I grew up in the Baptist church, like my mother and my Grandmother, my Granddad, and great Granddad, and several generations before them. As I’ve talked to people over the years about salvation I’ve come to realize that Baptists are not the only people who believe that once you are saved you CAN’T lose your salvation, no matter what you do.
The doctrine of “Once Saved Always Saved” has been around for many years; Long before the Baptist Church ever came into existence. The Bible does teach the security of the believer. That is, we can KNOW we are saved, and that we have eternal life. But, can we really receive salvation and then continue to live a life of sin, and still go to heaven? Can we really do ANYTHING we want and remain saved? As always, let’s see what the Bible says.
I think John 10:27-28 and Romans 8:38-39 are the two most popular scripture for the “Once Saved Always Saved” doctrine.
John 10:27-28
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, neither will anyone pluck them out of my hand.
Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We’ll discuss those few verses in a few minutes, but first, let’s look at what I think is the third most popular verse.
Hebrews 13:5
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have because he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.
That’s a quote from the old testament book of Deuteronomy, chapter 31 verse 6.
Deuteronomy 31:6
6 Be strong and of good courage, do not fear, nor be afraid of them because it is the LORD your God, who goes with you. He will not fail you, nor forsake you.
Since the writer of Hebrews obviously believed the old testament was still relevant long after Jesus had died, let’s look at another verse from there.
2 Chronicles 15:2 says,
2 The LORD is with you, while you are with him; and if you search for him, he will be found by you, but IF you forsake him, he WILL forsake you.
Like most promises in God’s word, the promise to never forsake us is CONDITIONAL. By that I mean, when God says he will do something, most of the time he says “IF you do this I will do that.” “IF they do that, I will do this.”
Salvation is a promise with conditions as well. Yes, it’s a free gift and there’s nothing we can do to earn it, but we do have to accept it. God loves us all, and he prepared the plan of salvation so everyone has a chance to be saved, but he will not save anyone who does not want to be saved. The Bible is clear that not everyone will be saved (Matthew 7:20-22). Only those who OBEY God. That is OUR part of the covenant.
Acts 5:32
32 We are his witnesses of these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who OBEY Him.
Romans 8:9 says, “Anyone who does not have the Holy Spirit does not belong to Christ.”
So obeying God is VERY IMPORTANT. It’s the ONLY way to receive the Holy Spirit, and obeying God is the only way to keep the Holy Spirit. When King David sinned, he begged God not to take the Holy Spirit from him (Psalm 51:11).
If we can keep sinning and remain saved, why would God take the Holy Spirit away? What would be the big deal? Why would it matter to David, or to us, if he did? I’ll tell you why. The Holy Spirit lives in those who OBEY, to guide us in the path of righteousness. He comes and lives in us when we are “SAVED.” WE ARE LOST WITHOUT HIM. LOST. David repented and God didn’t take the Holy Spirit away.
All the things that happened to the children of Israel were examples of the plan of salvation. Look carefully at these verses.
Exodus 19:3-6
3 Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, This is what you will say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;
4 You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
5 So now, IF you will obey my voice indeed, AND keep my covenant, THEN you will be a peculiar treasure to me above all people because all the earth is mine:
6 And you will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you will speak to the children of Israel.
See the condition? They had to obey. Same thing in the next verse.
Exodus 23:22
22 But IF you will indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak, THEN I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries.
IF. The condition was IF they OBEYED him, he would protect them. We see clearly that he did not protect them the times they turned away from him. Some of them were slaughtered by their enemies and some were taken captive and led to foreign lands. Look at the next verse from the New Testament.
Colossians 1:21-23
21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by evil works, yet now he has reconciled you
22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and unreproveable in his sight:
23 IF you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul have been made a minister;
What IF they did not continue in the faith? What if they had moved (or turned) away from the gospel? Would they still be Holy, and blameless in the sight of God? Of course not.
When God created Adam and Eve, they were perfect and would have lived forever in their garden paradise. But, when they disobeyed God and chose to sin they lost eternal life. You may disagree. You may say “That’s different”, but no, it’s not. God told Adam that he would die the day he ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and he did. He died spiritually. He lost eternal life. Then he passed that lost condition down to the rest of the human race. God put the plan of redemption into place to get us back to the condition Adam and Eve were in before they sinned.
In Deuteronomy chapter 28, Moses gave the Children of Israel a list of BLESSINGS and a list of CURSES. He said, IF they continued to OBEY God, they would receive the blessings, but IF they turned away from God and DISOBEYED, all the curses would come upon them.
The word of God is consistent throughout, from Genesis to Revelation. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the God of the Old Testament is a different God from the New Testament. Times are different, and human applications are different, but God still requires obedience.
Hebrews 10:26-27 says,
26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins,
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which will devour the adversaries.
That’s hell fire. For the BELIEVER who sins willfully. NOT for someone who “WASN’T REALLY SAVED IN THE FIRST PLACE,” but a SAVED person who chooses to turn away from God. Notice, I said someone who CHOOSES to turn away from God.
Here’s more proof.
Ezekiel 18:21-22
21 But IF the wicked will turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he will surely live, he will not die.
22 All his transgressions that he has committed, they will not be mentioned to him. In his righteousness that he has done, he will live.
That’s salvation. Now, look at this next verse closely.
Ezekiel 18:24
24 But when the RIGHTEOUS turns away from his righteousness, and commits sin, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked do, shall he live? ALL his righteousness that he has done will not be mentioned. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them, he will die.
In our first scripture, John 10:27-28, Jesus said, No one is able to pluck his sheep out of his hand. But, 2 Chronicles 15:2 says, If we forsake him, he will forsake us. We can choose to leave God. He won’t make us stay if we decide we no longer want to be in his hand. Again, God requires obedience, and contrary to popular opinion, just believing is not enough. Look at this.
James 2:19-20 says,
19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. The devils also believe and tremble.
20 But will you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
The works which James is talking about here are not works to earn salvation but work because we are saved. There is nothing we can do to earn salvation. We are saved by grace, through faith (Ephesians 2:8). We’re not saved by works, but once we are saved there are works to be done. Jesus says he will Judge us and reward us according to our works.
Revelation 22:12
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every one according as their work shall be.
1 Peter 1:17
17 And if ye call on the Father who, without respect of persons, judges according to everyone’s work…
Romans 2:6
6 God will render to every man according to his deeds:
7 To them who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life:
8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, he will give indignation and wrath…
So yes, we will be judged by our works and rewarded according to our works. How we live does make a difference. We can’t continue to live the same way we did before. We can’t do the same things we did before. Sin doesn’t stop being sin just because we are saved. Whatever was sin for us when we were unsaved is still sin for us after we’re saved. God doesn’t excuse sin because we are saved (Rom. 6:2, 15). (Read Romans 6 – whole chapter)
What many don’t understand is that the Bible was written TO God’s people, FOR God’s people, and ABOUT God’s People. The instructions in God’s word are FOR his people. All the rebukes Paul passed out in his letters to the churches were to people who had accepted Jesus as their savior. People who were SAVED. If we can do whatever we want and still remain saved, there would be no need for instructions on how saved people act. Why would we need the Bible after we’re saved?
In 1 Corinthians 5:9-11 Paul tells Gods people to shun fellow Christians who are fornicators, covetous, idolaters, or curses, or are drunkards, or extortioners, and to put them out from among them.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says those who commit the sins on that list will NOT make it into the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither prostitutes, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor feminine men, nor sodomites,
10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
It’s sad to say, but there are many who have been saved who do these things and believe they WILL inherit the kingdom of God and it’s all because of this doctrine of “Once Saved, Always Saved.”
Let’s go back to the first two scriptures I mentioned.
John 10:27-28
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, neither will anyone pluck them out of my hand.
From all the other scriptures we’ve looked at, we see that, although no one can pluck us out of his hand, we can turn away and leave his hand, and many have. Judas was one of the Apostles of Christ. He was given all the powers of the other Apostles and was sent out to baptize and heal, and cast out demons. He chose to betray Jesus and was lost.
Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Be careful when you read God’s word. Don’t read something into it that isn’t there. Notice exactly what it says. “Nothing can separate us from the LOVE of God. It doesn’t say nothing can separate us FROM God. It says from his love. God loves us no matter what, but that doesn’t mean he will allow us to be part of his kingdom if we continue to sin. Let’s examine one more passage of scripture.
Luke 12:42-46
42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?
43 Blessed is that SERVANT, who his lord finds doing so when he comes.
44 Truly I say to you, that he will make him ruler over all that he has.
45 BUT, and IF that SERVANT says in his heart, My lord delays his coming, then begins to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken,
46 The lord of that SERVANT will come in a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will SEPARATE, and will appoint him his portion WITH the UNBELIEVERS.
So, contrary to popular belief, we can not live any way we want and stay saved. To remain saved, we must obey God, and allow him to lead and guide us, and keep us pure. So, heed his warnings. The Bible is clear; we must obey God. This is serious. Jesus is our only hope. Cling to him for dear life, and obey his rules. We can know that we are saved, and we can remain saved, but we have to obey him.
If we truly love God, we’ll want to obey him. Even then, it’s still hard at times because of temptation, but he is able to keep us from falling if we just trust him (Jude 1:24). His law is holy, perfect and good. The closer we stay to him, the less chance we can be drawn away from him. Prayer, Bible reading, and Bible study will help us remain close to him and remain safe.
He’s coming back soon to separate the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the weeds, the righteous from the wicked, the saved from the lost. Which group we are in when he returns is up to us.
“So, you be ready also because the Son of man will come in an hour that you do not expect him” (Matthew 24:44).
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