Hi XXXXX,
I received the following question from you and added a question of my own. (in italics) I will do my best to give you the scriptures to document my answer. All references will be from the KJV. While it is true that the Bible does speak of Predestination (4 verses), and these cannot be ignored. And the Bible does speak of Eternal Life (30 verses, of which 16 of those verses gives conditions which must be met in order to receive or keep salvation), and the Bible does speak of Eternal Salvation (1 verse) and speaks of Eternal Redemption (1 verse), It also speaks of the command to Endure to the End (2 verses). I will list all of these verses below and then add many more verses from the Bible which has to do with Salvation. It is not my intent to attempt to rebut the verses used by those in opposition, such as John 10:28, Romans 5:8-9, Romans 8:38-39, Philippians 1:6, etc. The fact is that I endorse those verses, I absolutely believe them, when put back into context. It is my belief that they have misinterpreted all such verses, for any attempt to separate these verses from the rest of God's Word will only lead to man's interpretation for his own purpose, and not God's interpretation.
There has always been one Condition placed on Man for Fellowship with God, and that is OBEDIENCE, ---- ALWAYS!!
This, above and below, is what I have found in the bible. I find it strange and disturbing that the opposition to the belief that it is possible to lose your salvation will invariably refuse to look at, or to even consider, the scriptures where we are shown in plain text that man can lose his salvation, such as in the Book of Ezekiel, or in the Book of Revelation. And they seem to never see what the parables in the Gospels say about salvation. And yes, the Lord is certainly with us always, that is, until we tell him to leave. And yes, God does Love us, and his love will never cease, for he loves everyone, even those who he had to send to hell. And yes, once in God's hand there is no one who can take us out of his hand, but then, we climbed into his hand willingly and we can climb out of it again also for we have free will. It is disturbing that they chose to believe only the parts of the bible that they like and throw away, with unbelief, the parts of the bible that they do not like. For God said that we must live by ALL of His Words. So, let us put all the verses on salvation back into the context from which they were taken, that is, we must take the complete bible and not just a few verses that may prove to our small human minds what we wish to hear. Read the bible from start to finish, just as you would read any book, and you will see a totally different picture than you can see by jumping around within the bible. Then read it again, and again. This is the way that God will reveal His Truth to you.
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Subject: salvation
Hello, please answer this
Can a person lose his salvation?? Answer - Yes
Added question: Can a person lose his salvation by accident?? Answer -
NO
What is the scripture reference? Answer - See Below.
In Christ Jesus,
XXXXX
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On Predestination:
Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he
might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Note: Each of the above is true, there is predestination, but is OUR understanding
correct??
=======================================================
On Eternal Salvation:
Hebrews 5:9 And being made perfect, he became the author of
eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.
Note the condition placed in this verse, "that obey him"
=====================================================
On Eternal Redemption:
Hebrews 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own
blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
=====================================================
On Eternal Life:
Without quoting each verse, here is what each verse says about the condition for
salvation. Each verse below has the term "Eternal;
Life" or "Life Eternal" within it.
1. Jn. 3:15 Must believe on Jesus.
Each of the above conditions Must be met for salvation. When you first accept Jesus
Christ as your Lord, Master, and God, you will start out with each of the above items
satisfied. After that you must continue in them. Now this is not hard when you have the
Holy Spirit helping You.
Ro 6:23 It is a gift of God, but only through Jesus.
=================================================
And "Endure to the End"
Matthew 24:13But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be
saved.
Mark. 13:13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he
that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
If you will not endure to the end then you will lose your salvation. This is shown in the
example parable of the "sowing of the seeds. " Mt. 13:3-9, 18-23; Mk. 4: 3-20;
Lk. 8:4-15, where Jesus tells us that there will be many who will accept Jesus, (obtaining
Salvation for a short time) but then falling away for several reasons. I know, there are
many who will tell you that those never did have salvation, however, a search of scripture
shows us that you have salvation as soon as you believe in your heart and confess with
your mouth the Lord Jesus is the Christ.
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in
thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved.
There are no other conditions placed on you to receive salvation. However, as shown
above that there are many conditions to keep salvation. There are many who will not
accept this because they choose to believe that once they went to an altar to
declare for Christ, or once they said the sinners prayer, that they could never lose their
salvation for any reason, no matter what they do in life.
=====================================================
And Now Some Additional Scripture:
Revelation 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white
raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of
Life.
Now it seems reasonable to me, that in order to have your name in the book of life, you
must have salvation, since only those who's name is in the book of life has salvation, and
if your name is not it the book of life, you go to hell..
Revelation 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life
was cast into the lake of fire.
So, in Revelation 3:5, Jesus, who is speaking to the Christians only, is telling them that if
they do not overcome the sins that many of them are committing, that He, Jesus, will Blot
out, or erase their names from the Book of Life, therefore consigning them to hell. This is
showing that although they have their names in the book of Life, showing they have
salvation, some of them will have their names taken out of the book of Life, losing their
salvation. It isn't enough to be a Christian, you must overcome the world.
See Also Ezekiel 3:20-21; 18:20,24,26; 33:12-13,18; on losing salvation and compare
these with the verses that are next to these verses about a sinner gaining salvation. Now
answer the question, why do they all accept the verses on the sinner gaining salvation but
reject the accompning verses on losing salvation???
=================================================
The Parables:
The Parable of the seeds: Matthew 13:3-9; 13:18-23 Shows us
that there will be many who will accept Jesus Christ, (the ones in stony places, and the
ones among the thorns,) with Great joy thereby gaining salvation. But later they will fall
away, that is, stop serving God by either walking away from Him, (the stony ground,) or
becomes so caught up with their own problems that they only sit in the pew at church,
never obeying God by going out and saving souls, (among the thorns) and so produce no
fruit. Both of these, although once saved, will loose their salvation.
The parable of the unmerciful servant: Matthew 18: 23-35
Shows us that a King (Jesus) looked over His servants, (Christians) and found one that
owed Him a great debt, (had sinned against the King) and ordered that servant to pay the
price or else! The servant could not pay and was then ordered to debtors prison (Hell)
(name taken out of the book of servants which is the book of Life.) until he paid. The
servant begged for the King (Jesus) to have mercy on him. The King (Jesus) gave him
mercy, forgave His servant, and restored the servant to his former position, (gave him
back his salvation, put his name back into the book of Life) because the servant asked for
mercy.(forgiveness) This servant later had his salvation/forgiveness taken away from
him, again, because this servant would not forgive another servant. The servant
(Christian) had his name taken out of the book of Life and was sent into Hell because he
would not forgive his fellow servant. The Lord says that you must forgive or else you
cannot be forgiven.
Matthew 6:14-15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly
father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your
father forgive your trespasses.
Note that several of these parables speaks of the "servant". This is speaking only of those
who serve the master (Jesus), It does not speak of the ones who will not serve (the
unbelievers).
The parable of the 10 Talents: This parable speaks of the
unprofitable servant, the one who produces no fruit, like the seeds which fell among the
thorns in the parable of the seeds. They are indeed servants of the master (Jesus).
We are each given a certain amount of "faith" and "gifts of the Spirit" from God when we
first come to Him. With the use of these, we will increase in faith when we use it, to save
souls, to lay hands on for healing, to pray for others. This will produce not only fruit, but
will produce much fruit.
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing
John 15:8 Herein is my father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye
be my disciples.
For the one who will only sit in a pew and call themselves Christian, but do nothing else,
will find themselves to be the servant who will loose his salvation (name blotted out of
the book of Life) and be thrown into outer darkness (a part of Hell) because they produce
no fruit, they are unprofitabe servants.
John 15:6 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 are burned.
These can be likened to an employee who was hired to sell something. But every day
they come in, expecting to be paid, and drink coffee, read the paper all day and go home
without ever talking to a customer, much less selling the item. They were hired (given
salvation), but how long would you keep them before you fired them. (took away their
salvation)?
The parable of the 10 virgins: Matthew 25:1-13 This one is
extremely important. Think on what it is saying!
All ten Virgins (Christians) are actively expecting, and looking for, the Bridegroom
(Jesus) to come. (time of the rapture). Those Christians who are not looking for His
return at this time, are not there, and so can never enter into the banquet hall with the
Bridegroom, because they missed him.
Next, all ten Virgins are called Virgins because they are all pure, undefiled with sin.
Those Christians who have outstanding unforgiven sin in their lives will not be there, and
so cannot enter into the banquet hall with the Bridegroom.
Note that it says that it is these ten who are told that the Bridegroom is coming now! The
Christians who are not there, because they do not expect the return of the Bridegroom
yet, or those with outstanding sin, will not hear the cry and so will not be there. They
miss the wedding. Because they refuse to believe or hear that the Bridegroom is about to
appear.
And Finally, of even those few Virgins, (Christians) only half are actually ready to go
with the Bridegroom to the wedding. The rest have something in this world that is
holding them back, something on or in this world that they do not want to give up.
____________________________________________________________
This tells us that even though you are a Christian, you still might not make it. There are
those who will say that it only proves that those were not Christians and didn't have
salvation to start with. But a Christian is one who professes to be a servant of Jesus
Christ. And to become a servant of Jesus Christ you have only to believe in your heart
that Jesus is God and that He died on the cross for us, for the remission of our sins.
Yes, there will be Christians, real Christians, who will find out too late that they did not
obey God. Oh, they believed in Jesus alright, and they did live very good lives, and they
might have had no sin in their lives for many many years, and then sinned, and refused or
neglected to ask for forgiveness. They might be the ones who has sat in that same church
pew for the last 50 years, but has produced no fruit, no profit, for the Master, Jesus
Christ.
Can you loose your salvation by accident?
I believe that you cannot lose your salvation by accident. God is not sitting there just
waiting for one of His Children to make a mistake so that He can swat him. God is
longsuffering, patient, loving. He will give you every chance to repent of anything that
you do, and will give you forgiveness each and every time that you ask from the heart,
just as He has promised in the Bible. You can lose your salvation though, through
disobedience, neglect of your spiritual life, pride - being too proud to ask forgiveness,
putting off asking forgiveness until you forget you sinned, of just plain turning your back
on God and walking away from Him. He will let you go.
In each of the example scriptures above, there are choices. If you do this, you will have
salvation! If you do that, or if you stop doing this, then I will send you to Hell. Every one
of us has a free will to follow and obey God, (salvation), to follow God for a while then
stop following/obeying, (salvation - loss of salvation), to never follow God. (only
damnation).
The Bible tells us that it is better for us to never have followed God, than it is to have
followed God and then turn away. For the one who never knew God will be punished less
than the one who knew God, knowing what is right, and then turning away to do the same
as the one who did not know God.
Are these all the scriptures on this subject that is in the Bible? No, Even the Old
Testament is full of examples. If you look for them, you will find them.
I know that this is long, but then, short answers are usually no answers at all.
Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999 17:09:27 -0500
From: "XXXXXXXXXXX"
To: yourcomm@panama.gulf.net
Romans 8:30 Moreover whom he did
predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also
justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Ephesians 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Ephesians 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated according to the purpose
of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
2. 1 Jn. 5:13 Must believe on the name of Jesus (son of God).
3. Jn. 17:3 Must believe Jesus is true God.
4. 1 Jn. 5:20 Must believe Jesus is true God and eternal life.
5. Jn 5:39 Must accept that the scriptures testify of Jesus
6-7. Titus 1:2 and 3:7 Must Hope for eternal life
8. Ro. 2:7 Must continue patiently doing well while looking for eternal life.
9. Mt. 25:46 Must be righteous
10. 1 Tim. 6:12 Must use continuing faith to profess Jesus Before witnesses.
11. Jn. 4:36 Must gather fruit (souls)
12. Jn. 6:54 Must continue to have communion.
13. Jn 12:25 Must hate his life (the world)
14. 1 Tim. 6:19 Must build up a foundation in heaven.
15. Jude 1:21 Must remain in the love of God.
16. Ro. 5:21 Must continue in the grace of Jesus.
Jn. 10:28 Jesus gives eternal life.
1 Jn Jesus is eternal life.
Jn. 17:2 Jesus gives.
Act 13:48 Ordained to
1 Jn. 1:2 Was manifested to us.
1 Jn. 2:25 It is promised to us.
1 Jn. 3:15 If you hate, you don't have it.
Mt. 10:16; Mk 10:17; Mk 10:30; Lk. 10:25, Lk. 18:18 How can I get it?
Jn. 6:68 Jesus has the words
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