Is Eternal Life Eternal?
Or Temporal?
A servant of Christ is not to be argumentative (2 Timothy 2:24), but to hold fast the faithful word, exhort in sound doctrine, and to refute those who contradict (Titus 1:9). The reason why a person is saved from hell forever and cannot become unsaved again is because the Scriptures clearly teach that salvation (or eternal life) is a “free gift” (Romans 6:23). It is obtained instantly by our faith or trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ when He shed His blood on the cross to forgive ALL our sins, and was raised from the grave for our justification (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Ephesians 1:7). This gift of eternal life is given to us apart from any works or deeds of righteousness which we have done or ever will do (Romans 3:28; 4:4-6; Titus 3:5).
Salvation happens to a person at a certain point and time in his life at the moment he chooses to accept and trust (believe) that Christ paid for his total sin debt (Ephesians 1:13). The only thing in salvation that is accepted by God from men is their faith (and faith ALONE) in His provision of forgiveness, which is the sacrificed Lamb (Galatians 2:16).
One might ask, “Well, what about what Peter said in Acts, Chapter 2, Verse 38?”
“Repent, and let each one of you be baptized...”
People may say that repentance is a continuous practice of obedience that we must maintain in order to be saved. This, of course, is not so because the word “repent” means: a change of mind or purpose; (Greek word - matanoeo; Greek New Testament Dictionary).
A person who has believed the Gospel message, has exercised repentance simultaneously along with his faith when he recognized his spiritual condition of separation from God because of his sins (Romans 3:23). A person must recognize his need of a Savior and understand, according to the Scriptures, that he is incapable of saving himself (Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16).
Most people, who believe that salvation can be lost or given away, accuse those of us who hold the position of “once saved always saved”, of teaching people to go out and sin all they want. That accusation is contrary to the truth.
If a person, after being saved, decides to be disobedient to his heavenly Father’s commands set forth in the Scriptures, he will find himself guilty of taking his freedom and using it for an opportunity to the flesh (Galatians 5:13), and will be chastised and disciplined by his Father (Hebrews 12:5-8). If after being disciplined, he still remains disobedient, the Lord will take his life, just like He took Moses’ life, but NOT his salvation, (Deuteronomy 3:23-26; 34:1-7; 1 John 5:16; Hebrews 6:1-8; 1 Corinthians 5:1-5).
A person who is set free by the truth is “free indeed”; free from all penalty of sin (John 8:31-36). He will never again come into condemnation because he “has passed out of death into life.” (John 5:24; Ephesians 2:5 & 6; Colossians 2:13 & 14)
The man who has already been saved is “born again” (John 3:6 & 7), and is made into a “new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17), and is sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30). He no longer belongs to himself, but is Christ’s possession (Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 6:19 & 20). Christ said, anyone who comes to Him, He will not cast out (John 6:37).
If we, as children, disobey our earthly parents, breaking their house rules and ordinances, we break our intimate fellowship with them. They may, however become disappointed and discipline us, but we do not cease to be their blood children. Even if we went to the extent of changing our names and moving to the opposite side of the globe, we would still have their blood running through our veins. We would still be their children. How much more is the “born again” child of God, God’s child, for all eternity? (Romans 8:15 & 16) If we disobey God’s commands, do we cease to be His children? Of course not!
“For those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines.” (Hebrews 12:5-8)
When a person gets saved by faith, he INSTANTLY undergoes a spiritual metamorphosis into a new creature and is spiritually regenerated from death to life by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit then eternally indwells his body (Titus 3:5; John 14:16). Forgiven of all his sins by the blood of Christ, he is reconciled to God and is now able to serve God and please Him in his everyday life. But, what a person has to understand is that there re two parts to the Christian life.
The first, is his position in Christ (Ephesians 2:5 & 6) which has already been explained in great detail.
A person’s salvation or position in Christ is not merited to HIM because of works which HE has done. NOTHING HE does can ever separate him from the love of Christ (Romans 8:35-39). A new Christian is not instantly de-habituated from sin patterns he has learned over a long period of time. He has a new responsibility to have to learn to discipline his body in obedience to Christ.
The second part of the Christian life therefore is his walk. We were saved FOR good works, not BECAUSE of them, and we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10). We should walk in a manner worthy of our calling (Ephesians 4:1). We do NOT walk in a “worthy” manner in order to receive a calling.
Some people who believe that they can lose their salvation say, “It doesn’t matter if you believe you can lose your salvation or not”. On the contrary. It DOES matter. If a person is trusting in ANYTHING other than the blood of Christ, or adding to His suffering and blood on the cross for the sustaining of his salvation, he is NOT REALLY SAVED. He is trusting in his own works to guarantee himself a place in heaven when he dies. A gospel that does not assure a person of “eternal” life is not a gospel at all. It is a false gospel.
If you ask a person who believes he can lose his salvation where he is going when he dies, he will usually look you in the eye and, with the utmost confidence say that he will go to heaven. But such a statement is a lie against his OWN doctrinal belief because he also believes that a person can still fall away and lose his salvation. He can never be absolutely, 100% sure that he will go to heaven. This person HAS to admit that he is capable of falling away because he still has a sin nature and a free will. He HAS to admit that he really doesn’t know beyond a shadow of a doubt whether or not he will go to heaven or hell when he dies.
He might then say, “But I know where I will go if I die today.” If you ask him, “Why would you go to heaven if you died today?”, he would say, “Because I have not fallen away.”
This statement proves that he is trusting in his own obedience and behavior to guarantee himself a position in heaven. If you believe you can lose your salvation, or give it up by failure of obedience, you are believing in a good works, false gospel and are NOT justified for salvation before God (Romans 3:20; 10:1-3; Ephesians 2:8 & 9).
People who believe that you can lose your salvation try to use Hebrews 6:6 to establish their false point of view. They claim that “falling away” means losing one’s salvation. If the issue written about in Hebrews 6:6 is interpreted to mean that once you fall away your salvation is lost, and God does not allow you to be saved again, then you’d better get a razor blade and start cutting out verses like Romans 6:10, Hebrews 10:10-12, Colossians 2:13 & 14, and 1 Peter 3:18 which say that Christ died for ALL men, forgiving them of ALL sins. The sin of falling away was eternally paid for by the blood of Christ (Hebrews 10:14).
“For by ONE offering He has perfected FOR ALL TIME those who are sanctified.”
Hebrews 6:6 is NOT talking about salvation. It is talking about our obedience and walk AFTER a person grows to maturity in Christ. Hebrews 6:6 is talking about a physical punishment of death, that God may inflict on a disobedient and rebellious Christian child of His. This is called the “sin unto death” (1 John 5:16).
If a person falls away and his life does not yield good fruit, but thorns and thistles instead, his life is worthless, unable to help others, useless to God, and is CLOSE to being cursed. (Read Hebrews 6:1-9.) If a person’s life is barren of works or has bad works, the day will show it, for it will be revealed and tested with fire (1 Corinthians 3:13-15).
In 1 Corinthians 3:15, Paul says that if a man’s works are burnt up, he will suffer loss, but he shall be saved, yet so as through fire.
A person should do good works because he IS saved, not to BECOME saved.
Good works are a witness of our right standing before God by faith. God told Abraham that He was going to give him a son (Genesis 15:1-5). Abraham believed the Lord and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
In James 2:21-24, James says that Abraham’s faith and obedience in doing good works justified him. What does this mean? It DOESN’T mean salvation because we know that in Romans 3:28, Paul says that a man is justified by faith APART from works. Do the Scriptures contradict? No, of course not. Paul is talking about “salvation” justification and James is talking about being justified in our “walk”, being in fellowship with God by obedience to His commands.
The person who believes he can lose his salvation must first understand what the true gospel is. Once he understands the grace of God, then he will experience full assurance, peace and security (Colossians 2:2). A person does not get saved by asking Jesus to come into their heart. There is no place in Scriptures mentioned where anyone ever asked Jesus into his heart. Not one verse in the entire Bible says to ask Jesus into your heart.
A person must recognize the fact that he is a sinner, separated from God because of the crimes he has committed against God (1 John 1:8). A sinner is incapable of saving his own soul. That is why Jesus, who is God, became a man and became our perfect sacrifice, the acceptable payment of blood to forgive us of all our sins as a gift (Romans 3:23-26).
You must understand that God will never accept you for salvation because of your obedience. There is only One that God will accept for our justification and that is the One obedient act of One man, the man Jesus Christ (Romans 5:18 & 19).
“Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of ONE the FREE GIFT came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so as by the obedience of ONE shall many be made righteous.”
This is the grace of God. He will only accept those who, by faith ALONE, accepted the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins (Romans 3:20 & 26; 4:3-8).
As a Christian, our sins, past, present and future, have been forgiven, erased and nailed to the cross with Christ (Colossians 2:13 & 14). We will never stand in judgment of hell because of any sin we have ever committed (John 5:24; 1 John 5:13).
“These things I have written unto you who believe in the name of the Son of God in order that you may KNOW that you HAVE eternal life.”
Are there any of your sins that the blood of Jesus didn’t pay for? How about falling away? Wasn’t that paid for as well? Either Jesus died for ALL your sins...or He didn’t.
If you are trusting your own obedience to sustain or maintain your salvation because you believe that you can lose the one thing which no man deserves, eternal life, you will do well to consider, very carefully, these passages of Scriptures which are in this study, for the salvation of your eternal soul is at stake.
Romans 10:1-4 - “Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
John 10:27-29 - “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I GIVE unto them eternal life; and they shall NEVER perish, neither shall any man (including ourselves by falling away) pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them to Me, is greater than all; and NO MAN is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.”
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GOOD NEWS BIBLE CHURCH
718 Riverspring Dr.
Prentice, WI 54556
(715) 428-2075