If you are reading this, you probably believe that you can't fall from grace, you can't sin, and you can't lose your place in Heaven in any way after you are "saved." You believe that if you sin, you cannot suffer the consequences of it because Christ has paid the debt for your sins past, present, and future. You believe that unless you publicly and totally renounce God, you are guaranteed a spot in Heaven.
That's not what the Bible says, however. God's Word tells us we can give up our eternal home. Let's take a closer look.
Proof Against It
You've probably come across Romans 3:23 before, whether by means of someone else trying to persuade you of this matter or by your preacher of whoever misinterpreting this passage and telling you it's okay. Let's look at this verse:
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"All have sinned. It says that, and you most likely don't doubt that. We've all sinned. But what does it say? We've sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Note the use of present tense there—not only have we done it before, but we continue to do that. On a daily basis, we sin and fall short of the glory of God. That means we fall from grace, we lose our mansion in Heaven. If you fall short of the glory of God, how are you going to get into Heaven? Yeah, but you say, "What about the following verse?" Well, here it is:
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,Yes, it says we are justified freely by grace. But that doesn't excuse the fact that we fall from the grace of God. You like to look at the "justified" part and say, "Oh, well, I'm okay as I am," but that's not what the Bible says. It says we fall from grace, but we have a hope of obtaining this grace again, through Jesus our Savior. Please read further.
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,"
Of all the false doctrines of the world, I think this "once saved, always saved" crud is the one thing that has the most biblical proof against it. Look at most of the Bible—the vast majority of the Bible is written to people that believe or believed, but they had fallen into sin and needed instruction to get out of it to regain God's grace so that they can enter Heaven. Here is a list of the New Testament books written to Christians who had fallen or who were in immediate danger of falling:
- Romans
- 1 and 2 Corinthians
- Galations
- Hebrews
- 2 Peter
- Revelation
But let's look at this book by book, verse by verse. We'll start with Acts. Look up Acts 5:1-11 for example. This is the record of Ananias and Sapphira. They lied, right? That's a sin, right? God took their souls, right? Why did He do that? You might say it is because since they were Christians, God was taking them out of His ministry, because they could no longer benefit Him. So He took them to Heaven. Actually, you'll find that He didn't. Revelation 21:8 says that "all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Ananias and Sapphira went to Hell. God got angry with them and passed judgement on them immediately, sending them to Hell. "But they were Christians—He wouldn't do that because Christ paid the debt of their sins," you say. Yes, but only the repented sins. If you'll notice, Ananias and Sapphira didn't have time to repent of their sins, so they died liars, and they went to Hell.
Now to Simon in Acts 8:13-23. Simon was a Christian, but when he tried to buy the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit from the apostles, Peter said to him,
"'Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.'" (vs. 22-23)Simon was going to go to Hell if he didn't repent, because he was in sin. But he was a Christian—can he still go to Hell for this sin? Yes, or his need to repent would not be urgent, like this is.
Look at Galations, Paul's letter to those of Galatia. The Galatians had been taught by Paul, but some other people came behind Paul and told the Galatians false doctrines, and they believed them. Galations 1:6 says,
"I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel."These were Christians, but they went to another doctrine that was similar to Christ's, but was still sinful. Had they given up on God, and renounced Him? No, they thought they were worshiping God, but in reality, they weren't—they were practicing another doctrine. Their souls were in danger, so Paul felt compelled to write this letter to the Galatians so that they might turn back to God.
Again, in Galatians, "once saved, always saved" is disproved. Galatians 5:4 says this:
"You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace."Paul plainly says to these sinners, "You have fallen from grace." That means if they can, we can, too. But you may say that they fell from grace because they wanted to convert back to Judaism. Indeed, they were reincoporating the elements of Judaism into their worship, and they were thus disobeying the law of God. They were being lawless, but John tells us that sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4). This means that any one of the sins in those lists mentioned above are just as lawless and sinful as completely changing your religion, i.e., converting to Judaism. This says that our sins are equally deadly and equally damning. When we sin, we fall from grace.
Paul, one of the greatest biblical writers, one of the best preachers of all time, could have gone to Hell. In fact, according to 1 Corinthians 9:27, we find that he disciplined his body and brought it into subjection, lest, when he has preached to others, he himself should be disqualified. He is using a race as a metaphor for the road to Heaven, and if you get disqualified, you are no longer in the race. And when you're not running the race for Heaven, you're on the downward path to Hell.
First Corinthians 10:12 says,
"Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."Hmm. "Fall." Interesting word choice. It seems that we as Christians can fall.
Look here at 1 Corinthians 15:1-2:
"Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain."We are saved if we follow the word (the Bible). Following the Bible means not sinning. Granted, everyone sins, so our following of the Bible is by no means going to be a perfect venture, because we will stumble sometimes. But if we remain following the Bible, we can be saved. We are not holding fast the word if we cuss, fornicate, murder, lie, steal, or commit one of many other actions. These are sin, and we cannot enter Heaven with sin. Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin are death. If we sin, and if we don't repent of that sin, we go to Hell. That is our death. We don't suffer physical punishments for our sins, because bad things happen to good and bad people, and good things happen to good and bad people (Matthew 5:45). Our punishment for sin is spiritual: an eternity in Hell.
Colossians 1:23 says, "if indeed you continue in the faith. . . ." See, it's conditional. We will go to Heaven if we continue in this faith, the gospel of Christ.
Hebrews 3:6 says, ". . . if we hold fast. . . ."—there again, another conditional statement. Hebrews 3:13-14 says that we are "partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. Hebrews 6:4-6 reads,
"For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame."These are harsh words. It says if a Christian ("those who were once enlightened") falls from grace ("if they fall away") crucifies Jesus on the cross again. That's how much our sin hurts God. This passage is probably talking about someone who is beyond saving because they freely renounce God and disown the Maker, because it says it is impossible to renew them to repentance, but nevertheless, how much less would our sin hurt God if we sin—and still believe? It says we can fall, and we can, because it says so. This disproves the denominationalistic view that we can't fall from grace. It specifically says "if they fall away."
Here comes the real ammo. Hebrews 10:26-27:
"If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,If we sin willfully when we're a Christian, Christ's blood no longer covers us, and we are in sin, and we are God's adversary, and we are going to Hell. That's what this says. How anyone can come to another conclusion about this passage is beyond me. It specifically says those who sin willfully go to Hell.
but a certain fearful expectation of judgement, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries."
See other scriptures:
- Hebrews 10:38
- James 5:19-20
- 2 Peter 1:10 (conditional)
- 2 Peter 2:20-22
- 2 Peter 3:17
- Revelation 2:5
The Cure for Sin
The Bible proves without a doubt that "once saved, always saved" is a lie. It says we can sin, that we can fall from grace. But what happens when we do so? What happens when we lose our spot in Heaven?
When we sin, we must repent. See Revelation 2:5 and 2:16. These were written to Christians who had fallen from grace, who needed to repent.
In conclusion, we see that we can sin and lose our place in Heaven, and we see that when we do, we must repent of our sins. The Bible affirms this strongly, and I hope I have convinced you of this truth. If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me.
