What The Bible Says About "Once Saved/Always Saved"

By Pastor Bill Taylor

A publication of My Father's House, inc. Volume 4//Issue 1

Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. (Rom11:22) Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life. (1Tim6:12a) This verse was written by the apostle Paul to Timothy, his true son in the faith, (1Tim1:2a) indicating though Paul considered Timothy to be in the faith, he didn’t consider Timothy to have a permanent hold on Eternal Life! Rather Paul sees Eternal Life is a prize to be won by the believer who’ll fight the good fight of faith! Thus Paul advises Timothy to diligently pursue the Spiritual virtues of Christ (fruit of the Spirit – Gal 5:22-23) as indicated in: But you O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. (1Tim6:11) By so doing, Timothy will be able to Fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on Eternal Life. But Jesus says: “He who believes in the Son has Everlasting Life.” (Jn3:36a) How can it be that one who believes must still lay hold of that which John’s gospel says he already has? Our answer begins with understanding:

The scriptures can’t be broken. (Jn10:35) All scriptures are equally true and must doctrinally agree. Both Jn3:36 and 1Tim6:11-12a must be understood in a way they don’t contradict each other. To be correct our doctrine on Eternal Life must agree with every verse related to the subject. Heresy is caused by the misunderstanding of scriptures that haven’t been reconciled with other (even seemingly contradictory) scriptures. For example, Jesus confounds the Pharisees by asking them about Christ, “Whose Son is He?” (Mt22:42a) They answer “The Son of David.” (v42b) Jesus then asks, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him Lord?” (v43) quoting “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘sit at my right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool’” (Ps110:1) “If David then calls Him Lord how is He his Son?” (Mt22:45) Jesus thus proves the Christ must be more than a mere flesh and blood descendant of David. Because though being born of David, He’s also preceded David in greatness. This is what John the Baptist means in saying “After me comes a Man who’s preferred before me, for He was before me.” (Jn1:30) So Jesus by quoting a scripture which the Pharisees hadn’t reconciled with their messianic doctrine, proves their doctrine is wrong! They aren’t rightly dividing the word. (2Tim2:15b) And if their doctrine concerning the Messiah is in error, how could they recognize the Messiah when He comes? An erroneous doctrine will cause them to miss the true Christ and recieve an erroneous Christ! Exactly what Jesus prophesies: “I’ve come in My Father’s name and you don’t receive Me;  if another comes in his own name, him you’ll receive.” (Jn5:43)

So too we must rightly divide the scriptures concerning Eternal Life or we’ll miss out on Eternal Life! Consider how believers who know He who believes in Me, has Eternal Life! (Jn3:36) but who don’t consider  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on Eternal Life! (1Tim6:12) may come to the erroneous conclusion that once you begin to believe in Jesus your salvation can’t be lost. However, when both scriptures are recognized it proves there’s more to gaining Eternal Life than just an initial belief in Jesus! Certainly believing in Jesus gives access to Eternal Life, but even when one believes (Jn3:36) there’s still more to “lay hold” on. (1Tim6:12) Paul tells us there’s a fight of faith. And this fight must be won if we’re to lay hold on Eternal Life in the sense of immortality.

Now to “have faith” is the same as to “believe.” So when Jesus says, “He who believes in Me has Eternal Life!” it’s the same as saying “He who has faith in Me, has Eternal Life!” But Paul tells Timothy there’s a “fight of faith!” Timothy isn’t an unbeliever who needs to fight just to begin to believe. Timothy’s a preacher who’s believed in Christ for many years when Paul tells him to “fight the good fight of faith!” What Paul is teaching Timothy is the Eternal Life which is given to those who BEGIN to believe isn’t a permanent possession unless they CONTINUE to believe. Jesus says, “He who believes in Me has Eternal Life!” but He also says, “He who endures to the end shall be saved!” (Mt24:13) If you stop believing you’ll lose Eternal Life, therefore if you want to “lay hold on Eternal Life!” you must fight “the fight of faith” and keep believing all the way to the end!

Eternal Life is God’s Life! Eternal Life is God’s Spirit!  Eternal Life is God and Christ Himself. And this is Eternal Life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You’ve sent. (Jn17:3) And this is the testimony, that God has given us Eternal Life, and this life is in His Son.  He who has the Son has the life and he who doesn’t have the Son of God doesn’t have the life. (1Jn5:11-12) Also, It is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure! (Phil 2:13) Our God is called the LIVING GOD! We can’t separate Him from His life and His life is Eternal Life. As long as God is working in you, His Eternal Life is in you. And as long as you have a living faith, God and His Eternal Life will continue to work in you. His working in you is designed to prepare you for His Kingdom and for the coming of the Lord. But if you cease to have a living faith, God will cease to work in you. (Though He may work on you, trying to bring you to repentance.) But if He ceases His work in you, you no longer have Eternal Life in you! A living faith is your lifeline that keeps you attached to God. If your faith ceases, your connection to Christ and His Eternal Life is broken! Thus satan will use every means to destroy your faith, and you must overcome him by “fighting the good fight of faith.” Only by winning the fight of faith will you lay hold on Eternal Life permanently for eternity!

Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? (Gal 3:2) You’ve become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by the law; you’ve fallen from grace! (Gal 5:4) We’re saved by grace through faith! (Eph2:8) So to be fallen from grace is to be LOST, not saved! Paul is admonishing the Galatians that though they began in faith and in the beginning possessed God’s Life, by turning back to the law, they lost that Eternal Life. They let go of their faith! Now they’re LOST: fallen from grace! But if you were to ask the Galatians if they “believed” in Jesus, they’d answer, “Yes, we believe Jesus is the Son of God.” Yet now they’re “fallen from grace!” Once you’ve become a Christian, it’s no longer enough just to believe Jesus is the Son of God. FAITH must continue to DEPEND on Jesus for salvation, NOW, in the present, not just in the past. And the Galatians stopped “depending” on the Spirit of Christ for the present “working out” of their salvation! They were now depending on the law!

By turning to the law (or the flesh, or religious exercises and rituals) to work out their salvation instead of continuing in living faith and the Spirit, the Galatians fell from grace. Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? (Gal 3:3) The prize of permanent Eternal Life isn’t given to one who begins the race well, but to one who finishes well! Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize?  Run in such a way that you may obtain it! (1Cor9:24) To be eternally saved, you must not only begin in faith and the Spirit, you must continue to the end in a true living faith! Else you won’t lay hold on Eternal Life! As long as you’re in a living faith, you have Eternal Life, but like the Galatians, if your faith stops “working” you lose Eternal Life! For you have need of endurance, so that after you’ve done the will of God, you may receive the promise. (Heb10:36) Now the Just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back My soul has no pleasure in him. (v38) Fighting the good fight of faith means overcoming all the temptations and assaults of satan, the flesh, and the world, that would try to make you turn back from living by faith to living by the flesh. It’s not enough to “have believed” as the Galatians did, but you must “still believe” in such a way as to possess a living working faith. Faith without works is dead! (Jms2:20)

Paul asks, “Are you now being made perfect by the flesh!” (Gal 3:3) Christians are TO BE MADE PERFECT! Be ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect! (Mt5:48) However, this PERFECTION can only come by a faith that actually brings the Holy Spirit to live and work in you to will and to do of His good pleasure! (Phil 2:13) Thus it’s not enough to just believe that Jesus is the Son of God. That’s where your salvation begins. But to continue you must have faith for Jesus to work in you and to “reveal” Himself in you; His holiness, His consecration, His virtue, His Love, His patience, etc. Saving faith begins by giving Jesus His rightful place of authority in your heart, but it continues by believing for Him to work God’s will out in your life! And God’s will is that you be conformed to the image of God’s Son! (Rom8:29) Thus Paul admonishes Timothy to flee worldly lusts and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. (1Tim6:11) Because, these are things God wants to work in you to will and to do of His good pleasure!

You must have a living “working” faith in Christ if these virtues are to be growing in you and manifesting in you NOW! You must be praying in faith for Christlikeness; asking, seeking, obeying and following Jesus! And if Christ isn’t working these things in you then you’ve fallen from grace into a dead faith like the Galatians.  Who believe and have believed in Jesus as their Savior but no longer believe for Him to work His holiness into them in the PRESENT! Thus fighting the good fight of faith doesn’t just mean continuing to believe in certain facts about Jesus which you’ve accepted as true in the past, but it means to have such a faith that allows God to increasingly fill you with those spiritual fruits which are the evidences that Jesus is living in you RIGHT NOW! And if you stop God from working in you by your present unbelief, even though you still believe many previously learned truths about Jesus, you’re no longer “in the faith!” Your faith has become dead; a faith without works! (Jms2:20) Your faith has become a tombstone; a memorial faith, with its epitaphs being those things you remember about a Jesus who no longer lives in you! If such is the case, you’ve fallen from grace and lost hold of Eternal Life!

When we first believe in Jesus we get an initial hold on Eternal Life which will last as long as our faith is a living faith! If we’re wise, with the help of this impermanent hold on Eternal Life (which gives us access to the power of God to work in us), we can turn our initial faith into a permanent living faith! In so doing we’ll lay hold permanently on Eternal Life. (See our Glory of His Grace book “Eternal Living”) To do this we must make Jesus a permanent part of us. We must become crucified with Christ, so that I no longer live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith of the Son of God. (Gal 2:20) When the virtues, love, righteousness, grace, faith, and mind of Christ are a permanent part of us, then we’ll have irrevocably laid hold on Eternal Life! We find this also in the New Testament doctrine of REDEMPTION!

But of Him you’re in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness, sanctification and REDEMPTION!  (1Cor1:30) In Him we have REDEMPTION through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. (Eph1:7) Knowing you weren’t REDEEMED with corruptible things… but with the precious blood of Christ. (1Pt1:18,19) These verses indicate REDEMPTION is something the believer already has; it’s PAST TENSE! Even as Jn3:36 says the believer has Eternal Life. But what of the following? Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your REDEMPTION draws near! (Lk21:28) In whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who’s the guarantee of our inheritance until the REDEMPTION of the purchased possession. (Eph1:13-14) These verses show there’s yet a FUTURE redemption!  We have a redemption from our past sins by the blood of Jesus if we’re true believers, but there’s a redemption we don’t yet have! For We ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the REDEMPTION of our body!  (Rom8:23) Our final redemption from the body of sin and the struggle against the sinful flesh still lies in the future. Until that deliverance comes we must continue to fight the good fight and overcome the flesh; for our redemption now is partial and not complete! Nor will it be completed unless we WIN the battle against the sinful flesh! For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. (Gal 5:17)  I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you’ll not fulfill the lusts of the flesh! (v16)

There are some who interpret Jesus’ crying from the cross, “It is finished!” as meaning nothing remains to be done concerning salvation. But this is an oversimplification of Christ’s words as many other scriptures prove! The work of the Holy Spirit is by no means finished, for He’s still convicting sinners, teaching the saints, and glorifying Christ even as Jesus foretold in Jn16:7-14. In fact, when Jesus cried, “It is finished,” the Holy Spirit’s work in the new covenant church was just beginning. Neither is the work of the church finished!  Her apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, are still equipping the saints to edify the body until we all come to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ! (Eph4:13) Until every true believer has been brought to “perfection” this work must continue! Nor is the work of the Father finished, who said to Christ “sit at My right hand until I make your enemies your footstool!” (Ps110:1/Act2:34-35) The Father is still carrying on this important work!

Of course, there’s a work that is completed, and that’s the work of atonement. So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He’ll appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation! (Heb9:28) Jesus’ work as the “propitiation” to purge the sins of those who come to Him in repentance and true faith was completed when He offered Himself as our perfect sacrifice on the cross. It’s this He refers to when He cries out “It’s finished!” And how happy He must have been to have completed that terribly painful portion of His work! But the work of salvation won’t be completed until His second coming when He’ll appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation!  Even now Jesus continues to work sanctifying and cleansing His church with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish! (Eph5:26-27) Jesus’ work in washing the church is by no means “finished!” Also, He continues to work as our intercessor, who’s able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them! (Heb7:25) And when we say CHRIST REIGNS we are again indicating His work isn’t “finished,” for He must reign till He’s put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. (1Cor15:25-26) Until death is destroyed Jesus is still working and much isn’t yet “finished!” Jesus has “finished” redeeming our souls from sin, but He’s not yet redeemed our bodies. Now if our redemption isn’t complete our salvation isn’t complete! We’ve seen concerning Eternal Life, believers have a measure but not the fullness yet. So we’ve a redemption from sins repented of by faith in Jesus, but we’ve not been completely redeemed from the body of sin! (Rom6:6) Is the believer “SAVED?” Yes, but not yet in such a way as to be irrevocably, finally and completely SAVED! Does the believer have Eternal Life? Yes, but not in such a way as to have “laid hold” on Eternal Life or to have eaten from the “Tree of Life” To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the “Tree of Life!” (Rev2:7) When you’ve eaten from the “Tree of Life” you’ll never be mortal again. You’ll have become immortal with an Eternal Life you can never lose, but until then it’s possible to lose your hold on Eternal Life! Is the believer REDEEMED? Yes, redeemed from sins confessed and forsaken, but NOT yet redeemed from his fallen and mortal body!

 “The conversion of every sinner is the call of God to holiness!”  says Warren Wiersbe in Confident Living magazine. And he’s correct. But Many are called and few chosen! (Mt22:14) If conversion is a call, then that call must be properly answered for the believer to be chosen! We could never attain a final and complete salvation if God didn’t give us a measure of salvation to begin with! If we didn’t have redemption from our sins, what use would there be in trying to work our own salvation with fear and trembling? (Phil 2:12) If we were still carrying the burden of our sins, we could never work out our salvation. Thus God has mercifully gifted us with a partial redemption so we can be free to seek after the complete redemption. He’s given us a measure of Eternal Life so we can pursue the whole; an “earnest” of His Holy Spirit to lead us to the fullness! For to him who has more will be given. (Lk19:26) If we properly use what we’ve been given as Jesus teaches in the parable of the talents (Lk19:12-27) we’ll hear Jesus say, “You were faithful over a few things, I’ll make you ruler over many. Enter into the joy of your Lord!” (Mt25:21) But to him who has the gift of initial salvation, the gift of partial redemption, and the gift of the “earnest” of the Holy Spirit, but doesn’t use these gifts to acquire more… To him who doesn’t pursue holiness, fruitfulness, godliness and the increase of the Kingdom of God and His righteousness in himself and those around him, but rather buries his gifts as did the unprofitable servant, then even what he has shall be taken away! (Lk19:26)

SALVATION IS NOT A PROCESS IN WHICH TRUE BELIEVERS ARE STILL TRYING TO BE SAVED! WE ARE SAVED! BUT WE MUST STAY SAVED! Salvation is a gift which true believers receive “by faith not works.” But as long as we’re living in this world, we must use the gift, keep and increase it so when Christ our Lord appears He may “receive His own with interest!” We must continue in faith and obedience, growing in faith and going from glory to glory to REMAIN SAVED! Or we’ll lose what we have! For to him who has (and uses what he has) more will be given, but to him who has not (who acts as though he doesn’t have by failing to use what he has) even what he has will be taken away! (Lk19:26) But if we remain faithful in following Christ, there’s a “final redemption” that completes our salvation, where the battle is over and we’ll be IRREVOCABLY ETERNALLY SAVED!  At that time we’ll enter into an ETERNAL VICTORY that will never again be challenged by any enemy! Today we win battles, at that time we’ll have WON THE WAR!

Yes, WE’RE SAVED!  But we’re not irrevocably saved! We haven’t yet arrived at the place of ETERNAL SECURITY! We must yet fight the good fight of faith to hold on to what we have and “lay hold” on more! We go from faith to faith (Rom1:17) and from glory to glory! (2Cor3:18) If we weren’t “saved” we could make no progress. But if we don’t progress we’ll lose what we have. The path of the just is like a shining sun that shineth (more and more) ever brighter unto the perfect day! (Pr4:18) If you aren’t increasing, your’s isn’t the path of the just (justified)! Justification is a free gift. Being justified freely by His grace. (Rom3:24) And we know it’s not by deeds of the law (3:28) or what’s commonly referred to as “works.” Yet, there are those who wrongly teach because justification is a gift it can’t be lost. Their line of reasoning is that being a “gift” recieving it doesn’t depend upon anything we do, therefore it can’t be lost because of anything we do. To these modern Pharisees, whether we obey God or not is of no consequence! As long as we “believe” they claim “we’re sons of Abraham by faith!” This reasoning is very faulty. John the Baptist warned the “sons of Abraham” to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance… for God is able to raise up children of Abraham from these stones! (Mt3:8-9) Jesus accuses such of making the Word of God of no effect through your tradition. (Mk7:13)

From beginning to end, the Bible shows obedience is expected from every believer! In Genesis God forbids man to eat of the tree of “death!” (Gen2:17) In Revelation He ends with the apostle John saying “blessed are they that do (obey) His commandments, that they may have the right to eat of the Tree of Life!” (Rev22:14) Jesus admonishes “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and don’t do the things which I say?” (Lk6:46) The house of one who “believes” but doesn’t DO CHRIST’S WORDS will be washed away! (v49) He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me! (Jn14:21) Disobedience is equated with unbelief in many scriptures. And to whom did He swear they wouldn’t enter His rest, but to those who didn’t obey. So we see they couldn’t enter in because of unbelief! (Heb3:18-19) Therefore when modern scribes and Pharisees interpret faith as something other than “trusting and obeying” and try to interpret “obedience” as a “work” they do greatly err. “For God desires obedience (faith) and not sacrifice (works)” is confirmed in the New Testament as well as the Old! (see Heb10:5-9;1Sam15:22) 

Don’t you know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you’re that one’s servant whom you obey, whether of sin to death or obedience to righteousness? (Rom6:16) Unless you obey Christ you aren’t His servant! Even the Pharisees of today would have to agree the gift of justification isn’t given without faith and obedience, for the Lord now commands all men everywhere to repent! (Act17:30) If it’s a “work” to obey and “repent” then we wouldn’t need to repent to be saved? HOW INSANE! If men don’t “believe and obey” the command to repent they’ll not be saved! So to be justified you must have faith, but you must begin with an act of obedience! Repent, and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. (Act2:38) Then those who gladly received his word (those who obeyed the command given by the Holy Spirit through Peter) were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. (v41) Only those who obeyed were saved. Those who didn’t OBEY were by no means justified! For we’ve become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end! (Heb3:14) The beginning of our confidence was a faith that OBEYED, and REPENTED, and was BAPTIZED! As long as we continue in that kind of OBEDIENT faith we’ll remain partakers of Christ and in the future enter His Eternal Kingdom. For we were saved (past tense) in this hope (of a future participation with Christ) in the redemption of our bodies. (Rom8:24a, 23b) For I’ll not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hasn’t accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the gentiles OBEDIENT. (Rom15:18) 

Thank God when a Christian stumbles, he can repent, be forgiven and be cleansed from all unrighteousness. (1Jn1:9) But to believe we can sin recklessly, with impunity and remain justified by Christ is utter foolishness! Little children, let no one deceive you…  He who sins is of the devil. (1Jn3:7,8) For if we sin willfully after we’ve received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. (Heb10:26) To sin accidentally, or because you’re trying to do right but haven’t yet overcome the tricks of the enemy, is forgivable. If you repent of such sins Christ’s blood will be a propitiation for you! But if you think you can disobey Him knowingly and willfully and yet be justified by His blood, you’re in great error and are heading for eternal damnation!

In Mt25:14-30 Jesus shares a parable about “talents” given to his servants. In Lk19:12-27 He tells a similar parable that includes some comments about a rebellious citizenry! (v14) In combining these two passages we see three classes of people: 1.) The rebellious citizens, 2.) The profitable servants, and 3.) The wicked and unprofitable servant. The rebellious who won’t obey Him, we can class as outright unbelievers and they’ll all be destroyed. (Lk19:27) The servants of course are “believers,” who each receive at least one gift or talent! (Lk19:13) The first gift Jesus gives a believer must be “justification!” (Perhaps the first gift is faith but it certainly must be a justifying faith!) But to the believer who didn’t use his free gift (of justification) to bear fruit and bring an increase for his master, even what he had was taken away. (Mt25:28, Lk19:24) And that “wicked servant” (Mt25:26;19:22) who buried his gift and didn’t increase it was cast into outer darkness just like an unbeliever! We’ve already seen  the gift of justification won’t excuse “willful” sin. (Heb10:26-27) But here we see, also receiving the gift won’t excuse the sin of wasting the gift! By His blood Jesus has given us justification and forgiveness of past sins for the purpose that we may pursue holiness, godliness, faith, love, etc. He gave us the gift so we could receive of and learn to walk in His Spirit and so we’d increase in the Godly virtues and bear more and more fruit to glorify God! But if you bury the gift, continue in a selfish worldly life and don’t increase in holiness or godliness, then you trample the Son of God underfoot, count the blood of the covenant by which you were sanctified a common thing, and insult the Spirit of grace! (Heb10:29) These and many other scriptures indicate God’s gifts aren’t UNCONDITIONAL, but can be lost through misuse! Those who teach differently, like the scribes and Pharisees of old, may be experts in their man made doctrines (Mt15:9) but are ignorant of the scriptural truths!

Your initial conversion is your answer to God’s call to repent from sin and be made holy by faith in Christ! But you must be made holy! Without holiness, no one will see the Lord! (Heb12:14) You’ll not be made Holy by works, but by “pursuing righteousness, godliness, faith, love, etc.” (1Tim6:11) And you must pursue these things by faith and following after the Word and the Spirit with Christ! Your conversion (salvation) must now be worked out (Phil 2:12) in acquiring more righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. (1Tim6:11) Which are manifest evidences of Christ in you, the hope of glory! (Col 1:27) Again we can see this in the doctrines of ELECTION!

Jesus talks of the gathering together of His ELECT in the day of His coming. (Mt24:31) These elect are the truly “SAVED!” They aren’t those who are “called only” as in the parable of the Marriage Supper where the people who don’t answer the call are destroyed (Mt22:7,12-13) but these are the “called and chosen!” For many are called but few are chosen! (Mt22:14) To be “chosen” one has to behave correctly after being “called!” The call itself is a gift of God! And what’s being offered to the called, Eternal Salvation, is also a free gift of God! But your response to the call determines whether you’ll be chosen to enter into the joy of your Lord or be destroyed with the hypocrites! 

If God gives a free meal but also sets a condition upon it, for example that you must come in appropriate dress, then only those who come dressed correctly will eat of the meal. Those who don’t come won’t eat. (Lk14:24) And those who come dressed inappropriately will be cast out! (Mt22:12,13) Are you then “SAVED” by coming when God calls? Not unless you dress appropriately! Are you “SAVED” by coming and dressing appropriately? Yes! But have you “earned” salvation by coming and dressing appropriately? No! It’s still a free gift, but the gift has “conditions!” Conditions aren’t “works!” Salvation is a gift. You can’t earn it! Only the precious blood of Jesus could pay the price for your soul’s redemption! You could never pay it! But salvation does have conditions! And you must meet the conditions to receive the gift of salvation! Aren’t there restaurants in every city that require appropriate dress? And don’t these restaurants offer “invitations” by advertising? But just because you respond to their invitation (call) and dress properly won’t get you a free meal. They’ll still charge you for what you eat though of course, you wouldn’t be served if you didn’t come. And if you didn’t dress right you wouldn’t be admitted! Still, even if you meet their conditions they expect you to pay! But there are some today who wickedly teach salvation by “grace not works” in such a way as to consider dressing as God requires to be a “work” and therefore insignificant to salvation by grace! Such foolish doctrines make the Word of God of no effect! God has the right to set appropriate conditions on His gift of salvation! Don’t most mothers expect their children to wash before they come to dinner? And if they wash have they earned dinner? No! Father has traditionally “earned the dinner” and mother has prepared it, but the children have to meet the conditions of cleanliness before they’ll be allowed to eat! So also, God has a right to expect His children to wash before they come to the table. There’s the washing of repentance in the blood of Jesus before one can even enter the household of God. But there’s also the washing in the water of the Word (Eph5:26) which must precede the bride’s presentation to Christ! This washing prepares us for the marriage supper by producing holy behavior in the believer!

God has righteously placed conditions on many of His promises. A student to help pay his tuition may apply for a scholarship, but to be eligible he must meet conditions required for the scholarship. It’s right for those offering the scholarship to expect any applicant to show evidences of character and scholastic abilities as would guarantee their financial gift wouldn’t be wasted. Those providing the tuition assistance have a right to know any student they’re helping will likely become a useful citizen and a credit to the giver of the gift! Still if the applicant successfully meets the conditions for the scholarship, he hasn’t earned the scholarship! He’s merely proven himself to be eligible! The scholarship is still a gift and often many eligible students are rejected simply because there are more applicants than scholarships. So again, meeting a condition doesn’t mean you’ve “earned” the gift.

God must set conditions upon His gifts such as would guarantee those coming to Him possess a true faith. And meeting God’s conditions is a necessary evidence of your faith! It doesn’t “earn” you anything. It’s Christ’s blood that’s “earned” your salvation! But meeting the conditions of faith and obedience make you eligible (worthy) to receive the gift! (2Th1:5) Interpreting the conditions God places on His gifts as “works” is a demonic deception intended to make the Word of God of no effect as it pertains to obedience and render “believers” ineligible for salvation even while deceiving them into thinking they’re already “saved!” Further, the error of those who believe righteous behavior to be a “work” is compounded, since they fail to understand that in the true believer, even his obedience to God, in responding, obeying and meeting the conditions God sets upon “salvation” is still “by grace through faith!” God has promised to Put My Spirit within you and CAUSE you to walk in My statutes! (Ezek36:27) So the evidence His Spirit is in you is your walking in His statutes! The Holy Spirit is the empowerment of God in us; He’s the Enabler, Comforter, Helper; the Paraclete, who gives us by His strengths and virtues, the ability to do the will of God! For it’s God who works in you to will and to do of His good pleasure! (Phil 2:13) Therefore, even the “works” of the true believer are the works of Christ in him! 

Are you saved by your works? NO! But can you be saved without Christ’s works? Absolutely not! You’re saved by Christ’s work on the cross and His continual working in you through His Spirit! And the work of the Holy Spirit in you is received, begins and continues by faith! Paul teaches our perfection comes by the Spirit not the flesh! Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? (Gal 3:3) Perfection is required, for Jesus says “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect!” (Mt5:48) And Paul isn’t decrying the Galatian’s efforts to become perfected, but their methods. They’ve forgotten true Christian behavior is the effectual working out of the indwelling Holy Spirit, The fruit of the Spirit, in the believer! They’re trying to utilize Judaic rituals, religious exercises and carnal efforts, instead of faith in their pursuit of holiness! That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Gal 3:14b) Paul’s admonition to all such is “You’ve fallen from grace!” (Gal 5:4) If you attempt to be perfected by the works of the law or the flesh, you cast off the faith by which you were justified! In which case you’ll lose your salvation! The Bible teaches we’re to be justified by faith and we’re also to continue unto perfection by faith! In the lesson of “The marriage supper!” The Lord says to one who wasn’t a rebellious unbeliever, (who didn’t make excuses refusing to come, but did come to the supper) “How did you come in here without a wedding garment?” (Mt22:12) There are some who teach our “robe of righteousness” is an “imputed righteousness” which doesn’t depend on our behavior. It’s true that in our initial justification God counts us righteous and forgives us on the condition of our repentance and faith in Christ! If He didn’t do this we could never come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and grace to help! (Heb4:16) God gives us a gift of righteousness to get us started. (Rom5:17) Without the gift of Christ’s righteousness we couldn’t receive His help or the help of the Holy Spirit. We couldn’t grow or advance in the things of God. But the fact that God counts us righteous by Christ’s righteousness doesn’t mean He doesn’t expect us also to advance in actual righteous behavior. In fact, Jesus, in His Sermon on the Mount, teaches “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you’ll by no means enter the Kingdom of heaven!” (Mt5:20) Then in describing examples of this “righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes” Jesus speaks entirely of EXTERNAL RIGHTEOUS BEHAVIOR based upon an internal righteous heart! Jesus goes on to say “only he who DOES the will of My Father... shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Mt7:21) A gift of righteousness that doesn’t result in actual righteous behavior therefore won’t save you! God gives His righteousness to the believer in the expectation that the true believer will continue to use his faith to appropriate more and more of the exceedingly great and precious promises that through these we may become partakers of the divine nature! (2Pt1:4) Having received the gift of righteousness you’re to use it to come boldly to the throne of grace (Heb4:16) to ask for and receive more and more of the Holy Spirit so He may work in you to will and to do of God’s good pleasure until you become blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ! (1Th3:13) You’re to make yourself ready and be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for fine linen is the righteous acts (behavior) of the saints! (Rev19:7-8) So the improperly dressed guest at the marriage supper is cast into outer darkness (Mt22:13) because he didn’t take hold of God’s gift of righteousness. So he had no “robe of righteousness” – the righteous acts of the saints, no wedding garment. (v12)

Jesus gives us justification, the forgiveness of sins, not so we may remain carnal and sinful in behavior but so we may become holy in heart and deed! Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it…that He might present it to Himself a glorious church...Holy and without blemish! (Eph5:25,27) Christ didn’t GIVE HIMSELF, justifying you by His blood, just so you could be “saved,” but so you could become a Glorious Church! If you don’t become holy it won’t be because of your past sins, which have been forgiven, that you’ll be “cast into outer darkness” but because you’ve “buried the talent” and wasted the gift of Christ’s righteousness. You were forgiven but you brought forth no increase. You were washed in the blood, but like a sow you returned to the mire! (2Pt2:22b) The sin God condemns you for isn’t your past sin but the new and greater sin of wasting your justification by bringing forth no increase in holiness! In doing this, you count the blood of the covenant by which you were sanctified, a common thing, and insult the Spirit of Grace! (Heb10:29) To grow in righteous behavior is required of the believer! He’s to put on the new man!(Eph4:24) The seed of righteousness which God has planted “inside” you must grow and yield fruit and manifest “outside” in holy behavior and good deeds or, in the end, you’ll be accounted a “wicked and unprofitable servant” and given your portion with the hypocrites! (Mt24:51;25:30)

Again growth in holiness, or putting on the new man, (Eph4:24) isn’t done by works of the flesh but by “grace through faith!” The true believer is utterly dependent upon the out working of the Holy Spirit in his life through faith! By repentance, prayer, obedience, by “asking, seeking, knocking,” by faithful attendance to the Word and the gatherings of God’s true people, by loving the Lord and seeking to glorify and please Him in all things; this is the behavior characteristic of the ELECT! The elect can’t be lost because They’re kept by the power of God through FAITH for salvation! (1Pt1:5) They can’t be lost because They know Jesus’ voice and they follow Him (Jn10:27) And they’ll by no means follow a stranger (v5) They can’t be deceived because they love the truth and they test all things and hold fast to that which is good! (1Th5:21)The Elect aren’t defined by their professing to be Christians but by the fact they behave as Christians! They behave as Christ said his followers should behave! Anyone who calls this “salvation by works” is trying to make the Word of God of no effect! A living faith produces a Holy behavior! If a brother or sister is naked and destitute... and one of you says to them “depart in peace”... but you don’t give them the things which are needed... what does it profit! Thus also faith by itself, if it doesn’t have works is dead! (Jms2:15-17) But pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble (helping them with their necessities) and to keep oneself unspotted from the world! (Jms1:27) True religion expresses itself in external actions, good works and righteous behavior flowing out of an internal faith and love!

By this all will know that you’re My disciples if you have love for one another! (Jn13:35) This certainly indicates a love that’s demonstrated in behavior, and not just an internal “invisible” love, else all couldn’t see it and thereby recognize who Jesus’ disciples are! In every place the scriptures infallibly teach true Christians are characterized by HOLY BEHAVIOR, and not by a mere profession of belief in Jesus! Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience. (1Pt1:2a) Peter refers to the disciples as ELECT because he sees the Spirit working in them to make them Holy, sanctified and obedient! But is their election absolutely certain? To God, who knows all things and who knows who are really His, it is! For the Lord knows who are His and let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity! (2Tim2:19b) But to us there are still conditions to be met, scriptures we must yet fulfill! For we’ve become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end! (Heb3:14) Peter says, “Therefore brethren, be even more diligent TO MAKE your calling and ELECTION sure.” (2Pt1:10) For the fact we now appear to be among God’s Elect, doesn’t guarantee we’ll be there in the end, unless we make every effort to be found by Him blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ! (lTh3:13)

To be SAVED and counted as the ELECT in that day we must be found among the “wise virgins,” prepared for his coming. (Mt25:1-13) We must be accounted a “profitable servant” who’s increased Christ’s investment in us! (v14-30) We must be the faithful stewards who give the brethren their meat in due season! (Mt24:45) We must be the sheep who won’t follow the stranger. (Jn10:5) We must be the fruitful branch abiding in the Vine! (Jn15:4) We must be those who’ve dug deep and built our house upon the rock of doing Christ’s words! (Lk6:47,48) We must be those who’ve done good to the least of these My brethren! (Mt25:31-46) We must be those who never deny Him by word or works! (Lk12:9/Tit1:16) We must be the Son’s of God who walk in the Spirit and have put on the new man! (Rom8:14/Col 3:9-10) We must be those who’ve “overcome” sin and the flesh and the world and the devil! (lJn3:9,5:4;Gal 5:16,24; Rev2:7,11,17,26;3:5;3:12,21;12:11) We must be Holy for without holiness we can’t see God! (Heb12:14) We must be those who “keep the Word in a noble and good heart and bring forth fruit 30, 60, 100 fold!” (Lk8:15; Mt13:23) We must be those who love not the world or the things of the world! (1Jn2:15) We must be those who watch and pray; who put on the whole armor of God! (Mt26:41;Eph6:11-18) 

Peter says we must be those who giving all diligence, add to our faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self control, to self control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love!  For if these things are yours and abound you’ll neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ! (2Pt1:5-8) The way to make your calling and ELECTION sure is to pursue Jesus with all your heart. It’s to learn by faith to walk in the Spirit; to think, to feel and to BEHAVE like Jesus! For if you do these things you’ll never stumble. (v10b) This is ETERNAL SECURITY! It isn’t unconditional! It isn’t “once saved/always saved” in any sense that doesn’t depend upon your continuing to grow in faith and holiness! It does offer a wonderful SECURITY to everyone who’ll continue to pursue the virtues of Christ by faith! For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! (v11)

Jesus warned us there’d be false prophets pretending to be Christians but failing to bring forth the fruit of Godly behavior! (Mt7:15-17) He says “Take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall come in My Name... and shall deceive many!” (Mt24:4-5) Peter says “There’ll be false teachers among you, who privily bring in damnable heresies.” (2Pt2:1) Paul warns there’ll be another gospel which isn’t the Gospel! (2Cor11:4/Gal 1:6-9) That in these last days Some shall depart from the (true) faith. (1Tim4:1) He says “The time will come when they won’t endure sound doctrine… but they’ll heap up to themselves false teachers, having itching ears, and they’ll turn away from the truth to falsehoods!” (2Tim4:3-4) That time is now! Not just a few, but “heaps” of false teachers have come professing another gospel which excuses sin but doesn’t make the “believer” holy! It salves the conscience with lies, telling itching ears they can’t be lost, while they go on in a worldly unChristlike lifestyle! God warns us: “I’ll make you pass under the rod (of judgment) and I’ll bring you into the bond of the covenant: I’LL PURGE THE REBELS FROM AMONG YOU, AND THOSE WHO TRANSGRESS AGAINST ME: I’LL BRING THEM OUT OF THE COUNTRY WHERE THEY SOJOURN BUT THEY’LL NOT ENTER THE LAND OF ISRAEL.” (Ezek 20:37,38) Paul says, “Our fathers were…all baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that Spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God wasn’t well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness... Now these things became our examples... Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall!” (1Cor10:1-6,12) God wasn’t well pleased because although they came out of Egypt, they didn’t have the faith to forsake sin and enter into the holy land! And likewise a believer today can come out of the godless world into the visible church but not have the faith to enter into the Holy Life of Christ! They CAME OUT but they didn’t GO IN!

Now the just (justified means “saved”) shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him! (Heb10:38) Without faith it’s impossible to please God. (Heb11:6) And the one who COMES OUT from the world but doesn’t have the faith to ENTER IN to the Holy Life of Christ gives God no pleasure but will be PURGED from among the true believers! So beware brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God… For we’ve become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end... Now with who was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear they wouldn’t enter His rest, but to those WHO DID NOT OBEY? (Heb3:12-18) Likewise Jude tells us “I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord having SAVED the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward DESTROYED those who didn’t believe!” (Jude5) They were “SAVED” but they were DESTROYED! And these are lessons to cause every believer who Thinks he stands to take heed lest he fall! (1Cor10:12) Those who believe in the doctrine of unconditional eternal security or “once saved/always saved” try to twist the scriptures (2Pt3:16) to support their erroneous position, but they don’t rightly divide the word and they ignore the many scriptures contradicting their false doctrines. So you may know the truth beyond any shadow of doubt we include the following:

Scriptures Proving “ONCE SAVED/ALWAYS SAVED”

IS NOT A TRUE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE!

Before continuing ask the Lord for wisdom, and patience; to read attentively, take the time to look up the scriptures indicated, and pursue the points made here carefully... The Spirit of Truth doesn’t work with people who are in a hurry! Those who trust in the Lord shall not make haste! (Is28:16) People who read in a distracted state of mind don’t hear God – God’s truth goes over their heads with no spiritual impact! Remember the object of reading God’s Word isn’t to finish but to learn! You aren’t finished when you’ve read the words. You’re only finished when you’ve truly understood what the words mean! CHILDREN OF GOD, DON’T GULP YOUR FOOD! CHEW IT WELL! Don’t be too impatient to reread any passages that seem unclear and be prayerful throughout! The fruit of the Spirit is... PATIENCE! (Gal 5:22) Please read the underlined scriptures carefully before proceeding to the comments!

Mt7:21-27 These verses indicate that salvation depends upon doing God’s will (v21), living Holy lives (v23) and obeying or doing Jesus’ words. (v24-27) All these things must continue to be done and therefore salvation can’t depend on one or just a few initial acts of faith and obedience, but rather on continuing to have faith to obey.

Mt13:1-23 Lk21:34 This corresponds to Jn15 in that those who don’t keep the Word are unfruitful! Jn15:2&6 says the unfruitful will be cut off and burned. Mt13:20 describes one who hears the word and receives it WITH JOY (he certainly believes if he receives it with joy) but falls away in time of testing! (v21) Verse 22 talks of those who hear the Word but are overcome with worldly lusts and cares and don’t live a Spiritual life! (As Jesus warns in Lk21:34) In all these cases it’s not enough to merely believe but your faith must produce fruit.

Mt21:43 Rom11:29 Some try to teach that Rom11:29, “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance” means you can’t lose your salvation, but in Mt21:43 Jesus teaches that God won’t “repent” of giving the gift, but will take it away from the unworthy and give it to one who’s worthy. (This is the true meaning of Rom11:29 also.)

Mt24:44-51 The evil servant isn’t an “unbeliever,” but a misbehaver. He does believe the master is coming, he just doesn’t believe the Master is coming soon so he feels free to behave irresponsibly and therefore loses his salvation.

Mt25:1-13 Rom8:14 1Jn3:1-3 The foolish virgins aren’t unbelievers; they went out to meet the bridegroom (v1) but they didn’t properly prepare and weren’t ready when he came, therefore they lost their salvation. Preparing for the coming of the Lord is to be filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit and walk in the light of the Spirit; being “led by the Spirit!” (Rom8:14) It also means “purifying” yourself to be like Jesus. (see 1Jn3:3) To be “Just as He is pure” means true “perfection:” Jesus is perfectly pure!

Lk9:62 17:32 Looking back, backsliding or going back to the world makes you unworthy of the Kingdom of God, i.e. causes you to lose your salvation, at least until you truly repent! Remember Lot’s wife!

Lk21:34-36 Jn15:14,15 Jms4:4 If you can’t lose your salvation there’d be no need to “take heed” (Lk21:34) or “watch and pray” (v36) Most of the epistles and teachings in the New Testament are concerned with keeping you in the faith so you don’t fall into error and lose your salvation! Verse 34 warns believers of succumbing to worldly cares and behavior. (Remember Mt13:22) Jms4:4 says whoever becomes a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. James calls such adulterers! This means they were “married to God” (saved) but not faithful to God! So they’ll be lost if they don’t repent! God’s enemies aren’t saved; His friends are saved! (Jn15:14,15)

Jn10:27-29 Gal 5:24 1Jn3:6-10 Jn10:28,29 is often used to support the arguments of those who preach “once saved/always saved” but note these verses aren’t unconditional but follow “MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE... AND THEY FOLLOW ME!” (v27) If you hear Jesus’ voice and follow Him no one can snatch you away from Him! But if you don’t follow Him you aren’t one of His sheep. Note also Jn10:4 & 5: The sheep follow Him for they know His voice; they’ll by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him for they don’t know the voice of the stranger. Jesus defines His sheep not as those who make a mere profession of believing in Him, but as those who follow Him and refuse to follow sin. Gal 5:24: Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires! (that is Jesus’ sheep don’t follow the flesh!) 1Jn3:6-10: Whoever abides in Him doesn’t sin. (v6) Let no one deceive you, he who practices righteousness is righteous... He who sins is of the devil... (v7,8) In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest... (v10) “Once saved/always saved” people think they can continue to sin and still belong to Jesus just because they say He’s the Son of God. Jesus says, if you follow sin you’re NOT His!

Jn15:1-10 1Jn2:6 Abide in Christ or you’ll burn! (v6) Abide means not just to make an initial profession of faith, but to continue to obey! (vl0) 1Jn2:6 says if you ABIDE in Christ you’ll walk as Christ walks. If you stop walking as Christ walks then you’ve stopped abiding and are in danger of being burned. Jn15:2 says if you don’t bear fruit you’ll be cut off. (This explains the seriousness of Mt13:21&22) Verse 4 says you must abide in Christ to bear fruit. Thus if you stop abiding you become unfruitful and will be cut off! (v2) Notice “Every branch IN ME that doesn’t bear fruit...” Jesus isn’t talking about unbelievers, but “believers” who don’t bear fruit because they fall away from abiding in Him and are overtaken by worldly cares.

1Cor5:1-5 How can a man be cast out of the church, the body and bride of the Lord, and not be in danger of hellfire? “That he might be taken away from among you!” (v2) To be separated from the believers is a serious thing since it ultimately means eternal separation if it’s not rectified! Also if this sinner couldn’t be lost, there’d be no reason to take such drastic action as turning “him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so his spirit may be saved..” (v5) The implication is if his flesh isn’t quickly and powerfully dealt with he’ll end up in hell. Few churches today will do this so many sinful “believers” are being lost... Also, Paul’s prescription here shouldn’t be considered a sure guarantee of eventual salvation for such a sinner. Strong judgment of the flesh which is causing the man to sin is this sinner’s only chance to repent! Paul may be advising such treatment in “hopes” but not an absolute certainty of bringing the man back to Christ!

1Cor9:24-27 Verse 24 teaches not everyone who runs receives the prize; not everyone who wants to be “saved’ will make it but you must run in such a way as to succeed! That means disciplining the body and keeping the flesh under (v27) so the Spirit can control your life. This is similar to Jesus saying “deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me!” Paul doesn’t consider himself to be “irrevocably saved” but says even though He preaches the truth, if he doesn’t obey, behave, and keep his flesh under (v27/which means “crucified”) he’ll become a “castaway” himself!

1Cor10:1-12  Jude5 This passage shows coming out of Egypt (or the world) isn’t enough to get you to heaven. “They were all baptized... (v2) all ate the same Spiritual food” (v3/This equates to reading the Bible, attending the same church etc.) But most died in the wilderness (v5) because of disobedience, sin and unbelief! (v6-10) Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall! (v12) Here’s a clear Bible warning salvation can be lost through sin and disobedience! (compare Jude5)

2Cor6:14-18 7:1 The promise that we’ll be Sons of God (v18) is conditional upon our coming out from among the unbelievers (v14) and worldly, touching not the unclean things (v17) and perfecting holiness in the fear of God! (7:1)

Gal 3:2-4 4:11 The Galatians began in the Spirit (v2) which means they were saved! But Paul fears they’ve suffered in vain (v4) meaning they’ve lost their salvation or are in danger of losing it! “I’m afraid for you, lest I’ve labored for you in vain!” (Gal 4:11) Again indicates Paul’s fear they’ll be lost even though they were saved. If they couldn’t be lost, Paul would have nothing to fear!

Gal 5:4 Phil 2:13 “You’ve become estranged from Christ!” means you were united with Him but now have been separated by turning away from faith to works. Obviously, the Galatians still believe Jesus is the Son of God, but by returning to the law instead of faith they’ve stopped God from “Working in them, to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil 2:13) Rather they should be seeking and exercising faith to be led by the Spirit for growth in holiness! “You’ve fallen from grace!” (v4) is a profound PROOF salvation can be lost! For to be “fallen from grace” means you were “in grace” but are no longer. “We’re saved by grace through faith” (Eph2:8) so to be “fallen from grace” means to be fallen from salvation! These verses show that progress in holiness by faith is required to keep one in a state of grace and salvation!

Eph4:30 Is63:10 1Pt1:18 Lk21:28 Rom8:23 If being “sealed” for salvation by the Holy Spirit meant you can’t be lost, Paul wouldn’t warn us not to grieve the Holy Spirit! “Seals” can be broken. The “seal” on a letter is only a hindrance to prevent unauthorized entrance without the addressee knowing about it. Paul’s warning indicates “grieving” the Holy Spirit may be like bending and twisting the wax seal on a letter... If you keep doing it, eventually it will break! If the “seal” of your salvation is broken you’ll be lost! Notice that “you are sealed for the day of redemption!” The Bible teaches we’re already redeemed (1Pt1:18) Yet there’s a “redemption” to come! Lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh! (Lk21:28) The redemption yet to come is the “redemption of your body” (Rom8:23) The first redemption is to prepare you for the second, but if you don’t use your first redemption to follow Jesus and get prepared for the second, it will all be in vain concerning you. You’ll have wasted the first redemption and you’ll not receive the second; you’ll be lost! In Is63:10 the prophet warns their “grieving” of the Holy Spirit caused God to turn and become their enemy.

Phil 2:14-16 “That you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault…” (v15) So that “I’ve not run in vain” (v16) Indicates that if you don’t become blameless before the “Day of Christ” (v16) you won’t be saved and Paul’s work will have been “in vain!” If Paul believed in “once saved/always saved” he couldn’t say such a thing nor be concerned about such a possibility as his labor being “in vain!” If Paul doesn’t believe in “once saved/always saved” neither should you!

Phil 3:1-15 “Beware of... beware of... beware of…” If you can’t be lost what’s to beware of? “We’ve no confidence in the flesh,” then Paul describes his past accomplishments (v7) as being of no account (v8) and says “forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward...” (vl3) thus showing that what you’ve done for God in the past isn’t important, but what kind of faith and devotion you have NOW is! (vl4) “Not that I’ve already attained” (v12) Those who believe “once saved/always saved” think they’ve attained! Paul teaches us this is error!

Col 1:21-23 You’ve been reconciled to be presented to Christ “blameless” (v22) but only if you “continue in the faith” (v23) Paul teaches every man that he may present every man perfect in Jesus. (v28) This implies his teaching must be obeyed!

Col 3:1-5 Rom8:5,6 Set your mind on things above... For a real Christian is dead and his life is hidden with Christ in God... At baptism the true believer dies to this world and is raised in his heart to live unto God. (Col 2:12) If you don’t set your mind on things above you’ll set it on things below. “For those who live according to the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their mind on the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be Spiritually minded is life and peace.” (Rom8:5,6) It’s not enough to profess Jesus once and believe you’re forever saved. You must live with your heart and mind set on the Kingdom of God and do God’s will if you want to “appear with Christ in glory!”

1Th3:1-5 Paul is deeply concerned the tribulations he suffers will discourage the faith of the Thessalonians: “lest... our labor might be in vain!” (v5) indicates Paul feels they could lose their salvation! Thus he sends Timothy to “establish and encourage” (v2) them lest the “tempter had tempted them!” (v5) If they couldn’t be lost, then Paul’s fear of the tempter tempting them into falling away are groundless! Obviously Paul believes you can lose your salvation if you don’t overcome temptations!

1Th3:12&l3 5:1-8,23 Being found “blameless” (3:13&5:23) at the coming of the Lord is essential to salvation, else God will cut you in two and give you your portion with the hypocrites! (Mt24:51) Notice it’s those who are at ease, feeling no sense of danger and saying “peace and safety” (1Th5:3) who’ll be destroyed. This includes those who think they’re saved in such a way as they can’t be lost and therefore aren’t “watching and being sober” (v6) and behaving as Christians should (v8).

2Th1:3-12 In true Christians “faith grows,” (v3) and tribulations are endured. (v4) God must find us “worthy” of His Kingdom. (v5) This means God will judge our “worthiness” by how we behave in testings and temptations! Do you know Jesus as your Lord, your righteousness, and your strength to obey? Do you obey him? Those who don’t “know” Him and who don’t OBEY the gospel will be destroyed!

2Th2:3 Mt24:12,13 2Tim4:10 “That day will not come unless the falling away comes first...” Falling away doesn’t mean you never believed correctly, it means you believed but then stopped believing aright! The word in the Greek is the same root from which we get “apostasy.” An apostate is one who once believed but then “fell away” and changed his belief from what was right to something wrong. The very word “apostasy” found here in “falling away” indicates that “once saved/always saved” is a false doctrine since if it were true no one who ever believed rightly could ever fall away or apostatize. This verse proves that not only can believers apostatize but many of them will in fact do so as we approach the coming of the Lord! “Because lawlessness will abound the love of many will grow cold!” (Mt24:12) Without love even your faith will profit you nothing. (1Cor13:1-3) So if your love grows cold you will lose your salvation! “But he who endures to the end will be saved!” (v13)

2Th2:10-12 The chief characteristic of those who perish is they “take pleasure in unrighteousness.” (v12) They aren’t willing to give up carnal pleasures in order to live for Jesus. Also, they don’t love the truth because truth stands against what they do love; their worldly life and its pleasures! For this reason God will send them a powerful “delusion” to seal them in sin unto destruction. “Once saved/always saved” is such a delusion! This doctrine lets its followers feel “safe” (the “peace and safety” of 1Th5:3) while they live worldly instead of Holy lives! One “truth” such people don’t believe is “Without holiness no one will see the Lord!” (Heb12:14)

1Tim6:11,12 Phil 3:12-15 “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life” (vl2) proves you haven’t arrived yet but must continue to “pursue or follow after” (vl1) the Kingdom of God until you get there. Phil 3:12-15 is similar! Be sure you have that “same mind” in you! (v15)

2Tim2:11-13 Rom6:10,11 To live with Christ you have to die to the things of this world as He did. To live with Christ means to have Him in your life here and now! To reign with Christ, in the coming Kingdom, you must “ENDURE!” (2Tim2:l2) That means you must continue faithfully unto the end! “He remains faithful, He can’t deny Himself!” (v13) means He’ll fulfill every word He’s spoken, whether you believe it or not, including the words about how He’ll deal with the unfruitful and the unfaithful, casting them into darkness with the hypocrites! (see Mt22:13, 25:41)

2Tim2:14-19 Tit1:16 Hearers can be ruined by doctrines (2Tim2:14) that tend to “ungodliness.” (v16) Hymenaeus and Philetus have strayed concerning the truth! (v17-18) These verses show people who were “in” can fall away by believing a “lie.” Whatever causes “believers” to behave ungodly “ruins” them! They “overthrow the faith of some!” (v18) If “once saved/always saved” were true, you couldn’t “overthrow” someone’s faith! God knows those who are His and they don’t merely profess to be His (see Tit1:16) but they actually depart from iniquity! (2Tim2:19)

2Tim3:1-8 1Jn4:4 “Having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2Tim3:5) The “power” of godliness is to change the believer’s life from that of a worldly person or sinner, to that of a Holy person or saint! If the believer isn’t progressing in holiness then “greater is he who’s in the world than He who’s in you!” (see 1Jn4:4) But if you’re being changed more and more into the image of Christ, then truly “greater is He who’s in you than he who’s in the world!” That’s real salvation! And that’s how “faith” can be “approved” or “disapproved!” (v8)

Tit2:11-14 “The GRACE that brings salvation” (v11) isn’t described as just forgiveness of sins, but this grace teaches the believers how to live holy lives! (v12) When “believers” think they’re saved because their sins are forgiven, but they aren’t learning to live holy lives, they don’t have “SAVING GRACE.” We’re “saved by grace through faith” (Eph2:8) but the grace that saves also makes us holy.

Heb6:4-8 Mt7:21-23 Gal 5:19-25 Jn15:2-6 This warning to the Hebrew church says they not only CAN FALL AWAY but with the amount of spiritual experience and knowledge they’ve had if they do fall away they may be ETERNALLY LOST! (v6) For it’s impossible to “renew them to repentance” (v6) if after having been so greatly blessed they still apostatize! If we had no other verses in the Bible but these to prove “once saved/always saved” is a lie, it would be enough! For this tells us it’s not only possible for a believer to be lost, but for a believer who’s been blessed with great enlightenment (v4) revelation of the Word (v5) Spirituality (v4) and powerful supernatural gifts (v5) to fall away means he’ll be eternally lost! It’s not enough to be “anointed” or even powerfully gifted. (see Mt7:21-23) Believers must bear good fruit (see Gal 5:19-25) and be Christlike or they’ll be burned! (Mt7:19 compare Jn15:2-6)

Heb10:26,27  1Jn1:9,2:1  Jude4 The blood of Jesus doesn’t cover “willful” sin! For those who are ashamed of their sin and are trying to live holy, when they stumble there’s a propitiation in Christ’s blood. (see 1Jn2:1, also 1:9) But to those who “turn the grace of God into licentiousness,” (Jude4) who think they can continue in sin and still be saved – for them there’s no sacrifice. (Heb10:26) “Judgment, fiery indignation, and destruction” (v27) is their lot! Jesus shed His blood to SAVE us and MAKE US HOLY not to save men so they can continue to sin with impunity!

Jms1:12 2Tim4:7,8 To “endure” means to resist temptation and not give in to it. Eternal life, or the “crown of life” is promised to those who “endure” that is those who “finish well,” (see 2Tim4:7-8) not to those who only “begin” well!

Jms5:19,20 This shows a believer “one among you” (v19) can “wander” from the truth and be in danger of death. (v20) This can’t be speaking of mere physical death which all believers are subject to, but spiritual death, which is damnation.

1Jn2:3-6 2Th1:8 Paul says those who don’t know God shall be destroyed. John says keeping His commandments is the true evidence you know Christ and are in Him. Thus, salvation is evidenced by behavior not mere profession!

1Jn2:15 Rom5:5 To live for this world, seeking pleasures, fashions, sports, entertainments is proof you aren’t “saved” no matter what you say. You must have the love of God in you to be saved! (2Tim4:10) Demas has lost his salvation.

Rev2&3 These chapters contain seven letters the glorified Christ sends to the churches. We know all these churches “profess” to believe in Christ, but Jesus tells five of them to repent. One He says is “dead!” (3:1) Christians who are “saved” aren’t “dead;” sinners are “dead in sin!” (Eph2:5) To the last church, Jesus says, “He stands at the door and knocks!” (3:20) If Jesus is outside the church it isn’t a “saved” church, since Jesus is “head” of His true churches. He must be in the church and in charge of the church to be head. Seven times, in each letter, Jesus tells the churches “to him who OVERCOMES” blessings will be given. These blessings include “to eat from the tree of life” (2:7) “to not be hurt by the second death” (2:11) and “to not have your name BLOTTED OUT of the book of life” (3:5). These verses prove final salvation is given only to those who repent and overcome sin. Initial salvation is given so you may have God’s help, light, and power, to overcome sin and acquire final salvation. But if you don’t avail yourself of the graces which God has given and become an overcomer, you won’t enter God’s Kingdom! Note Rev3:5 implies if you don’t overcome your name will be blotted out of the Book of Life! Jesus writes your name in the book of life when you come to Him in true repentance and faith for salvation which means faith for Jesus to be your Lord and guide you in His ways so you can be “blameless” in the day of the Lord and attain to final salvation! But if you don’t obey Jesus and allow Him to guide you then you’ve failed to keep your original promise to trust Him and make Him Lord. So the same Jesus who writes your name in the Book of Life will blot it out if you fail to keep the faith!

Rom11:20-22 Don’t be haughty but fear. Continue in faith or you’ll be cut off.

 See how many scriptures prove “once saved/always saved” is a false doctrine not supported by the Bible. And these aren’t ALL the scriptures that apply to this subject since virtually every corrective verse in the Bible and every warning written by the prophets and apostles is a proof that God doesn’t accept a single initial profession of faith or belief as a complete salvation. Rather, the scriptures show that a true living and working faith which increasingly produces a holy life in the believer is necessary! Holiness must be acquired by faith and be found growing as good fruit in the life of the true believer or we couldn’t scripturally consider him to be “saved!” This true living faith must endure to the end and continue to be held firmly for the believer to obtain final salvation and immortality!

We see many instances where “believers” such as the unprofitable servant (Mt25:14-30) the guest without the wedding garment (Mt22:1-14) or the foolish virgins (Mt25:1-13) are treated by Jesus as “unbelievers!” This is consistent with James’ teaching that “Faith without works is dead!” (Jms2:14-26) In each case the “believers” accepted some truths concerning Christ but failed the test of faith requiring us to act on what we believe and properly prepare for the Lord’s coming. Thus Jesus’ statement “He who believes in Me has eternal life!” (Jn6:47) must be understood as “He who possesses a “living faith” in Me has eternal life!” A dead faith or a mere profession without the corresponding acts that attend a living faith will profit such a “believer” nothing! A “believer” who has a dead faith produces no fruit just like an unbeliever so he receives the unbeliever’s reward. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which doesn’t bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (Lk3:9)

Those who teach “once saved/always saved” are actually guilty of inducing the lukewarm Laodicean spirit that’s so prevalent in the contemporary church; as there’s no doctrine more damaging in its effect of producing a false sense of security in believers whom God by sound doctrine would encourage to be watchful, zealous and diligent about protecting their salvation. Those who succumb to this lukewarm spirit will be spit out by Jesus and lose their souls. (Rev3:16) Thus those who preach this “doctrine of demons” are working for satan to destroy men’s souls not to save them.

Those who teach “once saved/always saved” are blind leaders of the blind and can’t see the forest for the trees! The few scriptures (trees) which they erroneously cling to in support of their false doctrines are blocking their view of the great weight of the whole of the scripture (the forest) which overwhelmingly requires holiness in the believer! But you must love the truth and want to know the truth so you can do the truth if you’re to find the truth! (Jn7:17) Satan has always offered an easier “salvation” than God, and those who want things easy will love the lie! Jesus says “Narrow is the gate and difficult the way which leads to life and there are few who find it!” (Mt7:14) TAKE HEED THAT NO ONE DECEIVES YOU! (Mt24:4)

You beloved, since you know these things beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked... (2Pt3:17)

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