Can true Christians lose their salvation?
Hi, welcome to Little Lessons.
Today's question is another good one.
We hear it often, can true Christians lose their salvation?
First of all, I don't like how the question is phrased because it implies that you can
lose your salvation just like you lose your car keys, totally accidentally, never expecting
it.
In fact, you don't even realize it until sometime after you discover that they're lost.
The answer to that question is absolutely not.
Salvation is very precious, very valuable, and it's not something that you get accidentally
and certainly it's not something that you lose accidentally.
Is it possible now for a true believer in Jesus Christ who possesses the gift of eternal
life, who's a child of God to somehow forfeit or lose that?
Well, Christians are divided on this issue and everybody has their proof texts.
Let's maybe start with a little lesson on Bible interpretation first of all, okay, because
when you just start kind of a proof text war and you say, "Here's my scripture", "Well,
here's my scripture", and you see who's got the longest list of proof texts, that's really
not the best way to interpret the Bible.
I would advise you to look at the proof text from both sides, because if the Bible is saying
you can and you can't forfeit your salvation under any circumstances, then we ought to
throw the Bible out, right?
Because it's unreliable, it doesn't even agree with itself.
But the Bible is internally unified, a consistent message, and so it's one or the other, either
you can or you cannot forfeit salvation under certain circumstances.
If you've got a list of scriptures on this side, a list of scriptures on this side, you
need to look at all of them, and then whatever viewpoint that you adopt you have to take
the other side's proof texts and somehow harmonize them with your proof texts, and then you're
going to be safe.
The side that is not able to harmonize their proof texts with the other side, that's the
wrong side, so there's a little advice on interpreting the Bible on any subject or whatsoever.
There are so many texts that are crystal clear, that it is possible under certain circumstances
for Christians, true Christians, to forfeit their salvation.
Too numerous to list in a little lesson, but you've got a Bible, you can read it for yourself.
When people ask me, "How could you possibly prove that?", I hardly know where to begin.
Let's start in 1 Corinthians 6:9, "Do you not know", says the apostle Paul, "that the
unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers
will inherit the kingdom of God".
I think that's pretty plain and clear isn't it?
People whose lives are characterized by the things that Paul list in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
will not inherit the kingdom of God, and that's a clear reference to ultimate salvation.
Jesus said in Matthew 25 speaking of the future judgment of the sheep and the goats, the king
will say to the sheep, "Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world."
That's a salvation statement.
Paul says that these kind of people are not going to inherit the kingdom of God.
Here's the next question then, would it be possible for a true Christians to, whatever
you want to call it, backslide, turn his back on the Lord, revert and be one of these categories?
Could a Christians become an adulterer?
Of course a true Christians could become an adulterer, that's a temptation that Christians
as well as non-Christians face and Christians can succumb.
Does that mean that the very second that they commit adultery that the Holy Spirit leaves
them?
If they were to die at that second they'd go straight to hell?
I personally don't believe that, I believe God still loves folks that fall into sin,
his children, and he does everything he can to try to reel them back in and get them to
repent because God forgives people who asks for forgiveness and repent, right?
God is a God of discipline, he disciplines everyone who he love.
When we get off track, God has a way of getting us back on track.
A person who is a genuine believer, who dives into adultery and ignores the conviction of
the Holy Spirit and continues in that lifestyle and so forth, and resist the discipline of
the Lord, and closes his heart down, I believe that that person is not going to inherit the
kingdom of heaven.
Some people will say, "Well, maybe God will take them them, you know, before God's mercy
runs out."
That actually is a possibility, believe it or not.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians same letters, for this reason some of you are sick and some
of you sleep, obviously referring to death, because you didn't judge yourselves, and God
judges His children that they may not be condemned along with the world.
That's a little bit of a consolation there.
Maybe on a larger [inaudible 00:06:22] we could ask the question, is it possible for
a true believer to stop believing?
Because Paul said that the Lord is going to confirm you blameless until the end if, this
is Colossians 1:22-23, if you continue in the faith.
Well, you are saved by faith, and you continue to be saved by faith.
Is it possible for a believer to stop believing, turn his or her back on the Lord and no longer
believe in Jesus?
If you've been around as long as I have in Christians circles over 40 years now, you
see some of that, it's tragic.
Absolutely heartbreaking, but I've seen it.
Not only is this evident from scriptural examples, it's true from our observation.
Some folks will say, "Well, those people were never saved in the first place."
Okay, all right, I get that, maybe we'll talk about that on our next edition of Little Lessons.
Love you, thanks for joining me.
God bless you.