Answers to "Ask Mike"
Questions
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29. Is it true that once you are saved, you can never be lost?
First, come to grips with the reality that all Christians are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8). You can’t earn your salvation by good living or good deeds. The only way you can be saved by deeds is to live perfectly in every aspect of life. Even the smallest slip, even the slightest sin, ruins your record. In fact, no one except Jesus ever earned God’s acceptance because every one messes up (Romans 3:23). Second, come to grips with the reality that all
Christians remain saved by grace. I’ve never met a believer who
lived a perfect Christian life. The Apostle John went so far
as to say, "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us." (1 Third, come to grips with the reality that God
loves His children in spite of their failures. He did not love you
because you performed well. He demonstrated the truth of
"love your enemies." (See Fourth, come to grips with the reality that this should give you tremendous assurance. Scripture never intimates you can be saved one minute and lost the next. There is no Scripture that suggests God forsakes you when you slip or sin. Jesus said, "My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand." (John 10:29 NIV*) Now that sounds like you can never be lost once saved. Right? Fifth, come to grips with the reality that there is a sin unto death. There is a sin that, when committed, will lead to eternal death. That’s true for the unbeliever and that’s also true for you if you fall away. I’m not talking about a momentary lapse. I’m talking about falling away and never coming back. Hear the writer of Hebrews, (Mike's notes added in brackets and emphasis added in bold text) "It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened [sounds like a Christian], who have tasted the heavenly gift [this too], who have shared in the Holy Spirit [only Christians get the Holy Spirit], who have tasted the goodness of the word of God [that’s Christians] and the powers of the coming age [ibid], if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance while1 to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace." (Hebrews 6:4-6 NIV - 1note that, instead of "repentance while", the NIV text reads "repentance because", with "repentance while" as the alternate reading in the footnote) The sin unto death is the total denial of what you know is true. It is "suppressing the truth" and denying the Father who loves you. That is a sin which can cause you to lose what you had! Sixth, come to grips with the reality that you and I are no judge of when someone else reaches that point. It is up to us to make sure we remain faithful so we can inherit the crown of life. For more discussion
on this topic see
For more answers,
see * NIV note on "all" in Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
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That’s
a difficult question to answer in a small space, but I’ll try. It
may sound a bit like waffling, but let me answer this way. Once you
are saved, it is difficult for a believer to be lost. It is not,
however, impossible.