You can't lose your salvation. Period. However, there are verses that need to be clarified as too many people have misinterpreted them and taken them out of context.
Hebrews 6 & 10 are some of these chapters in the Bible that people use, not to set people free, but to bind them.
Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.. Hebrews 6:1
The writer of Hebrews is telling us in the offset to leave the basics and to press on to maturity. We turn away from the dead works and, actually, trying to kill what's already dead. People do understand the absence of power in the works of the temple and animal sacrifice, but they don't seem to move on.
..of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. Heb 6:2-3
The washings in the temple, the high-priestly laying of hands upon scapegoats and sacrifices, the doubt cast upon the resurrection of the dead, and the hype placed upon eternal judgment are things we eventually graduate from... it's as if the writer of Hebrews is saying, 'Let's move on!'. People still debate on the resurrection of the dead, and the implications affecting eternal judgment.. but let's move on from that!
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit.. Heb 6:4
The Holy Spirit ministers to one and all, turning on the light switch and causing all to see Jesus Christ and His complete finished work.. and we who believe share in the Holy Spirit. He speaks to all, and Paul, in another epistle, asks all not to harden their hearts when they have been spoken to..
and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. Heb 6:5-6
We see all sorts of things coming from the Gospel, Christ, and the finished work.. We are spoken to distinctly and personally by the Holy Spirit.. but there are still people who resist even after hearing the best message that there is.
They fall from grace, back into the law, back into the animal sacrifices, the dead works of the temple, etc.. they step right over Christ and His finished work, publicly going back to counting on self for salvation and blessings, favor and love. They essentially say that Christ is not enough.
For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. Heb 6:7-8
See, there are two kinds of ground - soil that drinks in the rain, and soil that doesn't. The rain is the Gospel, and naturally, it comes to life.
All this is a warning. However, check out verse 9:
Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. Heb 6:9
The writer started with the warning but continues with the other side, speaking about the soil that soaks in the rain. There are things that are for us who drink the Gospel!
Let's jump to Hebrews 10:
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins... Heb 10:26
The sinning back in the day was all out.. and sin is definitely defined as other things in other places, but from Hebrews 1-9 the only sin that is mentioned is unbelief.. or, hearing and having the knowledge of the Truth, but not really accepting and believing any part of it. There is no sacrifice for rejecting the one best sacrifice that Christ offered. This is a willful rejection, a total unbelief of the Gospel and the living Word.
We do NOT lose our salvation because we sin! Jesus Christ took our sin - He BECAME sin so that we would become his RIGHTEOUSNESS!
'What if the sin was willful?' - The point is, EVERY sin is willful! Is the verse saying that if we willfully sin each and every time, we would lose our salvation? No! This is the sin of unbelief and rejection of the Gospel, of Jesus Christ and His finished work! If people keep willfully doing that, then yes, there is no salvation for people like that..
but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? Heb 10:27-29
People who reject Jesus Christ are enemies of God. And this is saying that if the rejection of the law had its own severities, how much more does rejection of Jesus Christ do? Andrew Farley proposes that this is a rhetorical question, pointing towards the place and the glory of the finished work of Jesus Christ.
We should stop profaning the spirit of Grace. Grace is not a new movement that just came up. It's been grace before, it's been grace all the way.
For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Heb 10:30-31
It's terrifying to miss the Gospel... but this is a huge but in verse 39:
But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Heb 10:39
We are not going to shrink back to the law - we overcome because Christ has overcome, and we have been saved, not partially to the point of rejection, but we have been saved completely, infused with Christ; we are alive with an imperishable seed, soil constantly soaking in the rain..
Summary:
If we go on unbelieving after receiving the knowledge of the Truth, there is no other sacrifice out there!
But we, believers, are not of those who shrink back. We are preserved forever!
Some are 'enlightened' and 'taste' the Word of God but never drink in the Gospel message.
But for us, believers, there are better things that go with our salvation!
Do you realize how safe you really are?
Your Father keeps you.
Nothing separates you.
He'll never leave you.
And no one can snatch you out of His hand!
Celebrate your security!
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email me at jibee@rocketmail.com.
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you His Shalom. - Numbers 6:24-26