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Permalink Reply by Prashanth Samuel on February 27, 2011 at 2:34pm

Hi Andrew,

Grace and Peace to you from our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

The only way a born-again person loses his/her salvation is:

1. By rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour ..by denying Him ..(1 Tim 2:12, Matthew 10:33,1 John 2:20-23)
2. by dishonoring Jesus's sacrifice, His blood and the Holy-Spirit: the Spirit of Grace (Heb 10:29-31)
3. by rejecting the new covenant testified by the Holy Spirit (Heb 10:15-18, Heb 3:7-12, Matthew 12:31)
4. by rejecting the person of Christ Jesus as a Man(flesh and blood) and God. (1 John 4:2-3, 14-15, 5:6-13)

About the verses Hebrews 6:4-6, Hebrews 10:26:

The book of Hebrews was written to the Jews, who :
1. were born-again by receiving Jesus Christ as their Lord and saviour,
after hearing the Gospel of Grace and new covenant (Heb 2:1-4)

2. were going through persecutions, loss of their properties (possesions) due to their conversion from Judaism (old-covenant) (Heb 10:32-34)

3. were planning to reject Jesus, gospel of Grace and go back to their old religion of Judaism (old covenant of law), as they were having difficult times, those days.
Hence, they were exhorted to endure, be confident and continue to live by faith in Jesus (Heb 10:35-39, 3:6, 12-14)

4. were having doubts about Jesus as to: whether he really is the saviour, the messiah, or whether he is a myth,
a character in a man made story,,whether he really was a man or some hero of some-one's imagination. (like superman, spiderman)
The Jews to whom Peter and John wrote epistles too had the same doubts.

So, there was much emphasis given on the humanity and divinity of Jesus: Heb 1:1-3, 2:14, 2 Peter 1:16-21, 1 John 1:1

So, the warnings in Hebrews 6:4-6, Hebrews 10:26 and 1 John 5:16 refer only to the ONE sin of:

1. Rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour ..by denying Him ..(1 Tim 2:12, Matthew 10:33)

2. Dishonoring Jesus's sacrifice, His blood and the Holy-Spirit: the Spirit of Grace (Heb 10:29-31)

3. Rejecting the new covenant testified by the Holy Spirit (Heb 10:15-18, Heb 3:7-12)
(Blaspheming against the Holy Spirit Matthew 12:31)

4. Rejecting the person of Christ Jesus, by rejecting His humanity and divinity. (1 John 2:20-23)

This sin is a willful act of knowingly rejecting Jesus..which is the craziest thing to do ..a real nutty case.

I don't think any person in his/her right mind can do this stupid thing, after knowing the Gospel of Grace, the love of God and
after knowing what exactly Jesus accomplished at the cross for the humanity.

Hope this answers your question.

Grace of our beloved Lord Jesus be with you. Amen.

(

John 10:

24The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, "How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly."

25Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father's name, these testify of Me.

26"But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.

27"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;

28and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

29"My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

30"I and the Father are one."

31The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him.

32Jesus answered them, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?"

33The Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God."

34Jesus answered them, "Has it not been written in your Law, 'I SAID, YOU ARE GODS'?

35"If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),

36do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?

37"If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;

38but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father."

39Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp.

40And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there.

41Many came to Him and were saying, "While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true."

42Many believed in Him there.

)

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Smith on February 27, 2011 at 2:55pm

Thanks a billion PS.
Hats off to this site.
I appreciate your prompt response and your love to the christian community.

In fact, I am addicted to smoking and was afraid of losing my salavation !..oops!
I was scared what will happen when Jesus comes back..whether I will be in the rapture or not.

Anyways, I will quit smoking one of these days. I won't take advantage of Grace..:-)

Be blessed bro. I love you man, you sure are a blessing in here. Thanks again.

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Permalink Reply by Prashanth Samuel on February 27, 2011 at 4:36pm

Hi Andrew,

Glory to our Lord Jesus.

Usually when there is a problem in life, people usually question whether there is God or
whether what they believe is real or whether God loves them.

We have an invisible God and Jesus who is in heaven. So, normally people think they are not worth it
or they think about all their mistakes (sinful actions), and start feeling guilty.

Some people like these jews, to avoid problems, decide to go back to their previous religion or resign to atheism or become god-haters themselves.

Persecutions and problems in life are real, though God isn't the creator of those., otherwise, why
would Jesus, while teaching Lord's prayer , teaches to : Not to lead us into temptations ?

There is also this false concept of : license to sin or taking advantage of Grace.
The context here is course : the sinful actions known to the conscience.

Sinful actions like you mentioned, smoking : in your case will not make anyone lose salvation.
But will have the following disadvantages:

1. self-condemnation, wherein you have to confess new-covenant again to yourself
to assure to yourself that you are still righteous.
2. makes you a slave to tobacco., meaning, that tobacco becomes a master to you, though you are free.
But then no amount of fags will bring you satisfaction..it is a vicious cycle.
3. as the body is not born-again, it has consequences on your lungs and you have to confess a lot
to yourself that you are healed 1 Peter 2:24
4. Makes you spend money on fags.
5. People near you who don't smoke will be uncomfortable. You won't be walking in love with them.

I have met different types of addicts, who are saved, still are in some bad habits.
Their own conscience keeps pricking them. It is all one and the same, whatever those sinful actions are.

All of them are just looking for some pleasure, leading to satisfaction. But they don't find satisfaction ever,
in doing that thing or habit.

Some are legitimate like : sex. But the satisfying thing in sex is, to be in the context of marriage, with mutual consent. God put in the impulses and senses in men and women for their pleasure, to be enjoyed, to satisfaction in a married life.

The reason I am mentioning this is cz I have seen so many broken homes, families, in this area of sex.

I know churches don't talk openly about this. That is why these types of web-sites are necessary to talk openly about the real-issues of Christian life.

I will stop...else you will say ' bro ..you started preaching ha ?'

What I want to say is: it is not worth practicing something by which your conscience is bothered, you lose peace, you can't sleep or something that harms the body and family.

We are called to walk in Love.

No curses or penalties mentioned in the new covenant, as Jesus paid it all at the cross.
He paid for all our sins once and bore all our curses.

But it is not wise to do things that waste money and time, doesn't satisfy, doesn't provide contentment, leaves you high and dry, doesn't make better life for self and family.

Be blessed bro.
(
Romans 6:
14For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!

16Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

17But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,

18and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

20For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

21Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.

22But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

1 Corinthians 6:12
All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything

1 Timothy 6:6
But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.

1 Corinthians 7

2..because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband.

3The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband.

4The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

5Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

)

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Smith on February 28, 2011 at 10:42am

Thanks a lot bro.

yes you are right. You don't know how much you are helping me here.

In fact, you have just saved my marriage too.

God richly bless you and your family.

 

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Permalink Reply by willow macdonald on March 7, 2011 at 5:19pm

 

 

Hi Andrew

 

No a believer can never "lose their salvation".  "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead then you will be saved, for it is with your mouth you confess unto righteousness, and with your heart that you believe and are saved."  If you believe that Jesus is alive today, and you have said He is lord, then you are saved.  Nothing - never ever ever, can take you out of your position in Christ,  the Holey Spirit has sealed you and there is nothing that you can do to unseal yourself.   "Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith." 

And as previously stated, once we become a Christian, we are slaves to righteousness, that word -slave- is not a verb in the greek, in Romans that word sin- with the exception of two times- is a noun, (so 26 times - that word is a noun, and two times it is a verb).    So in describing sin - in Romans it is talking about the way you were a slave to sin (noun ), so therefore you were in a place of sin.  Now that you are a Christian - you are a slave to righteousness (noun).  By confessing the Lordship of Jesus you used his finished work on the cross to allow Jesus to remove you from the realm of sin (satan's realm), to the realm of righteousness (Jesus's realm).  The greek word used -sin -is not a who but a where (it is actually a greek literary term where the main character of a play (story) could not get out of the situation he was in because of unseen or godly circumstances- kind of like the greek gods set a certain set of events in motion and there is nothing the main character can do to stop it - like fate).- We were all sinners born into satan's realm of sin - the world of sin because of Adam's fall.  We sinned (verb) not because we are sinners (noun), we sinned because we lived in a place of sin (were slaves of).  There was nothing we could do to declare ourselves not in that place of sin without Jesus.  A slave cannot redeem themselves by what they do or say.   No act of righteousness - good deed - or  by  being a good person - or saying good things ( or not saying bad things), can redeem us from that place of sin. 

By calling on the name of Jesus, He redeemed us (acts 10:43)

 

In being Christians, we are removed from that place of sin, we are no longer slaves there.  Because we no longer are slaves to sin, but slaves to righteouness, the where of righteousness always moves with us. ("because Christ in us is the hope of Glory").  The righteousness that is sealed within us and makes us righteous is not our righteousness but  Jesus' righteousness, therefore if we happen to sin (verb), we do not become 'sinners'(noun) because we are no longer live in that place called sin.  There was nothing we could do to declare ouselves not in the realm of sin when we were sinners without Jesus.  By the same token,  there is nothing we can do to declare ourselves unsaved once we are sealed with the Holy Spirit.  "He is the author and finisher of our faith", there is nothing we can do to "screw it up".  We are already righteous in Him.  If we happen to sin, it doesnt chip away at that righteousness.  Sin has no power over us anymore because we dont live in that place of sin anymore.  The devil cant do anything anymore because he isnt your master.  The devil is not bigger than Jesus.  Satan cannot 'steal' you back - so to speak.  If you happen to sin then, thank Jesus for his righteousness that overcomes the world,  and fear not.  "Fear not little children for I have overcome the world". 

Be Mary and not Martha - rest at Jesus's feet and listen to him- for His word will not be taken away from you.  Martha tried to work for Jesus - to serve Him.  Mary just wanted to listen and rest at his feet.  Mary chose the better portion.  I remember that when I try not to sin.  Resting in Jesus changes us from the inside out -  instead of trying to be a good christian wife (dont sin) - I love my husband more (bear good fruit). 

 

Joseph Prince has great sermons on this. 

 

I hope this helps.  - I was taught that a Christian can indeed give up there salvation - I no longer believe that.  There is no peace there.  I have a daughter who is 4 years old.  No matter how long she lives, there is nothing that she can say or do that would make her not my daughter.  It just isnt possible.  We both could say that she is not my daughter - but it doesnt make it true - she still is my daughter.  We may have a really crappy relationship, but she still is my offspring.  Once I declare the name of Jesus, I belong to God.  I am a son of God.  I dont say it of myself, He says it of me.  I rest in that,  we may even have a crappy relationship, (but we dont) - and I still would be a son.  It is not my work - my confession that is important.  My work, confession, happened once.  My responsibility now is to rest in Him and let Him "do a good work in me".  He is the vine and I am the branch, I dont have to work to produce fruit - in fact I cannot - it is impossible for my work to bear fruit as a branch.  All I can do is allow Him to feed me - and rest.  For the vine feeds the branches and He bears fruit in me.

 w

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Smith on March 7, 2011 at 8:28pm

Willow,

Ya man. It is one and the same what PS mentioned.

Thanks for your message though.

But you don't know there are some crazy people here, born-again, tongue talking, once,

but they got into satanism and rock music and openly denied Jesus.

May be you have not met that type of people.

That is what is the unforgivable sin.

That is why apostle Paul ,John and author of Hebrews mention in their epistles about this, warning may be 

today's generation too.

In fact those epistles were written to the born again believers. If there is no possibility of a born-again guy rejecting Jesus, why would they warn us in the epistles ?

Even our Lord Jesus said the same thing about denying him.

But that is a very rare situation,,but that applies only to the folks who, after thoroughly knowing the cross and what Jesus did, then they reject, they are eternally doomed, unless they repent and receive Jesus.

You remember Paul writing about delivering someone to satan and the other guy who loved this world and left Jesus? I guess it is in Timothy 1 or 2 . check it bro.

Like I said, it is a rare case.  Though Peter denied Jesus thrice, he didn't lose it, because he was innocent and had not believed in the risen Christ. But after he believed, he was willing to die for the Lord.

 

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Permalink Reply by chrispin chinyama on March 11, 2012 at 12:53pm

 

Grace is not permision to continue sinning. on the contrary it empowers us to resist sin. If a christian continues in sin. I wonder if such a one was truly saved in the first place. Some of these guys "backsliding", were just religious. Part of the mixed multitudes.

Those truly saved will not be comfortable in sin. The nature has changed. If any man be in christ jesus, he is a new creation...2cor 5:17.

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