Do you believe in eternal security of the believer?

The only security for the believer, is to not surrender their belief, but to hang on to it like a bulldog! Always studying the Scriptures and doing what they find in them! Like, following all ten of the Commandments! Not just 9 and them think that the keeping of any day is all right with God, Not when He has been so particular in everything else He requires of us! And this belief that "God knows my heart" is a bunch of *&!#$*. Yes God knows our hearts, and they are decietfully wicked! (Jer 17:9). So, it is not that God knows your heart, but do you know His? Do you know His love? What it is? Read 1John 5:1-5 to find the answer. Would you like to know if you are going to heaven? Read Rev 12:17, 14:12; 22:14. And who are not? Read Rev 21:27; 22:15.

Anna, what a question. A question which has caused much division in the Christian faith due to its very nature of either humbling us or filling us with pride.

I have looked at some of the most powerful and anointed answers and can not better them which you have already received. I can only provide you with what I truly believe to be one of the most anointed and powerful sermons on the believers eternal security that I have ever had the blessing to read, study and meditate on as compared with the word of God.

I therefore forward it to you and others in faith in hopes that it by the Spirit of God with the word of God will give all the assurance that God through Christ and Christ alone by the Holy Spirit declared in; this sermon and his word will forever implant this in our mind and in our soul and in our spirit so when the tempter comes to tempt us to doubt our salvation the standard of the Lord will rise up in us and prevail.

Anna< i do not believe in once saved always saved! it is a lie from satan! there is more to being saved than just accepting Jesus as your Savior, the scriptures you are talking about. are simply telling you the way is narrow, and you have to work at your relationship with Jesus just like any other relationship. you can't just inter into it and then give up thinking you are still ok ! and God is the Father! he as you say pulls the punches b/c he is the Boss! he Made the law and he inforces it also! and with any law you break it then you suffer the punishment! i realy don't know how much more simply it can be put. you may contact me if you would like and i will explain. untill then here are some scriptures on being saved Acts 2:38, Mark 1:4 ,Acts 18:18 Mark 16:16John3:5this scripture is talking about the babtizem of water and of the Spirit.1Cor12:13 Gal. 3:27, There hope this helps and i will pray for you! and remember you have a friend who will not judge you if you want to talk just let me know ok love you Sister.Edit.............. no, no one can pluck you out of the hand of God , but satan if you let him can, and he will! he wants to steal from you, lie to you, and most of all he wants to kill you! he can fool you! make you hate God and blame him for every thing bad in your life! and you cant take one scripture out and live by it !!!(John 3:16) you have to use the whole Word has to be applied into your life and if you do not work at it and stay in the Word and do as God tells you to do then you are fooled! and there will be a lot of people who will be shocked when they do not hear there name called from the Lambs book of life! and Jesus tells them i know ye not!!!!!! you have to use the whole Word put it together and work at staying saved! i am sorry you cant just get saved today and then go rape, kill ,steal lie, commit adultry, and then die and go to heaven it just don't work that way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In its original form, yes I do. The teaching of Eternal Security originally meant, when you accept Jesus you want to do nothing at all that is against His will (sin). So you would stay as far away from sin as possible.

Today it has come to mean that once you accept Jesus you can live life however you choose and still go to Heaven. This teaching is an abomination, to think you could accept Jesus and then kill people along with yourself and still go to Heaven is just plain ridiculous. That is called being a backslider, and if you die while you are out of the will of God, you will not see Heaven.

We must strive every second of our lives to please God.

Plenty of scripture taken to the extremes and out of context on both sides of the argument. My personal opinion is that there is a definite moment in time when a person turns, or is turned, toward God. When a person enters into a relationship with God they are by no means perfect and at this point I don't think their imperfections after this point are a matter of losing or gaining salvation. They are still a sinner saved by grace. Their salvation is not hanging in the balance in each and every action.

I do believe however that after this point of entering a relationship with God a person can intentionally and blatantly turn away from God and break off that relationship. This is a matter of free will. If this person is held captive in this relationship with no choice to be in it there is no possibility of a true relationship or true love. The very nature of a relationship requires the possibility of there not being one and the choice to not be in it.

I don't think there is a case of losing salvation but I definitely believe there people who give back the gift and can definitely think of people who blatantly have turned their back on God. There is no doubt in my mind that their situation is grim. The predestination people would simply say that God in his supreme knowledge knows that this person will eventually turn back to him but once again that is taking the possibility of no relationship out of this person's hands, and to do so takes away true relationship and true love.

Absolutely! ("Genuine" Believers!) It is impossible to lose salvation because then we negate the Atonement of Jesus' Sacrifice! (John 10:28-30, and 1 John 5:13.) Real question would be is if that person was really "Born Again" to begin with? (Absolutely NO ONE can pluck His Child out of His Hand.) <')))><

Yes I beleive when you accept Jesus into your heart and repent of your sins and truly beleive Jesus is the only way to heaven and that you carry your cross and live for Him. Read John 3:16,17 this is the way to heaven John 3:3 Ye must be born again.

We all have choices and we should choose to glorify Him,

Purpose in Life;

To glorify God

Great Commison

Preach Gospel

Conformed in the image of Jesus.

to be honest, I am still unsure of this issue... I do *think* that IF you are brought into the Body of Christ, you are there for ever, BUT, that is the problem most people refuse to consider, the IF part of that.... I know there are those that are in fact a permant member of the Body, and others that *think* they are, but are NOT.... so, I guess that is my answer...... go in peace....... God bless

Biblical salvation is definitely not grounded in eternal security!

"The doctrine of "once saved, always saved" was invented by John Calvin during the Reformation. Under this theory, the Protestant believes that one is saved when he accepts Jesus as personal Lord and Savior. This is comforting - after all, who wouldn't want assurance? According to this view, true Christians are the ones who will persevere to the end. For those who accepted Christ during their lives but did not persevere to the end, the doctrine calls these people superficial Christians. So true Christians will go to heaven and superficial Christians will not. Not only is this teaching not Scriptural, it is difficult to accept the teaching on reason.

The only distinction between a true Christian and a superficial Christian is that the superficial Christian did not persevere to the end. Otherwise, the two types of Christians appear to be the same. The superficial Christian has all the earmarks of a true Christian except that he did not persevere. But this necessarily means that the true Christian cannot know that he really is a true Christian either until the end of his life. He, too, won't know whether his conversion was genuine until the end of his life. Therefore, despite all the talk about assurance, he cannot be sure.

This doctrine, therefore, actually gives its adherents less assurance of their salvation. It necessarily imposes upon them uncertainty until the end. The Catholic (and Scriptural) view, however, does give assurance to the believer that he is in fact currently saved (a true Christian), and that, if he perseveres to the end, he will be saved at death. We also know that God will give all the graces necessary for us to be faithful to the end (because of our freewill, the question is always whether we will accept the grace or not). Thus, Catholics know that it is theirs to lose. Protestant Calvinists don't even know whether it is theirs to begin with."

I've struggled with this for sometime and, having made up my mind on the matter, I will try to express clearly a rather what is a rather involved subject.

It seems to me that you have to avoid two traps here :

1) if we say we have eternal security, not to take this as liberty to disobey, and

2) if we say we do not have eternal security, not to become legalistic and live in fear, thereby denying the gift of God, which is freely-given salvation in Jesus Christ.

I reckon that salvation is either a gift or it is not and, if it is a gift, there is strong consolation in knowing that this gift will not be revoked, for 'the gifts of God are without repentance' (Roms. 11:29). I mean, would it be right for God to give a gift 'on a piece of string' as it were, ready to be yanked back should we fall out of favour? Do we appreciate it when people do that to us?

Do we not also, as human beings, desperately need the security of knowing that God will honour his promise to give us eternal life, even if we fail him? If we be faithless, will he not still remain faithful, for he cannot deny himself? (II Tim. 2:13).

Did not God make a 'one-sided' promise to Abraham, when he put him into a sleep and passed alone between the sacrifices (Gen.15:8-17), thereby taking the responsibility on himself to honour his promise, he knew the weakness of Abraham, patriarch of the race that would follow?

Scripture says that we are yoked together with the Lord - we being the weaker animal and the Lord being the wiser and stronger one - so that, if we follow his leading, he will bring us safely home, having done our work by his strength.

However, we have a responsibility, and if we use the grace of the Lord as a licence to disobey and sow 'according to the flesh' (ie. just what our 'natural man' likes), then scripture says we put our souls in serious danger, for it also says 'the Lord is not mocked' - not by unbelievers, and not by believers, either.

How do we reconcile these things? Well, Jesus said that you will know a good tree by its fruits (Matt.12:33), and it is impossible that a good tree will bring forth bad fruits and a bad tree will bring forth good fruits. He also said that the way to bring forth good fruits was to abide in him (John 15:4) and that, without him, it was impossible for a person to produce 'good fruits' (v5). So, it is the same idea as the one of being yoked together with the Lord - he will pull us through, so long as we stick close and lash in tight (ie. our foundations are right).

However, verse 7 of ch.15 says 'if you abide in me, and my words abide in you...' and that is our part, to keep the faith, believe the Word and keep our doctrine and practices pure before him. As the junior cow, to learn from the older one. Again, I believe we will do, if our faith is established on a right foundation.

'If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered...burned (v6). I think this refers to those people who have never made a true and honest commitment to the Lord Jesus - a bit like those who heard the word 'by the wayside' - in a casual way.

Unless the word goes down deep into a person's life, it will not take root and, though they may believe they belong to Christ, in fact they are still unregenerate. However, I believe that a person who is truly born again and has, out of an honest and sincere heart, truly surrendered himself and all that he has to the Lord Jesus, though there may be times when he will stumble (and learn from them), yet the Lord by his Spirit will in due course be faithful to bring him through to inherit that eternal life that he has promised.

If we, as true believers, do not see eternal life laid up in heaven for us, secure in the Father's keeping, how can we meanwhile have any security and comfort, and how can we rejoice? Where's the joy in being 'not sure'? We will always be wondering, fretting, and tending to fear, lest we should have 'done something wrong'. Does our loving Father wish that for us? Is that our glorious Gospel?

There are, indeed, those in this world who are not truly his, even though they deceive themselves that they are (see Matt. 7:21-23). It is interesting that this very strong statement comes immediately after the Lord's teaching on 'false prophets' in 'sheep's clothing', these being the corrupt trees whose fruit will not endure.

It is simple (7:17), if you are truly born again, you will, like a good tree, bring forth good fruits. That is why Jesus said to Nicodemus 'you must be born again' (John 3:7), because 'that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit'. And the Holy Spirit is the power of God personified.

That is also why scripture urges us to become established (v12) and to 'give dilligence to make your calling and election sure; for if you do these things, you shall never fall, for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (II Pet.1:10-11).