If a believer knows that God has provided the way to eternal life through His Son Jesus Christ, then he may turn his back on the sins of this world, and in faith begin the journey on the road to heaven. The believer is first drawn to God by God’s accepting love and forgiving grace. As God replaces the sinful nature with a righteous, holy nature, the believer is born-again to new life, hope and peace.

God has given each a free-will to choose or reject the free gift offer of salvation. To choose this gift offering saves one from the deadly consequences of sin as long as one keeps the faith and does not continue in willful sin. The Holy Spirit seals the born-again believer as a mark and promise of redemption.

To back-slide into sin and lust compromises one’s fellowship with God. To deny the faith and reject God is to remove the seal, fall from Grace and walk the road that leads to perdition and eternal separation from God.

If the apostate repents and turns again to God, God’s grace is sufficient to forgive, restore and re-convert. The following defines salvation as given in the Word of God. Most interpretations are in agreement and differences usually come to a definition of terms. Prayerfully consider the following that the Word of truth may be “rightly divided.”

The Road To Salvation

One does not arrive until one arrives. Salvation is not complete until after death and the final redemption of the soul. The initial evidence that one is on the road to salvation is realized when one first experiences the Grace and forgiving love of God. Salvation is a gift from God and will only be completely received when one reaches heaven. This is why God’s word includes endurance, falling from Grace, and unpardonable sin.

Knowledge is important, but is merely symbolic. Knowledge is only a reflection of reality, never the substance. “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life;...ye are unwilling to come to Me to have life” (John 5:39,40).

Most Christians mean ‘‘born-again” when they say “ saved.” Salvation is a life process. One walks the road to heaven and eternal life, and does not turn back toward perdition or eternal death. Until death the believer is "being saved” and being sanctified. Salvation, sanctification, and eternal life will not be completed until then. The “saved” are those who have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, who have “tasted of the good Word of God, and the powers of the world to come.” These are the true believers. If these who are born-again, turn their backs upon Christ and return to their former life, they crucify the Son of God on their own account. They make the act of crucifixion their own.

The biblical definition of “born-again” describes a spiritual renewal of the total person. They were once going the wrong direction, now they are going in the right direction. No one can save themselves (Jud. 7:2; Eph.2:7-10) so God offers salvation freely for all who will believe (Jn.3:16,17). God offers a salvation that is able to save the individual (Mk.16:16), the family (Acts 11:14), society (Deu.33:29), the nation (Ex.14:30; ISam.14:23; Is.45:17), and the world (Is.45:22).

Upon accepting God’s salvation the believer is saved from sin and tribulations (ISam.10:19; Is.64:5; Jer.30:6) and the wrath of God (Rom.5:9). To be born-again the sinner simply calls upon His name (Acts 4:12) for God is full of: Grace (Acts 15:11); truth (IlThess. 2:10); and mercy (Titus 3:5). God seals the believer unto “the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30). “He that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Matt. 10:22). “...Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (II Cor.6:2; Ps. 80:3).

How is the born-again believer sealed? A good example is found in the example of the canning jar. The canning jar is first sterilized, then filled, and sealed. The Christian is sanctified, filled with the Holy Ghost, and sealed with the promise of redemption. If the seal is broken, worldly contamination spoils the contents. The fallen believer must do the “ first works" over (Rev. 2:1-6) just as did the church at Ephesis. “...After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:13,14). Let us not “grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30).

The Holy Spirit has placed His mark upon the heart of the believer. The seal marks the believer as one consecrated to God and accepted by God as His own. The seal is an obligation laid upon us to revere the Spirit as the pledge of our glorious destiny. The believers’ present conduct must be worthy of the inheritance upon which they have begun to enter. The seal is placed upon the believer as an identification mark for future redemption & salvation. The complete salvation will not be obtained until “that day.”

One is “born-again” (I Pet. 1:23) by the Word of God and begins the process of change, of renewal, of sanctification, and of salvation. “Narrow is the way that leadeth unto life” (Matt. 7:14). One does not arrive until one arrives. One doesn’t get there until one gets there. A believer walks the road of salvation and is on the way to the Celestial city. One perserveres and is disciplined in the faith lest they become a “castaway” (ICor.9:27) and be disqualified. Salvation is not secured by works but by Grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Eph.2:7-10; IITim.1:8,9). It is faith and trust in the divine sonship of Jesus, which will lead to an inheritance of eternal life in His name. “...Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls “(I Peterl:8,9). “Ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Rom.6:20- 22).

Sanctification is a process that will be completed when the born-again leave this mortality and take on immortality. Christ’s redemption by His sacrifice, “has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Heb.10:14). “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt.5:8). Pray for “the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb.12:14). As the believer consecrates himself to God, God will “make holy” and “sanctify” the whole man. God will preserve us “blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (IThes.5:23). He is “able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 24).

Self is the greatest hindrance to sanctification. The carnal seeks to satisfy the lusts of the flesh. The spirit of man will never be satisfied by the pleasures of the world. Pleasure is not a sin. Lust is the perversion of pleasure. The born-again believer rejoices with “joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls” (I Pet.1:8,9). Truth is not the enemy of pleasure but of perversion and sin. Man perversely seeks to secure his existence in the finite rather than the infinite. God is the only reality, and we are only real in so far as we are in His order and He in us.

Only he who believes in Christ and loves his brother has emerged from mortality and in the power of Christ’s victory is able to overcome the world. Each believer chooses the object of their love and devotion; God or the world. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (IJohn2:16). These temptations are evident in the temptations of Eve, and of Jesus in the wilderness.

Beauty, as viewed idealistically and spiritually, is of God. The “lust of the eyes refers to those things which are unsanctified by the love of God and unchastened by the beauty of holiness. These become idolatry. The “pride of life” is the egotistical passion to live in conscious superiority to one s fellowman according to the standards and values of the world. Before God all of the vainglory will avail us nothing.

One’s relationship with God is demonstrated by God’s character in one’s life. The “fruit of the Spirit is evident. Salvation is yet to be obtained (Heb.1:14) although it’s benefits are already present (Heb.2:4). One of these benefits is that our sins are hidden behind the cross of Christ. He was “made sin” for us. “Upon Him was laid the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).

The process of sanctification crucifies the “old man” that the “body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Rom.6:5,6). “...Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph.4:24). A new creature is needed for a new life. New wine skins are needed for “new wine.” “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh” (Ezek.36:26).

Sow a thought, and you reap an act.

Sow an act, and you reap a habit.

Sow a habit, and you reap a character.

Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.

Holiness

Holiness produces separation from sin, but mere separation from sin cannot produce holiness. Holiness comes from the presence of God. True salvation is a betrothal; a holy relationship with God. He purifies us for our marriage. To experience His love, the idols of self & sin must be destroyed. Holiness exists in a soul purified by love.

In Luke 15, Jesus taught that a sheep, coin or boy could become lost and found. Could they not be lost and found more than once? The apostate cannot be renewed to repentance (Heb.6:4-9;10:26-29), but backsliders who still have faith in Christ can be renewed regardless of how low in sin they are. The apostate will burn in hell. The backslider will be saved but will suffer loss of reward.

No sin will enter heaven. The blood of Christ washes away all sin. The redeemed are free but may “entangle themselves again with the yoke of bondage to sin" (Gal.5). If the born-again refuse the complete gift of God, “there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins” (Heb.10:26). There comes a point when the patience of God no longer avails, when the sinner has committed the sin against the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:28,29). The heavens are always “bronze” (Deu.28:22) to the hardened heart, but the faithful “shall see the heavens opened, and the angels of God.” “...If you are justified by the law ye are fallen from Grace” (Gal.5:4).

The supreme enlightenment comes but once in a lifetime. To turn away from Christ is to turn against Him, to become His enemy (Lk.11:23). He who does this closes every door to his own renewal. This applies to apostasy only, and not to any other sin. Some turn the very gifts of God into a curse. The three qualifications of apostasy (Heb.10:29) are: to treat with rudeness and insult the Son of God; to consider the sacrifice of Jesus common; and to refuse the Grace of God. To turn away from Christ is to turn against Him, to become His enemy (Lukell:23). Land that has received the favor of God in the form of rain may turn out to be fruitful. Other land brings forth thorns & thistles and is near to being cursed. God’s favors are given generously to all men. Can a truly born-again believer commit apostasy? The answer is that only a believer can commit apostasy. The lost or unenlightened have not “tasted of the heavenly gift” or received the Holy Ghost so cannot reject something they have never accepted. To “fall away” one must have to be standing at a point from which to fall. If one is “eternally secure “there can be no “falling away" or “apostasy.” This “falling away” can only occur to the “Born-again” believer (IIThes.2:3,4; ITim.6:6-10). To fall away with no repentance is not just a loss of reward, but an eternal, spiritual death sentence.

The person of Heb.6:4 had established a relationship with God. They were “enlightened”; had “tasted of the heavenly gift,” and were “partakers of the Holy Ghost.” They had “tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the world to come.” Yet they “fell away” (vs.6) from their relationship with God, was near "cursing” (vs.8), and their “end was to be burned.”

The church at Laodicea had the “candle stick” of God’s Holy Spirit and were in Christ yet because of their works of unrighteousness Christ said: “I will spue thee out of my mouth” (Rev.3:16). To be spuen out of the mouth of God is to be eternally separated from God (Rev.2:4,5,16,21-26; 3:3,15,16).

It is impossible to lose something not yet obtained. One’s faith looks forward to “that day” when salvation is complete. One may chose to remove one’s self from the ranks of the believers. Thus, “falling away” and “apostasy” come into play. To draw back; to deny the faith; to backslide beyond the point of reconciliation is to bring about spiritual destruction (Heb.10:38,39). Perdition is eternal, spiritual destruction; eternal death & separation from God. It is the fire & destruction of ungodly men (IIPet.3:7). The burning hell of Rev.17:8 and Rev.19:20 is the perdition and lake of fire into which Satan and his followers are cast.

Lucifer and his angelic followers were already in heaven and were cast out. They had not just “tasted the heavenly gift” but were in the very presence of God. Lucifer was cast out of heaven and will be cast into the lake of fire (Isaiah 14:12- 15).

Judas was counted as one of the disciples (Acts 1:16-25; Matt. 10:4) and had done great works with the other apostles. This “son of perdition” gave back the gift of salvation and condemned his own soul to hell. He kissed the very door of heaven but failed to enter in (Lk.22:48).

Hymenaeus and Alexander made shipwreck of their faith and were cast out (ITim.1:20). God gave these up to impurity (Rom.1 :20-32).

The sin and spiritual isolation of the apostate removes them from Christ’s body. They are cut off from the vine and their end is to be burned. The born-again who reject the gospel will be ultimately and eternally excommunicated (Matt. 13:28-30; 15:13; Jn.15:1-10). They have fallen away from the truth (ITim.4:1,2) and have been severed from Christ (Gal.5:4,7).

If men will not meet the God of mercy, they will encounter the God of wrath. Those who are born-again were once in bondage to sin and on the highway to hell. If those who “have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” are entangled again, “and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning” (II Pet.2:20,21). If the “latter end is worse” than the beginning then they are heading toward spiritual destruction.

The one sin for which Jesus could not pay is the sin of rejecting the free pardon for which He paid with His life. This one unpardonable sin that sends a person to eternal separation from God in the lake of fire is described by Jesus. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John3:18).

The purpose of the final white throne judgment is to demonstrate to the unbeliever why he is already condemned. God will take the best works that the unbeliever has done and hold them up against His righteousness and not one will be good enough. So the unbeliever will finally have to confess that no one is good enough and that he is rightly condemned for only one reason: not his personal sins.. .Jesus died and paid for them. The one sin that is sending the unbeliever to hell is his rejection of the gift of pardon that Jesus died to make free to him.

Only a true man who had no sin of his own could qualify to die for the sins of mankind. If you’ve received the forgiveness that God offers in His Son’s death for you, then God has already judged all the wrong things you’ve done or will do; Jesus has already taken God’s wrath against those sins in your behalf. The believer is already accepted with God on the basis of Jesus Christ’s merits. You don’t have to worry that God will keep a list of all your evil deeds and hold them against you. Jesus nailed your list to the Cross, and He buried it in the grave.

To call good evil, to prefer darkness to light, seems to say that a man is bent on his own destruction and that not even the Grace of God can deter him. God’s mercy is by no means diminished. One may, as Peter, hold our Master up to contempt by denying Him. Yet upon repentance, Jesus receives and forgives. God will not turn away from the sincere cry of faith, however much one has sinned.

In Luke 22:31-34 we read of Peter who was previously a born-again follower & disciple of Jesus Christ. He had known the truth and had walked in it. When Peter denied Christ, he erred from the truth and needed re-conversion; “and when thou art converted...”.

“...If any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death” (James 5:19,20). To be broken from the vine, one would have to be at one time, attached to the vine. “Because of unbelief they were broken off...“ however “...God is able to graft them in again” (Rom. 11:20-23).

“...Of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning” (II Peter 2:19,20). “...The dog is turned again to his own vomit; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire" (II Peter 2:22).

There are only two religions in the world: one is a human system by which man seeks to make himself acceptable to God; the other is that divine action by which God has provided man with justification and reconciliation. One is of man, the other is of God.

It is continual, willful sin that eventually breaks one off from the vine of salvation which is Jesus Christ. It is impossible for the born-again to live a life of sinless perfection. What does it mean when John writes: “whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin... he can not sin, because he is born of God” (IJohn 3:9), and shall never fall” (vs.10)?

God is able to save and to keep one’s soul. No man can “pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:28). Mankind is given free will to choose. If one chooses to turn one’s back upon God & the faith then one is leaving the protection and security of “the Father’s hand” (Rom.11:20). “...Because of unbelief they were broken off.” “God is able to graft them in again” But if there is no repentance and turning again to God, they are “broken off” cast “into the fire, and burned” (JohnlS:6).

The born-again believer walks the highway to heaven. To deny the faith and to turn away from God is to deny the free gift of salvation. To believe brings eternal life. Unbelief brings eternal death and separation from God. “Once saved, always saved” is true as one continues to believe and to keep the faith. God gives life; God maintains life; God preserves life. Eternal life is found only in God. “And He shall reign for ever and ever”.. .hallelujah. . .and amen!