The Eternal Security of the Believer - updated

Once Saved, Always Saved

1 John 5:10-12 “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. ¹¹ And this is the record; that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”

This study is going to be about the eternal security of the believer, and that once you get SAVED; there is nothing you can do to lose your salvation.

generally speaking, the term once saved always saved (osas) is usually heard coming out of the mouth of someone who is against this doctrine, usually in mocking or criticism towards the person who believes this concept.

I personally embrace this concept, once saved always saved is a really great way to explain in what we believe.

you will hear from out the mouths of these people such derogative terms as “easy believism”, but that shouldn’t bother you, because it’s EASY TO BE SAVED, AND IF YOU BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, THOU SHALT BE SAVED!

The hard part was done by Jesus Christ!

how hard is it to get saved?

·         Well it’s as hard as taking a drink of water

·         it’s as hard as eating a piece of bread

·         it’s as hard as getting out of bed

·         it’s as hard as smiling

·         it’s as hard as opening a door and walking through

ITS’S AS HARD AS CALLING UPON THE NAME OF LORD, That’s what the bible teaches!

now I’m going to go through the bible to prove to you that you can’t LOSE your salvation, we’ll go through many scriptures in this study including scriptures that people will use to try to prove that you can lose your salvation and it doesn’t hold any truth to it, but we will see through discernment and rightly dividing the word that they are wrong.

Are you Saved?

This is something I believe ever since I got saved by the Lord, this teaching I will always stand firm on and that if you do not believe in eternal security of the believer or once saved always saved; then you, are NOT saved...Period.

A lot of people may not agree with that statement, but I assure that this is what the bible teaches. When you talk to people who do not believe this, it boils down to the fact that they’re not trusting in faith alone to save them, if you think about it, these people are really trusting in their works to save them; instead of faith alone, in Christ alone.

Let’s begin with the scripture I quoted from 1 John 5.

1 John 5:10 “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.” 

So in 1 John 5:10 we read; he that believes on the son of God has the witness in himself, now if you read that in context from the beginning of this chapter, the witness is the Holy Spirit. So if we are saved, we have the Holy Spirit of God abiding in us: if we believe not God, then we make him a liar.

So from reading this verse, this tells me there are two kinds of people on this earth, there are people that believe on the Son of God, and there are people that are calling God a liar; why are they calling him a liar? Because they do not believe on the record that God gave his son.

And what is the record? The answer is given in verse 11.

1 John 5:11 “And this is the record; that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”

 

That God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his son.

This is what you have to believe in order to be saved; you must believe the record in verse 11 to be saved. If you do not believe this record, then you are making God a liar.

Let’s break down verse 11 and go through the elements of this verse. There are 3 things that we will see.

Number 1:

It is Given, a gift.

God has given to us eternal life, it is a gift it is not earned by anything that we do.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹ not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Number 2:

Salvation is Eternal Life.

We make no effort on our part to obtain salvation, we must believe it is a gift, we accept the record, we accept the Lord Jesus Christ and upon this we receive the gift of eternal life.

What does eternal mean? It means NEVER ENDING! Therefore, if you do not believe God gave you eternal life; you are not saved.

Number 3:

This life is in his son.

You have to believe that this gift is through his son, Jesus Christ.

That’s the 3 elements that make up this verse. Now in verse 13 gives us why these things are written to us.

1 John 5:13 “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.”

So here, he is saying I wrote these things to you, so that you will believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you HAVE eternal life. Notice the word “Have” it is not past tense “Had”. The word “Have” means you possess it right now as opposed to, “I had a dog but it died” versus, “I have a dog, he is so happy”.

It wouldn’t make sense to say you “Had” eternal life, because then what’s the point in saying eternal?

Eternal = never ends, to say “had” would mean that eternal life is not eternal life at all, it ended because you lost it, so it would cancel out eternal altogether!

It makes no sense for God to say to us, here, because of your faith I will give you eternal life, from this point on, you “Have” eternal life, you may know your life will never end; and that is a promise.

But then, suddenly you end up living in the flesh, being all worldly and disobeying God, and suddenly God says to you, because you have done this I am taking the GIFT I gave you, which is eternal life away from you.

You might say, hang on, you said I have never ending life and that it was a gift because I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. You promised me! You said I will never die! This doesn’t make any sense does it?

Does God break promises? No.

So the scripture was written so that whosoever believes on the name of the Son of God, will have eternal life…Period, and Amen!

Here is another scripture to show you that you have everlasting life.

John 6:47 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

See the use of the word “Hath” it is present tense, not past tense. You have everlasting life; everlasting means to last forever and is the synonym for eternal life.

Turn your bibles to Matthew 7:21-23.

Matthew 7:21 “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”

V21. What’s interesting here is we read that NOT everyone saying to God “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven. 

Now let me ask you something, does calling God “Lord” get you into heaven?

If saying Lord, Lord was enough to get you into heaven then this verse would not be true.

So the answer to the above question would be a resounding NO!

To get into heaven, you need to do the WILL of the Father which is in heaven.

Now I’m going to show you the will of the Father in a moment, but I want go through verses 22 and 23 with you to understand something about these scriptures.

Matthew 7:22-23 “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, ye that work iniquity.”

V22-23 Jesus is saying here that there will be many people coming to him calling him “Lord” and they will be listing their works, their deeds. They are saying many things like prophesying or preaching in his name, casting out devils in his name, but take heed of the last statement; and in your name have we done many wonderful works. If you go through their list, these people have done some impressive things for the Lord right? Casting out devils, wow! But look at what we read in verse 23, Jesus will profess to them that he never knew them. This is such a profound and dark statement, “he never knew you”. Why? Because these people trusted in their WORKS!

They’re saying to the Lord, look at my wonderful works, and let us into heaven!!

Notice Jesus said he never knew them, if they were saved could Jesus have said I never knew you? Did Jesus say, “I used to know you”? It just wouldn't make sense to say that you could lose your salvation and then Jesus says, “I never knew you”.

You can’t lose your salvation according to this scripture. These people were not saved to begin with, why?

Because they have trusted in their own works to get them into heaven, the bible says in Ephesians 2.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹ not of works, lest any man should boast.”

No one is saved by their works, no one shall glory of their own accord in his presence, Jesus PAID it all, and sin had left a crimson stain, and Jesus washed it white as snow!!!

The bible is crystal clear here in Matthew 7 that it is teaching that if you go to hell; it is because Jesus never knew you…Period.

Now I said I was going to show you the will of the Father, but firstly let’s define what the word “will” is; what does it mean to do someone’s will?

It means to do what they want, how they want it to be done, their way, not yours.

Turn to John chapter 6 in your bibles.

John 6:40 “And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

That everyone which seeth the Son, and believes on him, may have (present tense) everlasting life; this is the Fathers will.

John 6:28-29 “Then said they unto him, what shall we do, that we might work the works of God? ²⁹ Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”

The people ask Jesus a question, what should they do, that they may work the works of God? 

Jesus answers them in verse 29 and says this is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent. That is the only work we are required to do to have eternal life.

Salvation is a one-time event. NOT an ongoing process or something that has yet to happen.

Look at verses 35-39:

John 6:35-39 “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. ³⁶ But I said unto you, that ye also have seen me, and believe not. ³⁷ All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. ³⁸ For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. ³⁹ And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”

Jesus is the bread of life, Jesus said, whoever goes to him shall never hunger, and he that believes shall never thirst, this all spiritually equates to never dying!

The he says to the people that they have seen him and they believed him not, these people still didn’t believe in him.

Here comes the next “you can’t lose your salvation” passage, verse 37 Jesus says, everyone that the Father has given him shall go to him; and whosoever comes to him, he will in no wise cast out!

Does that sound like you can lose your salvation? No.

Verse 38 Jesus did not come down from heaven to do his own will, he came down to do his Fathers will; and the will is that ALL which he has given to him, he would lose nothing.

It’s just ridiculous that people should think that you can lose your salvation, not only is it illogical but to say you can lose it just doesn't make sense. Let’s think about God being omniscient, he knows all from past, present, future; he knows the end from the beginning.

God knows everything about you, your life and everything you are going to do. Would it make sense if God gave you eternal life today, and God knowing you will lose it tomorrow and still call it eternal life? Its complete nonsense, it doesn't make any sense at all!

Some people say you can lose it, and then get it back again. This idea is just as ridiculous, now you’re saved; now you’re not, now you’re saved; now you’re not. This is just plain rubbish false teachings here.

Two great verses that show you can’t lose your salvation:

John 3:18 “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

John 5:24 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

He that believes on the on the Lord Jesus Christ is not condemned. Now peradventure, a man says he believes in Jesus Christ and got saved, then later down the road he stops believing: he who believe not is condemned already right?

But this man does not fall into any of these categories because he did believe and got saved, but then fell into unbelief, what would the bible call this condition? Can we call this Backslidden? If Jesus said, the father and I will lose none and in no wise shall ye be cast out, which category do they fall into? None of them right?

You couldn’t say this man have not believed, because he did once before it wouldn’t make any sense; once you believe, you are saved, sealed and secure, you cannot lose your salvation!

Jesus said in John 5, he that hears my word and believes on HIM that sent me have everlasting life and is passed from death to life. Not only is this scripture proving that you can’t lose your salvation, but it also reveals that the Father and the Son are one.

Want more proof? Turn to John 10:

John 10:28-30 “and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and my Father are one.”

Jesus says he will give to them eternal life, and watch this! “AND THEY SHALL NEVER PERISH; NEITHER SHALL ANY MAN PLUCK THEM OUT OF MY HAND”!!!

I’ve heard people say that if you are holding his hand and he is holding your hand, and then you decide that you want to let go, thus losing your salvation; this does not make sense at all.

For example, as a father ask a small child to come and hold your hand and you grip the child’s hand firmly and ask the child to let go of your hand without you releasing your grip. Is that child going to go anywhere? No way! Because you are stronger than that child!

Verse 29 Jesus says his Father is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of his father’s hand: if you are in Jesus’ hand and his Father’s hand and both being stronger than you, and they will NEVER let go, do you think you can just release your grip and walk away?

I don’t think so…No man can pluck you from their hands.

Jesus and the Father are one.

Now turn to John Chapter 11,

John 11:25-26 “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: ²⁶ and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”

Jesus says he is the resurrection, and the life: whosoever believes in him, though he is dead, yet shall he live. And whosever lives and believes in him SHALL NEVER DIE!

Jesus equates eternal life with never dying. There are some false teachers that say eternal life doesn’t mean never dying; they say it is more like a quality of life, hahaha I have to laugh at that, it’s just absolute nonsense! Eternal life or everlasting life means to never die!!!

Now turn your bible to 2 Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 1:22 “who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.”

When we are saved, we are sealed, and we are given the earnest of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. What does the word earnest mean? Well, it can mean sincere or intense conviction it can also mean serious. So this verse can be interpreted that God is showing how serious he is about saving us that once we believe, he seals us with the Holy Spirit as a down payment. God has made a deposit to show that he is serious about giving us eternal life. Now this is because we are not fully redeemed yet, our spirit and soul have been saved, but our bodies have not; this will not happen until the Lord Jesus Christ returns and we get raptured (caught up in the clouds) after the tribulation to meet with the Lord Jesus. That’s why we are sealed with the Holy Spirit as a down payment: to ensure us that we have eternal life.

We have not yet experienced the full benefit of salvation as of yet, this will not happen until the Lord’s Day, the resurrection, the Lords second coming.

We have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, the promise; because he that begun a good work in us will finish it.

Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”

1 John 2:25 “And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.”

Ephesians 1:13-14 “in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye 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.”

You see, God has purchased us with the earnest of the Holy Spirit until the time of redemption when we will receive the full benefits of salvation; there is a lot more coming to us from the Lord when he returns, and it’s going to be a glorious day for the election!

Ephesians 4:30 “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God or you will lose your salvation…does it say that? No!

Nowhere in the bible will you find any scripture where it will read that you can lose your Salvation!

So even if you do grieve the Holy Spirit, you are still sealed till the day of redemption, he says don’t do it, don’t grieve him but you’re sealed; sealed until the day of redemption!

Another aspect of eternal life, once Saved Always saved; let’s take a look at Romans Chapter 4:

You see after we’re saved sin is not imputed to us, we are covered for past, present and future sins.

Romans 4:5-8 “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. ⁶ Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, ⁷ saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. ⁸Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”

To him that worketh NOT. Does it say, a little bit of work? No it doesn’t, it says to him that worketh not, no works at all, just believe on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

The deceived will tell you that if you have the faith, you’ll also have the works too, not according to Romans 4:5 and numerous other scriptures don’t say that at all, no works at all; it says you work NOT but you believe and your faith will be counted for righteousness. 

There are people out there who believe who don’t have the works! But then the false teachers will throw you James 2 and they say; well faith without works is dead; right, but if faith without works is dead, that means faith without works exists. That condition exists.

How can people say faith without works is dead if it is not possible to have faith without works?

People falsely teach that if you have faith, you’ll have the works and that the two go hand in hand together.

And I’ll respond to them with well faith without works is dead. And they’ll say exactly!

Do you see where this is headed? It makes no sense, and is poor exegesis of James 2.

Look, there is a condition of a believer in the bible called dead faith, this is not about Salvation. The ONLY criterion to receive everlasting life is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

For example, if today I woke up out of my bed didn’t do any soul winning, didn’t read my bible and was totally in the flesh, I spent the day not doing anything spiritual but living in the world: This is Dead Faith. In fact, you could categorise the Thief on the cross next to the Lord as having dead faith; let’s be honest, the thief on the cross believed in the Lord, got saved and did no works.

James is speaking to believers, and is not talking about salvation or losing salvation. He is talking about being justified by our fellow man, NOT God. Man cannot see ones faith, only by his actions can another man see his faith, by his works: but no man is justified by his works in the sight of God; this is another study in itself so I will not go deeper into this subject of James 2 but I’ll throw in the following scripture to reinforce what the bible says.

Romans 4:2 “For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.”

There are people out there that will falsely tell you that you need to repent of your sins every day to be saved, that is a flat out lie and is not  taught nor found in any scripture in the bible. In fact, if you did a search throughout the bible for the word “repent” you will find that most of the scriptures that talk about repentance are about God himself repenting from something. Repenting of your sins is a false teaching, for God is Holy and has no sin. The false teachers will add the words “of your sins” after the word repent, my brethren there is no biblical evidence for this false doctrine.

Once you are saved, you will know it; The Lord Jesus will baptise you with the Holy Spirit, which is the sealing of the Spirit of God in you, it is unlike anything that you will ever experience in this world.

Romans 4:7-8 “saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. ⁸ Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”

Paul says under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, breaking this verse down that, your past sins are forgiven, your present sins are covered and your future sins, the Lord will not impute onto you.

So at the moment of salvation by faith alone, your sins are covered from past, present and future, tell me; is there a need to keep repenting of your sins to be saved?

A saved person who is born again spiritually will continue to sin because our bodies have not yet been glorified, this is why our sins are completely covered because the Lord will continually make intercession for us until the day of redemption, oh how glorious is our almighty living God!

Let me ask you another question, if you are saved, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; will God ever stop loving you? The answer is no, he will not stop loving you and you can never be separated from his love because you have become sons of God.

Let me ask you another question, is it loving for God to send someone to hell? Sending someone to lake of fire loving?

If I love you, I would not send someone to hell.

Now wait a minute…then why is God, sending people to hell? Doesn’t God love everyone? Show me where in the bible it says that God loves everyone in the world…

There are 19 scriptures in the bible where it says God hates people, look at John 3:16 it says:

For God so Loved (Past Tense) the world, that he gave his only begotten son, you see the past tense? The word “loved”, not “loves”.

That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

So it’s whosoever believes in him right? Is that everyone? No, only whosoever believes in him.

God loved everybody, God loves everybody at some point but there will come a time where God will love them no more.

Hosea 9:15 “All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.”

There will come a point where if you don’t believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you die without the Lord Jesus Christ, you will not be in the love of God; No, you will be under the Wrath of God.

Does God love the unsaved? Yes, Does God love the saved? Yes of course, he will never stop loving the saved.

There will come a point for the unsaved where he will say to you “I love you no more”, there will come a time when God will give you over to your own lusts and the time will come where God will say that you will be eternally condemned.

Look, the bible does not teach that God loves everyone in terms of being sons of God or children of God, the false teachers will tell you that we’re all God’s children this is a false teaching and not found in the bible.

Have you ever heard the term “Hate the sin, love the sinner”? This is NOT a biblical term. This was coined by Mahatma Gandhi and let me ask you this? Did he believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? No, so he is under condemnation right? Is he, according to the bible, not burning in hell this very moment?

Gandhi says, “Hate the sin, and love the sinner”.

Here are some of the things Almighty God says in the following:

Psalms 5:5 “The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.

Zechariah 8:17 “and let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord.”

Malachi 2:16 “For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.”

Proverbs 6:16-19 “These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: ¹⁷ a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸ an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, ¹⁹ a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren”

There are many more scriptures that show God hating someone or something, why because it is sin. Now you might say, but that’s just the act of people doing the sin, not the person.

Think about it this way, personal responsibility: we are all responsible for our own actions, when we sin there is only one thing we deserve and that is death. Saying hate the sin, love the sinner is separating the sin from the sinner saying that it not the persons doing; this is rubbish. We are accountable for our own actions!

Ezekiel 18:4 “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”

Job 19:4 “And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.”

Deuteronomy 24:16 “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.”

God is never going to stop loving you, and you will never be separated from the love of God, you’re not going to end up in hell.

Will the Lord Chasten us, believers that have become the sons of God? Yes, the bible says the following:

Hebrews 12:6 “or whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”

Almost the entire chapter of Hebrews 12 is about believers becoming sons of God and how God will deal with us when we backslide or fall into sin, we don’t lose our Salvation, but God will punish us the more like our fleshly fathers would if we disobeyed. God chastens us because he loves us.

Proverbs 3:12 “for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.”

Revelation 3:19 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”

YOU CANNOT LOSE YOUR SALVATION! Turn to Psalms 89, this next passage is applied to King David, but there is a spiritual side to the follow scripture I am about to show. Who is going to sit on David’s throne forever and ever? The Lord Jesus Christ is, and who are the seeds of the Lord Jesus Christ? Jesus did not have any physical children while he was here on earth, Hollywood has tried to make that false assertion that he did have children, but that is a flat out lie.

Psalms 89:29-37 “His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. ³⁰ If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; ³¹ if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; ³² then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. ³³ Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. ³⁴ My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. ³⁵ Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. ³⁶ His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. ³⁷ It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

Believers are the seed of Jesus Christ, we are his children whom he will chasten and scourge, who’s covenant he will in no wise break.

People will say, so what then, if we can’t lose our salvation does that mean we can do whatever we like? Can we just constantly live in sin and still go to heaven?

People, you are forgetting about this current life you have. What do you think is going to happen to you in this fleshly sinful body of yours when you start disobeying God and going off living in sin?

Are you really OK with living a sinful life, being absolutely miserable in this life because God is constantly scourging and chastising you, he will destroy you in this life and then go to heaven?

Are you really OK with that? I’m not; remember if you fall into sin, the Father will be there to discipline you like your fleshly Father would when you are doing wrong. I want to also be blessed in this life as well, I would not want God to always be there to curse me and punish me for every wrong doing I have done.

God scourges every son he receives, if you think you can just go out there and break every rule and behave like the reprobates out there; God WILL DESTROY you in this life anytime he wants to, he will take everything away from you in this life.

Deuteronomy 27 & 28 Contain scriptures that will tell you what God will do if you disobey him.

*Updated* 8th January 2015 - 

People that say you can lose your salvation will point you to Hebrews Chapter 6 and say see look what happens when you backslide, these people have lost their salvation.

This is of course, is poor exegesis of chapter 6. They will try to use this portion of the chapter:

Hebrews 6:4-8 “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, ⁵ And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, ⁶ If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. ⁷ For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: ⁸ But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.”

If one could indeed lose their Salvation, then does that not bring you to a realization that you have to trust in your own works to keep it?

If God said in Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹ not of works, lest any man should boast.”

I have decided to update this section of my article to reflect on what Hebrews 6 is really teaching, i'm not changing my doctrinal view but reflecting on my own experiences on this chapter.

It has become apparent from giving the gospel to the unsaved and illumination from the Holy Spirit as to why i'm changing my understanding.

To correctly interpret this passage in Hebrews, being one of the more difficult scriptures in the bible especially from the heresy of the “first glance” you will be stumped and what appears to be a contradiction. However, you must never allow a scripture in the bible to contradict what is a clear teaching taught on the subject.

Proper exegesis is to use the clear scriptures or teaching, to interpret a difficult passage.

Breaking it down in verse 4 it says, for it is impossible for those, who? We see a list given to us which as we go through reveals what a person will go through when they are given the gospel.

·         Those people “were once enlightened”: what does that mean? It means they have been given the Gospel and now made aware of the truth; every unsaved person you give the Gospel to becomes enlightened, as they were in darkness and now have been brought into the light. Romans 10:17 “Faith cometh by hearing…”

It's like the light bulb has turned on, ding! Yeah I get it now, I understand it now is what they might be thinking here.

·         They have “tasted the heavenly gift”: the heavenly gift is Salvation, eternal life or everlasting life. Romans 6:23 “…the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Tasting the heavenly gift is not the same as accepting the heavenly gift.

Think about when you go into the shopping mall and you see those little stalls with samples of new products, they give you a sample to entice you to buy the complete product based on whether you like it or not, and in the case of the gospel, you are tasting the gift, then it's down to you to make that decision to chose to believe it or not. 

·         Were made “partakers of the Holy Spirit”, the bible teaches us in Romans 8:9 that believers are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, that the Spirit of God dwells in you. If any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. In other words, if you don’t have the Holy Spirit you are not saved.

The moment the person believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, this person will partake of the Holy Spirit.

Giving the gospel to the unsaved involves the work of the Holy Spirit, as the person is hearing the gospel the Spirit is working on them to assist them to make that choice to believe the gospel.

Partaking the Holy Spirit is having the Spirit work in them, even the High Priest Caiaphas in John 11:49-52 prophesied by the Spirit, whom he was indeed an unsaved man.

In fact, only through the power of the Holy Spirit can anyone get saved.

·         “Tasted the good Word of God”, the bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” The natural man is the unsaved man, only the saved man can taste the good Word of God.

·          “And the powers of the world to come”, only “born again” (John Chapter 3) Christians can experience the power of God, and know what powers of the world to come is, the new heavens and earth under the supreme reign of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” A person who is born-again has experienced the power of God.

And just like my previous example of the shopping mall sample tasters, this is when the unsaved should make that conscious decision to believe the gospel. 

·         In verse 6 “If they shall fall away”, this is not referring to losing one’s Salvation, no where does it say that these people were saved at all, this whole passage isn't talking about a Christian or a saved person!

The key words to understanding this particular passage is in verse 4 and 8. In verse 4 the key words are, "for it is impossible" and the whole of verse 8.

The other major keyword here in verse 6 is the word "THEY", if "THEY" shall fall away. In a grammatical contextual point of view, this is an epistle written to the saved, and in the case of this epistle it is to the Hebrew Christians. The word "they", "them" or "those" are referring to the unsaved in contrast with words like, "us", "we"or "our".

FOR IT IS IMPOSSIBLE for those people who were:

1. once enlightened - someone who was given the gospel and understood it.
2. tasted of the heavenly gift - Tasted Salvation
3. made partakers of the Holy Ghost - Holy Ghost working in them
4. tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come - Had the gospel preached to them and aware of the coming kingdom of God

IF THEY SHALL FALL AWAY, TO RENEW THEM AGAIN TO REPENTANCE;

This is really talking about a persons last chance to get saved, in most cases this is actually the persons final rejection of the gospel after hearing it numerous times, why?

Verse 7 tells us what happens when someone receives and accepts the gospel.

Verse 8 tells us, "But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned." 

The person who rejects the gospel, is those who bear thorns and briers and IS rejected, and is near to cursing; whose end is to be burned.

The other word for rejected has a synonym in the bible, that word is REPROBATE.

In context, Hebrews 6:4-8 is teaching about someone who is being given the gospel, and if they keep rejecting the gospel, it could be their last chance to get saved. God will in turn reject them and give them over to their own lusts (Romans 1), whose end is to be burned.

You never know when it is going to be your last chance to accept the gospel and believe.

The bible does not teach that one must be born again, and again, and again…

You can only be reborn again once, like your flesh birth from the waters of your mother’s womb. For what is born of the flesh (water) is flesh, and of the spirit is spirit.

You will never be cast out!

John 6:37 “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”

Or forever lost!

John 6:39 “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”

You have been given the gift of eternal life, and it cannot be taken from you; you are no longer condemned and have passed from death (unsaved, spiritually dead) to life (saved, born again of the spirit).

John 5:24 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

We believers may very well find ourselves in this situation one day (if not already happened) where we have “fallen away” from the service of the Lord, the solution is to start serving the Lord again in labour of love, one to another.

Hebrews 6:10 encourages us by saying “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” God will remember what you have done in honour of his name; God will reward faithful service to him.

1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

The writer in Hebrews writes that God wants us to start being mature Christians, which we are no longer spiritual babes that require milk and honey, but to show ourselves mature, to grow in knowledge of him, and to serve him.

I spent a great deal of time on this part of the study because I will admit that Hebrews is a very difficult passage to deal with, I hope this exegesis makes it clearer for my readers.

To sum it all up we have learnt the following from Hebrews 6:4-6 –

·         You cannot lose your Salvation, that is why it is impossible to get saved again

·         Seeking to get saved again puts shame on the Lord Jesus Christ

·         To serve the Lord again brings glory and honour to him – John 12:24

Continuing on with the next scripture people will try to use to show that you can lose your salvation.

Matthew 24:22 “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”

This one blows my mind actually as how could anyone think this verse is about losing your salvation. They’ll say if you don’t endure to the end you’ll lose your salvation…what in the world???

It says no FLESH shall be saved, this is not a salvation passage, in context Jesus is talking about the coming of the Great Tribulation, and except those days be cut short, the elect (believers) will all perish due to persecution by the Anti-Christ in the coming last days. I mean goodnight! Losing your salvation? Are you serious???

When they say you got to endure to the end; they are teaching a works salvation.

We need to be vigilant and use the Word of God to help us discern what heresy is and what truth is. I have shown you from the bible scriptures upon scriptures to prove that you cannot lose your salvation; these are the things we need to diligently teach our younger generation so that they may not be caught up with the lies and deception of these false teachers.

You can believe on the eternal security of the believer.

I leave with the following verse:

Matthew 10:28 “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Dearest Heavenly Father I thank you for your Word, I thank you for the truth in your Words. Thank you for teaching me that Salvation is by Faith alone and not of my own works of righteousness. Father I ask that you keep your election from being deceived by these false teachers and ask that you shine your light on the ignorant so that they may come to realize your truth.

Father I ask also, please deliver us from temptation and evil, I say these things in the name of your only begotten son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.