No Longer Saved?
I have been asked about when being truly saved when you were a young person and then falling short on the glory of God and doing some really bad stuff like committing adultery and bad language. Does this mean you are no longer saved? How do you go about getting this off of your mind and all? They have gone back to church and went to the altar and asked for forgiveness, but still don’t think they are saved.
Thank you for your question! I can tell you that you are not alone! Many people struggle with the personal understanding of eternal security. The more common phrase is “Once saved, always saved.”
The first thing I will tell you is that there are passages of scripture in the bible that do sound as though you can lose your salvation. Without taking the time to get into these, I will simply say that they are misapplied scripture, quite often being taken grossly out of context. What I would like to emphasize to you is the scriptures that do teach “once saved always saved!”
The first passage I would like to look at is probably the most famous verse of the Bible – John 3:16
. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have EVERLASTING LIFE.”
God promised you everlasting and eternal life at the moment of Salvation. If you could do something wicked enough to undo everlasting life, then it would not be everlasting life. It would be a temporary life, or at best temporary life put on hold until you get born again.
What is Biblical Salvation
Also in John 3, Jesus Christ told Nicodemus in verse 3 that unless a man be born again, (singular) that he cannot see the kingdom of God. In short, he did not say that ye must be born again, and again and again, etc…
The most beautiful thing about salvation is that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ took ALL the punishment for us on the cross of Calvary! In John 19:30
the Lord said, “IT IS FINISHED” and he gave up the Ghost. Jesus Christ paid the full price of sin on the cross for you and me, and told us all that we have to do is “Call upon the name of the Lord” (Romans 10:13) and we would be saved! The Bible teaches us that the simplicity of salvation is a stumbling block to some. That is why our minds play games with us when we sin, or we try to add works, church membership, and a host of other things to salvation to appease our consciences. However none of these things can save, only Jesus can. (John 14:6)
On another note, you cannot lose your salvation because you are sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13) You cannot undo that seal no matter what you have done! On a side note, that doesn’t mean that we have a license to sin because we can’t lose our salvation, it means that we should strive to be all the more holy and clean! (1 Peter 1:16; Romans 12:1,2)
If you have sinned, all you have to do is confess your sin and ask God for forgiveness. (1 John 1:9) If you sin after being saved, all it does is cut your fellowship, not your sonship. If you confess and forsake your sins, then peace and fellowship can be restored (Proverbs 28:13).
Biblical Perfection
Paul Grady
Hello