Letter (Part 3)

III. The Loss of Salvation

Plain and simple this does not exist, because I know that sin is still within me, if I were to believe this I would be having to gain back my salvation over and over and over in an endless painful cycle. Which the Bible never once mentions the loss of salvation, unless you take verses out of context and proof-text it to fit your position. But it does mention that those who attain eternal life will never lose it. To prove that we have to first understand some things:

Election

The issue of loss of salvation begins here.

Romans 8:30, “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.” Leave it in context, take it out of context, either way you will come up with the same thing. Those whom He justified (or those who accepted Christ into their lives) those He also glorified, no if’s and’s or but’s. He will!

John 10:11 Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.” But later in the ch. He says, “But ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep, as I said unto you” (vv. 26). This I find to be very important, Jesus says to them that they do not believe because they are not of the sheep. If you flip that around and make it say, ‘you are not my sheep because you do not believe,’ it can make the sentence completely different but it isn’t that way. The reason that they don’t believe is because they are not of Christ’s elected sheep. The same happens in Acts 13:48 where it says, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” In the same way, because they were appointed to eternal life they believed.

But not to end there the Bible clearly declares that there are those elect. In the Matthew 24:22, 24:31. Romans 9:13-19, or really the whole chapter, deals with the idea. But Esau was meant to be the one who was blessed, since he was the first-born son, but because that was not in God’s eternal purpose it did not happen that way for it says, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau I have hated” (vv.13). Salvation is not dependant on man, because if it were there would be no one who came. “For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy” (vv.15-16).

Election is not of the corporate church as some seem to believe, if you look into the verse Eph 1:4 it says, “according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” The word “Chosen” is the exact same word in the greek (eklegomai) used in the passage in Luke 6:13 where He chooses His 12 disciples, He knew them by name and He knows the disciples He chooses now by name. To say that the Church was what is elect and yet it has no members and relies wholly on the faith of those who by their free will join into the elected body makes no sense. Because then no one would come to that elected body, unless God were to predestine them to do so because with man it is impossible to be saved. Apart from God’s mercy and grace there is no salvation. For Ephesians 2:8 says we have been saved by “grace” through “faith”.

You must have a proper idea of election, and once you have that you will see there is no way that those who were elect could fall away. And if I have made myself unclear or this isn’t good enough let me know because the issue doesn’t just end here, but I would like to move on to the issue at hand.

Perseverance

I know this, that those whom are justified in Christ will not be lost but will be glorified(Romans 8:30). But Jesus speaks of it Himself in John 6:37-40, when He says, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” Then going back to John 10:28-29 Jesus says, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man (including themselves) 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.” Hebrews 10:14 says, “For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”

By the Power of God

But the truth of the matter is this and you must ask yourself this much, who is it that keeps you in the faith? Is it yourself or is the power of the Spirit of God? 1 Peter 1:3-5, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Because if you think it is you that keeps you in the faith, then you are wrong. Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith. And to say that His power is not enough to keep us in the faith is blasphemous.

Conclusion of Point III

The elect are not lost. They cannot be, for God would not establish a people to himself and then codemn them that would be contradictory to what the Bible says. Our perseverance is only by the power of God not of ourselves and for that reason I have complete comfort knowing that I rest in the hand of Christ and not in my own hands. If you believe that you can lose your faith and you must somehow work it back into you, then you believe in a salvation by works and that is a completely different subject all together.