Can you or I lose our salvation? Many people believe if you have walked an aisle, prayed a prayer, were baptized, or fulfilled some other requirement, that’s it. You’re in! Others say we can lose our salvation through sin or neglect. But is there another consideration?
What about you personally? Do you have doubts about your relationship with God? If you died tonight, do you know beyond a doubt where you would spend eternity? Or do you lack assurance of your salvation?
Today’s Readings:
1 Kings 5 & 6
Psalm 68.21-27
Proverbs 17.13-15
John 10.24-42
Can I Lose My Salvation?
John 10.24-42:
Why We Doubt Our Salvation
Probably most of us, even churchgoers, have wondered at some point whether we are really saved or not or whether we could lose our salvation. Doubts can appear for a number of reasons. Sin in our lives can certainly cause us to have them, as can bad teaching on the subject.
But today’s passage should reassure us that if we belong to Him, we need never worry about losing our relationship with Christ. Look at verses 27-29:
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
Some people sum up passages like this with the statement, “Once saved, always saved.”
Yet before we breathe a sigh of relief and move on, there may be a more important statement to consider. Instead of “once saved, always saved,” we might need to consider the phrase, “If saved, always saved.”
If Saved, Always Saved
I believe there are people who think they will go to heaven because they go to the right church … or because they were brought up in a Christian home … or because they took the right sacraments … or were baptized as a baby … or prayed a certain prayer … or, perhaps the most insidious, they are pretty good people.
Even people who never set foot in a church, don’t know the Old Testament from the New, believe the Bible was written by men, think Jesus was just a good moral teacher, and accept the teachings of the culture on most issues, believe they are “good people” (Prov. 20.6).
The problem with that is no one can be good enough (Rom. 3.10, 23). There is only one way to heaven (Jn. 14.6). Salvation is based on the finished work of Jesus on the cross (Rom. 6.23, 5.8, 10.9, 10, 13, 5.1, 8.1), not anything we do. Ephesians 2.4-9 says:
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
The truth is we can do nothing to save ourselves.
His Sovereign Work
We are saved by His sovereign work in our lives. Neither can we do anything to keep ourselves saved. Our assurance of salvation is not based on us, our good works, or our ability to live up to some Christian standard. It is based on God’s promises and power.
But we must be sure we understand the gospel and have truly placed our faith in the finished work of Christ and not our good works or religious activities.
So … do good works matter at all? If not, why bother changing and growing? Why bother trying to live right?
The Fruit of Genuine Salvation
Let’s look at one more verse in that Ephesians 2 passage.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (v. 10).
While we are saved by His grace, we were saved for good works.
Jesus said:
43 “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks (Lk. 6.43-45).
The fruit validates the tree. Our good works, including our thoughts, our words, and our actions, are produced by our hearts. Whether good or evil, they validate our salvation or lack of it. They are the fruit, not the cause.
Our fruit will not be perfect in this life. But if we can live a lifestyle of sin, if we can sin without remorse and conviction, we need to take a hard look at our own hearts. We need to get into God’s Word and seek to truly understand the gospel.
You might start by reading the book of John, the fourth book in the New Testament, and asking God to open your heart. You might also want to talk to a pastor or someone you know who is a faithful follower of Christ. For more on this subject, you can also read the following posts:
“Could You Be a Christian in Name Only?”
“Do You Live with a Sense of Guilt?”
Today’s Other Readings:
1 Kings 5 & 6:
The Beauty of God and the Ugliness of Sin
Every time I read these passages I try to get my mind around what Solomon’s Temple must have been like! The love and care that went into every detail, the magnificence of it, the gold that was beaten into thin sheets and then gently hammered to fit over all the carved and embellished wood and stone so that everywhere you looked there was gold! The most beautiful things we build today with all our technology can’t match what it all must have been like.
But, even with all the beauty and splendor, God was more interested in whether or not their lives reflected the beauty of God or the ugliness of sin. He warned Solomon that He would only dwell among them as long as they walked in His statutes and kept His commandments (6.11-13). He would eventually allow this magnificent temple to be burned and sacked because of their repeated sin and idolatry (2 Kings 25).
What beautiful things does He allow to be destroyed in our lives because of our unwillingness to love and obey Him? We often turn and blame Him when it’s actually a consequence of our own rebellion.
Psalm 68.21-27:
He Reigns Forever
This psalm was probably part of David’s celebration when the Ark of the Covenant was brought back to Jerusalem, but it also looks forward to the day when Jesus will reign forever and all the world will worship Him.
Proverbs 17.13-15:
Those Who Reward Good with Evil
Whoever rewards evil for good, evil will not depart from his house (v. 13).
Romans 12.17 says, “Repay no one evil for evil.” Instead, we are to “… overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12.21). If we are not even to repay evil with evil, how much worse is the judgment on someone who repays good with evil?
What About You? Questions to Ponder or Journal:
Have you truly put your faith and trust in Christ and Christ alone? Have you come to the place where you realize you are a sinner in desperate need of a Savior and that nothing you do warrants eternal life? And have you confessed your sin to Him and received His free gift of forgiveness and salvation?
Coming Up:
In the coming days, we’ll talk about how fools lack any desire for wisdom, what the Bible says about co-signing loans and the dangers wealth and education can pose.
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Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥
Note about this post:
I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer.
A while ago, I read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”
I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.
Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)
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