There's alot of verses that talk seem to say you can lose your salvation, such as Paul warning the Galatians not to fall from grace [the verse is found in Gal. 5:4--kim's note] or verses like Rev. 21:7-8 talking about who will be in the lake of fire.
The thing is, it goes back to, are we saved by grace but kept saved by works? Paul addressed this in his letter to the Galatians...about them starting off in faith but trying to finish the race by works...Paul called this "foolish" (Gal. 3:1).
Even the passage in Galatians which you reference, in context, is about Paul telling the Galatians that they had fallen from grace by trying to mix salvation by grace and by works. Essentially, if it is a free gift you don't have to do anything to earn it and you don't need to do anything to keep it. When I give someone a gift for Christmas or their birthday, I don't take it away the second they don't live up to my standards..it wouldn't be a free gift but a debt they continually owe me.
As for the verse in Revelation 21 (and many passages like it), we have to go back to who we are in Christ. I may occasionally screw up and commit the sin of being fearful (one of the sins listed on the list as deserving the Lake of Fire), but that doesn't mean I am one of the fearful...I am a Child of God. When God looks at me, He doesn't see my sin; He sees Christ's Righteousness. My own righteousness is as filthy rags...Christ's is perfect in every way and covers up my failures.
Jesus teaches us that no one can take His sheep out of His hand (John 10:28-29). We can't even pluck ourselves out of His hand if we wanted to, because we are not stronger than God.
...If we can't lose our salvation, what keeps someone living for God? it's absurd to think that someone who is claiming to be a Christian yet living a sinful, worldly life is going to go to heaven.
With your children, do they obey better, cheerfully, and with sweet spirits when they are scared to death of losing your love and approval (and thus trying to appease your anger) or is life generally more pleasant, the children more obedient, when they are secure in your love, knowing you will always love them, and respecting you so much that they don't want to disappoint you? I don't know about in your house, but in my house, when everyone is tip-toeing around me because I am in a foul mood, they may be doing the right things but they are not doing them with the right heart...and a few of the kids just give up trying to even d the right things if I am being excessively critical. However, if they know the house rules so to speak and are feeling secure in my love, and we have cultivated a pleasant atmosphere in our home...then they are obeying with cheerful hearts to please me, not obeying out of fear.
A truly saved person is not going to want to dive back into the miry clay. God saved them. They are thankful to have their feet set upon a rock (Psalm 40:1-3). When someone is a new Christian (especially a new Christian saved as an adult with sinful habits ingrained), God starts to work in their lives, changing them from the inside out. He promises to complete this work in us (Phil. 1:6, Gal. 5:22-23). Now, initially, some of those works of the flesh mentioned in Galatians 5 are going to be a bigger issue in their lives than in a more seasoned saint...but as a new Christian grows, the fruit of the Spirit will also develop more and more. The fruit of the Spirit is something God does in us as we seek after Him, not a to-do list to keep us saved.
In my own life, when I was working to keep my salvation, I was not living a joyful Christian life but a fearful one...always wondering about my salvation at any given moment. It's much more freeing to serve God knowing I can't add one jot or tittle to my salvation...it's settled. Now I am just serving Him out of gratitude for what He did for me, rather than to pay some unpayable debt.
I seriously believe this fear of losing our salvation can paralyze many Christians to the point of inefectiveness in their Christian walk, and rob them of the joy that ought to be theirs. And how prideful to think we could do anything at all to keep ourselves saved or to earn God's continued favor!
Stay tuned for more...Lord willing...
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