God keeps His promises
John 3:16 says, “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.”
Some people lose assurance of their salvation because they think that they are no longer saved. When I was younger, I was watching a preacher on T.V., and he taught that it was possible for one to lose his salvation. I went to my room and prayed. I was very upset because I thought that if that was true, then I could never be secure in Christ. I felt like I sinned all of the time. If salvation could be lost, I would lose it.
My father came home and I told him what the preacher had said. Dad explained it this way. Let us suppose that God says to me, “You are saved; you have everlasting life and you will never perish. I promise you. You will go to heaven when you die.” Now the truth of the matter is that God has said that.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” (John 5:24)
“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.” (John 3:16)
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” (John 6:47)
"Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one." John 10:24-30
Now, if God promises me that I have everlasting life and that I will never perish, and then He later comes to me and says, “Oh, too bad. You sinned. You will not go to heaven when you die. You will be spending eternity in hell.” If God did that, then He would have lied.
As a young man, that settled it for me. What dad said made sense. God cannot lie. I have believed in Jesus Christ, therefore, I am saved forever. God has promised. The same promise that Jesus Christ gave me when I was a young teenager, fearful of going to hell; that same promise is being kept by the Lord Jesus Christ today. All of the verses that seem to teach that we can lose our salvation must be read in context and compared against the multitude of Scriptures that teach that the one who has believed in Jesus Christ is saved and will go to heaven when he dies.
Since God keeps His promises, what makes some people believe that salvation can be lost?
What If I Don't Endure To The End? “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” (Mark 13:13) If you do not endure to the end, you will not be saved (if you miss the Rapture and are living on earth during the Tribulation). Of course, no Christian will miss the Rapture or be left here for the Tribulation. This verse is talking about people who live during the Tribulation time, enduring till the end of it. Those who are alive when it is all over will be saved from physical death, and will enter the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ alive. With this verse, as with all others that you study, “context is king.” Never take a verse out of context to try to prove a point. Knowing the verses that come before and after the verse that you are studying, and knowing what the chapter you are reading is talking about, is helpful in finding out the context. If Mark 13:13 is studied in context, “enduring to the end to be saved” is clearly talking about the time of the Tribulation, not today. I Have Fallen From Grace. “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” (Galatians 5:4) It would be a terrible thing for Christ to have no effect on our lives! That is what the first part of this verse is saying. “Christ is become of no effect unto you...” It is talking to a particular group of people. These are not people who get drunk or use drugs or commit other sins. The people here who have “fallen from grace” are those who are “justified by the law.” This verse comes from the book of Galatians which was written to Christians who had been deceived into thinking that they needed more than Jesus Christ for salvation and the Christian life. They were convinced that they also needed the laws of the Old Testament. To be “justified by the law” means that you are trying to keep the Ten Commandments and live according to the Old Testament so that God will count you as righteousness in His sight. If you are not trusting in the Old Testament Law but, rather, your faith is in Jesus Christ, then you are in no danger of falling from grace. A person who choses the Old Testament Law over faith in Jesus Christ has hit “rock bottom” spiritually. This is not to imply that the Old Testament Law of God is bad. It is simply to say that in comparison, Jesus Christ is so much better. (Cf. the book of Hebrews) Christians living in this New Testament Age are to obey laws. However, we are to obey the Law of Christ. This Law works through love, while the Old Testament Law worked through fear. God loves me, therefore, I love God and desire to obey God. Because God loves me, I can be filled with His love and show it to others. For example, if I love my neighbor, I will not steal from him or try to hurt him, etc. Therefore, Romans 13:10 says, “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13:10) Now, if I were to leave the high ground of living the Christian life by grace, to try to live it in the basement of the Law, then I would have fallen. It is not that the people to whom Paul was writing wanted to reject Jesus Christ. They simply wanted to add Old Testament Law to faith in Him. In Christ is love, hope and peace. In the Law is fear, burden and judgment. Therefore, a person who choses the Law over, or in addition to Christ, has “fallen from grace.” If you are in this situation, turn to God and start trusting in Jesus Christ alone. God will pick you back up and forgive you. You can start living by grace alone, once again. Impossible To Repent? “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” (Hebrews 6:4-6) These verses in the book of Hebrews are given as a hypothetical situation. If a saved person fell away from faith in Jesus Christ, rejected Christianity, and returned to the Old Testament Law, it would be impossible to renew them to a place of repentance. Notice, that the writer of Hebrews never says that His readers have done this. “But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.” (Hebrews 6:9) In other words, he is saying, “Even though we are speaking about people who fall from faith in Christ and cannot repent, we are not talking about you.” “Falling away” is a situation that will never happen to you if you are a true believer in Jesus Christ. Believers will struggle with doubt. They may even be lead astray by false teachers, as the Christians to whom Paul wrote the book of Galatians had been. But, they will never, in their hearts, reject Christianity and Jesus Christ. Listen to what the author of Hebrews says about himself and his readers. “But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” (Hebrews 10:39) True believers do not “draw back unto perdition (Hell).” True believers believe in Jesus Christ “to the saving of the soul.” I could say that it would be impossible for a man, who jumped out of an airplane without a parachute, to not get hurt or die. As true as that might be, I am not about to jump out of a plane without a parachute. In fact, I have no intention of jumping out of an airplane with a parachute! The fact that I would break my body if I did jump without a parachute does, however, serve to remind me that, if I ever do jump, I should check and double-check the parachute! The point here is this. A believer will never fall away from faith in Christ. But, when we are tempted to doubt, this hypothetical situation from Hebrews reminds us that the ultimate end of unbelief would be certain destruction. That, along with the promises that God makes to us, causes us to trust in Jesus Christ for our soul's salvation until the day that we go home to be with the Lord!