Secure in Christ
Some may be wondering:
“If it’s possible to lose our salvation, can we live with any security and assurance of eternal life?”
Well, what are the conditions for being secure in our salvation?
Let’s consider a passage often quoted to support the theory of
“once saved, always saved.” A proper understanding of these verses will clear up misconceptions about salvation.
"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand" (
John 10:27–29).
A similar verse states,
“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). It is certainly true that when we hear the Shepherd’s voice and come to Christ, we are safe in His hands. No one, not even the devil, can take away our assurance.
But do these verses indicate that once we come to Jesus, we lose the freedom to turn away from Him? We know that the Bible says,
“God is love” (
1 John 4:8) and that love does not force love. You cannot force someone to love you. Let’s face it—forced love is r*pe! God promises that when we freely come to Him, He will never turn us away. Yet it is against the very nature of God to force us to stay with Him if we tire of His kingdom, just as Lucifer grew weary of it. Thus, these passages focus on God’s side of the equation. We may trust that when we come to the Lord, we will not be rejected. But we are always free—because of His love—to walk away.
If we abide in Him, God will never let go of us, but we are always free to let go of Him, to stop abiding whenever we please. Faithfulness in a marriage requires commitment on the part of both parties.
The security of our salvation could be compared to putting your money into a bank. Lots of banks like to use the word
“security” in their title to emphasize that your money is safe with them. The message they want you to believe is,
“You can trust us with your cash.”
Suppose you visit a bank and are given a tour of the facilities. One of the tellers shows you all the alarms and cameras set up to catch bank robbers. The teller points out the bulletproof glass, the many security guards, and the secured vault. Finally, you are told your money is federally insured. So, feeling safe, you decide to deposit your money into this bank.
What would happen if, the next day, you decide to withdraw $100 and that same teller tells you,
“You cannot withdraw money from our bank.” You protest but are told,
“Look, we promise you that your money is in the bank and is secure; you just can’t take any of it out.” Of course, that’s not security—it’s robbery! Likewise, when you lose your choice to walk away from God, you are no longer freely serving Him. You have become a hostage.
Still, God wants you to be secure in your salvation.
“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” (
1 John 5:13, emphasis added). The condition for knowing you have eternal life is continuing to believe in the name and character of Jesus.
Falling Away
Once you have accepted Jesus into your life, is it possible to fall away? 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.
A Bible example of someone who was chosen by God and even Spirit-filled, but then fell away, was King Saul. He was not picked through a general election, but was chosen by God. Did the Lord choose Saul to make an example of him and then cast him away? No! God chose this Benjamite because he was the Lord’s choice. At first Saul was filled with the Spirit and even prophesied, but he allowed pride to spring up in his heart, grieved away the Holy Spirit, and then lost his salvation.
Judas was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. When Christ sent him out to preach the gospel (along with seventy others), they all came back to report,
“Even the demons are subject to us in Your name” (
Luke 10:17). Judas was certainly among this group of successful evangelists and was used by the Lord to witness to others.
We sometimes picture Judas as going around constantly rubbing his hands together with evil delight, trying to steal other people’s money. When Judas joined the disciples, his heart had been touched by the teachings of Christ. His intentions were good, yet he eventually allowed his own opinions to guide him more than the teachings of Jesus. Slowly he began to resist the Savior’s plans because he felt he knew better and he eventually fell away. Stories of people like Judas, Saul, Balaam, and others are given to us
“as examples, and they were written for our admonition” (
1 Corinthians 10:11) so that we would not follow in their ways.
Jesus makes it clear in His message to the church of Sardis that if the people did not repent and turn from their bad behavior, they would lose their salvation.
“He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels” (
Revelation 3:5).
https://www.amazingfacts.org/news-and-features/inside-report/magazine/id/14710/t/once-saved--always-saved-
