Eternal Security
(You CANNOT lose your salvation!)
by David J. Stewart
Very few religious people believe in "eternal security;" that you CANNOT lose your salvation in Christ Jesus. I recently spoke with a Church of Christ minister who believed a Christian could LOSE their salvation by failing to maintain a "relationship" with God. Of course, this is a lie of the devil. The Charismatic camps are also plagued with this erroneous belief that a person can lose their salvation. My big question is this:
If I cannot do good works to get saved, then how can I do bad works to be unsaved?
We are clearly taught from God's Word that works are NOT essential to our salvation. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us..." (Titus 3:5). "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9). We are all hell-deserving sinners. We do NOT have anything to do with our salvation except to appropriate God's free gift by FAITH. Perhaps you ask, what if a believer loses faith? Though a believer may become discouraged, he or she will NEVER lose their faith in the Lord if they are truly saved. John the Baptist become discouraged, but he didn't renounce God. Peter denied that he knew Christ, but the Holy Spirit convicted him and he repented. He never lost his faith in the Savior. What I'm saying is that a born-again believer does NOT convert to being a Mormon or an atheist. When a man claims that he used to be a Christian but now he's a Jehovah's Witness, I know he's a liar. You don't trust Christ one day and not the next, it doesn't work that way; If that does happen, it is ONLY because you never really trusted him at all. I'm sure at one point that Judas really thought he believed upon Jesus, but he surely DIDN'T. This is why the Bible warns us to make sure we are saved, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith..." (2nd Corinthians 13:5). Are you really a Christian? Please make certain.
If your are a believer upon Jesus Christ (a Christian), then you can NEVER lose your salvation. Jesus said in John 10:28, "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." Did you read that? We shall NEVER perish, and NO MAN can affect our salvation. Someone may pray to God for you to burn in hell (a popular trend in society), but that simply cannot happen. You choose your own destiny based upon you acceptance or rejectance of Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour. Did you know that God CANNOT lie? According to Titus 1:2, God cannot lie! Well God promised in Romans 10:13 to save me if I simply called upon Jesus' name to save me and forgive my sins. "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13).
We are wonderfully reassured in 1st John 5:13 that we can KNOW that we are eternally secure:
"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." -1st John 5:13
I love this verse! That we may "KNOW," not think, but KNOW that we have eternal life. How could anyone be so foolish as to think that a person could lose "eternal life?" If you can lose it, then is it eternal? No! When God promises us eternal life, that is exactly what He means. I am eternally secure in Jesus' arms.
"The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms..." -Deuteronomy 33:27
Don't tell me I can lose my salvation! There is no such teaching in the Bible! What about "falling from grace?" You cannot lose your salvation, period. You can lose fellowship with God and the joy of one's salvation, buy you cannot lose your salvation. Can a son no longer be a son? Of course not. You can try to disown Him (which I think is horrible and unscriptural), but he's still your son. No matter what your son does, he's still your son. The same is true with our Heavenly Father. Jesus never forsakes us!
"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." -Hebrews 13:5
God cannot lie! (Titus 1:2). As a matter of fact, the Bible is speaking of eternal security when It tells us that God cannot lie. "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;" (Titus 1:2). What a loving God! You can speak to people from many different religions and you'll discover a pervading sense of fear and uncertainty. No wonder Jesus said:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." -Matthew 11:28
False religion enslaves people, placing souls into chains of bondage which are not easily broken. Oh don't be so foolish to believe their lies! You can KNOW that you are saved certain. You must realize that salvation is completely of God, NOT man in any way. Our faith is merely a key which unlocks God's saving grace. Salvation is a supernatural act of God in response to our faith. I did not save myself, Jesus saved me. If I did nothing to earn salvation, then how can I do something bad to lose it. Furthermore, the Bible clearly teaches that eternal life is a gift. As a matter of FACT, the Bible even calls our salvation a FREE GIFT.
"...the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life" -Romans 5:18
Let me ask you a question. What would you say if I were to give you a Christmas present, but then tell you that I'm going to be watching you over the next year to see if your good enough to keep it? If your not good enough I'm going to take away your GIFT. Would that make any sense to you? Of course not, you'd say I'd been laying out in the sun too long. You'd say I was crazy! A "gift" is NOT a gift if there are ANY strings attached to it. A genuine gift is unconditional. God is not a con artist, He doesn't give one day to take the next. The concept of losing one's salvation is flawed in so many ways. I mean, at what point would a person lose it? How much sin is too much? Where would you cross the saved/unsaved line? The whole idea of losing one's eternal security is preposterous. How can a person have eternal security if no one can be eternally secure? It just doesn't add up. Let the Scriptures be your guide.
I triple-dog dare you to show me one person in the Bible who lost their salvation. King David lost the "joy" of salvation, but he didn't lose his salvation. Jesus never spoke of anyone losing their eternal security. The Bible has much to say about the assurance of our salvation. As a matter of fact, God gave us the Holy Spirit as an "earnest" of our inheritance in heaven. The Greek word for "earnest" literally means "down payment." God gave me the Holy Spirit as PROOF that I am a "purchased possession." If you are a believer, then you belong to God and He has made His claim on you.
"...ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory" (Ephesians 1:13,14).
Don't tell me I can lose my salvation, I have been purchased by the blood of Jesus! I am a "purchased possession." The Holy Spirit is God's claim upon me as His own, the devil cannot claim my soul to hell. You cannot affect my salvation. I cannot change my eternal security. God has placed His down payment within my soul, the Holy Spirit of God.
I am going to heaven, regardless of how I live. But you say, that's crazy! No! That's Bible! So do Christians have licenses to sin? Of course not! The Apostle Paul addressed this very issue:
"Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law" -Romans 3:31
A believer who sins must give account to God at the judgment seat of Christ someday. Please read Defraud Not Thy Brother to learn THE TRUTH. No one is going to get away with anything friend. It is this misunderstanding that often prompts people to create false doctrines about losing one's salvation. This is simply not true, you can NEVER lose something that was GIVEN AS A FREE GIFT.
Kindest regards, Dave
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