Can you be Unborn?

 

 This is one of those statements used by Once Saved Always Saved believers that drives me bonkers. 

 

Jesus addressed the issue of being "born again" in His discussion with Nicodemus in John 3.  Jesus told him that one has to be born again in order to be saved or "see the kingdom of God". 

 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

 

Nicodemus was confused because he was in the flesh, thinking of things from purely a fleshy perspective and NOT a spiritual.

4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

 

Jesus then corrects him, basically telling him that his thinking is incorrect. He's thinking in the flesh and not the spirit. He then gives a hint that the Spirit is like the wind. You can't see it and you don't know where it is, but you must be born of the Spirit.

5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:3-9 

 

In the natural flesh, we all know that a person cannot be born again. They are born once from their mother's womb and that's that. We also know that in the flesh, a person cannot be unborn. Even if a person was born dead, they were still born and you cannot make them unborn.

 

But just like Jesus's discussion above with Nicodemus, we see that there is a huge difference between the flesh and the Spirit. If a person can be Born Again in the Spirit, then who says they can't also be Unborn in the Spirit? 

 

When we get born again, God's Holy Spirit comes into our spirit and makes our spirit alive. Up until that point, our spirits are dead due to our sin nature, but when the Holy Spirit enters us, He wakes up our spirit.

 

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,  even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),  and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:4-6

 

So, it is ONLY because the Holy Spirit lives within us that we are saved. So, what happens if the Holy Spirit leaves?  You might say, well, He won't leave. He's not allowed to. Really? So the Holy Spirit is forced to remain in someone no matter what?  What if that person no longer wants the Holy Spirit? What if that person turns away from the Lord and goes back into the world, living according to the world's lusts and pleasures?  The Holy Spirit must still stay? 

 

Many might say that someone like that was never saved. Possibly yes. And in most cases, I would say that's true. But I'm trying to get people to understand that it is possible to lose your salvation. The Bible is full of Scriptures and examples. 

 

If it were not possible to lose one's salvation then you would have to believe that when a person got saved, they lose their free will. They no longer have a choice whether they want to be saved or not. They aren't allowed to change their mind. At the same time, you'd have to believe that the Holy Spirit doesn't have a choice either whether to stay inside someone or not.  Those 2 statements are ridiculous.

 

But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him. 1 Samuel 16:14

 

So the Spirit can depart from someone. 

 

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

 

I did a post on what the phrase, "sealed for" meant. Many say that you can't be unsealed, but I ask you why? Who says?  The word "for or unto" means for a future event. We are sealed for our day of redemption, the day we either die and go to heaven or are raptured.  Can we break that seal? Of course! Can a woman take off her engagement ring and give it back to her fiance? Of course! 

 

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. John 10:28

 

Yes, no one can ever snatch us out of Jesus's hand. Praise God! But we can certainly jump!

 

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

 

Yes, NOTHING can separate us from God's love IN Jesus! I praise God for that! But once again, we can separate ourselves from God's love by not staying IN Jesus.  

 

I could go on. Scripture is very clear. A person can walk away from God. In fact the Bible says that if they do, there is no longer a sacrifice for their sins. 

 

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,  and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. Hebrews 6:4-6

 

But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62

 

You have to work really hard to prove that the above verses aren't describing a saved person. Besides, how can an unsaved person even fall away? There's nothing to fall away from. How can a person look back if they never put their hand to the plow?

 

However, I do believe this is very rare. I believe most of the people we see who claim Christ but who live worldly sinful lives were never truly saved. But to believe that once a person is saved that they can Never lose their salvation is a very dangerous false doctrine. The Lord says we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Why?  If we can NEVER lose it? Why fear and trembling? 

 

For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries Hebrews 10:26

“For yet a little while,
And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. 
Now the just shall live by faith;
But if anyone draws back,
My soul has no pleasure in him.”

 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Hebrews 10:37-39

 

What does draw back mean?  It's the Greek word hypostolē, the timidity of one stealthily retreating.

 

So apparently a person can retreat from Jesus right to perdition, to death, ruin and destruction. Again, if they can draw back to perdition, then they must have been saved in the first place. You can't draw back to perdition if you were already in perdition.

 

For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.” 2 Peter 2:21-22

 

I realize I belabor this point here on my blog but it is something the Lord has really put on my heart. MANY will not make it to heaven because of this Once Saved Always Saved False doctrine, and it breaks my heart that some pastors who I respect keep preaching it. 

 

I'm bringing this up again because our time here is so short now. I do not mean to cause fear. I know some of you have loved ones who got saved but are now living in sin. I have many family members in this situation. Yet if you believe OSAS, maybe you don't feel the need to pray for them so desperately? Maybe you just pray that they will start walking with the Lord, when in reality, we need to be on our knees, fasting and praying and pleading with the Lord for their salvation! The good news is, the Lord hears our prayers and saves our loved ones!  So, be of good cheer!