Thanks be to God for salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ! I will take some time to look into salvation. Salvation is saving. But saving from what? What do we need saving from? Do we need saving from a field of dandelions? Or a pack of wild kittens? No! But sin and death. Without question, men are only saved from danger. So if we sin, do we still need saving? If we still die, don’t we need salvation? So how can we consider ourselves “saved” if we still sin and if we still die? However, when we get to that place, which God has promised, then we will be saved. For in the place there will be no more sin “and there will no longer be any death.” (Revelation 21:4) But yet, before we cross over to that place, how can we still confidently say, “I am saved”? Indeed we are saved. Indeed it is a mystery. But God who speaks, promised. And God who promised, cannot lie. And we can experience His salvation now. Although, it will not come until He appears “a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.” (Hebrews 9:28) So we see that we have the sure promise of everlasting life, but the fulfillment is still yet to come.
Abraham had doubts, but God gave an oath. “He said, "O Lord GOD, how may I know that I will possess it?"” (Genesis 15:8) And the LORD said, “To your descendants I have given this land.” (Genesis 15:18) And when He says, “I have given,” He does not say, “I will give”. For from that time forward, the land was Abraham’s. This is true even though he did not own a foot of it during his lifetime. "The Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind." (1 Samuel 15:29) So when God promises, we can consider it sure. We can trust His Word as though it has already happened. Even though the fulfillment of the promise tarries. "For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay.” (Habakkuk 2:3)
And I write these things in regards to eternal salvation. For although we have no yet entered that land, we eagerly wait “in the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 1:2) For “in hope we have been saved.” (Romans 8:24) For God has promised so that we may hope in Jesus for eternal life. “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4) And this is the faith in Jesus Christ. As He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.” (John 6:47) And, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” (John 5:24) And, "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:54) As the apostle writes, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:12-13)
Now, how do we know we believe? How do we know we have faith? As it says, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) But hearing alone is not a sign of faith in the heart. For Jesus often reproved saying, “HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR?” (Mark 8:18) So rather it is a new life that says, “Faith in the heart”. And seeking Christ with all the heart’s affections that says, “I believe!” For who believing in God does not run to him with all the love that the Spirit gives? “Because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:5)
So, “By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.” (1 John 4:13) And, “We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” (1 John 3:24) “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Corinthians 3:17) And the Spirit of Jesus Christ is not at all hidden, although “we have this treasure in earthen vessels.” (2 Corinthians 4:7) For “each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1 Corinthians 12:7) So we may know we believe in Him because of the Holy Spirit He has given us.
And by this we may know we are in Him. “In Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.” (1 John 3:5-6) But “If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2) And we remain in Him by confessing our sins, “so that our [his] deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." (John 3:21) This is what it means to “remain in the light”. This is how we remain in Him. We remain in Him by not sinning. But if we do sin, “we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) But “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8) If we lie, we dwell in darkness and we are no longer in the light. If we depart from the light, we are no longer trusting in His kindness. For He has promised, “If we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)
So we see, as long as we abide in the light, He will abides in us. And we have confidence in the day of salvation. But if we do not abide in Him, how can we have confidence of eternal life? As the apostle says, “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.” (1 John 2:28) If we abide in Him, we will not sin since He abides in us. Here is the result of dwelling in the Spirit: being “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2) and being “renewed in the spirit of your mind.” (Ephesians 4:23) “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” (Romans 8:5) “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6) So to abide in Christ is to set our mind on Christ.
So we see that our life is bound up in the life of Christ. Not only in regard to not sinning, but the eternal life to come. For “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11) “For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:13) “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:8) And the Holy Spirit dwells in us when we abide in Jesus Christ. And we abide in Him by faith. “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5)
So to say, “Once saved, always saved,” is also to say, “I will never sin,” or “I will never disbelieve.“ This is a vain confidence. For how do you know you’ll never sin? How do you know you will never depart from Him? For “Whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” (Matthew 5:22) And “The tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity.” (James 3:6) And if it is so with such a small member of the body, then how can anyone confidently say, “I will never sin”? For we also have many other members which are larger, which are capable of sin. And in regard to those members which cause us to stumble, Christ said, “tear it out and throw it from you.” (Matthew 5:29) “For it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” (Matthew 5:29) Furthermore, we dwell on earth, not in heaven. Our Lord is not below, but above. He is not seen, and we dwell in the realm of the seen. How do you know you will keep the faith? How do you know you will make it to the end? It’s not how we start, but how we finish. Such thinking is not wise. Will we go all in with our chips for one overly-confident roll? Of course not! It is needful not to gamble, but to know; it is better to trust in Christ, rather than ourselves. And such doctrine puts the trust in ourselves, rather than the kindness of Christ.
The apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7) For “It is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22) It’s not about how we start, but how we finish. Does one win the prize in a race because of how he started? Of course not! The seed sown on the rocky places “immediately receives the word with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.” (Matthew 13:21) And this is called bad soil because it was unfruitful. The seed sown started well, but had no root. And at the Harvest, only fruit matters.
Besides, listen to how God speaks through the prophets: "When I say to the righteous he will surely live, and he so trusts in his righteousness that he commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but in that same iniquity of his which he has committed he will die.” (Ezekiel 33:13) And this is what a man does when he says, “Once saved, always saved”. For he is trusting in his righteous act “once” to save him (Either a prayer, a belief, or a giving of alms, etc), rather than trusting in Him who was sacrificed once to deliver us from sin. “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him.” (Habakkuk 2:4)
If we were rooted in Christ, abiding in Him, we would take heed to His Word. And through the fear of Him, we would be preserved. As it says, “I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me.” (Jeremiah 32:40) So we see that, “by the fear of the LORD one keeps away from evil.” (Proverbs 16:6) So such doctrines which say, “I am always saved,” come from men that stifle the fear of the Lord, not knowing that the fear of the LORD “is for our good always and for our survival.” (Deuteronomy 6:24) They do not know the Word which says, “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever.” (Psalm 19:9) And through the teaching, the very thing which ought to preserve us is removed.
Besides, the Word of God only commands us to do things which are possible; if it were impossible, even to God, then He would not say it. For instance, if it were impossible for us to be perfect, Jesus would not say, “You are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) Or if it were impossible to be holy, God would not say, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY." (1 Peter 1:16) For the LORD God only commands us to do things which are possible. And He never commands us to do things which He Himself doesn’t do. For everything He commands, He does. On the other hand, He will never warn us of something that is impossible to happen. He will never tell us, “hold fast My name,” (Revelation 2:13) if it were impossible for us to lose His name. He would never tell us, “hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown,” (Revelation 3:11) unless it were possible for us to lose our crown. The same goes for the peril of “falling away” (Hebrews 3:12, Hebrews 6:6) or “turning away” (Hebrews 12:25). If it were impossible, then why would we be warned?
If someone is still contentious and says, “Once we receive the Spirit, we cannot lose Him,” or “We are born again, and we cannot be unborn again.” I ask why David said, “Do not take Your Holy Spirit from me,” (Psalms 51:11) if there were no fear of such a thing? And do you not know that God once anointed Saul with the Holy Spirit, but later rejected Him and sent unto him an unclean spirit? And Saul was God’s anointed one, who David was fearful to even touch. I will also cause you to remember that God’s temple was once filled with His glory; but when Israel deserted God, He deserted them. And His Presence left them, and He sent the destroyer against His own temple, His own people. For God’s Holy Spirit cannot dwell with iniquity. As the LORD says, "Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are an obstinate people, and I might destroy you on the way." (Exodus 33:3) And when Achan sinned, the LORD said, “I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst.” (Joshua 7:12) And as for the holy land, God says, “You are therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to live will not spew you out.” (Leviticus 20:22) And so, Christ is our holy land. As He likewise says, “I will spit you out of My mouth.” (Revelation 3:16) So “Do not be conceited, but fear.” (Romans 11:20-21)
But in the following text is the kindness and the mercy and the grace of the Almighty God: for although Saul was given an unclean spirit, even after the fact, the Holy Spirit came upon Saul and “He stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel.” (1 Samuel 19:24) And although David was fearful that the Holy Spirit would be taken from him, he was given the promise: "I will be his father and he shall be My son; and I will not take My lovingkindness away from him, as I took it from him who was before you.” (1 Chronicles 17:13) And although God forsook His people and His holy temple, He says, "I will again have compassion on them; and I will bring them back, each one to his inheritance and each one to his land.” (Jeremiah 12:15) As the promise says: "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU." (Hebrews 13:5) “Behold then the kindness and severity of God.” (Romans 11:22) Do not be conceited, but “continue in His kindness.” (Romans 11:22)
Do not trust in your own righteousness to save you, but the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which is exceedingly righteous even to justify you by faith. “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:14) Believe in Him until the end, “unless you believe in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:2) or “receive the grace of God in vain.” (2 Corinthians 6:1) Know this: “If the root is holy, the branches are too.” (Romans 11:16) So be “firmly rooted” (Colossians 2:7) and “built up in Him and established in your faith.” (Colossians 2:7) “If you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.” (Romans 11:18) Beloved, abide in the Root; for He supports you. “The Lord is able to make you stand.” (Romans 14:4) Behold, I have set before you two paths: the proud way which leads to destruction and the humble way which leads to life.