Safe and Secure: The Permanance of Salvation
Here's the stand of Fundamental Baptist Christian Apologetics- once saved-always saved, once a Christian-always a Christian, once a believer-always a believer and once a disciple of Jesus-always a disciple of Jesus. So now it's time to defend the one truth that a Christian cannot lose their salvation. Opponents of eternal security need not to be mentioned one by one because they are exposed immediately for the wolves they are when their doctrine is exposed- especially those who keep appearing on Youtube, radio or television and espouse the satanic doctrine of conditional security in which is dependent on the way a Christian lives plus we do not want to quarrel with them, it's USELESS and most of them are highly chaotic and abrasive, it's best not to give them the debates they want so they blow up themselves. Worse, these heretics misrepresent the doctrine of eternal security and shallowly accusing its proponents to be promoting a license to sin when that is NOT the case. No believer has the permission to sin because God will still spank them if they ever screw up on Him yet He keeps them as His (Hebrews 12:5-6).
The first case of teaching that salvation can be lost is whenever a Christian sins. If that is the case then it is automatically works salvation then. Heretical ministers of the works salvation doctrine would like to misuse verses like Matthew 24:13, which however is rather proof of genuine salvation over attaining salvation. They confuse the root (faith in the Lord Jesus Christ) with the fruit (good works). Ephesians 2:10 does not contradict Ephesians 2:8-9 and vice versa in the truth that salvation results to good works. Once again, salvation cannot be both by faith and by works (Romans 11:6), it's only either one of them. If it needed to be maintained by works, it's still working for salvation in contrast to if works happen because of salvation, it's only by the grace of God (Philippians 2:13, Ephesians 2:8-10).
In some cases, these works salvation teachers tend to turn around terms in double standard teaching. They confuse terminologies just because they are stated differently like "Jesus is Lord" and the "The Lord Jesus" which both are the same because when you confess Jesus is Lord, you confess Him as the Lord Jesus Christ. In their case, they say that works of the law are not good works and that salvation is not by good works but by the works of the law, which again is a confusing crazy statement.
So how can one be sure of the permanence of salvation? Let's just check the Scriptures. By the way, being saved is not limited to just being saved, it creates a new life in Jesus Christ as the Lord of their lives. It means there is a different attitude towards sin because God's grace does not give a license to sin, rather it teaches resistance from sin (Titus 2:11-15). Now it's time to examine the Scriptures per se to the defense of the permanence of salvation and the falsity of the doctrine of conditional security.
First to refer to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of the Christians' faith. Many times it seems that Jesus taught works salvation but such is not the case. He was showing people how impossible it is to keep the whole Law especially with the case of the rich young ruler who thought he could keep the whole Law to gain eternal life when NOBODY can't. So far we have John 6:37 where He says, "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.". Notice the words "I will no wise cast out." That means whoever comes to the Lord Jesus will not be cast out. Also in John 10:28 it says, "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."
Now here's where the works salvation cuckoos enter and say, "Hey you're taking it out of context." Well do read the whole of John 10 and be aware of the fact that Christians obey the Lord Jesus. Why do they obey? Simple- obedience and submission to Christ's Lordship in the sense of obeying His commands happens because of them being saved. John 10:27 is a natural response of being saved. On the other hand the Lord Jesus also warned in John 8:47 saying, "He that is of God heareth God's words ye therefore hear them not because ye are not of God." This is in reference to the natural man being the child of Satan (John 8:44).
An example will be King David. True God was not a bit happy about what David did in 1 Samuel 11 when he lusted after Bathsheba, had adultery with her, lied a lot and murdered her husband Uriah but David did not lose his salvation. However David did lose one thing though- it was the joy of his salvation which in Psalm 51:12 says, "Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation and uphold me with Thy free Spirit." Notice it's the joy of your salvation not your salvation. Once again, this also proves although Christians are eternally secure but the other consequences for sins are still there. His sorrow was proof of his being a Christian as 2 Corinthians 7:10 says, "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death." which is like Peter's weeping after he denied he was a Christian. The differences are so manifest especially by how God's grace rebukes the Christian of their sins (Titus 2:11-15).
Let's just think of this also- what about Lot, Samson and Solomon did they give their all? Lot entered into Sodom, Samson was a stubborn believer and Solomon compromised with the heathen to please his mistresses. Yet they were still believers. If Solomon went to Hell, man it's best that a Christian would tear out Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon off from the Bible. Yet Ecclesiastes showed Solomon's genuine repentance of his terrible backsliding. Let us also mention good King Jehoshaphat who in 2 Chronicles 18 foolishly allied himself with the unbelieving and wicked King Ahab.
The second case is on the departing from the faith (1 Timothy 4:1) or what is known as apostasy. So another simple argument can be is, "Well what about the departers? You can't trust Jesus today then your works or religion tomorrow!" Good question. First and foremost, true Christians never stop trusting their Lord Jesus, their discipleship is permanent, their crosses they will not throw away because they are saved and if they think of pausing one moment, God chastises them (Hebrews 12:5-6). Christians may learn it the hard way when in their Christian life, they would convicted that I could not stop trusting Jesus because He lives in them and they can't tell Him to get out of my life because once their Lord, always their Lord. 1 John 2:19 says, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." which shows the difference between the real Christians vs. the fakes. The test of genuine faith proves one cannot lose their salvation.
That verse applies to Judas Iscariot who was not a real Christian as many may be misled to think he was. It can be evident that he never got saved as he never called Jesus Christ as Lord as the others did proving that genuine Christianity submits to Jesus as Lord and Savior, not just one without the other. In John 17:12 after Judas Iscariot left, Jesus prayed to God the Father mentioning that none of His disciples is lost save Judas Iscariot marked as the son of perdition. The marks of Judas Iscariot's being a non-believer were evident by his being an unrepentant thief and the fact that no honest to goodness Christian would sell the Lord Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver. Also his mark of suicide proved that he was not saved as most people who end up in suicide are sadly not Christians.
Lastly we would like to point out some critics would point out Revelation 20:12-13 as a means to justify their heresy that Christians need to do good works to stay secure in Christ. What the? Well here's what- how can these be Christians being judged for what they did when this is the Great White Throne for the unbelievers? It just doesn't make any sense. Also, in Matthew 7:21-23 notice the situation- they try to talk their way into Heaven by boasting of their good works but Jesus said unto them, "I NEVER KNEW YOU!" That means, they were never saved to start with. Never means never. As Christians, they know Him and He knows them and if He told them, "I never knew you." just because they slipped rather than spank the Christian for disobedience during that moment, He would be made a liar and that would contradict 1 Peter 2:22 which says, "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:" because He lied about not knowing those who are His and they am already His.
The first case of teaching that salvation can be lost is whenever a Christian sins. If that is the case then it is automatically works salvation then. Heretical ministers of the works salvation doctrine would like to misuse verses like Matthew 24:13, which however is rather proof of genuine salvation over attaining salvation. They confuse the root (faith in the Lord Jesus Christ) with the fruit (good works). Ephesians 2:10 does not contradict Ephesians 2:8-9 and vice versa in the truth that salvation results to good works. Once again, salvation cannot be both by faith and by works (Romans 11:6), it's only either one of them. If it needed to be maintained by works, it's still working for salvation in contrast to if works happen because of salvation, it's only by the grace of God (Philippians 2:13, Ephesians 2:8-10).
In some cases, these works salvation teachers tend to turn around terms in double standard teaching. They confuse terminologies just because they are stated differently like "Jesus is Lord" and the "The Lord Jesus" which both are the same because when you confess Jesus is Lord, you confess Him as the Lord Jesus Christ. In their case, they say that works of the law are not good works and that salvation is not by good works but by the works of the law, which again is a confusing crazy statement.
So how can one be sure of the permanence of salvation? Let's just check the Scriptures. By the way, being saved is not limited to just being saved, it creates a new life in Jesus Christ as the Lord of their lives. It means there is a different attitude towards sin because God's grace does not give a license to sin, rather it teaches resistance from sin (Titus 2:11-15). Now it's time to examine the Scriptures per se to the defense of the permanence of salvation and the falsity of the doctrine of conditional security.
First to refer to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of the Christians' faith. Many times it seems that Jesus taught works salvation but such is not the case. He was showing people how impossible it is to keep the whole Law especially with the case of the rich young ruler who thought he could keep the whole Law to gain eternal life when NOBODY can't. So far we have John 6:37 where He says, "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.". Notice the words "I will no wise cast out." That means whoever comes to the Lord Jesus will not be cast out. Also in John 10:28 it says, "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."
Now here's where the works salvation cuckoos enter and say, "Hey you're taking it out of context." Well do read the whole of John 10 and be aware of the fact that Christians obey the Lord Jesus. Why do they obey? Simple- obedience and submission to Christ's Lordship in the sense of obeying His commands happens because of them being saved. John 10:27 is a natural response of being saved. On the other hand the Lord Jesus also warned in John 8:47 saying, "He that is of God heareth God's words ye therefore hear them not because ye are not of God." This is in reference to the natural man being the child of Satan (John 8:44).
An example will be King David. True God was not a bit happy about what David did in 1 Samuel 11 when he lusted after Bathsheba, had adultery with her, lied a lot and murdered her husband Uriah but David did not lose his salvation. However David did lose one thing though- it was the joy of his salvation which in Psalm 51:12 says, "Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation and uphold me with Thy free Spirit." Notice it's the joy of your salvation not your salvation. Once again, this also proves although Christians are eternally secure but the other consequences for sins are still there. His sorrow was proof of his being a Christian as 2 Corinthians 7:10 says, "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death." which is like Peter's weeping after he denied he was a Christian. The differences are so manifest especially by how God's grace rebukes the Christian of their sins (Titus 2:11-15).
Let's just think of this also- what about Lot, Samson and Solomon did they give their all? Lot entered into Sodom, Samson was a stubborn believer and Solomon compromised with the heathen to please his mistresses. Yet they were still believers. If Solomon went to Hell, man it's best that a Christian would tear out Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon off from the Bible. Yet Ecclesiastes showed Solomon's genuine repentance of his terrible backsliding. Let us also mention good King Jehoshaphat who in 2 Chronicles 18 foolishly allied himself with the unbelieving and wicked King Ahab.
The second case is on the departing from the faith (1 Timothy 4:1) or what is known as apostasy. So another simple argument can be is, "Well what about the departers? You can't trust Jesus today then your works or religion tomorrow!" Good question. First and foremost, true Christians never stop trusting their Lord Jesus, their discipleship is permanent, their crosses they will not throw away because they are saved and if they think of pausing one moment, God chastises them (Hebrews 12:5-6). Christians may learn it the hard way when in their Christian life, they would convicted that I could not stop trusting Jesus because He lives in them and they can't tell Him to get out of my life because once their Lord, always their Lord. 1 John 2:19 says, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." which shows the difference between the real Christians vs. the fakes. The test of genuine faith proves one cannot lose their salvation.
That verse applies to Judas Iscariot who was not a real Christian as many may be misled to think he was. It can be evident that he never got saved as he never called Jesus Christ as Lord as the others did proving that genuine Christianity submits to Jesus as Lord and Savior, not just one without the other. In John 17:12 after Judas Iscariot left, Jesus prayed to God the Father mentioning that none of His disciples is lost save Judas Iscariot marked as the son of perdition. The marks of Judas Iscariot's being a non-believer were evident by his being an unrepentant thief and the fact that no honest to goodness Christian would sell the Lord Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver. Also his mark of suicide proved that he was not saved as most people who end up in suicide are sadly not Christians.
Lastly we would like to point out some critics would point out Revelation 20:12-13 as a means to justify their heresy that Christians need to do good works to stay secure in Christ. What the? Well here's what- how can these be Christians being judged for what they did when this is the Great White Throne for the unbelievers? It just doesn't make any sense. Also, in Matthew 7:21-23 notice the situation- they try to talk their way into Heaven by boasting of their good works but Jesus said unto them, "I NEVER KNEW YOU!" That means, they were never saved to start with. Never means never. As Christians, they know Him and He knows them and if He told them, "I never knew you." just because they slipped rather than spank the Christian for disobedience during that moment, He would be made a liar and that would contradict 1 Peter 2:22 which says, "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:" because He lied about not knowing those who are His and they am already His.