CAN WE LOSE OUR SALVATION?

 The only thing you can do to lose your salvation is the very thing you did to earn salvation. Salvation can't be earned. 

We all sinned and we all fell short of the glory of God. No matter how hard we try, we cannot save ourselves. And because we fell short God sent us his Son to save us. He did not send him to condemn us. Salvation is a gift from God. Gifts are given to be received. We all have the option to receive or not to receive. Even when we were dead in sin- God made us alive in Christ. It is by grace that we are saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in heavenly realms, in order that in the coming ages he might show incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For by grace we have been saved, through faith- and this is not from ourselves, it is a gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are Gods handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

It is by grace, through faith, for good works. Don't mix that up into thinking it says by grace through faith in good works. Our works do not save us. Our works are a product of our faith. They work together. 

When we lift weights or work out, muscles are the product or evidence of us working out our body. We didn't create our own body. We were given this body as a gift from God in order that we can live on this earth. Working out our salvation is like working out our body. Instead of weights, we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Works, just like muscle are the result of you using what you've been given. You have been given grace through faith. If we work from this faith, if we exercise this faith in our everyday life- our life will become the product of the gift God gave us through his Son. If what we are doing is of ourself and not of faith- it is sin and it will not last. It will come to an end. 

Jesus puts to death our hostility toward God and reconciles us to God through the cross. Jesus made peace between us and God. Without Jesus, we are separated from God. Through him we have access to the Father by one Spirit. Jesus is the only way to the Father. 

Because of that, we are no longer foreigners with Gods people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. 

God already accomplished his eternal purpose in Christ Jesus our Lord. If we reject Jesus that means we have not yet received salvation. Salvation is always available to be received as long as we are alive on this earth. Once we receive salvation we turn our eyes off of ourself and put them on the finished work of the cross. Christ does not promote sin. When Jesus forgave us from sin, it was not so that we could continue on in sin. What happens when you are forgiven of a debt? You don't owe anything anymore, right? We owed the death penalty for our sin under the old covenant law. Jesus paid that for us. He didn't pay for us to sin. He paid for our sins. Remember, that anything apart from faith is sin.  If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sin remains, but only a fearful expectation of judgement and of raging fire that will consume Gods enemies. Sin was already dealt with on the cross. We, who have put our faith in Jesus are no longer Gods enemies.  The first covenant God made with us was that if we did not obey we would be put to death. We could not obey, so God sent his own Son to pay our penalty. He laid his life down for us. This is the greatest love of all, to lay ones life down for the sake of another.  Hebrews 8:12, "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." Hebrews 8:13, "By calling this covenant new, he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete will soon disappear." I want to encourage you to read all of Hebrews chapters 8 and 9. 

Wickedness is the absence of righteousness, just like darkness is the absence of light. Just like sin is the absence of faith. Just like death is the absence of life. 

While we were sinners, Christ died for us.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law but under grace. Under the law, sin is our master. But we, who are in Christ are not under the law, we are under grace. To fall from grace is to go back under the law. 

Galatians 2:19, "For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in this body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

 Philippians 3:18, 'many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.' 

An enemy is a person who is actively opposed to someone. To oppose the cross of Christ is to actively compete against salvation, trying to prove that Jesus doesn't save and that we can achieve what he did on our own, without him. Enemies of the cross of Christ glory in their own shame, wanting to convince others that we cannot really be redeemed, or that Jesus doesn’t make all things new. Enemies of the cross of Christ serve their own appetites. But the truth is that Jesus really does save! 

Salvation is for today. Jesus gives life to our mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in us. There are no mortal bodies in heaven. He gives us this life today through his Spirit that dwells in us! 

So the question was.. can we lose our salvation? My answer is if we are truly saved, we are always saved.