Jesus told Nicodemus that one must be born of the spirit to enter the kingdom of God. The claim that those born of the Spirit can lose their salvation is an oxymoron. Those born into the spiritual body of Christ cannot become unborn. God does not disown the children that He spiritually created.
John 3:5 Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Christians are born of the Spirit. However, most in Christendom today just have Christian identity. Christian identity is deceptive; it is not the same thing as being born into the spiritual body of Christ. Those born of the Spirit cannot be lost, but those with Christian identity can.
The paradox where some believe that Christians can lose their salvation exists because some cannot see the distinction between Christian identity and those that are born in Christ (1Cor 12, 12-27). That which is flesh is flesh, this is the natural sinful fallen man. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit, this is the regenerated man. He is a new creature born into the body of Christ.
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
The Bible is clear about how one becomes born of the Spirit. One must hear what God said about His Messiah and believe that the biblical Jesus is that Messiah and Son of God that God promised.
John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
That statement is very clear. Those that trust in Jesus will live after their physical death. Martha’s response here to Jesus was spot on. She believed that Jesus was the Christ of God according to the scriptures. As did all the other disciples that believed Jesus was the Messiah (Christ). I assure you that none of those that believed Jesus was the Messiah were lost. Jesus does not lose the sheep given to Him by the Father.
Some might say He lost Judas, however Judas was an unbeliever. He did not believe that Jesus was the Christ. Jesus choose Judas to be in His inner circle so that scripture could be fulfilled about his betrayal. Judas identified with Jesus but time proved that he had his own demonic agenda. Jesus specifically said that one of the twelve he chose was a devil (John 6:70).
Many teachers want to complicate an issue that is not complicated at all. Mankind is saved by believing in the One that God sent into the world to take away sin. Those that have faith in God’s Messiah (Christ) for their salvation will be saved. They hear the word, they believe it, and they are born from above as new creatures in the body of Christ. The new spiritual man is of the same nature of the risen Christ, even through those born from above still exist in their fleshly nature until their body of flesh dies. They have a purpose to be left here, and that purpose is to proclaim the good news to others and be salt and light to the world until the Lord comes.
At Pentecost 3000 people were saved. They were saved because they heard and believed what Peter proclaimed about the Messiah’s death and Resurrection. They did nothing to earn their salvation or to receive the Holy Spirit as evidence that they were born into Christ. They did no good works to receive this gift. They were not necessarily more moral people than others that did not believe. The difference between those that got saved and those that did not get saved that day, was that those saved heard what God said and believed. The Gospel has not changed, people are still saved by hearing what God said and believing in the Messiah that God revealed.
We had nothing to do with the fall of man, nor God’s spiritual regeneration of man:
We are not responsible for being in fallen bodies of flesh that die, nor can we do anything to evolve the flesh into a godly nature worthy of eternal life. That is an important concept to understand. We are neither responsible for our fallen condition, nor are we able to remedy our condition through our own efforts. God has to do it. And God was merciful and righteous to provide that remedy for us.
Descendants of Adam had no part in Adam’s fall into mortality, and descendants of Adam are not able to redeem themselves spiritually. Redemption is totally a work of God. Adam was created sinless, but He fell into sin. Because of sin Adam took on a mortal fleshly nature and died. Adam’s descendants inherited the same flesh nature.
The only hope for man was that God would provide a Kinsman Redeemer to deliver us from these fleshly bodies that sin and die. That redemption was foretold in scripture. All we have to do is believe God and receive His gift of salvation through His Son.
The second Adam sent from God did not have a human father. He was the begotten Son of God. His flesh nature came from His mother. He did not have Adam’s sinful nature because He was the Son of God. He redeemed mankind from sin through the sacrifice of his own human body on the cross to pay the blood price for mankind’s sin. By the disobedience of one man sin and death came into the world, and by the obedience of one man many shall be made righteous.
Rom 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
That is why God’s Messiah is called the last Adam and Kinsman Redeemer. He was sent to be the redeemer of the fallen human race. The price to be paid for all the sins of the human race was paid by the sinless last Adam’s perfect sacrifice for sin on the cross.
Now all those born from above into the body of Christ through faith in what He did are His brethren. They are the redeemed human race. And they will soon carry out the plan that God has for the redeemed human race. Once humans are reborn into that new nature by trusting in the righteousness of God’s Messiah and Son, they cannot become unborn.
What is the problem with those who think believers can be lost?
At least some of the confusion arises because people fail to understand that the New Testament gives instructions to both the visible church and the invisible church. We need to be able to make the distinction. The instructions in the letters to the visible churches on earth where not always addressing those in the invisible Church. Quite often it was addressing the visible church.
In the wording to the visible churches the text makes it obvious that there were both believers and unbelievers within. Not all people in the visible churches on earth were born from above into the body of Christ. The New Testament text is clear that some did and would depart from the Church because they were not of the body of Christ.
In two of the letters to seven visible church types in Revelation, the text indicates that most in these two churches were never saved. Those identifying with these visible churches still needed to overcome the world. Humans only overcome the world by the blood of the Lamb, and by being spiritually baptized into the Body of Christ.
Being a member of a visible church does not save people because Christianity identity does not save people. True Christians are those born of the Spirit. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1).
Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
If anyone identifying as a Christian was not born from above, they are not in the body of Christ. Believers can know they are saved. The Spirit gives witnesses with their spirit. Don’t let teachers with no understanding confuse you.
The short story of man and his salvation:
All humans are born in sin. It is part of our inherited fallen human nature. In other words, the Bible teaches original sin. The fallen human nature is passed down to all descendants of Adam. That is why the Kinsman Redeemer could not have had a human father. Jesus was the last Adam (The Messiah the Son of God). Those born again into the new spiritual nature of this last Adam take on His sinless nature. (The sins of those born in Christ were covered by the blood of Christ.) They are then totally justified to receive everlasting life from God. Those that reject God’s Messiah will not have everlasting life.
The Jews said there was one God in contrast to the Gentile nation that said there were many Gods. The Jews thought that just believing that YHWH was God would save their nation. However, believing that YHWH is God does not equate to salvation. Even the devils knows that YHWH exists. He is the Creator of all. However, devils also know that Jesus died to redeem the sons of Adam. They know He did not come into the world to redeem devils. We are told that the Lake of Fire was created for the Devil and his angels. So devils already know their fate. How then can devils be redeemed by believing that Jesus is the Son of God? They cannot. Jesus did not come to redeem evil spirits already condemned. He came to redeem the human race. Even so, devil’s do know that there is one God.
What then is James saying in full context of his faith without works is dead faith sermon? What he was saying is simply is this: If there is no evidence in your life of being born of the Spirit, where is the great faith that you proclaiming demonstrated? James was not saying that works were required to be saved. He was saying that spiritual works are the innate result and evidence of salvation. James was not saying that more than belief in the Messiah was required for salvation. He was saying that Christian faith is demonstrated to others in their works.
The bottom line is this, don’t let teachers in Christendum confuse you and take away the joy of your salvation by adding doubt and confusion. If you trust in Jesus to save you, you have scriptural assurance that you will be saved. Christians are born of the Spirit. Those spirituality born of God cannot become unborn. God does not create mistakes.
Having said that, do not be deceived. Christian identity is deceptive. Those saying that they believe in Jesus, but deny the teachings found in the Bible are not true believers. They are hypocrites. Without believing scripture they have absolutely no foundation to even claim to know or be in Christ. They simply are not Christians even if they say they are.
Also keep in mind, that your denomination or the building that you attend is not the Church. The visible church in general has more unbelievers in it than it has believers. We are told to assemble with believers, but first you have to find them. These are not necessarily found in the services of the most popular visible churches. I suggest that believers learn how to find a good visible church. It is where the most believers will be found, but even in the best visible churches you will have to seek out the true believers.
I hope this article will help people who were put under condemnation by others in the visible churches. In many cases, the most predominate visible denominations and churches have degenerated into the blind leading the blind.
Ephesians 1:4-6
4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.[a]
One of the clearest explanations of the eternal security of the believer that I have ever read. Thank you, Don.
Timely after yesterday…. Keep looking up!
Great articles! I believe the rubber will meet the road within 5 yrs in this country, more then likely in less time. This is the perilous times Jesus described in the sermon on the mount.
We will find out whether the rapture takes place before tribulation or if we go thru it. The FAKE Christians will be sifted out.
Come soon Lord.
Hi Don,
Many years ago I saw this problem with these 4 words! The enemy and the angels of light has confused (deceived) many!
1. believe – just believe and you’re allright – lie!
2. god – any god is allright – as long as you call him god – lie!
3. christians – about everyone is a Christians – lie!
4. church – as long as you’re belong to a church – lie!
JESUS told us to pray Our FATHER in Heaven (YHWH) is my GOD and I have to Hear the Word with my ears and Change my Mind and Believe in my Heart and Confess with my Mouth and Repent of my sins wich JESUS has paid for and that HE has died and risen and live and that I am then born (a child) into Their Family to have Eternal Security and a inheritance with JESUS ! Only now I am a born again believer of the ELECT in CHRIST!
Amen!
Hi Freddie,
I pretty much agree, but I want to clarify one point. Repent and Repentance in the New Testament simply means “to change one’s mind”.
Realizing that you are a fallen sinner in need of God’s Savior and believing in Him to redeem you is repentance.
I want to clarify that because some people think repentance is confessing and turning away from sins. That is quite impossible, no person knows all their sins. And they could not turn away from their sins before they were regenerated even if they did.
Don, I would really appreciate your wisdom on Revelation 7: 9-14. My brother is a radical, leftist, blasphemous atheist that I pray for God to turn his stony heart to flesh every day. I try to comfort my parents quoting this scripture with hope that he would be included in this great multitude. Will this be all those that refuse to take the mark of the beast or will it be those who finally here the Word and respond? Your wisdom is Spirit given and may the Lord bless you for sharing it with us all.
Hi Stephen,
I think in context of the verses before Rev 7:9-14 most seem to be converts of the 144,000 Jews. They preach the gospel of the coming kingdom as a witness to the whole world before the end comes.
Those that refuse the Mark of the Beast and were killed would be in this number but it probably is not exclusively talking about just them. There will billons of people that hear the gospel from the two witnesses and 144,000 and a great number of them will believe.
I don’t think all of these are killed just because they would not take the Mark. There could be many reasons why they died during the great tribulation. It will be a time of great judgments and death on the earth. Having said that, all the saved will have to hear and believe. They are not saved because they never took the Mark. They might not even get the opportunity to reject it.
If they take the Mark, it is because they reject the God of Heaven and his Son. They follow the Satanic counterfeit because they are of their father the devil. They are the Tares.
So happy I found this site.
simply great article put in detail, thanks
I am glad that you are blogging agian, Don. Always good to read your work.
Hi Don,
What an extraordinarily up-lifting piece. As the recently deceased Jack Kelley often wrote: “It is not how you behave. It is what you believe” (that determines one’s eternal destiny.
This has to be one of your best pieces written and the most concise explanation of salvation. I am still not sure of Adam & Eve though. Before they sinned, did they have the bodies we will have once we are raptured? Good to see your back and hope you are closer to being settled in your new home Don.
Hi Robert,
Thanks
I do not think the original bodies of Adam and Eve were the same as we or they will have in the resurrection. They did not have human genetic defects for sure, but they still had to eat of the tree of life to achieve eternal life. Because of the fall into sin the way to tree of life was blocked by Cherubims. Fallen Man was not able to achieve eternal life. The second Adam, Jesus, did, and those in the Body of Christ will.
Thank you Don! This is one of your best articles yet.
don, i just had an argument with my mother because she keeps telling me that i’m a roman catholic and i keep telling her that i’m a christian as of now. She insists that Christianity is a combined religion with orthodox and something else. Sadly most of my friends don’t even believe in the bible. I can’t find that one article u wrote about the difference of these religions so i can show her.
Hi Cardinal,
A Christian is one that is spiritually born into the body of Christ. A Roman Catholic is one that follows their denominational doctrine or dogma. What is identified as Christendom contains many different denominations. Some of them have added man-made doctrine and some of them have added demonic doctrine. (The Roman Catholic Church contains much heresy.) The only infallible source for the Christian is the Bible. I find that arguing with those blinded by their religion is not likely to do much good. Until God takes the blinders off they will not understand.
I get into some of the issues in various articles.
The first one shows the differences and the others should be of some aid.
http://www.thepropheticyears.com/comments/Apostasy%20in%20the%20Church.HTM
http://www.thepropheticyears.com/reasons/The%20rise%20of%20paganism.HTM
http://www.thepropheticyears.com/wordpress/pope-says-protestants-are-not-in-the-body-of-christ.html
http://www.thepropheticyears.com/wordpress/many-calling-themselves-christian-join-a-revelation-harlot.html
http://www.thepropheticyears.com/wordpress/global-living-rosary-hatched-out-of-hell.html
If you want more information why Roman Catholicism is a false gospel, I recommend Mike Gendrin’s articles. He is former Roman Catholic that specializes in exposing the darkness in Catholicism so that those with eyes to see will see and be saved.
http://www.pro-gospel.org/site/cpage.asp?cpage_id=180066646&sec_id=180014816
much appreciated, thanks
Thanks very clear and easy to share! This is not super important but being a curious person, I wonder if Adam and Eve had to eat of the Tree to maintain their status….I never really put this together before! Makes me wonder or if they were immortal at all. Guess we will find out 🙂
Hi Jerialice,
I suggest that they had to eat of the tree of life to become immortal. They never ate of the tree of life before disobedience and the fall, so that path to immortally was blocked.
I am sure they would have never died if Adam had not sinned and ate of the tree of life. Even so, I think it really is a moot point. I think God foreknew that Adam would sin and that is why He appointed His Son to save the world through the seed of the woman before the foundation of the world.
I think Man was part of God’s plan to defeat the Devil and to replace the fallen angels all along.
Ok yeah, that sounds right, I have a song called The Tree, will be on my next CD.
About the return…..I await that. I’ve seen a small glimmer. And it is coming.
Don, I’m so interested in your site. Your understanding of Repentance is encouraging.
So many twist the meaning and distort the true gospel as a result.
Praise the Lord we don’t need to turn from anything except our ignorance about Christ.
Well, that’s about as simple as you can get. Thank you very much for explaining this. It has helped me tremendously 🙂
God bless you and keep you!
Don,
I appreciate the site u gave above for witnessing to Catholics. My wife is Catholic & I have been slowly correcting her on various things in that religion. I got her listening to Charles Stanley & Michael Youssef on Sunday mornings before heading out to ‘church’ (I stay back half the time)If i go it’s so she’s not always going by herself. She don’t like David Jerimiah TOO SCARY! lol
She has ask Jesus into her heart during the invitation of Charles Stanley’s end of the sermon. I just keep chipping away at it. The Catholic church never do a invitation to receive Christ, that gets me.
Also the ‘End Times’ she’s seeing it now as I point various things out. Like the commercial that has four 6’s but one of them gets filled w/ red balls so the three 666’s stand out, at end of commercial.
Bill
Hi Bill,
The reason the Catholic Church does not give invitations to receive Christ is because the Catholic Church believes that you are in the Roman Catholic Church when the church baptized you. Then to stay in the church you have to start taking part in the “sacrament of Communion” and take part in the “sacrament of Confirmation” after you reach the age of reason. Then to stay in the church you have to do what the church says, do more good works than bad and stay out of mortal sin. Then they have the gall to say they believe in salvation by grace and faith! Sure, but they mean grace comes through the Catholic church and faith in the Catholic Church along with your own good works might get you to heaven.
I hope your wife sees the light.
Hi Don, I’ve written a song called Adam. It will be on my CD coming out this spring, God willing.
I made a video to go with it and in case you would like to hear it, let me know and I will share the link. The Lord gives me these songs. It has taken 5 years so far to get this done thru many obstacles. But I’ve prayed my way thru.
God bless.
Hi Don,
Yea the “sacrament of Communion” what a load that is! They actually believe the host becomes Christ body & blood, like it’s transfigured. The priest does it.. ya right! Also there’s nowhere in the Bible it says Marry is w/ out sin only Jesus was, even if u want to consider Adam & Eve for a little while they were w/out sin until they did sin.
Trying to convince someone who was raised Catholic from birth it’s like trying get them to change their minds on summer & winter is the other way around or something. The best u can do is get them to admit that summer does have chilly days & winter has warm days but winter is winter & summer is still summer. Marry was sinless & so was Jesus & so on.. #*//#!! Futile.
I actually was the one that presented the idea of our Lord returning she never heard of the concept before… she was like “ya like in a thousand years still” No CLUE these people have Don. In ‘Church’ the people I see & been seeing for a # of yrs I’m blown away by the blank look accompanied w/ Huh?? lol This old guy he’d say “see ya next week” so I go.. “ya if the Lord don’t tarry” as I padded him on the shoulder. My response to his confused look was .. “ya unless Jesus returns in the meantime, I’ll see u nxt week” The dude actually shook his head in bafflement.. I lost him I was actually speechless to his ignorance. Thought it might be just him so I tried it to more people there as weeks went by.. same thing. What???? What u mean?? Return? Sure someday maybe. It’s ridiculous, man. Or they think I’m joking cuz I get a laugh in responds. People are just stupid.
The mosquito thing happening right now is interesting as it relates to the last days. I think were going to see more prophetic signs this year, it will start getting more real.
Keep marching on soldier.
Bill
Paul said, “if salvation came through obedience to the law, then Christ died in vain.” I see far to many so called Christians who believe their salvation is dependent on their law keeping to save them. They are trusting in their own righteousness. It is why there is so much legalism in the church. They have to add more rules to make themselves more righteous than others to measure themselves by.
I give the example of a man who does not commit adultery to establish his own righteousness under the law. Another man does not commit adultery because he believes that Jesus has paid for all our sins and does not commit adultery because he loves Jesus for what He has done for us and loves his wife and neighbor.
The first man boasts in his own righteousness of obeying the law, where the second man has nothing to boast in except the cross, and obeys the law out of love for God and others.
Legalizers love laws and rules as it feeds their spiritual pride. And, they will always hold others in contempt of not obeying their man made laws and rules, because if they loved them it would destroy their pride. Paul said, we are not to obey the rudiments of the world, touch not, taste not, handle not, the commandments of men. Jesus said the same thing in Mathew 15: 7-9. He said these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Teaching the doctrines and commandments of men.
Jesus taught that people are more important than precepts, and we are not to put burdens on the backs of the people that God never intended. But churches love to sit in Moses seat and hand down the law for everyone. Since these people are trusting in their own righteousness to save themselves, they have to look down on others in order to lift themselves up. But God does not share His glory with another. They just cannot believe that Jesus paid for all our sin by His blood sacrifice and our hope is in nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. Paul said ,”not having mine own righteousness which comes by the law, but by faith in Christ.
Prideful self righteous people are the hardest ones to lead to Jesus because they are already perfect in their own eyes. They have no need of a savior. The Gospel is rarely preached anymore. It is salvation by works to save us by our own righteousness. Jesus said when He comes back will He find faith on the earth? Without faith it is impossible to please Him. We are all plagued with this disease to certain extent, but maybe what I have written will at least help you to love Jesus a little more for what He went through to save you from your sins. Maybe you will understand that you are not perfect, and you do not help yourself by looking down on others who do not obey your man made laws and rules.
On my birthday sometime ago my friend asked me just before my birthday ended “What do you really want for your birthday” to my own surprises I said “I really want to know God for who He is”.my friend said I drink to that.So we agreed and the most amazing Peace came to my mind and heart.
I just knew that God heard my hearts desire and in the coming months I realized that this was a mayor step closer to searching the scriptures and repenting of my sins and believing that Jesus paid for my sins.I believe in Him as God the Son who came to earth to set man free from the burden of sin.Before I did no really know what sin actually was but now I do.I am amazed with His way of guiding /teaching and councilling.I did not anticipate the opposition to me as a person a new creation.I lost the people I thought were my friends who went to church.But the Lord did provide people who understood.
I have learned a lot through this article about the visible and the invisible church.I find it an amazing struggle at times.It does push me continually to find comfort in the Word/Jesus.The world is bad/lost but to find a whole different reality in the church is sometimes harder to work through.
Thank you for this article marj
Hi Marj
Thanks for your input.
Don,
Once again you have hit the proverbial “nail on the head.” I was also raised as a Catholic. I went to Catholic primary and secondary schools and was an “altar boy” in the church. Thank goodness none of the priests in our parish were child molesters. I did have a friend in college who told me that in his teens a priest took him to the movies and made a “pass” at him. I will always remember asking questions concerning church doctrines and the priests would basically look at you funny for asking why. They are not very fond of people who question their practices. For some reason humans just can’t accept the fact that salvation is simply having faith in the Messiah and his atoning death on the cross. The natural man can not see or discern the things in the spiritual realm.
My favorite topic of the Bible is actually not eschatology (that’s second) but the concept of salvation and the intricacies of how God accomplished it over human history.
Chuck Missler used to say that Adam (a model of Christ) loved Eve (his bride so to speak) so much that he willingly gave up immortality and ultimately his life to join her in her predicament to save her. I always found this interpretation fascinating.
This was posted at a very good time for me personally. I am reading a book where the author has an Arminian view. I have always believed the Calvinist view was correct. This article gave an excellent explanation. Comparing the visible church with the invisible church. I completely get that their are wheat and tares in the visible church. The invisible church is filled with the wheat only. Thank you for reposting!
Hi Linda,
Arminians think you can lose your salvation but you can repent and be saved again. Those believing this better not get hit by a street car before they get saved again or they will go to hell.lir
Many of the neo Calvinists also get it wrong. Many of these think you have to persevere until the end to be saved. They take a statement the Lord made in Matthew about Israel going through the tribulation and make it apply to the Church today. Therefore, nobody with this belief can know they are saved until they find themselves dead persevering.
Then you also have Calvinists with the Lordship salvation heresy. In others words, if you do not continually show the works of a Christian in your life, you were never saved no matter what you believe or confess.
What a mess there is in Christendum! Most of the leaders cannot properly discern the scriptures. Christians need to stick with what the Bible says taken in proper context and not believe the damning theologies of the control freaks peddling bondage from the pulpit. Many of these teach salvation by faith on the one hand but then take it away with the other.
John tells us how we can know we are saved. So does Paul. Believers in God and His savior of scriptures are saved. Those that do not believe are not saved. It has always been this way.
So basically, you can’t sin your way out of salvation. We will all continue to sin, because our flesh and sin nature will get us sooner or later, though we do try to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. If you are committing sin and it doesn’t bother you, then you are not saved. I don’t believe Paul ever once mentioned repent. Because we are saved by grace. But grace is not license to sin. So obviously if we are truly saved, we will not desire to sin, but rather desire to live pleasing the Lord in all we do.
Hi Toby,
Believers embarrassing the cause of Christ can be turned over to Satan for the untimely death of their body of flesh. The wages of sin is death, and early death of people loving their sins could also result in a lack of rewards.
For those who have been saved and received the spirit, I think they will be forgiven of sins if they are truly penitent. The Holy Ghost teaches us though the spirit things that are true.
I think Judas must have known the truth, but was tempted by Satan and became a Son of Perdition.
In 1 Corinthians 3:12 it says that “no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.”
What is the only unpardonable sin mentioned in the Bible? It is to sin against the Holy Ghost.
Mark 3: 28, 29 says “Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.”
If after receiving great knowledge via the Holy Ghost, or by Jesus Christ’s presence as was Judas, and then “willfully” sinning against that knowledge, one is in danger of becoming unredeemed, or damned. Judas became a Son of Perdition because of his knowledge that Jesus was the Christ, and then he rebelled against that knowledge for greed (and Satan).
Paul says in Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.
In my opinion, because Judas was an Apostle of Christ and had “much” knowledge of the truth and then betrayed Jesus, he could not be redeemed.
The Savior says that that punishment is given by the level of knowledge a person has. It says in Luke 12: 47 and 48: And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
Nobody can hide from God. He can even look into our hearts. He knows our intents. In the case of Judas, it would have been better for him had he not been born than to be born and then “knowingly” betray the Christ.
Hi Allen,
Yes, but some of what you said was Old Covenant application. Since Pentecost we have been in the New Covenant age of Grace. The only thing required to get the Holy Spirit being poured out on all flesh is to trust in the Savior who God sent to pay for all human sin. Those born of the Spirit are a new creation in Christ. None in the spiritual body of Christ can be unborn.Jesus was clear, you must be born from above to receive eternal life.
If you are born of the Spirit of God, and have obtained eternal life you cannot be unborn. God does not make mistakes, giving his Spirit with one hand, and taking it away with the other because of our body of flesh sinful performance already paid for by His Son, and that died with Christ as we also arose with Christ.