Can a Christian loose their salvation?

Pope66 said:

Can a Christian loose their salvation? Or if one is saved they are always saved?

Click to expand...

loose or lose?

If it is 'their' salvation, then yes they can lose it, otherwise salvation is of the Lord.

Jonah 2:9 CSB
[9] but as for me, I will sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgiving. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation belongs to the LORD."

John M shares many, many verses why once given (by the Holy Spirit) salvation, it is forever.

Although not that good
ones that are saved will finish the Good Race.
M

Pope66 said:

But where they Christian to begin with?

Click to expand...

If they were born again, then yes, but it wasn't 'their' salvation to begin with, was it?

Pope66 said:

Can a Christian loose their salvation? Or if one is saved they are always saved?

Click to expand...

True scriptural salvation is to be "born again" (as John 3 and John 14; etc.). One cannot be unborn and that one is kept for Heaven! (meditate on John 6:27; 2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13; Eph. 4:30). The new birth God speaks of is the PROMISE of our Creator-God who gives the redeemed one His "seal" by His Holy Spirit indwelling them, and that seal is to keep one 'til taken home to Heaven. That seal and the presence of the Holy Spirit comes ONLY to one who receives God's "...beloved Son": the Lord Jesus Christ, into ones heart. Many verses show these things. Satan, of course keeps whispering in our mind that you cannot depend on God, and wants us to just keep trying to be religious. Religion never saved a soul ---Religion means 'righteous works', which can only be AFTER one is "born again" to be anything of God.

Pope66 said:

Can a Christian loose their salvation? Or if one is saved they are always saved?

Click to expand...

Once saved always saved?

We can have the assurance of salvation if we keep our eyes on Christ and hold fast to His Word. We can know that we have eternal life when we continue to walk in God’s ways by faith. But if we believe that once we accept Jesus we can turn away from Him and still be saved, we are swallowing an artificial gospel that could leave us with great disappointment.

We will mess up here and there ... and we ask for forgiveness and repent (turn away) from doing it again and continue in Him.

Can somebody walk away from the Lord ... yes ... we always have choice and unfortunately some do choose to walk away from the Lord permanently. I recently had conversation with a person who said he was a christian for 18 years and now is atheist ... if true ... then ... if he remains in that mindset until he dies earthly death or the Lord returns then ... he will not be delivered. I pray he will return to the Lord.

Consider Jesus’ parable of the sower, which describes the gospel seed being spread on different types of soil. Notice what happens when the truth falls onto one type of heart:

Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away (Matthew 13:5, 6).
Now, if the seed “immediately sprang up,” it means these people welcomed it into their hearts.

They believed what they heard, and the seed sprouted. Thus, if it “withered away,” something that was once living had died. That means some people who have received salvation at some point lost it because they did not grow deeper roots in Christ.

I am always hopeful that many many many will come to the Lord and remain in Him ... judgement of a person is entirely up to the Lord and I'm sure thankful it is!

Matthew 7

1“Do not judge, or you will be judged. 2For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Once saved ... always saved

Some will say some those who walk away were never saved in the first place ... they in fact don't know that ... fact is none of us knows another person's heart ... only God knows our hearts.

Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Jeremiah 17:10
I, the LORD, search the heart; I test the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.

Best to lead people to the Lord (get the gospel out) ... kindly help believers that are struggling ... and leave all else to the Lord.

To qualify that I would say: IF ONE TRULY RECEIVED THE LORD JESUS that one is "born again" (as John 3 makes clear) ---sealed by the Holy Spirit forever as God shows us in His Word. It does not depend on 'keeping our eyes on the Lord'. Saying that one believes about Jesus and believes in God, is not salvation but only a religious effort. Just keeping our eyes on the Lord is the right spirit to honor God and please Him for much blessing. It is true that one who is truly "born again" can start pleasing self and become "carnal" ---worldly and displease God (not a good thing to do).

1watchman said:

It is true that one who is truly "born again" can start pleasing self and become "carnal" ---worldly and displease God (not a good thing to do).

Click to expand...

Even then, God has a way of chastising (correcting) His own children...
Hebrews 12:5-8 NKJV
[5] And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: "My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; [6] For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives." [7] If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? [8] But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

Pope66 said:

Can a Christian loose their salvation? Or if one is saved they are always saved?

Click to expand...

Yes, you can loose your salvation if you deny Jesus. You will loose your salvation if you take the mark of the beast. We have to overcome till the end. Till our last breath.

longwait said:

Yes, you can loose your salvation if you deny Jesus. You will loose your salvation if you take the mark of the beast. We have to overcome till the end. Till our last breath.

Click to expand...

I don't see Scripture supporting that. One can lose their favor with God, but if truly sealed by the Holy Spirit they are "born again" and cannot be unborn. A true "child of God" by the new birth may forfeit blessings by carnal ways, and may be disciplined by their Father; and if they continue badly may forfeit much at the "Judgment seat of Christ" in Heaven ---yet will be there as a "child of God".

1watchman said:

I don't see Scripture supporting that. One can lose their favor with God, but if truly sealed by the Holy Spirit they are "born again" and cannot be unborn. A true "child of God" by the new birth may forfeit blessings by carnal ways, and may be disciplined by their Father; and if they continue badly may forfeit much at the "Judgment seat of Christ" in Heaven ---yet will be there as a "child of God".

Click to expand...

“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. Matthew 10:32-33

A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury,which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. Rev 14:9-12

longwait said:

“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. Matthew 10:32-33

A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury,which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. Rev 14:9-12

Click to expand...

The context of these verses cannot contradict all other verses, so we know by all Scripture that one who is "born again" (as John 3) ---though stumbles at times, will be presented acceptably before God in Heaven, and one who clearly denies the Lord Jesus before others and in his heart, will not be allowed in Heaven ---a clear truth. One who is "born again" is sealed by the Holy Spirit and CANNOT be unborn. One who 'worships the beast' as you suppose, is clearly not of the "elect of God" and will not be in Heaven. No verses contradict other verses ---it usually is a problem for those who take verses out of context. Clearly one who has the new birth is sealed by God. The fact that they say they are a believer does not mean they are "born again". You make too much of the word: ANYONE, for it simply means whoever worships the beast. Let us accept "all the counsel of God" and be "rightly dividing the Word of Truth" ---would you say?

Pope66 said:

Can a Christian loose their salvation? Or if one is saved they are always saved?

Click to expand...

There are basically two positions you'll find being argued for:

1) Yes, Christians can reject their salvation, walk away, become apostate. Most probably wouldn't speak of "losing salvation" in the sense of "oopsy, I seem to have misplaced my salvation" because generally walking away from the faith is seen as an intentional act, not an accident one can do. It's not like if you sin one too many times you suddenly can't be saved anymore; it's that if we intentionally walk away from Jesus we are throwing away our faith. Something the Bible warns about a number of times.

2) No, Christians can't walk away, once a person is saved they are always saved. Those of this position argue that if someone is a Christian and walks away, they were never really Christian or saved in the first place; and those who are truly saved will never--and can never--walk away from the faith.

I take the first position. I believe the second position, in spite of first glance, actually denies the assurance of our salvation which we have in Christ, since one can never be confident of their salvation with the idea that if one walks away they were never saved to begin it. Rather, we can throw away our salvation, that doesn't mean that God rejects us of course, because we have Christ's word that He is the Good Shepherd who searches high and low for the one lost lamb, and that God is a good Father who runs out to meet the prodigal son.

Yes, if we throw our faith away, we are throwing Jesus away, and so we shipwreck our faith in doing so--and that's a very serious and real thing. But we cannot "lose" our salvation like a set of keys that we misplace, or as though there is some point where if we mess up enough God rejects us. God will not reject us, He has embraced us in Jesus Christ as His own. It is to Christ that we must look and put our trust in, not to ourselves, our own abilities, our own strengths, our own efforts. If we trust in Christ we can have every confidence of our salvation in Him. Those who have left the faith we can pray for, and trust that the same Jesus who keeps us in the sheepfold is the same Jesus who is calling them back, searching for them among the rocks--therefore we should not give up on those who have apostatized, but continue to hope and believe in God's wonderful mercy.

-CryptoLutheran

Pope66 said:

Can a Christian loose their salvation? Or if one is saved they are always saved?

Click to expand...

You need to differentiate between being born again, and the journey of salvation. They are not the same!

Being born again is a one off event, never to be repeated, and once born again, you cannot be unborn.
You have moved from death to life, not just life, but eternal life. And if you have received eternal life, how can you possibly lose it?
If you can lose eternal life, then it clearly cannot be eternal and the bible is lying!

Salvation is the life long process of change that follows new birth, change that occurs as we surrender to the sovereignty of Jesus in our lives. The length and depth of that salvation is down to our willingness and desire to let him reign.

The simple fact is the countless people get born again, but progress no further as a believer and remain infantile till they die. But they die with little or no fruits, but nevertheless still as believers.

Others walk in their salvation deeply perhaps for many years, then they get tempted away and gradually forget who they are. Their salvation drifts away, but they still have that new birth deep inside, but again with little or no fruit when they die.

So the truth is we can lose our salvation, but not our new birth!

eleos1954 said:

Consider Jesus’ parable of the sower, which describes the gospel seed being spread on different types of soil. Notice what happens when the truth falls onto one type of heart:

Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.

Click to expand...

ie. New life started............

But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away (Matthew 13:5, 6).
Now, if the seed “immediately sprang up,” it means these people welcomed it into their hearts.

Click to expand...

ie. But nevertheless, new life was still there before God, and that's all that counts...............

They believed what they heard, and the seed sprouted. Thus, if it “withered away,” something that was once living had died. That means some people who have received salvation at some point lost it because they did not grow deeper roots in Christ.

Click to expand...

Nope. Jesus makes it abundantly clear that the parable is talking about fruitfulness, not eternal life.
Even the seed that produced good fruit, at the end of the season still still ends up dead!

I am always hopeful that many many many will come to the Lord and remain in Him ... judgement of a person is entirely up to the Lord and I'm sure thankful it is!

Click to expand...

In the parable of the sower, there are four different types of ground.
1) The wayside
2) Stony ground
3) Weedy ground
4) Good ground.

No1 is the only one where new birth doesn't happen, and Satan steals the seed away.
Nos2,3 and 4 all result in new birth.
Even though in Nos2 and 3, the stones and weeds result in little or no fruit, the seeds were still germinated to bring new birth, and in the end, that's all that counts.
No 3 produces massive fruit, but its not fruit that gets you into the kingdom, its whether you are born again or not.

The worst thing a person who is a believer can do by choice is leave the faith even after tasting and hearing of the Good News, Gospel, from what the Bible says. So I believe people can choose to give up on God is they so desire. This may come from hardships in life, family troubles, death of someone’s child or spouse. They can come back though, and it’s believed God is love, and he is always calling to even those who are unbelievers.

Francis Drake said:

ie. New life started............

ie. But nevertheless, new life was still there before God, and that's all that counts...............

Nope. Jesus makes it abundantly clear that the parable is talking about fruitfulness, not eternal life.
Even the seed that produced good fruit, at the end of the season still still ends up dead!

In the parable of the sower, there are four different types of ground.
1) The wayside
2) Stony ground
3) Weedy ground
4) Good ground.

No1 is the only one where new birth doesn't happen, and Satan steals the seed away.
Nos2,3 and 4 all result in new birth.
Even though in Nos2 and 3, the stones and weeds result in little or no fruit, the seeds were still germinated to bring new birth, and in the end, that's all that counts.
No 3 produces massive fruit, but its not fruit that gets you into the kingdom, its whether you are born again or not.

Click to expand...

Disagree ... Here is Lukes account and is indeed in relation to salvation

Luke 8
11Now this is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12The seeds along the path are those who hear, but the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

13The seeds on rocky ground are those who hear the word and receive it with joy, but they have no root. They believe for a season, but in the time of testing, they fall away.

14The seeds that fell among the thorns are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the worries, riches, and pleasures of this life, and their fruit does not mature.

15But the seeds on good soil are those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, cling to it, and by persevering produce a crop.

The Father is ever faithful. Not because of me, or what I could ever do (or not do), but because of Him, and who He is.

crossnote said:

loose or lose?

If it is 'their' salvation, then yes they can lose it, otherwise salvation is of the Lord.

Jonah 2:9 CSB
[9] but as for me, I will sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgiving. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation belongs to the LORD."

Click to expand...

Phil2v12Therefore my beloved, just as always you have obeyed, not only as in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.