How Permanent Is Your Salvation

I posted this on September 1st but after the discussion in small group last night I thought it warranted posting it again. I am not trying to pull Theological hairs here.. this is serious.. we are talking about you're eternal destiny. I urge you to not only read this post but study it, meditate on it and go check the scriptures out for yourself.


How Permanent Is Your Salvation?

I have heard this debate ever since I can remember. Can someone lose their salvation. The question should be more personal... can YOU lose your salvation. I fear that some, if not many, people are confused on this subject, or worse yet, have the teaching on salvation incorrect altogether. Let's look at what the Bible has to say about the subject. We should always defer to the Bible in these matters and not someone's philosophy, what sounds good or what people want to hear. Let's start in the Gospel of John and Jesus' own words as recorded in John 5:24

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, HAS everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." (emphasis mine)

First, notice eternal life is not something you have to wait for until after you die to see if you get. There is no "big scale in the sky" to weigh your good works vs your bad works. This verse in John is a present tense verse using the word "has". Salvation is something you get the instant you believe (trust) in Christ as the only satisfactory payment for your sins. Salvation is not a process. You don't work to get it and you don't work to keep it. It is yours the moment you authentically trust Christ.

Second, it also says "shall not come into condemnation"... in the greek that is translated "you won't ever be sent to hell." No matter what you may do or not do in your future, it will not impact your predestined eternity as a believer.

Third, it says you have passed from death to life.. meaning spiritual death to spiritual life.... and it is irreversible. There is no provision in the Bible for being "unborn". You know Nicodemus was confounded by this fact when Jesus told him he must be born again. Nicodemus asked Jesus "can a man enter a 2nd time into his mother's womb, and be born?" Just as that is impossible in the natural world, it is also just as impossible in the spiritual world. Usually there are 2 biblical names that people will bring up as those who lost their salvation... Judas and King Saul. The Bible says that Judas was NEVER a believer in John 6:64 "But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him." and follow up in verses 70 & 71 Jesus answered them, "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve."

Judas did not lose his salvation; he never had it. King Saul became disobedient, but is in heaven today. How do I know that? The prophet Samuel told King Saul that he will be with him when he was foretelling of Saul's pending physical death at the hands of the Philistines. In 1 Samuel 28:19. "Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the LORD also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines." Please note that Saul is told that he is to lose the battle with the Philistines and that he and his sons will be killed. Also he is told that he would be with Samuel. I think it's safe to assume that Samuel is in heaven so, as night follows day, Saul is in heaven also.

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Sidebar: If you are not saved forever, you are not saved. Let me repeat that, so there is no misunderstanding. IF YOU ARE NOT SAVED FOREVER YOU ARE NOT SAVED.
The ONLY kind of salvation God offers is eternal salvation. God offers salvation, not probation.
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Let's shift gears and look at John 6:37 Jesus gives us His promise. He says, "All that the Father gives me shall come to me; and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out." Once again, the greek translation of "no wise" means for no reason would Jesus ever cast you out if you have come to Him. That should settle all arguments right there, but there are those that say "Well Christ might not cast me out, but I can cast myself out". However, if you go two verses down to verse 39 even this is impossible. Christ says, "And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." Jesus said He is not going to lose ANYONE that comes to Him. You see, we are eternally secure because Jesus is holding onto us, not because we are holding on to Him. In fact, we often times go through rough patches in our lives and drift.. letting go if you will. The old fashioned term for this is backsliding. We have all been there. Don't shake your head, just admit it. No one goes through their entire life without at least backsliding once in a while. This is why I love the old hymn "Great Is Thy Faithfulness". It is Christ's faithfulness that we can count on. Wouldn't it be horrible if the hymn was "Great Is MY Faithfulness." We would ALL be in serious trouble. Think about this, if Jesus lost even 1 person who came to Him for Salvation, then Jesus would be a liar.. and a liar is no one's savior. We can wrap this thought up looking at John 6:47 where Jesus says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believes on me has everlasting life." When Jesus uses Verily, Verily it means truthfully, truthfully. He repeats Himself to make sure we understand and don't miss this important truth.

Note that in the two main verses we have looked at (John 5:24 and now John 6:47) that Jesus uses the phrase Verily, Verily. You may not understand a lot about the Bible but when you see a verily, verily verse from Christ, that is a truth God wants you to make sure you understand.

Come with me now to Hebrews 10:10-12, a great passage talking about Christ's one time sacrifice on the Cross has sanctified us once and for all.

"10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God."

Did you see that? It says we are sanctified. Now what does sanctified mean? Some get this wrong also. Some believe it means to set apart, which is not really true. Sanctified means to make pure and Holy. By application, anything that is made pure and Holy is set apart. Now of our own works we are not sanctified. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) and "There is none righteous, no not one." (Romans 3:10) But once a person trusts Christ, at that moment he is seen by God as pure and Holy as though he had comitted no sin at all. Look at verse 11. It says religion can't do that and every priest stands daily ministering and offering the same sacrifices which can NEVER take away sins. You can be religious and go to Hell. In contrast, look at verse 14 and this is the clincher "For by one offering he has perfected for ever them that are sanctified."

Question, if you are perfected forever in God's sight, how could you ever be lost? Simple. You can't be.

This is the "Good News" of the Gospel. Once we trust Christ we are seen by God as pure and Holy, perfected forever.

The cherry on top is verse 17 "And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." All sins you have committed in the past and all sins you haven't committed yet are taken care of as far as salvation is concerned.

Suppose someone believes they can lose their salvation. If someone believes they can lose their salvation they are most likely trusting in their works and are not saved. If a person believes how they live their life between the moment they trust Christ and the day they die determines whether they will enter Heaven or not, they are trusting in themselves for their salvation. They are making themselves the Savior and not Christ. As mentioned earlier, Christ offers salvation, not probation. I believe many confuse salvation with discipleship, fellowship with God or living the Christian life. Those we can lose and regain daily depending on our obedience.

Take a look at some of the scariest verses in all the Bible, Matthew 7:22-23

"22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity." Notice, Jesus did not say I once knew you and now I lost you, He said I never knew you. Yet there are many who name the name of Jesus Christ (note the 3 times they did things in 'thy name') who are not saved and are in for a very WARM reception when they die. I am not trying to split theological hairs here, I am talking about the difference in someone's eternal destiny. So what happened? These people did good works in the name of Jesus, did healings, gave to the poor, etc but they were trusting on those acts to make them pure and Holy. Now, had they said to Christ, "Lord, didn't we trust that your shed blood on the Cross paid our sin debt and that you rose from the grave to make us righteous in your Father's sight?" If they had said that, Jesus would have said "come on into Heaven." This is one of Satan's slyest tricks. Satan presents a heavenly way to go to Hell. He misleads and confuses people into thinking they are on their way to Heaven by getting them to do all these good deeds and being religious but having them bypass the cross and trusting Jesus alone. Here is a math equation for you:

Christ + _______ = Salvation

What did you put in the blank? If you put anyting in the blank other than the word "nothing", you are not saved. Christ said I AM the way, the truth and the life... not I + something else. Let me illustrate. Turn with me if you will to Romans chapter 11:6 and this is a bit of a tongue twister but if you can understand this, you have salvation figured out.

"And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work."

Sounds confusing, but it is not. It is basically saying, that if you are saved by grace then you can't also be saved by works. By definition, grace is void of works. It is a free gift which we do not deserve but God in His love offers to us. You can not mix grace and works, they are polar opposites. If you add works into grace, you nullify the grace. Galatians 5:4 refers to it as "falling from grace." You have to make the decision... do I trust in the grace of God through faith in what Christ did on Calvary, or do I trust in my works to make me as Holy as I can (foreiting the grace) and then take my chances? The choice is yours but the consequences of your choice are forever. It's like being pregnant. You can't just be a little pregnant.. either you are or you aren't. You can't just have a little grace.. either you have grace or you do not. If you attempt to be saved by your works, Christ will say to you "depart from me you that work iniquity."

More on backsliding, the Bible talks about this. Look at Hebrews 10:38-39

"38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul."

Notice the word "we". The writer of Hebrews is including himself, and you know he is saved. When we are disobedient, God is not pleased with us but we are not of them that draw back into perdition or Hell. In the greek, we don't lose what we have because we are disobedient. We can backslide out of fellowship with God, but we can NEVER backslide out of relationship with God.

Now, the obvious objection to all of this is "If I believe this, I can live as I please and sin all I want with no repercussion." Well, yes and no. You will not face the repercussion of losing your salvation but you can not live as you please. Once you become a child of God by accepting Christ, you give God the authority to deal with you as His child. He becomes your Father for the very first time. Did you know that God is not everyone's Father? An unsaved person who prays the Lord's prayer is praying incorrectly because God is NOT his father. Once God is your "Father" through salvation, when you are disobedient, He has the authority to discipline you as any parent does to their child. Go a little farther in Hebrews to chapter 12:6-8.

6 For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chastens not? 8 But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not sons.

You know when I was growing up, no matter how disobedient I was, my parents never kicked me out of the house or disowned me as their child. In fact, my father was usually eager to see me, he'd wait for me in the bedroom and would even tell me which direction to lean across the bed as he would take off his belt and give me a "warm" reception. Look at verse 8, if you are WITHOUT chastisement, you are illegitimate (the King James uses a little stronger word) and not truly sons.

Continue ahead a couple of verses to Hebrews 12:11
" Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."

God's chastening is not meant to be pleasurable but grievous. When I was spanked as a child I never went to my father and said, "that was great, can we do it again tomorrow night? Can I invite my friends over to watch?" Of course not, it is grievous on purpose. But look at the end result in verse 11.. it yields good fruit; the fruit of righteousness. I was not a big "yes sir, no sir" kind of kid. But bet your bottom dollar after a spanking I sure did become one. The discipline I received yielded peaceable fruit in me of respect and obedience.

Let's look at two people in the book of Acts that received the "ultimate" in chastening, Ananias and his wife, Sapphira. Some believe they lost their salvation because God took their life. The fact that God took their life for lieing about selling their land for a certain price proves they were saved. God was dealing with them as His children and saying, "If you are going to act like that, come on home". This chastening produced a peaceable righteousness as we see in verse 11 when the Bible says that "great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things." I assure you, that those other people got the message from God about the consequences of lieing. They reaped the benefits of the peaceable fruit at Ananias' and Sapphira's expense.

A related verse that comes to mind about being chastened is 1 Corinthians 3:15 "If any man's works shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."

We can lose a lot of things when we are disobedient, but our salvation is not one of them. We can lose our joy. Remember in Psalm 51 David asked God to restore the "joy of his salvation". He did not ask to have his salvation restored because it didn't need to be. We can also lose rewards in Heaven, we can lose our fellowship and our productivity as an effective Christian witness, but not our salvation.

With all of this it seems pretty clear to me that we are saved forever if we are truly saved, but let's add some more to the discussion. Look at Ephesians 1:13-14
"13 In whom you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: having believed, you 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.

Notice the progression.... You hear the word of truth, you believe what you hear, and at the instant you believe, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit. A seal in olden times was a sign of a finished transaction. A king would write something on a scroll to be sent to some dignitary, they would usually put it in a pouch for travel and put wax on the latchet of the pouch. The King would then take his ring and press down into the wax with his insignia and it was sent to who it was addressed and nobody but nobody better open that letter by breaking the seal and read it except the person whom it was addressed. Likewise, God seals us. However, we are not sealed with wax.. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit. To lose your salvation, something or someone would have to be more powerful than God to break that seal. In verse 14 it goes on to say that this seal is the "earnest" of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased posession. The word earnest means a down payment and is still used today in legal terms in real estate. To buy a house, you put a down payment or a payment in earnest that you are going to complete the deal. What God is saying is that I am giving you the Holy Spirit in advance, not only to seal you, but as a promise that He will complete the transaction and you will be in Heaven with Him when you leave this place.

Realizing all this, singing the hymn "Blessed Assurance" has all new meaning to me now. I used to wish I had assurance, but now I know. Not because I am so great, but because Jesus Christ is so great.

It gets even better. Look at John 10:28.. Jesus says,
"I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." The Bible says that once we are saved we become part of Jesus' body. If we were ever to be lost, part of Jesus' body would have to be cut off (amputated) and that will never happen.

Does believing you have permanent salvation lead to a life of living as you please and living in sin? Absolutely not. Often times it has the opposite effect and of this I can personally testify. Because of the Grace that God has shown to me by pardoning me and bringing me into His family, I am so greatful that I want to live for Him and serve Him in any way I can. And the cool part is I can do that freely without having to worry about wasting time nervously wondering if I am saved. All of my energy can now be focused on helping others to realize this liberating truth and discipling them to become the obedient christians we are called to be.

Whether you agree with this doctrine of Permanent Salvation or not, I hope it has at least encouraged you to dig deeper into God's Word and see for yourself what the Bible says. Then you can determine for yourself "How Permanent Is Your Salvation?"