Can You Lose Your Salvation?

Being Certain of Your Future!

Philippians 1:6

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”

To be released from the entanglement of sin (Hebrews 12:1-3) and have the laws of God written upon one’s brand-new heart (Ezekiel 36:26-27) that is sealed and sanctified by His Spirit (Ephesians 1:13; Romans 15:16) is truly a miracle of divine grace! “The conversion of a soul is quickening, renewing, and transforming. It generates new life, forms a new character, and lifts people into alliance with God.” I can think of no greater gift a person could ever attain than to be justified by the blood of the Lamb with every spiritual blessing possible (Ephesians 1:3) and necessary to conform to the likeness of the Son (Romans 8:29-30)! Having found such an invaluable treasure and pearl (Matthew 13:44-46) it is only natural to wonder if such a gift received through grace and faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) could be lost through disbelief and unholy living? After all, what could one ever say is irrevocable for are not all things of this world temporary and destined to be “consumed by fire and laid bare (2 Peter 3:10)? But if one believes salvation can be lost then does this mean one is to “walk with carefulness and circumspection” so intense that one constantly lives in fear of losing that of which one attained by faith and grace? If true, does this mean no return is possible (Hebrews 6:4) and if so would this not only make “Christ’s atonement an event without efficacy and force” but also contradict Scriptures that say Christians are eternally adopted into God’s family (John 3:16)? Today’s sermon is not going to review all the arguments that one cannot lose one’s salvation but instead review Philippians 1:6 and suggest that we as Christians can be confident that He who began a good work in us, i.e., conversion, will carry His presence and seal in our hearts until the day He returns, and our salvation is consummated for all of eternity!

The Great Shepherd Sought Me

Our confidence of our salvation must first start with an understanding that we of our own effort cannot lift ourselves from our bootstraps and attain any measure of acceptance in God’s sight! Lest we join Satan and foolishly think we “can raise our thrones above the stars of God and sit on the mount of the assembly” (Isaiah 14:13), let us not forget the words of Apostle Paul, “there is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10-18) or the prophet Jeremiah who said the “heart of a person is deceitful above all things” (17:9). “The Philippians did not begin the work of salvation in themselves only to have God come along and add a little to it,” no, to be born again there “must be the decree of the Eternal Father, the death of the ever-blessed Son, and fullness of the operation of the Spirit of Truth!” “The first steps of ending the separation between the prodigal son and the Father” is not the offering of mere platitudes or filthy rags of our presumed but mistaken righteousness (Isaiah 64:6), as if works could ever purchase our salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9), but the Father seeking the defiant, lost souls of stony hearts (Ezekiel 36:26) to repent and accept by faith and grace that which was purchased by the very blood of His own Son (John 3:16,;1 Corinthians 6:20)! “The hardness of the human heat and the fickleness of human love” can only be born again and grafted into His vine (John 15:1-11) through the Son’s power for He alone justifies, sanctifies and adopts the wayward and lost eternally into His family (Romans 5:9-11)! Any attempt to attain righteousness any other than through belief in the atoning sacrifice of the Son is merely “dust building upon dust,” futile and without merit!

The Holy Spirit Changed Me

Confidence in our salvation must rest purely upon its author and pefector, the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 12:1-3)! No matter how “healthy in body, wealthy in estate, educated,” loved by all for one’s philanthropic deeds, the leopards spots of the entanglement of sin cannot be ripped out of a person unless touched by the very finger of God! “The fact is, that the divine life has departed from the natural man; man is dead in sin, and life must come to him from the Giver of life, or he must be dead for evermore.” One simply cannot be like a Pharisee and clean the outside of the cup (Luke 11:39-40) and attempt to produce good fruit in the form of holiness unless one first becomes part of the Vine, the only place where eternal life and holiness is found! Whether one believes as the Arminian that the “first movement of the soul to God begins in the self-determining power of the human will” or as the Calvinist that salvation is assigned to whom God pleases before they are even born, one can be rest assured that salvation is accomplished only through the Holy Spirit, for no one else can perform the miraculous second birth and renew of a person into God’s image except the Potter who alone molds the clay! For a sinner to be “lifted from eternal condemnation and ruin and made a part of God’s family” is accomplished by faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ, yes, but still is granted and sustained by the miraculous power and grace of our Lord! It is a myth and dangerous to the health of our souls to believe that it is only by our filthy rags of “good” works of self-sufficiency that we maintain our relationship with our Lord for those whom God sought are nothing without the Vine that gives them life. I am not saying that we are absolved from using our spiritual gifts, having faith in our Lord or a desire to obey His commands but merely that our efforts to be holy must be divinely aided to result in holiness!