It's stated in so many different ways...perseverance of the saints...once saved always saved...security of the believer. These are the three ways with which I am most familiar. It also seems to me that there are three people who obsess over this.
The first is the parent or grandparent of a rebellious child holding tenaciously to the hope that though their child is living on the road to hell, that the decision they made when they were eight years old is going to miraculously snatch them from the fires of hell at the very last moment.
The second is the person who believes their salvation is dependent upon their perceived ability to live right. They have an imaginary line drawn in their mind and as long as they don't cross the line, or cross it too far they will still go to heaven. For them grace means God grades on a curve.
The third person is someone who for whatever reason believes that arguing and presenting hypothetical situations of either extreme actually helps the people listening. It would seem that they are either interested in appearing to be spiritually superior or trying to rationalize their own sin.
One error in this discussion is that we often equate baptism and church membership with salvation instead of the life that continues in obedience and seeks to become more and more like Jesus as a part of the personal relationship they have with Him. However, the proof of one's salvation is not their recollection or record of the event in the past. The greatest evidence of salvation is not a memory of the experience but the demonstration of the effects!
The whole discussion reminds me of a faulty syllogism I remember from college. Many things are green, grass is green, therefore all green things are grass. Saved people make professions of faith, Billy made a profession of faith, and therefore Billy is saved. It is obvious that both conclusions are wrong.
However, the security of one's salvation is not a topic for hypothetical discussions or arguments. One's salvation is so precious that it should only be thought of and discussed in regard to the ongoing relationship that you have with Jesus Christ. Salvation is a sacred and holy connection between you and God. No thought need be given to what might constitute the failure of it, but rather only the efforts necessary in making it even more precious and apparent in your life.
No time should be given to debating how far a person can go before they lose their salvation. Rather prayer for Christ to win in their life regardless of their past confessions is what is demanded.
Here are what would seem to be the most basic tenets regarding the eternal nature of salvation.
Jesus gives eternal life.
ESV John 3:16 ¶ "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
ESV John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
In its most basic understanding Salvation is believing that Jesus Christ is the powerful and eternal provision made by God for humanity...from the thief on the Cross to you and me...faith in who and what Jesus did for us changes our eternity. He did an eternal work to provide eternal life for those who have an eternal need! Salvation... is... eternal life. By its very nature the work of salvation is eternal in its effects. Where there is no eternal effect there is no eternal salvation.
But they made a decision...
Jesus said the kingdom of God is like four soils. (Mark 4) Jesus gave us this as the clearest metaphor for of what is observed in life. The point seems to be that the lack of genuineness in someone's confession is not an indictment on the ability of God to save or keep saved. The genuineness of a person's decision is measured by the lasting effect of the gospel upon their life.
This parable is not about the one sowing: Jesus. It is not about the viability of the seed: the effectiveness of the gospel. It is about the condition of the heart and whether or not it is capable of sustaining lasting faith. Three of them do not and one of them does. The problem arises when we want to apply the literal germination-time- frame of seeds and the typical growing season of common grain to the complex mystery of faith in the mind (heart) of a human.
It might take four weeks, four months or forty years for the genuineness of someone's faith to be revealed. But the ability of someone to attend church on a regular basis and live within the moral frame work of the religious community does not equal faith or genuine salvation. Our freeze dried, micro waved, time-lapse photography perception of life skews our understanding of eternity and the Spiritual realm of God.
From God's perspective He sees our encounter with the gospel. He sees the genuineness of our response. And He sees the ultimate revelation of its authenticity all in one single frame. The confusion for us is our perception of time as it relates to our observations and not the true spiritual condition of an individual. The length of time someone is able to pretend does not negate the fact that they were pretending.
So what about sin?
We are saved from the penalty of our sin. On the cross Jesus took the penalty of our sin. I am trusting Jesus' death on the cross to be sufficient for all of my sin, past, present, and future.
The issue for a person who is abiding in Jesus Christ is not that they might sin too much but that they sin at all. Because of the deep confidence I have in the blood of Jesus to atone for my sin the question is not how much can I sin and still be saved but rather because I am saved how little can I sin.
Seriously, would you believe that someone loved you if their actions demonstrated that their only concern was to see just how much they could indulge themselves regardless of how much it would cost you?
Someone said it this way, "a believer lapses into sin and loathes it, a lost person leaps into sin and loves it."
The church member or person who confesses to be a Christian who goes off into sin and self-indulgence has not lost their salvation; they are demonstrating the faultiness of their confession and existence of their religious facade.
For the believer in Jesus Christ they should regret their sin, repent of their sin, seek to avoid sin, but never live in fear that the occurrence of sin in their life means they are no longer saved. The security of the believer is in their relationship with Jesus Christ and that He maintains their redemption as we reside in the relationship with Him.
Read these words again ESV John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. If you are experiencing this then the thought of losing it should be the furthest thing from your mind. If you are not experiencing this, you might not have anything to lose.
