Can't Salvation Be Lost?

December 19th, 2024
by Dr. D. Lance Waldie

Romans 8:35-37 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

Now in the history of the Christian Church there have been many who professed to be believers, who were baptized, and partook of the Eucharist. They may have even had tears accompanying their confession of faith, followed by repentance. Sadly, they later fell away from the faith and renounced their love for Jesus Christ and His Church. Since most who knew these folks thought of them as genuine Christians, they naturally concluded that salvation can be lost. Truly, there is one sure-fire method of distinguishing true and false believers. The Apostle John said of them, “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19). Therefore, the distinguishing characteristic of those who are true Christians is that absolutely nothing will divorce them from their relationship with Christ. They will remain in fellowship with Christ over the long haul of their lives in spite of any tribulation.

Genuine, faithful believers have always suffered to some degree or another. Many have “experienced mocking and scourging, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground” (Heb. 11:36-38). Certainly the cost of following Christ is high, for even Jesus said, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it” (Matt. 10:37-39). Paul preached this to Timothy saying, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). Some endure severe persecution until death, and others fall away. In sum, those who fall away prove that they were never truly sons of God.

Luke 9:57-62 introduces three men who tend to represent charlatans who would consider following Jesus. The first man promised to follow Jesus wherever He went, but Jesus told him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (57-58). The second man wanted to follow Jesus but realized the time was not convenient given that he was waiting for his father to die to receive his inheritance. Jesus told him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God” (59-60). The third man wanted to follow Jesus but wanted time to bid farewell to his family. Jesus told him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (61-62). All of them were like the rich young man in Matthew 19:22 who, after counting the cost of following Christ, decided against it. Many today claim to believe in Jesus, but when trials set in, they depart for something more convenient or simple.

Food for Thought

Do you have trials associated with being a Christian? If so, have your trials strengthened or hindered your walk with Christ? Christ’s love supports and enables us to face hard times and to conquer them. It is not for us to simply get through trials, for there is joy in the midst of them and victory at the end of them. True Christians overcome all, “for we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end” (Heb. 3:14, italics mine).