General

Losing Salvation

driftaway-scaled-1
Written by Timothy

Take Away To Hell Fire

Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away… (John 15:2)



“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He cuts off; …“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.” (John 15:2-6)




Losing One’s Salvation Transcript



Yes, you can lose your salvation.

You can be cut off from Jesus whom you now trust as Lord and Savior.

Indeed, you can slowly, quiet softly just drift way from God and wake up from your snooze completely apart from the grace of God.

When contemplating losing our salvation God command, we think of Moses and all the Israelites he led out of Egypt.

With Moses preaching through God’s power, he saved the people from their bondage to sin in Egypt.

Scriptures compares Moses to those now saved as New Testament Christians that they too were baptized and set free from their slavery to sin but later could be cut off from God because they refused to pursue righteousness and holiness.

Those Moses led out of Egypt rebelled against the discipline of the desert that would have caused them to receive the new life in Christ and thus fell short of the Promised Land.

They become stiff-necked towards God’s discipline, to be made new in Jesus, and so God became angry with them and declared they would never enter the Promised Land. Let us read about that in the book of 1 Corinthians.

  • They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert…
    So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! (1 Corinthians 10:2-12)

As we press on to read Hebrews 3 notice Christians are told we are in Christ only “if we hold firmly till the end.”

  • We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence, we had at first. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? (Hebrews 3:14-16)

The Holy Spirit through Scriptures also warns that if we do not bear fruit for God we will be cut off from Jesus.

And if one is cut off from Jesus, they are cut off from God’s saving mercy.

Such branches are “in” Him but since they produce no real fruit are eventually “cut off” and thrown into hellfire.

Your church may not disfellowship hypocrites, but God will eventually cut them off from Jesus if they do not repent.

  • “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,” …If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire, and burned. (John 15:1-2 and John 15:6)

There are those who accept the salvation of Jesus with joy but like the grumblers and sinners Moses led out of Egypt they literally as Jesus taught in the parable of the seeds, “fall away.”

Jesus could not be any clearer when it is recorded in the book of Luke that they “believe” on Him then later “fall away.”

  • Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. (Luke 8:13)

While some are simply cut off from Jesus many more Christians just quietly, simply, and softly just drift away.

Indeed, many who are sitting the pews have already gently without great sinfulness simply drifted away.

Every gentle wave and pleasant sun shinny day softly moves them away from the safety of salvation’s shores.

We are assured in Scripture that such drifters in Jesus will not escape God’s coming wrath.

  • We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? (Hebrews 2:1-3)

As a serious wake-up call consider that once a person falls away it is totally, completely, absolutely impossible for them to come back to the salvation power of Jesus.

  • 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.

Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned. (Hebrews 6:4-8)

Let us read further in the book of Hebrews because we are commanded to every day “See to it” that no one in the church turns away from the Living God.
Constant diligence are the words associated with walking and fellowshipping in God’s salvation.

Let it be repeated: as we will read about losing our salvation in the book of Hebrews it comes with an admonition to warn and encourage each other daily so that our hearts do not become hard through the deceitfulness of sin.

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

  • But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence, we had at first. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. (Hebrews 3:12-19)

God is not joking when He speaks of working out our salvation with fear and trembling.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-continued to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, (Philippians 2:12)

Even as far back as the prophet Ezekiel God was warning us not to fall prey to sloppy doctrines concerning out salvation.

Let us read from the book of Ezekiel:

  • Therefore, son of man, say to your countrymen, ‘The righteousness of the righteous man will not save him when he disobeys, and the wickedness of the wicked man will not cause him to fall when he turns from it. The righteous man, if he sins, will not be allowed to live because of his former righteousness.’ If I tell the righteous man that he will surely live, but then he trusts in his righteousness and does evil, none of the righteous things he has done will be remembered; he will die for the evil he has done. And if I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but he then turns away from his sin and does what is just and right- if he gives back what he took in pledge for a loan, returns what he has stolen, follows the decrees that give life, and does no evil, he will surely live; he will not die. None of the sins he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he will surely live. “Yet your countrymen say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But it is their way that is not just. If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, he will die for it. And if a wicked man turns away from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live by doing so. Yet, O house of Israel, you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But I will judge each of you according to his own ways.” (Ezekiel 33:11-20)

As Ezekiel just warned us it is unjust to suggest that one can be saved and keep on committing sins.

No wonder unbelievers look upon the church with such contempt when they see the hypocrisy of claiming salvation while living self-centered sinful lives.

Let all repent of teaching, or living as if once they are saved, they are always saved.

Let us have sound doctrine and admit that teaching one can be as sinful as they desire and still go to heaven is a false doctrine that has weakened and destroyed much of the Truth that is in Jesus Christ.

As Ezekiel just told us “it is their way that is not just.”

So, no more debate about once-saved-always-saved for it is our sloppy church doctrines that are that unjust.

Let all consider both the kindness and sternness of God. Otherwise, God tells us we may be cut off.

  • Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. (Romans 11:22)

This message brought to you by www.luke1425.org because Jesus said you had best sit down and count the cost because we are only in Him “if” we remain in Him.


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About the author

Timothy

Host of The Consider Podcast
Examining today’s wisdom, madness, and folly.
www.consider.info