Can Christians
lose their salvation? Absolutely not! However,
there are those who believe that salvation can be
forfeited by backsliding into sin, and they
usually utilize the following verse to uphold
that belief: "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 6:6)
That verse is not
speaking of the saved, but of the unsaved who are
so far fallen that they have no capacity left for
repentance. Judas the Apostate sorrowed over his
betrayal of Jesus, and his sorrows became
despair. There was remorse in his heart, but not
repentance. By rejecting Christ those like him
place themselves with those who rejected Him and
crucified Him because He affirmed that He was the
Son of God. These are not Christians who are "overtaken
in a fault" (Galatians 6:1), or simply backsliders in
sin. They are those who only professed
Christianity, but now not only turn away from
Christ, but also oppose Him.
We are told not to
sin after being saved. But if we do, as a
Christian we now have Jesus that speaks to Father
on our behalf:
"My
little children, these things write I unto you,
that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous: And he is the propitiation for our
sins: and not for ours only, but also for the
sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:1-2)
His children have
not only a relationship with God, but also
fellowship. If we sin after being saved, we lose
our fellowship with Him until repentance, but not
our relationship.
What a miserable
existence in life for the Christian it would be
to believe that there's something YOU
could do that your Lord and Savior would cast you
off after receiving His free gift of salvation.
So as we celebrate
this Christmas season and exchange gifts with
family, friends and loved ones, let us who are
saved be especially mindful and thankful of that
free gift provided by our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ:
"Therefore
as by the offense of one judgment came upon all
men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness
of one the free gift came upon all men unto
justification of life." (Romans 5:18)
There's nothing YOU
can do to earn His gift, and there's nothing YOU
can do to lose it:
"And
being made perfect, he became the author of
eternal salvation unto all them that obey
him;" (Hebrews 5:9)
Keith
12-03-2004
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