SECURITY OF THE BELIEVER:   True or False?   ("Once Saved, Saved Forever?")

"When a person is born of God, he is saved forever.": True or False? This is a very important question for every saved person to consider. As is true with so many questions the answer to this question must be found in the Word of God.
The indwelling Holy Spirit in saved people will reveal to them and teach them the truth from the Holy Scriptures. We can not lean to our own fleshly understanding, reasoning, previous religious training, wisdom or philosophy. We must accept as truth that which God tells us in His Word, even if it is not in agreement with our own natural, human, fleshly reasoning or rationale.
The writer of this booklet is not asking the reader to agree with him, but he is asking the saved reader to allow the Lord to teach him or her truth from the Scriptures. Men can tell lies, but God always tells the truth. “..let God be true, but every man a liar;..” (Romans 3:4). If a teaching is not in agreement with the truths of God’s Word that teaching is false.
This Booklet is not presented to be critical of anyone and their belief. It is presented to help those who have been saved to have even more assurance and confidence in their Saviour, and to have more comfort in the salvation that He has given them. Please consider the following points:
I. The Scriptures are true. “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times” (Psalm 12:6). Jesus said in His prayer to the Father, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). Of course, we must rightly divide the Word of God (I Timothy 2:15) or the correct meaning will not be found. Scriptures can be twisted and perverted to give wrong meanings. A few simple rules we must apply to correctly interpret Scriptures: (A) We must always know who is speaking (words of the devil are quoted in the Scriptures and he is a liar; words of false prophets and false teachers are quoted, they are liars; the Lord and His prophets and preachers tell the truth, etc.). (B) We must always take every Scripture in its proper context (those verses before and after a particular verse). (C) We must always know to whom the passage is addressed (The Law of Moses was given to the nation of Israel, not Gentiles, etc. and now has been done away with, through Christ, as a system of service and worship. Though not under this Law, we are to learn valuable principles from it [Romans 15:4; I Corinthians 10:11].). Again, it is imperative that the Word of God be used to settle all spiritual questions. We are told in II Timothy 3:16, 17 “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” The Word of God is our final authority. It alone is to be the rule of our faith and practice.
II. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive,because it seeth Him not,neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:17). The Holy Spirit indwells every born again child of God. A lost person does not have the indwelling Holy Spirit and will not be able to understand the Scriptures. (This explains the false teachings by so many today.) The Holy Spirit is the One who teaches us the truth from the Word of God. “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Corinthians 2:11-14).
III. God’s ways and thoughts are infinitely greater than man's. This is why we must accept as truth and believe what He tells us in the Holy Scriptures. Many of the truths of the Bible are not humanly reasonable (i.e., God giving eternal life to a wicked sinner is not humanly reasonable, but it is Scriptural truth). “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8, 9). Thus, if the Word of God clearly teaches a certain thing (being rightly divided, taken in context, etc.) even though we may not be able to comprehend this teaching we must accept it as truth and believe it. It is important to be reminded that God will not do anything that is contrary to His Word. Who He is and what He does will always be in agreement with the Scriptures. We must look to God for true understanding, not to our own understanding. Proverbs 3:5-7, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.” The things of God are reasonable, but just not according to worldly, fleshly, human wisdom and reasoning. What does God declare in the Scriptures regarding “Security of the Believer”? I. The kind of spiritual life that God gives is called “Everlasting Life”. -The word ‘everlasting’ simply means it ‘lasts forever’, unending, it does not cease or end. If something ends for even one second, it is not everlasting. -“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). -“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36). -“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24). -Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life” (John 6:47). II. The kind of spiritual life that God gives is called “Eternal Life”. -The word ‘eternal’ also means it ‘lasts forever’. -“That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:15). -“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one” (John 10:27-30). [This passage has much to say about the security that a child of God has. A saved person has been given ‘eternal life’, they ‘shall never perish’, they are in the hands of Jesus and in the hands of the Father. The Lord does the saving and He does the keeping of the saved.] -“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). [Only God can give eternal life. We can not save ourselves.] -“And this is the promise that He hath promised us, even eternal life” (I John 2:25). -“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (I John 5:11-13). [God wants His children to KNOW that they have eternal life.] III. Every saved person is “Preserved” in Jesus Christ. -“For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not His saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off” (Psalm 37:28). -“Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:” (Jude 1). IV. Every saved person is “sealed” by the Holy Spirit. -“Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (II Corinthians 1:21, 22). [Since the Holy Spirit is ‘the earnest’, He Himself is the assurance of our salvation, He is the promise to the child of God that he has eternal life.] -“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” (Ephesians 1:13, 14). -“And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). V. God’s salvation is an ‘Eternal’ salvation. -“And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him;” (Hebrews 5:9). VI. Every saved person has passed “from death unto life”. -“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24). [Notice, this verse says that a saved person has “everlasting life”, “shall not come into condemnation” but is passed from “death unto life”. Here in this passage, death is ‘spiritual death’ and life is ‘spiritual life’. The Scriptures never speaks of a saved person being “passed from life unto death”, which is what would have to happen if a saved person could ever lose the salvation that God had given to him.] VII. God assures the saved person of his security in Him by the very life of Jesus Christ. -“Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:9, 10). [Since Jesus gave His blood and His life for the sinner, and God saves the repentant believer when he was lost, an enemy of God, even much more will God keep His saved child saved now that the crucified, buried, risen, glorified Christ lives!] VIII. When a sinner repents toward God, believes and trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ, and calls upon the name of the Lord in prayer, God gives that person the gift of eternal life. That person is now born of God. In order to see and to enter into the kingdom of heaven, a person must be born again of God. -“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ….. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again” (John 3:3, 7). [If a saved person could lose his salvation, the Scripture would have said, ‘Ye must be born again, and again, and again,….’ . It never says that. A person must be born again of God, one time.] IX. We must understand what the birth of God consists of. -The new birth, born of God, involves the creation of a ‘new man’ by the Lord inside of His child. At the same time this saved person continues to remain in the body of flesh that houses the old Adamic sin nature. Every saved person has these 2 natures, a sinful nature and a divine nature, the ‘old man’ and the ‘new man’, the man born of the flesh (from a watery birth) and the man born of God (from a spiritual birth). This ‘new man’ born of God never sins. The ‘old man’ continues to commit sin, which we are to forsake and confess to the Lord. -The ‘old man’ with the sinful nature: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (I John 1:8, 9). -The ‘new man’ born of God: “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (I John 3:9). [The word ‘seed’ is translated from the Greek sperma. Note that this ‘seed’ of God always continues to remain in the child of God. We must understand that when we sin, it is not the ‘new man’ born of God that commits sin, it is the ‘old man’ born of the flesh.] -“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Galatians 5:17). [This is a description of the warfare between the 2 natures that every child of God has.] -With the mind the child of God chooses whether to live, conduct our life, according to the ‘old man’ or according to the ‘new man’, but both continue to exist. It is wise to put off the ‘old man’ and put on the ‘new man’. “Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him:” (Colossians 3:9). -If it was possible for a saved person to lose their salvation, this ‘new man’ born of God would have to die. That is not possible. His seed remaineth in him. -The new birth of God is not based upon a person’s sinlessness, it is based upon the mercy and grace of God, upon the shed blood and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is not something the sinner earns because of being good or sinless (both of these are impossible). Salvation is the gift of God given to the sinner who repents toward Him and believes upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Due to this, a saved person’s sinfulness will not cause him to be lost again. (Note what would have to occur: the person would have to pass from spiritual life to spiritual death, the ‘new man’ born of God would have to die, the person would have to be un-justified, un- sanctified, un-redeemed, un-bought with the blood of Jesus, etc. This is impossible, none of these are taught in the Word of God.). -If salvation was based upon the goodness and works of man, then it would be possible for a person to lose their salvation. But salvation is not based upon what man does in the body. “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” (Ephesians 2:8, 9). “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; That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:5-7). Thus, a person is not saved by his own goodness or works of righteousness, but is saved by God’s grace and His mercy. The way we receive this gift of God is by “repenting toward God” from the heart, “believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ” with the heart, and from the heart “calling upon the name of the Lord”. It is not from the body of flesh. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9, 10). X.God is the giver of the gift of eternal life, and He also is the One who keeps His children saved. -“Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (I Peter 1:5). [A saved person did not save himself, nor can he keep himself saved. God saves and He keeps His child saved, by His power. Remember, we are saved by His grace and His mercy.] XI. Nothing can separate God from His children whom He loves. -“Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:33-39). [God is the One who saves every saved person. A saved person can not separate himself from God, even if for some reason he would choose to do that. Nothing can cause a saved person to ever be lost again.] XII. Those that God saves are saved to the uttermost. -“Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). (The word ‘uttermost’ means: “completely; perfectly, entirely”. When the Lord saves a person they are completely, perfectly, entirely saved. Even the body of the saved person will one day be made complete. A child of God is saved perfectly with a perfect, eternal salvation. If God’s salvation could be lost, it would be an imperfect salvation. Because Jesus ‘ever liveth to make intercession for them’ that are saved we know that His salvation is eternal, everlasting. God can not lie.) -Some people accuse those who believe in the security of the believer of believing this doctrine so that they might commit more sin. This is not true. If a person is saved, born of God, his true desire is not to sin. His desire will be to strive to please his heavenly Father. We understand that we will sin, but the desire of the heart is not to sin. The Scriptures tell us this in Romans chapter 7. The Lord wants His children to know that in the body of flesh there is no good thing. The Lord inspired the Apostle Paul to write, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. … O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin” (Romans 7:18, 24, 25). [One day Jesus Christ will deliver the children of God from this present ‘body of death’ and each one will have a new, glorious, sinless, eternal body like unto the Lord Jesus Christ.] -The Biblical fact of security of the saved person can be illustrated by the natural family. When a child is born of his parents there is nothing that can ever change that fact. The child may grow up and be rebellious, disobedient, may even become a vile criminal. None of this changes the true fact that the parents that he was born of are still his parents, irregardless of his conduct. His conduct can certainly cause much pain, sorrow, even loss of fellowship between him and his parents, but this does not change the fact that his parents of his birth are still his parents. The reason of this is, he was born of them. His conduct was not the basis of his birth, nor can his conduct change the relationship he has with the parents that bore him (Note: his 'fellowship' with his parents can change, but not his 'relationship'). Nothing will ever change this fact of truth. Some might believe the parents should disown this child, but even that would not change the true fact that he is their child by birth. How much more secure is the person who is born of God! Once a person is truly, genuinely saved, born of God, born into God’s family, he is a child of God forever. His conduct, even if sinful, does not change his 'relationship' with the heavenly Father. His conduct does affect his 'fellowship' with the Father, but not the 'relationship' of Father and child. -A relevant question: “If a child of God does not lose his salvation when he sins, then what does happen, are there any consequences?” -Again, from all the above Scriptures it is very evident that once a person has actually been born of God then that person can never be lost again. But sin in the life of a saved person can have terrible consequences. When a child of God sins the indwelling Holy Spirit convicts His child of this sin. If this saved person does not repent of this sin, does not forsake the sin and confess the sin to God, then God will chastise His child. If this saved person still refuses to repent,forsake and confess his sin, God may call this person out of this earthly life to their heavenly home. (References: John 14:26 16:13; Acts 5:1-10; I Corinthians 11:30; Hebrews 12:5-13; I John 5:16). -A saved person continuing in sin is separated from the FELLOWSHIP with God. ('Fellowship' can be broken, but not the 'relationship' of Father and child.) -“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:” Psalm 66:18). -“But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you,that He will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2). -“Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you”(Jeremiah 5:25). -A saved person can loose the JOY of God’s salvation. (It is the Joy that is lost, never the salvation.) -Psalm 51 is said to be the Psalm of David’s repentance after he had committed adultery and murder. In committing these sins, David lost the joy of God’s salvation. This Psalm contains his request to God for this joy to be restored. David never lost his salvation, but he did lose the joy of the salvation. “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;..” (Psalm 51:12). -After Peter denied the Lord Jesus Christ three times when he realized what he had done, he wept. “And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly” (Matthew 26:75). -Other things that a saved person may lose when he continues in sin: -Eternal Rewards in heaven -The peace of God (Not the same as ‘peace with God’,which is eternal) -His effective testimony for Jesus Christ. -To those who believe that a saved person can lose their salvation, we might ask: -“Exactly’ what sin(s) does it take to cause a saved person to be lost again?” Scriptures:____________________ -“Where does the Bible say that a saved person that has been lost again was saved again? (In other words,‘past from life unto death unto life’ or “born again, and again, and again”; The ‘new man dies’,etc.) Scriptures:_____________________ -“When you go to bed at night, how do you know for sure that some sinful thought or unconfessed sin has not caused you to be lost again? (Remember some things that are sin: “The thought of foolishness is sin:..” Proverbs 24:9); “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James4:17); “...for whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:23); "All unrighteousness is sin:” (I John 5:17). If you could lose your salvation, you might be lost and hell-bound now, how could you even rest?”) -What a wonderful comfort to KNOW the truth from God, that if a person has ever been born of God, they are still saved and a child of God. They will go to be with the Lord one day. We can have great confidence and assurance in the Saviour knowing that He gives eternal life. -A saved person may fall from being faithful to the Lord, they may fall from stedfastness in the Lord (II Peter 3:17), and there would be terrible consequences, but they can never be in a lost condition again, according to God in His Word. -We may not be able to rationalize humanly the eternal security that a person has in Christ, but it is very clearly taught in the Holy Scriptures. It may not seem logical to us, but we are admonished to believe God as He has put these passages in the Scriptures to comfort and encourage His children to know that their souls are secure in the Lord Jesus Christ. “..Salvation is of the LORD” (Jonah 2:9). “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2). -A person needs to know for sure that he has received Jesus Christ as his own personal Saviour. You need to KNOW for sure that the Spirit of Christ dwells within you. Do not just ‘Hope’ you are saved, or just ‘Feel’ as if you are saved, or even just ‘Think’ that you are saved. You need to KNOW for sure that you are a child of God. -The members of the church at Corinth were admonished to do this very thing. “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (II Corinthians 13:5). -Every saved person has the indwelling Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. If He is not in a person, that person is not saved. That person might be a good person, a moral person, a religious person, a church member, a preacher, but that person has not been born of God and is still lost and hell-bound, and needs to be born again of God. -“..if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Romans 8:9). “WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?” T ell the truth, “I am a sinner.” “I am guilty of breaking God’s law, I have committed sin against God, my Creator.” -“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:” (Romans 3:10) -“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:23) T urn to the Lord with a repentant heart. To repent means to have a changed mind and heart about God and about sin. Be genuinely sorrowful for your sins against God. Turn from a desire to commit sin to a desire to do right. Turn from unbelief in Jesus Christ to a believing trust in Him. -“I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 3:3) -“…repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). -The Gospel (‘Good News’) of Jesus Christ is that “…Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures: And that He was seen…” ( I Corinthians 15:3-5). T rust in the Lord Jesus Christ and be willing to receive Him as your personal Saviour. Believe the Bible, Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. He came to this earth from heaven, in the flesh of man, without sin, and gave His body, His blood and His life as an offering and sacrifice to God for our sins. Jesus loves us. He willingly died for us! He tasted death for every person. He paid the penalty for our sins. Trust completely in Him. -“Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). -“And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:30, 31). -“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). T alk to the Lord sincerely from your heart and ask Him to have mercy upon you, to forgive you of your sins and to save you. -“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13) -“…God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). -Jesus is the only way to God and to heaven. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). -Since Jesus is the only way, then this means that everything and everyone else is excluded as being a way to be saved. These exclusions include: baptism, church membership, denomination, moral behavior, good deeds, good works, benevolence, …..NONE OF THESE SAVE THE SOUL OF MAN! ONLY JESUS CAN SAVE! HE IS THE WAY. HE IS THE SAVIOUR! HE IS THE REDEEMER! Please make sure that you have been born again of God and that the Spirit of Christ dwells within you. You need to KNOW, by the Word of God, that you are a child of God, that the Lord Jesus Christ is your personal Saviour. Be assured, according to the Word of God, that once a person has been born of God and given the gift of God which is eternal life, that that person can never be lost and hell-bound again. A child of God is a child of God forever, and is saved to the uttermost. To God be the glory !!
Click on the following link to see a more detailed explanation regarding salvation: Click "How To Be Saved"

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