Can We Lose Our Salvation?

 Can We Lose Our Salvation?

It's an important lesson. 

 

The answer is No. You either have it or you don’t. And You can always turn to God and ask to be saved. That is His grace.

But, there are folks who think you can lose it. This is written for them.

Hebrews 6:4 KJV

“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.”

A lot of people use this verse to claim that a person can lose their salvation.

That is not true. I will explain why.

First, if you read the entire chapter context of the verse starting in verse 6:1 and going to verse 6:10 you will see the writer says that as we mature as believers we move away from doctrines regarding salvation, baptisms, etc. Because we rest in the fact that we are saved and can grow in Christ. We know that God’s grace and Christ’s Blood washes us of all sin, so we do not need to keep going around and around bickering on these subjects.

It doesn’t help us to grow and serve in Christ. As mentioned in previous Chapter 5, It’s milk not meat. We should be past these things, and be teachers who understand.

Next in verses, 4-6 he explains what happens to a person who “falls away”.

The first thing to notice is the word “impossible”. That should send up a red flag. Because Jesus said “with God ALL things are possible.” (Matt. 19:26)

This is a direct contradiction. Or is it? If you know your stuff, then you know God’s Word doesn’t contradict itself. Any apparent contradiction is an invitation to pray, listen to the Holy Spirit and dive deeper.

 Remember this because it’s important. We will come back to it.

Next, the writer tells us a list of things that God gives us freely or allows us to experience.

“…who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come“

If you think you experienced these things and then fell away unto a loss of salvation. Then, you probably never really experienced the full measure of these things from God. You experienced something else. You were just going to church.

Once you really know Christ, you cannot speak ill of Him or turn from Him. (1 Cor. 12:3)

I am not talking about committing sin. We are dead to sin. It does not impact our salvation. God holds our salvation.

Like Jesus said, “All that the father gives me shall come to me; and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out.” —John 6:37

The person described in this verse in Hebrews is someone who has been exposed to Christ and still rejects or tries to climb up some other way. This person was never saved. They never really turned to Him. They had every chance but rejected. They even saw the truth. But rejected. That’s what the verse is saying. (These people will most likely join the Apostate Church of the last days, persecuting the Saints. They tasted spirituality but never really accepted Christ.)

Next the verse says to “restore them to repentance”.

Understand that “Repent” means to turn. It means to turn to God for salvation. It does not mean “to turn from sin”. That belief is false. They can’t be restored to repentance because they never had it. They never knew Him. They were never in a relationship with Christ, or they are heading to chastisement. God chastens His children. He does not cast them aside. (Heb. 12:6)

I want you to consider what Jesus said in Matthew 12:43-45

That when a man is clean. The demon goes to desert places, then returns with 7 others and the last State of this man was worse than the first.

This verse says the same thing as the Hebrews verse. If Jesus sets you free, and you turn back to the world, you will be worse off than before. The enemy will have more access to you and will work on you.

But neither verse says Jesus casts you aside and rejects you. Neither verse says you are condemned. If you think you walk a perfect life after salvation, then you really need to talk with God. If you think you have no sin, you deceive yourself and the truth (Jesus) is not in you. (1 John 1:8)

If you are saved and “Fall Away”, you basically open the doors for demonic activity to harass you. Consider a drug addict who is set free from drugs. But starts using again. The addiction is worse and the person believes they are a failure and everyone else tells them they are a failure. It becomes “impossible” to get back to that state of feeling free in Christ. It’s harder to quit the drugs or sinful behavior next time. It’s talking about a battle with Satan, not a loss of salvation.

BUT…keep reading and remember, we are not saved by works.

Notice it speaks of putting Christ to shame. This person the verse is speaking of never knew Jesus. They were never saved. When God shows you the heavenly gifts, and the truth of the Word, and the Holy Spirit convicts you and draws you. If you then reject Him. You are not saved and you put Christ to an open shame. That’s what the verse is saying, in context. You or this person was never saved. They did not lose it. The thorns and thistles choked out the Word.

Next the writer speaks of God pouring out blessings as rain.  Jesus said “He let’s the rain fall on the just and unjust. ”  That means that God let’s the unsaved see and feel His blessings because He hopes they will turn to Him. But if not, then they reject Christ and put Him to open shame. When God calls us, He let’s us see the Truth. We can choose to reject. And that’s what Hebrews is saying. God revealed truth, and a person rejected. (Matt 5:45)

The verse in Hebrews seems to be referring to a great Saint in Christ, but it’s not. It’s referring to someone who is not saved or has let the enemy back into their life. It’s not a loss of salvation.

Next the writer speaks of the water and says this rain from God waters the ground and brings forth good fruits or thorns and thistles. Is the Holy Spirit working in their life? Are they developing the fruits of the Spirit? If not, then they were never saved. They don’t lose it.

This matches what Jesus said in the parable of the sower. (Matthew Chapter 13)

God sows His truth into the world, and some lands on good soil, While others do not. Some soil receives the word but thorns and thistles grow up choking it out. Again, it never says they lost salvation. We are not saved by works, nor do we maintain our salvation. A person who hears the Word, and let’s thorns and thistles choke out the Word. Never actually got saved. They might have obeyed some rules and went to church for a while but they never knew Him. They turn from Christ, because they never knew Him. A saved person, will cling to Jesus, even in the midst of terrible sin and failure. They will stay with Jesus, because He is their only hope. They become broken and grow in Him.

This again refers to a struggle with this world, the flesh and the demons who fight us.

The bottom line is real simple. A person is either saved or not. They either saw the blessings of God and rejected. Or they saw the blessings of God, received Christ and are saved, but have fallen away, and are having a tough time. They are walking in the flesh, not the Spirit.

Either way the answer is to turn to God. With God all things are possible. Turn to Him. If a person “loses salvation” they were never really saved. They experienced the Word, and saw the kingdom but rejected Christ anyway. Whether unsaved, or a fallen saint or faithful saint, the answer is always to turn to God. (Repent) We confess him as Lord. We confess our sins and He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Confessing our sins is Walking in the Spirit.

At the end of our earthly life, Jesus will say either “well done thy good and faithful servant” or “depart from me I NEVER knew you.”

Because you were NEVER saved. You never had a relationship with Him, because if you had you would not reject Him.  I’m not talking about sin. We all sin. We are dead to sin. Our sins are cast from us. We confess our sins and are cleansed.

I’m saying you NEVER confessed Him as Lord and trusted Him to save you. You try to save yourself and try to obey rules, that is not salvation.

As the writer of Hebrews says in verse 10. “God knows what you’ve done.” But your salvation has nothing to do with that. Jesus said I NEVER knew you. A person cannot lose salvation. They NEVER had it.

It’s all about Christ. Turn to Him. Nothing is impossible with God. We are not saved by works. If we are fallen away or trapped by Satan, God will break us and correct us. He does not cast us out. If we walk away, we never really knew Him.

Just always turn to God. Confess to Him. Pray to Him. Know Him. That is Walking in the Spirit. Letting the Holy Spirit work on you and through you.

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Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger.

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