[QUOTE="GRACE_ambassador, post: 4870995, member: 3054
"
SUPPOSE
Suppose it were true that a person once saved could be lost again.
Suppose such a person, to gain heaven, would then have to be saved
all over again.
But suppose the person in question never did get saved the second time
and, departing this life a lost man, went finally to the lake of fire—after
having once been “saved”?
In what sense, then, was he first saved? What was he saved from? Was
he saved from the penalty of sin? No, for he did not escape the lake of fire.
Was he saved from the power of sin? No, for he fell back into sin and died
a lost man. And most assuredly he was not saved from the presence
of sin. None this side of heaven have yet been saved from that.
What was he saved from then? The answer is: Nothing at all.
He may have thought he was saved. He may have felt saved. He may
have acted as though he were saved. His friends may have thought he
was saved but, in the final analysis, he was saved from nothing.
Salvation, to be anything more than a mere term, must be everlasting.
Any person who has been saved has been eternally saved. No one is
saved until he is eternally saved. Anyone who dies in a lost condition
never was saved at all.
Does this mean we must wait until after this life is over to find out? No.
We may be saved now and know it. This is evident from such passages as
I Corinthians 1:18, where the Apostle Paul refers to “us which are saved.”
How can we be saved? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” —that’s what to do.
“And thou shalt be saved” —that’s when you get it (Acts 16:31).
And “the gift of God is Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”—
that’s how Long it lasts (Rom. 6:23).
"
(CR Stam)
GRACE And Peace...[/QUOTE]
Great post.
Before our salvation we were dead in our sin and trespass.
After we came to faith we were reborn. From death we entered the state of eternal life. To lose our salvation by our own acts would make us to overcome the will of God for us.
Ephesians 2:8 for
by grace have ye been saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God; 9 not of works, that any man should boast.
Ephesians 1:13-14
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed,
you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
I think if we could do something to lose God's gift, it would mean God didn't foresee whom among the fallen he would call to himself to salvation would later reject his gift. And therein undo all that God did to and for us.
We'd have to then go from being alive in him to dead again in sin. And we'd have to be able to unseal what God did seal.
To lose his gift of faith....
God granted us faith.
We cannot overcome what God's will bestowed.
We may think we can come to a place where we no longer believe. However, God, who knows all things from beginning to end, would know better.
Psalm 139:4, ESV Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
Hebrews 4:13, NLT Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.
I think mamakes a grevious error subscribing to the myth that we are co-committent with God in securing our salvation. And we are just as errant thinking our choice to lose faith is able to overcome God's will to bestow it.
I think this is why and where we sabotage our own sense of peace. If we start to think our acts are able to overcome God's will, ever.
