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Once you have everlasting life... you have
everlasting life. Notice the verse below as
it says that whoever believes "hath"
(present tense) everlasting life. If you
have something that is everlasting, how can
you lose it? Isn't the definition of the
word everlasting something that does not go
away?
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."
Jesus Christ paid the price for your sins
once. If you believe this then you are
sealed in Christ forever.
John 10:28 "And
I give unto them eternal life; and they
shall never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hand."
Eph. 1:13 "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"
Eph. 4:30 "And grieve not the holy
Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto
the day of redemption."
And if salvation is something that can be
lost, this verse in I John about knowing you
are saved does not make much sense. You
cannot be sure of your salvation if it is
something that comes and
goes as the Nazarenes and Armenians claim.
I 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."
The Bible also talks about salvation as a
second birth. According to John chapter 3
you are born once from your mothers womb,
and born again when you trust Christ as your
savior. The very fact that Jesus uses the
analogy of being born again runs contrary to
Nazarene doctrine. Being born physically is
something that cannot be undone, just as
being born again spiritually is something
that cannot be undone.
John 3:3 "Jesus answered and said
unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God."
Heb. 10:14 "For by one offering he
hath perfected for ever them that are
sanctified."
Jude 1:24 "Now unto him that is able
to keep you from falling, and to present you
faultless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy,"
Heb. 7:25-27 "Wherefore he is able
also to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to
make intercession for them. For such an high
priest became us, who is holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens; Who needeth not
daily, as those high priests, to offer up
sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then
for the people's: for this he did once, when
he offered up himself."
When you trust Christ, the Bible says
that an incorruptible inheritance is
reserved for you in heaven.
I Pet. 1:4 "To an inheritance
incorruptible, and undefiled, and that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven
for you,"
Rom. 8:33-39
"Who shall lay any thing to the charge of
God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that
died, yea rather, that is risen again, who
is even at the right hand of God, who also
maketh intercession for us. Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to
come, 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."
Perhaps the question could be asked, "if
nobody can lose salvation, how come we see
so many Bible-believing church goers fall
into sin and stop following the Bible?" The
answer to this question is that such
"believers" were never saved in the first
place.
I John 2:19 "They went out from us,
but they were not of us; for if they had
been of us, they would no doubt have
continued with us: but they went out, that
they might be made manifest that they were
not all of us."
Matt. 7:20-23 "Wherefore by their
fruits ye shall know them. 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. 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?
And then will I profess unto them, I never
knew you: depart from me, ye that work
iniquity."
Does this mean that a person who is saved
does not sin at all? No, Christians sin all
the time yet the Bible never says a person
can lose their salvation because of it--the
sin of a saved person only affects that person's
relationship with God.
I John 1:5-10 "This then is the
message which we have heard of him, and
declare unto you, that God is light, and in
him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with him,
and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the
truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is
in the light, we have fellowship one with
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his
Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say
that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us. If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. If we say that we have not
sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is
not in us.
Psalm 66:18 "If I regard iniquity in my
heart, the Lord will not hear me"
To clarify, we can learn three things
from the verses above: (1) Once you get
saved you are always saved. (2) A person who
falls into a continual lifestyle of gross
sin can be labeled not as someone who lost
salvation but as someone who was never saved
in the first place. (3) Although it does not
affect salvation, sin ruins a Christian's
relationship with God.
Above all, to
believe that by doing bad works salvation is
lost is to believe that works is a part of
salvation--which is completely contrary to
what the Bible teaches.
Eph. 2:8-9 "For by grace are
ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast."
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