Expert: Dr. Ronald E. Shultz - 3/10/2004

Question
Do you personally believe that once a person is saved, this person is always saved, regardless of how the individual lives his/her life?

Answer
Ask any time!  You are a blessing!



Howdy, Kay!  I reckon you are kin to Earl. Once saved always saved? That depends on who and what determines salvation.  Are you saved by your works?  No, you are saved in spite of them.  If you can't be saved by them than how do you keep that which you could not earn by the same works that could not earn it?  

How many sins does it take to lose it?  Must be only one if it is possible.  

One is all it took to get Adam and Eve thrown out of the garden with a death sentence.

One is all it really took for the folks who died in the flood.  Had they gotten on the ark all sins would have been forgiven and no sin later would get them drowned.  

On the flip side, one act of faith was all it took for Noah and his family to be saved.  Even after building the ark they could have said this is dumb and stayed out of the ark and died after 120 years of faithful service.

When Moses lifted up the serpent how many times did they have look to be healed?  Once.  They may have committed many sins before to bring about the snakes but only one act of faith healed them and if they sinned later the snakes did not come back.

Were the Jews saved when the death angel came through by their works or the Blood?  They may have been exceedingly sinful but one act of faith by staying in the house where the blood covered the door saved them.  They could have walked out afterward and then cussed God but the death angel would not return.  

David said if the Lord marked inquities,who could stand?

It is not about us, but about Christ.  Paul said some years after salvation that in him dwelt no good thing.  Hello, a man whom God used to write most of the NT and suffered much for his testimony had no good thing in him?  Where in the world does that leave the rest of us?

If you have children, when do they cease to be your children, when they kill someone?  They don't stop being your children.  They are your children no matter what.  Now, you may disinherit them and you can do that with children born to you, but adopted children you can never disown.  God foreseeing these types of questions also used the term adoption.  He did not buy a pig in a poke.  He knew what He got when He saved you.   You will always be a sinner saved by grace.  One act of faith in His work on the Cross saved you for eternity just like one act of unbelief cost our first parents Paradise and brought in death.  He adopted us and He will not disinherit us.  

Does that mean we can live as we please?  No, He says that He chastens every son He receives and if you receive not chastening you are a bastard.  That is why He can tell some who have used His name to do miracles and such that He never knew them.  

I can take on the Bunch name and lay claim to Earl's millions.  ;-)  However, My case could not hold up in court because I would fail a DNA test.  The folks in Matt 7 did not have Christ's DNA and they were denied the inheritance.  However, if I would prove to be Earl's "love child" and had his DNA then I would be his and could claim my inheritance whether I was a MD or a hobo.  The genes are what counts.

There is a sin unto death and if I am such a disobedient child that God can't do anything with me here then He will call me home early costing me years here and rewards there so I will not get away with anything.

1 Cor 3:11-15 teaches that a person get to Heaven though they have no works at all as long as they have the foundation of Jesus Christ.  Not a good place to be in, but better to have the foundation and no reward then to have "seemingly" good works like the folks in Matt 7 and have no foundation.  Man looks on outward works but God looks on the heart.  David messed up royally, but was a man after God's own heart.  Peter was about to fail miserably but Jesus prayed that his faith would not fail not that his works would not fail.  LUKE 22:31,32

If a person struggles with certain sins and is chastised by God and indeed faces a Romans 7 issue in his life that does not mean that he is not saved.  If he/she can sin willfully and have no regrets or chastisement then he/she was never saved from the beginning.

Remember, God has never had anything to work with but failures.  All the heroes of the faith had some flaw/sin that if works counted in salvation no one would make it.  Eph 2:8,9 clearly says it is not of works.  

If we are not saved then we are on probation.  We could never say we are saved.  When we are saved, what are we saved from?  We are saved from the penalty of sin, which is the second death in Hell.  If we were not saved then and forever then we cannot tell a new convert he is saved because he might not hold out.  All we can then say is that he is on probation.  If that is the case Paul cannot say whosoever calls upon the Lord SHALL be saved.  He needs to say MIGHT be saved and if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth you MIGHT be saved not SHALL.  I John 5:11-13 says that we who believe can KNOW that we ARE saved not saved if we hang on with good works.

We should be zealous of good works and our spiritual temperature can maybe be judged by our works and we are told to inspect fruit and yet we come down again to the folks in Matt 7 that had great fruit from what humans could see and yet they were lost.  

Paul says that when I am saved I am sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption not until I screw up or walk away or forget to confess or even refuse to confess a sin.  The down payment has been made and Christ will lose nothing that is His that He paid for.  He only lost the Son of perdition who was never His to begin with as He was chosen with full knowledge of being a devil. All the other failing, scared and messed up disciples were saved and used even when they played the hypocrite and lost their temper over John Mark, etc.

If you are ever saved you are saved for eternity.  Only God knows whether you will bring forth a hundredfold, sixty or thirty.  30 folks may be that way because of small faith or maybe failures.  He does not exactly say why they bring forth less but they are still good soil.  God loves us and we are to be perfected in that love because fear hath torment and perfect love casteth out fear.  If today I might be saved bit tomorow I might screw up 30 seconds before I die and go to Hell I need to live in terror not just fear.  It is good to have a healthy fear of God but to never know if you are His would bring about debilitating fear and great torment.

Jesus paid it all!!  I am bankrupt without Him.  My second pastor always said, "If Jesus Christ fails then everything faild for me!!"  Amen and amen.  If I have the opportunity to blow it then I might as well quit now for I am sure that I already have or will shortly.

I hope this helps you. Blessings to you and as I told Earl, stay in the Word!