After physically appearing to more than five hundred of His followers, Christ ascended to heaven, where He remains as our sympathetic representative before God. Since Jesus so perfectly expressed God's love and so fully satisfied His justice, God freely offers full forgiveness and eternal life to all human beings. Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ receives forgiveness of sins, new spiritual life, a restored relationship with God, and adoption into His family. This new relationship is a gift from God that could never be earned by good works. This relationship is also secure, guaranteed by God's promise and protection.
Believers can never lose their salvation.
They are accountable to God, however, for persevering in faith and loving obedience to Him. This good news of saving grace is recorded in God's written Word, comprised of the 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament. God enabled the human authors of these books to record His truth without error. These writings, faithfully passed down to us, are our final written authority for faith and life. Believers in Christ throughout the ages are members together of His Church, the body of Christ.