Today we are going to look at a subject that means different things to different people.

Different people have come to different conclusions on the subject based on the teachings of various passages of Scripture. The views range all the way from one extreme to the other. (As with most other issues, I believe the truth lies somewhere between the two extremes.)

Some think salvation is so secure that there is NO WAY UNDER THE SUN that a person who has once been saved and forgiven can fall, or apostatize. Some of these think the Christian can't sin. Others think he may sin, but even if he does, he won’t be condemned for it; it won’t be held against him. Still others think it might be possible, but there is just no way the believer would do it.

Then, on the other side, some think the Christian is so insecure that he or she is, at best, constantly in and out of right relationship with God—every time you make the slightest error in thought, word or deed, you are immediately in a state of condemnation until you make it right.

What we are going to endeavor to do today is present both sides, or extremes in views; then step back and take an objective view of it and see where the truth lies.

Those who emphasize the security of the believer have several passages of Scripture on which they base their position.

(2 Tim 4:10) "For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia." The assumption that the person who has turned from the world to be a Christian can just as freely turn from Christ and back to the world, if he chooses to do so.

(Heb 10:25-31) "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. {26} For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, {27} But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. {28} He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: {29} Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" Note: the blood of the covenant wherewith he WAS SANCTIFIED. No doubt the person had been saved, but had gone back into sin. And imagine: SORER punishment than being stoned to death under the testimony of two or three witnesses! Only hell could be sorer than that.

(Heb 10:39) The conclusion of the chapter: "But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition (fall away); but of them that believe to the saving of the soul."

(2 Pet 2:20-22) "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," (that is, they are saved) "they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. {21} For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. {22} But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." It is bad never to have known about Jesus, because He alone is the way to the Father and salvation (Jn.14:6; Acts 4:12), but Peter says it is worse for the Christian to go back into the world!

(1 Cor 9:27) "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." Even Paul, the preacher, the apostle, realized the danger of apostasy.

(Heb 6:4-8) "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, {5} And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come," (Don't tell me they were never saved!) "{6} If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. {7} For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: {8} But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned."

(2 Pet 3:17) "Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness."

(2 John 1:8) "Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward."

(Rev 3:11) "Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown."

(Jude 1:4-6) "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness," (That is, Saying you can live any way you please and it will be all right) "and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. {5} I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. {6} And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Get it: People once SAVED, then later DESTROYED. See the point he's making? And ANGELS that fell--do we think we are more secure than they?

(Acts 1:25) "Judas by transgression fell." And you can't fall from a plateau you've never attained!

(1 Cor 10:12) "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."

It is true that God does not save us to throw us away. That would be against His nature. The Good Shepherd does not rescue us to throw us out to the wolves. He would not do that. God will help us, strengthen us, and uphold us, as His people. (Rom 8:32) "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"

The Bible says God will KEEP us. (2 Th 3:3) "But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil."

But it is also up to us, in a measure, to keep ourselves. Just after John talked about the Christian cannot sin, he said, (1 John 5:18) "We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not."

(1 Pet 1:3-5) "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, {4} To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, {5} Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." Note: "kept by the power of God through Faith." The power of God is God's part in keeping us. But it is through faith. That is OUR part. God reaches down His hand to secure us. But is up to us, through faith to hold on to His hand. It takes both our part and His part to make us secure!

Just before John talked about the Christian, that he cannot sin, in First John, he said, (in 1 John 2:1) "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." It would make no sense at all for John to tell them something to keep them from sinning if it were impossible for them to sin to begin with! And then he said, "If any man sin…" again indicating that it was a possibility.

How is it that we cannot sin? It’s like Joseph when confronted by Potiphar’s wife. He said, (Gen 39:9) "There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" His reasoning was, "I Can’t!" Not that it was physically impossible, but inconsistent with his religion. Certainly it would have been possible for him to have an affair. But in this case he couldn't do it, because he was being loyal to God.

We have eternal life in prospect in this life. We have it in reality in the life to come. You may buy a ticket to the best seat in the house at a concert or sporting event. You can say, "I have a front row seat." You have it in prospect now. You don’t have it in reality until the day of the event. It is possible now for you to lose that ticket. That's the way it is with eternal life. Paul spoke of being (Titus 1:2) "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." God is not going back on His word. But when He said he "hoped" for it, he indicated that he did not yet have it in reality. He told the Romans (Rom 8:24) "For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen (or realized) is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?" If you have it, you don't hope for it; you are thankful you have it. Jesus said, (Mark 10:29-30) "Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, {30} But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life." Note: Not here and now, but in the world to come, eternal life. In the great Judgment scene of Matthew 25, in depicting the time when the saved and the lost will be separated "as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats," He concludes (Mat 25:46) "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." It is not until we hear the verdict "Well done" on the day of judgment that we have eternal life in reality.

Paul told the Christians at Rome, (Rom 8:12-13) "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. {13} For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." You see, Paul didn’t believe the Christian couldn’t so sin as to lose eternal life! You say you have to go up to the bank and make a payment on your note. You are indebted to do it. You are not saying it would be impossible for you to avoid it. You just know if you don't do it, they will come and take away your car or your home! The Christian is indebted to live for God rather than the flesh. If he doesn't do it, he will DIE, spiritually (be lost)!

It may be true that no man can pluck us out of the Father’s hand (and indeed it is,) but Heb. 3:12 warns: "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." The devil cannot pluck us out of the Father's hand. All the demons in hell can't pluck us out of the Father's hand. They may be powerful, but they are not as powerful as God. Aren't you happy for that? But that does not mean we cannot depart from God on our own, through unbelief.

It may be true that the believer has eternal life, BUT A BELIEVER CAN TURN INTO AN UNBELIEVER! (Luke 8:13) "They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away." (1 Tim 4:1-3) "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith..."

(1 Tim 1:19-20) "Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: {20} Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme." They shipwrecked their faith. Thus they were not believers any more.

What about Hebrews 10:14, where the Hebrew writer said Jesus "by one offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified"? The point he is making is not that a sanctified person cannot go back into sin. What he is doing is contrasting the PERMANENT nature of Christ's sacrifice with the annually repeated ritual of offering animal sacrifices under the old law. The animal sacrifice was good for a year; Jesus' sacrifice is good forever. He begins the chapter: "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." Then in the verses we mentioned earlier he summed it up: "He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will (or, testament) we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man (Jesus), after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified."

A bit later in the same chapter he said, (Heb 10:26-29) "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, {27} But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. {28} He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: {29} Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" If we sin, on purpose, or with no will to avoid it, as Christians, we are doing despite to God's Spirit of grace. (As Heb 12:15--17 puts it:) "Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears." We, too, will forfeit our inheritance if we fall away from Christ!

Jesus says, (John 15:6) "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." Thus we can depart from Christ--and if we do, we will be "burned!"

Yes, it is true that you need never fall. As a matter of fact, God promises (1 Cor 10:13) "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer (or, permit) you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." Isn't that a wonderful promise!

But don't let anyone tell you that you cannot fall. (2 Pet 3:17) "Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness."

God will not forsake us. He will sustain us, uphold us and strengthen us. But that does not mean that we cannot apostatize or fall away.

The apostle Peter said, (1 Pet 5:8) "Be sober, be vigilant (or, watchful); because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." The devil may be low-down and mean, but he is not stupid. Certainly he is not stupid enough to waste all this time and effort trying to win Christians away from God if it is impossible for a Christian to so sin as to be eternally lost!

May God help us to trust in Him, and realize that with His help, we can most surely make it to Heaven; but also to realize that the devil is going to tempt us to throw it all away for a "mess of pottage" out in the world--and if we fall for that temptation, we will most surely be lost!