Ephesians 1:13 “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”

Can you lose your salvation? Can I lose my salvation?

This is a question that bugs many a Christian, and maybe you are wondering or even tormented by this question yourself.

The short answer is no, you cannot lose your salvation! Once saved, always saved.

If you have been saved, to be unsaved, you would have to be “unborn” again. And that isn’t possible.

If there was such a thing as losing your salvation, and you lost your salvation, it’s not you lost it, it’s you never had it to begin with! That’s the only kind of “lost salvation” there is.

The fact is, if our salvation was truly in our own hands, and we could lose it… then all of us would lose it… let’s not kid ourselves about that.

Because the thing is, Biblical salvation isn’t based on our safe keeping, but on Christ’s safe keeping! And if he keeps you… he being Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep… then you kept!

None of us are keeping ourselves saved, even the best of us, if there is such a thing… so let’s just be honest about that and let’s be honest about ourselves… because we struggle to keep Christ’s most basic commandments, let alone somehow being capable of keeping our own souls.

Thank God our salvation is in the hands of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. That’s where mine is.

Did you know that to get unsaved, Christ would have to lose you? Because you became his at salvation, you are not your own, because you were bought with a price.

Remember how in John 17, when Jesus prayed to his Father, that he said these words… “those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost”. This was part of his prayer that he prayed before a time of “loss”, because he sure looked like a loser getting abandoned, betrayed, arrested, crucified… and he looked like had lost everything that he had been building during his years of ministry… it even looked like he had lost his own life.

But Jesus didn’t lose anything, and in fact at the time of greatest loss was the time where the finding of the soul of every believer was confirmed forever. None of those that believed on him and followed him were lost… even though they all forsook him and fled! And even after Peter had denied Christ again and again… Jesus still hadn’t lost him! Go and tell the disciples… and Peter!

And sure, then you might point to Judas Iscariot, aha Jesus lost him! Well read that prayer for yourself, because Jesus mentions Judas Iscariot!

Judas Iscariot didn’t lose his salvation… he was never saved to begin with!

Judas Iscariot was never Christ’s. He had a devil, and Jesus knew from the beginning that he was a traitor.

So you can know that if you are saved, Jesus will never lose you, even when you feel so utterly hopeless and lost, and we all spend time there.

Think about this… if Jesus cares about fragments of bread not being lost in John 6… how much more the precious souls whom he died for to save?

Yes, we can get right away from God, we can backslide, get caught up in sin, maybe false teaching and so on… and that will impact our Christian walk, our peace, happiness and joy, our discipleship and usefulness to God here and now… but it doesn’t make us unsaved or mean that Christ isn’t still faithful.

How about we consider this verse, where the Bible says in 2 Timothy 2:13 “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”

See, at the heart of this idea of losing salvation is an inflated view of self and the wrong view of God. Yes, if your salvation is held by your power, you would lose it, as the entire Christian walk is only possible by the power of God.

But we’ve got to realize that what makes us “saved” is Christ’s faithfulness, not our own! What we could all probably agree upon, if we are being honest, is that our lives are marked far more by unfaithfulness than faithfulness. If being perfectly faithful, or doing x,y,z was the requirement for us “keeping” our salvation, would any of us get a pass mark anyway?

This verse in 2 Timothy is a pretty amazing verse, and yes it has context, but I’m sure we all struggle with unbelief in our Christian life… but even when we are unbelieving… Christ is still faithful! Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief!

If you read the verse quoted at the start from Ephesians 1, hopefully you noticed the word “sealed” in there. This verse should seal it for you! You can be sealed about your salvation, because you have been sealed if you ever truly trusted in Christ.

Notice who sealed you? Not you. The Holy Spirit. And that’s comforting, and how apt that it is comforting! … because the Holy Spirit is the Comforter!

You’ve got to realize that Satan will want you to be stuck always in doubting your salvation… and maybe there are legitimate reasons you should question if you are saved… and we should all examine ourselves whether we be in the faith… but you should know in your heart right now by the witness of the Spirit if you are a child of God.

Sure, maybe you’ve stuffed up and sinned, maybe you’ve stumbled and are struggling, maybe you’re in strife and not sure…. but all that doesn’t make you unsaved.

And no, this doctrine isn’t a license to sin, permission to sin, or an excuse to sin… rather, this truth should make us all fall to our knees and thank God for what a Saviour we have. If God’s grace to you causes you to want to abuse that grace, rather than being broken by the magnitude of that grace, maybe you haven’t been saved.

Anyway, I don’t know who you are or where you are at, but I do know that the Bible is definitive on this issue.

Sure, maybe for now you are a wayward child of God, or maybe you have been a wayward child, maybe you’re like the prodigal son… but even in that story, the prodigal son never stopped being his father’s son!

If you are out in the far country, may God bring you back home soon, may we all come to ourselves and be returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. I hope this blog in some ways helps to settle your heart about this issue, and there is nothing wrong with asking God to search us and to try us, and for us to examine our profession of faith in light of scripture… but know this, that on the authority of God’s word, if you have been saved, you are sealed, and “My beloved is mine, and I am his”… and God isn’t changing his mind about that!

Can I lose my salvation? Well it’s not something I can lose, because it’s God’s salvation, salvation is of the Lord! My salvation is not in my hand, I’m kept by the power of God… and that’s why I will never lose my salvation, and why you, if you are saved, will never lose your salvation!

Blog Bible Christian Eternal Faith God Holy Spirit Life Lose Lost Salvation Saved Sealed Security Unsaved