CAN YOU LOSE YOUR SALVATION?

Is it possible to lose your salvation? Or is it true that if you get saved at some point in your life,
you're always saved? What if we really mess up? Can we sin so badly that we lose our
salvation?

1. SOMEONE IS SAVED BECAUSE OF THEIR FAITH, NOT THEIR GOOD WORKS

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift
of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9

In this passage, Paul talks to the church of Ephesus and he tells them that they are
saved through faith, not their works or good deeds. What determines someone's
salvation is the fact of whether or not they gave faith in Jesus and His death for their
sins. And like Paul said earlier, a person cannot earn their salvation by filling their life
with a bunch of works and good deeds. Otherwise, people could be capable of boasting.

2. SAVING FAITH MUST HAVE WORKS

“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”

James 2:26

In this passage, James tells Christians that in the same way a body without the spirit is
dead, faith is also dead if it does not have works. James, earlier in the passage explains
how belief in God isn't enough because even demons believe in God but are doomed for
hell. And then James wraps up the thought by explaining that faith must have good
works. Otherwise, faith is dead.

Now, while this thought may seem contradictory to thought number one, it's not. Some
people may think that faith and works equals salvation. But in actuality it's faith alone
that saves people. And this faith is proved true or made real by works.

According to the Bible, there is difference between belief and faith. And we're saved
through faith as seen in Ephesians 2:8. And at the same time, if there's no works but
only belief, faith is dead because demons also believe.

Hebrews 11:1 gives us the definition of faith. And it reads, “Faith is the confidence that
what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot
see.”

Faith is firm belief that results in confident action. Because if you continue to read
Hebrews 11, you'll find that people's belief always led them to do something.
 Faith alone saves. Faith without works is dead. A saving faith works. Are we saved by
the works that come out of our life? No. But when a person understands that Jesus loves
them, that person will want to love Him back. And that love looks like obeying His
commandments as seen in John 14:15 which reads, “If you love Me, obey My
commandments.”

3. GRACE SHOULD NOT BE ABUSED

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!
How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”

Romans 6:1-2

In this passage, Paul is asking should we just sin? Because if we're saved by grace then
does it matter what we do? And he responds to that thought by saying, "No! If we're
dead to sin, why should we continue sinning?"

Some people in the past have abused God's grace, and this is what it looks like. "Hmm...
I'm not saved based on works. I'm saved based on my faith in God. So, I can sin right
now and ask for forgiveness later. Because at the end of the day, no one's perfect and
my salvation isn't based on what I do, so who cares?"

While many of us may not have verbalized these exact thoughts, some of us can live like
we believe it's true. And this thinking would put us in dangerous territory. Because if
someone were to truly think about Jesus, about His beatings, His lashings, His piercings,
His agony, His suffering, His cries, and His death... someone who truly understands
what Jesus did for them would always try to get up despite their many failures and try to
fight against sin. As opposed to someone looking at Jesus' sacrifice and saying, "Eh,
Jesus will forgive me." And then dive right into sin. For this person who is abusing God's
precious grace do not have saving faith.

4. SOMEONE CAN KNOW THEY'RE SAVED

“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you
may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of
the Son of God.”

1 John 5:13

In this passage, John tells the church that the reason why he writes to them is so that
they would believe in Jesus and that they may know that they have eternal life, and so
that they would continue to believe. The key word here is “know.” Someone can know for
sure whether or not they have eternal life.

For Christians, it shouldn't be a guessing game of whether or not they're saved.

 Through their personal relationship with God, Christians can know for sure if they are
saved. And this will lead to a godly peace that can look death in the eyes and smile
because they know where they're going, once they breathe their last breath.

5. NOTHING CAN SEPARATE GOD'S CHILDREN FROM GOD'S LOVE

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death
nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about
tomorrow, not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the
sky above or in the earth below, indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to
separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

In this passage, Paul tells fellow Christians that nothing can ever separate them from
God's love. And this would include their own shortcomings and failures when it comes to
sin. Because if their sin could separate them from God, then this passage would be
inaccurate. It's important to note that the book of Romans was written to Christians. So
what Paul was effectively communicating was this, "Believers who have faith in Christ
and are justified in Christ, nothing could separate them from God's love."

6. SOME PEOPLE MAY LOOK LIKE THEY HAVE FAITH, BUT DON'T HAVE FAITH

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming,
even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They
went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have
continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of
them were of us.

1 John 2:18-19

John here is explaining that there are many antichrists or people opposed to Christ that
are present. And that they came out from among Christians but were never really
Christian. And if they really were Christians, they would have continued in their faith.

In the Christian walk, there's a lot of people who talk the talk and can even walk the
walk, but we're never truly saved. Judas Iscariot was one of these people. He was one of
the 12 disciples who served people and worked miracles, but he betrayed Jesus for
money. No one suspected him until after Jesus' arrest.

For people who look at believers who left the faith, there's two possibilities. Either they're
like the prodigal son and God is allowing them to make bad decisions and is waiting for
them to return to Him, or they never truly had faith, and like Judas, faked it.
 7. LIVES SHOULD BE EXAMINED FOR TRUE FAITH

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not
know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you are disqualified.

2 Corinthians 13:5

In this passage, Paul commands the Corinthian church to examine or test their life to see
if they are actually in the faith. And this is something every believer should do regularly.
Why? Because we're still sinners.

And we should pay close attention to passages like Matthew 7:21-23, where Jesus says,
“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but
he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord,
Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done
many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart
from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

If we're really Christian, we should really examine our lives and ask ourselves questions
like, "Do I really have faith? And does Jesus really know me?"

Don't freak out, know for sure whether you truly have saving faith.

Can someone lose their salvation? If someone is truly a child of God who is saved by faith,
nothing can separate them from God's love. Therefore, they cannot lose their salvation. But they
should always examine their faith until the day they die and are reunited with Jesus. Remember,
Jesus loves you.