LEARNING TO LIVE

Lesson Three: Does the Bible Teach That A Child of God Could Ever Be Lost?

 John 6:47  "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.

1. What is the requirement for eternal life?

 

 

2. Note the verb tense “has”. Is eternal life something a believer will posses, or something the believer already has possession of?

 

 

3. If eternal (which means forever) life is a present possession, wouldn’t loosing it mean it wasn’t eternal?

 

 1John 5:1  Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.

 

4. Is one born again when one dies, or when one believes?

 

 

5. When a person is physically born to someone, can that person ever not be the physical child of that person?

 

 

6. Why would being a Child of God be any different?

 

 

1Peter 1:23-25  for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.  (24)  For, "ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF,  (25)  BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER." And this is the word which was preached to you.

 Note Peter’s comparison: The physical seed from our earthly father was perishable, that is it decays and so does our physical body, but the seed that brought about our new birth (we are now children of God), that is the living and enduring word of God is imperishable (can never decay). 

7. If it is God’s Word that is the seed that brought us life, and that seed (unlike the seed that gave us physical life) is eternal and imperishable, isn’t Peter saying that the Child of God that was born by this seed imperishable seed also imperishable?

 

 

Colossians 2:13-14  When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,  (14)  having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

8. When Jesus was nailed to the cross, how many of your sins (transgressions) did He forgive?

  

9. These transgressions put us in debt to God? What did God do with the debt?

 

Isaiah 43:25  "I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins. 

10. When God wipes out our transgressions (which He did at the cross) what else does he do?

 

Psalm 103:12  As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

 

11. How far has God removed our transgressions (sins) from us?

 

 

John 10:28-29  and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.  (29)  "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

 

12. What three things can never happen to one who has believed in Jesus Christ and received eternal life?

 

 

Psalm 97:10  Hate evil, you who love the LORD, Who preserves the souls of His godly ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked. 

13. Who preserves the soul of the believer?
14. then how can it ever be lost?

 

Hebrews 13:5  Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,"

15. What does Jesus say he will never do?

 

Final note: Salvation (eternal life) is a GIFT from God to those who believe in His Son for the forgiveness of sins. There are no other stipulations. Christ accomplished it, we simply receive it.

   We may sometimes feel we don’t deserve it (we don’t), and question how, in light of the things we have done it is possible for God to love us enough to overlook these things, but that is just the point. Jesus took care of it for us. We didn’t get it because we deserve it. It wasn’t possible for us to earn it. That is why Christ paid the price for us. His faithfulness provided a means by which God could give us something we could not earn. It is an imperishable and eternal and present possession, a gift that can neither be stolen or lost. If it could be it would neither be imperishable or eternal.