Once Saved, Always Saved? Answer for Final July Challenge Question, Part 3 The Problem of False Confession

Let's take a final look at the question asked last month.

Is it true that a Christian, a true Christ follower, is "once saved, always saved?" The answer is yes. If you have not read the previous posts on this topic, please read them:

ICYMI: Here is the original question.

ICYMI: Here is part one of the answer.

ICYMI: Here is part two of the answer.

Why is there some much confusion over this question?

There lives within the organized church structure a problem which has existed since the early days of the church: the false confessor, or the person who claims to be saved but is not.

This is not new.

Read this passage from the single-chapter Book of Jude (written, according to scholars, at or before the end of the first century, AD or CE).:

"These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage." (verse 16)

Read this passage from the seventh chapter of the Book of Matthew, as the writer shares the words and teachings of Jesus Christ:

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:15-27)

Let's continue to read what the Bible says about false confessors (people who claim to be followers of Christ, but are not). Near the end of the Book of Revelation,  Jesus speaks these words to John the Revelator:

"But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." (Revelation 21:8)

The Apostle Paul, writing to the early church in Rome, says this:

"Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." (Romans 1:28-31)

In the Book of Galatians, the writer explains the life and lifestyle of true followers compared to false confessors. The writer also explains the different, final destination of those who do not allow themselves to be led by God, the Holy Spirit:

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh^a ; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”. If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever^c you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factionsand envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:13-19)

We are not to judge others, because we are not qualified to make judgments regarding the spiritual status of others. In fact, in the second letter to the Corinthian church, Paul tells church members to "examine" themselves: "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?" (2 Corinthians 13:5)

Instead of judging others, we are to judge and evaluate and examine ourselves. That's a big responsibility, and not a responsibility to be taken lightly.

We are free from the judgment of other people, but we are not free from the judgment of God.

Please note Paul is speaking to those already affiliated or associated with the church organization. He is not speaking to outsiders, to people who claim no connection to Jesus Christ. It is to those already in the church organization that Paul says "examine yourselves." 

Why examine ourselves? We examine ourselves to know the truth about ourselves.

If saved, self-examination is good and necessary for improvement and spiritual progress.

If not saved, self-examination is good and necessary for understanding the truth about ourselves.

We are responsible for our willingness to know and act upon what is true.

God always welcomes all people who come with an honest willingness to change (repent) and be made over into a carrier of God's goodness and a servant of God's will. 

John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

When we believe in him, we not only believe in what we did while on earth. We also believe in what he said about truth, life, behavior, and our eternal destiny with him or without him. What we believe, we follow.