Emmaus Road Ministries

John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER believes in Him SHALL NOT PERISH, but have everlasting life.”

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This is one of the most well-known and beloved verses in the entire Bible.  Even little kids in Sunday school are able to memorize it!  It is a very clear, very precise, and very definitive statement.  No fuzzy edges; no grey areas. It plainly says, “WHOSOEVER“…..no qualification….. “believes in Jesus, SHALL NOT PERISH”;…..In other words, suffer eternal punishment in hell…..”but have EVERLASTING LIFE”:…..a life in heaven with Jesus that NEVER ends.

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You would think it can’t get any clearer than that, right? Think again. 😳

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I apologize in advance for the lengthy discussion that follows.  But this topic has far too many sincere believers confused about whether or not they can lose their salvation. 🤯 It is so important to understand this truth in order to have the blessed assurance that our Father desperately wants us to have. Toward that end, I have discussed the topic as fully as possible here.  There are also links to other articles that may also prove helpful which you may choose to explore as well.

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The opening verse is an iron-clad guarantee…..or at least it should be.  So why is it, given such a clear, precise, and unqualified statement…..spoken by Jesus Himself, mind you…..do we hear sermons that cause us to doubt our ETERNAL salvation?

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Don’t feel too bad, though.  I used to be just as confused until I learned the truth. Please understand that I am not trying to insult anyone here. Not at all.  I simply want to open up the scriptures and point out what they clearly say so that you can have the blessed assurance Jesus wants you to have.

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My question to pastors who preach this is, “If you teach on this VERY CLEAR, VERY PRECISE statement, then have the audacity to inform your people they can lose their salvation by committing some great sin, how can you preach about ETERNAL life?  YOU OBVIOUSLY DON’T BELIEVE IN IT YOURSELF.” 🤯

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Ok class, let’s have a little English lesson.  What is the meaning of “Eternal?”

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Eternal – (e·ter·nal): adjective.  Definition: Lasting or existing forever; without end or beginning.

Synonyms:  everlasting, never-ending, endless, perpetual, undying, immortal, abiding, permanent, enduring, infinite, boundless, timeless…I think you get the picture.

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Does ANYTHING in that definition even hint at or imply in any way that there is an end of any kind?  Any kind at all??…..for ANY reason?  The answer should be obvious.

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If you are preaching anything less than everlasting, never-ending, endless, perpetual, undying, immortal, abiding, permanent, enduring, infinite, boundles, or timeless salvation, you are saying that salvation is TEMPORARY.  

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As if this statement in English isn’t clear enough, the Greek is even more definitive. God says that the believer “Shall not perish,” meaning “shall not go to hell when they die.”  The phrase, “Shall not” comes from two Greek words:  “Ou & mé.”  “Ou-mé” is a double negative which, in Greek, strengthens the denial.  You “shall not, never, by NO means” perish.  Couple this verse with the ones below SPOKEN BY JESUS from John 10 and you have an iron-clad guarantee from BOTH FATHER AND SON to reassure all of us wishy washy ones that we are eternally secure.

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Pastors, you cannot have it both ways. Either you believe salvation is eternal, as the scriptures clearly say, or

you do NOT.

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John 10:27-30

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I GIVE THEM ETERNAL LIFE, and they shall NEVER PERISH; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and NO ONE IS ABLE TO SNATCH THEM OUT OF MY FATHER’S HAND. I and My Father are One.”

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Are you included in the “Anyone?”  YES.  It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’ve been, or what you’ve done.  If you are truly born again, NO ONE…including you…can snatch you out of either Jesus’ or the Father’s hands.  You can’t even jump out by committing some grievous sin. (not that you would want to! 🤦‍♀️)

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Many preachers, I think, have gotten confused by a few obscure passages, like those of Hebrews 6 and 10.  By misinterpreting and misapplying them, they have cast doubt on what should be a very clear and uncomplicated issue.

What has caused the confusion?  Wrongly dividing the word of God instead of Rightly Dividing it, which simply means “Mixing up the Old Covenant with the New.”  These passages taken out of context have been mistakenly used for this false narrative.

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THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS because it inadvertently puts believers back under the condemnation and guilt of the Old Covenant. These things are quite hazardous to both physical and spiritual health. You will have your people believing in something that is untrue and suffer from mental and physical diseases. All are caused by guilt, fear, and condemnation.

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You see, under the New Covenant when we fail, we go to Jesus and thank Him for cleansing us of that sin and ask for help in that area. We do not need to fall on our face and beg for a forgiveness that has already been given. That would be a terrible insult. He already paid for ALL your sins: Past, present, and future. The war is over between believers and God.

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The most important thing you need to do in discerning the proper context of any passage is to determine TO WHOM a passage is written.  You see, though all scripture is of benefit FOR us, not all of it is written TO us.  Hebrews, as the name of the book implies, was written TO the Hebrews, not TO the Church, though we can certainly learn from it.

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At the time of the writing of the book of Hebrews, many Jewish people had come to faith in Christ.  Others, however, were still sitting on the fence.  Though they believed Jesus might be the Messiah, they never actually put their faith in Him as their Savior.

Paul wrote to the Jewish Church about this issue.  Since all sin is willful, he must have been referring to something in particular.  He was!

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At  that time, these non-believing Jewish people would go to Bible study with their saved friends, even worshipped with them.  But they weren’t quite sure that Jesus was really THE ONLY WAY.  So, they thought they’d hedge their bets by going back to the temple to offer bulls and goats, just in case.

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Here’s the problem: Jesus is THE FINAL SACRIFICE.  Bulls and goats are no longer acceptable to God to atone for sins.  This fact caused his mention of the “fearful expectation of judgment” because nothing and no one else could now atone for their sins.  They needed to accept Jesus as their once-for-all sacrifice, not go running to the Tabernacle to offer lesser blood sacrifices just in case. Because they were unsure of their animal sacrifices, they were “Fearful of judgment,” and rightly so.

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To know all that yet still go to the temple was SINING WILLFULLY.  It wasn’t some vague reference to something you can do to lose your salvation.  In doing this evil act, they were valuing Jesus’ blood as lesser than that of bulls and goats. They were literally trampling underfoot His precious blood.  😭 God was not pleased.

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By the way, this cannot happen today. The Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, hence there hasn’t been any place to offer temple sacrifices.  We’re safe!

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(For an in depth study on how to rightly divide, you may follow the link below to an entire series on that topic:

https://emmausroadministries.international/2021/05/28/part-1-of-16-introduction-to-rightly-dividing-the-word-of-god/)

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My next question is, “What sin do you think someone could commit that would cause them to lose their salvation?”  I guarantee you that whatever sin or sins you come up with betrays a basic misunderstanding of forgiveness. What sin could possibly NOT BE CLEANSED by the perfect, precious, SINLESS blood of the perfect, precious, SINLESS Lamb of God?  IT DOESN’T EXIST!  

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Here’s the deal:  There is no good deed or righteous act you could do that would have un-done what the first Adam did in the fall to erase your debt of sin.  You were born under the curse and that was that. Yet some assert, supposedly, that one terrible sin can un-do what Jesus, the last Adam, the PERFECT, PRECIOUS, SINLESS LAMB OF GOD ALMIGHTY, did at the cross.  

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This erroneous doctrine has the same effect as the “Sining willfully,” that Hebrews mentions.  Both are making the precious, sinless blood of Jesus OF LESSER VALUE than the blood of bulls and goats, once again TRAMPLING HIS BLOOD UNDERFOOT!  😳 YIKES!!!

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Then some will bring up something called, “The Unpardonable Sin,” stating that this can send the believer to hell.  They then go on to cite the passage in Matthew 12.  Yes, Jesus actually said those things and, yes, it does exist. HOWEVER…..Not rightly dividing God’s word is occurring once again. This passage is being taken out of context.

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NEWS FLASH:  Believers CANNOT be guilty of the “unpardonable sin.”, which is Unbelief.  Believers, by definition, are NOT UNbelievers.

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(For more on that topic, you may follow the link below:

https://emmausroadministries.international/2022/12/08/the-unpardonable-sin/)

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Are you sensing a pattern here?  There seems to have been a whole lot of this “taking-out-of-context” thing going on all down through Church history.  The devil is behind it, of course, but why?  Because he wants to steal from us and/or kill and destroy us.

DON’T LISTEN TO HIM.  The next time you hear a message or read something in a book that even hints that you can lose your salvation, FLUSH IT.  IT’S A LIE FROM THE PIT OF HELL.

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You see, just because someone is standing up there preaching, it may not all be the truth of the word of God, even if the person has a PhD. I’ve actually heard with my own ears PhD’s that do not know how to rightly divide, sadly.  The part that calls your salvation into question is certainly not true.  

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Please do them and yourself a favor and pray for that pastor that he…or she…may some day come to understand true forgiveness.  They very likely have his their own doubts about their salvation. But Jesus doesn’t want them to have doubts.  He wants them to be at peace. “My peace I leave you…” He said.

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Church, Jesus finished the work.  He CLEANSED YOUR ENTIRE LIFE; yes, even your future.  That is a “Perfect tense understanding of forgiveness.”  What do I mean by that?

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There was a Pharisee named, Simon, who invited Jesus to his house. Remember him? He only had Jesus over so he could observe Him up close in order to find fault, not because he wanted to learn anything.  He had what I like to call a “Present tense” understanding of forgiveness.

During the course of the story, Jesus teaches us about the difference between Present and Perfect tense forgiveness.  I have discussed the subject in greater detail in the article below. The link is provided if you would like to read the whole story:

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