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Faithfulness Is Indispensable
A common theory among many denominations is that once you are saved, you are always saved. Many also believe that a generally good life is enough to go to heaven; sort of if the good outweighs the bad then heaven will be your home. Both of these concepts are false and leading people to hell.
Partial fidelity is not accepted in most areas of our lives. If a wife told her husband she would be faithful most of the time, would he be happy? Could she make her case by pointing out that she is in their bed 250 nights of the year, but in other men’s only 115? The “good” would outweigh the “bad.” Would the husband accept the argument, once married always married?
What about an employer? Can an employee claim once employed always employed? Would the boss be happy if the worker showed up most of the time? Are we to believe that “once hired never fired” regardless of work ethic, performance, behavior, or attitude, would be permitted or work?
You get the point—and so do people who believe in once saved always saved. Yet, they lose their reasoning ability when it comes to their souls. They cannot understand that God expects faithfulness and will not tolerate “cheating” on Him.
Peter said, “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure” (2 Pet. 1:10). He said this after admonishing Christians to grow (2 Pet. 1:5-7). The child of God who has heard the word, believed, confessed Jesus as Christ, repented of sins, and been baptized has just begun service to God; it is not completed the moment it begins.
The indisputable fact of indispensable faithfulness is seen in the make up of the New Testament. There are four books that primarily establish faith in Christ. The writings that follow these, Acts through Revelation, are directed at Christians for the purpose of keeping them on tract in the service to God. If salvation is secured and cannot be lost after becoming a Christian, then why did the Holy Spirit invest so much into producing the Acts, the epistles, and the Apocalypse?
Further, if we are saved never to fall, why are the repeated admonitions and warnings about falling? Paul said, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). Referring to Israel’s unfaithfulness, the Hebrew writer said, “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience” (Heb. 4:11). In fact, Israel is a great illustration. God sent them a deliverer in the person of Moses. He persuaded them to leave their bondage. They were baptized in crossing the Red Sea, coming under the leadership of Moses and breaking away from Pharaoh. There saw the “salvation of the Lord” (Ex. 14:13). They rejoiced on the other side of the sea (Ex. 15). Yet, they still had to cross a desert to get to the Promised Land. They had to labor and fight to enter it. Some did not enter because of their unfaithfulness to the Lord. So, too, we must realize that milk and honey will only come after we cross the desert of life.
Finally, there were those who had fallen from grace in the New Testament. Simon was in sin and separated from God after becoming a Christian (Acts 8:18-24). Some of the Galatians were severed from Christ (Gal. 5:1-4). And, Peter addressed those who had escaped corruption only to return to it, ending up worse than they started (2 Pet. 2:18-22).
If all of this is not enough to convince a person that faithfulness is indispensable then there may be hope for them, but not by being a Christian. Rather, their hope will rest on the fact that God will not hold the mentally deficient accountable on the Day of Judgment. The truth is plain about it, let us accept it and teach it.
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