|
|
Post by Cindy on Jun 18, 2017 9:27:33 GMT -5
First, the term Christian must be defined. A “Christian” is not a person who has said a prayer or walked down an aisle or been raised in a Christian family. While each of these things can be a part of the Christian experience, they are not what makes a Christian. A Christian is a person who has fully trusted in Jesus Christ as the only Savior and therefore possesses the Holy Spirit (John 3:16; Acts 16:31; Ephesians 2:8–9).
So, with this definition in mind, can a Christian lose salvation? It’s a crucially important question. Perhaps the best way to answer it is to examine what the Bible says occurs at salvation and to study what losing salvation would entail:
A Christian is a new creation. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). A Christian is not simply an “improved” version of a person; a Christian is an entirely new creature. He is “in Christ.” For a Christian to lose salvation, the new creation would have to be destroyed.
A Christian is redeemed. “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18–19). The word redeemed refers to a purchase being made, a price being paid. We were purchased at the cost of Christ’s death. For a Christian to lose salvation, God Himself would have to revoke His purchase of the individual for whom He paid with the precious blood of Christ.
A Christian is justified. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). To justify is to declare righteous. All those who receive Jesus as Savior are “declared righteous” by God. For a Christian to lose salvation, God would have to go back on His Word and “un-declare” what He had previously declared. Those absolved of guilt would have to be tried again and found guilty. God would have to reverse the sentence handed down from the divine bench.
A Christian is promised eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Eternal life is the promise of spending forever in heaven with God. God promises, “Believe and you will have eternal life.” For a Christian to lose salvation, eternal life would have to be redefined. The Christian is promised to live forever. Does eternal not mean “eternal”?
A Christian is marked by God and sealed by the Spirit. “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, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13–14). At the moment of faith, the new Christian is marked and sealed with the Spirit, who was promised to act as a deposit to guarantee the heavenly inheritance. The end result is that God’s glory is praised. For a Christian to lose salvation, God would have to erase the mark, withdraw the Spirit, cancel the deposit, break His promise, revoke the guarantee, keep the inheritance, forego the praise, and lessen His glory.
A Christian is guaranteed glorification. “Those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Romans 8:30). According to Romans 5:1, justification is ours at the moment of faith. According to Romans 8:30, glorification comes with justification. All those whom God justifies are promised to be glorified. This promise will be fulfilled when Christians receive their perfect resurrection bodies in heaven. If a Christian can lose salvation, then Romans 8:30 is in error, because God could not guarantee glorification for all those whom He predestines, calls, and justifies.
A Christian cannot lose salvation. Most, if not all, of what the Bible says happens to us when we receive Christ would be invalidated if salvation could be lost. Salvation is the gift of God, and God’s gifts are “irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). A Christian cannot be un-newly created. The redeemed cannot be unpurchased. Eternal life cannot be temporary. God cannot renege on His Word. Scripture says that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2).
Two common objections to the belief that a Christian cannot lose salvation concern these experiential issues: 1) What about Christians who live in a sinful, unrepentant lifestyle? 2) What about Christians who reject the faith and deny Christ? The problem with these objections is the assumption that everyone who calls himself a “Christian” has actually been born again. The Bible declares that a true Christian will not live a state of continual, unrepentant sin (1 John 3:6). The Bible also says that anyone who departs the faith is demonstrating that he was never truly a Christian (1 John 2:19). He may have been religious, he may have put on a good show, but he was never born again by the power of God. “By their fruit you will recognize them” (Matthew 7:16). The redeemed of God belong “to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God” (Romans 7:4).
Nothing can separate a child of God from the Father’s love (Romans 8:38–39). Nothing can remove a Christian from God’s hand (John 10:28–29). God guarantees eternal life and maintains the salvation He has given us. The Good Shepherd searches for the lost sheep, and, “when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home” (Luke 15:5–6). The lamb is found, and the Shepherd gladly bears the burden; our Lord takes full responsibility for bringing the lost one safely home.
Jude 24–25 further emphasizes the goodness and faithfulness of our Savior: “To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”
Recommended Resource: Eternal Security by Charles Stanley
Posted with permission:www.gotquestions.org/Christian-lose-salvation.html
|
|
|
|
Post by Cindy on Jun 18, 2017 9:32:23 GMT -5
Does Hebrews 6:4-6 mean we can lose our salvation?
Hebrews 6:4-6 states, “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.” This is one of the Bible’s most difficult passages to interpret, but one thing is clear—it does not teach that we can lose our salvation. There are two valid ways of looking at these verses:
One interpretation holds that this passage is written not about Christians but about unbelievers who are convinced of the basic truths of the gospel but who have not placed their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. They are intellectually persuaded but spiritually uncommitted.
According to this interpretation, the phrase “once enlightened” (verse 4) refers to some level of instruction in biblical truth. However, understanding the words of scripture is not the same as being regenerated by the Holy Spirit. For example, John 1:9 describes Jesus, the “true Light,” giving light “to every man”; but this cannot mean the light of salvation, because not every man is saved. Through God’s sovereign power, every man has enough light to be held responsible. This light either leads to the complete acceptance of Jesus Christ or produces condemnation in those who reject such light. The people described in Hebrews 6:4-6 are of the latter group—unbelievers who have been exposed to God’s redemptive truth and perhaps have made a profession of faith, but have not exercised genuine saving faith.
This interpretation also sees the phrase “tasted the heavenly gift” (Hebrews 6:9) as referring to a momentary experience, akin to Jesus’ “tasting” death (Hebrews 2:9). This brief experience with the heavenly gift is not seen as equivalent to salvation; rather, it is likened to the second and third soils in Jesus’ parable (Matthew 13:3-23), which describes people who receive the truth of the gospel but are not truly saved.
Finally, this interpretation sees the “falling away” (Hebrews 6:6) as a reference to those who have tasted the truth but, not having come all the way to faith, fall away from even the revelation they have been given. The tasting of truth is not enough to keep them from falling away from it. They must come all the way to Christ in complete repentance and faith; otherwise, they in effect re-crucify Christ and treat Him contemptuously. Those who sin against Christ in such a way have no hope of restoration or forgiveness because they reject Him with full knowledge and conscious experience. They have concluded that Jesus should have been crucified, and they stand with His enemies. It is impossible to renew such to repentance.
The other interpretation holds that this passage is written about Christians, and that the phrases “partakers of the Holy Ghost,” “enlightened,” and “tasted of the heavenly gift” are all descriptions of true believers.
According to this interpretation, the key word in the passage is if (verse 6). The writer of Hebrews is setting up a hypothetical statement: “IF a Christian were to fall away . . .” The point being made is that it would be impossible (IF a Christian falls away) to renew salvation. That’s because Christ died once for sin (Hebrews 9:28), and if His sacrifice is insufficient, then there’s no hope at all.
The passage, therefore, presents an argument based on a false premise (that a true Christian can fall away) and follows it to its senseless conclusion (that Jesus would have to be sacrificed again and again). The absurdity of the conclusion points up the impossibility of the original assumption. This reasoning is called reductio ad absurdum, in which a premise is disproved by showing that it logically leads to an absurdity.
Both of these interpretations support the security of the believer in Christ. The first interpretation presents unbelievers rejecting Christ and thereby losing their chance of salvation; the second interpretation presents the very idea of believers losing salvation as impossible. Many scriptures make it abundantly clear that salvation is eternal (John 10:27-29; Romans 8:35, 38-39; Philippians 1:6; 1 Peter 1:4-5), and Hebrews 6:4-6 confirms that doctrine.
Posted with permissionwww.gotquestions.org/Hebrews-6.html
|
|
|
|
Post by Cindy on Jun 18, 2017 9:36:03 GMT -5
Does Hebrews 10:26 mean that a believer can lose salvation?
“For if we are willfully sinning after receiving the full knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice concerning sins.” Hebrews 10:26-29 warns against the sin of apostasy. Apostasy is an intentional falling away or defection. Apostates are those who move toward Christ, right up to the edge of saving belief, who hear and understand the Gospel, and are on the verge of saving faith, but then reject what they have learned and turn away. These are people who are perhaps even aware of their sin and even make a profession of faith. But rather than going on to spiritual maturity, their interest in Christ begins to diminish, the things of the world have more attraction to them rather than less, and eventually they lose all desire for the things of God and they turn away. The Lord illustrated these types of people in the second and third soils of Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23. These are those who “receive with joy” the things of the Lord, but who are drawn away by the cares of the world or turned off by difficulties they encounter because of Christ.
“Willful sinning” in this passage carries the idea of consciously and deliberately rejecting Christ. To know God’s way, to hear it preached, to study it, to count oneself among the faithful, and then to turn away is to become apostate. Sinning willfully carries with it the idea of sinning continually and deliberately. Such a person does not sin because of ignorance, nor is he carried away by momentary temptations he is too weak to resist. The willful sinner sins because of an established way of thinking and acting which he has no desire to give up. The true believer, on the other hand, is one who lapses into sin and loses temporary fellowship with God. But he will eventually come back to God in repentance because his heavenly Father will continually woo and convict him until he can’t stay away any longer. The true apostate will continue to sin, deliberately, willingly and with abandon. John tells us that “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9).
Apostates have knowledge, but no application of that knowledge. They can be found in the presence of the light of Christ, mostly in the church, among God’s people. Judas Iscariot is the perfect example—he had knowledge but he lacked true faith. No other rejector of the truth had more or better exposure to the love and grace of God than Judas. He was part of Jesus’ inner circle of disciples, eating, sleeping, and traveling with Him for years. He saw the miracles and heard the words of God from Jesus’ very lips, from the best preacher the world has ever known, and yet he not only turned away but was instrumental in the plot to kill Jesus.
Having turned his back on the truth, and with full knowledge choosing to willfully and continually sin, the apostate is then beyond salvation because he has rejected the one true sacrifice for sins: the Lord Jesus Christ. If Christ’s sacrifice is rejected, then all hope of salvation is gone. To turn away willfully from this sacrifice leaves no sacrifice; it leaves only sin, the penalty for which is eternal death. This passage is not speaking of a believer who falls away, but rather someone who may claim to be a believer, but truly is not. Anyone who apostatizes is proving he never had genuine faith to begin with (1 John 2:19).
posted with permissionwww.gotquestions.org/Hebrews-10-26.html
|
|
|
|
Post by Cindy on Jun 18, 2017 9:42:06 GMT -5
Does Matthew 7:21-23 mean that believers can lose salvation?
““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:21–23)
The two questions most frequently asked about Matthew 7:21-23 come about because the verses seem to contradict two strongly held beliefs—one cannot lose his salvation and anyone who performs miracles must be from God. As we will see, one of these beliefs is based on scriptural truth and the other is not. While the true believer cannot lose his salvation, not all miracles are performed by true believers.
Jesus is speaking here near the end of His Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5–7). Beginning in verse 13, Jesus discourses at length on the subject of true faith vs. false professions, using the technique of contrast and comparison. Verses 13-14 describe two paths on which people walk through life, the broad road that leads to eternal destruction and the narrow path that leads to eternal life. He introduces here the concept of the “many” and the “few” that He will return to in verses 21-23.
In verses 15-18, He again contrasts the two types of people by using imagery well known to those in an agrarian culture—sheep and wolves, grapes/figs and thorn bushes/thistles, good trees and bad trees, good fruit and bad fruit. Having established the idea of dichotomy in the minds of His hearers, He goes on to apply these truths to the spiritual state of all within His hearing. Jesus presents the two types of people who will come to Him on “that day,” meaning the last day, the day of judgment, the great day fixed by God and unknown to angels and men which will be terrible to some and joyful to others. All will be seeking to enter the kingdom of heaven, but some will be turned away and will react in utter confusion and disappointment as what they thought was their “ticket” to heaven turns out to be worthless. These are those who prophesied in the name of Jesus, meaning either foretelling things to come or preaching the Word in His name. They have even performed miraculous acts such as driving out demons and perhaps healings and other miracles, but all to no avail. But their works were done for their own glory, not His, and were nothing more than “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). In contrast, those who will enter heaven will not do so based on their miraculous achievements and accomplishments or works of any sort, but solely on the basis of obedience to the will of God.
But who are these unfortunate people and how can they do miracles unless they are doing them by God’s power? We know several things about them from the text. First, we know there are many of them, because it is many who are on the broad road to eternal death, as compared to the relative few who have found the narrow path to eternal life. Second, they claim the name of Christ. These are not Muslims, Buddhists, or atheists. These are those who would gladly say, “I am a Christian.” They work their works in Jesus’ name. They pray and heal in Jesus’ name. They preach and teach in Jesus’ name. They build huge churches and ministries in Jesus’ name. They claim a relationship with Him. But they are none of His. In fact, He sends them away, not with commendation for their good works in His name (and many good works are done in Jesus’ name by false professors), but by disowning their every deed and word. He “never” knew them, nor did they ever truly know Him. They weren’t Christians who lost their salvation. They were never part of the elect of God, chosen before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), set apart and sanctified by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:11; 2 Timothy 2:21), and justified by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). The ones Christ puts away from Himself with harsh words of condemnation, calling them doers of evil, never came to Him in faith, despite their outward good works and miracles.
Then if these do not belong to God and never did, how do we explain their ability to perform miracles? Can those who do not have the Spirit actually cast out demons and perform miraculous healings and spectacular signs and wonders? There are two possible explanations for the ability of the ungodly to perform such acts. One is that some miracles are done by the power of Satan and his demonic host. They are incredibly powerful beings who can manipulate physical elements to their own ends. Consider the power God allowed Satan to use to afflict Job—lightning, wind (possibly a tornado), and boils all over his body (Job 1:16, 19, 2:7). These are certainly miraculous events. Exodus 7 describes the magicians and sorcerers of Egypt whose “secret arts” impressed many, but clearly these were not men of God. In the New Testament, Paul confronted Elymas the Jewish sorcerer and false prophet, calling him a child of the devil, full of all kinds of deceit and trickery (Acts 13:6-11). So we see that not all miracles come from God and not all who perform miracles in the name of Jesus are truly His. He calls them evildoers because the miracles they perform have evil as their source. In fact, Jesus warned us to be on guard against their deception as the end times draw near (Matthew 24:24).
Second, there are times when God, in His sovereign will and for His purposes, will empower unbelievers to perform miraculous deeds. The prime example is Judas who, along with the other disciples, preached the gospel, healed the sick, cast out demons, cleansed lepers, and even raised the dead. There is nothing to indicate that Judas didn’t have the same power as the other eleven, although he was never a true disciple of Christ. He was a deceiver and the “son of perdition” (John 17:12). Yet God gave him the power to do miracles for His own glory and to accomplish His will.
Jesus goes on to describe those who will be able to call upon His name on the day of judgment. It will be those who hear His words and put them into practice, the same ones referred to in verse 21 as those who obediently do the will of the Father in heaven. True believers are the good trees that produce good fruit (Galatians 5:22-23), the true sheep who look to Christ, depend on Him, commit themselves to Him, trust in Him, and believe on Him for righteousness, salvation, and eternal life. These are the ones who will enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Posted with permission:www.gotquestions.org/Matthew-7-21-23.html
|
|
|
|
Post by Cindy on Jun 18, 2017 9:45:05 GMT -5
Can a Christian "give back" salvation?
The short answer to this question is, no, a true Christian cannot “give back” salvation. Oddly enough, some who agree that a Christian cannot “lose” his salvation still believe that salvation can be “given back” to God. Some who hold this viewpoint will take Romans 8:38-39 and say that while nothing outside of us can separate us from God, we ourselves can choose, in our free will, to separate ourselves from God. This is not only unbiblical; it defies all logic.
To understand why it is not possible for us to “give back” our salvation, three things are necessary to grasp: the nature of God, the nature of man, and the nature of salvation itself. God is, by nature, a Savior. Thirteen times in the Psalms alone God is referred to as the Savior of man. God alone is our Savior; no one else can save us and we cannot save ourselves. “I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior” (Isaiah 43:11). Nowhere in Scripture is God ever portrayed as a Savior who depends on those He saves to effect salvation. John 1:13 makes it clear that those who belong to God are not born again by their own will, but by God’s will. God saves by His will to save and His power to save. His will is never thwarted, and His power is unlimited (Daniel 4:35).
God’s plan of salvation was accomplished by Jesus Christ, God incarnate, who came to earth to “seek and save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Jesus made it clear that we did not choose Him, but that He chose us and appointed us to “go and bear fruit” (John 15:16). Salvation is a gift from God through faith in Christ, given to those whom He has, before the foundation of the world, foreordained to receive it and who have been sealed by the Holy Spirit into that salvation (Ephesians 1:11-14). This precludes the idea that man can, by his own will, thwart God’s plan to save him. God would not foreordain someone to receive the gift of salvation, only to have His plan destroyed by someone wanting to accept that gift and then return it. God’s sovereign omniscience and foreknowledge make such a scenario impossible.
Man is, by nature, a depraved being who does not seek God in any way. Until his heart is changed by the Spirit of God, he will not seek God, nor can he. God’s Word is incomprehensible to him. The unregenerate man is unrighteous, worthless, and deceitful. His mouth is full of bitterness and cursing, his heart is inclined toward bloodshed, he has no peace, and there is no “fear of God before his eyes” (Romans 3:10-18). Such a person is incapable of saving himself or even seeing his need for salvation. It is only after he has been made a new creation in Christ that his heart and mind are changed toward God. He now sees truth and understands spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:14; 2 Corinthians 5:17).
A Christian is one who has been redeemed from sin and placed on the path to heaven. He is a new creation, and his heart has been turned toward God. His old nature is gone, passed away. His new nature would no more desire to give back his salvation and return to his old self, condemned to hell for eternity for sin, than a heart transplant recipient would want to give back his new heart and have his old, diseased one placed back in his chest. The concept of a Christian giving back his salvation is unscriptural and unthinkable.
Posted with permissionwww.gotquestions.org/give-back-salvation.html
|
|
!!
