Dear YouTube person,
I appreciate how you boldly share the Good News of salvation through the finished work of Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace through faith, the gift of God, not of our own works, but for His good works. Keep up the good work!
However, I believe the Bible clearly teaches that salvation can be lost. Please keep reading to the end of the post. The Scriptures I cite are representative, not comprehensive.
Paul’s Letters
Paul wrote his epistles to believers in the church age, so they must apply to us today. Most are written to congregations of believers, and three are to the pastors Timothy and Titus. Therefore I believe all these things Paul wrote are for us today.
1 Timothy
I see six passages in 1 Timothy that speak about losing salvation.
1) A bishop must not be a new believer.
He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same condemnation as the devil.
1 Timothy 3:6 BSB
The devil’s condemnation is harsh.
The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Revelation 20:10 NKJV
2) Some will fall for lies. How can you depart from the faith if you weren’t in the faith?
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
1 Timothy 4:1 KJV
3) Not taking care of relatives God treats very seriously.
If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
1 Timothy 5:8 BSB
4) Study the context of this verse for yourself.
For some have already turned aside after Satan.
1 Timothy 5:15 NKJV
5) Some fall because of the love of money.
9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
1 Timothy 6:9-10 NKJV
You cannot serve God and money!
No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Matthew 6:24 BSB
From God’s point of view, there are only two classes of people: Those who serve Him, and those who don’t!
Then you shall again discern
Between the righteous and the wicked,
Between one who serves God
And one who does not serve Him.
Malachi 3:18 NKJV
“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
John 3:36 NASB, Greek, Strong’s G544. apeitheó
6) Beware false “knowledge.”
20 O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge— 21 by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith.
Grace be with you. Amen.
1 Timothy 6:20-21 NKJV
Therefore from 1 Timothy it appears to me that salvation can be lost. This is what the Word of God says:
- “… same condemnation as the devil.” (3:6)
- “… shall depart from the faith.” (4:1)
- “… denied the faith …” (5:8)
- “… turned aside after Satan.” (5:15)
- “… strayed from the faith …” (6:10)
- “… strayed concerning the faith.” (6:21)
Other Letters of Paul
How much clearer could Paul be? “… estranged from Christ … you have fallen from grace.”
You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
Galatians 5:4 NKJV
Here are some other Scriptures penned by Paul which in my understanding teach salvation can be lost.
19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
Romans 11:19-22 NKJV
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 NKJV
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21 NKJV
3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Ephesians 5:3-6 NKJV
From the above passages, it is clear post-salvation behavior matters!
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
Galatians 6:7-8 NKJV
Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.
Ephesians 5:1 NKJV
If Paul wrote in several places, “Be not deceived,” then clearly being deceived is a possibility, with eternal damnation the outcome.
The Book of Revelation
I believe the book of Revelation is for us today.
On Overcoming
Since the letters to the churches in Revelation speak much about overcoming, I say for the record that we overcome only by grace through faith, and not by our filthy-rags righteous works.
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
John 16:33 KJV
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57 KJV
4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
1 John 5:4-5 KJV
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Revelation 12:11 KJV
I assume Jesus and the Spirit were not speaking idly. That is, in these two passages there is the real possibility of not overcoming!
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
Revelation 2:11 KJV
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
Revelation 3:5 KJV
So failure to overcome, failure to trust completely in grace through faith, results in the 2nd death!
Revelation also states some prohibited behaviors.
7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Revelation 21:7-8 KJV
14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Revelation 22:14-15 KJV
If the Bible had a signature at the end, this serious warning about losing salvation is the 3rd to the last verse above it!
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Revelation 22:19 KJV
Other Books in the Bible
Many people who believe in Once Saved, Always Saved (OSAS) and Eternal Security dismiss whole books of the Bible as irrelevant to them today. I think much of this comes from a misunderstanding of what Rightly Dividing means. I also think they discard Scripture at their peril!
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV
Here are just a few of many Scriptures some choose to ignore.
A man who wanders from the way of understanding
Will rest in the assembly of the dead.
Proverbs 21:16 NASB
“But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity and does according to all the abominations that a wicked man does, will he live? All his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered for his treachery which he has committed and his sin which he has committed; for them he will die.”
Ezekiel 18:24 NASB
18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. 20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”
2 Peter 2:18-22 NKJV
My Story
As briefly as possible, as a teen I was a fan of pornographic magazines. I got saved at age 20, and my viewing of porn mostly went away, but not completely. Eventually I was habitually doing things that Paul in his letters and John in Revelation wrote bar entry into heaven. For the full story of how I let my love grow cold see my post Lemming Theology.
Then one day God acted very sternly on my inside. He let me know He was completely fed up with my compromised lifestyle, that I was just about to change my eternal home from heaven to hell, and if I didn’t change He would break my neck. I knew what He meant.
He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.
Proverbs 29:1 KJV
And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
Genesis 6:3 KJV
Had I not repented then and there, I believe they would have found me dead of a heart attack or similar, and I would have been in hell, waiting to go into the lake of fire for all eternity. I believe hell is full of such people who believed OSAS and didn’t live obediently.
I could almost feel the flames. No one will ever convince me OSAS is true. I believe it is a lie from the pit of hell. And I believe the Bible also teaches OSAS is a lie.
There is clearly a difference between “accidental” sin and a long-term habit of sin. God will put up with “praying for forgiveness in advance” only so long. This sowing and reaping passage is true, saved or not. Don’t be deceived! Behavior matters!
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Galatians 6:7-8 KJV
Conclusion
I believe Once Saved, Always Saved and Eternal Security are Doctrines of Devils. In my view, one must ignore too much Scripture – including Paul’s letters and the book of Revelation – to believe in them.
Has the rapture happened?
You can still be saved and go to heaven!
---
Are you following God's plan for your life?
You should.
Your plan is not going to work.
It is a really, really bad plan.
Please come to Jesus to escape your plan!
Most people are WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!
Jesus is coming.
Are you ready to meet Him?
Give your life to Jesus Christ.
Time is running out.
Lift Up Your Eyes! 