such a lifestyle are not truly His. We must examine our hearts to see what our response to sin is.

I like this analogy about a swimming pool. One man falls into the pool, but gets out and has remorse that he has fallen into the pool. He is disgusted that he fell into it and purposes in his heart not to fall again. His response to the sin is one of anguish and sorrow that He has sinned against a holy God. But another man purposefully dives into the pool of sin. He enjoys it and doesn't care about the consequences or that it is an offense to a Holy God. This is no true believer--no matter what this man professes.