Dateline: Canton, OH
Many people say things like, “I don’t need to be saved. I don’t believe in that crap.” The basic premise of that statement is that our lives are our own, and we live independently of the universe.
Here’s the reality, God created the heavens and the earth. Everything belongs to him. We came into existence to serve him, not ourselves (Isaiah 43:7). Paul tells us in Romans that the evidence of God is all around us and that we have no excuse for not acknowledging the existence of God (Romans 1:20).
God, the universe's Architect, Designer, and Creator, is holy, righteous, and just. We are, by nature, the exact opposite: unholy, unrighteous, and unjust. Holy and unholy, righteousness and unrighteousness cannot occupy the same space. One must be destroyed so that the other might exist!
This conflict is not a struggle between an equally matched good and evil. It is a conflict between holy and righteous against unholy and unrighteous. They are not equally matched. God is sovereign; the powers of darkness are not.
Eventually, everything that is unholy, unrighteous, unjust, or corrupted by those things will be destroyed by God. God possesses not only holiness, righteousness, and justice but also ultimate sovereignty and omnipotence. Therefore, it is certain that God will emerge victorious in this conflict without any possibility of defeat.
This means that in the final judgment, everything, including all people, must be destroyed forever – aka the Judgment of God.
This God is not only perfect in holiness and righteousness but also in love, mercy, and grace. We don't understand the dynamic, but somehow the shedding of blood purifies unholy and unrighteous; however, this sacrifice must be perfect and without defect.
God gave us the Mosaic Law (the ten commandments plus the 613 laws), not to save us from the wrath of God but to teach us how corrupt we are (Romans 7:7). Under the Mosaic Law, people could cover their unrighteousness with the shed blood of animals; however, this practice only covered sin, it did not remove it.
God, in his perfect love and mercy, devised a way in which our unrighteousness could not only be covered but eliminated forever. God would become flesh, live a perfect life, and then shed his blood for our unrighteousness (Hebrews 10:1-10).
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For a person to become righteous, the only requirement is to recognize our unrighteousness and accept the salvation that God freely provided through his Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16). Our salvation cannot be earned, attained, or maintained. It is a gift from God.
Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV
We don't desire a relationship with God of our own accord. The Holy Spirit speaks to us, makes us aware of the spiritual realm, makes us aware of our sinful nature, and creates within us the desire to know God (John 16:13).
Many people believe their sin is too great to be removed by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. This thinking is based on the idea that we somehow earn our salvation. There are lots of problems with this belief:
- No one is righteous. No one has met God’s standards. There is no such thing as a “worse sinner.” Either one is perfect, or they are not. There is no such thing as "degrees of imperfection.”
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
Romans 3:10-12 NIV - The most egregious problem with this thought is arrogance and blasphemy – something God hates.
A holy, perfect God gave his life to make you righteous,
but it’s not good enough?Nothing could be more prideful or blasphemous. The thought embodies the idea that your unholiness is greater than God’s righteousness?
No one is worthy. Everyone is accepted who believes in Jesus Christ.
And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'
Acts 2:21 NIV
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This question has been debated by Christians forever. It was one of the primary points of contention in the Calvinism vs. Arminianism debate. The debate overlooks some core principles of salvation, perpetuating the discussion's inconclusive nature. Hopefully, God will allow me the ability to shed some light on this question.
The real question is not, "Can I lose my salvation," but "Was I really saved?” Many followers of Christ believe that all one must do to be saved is to recite the sinner’s prayer. Salvation, real salvation, involves true repentance accompanied by a life-altering change. True repentance is initiated by the Holy Spirit, who convicts us of our sin:
John 16:8 NLT
Too often, people recite the sinner's prayer because someone has convinced them intellectually to make the Christian choice. Some people repeat the sinner's prayer because they fear going to hell or want to go to heaven.
These are not genuine conversions.
The Holy Spirit is ALWAYS the initiator of genuine repentance.. It is often in conjunction with the word of God or brokenness and sorrow. It is the nakedness of standing before a holy God, knowing that he is aware of every thought and every act of our existence.
Repentance is followed by the awareness of God’s love, grace, and mercy in providing a means of salvation through his Son, Jesus Christ. A gift from God that all we have to do is accept in faith.
Genuine salvation is marked by a life-altering change in the person's thoughts, actions, and interactions with others.
When genuine salvation takes place, our sins are forgiven – sins of the past, present, and future, and we become a child of God. It is so powerful that it alters our life, and we change. We don't change because of rules, shoulds, and ceremony, we change because the inside of us is new and different.
- This is the new covenant I will make
- with my people on that day, says the LORD:
- I will put my laws in their hearts,
- and I will write them on their minds.”
- “I will never again remember
- their sins and lawless deeds.”
Hebrews 10:15-18 NLT
While we cannot lose our salvation, we can consciously walk away from it, effectively rejecting it altogether. Salvation is contingent upon accepting the boundless grace and mercy God has bestowed on us through his Son, Jesus Christ. We are saved through faith, that is, believing that Jesus is the way, truth, and the life (John 14:6). If we choose to reject this gift, it becomes inaccessible to us, and its benefits no longer remain within our reach.
Suppose we decide to take a bus from North Carolina to Montana. The bus represents God's salvation. Montana represents our heavenly reward. While we are on the bus, we are on the journey. Nothing we do or say while inside the bus can impede our arrival at the intended outcome. Throughout our time aboard the bus, we steadily progress toward our destination—Montana.
However, if we say to the bus driver, "Let me out here," and get off the bus altogether, we are no longer on the journey. We detach ourselves entirely from the ongoing expedition.
Salvation is a process. It is both a noun and a verb. We are saved the moment we accept God's mercy – meaning we are on the bus; however, we do not receive the prize until the journey's end.
I am emphasizing the conscious decision to reject the Gospel's message and abandon its principles altogether (to get off the bus). I am referring specifically to the act of deliberately turning away from the Gospel and renouncing its truth. This rejection goes beyond the everyday struggles with daily sins that every Christian faces and even surpasses ongoing sinful behavior that some of us may engage in.
We walk away because we love this world's pleasures more than God's righteousness. We walk away because we try to take on the troubles and worries of this world without God and they consume us. We walk away because our repentance was the work of reason or fear, not the work of the Holy Spirit. The parable of the sower clearly illustrates this:
Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.
The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.
But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
Luke 8:11-15 NIV
Salvation is based solely upon belief (faith) in Jesus. It's not based on behaviors. If we stop believing that Jesus is our salvation, we have walked away and rejected the gift.
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Some churches believe that we are saved by accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior, but it's up to us to maintain that salvation by living "good Christian" lives. In other words, we lose our salvation every time we sin. Under this belief, we must confess our sins and be saved again.
Since we all sin daily, this belief requires the Believer to be re-saved every day, perhaps several times during the day.
This belief is nonsensical.
The sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was perfect. Genuine salvation is not conditional or contingent upon behavior (Hebrews 9:24-28).
The Bible uses the word “hope” to describe our salvation through Jesus Christ. The meaning of this word is different from the traditional dictionary meaning, where hope is equivalent to a wishing event.
Hope in the Bible is the Greek word ‘elpis.’ It means ‘expectation of what is certain.’ Our hope in Jesus is not a “wishing event” whereby we are saved; our hope in Jesus is a “certain event” of the salvation he promised.
The salvation we have through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is an unbelievable act on the part of a holy God. God created the universe and everything in it, knowing from the beginning he would have to sacrifice his own Son to bring salvation to the world. Yet he did it anyway.
2 Corinthians 9:15 KJV
If you’ve never accepted the mercy and grace that God has provided through his Son, Jesus Christ, the Lord of lords and King of kings, please read my article:
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