The salvation of the soul involves rewards for a life that is lived in obedience unto the honor and glory of the Lord. That life can be lost, even though your spirit and body are saved. Don’t take my word for it; I want you to see it in your Bible:
- [1 Corinthians 3:15] You can be saved as through fire, but suffer loss because your life was not lived unto the Lord.
- [Revelation 16:15] You can lose your garments if you are not faithful in keeping your garments. You won’t have anything to wear to the feast!
- [Revelation 3:11] You can lose your crown; if there is no crown, there can be no reigning with the Lord.
- [Matthew 25:28] This tells of the loss of the talent by the one who did not use it and therefore does not enter into the joy of the Lord as he reigns. Be sure and note that in verse 14, this servant with one talent is called “his own”; he’s a Christian!
- [Luke 19:24] The servant of the Lord who did not use his pound forfeited the pound and therefore was not appointed to reign over any cities. Reigning over a city has nothing to do with salvation at all. Otherwise, some of these servants are saved 10 times and some are being saved five times. Reigning over a city has to do with rewards for faithfulness!
[Hebrews 10:37-39] I want to point out that the one who is being discussed here is the just one; he’s a believer who is living a just life. What does it mean to live a just life? Luke 1:6, which is talking about Zechariah and Elizabeth says about them, “And they were both righteous (just) before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” A just person walks in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. A lost person cannot live a just life! Here, God says that if the just one (who is a believer) draws back, the Lord’s soul has no pleasure in him. In verse 39, you see that if the just draws back, it is unto destruction. It’s talking about the loss of the soul or the life in the age to come. This cannot be the destruction of the spirit, it cannot be the loss of salvation, and it has nothing to do with the body; it must therefore be the soul that is under discussion in this passage.
Look in the closing part of [verse 39: But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition [destruction]; but of them that believe [faith; noun] to the saving of the soul]. The just one, who is a believer, can be faithful; he can live an obedient life to the saving of his soul. You
cannot draw back from spiritual salvation, but you can draw back from living a faithful and obedient life; you can live a carnal life, such as the Holy Spirit describes in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3; in other words, you can choose to be a spiritual infant all your life.
The key expression in the book of Hebrews is, “Let us go on to perfection”; let us go on to maturity; let us become full grown adults in Christ, not feeding continually on milk, but go on to the meat of the Word. The meat of the Word in the book of Hebrews, and for that matter everywhere in the Bible, is the teaching pertaining to the Kingdom and the possibility of ruling and reigning with the Lord. The sincere milk of the Word has to do with the simple gospel message; the sincere milk of the Word makes you wise unto salvation; the sincere milk of the Word is the food for babes in Christ. The meat of the Word will enable you to qualify for a position of honor; for ruling and reigning in the coming Kingdom of our Lord. The meat of the Word will let you grow up!
Now, I want you to keep in mind that in the Kingdom, there will be sovereigns and there will be subjects. The sovereigns will be those who have won crowns; they have run a successful race. The subjects will be those who are saved as though by fire, as it says in 1 Corinthians 3:15. Many people teach that we will all rule and reign in the coming Kingdom. Well, if we all rule and reign, who do we rule and reign over? When my cousins and I would fight over who was going to lead a game, my great-grandfather would say, “We can’t all be chiefs”. The Bible clearly teaches that there will be rulers and there will be subjects! And I don’t think we’re going to rule and reign over those who are in the lake of fire.
[Matthew 16] Spiritual salvation is taught as an event. But, once you’re saved, every place in Scripture that the salvation of the soul is mentioned, it is referred to as a future event. It’s a future event that is conditioned upon your life here in the flesh. [Matthew 16:24-27] “Whosoever will.” The saving of the life or the soul is determined by whether or not you will it. This applies to any Christian. The word “man” in verse 24 is in italics, which indicates to us that it is not in the original text; this word was added by the translators in order to clarify something, but as so often is the case, it muddies things up. In this verse, the people under discussion are the disciples. So, if word “man” should be omitted, and if a word needs to be supplied, then that word should be “disciple”. “If any disciple will come after me.” Remember, a disciple is a saved person. A disciple is someone who completely embraces the teachings of the one whom he is the disciple of. This is talking about a saved person, and it says, “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any
man disciple will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
As you read over this passage, you can clearly see that the result of the loss or saving of the soul has to do with rewards, as it says in verse 27. Is our spiritual salvation a reward? No, it’s a gift! The word that is translated as “life” in verse 25 and “soul” in verse 26 is the same Greek word (psuche). Spiritual salvation is a gift of God and can never, under any circumstances be lost, forfeited, given up, or taken away. However, salvation of the soul is dependent upon the individual; it’s dependent upon you. The salvation of the soul comes at the end of your Christian life, not at the beginning; spiritual salvation is at the beginning of your Christian life; it’s called “being born from above”. One of the goals of living a faithful life; on of the goals of faith in Jesus is the salvation of the soul, as we saw in 1 Peter 1:9. “Receiving the end of your faith,
even the salvation of
your souls.”
Peter was writing of the saving of the soul to those who had already been begotten again, as we saw in 1 Peter 1:3. James writes in 1:21 of the saving of the souls of those who have already been begotten by the word of truth, as we saw in 1:18. Being born from above is a past experience for every individual who has believed on the Lord Jesus as his personal savior! The saving of the soul, which results in rewards, is a future experience, which will be determined at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
[2 Peter] In Philippians 2:12, Christians are urged, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”. Do you have to work out your spiritual salvation? Are you afraid that you’re not saved? By working out your salvation with fear and trembling, you will guarantee the salvation of your soul and you will receive rewards. In 2 Peter 1:10, we’re told, [2 Peter 1:10]. Give diligence to make your calling and election sure. Why? So you will not stumble and lose your rewards. Do you have to give diligence to make sure you’re saved? That would be a salvation by works. Give diligence so you will not stumble, and [2 Peter 1:11].
The salvation of your soul will guarantee unto you a place of honor, glory, crowns, and rewards in the coming Kingdom of our Lord. The loss of your soul will not result in banishment from the heavens; your position there is guaranteed by the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross; the loss of your soul will result in you being a subject rather than a sovereign.
“Oh, just so that I get to heaven, that’s good enough for me.” I’ve heard that said by many people; they are simply seeking a fire insurance policy. We’re told to esteem the mind of Christ. We’re told to esteem knowledge. We’re told to esteem his commandments. We’re told to esteem the salvation of our souls. We’re commanded to esteem life in the coming age.
We’re told that if you don’t esteem life in the coming age, then you don’t esteem the Son; if you don’t esteem the Son, then you don’t esteem the Father. Brother, don’t turn up your nose at what God has commanded you to esteem. Esteem the Son, esteem the Father, and esteem the salvation of your soul.
If it is important to God, it should be important to you. If you esteem these things, then you have to live a life that is pleasing to Him.
If you’re a Christian and you haven’t turned your life over to God, won’t you do so today? If there’s a man, boy, woman, or girl here today who has never accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, won’t you do so today?
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[1] For further study see also Luke 12:42-48. The last word in vs. 46, “unbeliever” should be literally translated “unfaithful”. Also see Luke 13:30 and Luke 14:1-11.