Can
anyone know with certainty that they are going to heaven when they die? Is it possible to be 100% certain, beyond
the shadow of any doubt, that no matter what happens to you in the future, you
are going to heaven when you die? If you can lose your salvation-even
theoretically-then the answer must be no. You can hope for heaven, you can
believe in heaven, you can do your best to get there, but in the end you can
never be 100% sure.
This
brings up the question of 'eternal security', or more simply stated, "Can
I lose my Salvation?" In order to
answer this controversial question, let's first look at five pillars of truth
that God makes clear to us through His Word.
Psalm
50:23 (NASB)
23…I shall show the salvation of God.”
Isaiah
52:10 (NASB)
10…The salvation of our God.
Jonah 2:9
(NASB)
9…Salvation is from the LORD.”
Luke 3:6
(NASB)
6 And all flesh will see the
salvation of God.’”
Acts 28:28
(NASB)
28“Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation
of God has been sent to the Gentiles…”
Philippians
1:28 (NASB)
28…salvation for you, and that too, from God.
Revelation
19:1 (NASB)
1…“Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to
our God;
This
shows us that Salvation is a divine work of God. All three persons of the Holy Trinity combine to procure
Salvation: God ordained it, the Son purchased it, and the Holy Spirit applies
it. We are chosen by God (Acts 10:41,
Eph 1:4, Col 3:12, 2 Thes 2:13, Titus 1:1), called by the spirit (Acts 13:2,
Eph 4:4), and saved by the blood of Jesus Christ (Rom 5:9). Many Christians believe that, although
salvation is of the Lord, they have a part to play as well. They seem to think
that salvation is 99% of God and maybe 1% dependent on what they do. It is not
so. Even the power to choose the Lord
must come from the Holy Spirit. Our salvation is God's gracious gift, which we
receive through faith. It's not that God has done the hard part and we must do
the easy part, it's that God has done every part and enabled us to receive what
he has graciously given (Eph 2:8-9)
Philippians 1:6
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who
began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Paul
has no doubt that the "good work" of salvation, which God has begun
in us, will be completed until the day of Jesus Christ. This makes sense when you understand that
salvation is God's work from start to finish.
We often leave things undone, but when God determines to save a person,
he saves them, period.
1 Corinthians 1:8-9
who (Jesus) will also confirm you to the end,
blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom
you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul
does not say Jesus will confirm you until you decide not to believe, or until
you sin too much, but he says “till the end”.
Consider
the "Golden Chain" of salvation in Romans:
Romans 8:29-30
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to
become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn
among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these
whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also
glorified.
Paul
expresses the five links like this: foreknown, predestined, called, justified,
and glorified. The first two refer to
God's decision to save those who trust in Christ, the second two terms refer to
God's activity in actually saving those whom he has chosen. But the last
phrase, "glorified", refers to what happens when God's children
finally get to heaven. Notice that Paul
expresses this truth about our future glorification in the past tense? Paul says it in the past tense because it is
so certain of fulfillment that it is as if it had already happened. Since God lives outside time and space, the
past, present, and future to Him are all the same. So we may be sure of our
salvation because when God starts to save someone, he doesn't give up halfway
through the process. He saves them completely and eternally.
Sometimes
we use the term "eternal life" to refer only to that which happens to
us after we die. We think this life and eternal life never overlap. But the biblical
concept is quite different. In the Bible "eternal life" is nothing
more or less than the life of God himself. Because he is eternal, the life he
gives is eternal. And that life begins the moment a person believes. According
to Jesus' own words, a believer "has" as a present possession eternal
life.
John 3:36
He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he
who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on
him.
He
has crossed over from death to life.
John 5:24
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word,
and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into
judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
He
cannot perish.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal
life.
No
one can snatch a believer from the hand of Christ.
John 10:27-29
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they
follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no
one will snatch them out of My hand. My
Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to
snatch them out of the Father's hand.
If
we were once truly saved, then we were one of His sheep. If we could “fall away”, then we would
perish. But Jesus says they will “never
perish”, so how could that be?
Jesus
has already perfected us.
Hebrews 10:14
For by one offering He has perfected for all time
those who are sanctified.
Note
the past tense of "has perfected".
How long will our perfection last?
Jesus
offers us living bread and water, and whoever eats and drinks of it will live
forever, and will never thirst again.
John 6:51
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If
anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which
I will give for the life of the world.
John 4:13-14
Jesus answered and said to her, Everyone who drinks
of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will
give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in
him a well of water springing up to eternal life.
If
a person were able to lose his salvation, would he not thirst again?
John 14:16-17
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another
Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the
world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him
because He abides with you and will be in you.
Jesus
said the Spirit of truth abides in Christians, and the He will be with us
forever. If we believe we could lose
our salvation, the Spirit would no longer be in us, and we are calling Jesus a
liar. We know that "forever"
begins here on earth (not after death) because "now" is when the
Spirit abides in us.
God
clearly says that the Holy Spirit "seals" us at the time of salvation
as a pledge of our inheritance.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22
Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and
anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as
a pledge.
Ephesians 1:13-14
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of
truth, the gospel of your salvation -- having also believed, you were sealed in
Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our
inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the
praise of His glory.
Ephesians 4:30
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you
were sealed for the day of redemption.
2 Timothy 2:19
Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands,
having this seal, The Lord knows those who are His, and, Everyone who names the
name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.
Paul
used the word "sealed" (and "having this seal") in it's
past tense in 4 different verses so that it is perfectly clear that the sealing
has already taken place in Christians.
This sealing does not take place at the time of our death (which would
be a future tense), but at the time of salvation.
Do
you think God is likely to break a pledge or a promise? My God can break neither.
It
could not be much plainer that we have security in our salvation as true
believers. If eternal life begins the moment you believe (John 3:36, 5:24) and
if it's truly eternal, then how can you lose it? If you lose it, it's not
really eternal, but temporary.
Some
ask if it's possible for a believer to take himself out of God's grace. At
first thought, the answer would seem to be yes. You believed, so certainly you
could "unbelieve" if you wanted to.
Some seem to have recanted their Christianity and returned to their
former beliefs or gone back into the world and followed the path of sinful
excess. Would God continue to save such
a person? First, in the great majority
of these cases we may say with assurance that such persons were never true
believers in the first place. Their faith was the profession of a religious
person, not the saving faith the Bible talks about. They professed what they did not possess.
1 John 2:19
They went out from us, but they were not really of
us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went
out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.
If
a person truly understands God's salvation by his grace, is it possible that he
could choose to reject God, and choose Hell over Heaven. I do not believe any true believer could or
would make that decision. Second, in
the remaining minority of cases we may simply reply that God saves whom he desires
to save. There may well be some people in heaven who truly believed but later
turned away from God's plan for his life, but were saved as a demonstration of
the depth of God's amazing grace. How do I know that?
John 6:37-40
37“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and
the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. 38“For I have come down
from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39“This is
the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing,
but raise it up on the last day. 40“For this is the will of My Father, that
everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I
Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
It
is the will of God that Jesus lose nothing the Father has given Him. If some of us “fall away”, then is God
powerless to fulfill His will, or does He choose not to fulfill it. Why would an all powerful God choose not to
fulfill His will?
Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 11:29
for the gifts and the calling of God are
irrevocable.
2 Corinthians 5:5
Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is
God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
2 Timothy 1:12
For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am
not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able
to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.
Paul
says that nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in
Christ Jesus our Lord. We can't even separate ourselves from that saving love!
Are you part of God's creation? If the answer is yes, then even you cannot "unsave"
yourself. This is one of God's greatest truths relating to eternal security.
Peter
also describes an inheritance through Jesus Christ's resurrection.
1 Peter 1:3-5
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a
living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain
an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away,
reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith
for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Peter
calls our inheritance imperishable and reserved. Combine those 2 words together, and you have the definition of
eternal security.
John 3:3
Jesus answered and said to him, "Most
assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God."
When
Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, the Lord told him, "You must be born
again." The thought baffled Nicodemus who said, "A man can't enter
his mother's womb and be born again, can he?" No, he can't. Once born
physically, you can't be "unborn" physically. The same is true in the
spiritual realm. Once born spiritually, you can never be "unborn"
spiritually. The new birth can no more be reversed than a newborn baby can
somehow crawl back into the womb. It can't be done.
Are
you born again? Rejoice in this truth. By God's grace you are born again
forever and can never be "unborn."
Remember,
we are all saved in the end in spite of ourselves and not because of anything
we do. That's why your salvation doesn't rest on you, if it did you would never
go to heaven. And neither would I.
To
summarize:
·
God
has done everything necessary to make you eternally secure.
·
Eternal
security is the reason you can know you are going to heaven when you die.
Romans
8:1 says:
Therefore
there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Now
back to the original question. Can I
lose my salvation? The answer is simple: It depends on who saved you.
·
If
God saved you, you can't lose it because it depends on God.
·
If
you saved yourself, you can lose it because it depends on you.
Your
salvation is eternally secure if God did the saving. But if you think that
salvation is a cooperative venture between yourself and God-where you do a part
and he does a part-then you're in big trouble because anything you start, you
could mess up somewhere along the way. But if God started it, he'll also finish
it. It is impossible for a truly
regenerated person-i.e., a born-again Christian, one who has experienced God's
salvation-to ever lose his salvation. God has promised to save that person
forever and to take him to heaven when he dies. And God always keeps his
promises.
Teaching
that you can lose your salvation:
1.
Leads
to excessive introspection, frustration, fear and guilt.
2.
Strips
you of any assurance of your salvation.
3.
Leads
to fear at the moment of death.
4.
Tends
to produce legalistic faith.
5.
Takes
the focus off Christ and places it on your own performance.
6.
May
lead to despair and abandoning the faith altogether.
7.
May
tend to make you hypercritical of others whose faith you doubt.
8.
Keeps
you from growing because you think you need to get saved over and over and over
again. Christian life becomes an unstable roller coaster of up and down
experiences.
9.
Takes
the "Good News" out the gospel because you can't be sure about
anything.
By
the same token, the great benefits to teaching eternal security:
1.
Puts
the focus of salvation where it ought to be-on God and not on us.
2.
Provides
a basis for personal assurance.
3.
Gives
real hope in the moment of death.
4.
Gives
a reason why backsliders can return to the Lord.
5.
Gives
us proper motivation to pray for sinning believers.
6.
Builds
the Christian life upon love and gratitude-not doubt and fear.
7.
Should
produce a life of love, faith and obedience to God.
8.
Puts
the "Good News" back in the gospel.
9.
Points
us toward heaven and to our eternal rewards.
A salvation you could lose is not much of a salvation at all. You can't be sure you have it, and if you have it today, you can't be sure you'll have it tomorrow. And if you lose it, you can't be sure you'll get it again. And if you get it again, you can't be sure you'll keep it the next time. What kind of salvation is that? It's a man-centered salvation that makes heaven dependent on what you do. Remember what I said earlier. It all depends on who saves you. If you save yourself, or if you think salvation is a cooperative venture between you and God, then you can certainly lose it. Anything you do for yourself, you can lose for yourself. But if God saves you, you are saved forever because it depends on him and not on you. What God does, he does forever.