At What Point Does This Happen?
--Bill Petite
However, those the Father
has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. For I have come
down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. And
this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has
given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. For it is my
Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal
life. I will raise them up at the last day.” John 6:37-40
So, in this passage, Jesus says that He will not lose
one of those that God has given Him. So, for the person who is truly saved by
Jesus and Jesus saying that not even one of those, who are saved, will be lost,
how is it that they can lose there salvation? But one who believes it is still
possible to lose their salvation will go right to their favorite passage in
Hebrews 6 and quote it in an attempt to prove it is possible. Forget what Jesus
said in John 6 and other passages, Hebrews 6 is their final answer on this lie.
For it is impossible to bring back to
repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good
things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of
the word of God and the power of the age to come—and who then turn away from
God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the
Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding
him up to public shame. Hebrews 6:4-6
The first thing that needs to be mentioned concerning
this passage is that it has been taken out of context with the first 12 verses
of this chapter. Those who the writer is addressing have been stalled in their spiritual
growth and he is encouraging them to put aside the elementary things and move
on to more spiritual teachings and growth.
Hebrews 6:4-6 has been interpreted by scholars in two
different ways. The first is concerning the person who has been listening to
teachings concerning Jesus and His Holy Spirit. The person has heard and
listened to these teachings but has never accepted Jesus and walked away. The
person was never saved. The second explanation is that of a Christian who has
backslidden in their walk with Jesus. They can’t be saved again because they
were already saved. Both sound reasonable but I, personally, believe it is
speaking of a person who heard and experienced but was never saved. They might
have been in a church for months listening and hearing about Jesus and His work
on the cross but they were never saved. They have walked away from Jesus; they
have turned away and can never be brought back again.
These people are known as Apostates. William MacDonald
describes them this way:
Apostates are people who
hear the gospel, make a profession of being Christians, become identified with
a Christian church, and then abandon their profession of faith, decisively
repudiate Christ, desert the Christian fellowship and take their place with
enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ.[i]
I have witnessed this more than once; in the first
case, the person appeared to be saved and on fire for Jesus. But as time went
on, this person became involved with a serious sin and then refused to repent of that
sin and simply walked away and refused to listen to anything concerning Jesus
or the Christian life. Another case involved a person who never exhibited any
desire for true Christianity but acted like they were on fire to be in a
fellowship of believers. I never saw any fruit displayed in their life as being
a Christian. After not seeing this person for a period of time, I asked someone
close to them where the person was and I was told the person simply left their
family and the church fellowship and wasn’t heard from. I never believed the
person was saved but it wasn’t my place to judge their heart.
Hebrews 6 doesn’t speak of a person losing his or her salvation,
it speaks of those who are enlightened (exposed to) by the teaching concerning
Jesus but then walks away and rejects Jesus. Verses 7 & 8 give us a good
explanation of what the writer is saying in verses 4-6.
The rain has fallen on the same field and it will
either produce a good crop which the farmer will harvest or it will produce
thorns and thistles which the farmer will destroy. The rain is the gospel and
it falls where it may. Some will hear it and be saved and others will hear it
and reject Jesus. God is the farmer and He either blesses the people who are
saved or condemn those who reject Jesus.
These people left our
churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have
stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us. 1 John 2:19
They left because they never really were saved. They
were playing church. Jesus is not in the business of repossessing salvation
from believers. For those who have been taught this lie, I have a question. At
what point does this happen? I mean what does a Christian have to do to lose
his/her salvation? Is there a certain number of sins committed for this to
happen? Is there one really big sin which is committed that causes this to
happen? I really want to know because no one has ever been able to give me an
answer to these questions. I have heard that it can happen if you no longer
abide in Christ (1 Cor 15). But when does a Christian no longer abide in
Christ? We have the Holy Spirit living within us. How do we chase Him out? I
have, at one time, attempted to run from God; I tried to turn away from Jesus
but it was like I had a bungie cord attached to me and I was drawn right back
to Him. I just couldn’t do it. But for a person who was never saved, never had
the Holy Spirit living within them, it’s easy to turn and walk away from Jesus.
There is nothing holding them there and stopping them. They were never saved so
they are not losing their salvation, they are simply walking away. You can’t
lose something you never had.
My sheep listen to my
voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will
never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them
to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from
the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.” John 10:27-30
Another passage those believing this lie will turn to
is this from 2 Peter 2.
And when people escape
from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than
before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness
than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy
life. They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And
another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.” 2 Peter 2:20-22
It would be better if they had never known
the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they
were given to live a holy life. This verse lines up with
Hebrews 6 which speaks of being enlightened and then turning away. It is a most
dangerous thing to start pulling verses and passages in the Bible out of
context. It is what creates false teachings. When I was first saved, and for a
few years after, I was taught, and believed, that I could lose my salvation.
But I could never seem to get that to gel with scripture. Then came the point
in time when I realized as I studied deeper, that wasn’t true. Then, everything
fell into place and I knew that was a lie. Jesus doesn’t lie; if He says it in
scripture, it’s true. It doesn’t matter what a person might tell you, the Bible
trumps what any false teachers says. It's easy to misinterpret scripture and
create false doctrines from it but it’s not safe.
But really, at what point would a Christian lose their
salvation? How does that really work? And why would anyone want to contradict
what Jesus clearly tells us in His word. When you are saved, you are saved for
eternity. Read your Bible; study your Bible and know the truth.
posted by Bill @ 12:14 PM
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