YOU ASKED FOR IT: CAN SALVATION BE LOST?

Pastor Jonathan Falwell 

Today we’ll begin a new series which you have had the opportunity to help plan. We asked you for topics you wanted us to explore on Sunday mornings for the next five weeks. We received hundreds of ideas which all flow down to a couple dozen or so main topics. We’ve chosen the top 5 for the next five weeks but we will also answer the rest in a number of videos you can view at our website. In fact, the number one topic you requested was on prophecy, the end times. We didn’t choose that one for this series mainly because I did a 16-week series on it two Summers ago and you can watch the entire series at the link given as we walked through the entire book of Revelation. 

So, today, the topic is eternal security. CAN YOUR SALVATION BE LOST? Is it possible to be saved and then because of a sinful act, you lose your salvation? Or, is it “once saved, always saved.” Let’s explore what God’s Word has to say on the matter. 

1.     The Promise of the Savior 

It is impossible to begin a conversation on the topic of eternal security without first examining the promise of the Savior. Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost

John 10:22–30 (CSB) Then the Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem, and it was winter. 23 Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The Jews surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” 25 “I did tell you and you don’t believe,” Jesus answered them. “The works that I do in my Father’s name testify about me. 26 But you don’t believe because you are not of my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

John 10:25–30 (NLT) Jesus replied, “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father’s name. 26But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. 27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, 29for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. 30The Father and I are one.”

• Three-part promise from this passage
  • It is a gift ( “I give them…”) – Not by what we’ve done
  • It is eternal (“…eternal life…”) – Will never end
  • It cannot be destroyed (“…and they will never perish”) – Will never be destroyed
  • God never promises us an easy trip, only a safe arrival

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “What grand security we have because we are ‘in Christ’! The Christian is not one who is redeemed and saved today but who may fall from it tomorrow and be lost. There is no ‘in and out’ in salvation. You are either ‘in Adam’ or you are ‘in Christ’, and if you are ‘in Christ’ you have eternal security, you are in Him forever.”[1]

2. The Power of the Promise

Romans 8:37–39 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• We are more than conquerors (hypernikão – to completely prevail, super conquerors)
• There is nothing on this earth or beyond which can rip our salvation away

FF Bruce said, “So long as they endeavor to rely on their own resources, they fight a losing battle; when they avail themselves of the resources of life and power that are theirs ‘in Christ Jesus’, they are more than conquerors.”[2]

3. The Permanence of the Gift

Ephesians 1:9–14 He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ 10 as a plan for the right time—to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him. 11 In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will, 12 so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory. 13 In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. 14 The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:14 (NLT) The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

• While this entire proposition of salvation is a “mystery” to us all, at the right time, God will bring it all together just as He promised…”an inheritance”
• Verse 13 tells us we are SEALED by the Holy Spirit

Charles Ryrie stated, “Eternal security is the work of God that guarantees that the gift of salvation, once received, is forever and cannot be lost. The concept of eternal security emphasizes God’s activity in guaranteeing the eternal possession of the gift of eternal life. It relates to those the Holy Spirit regenerates, and its veracity does not rest on feelings or experiences.”[3]

4. The Problems You May Hear

1. 2 Peter 2:20–22 For if, having escaped the world’s impurity through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command delivered to them. 22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to its own vomit, and, “A washed sow returns to wallowing in the mud.

• Here, Peter was talking about the false teaching which had entered the church. He is referring to people who sit within the teachings of the Scripture and even hear the Gospel and they try to change their behavior to fit, but never accept the message of the Gospel.
• Entangled (emplakõ – to weave into a pattern) – they are trying to take the teaching that sounds good and adjust their behavior, but they don’t truly accept the Gospel.
• He says for those people who hear the message and yet never believe in Christ it would be better if they never heard at all, just like Judas.

Adrian Rogers said, “Sinful desires do not disappear by reformation; they only hibernate and wake up stronger.” People need transformation, not reformation!

1. Galatians 5:19–21 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things—as I warned you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Warren Wiersbe said, “Paul is not talking about an act of sin, but a habit of sin.”[4]

• This passage is not stating that if you commit sin, you can lose your salvation; it is saying that if you habitually commit sin without any guilt and change, you need to question whether you have ever actually been saved.

1. Matthew 24:11–13 Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Again, Adrian Rogers said, “They’re not saved because they endure, they endure because they’re saved.”

1. Hebrews 6:4-6 (NLT) For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come—6 and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.

• Verse 9 – Hebrews 6:9 (NLT) Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation.

5. The Protection of the Father

1 Peter 1:3–5 (CSB) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 5You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

Thomas Schreiner said, “A ‘living hope’ is one that is genuine and vital, in contrast to a hope that is empty and vain.”[5]

• The description of our hope
  • Hope through the resurrection of Jesus
  • An inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you
  • We are being guarded by God’s power…ready to be revealed in the last time

Again, David Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “We are now in the life of Christ, and because we are in the life of Christ we are eternally safe, we are eternally secure.”[6]

[1] Tony Sargent, Gems from Martyn Lloyd-Jones: An Anthology of Quotations from “the Doctor” (Milton Keynes, England;  Colorado Springs, CO;  Hyderabad, AP: Paternoster., 2007), 104.

[2] F. F. Bruce, Romans: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 6, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 159.

[3] Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Basic Theology: A Popular Systematic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1999), 379.

[4] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 719.

[5] Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol. 37, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003), 61.

[6] Tony Sargent, Gems from Martyn Lloyd-Jones: An Anthology of Quotations from “the Doctor” (Milton Keynes, England;  Colorado Springs, CO;  Hyderabad, AP: Paternoster., 2007), 104.