John 10:25-29, “Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.”
The Word of God teaches ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED. I don't see how anyone could be saved who disagrees with this view. Pastor Hank Lindstrom (1940-2008) preached a very helpful sermon called: "HOW PERMANENT IS YOUR SALVATION." Our text passage plainly teaches that those who believe on Jesus Christ receive eternal life, and SHALL NEVER PERISH!!! If a man could perish, then Jesus is a liar, and God cannot lie (Titus 1:2).If a person thinks that they CAN LOSE God's salvation, then it shows that they errantly think THEY must do something to retain or maintain that salvation, which is not total faith in Christ. The true Gospel always points you to Christ; a false gospel always points to you. A true born-again believer has the mindset that JESUS PAID IT ALL, and God alone does the saving, all of it. When we accept a gift, it is ours! To say that a person could ever lose God's free gift of eternal life, is to change the meaning of a gift. A "gift" is something given without compensation or payment in return. If a person could ever LOSE salvation, then it could not be a gift. I firmly believe that those people who think salvation can be lost, were never truly saved at all.
Also, to say that salvation can be lost is to fail to understand the new birth. When a person gets saved, a new spiritual birth has happened. The new birth is wrought by God's Holy Spirit in response to a person's faith in Jesus Christ. This birth is permanent and irreversible, as is the first physical birth. The new birth cannot be lost!
Dear friend, the new birth is a miracle of God. The blessed Savior promised to give eternal life, not probationary or temporal life, to them that believe on Him. ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED (OSAS). Anyone who disagrees with OSAS is not a born-again believer. They are not a redeemed child of God. I can say that boldly with confidence from the Scriptures! Salvation is not partial faith in Christ plus something else.
I like how Pastor Hank Lindstrom tests a professed Christian, to see if they are really saved. He asks them if they were to murder someone, would they still be saved? If they response with “No,” then they are not saved, because it evidences that they don't understand the Gospel. Salvation is based solely upon God's imputed righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:9). Even the best Christians still habitually sin (Romans 7:14-25). The Bible doesn't teach that we must repent "of your sins" to be saved. In fact, we must be 100% sinless and perfect to enter into God's Kingdom (James 2:10; 1st Corinthians 6:9-11). That is why Christ had to come into the world, to die on the cross in our place to pay our debt of sin (2nd Corinthians 5:21).
Therefore, we can be declared 100% sinless (justified) through faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:26). God justifies the believer on the basis of faith alone in Christ, imputing our sins to Jesus and His righteousness to us (Romans 4:4-6). Christ is the end of the law to all who believe (Romans 10:3-4). We are saved by HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS (Matthew 6:33). The believer's righteousness is based solely in God's imputed righteousness, which is by faith in Jesus, and not our own. Kindest regards. ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED!!! Anyone who disagrees with that doesn't understand the Gospel. They don't understand the new birth. They don't understand the free gift of eternal life. They don't understand God's imputed righteousness. John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”
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