Posted on 02/20/2017 5:31:52 AM PST by metmom
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at westsidechristianfellowship.org ...
Ping
In John 3:3 and John 3:7, Jesus uses the words “Born Again”. In 1 Peter 1:23 it is repeated and that passage ends with “for ever”. You can’t be “un-born”.
Well, what does the Seal of the Holy Spirit mean?
The answer to that question will answer your question, to wit:
Ephesians 1:13-14King James Version (KJV)
13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
The King James Version is the standard; any other English translation is watered down and of limited value, as you already know.
If one is truly born again one is changed to become a new person. That new life must be continually filled with new life works. It can languish for lack of substance. It can fall away by losing the fear of sin and the greater fear of God’s judgment. Works follow salvation but salvation without works is empty. That emptiness will be filled with the cares of the world, the sins of the world that lead to death.
So, yes, one can lose one’s salvation by failing to act on it. This begs the question whether or not it is possible to fail to act on genuine salvation. I do not know the ways of God’s judgement. I can only enter His tabernacle with fear and trembling, hiding in the cleft of the rock, of Christ, my salvation and only hope.
You can abandon it. Many people do this.
Judas was a Disciple.
What a great question and hard to discuss in this venue. It was my first question after I got saved.
Spooky. I was just thinking about calling the Salvation Army to pick up some furniture here just as I clicked to go on the FR and your thread title came up right at the top.
One thing I can add for thought.
If the choice of salvation is ours. If it is we that do the choosing, then we also have the power to unchoose. There is NO security of salvation then.
If God does the choosing, it is a lock. Gods word is golden. Can anyone find instances of God choosing some and not others in the Bible?
Well that begs further thought, will cause a headache and the words, “but that is not fair”............
Just in current English, which is what the KJV was in its day.
Ephesians 1:13-14 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
There are also these verses that I love about our security in Christ.
John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
John 6:37-39 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
John 10:25-30 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.”
Romans 4:16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring-not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
1 Corinthians 1:4-8 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
2 Corinthians 5:4-8 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Colossians 1:13-14 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 2:13-14 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Colossians 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
1 Peter 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Hebrews 6:17-20 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Jude v24"Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy"
1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
Yes.
Depends on how badly they need the money.
Excellent point.
“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.”
Matthew 5:13
A good devotional on it here:
http://www1.cbn.com/devotions/salt-of-the-earth
But then the question was if he was ever really saved.
He was helping himself to money from the money bag all along.
So while he walked and fellowshipped with Jesus and heard His teaching and saw the miracles, his heart was not regenerated.
If he thought Jesus was right about being the Messiah, then he was likely in it for himself and what he could get out of it, out of being part of the inner circle.
Jesus knew what Judas was going to do when He picked him. And that’s WHY he picked him.
Lots of people can like church and being with Christians and some, no doubt, go through all the religious activities and motions and say the right words, but are in it for the big fish in a small pond aspect of it.
I don’t know that you can walk away from it.
What are the verses that support that point of view?
Yes, mine too.
Matter of fact, I *accepted* Christ several times after I got saved just to be sure.
Satan would love to have us doubt God.
Chapter and verse?
How?
What did Paul tell the Corinthians to do with one in their midst, and to what end/purpose? ... So that the spirit may be saved ...
Then you get into the debate between Calvin and Arminius.
When Christ commanded people to “sin no more” even though he had forgiven them ...
1.) Do you actually believe that he was just giving them a suggestion instead of a commandment?
2.) Sinning puts us under the direction of Lucifer, did you actually think that Christ is still there for people who by design put themselves under Lucifers control?
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