John 14:26 says, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” The Holy Spirit of God is our teacher and He’s not limited by His tools. If you take the time to listen to God, He’ll teach you many things Himself.
At age 17, I accepted Christ as my Savior, but due to some unpleasant circumstances, I dropped out of church. Three years later, I enlisted in the United States Air Force and they sent me to England, where God guided me to a gospel-preaching church right outside the main gate. That’s where I started to grow spiritually.
I quickly learned to recognize the voice of God when He talked to me. (Not audibly.) He spoke to my heart. His direction came to me in the form of a thought, but I knew it was the voice of God. And I started talking to others about the Savior. One day, I asked Steve, a friend of mine, if He knew Jesus as his Savior. His answer floored me. He said, “I used to.” I responded, “What do you mean, you used to?” Steve said, “I was saved; then I lost my salvation.”
Now, this was a new concept to me. It never occurred to me that I could lose my salvation. And, frankly, I didn’t believe it was possible. So I said, “How do you lose your salvation?” Willing to educate me on this controversial topic, Steve gave me a book to read. (I would not recommend this for baby Christians, but I was too young in the Lord to know not to read false doctrine, so I took the book.) I started reading it that day. I got about halfway through it when the Holy Spirit said to me, “Marj, do you notice what is missing in this book?” I said, “Yeah, this guy hasn’t quoted one Bible verse to support his position.” All the verses he’d quoted were from ancient manuscripts that never made it into the Bible, and I figured they weren’t in God’s Word for a reason. I promptly closed the book and returned it to Steve. “This is nonsense,” I said. “This guy doesn’t even quote from the Bible.” He snatched back his book and said, “Oh, how would you know?” Because of that incident, that day God sealed in my heart the assurance that I could never lose my salvation.
Not long after that, I was in the coffee shop with a fellow believer who couldn’t have been any more mature in Christ than I, and he asked me if we could lose our salvation? I responded with a resounding “no.” Then I said, “The only scripture verse I know that says we can’t lose our salvation is in Matthew 7, where Jesus said, ‘Depart from me, ye that work iniquity; I never knew you.'” I didn’t exactly quote it word perfect, but I captured the essence of His statement. Then I said, “He said ‘I never knew you!’ Not, ‘I used to know you, but now I don’t.'”
Matthew 7:22-23 “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
According to the dictionary, the word never means
- Not ever…Jesus has not ever known them.
- On no occasion…On no occasion has Christ ever saved them.
- Not at all…Jesus has not known them at all.
- In no way…Jesus has in no way ever known them.
How can anyone read this passage and then claim that they can lose their salvation? God taught me this truth very young in my Christian life. And when God teaches you something, you never forget it.