Can I Lose My Salvation?

As a 13-year old, new follower of Jesus, that was a question that haunted me! Was I strong enough to keep it? Or, was I capable of doing something to lose it? It’s a question that just won’t go away.

But, They Said The “Sinners Prayer”

Usually, someone is asking because they know a person who professed faith in Jesus Christ, only to leave it and go back to a life of sin. Surely they must have “lost” their salvation because they said the “Sinners Prayer”—a “prayer”, by the way, that I’ve never found in Scripture.

Jesus: “I Know Them!”

What I have read in Scripture, that addresses this concern, are the words of Jesus in John 10:27-29: “My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand. 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.” Notice the intimacy? “I KNOW them!” Jesus says. There is a “personal” relationship!

Jesus: “I Never Knew Them”

By contrast, look at what Jesus said about another group of people: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’ Then I will announce to them, I never knew you! Depart from Me” Matthew 7:21-23. To this group Jesus will say, “I NEVER knew you!” It’s possible, according to Jesus, to do all kinds of “churchy” things & to have never been saved! (See also 1 John 2:19; 2 Peter 2:22)

Where Is Our Security?

Look again at the John passage. Jesus describes a genuine believer—they hear His voice; they follow Him; He gives them eternal life; and, they’ll never perish! No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand! Do you hear what Jesus is saying? He’s saying that for someone to lose eternal life, they’d have to be more powerful than God to wrestle a soul away from Him! Bottom Line:  “The security of our salvation rests not in our power to stay saved; but, in God’s power to keep us saved”

Speaking Of A Pseudo-Faith

Peter said: “It has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to its own vomit, and, a sow, after washing itself, wallows in the mud” 1 Peter 2:22 You can dress them up & show them at the county fair; but, bring them back to the farm & where do they go? The hog goes back to the slop & the dog eats his own vomit! Because that’s who they are! That’s their nature! Place an unbeliever in an environment of believers for a time & they may appear to be a believer! But, given the opportunity, they return to the slop & vomit of the world! Why? Because that’s who they are! That’s their nature!