Chpt 9 – Once Saved, Always Saved or Born Again, Again?
Plate Glass Window
James 2:10 (NKJV) “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”
The Law is like a plate glass window. Whether you shoot a BB gun through it and make a little hole in it, or throw a huge rock through it (or throw the 10 Commandments through it) and make a large one, makes no difference. The glass can’t be patched. It’s broken and must be replaced. The purpose of the Law was to make sin come alive so we would come to the end of ourselves and trust in the Lord alone for salvation (Rom. 7:9). The Law is the strength of sin (1 Cor. 15:56). It created separate from God that could only be removed by the new birth (John 3:3).
James 4:17 (NKJV) :Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
One of James’ favorite words is know. “Do you not know?” (James 4:4), “You do not know” (James 4:14), “This you know” (James 1:19). James writes so that you may know the right thing to do, and do it. Under the old covenant, the emphasis was on doing, but in the new covenant the emphasis is on knowing. Knowing Christ in your daily life is the essence of wisdom.
The right thing to do is repent. Humble yourself, submit to God, and receive His grace (James 4:6-7, 7, 10). If you don’t turn to God, you will lose your way. God will still love you, but your life will be but a shadow of what it could be, and in the end you will be utterly lost (Rom. 6:23).
SEALED!
Isn’t it awesome to learn that the moment we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, our spirit was sealed, sanctified and perfected forever! It’s righteous state doesn’t fluctuate! Since salvation depends solely upon putting our faith in Jesus and being born again, our sin doesn’t affect our relationship with God. Our Father, God, fellowships with us based on our faith in Christ alone! Not on our perfect behavior.
You see, either we have to be perfect, or we need a Savior who is perfect! Thank You, Jesus!!! Our perfect sacrifice!! If we can “sin” our salvation away, then the only way to heaven is to die immediately after being born again. But this is not the case! What loving father would create such a horrible situation for his children? They wouldn’t have a chance to sin and lose the salvation they just received!
Renouncing & Rejecting
The only way we could lose our salvation is to renounce and reject it; however, a lot of powerful God experiences would have to happen before that.
Hebrews 6:4-6 (NKJV) “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.”
This is saying that before we can renounce and reject our salvation, we must 1) have been enlightened by the Gospel of Grace — the New Covenant; 2) tasted of the Heavenly gift; and 3) Become partakers of the Holy Spirit; and 4) tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come.
“The age to come?” a.k.a. the eternal age? What is that talking about? It’s the future era that commences when Christ returns in glory, the heavens and the earth are made new (2 Pet. 3:13), and death is no more (Mark 10:30). What an exciting time that will be! Who, in their right mind, would ever turn their back on this! Who in their right mind would crucify Jesus again or put him to open shame?
His one sacrificed was it – forever. However, we can make the sacrifice of Christ of no effect by turning to legalism and trusting in our own works for righteousness.
Scripture doesn’t teach “once saved, always saved.” But it does teach that God wishes that none should perish, but we all have a choice! Who are we going to serve? Who are we going to believe? Who are we going to listen to? For faith comes from hearing and hearing and hearing the Word of God.
Galatians 3:1-3 (NKJV) “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?”
The Galatians were initially receptive to the gospel that Paul preached. So many received the good news with faith that several churches were planted (Acts 14:21, 23). Before he left the region, Paul urged the Galatians to “continue in the grace of God” (Acts 13:43) and “continue in the faith” (Acts 14:22). They didn’t. After Paul’s departure, law teachers began preaching another message. “Get circumcised and follow the law” (Gal. 5:4; 6:12). The Galatians bought it hook, line, and sinker. When Paul heard about it, he called them foolish.
Today the cross of Christ has become an ornament or decoration. But to Paul and the early Christians, it referred to Jesus PAYING IT ALL. There was nothing left for them to do but BELIEVE and RECEIVE.
Paul said they had such a clear presentation of Christ’s sufferings that it was as if Christ had been crucified right in front of them. This reveals how Paul preached. He clearly showed the suffering of the cross and made it clear Jesus suffered so believers would not have to. Jesus PAID IT ALL.
Paul was so overwhelmed that the Galatians had rejected the grace of Christ for legalism (Matt. 27:6; Luke 11:38), he was saying that they must be crazy. The Jerusalem Bible says, “Are you people in Galatia mad?” Paul was making no attempt to be polite. He was making it clear that their actions were insane. At best, legalism is stupid, and at worst, it’s crazy. Various Bible translations describe the Galatians as crazy, stupid, and witless. The Amplified Bible calls them “poor and silly and thoughtless and unreflecting and senseless!” And this from the same Paul who said, “Let your conversation be full of grace” (Col. 4:6). There is no inconsistency. To turn from grace to the law is the height of folly.
Justification by Faith! Salvation is both received and maintained by faith in Christ alone.
Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
We have to hold fast to our trust and faith in what Jesus did for us, without wavering (James 1:6-8). The reason we can be constant in our faith is because our faith is in Jesus and not in ourselves. Jesus is always the same (Heb. 13:8).
When we are truly born again, we profess Jesus as our Savior. That means our faith is in what Jesus did for us and not what we do for Jesus. The writer was saying to keep that same attitude at all times (Col. 2:6). Don’t fall back into the thinking that we aren’t worthy to approach God. We aren’t worthy by ourselves, but we aren’t by ourselves. We have become new creatures (2 Cor. 5:17) through our faith in Jesus. We are worthy through Jesus.
Hardened
Hebrews 13:13-14 (NKJV) “Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.”
Although our spirit is unaffected by sin, our body and soul are. Sin dulls our perception, wisdom, and understanding of who we are in the spirit. Without being totally blinded to the truth, nobody in their right mind would ever reject the Lord! If we renounce our faith and reject God, we can throw our salvation away. It’s not something we just lose, like misplaced car keys. We must deliberately and openly reject it. Sin can harden our heart a little at a time until we eventually come to a place where we renounce our faith in the Lord (Heb. 6:4-6). If that happens, it’s impossible to ever be renewed again to repentance!
Don’t be like the unbelieving generation who hardened their hearts to God and fell in the wilderness (Heb. 3:8, 12, 15; 4:7).
Hebrews 3:14 (NKJV) “For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end”
This verse, and also Hebrews 3:6, are stressing the importance of continuing in faith for salvation. It’s not our sins after we believe that could cost us our salvation. If it was, then what sin would do that? Any sin would because of James 2:10. But we don’t lose our salvation because of sin. Sin will harden our hearts and, if allowed to continue, that could lead us to reject our salvation. We can’t lose it, but we can renounce it. Only a mature Christian would be capable of committing such a thing, as revealed in my notes at Hebrews 6:4-6.
One sign that we have been joined to the Lord is we firmly and confidently hold onto him knowing that Jesus Christ has done it all. Some worry that this verse is preaching conditional salvation: “God got you started, but now it’s up to you to finish the course.” But if Hebrews 3:14 is saying it’s up to us to finish what God started, it would be contradicting Hebrews 12:2, which says Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.
We have been made partakers of Christ – it’s done – but we won’t experience the life of Christ unless we hold firmly to the confidence we had when we began. What does it mean to partake of Christ? We have a confidence that comes from knowing Jesus and trusting in his finished work. For many Christians, this confidence is strong at the beginning. We’ve heard the gospel of grace and have not yet encountered the price tags and dead works that some try to attach to it. “That assurance you had at the start, keep that to the end.” You started by faith; continue by faith.
Beyond Hope
KEY: Are you repenting and sorry for what you’ve done? Do you desire to be in relationship with the Lord? If so, you are NOT reprobate. The Holy Spirit is still dealing with you. Like Paul, you’re forgiven because you were ignorant when you did those things. Praise God – He’s your loving heavenly Father! And He’s full of grace and unconditional love!
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