This is a much debated question in the Organized Church world. Come and get saved but you have to be at every church service to keep it. This seems to be the way they preach it. But, does the word of God back it up? Can we be saved one day and lost the next? I have touched on this before in a previous letter. Today we will look a little more in depth at it.
We as the children of God have gone from darkness into light. We all are given the opportunity to receive God’s free gift of salvation ( Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8 ). The New Testament is filled with information about salvation so let’s begin our quest to find out the truth by the Bible and not what some denominations teach.
In John 10:28 Jesus is telling the religious leaders at the Temple who he was in answer to their questions, and he prophesied about the future and the gift of God to all mankind. He was very strong in his description- give them eternal life; they will never perish; no man can take them from me. Sounds secure to me.
Give- 1325, didomi= grant, bestow, commit, put.
Never- 3364, ou me= not at all, not ever, in any wise.
Any- 5100, ‘tis= any person, or object, anything.
Pluck- 726, harpazo= to seize, catch away, pull, take by force.
Seems like Jesus was really making a point with his choice of words. Can you in your wildest imagination believe anyone or anything can take something away from God that belongs to Him? This includes you!
I want to make a few comments about the little word study I just wrote. A friend of mine believes that you can get out of Gods hand. I just have to believe what Jesus said to get my answer.
1- no man, guess that includes us whether you are male or female.
2- Jesus also said he would never leave you nor forsake you, Hebrews 13:5
3- Jesus goes in search of every lost sheep. Do you believe He can not find you? Matthew 18:12-14, Luke 15: 3-7
4- the word pluck also means to pull. The world pulls you, but it can not take you by force.
5- you are a child of God, John 1:12.
In the Bible Knowledge Commentary on John 10:28 by Edwin Blum, he makes this comment- “ This is one of the clearest statements in the Bible that one who believes in Jesus for salvation will never be lost. Believers sin and stumble, but Jesus as the perfect Shepherd loses none of his sheep, Luke 22:31-32. If one has it, he has it eternally. They shall never perish is a strong affirmation in the Greek (they will indeed not ever perish). The security of the sheep is found in the ability of the shepherd to defend and preserve His flock. Such security does not depend on the ability of the frail sheep.”
Once you believe and are born again, you have gone from lost to saved, and it is a gift not of yourself. God does it. It creates in you Gods image or dna, and you are forever His child. Can an earthly child ever stop being your child? Then God who is more than human, will never disown His child who is made in the image of Jesus ( Romans 8:29).
People who believe you can go to Hell as a born again child of God, do not really understand what they are saying. What good would being born again be, if you can still go to Hell? God would really be unfair to give you the gift of salvation and then allow you to go to Hell in spite of it. People who believe this poppycock comprehend very little in the way of understanding who they really are in Christ Jesus.
In Pauls letter to the Corinthian church, inspired by Holy Spirit, he penned these words-“ if any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. For if we judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world (1 Corinthians 11:3-32.)”
Our salvation is never in danger of being lost, as it is a free gift given to each of us by our Father God through Jesus Christ, His only begotten son. All the good we have done will be rewarded but all our carnal deeds and works will be lost as if by fire. How we come through this fiery test will determine the quality and not the quantity of our works. A believer needs only to understand their own identification with Christ Jesus and agree that they have died to sin and count it as true. In other words Jesus has done away with our penalty for sin and given to us the free gift of salvation and eternal life, all we have to do is believe.
But we must remember that this does not automatically apply to our sin nature that we will have to deal with daily as it tries to express itself as it has always done by our thoughts and actions. This is a never ending internal conflict that every believer faces. It is a war that we have to fight to win. Each of us has to overcome our own weaknesses daily as we press toward the goal that is set before us. The word press is an action word that requires some effort for us to achieve.
I don’t want you to just allow your mind and body to overthrow your spirit man and indulge on carnal pleasures and actions. We can all do that easily, but the real victory comes when we, the spirit man says no and you begin to resist what you have always done to start the new way of pressing on. James 4:7 is a good place to start, submit then resist. By submitting yourself to God- reading, praying, studying the Bible, to show yourself approved, renewing your mind daily by reading Gods word, only then will we be able to submit our wills to Gods ways and accomplish the resisting.
Being a Christian is not for the weak as it is sometimes portrayed by the world. You must be strong in His might and not your own, Ephesians 6:10. It takes commitment in any thing if we are going to achieve it. You are safe in Jesus, never doubt that, but rather rest in it. Eternal security is a fact, but winning our daily battles is a reality we all must do to truly be what God intends for us to be, now here on this earth. We all have our own task or jobs to do. Just be real and as I have often said “ admit it, quit it, and forget it.
Remember you will make it, just don’t give up. See you next week.
In His Service as Kilted Priest.
The Kilted Priest 