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IF a person is said to have lost/walked away from/given up their salvation, then, we have to ask our selves: Was that person ever saved to begin with?
Salvation is by GOD' GRACE!
Amen!:thumbs:
I'd like to add some food for thought. If the gift of Salvation was imperfect, then obviously it could be forfeited or lost, but it was God in the flesh(the creator of the universe), not some ordinary human being, who lowered himself for us and died on the cross for us. Unfortunately, the majority of people pollute the perfect gift of Jesus Christ by trying to add something to it. This only serves to nullify what Christ did on the cross. Paul's whole letter to the Galatians addressed this problem, and it is just as bad today as it was then.
The next time you hear someone say they've given/forfeited their faith because,
-It's been a rough year.
-My car just keeps breaking down.
-I'm plagued by illness.
-I've lost a loved one.
-God just isn't answering my prayers, so He must not be there.
etc...
Ask them where that verse in the Bible is where Jesus says,
"Wanna be a Christian?
Then, Hey! Hey! Hey!
Come Partay!"
You just wont find it. People, the life of a Christian is not all giggles and goosebumps. What did Jesus really say?
Look at John 15:18:
"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first."
Then in verse 20 Jesus says,
"...If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also."
This is one of several warnings of the consequences of following Christ.
Anybody here ever read Foxes Book of Martyrs? It is a record of some of the thousands of Christians throughout history who have been tortured and executed because they would not recant the name of Jesus Christ. Even though we don't hear much about it, there are more Christians dying today than there were then.
How about the Disciples? Does anybody know what happened to them?
-Philip was scourged and crucified.
-Matthew was nailed to the ground with spikes and beheaded.
-Jude was beaten to death with sticks and clubs.
-Simon was tortured and crucified.
-John, the son of Zebedee, was tortured and exiled.
-James, the brother of John, was beheaded.
-James, the brother of Jesus, was pushed from the top of a building and then his broken body was beaten to death.
-Andrew, Peter's brother, hung on a cross for three days before dying.
-Bartholomew was beaten and skinned alive before being beheaded.
-Thomas was speared with a javelin.
-Peter was crucified upside down.
Just a note on Peter. He asked to be crucified upside down because he felt he wasn't worthy to be crucified right-side up as the Savior was.
And just so the ladies don't feel left out--Peter's wife was crucified just before he was, and he was forced to stand and watch her die. It has been said(and I've not been able to confirm this)that until she died, Peter kept repeating over and over to her,
"Remember the Lord. Remember the Lord. Remember the Lord...."
Now, you might be saying,
"Good heavens, why would I want to be a Christian?"
Why did these people listed above and how have people down through history remained faithfull and been willing to die for Jesus Christ?
They were convicted that Jesus Christ was and is Lord, and He promised them and us he would return for them and us. They kept looking up. Our joy as Christians lies not in what we will gain now; today. It is in what we will gain in eternity. These people knew it and many suffered horribly for it, and Christians today continue to suffer for it.
The next time you question your faith in God, remember, He didn't promise us Heaven on earth, He promised us eternal life with Him in Heaven. That's eternal immortality. That's where our joy is. Gene Rodenberry's imagination doesn't hold a candle to John's description in Revelation 21 and 22 of Heaven.
Paul sums all this up in Romans,
"As it is written:
'For your sake we face death all day long:
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.'
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, not anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."-Romans 8:36-39 NIV
That's the conviction that each and everyone of us should have if we are Christians. We don't need more truths to be convicted of, we need more conviction of the Truth we have. Because Jesus Christ was heaven sent, Christians are Heaven bound.
