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.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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.
A thousand AMENs to you. There is a HUGE difference in “times past” and “but now” of Eph. Chapter 2. To make 2 Tim. 2:15 make sense and come alive, Eph. Chapter 2 should be studied just as Paul stated in 2 Tim. 2:15. Eph. Chapter 2 IS the key to rightly dividing God’s word of truth.
whoa....hold on....how many times does one need to be sealed in catholicism??
The Word indicates a one time sealing of the Holy Spirit at belief for the follower of Christ and another is not required.
>>Need a verse to show this.<<
Still need the verse on this.
Acts 8:14-17
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Acts 19:1-7
19 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”
“John’s baptism,” they replied.
4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came.
Acts 1:8
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
2 Corinthians 1:21-22
21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
1 John 2:20-27
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
Ephesians 1:13-14
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Luke 4:18
The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised
But not all Reformed do so i think.
Yes, I do not believe there is any middle ground on the subject.
According to Colossians 3:3, it would be IMPOSSIBLE to lose your salvation. We ARE DEAD (present tense, not future and spiritually speaking), and our LIFE IS HID (present tense, not future) WITH CHRIST IN GOD. In order to lose it, satan would have to snatch us from God, impossible. Or we would have to un-die in order to have our own life back to lose. Impossible.
...also...the moment we are saved we become part of the body of Christ. If we lose our salvation, just which part of His body will be torn away? This would be a constant becoming a part of the body, being torn from the body. The very fact that we are part of the His body ASSURES us of a position in heaven, no ifs, ands, or buts. Or else the body will be missing several parts and that would be an INCOMPLETE man, not the perfect man of Eph. 4:12-16.
He will indeed sir. He has done it to me. Although I was not exactly kicking and screaming, the bottom line was, He DID drag me home.
These verses do not support the catholic concept of confirmation.
Actually, I believe it. 😇
Good post.
Paul said, “I die daily”.
He knew that the desires of the flesh are always there.
The little word ‘if’ is found throughout the epistles, and the epistles were written to souls that were already born again (saints, sanctified), or already knew how to, but hadn’t yet received the baptism of the Holy Ghost (the faithful).
How do you interpret the ‘ten virgins’ and the seeds sown by the ‘sower’?
What is your opinion of Paul’s words: “But I keep my body, and bring it under subjection: lest that by ANY MEANS, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” 1Cor. 9:27
It is not a coincidence that the next chapter has Paul showing the example of unfaithfulness displayed by the Israelites.
And what is your opinion of Demas ‘loving this present world’? Paul KNEW that man; had worked along side of him for who knows how long.
God is faithful. He changes not.
Man has to deal with change for good, or for bad. The ‘old’ man was lost and serving sin; no hope. The ‘new’ man has to keep the ‘old’ man in the grave,....daily. God gives the power to overcome the world. One chooses to keep the power. That’s my take on Paul’s teachings.
Demas seems to have turned back. That didn’t work out well for Lot’s wife. Lot, his wife, and two daughters were all led by the hand to safety. She left Sodom and had escaped to Zoar, and was saved, but looked back, thinking she was leaving behind the life she preferred after all.
Could you please elaborate on the " already knew how to but hadn't yet received the baptism of the Holy Ghost"? I've never heard this statement and wonder where in scripture I would find it.
SR, AMPU, we have heard from Dan and rdmd1, how about you?
That may be true, but waiting till the end of one's life to get saved, can be hazardous to one's spiritual health. Since none of us are guaranteed our next breath, many might die suddenly, before they can get saved, so it's best not to wait till death's door.
The Samaritans heard Philip’s preaching Jesus Christ, and were joyful that they could be saved, when they were considered ‘outside, looking in’. They were then baptized in the name of Jesus. At that point, they were faithful in all they could do: hearing the Word and keeping it. The Holy Ghost came later. How much later? However long it took the news to reach Jerusalem (no cell phones), and for Peter and John to come down to Samaria. (Acts 8:5-17)
The Philippian ‘keeper of the prison’, was preached to by Paul and Silas, baptized while at a water hole/trough somewhere, after washing their stripes. They returned to his house, ate, and rejoiced, ‘believing in God with all his house’. It doesn’t specifically state that they received the Holy Ghost right then. It’s a promise, and God gives it to them that obey him (Acts 5:32).
My wife and I believed and were baptized in the name of Jesus. A week later that she was filled with the Holy Ghost speaking in other tongues. It was over five months later for me. (No, we don’t turn tongues ‘on and off’ like a light switch, like some folks, who I am skeptical of)
One thing is for sure: God gives his Spirit when HE knows it is the time to do so.
**many might die suddenly**
Many DO die suddenly. My brother, a long time cop, has come upon many a traffic accident, where in some cases, the victim barely knew what hit him/her.
Reading 1 Acts 19:1-8
While Apollos was in Corinth,
Paul traveled through the interior of the country
and down to Ephesus where he found some disciples.
He said to them,
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”
They answered him,
“We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
He said, “How were you baptized?”
They replied, “With the baptism of John.”
Paul then said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance,
telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him,
that is, in Jesus.”
When they heard this,
they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when Paul laid his hands on them,
the Holy Spirit came upon them,
and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
Altogether there were about twelve men.
He entered the synagogue, and for three months debated boldly
with persuasive arguments about the Kingdom of God.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.