Salvation: Is it possible or impossible to lose one's salvation?

We believe that, although it is very difficult, it is possible for a believer to lose his salvation, if he chooses to walk away from his faith in Christ. Hence, a believer must continue to have faith in Jesus in order to keep his salvation secure. Extreme Calvinism believes once saved, always saved. This can be dangerous when a believer takes for granted his salvation, believing that nothing that he does can make him lose his salvation.

A Grace-Oriented Church, Pg 133

"To put it very simply, it is very hard for us to lose our salvation once we are saved, unless we choose to walk out of it ourselves. It will be very hard to fall out of grace unless we choose to be apostate. Are there Scriptures that indicate that man can lose his salvation after being saved? Some people try to say that once you are saved, you can never lose your salvation again, and they try to justify away some of the very blatant Scriptures in Hebrews 6 and 10. These Scriptures indicate that there is a possibility for people to apostatise, and that those who do, will lose out on the day of the Lord. Obviously, we have to account for those who were never truly saved although they thought they were but we cannot argue that all who apostatise were never really saved in the beginning. It is somewhat systematic theology, trying to force Scripture slightly from a very strong Calvinistic root. For example, some people might argue that Judas was never saved. It is obvious that he was saved. He really believed in the beginning. He was even given authority to cast out demons and heal the sick, and he was named an apostle. Could he have been an apostle without being saved in the beginning? If he was saved in the beginning and apostatised later, the argument cannot go the other way. If we want to be consistent in saying that once saved, we cannot lose our salvation no matter what we do, then we have to argue that even though Judas denied and betrayed Christ, he ended up in heaven also. This is stretching it too far. The understanding should be that if we apostatise, we will definitely not go to heaven. "

A Grace-Oriented Church, Pg 146

"Our salvation is secure as long as we have faith in Jesus. How do we know that we will not lose our faith in Jesus? How do we preserve ourselves from losing faith in Jesus? How do we make sure we will not apostatise and deny Christ? Man’s heart is utterly deceitful, so we must put ourselves in an environment that is not conducive to denying Him. As long as we hold our faith in Jesus, it is not our works that justify us. In that sense, having faith in Jesus has nothing to do with what we do. Our behaviour can sometimes be terrible, but we are saved. If we steal a banana in the marketplace and eat it, we will still be Christians. This may seem to be a ridiculous point to make but it is just to get the message across about the power of justification by faith. It has nothing to do with our works or our behaviour, or how good or terrible we are. It depends on our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. However, if we continue to steal bananas and behave terribly, and pursue such a lifestyle, our spiritual state will gradually slip to the point where one day, we may deny Christ without being able to help ourselves, and there is a point of no return. Internally, we cannot control it. That is why we have to live consistently with what we believe. The Bible says that if a man truly believes, he will not continue in sin.

We cannot understand the internal processes of a man’s heart. We make this point very strongly, otherwise we may think we are saved by our good behaviour. We are justified by grace, not by law."

Implications

The doctrinal position that a denomination holds to does affect how its members live out their Christian faith. Hence, it is important to understand the implications of what we believe in.

1. Make an affirmative personal DECISION regarding Christ.
Salvation is both God's and man's responsibility. This means that we can appreciate and trust in God's sovereignty and grace to offer us salvation. Receiving that salvation is entirely up to us, and He will never force it on us. This implies that we need to take responsibility for our decision to follow Him. Our decision to follow Christ must be crystal clear. It must be an affirmative 'yes' or 'no', not 'maybe'. It is the most important decision a person will make, as it will determine his eternal destiny.

2. Bring the GOSPEL to the unsaved.
Salvation is available for anyone who believes. This means that we must be instruments to bring the gospel to people around us, because we know that Christ died for them. As the apostle Paul wrote "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" Rom 10:14.

3. Ensure you WALK closely with God.
Knowing that it is possible to lose our salvation, we will be watchful not to turn away from God. We will not take lightly the salvation we have received from Christ.

Begin with an end in mind

Have you ever wondered why God wants to give His people vision?

God gave Abraham vision of multitude descendants; this caused him to trust God and followed God wholeheartedly. God gave Joseph the vision of his family members bow down to him; this caused him to persevere during his hardship. God gave Paul the vision to plant churches at Macedonia, this caused him to plant churches in whole Macedonia (which is today Europe). Can you imagine this? What happened if they didn’t receive vision from God?

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.

From the example of all these godly men, we can see that God has a purpose in giving vision to His people. He wants His people to begin with an end in mind. Without vision, God’s people will be wondering around without purpose and without direction. Because of the vision given by God, all these godly man stayed on track of what God had called them. It is necessary for God to give them vision for them to begin with an end in mind. With the vision, they knew where they should channel their energy. With the vision, they persevere, they stayed focus, they have had hope and they didn’t give up.

I thank God for He has give me a vision, this help me to stay focus. I have a dream; one day revival will come to Malacca. Hope Malacca will be functioning as an Antioch to churches. Missionaries and church planters being sent forth from Hope Malacca, if they need to be recharged they can always comeback to their Antioch (Hope Malacca) and move on again, just as what Paul did.

BGR (Boy Girls Relationship)

Today I feel that I want to write something on BGR.

I have been actively serving the Lord for the past 14 years. From my observation over the years in ministries, I noticed that most of the young people who stumbled & backslided in their walk with God were due to BGR. Almost whenever come to this kind of issue, the shepherd (spiritual helper) can not do much.

When someone is intensively involved in BGR, they are so engaged and can not see clearly the fact. Entice the young people into BGR & make them think that the shepherd is against them has been the thousand years old trick that satan used to use. He has been using this trick over & over again, yet still effective. Is he smart or creative? Not at all, the problem is many Christian has been spiritually blinded to believe that his own fellow spiritual helper is trying to destroy his or her BRG.

Is it wrong for 2 Christians who love one another to come together? Not at all. But it is definitely wrong when a Christian involved in BRG with a non-Chirstian. Why is it wrong? Have GOD ever said so? Or it is purely just my own view? The answer is in Nehemiah 13:23-25

"23 Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. 24 Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language of Judah. 25 I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath in God's name and said: "You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves. "

Why Nehemiah did such an extreme thing? Why God prohibited the Israelite from marrying the non-Israelite? Is the race of Israelite more superior? Or in order not to pollute the purity of the descendants that God prohibited them to marry the non-Israelite? Not so, the answer is in

Nehemiah 13:26
26 Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women. 27 Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women?"

The one who is spiritually young (or immature) will be easily drawn away by their boy friends or girl friends who do not know God. Worst still is entice them into worshiping foreign gods, who is not god at all.

I'll further talk on this issue in my next post........