Many Christians who are deceived believe that salvation cannot be lost yet some believe salvation can be lost.

But the reality is, no one is saved yet for anyone to lose it.

Salvation is a future event

Matt 25:31-34,41 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  …. Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

How can anyone is already saved when Jesus Christ clearly said salvation is when He comes the second time? The truth is, we receive salvation only when Christ comes in the clouds.

Heb 9:28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

As the anonymous author of Hebrews writes, Christ will appear a second time to bring salvation.

Any assurance for present time?

Luke 10:16,20 “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.” …. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

We do have an assurance of our names written in Heaven if we hear what Christ and obey Him. This assurance is not unconditional but requires us to be worthy.

Rev 3:4-5 “You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

As Christ warned the church of Sardis, Christ will blot the names from Book of Life if we become unworthy by defiling our garments.

What about having eternal life now?

John 5:24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

John 6:47 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.

As Jesus said, whoever believes in Christ has eternal life. This means, whoever believes in Him now have the eternal life independent of Christ, right? No.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

1 John 5:11-13 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

Christ is our Eternal life. Eternal life is never given to us directly. We inherit eternal life if we have Christ. Hence, if we have Christ, we have eternal life. So, how can we have Christ in us?

John 14:21-23 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

If we love God and keep His commandments or His Word, the Father and the Son will come and dwell in us. As you can see, loving God and keeping His commandments is a prerequisite.

What about to just believe? Isn’t it faith only?

To “believe” in the book of John actually refers to obedience in doing good. We can see this theme all over the book of John, often refuting faith-only in the next few verses within the same chapter or the next.

John 5:24, 28-29 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. … Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth–those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

As you can see above, “to believe” actually means to “do good”.

John 3:16,21 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. …For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

“To believe” in the above passage actually means to “do the truth” which is not practicing evil.

John 12:46 “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.

Again, “to believe” is not to abide in darkness.

Conclusion

No one is saved yet. Jesus clearly said salvation is when He comes the second time (Matt 25:31-46). Only our names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20) when we are worthy (Luke 20:35). But if we become unworthy, Christ will blot our names from the book of life (Rev 3:4-5).