Fearful of Lost Salvation

From the In-box:

Fearful of lost salvation

Hello Steve,
I have a question about salvation. Is it possible for a person to have been saved and then later on, lose his or her salvation? I'm so worried this has happened to me.
”“Julie

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Hi Julie,

It is possible for one to walk away from Christ and no longer experience His saving power or grace that comes through continued faith alone. If one is not surrendered to and trusting Christ, one is not living in faith, through which grace comes to us (Rom.5:2; Eph.2:8-9).

Remaining in this posture of submissive faith is what it means to "abide" (or "remain") in Him (John 15:1-6). Only by such abiding can we avoid falling back into the condition of the lost (2 Pet.2:20-22). See also: Luke 8:13; John 15:6; Rom.11:22; 1 Cor.9:27; Col.1:22-23; 1 Tim.1:19; 4:1; Heb.3:18; 10:29; 12:25.

If one has walked away from this faith, it is both possible and necessary to return to Christ (James 5:19-20). The great concern of the moment should not be whether one was previously saved, or even whether one subsequently wandered away from Christ, but whether one is consistently walking with Him today (1 John 1:7; Heb.4:7; 2 Cor.6:2). If you are currently hearing His voice and following Him, you are, by definition, one of His saved sheep (John 10:27).

If you think that you once walked away from Jesus, you should walk back to Him, and live your life surrendered to His lordship again. It may be necessary to repent of having walked away (Luke 15:17-19; 1 John 1:9; 2:1), but it is not necessary to remain in that place. Following Christ is a daily, step-by-step enterprise (Rom.4:12; Luke 9:62). These are spiritually perilous times. We have no leisure to be wasting any part of our remaining days in disobedience.

Of course, even those who are walking faithfully with Jesus can be assailed by doubts about their status. This is the devil's work of bringing false condemnation even on true followers of Christ (Rev.12:10). To settle the question of your own case, I recommend that you listen to my lecture series, "How Can I Know I am Saved?" at this link:

https://theos.org/media/category/108/

Blessings!

Steve Gregg

I am listening to one of his sermons or talks on YouTube.

The Middle East Crisis and the Dangers of Dispensationalism, part 1 by Steve Gregg 10.21.2023

Enjoying it!! Thanks

Hey TMK,

Just an alternative perspective for you to consider (and I remember you having a good tolerance for debate) -

To claim that salvation can be repeatedly lost and retrieved again implies that a person can be crucified with Christ and then be born again multiple times. But I just don't see that being borne out in Scripture - if anything, born again is always described as a one-time thing.

I believe that once we receive Christ, we are born again as new creations with new hearts. We experience a "freezing" of our human will, in that those new hearts love the Lord with an undying and incorruptible love (Ephesians 6:24). We may still be capable of living in the flesh, but our innermost "new man" (in our spirits) is ever-believing towards the Lord Jesus, and thus salvation cannot be lost.

Perhaps the Parable of the Sower corroborates with this view: amongst the various types of people, there was only *one* group which understood and received the gospel (Mark 4:20 Matt 13:23). The other types of people who seemed to have "lost their salvation" did not receive the gospel into their hearts, and thus were never saved in the first place.

You may be right Yuehan. This is one of those issues I am not sold on either way. But I do think the admonitions and warnings in the NT were written to real, and not pretend Christians.

As Mr Gregg has written elsewhere:

"One is not saved by 80% obedience””nor by 100% obedience (which actually is possible over short periods, by the way). One is saved by having genuinely embraced the King and the life that logically follows from having such a King. None obeys completely, but we are commanded to do so, and true disciples have every intention of doing so. Failure to obey completely is a breach of the King's law, but it is not, in itself, damning. To inadvertently violate the speed limit is not to renounce your citizenship. Likewise, a child is not disowned by his parents because he forgets to do a particular assigned chore. There is grace in this Kingdom for those whose disobedience springs from weakness, ignorance or temporary insanity (James 3:2), and not from rebellion (Matt.26:41).

The Gospel is not a message of performance-oriented acceptance with God. We are saved by the grace of the Crown, and we obey because we love the King. If we do not love the King, whatever begrudged obedience we may render is a sham. It is not salvation.”