Sunday, November 9, 2008

Can You Loose Your Salvation?

Can You Loose Your Salvation?Dr. Frederick K.C. Price The Bible states in Colossians 1:19-23: "For it pleased the Father that in Him [Jesus] all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all the things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you [to the Father] holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight - if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister." These verses tell us that Jesus, through His sacrificial blood, has reconciled the Christian to the Father. Now, the Father sees the Christian holy, separate from the world and without sin, because Jesus paid the price for the Christian to be free from blame and reproof before God. However, we need to find out what "if we continue in the faith" is all about. The very fact that Paul said, "if you continue in the faith" means it is possible that you might not. In other words, there is eternal security in Christ, as long as you stay in Christ. No one can steal your salvation. God will not let you go. However, I believe the Word teaches that it is possible for a Christian to give up the gift of grace--his salvation.Receiving Jesus as Savior and Lord saves an individual by faith. Jesus is a gift from God to the world. Therefore, salvation is a gift. There is only one way to obtain a gift, and that is to receive it. You cannot buy it, you cannot earn it, and there is nothing you can do to become worthy of it. The moment you buy something, earn something, or work hard to be good enough to receive it, it ceases to be a gift. To do so becomes a reward for works, such as a salary, which is compensation for work, done.Because you did not earn your salvation by works, then you cannot lose it by works. The blood of Jesus is powerful enough to save us and to keep us. Many people mistakenly believe that we can lose salvation through works!Works are irrelevant and immaterial. You do not go to hell because of your evil works, any more than you go to heaven because of your good works. Your destination is hell if; you refuse to receive the gift of salvation. In other words, your eternal destination is dependent on one thing: what you choose to do with Jesus, your gift from the Heavenly Father.There are two things you can do with a gift - receive it or give it back, repudiate it. If you repudiate Jesus knowing exactly what you are doing, that is "the sin leading to death." However, certain qualifications must be met in order to commit this sin.If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin, which does not, led to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that (1 John 5:16).There is nothing you can do for a person who has committed the sin leading to death. The Bible tells us not to pray for such a person. The sin leading to death is committed when someone uses the same mouth that once confessed Jesus as Savior and now rejects Him. This person says, "I don't want anything to do with this Man Jesus any more. I repudiate Him. He is not my Savior and Lord. I want nothing to do with Him ever again."The person held guilty of this sin is a mature and spiritually experienced Christian. When you know much spiritually, you are held accountable for what you know. Hebrews 6:1-6 lists the criteria for committing the sin leading to death.

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