Posted on 05/17/2015 5:59:53 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
A common question for many is, "Can I lose my salvation?" I've heard both sides of the argument, and only God truly knows a person's heart, but I can share a few thoughts. The reason there is a debate is because the Scriptures teach that salvation is a gift from God that cannot be earned, but they also offer warnings about falling away. There should be a healthy tension between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. This issue should not create a spirit of division, elitism, or theological superiority.
One school of thought suggests that salvation cannot be lost, as in losing your car keys, but that it can be left, as in walking away from it. This may be why Jesus spoke of the man who said in his heart "my master delays His coming; therefore, I will turn from living a godly life". When the master returned unexpectedly, the servant was banished because he chose to turn from what he knew to be right.
In another passage, Jesus said, "You have left your first love," when speaking to the church in Ephesus (Revelation 2:4). James 5:19-20 adds, if anyone wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, a soul is saved from death. If anything, these Scriptures, and many more, reinforce the fact that we have certain responsibilities.
We should never turn from what we know to be right. Jesus encouraged His followers to be watchful, prepared, and ready for His return. Are we watchful? Are we prepared? Are we ready? (Read Matthew 24:45-51; Luke 21:34.) The Scriptures offer a healthy tension between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility.
The other school of thought suggests that some of those passages are dealing with people who never fully surrendered to Christ. As a result, they fell away. They heard the gospel, but never fully embraced it and turned from their sins; they only had "intellectual" knowledge of salvation. According to this view, the real question isn't, "Can a person lose their salvation" but "Was the person really saved to begin with?"
Titus 1:16 and James 2:14 both conclude that many people "say" that they know God, but deny Him by their lifestyle. I John 2:19 suggests that those who acknowledge Christ initially, but deny Him later, are not saved to begin with: "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us."
When it comes to salvation, we all agree that God gets all the glory and all the credit. Salvation is His work. We are never outside of His sovereignty and control: "It is God who makes us stand firm in Christ" (2 Corinthians 1:21). I am convinced, like Paul, "that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39). Nothing can separate us from God, but we should never ignore the strong warnings about turning from Him.
When we believe the gospel and repent of our sin we "are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession" (Ephesians 1:13-14). These promises are not based on anything that we do; they are based on what Christ did. John 3:36 says, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life." Jesus adds, "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand" (John 10:28). Again, "It is God (not us) who makes us stand firm in Christ." For this reason, I don't believe that we can lose it.
Our salvation is guaranteed based on the assurances found in Scripture, but we also must "work out our own salvation with fear and trembling" (cf. Philippians 2:12). My goal is to be faithful to the command to preach, witness, and proclaim while understanding that God does the drawing, saving, and sealing.
Again, I believe that there should be a healthy tension between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. This issue should not create a spirit of division, elitism, or theological superiority. At the heart of the division is Calvinism vs. Arminianism. Sadly, brother is shooting brother and sister is wounding sister. Have we forgotten how to show grace to those in the Body who we disagree with? Those who believe you can lose your salvation should not chide those who believe in eternal security - "once saved always saved" is by no means a license to sin - it's a belief in God's guarantee. But on the flip side, those who embrace eternal security should not mock those who disagree.
I can hear it now, "But what about Hebrews 6:4-6." It says, "It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace."
Based on my understanding of terms such as "enlightened," "tasted," and "shared," they are not necessarily words linked to salvation. Judas Iscariot was enlightened—he knew a great deal. He also tasted and shared in the ministry of Christ, but we all know his fate. When he fell away, repentance was elusive. His fate was sealed. However, this verse should force all Christians to take inventory.
We all sin and fall short, but the important question to ask is what is the condition of your heart—have you truly repented and believed in Christ as your Lord and Savior, or are you trusting in false assurance? This may be why Paul said in 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourself as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?"
Our actions reveal a great deal about our relationship with Christ. A.W. Tozer said: "When people find that after being in the church for years they are not making much progress, they ought to examine themselves and wonder whether they have been truly converted."
Has your heart become so hard as to reject Jesus Christ? If so, you can change that today. I'm aware that I'm driving this point home, but I'd rather err on the side of speaking too much about a committed relationship with Jesus than too little. It's never too late to get back on track: "Return to me, and I will return to you," says the Lord (Micah 3:7). God is sovereign but man has a responsibility to repent and return.
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Shane Idleman is the founder and lead pastor of Westside Christian Fellowship in Lancaster, California, just North of Los Angeles. He just released his 7th book, Desperate for More of God. Shane's sermons, articles, books, and radio program can all be found at www.wcfav.org.
This is mentioned in Hebrews 6:4-6, but regarding only the primary target audience for this epistle, which was the Jews of the Diaspora, some of whom had recognized that the Old/First Covenant/Testament/Will of The Law had been obliterated (regarding a means into the Holiest Of All) by the establishment of the New/Second/Final Covenant/Testament/Will (by which The Lord Jesus Christ is the Way into the Holiest of All); and of which class of Hebrews some did not recognize and believe in (Heb. 10:1-9).
Under the Law, all Hebrews were chosen and set aside, and experienced the Presence of Jehovah as in Heb. 6:4-5, and could have sins covered by repentance and ongoing sacrifices under the Law. And such were baptized unto repentance by John Baptist.
But when the New Covenant under the Blood of the One-Time Sacrifice of Jesus, some repented to circumcision of the heart and some did not and fell away. The word "IF" put in the AV translation is not in the Greek. The phrase should be ". . ., and after falling away, . . ." which means the old system of repetitive sacrifices was no longer applicable. Jesus died once for all and for all time (ephapax, a strengthened form of hapax).
All the necessary New Testament doctrine is expressed in my "old geezer" story, Post 139. However, one cannot formulate a strong doctrinal statement on a passage whose key is the nonexistent word "IF" as this Hebrews passage was translated.
No, when Jesus/The Father saves something, it is never "lost" again.
"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never
perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my
hand.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no
man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand" (Jn. 10:28,29 AV).
What part of Jesus' absolutely "no, never, neither" do you not seem to understand, Mk? This "no (hu)man" includes the one who has sold him/her self out to The Lord and Absolute King, Jesus The Messiah. This is non-optional to the one whom Jesus has bought for His Own. That person no longer has the right, power, or desire to dispose of him/her self: he/she is the unshared, totally owned, blood-purchased, Spirit-directed, eternal possession and bond-slave of The Son of The God.
You are not, not, not "saved" for the purpose of determining what your future is going to be, nor to set yourself up as an independent proprietor of or bargaining with God and Christ for your further allegiance. You are not saved from Satan's clutches just to be an independent contractor of your service, but have given over your options to Him.
You are saved by grace, on the basis of relying on the faithfulness of Jesus--but you are saved for His determined purposes, will, discipline, and disposal--His alone.
Capisce? Understand?
Try playing out of bounds and see what happens, eh?
"But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons" (Heb. 12:8 AV, my emphases).
This is someone who claims to be saved, but who is not; one who is is incorrigibly oppositional and defiant to God's ways, word, and work; and lives on in a lifestyle of sinning until true sorrowful repentance, or without efficacious repentance until physical death. He/she is a liar, no matter how "religious," as long as habitual practice of sinning is one's style of life.
"He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 Jn. 2:4 AV).
Justification by faith, the pronouncement of "not guilty" by God The Judge, is based on the imputation of Jesus' righteousness to the individual believer, and is instantaneous, permanent, and irreversible; whereas the wrongly informed Catholic subscribing to the Catechism believes it is a process, and therefore is not "saved" because he/she does not utterly trust in Christ.
This is what the confusion is all about, and why anyone would ever propose the idiotic question of "losing one's salvation."
So maybe it's not math and physics, maybe it's just logic. Your questions about the mechanics of losing salvation and getting it back are classic.
Going with the ideal! Sadly we even have conservatives who don’t know what type of guvment we have.
That's the blessed assurance! I thank God every day that's it's not my feeble attempts but the gift of God by His grace. I love hearing stories like yours!
Sorry; but Homie don't play dat!
Amen and thanks. I think our testimony is very powerful though under rated. We think that we have to be biblewonks in order to lead anyone to the Lord but that's just not the case.
You are 1/2 right. It is Lily (I cannot remember her character's name here) but prayers are NOT forwarded TO Mary; she is the one who does the forwarding to JESUS.
Why do you HATERS always get how Catholicism works; wrong??
Then can they REALLY be called ‘conservative’?
Oh what a FORETASTE of glory devine!
Serious problems, yes.
And likely will be sidestepped.
Where in the Bible is original sin mentioned?
Chapter and verse please.
And where does Scripture teach that baptism removes the stain of original sin?
And really, unless baptism removes the sin nature, it’s pointless because the baptized person WILL sin again and then it’s worthless for salvation.
Don’t forget “Holy Roman Emperor.”
This is painfully wrong. Man has free agency and can choose his path as well as change his path.
A spiritual operation takes place...Apparently you don't understand that...It's not like we go down and join the local Eagles or Moose club, or a Mormon or Catholic church...
We become a new creature...
2Co_5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
We have a new nature (a new man)...Yet, we still have the old nature and they are constantly at war with each other...If we allow to old nature to take control, God will prod us along, sometimes to the point of taking off his belt...But he will not un-adopt us...
What nonsense.
David did not lose his salvation.
Show us the Scripture that says that.
Also, we’re under grace now, not the Law. The law of grace supersedes the Law.
Yeah, LC -- seen it before. But after pondering it a little, I felt that it was not really humorous when looking at it from God's point of view as to how He has so patiently treated me. I guess I just have a hard time appreciating this as being maybe a bit over the top.
Just a thought.
Says who?
Not genuine Christians for sure. The only ones who claim Christians believe that are not Christians because I dare you to find me one person who is a Christian who says they believe that.
The only farce is that myth going around and it comes from all quarters from people who do not understand what the new birth and a regenerate spirit are all about.
I disagree. He lost the JOY of his salvation.
There once were cults, more than two
Daily, their salvation, they would renew
In the judgment they must stand
In their houses constructed on sand
When God's angels are finding this crew?
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