Once you are saved, are you saved forever or can you lose your salvation?

To be saved and to later lose your salvation means that Jesus knew you at some point, right? See what Christ says Matthew 7:21-23-

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

People who can “lose their salvation” were never known to Christ; they were never saved to begin with. They were never believers in Christ, even though they might profess to be for Him as we see in the verse above. As long as a person is believing in Jesus, he can never lose his salvation. We did nothing to earn salvation to begin with. Eternal life is the gift of God. Christ says in John 10:28-30:

“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

When Christ says never, He means never. Not even you who believe can snatch yourself out of the Father's hand anymore than a helpless child can snatch herself out of her father's care. Her father will not allow it. Her father is greater than she is. How much more our Lord Jesus Christ who said He will never leave us nor forsake us? He saves, even from sins. Hebrews 13:5 says:

“Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.””

Why would Christ our Shepherd make this promise to His sheep if we never messed things up sometimes? Your employer would chuck you out in a heartbeat if you messed things up at work, but not so with God for we who believe in Jesus Christ. God is not a hard Taskmaster who pays us wages and withholds our pay whenever we can’t show up for work. To us, God is “Father.” He knows how screwed-up we can be. In fact, He knows our default mode is “screwed-up” and that without Christ, we His sheep would be mired in dung and at the mercy of devourers. As He shows us in the Parable of the Lost Sheep, Christ is not in the business of beating or abandoning His sheep that get into impossible situations or go astray to the ravages of the devourer. He saves us and trains us in the way that we should go.

Just to be clear, your conduct being without covetousness in Hebrews 13:5 above is predicated on knowing that Christ will never leave you nor forsake you- you won't be inclined to steal when you are fully aware that your father who loves you and will do anything for you owns the bank - but false doctrine teachers twist this verse to mean that our heavenly Father who knows how weak and screwed-up we can be will leave us because of the same sins that He sent His Son to save us from: Matthew 1:21 -

“And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

As it was with Peter before he saw the futility of trusting in the arm of flesh (human effort at living a godly and sins-free life,) many churchgoers are yet to see how helpless and in need of salvation from sins they are without Christ. They think they can keep the Law, stifle sins and make some contribution towards their eternal salvation by their non-existent will-power and ability to do good that is 100% dependent on Time and Chance as well as Satan sifting like wheat. But I digress…

The horrid false doctrine that says a believer in Christ can lose his salvation comes from not understanding two things:

1. What the will of God is.
2. What it means to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ says in Matthew 7:21-

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”

Many preachers are quite vague on what the will of God encompasses. His will is usually presented quite ambiguously and in the light of choosing between doing good and doing evil based on the knowledge of the Ten Commandments which gives the knowledge of good and evil like a certain tree. God the Father's will for the believer in Christ is being wrongly interpreted as doing "good things" by your own might and power so that you can be godly (be like God) or so that God can be happy with you and make you heaven-worthy. This explanation is the sure way to get cut off from Jesus Christ the Tree of Life as it did with Adam and Eve -

“For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the Law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's Grace.” Galatians 5:4.

See the forbidden fruit as a picture of the Law that many are striving to keep in order to be godly (be like God) in Romans 7:8-12 (MSG.)

So what is God's will? What are the works that God wants us to do? Some people asked our Saviour Jesus this very question in John 6. No better answer or explanation than that which comes from our Saviour Jesus Christ Himself-

28 "Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” 29 "Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."”

See the AMPC- “28 They then said, What are we to do, that we may [habitually] be working the works of God? [What are we to do to carry out what God requires?]29 Jesus replied, This is the work (service) that God asks of you: that you believe in the One Whom He has sent [that you cleave to, trust, rely on, and have faith in His Messenger].””

See The Living Bible: “28 They replied, “What should we do to satisfy God?” 29 Jesus told them, “This is the will of God, that you believe in the one He has sent.””

Again, in the same John 6, Christ says:

39 "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

God's will is for mankind to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the only condition for salvation.

When your believing is right, right living will follow, much like how you don't have to force a kid born into and who lives with his German-speaking family to speak German or to move with his family when they buy a new house. No matter how nice or nasty the kid is, he gets to speak German and move with his family. In fact, his language skills and good behaviour or lack thereof is a function of the kind of training that he receives from his parents. For we who are in Christ, when we became born-again aka believed Jesus, God became “Father” to us. He took us in, warts and all. The One who can never fail trains even the nastiest of His children to become and live right. This brings us to the second reason why some people erroneously think that a person who is believing in Jesus Christ can lose his salvation-

2. What it means to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Romans 10 is the key to understanding what it means to believe in Jesus and how our righteousness in Him is everlasting and apart from works:

Verses 1-4: “Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. 2 I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. 3 For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with Himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. 4 For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in Him are made right with God.”

“The people of Israel” here were very zealous about right living but they tried to attain righteousness by keeping the Law. Paul called their enthusiasm misdirected. The futility of trying to get right with God by keeping the law and how all who believe in Jesus Christ are righteous in God's sight and apart from obeying the law is a recurring theme in Romans.

See verses 5-10: “For Moses writes that the law’s way of making a person right with God requires obedience to all of its commands. 6 But faith’s way of getting right with God says, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven?’ (to bring Christ down to earth).7 And don’t say, ‘Who will go down to the place of the dead?’ (to bring Christ back to life again).” 8 In fact, it says,

“The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.”

And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: 9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.”

See the NKJV of verses 9–10, the condition for our salvation:

“that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

"Salvation" here is not just being saved to go to heaven; it is deliverance from the molestation of enemies and redemption from all earthly ills (including sins, anxiety, depression, sickness, lack, stupid mistakes, etc.) It is being saved from the power, pleasure and penalty of sin! The word used in the original Greek text of the New Testament is Swthria (pronounced soteria) and it encompasses all these meanings.

A person can confess Jesus as Lord and call Him “Lord, Lord" all he wants but he is not saved unless he believes in his heart “that God has raised Him from the dead,” - this encompasses believing what Christ accomplished for us through His crucifixion and His being raised from the dead. So why was Christ crucified and raised from the dead? What did He accomplish for us through His resurrection? This is the key to right believing:

God raising the Lord Jesus from the dead was not just because He could. Christ's resurrection is the divine receipt showing that we who believe have been forgiven of all of our sins and made righteous by His "single sacrifice for sins, good for all time" (Hebrews 10:12.) This according to Romans 4:25-

“Who was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised up because of our being declared righteous."

See the TPT: “Jesus was handed over to be crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and was raised back to life to prove that He had made us right with God!”

Christ would not have risen from the dead if our lifetime of sins had not been forgiven and we had not been declared righteous by God. His resurrection is akin to seeing someone who went to serve a death sentence in an impregnable prison for the lifetime and even uncommitted crimes of another walking free - The wages of sin is death. One death for our entire lifetime of sins- a sinner can only die for his entire lifetime of sins once. Hebrews 9 tells us:

"27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. ..."

Christ died that death ONCE for ALL. He died the death that the Law demanded of us, fulfilling every single demand that the Law made of us forever.

Believer, Jesus Christ is not going to come and die again or demand payment for sins that you might commit in the future. All of our lifetime of sins have been fully paid by Him. This is Grace- undeserved, unearned unmerited favour. Antichrist pastors imply in their teaching that God’s abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ will make His children go on sinning sprees, but His word says differently in Romans 5:16–17:

“16 And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”

This is God's word and it is too hard to swallow for many who are being deceived into trusting in their own human effort at obedience (the arm of flesh) - in Christ, God sees us as righteous, "even though we are guilty of many sins." Satanic pastors preach that this word from God is blasphemy and a license to sin; GOD'S WORD SAYS BELIEVING WHAT HE SAYS IN THIS VERSE IS THE WAY TO LIVE IN TRIUMPH OVER SIN AND DEATH. But false teachers try to introduce the Law (which Romans 5:20 says was given that sin might increase) to keep believers in check!

This verse 16 above - "God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins" - also seems to be the only thing that many skeptical churchgoers take away from the entire message of Christ which is GRACE alone - as if God just bequeaths to us His righteousness and then turns a blind eye to our sins and as if we Grace children just want to wallow in sins because of Grace! But there is much more! God's word says receiving His abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ is the Way to "live in triumph over sin and death." Titus 2:14 says of Christ:

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.

See what Matt. 1:21 says of Christ: “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Even those sins in Revelation 21:8- “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

God gave His Son to save us from our sins, including the above. He gave Jesus to save us from perishing on earth and in hell (second death) as we see in the most popular bible verse in the world and the verse after it:

16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

The error is in people who profess Christ thinking that they can keep the Law, live a godly life, save themselves from their sins or contribute an iota of righteousness to their eligibility for salvation by sheer determination and human effort/will-power. See God's word concerning man's will-power (arm of flesh) at living a godly life in Romans 7:18 as was Paul's experience:

"For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but will-power is not enough to accomplish it."

God's word says will-power (the arm of flesh) at accomplishing anything - in this context, living a godly life (trying to be like God) - will fail. But, egged on by Satan and his antichrist pastors, Pride in the arm of flesh (human effort at attaining godliness) that will fail says:

"No, I can. God must be wrong. I still have some good in me. I can be godly (be like God) by my own will-power. I can keep the Ten Commandments and live a sinless life if I clench my teeth hard enough and other people should too. Afterall, I am doing it."

The reason why anyone can choose to not commit particular sins is because he has not been tempted beyond what he can bear. Peter found this out when he denied Christ three times after he boasted and knew 100% that he would not. He thought Jesus was wrong when He told him of his then upcoming denials. Many make the same error today. Boasting in your ability to keep even the “easiest” laws gives Satan the opportunity to sift a person like wheat. The arm of flesh will fail and you can be sure that Satan will not come into the boxing ring with “kid-gloves” tests. Never trust yourself. Trust in Christ.

This boasting in one's useless will-power at living a godly life is akin to man's physical flesh/body boasting that it can move about, play football and score goals by itself. The churchgoer in this situation thinks he has some good in him and does not realise (yet) that God's mercy in man is the "skeleton" that holds him upright, so he is always boasting about how God is blessing him because he has the good sense to pay tithe and avoid sins and how "I sowed my car and God gave me a jet." Notice no Christ's finished work in this antichrist equation? He does not realise that if God took away His restraining hand that restrains man from sins and which makes many churchgoers believe that they are or can be good by themselves, we would all devolve into committing the worst sins - collapse into the useless and helpless heap of flesh that we are of ourselves. There is no good in man of himself!

Paul addressed this in Romans 1 where a group who “suppress the truth” of righteousness by faith (verses 16-19) DEVOLVED into sin after “God lifted off His restraining hand…” —

“24 This is why God lifted off His restraining hand and let them have full expression of their sinful and shameful desires…”

If God lifted off His restraining hand that restrains us from devolving into committing heinous sins and let us rely on our human effort and will-power at keeping the law in order to be saved or for whatever reason, we would all devolve into sin and see how utterly lacking in works we are.

Because He loved us so and does not want any to perish, God gave His own Son to become sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21.) This is how He sees all who believe in Jesus Christ - who have Him as our righteousness and believe that our entire lifetime of sins have been wiped away forever with His shed blood:

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

Seeing ourselves as God sees us isn't something that we do just for the sake of it, neither is it an excuse to wallow in sins and do no works as antichrist pastors love to imply. By seeing ourselves as He sees us, we are being transformed. As we continue to see ourselves through the mirror of God's Word (Christ Himself: Grace-personified) and not through the Law (which Romans 5:20 says was given that sin might increase) we are being transformed by His Spirit: 2 Corinthians 3:18-

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."

Only people who are imperfect of themselves need transformation. The one who can transform himself to "be like God" and be heaven-worthy by will-power and human striving (arm of flesh) at obeying the Law does not need the Spirit of the Lord to transform him. For all man's efforts and striving at trying to be godly ("be like God" as Adam and Eve did,) the result is like "a menstrual rag" in God's sight according to Isaiah 64:6-

"We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight."

With Christ as our righteousness, we are 100% righteous in the sight of God and "so lovely" to Jesus Christ our Shepherd-King. In Him we have God's super-abounding Grace that transforms even the vilest offender to His likeness. By Him, we get to live in triumph over sin- Romans 5:16-17:

16 “And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ.”

Anyone who professes Christ but feels that he can lose his salvation or face God's wrath that God gave His own beloved Son to free us from is hearing a different/false message. Once you are saved, believing in Jesus Christ aka having Him as your righteousness and no longer depending on your puny arm of flesh (human effort at obedience) to save you from your sins, you are forever saved. And you will not continue to live in sin because this is what Christ came to do: Titus 2:14-

“He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.”

By believing in Jesus Christ, you will bear “much fruit.” Christ says so in John 15:5 -

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

See The Passion Translation: “I am the sprouting vine and you’re My branches. As you live in union with Me as your source, fruitfulness will stream from within you—but when you live separated from Me you are powerless.”

Remember how to get separated from Christ - “For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the Law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's Grace.” Galatians 5:4.

Many churchgoers are yet to understand the weight and power of the Word of the Almighty about how we bear “much fruit" and so try to help God to make His word come to pass through human striving at bearing fruit aka keeping the Law or dependence on human effort at obedience. This thought has its root in the belief that God's work cannot succeed without our making it so by some forceful effort on our part, much like how "Uzzah put out his hand to the Ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled" in 2 Samuel 6:6. Another long story in here but will try to cut it short- the Ark of God was meant to be carried by the Israelite priests. Instead, it was being carried in a new cart that was pulled by oxen and driven by Uzzah and his brother, the same way the Philistines who didn't know any better did. The Ark of God is a picture of Christ. When people who aren't “kings and priests in Christ” (born-again, having Christ as their righteousness and strength) carry the message of Christ, they carry it wrong and when they do, they and their hearers feel that they must bring some human effort-driven “balance” (law-keeping) to steady the message because it just doesn't seem right to them. They feel that Grace (the message of Jesus Christ) needs some balancing and try to introduce some human strength at obedience to keep the Law from being broken or to keep believers in check regarding sins. Uzzah must have had only good intentions and thought he was doing a good thing, but he still died from his action.

It is no coincidence that Uzzah means “Strength” in Hebrew. Man's strength (the arm of flesh) in keeping the Law from being broken will fail. God's Grace does not need “balancing" with some human effort at obedience aka law-keeping. This is what law-keeping does. It seems right to man but the end is death - Proverbs 14:12-

"There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death."

Being in Christ without bearing “much fruit” and living in triumph over sin and death is as impossible as jumping into the sea naked without getting wet. Godliness is the “wet.” The fruit of the Spirit is the “wet.” Not perish but have eternal life is the “wet.” You do absolutely nothing to be wet except be in the Water that is Christ, and even this is a gift of Grace says Christ in John 6:43-46 (MSG)-

"Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over Me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent Me is in charge. He draws people to Me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do My work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End."

Nothing to do with self. All to do with Christ from beginning to end. But some branches feel that their ability to bear fruit and also become a part of the Vine is dependent on how hard they clench their teeth. Such feel that they have to bear fruit before they can become a part of the Vine. Not so. Christ does it all. In Him, we can rest, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” Philippians 1:6.

Right believing always produces right living.