Is Salvation a Sure Thing or Dependent Upon Us? Part 4

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

We have been dealing with the concept of whether or not salvation that is eternal, can be lost or rejected. My position has been and remains that it cannot be either lost or rejected by the authentic Christian once salvation is gained. We’ve looked at several portions of Scripture that I believe clearly prove that salvation is eternally secure, once granted. I fully realize that there are those who believe that the Christian – for one reason or another – can lose salvation that has been inherited.

In my years of ongoing study, I have not yet come across any real convincing argument that would prove to me that my position is incorrect. I will also venture to say that those who believe that salvation can be lost would say the exact same thing. It is not because we are not open to the Lord’s leading. It is because we all believe that the Lord has lead and defined for us the meaning of His Word in this area (as well as other doctrinal areas).

With that in mind, I think it is very important that we always approach His Word with deep humility. After all, it is HIS Word, not ours. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to be directed by the Holy Spirit to understand just exactly what God is telling us through His Word.

For me, God is able to save and save eternally. I believe once we use our so-called free will to enter into a living relationship with Him, gaining salvation through the new birth, this cannot be undone. Paul says we are literally bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20 and 7:23), and that price is Jesus’ sinless life, leading to the shedding of His blood as the perfect (and only) propitiation for our sin. We have been bought. I am no longer the owner of myself. In fact, I never was as prior to my salvation encounter with Jesus, I was literally owned by Satan. Jesus redeemed me from that relationship and now within me, through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit (who has sealed me – cf. 2 Corinthians 1:22).

But let me also say something that I believe is as equally important as understanding that the authentic Christian cannot lose his/her salvation. As Christians, we must endeavor to live our lives in such a way that Jesus is glorified, moment-by-moment, day-by-day.

I firmly believe that salvation itself has been wrongly taught to people throughout the years and I believe that at least part of the problem has been due to all the “tent” meetings and rallies that have taken place throughout the decades. Meetings and rallies led by Billy Graham, Oral Roberts, Billy Sunday, and many others have tended to portray salvation as something that essentially and only occurs within the heart and the rest is up to God. Please understand that I am not trying to minimize the efforts of these men – though in at least a few cases, I stand in direct opposition to their beliefs. I do believe that certainly some people became truly saved at these events, in spite of the lack of true doctrinal teaching. I also believe many others never really understood the truth about God and His salvation. Salvation itself has been “cheapened.”

Here in the south, it is amazing to see how much “religion” is simply part of the traditional way things are done. You go to church, eat at Waffle House, go to Wal-Mart, then home. Certainly, not all southerners are like that, but many build their life on the fact that the south is the Bible Belt, which too often equates with salvation.

Because of this, there are many people today who call themselves Christian and who have deliberately chosen to live their lives in a way that not only fails to glorify God, but actually winds up dragging His Name through the mud. Can I tell who is and who is not an actual Christian? No, and I’m glad I cannot see into the hearts of people to determine it. At times, it’s difficult to determine what my own heart is telling me, let alone try to determine the actual condition of someone else’s.

I realize too that as time progresses toward the time of the final seven years of this age, a far more corrupting influence will become much more obvious and that influence will certainly reach into the local church. It has already begun and shows no real sign of relenting.

I’m not sure the average Christian truly understands how important it is that Christians actively persevere in the faith, on a daily basis. Though I believe that this will occur for all true Christians, too often today, those who profess to be Christians provide themselves with every excuse to act like the world. We have lost a true reverence for God (if we ever had it). We have no real fear of failure. We do not understand the depth to which our sin causes the Holy Spirit to grieve. We are constantly giving ourselves a pass on the things that we do that we know are wrong. Our job is to submit to Him that His will might be lived out in and through us. He doesn’t expect us to do that in our own strength. He will provide the strength. He simply says we must open ourselves to His will all the time. This is what actively recreates the character of Jesus in our hearts and lives, though clearly, God is in charge of that. Nothing can be taken away from Him.

Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that we all need to return to a type of “holiness” attitude in our lives, looking back to the Pilgrims and others who were seriously involved in practicing holiness. The problem with that is that it can puff up and create tremendous pride because much of that is put on over the outside, rather than welling up from within the person.

No, what I’m saying is that if we had even a slightly healthier glimpse of what our sin meant/means to God, we would likely want to run from it. We would willingly submit ourselves to Him so that His strength might flow more readily through us to help us overcome sin in our lives.

We get angry and we sin. We hold grudges. We grow impatient with people. We don’t love others enough. We try to make ourselves “loving” as the world loves, instead of as God loves. We do tend to judge people and their motives even though we should never judge anyone’s motives (though we can certainly judge words and actions to determine if they are right or wrong). I would venture to say that at times, we find ourselves hating others for what they are and what they stand for, yet, Jesus loved even when He was vehemently angry with someone.

Are we the best Christian we can be? Are we like Job, whom God considered to be righteous in practice, not simply position. True Christians are considered righteous because of the fact that Jesus’ righteousness has been imputed to our account and that is our position before God. However, do we practice that righteousness in our daily lives? Do we endeavor to do the things that please God, our Father, by submitting ourselves to Him so that He might live His will in and through us? This should be the daily “chore” if you will that guides our lives.

By the way, there are way too many Scripture references to list, so here is a link to a search page that highlights many of them. Please take the time to look them over.

While I believe that once a person is truly saved, God will keep them saved throughout the remainder of their earthly lives, this often becomes the focus. Because of it, licentiousness can easily begin to direct the steps of that Christian. It’s different from stumbling and falling here or there. I’m talking about the person who calls himself/herself a Christian but to look at their life, we see little to no evidence of it. They have yet to realize that entering into a relationship with Jesus means setting aside our will from that point forward and instead, adopting His will for our life. That is the “outworking” of Christianity, if I may use that word without people thinking I’m saying that salvation is by “works.”

Salvation starts when we embrace the truth about Jesus. It continues for the remainder of our physical lives here on earth. It is not a one-time event that has no effect on us except for after this life. Salvation is a life that begins when we are “born again” (John 3) and continues for all eternity. We need to learn to live accordingly, not for ourselves, but for the One who died and gave Himself for us that salvation – eternal life – might be ours in the first place.

If we say we love Jesus, how can we live as if we do not?

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective