We do not depend on a salvation based on our own works; if we could be saved by our own works, we wouldn't need Jesus. He wouldn't have had to leave all the glories of heaven to die a shameful death on Calvary to pay for our sins, if we could be saved by our own works. And if we cannot GET saved by our own works, we do not KEEP our salvation through our own works, either. Or more to the point, we do not LOSE our salvation through our own works. We could never gain nor keep our salvation through our own power, we would all be lost! Fortunately, however, we are not kept secure through our own power, but through the power of God. (See I Peter 1:5 and John 10:28-30) His promise is a covenant, unbreakable and certain. We ARE forever saved if we WERE ever saved.

Look at Jeremiah 31:34. The Lord says He will forgive our iniquity, and will no longer remember our sin. He will forgive, and forget. Forgiveness itself is a wonderful gift, but His promise goes even farther than that--- He promises not to ever REMEMBER our sins. His forgiveness is past, present and future; it applies once, for all time.

Now, that isn't to say that there is no consequence for sin committed by a true Christian. There is always a consequence to our sin, even though it is forgiven. The immediate consequence is broken fellowship with our Almighty Father; He cannot look upon our sin. We've hurt Him, maybe even angered Him, and must confess our sin to Him immediately. He will forgive it, there is no question of that, but we may have to suffer other consequences as well. Remember David? His child died as a consequence of his sin, even though that sin was forgiven when he confessed it. The Bible says God chastens those He loves. We may have to suffer the consequences of our sinful actions as chastisement for doing wrong.

There are a few specific verses that are often used to support the idea that our salvation is an "iffy" thing; that we can have it one moment and lose it the next. Let's look at them, one by one. It's important to look at the context, as well as each individual verse. We can take a verse out of context, and make it mean something completely different from what the writer intended. That's why it is important to look at the whole section of scripture, rather than only single verses here and there. We need to see who it was meant for, and under what circumstances, to understand it's significance in our lives today.

In Luke 9:62, Jesus says: "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Many take this to mean that a person who has been born again, who then backslides, is not fit for the kingdom of God, and so they lose their salvation. But that isn't what Jesus is saying at all. When you look at the context, it is clear that He is referring to those who have NOT believed in Him! First, Jesus tells one man to follow Him, and the man asks to wait until his father dies. Obviously, the father was not yet dead, or the man would have already been involved in burial activities. His father's death may have been many years away. But he wanted to wait, rather than obey Jesus right away. Another man said "I'll follow you, Lord, but first let me go tell all those at home goodbye." That is when Jesus made this statement. Neither one of these men were willing to fully commit their lives to Jesus.

A man putting his hand to the plough {plow} is a man who is preparing to work. Plowing is a difficult job, and you have to pay attention to what you're doing. A person can't look back, and plow a straight row. You can't move ahead while you're looking back. These men had put their hands to the plow, saying they were ready to follow Jesus, but they were looking back, not ahead. Thus, we see that a person preparing for Christian service, but never having actually committed their life to Jesus Christ, is not fit for the kingdom of God. This passage has nothing at all to do with a true, born again believer. It refers to those claiming to be Christians, but who have never truly accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. They give lip-service to the truths of God's word, but have not actually put it into practice in their own lives.

A person who has truly been born again will not be looking back--- they will be looking ahead, to the time Jesus will return! A person looking back hasn't truly trusted Jesus and repented of their sinfulness. Looking back indicates a longing for what you had, for what you are leaving behind. Remember Lot's wife? A true born again Christian has no desire to go back to what they were; they don't look back with longing for what they've left behind. Instead, they praise God for saving them and delivering them from their old sinful life!

Romans 6:16 says that we are slaves to whomever we choose to serve, whether we choose to serve sin, or obedience. If we are truly saved, we cannot choose to serve sin. Likewise, if we choose to serve sin, we cannot be truly saved! The key word is "serve". Even Christians commit sin; however, a true Christian does not wilfully choose to serve sin. They may slip, or even fall, but they will not remain in their sin. The presence of the Holy Spirit within them will not allow them to remain in their sin.

Hebrews 6:4-6 is another passage of scripture that is always used to support the belief that a backsliding Christian can lose their salvation. "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame."

First, let's look at this passage in context. The writer ends the previous chapter by saying that his listeners should be teaching others by now, but instead they still need someone to teach them again the basic doctrines of salvation. He compares them to babies that still need milk, instead of adults who can have strong meat. This chapter begins by telling his readers to move beyond those basic principles that they have already heard, and go on toward perfection, or completion, instead of continually laying the foundation. Thus it is clear that this passage is aimed at those who have heard, and have not believed, and so have never moved beyond the basic doctrines.

In verses 7 & 8, the writer divides the people he is addressing into two groups, both of whom have been given "rain", or the word of God. In one group, the rain produces useful herbs, and God blesses that group. The other group receives the same rain, but produces only thorns. That group is rejected by God and cursed. Later on in verse 9, he writes that he is persuaded of better things of them, things that accompany salvation! And in verse 11, he desires that every one of them should show the same diligence that only some were showing thus far.

Having looked at this passage in context, let's look at it now one piece at a time. "Those who were once enlightened" does not refer to Christians, but to those who have heard the word, have been instructed in the way of salvation, have seen the light of Jesus Christ, but still have not claimed the promise of salvation for their own. They have "tasted the heavenly gift of God", which is Jesus Christ. They only got a taste, a small sample, they did not receive the whole feast of salvation. They "were made partakers of the Holy Ghost"; they have experienced the tug on their heartstrings as the Holy Ghost convicts them of their sin and their need to come to Jesus for forgiveness. They "tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come". Again, they had a small taste, a sample, of God's word made manifest in the flesh of Jesus Christ. They saw or heard reliable testimony of His miracles, His healing powers, His greatness, His Godliness.

Verse 6 in the King James version says "If they shall fall away...". Since the translators used past tense up to this point, the original text, parapesontas, should have been translated in the past tense as well. The word "If" was not in the ancient manuscripts. Thus the correct translation should be "Having fallen away...". Not something they might do in the future, but something they had already done. They had turned their backs on all these things that they have seen and heard. They had committed apostacy.

"Renew them again unto repentance" means to bring them once again to that conviction of their sinfulness, which is necessary for true repentance. True repentance requires three things: an open admission of guilt, a desire to turn away from sin, and a broken and humble spirit, as opposed to a prideful, arrogant spirit. If the Holy Ghost could not induce these things in them, it is certainly impossible for anyone else to do so! Only the Holy Ghost can convict people of their sinfulness.And the person has to be willing to listen and act on the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

Every person has a choice when they feel the promptings of the Holy Spirit. They can be convicted of their sinfulness, and repent, and be saved, or the can ignore the Holy Spirit and commit apostacy. God never takes away our own free will; He allows us to choose, even if we choose to reject Him. That is the choice the persons addresseed here had made. They had ignored, rejected, and turned away. They had never become true Christians.

"They crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame." They crucified Jesus to their own selves, in their own hearts, and killed their own chance for salvation. The Jews killed Jesus once, but with His resurrection, anyone can still receive the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. These persons, however, have killed Him afresh; they have closed the only door to salvation; they will not accept Him. They put Him to an open shame, a public shame, when they claim to be His followers but still refuse to fully commit their lives to Him. They subject Him, and His followers, to public disgrace by saying one thing, but doing another.

Another often used scripture is Hebrews 10:26. "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin." Again, this passage does not refer to true born again believers, but to ones who have heard, or received, the truth, but have not accepted Christ's "once for all" sacrifice. Once again, we have to look at it in it's context before we look at it separately.

From verse 25, we see that some persons had deliberately and wilfully fallen away from the gathering of believers. Instead, they chose to go their own way, back to their old ways. The writer is telling them there is then no other sacrifice for sin--- all the old sacrifices are no longer acceptable. The old way is now a sin; the old covenant became obsolete with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. These persons had heard, or received, knowledge of the truth, but deliberately chose to reject it.

It is apparent that this is directed at only some of those to whom this writing is addressed, those who had forsaken the assembling together, from the word "for" at the beginning of verse 26. And the Bible is clear in verse 27 that they have to look forward to the fearful judgment and fiery indignation that will devour them, as they are adversaries of the Almighty God. Refer to Numbers 15:30-31 for the same promise of judgment under the old, Mosaic law. There was merciful provision under Mosaic law for unintentional, accidental sin. But there was no provision for deliberate, defiant, and wilful rejection of God's laws.

Hebrews 10:28-29 goes on to say that those who have deliberately chosen sin as their way of life after being exposed to the truth are even more worthy of punishment than those who deliberately sinned under the old Mosaic law, because they have trampled the Son of God under their feet. They have treated Jesus and His sacrifice with contempt, and insulted the Spirit of God's grace. Does that sound like a true Christian? Someone who has believed in God's grace and trusted in Jesus for their salvation; someone who has truly repented of their sin, and accepted the gift of eternal life? Not hardly. Instead, it is again refers to those who only claim to be Christians, who have some form of religion, but have never truly been saved.

Another verse commonly used is that in II Peter 2:20-21: "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they had have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them."

Once again, if we look at this passage in context, we see that it is referring to false prophets, who are leading people astray because they are servants of corruption. (verse 19). This whole chapter is dealing with false prophets, not true Christians. They are entangled in the pollutions of the world, or sin. They were never true Christians.

The true gospel is free from the pollution of the world. Knowing Jesus and having knowledge about Jesus, are two very different things. Even though they had this knowledge about Jesus, having heard the pure and holy gospel, they again became entangled in the pollutions of the world. They had knowledge of Him, but didn't KNOW Him.

When we hear the great gospel of Jesus Christ, we become responsible for how we respond to it. If we choose to ignore or reject it, it is worse for us than for someone who has never heard. It would be better to never know the way of righteousness at all than to know it and still reject it. One can't plead ignorance as an excuse if one has heard the truth about Jesus Christ.

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." Matt. 7:15

"But there were false prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you....." II Peter 2:1

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world." I John 4:1

"Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." II Timothy 3:5

"Not every one that saith Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." Matt. 7:21

"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Matt. 7:22-23

The Bible warns in many places of false prophets, of those that have a form of godliness, of those who only claim to be Christians; but nowhere in the Bible can be found evidence that true born again believers can lose the salvation that was bought with the blood of Jesus Christ. God's grace is sufficient to save us, and to keep us. (See II Tim. 1:12) "Once saved, always saved", a term used so carelessly, is accurate, but such salvation does not allow one to continue in sin. Paul wrote,""What shall we say then? Should we continue in sin, that grace might abound? God forbid! How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?"

I truly hope this has helped clear up some of the misunderstandings that many people have about salvation. Our salvation is secure in Christ Jesus, when we have truly repented and trusted in Him. That security doesn't give us the right to do whatever we please; it makes us want to lives lives that are obedient and pleasing to God. I John 2:3-5 says: "And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I Know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

I think I John 1:6-7 sums it up pretty well: "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth; But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all unrighteousness."