IS SALVATION ETERNAL, OR CONDITIONAL?
By
Pastor Suzanne L. Taylor
I want to begin by reading several Scriptures. You can turn with me if you like. Let’s begin in John 3:16. I will read it with personal pronouns. “God so loved us, that He gave His only begotten Son, that if we believe in Him, we will not perish, but will have eternal life.”
Now let’s read Roman 10:1-13. “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Nowhere here does it give an exception. It says that ALL who BELIEVE, ALL who CONFESS and ALL who CALL on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Let’s read I John 5:6-13. “This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” We make God a liar if we don’t believe that we are saved by Jesus. It is God who testified about Jesus. It’s His Word that assures us of our destiny, whether heaven or hell.
We are incapable of saving ourselves because of our insufficiencies. We are born of the flesh, and born into sin, and sin cannot enter the kingdom of God. We need a mediator to open the door, and clear the pathway for us. Jesus did that. When He explained the parable of the seeds, He said that the people standing around hear the Gospel, and want to believe it, but the devil steals seeds that were planted, which is the Word “out of their hearts” lest they should believe and be saved. So they never really were saved, or believed for their salvation. Then the ones that fell on the rocks were saved, but grew no roots, and when temptation came, again by the devil, they fell away. The ones that fell on the thorns are the ones overcome by fears and worries that they are missing out on something, so they never mature in Christ. They never walk out their salvation. They do not grow deep roots, therefore cannot produce fruit. And the Bible says, “You will know them by their fruit” (Matthew 7:20). The only verse here that tells us the person seeking salvation lost it is the one that says they never had it to begin with. satan stole their faith before it reached their hearts. The ones who might have had it were called away by temptation, but it does not say in either of these that they lost the salvation just that they never really had it.
Anyone walking away from the faith demonstrates that he never was born-again at all. Let’s read I John 2:19, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”
Number 23:19 tells us that “God is not a man, that He should lie; nor the Son of man that He should repent. Has He said and will He not do?” If God says it, it’s true. With God “There is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:16-18). It’s all clearly written for us to accept, or reject, but the choice is ours. Once we make the choice for God, we can never lose salvation. “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38, 39).
That’s how it is with God. We can choose to walk away, rejecting His offer of new birth and remain un-saved. Or we can run to Jesus and accept His salvation and believe. But, it’s only when we accept the offer presented to us from the Holy Ghost that the new life in Christ conceived in our hearts. Once the new birth has been accomplished, God cannot deny us. When we confessed with our mouths Jesus is Lord, we were born of the Spirit, and now belong to God.
God will never be like a human parent who loves us when we’re good, and turns away when we’re bad. We can choose to turn your back on God, in which case it will take repentance to bring us back into fellowship with Him. See that? It brings us back into “fellowship” with God, not back into salvation. We must remember: God is only ever a prayer away.
Let’s see what God had to say in Isaiah about salvation. Lots, I assure you. But we’ll look at chapter 51:6-8. Everything of this earth will rust, break, rot away, and be destroyed, including the earth. The only thing that is eternal for people is salvation. That’s the only way to gain a room in the Mansion. If we live IN the earth, we will die like the earth, and be forgotten. But if we live on the earth, and not become too involved in earthly things, we might die, but we’ll die to life, not death. The body of the unsaved dies, but his spirit and soul live in spiritual death which is eternal separation from God. The body of the saved dies, but his soul and spirit goes to eternity in God’s presence. The reality is this, we never really die! We only leave this place for heaven or hell. Our bodies decompose back to dust, but our soul and spirit lives forever in whatever place we have chosen.
In Philippians 1:3-6, Paul assures the Christians that he has been praying for them with joy in his heart, because he knows that the God who gave them salvation would complete the good work in them until the return of Jesus. What is the good work? Jesus said, in John 6:29, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent. This to me means that God will work with those who have accepted Christ as Savior until their last breath, or until Jesus comes back for His bride. God does not abort a mission He has undertaken. If He accepted you at the instant of your salvation, and began the good work in you, He will not stop until that work is done. Those who have truly been saved can never be unsaved.
I John 5:10-13 tells us to continue to believe in the name of the Son of God, Jesus. We might fall into temptations, we might even walk away from God for a time, but God will chase us down and call us back in many ways by His Spirit. There is no way God will let you go once He has received, redeemed, and renewed you. You are His, and He will complete what He started. He will bring good fruit from you in some way.
God loves us! Do you remember what I read at the beginning of this study? God so loved us! And because He loved us He gave His Son for us. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah!
