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Suppose I don't want
to be saved anymore . . . Some people insist they can lose their
salvation if they were to voluntarily
refuse it, or give it back to God. "After
all," they reason, "If I change my mind and
decide I don't want to go to Heaven, surely God
won't force me to go against my own free will."
My friend, once you are truly saved, God is the
One holding on to you, not the other way
around. Jesus Christ promised:
You may decide you don't want to be saved
anymore (a very strange attitude for a truly
saved person to have). But try convincing God
to let you go. Jesus' reputation as the perfect
Saviour is at stake:
Let's further consider Christ's reputation,
particularly His competence as Saviour.
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first place? For instance, let's assume that, in
an attempt to unsave yourself, you stop living
righteously.
You stop going to church, stop reading your Bible, stop praying, no longer witness, and instead, begin boozing it up, gambling, swearing, stealing, and fornicating every chance you get. Suppose that in the midst of all that wicked
behavior, you cross that line the Bible never
defines, and BAM--you've unsaved yourself.
For one thing, it would imply that God is a liar. If
you were keeping yourself saved all along, then
your righteousness had the real power to
ultimately save you.
Is He being disingenuous, when His Word says: "NOT BY WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS which we have done, but according to his mercy HE SAVED US, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which HE SHED ON US ABUNDANTLY through Jesus Christ OUR SAVIOUR" (Titus 3:5-6)? Who's the real Saviour, us or God? "For by
grace
are ye saved through faith; and that NOT OF
YOURSELVES: it is the gift of God: NOT OF
WORKS, LEST ANY MAN SHOULD BOAST."
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THE TRUTH IS, salvation is "not of
yourselves[.]" It is never our own "works
of righteousness" that get us into
Heaven. Salvation is, "Not of works, lest any
man should boast." No one will be in a position
to boast about how they held on to their
salvation, because they had NOTHING to do
with getting, much less "staying," saved in the
first place.
We get saved because the righteousness of Christ was imputed upon us at salvation (see Romans 4:21-25). When a person truly gets saved, Christ trades His righteousness for his/her sins: "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Cor. 5:21 salvation for lack of righteousness is to say that Christ's righteousness is not good enough to merit Heaven! Perhaps, those who claim they could lose or
give back their salvation don't realize that they
need the righteousness of Christ imputed upon
them for salvation. They are still depending upon
their own righteousness to ultimately save them.
They are not simply taking by faith the fact that
they are lost, hell-bound, unrighteous sinners in
need of Jesus Christ, who has ALREADY done
everything necessary, in order to save them.
Okay, suppose I want to
Then it would mean that God ALLOWS His children to disinherit themselves. Again, it would imply that God lied since disinheritance goes |
contrary to His own Word. Read the following
passage carefully:
"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: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also 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. 1:11-14 First of all, the child of God has obtained an "inheritance, being predestinated[.]" Our inheritance is predestined. That means that we WILL GET our inheritance; it is a done deal. Furthermore, God has already predestined that
every adopted child of His WILL BE conformed
to the image of His only begotten Son!
Now, if it's a foregone conclusion that
every child will ultimately be Christlike, then
obviously God WILL keep that child saved.
What is God's purpose for those saved? It is to
be conformed to the image of His Son. Does
that conformity depend solely upon our will?
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discipline sometimes comes in. More about this
later.) Our inheritance/conformity is a done deal
because it takes place according to His will, NOT
OUR'S. So sure is God of His own ability to keep
us saved, that notice how the passage ends:
"...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." Sealed means, "secured, arrested, clamped, preserved;" nothing is "getting out," including a saved soul. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit is "the earnest of our inheritance[,]" like the earnest money you put down on a house you intend to buy. That earnest money proves you are serious about buying that house because if you negate buying it, you forfeit the money. My friend, God has no intention of forfeiting His Holy Spirit--God's earnest money. Nor is God the type to renege on a deal once He has agreed to it. In fact, once saved, we are God's "purchased possession[.]" Purchased with His own blood. Okay, but suppose I act like the
NO! If He did, it would make Him a lousy Father.
Once God adopts someone as His child, He does what every loving father should do--correct and discipline, making that some- one Christlike in the end. "If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; |
for what son is he whom the father chasteneth
not?" (Heb. 12:7). However, the Bible adds the
following warning: "But if ye be without
chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are
ye bastards, AND NOT SONS." Heb. 12:8
The bottom line . . .
"NEITHER IS THERE SALVATION IN ANY OTHER: for there is NONE OTHER NAME [not your's or mine, but Jesus Christ] under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12 (See also, Heb. 7:25; Matt. 19:25-26; Isa. 45:21; 1 Tim. 4:10; Titus 2:11; Hosea 13:4; 1 Tim. 1:15; John 8:24). In salvation, God pays the ransom; He buys us
back from the bondage of sin. We become HIS
PROPERTY; we are His "bond slaves."
Think! What kind of God would Christ be if He couldn't secure the very thing He shed His blood for? What kind of God would start a job without the wherewithal to finish it? To assume that Christ would go to all that trouble, dying in our place, and then leave it up to us to "remain saved" is absurd. It flies in the face of the loving, almighty, competent God. |
you would go to Heaven? The Bible says
YOU CAN BE SURE (1 John 5:13).
BUT FIRST, you must realize that what keeps you from going to Heaven
are your sins, because:
"...your iniquities [sins] have separated between you and your
God," Isaiah 59:2.
In fact, in God's eyes YOU ARE A SINNER: "For all
have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" Romans
3:23.
SECONDLY, you must realize that there is NOTHING you can do to save yourself and earn Heaven: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph. 2:8-9) Baptism, good deeds, church membership, self-righteousness are all examples of good works that cannot save you, because, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he [Christ] saved us," Titus 3:5.
THE ONLY WAY you can get saved is through Jesus Christ. He said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6) THAT'S WHY: "...while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8-9
THEREFORE: You must REPENT (change your mind); admit that you are a Hell deserving sinner and can't save yourself. And call upon Christ, and Him alone, to save you. "if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus [REPENT], and shalt believe in thine heart [TRUST] that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Romans 10:9
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