PART 3
Let us continue in the thought of abide, keep, continue and remain from the previous post as we read the following passage…
John 15:1-6 I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in Me that does not produce fruit, and He cleanses every branch that does produce fruit so that it might produce more fruit. You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I will abide in you. Just as the branch cannot produce fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who abides in Me while I abide in him produces much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. Unless a person abides in Me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up. People gather such branches and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
Jesus is the vine and God grows the vine with branches. The branches are people who become saved. This explains to us that God adds the saved to the church... because Jesus is the church... the church includes everyone that is saved. God will remove every person that does not obey what He commands and everyone who fails to produce fruit, but He will continue to improve those who do His will, which is to obey what He commands, so that we can produce more fruit.
Christians are clean because we have been cleansed by the Word of God. God's Word gives us instructions on what we must do to be saved... because of His Word, we are cleansed of sin and saved. There is no doubt we are part of the vine. Jesus tells us that if we "abide" in Him, then He will "abide" in us. Christ abiding in us is dependant upon us abiding in Him. Jesus verifies that He is the vine and Christians are the branches. Note that Jesus does not say that "denominations" are the branches, but rather the church members (the saved) are the branches. Again He explains that we must abide in Him while He abides in us, because without Him we can do nothing. Jesus explains that "unless a person abides in Me"... then we are thrown away and burned up (remember what "abide" means... "remain, dwell, continue, not to depart, to be held, kept, continually"). Clearly we cannot "remain" in Christ if we are not in Christ to begin with... we cannot "continue" to be in Christ if we are not in Christ to begin with... so we must "remain", we must "abide", we must "continue" to be in Christ, otherwise we will end up being cut off from Christ and burned up. We cannot say that we were never part of the vine to begin with... remember Jesus clearly says we are "already clean"... that we "are the branches", so it is undeniable that we are actually saved. He is talking about people who are already saved and in the church. "And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." (Acts 2:47b)
Consider now what Paul wrote…
Romans 11:21-22 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he certainly will not spare you either. Consider, then, the kindness and severity of God: his severity toward those who fell, but God's kindness toward you - if you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you too will be cut off.
Here we learn there are those who fell as well as we learn of God's kindness towards us, but there is a condition placed on that kindness... "if you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you too will be cut off." Clearly, Paul warns of others who may be cut off the vine if we do not continue in God's kindness.
Surely you cannot read these passages and believe anything other than once we become Christians that we must "abide", "remain", "continue" in Christ in order to "continue" to be saved. Jesus clearly tells us that if we do not, then those who are unfruitful will be "thrown away" and "into the fire". Absolutely, we can lose our salvation according to the very words of Jesus.
Consider the following passages that show we must do the will of God and "abide" in Christ… note the conditions…
1 John 2:6 The one who says that he abides in Him must live the same way He Himself lived.
1 John 2:14 I have written to you, little children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known the One who has existed from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, because you are strong and because God's word remains in you and you have overcome the evil one.
1 John 2:17 And the world and its desires are fading away, but the person who does God's will remains forever.
1 John 2:24 What you have heard from the beginning must abide in you. If what you have heard from the beginning abides in you, you will also abide in the Son and in the Father.
1 John 2:27 The anointing you received from Him abides in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. Instead, because His anointing teaches you about everything and is true and not a lie, abide in Him, as He taught you to do.
1 John 3:24 The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
2 John 1:9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.
Now consider the combination Greek verb "hupomeno" which means literally "to remain under" and is translated "perseverance"...
Romans 5:3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;
You see... the faithful Christian will remain (abide) in Christ and remain even under trial and tribulation... we will persevere. Where is the “trial” if we cannot possibly fail "to remain under" these trials and tribulations? There is not really a “trial” and we would not have to “persevere” (remain under) if there was no chance of our falling away and losing our salvation. Think about it... if we cannot lose our salvation... how can there really be trial? Is it trial? Only if we
can lose our salvation. Again, if there is no way to lose our salvation, then there is really no trial and therefore no reason to have to persevere. So to claim that we cannot lose our salvation, you will have to agree that God wasted His time inspiring Paul to write to the Romans.
Consider all the above passages because they absolutely nail the lid shut on the false doctrine of "once saved, always saved". However we will not stop here. There is much more truth on this subject that is clearly revealed in the scriptures.