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Can you lose your salvation?

Aug 17, 2009 Print This Post

This past weekend, I hit very briefly on the question of whether or not a Christ-follower can lose their salvation. I promised that I’d post that small bit of my manuscript for you, so here it is. This is by no means a full treatise on the subject, but it hits a few high points.

Now there are many who have created bad theology from this verse (Luke 8:13). It is one of a dozen or so favorites for those who believe a Christian can lose their salvation. The reason is it gives (at first glance) the idea that you can be a Christian, but after some time fall away and become a non-Christian again. But don’t forget what Jesus showed us during last week’s message: you can’t just pick a verse at random and use it to build theology. Theology is built from the whole Word of God.

So, very very quickly let’s look at what the Word says about your salvation, starting in John 5:

John 5:24 “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”

They have eternal life. They will never be condemned. They have already passed from death into life. In other words, before you followed Jesus your status was “dead.” When you become a Christ-follower, your status changes to “alive.” Remember we talked about this a few weeks ago: Satan “had” the power of death. He used to be able to hold it over our heads. Now, he doesn’t. He can’t scare us with death because we have eternal life!

Now how does someone cross over from death to life? Jesus says it is someone who “listens to his message and believes in God.” What is this message? Paul says it this way:

Ephesians 2:8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

You are saved “by God’s grace, through faith.” You were not saved “by good works,” it’s not a reward for how you lived your life. The reward for how you’ve lived your life is hell. Rather you were saved “so [you] can do the good things he planned for [you] long ago!” Now, what happened when you were “saved?” According to Jesus, you have eternal life. According to Paul, you are created anew. He says this again in 2 Corinithians 5:

2 Corinthians 5:17 …Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

Notice the consistency in this message! You “used” to be dead! You aren’t anymore! This only rolls in one direction! It’s like those tire spikes at rental car places. You can only drive over them in one direction. We tend to think backward in this. We think that this human existence is “life.” It’s not–it’s death! But by grace, through faith, you are made alive! In the book of Romans, Paul makes a logical argument for Jesus’ message of salvation and in chapter 8 he hits his climax on our position in Christ. He writes this (and I’m going to read the whole long section):

Romans 8 31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”*) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,* neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There is absolutely nothing that can separate you from the love of God. Who dares accuse you? Anyone who accuses you will have to answer to God because he is the one who has already given you right standing! He will have to answer to Jesus who died for you and was raised for you and pleads your case to God every time you screw up. He will have to answer to the Holy Spirit how resides inside of you and seals you forever as God’s very own child.

That means that if you are in Christ you can not be separated from God by anything and that includes yourself!

Tags: eternal security