Once Saved Always Saved?

INTRO: going on a trip or to an event, do you ever get down the road and wonder if you got everything you needed? For the new Superman movie that came out, I was determined to make sure I had my ticket. So I got it ahead of time on the app and knew I couldn’t possibly lose it because of that. But I got a little bit worried when the ticket scanner wouldn’t work. “oh no, what if I don’t get in?!” —- but I did. I saw it. I loved it.

We want to be so sure we have a ticket, we want to know for certain that one day we have entrance into heaven with God for eternity. And what’s great is we can in fact know that without a shadow of a doubt, you can be certain of your end!

Yet we need to know that teachings like “Once Saved Always Saved” are not Biblical. Just because I’m now free from sin doesn’t mean I can go on sinning as if its a license to sin or fire insurance for whatever I want to do in life.

So it begs the question...

1.) Can I lose my salvation?

There are those out there who say that “if I could lose my salvation I would, it would’ve already happened”, and they say that to say that if falling away were possible, we all would, and none of us would have any hope.

What does the Bible say?

1 Corinthians 5:5 “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.”

Even when someone is handed over to Satan, it’s not because God wants to destroy them—it’s because He wants to save them! That’s the purpose of church discipline—to wake up the sleeping soul before it’s too late.

1 Timothy 1:19–20 “holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.”

Paul had to do what he instructed the Corinthians to do..

What happens to a ship that’s wrecked? It can’t reach its destination. It’s broken, stuck, lost. That’s Paul’s imagery—your faith can be sailing strong or shipwrecked. One that is wrecked is one that will fail to make it to heaven.

YES - you can fall away, yes you can lose your saved status!

Hebrews 10:26–27 “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”

This is about someone who knows better—they’ve received the truth—but keep going back to sin like it’s no big deal.

They don’t fall into sin, they walk into it. It’s not struggling with sin, it’s surrendering to it.

This passage is not for the Christian who’s battling sin and repenting. It’s for the one who has grown comfortable living in it.

I don’t “accidentally” fall away. Its a choice, its a different direction that I chose to walk down.

It’s not like misplacing your keys. It’s not a slip-up or one bad day. You don’t fall out of Christ like falling out of a chair. You walk away from Christ through willful decisions over time.

It’s not fear-based salvation where we wonder if God is constantly looking to kick us out.

It’s covenant-based. God is always faithful—but am I staying faithful to Him?

There is good news though, I can come back — again! God is willing to restore me — again!

Psalm 51:12 “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”

David, who had committed adultery and murder, yet found restoration.

2.) If I can fall away, how do I know I haven’t? Can I even know that I’d make to heaven?

Maybe you’re a Christian who lives with a nagging doubt. Do you wish for heaven but have no real hope you’ll get there? We’re studying this so that you can be confident as you should be as a Christian. It makes a difference on how you live.

We can take confidence in our salvation, and that’s great news!

2 Timothy 1:12 “…But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.”

2 Timothy 4:6–8 “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”

Wow, here is a man who is so certain of his final destination! “But he’s a an apostle, I’m no where near that level.”….but Paul assures us at the end of v.8 that the confidence is for us too.

We hear these things and yet sometimes we still have nagging doubts. Doubt isn’t the same as unbelief. We each have inklings of doubt about things. Faith is NOT the total absence of doubt, but it’s me placing trust in God instead of listening to the doubt.

some of us are saying “Faith is winning but doubt puts up a struggle sometimes”…

“HELP MY UNBELIEF!” (Mk.9:24)

John the Baptist was that way when he was imprisoned, he sent his disciples to Jesus to “be sure”.

Luke 7:20-22

John had been preaching that he was in fact the one to come… we can be doing things so well for a time and be very confident what we’re doing, and then all of a sudden something gets put in our path and causes us to doubt for a moment. “Is this really the right way? Is this really what’s true? Did I mess up and that’s what led to this?”

Notice then also what John does with that doubt — he does what he can to get answers from the source.

Jesus didn’t condemn John for questioning! But instead he responds to John’s moment of doubt by saying “consider the evidence of the lame walking and blind seeing”. Jesus knew that if he didn’t believe in His signs he wouldn’t believe in His words.

Biblical faith isn’t just a shot in the dark! There is no such thing as blind faith, its confidence and assurance based on evidence! Jesus has given ample reason to trust Him and follow Him!

I can know that I’m saved!

I can be confident in my salvation!

Now what tends to happen at this point in the programs of preaching about faith being our ticket of assurance is that its followed by a negative, we’ve followed it up with a “….however”.

We can’t put a period and rest there for some reason, we got to put our disclaimer because we can’t have people feel too comfortable about salvation or else it leads to apathy…supposedly. We say “you got to be careful! You have to be obedient!” — and that’s 100% true.

But sometimes we unintentionally push something else that’s not true. In our efforts to steer away from false teachings of “once saved always saved” we’ve swung the pendulum too far the other direction and landed at something equally bad which is this: “once saved BARELY saved”. And it shows up in our language.

“I just hope I make it one day” — said by the wonderful older lady who has lived a tremendously faithful life.

“I’m just trying to be good enough to get in.” — As if salvation is a spiritual GPA and not a gift received by faith, or that we earn our way in by sheer volume of deeds.

…BOTH “once saved always saved” and this other idea of being unsure and barely making it there one day are equally false.

You and I should actually learn to be comfortable in the sufficiency of Jesus to save! We should have sighs of relief and joy that comes from it!

And if you don’t have that comfort, you need to seek it! You need to seek the assurance that God offers!

3.) Where does assurance come from?

The WORD, not our feelings!

1 John 1:7–9 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Walking in the light is not me being completely sinless or perfect. We’ve kind of thought of it as me needing to be completely sinless in order to walk in the light. If that’s the standard we’ll never have assurance and security in our salvation.

John isn’t advocating that. He’s also not giving us license to sin! He knows that us as humans will mess up no matter how hard we try! We make mistakes and use our free will in ways that don’t glorify God.

The assurance isn’t in our walk, it’s in the light! If my life is under the control of God, if it’s really my whole hearted effort — I will still sin and mess up! But as long as I’m striving to walk and follow, I’m covered.

“But I don’t feel cleansed, I still feel sinful...”

Salvation isn’t dependent on how we feel.

1 John 5:13 “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Feelings are a GUAGE not a guide. John here says the basis of knowing you’re saved is what the Word says! DOES YOUR LIFE LIGN UP WITH THAT?

Your feelings can be wrong. I have friends and family who believe they’re going to heaven, not because they follow the word of God but because of feelings and saying things like “well God knows my heart”…feelings can give us a false sense of security.

On the other side of that: we know those who lie awake at night questioning salvation even though you’ve been following God faithfully, and still lay there wondering “will I make it? I’ve done too much wrong, how can God forgive ME?”

John, inspired by the Spirit, tells us we can KNOW and take confidence in salvation - not based on feelings and not based on my ability to keep commandments, but based on the words directly from God!

If you rely on feelings doubt will always be there and you won’t have peace and assurance. OR you’ll feel secure when you’re not! So trust God’s word instead of yourself.

Assurance comes from Being IN Christ

Romans 8:38–39 “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

If I’m in Christ then I have assurance of salvation! And He tells me how to get in Him! He doesn’t leave that up to interpretation or to ever changing circumstances. Instead He says in Galatians 3:26–27 “for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Why be baptized? Because its the moment of faithful obedience to the Gospel, it’s the moment I get in Christ, its the moment I’m saved and have eternal assurance in Him. And you can know the exact moment that happened in your life - not left wondering “when did I actually become saved”, God gave us Baptism as a necessity for many reasons including a reference point in our history to undeniably say “That’s when I started my walking in the light”.

Security Comes From Being IN Christ! The Assurance is maintained by the light I’m striving to walk in!

It begs the question:

Where are you placing your trust? Where do you get your assurance from? Feelings? Good speaking preachers? The Word of God?

Illustration: dropping toys in a dried up well, not trusting friend or friends dad to hold the rope and lower you down. Only trusting your father. “I know he wont let me go, I know he will make sure I’m safe going down and coming up.” ….Who is holding the end of your rope? If you’re a child of God you can rest assured knowing your safe and secure — whether your facing real doubt, or whether you’re facing challenges and major life issues you can know God has the end of your rope and you’ll be ok…

But do you have that assurance?

From studying the Word can you really say “yes, I’ve done what Jesus and the Spirit have said I need to in order to be saved”? If not, God has been waiting for you to change and become part of His family. You can change your life today! You can choose your eternal destination today!

OR…if you’re someone that has been saved and have walked faithfully - but you don’t have that assurance, ask yourself this: “who is your savior?” If it’s you and you making it to heaven is based on your commandment keeping and your feelings, yea you ought to be worried. And therefore should repent and adopt the right assurance and actually trust Christ to hold your rope.

It’s not you that will get you to Heaven, it’s Christ. Let Him work on you as you keep trusting and following. In Christ, you got your ticket, you got eternal security.

Make The Decision To Trust Him TODAY.