Salvation Is Forever

 

by Dr. Ken Matto

 

(Eph 4:30 KJV) And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

One of the strangest things I have been running into lately by many Christians is their misunderstanding of salvation. It seems that many Christians feel they can lose their salvation. In fact, some of the attitudes I have heard concerning this subject is that they are proud of the belief that they can lose their salvation. Why do so many Christians want to go to Hell? When we read the Scriptures and find within them the terror of an eternal Hell, you would think that Christians would be joyous in the fact that once God has saved a person, there is no way that their salvation can be lost. In fact, there are some questions which need to be posed to those people who believe this lie:

1) What works will cause you to lose your salvation?
2) How many works does it take to lose salvation?
3) How do you know you have lost your salvation?
4) How many works will it take to regain your salvation?
5) What type of works will it take to regain your salvation?

If a person believes they can lose their salvation, there is only way to regain salvation and that is through works. If you believe that you can lose your salvation, then the following verse must be taken into account.

(Heb 10:26 KJV) For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,

Many Christians bank on this verse that if they lose their salvation, then they cannot get it back. However, the above verse is not dealing with loss of salvation. If you notice the wording in this verse, you will see that those who received the “knowledge” of the truth and still continue sinning, will face the fact that there is no more sacrifice for sin. This is because the sacrifice of Christ established two truths: 1) He died for His Elect and they are sealed forever; 2) He did not die for everyone in the whole world, which means those who are outside the Elect, have no more sacrifice for sin, as we see in the above verse. Many unbelievers receive the knowledge of the truth when they hear the preaching of the Gospel. (Mat 22:14 KJV) For many are called, but few are chosen.

We see many who are called to hear the Gospel but only a few of those called are chosen for salvation. The chosen not only receive the knowledge of the truth but they also have that truth of the Gospel implanted in them and applied to them. This is the great difference between those who have received only the knowledge of salvation and those that have received actual salvation. An Evangelist may be preaching to a large crowd and out of that crowd maybe only a few become truly saved.
 

One of the great lies that accompanies the loss of salvation theory is that the sacrifice of Christ was insufficient for eternal salvation and inefficient in keeping the children of God saved. This, of course, is ludicrous because there is nothing in Scripture which teaches that any true child of God can ever be lost and I will post some of those verses at the end. Those who believe they can lose their salvation are also under the false impression that they are sufficient enough in themselves to complete their salvation. I say that in all honesty, because if Christ cannot complete their salvation, then it must be up to them to keep it. Again, I go back to the list of five questions. There is nothing in Scripture which gives any indication of the amount of works or what we are to do to keep our salvation.

One of the pet verses which the loss of salvation crowd clings to is Matthew 10:22:

(Mat 10:22 KJV) And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

They believe it is up to them, in their own strength, to endure to the end of their lives and then hopefully they will have done enough good works to get into Heaven. The truth of this verse is that only those who are saved and have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit will be able to endure all the persecutions and hard times they will face. In Scripture we see false Christians like Demas who loved this world and forsook the Christian faith.

(Col 4:14 KJV) Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.

(2 Tim 4:10 KJV) For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

The difference between Demas and Paul was that Paul was a true Christian and endured to the end because of his salvation. Demas went back into the world and forsook the brethren simply because he was not a true believer, which means he was void of salvation. Without salvation to under gird a person, they will turn from the true Gospel and will not endure any persecution or hard times. This is the evidence that those who endure to the end, do so, because they are saved. Paul endured the Christian life and was taken to the chopping block but Demas ran away because he did not have salvation to propel him on. (2 Cor 5:14 KJV) For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: The word “constraineth” in this verse means “to hold, secure, or keep together.” Without the love of Christ constraining us we will then leave and it will seem like we have lost salvation, when in essence, we never had it to begin with. Now in conclusion I want to give a few verses which straightforwardly teach that a true Christian cannot lose their salvation. I also want to give the URL for an article I wrote on the security of the believer. It is called “Safe in the Arms of Jesus” www.scionofzion.com/safe.htm

(John 6:39 KJV) 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.

(John 10:29 KJV) My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

(Eph 4:30 KJV) And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

(John 3:15 KJV) That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

(John 10:28 KJV) And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

(Rom 6:23 KJV) For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Notice the last three verses! It says that the true believer is given eternal life. If you could lose your salvation, then it would be temporal life. Have you noticed what is absent in Scripture? It is some type of formula to regain salvation after loss. It simply does not exist. The next time someone precedes their statement on this subject with “I take the position of” or “I see it this way” then just shut them off, because they are using themselves as the final authority. These same people claim you can walk away from salvation. How can you walk away if Christ is securing you as we saw in 2 Corinthians 5:14. How about this one?

(1 Pet 1:5 KJV) Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Loss of salvation theory just calumniates the truths of the effects of the sacrifice of Christ on behalf of His Elect and it calls God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit liars and weaklings. Don’t allow others to do your thinking for you. Believe the truths in your King James Bible and you will stand firm and endure to the end.  (6/25/04)

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