Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:07] It's Rick. Welcome back to the Nomad Pastor Podcast. I hope you had a enjoyable Thanksgiving.
[00:00:13] Today's just after Thanksgiving as I'm recording this, and so I just want to make sure and tell everybody happy Thanksgiving. And. And I'm just thankful for the people that listen and thankful for the messages that I get and just thankful for life in general, thankful for Christ going to the cross for me and taking all those burdens on.
[00:00:37] I do also want to mention I missed this a couple episodes ago, but this episode will actually be episode 152. And it's crazy for me to think about that.
[00:00:47] I've been doing this now for 152 episodes. I mean, I don't know if people are, you know, how many people listen. I don't know how many people share. I don't know what your walk is like. But, you know, I've said from the very beginning of this that I was going to do it because I felt, you know, God called me to do this. I don't make any money off of this. I don't. You notice there's no advertising.
[00:01:12] I don't ask for money, and I'm not going to. But it's interesting that I've said from the very beginning, if only one person came to Christ, it was all worth it. And so I'm going to continue to live in that message.
[00:01:26] And I hope that this blesses you.
[00:01:29] And so kind of, you know, to go along with that today, I want to tackle a question that I think it keeps, you know, people up at night sometimes, right?
[00:01:40] I think it's a question that has pushed some confusion throughout the years.
[00:01:47] And I think a lot of people have fear around it.
[00:01:50] And that question is simple. It's can you lose your salvation?
[00:01:54] And so this isn't a small question.
[00:01:58] It's not something that we should just shrug off or it's definitely not something we should guess at.
[00:02:05] And it's sometimes this is something that determines how we see God, how we see ourselves, and how we walk out our faith every day.
[00:02:17] Because at the center of our entire belief system is salvation.
[00:02:24] It's not something on the side. It's not this fringe thing or anything like that.
[00:02:36] It's what everything rotates around.
[00:02:40] And the reason I say that is because salvation.
[00:02:43] Because if salvation can be lost, then salvation must be earned.
[00:02:49] And if salvation is earned, then salvation is not grace.
[00:02:54] And if salvation is not grace, well, then Christ didn't need to die, but he did die.
[00:03:01] He did that because salvation is something that only Christ could purchase for us.
[00:03:09] And the bottom line is what Christ purchased, he keeps.
[00:03:15] So I do want to maybe slow down a little bit and sit with that question.
[00:03:22] Can you lose your salvation?
[00:03:26] I think people ask this because of their own weakness.
[00:03:30] We ask this because we know our sin. We know our history. We know how often we fall short on a daily basis.
[00:03:40] And we assume, maybe not all of us, but I think people assume that salvation is this fragile thing, that it's as fragile as we are, you see, but it's not.
[00:03:55] Salvation is as strong as Christ who gave it to us.
[00:04:02] If we just look at Scripture.
[00:04:04] Ephesians 2, 8:9 says, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourself.
[00:04:14] It is a gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
[00:04:22] So let me make this as clear as I think I can.
[00:04:27] You know that I'm not a theologian. I didn't go to college for this.
[00:04:31] I talk about what I felt like. I feel like we're supposed to talk about, right? I talk about things that are put on my heart.
[00:04:39] So I want to be as blunt as I can, knowing that I'm not a theologian. I didn't go to college for this.
[00:04:47] But if you just look at and unpack this, Ephesians 2, 8:9, it is a gift.
[00:04:55] We do not earn it.
[00:04:58] And if we don't earn it, we can't unearn it.
[00:05:03] If we don't work our way into salvation, we cannot work our way out of salvation.
[00:05:11] And I know many people listening today have lived through, I don't know, churches or religions that tied salvation to performance that we were told either directly or indirectly, that if you slip too far or you sin too much, that God's going to take his hands away from you.
[00:05:33] Some people have grown up in churches that the leaders of the church used guilt and fear and pressure and rules to keep people afraid of losing their place in heaven.
[00:05:48] And I'm here to tell you that is spiritual bondage. That is not the gospel.
[00:05:56] And I want to give you a real world example. And I'm not doing this to attack anyone, but I want to show the difference between grace and works.
[00:06:07] You see, if you have listened to these podcasts, you know my story. You know, I grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, where it was predominantly Mormon.
[00:06:15] And in the Mormon Church, if you commit certain sins or if you break certain rules, you can be restricted and even excommunicated from the church.
[00:06:28] You are cut off from the community until you repent and you earn your Way back into good standing.
[00:06:36] That is a works based system.
[00:06:40] Your position depends on your performance and your status rises or falls with your obedience.
[00:06:52] You see? But real Christianity says the exact opposite.
[00:06:57] Real Christianity says salvation is based on Christ's obedience, not ours.
[00:07:06] Real Christianity says, your righteousness is not your own, but it's His.
[00:07:12] It says, we were saved by grace, we stand by grace, we remain in him by grace.
[00:07:21] And real Christianity teaches that Jesus holds you, keeps you, and preserves you.
[00:07:29] And if we go a little bit deeper, in John 10:28, Jesus said, and I give eternal life to them and they will never perish and no one will stash them out of my hand.
[00:07:41] So if your salvation can be lost, would that mean that Jesus lied?
[00:07:50] Because he said eternal life, not temporary life. He said, never perish, not maybe perish, right, Maybe you'll perish if you mess up.
[00:08:03] And he said, no one can snatch you out of his hand.
[00:08:08] And no one includes the world. It includes the enemy. It includes your circumstances, your failures, and even you.
[00:08:17] No one.
[00:08:20] Now I want to be very clear. This does not mean Christians will never fail.
[00:08:29] Following Christ doesn't erase temptation.
[00:08:32] It doesn't erase struggle. It doesn't erase our past, our addictions, our trauma or our humanity.
[00:08:44] We are still going to fall, we are going to slip.
[00:08:50] We are going to get it wrong sometimes.
[00:08:55] But none of that removes you from the hand of God.
[00:08:59] Failure is not the same thing as unbelief.
[00:09:05] And sin is not the same thing as rejection.
[00:09:12] I don't know how, maybe it sounds corny, but struggle is not the same thing as losing salvation.
[00:09:20] Romans 8:1 says, Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
[00:09:33] Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
[00:09:39] Now means now, not later, if you behave or if you clean up or if you prove yourself.
[00:09:48] Now means right now, right in the middle of the struggle, right in the battle, right in the middle of the mess we created.
[00:09:56] There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
[00:10:02] And I'm sure some people listening have lived this whole life thinking God is waiting to slam the door on them.
[00:10:11] So let me tell you this as plain as I can.
[00:10:17] God does not save you on Monday and fire you on Friday.
[00:10:24] God does not adopt you, right? That's in Ephesians. And then un adopt you.
[00:10:31] And God certainly doesn't redeem you. And then revoke your redemption. Revoke your redemption. That's not how God works.
[00:10:40] That's how humans work.
[00:10:42] That's how a religious system works. That's how cults work.
[00:10:48] That's how control works.
[00:10:50] But it's not how the God of the Bible works.
[00:10:59] When maybe I can create a visualization, right?
[00:11:04] You know, think of a courtroom before Christ, you stood guilty. Sin on your record, shame on your soul, no defense, no excuse, you're condemned.
[00:11:16] And then Christ steps in and he says, hey, Judge, I want you to put their punishment on me.
[00:11:27] And in that instance, the Father declares you justified, not innocent. Justified, meaning the price has been paid, your debt is gone, the case is closed.
[00:11:42] And when God closes a case, no one can reopen it.
[00:11:50] Now, if someone clearly listening may say this, but they may say, what if I walk away? What if I run from God? What if I fall into sin again? Does that mean I've lost at all?
[00:12:08] And to answer that question, we should just go to Scripture.
[00:12:12] Because first, John 2:19 says that if someone walks away permanently, they were never truly saved. They were never changed. They were never made new. They went out because they were never part of the family to begin with.
[00:12:26] You see, salvation is not something you lose. It is something you either had or never had.
[00:12:35] And I believe if you truly give your life to Christ in your heart and you have said, jesus, you are my Lord and Savior, you're not going to walk away. Yes, you're going to sin, yes, you're going to fall, yes, you're going to sidestep occasionally, you're going to get off the narrow path, but you're going to reprint and get back on.
[00:13:00] And you do that because you've given your heart to Christ.
[00:13:06] You know, if you accept Christ emotionally but not truly in your heart, is that the same thing?
[00:13:20] You might walk it out. You might pray a prayer, you might cry, you might get baptized. But if you've never truly surrendered your life, have you ever really believed?
[00:13:32] And I think that's the question.
[00:13:36] Because, yeah, somebody may walk away later, but he's not losing his salvation. If you walk away later, you're revealing that salvation never happened.
[00:13:46] Because if you truly surrender to Christ, if you truly believe he died and rose again, if you truly confessed him as Lord, then something happens inside of you that cannot be undone.
[00:14:02] The Holy Spirit is made alive in you.
[00:14:08] You are marked as belonging to Christ.
[00:14:13] You see, Ephesians 1:13 and 14 says, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit as a pledge of your inheritance.
[00:14:21] You're sealed, not glued, not taped, sealed.
[00:14:26] God doesn't unseal what he seals.
[00:14:31] So if you're listening to this and you think you've gone too far, you've, you know, you You've done too many bad things. You're sitting in this shame.
[00:14:44] You think you ruined your chance.
[00:14:48] I want you to hear what I'm saying with clarity and compassion.
[00:14:54] You are not holding on to salvation.
[00:14:58] Salvation is holding on to you.
[00:15:02] Christ didn't save you because you were strong. Christ saved you because he is.
[00:15:09] He's not depending on your performance to keep you saved. He's depending on the work he finished when he went to the cross and rose three days later.
[00:15:20] He finished the work. That's what he's relying on.
[00:15:24] He doesn't rely on me. And thank God he doesn't.
[00:15:29] You know, Philippians 1:6 says, he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
[00:15:38] You see, if he starts a work, it says, he who began a work.
[00:15:43] When he starts a work, he finishes it. He doesn't abandon a job halfway through.
[00:15:51] And then there's this other question that comes up. What about falling into sin? What about addiction? What if I relapse?
[00:15:58] What if I slip back into my old habits? Did I lose my salvation?
[00:16:03] The simple answer is no.
[00:16:07] It means you're human.
[00:16:09] And it means you're in a fight like every one of us, every day.
[00:16:14] And it means sanctification takes time.
[00:16:19] God's not surprised by our struggles. And he's not shocked by our weaknesses either.
[00:16:25] He's certainly not intimidated by battles.
[00:16:29] But a good father does not abandon his child because he fell in the mud.
[00:16:35] He picks him up. He cleans him off, corrects what he did and walks with him forward.
[00:16:41] You see, that's what God does for his children.
[00:16:46] In Hebrews 12 says that God disciplines his children.
[00:16:54] Discipline is not rejection.
[00:16:57] Discipline is proof of belonging.
[00:16:59] And if God is correcting you, guiding you, convicting you and pulling you back, that's not a punishment.
[00:17:07] That's a confirmation that you are His.
[00:17:10] And frankly, in this world today, parents need to discipline their children.
[00:17:17] And they need to recognize that it is not rejection, it is love.
[00:17:26] So for the one, for the person who feels no conviction, no desire to return, no pull to repent, and that's the man endangered.
[00:17:37] That's not the man who's fighting.
[00:17:42] So if you're listening to this and you've been running from God, you've not out sinned the grace of God. You can't. You can't outrun the mercy of God.
[00:17:54] You haven't exhausted God's patience.
[00:17:58] The door is still open.
[00:18:01] He's not revoked your salvation. He's calling you home.
[00:18:07] You don't need to get re saved, you need to return.
[00:18:12] Salvation happens once. And repentance is a lifestyle.
[00:18:17] Repentance is a daily thing.
[00:18:23] So again I'll ask the question, can you lose your salvation?
[00:18:30] And according to Scripture, the answer is no.
[00:18:33] Because salvation is by grace.
[00:18:36] Because salvation is a gift, because salvation is eternal. And because Christ said, you will never perish, because nothing can separate you from the love of God.
[00:18:53] In Romans 8:38,39, it says, For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[00:19:16] That's clear.
[00:19:18] Nothing means nothing.
[00:19:23] Your failure cannot separate you. Your past cannot separate you. If you relapse, you're not separated.
[00:19:31] Your sin cannot separate you. Nothing means nothing. Nothing can separate you from God's love.
[00:19:41] So if you're listening to this today and you feel far from God, just come home.
[00:19:48] If you feel ashamed of the things you've done in the past, come home.
[00:19:53] If you feel unworthy or exhausted, come home.
[00:19:59] And you don't come home to earn salvation.
[00:20:02] You don't come back to requalify. Not to get back in good standing, but to rest in the salvation Christ already purchased for you.
[00:20:14] You see, Jesus did not die to give you temporary hope.
[00:20:18] Jesus died to give you eternal life. And what he gives, nobody can take away.
[00:20:26] I want to thank you for listening today. This is Rick with the Nomad Pastor Podcast. I want to remind you that you can subscribe on all the different podcast channels.
[00:20:35] Hey, if you like this, subscribe, share it with your friends. Give it a thumb up. And I want to remind you to love God and love people.
