Once Saved always Saved? Can salvation be lost?

Once saved always saved?

...Is this belief a license to sin?

No it isnt a liscense to sin for those redeemed. Anyone transformed by the Holy Spirit is not looking for a license to sin. They hate sin & live in righteousness. They conquer sin. They like Paul hate when they stumble into sin and await rid of this body stained by it, upon stepping into eternity.

John 5:24

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.

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit already, at Penticost, remember?

The Holy Spirit converts and indwells us the moment of Salvation. If we are saved.... we have the Holy Spirit, the Son and the Father.

1 John 5:11-13 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 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.

Ephesians 1:13-14

13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Philippians 1:6

6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

1 John 5:4

4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

2 Corinthians 1:21

21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God,

Romans 8:38-39

38 For I am persuaded, that [nothing] neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hebrews 10:12-17

12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

15 But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before,

16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” 17 then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

1 Peter 1:3-5

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

John 8:34-36

34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.

36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

John 15:26- 16:1

26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning. 16 “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.

[He was already sent to earth at Penticost].

John 10:27-30

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 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.

John 5:24

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

Let me ask you a question? Do you think that when Christians come to Salvation, that their life changes? When you receive the Holy Spirit & read God’s Word...does your life start to change, and you truly seek the will of GOD?

Side note: There are many verses that say that true saving faith will result in a transformed life, that faith is demonstrated by the works we do. But don’t misunderstand or take the verses out of context. Salvation comes first by Faith alone. Works comes after!!

James 2:14–26 is sometimes taken out of context in an attempt to create a works-based system of righteousness, but that is contrary to many other passages of Scripture. The works James requires are not done apart from faith but done in faith, not done instead of faith but done because of faith.

The two rhetorical questions about faith without deeds are (1) "What good is it?" (answer: none) and (2) "Can it save?" (answer: no).It is not that he is promoting deeds as an alternative to faith. He obviously knows the value of faith, for he called those who have faith "rich" in 2:5. What James is rejecting is the notion that one can have faith by itself, without the accompanying actions. He affirms the necessity of both faith and actions and says he will show the former by the latter. Read that again…..Once you already have FAITH---DEEDS will follow naturally. [*and Scripture says the deeds are ones God planned to do through you from before the world began. Therefore if you are saved God will do the works of Christ through you].

Works are not the cause of salvation; works are the evidence of salvation. Faith in Christ always results in good works. The person who claims to be a Christian but lives in willful disobedience to Christ has a false or dead faith and is NOT SAVED. Paul basically says the same thing in 1 Corinthians 6:9–10. James contrasts two different types of faith—true faith that saves and false faith that is dead.

In John 3:15-18 says about Christ: “The Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

Verses 16-17 When we trust Jesus, we will receive many blessings. We cannot earn these blessings. We do not deserve them. They are God’s free gifts to us.

God gave the Law to Moses so that the people knew how to behave. The Law emphasised God’s perfect moral standards; the righteous nature of God that we are as image bearers of God to also live out [typically called morals]. Nobody could obey ALL of the Law’s requirements, since we are fallen and live in the sin nature as unbelievers. However, Jesus emphasised that God wanted to forgive us. When we trust Jesus, God will forgive us. And when we are saved we recieve Christ's righteousess, His holy nature (that covers us), until the day we enter Heaven & are perfected.

Jesus did not come to replace the Law. He came to uphold and fulfill it all. Before he came, people followed a set of rules. But we follow a person, Jesus. We have a relationship with him. He guides us to do the right things. He shows us how to please God. We fail due to living in this sin stained body, but Jesus aleeady paid our sin debt, so we just get up and keep persevering in righteousness.

The salvation in Christ is not temporary,

it is eternal.

In John 10:28-30, Jesus says: “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. I and the Father are one."

The forgiveness of God through Christ is sufficient to cover all of our sins -- past, present, and future. There is nothing a person can do that God cannot forgive. This doctrine is supported by Romans 8:38-39, Ephesians 4:30, and Jude 24; among others.

Now let’s talk logic--Eternal Salvation is consistent with EVERYTHING the Bible teaches. When a person examines the Bible for themselves…. it does not take 1000’s of years of Biblical Scholars as well as expert Theologists to plainly see what this scripture is saying. It is right there! Even the idea of losing our salvation…. is not only unscriptural, but it creates HUGE problems with other doctrines, including salvation by faith, the sin nature of man, and the purpose of Christ’s sacrifice.

If you still have doubts, it’s time to talk to Jesus. It’s time to ask for wisdom, ‘James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.’ Roman’s 3:10 tells us we all sin, every single believer is going to sin from time to time. There is no such thing as a perfect Christian. We strive to do God’s will in everything. Strive to abide by the Law of Righteousness; the character and attributes God designed us to live in. Sanctification is a lifelong process!

The Bible teaches that man is inherently sinful -- that a sinful nature is a part of all of us (Romans 3:10). This means that even after being saved, every single believer is going to sin from time to time. Thinking that we can live a perfect, sinless life after our salvation is not only unscriptural, but arrogant (James 2:10). If we are not eternally secure, this sinning will cause us to lose our salvation, but how much sin is too much? There is no scriptural “yardstick” given to tell us how many or what kind of sins are enough to void our salvation. Jesus paid for all of them.

Without eternal security, the Bible would describe a situation where Christianity is a perpetual game of Russian Roulette; a life in which condemnation and salvation alternate every time we sin and confess, and we never know if we’re saved or not. Thats insanity. God wants us to have peace, know peace & live in peace. He is not a God of confusion or disorder. What he says is truth.

(Ephesians 2:8-9, Isaiah 64:6) tells us that our good deeds will never earn us a place in Heaven. If we are saved then James 2:18 tells us that good deeds are a result of Faith. Meaning after the Free gift of Salvation was already given.

We cannot make up for our past, present, or future sins by doing good works. A saved believer will, as a natural product of their faith, shun sin and practice good works (James 2:18). If “once saved, always saved” is not true, then by necessity we are saved both by our faith and our works. If we can do sinful things, or not do good things (James 4:17) and lose our security, then our good deeds are a part of our salvation.

That concept is contradictory to Scripture. It also creates an unlivable scenario where we have to try to do enough good to outweigh our sinful natures. The doctrine of “eternal security” goes hand in hand with the doctrine of “saved by faith alone.” To deny eternal security is to endorse a “faith plus works” salvation system, and a perpetual one that leaves people in fear. Our God said not to fear. Our God has said salvation is eternally secure for those whom God has saved.

Jesus Christ made some powerful statements about morality during His earthly ministry. In those three short years, He talked the talk and walked the walk of the toughest moral and ethical system in human history. Most religions focus on the external actions, but Christ took the concept of sin and holiness to a much deeper level. Internal; in the spirit. For example, most religions are satisfied to condemn the physical act of adultery, but Christ said “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).

If we are not saved we are spiritually dead. If we are made alive by God then we have the Spirit of life living in us and thus our innervperson has been radically changed by God Christ set the bar for holiness at a level all Christians are called to aspire to, and because of the Holy Spirit in us we can be guided to live in righteousness, but none can ever fully live up to perfection, because we already sinned [of which Jesus paid for] and we still drag this sin stained body drag around till death.

Just as the law of Moses was meant, in part, to demonstrate to Israel how impossible it was for mortal man to obtain the moral perfection of God, the standards of Christ also remind us of how shallow our best efforts at goodness & right living really are, but that we become more like Him in the sanctification process, wich we are grateful for. And he promised to perfect us on that last day; when we step into eternity.

Thankfully, God has always provided a way for all of us to be forgiven for our sinful shortcomings. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross served the same purpose for all mankind that the sacrificial lambs did for specific families before His ministry. Christ was a sinless, blameless substitute for our sins. The Bible clearly tells us what Christ’s moral expectations are for us. If we lost our salvation every time we fell short of those ideals, then none of us would be saved for more than a few minutes at a time. If that were true, what purpose was there in His death?