Ephesians 2:8-9
"8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:"
Colossians 3:3
"3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."
John 5:24
"24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."
Eternal life begins at the born again experience and God never tells us a lie.
Romans 8:1
"8 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Ephesians 1:13-14
"13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."
Ephesians 1:30
"And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."
1 Peter 1:33
"23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."
Romans 6:2
"2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"
Romans 4:5
"5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."
Heberws 7:25
"25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."
John 6:37
"37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
John 6:38-40
"36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.
37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6:51
"51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
John 14:16-17
"16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you FOREVER;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
1 John 2:19
"They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."
1 John 5:4
"4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
We DO overcome the world if we are born again. NO question about it.
1 John 5:10-11
"10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son."
1 John 3:2
"2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."
1 Peter 1:5
"5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."
When we are born again we are kept by His power not our own.
Over the next few posts I will be placing scripture to prove that when someone has been born again they will never lose their salvation.
Let's begin:
The believer has everlasting life at the moment of salvation: that is that eternal life begins and remains all through our existence.
John 5:24
"24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life."
Those who are born again are BORN OF GOD!
John 1:12-13
"12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 6:44-47
"44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.
46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.
47 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.
John 3:36
"36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."
The believer will not listen to or follow a stranger.
John 10:5
"5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers."
John 10:14
"14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine."
John 10:27
"27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:"
John 10:28
"28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."
John 10:29
"29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."
John 10:11-14
"11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
12 "But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep."
13 "The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep."
14 "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine."
John 3:18
"18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
John 4:14
"14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."
The believer will keep Christ's commandments!
John 14:23
"23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him."
John 17:9-12
9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
John 17:15
"15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil."
Over the next few posts I will be placing scripture to prove that when someone has been born again they will never lose their salvation.
"According to Bonhoeffer, cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ."
God imparted His grace to us, giving us a pardon for sin when we did not deserve it.
It was not that God took sin lightly, its that He took it so seriously that the shedding of His blood was required to pay for that sin.
How could anyone use "grace" as an excuse to diminish sin knowing what it cost to be forgiven for that sin.
God has not diminished sin in this age of grace, just the opposite, He gave us a means to confess and reject the sin that dwells in our bodies.
God commanded that we confess to be cleansed, however the is a second requirement that comes with confession and that is to reject the sin we have confessed as having any place in our lives.
The word "grace" has been bandied about as though it erases the consequences of sin as well as the stain of it. As long as we remain in our sin without confession we have a stain on us that God does not only not overlook but will discipline.
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"
Sweeping sin under the rug as a lenient way of accepting it, is not only sin in and of itself, it manages to dilute truth, the need for confession and enables those who remain in it. The influence of ignored sin has been seen in our culture to such a degree that there is barely any righteousness left anywhere.
Every sin that is ignored is another building block in the degradation of the culture and the family.
We used to hear it often many years ago, the "degrading of the fabric of society." Meaning every act and every attitude is part of a bigger piece of the fabric. Each new sin that is ignored is a new tear in that fabric. The fabric of our culture right now is so torn and thread bare that it can hardly be viewed as a beautiful tapestry.
Even the churches are torn and thread bare lacking the ability to warm anyone with holiness and righteousness.
Our culture is cold, mean and indifferent to the needs of one another. Pleasure and good feelings have replaced dignity and duty because of the lack of concern for the influence of our own actions on others, family and society in general.
When we take lightly the sin withing the body of Christ it is an endorsement of it.
Hebrews 12:11
"For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
1 Corinthians 5:12
"5:12 For what do I have to do with judging those outside? Are you not to judge those inside?"
We are to judge those in the body of Christ and discipline them when needed. This discipline is to help them learn how to obey God as well as encourage them to confess to be cleansed.
There are those in the body of Christ who brag at how accepting of sin they are even feeling proud that they do not chastise those who are in sin. Here's what God says about that:
1 Corinthians 5:1-13
"5 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife.
2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.
4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus,
5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—
10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.
11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
Hebrews 6:1-2 "1 What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer?…"
Lets not make a minor disagreement a major argument. Christ must be exalted above all else. Nor should we diminish an important matter as unimportant when Christ is clear!
The Biblical model of the church gathering is that the men lead, but it does not exclude the women from participating in the worship or outside the gathering.
When we understand the first century gathering model we see that men are led by the Holy Spirit. However we see too that the women were allowed to pray openly as well as share from the word and ask for a song as long as her head was covered. 1 Corinthians 11.
Most Brethren gatherings have made a rule that women may sing aloud and pray silently but are not allowed to expound on the word, that is left up to the men. I agree with this model but question the exclusion of women to "prophesy" meaning expounding on the Word.
The Bible clearly says that a woman may pray and prophesy as long as her head is covered as a sign that she is under the headship of her husband.
However it is also clear that women are not to be in charge of the gatherings. Men lead by power of the Holy Spirit and women share as they are led. I have no issue with the men making a rule that women cannot share, I simply go along to get along because it makes no sense to fight and argue over this matter when the Lord should be the focus.
I am not interested in declaring my "rights" that would make me the focus. It is far more important to focus on Christ during worship. Women have many opportunities to share other places than the gathering and they can be of great value as they pray silently.
I have always wondered why a woman is allowed by some gatherings to sing when the assertion is that they are to remain silent. Isn't singing not silence.
When we are too fixated on one minor aspect of a gathering we have the ability to disrupt the worship over something that does not matter.
1 Corinthians 8:11-12 "11 So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 By sinning against your brothers in this way and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.…"
I am not saying that those who believe in silence for women are weaker brothers, but I am saying that they believe their model is correct and will not budge on it, then it is our duty to allow them that. After all, isn't the prayer of a woman valuable in the gathering. Praying silently can bring great blessing to the woman who does it and may even bring a greater Holy Spirit movement among the men of the gathering.
The sad reality is that often women are treated disrespectfully merely because they are women, in many gatherings today. I have had "pastors" who were disrespectful to me simply because I disagreed with them. I was not overstepping in a casual conversation with them. They seemed to have the attitude that because they were a sort of special breed above others by virtue of their "education", they were entitled to complete loyalty. This I do not agree with. No one is superior in knowledge merely because of their gender or their education. It is the Holy Spirit who is superior to every human being.
Those who are preaching that one can lose their salvation over a sin are preaching false gospel of works.
Ephesians 2:8-9
"8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and [a]that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."
There are works in the believer life, Christ works in us but our works do not determine our salvation. There are no "levels of salvation" based on our goodness. Only Christ in us is good.
We can grieve the Holy Spirit Who lives in us but we do not lose Him ever.
Ephesians 4:29-31 "…29 Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice.…"
God does not treat us like object to be easily discarded as narcissists do. He treats us like sons and daughters. When we stray He disciplines us to bring us back to obedience.
We have rewards in heaven, Christ does not judge the born again believer according to their sin but rather according to their rewards. Our sin was covered at the cross when we trusted Christ.
Just recently my husband attended a creation conference. There was a testimony about a doctor who had to stop doing abortions because when he was counting all the baby parts after the abortion to make sure he got them all out, the babies eyes moved to look over at him. It was devastating to him, so much so that he could never to another abortion.
Is anyone else reading this having chills up and down their spine?
The one subject these days that brings me so much pain is that of divorce and remarriage. But more than that the pain that it brings God.
There are extreme circumstances that cause divorce and remarriage, however in our day most divorces and remarriages are not based on these extremes. Divorce is being used as an out when there are no biblical reasons.
Luke 16:18
“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery."
1 Corinthians 7:10-11
"To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife."
It is clear from God's word that remarriage is adultery, no one can separate what God has joined. It is a spiritual union that God creates in us when we marry.
Matthew 19:6
"So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
What God has joined no man can unjoin, its permanent until death.
Our culture has been taught that there is an "exception clause" for divorce, that being adultery. This is not biblical. When God said "except for fornication" in the book of Matthew, He was describing the betrothal or engagement period of the Jews. When a young person was betrothed in the Jewish culture it was nearly as permanent as the marriage. There was only one exception during the betrothal period that allowed for a divorce from the engagement. That exception was when one party in the betrothal had been unfaithful, not during the marriage but during the engagement.
This is why the word "fornication" was used instead of the word adultery. Notice in the other three gospels there is no such provision for divorce, because Matthew was written to the Jews who had the provision for divorce during the engagement.
The other gospels were written to the Gentiles who had no such custom of a binding engagement. The Jews however had to obtain a divorce from the engagement to dissolve the covenant made by the parents for the young people.
This is one more thing that American Christians have misunderstood because of the English language that does not understand the culture of the Jews in Biblical times.
Life is full of heartbreak in marriages, but that does not mean that these heartbreaks cannot be worked out over time. In my marriage I can tell you that we had many problems in the beginning. We were not born again yet, then I became born again before my husband spending about ten years in a marriage with one saved and the other not. It was difficult because we were not of one mind.
Because even in our unsaved state we didn't believe in divorce we stuck it out. Then I became born again, things got even harder, but over time my husband became born again and the kinks of our marriage began to iron out as we began to grow closer, more of one mind. Today we have a wonderful marriage, but it took years of commitment, confess and forgiveness to achieve this.
Sadly too many people bail out of marriage before God has a chance to work out the kinks, discipline the sinners and cleanse. Bailing out of our trials is what Americans do.
Instead of admitting our sin and facing the consequences of immorality a baby is killed. The consequences for sin of the parents is placed on the baby a death sentence so the parents never have to work out their problems, problems that they made for themselves. This is true in marriage too!
Americans no longer see the value of suffering for Christ, whether in marriage or the consequences of sin in other ways.
Marriage is a covenant between two people and God. That covenant begins at the altar when the promise is made. The same standard we expect for believers is expected by God for the unbelievers. Unbelievers are accountable to God for their own broken promises as much as any believer. The difference is that the believer is disciplined for their sin and the unbeliever is on their way to hell because they do not have an advocate with the Father as believers do.
Unbelievers are going to hell to pay for their own sin and believers are not going to hell because Jesus Christ paid the price for theirs. However, God allows the consequences of life to discipline the unbeliever, but actively disciplines the believer for theirs to bring them back to obedience.
This is a hard truth, even the apostles said it was hard because most cannot accept that they might be in a marriage that is difficult for the rest of their lives. Let us remember that we chose our spouse, who are we to abandon them at their worst moments.
So many people don't seem to look to God to hope for a change in ourselves and in our spouses. We just give up and abandon the marriage at its most difficult point.
Our culture does not seek to "wait it out" praying and hoping for better days, we just bail out, blame others and get a new spouse. The problem with this is that every time someone gets a new one they take themselves with them.
Do we really want a spouse that will bail when things are tough? People do change, sometimes not but if we trust Christ, carry on in faith, often the person we thought was so terrible changes and becomes a new creation. I have seen it many times in my life.
It is one thing to remove ourselves from someone who is a narcissist that is not a spouse, its quite another to walk away from our covenant spouse who became one with us for life. God forbids it.
No one who is born again will lose their salvation for remarriage but they will certainly have consequences that may last a lifetime.
Lets not encourage what God says He hates!
So many marriages miss the blessing from hanging in there until God does a work. They bail out to save their own lives before God has a chance to bring healing. Sometimes that healing takes years, God's timing is not ours and His purposes are not ours.
Many years ago I was mocked for saying that it is better to stay together in marriage even if there is fighting. Everyone was saying its better to divorce that put the children through that fighting. My next response was "why doesn't one of you just stop fighting. It only takes one to stop for the fight to be over.
Having adopted older children who never accepted us as their parents I know that they wanted their bio families intact no matter how awful they were.
I was proven right on so many levels in this matter of split families. There is no such thing as a "blended" family in divorce and remarriage. Those who want you to believe it are denying the truth.
The trauma of divorce and the ripping away of natural parents is far greater than if those parents had remained together in all their troubles.
The sad thing is that so many parents refuse to stop fighting, they refuse to admit they are in need of repentance and healing.
Stubborness in relationships causes life long spiritual and emotional damage.
Christ is the only answer to these problems of life. Only He can heal brokenness in a very real way. Human methods and solutions can be helpful for a short time but they are almost never lifelong.
The problem is that in these last days there are few people who will admit their need for Christ. They would rather pretend that everything is going well right in the middle of their divorces and remarries.
There is an emptiness and loneliness associated with sin that few will admit. The soul is designed for the light, but the darkness hates the light and deceives people into believing the darkness is better.
John 3:19-21 "…19 And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever practices the truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God.”"
When we tell them the truth and they don't like it , they will accuse us of the "way" we said it. Christ and the apostles were accused of many things and killed because of it. The lies came from those who hated truth.
Remember, when we walk in the light the darkness will attempt to snuff out our light. Of course they cannot extinguish Christ in us and all attempts merely make us stronger.