It is not quite 4:00 a.m. (This article was originally written a few years ago). I was awakened by the Spirit at 2:30 a.m., began reading the scriptures a few minutes later and was inspired by the Spirit to share with you my outlook on the issue of the security of the believer. In order to arrive at God’s viewpoint on any given Bible subject, we must 1) allow all the scriptures to speak that even remotely touch on the subject at hand, and 2) we must not allow our thinking to be colored by what others think. (Paul warned that when we compare ourselves with one another and measure ourselves by one another we are not wise. See 2 Corinthians 10:12). All too many believe as they do because someone they respect believes that way. They forget that the guy who believes the opposite of what they embrace as truth generally follows the same line of reasoning. They, too, have what they believe to be “spiritual giants” in their denomination, men – and sometimes women – who speak effectively, forcefully and convincingly regarding some Bible doctrine. Therefore, you have one group of believers who believe wholeheartedly in the doctrine of “once saved, always saved,” while you have another group of believers who just as wholeheartedly believe one can most certainly lose their salvation. Now let us look into the Word of God to see if we can resolve this issue. I will not quote Brother So-and-So, or Reverend What’s-His-Name. I will quote, or cite, scripture only, for that is and always will be my rule of thumb for arriving at the truth in any given Biblical subject or doctrine. So, let’s begin.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long: we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 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.” (Romans 8:35-39).
Do you notice what is obviously missing from that list of things that cannot separate us from God? YOU, yourself, and SIN! Notice, it is “any OTHER creature” that cannot separate you from God. Only you, yourself can do that. Also, nothing SINFUL is mentioned in that long list of things that cannot separate you, for Paul taught, as do many other scripture writers, that SIN can indeed separate you from God. Paul had just written in verses 12 and 13 of that same chapter, “Therefore BRETHREN, we are debtors, not to the flesh (its pulls and temptations) to live after the flesh, For if ye (you BRETHREN) live after the flesh, ye shall die (the second death as we are ALL going to die the first death regardless of how we live), but if ye through the Spirit (the only way possible) do mortify (put to death) the deeds of the body, ye shall live (eternally).” The ONLY humans who will avoid the first death are those true believers still living at the time Jesus Christ returns. All the rest of us will die the first death.
Speaking to His people Israel through His prophet Hosea, the God who changes not, says “All their wickedness (their sinning) is in Gilgal: for there I HATED THEM for the wickedness of their doings. I will drive them out of mine house, I WILL LOVE THEM NO MORE. All their princes are revolters” (See Hosea 9:15). “But your iniquities (their SINS) HAVE SEPARATED BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR GOD, AND YOUR SINS HAVE HID HIS FACE FROM YOU, that He will not hear (when they pray)” (See Isaiah 59:2). And the verse right before that says, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear” (verse 1). The ONLY thing that will prevent God from saving someone is continued sin. Sin that is not repented of and abandoned SEPARATES US FROM GOD, preventing Him from saving us. As Paul says in Romans 8, no OTHER creature can separate us from God, only we can do that ourselves by continuing in sin as sin separates any human from God if persisted in, if unconfessed and unforsaken!
Remember, Paul told his accusers, “But this I confess to you that according to the Way which they call a sect, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the prophets” (See Acts 24:14). So, Paul absolutely believed what God said through the prophets Hosea and Isaiah. You could have read those verses to Paul and asked, “Is there anything we can do to where God will say to and about us, ‘I will love them no more?’” His reply would have been, “Yes, continue in wickedness and sin!” (Hosea 9:15). You could have asked, “Is there anything WE can do ourselves that will separate us from God?” Paul would have instantly replied, “Iniquity (sin) if continued in and not abandoned will separate you from God” (Isaiah 59:1-2). Remember, Paul said no OTHER creature can separate us from God, and in that long list of things he names in Romans 8 that cannot separate us from God Paul never mentions anything sinful, as he knew and taught that sin will indeed separate us from God.
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). We do not rightly divide the Word when we isolate verses of scripture and build a doctrine wherein we ignore what God has said on a given subject through many other scriptures!!
Jude was not giving an idle warning when he wrote, “Keep yourselves in the love of God” (See Jude 21). As an anointed teacher of God, Jude well knew of the texts in Hosea and Isaiah we have just looked at. He knew God had thundered to His ancestors: “I will love them no more!” Such verses of scripture seem shocking to those who have often heard the opposite from preachers they highly respected and were certain taught only the truth of God. Radio preachers and world famous evangelists can be and often are WRONG in some of the things they say and teach. Fail to believe and see that and I guarantee you that you will embrace doctrines that are utterly contrary to the plain truth of scripture.
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest (self-evident), which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders drunkenness, revellings, and such like, of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you (warned you) in time past, that they (those believers) who do such things SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD” (Galatians 5:19-20). Paul was making no idle threat to the Galatians, nor was he contradicting what he had written the believers in Rome. He was in full agreement with Jude, Hosea and Isaiah and all other Bible writers. Sin, unabandoned, unconfessed, unforsaken will keep the rebel believer OUT of the kingdom of God!!!
Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: CONTINUE YE IN MY LOVE” (John 15:9). And HOW do we continue in Christ’s love? “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love…” (verse 10, same chapter). And what is obviously the opposite of that statement of Jesus Christ? Continue to break our Lord’s commandments, that is, continue in sin, and you will not abide in His love!
One thing, and one thing only, will cut men off from God in any age, under any covenant – SIN! So says your Bible. All too many read that long list of things that CANNOT separate us from God in Romans 8, and think Paul is saying, “For I am persuaded that neither murder, nor incest, nor suicide, nor prostitution, nor any other sinful thing shall be able to separate us from God.” Such sinners think, “Hallelujah, we are still going to heaven no matter what we do!” Again, I warn you, that is a doctrine of demons regardless of who preaches or teaches it.
“Take heed, BRETHREN, lest there be in any of YOU (you brethren) an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the Living God” (Hebrews 3:12). Although God vows never to forsake us, we can forsake Him, and we do so quite effectively by continuing in sin. We then depart from God.
Following the prophet Nathan’s visit, accusing him of adultery and murder, David penned the 51st Psalm wherein he begged God, “Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me” (verse 11). David knew what continued, unconfessed and unforsaken sin could and DOES do. He had witnessed it in the life of his predecessor Saul. God had taken His Spirit from Saul and cut him off. David knew God has no respect of persons and would do the same to him. This is true even of angels. Those angels that sinned were cast away from God.
The blinding power of Satan is staggering. If we don’t get to know the Word of God intimately well and walk in uninterrupted obedience to God, we can embrace error that is far reaching and deadly in its consequences! We can begin to teach others doctrines that are utterly false and have no basis in scripture. That is WHY James warns believers, “My brethren, be not many masters (teachers), knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation” (James 3:1). God is highly displeased when those who teach the scriptures teach error. All teachers will answer to God for what they teach others.
Before writing Romans 8, Paul had written in Romans 6: “Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin UNTO DEATH, or of obedience unto righteousness” (verse 16). Yes, believers can become servants of Satan, and, if and when they do, it is unto death – NOT eternal life. Satan’s servants will not inherit eternal life and will not be found in the kingdom of God. Paul says the end, or final result, of continued sinful conduct is death. (See verses 21 thru 23, Romans 6).
“For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has ANY inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one (no preacher, no TV evangelist) deceive you with empty words for because of these things (these sins) the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 5:5-6). You’ll not find one disobedient son in the kingdom of God. So says your Bible.
I know that those who teach the “once saved, always saved” doctrine believe themselves to be honoring God and His Word by doing so. God in His infinite mercy and understanding will take this into consideration when judging them and their teachings. They are not willfully teaching error. Nonetheless, they ARE teaching error – profound error.
Many believe the phrase “sealed with the Spirit” means “locked-in “ to salvation, just as many believe the things Paul speaks of that cannot separate us from God in Romans 8 means no sin can separate us from God, again, a profound error.
The statement of Christ recorded in John 3, verse 36: “He that believeth on the son HATH (right now, present tense HAS) everlasting life…” is cited by some as proof one cannot possibly forfeit their inheritance of eternal life. Many think this verse is saying something it is not saying at all. After all everlasting life is everlasting life, life that cannot be interrupted or ended, right? Wrong. There are many other scriptures that show clearly that believers possess eternal life right now only in the sense of it being our inheritance, an inheritance we can forfeit.
In Matthew 10, verse 5, we read: “These twelve (apostles) Jesus sent forth, and commanded them….” And, if you continue reading down to the 32nd verse you will find that Jesus is still speaking to these twelve apostles when He says: “Whosoever (including these twelve) shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever (including these twelve), shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven” (verses 32 and 33). It is to this statement of Jesus Christ the apostle Paul makes reference when he tells his friend and companion Timothy: “It is a faithful saying: For IF we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him: If we suffer (Greek, “endure”), we shall also reign with Him: IF WE (we apostles, ministers, teachers of the Word) DENY HIM, HE ALSO WILL DENY US,” just as He warned He would do when addressing Himself to the original twelve disciples. Paul then goes on to say, “If we believe not (if we do not believe He will do such a thing), yet He abides faithful (to the warning He gave us): He cannot deny Himself” (Jesus cannot deny that He gave us this warning early on. He must be true to His Word.) Paul continues, “Of these things put them (other believers) in remembrance (remind them that Jesus uttered this warning to His followers while in the flesh during His earthly ministry), charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers” (See 2 Timothy 2:11-14).
We make a huge, far-reaching mistake when we don’t pay attention to the IF’s in scripture! “IF we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him’ (2 Timothy 2:11). Dead to this world, its pulls and attractions. “But Christ (serves) as a Son over His own house (or, household), whose house are we IF we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end” (Hebrews 3:6). But what if we don’t hold fast to our Lord and His teachings? What if we throw in the towel and go back to the world like Demas?? “For Demas has forsaken me (writes Paul), having loved this present world, and is departed” (See 2 Timothy 4:10). James warns, “whosoever (including Demas) will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (See James 4:4). Do you really think you are going to see God’s enemies in heaven, fellowshipping with the saints of God who have remained true to Him down through the ages? In forsaking Paul, Demas was also forsaking God thereby becoming a spiritual adulterer! True, God says, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you,” but we can forsake Him. Few seem to realize that the statement, “for He has said, ‘I will never leave you, nor forsake you’” in Hebrews 13:5 is a quote from Deuteronomy chapter 31 and is only a partial quote. Go back to Deuteronomy 31 and read verse 6 and 8 wherein God promises not to forsake His people, people of whom He says, “You are the children of the Lord your God” (See Deuteronomy 14:1). But then keep reading down to verse 16 and 17, and you will read these words spoken by God concerning these children of God: “And the LORD said unto Moses, ‘Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers (die); and this people (His children) will rise up and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, AND WILL FORSAKE ME, AND BREAK MY COVENANT which I have made with them. THEN MY ANGER SHALL BE KINDLED AGAINST THEM IN THAT DAY, AND I WILL FORSAKE THEM…” We must allow scripture to interpret scripture. We must put all the scriptures together. We must connect the dots, so to speak. We cannot take one phrase OUT OF CONTEXT, like the phrase “I will never leave you, nor forsake you” and then ignore all the other scriptures dealing with this subject and build a doctrine around a misconception of what was said or written
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“Take heed, BRETHREN, lest there be in any of you (you BRETHREN) an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12). Yes, brethren CAN depart from God, even embracing other “gods!” Listen to the newscasts. Look at the world about you. Tens of thousands of former Christians have abandoned Christ for the Muslim faith. Countries that were 75% Muslim ten years ago and 25% Christian are now 90% Muslim, having lured or forced THOUSANDS of believers to abandon their faith. It was happening in Paul’s day. It happened in Moses’ day. And it has been happening every year, every decade, every century since! We are willfully blind if we do not see and recognize this as a FACT! God will NOT possess you like some demon and force you to remain in fellowship with Him, forcing you to remain true, forcing you into eternal life. He just won’t do it. “For we are made partakers of Christ, IF (there’s that big IF again) we hold the beginning of our confidence (in the Lord) stedfast unto the end” (Hebrews 3:14). But we can throw in the towel at any point. We can go back to the world, join another religion, commit suicide – whatever. “Let us (believers) therefore FEAR, lest a promise being left us of entering into His (eternal) rest any of you (believers) should seem to come short of it” (Hebrews 4:1).
Those who accept the “once saved, always saved” teaching do have a few verses they THINK supports them in this belief. One such classic text they use is found in the 10th chapter of John’s gospel account: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them (to) me (to shepherd, keep, protect) is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand” (verses27-29). Now, on the surface, it does appear this passage is definitely teaching that the saved can never be lost. But there is one word in that text that makes all the difference in the world as to what Jesus was really saying when He uttered those words, and that is the word “pluck.” The word pluck in that verse is translated from the Greek word “harpazo” which means “to seize” or “to take BY FORCE.” And that statement, of course, is 100% true. NOTHING can seize you out of God’s hand. No one, not even Satan and all his demons, can FORCE you out of fellowship with God. THAT is what that text in John 10 is saying and nothing else. It is NOT saying you are locked-in to fellowship with God and cannot forsake Him. Many, many other scriptures prove that it is quite possible to forsake God and His way.
In John chapter 6, verse 15, we read, “When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and TAKE HIM BY FORCE, to make Him a king, He departed again into a mountain himself alone.” The words “take Him by force” are translated from the one Greek word harpazo. The same Greek word translated “pluck” in John 10:27-29. This is also true of Acts 23:10, where we read, “And when there arose a great dissension the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to TAKE HIM BY FORCE from among them, and to bring him into the castle.” The phrase “take him by force” is a translation of the one Greek word harpazo. Had the translators been consistent and translated the word harpazo correctly in John 10 we wouldn’t have so many supposed Bible scholars using that passage to prove “once saved, always saved!
The greatest incentive for one to do evil is to realize there is no punishment or consequences for sin if one is a believer. Many believe that the worst judgment a believer can face is to either be chastened by God or, perhaps, to lose some if not all of their rewards in heaven. It is quite evident that most who believe in the “once saved, always saved” teaching think little of the holiness teaching. Why strive for holiness if you are locked in to salvation? Why turn away from all temptations to do evil, or why not give in to some sin if one is locked-in to salvation? It is usually the believer in the “once saved, always saved” teaching who says, “When God looks at a redeemed believer all He sees is the righteousness of Christ.” And that is a devil’s LIE! God does not see, nor does He remember, the believer’s sins committed in the past. The blood of Christ wipes them all out as though one had never even sinned one time in their life. But if that believer returns to his, or her, sins God sees that and demands, “Repent!” Read Acts 5, verses 1 through 14 – the account of two believers named Ananias and Sapphira. This couple lied to the apostle Peter. God saw and heard the deceit and killed both of them on the spot! Read Revelation Chapters 2 and 3. Jesus Christ is standing in the midst of seven churches and to five of the seven he says, “Repent!” HE SAW THEIR SINS! He tells Thyatira, “I will kill her children…” (See Revelation 2:23). And to every last one of these churches Jesus says, “I know thy works” and then goes on to describe how many of those works were evil. He told Laodicea “thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked (not robed in the righteousness of Christ)” (See Revelation 3:17).
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I don’t care if some preacher can be heard on 800 radio stations, 200 television stations and has been preaching for 110 years, that doesn’t automatically mean he is right in everything he preaches and says. Oftentimes such preachers are dead WRONG in much of what they preach. But gullible men and women buy hook, line and sinker whatever Brother So-and-So says simply because he quotes some scripture and speaks quite forcefully and convincingly.
The “once saved, always saved” teaching is the fountain from which has flowed ten thousand times ten thousand sins!! Many make no effort whatsoever to strive against sin and walk in continued holiness due to the fact that they believe 1) God doesn’t see a believer’s sins but only the righteousness of Christ, and 2) They believe they cannot possibly lose their salvation regardless of what they do or how they live. How many carnal “Christians” have the assurance they are going to heaven while still walking continuously in the flesh, sinning willy-nilly, left and right, day in and day out. I’m afraid there are going to be a lot of dumbfounded “believers” at the Judgment seat of our Lord.
“Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom (what believer) he may DEVOUR!” (I Peter 5:8). The word “devour” in that verse is the Greek word katapino and literally means “to drink down, gulp entire, swallow down.” Do you really think that believer is really saved and on his way to heaven if the devil DEVOURS him??
Why are we urged to “abide” in Christ if it is impossible to do otherwise once we truly believe and are converted? (See I John 2:28). What does Jesus Himself say happens to a believer who willfully chooses not to abide in Him, or stay in fellowship with Him? “If a man abide not in me, HE IS CAST FORTH AS A BRANCH, and is withered, and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, AND THEY (NOT MERELY THEIR WORKS) ARE BURNED” (See John 15:6). If I find a thousand TV and radio evangelists saying the opposite, guess who I am going to believe?
“You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, ‘Wherein have we wearied Him?’ When you say, Every one that does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them…” (See Malachi 2:17). That’s what the deceiver does when he says that all God sees when He looks on a true believer is the righteousness and purity of Christ. I repeat: That is a devil’s LIE!! Go to Jerusalem, find the graves of Ananias and Sapphira and whisper over them, “God never saw your sin when you lied to Peter.” Go to Corinth, find the graves of all those who sickened and even died when taking the Lord’s supper unworthily, and whisper over them, “God never saw your sins, you know, only the righteousness of Christ.” (See I Corinthians 11:26-30).
Oh, I know of the clever arguments of men, arguments used to nullify a host of plain, clear, easy-to-understand scriptures. Arguments like once you are born you can’t be UNborn, and once you are born again, you can’t be UNborn again. With God all things are possible. We had better abandon our not so clever human arguments and believe God’s Word! What is true in the physical world is not necessarily true in the spirit world. A human infant after being born can sicken and die. And one who has been spiritually begotten again can also sicken AND DIE THE SECOND DEATH!!! So says YOUR BIBLE again and again.
Your eternal life is CONDITIONAL, conditioned upon your remaining true to your Lord and Savior. “Know you not that to whom you (you believers) yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey, whether of sin UNTO DEATH, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Romans 6:16). Go ahead and yield to the flesh, and thus to Satan, thereby becoming a servant of the flesh and Satan, and you’ll pay dearly for it. Satan’s servants shall NOT inherit the kingdom of God. How ludicrous to think they could. “For if you (you believers) live after the flesh, YOU SHALL DIE (the second death as we are all going to die the first death regardless of how we live), but IF you through the Spirit do mortify (put to death) the deeds of the body, you shall live (eternally)” (Romans 8:13).
Paul went on to warn the Gentile believers in Rome that just as God had cut off the Jews due to their continued disobedience and unbelief “you also shall be cut off” if they returned to a life of disobedience. (See Romans 11:22)
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The “once saved, always saved” teaching not only has spawned ten thousand times ten thousand sins, it has also contributed heavily to numerous false conversions: “All I gotta do is believe Jesus died for me and presto-chango I am saved, granted eternal life, and going to heaven regardless of what sins I might now commit and regardless of how many sins I commit. All I can possibly lose are my rewards.” THAT is a doctrine of demons, I don’t care WHO teaches it!! And it spawns false converts right and left. These folks are destined to hear the chilling words, “I never knew you, you workers of iniquity. Depart from me.”
“Know you not that the unrighteous shall NOT inherit the kingdom of God? BE NOT DECEIVED: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate (men who purposefully attempt to adopt feminine characteristics, desires, etc.), nor abusers of themselves with mankind (proceeding the next step to physical sexual relations with others of the same sex), nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were (in the past) some of you, but you are washed (by the blood of the Lamb of God), but you are sanctified (by the Holy Spirit), but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (See I Corinthians 6:9-11).
Notice how many of God’s commandments Paul alludes to here: idolators, or violators of the first and second commandments are deceived, Paul says, if they think they shall inherit the kingdom of God. He says the same for adulterers, or violators of the seventh commandment. He says the same for thieves, or violators of the eighth commandment. He says the same for the covetous, violators of the tenth commandment! Oh, but Paul, didn’t you yourself say Christians are not under the law. We don’t have to keep those commandments, do we? (You had better heed Peter’s warning about Paul’s writings, that he sometimes said some things that are difficult to understand by those who are unfamiliar with God’s Word and are spiritually unstable. They will think Paul is saying something he is not saying at all!) When Paul says to the Roman believers they are not “under the law” he merely means they are not under THE PENALTY of the law since Jesus has died in their place, paying the penalty for them. They are now under grace, unmerited pardon from God. Countless times down through the years deceived men and women have approached me upon learning I am a commandment keeper and assured me I was no longer under the law. Of course, I knew what that phrase meant. They didn’t. They thought it meant we can ignore God’s commandments. “All you gotta do is believe, brother!”
I trust this short article has at least given you some food for thought. It is a dangerous thing to just ASSUME you walk in the truth because you have a multitude of “believers” who are in agreement with you regarding some doctrine or teaching. Scripture commands us to “prove” all things of a spiritual nature – not just swallow hook, line and sinker anything and everything we hear some preacher say even if most preachers say the same thing. Preachers can be dead wrong in what they preach as eternal truth. A Baptist can be as wrong as a Jehovah’s Witness. A Lutheran can embrace error as well as a Mormon. A “tongues-talking” Pentecostal can be deceived as well as a Roman Catholic priest. Have YOU really proven your beliefs? Food for thought!
Christ’s Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley