Can A Christian Lose Salvation?
by Pastor J. C. O'Hair
by Pastor J. C. O'Hair
Quite often a pastor or Bible-teacher is asked the question; “Do you believe
in eternal security?”, or “Do you believe, once in grace, always in grace?”, or
“Do you believe that the Christian can lose salvation?
Now let us ask the question. Is it possible for a Christian to lose eternal
life? In the eighth chapter of Romans we read these words; “And we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow He also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also
called: and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them
He also glorified.
So we learn by reading these several verses, that the believer was
predestinated, that he has been called, justified and glorified. It is God who
foreknew, who predestined, who has called, justified and glorified the
believer. Therefore, the three questions that follow: “Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God’s elect.” “Who is he that condemneth.” “Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? In the first verse of this eighth chapter of
Romans, we read, “there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in
Christ Jesus”; and the chapter closes with these words: “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.” In the sixth chapter of Romans, the twenty-third verse, we read; “The
free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Now first of all, as Christians, we are all agreed that eternal life is the
free gift of God; that we are not saved by works of righteousness which we have
done. According to God’s Word, He saves us, not by works, not of works lest any
man should boast, it is the gift of God. What is the gift of God? Eternal life.
What kind of life is the gift of God?. Eternal life. Christ is our life and
Christ is the eternal life. I John 5:20.
This eternal Christ in his wonderful prayer recorded in John 17:3 said;
“this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus
Christ whom thou hast sent.” In John 17:2 Christ said: “And thou hast given Him
power over all things that He should give eternal life to as many as thou hast
given Him.” The believer has been given to Christ by God the Father and the Son
gives eternal life. As the Saviour closed his prayer, these words He uttered
recorded in John 17:24: “Father, I will that they also whom thou has given me
be with me where I am that they may behold by glory.” Now, so far as I am
personally concerned, I am positive that the Father will hear this prayer of His
beloved Son in behalf of every believer who has been born from above.
This same thought is expressed by Christ in John 6:37: “All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast
out.” Every one included in Romans 8:29 shall come unto Christ, and every one
predestinated to be conformed to the image of God’s Son, will be called, will
be justified, will be glorified; and not one single one of them will be cast
out by Jesus Christ.
This wonderful eternal Saviour said to His disciples in John 10:28: “And I
give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hand.” This to me is conclusive proof that the believer in
Christ is eternally secure.
The believer is kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready
to be revealed in the last time. I Peter 1:5. The believer is confident of this
very thing that He that hath begun a good work in him will perform it unto the
day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6. The believer knows that he is sealed with
the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30. The believer knows
that he has a strong consolation, because he has fled for refuge to lay hold
upon the hope set before him, which hope is an anchor of the soul, both sure
and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil, whither the
forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after the
order of Melchisedec.” Hebrews 6:18 to 20.
The believer should take God at His Word; for when God says “they shall
never perish,” God means exactly what He says. When Christ says, “I give unto
them eternal life,” Christ means exactly what He says. Eternal life is
age-abiding life, and if the justified sinner, believing on the Lord Jesus
Christ should lose his salvation, or his life, after ten or twelve years,
certainly that life which he had received was not eternal life. There is no
such thing as temporary eternal life. Eternal life is eternal. Eternal life is
the free gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now if the believer has to do something to hold on to that eternal life
after he receives it, if he must in any way work for God in order to hold that
eternal life, then is he not paying for the eternal life after he receives it?
What is the difference between paying for something before you receive it and
after you receive it? In either event, certainly it is not a gift. God’s gift
is a free gift, “not of works lest any man should boast”. It is the free gift
of God. In Romans 3:24 we find these words, being declared righteous without a
cause by God’s grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Here God
plainly tells us that the believing sinner is declared righteous without a
cause. In the same Epistle to the Romans, we read that he is declared righteous
without the deeds of the law and without works; wholly and solely on the
principle of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So many people who deny the believer’s eternal security in Christ confuse
the believer’s standing with the believer’s state. The very moment a sinner
believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, with the heart believes unto righteousness
he is completely, wholly and eternally justified from all things and he stands
in the sight of God as though he had never committed a sin, accepted in the
Beloved, complete in Christ, and God declares: “there is therefore, now no
condemnation”.
The Holy Spirit beseeches the justified one to present His body a living
sacrifice; to walk in the Spirit and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill
the lusts thereof; to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith he is called; to
abstain from the very appearances of evil. But the believer is saved, not by
presenting his body a living sacrifice, not by walking; but by believing in
what Jesus Christ did once for all when He put away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself. The believer’s standing is just as perfect before God the moment he is
really born again as it will be ten billion years after he has reached heaven.
The believer’s standing is always perfect. The believer’s state is always
imperfect. But it should be his determination, his desire; yea, a longing
desire to moment by moment yield his members as instruments of righteousness
unto God, that he might grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He should forget the things which are behind and press toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. He should add to his
faith, virtue, self control, godliness brotherly love. But he is not justified
because of what he adds. Neither does the rapidity with which he grows in grace
have anything to do with his standing. That standing is determined once for all
when he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us turn to the tenth chapter of the Book of Hebrews. What is the
difference there set forth between the sacrifices of the Old Testament and the
sacrifice of God’s only begotten and well beloved Son, Who appeared once in the
end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. In making the
comparison, in Hebrews 10:2, the writer says, if the Old Testament sacrifices
could have made the comers thereunto perfect then would they not have ceased to
be offered because that the worshipper once purged should have had no more
conscience of sins. The believer on the Lord Jesus Christ is once purged and
therefore in the presence of God, so far as his standing is concerned, he has
no more conscience of sin. In Hebrews 10:18 we find another “no more”; “Where
remission. of these is, there is no more offering for sin.” No more conscience
of sin. No more offering for sin. In Hebrews 10:17 another glorious no more.
“There sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” The explanation of this is
found in Hebrews 10:10 to 14. Let us read Hebrews 10:10. “By the which will we
are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once.” Not
only was the body of Jesus Christ offered but once; but it is true that the
believer is positionally sanctified through this offering once for all. Now in
Hebrews 10:14: “For by one offering He has perfected forever them that are
sanctified.” Now will you believe what God says by one offering he has
perfected forever them that are sanctified. Forever. Forever. God’s Word so
declares.
But some one asks: “How about Hebrews 10:26?” Well, what about it? Let us
read it: “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of
the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” Nine out of ten people
read into that verse something that is not there. They read into it; “there
remaineth no more forgiveness for sin.” Now that’s altogether different. God is
explaining to these Jews who wanted to go back to the ceremony and ritual of
Judaism the difference between the sacrifices of the Old Testament and the
once-for-all sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so far as that one great
all-sufficient sacrifice is concerned, unconditionally, it can be said, “there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sin”. God plainly teaches that the believer has
only to believe once on the finish work of the Lord Jesus Christ and be born
from above. And as no one can be born of an earthly parent more than once, even
so it is true that no sinner can be saved, or can be born of God more than
once.
Christ entered in once with His blood, having obtain eternal redemption for
us. Hebrews 9:12.
Certainly there is forgiveness promised to the saints of God who sin.
According to I John 2:1 and 2, if the believer sins he has an Advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Christ on the cross was the propitiation
for the sins of the whole world. At the right hand of God He is the believer’s
Intercessor, High Priest and Advocate. Jesus Christ died on the cross to
establish our relationship, as the children of God, once for all. He now ever
lives at God’s right hand to make intercession for us, and to maintain our
fellowship Therefore we have uttermost salvation. We must not confuse the
believer’s relationship, with the believer’s fellowship, any more than we
should confuse in the Book of Leviticus and Exodus, Israel’s union and
communion with God. Union is one thing, Communion is another thing. Communion
is impossible without union. Relationship is one thing. Fellowship is another
thing. Many children of God have lost the joy of their salvation. It is one thing
to lose the joy of salvation, it is quite a different thing to lose
salvation—which is impossible. They shall never perish.
Now regardless of what your idea or opinion may be, does not the Word of God
teach plainly that the believer is sanctified once-for-all through faith in the
one offering of Jesus Christ who bare our sins in his own body on the tree?
But some one says, “how about the backsliders as set forth in the sixth
chapter of Hebrews?” We shall consider the backsliders. But is there anything
about the backslider in the sixth chapter of Hebrews? Let us read beginning
with Hebrews 6:4: “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and
have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
and have tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if
they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify
to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” If they
shall fall away. Who are the “they” here referred to? If the reference is to
backsliders, then the statement follows “It is impossible to renew them again
unto repentance.” Is it true that a backslider cannot come back to God, through
Jesus Christ? We’re all willing to admit that for any person who has once been,
a Christian, and backslides, there is hope if he will repent and confess his
sin. But here is the statement if he falls away, it is impossible to renew him
again unto repentance.” God is here teaching the very opposite of the common
interpretation given to these verses. He is teaching the all sufficiency of the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ and is trying to teach the Hebrews—not the
Gentiles of that day—that it would be impossible to fall away if they have once
been renewed by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words this portion of
God’s Word is given to give the believer assurance instead of fear. It is the
antidote for those who would add the Mass to the finished work of Christ.
The word backslider is not used in the New Testament Scriptures. But in
writing to the Corinthians, the Apostle refers to three classes in Corinth:
“The natural man,” unsaved; “The spiritual man, walking in the will of God;”
“The carnal man, who was a saved man, but not walking in the Spirit.” Sad to
say, some who live in the Spirit do not walk in the Spirit, but rather in the
flesh.
It was to these Corinthians that the Apostle wrote in I Corinthians 11:32,
when believers are judged they are chastened of the Lord that they should not
be condemned with the world. God chastens carnal Christians, but God can never
condemn any kind of a Christian with the world; because there is no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. In I Corinthians 6:7, you will
read of some carnal Christians who were walking and behaving like sinners.
“There is utterly a fault among you;” and the word fault should be translated
sin. There is utterly a sin among you. I Corinthians 6:7: “ye do wrong and
defraud your brethren”. Any Christian who will defraud another Christian is
doing wrong and he is sinning.
Nevertheless we see, in I Corinthians 6:19, that these Corinthians
defrauders were temples of the Holy Spirit. In I Corinthians 6:11, we read
concerning these faulty, defrauding Christians, that they were washed, that
they were sanctified and that they were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. To their shame we say that such behaviour was altogether unbecoming a
sanctified Christian. Nevertheless, the fact remains that these sanctified,
justified saints were defrauding one another. Some of them had to be delivered
to the devil for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit might be saved in
the day of Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 5:5. For they should not be condemned
with the world. John 3:18.
But how about those who are referred to in II Peter 2:20, “If after they
have escaped the pollution’s of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the
latter end is worse with them than the beginning.” And it goes on to say, the
dog is turned again to his own vomit and the sow that was washed to her
wallowing in the mire. These are solemn words of warning, as are also the words
found in I Corinthians 9:27; “I keep under my body and bring it into
subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself
should be a castaway.” In this last verse, the apostle is not talking about
salvation, he is talking about rewards, prize for runners in a race. Peter’s
Epistle refers is to false teachers who shall bring the damnable heresy denying
the Lord. God refers to them, in the Epistle of Jude, as sensual, not having
the Spirit as those who reject both the Deity of Christ and salvation through
the shed blood. Most assuredly, they were not true believers, not saved ones.”
Then some one asks “how about Revelation 3:5?” “I will not blot out their
names from the book of Life.” They infer that this means that God had blotted
out the names of some that had already been written in that book. No where in
Church truth do we find the reference to any one whose name was once written in
the book of life and then blotted out.
A preacher came to me once with an open Bible, opened at the sixth of
Hebrews, and said: “Sir, I had an experience just like this. I was a Christian in
my early manhood, and I fell away.” He said, “If I had died in my sin, I would
have been eternally lost.” “But,” I said, “How about it now?” “Oh,” he said,
“I’ve confessed my sin and have come back.” Then I said, “You should point to
some other portion of God’s Word; because this says if you fall away it is
impossible to renew you and you’ve been renewed. Therefore, this Scripture is
either incorrect, or it does not refer to your case.” Then I asked him “Is it
not a fact that any back-slidden Christian can come back to God? But how.”
“There is but one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” “If the
back-slidden Christian comes back to God through Christ does he come through
Christ dying on the cross, or through Christ as the believer’s Representative
in heaven, appearing in the presence of God for us.” Hebrews 9:24. He said, “he
comes back through Christ at the right hand of God.” “Then I said, “Can you
show me in the scriptures that Christ is representing unsaved unbelievers in
heaven? Christ is the believer’s Advocate. John 17:24.
Fallen from grace; is an expression used in Galatians 5:4. Whosoever, is
justified by the law is fallen from grace. The reference here is not to the
Christian who goes back to sin and loses his salvation.
The parable of the Vine and Branches, in John 15, should be read in the
light of Romans 11 where we learn that Israel the natural branches were cut off
that the wild olive tree, the Gentiles might be grafted in, contrary to nature.
The Saviour does not say in the John 15 , that one who is a member of the Body
of Christ can afterwards be lost. The only sensible way to study the Scriptures
is to study Scripture in the light of Scriptures. The Vine and Branches should
be read in the light of I Corinthians 3. Notice . I Corinthians 3:15 “If any
man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be
saved, yet so as by fire.” Why is it that those who use the parable of the Vine
and Branches against eternal security do not include John 15:16?
Somebody then asks the question, “How about the case of Judas?” Well what
about it? There is not the slightest suggestion that Judas was ever a saved
man. The Lord said when He chose His twelve apostles, He chose one who was a
devil. He was a devil when he was chosen, and he was a devil when he betrayed
Christ, and he was a devil when he committed suicide and went to his own place.
The Bible teaches that both Jews and Gentiles who believe, are baptized by
one Spirit into one Body, I Corinthians 12:13. There is one Body, one Spirit
and one baptism. Ephesians 4:1 to 5. There is no salvation in this dispensation
outside of the Body of Christ. If a believer could lose his place in the Body
of Christ by losing his salvation, he could not get back into that Body again.
There is one baptism.
There’s a blessed doctrine taught in the Word of God, which is quite
offensive to many Christians; the doctrine of election, or foreordination. For
instance, we read in Acts 13:48, “as many as were ordained to eternal life,
believed.” God very clearly teaches then, that every believer is ordained to
eternal life and every one who is ordained to eternal life will believe. Now,
for my own part, I am quite sure that when we reach heaven we shall find that
not one who was foreordained to eternal life will be missing; and there will
not be one there in the Body of Christ who was not foreordained.
We must remember that this is based upon foreknowledge and God’s
foreknowledge of an event does not relieve the individual of his or her
responsibility. God’s message is still, “whosoever will may come.” But because
we cannot reconcile the whosoever message with the doctrine of foreordination,
we should not be hostile toward God’s truth. We were chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:1 to 3. Whom God foreknew, He
predestinated, He called, He justified, He glorified. Therefore, no one can
condemn the believer. No one can separate us from the love of Christ, which is
in Christ Jesus.
Then you ask the question, will not believers take advantage of such a
doctrine? I challenge you to search the records, and see if the Christians who
teach the eternal security of the believer have not been just as consecrated as
those who teach “the falling from grace doctrine.”
Those who oppose the believer’s eternal security in Christ sometimes tell of
some individual who has made the statement, “I can commit any sin I choose,
because I am eternally saved and cannot lose my salvation.” Personally, I never
heard any individual make any such statement. “If any man be in Christ, there
is a new creation, old things are passed away and all things are become new.”
The fruit of that new creation is the desire on the part of the individual to
love righteousness and hate iniquity. If that is not the individuals desire and
testimony, it may be seriously doubted whether or not he has ever been saved.
All Christians have the same relationship and the same standing before God.
But no two Christians have just the same experience in their walk, in their
state. Some are more yielded more consecrated than others. Some have refused to
make the full surrender to Christ as Lord, diligently seeking every day to walk
in the center of His will. Sad to say, some who are in the Spirit walk in the
flesh; some have their affections set up on the things of this world. Some
compromise with sin. Others might be graded somewhere between the compromisers
and the fully surrendered ones. But we have this assurance, the Lord knoweth
them that are His.
The question was once asked, “What must I do to be saved?” The answer was
not do; but believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Suppose we should ask the question, “What must I do to keep my salvation or
eternal life?” Again the answer is not do; for God has only one standard of
doing in the Bible, and that is a perfect standard. “Cursed is every one that
continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do
them.” Galatians 3:10. If any Christian could lose his salvation, because of
failure to meet the perfect demands of this perfect law, all Christians would
be lost.
Good works can never be the root of the believer’s salvation either at the
time he is saved, or thereafter. Good works are always the fruit. The believer
is God’s workmanship in Christ Jesus—“unto good works that God hath before
ordained that he should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:9 and 10.
Every Christian should seek to please the risen Lord by a consecrated
separated life, walking in the Spirit, fulfilling the righteousness of the law
and day by day manifesting the fruit of the Spirit. The believer is ever and
always kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, and not through
good works. Faith is the victory that overcometh the world. Faith is the gift
of God and cometh through hearing the Word of God. The secret of true victory,
happiness and joy, is a moment by moment yielding, submitting presenting to God
and obedience to the leadership of the Holy Spirit, continually recognizing the
Lordship of the Saviour
God which cannot lie promised us eternal life before the world began.
Eternal-life is received by the believer once for all and not on the
installment plan. So we shall rest in his gracious promise and be confident of
this very thing that he that begun. a good work in us will perform it unto the
day of Jesus Christ.
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