Can a believer lose their salvation—or is it truly secure? In this episode of the Truth in Love Podcast, Kimberly Faith and her father, John McLarty, address one of the most foundational and misunderstood doctrines of the Christian faith: the eternal security of the believer. Together, they confront the fear, confusion, and anxiety many carry about whether they are “good enough” to keep their salvation, and they point listeners back to what Scripture actually teaches.
Using clear biblical reasoning and relatable illustrations—from adoption and legal verdicts to gifts and spiritual rebirth—this conversation explains why salvation is rooted not in human performance, but in the finished work and unchanging nature of God. Kimberly and John walk through seven biblical reasons that salvation cannot be lost, showing how justification, eternal life, grace, the sealing of the Holy Spirit, Christ’s completed sacrifice, new spiritual birth, and God’s character all point to one unshakable truth: what God declares finished cannot be undone.
This episode offers clarity, reassurance, and peace for believers who have wrestled with doubt, and it sets the stage for next week’s discussion on commonly misunderstood verses that are often used to challenge eternal security.
Key Takeaways
This episode reminds listeners that confidence in salvation rests not in what we do for God, but in what God has already done for us through Jesus Christ.
Jacob Paul: Welcome to the Truth in Love podcast with your hosts Kimberly Faith and John Mac. The Truth in Love podcast seeks to present God’s timeless truth through the lens of his remarkable love.
Kimberly Faith: Well, dad, I think today is one of the most important topics we ever can talk about, and that is the eternal security of the believer or why you can’t lose your salvation.
John McLarty: That is a great topic. Very important.
Kimberly Faith: How many people have you met in different belief systems who talk about working, hoping they get to heaven, working for their salvation, or even people who say they’ve been born again, but are afraid they haven’t been good enough to keep it.
John McLarty: Right. It goes that’s a good variety of reasons, working their way to heaven or thinking they’re saved by grace, but maybe they could do something so bad they could lose it.
Kimberly Faith: Or they could even choose not to have it now.
John McLarty: Or choose not to have it. And that’s another reason there’s confusion in this issue. But the Bible’s pretty clear.
Kimberly Faith: Oh, the Bible’s very clear. You know, we talk about the basic Bible concepts all the time and how they help us understand that if we know the big picture on the Bible and the context that we’re reading things in, how that helps us understand why these important doctrines like eternal security, which means you can’t lose your salvation, are true. When you’re especially when you’re reading verses that make it sound like maybe you can lose your salvation.
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: And so, yeah, this podcast, we’re going to talk about seven reasons that you cannot lose your salvation. And then next week’s podcast, we’re going to address some of the verses that people often use to say, this means you can lose your salvation.
John McLarty: And, you know, we talk a lot in these podcasts about the path, the paths of peace or the path of peace. How can you have peace if your eternal security, if your eternal destination is not settled in your mind?
Kimberly Faith: Yeah, that’s a good point.
John McLarty: You’re thinking any given day, am I good enough? Or I won’t know until I get there to the pearly gates.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: There’s just so much misconception and a lot of anxiety about this issue.
Kimberly Faith: Oh, of course. It’d be kind of like if you said, you know, you adopted me, right, when I was what, nine, 10 years old?
John McLarty: About 10.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. And like, if you, when that adoption order was signed, if somehow there was a way I could undo that, and that’s not a perfect example, but
John McLarty: It kind of is. And what if I held that over you?
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: Like if you are not a good enough daughter, you know, we’ll undo the adoption.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: That would be a terrible thing for me to do to you.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah.
John McLarty: And it would be a terrible way for you to have to live. And our God is not like that.
Kimberly Faith: That’s right. You know, Jesus said, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more does the heavenly father want to give good gifts? And I’m paraphrasing this is, I think, in Matthew, I think. That scripture was not on my list of scriptures in this podcast, but I think everybody knows what I’m talking about.
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: And so, you know, in the law, we have things that are self authenticating. Okay? Certain documents, certain types of things when you admit them to evidence are self authenticating. So I’d like to start this particular podcast with a very self authenticating, scripture. And I’d like if you don’t mind, could you read Romans 6:6-11?
John McLarty: I would love to read that. That’s a great verse.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah.
John McLarty: Romans 5:1?
Kimberly Faith: No. 6:6-11.
John McLarty: Oh, okay. I was down another verse. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise, ye also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Yeah. That’s Romans 6:6-11.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. So, you know, Paul is explaining that we were reckoned. That’s an accounting term. In other words, we are alive in Christ. And the Bible says that because he died to sin once for all, he’s alive. He is alive and therefore we are alive. And so it’s an accounting term, you know?
John McLarty: Yeah. Reckoned and the term reconciled.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Right. Exactly. So, you know, when God renders the verdict that we are not guilty, you know, that’s the judge of all creation slamming down his gavel and declaring not guilty. And it’s the same as, you know, an adoption. Okay. You are for you are and when I do adoptions, the judge says this child is now the child of, you know, the husband and wife as if born to them in wedlock. You know? And so he’s turning back the clock on the child’s life as if born.
John McLarty: And I love this. When I adopted you, your brother and sister, they actually reissued birth certificates.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. Yeah. They reissued birth certificates.
John McLarty: I thought that was really cool.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. And so if God is the judge and he’s declaring us when we have received Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior, if he is declaring us not guilty, what does this mean? Is this a temporary acquittal, a probationary pardon, or is it a verdict of eternal justification? I mean, either the blood of Christ fully satisfied divine justice or it didn’t. There’s no appeal. There’s no higher court to, you know, that can undo this verdict.
John McLarty: No higher court that can undo God’s reckoning and justification.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Right. So as we kind of talk through these seven reasons according to God’s word that you cannot lose your salvation, I’d like for us to kind of keep in mind that this idea of what we call eternal security speaks to the very nature of God. This is not just some, you know, God is not a God of whims. He says he, you know, he does it and he does it and he holds his word as good because he his nature says he can be trusted.
John McLarty: Yeah. And there’s another again, I don’t have the Bible verse right here, but where it says it’s impossible for God to lie.
Kimberly Faith: Yes. Yes.
John McLarty: So, yeah this, salvation is based on his nature.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah.
John McLarty: One of his nature qualities is that he is righteous, also just, and loving. But when God decrees something, it’s done.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah, it’s done. So let’s start with number one, which is justification, okay, is God’s legal declaration, and it’s not a human declaration. So why don’t you go ahead and read Romans
John McLarty: Yeah. And I was looking at that one before, but yeah, this is a great verse. Romans 5:1, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And I love that. Justified by faith. And then as we talked about earlier, we have peace
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: With God.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: And God wants us to have that peace. He wants us. That’s the whole idea of salvation. Really, true salvation is resting
Kimberly Faith: Yeah.
John McLarty: In him, trusting in him. And so it should give us peace, and we have peace.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. Well, and that’s one component of it, for sure. I mean, but this is a legal verdict. Justified means it’s a legal verdict.
John McLarty: We can rest in it.
Kimberly Faith: That’s right. And what’s crazy, I listened to a lady who said to me, well, how do you know that if I decide later that I don’t want to be saved, I don’t want to be part of God’s family, you know, why can’t I undo that? Well I told her, because you don’t have jurisdiction over God. You know? If you were truly born again, then you don’t have jurisdiction. It’d be like me saying to the judge who decreed my adoption, I don’t want to be adopted anymore.
Well, that’s not going to change the decree that he entered, right?
John McLarty: That’s a good analogy.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Or if a judge declares
John McLarty: Who has jurisdiction higher than God?
Kimberly Faith: That’s right. That’s right. And so this first point that justification is not a human declaration. It’s God’s declaration. And no one has a higher jurisdiction than God. There’s no higher authority. If we believe the Bible is true, again, all these reasons for salvation presume that you believe that the Bible is the source of truth, not your own opinion, not somebody’s false interpretation of it. And so if God is who he says he is, meaning he is omnipotent, then it is impossible for a human to reverse this thing called divine justification. Otherwise, the creature would overrule the creator.
John McLarty: And that’s a hard argument to undo, that God isn’t the omnipotent ruler of the universe with ultimate jurisdiction.
Kimberly Faith: Well, first of all
John McLarty: Everything’s in his court.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Right. That’s a great point. And either you believe that or you don’t. And the bible makes it very clear that God is lord of all, lord of lords. He’s king of kings, lord of lords, and there’s no higher authority. So if justification you know, the Bible does talk about human justification, and human justification doesn’t cut it. You know, if you go back to the elements of salvation, that’s by grace through faith and not of works.
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: You know, that human justification will never, that means we’ve never been saved. We’ve never had any security because we’re resting in our own works, and it has to be either one or the other. So let’s talk about the second one, which is eternal life. The term eternal life means exactly what it says.
John McLarty: And that’s a great, great point. I’ll read this verse. It’s John, 10:28- 29. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My father is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my father’s hand.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: So John Ten: twenty eight and twenty nine says, we have eternal life.
Kimberly Faith: And Jesus also said earlier in John 5:25, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. In other words, that is a present tense everlasting life. I remember our pastor saying one time, I think maybe it was our pastor, somebody at our church said, you know, look at everlasting life there or eternal life in John 10 as if this tangible thing you can hold in your hand. Right? And you put it in your pocket, eternal life and everlasting life, you put it in your pocket. And either you actually have it as it is described or you never had it to begin with. Because eternal and everlasting by definition mean that you have a new life in Jesus?
John McLarty: Yeah, and that’s so important. And John 5:25, just to kind of double down on that, it makes it very clear that it says, We have, and that’s a present tense, everlasting life. We shall not come into judgment, and we are passed from death to life.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: All that makes it very clear just in grammar, in the English language, that this happens immediately upon salvation, of us receiving Christ as savior.
Kimberly Faith: And that’s also why it’s so important to understand human design, that is body, soul, and spirit. We’re not talking about our body. We’re talking about our soul and spirit. And life is, life is, the opposite of life is death. Or eternal death is eternal separation from the presence of God. Eternal life is eternal reconciliation in the presence of God. Right? And I don’t know. Would you describe it differently?
John McLarty: Well, but if you yeah. I’ll just add to that. If you have something, if you possess something that’s called everlasting, and Jesus calls it everlasting, and then somewhere down the road, a minute later or a year later or ten years later, you don’t have it, You could never, Jesus could never have called it everlasting.
Kimberly Faith: That’s true. Yeah. That’s true. I mean, the Greek text in John chapter 10, it’s so interesting because it shall never perish is a double negative in the Greek text, which means literally shall not, no, never perish. So the Lord is using the strongest possible expression to emphasize eternal security. In other words, no one is strong enough to rip you out of my father’s hands. And so the actual interpretation of the words everlasting and eternal in of itself is very powerful, but it either is everlasting the moment you receive it or it’s not.
John McLarty: And the idea of life is a result of being born again, which brings life. And this life is defined as everlasting life.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah.
John McLarty: So it even gets deeper, that genetically,being born again is another assurance of eternal life.
Kimberly Faith: Right, which we’re going to talk about that.
John McLarty: We’re going to get into that.
Kimberly Faith: Well,so we’ve covered the first two. Let’s talk about the third one, which is that salvation is God’s finished work, not some kind of probation based on our works. Okay? And that Ephesians 2:8-9, if you want to read that.
John McLarty: Yeah. And this is another classic verse. Ephesians 2:8-9. For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So it’s a gift of God, but it’s not of works. There’s no boasting for man.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: And God gets the glory. God gets the credit. And if you think of somebody that says, well, grace is God, you know, gets me two thirds of the way over this high fence by his grace, then I jump over well, that takes away glory from God.
Kimberly Faith: Well, not only that, it is just going back to definitions. You know, in the legal field, we like words and definitions. And so if you look at the actual meaning of grace versus works or a gift versus something you work for, you know, Ephesians says it’s a gift of God. Right? So it’s either a gift or it’s not a gift.
And I just think about, you know, I use this example a lot when I talk to people who struggle with this idea and rightfully so because a lot of religions teach you have to work. I say, you look. I paid a thousand dollars for this iPhone, and I’m going to give it to you. Okay? And if you believe me, if you believe that my word is good and I hold it out to you and you take it, then at what point do you actually receive that gift? And they’ll say, well, when as soon as I take it. That’s right. Soon as you take it. Now if I then require you to wash my car or if I
John McLarty: Which would be a great deal.
Kimberly Faith: Yes.
John McLarty: Just wash my car for it.
Kimberly Faith: Right. If I then required you to be nice to me for the rest of your life or I take the phone back or live according to what I say, then it would have never been a gift. Even if you had to do one thing for that to earn that, it was not it’s either a gift or it’s not a gift.
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: And so you’re right. This verse in Ephesians is so crystal clear. It is a gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. Right? So any type of work that we have to do or act that we can’t do, like sins of omission, sins of commission, right, that’s going to rip that gift out of our hand means it was never a gift to begin with.
John McLarty: Right. So grace and works do not mix.
Kimberly Faith: That’s right. There’s a verse actually that says that. So again, going back to the legal field, this is salvation is a gift and it’s not, grace isn’t like being put on probation.
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: Okay? So like you’ve got a suspended imposition of sentence where if you mess up, the judge is going to revoke your probation. No.
John McLarty: And that goes back to what a terrible way to live.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: That we’re on probation, and we can have eternal life, which wouldn’t be eternal if we could lose it, but we have this life that God has given us that would be, you know, fellowship with him eternally, but we could lose it at any moment, any day. What a lack of peace.
Kimberly Faith: That’s right. The probation thing is a great way to understand it because, like, when I do some criminal defense work, if I get a probation deal for a client, well, they have to behave themselves for two years or five years if it’s a felony. They’re walking the straight and narrow because if they do anything that violates their probation or don’t do the things they’re supposed to do, like counseling, that sort of thing, that judge can revoke their probation and find them in violation of the probation, and they go to prison. But if the judge says not guilty, renders a not guilty verdict, that person’s free. They have peace.
John McLarty: Again, the judge has decreed it.
Kimberly Faith: That’s right. Which kind of brings us to the fourth one which is the seal of the spirit is unbreakable. So why don’t you read Ephesians
John McLarty: Yeah. I love this one. Ephesians, 1:13-14. Having believed, you were sealed with the holy spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. I love that. Sealed.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah.
John McLarty: And I think of legal you know, I think of a sealed document.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: Sealed, stamped.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Yeah. And who can break the seal?
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: You know, we won’t get off into revelations and the lamb of God, but, you know, you think about the only person who’s authorized to break a seal is the person who the king gives authority to break the seal or the king himself. Right? And, you know, if the holy spirit is sealing a believer until the day of redemption, then that would mean that if we can lose our salvation, that the Holy Spirit would have failed in his mission.
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: I mean, and God cannot fail.
John McLarty: He says he is the guarantee of our inheritance.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. He is the guarantee.
John McLarty: Really, the Bible has strong legal terms here. Guarantees and inheritance and seals.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Yeah. I mean, I think the Bible is just, I mean, so inspired. It’s brilliant. Of course, God, we know, is brilliant, but that word sealed, it refers to a mark of ownership or protection of authenticity. You know? And it’s like, there’s no one more authentic, more powerful, more real than God, and no one can break his seal. So to lose our salvation is unthinkable because God cannot fail.
John McLarty: Amen to that.
Kimberly Faith: Okay. So number five.
John McLarty: Because we will fail in the flesh.
Kimberly Faith: Oh, yeah. We will fail. I am always blown away at how, you know, I was talking to somebody the other day, and this is a little bit of a squirrel moment, but about how we struggle to forgive each other. And God forgives me every time I ask with a repentant heart of, you know, the things I struggle with, and he knows I’m going to do it a 100 more times.
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: You know? And so we should have zero trouble forgiving each other anyway. That just goes back to how faithful God is. So number five, and this is kind of a nice segue. If we can lose our salvation, then we have a defective savior. That’s a pretty strong statement. So why don’t we read Hebrews 10:12?
John McLarty: Okay. Hebrews 10:12 says, this man, which is Christ, it’s referring to Christ. After he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. I love that. His sitting down signifies that his work was finished.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. Yeah. No further sacrifice, including our own
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: Is needed. And, you know, earlier in that passage in Hebrews, it talked about under the old covenant how the priest had to stand daily offering the same sacrifices, and it says, which can never take away sins. These continual offerings were repetitive because they were incomplete. They only covered sin temporarily, but pointed forward to the ultimate sacrifice that would remove it entirely, and that was Jesus Christ.
John McLarty: And I got actually how degrading it is. It’s insulting to Christ to think that his sacrifice, God’s only son’s sacrifice, the complete sacrifice for sin, that we can add to that?
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. Yeah.
John McLarty: That diminishes him.
Kimberly Faith: I think about the words of Jesus on the cross where he said, it is finished. You know? And I get goosebumps when I think about that. It is finished. I mean, he paid the ultimate price, the ultimate sacrifice so that we would because we were helpless to pay it on our own.
John McLarty: And all those sacrifices in the Old Testament were just pictures of the one true sacrifice.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Right.
John McLarty: Jesus Christ.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. I mean
John McLarty: God’s son.
Kimberly Faith: And to say that we can add or take away from that just says we have a defective savior.
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: And if we have a defective savior, why are we, nothing is true in the Bible.
John McLarty: We’re in trouble.
Kimberly Faith: We’re in a lot of trouble. And I know that, like you brought up earlier, when you are truly born again, when we truly surrender our whole heart to Jesus Christ for salvation and say, I believe. You know, your word is true. I believe that you paid the price for me. I accept that gift of salvation, I accept your lordship, and we turn our life over to Christ. That relationship that you experience reinforces, really reinforces that we don’t have that our savior is real. He is who he says he is in every respect. God the father is who he says he is in every respect. Because as we grow, it’s like growing close to your greatest hero, you know, but on
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: But on a scale you can’t describe. That path of peace is so evident. So anyway, sorry. I got a little bit of another squirrel moment there, dad.
John McLarty: We’ll get back to the path here..
Kimberly Faith: Okay. So the number six reason, and you brought this up earlier, that is in Christ, we have new spiritual genetics. I think this is one of the most powerful arguments.
John McLarty: To me, this is the bedrock
Kimberly Faith: It is.
John McLarty: Of eternal security. This argument.
Kimberly Faith: Absolutely. So do you want to read Second Corinthians 5:17?
John McLarty: I’d love to. That’s one of my favorite verses. So if anyone is in Christ, and that is born again, accepted Christ as their savior. This isn’t just a lifetime of good works. This is a moment of salvation. So if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. So there’s a new creation. There’s literally a new creation. Our soul has been born again.
Kimberly Faith: We haven’t been conformed. We’ve been transformed.
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: And we have a new genetic pool and we’re not in Adam anymore. See, we are born in Adam and our soul and spirit are, they’re destined to sin. They’re destined to die. And it’s so I think a lot of us didn’t. I didn’t understand this when I was first born again, I don’t think, but what becomes new is our soul and spirit.
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: Because they are now in Christ. In Christ means we are righteous. We are righteous like he is righteous. We are full of his love. We have the capacity to love like he does, and we have the capacity to exercise the characteristics like the fruit of the spirit in the power of who he is, not who we are. He became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God.
John McLarty: Yeah. And I was just going to read that.
Kimberly Faith: Oh, you were?
John McLarty: I was. Because that’s Second Corinthians 5:21. So right after this, it says we’re a new creature in Christ. But it says, for he hath made him to be sin for us, so Christ on the cross became sin for us. And this is so key, that we might be made so made, created, this new creature is made the righteousness of God in him.
Kimberly Faith: That’s good.
John McLarty: So we have the very genetics of Christ. We have the righteousness of Christ, and this is so key. This is not us.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: This is not our flesh. Our flesh wasn’t born again. Our flesh is the same flesh. And this is the confusion people have, is separating their soul from their body.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: But the body was not born again.
Kimberly Faith: That’s right.
John McLarty: But the soul was, and it’s got the righteousness of God.
Kimberly Faith: We have spiritual DNA that is rewritten and we are in Christ. You know, I can never, my biological children, Grace, Sarah, and Jon, can never undo their genetics.
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: You know? Claire can never undo her genetics. You know? We can’t rewrite our genetic makeup. We can’t do it. It’s impossible. And, you know, what a great way to understand when we are born again into the family of God, we can never undo those genetics. You know, the people that I have talked to who tend to believe that you can lose your salvation, they don’t have an answer for this scripture.
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: And the genetic, the spiritual genetics that we inherit. So, you know, a new creation cannot uncreate itself any more than a child can be unborn. Right?
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: I mean, so, you know, of course, you mentioned this earlier, but we have this flesh and it remains tied to our Adamic nature. We are always, our flesh is always in Adam. It never improves. It still desires sin. It still must be crucified daily, you know? So salvation doesn’t, you know, doesn’t fix the flesh, but it does give us a brand new soul, brand new spirit.
John McLarty: So I have to add a verse here because it’s so key, and it’s First John 3:9. And it says, whosoever is born of God, so we have to go back to Corinthians. That’s this new creature.
New creation, new creature. It’s our soul. It’s our inner man. It’s not our flesh.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: So whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. And you think, how can that be? I feel like I sinned. Well, that’s the flesh. You can only understand this through the word of God. It says, whosoever is born of God does not commit sin for his seed, he’s talking about genetics, God’s seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin.
Kimberly Faith: Oh, that’s really good, dad.
John McLarty: Because he is born of God.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah.
John McLarty: So that new nature that God’s looking at, the inner man to judge us for, do you go to heaven or hell, it can’t sin.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: It’s not because, you’ve used the term, it’s not because we reformed or went to a bunch of meetings and turned our life around. It’s because we were,
Kimberly Faith: Reborn.
John McLarty: Reborn through Christ.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: And his genetics are now in our soul. And so it’s hard to get our mind around except through the word of God. And then, but we feel that, that’s when we have that peace that passes understanding. Like, woah, what has happened to me? I have these different want tos. I’m not just wrestling with the flesh anymore, as somebody that’s stuck, an unbeliever becomes a believer.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah.
John McLarty: It’s instantaneous.
Kimberly Faith: So we have the struggle because we have the flesh, but it’s not impossible anymore because Jesus lives in us.
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: We can overcome in Christ. And I love that you brought that verse up because I think that kind of segues into our seventh our seventh reason, which if salvation can be lost, then God is not who he says he is.
John McLarty: Very good.
Kimberly Faith: And, you know, to claim that a believer can lose salvation really distorts the nature of God. And we’ve got some examples of that, you know, and I just, you know, kind of in the law, we like to use logic. Well, you’d think well, we try to, let’s put it that way. Sometimes the law is not very logical. But it’s kind of like, for example, if we can lose our salvation, it implies that God didn’t foresee the sins a believer would commit, which would then contradict his omniscience because God knew every failure
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: Before he saved us. Right? It suggests that if God is unable to keep his children from falling away, that contradicts his omnipotence because the Bible says he were kept by his power. Right? And I don’t know. Can you think of any other ones?
John McLarty: Well, it’s just kind of breaking his word. Jesus could never say you have, you presently possess eternal life, everlasting life. That would not be true if we could lose it. It’s like, how can you lose something that Jesus said is everlasting?
Kimberly Faith: It makes him a liar.
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. Yeah.
John McLarty: Because he didn’t say you have everlasting life if you do this and don’t do this and never, you know, blow it and live all of your life, you know, to the very end. But it’s because it’s based on him and that new nature he gives us.
Kimberly Faith: Absolutely.
John Mclarty: His complete grace. But yeah, it would make God break in his word.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. And I just I guess, to me, going back to, you know, the whole essence of what we’re talking about, if the salvation that Jesus promised that he came and died for, rose again to give us, you know, if it is what he says it is, and God is who his word says he is, righteous, just, loving, omnipotent, omnipresent, faithful, true to his word, then it is impossible for a believer to lose salvation.
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: It’s impossible. Because like we talked about earlier, once God says not guilty, you know, he’s declaring that verdict stands forever. Jesus said it stands forever. You know? And it’s forever because he is who he says he is. You know? Out of his love, he chose to come and reconcile mankind to satisfy his own justice.
John McLarty: And you just think if we could get, if we could earn heaven or get to heaven by works, why would Jesus, why would that have been needed for Jesus to do what he did?
Kimberly Faith: Right. Right.
John McLarty: So it diminishes the whole work of the cross.
Kimberly Faith: Absolutely. And, you know, that kind of sets us up for next week’s podcast, which is that there are some bible verses that when you read them, it sounds like you can lose your salvation. But there’s also kind of this logical, a logical argument that people bring up and say, well, you’re once saved, always saved, you know, that just gives believers a license to sin.
John McLarty: Yeah.
Kimberly Faith: And, you know, you’ve probably heard that before. And, but I think I just want to kind of address that issue because that really misstates or shows a misunderstanding of the nature of regeneration.
John McLarty: The born again nature.
Kimberly Faith: Yes. Because when you’re born again, you are a new creature in Christ. Your soul and spirit don’t desire the sin that killed you in the first place.
John McLarty: That’s a perfect point. Your want tos
Kimberly Faith: Yes.
John McLarty: Change
Kimberly Faith: Yes.
John McLarty: On the inward
Kimberly Firth: Yes.
John McLarty: Your inward person.
Kimberly Faith: It’s kind of like, you know
John McLarty: And it’s such a warfare, which we’ve discussed. Because your flesh is still like, no. I still like you know, this.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Like sin.
John McLarty: Yeah.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. Yeah. Well, and when you say your nature changes, like a pig is always going to be a pig. You can dress the pig up and and put perfume on the pig,
John McLarty: Put lipstick on the pig.
Kimberly Faith: That’s right. Earrings.
John McLarty: Still a pig.
Kimberly Faith: Right. But if that pig sees a mud pie, I mean, it’s going for it. You know, I’ve seen that with people and their dogs. You know, they just pamper their dog and everything and love their dog, and I love dogs too. But, boy, if that dog sees a cow pie, he’s going perfumed hair and all going into it, you know, because he’s a dog by nature. He’s not a human. And when we as when we become born again believers, we receive the nature of Christ who is righteous. He desires righteousness. So we don’t desire to go in and have this big license to sin because we have a new nature.
John McLarty: And I just want to say this, your nature does change and it’s because of the grace of God, just because of salvation. And if someone’s listening and they’re just kind of working their way to heaven, we should all remember a point if we got saved that our want tos change.
Kimberly Faith: Yes. Yes. Yeah. It’s a good check. Because if you’ve never had a time in your life where you remember receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior and your desire’s changing, you didn’t desire the same old sinful things that you used to do, then you really need to check about whether you were truly saved because that when it’s when you read that verse in First John 3:9, it says, whoever has been born of God does not practice sin for his seed, that’s Christ, remains in him. The spirit compels us to live holy because that’s Jesus in us. Not because we’re self righteous, we are in Christ’s righteousness. And so just go ahead.
John McLarty: And just to point out, and not to this flesh is still there, so somebody can fall back into an old pattern.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: But there’s that inward person now that’s going like, no. They’re screaming.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: No. This is not right.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: And I mean, I experienced that in different aspects of my life where, you know, you go back into an old pattern, but it’s not like your soul and your body are not partners in crime anymore. Your soul’s been born again. And it’s going like, no stop, that’s not right. That’s not the right thought or direction or behavior.
Kimberly Faith: Exactly. Yeah. And, you know, it’s kind of I like to think about it as just because I need a glaring red light sometimes in my own life. Because our body, our body obviously wages war against our soul and spirit. But I like to think about it, why would I, does Christ ever want to snuggle up to the sin that crucified him?
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: I mean, his crucifixion was horrible. And do we want to snuggle up to the sin or indulge in the sin, our little, you know, white lies or whatever it might be that stole our peace. Sin is the cause of everything horrible. And our soul and spirit know that when we’re in Christ. And so but you know what? We all struggle.
John McLarty: You know, and we can’t lose our salvation because we’re eternally wonderfully saved.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: But we can lose our peace.
Kimberly Faith: That’s right. That’s right.
John McLarty: But our salvation, I think these seven points make it clear our salvation is secure
Kimberly Faith: Absolutely.
John McLarty: If we’ve been born again, if we’ve accepted Christ as our savior.
Kimberly Faith: Absolutely. Well, dad, I think we’ll wrap this up and kind of let people know, hey, next week, we’re going to look at some of the most misused scriptures that people use to say, this means you can lose your salvation. And we’re going to look at their context and really discuss why none of them teach that you can lose your salvation when read in context.
John McLarty: Very good. And just to point out those scriptures, we don’t have to avoid them. We can just dig right into them.
Kimberly Faith: Right, exactly. Yeah, we’re going to hit them head on dad. By the grace of God and the wisdom of God, of course, not in our own wisdom.
Jacob Paul: You’ve been listening to the truth and love podcast with your hosts, Kimberly Faith and John Mac. To discover more answers to the big questions in life, visit us at gofaithstrong.com.
