Is our salvation secure?

For the next several weeks, we (the 15th and Crawford Church of Christ) will be stating several Bible principles and asking the questions: Have you heard? Do you agree? Do you follow? Would you like to know more, giving everyone the opportunity to hear and believe (Romans 10:17) and an opportunity to learn (Acts 8:30-35). If you would like to write in, email any questions, or responses to be answered or published, feel free to do so.

Today's principle: Can we lose our salvation? (Heb 6:4-6) For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

Well perhaps the Hebrew writer was not talking to Christians. They are falling away, thus proving they were never Christians to begin with. This view comes from an assumption that we can judge the hearts of man. If they were never a Christian, then what are they falling away from? Why even make the statement at all?

It is possible for a Christian to turn their back on God and walk away from the life that only He offers. That is why it is so important for us to keep God as the focus of our lives.

That is why it is so important that we grow in our spiritual maturity, because it is possible for us to lose our salvation. On the other hand, I have heard a preacher put it this way. Your salvation is not a set of car keys that you can put down somewhere and forget where they are. "Oh no ... where did I put my salvation? Did I leave it in the car? Is it in my other coat pocket ... oh no ... where is it?" Falling away does not happen accidentally.

These people who fall away from God are people who have experienced a real relationship with Him. They have experienced His love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, salvation and then having experienced those things turned their back on Him. How do we know this? Verses 4-5, (who have been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, and shared in the Holy Spirit). If these people shared with the Holy Spirit then they had to be Christians.

Let's look at an example. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4:10, "for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world ..." What led him to abandon his faithful friend and the kingdom of God? Demas was a faithful companion (Col. 4:14: Philemon 24) and now desertion. Have you ever had a friend like this?

Has this been you -- a faithful friend -- then turn from God and run to the world. Why?

Reasons:

1. The first hint of temptation and hardship devastates you. (Luke 8:13)

2. Have a deep commitment to Christ, but only what you can afford. (Mt. 19:16-23)

3. Long for the old easy ways. It's said, "Those who at last go back, at first look back." (Luke 9:62)

Fix what is broke. Not studying: Study (Ps. 1:1-2). Not praying: Pray (James 4:1-2). Not caring: Care (we can be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, Hebrews 3:12-13).

Today's text is a warning that it is possible to get into a situation from which there is no return. The danger that we face is not that God stops loving us, or that God stops trying to save us. The danger is that we walk so far away from Him that we cannot hear His voice. The impossibility is not with God, but with man.

Feel free to study, comment, ask questions, suggest a topic, or even stop in for a visit any time.

For any other comments or questions: Please email me personally (Minister Mike Chipman) at mikeychip@sbcglobal.net, or by phone at (620) 224 6681. God bless.