There is a religious doctrine being taught today that says that once you repent of your sins and are baptized, and confess publicly that Jesus Christ is your Savior, you can never be cast away no matter what you do. They say that it is impossible to lose your salvation. Is this what your Bible teaches?

At some time, all the preachers and leaders of this large denomination will use this verse in an effort to prove that everybody sins. “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10) To them, this verse along with other verses means that we remain sinners even after being washed in the blood of Jesus. But look at the next verse, “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” If this applies to you and your congregation, and you have no understanding and you don’t seek after God, how can you know the way? “They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Does this describe you and your church?

If the verse that says, “there is none righteous” applies to you, these others would also apply. Saying you have no understanding, that you use deceit, and that poison is under your lips. That your mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, and that your feet are swift to shed blood? Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. No fear of God?

All these verses that we just read are written in the law. “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” (Verse 19)

Jews and Gentiles, those under the law, and those who follow after the world are all guilty before God. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

Many under the law refused to acknowledge their sin when Jesus showed them the truth. They said, we are not sinners, we don’t need you and your doctrine, thereby refusing the words of their own law, “For all have sinned.“

“If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:10) Notice, if we say we have not sinned, is not the same as saying we are continual sinners. But rather that we all have sinned, and that we all need Jesus.

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:1-2)

This religious group also uses this next verse without viewing it in the light of all the gospel, making it sound as though you only need to say some words.

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:9) To believe in your heart that Jesus is raised from the dead, is to believe the gospel, as Paul said in the preceding verse. “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach.” (Romans 10:8)

What word is nigh you? Paul said, “the word of faith, which we preach.” If we believe on the name of Jesus, we will also believe the word that he preached. “And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.” (Revelation 19:13) “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14)

Is it enough just to say that you believe on Jesus, without keeping his commandments daily? “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:19-20)

Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) And again he said, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” (Matthew 24:13) What does this say about one who endures for a while and then turns back to the world? “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” (Hebrews 10:38)

“For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” (Hebrews 10:26)

Can one turn back to sin, lay down their cross, dirty their robe of righteousness in sin and worldly lusts, and still gain the promise of eternal life with God if death overtakes them in this condition? “And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (1 Peter 4:18)

Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead? You do, “If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.” (Colossians 1:23)

Is one who has turned back to sin ready for the appearing of the Lord? “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 24:44-51)

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” (Romans 6:12)

If, after repentance, one yields to the temptations of sin and turns back again and is drawn away from the truth, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Romans 6:16) How can you say that you love the Lord if you serve Satan, who is the father of sin?

You say that you sin in the flesh, but serve Christ in spirit? “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (2 Corinthians 7:1)

Is sin in the flesh acceptable with God? “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19)

“If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” (1 Corinthians 3:17)

Jesus said, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24)

“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world” (sin) “through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.” (2 Peter 2:20-21)

“For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Galatians 6:8-9)

Searching for understanding from God’s word involves much more than reading a few select verses and then trying to build a complete church doctrine on them. All the prophets, apostles, and our Lord Jesus Christ agree together, they do not contradict one another.

One verse that is true and holy but for the most part is misunderstood and misused by this religious denomination, is spoken by Jesus. “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” (John 6:39)

God gave his son those who died under the law with the hope of a coming Savior in their heart. He gave him those who sacrificed their lives for the gospel’s sake. He gave him those who hold fast to the truth and endure to the end. He gave his son those who hear his word and understand it and keep it from their heart. It is these people that he speaks to, not the doubters and unfaithful, not the ones who turn aside from following wheresoever he leads us. God gave his son those who keep his word, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

“And I give unto them” (that keep my commandments) “eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” (John 10:28)

The Lord is patient with us, “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

Does this mean that none perish? No, it doesn’t, because multitudes around the world perish every day. Why? Because they refuse to repent and turn from their sin, placing the will of their flesh above the will of the Father.

A child of God is not born of corruptible seed, which is false doctrine, but is born again of incorruptible by the word of God. (1 Peter 1:23) Those who follow the false teaching that says one can turn back to sin and still be saved make a mockery of the gospel. And because their leaders teach others this lie, they also are held captive by the same lie themselves.

Listen carefully to the words of Jesus. “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” (Revelation 3:10-11).

One who repents and is baptized and then filled with false doctrine is born of corruptible seed, which will never grow unto eternal life. They will not be kept from the hour of temptation, but sin will reign in their life.

Once saved, always saved? Impossible to lose your salvation? The word salvation means, “the saving of the soul from sin and death.” The prophet of God said, “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:4) Paul said, “For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)

True repentance is to turn from sin, then sin has no more dominion over you. “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” (Galatians 5:24) “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:2)

Millions follow the broad easy way of religion that allows them to hold on to sin and the lusts of the flesh. Their religious empire is built on the lies of Satan. The same lie that he told Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden when he persuaded Eve to disobey God, even after God commanded them that they should not eat of the tree that was in the midst of the garden, lest ye die. “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.” (Genesis 3:4) “Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.” (Ezekiel 3:20)