Is "Once Saved, Always Saved" a Biblical Teaching?

Is the idea that Christians are once saved, always saved, and accurate biblical teaching? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question at 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts.

You can watch us live on YouTube, and you can email us with your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Michael calling in from Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Michael, I hope I said the name of your town correctly. Hey, you got it close last time, and you got it pretty close again, Bill. Kudos. Hey, Michael, thank you for joining us today on the broadcast. What's your question, brother? First of all, God bless you, brothers, for what you're doing. My question today is, I haven't been able to take my wife and children to church for the last year due to COVID.

My wife has multiple sclerosis, and her medication compromises her need system. And I am desperate to get back and be a functioning part of the body. And I want my children to have that experience growing up. And I really want to have the opportunity for the gospel and the Holy Spirit to work in the lives of them and my wife. My wife is afraid to go back to church because of the fear of COVID, and I'm kind of between a rock and a hard place as to putting Christ first and putting my faith in Him as to whether or not any of us get sick, and also being sensitive to her fears since her faith may not be there. So yeah.

Wow, Michael. Well, one, I just appreciate the fact that you're seeking to do the right thing here, that you have a desire to be among the people of God. We know that this is something that we're called to as Christians. We're not to forsake the assembling of ourselves with each other. Hebrews chapter 10 talks about this, and so this really is an important thing, but that you're also wanting to love your wife well and to prioritize her health and to make sure that you're taking good care of her.

And so this is a conversation that the two of you need to continue to have as a family. I don't know what kinds of accommodations your church has in terms of, you know, is everybody worshiping inside, is there social distancing, those kinds of things, but are there things that you can do, that your family can do, that would help her to feel like we're safe, we're gathering together with the people of God, but this is safer, we're able to maybe keep a little bit of distance, that kind of a thing. I mean, you really do want to be sensitive to her, and yet you also, as you mentioned, you want to gather together with the people of God.

And so there isn't an easy answer here, and I definitely want to pray for you, Michael, and also for your wife. But I guess I would just want to follow up and just say, you know, in terms of what the worship service looks like, is it possible for maybe your family to be seated off to the side or that kind of a thing so that she feels like she's not interacting with as many people? Yes, in the church, from what I know from other members that I've spoke to, there is social distancing.

It is a large building with not a full capacity of members that have been going. I believe everyone's wearing masks, which I've told her, if you feel like we need to sit in the back and, you know, maybe even explain to the pastor, you know, the situation, and if we're wearing masks, you know, do all the necessary precautions that we do when we're, you know, anywhere else in public. I just, I'm almost afraid that it's being used kind of as a reason not to go to church, and that concerns me.

So I've been supplementing the church on Sunday with DVD teachings from several different pastors that I listen to on bot radio and, you know, read from the Word myself, and I just, I want her to have that Christian fellowship with brothers and sisters that can encourage her and, you know, push her towards, you know, faith in Christ. Yeah, absolutely, and so I think that's, you know, it sounds like there needs to be some more conversation there about, you know, the importance of gathering together with the people of God, and, you know, it sounds like I'm grateful to hear that your church is taking, you know, proper precautions. One of the things that this entire pandemic has, I think, revealed to us is this sort of gripping fear of death that people have, and in one sense, right, it's totally normal to be afraid of death, concerned about our health, but there is also a way in which we can be so concerned, and I've seen this in many people, and Michael, maybe you have as well, people that are so gripped by the fear of death that it just paralyzes them, and that's one of the reasons why Jesus came was to deliver us from that fear, and that's why we gather together to worship him, to glorify him.

The author of the Hebrews said in Hebrews chapter 2, since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery, and so there's a balance. We want to take our health seriously. We want to take the health of our neighbors seriously. We want to care for them, be sensitive to them, but we also don't want to be so consumed with the fear of death that we almost suggest that there is no hope, you know, that Jesus didn't really rise from the dead. At least that's how we sort of think and live, and so we're walking this balance of loving one another, loving our neighbors, but also knowing that Jesus has conquered death, and so having those conversations with your wife, and I think, you know, again, emphasizing the fact that, hey, this is just as safe as going to the grocery store or anything else. I mean, we're taking proper precautions here, but we need to gather with the people of God, and we want to because we're worshiping the one who conquered death, and that should give us great, great peace, and so, Michael, let me just pray for you, brethren.

I'm so grateful for your phone call and for the fact that you listened to the broadcast. Father, would you give Michael wisdom as he has these conversations with his wife? I pray, Lord, for him and for his family, that you would continue to draw them all closer to yourself, that they would have a sense of your presence, that you would keep them safe, Lord, especially Michael's wife, Lord, with the condition that she has, Lord, that you would keep her safe and healthy, and that you would help her, Lord, more and more to know that you are safe, to know the peace and the hope and the joy that comes through Jesus's resurrection from the dead.

Lord, would you be with them? Would you bless them? And we just thank you once again for your goodness. In Christ's name we ask all of these things. Amen.

Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question for Pastor Adriel, here's the time to call. Here's the number to call, I should say, 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. Speaking of times, some of the radio stations we air on run this program at a later time, a delayed time, so if you want to talk to Pastor Adriel live, here's when you call, 1130 a.m. Pacific time, 1230 Mountain, 130 Central, or 230 Eastern time.

That's the time to call in at 833-THE-CORE. Let's go to Daniel from Yonkers, New York. Daniel, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hello, Pastor Adriel. My question is, can we change God's mind through prayer, or do we just pray in hopes of, you know, that he has everything in control, like in reference to Genesis chapter 18, verse 16, where Abraham, you know, pleads for Sodom? Yeah, yeah, no, I appreciate this question. It's a really important one for us to consider. You know, I hesitate to say, you know, that when we pray, we're changing God's mind, because we know that God knows all things. The way I think about it, and I think this is faithful to the Scriptures, is that while there are times in Scripture where it seems like God is changing his mind because of our prayers, right, like I think also of Moses's intercessions, you know, throughout the book of Exodus, for example, for the people of Israel, you know, it seems like God, you know, is about to destroy the Hebrews, and then Moses steps in, and he begins to pray for them, and God relents. Now, of course, God knows all things, Daniel, and yet he accomplishes his perfect will through our prayers, and we should pray in such a way that we're calling upon the name of the Lord, knowing that our prayers accomplish things, but that it's God actually who's working in and through our prayers ultimately to accomplish his purposes. We don't bend God's will to our will in prayer.

I think that's a really important thing for us to recognize. It's not like we're bending God's will as we pray to him. Actually, when we pray, and when we pray according to God's will, our wills essentially are being shaped more and more after his will, and what it is that he calls us to, and so when you see passages in scripture where, you know, where the people of God, whether it's Moses or Abraham, are praying, and they're seeking the face of the Lord, and God responds, right, I think what's taking place there is God is already placing those prayers, those desires, if you will, in their hearts, and they're being prompted, and they're praying, and God's purposes are being accomplished. And what a beautiful thing that is, and I think that we should pray to the Lord and say, God, help me to pray in that way. Help me to pray according to your will. And we know, this is another thing that I love, Daniel, the book of 1 John, in 1 John 5, John says, we know that when we ask for anything according to the will of God, he hears us.

And so I think that's the best way to look at it. We're not bending God's will to our wills. He is, through our prayers, accomplishing his purpose will in us, his perfect will in us and in the world. Thank you for that question.

Great question. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. By the way, we'd love to tell you about our inner core.

It's an opportunity for you to be one of our regular supporters. And when you join the inner core, you get some exclusive content, including videos from Pastor Adriel, some sneak peeks that are upcoming resources and Bible studies. And we'll send you a copy of our wonderful book, Core Christianity, written by our founder, Dr. Michael Horton. You can learn more by going to corechristianity.com slash inner core.

Let's go to a voicemail that we received yesterday. I want to know if it's true that once saved, always saved. In a sense, I believe that, but I've been talking to my wife. She was raised Christian also, and it's like I believe it, but I also don't believe it, but I'm not sure.

My wife says you can lose your salvation, but would like more feedback from you guys if you can, please. All right. Thank you. God bless. Hey, God bless you, and thank you for that question. We have these sort of statements that we throw around in the church, the one-liners, once saved, always saved, I hear that one, or God will never give you more than you can handle, I hear that one. And it's really important for us when we have these real, I think, simple one-liners that we examine them according to what the scripture says. And it really depends, at least as far as that statement is concerned, once saved, always saved. It really depends on what we mean when we say that. If what an individual means is can someone who has a real relationship with Jesus Christ, who is born again, been adopted into the family of God, they've been justified, can they ever lose that status?

Can they become unjustified, if you will? Well, then I think that the clear answer of the scriptures is no. If you're a child of God, adopted into the family, he's not ever going to un-adopt you. If you're truly born again, you'll persevere in the faith. And I think that's something that we see throughout the pages of the Bible, in particular, throughout the pages of the New Testament. One place where I would go in order to highlight this is in the book of 1 John. 1 John, over and over again, John talks about, these are the children of God, and these are the children of the evil one, the children of the devil. And he has statements like 1 John chapter 3, beginning in verse 9, John said, no one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. Now, it's really important that we understand here, he's not saying that we as Christians who have been born again are going to be sinless, that is completely without sin, because earlier in 1 John chapter 1, he said that if you say you're without sin, you're a liar, and the truth isn't in you. So he's already established the fact that we're still going to sin as followers of the Lord, as those who are born again, but he's talking about something else here. He's talking about essentially living a life that's completely out of line with what it means to follow Jesus, to keep on sinning in that way. And then he says in verse 10 of 1 John 3, by this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. And so what I take that to mean is that those who are truly born again, John says that the seed of God abides in them, that they persevere in grace, that they continue to grow in the grace of God.

They're not perfect, we all still have sin, but they don't abandon the faith, if you will, they never become unborn again or lose their justification. And if people do leave the church, even though it seemed like maybe they were believers, they were going to church, going to Bible study, well, that's an indication that they never really had apprehended the grace of God, that they never really truly saved to begin with. And I think actually John makes that clear again in 1 John, back in chapter 2 in verse 19, he says, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out that it might be complained that they all are not of us. And so we got to make sense of John's words there.

He says, look, if they left, you know what that clearly shows? It's that they really weren't of us to begin with. If you're saved, if you're born again, born of the Holy Spirit, justified, you're not going to lose that status. I think you see this in Romans chapter eight, verses 29 through 30, where Paul talks about the one who's predestined and justified is also glorified.

You don't have somebody who's justified who doesn't end up being glorified also. The key here, and brother, we get all sorts of questions on this broadcast about how can I know whether or not I'm truly saved, I'm so concerned. And I'm sensitive to those questions because for a long time as a newer believer, I struggled with assurance. What you have to understand is your assurance, the assurance of your salvation is found in Jesus, in his word, in the promise of the gospel, in what he's done objectively to save you.

It's not in your good works, it's not in your obedience, it's not looking within. The more we look within, we often find that we begin to have questions because we still see that sin that's inside of us that John talked about again in 1 John. But we look up to Jesus and to his perfect work and to his cross, and it's there that we rest. And we don't just rest in what he's done, but we also rest in the fact that he ever lives to make intercession for us. So the reason we stay in the grace of God, if you will, is because Jesus is the one who keeps us, he preserves us. And for Christians who struggle with assurance, I just point them to Christ, to his work, to his prayers, because the fact of the matter is we can't keep ourself, if you will. We're prone to wander, and so we rest in the Lord.

Now let me just add one more thing there. That word saved, and this is why these sort of one-line statements can be unhelpful, that word saved has a broader range of meaning in the Bible than we often give to it in our discussions. Sometimes the word saved refers to temporal salvation. The psalmist would pray that God would save him from his enemies.

He's asking for physical deliverance. Other times it's used in such a way that it's talking about being rescued from the evils of the world, but people who experience that are still not saved in the way that we oftentimes think about it. I think about what Jude said, for example, in Jude 1.5, listen to this, I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed those who did not believe. Now, for those people described in Jude 1.5, the phrase once saved, always saved, it just doesn't work. I take that to mean essentially that there are people who in one sense experience the great acts of God, you know, maybe they're a part of the church, they've grown up around it, they hear the gospel, they see lives being changed, and yet while they've been rescued, if you will, out of the world in one sense, they still don't lay hold of Christ by faith for themselves. And that's the key there is, are you trusting in Jesus personally for the forgiveness of your sins?

If you are, then you can rest, and you can know that He is going to keep you. If you're not, if you're trying to do it by your own works, well then there's reason for concern, because none of us can do it on the basis of our own works or merit. God bless you, and thank you for that question. Great explanation of the gospel there, Adriel. We need to fall on our face before God and admit our need.

That's really the key. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and Easter is coming up here in just a couple of weeks, and we have a wonderful resource that we want to offer you that will help you really get into the Easter spirit this year. Yeah, it is a devotional that we've put together, and we really want to get this devotional in your hands. It focuses on the sayings of our Lord Jesus from the cross leading up to His resurrection from the dead. It's one of those devotional resources that's really wonderful to go through, especially in preparation for Easter and the Easter celebration. Head over to our website corechristianity.com to get this devotional, and we know that it will encourage you.

It's absolutely free. You can find it at corechristianity.com forward slash easter again corechristianity.com forward slash easter. You can also call us for that resource at 833-843-2673.

That's 833 the core. Let's go to Lori who's calling in from Nashville, Tennessee. Lori, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Yes, hi. I'm having a really difficult time loving my enemies, and I'm treating my enemies like my neighbors in terms of they're not directly my enemies, but they're enemies of man, and I think about the horrific things that are happening to children at the border, in China, the people that are being enslaved, Africa. All of this is, those are my enemies, because those folks are my neighbors, and I am having such a difficult time knowing how to love them. I can't do it on my own. I know the Holy Spirit is in me, but to separate loving the person because they're made in God's image, to, you know, hating their acts.

I just don't know how to do it, so I'm really struggling with this. How do I love the enemy? Yeah, there's a balance there, isn't there? Because I think we're called as Christians to hate sin, and the sort of righteous indignation that wells up inside of us, sounds like it wells up inside of you when you hear about the horrible things that are happening all around us in our own lives. There should be this righteous anger, and scripture talks about this.

Oftentimes, the scripture displays God himself as angry because of sin, and yet at the same time, we also know, Laurie, that he loves sinners, that he sent his son into the world to die for sinners, and so how do we balance these two things? One, I would say there's nothing wrong with having that righteous indignation. I mean, you think about Jesus cleansing the temple there in his triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Why? Because the house of God and the worship of God was being defiled. Sin should make us angry. False worship should make us angry. People being taken advantage of should make us angry, and yet we're called to love our enemies. How do we do it?

You're right. It's only through the Holy Spirit, and I think one of the things we have to remind ourselves over and over again is that we, Laurie, were enemies too when God pursued us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly, Paul said in Romans 5 verse 6. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

When did Christ die for us? It wasn't when we were walking with God, being faithful, you know, pious, that kind of a thing. It was when we were shaking our fists at God, when we were the enemies of God, that God still sent his Son into the world and pursued us in love. Now, that doesn't mean that we don't get angry about sin, that God's righteous response to sin, this sort of anger, this justice, this wrath, is to be minimized.

No, that's real. And we feel that as well, I think, as the people of God. That wells up in us too, and yet we remember, man, I deserve to be lost.

The wages of sin is death. I was an enemy of God, and yet he pursued me. And as we meditate upon that, Laurie, as reminded of God's goodness to his enemies, those who sinned against him, I think we're, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, enabled to love those who are difficult to love, even those who persecute us. Think of the Apostle Paul, once Saul of Tarsus, a persecutor of the church, waging war against Christians, if you will, and yet Jesus pursued him and said to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he called him into the fellowship, and he cleansed him of his sins, and he made him a mighty instrument for the Gospel. God can use his enemies, and each one of us is an example of that. And so may the Lord bless you and fill you with his Spirit. We explore the truth of God's Word together.