I tend to be of the mind that it is possible for you to lose your salvation. I really want to believe "OSAS", because my mother was once saved when she was 12, and although she is a very "moral" person, she now rejects Christ as God and won't hear anything about it. So I have every motivation to believe it, but I don't think scripture supports it. The question is whether salvation is conditional or not. I think scripture makes it plain that it is conditional:
You have verses like these which show a servant can become wicked and earn the punishment of an unbeliever:
Matthew 24:48
But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My master is staying away a long time,' and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.
The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of.
He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
You have these verses placing conditions on salvation:
For I say unto you, That except
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:20
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye
be converted, and
become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3.
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." Hebrews 10:26
If there is no sacrifice for sins left, it means we are again under judgement for sin, and we know that the penalty for sin is death.
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy,
God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." Revelation 22:19
Here you can plainly lose your salvation for subtracting from the book of Revelation.
So, from these and many others, it seems like we can definitely lose our salvation.
Jesus Himself said:
Luke 12:5
But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
Although we have many reasons to have a godly fear, this verse seems to indicate why we seek out our salvation with "fear and trembling"
I could be wrong but I think scripture is plain that "many are chosen but few are called", and "narrow is the road that leads to life and few find it".
Now, that isn't to say that if it is true, we should be constantly terrified that God is going to throw us into hell.
2 Timothy 1:7
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
On the contrary, we should have the confidence to go boldly before Gods very throne:
Hebrews 4:16
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
So, how do we stay in good standing with God? One word: Obedience.
John 14:23
Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
John 8:51
I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."
Now, this doesn't mean that if we are disobedient by sinning, we are automatically in danger of losing our salvation.
Romans 8:1
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
Romans 6:14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
So. while we remain in Christ, we are not subject to the law. So, sin has no real power over us.
It seems that, again, the danger is here:
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." Hebrews 10:26
So, if we decide within ourselves to willfully sin because we expect the blood of Jesus to cover it, we put ourselves in danger. It is not that God won't forgive us for sin, it is that He won't allow us to manipulate grace:
Hebrews 10:29
How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
So, if we do sin, what is the solution? To repent:
Acts 3:19
Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out
It's not as if God doesn't know we are going to screw up. He says very clearly that He disciplines us like a loving Father would:
Revelation 3:19
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
Proverbs 3:12
because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.
He does it to keep us on the straight and narrow:
1 Corinthians 11:32
When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
I think the key point is this:
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
I don't think that just because you fell away for awhile that you should be worried. Those who are deceived don't know they are deceived. That's what being deceived means. The fact that you came back proves that you belong to the Lord, because only His sheep know His voice. Just make sure not to take His gift of salvation for granted. The Holy Spirit will teach you:
1 Corinthians 2:12
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
He guides us into
all truth
John 16:13
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
I hope this is helpful. God bless.
My fellow brothers and sister in Christ I need your help! After being in a backslidden state for 8 years I have over the past few months rededicated my life to Jesus. You see in God's mercy he allowed me to come to a point where I was so broken that I finally realized that only when I am serving Him there is joy, love and peace in my life. Over these past months I have been seeking the Lord with all of my heart, because I have this hunger and thirst for Him that I NEED to satisfy. However, the thing is that many people who claim to be God's children are telling me different things that is confusing me and causing me to be frustrated in my walk with God. I am so confused because I want to know the truth, I don't want to believe in any false doctrines, false teachings or be led astray. On Youtube I have been listening to a couple of youtubers such as finalcall07, Brother Ryan Hicks and a couple of others. They all seem like children of God and they all quote from the scripture but while googleing them there are alot of people saying "oh these people are false prophets and are teaching false things, what the bible really says is this..." Then these people teach what they think is the truth, and then another group of people say that these people are false as well! Some of the issues that I am confused about, because so many people are teaching conflicting things is the issue of Once Saved Always Saved. Some are saying that you cannot no matter what you do lose your salvation, while other people are saying that OSAS is false because it gives people a free license to sin and that you can be totally free of sin, but if you ever do sin repent right away because you can go to hell if you don't, and that yes we are saved by grace only but if you don't do good works then that proves that you are not really saved. Both types of people use biblical scriptures to back up their view and they strongly say the other is teaching false doctrine... Well what is THE TRUTH?? Can someone please help me!! I am so confused and I feel so lost now... One of my biggest fears is that Jesus will say "depart from me for I never knew you." I love Jesus so much and I just want to follow Him and please Him, but how can I do that fully when I am doubting what is true and what is false? I read my bible and pray but I do not know....I just don't know..please help me.