Once Saved, Always Saved??

1. Once Saved, Always Saved?? Text: Matthew 24:9-13 Series:Uncovering Religion

2. Once Saved, Always Saved This doctrine teaches that once you have given your life to Jesus Christ, you can never ever lose your salvation. The reasoning is that because Jesus died for your sins, salvation is a free gift, and therefore no matter what we do, or say, we can never lose that gift of salvation. They teach, “A new convert IS saved and will always be saved. No amount of a holy lifestyle saves us or keeps us saved. It's the result of our faith, not the mechanism of our salvation.

3. Eternal Security of the Believer They believe that “Once Saved, Always Saved” is the doctrine of the ‘Eternal Security of the Believer’. I believe in the Eternal Security of the Believer: If you die holding faith in Christ having repented of all your sin, you are eternally secure in Christ. You are saved if you stay saved. But does the Bible really teach this doctrine of “Once Saved, Always Saved?”

4. Stand Firm and Endure Matthew 24:9-13 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. Despite the teaching that all who make an altar confession for Christ will be saved, Jesus tells us many will turn away from the faith in these days. Jesus then adds an element to the doctrine of salvation which most “Once Saved, Always Saved” teachers ignore: Jesus said “those who endure to the end will be saved.”

5. Our Confession Saves us and can un-save us Romans 10:9-10 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” But if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is not Lord and believe in your heart that God did not raise Him from the dead, you won’t be saved. Unfortunately many once professing Christians have a changed confession and that confession damns their eternal salvation in Christ, remember Christ said, “He who endures to the end and stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22)

6. Repent for the Kingdom is Near Jesus came preaching "Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near" as did John the Baptist, the disciples and Paul. Jesus said, Luke 13:3 “But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” What they taught was to turn from living ungodly lives and live godly lives, and in doing that we see the fruit of repentance and the outworking of the cross in their lives. John the Baptist calls us to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” We are saved by grace through faith and not by works, it is not that we keep our salvation by producing fruit, but the fruit becomes the evidence that we are in fact saved. If Christ dwells in us by the Holy Spirit then we are saved, and proof that He dwells in us is that fruit will be evident in our lives. We won't continue to sin and carry on like the heathen but will live holy lives.

7. Repent or Perish Many theologians teach that it's not the action of repentance that saves, but what Christ did for us alone. However: Jesus said, "Unless you repent you also will perish." So it is quite clear that it requires our action of repentance to be saved. Repentance is absolutely a pre-requisite for salvation and repentance doesn't just mean a change of thinking, it is a change of life direction, and change of attitude and change of character brought about as the Holy Spirit finds us repented and fit for His indwelling. If we don't make the temple clean by repentance, the Holy Spirit will not enter a man. For Peter said, Acts 2:38 “Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Repent and be cleaned and then we will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

8. Radical Holiness If more Christians truly repented and lived Holy Spirit filled lives, the world would be a better place and the church would not be in the mess that it is in today. But because of the watering down of this message of repentance, and the lack of emphasis upon holiness, we have a powerless Church. God is calling and has always called His Church to radical holiness of separation from the world, which is the fruit of our conversion.

9. Cheap Grace I believe we are called to disciple people to salvation. I do not believe in the put your hand up if you want to accept Christ, and then when you've done that, you are saved: No repentance, no transformational life experience, but just an emotional pulpit plea which motivates a decision, but then no changes in the persons life. This is called Easy Believism, or Cheap Grace, and their philosophy is "Once Saved, Always saved." They think if we get a quick confession, they're saved and then chalk it up as another soul in the Kingdom. I believe in altar confessions provided they are accompanied by sincere levels of deep confession and repentance.

10. Chosen to be Holy Many teach that holiness is a work and we are not saved by works, therefore they cancel out holiness as a necessity for our Christian walk. Ephesians 1:4 “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” He died to make us holy to separate us from the world system. Hebrews 13:12 “And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.” Hebrews 12:14 “Strive to live in peace with everybody and pursue that consecration and holiness without which no one will [ever] see the Lord.” (AMP)

11. From Experience I know of a huge amount of Christians who have made a confession of faith, many years ago, and since then have walked in the world, don't read the Bible, drink, smoke, take drugs, and have one night stands, and then show up to Church once in awhile and believe that they are saved because the pastor told them that there was nothing they could do to lose their salvation. They don't care about honouring God or fearing God, or building treasure in the Kingdom or living a holy life, yet they believe they are once saved always saved. I believe that these so called “Carnal Christians” are on very shaky ground.

12. Once Saved, Not Always Saved 2Peter 2:20-22 “If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”

13. Saved by Grace through Repentance. I have no doubt in my salvation, I am saved by grace and not by works. But I also know that fruit will be evident in my life as a result of repentance. The truth according to Scripture is that without repentance, a man or woman is not truly saved. And this "Once saved, always saved" philosophy has bred unrepentant Christians who make a confession of faith but do not repent, turn and live holy lives and follow Jesus. Luke 13:5 “But unless you repent (change your mind for the better and heartily amend your ways, with abhorrence of your past sins), you will all likewise perish and be lost eternally.” (AMP)

14. Only the Repentant who Know Christ will be saved Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus said, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” (KJV)

15. Only the Repentant who Know Christ will be saved These people were calling Jesus Lord and were doers of wonderful works, but Jesus sees them as workers of iniquity. We shall know them by their fruit and the fruit of “Once Saved always Saved” teaching has been watered down, weak Christians who don't fear God, repent and live transformed lives.

16. Remain in Him John 15:4-6 “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. Every tree that does not bring forth good fruit will be thrown into the fire, hell!” Jesus calls His people to remain in Him, He is saying this as a warning to those who are in Him who are considering removing themselves from the vine of Christ.

17. A Debate I debated a Christian man on this very topic of repentance while at Bible college, he said: We do not make ourselves clean through repentance to make ourselves acceptable for salvation and the indwelling Holy Spirit. That's putting the cart before the horse. Everything is done through the completed work of Christ. It's His blood that washes us clean because we are filthy rags before salvation. It's the Holy Spirit which enables us to live a repentant and holy life. All of the things that make up our sanctification; fruit, good works, holiness, etc. are the results of what Christ has done in us AFTER salvation, not the mechanisms of our salvation. In effect he is saying that repentance is vicarious and has nothing to do with our being saved.

18. A Debate It is repentance that the Holy Spirit leads you to do to get clean before God. Without repentance we will stay filthy before God. Consider repentance like taking a shower, and the water is the Holy Spirit, and the dirt and muck which comes off you is the sin. Our participation in the act of salvation is to get in the shower and turn it on and scrub. God requires our participation in the process of salvation, that is why He calls all men to repentance, but only some of us will humble ourselves under His mighty hand and repent. Repentance is a participatory act with the Holy Spirit.  The initial act of repentance when we first believe is brought about by the conviction of the Holy Spirit who comes upon us, then once we repent the Holy Spirit inhabits us.

19. Conclusion, Saved by faith, evidenced by holiness, I believe we are saved by what Christ did for us on the Cross and not by works. However I believe that the Scriptures are clear that we must live out our Christian life in holiness and complete consecration to be saved. This is evidence that we are in fact saved. There are however many levels of holiness of which we can live as Christians. I also believe it is possible to fall away and lose our salvation, as the Bible tells us and examples from everyday life give us evidence of. So today, we must check ourselves and ask the question, “Am I producing the fruit of salvation in my life? Am I living a holy life, and allowing Christ to work through me?