Question and Answer Word- Can A Person Lose Their Salvation ?

 I have been asked, ” Can a person lose their salvation? “

We are starting with three scriptures. The first one comes out of Romans 10:9 in the New King James Version, which says, ” If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Then James 2:19 in the New King James Version says, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble.”

Mark 1:15 in the New King James Version says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.”

So when we look at those verses combined, we have to ask ourselves, is it enough to just believe in God to be saved? No, it’s not. Because the demons believe and they tremble, yet the demons are not going to heaven; the demons are going to hell, and yet they believe. So, it’s not enough to say we believe in God, we believe in Jesus. We actually have to believe with our hearts that He is Lord and Savior, that He came, died, and rose again, and confess Him as Lord of all our lives. And then, as Jesus said, to repent and continue to believe.

So it’s a combination of declaring He is Lord of your life, believing in Him, continuing in repentance, and following Him that a person is saved.

God looks at our hearts, meaning God cannot be fooled. So if you just say, like the demons, they believe there’s a God, but yet in your heart, you’ve not made the Lord Jesus the Lord of your life and you don’t live according to His Word and live a life of repentance, God will not be fooled. He knows those who are His. He knows when a person’s heart belongs to Him. So it’s not just about giving lip service to God. He looks at your heart to know whether you are truly His.

James 2:17 says, “Faith without works is dead,” meaning we are not saved by works, but our works do reflect our faith. So if you say you believe in Jesus, and yet you do not continue in Jesus’ teachings, continue in the Word of God, and continue in a life of repentance, is that actually equal to what you are saying? Because faith and works go together. Your faith will be seen in your actions.

Matthew 15:8-9 in the NIV says, “These people honour Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.” So God knows when you are just following things for the sake of following it. If you’ve been raised in a home that says you have to go to church and read the Bible. You just do it, but you have not actually made that commitment; you’ve not actually believed that Jesus is Lord of your life. You’re not actually continuing in His teachings and His Word, and living that life of repentance, showing that your faith and your deeds go together; then the question is, are you truly saved?

Because, like we said, the demons even believe, and yet we know they are not saved. So, there has to be more than just believing there is a God.

Let’s look at a few more scriptures. Matthew 7:21-23 in the New King James Version says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” So again, we see that if someone says, “Lord, Lord,” they believe in the Lord, but if they do not do the will of the Father, they will not enter the kingdom of heaven. “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'”

The Lord was making a point that even though the people were doing works of the kingdom, they were practising lawlessness, which means they didn’t live a life of repentance. They continued in wickedness and lawlessness. The Lord didn’t know them. We need to take heed when we read those things.

2 John 9 in the New King James Version says, “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.”

Here we see again that you have to continue in Jesus, His doctrine, His teaching, and His Word. You have to continue in Jesus—Jesus is the Word made flesh. So when you’re continuing in God’s Word, you are continuing in Christ when you apply it to your life and make it a part of you.

So, whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. It’s very clear and simple.

Hebrews 6:4-8 in the NIV says, “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss, they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. Land that drinks in the rain often falls on it, and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed, who receive the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end, it will be burned.”

Here in Hebrews, we can see that it is impossible for someone who has tasted the Lord, His kingdom, and the Holy Spirit, who then has fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. That shows that people can fall away.

Matthew 7:19 in the NIV says, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” A lifestyle of repentance leads to good fruit. Continuing in the Word of God and applying it in your life leads to good fruit. If you continue in lawlessness and wickedness and do not practice the Lord’s teachings and continue in His Word, are you producing bad fruit? Because the Lord gives that warning—every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Matthew 25:1-13 in the New King James Version says, “The kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut. Afterwards, the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”

We can see that five of those virgins had oil, meaning they abided in the Lord. They were ready, prepared with the Holy Spirit and with Jesus. When He came, they were ready to go in. The other five foolish ones didn’t prepare. So when the bridegroom came, they tried to get ready, but it was too late to enter in.

Romans 11:17-24 in the NIV says, “If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.’ Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either. Consider God’s kindness and sternness: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in His kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?”

So basically, it’s saying there that when we are grafted into the Lord and we do not continue in Him, we fall away because of unbelief. He is still able to graft us back in if we repent and do not continue in unbelief, but turn to Him in faith and continue walking with Him. We can be grafted in again. So that clearly states that a person can lose their salvation if they fall away from the Lord.

Philippians 2:12 in the New King James Version says, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not just in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” There it says you have to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. It means salvation is not just a one-time deal; it’s not just a quick prayer you’re saying. It is something that you work out. Once you give that commitment to the Lord and make Him Lord of your life, it is that commitment to work out your salvation by continuing in the Lord Jesus, continuing in His Word, and continuing in a life of repentance, not lawlessness and working that salvation out with fear and trembling.

And that fear is not necessarily fear like terror, but it’s like awe and wonder of God, knowing that He is able to graft you in and out. So, it just needs us to wake up a little bit because sometimes, in the body of Christ, we can become so complacent, thinking, “Ah, I’ll just say a prayer,” and then you can just live the way that you want to and believe you are going to go to heaven. But when you actually examine the scriptures, you see it’s much more than just giving a little prayer. Saying yes to Jesus means that you continue in Him. Otherwise, you do not have God. You continue in Him by living a life of repentance because if you continue practising lawlessness, will He know you?

So we have to have that fear and awe of the Lord and respect what He says.

John 15:5-6 in the NIV says, “I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” Again, the Lord is talking about the need to remain in Him, because if you do not, you won’t bear good fruit. And what did the Lord say? The trees that do not bear good fruit will be cut down and burned in the fire. So do not risk that.

Sometimes, people’s attitude toward the Lord and Christianity is, “I’m just going to say a prayer, but then I’m going to live my life the way I want to.” Yet, they don’t realise that they can be on the pathway of destruction and not have their salvation if they don’t continue in the Lord. If they don’t deliberately live a life of repentance because God knows the heart. He doesn’t just look at your lip service; He looks at your heart, your mind, and your deeds.

And so again, we’re not saved by works. We don’t obtain it by works but by believing in Jesus and confessing His lordship. But we keep it by working out our salvation through repentance, by continuing in the Lord.

John 15:18-21 in the NIV says, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.”

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their law: ‘They hated me without reason.’

So here we see that we are without excuse because the Lord made it clear that He is against sin. The Lord clearly showed works among us, taught us, and gave us His scripture so that we can know what sin is. So now, we have no excuse for our sin anymore because He made it plain to not live a life of sin.

I’m not talking about perfection because none of us are perfect. The Bible clearly says that there is no righteous person—not one, not one person who does not sin. We all fall short, and that’s why we need the Lord. But there is a difference between practising lawlessness, wickedness, and not continuing in the Lord versus continuing in the Lord and accidentally sinning. 1 John 3:6 says, “Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.” So, to say you live for God and follow Him, but deliberately live a life of sin means you do not know God. If you continue practising sexual immorality and say, “Oh, Jesus is my Lord,” but have no problem with practising sexual immorality, do you know God? No, you don’t because God is holy. He does not give way to sin.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 in the New King James Version says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revellers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but you were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” So, the Lord clearly talks about not pursuing a life of lawlessness because that will cause you to not enter or inherit the kingdom of God.

Brothers and sisters, you can lose your salvation if you start to believe that Jesus is not the Son of God or didn’t die for your sins and if you stop making Him Lord of your life. You can absolutely lose your salvation. You can also absolutely risk not going to heaven if you just say, “Ah, I believe Jesus is Lord,” but you continue living a life of lawlessness. The Lord is not going to know you. So, you have to understand the principles. It is about a life of repentance. It is about a life of continuing in the Lord, His doctrine, and His teachings. It’s not about doing it perfectly—that’s why His grace is there. But God knows your heart.

So, if your heart’s intention is, “Oh, I’m just going to continue sinning, and then on my deathbed, I’ll do a quick prayer to just go to heaven,” the true thing God looks at is your heart—if He is Lord, if you truly believe in Him, and if you’re really following Him.

If you have not lived a life of repentance or a life of continuing in the Lord, I want to encourage and implore you to turn and follow the Lord. Why risk it? Why risk going to hell? Why risk losing your salvation for the sake of practising lawlessness and continuing in a life of sin? Do not mess around because God knows those who are His, and He says clearly if you do not remain in Him, you will be cut off.

Lets Pray:

So, my beautiful God, Lord, I come in the name of Jesus, and I pray for every brother and sister who has not been aware or who has walked in ignorance, Lord, who have not known that they can lose their salvation, who have not truly understood what it means to walk with You and say yes to You. Because, Lord Jesus, You say in Your Word that when we give our lives to You, the old is gone, and the new has come. We die to our old self, and whoever loves You will not continue in sin. Whoever wants to be Your disciple must pick up their cross daily and follow You, and anyone who puts anything above You is not worthy of You.

So, Lord, I pray in the name of Jesus for revelation for any brother or sister who has handled Your Word of Truth so loosely and not understood that they need to work out their salvation every day with You. Help them to come back to a place of repentance, Lord. Help them to know that it’s not about works and doing everything perfectly—that it is by Your grace. But help them to learn, Lord, that You do have conditions for us to continue in repentance, to know You, and to remain in You, because that is what it means actually to follow You.

I pray, Lord, that You will help them turn back to You and continue walking with You every day. In Jesus’ most holy and powerful name, Amen.

Be blessed 😊