Can We Lose Salvation?

Can you lose your salvation?
There are those who say that all throughout the Bible, we're taught that a saved person can lose their salvation, and they're wrong.
While others will tell you that all throughout the Bible, from one end to the other, no one has ever been able to suffer loss of their salvation, and you know what?
They're also wrong.
I'm Trey Searcy.
Today, here on Truth Time Radio, we're going to get this right.
In Psalms 51 verse 11, David writes this, "'Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me."
Question, do you have to have the Holy Spirit to go to heaven?
Oh yeah, without it, you're hell bound.
So, could David lose his salvation?
You better believe it.
David could be saved on Sunday and lost by the next weekend.
The big bad wolf could come and huff and puff and blow his salvation down.
However, opposite to David, Paul tells us that at the moment we hear the gospel and truly believe it, the Holy Spirit promises to seal us.
Never to leave us, but to seal us, Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13.
Now that's as opposite as night and day to what David said.
If you've trusted in the finished cross work of Christ, the big bad wolf can come to you and do all of the huffing and puffing he wants to, but it'll have no effect on your salvation whatsoever.
So it's clear that all who say that throughout the Bible it's taught that a saved person
can lose their salvation are wrong.
And it's just as clear that all who say that throughout the Bible it's taught that a saved person can never lose their salvation are just as wrong.
If you're a Bible believer, you know I'm speaking the truth, because we just read where David plainly said that they could lose it.
But the apostle Paul just as clearly tells us that we cannot.
So what's the answer to the supposed conundrum?
Second Timothy 2:15, it's the only way to study your Bible, and it says to rightly divide the word of truth.
There are those today that, well, they have a difficult relationship with reality.
They've made a conscious decision to ignore the truth.
Well, if you continue to ignore God's instructions as to how to study your Bible, you'll never be settled on these issues.
And just as Paul tells you in Second Timothy chapter 3 verse 7, you'll be forever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Now, look with me at Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 25.
Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 25.
Here, Moses tells the children of Israel, not you, but the children of Israel, that, and I quote, It shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God as he has commanded us.
So what happens when we flip the verse?
Well, if they did not do all the commandments, they would lose their righteousness.
They could be righteous on the Saturday Sabbath, but they could lose it and be unrighteous by the time the rooster crowed Monday morning.
Unlike us today, they were not, and I repeat not, Ephesians 1:13 sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
You can play around with your Bible puzzle all you want, but that piece will never fit.
Well, Trey, maybe you're right about the Old Testament, but what about the New Testament?
What about that?
What about John?
He preached salvation by grace through faith.
Well, let's see.
First John 1:9.
Here, John writes to his audience and says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Okay, let's flip the verse.
Now what do you have?
If we don't, he won't.
If you flip the verse, it says that, if you don't confess your sins, then he won't be faithful to forgive them.
If you don't confess your sins, he won't cleanse you, and you'll remain dirty and unrighteous.
So, was John teaching Paul's salvation by grace gospel?
Not a chance.
How could anyone say that they have trusted the Lord's death, burial, and resurrection to save their never-dying soul, while at the same time, say I confess my sins because he forgives me at the moment I confess them?
The contradiction is apparent.
That's clearly a contradiction.
One statement is a statement of grace, the other a statement of works.
And if you haven't heard the news, Romans 11:6 says that grace and works are mutually exclusive.
Forgiveness isn't earned by your prayer.
Forgiveness was earned by the blood of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and it's your faith in that fact that will save you.
And by the way, what about the sins you forgot?
If salvation is like you say, and it comes by you confessing your sins and asking for forgiveness, then, well, what about the sins you forgot?
And for those who say, well, near the end of the prayer, I always am sure to say, Lord, if there's any sins I've forgotten, forgive me of those, too.
Wrong.
Wrong answer.
1 John 1:9 clearly says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive them.
So then, you didn't confess them?
No, you forgot one.
So guess what?
He didn't forgive that one.
The verse is clear.
You must confess the sin before he can forgive the sin.
Therefore, it's mandatory that you remember the sin in order for it to be forgiven.
For those of you who claim that John wrote down the instructions for your salvation, good luck.
You're going to need it.
Now, 1 John 1:7, here he writes, if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
Now flip it.
Flip the verse and it says, "If.
If you don't walk in the light, the blood of Jesus won't do you one bit of good.
This is not salvation by grace through faith, but rather it's contingent on whether or not you live up to your end of the bargain.
If you flip the verse, it's plain to see that his blood won't cleanse you.
Won't cleanse you from your sin.
So, now what?
You're in deep trouble.
If you claim that John was the one commissioned to give the instructions for your salvation, then your performance plays a part in whether or not the blood applies to you.
What you've missed is the fact that John was commissioned to go to the circumcised children of Israel, Matthew chapter 10 verses 5 and 6, John chapter 4 verse 22, and Galatians chapter 2 verse 9.
John wrote down instructions for the Jewish tribes, just as we're told that James did.
James did the same thing.
Just read James chapter 1 verse 1.
And don't be deceived, Peter wrote to the same Jewish tribes as well.
That's easily found in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 1.
So, just as the first verse of the book of James, Peter also starts out his letter identifying who he's writing to.
It's called a greeting.
We learned about greetings in elementary school, but for some strange reason, religion teaches us to ignore them.
In the name of religious tradition and church headquarters, many today continue to run from the truth.
You see, the function of 1, 2, and 3 John is to help Israel to identify the lies of the Antichrist and his followers.
It'll be a time of great tribulation and great deception as we know from Matthew 24:24.
You see, all this time you've spent collecting the dots, but no one has taught you to connect the dots.
With all the sermons and the Sunday school lessons you have under your belt, tell me this, why has it not occurred to you that nowhere in the Apostle Paul's letters can you find anything that even remotely says to confess and ask for forgiveness of your sins?
Huh?
Come on now, you should make it a point to read all 13 books of the Apostle Paul.
And by the way, those books are Romans through the book of Philemon.
And when you find just one place where Paul tells us to 1 John 1:9 so that we can get our sins forgiven, send that verse to me.
Send it to me.
I'm going to tell you something that's important, but it's even more important that you check
me out.
Don't take my word, but rather test me.
At this point, I don't even want you to believe me.
I want you to get in this word and discover some truths for yourself.
So, put this to the test.
1 John 1:9 is in perfect harmony with Matthew chapter 3 verse 6, Nehemiah chapter 9: verse 2, Leviticus 26:40, and Daniel 9:20, but it must be divided from all of Paul's writings.
Now, let me repeat that 1 John 1:9 harmonizes with Matthew chapter 3verse 6, Nehemiah chapter 9 verse 2, Leviticus chapter 26 verse 40, and Daniel chapter 9 verse 20, but it must be divided from all of Paul's writings.
Why?
Because there's no such doctrine as asking for forgiveness found in any of the 13 books of the Apostle Paul.
1 John is a Hebrew letter written to, yeah, you guessed it, the Hebrews, and the function of the letter is to assist them when they go through the tribulation.
The doctrine is applicable to believing Israel, and will help them to identify those who say that they're Jews, but in reality they're not.
They're actually lying blasphemers and are of the synagogue of Satan, as you can see in Revelation chapter 2 verse 9 and chapter 3 verse 9.
Now, your understanding will increase when you recognize that this is a Hebrew letter written to a Hebrew audience concerning their tribulation condition.
This is not doctrine for the church, the body of Christ.
It's doctrine for the Hebrew people of Israel, the ones who must keep all the commandments, confess their sins and endure until the end for their salvation.
These same people must endure until the end in order for their sins to be blotted out.
You may have read about it, but did you believe it?
It's in the book of Acts chapter 3 and verse 19.
Here, Peter tells Israel to repent and be converted that their sins may be blotted out when the Lord returns, not before, but when they're in his presence.
That's when they will have their sins blotted out.
I'm Trey Searcy, and now, you know the truth.
Religion is always dealing with you and what you're doing and what you're not doing.
Anytime you're sitting around thinking, what should I be doing, you're under religion.
The grace of God is dealing with what Christ did.
Under religion man always says, look what I'm doing for you, God.
And under grace Christ says, look what I did for you, man.
Under religion man says, look how I went to church.
Under the grace of God Jesus said, look how I went to Calvary.
Under religion man says, look at how I was raised in my denomination.
And under grace Christ says, look at how I was raised from the dead.
Under religion man says, look at how I gave my money.
And under grace Jesus says, look at how I gave my life.
Under religion man says, look God at how I confessed my sins.
Under grace Jesus says, look man how I took away your sins.
Under religion man says, look God at how I stood up against sin.
And under the grace of God Jesus says, look man at how I died for your sins.
Under religion man says, look God at how I judged the lost world.
And under grace Jesus says, look man at how I saved the lost world.
Under religion man says, look God at how I got up and marched against these evildoers.
And under grace Jesus says, look man at how I suffered and died for evildoers.
Under religion man says, look God at how I bowed down to you.
And under grace Jesus says, look man at how I became one of you.
Under religion man says, look God at how I healed the sick.
And under grace Jesus says, look man at how I raised the dead.
Under religion man says, look God at how I spoke in tongues.
And under grace Jesus says, look man at how I spoke in love.
Under religion man says, look God at how successful my life was.
And under grace Jesus says, look man at how successful my death was.
Religion my friends is always man trying to reach up to God with self-effort to be accepted by God.
True classic Christianity was God reaching down to man through Jesus Christ with love and acceptance.
And that's why Paul said we preach Christ and Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews, foolishness to the Gentiles, but to those whom God has called both Jew and Gentiles Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.
In the summer of 2003, I was fortunate enough to learn the true simplicity of the gospel of Christ as the only means by which anyone can be saved to eternal life today.
The gospel, or the good news, is that Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, and rose from the dead according to the scriptures.
And that anyone that chooses to trust in this gift of salvation performed by Jesus Christ, is saved.
Trusting in his faith to be resurrected saves us, this, and nothing else.
But that was not all I learned.
I was shown by many Bible believers that there is a method by which we can study the Bible so that it all makes clear sense.
And when I say Bible believers, I'm not talking about people that read the Bible and quote scripture for a show.
I'm talking about people that study the Bible for answers.
People that take the Bible at face value, and trusted that God would communicate to them if they took each verse and asked who was speaking, who was being spoken to, and when it was spoken.
At that time, I had accepted the person of Jesus Christ as real, and I understood that he claimed to be the Son of God, and had risen from the dead.
But the Bible still remained at arm's length for me because of the obvious hypocrisy and many verses that seemed to contradict one another.
The central verse to this method of understanding can be found in 2 Timothy 2:15.
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly
dividing the word of truth.
The more I studied, the more I saw for the first time the incredible simplicity that was right in front of me for years.
I wondered how it could have eluded me for so long.
Then it hit me one day.
On a bright sunny day, I sat down in the backyard with Bible in hand to read and study.
But for some reason I was having trouble seeing the pages clearly.
I realized that I had my dark-shaded sunglasses on, and switched to my clear prescription lenses.
That seemed to help, but the pages were still dark.
I wondered what was darkening the pages.
The obvious answer was, that my own shadow was being cast on the pages because I had my back to the sun.
I was in my own way.
What a marvelous truth, I thought.
All these years, and I've been in my own way, my own preconceived ideas, my own thoughts, my own traditions, and my own biases had been clouding my ability to understand God's words.
I was trying to explain what the words on the pages were saying based on my own interpretations.
Shortly after this enlightening experience, I wrote the following message to myself.
And I've relied on the Bible to speak for itself ever since.
You are in your way.
You are in your own way.
You are in the way.
Look over the edge of your life, and pretend you understand.
Your shadow darkens the pages because your back is to the sun.
You are in the way.
Blinded by the glare of your own image in a mirror of man's making, holding fast to the old man whose suit is comforting to you alone.
You are in the way.
Piling your goodness before your Uncle Bob and Aunt Clara may make for good dinner conversation,
but it will not assure your picture on God's refrigerator door.
He does not know you.
Diving into your baptism from the 10-meter board in pike position scores high from the Swedish judge, but is a ho-hum from the Almighty.
Nothing scored, nothing gained, not even without a splash on entry.
You are in your way.
Your hearing is unclear, because your inner thoughts obscure His voice.
Your taste for the truth is dulled by the spices of good intentions, just like grandma used to make.
Your gaze is through the collective lie of a telescope that leaves the lens cap on.
Your allegiance to God is like a drummer who's forgotten the melody and refuses to play until he's good and ready.
You are in your own way.
And if being in your own way is a comfort, then play in your own parade.
Hoist your banner and march to your own cadence over and over and over.
But you will find no comfort in the crowd of lemmings that will joyfully attend to you, for they are in their way.
And the hell that rushes up from unbelief appears like pearls in the distance, and what seems right is but a shadow.
The shade within is too late.
You are casting that shadow.
Turn around.
Get out of your way.
Walk in the light.
Trust in the finished work of Christ.
Trust His word.
He is the way.