Today, as I read John’s record of Jesus’ final words to His disciples before He was taken away, I was struck by how many times in chapters 14-17, He said keep My commandments (4 times) or keep My words (10 times) as an essential element of true belief. I ruffled some feathers a while back when I suggested that just as God gives the word to people, He also takes it away. This begs the long-debated question of whether someone can lose their salvation.
The writer
of Hebrews describes people who have fallen away as having, “tasted the good
word of God.” Some ask if tasting the Word is equivalent to becoming saved. If
so, this verse seems to suggest one can forfeit salvation through apostasy. Perhaps
the Hebrew readers would recall Old Testament prophets who were instructed to
eat a scroll containing God’s word. I might be stretching the metaphor, but I
see eating and tasting as significantly different.
Jesus, whom John proclaimed was the Word made flesh, once
told people that they must eat His flesh if they truly wanted eternal life. Jesus’
explanation of that shocking statement made it clear that He was talking about
His words. The point is obvious: licking nourishing food won’t give any
sustenance; it must be eaten. In the same way, tasting God’s Word will not
bring eternal life; it must be eaten – taken into the very soul of existence to
do any good. Only those eat, who act on God’s Word are true believers, as Jesus
implied by tying obedience to belief.
Rather than discuss what level of unbelief results in the
loss of eternal life, I want to look at what proper belief looks like. Throughout
Jesus’ last supper teaching, He emphasized the fact that love for Him involved
obedience to Him (14 times). A.W. Tozer puts it like this: “Our Lord told His
disciples that love and obedience were organically united, that the keeping of
His sayings would prove that we love Him. This is the true test of love, and we
will be wise to face up to it!”[1]
Our obedience to Christ’s Word is the proof of our love, but what does that
look like?
When Jesus
was explaining the parable of the sower, He described true receivers of the
Word by saying, “these are the ones who, hearing the word, hold fast with a
noble and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.” Jesus said after
hearing the word, there are four characteristics that indicate true belief:
holding fast, having a noble and good heart, bearing fruit, and demonstrating
patient endurance. Each one of those things bears a closer look.
“Holding fast” is another way to describe obedience. Those
who play fast and loose with God’s Word connive whatever ways they can to
circumvent it. Strict obedience is the farthest thing from their mind. Those
who hold fast make sure that all they do is in accordance with the Scripture.
They run a tight course within the boundaries instead of looking for shortcuts
that allow them to skirt their biblical responsibilities. They want to do what
the Word says.
A person with a “noble and good heart” is just the type we
would love to have for a friend. The biblical definition of noble is
commendable and honest. To be good in the biblical sense is to be generous and
kind. Each of these traits represents obedience to Jesus’ commands and find
their center in the greatest one: to love God and to love one another.
Essentially, Jesus said to truly love Him the love of others is required.
Another was to say this is that our love must be heartfelt not duty bound.
It is no surprise that Jesus included “bearing fruit” in His
description of a true believer. In John 15, He called Himself the vine from
whom His disciples would draw the life that made it possible to bear fruit for
the Gardener, His Father. Throughout the New Testament the nature of the fruit
coming from the True Vine is described as righteousness otherwise known as
doing good. This hits the same chord once again: hearing leads to doing if it
is genuine.
“Patient endurance” can only be found in those who know and
do God’s Word. In fact, patience is part of the fruit of the Spirit which
characterizes all true believers. If I didn’t know Who the victor is in the
struggle we call life, I would not be able to endure. My patience comes only
because I know Whom I have believed, and I believe He is able to complete His
good work in and through me. I don’t understand how people who are not caught
up in love for God and His Word can get out of bed every day. However, I do
understand the epidemic of emptiness and despair that characterizes worldly
people.
My advice to anyone who is worried about losing salvation in
Christ is to look for these qualities in their life: holding fast to the Word,
having a noble and good heart, bearing fruit, and waiting patiently for God’s
will to be accomplished. I’ll repeat Jesus’ words once more: “If you love Me,
keep my commandments.” There is no salvation for someone who doesn’t love
Jesus. There is no true love for Jesus without obedience to His commands. The
question isn’t whether you can lose your salvation; the real question is
whether you have gained it.
Related Posts: Necessary
Obedience; Merely
Christian
[1]
A. W. Tozer and Gerald B. Smith, Evenings with
Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers,
2015), 345.
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