Can I Lose My Salvation?– Part 2

(The first part of  this subject was covered in the previous blog, looking at verses that suggest it is possible to “fall from grace” and the dangers that are found with such a possibility.  Today’s part looks at the security of the believer.)

A Parable that Helps Us Understand People Who Seem to Have Fallen from Grace

One of the first parables that Jesus taught was that of the sower and the seeds, or, more accurately, the parable of the soils.  In Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15, the parable is recorded, along with Jesus’ very clear explanation of the meaning.

A brief summary: A man goes out into a field to sow seeds.  Some of the seed falls on hard soil, some on shallow soil, some in weed-infested soil and some on good soil.  The first group never take seed and become bird food. The second group at first seems to take root, but since the soil is shallow, the roots are not deep and, on the first hot day, the plants wither and die.  The third group has the seeds sprouting, but they soon get choked out by the weeds and die. Only the seed that falls on the good soil grows to bear fruit.

The first soil is those who may hear the gospel but automatically rejects it.  The shallow soil is people who hear the gospel and receive it on a superficial level, embracing only for a time until they are challenged in their faith.  The third soil is those who hear the word and seem to embrace it, but can’t be torn away from the cares and desires of this world, and so their faith is quickly smothered by other things.  The fourth group is the ones who hear the word, embrace the word, and hold to the word in all circumstances.

I was in college in a New Testament class when we discussed this parable.  I asked the professor if the middle two soils were for Christians who had become backsliders.  His response was that, no, the first three soils were all people who ultimately rejected the word of God.  There are some who never accept it—the hard soil.  There are those who embrace it only in a superficial way—they go to church because it’s socially acceptable to do, it will help their business relations, etc. But in the depth of their being, they have never understood nor truly embraced the word.  These are the ones Jesus refers to in Matthew 7:21-23: “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 prophecy 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!’”  Such people may do things in Jesus’ name and act in His name, but unless we know Him—unless we have come to recognize our sinfulness, His forgiveness and our need for that forgiveness and obedience—we cannot be part of His family (cf. John 1:12-13).  They are the hearers of Jesus’ words, but not the doers (cf. Matthew 7:24-27).

The Assurance that We Really Are “Once Saved, Always Saved”

There are a few verses that speak directly to the security of the believer.  As I began the discussion of the possibility of losing one’s salvation with quotes from Paul’s letters, let’s return to his letters now.  Specifically, there are a couples of passages from Romans that attest to the security of the believer.

“Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him.  For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!” (Romans 5:9-10).

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am convinced 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 8:35, 37-39).

Paul uses these two verses as a reminder of the special place we hold in our relationship with God through Christ.  In the former verses, Paul reminds us of the act of reconciliation that was worked by God by sending Christ as our Redeemer and our Savior.  We now have a familial relationship with the Father through the Son.  It is a relationship created by the Father’s will and extended by His grace to those who embrace the gospel through a life of surrender to Him.

The latter verses remind us of the strength and endurance of God’s love for us.  While that love does not compel us to be saved, that same love, once salvation has been achieved, binds us to Him.  If we are truly saved, then those times we think we can walk away from Him, He is at work in us to draw us to Him again.  Think of the story of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15:11-32.  The son thought he could walk away from the father and, for a while he did, but that never ended the relationship.  The son sought to come back to his father, asking to be treated as a servant since, in the son’s eyes, he was no longer deserving of being called a son.  But the father would not have it.  He welcomed his son back with open arms, rejoicing that his son had returned to the fold.  Not as servant, but as a son, because the Father determines the relationship.

The writer of Hebrews tells us: “Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.  We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf” (Hebrews 6:17-20a).

The writer reminds us that God went to great lengths to make not only our salvation possible, but also wants us to be secure in it.  God swore an oath—made a covenant or testament with us—that salvation is in Christ.  We are secure enough that God’s promise acts as “an anchor for our soul, firm and secure.”

 Finally, there are the words of Jesus, in His discourse where He declares that He is the Great Shepherd. In that passage, found in John 10, Jesus says, “My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has  given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand” (John 10:27-30).

In John 6, Jesus is teaching that He is the Bread of Life.  In that passage, Jesus includes these words:  “For I have come down from heaven not to do My will but to do the will of Him who sent Me.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of all that He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day.  For My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:37-40).

There are other verses, but I believe these should be sufficient to make a strong case that once a person comes to a saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we are elevated into a relationship whose bonds are so strong that they can never be severed.

This does not mean that, once I am saved, I can live a life of licentiousness, ignoring the will of God, secure in the knowledge that God is obligated to save me.  We should never be so presumptuous. In Romans 6, Paul asks the question twice: Should we go on sinning since we live in grace, thus allowing the grace to increase?  His answer is that it’s absurd to think that way.  And he’s right.  The result of salvation by grace is that it frees us no longer to live to self but to give ourselves over to God’s Spirit as He leads us.  Our obedience is an act of love and trust, not one of fear and uncertainty.

There’s a phrase that just irks me to no end.  It’s “If you really love me, you’ll . . .” When I hear this, my first thought is, “And if you really loved me, you wouldn’t ask me to do . . .“  This phrase, in my mind, is as manipulative and self-centered as one can get.  If two people are in a relationship and one of them is so insecure that they require the habitual “proving” or testing of one’s true love, then that relationship needs to end, and it needs to end fast.  The one who puts such a stipulation into the relationship is wanting control, not love.

The idea of God saying, “If you really love Me, you’ll [prove it by] obeying My commandments” is to have a very wrong understanding of God and His relationship with us.  God, who knows us better than we know ourselves, doesn’t need to make us prove our love for Him.  His statement, “If you love Me, you will obey My commandments” is a statement that could better be interpreted “Since you love Me, you [want to] obey My commandments” (John 14:23).  God is not a manipulator; He is a shepherd who lovingly guides His sheep.  We trust and love Him, and we know His ways are best, so we obey His ways and grow in grace and understanding.

The free gift of salvation through grace is a relationship between ourselves and God through Christ powered by the indwelling Holy Spirit.  This relationship is built upon God’s love demonstrated at Calvary.  Since we enter into this relationship not through works but by faith, we extend that faith in Him to the words He taught through Christ and given to us through the inspired word of Scripture. Not wanting to “prove” our love, but wanting to show our love, we act in obedience as best we can, trusting in the intercessory ministry of Christ and the Spirit to intervene when we fall short, when we sin.

Conclusion

We scratch but the surface of this topic.  Hopefully we have addressed some concerns and provided some assurances.  I believe the message of the Bible in its totality is to bring us into a secured relationship with the Father, not to have us perpetually second-guessing our efforts or our relationship.  God is unchanging; He is not capricious.  His consistency is our source of security and peace in our relationship with Him.  Humbly walk with the Lord this day, secure in your place in His family.

© 2017 Glynn Beaty