The stork brought you once. But unless you are born again by the Spirit of God — you are not His child.
You can’t lose what you never had. Many in the Church are fake wheat, the tares that represent those who grow alongside the true wheat – until harvest day. They look so much like wheat, and are found in church with the wheat, but they are not wheat.
Interesting – the life of Templeton, Charles Bradley Templeton (October 7, 1915–June 7, 2001). He was a big “Christian” evangelist, ran around with Billy Graham at one time, then denied the faith and, as an agnostic, wrote against the Christian faith. For more on him, see this and other links:
“Templeton, as his own story makes plain (p. 3), never truly reached a point where he was intellectually convicted of the truthfulness of Christianity (what the reformers called assensus). Assensus represents the conviction we have in our minds.”
That is how I would describe anyone who “leaves” their faith. They never were saved in the first place, so did not actually “leave”. You cannot leave where you never were! They just did what Hebrews 6 says:
“…those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit,5 and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come,6 and then fell away….” – Hebrews 6:4-6
Born again
If you have been truly born again, then your life was changed.
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. – 2 Corinthians 5:17
[See more about this in my article: That Moment in Time.] These “tares” do not ever repent and truly accept Christ as their Lord and Savior and follow Him. They merely were “enlightened” and “tasted” and partook of the attractive things of the faith. They liked it, and made it a part of their life. But they were not born again into Christ. It is apparent that 2 Corinthians 5:17 never happened to them.
Nowhere in Scripture does God tell us that “we, by our own choice, can turn away from God”. To the contrary, Scripture says we already have eternal life, now! If you have been changed by God, and Christ is in you – then you will not turn away and “lose your salvation”. All our sins are covered with salvation in Christ.
13 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. – 1 John 5:13
Once 2 Corinthians 5:17 takes place in a person’s life, God Himself has made them into a new eternal creature destined for heaven. And what God has done is sure. He Himself changes us. He Himself, of His own volition, gives us eternal life which we, in that moment, begin to live… even while in this mortal body.
The only proof, to us from this earthly side of things, of this change having really occurred – is if one “endures to the end”. In Scripture that is not a question applying to true believers. It does not say “you will be saved if you endure to the end.” It is saying we WILL endure to the end… if you are truly saved.
Those verses only apply to those who have not been truly saved. God is not telling us to hold on for dear life or we will fall out of heaven! Nowhere does Scripture say He will remove us to Hell, or end our salvation, or take it away. To the contrary, Paul says in Romans 8
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” – Romans 8:1
“But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. …10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” – Romans 8: 9-11
This is in the present tense – accomplished by Christ, done. Not future! We already are, currently, in this world:
– “not in the flesh” (spiritually speaking), and
-“Christ is in you”, and
-“the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you”
God Himself has done all this on our behalf – not we ourselves. HE created us. And then we found ourselves under His condemnation. But when we bowed to Him, repented of our sinfulness, and followed Him – HE then, in that moment in time, re-created us into another form of creature. We are no longer merely human. It is HE who has changed us, and it is HE who keeps us.
29 For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren: 30 and whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
– Romans 8:29-30
Scripture is very clear that NOTHING can separate us from Christ.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Even as it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
– Romans 8:35-39
39 And this is the will of Him Who sent Me, that I should not lose any of all that He has given Me, but that I should give new life and raise [them all] up at the last day.
– John 6:39 Amplified Bible (AMP)
The surety of being “in Christ”, of having already been “made a new creation”, is found throughout Scripture. This is the hope set before us:
19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, 20 where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us…. – Hebrews 6:19-20
Our hope is always ever in Christ, never in our strength, never in our abilities, never in our own self. Always our hope is in the One who changed us for His purposes. And He will never let us go. That is why I am not afraid. My salvation does not rest in me. God has me in His hands, and His hands are strong.
FOR MORE:
The gullibility of the common person
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