ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED??? Once saved, always saved? Do you…

ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED???

Once saved, always saved? Do you know what these words mean? It means, that if you had received Jesus Christ as your savior, you are already saved from hell or the lake of fire. It is also sending the message, that since you are already saved, you could still commit sins, even future sins, and still you are still saved, because according to this doctrine, you are saved forever. And according to this doctrine, all your sins had been forgiven, that means your past sins, including the sins that you are going to commit in the future. Do you think that this doctrine is biblical, or not biblical? Let us try to analyze the situation.

There are some spiritual congregations that are teaching this doctrine, thereby enticing lots of people to join their congregation. Just imagine, with this doctrine, members do not have to worry about committing sins anymore, because they are already saved forever. After receiving Jesus Christ as your savior, you could still commit rape, adultery, murder, cheat people, etc., and you don’t have to worry about going to hell, because they teach that you are already saved. I will admit that God is good, but not in this kind of logic. How will God saved you from hell, when you keep on committing sin? Is God the author of sin?

Let us take Judas for example. Judas was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. When Christ took Judas as one of the apostles, Judas was saved, but when Judas betrayed Christ, and sold Christ to the Roman soldiers for thirty pieces of silver, his being saved, was taken away by God. And perhaps by logic, we could surmise where Judas will end. Let me give you another example. There is this brethren, who was a hired killer, and earned his living by killing people for a fee. By some unexplainable circumstances, he found his way to a certain spiritual congregation, and received Christ as his savior. Therefore, according to this doctrine, he is already saved. The problem was, after serving God for a certain length of time, he decided to be a killer for hire again, due to financial difficulties. He started to kill people again for a fee. We know that murder is a big sin in the eyes of God. Do you still think that this man still has the gift of salvation? I don’t think so!

Let me explain the phases of a spiritual salvation. When it says that God had saved you, what does it mean. You are saved from what?

In EPHESIANS 2: 1-9, it states = “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.” = ~~~’This is the first phase of our spiritual salvation. Before we learned about Christ, we were living in darkness, that means, our lives were deeply in sin, and the devil was in control of our lives. But because of God’s great love for us, God took us away from this darkness, and transferred us to the care of Jesus Christ. It is by God’s grace that we were taken away from the darkness of sin, not because of our works or deeds, because whatever deeds we had done during our lives in darkness has no importance to God, so that we could never used these deeds we had done to boast. This grace of God which he had given us is a gift from him. From this darkness, we are now in the light, in the care of Jesus Christ, but this does not mean that we are already saved. At this point in time, we had only been saved from darkness. This is just one phase of our spiritual salvation. As you would notice, when God said, ‘IT IS BY GRACE, YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED’, this line is in the past tense. SAVED, is the past tense of SAVE. That means, it already happened. If we are going to refer this word SAVED as being saved from hell, the logic will now be illogical, because, nobody had ever been to heaven or hell yet. To understand this more fully, please read my tract entitled AFTER DEATH. So this word SAVED, refers to us being saved from darkness or sin. At this point in time, we are still waiting to be saved from hell or the lake of fire. The second phase of our spiritual salvation, I will explain in the next verse.

In EPHESIANS 2: 10, it states = “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” =~~~ This is now the second phase of our spiritual salvation. Now, that we are now in the care of Christ, it is now our duty to do good works, (not bad works or sin). We have to avoid committing sins, we have to get rid of our bad habits, we have to learn how to serve God, we have to read the bible to know what to do in order to be pleasing to God. If before, we had been killers for hire, we have to try our best not to go back to this kind of job, if we had been thieves before, or murderers, or drunkards or adulterers, etc., we have to start avoiding these kinds of bad traits, because these deeds are not good works. God had said, ‘good works’ not ‘bad works’.

In COLOSSIANS 1: 12-13, it states = “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” = ~~~ In these verses, the message is very clear. We have to thank God the Father, for taking us out of darkness, and bringing us to the care of Jesus Christ, in whom our sins will be forgiven. Now, the question is, why do we have to do good works, after being taken away from darkness? The answers are in the next verses.

In 1 THESSALONIANS 1: 10, it states = “and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead – Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” =~~~ There will be a judgement day in the future, in which all people will be judged by God according to their deeds. Those who had lived an unrighteous life will be thrown into the lake of fire, for this is the wrath that this verse is talking about. This judgement is proven by this verse in ACTS 17: 31, which states = “For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” =~~~ When we are now in the care of Christ, we have to do the will of God, so that Christ can save us from the wrath to come, which is the punishment to be given to unrighteous people after the last judgement. That is why we have to do good works, or try our best not to commit sins.We have to work for this salvation. That means to say, we are not yet save. We have to work to be saved from hell, and attain heaven.

In HEBREW 10: 38-39, it states = “But my righteous ones will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” = ~~~ During the second phase of our spiritual salvation, we have to keep on fighting to attain salvation, because if we shrink back and stop fighting for that salvation, God will not be pleased. Then, it is possible that our salvation will be lost.

In HEBREW 6: 4-6, it states = “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.” = ~~~ After we had been saved from darkness by the grace of God, and after we had been transferred to the care of Christ, and then we went back to our lives of darkness, then by these actions, we are crucifying Christ in the cross again.

In TITUS 3: 4-7, it states = “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” =~~~ These verses speak of the first phase of our salvation. God saved us not because of our works, but because of his mercy. He brought us to Christ through water baptism, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, so that we might become heirs of eternal life.

In ROMANS 2: 5-8, it states = “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgement will be revealed. God will give to each person according to what he has done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.” = ~~~ These verses speak of the second phase of our salvation. If you insist on doing bad works, then God’s wrath will fall upon you, but if you insist on doing good works, then God will give you eternal life.

In PHILIPPIANS 2: 12, it states = “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” = ~~~ This verse speaks about the second phase of our salvation. When we had received Christ, Christ had given us the chance to be saved, but being saved depends on us. We have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We try not to go back to our lives of darkness, because we fear God.

In ISAIAH 64: 6, it states = “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags, we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” = ~~~ When our lives were still in darkness, all our righteous acts were just like dirty rags in the eyes of God. That is why, when God had saved us from darkness, it was by means of his grace, not because of our works, and from darkness we were transferred to Christ.

In JOHN 3: 20-21, it states = “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” = ~~~ The moment we had been in the care of Christ, we have to start hating evil things, like going back to darkness. We have to stay in the truth, so that we will be in the light. So, how can you say that when you were saved, committing sins once more will be alright in the sight of God?

In 2 CORINTHIANS 13: 5, it states = “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test?” = ~~~ When you are now in the second phase of your salvation, you must always be aware that Christ must still be in you, that means to say, stay with the teachings of Christ. The moment, that Christ is not with you anymore, then it means that you had failed the test, you had committed sins again and went back to your life of darkness. Because of this, your salvation had been forsaken.

In GALATIANS 2: 17, it states = “If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not!” =~~~ Christ is not the author of sin. You had committed sin, because you wanted to commit sin. God had saved you from darkness, and brought you to light, but since you wanted to go back to darkness, then that is your own choice. You had chosen that the wrath of God will fall upon you. So, once saved, does not mean that you are forever saved.

In 2 PETER 2: 20-22, it states = “If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true — ‘A dog returns to its vomit, and a sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.” = ~~~ These verses are actually self-explanatory. When you were in darkness, God had saved you, and had shown you the light. Now, that you were in the light, you decided to go back in darkness. When you do this, you are just like a dog who eats its vomit again.

With all these verses, I had proven that the doctrine which says that ‘ONCE SAVED, YOU ARE ALWAYS SAVED” is totally erroneous, and not biblical. You have to remember that there are two phases in our spiritual salvation. First, God saved you from darkness and transferred you to the light, now that you are now in the light, you have to work for your own salvation, to escape the wrath of God that is to come. That means going back to darkness by committing sins, and forsaking the light, you will end up without salvation.

Thank you.