By definition salvation (being the gift of eternal life), is forever.
Still, there are many who are confused by the ongoing sin of people who claim to be saved. This is a great misunderstanding-- but it does not mean that salvation can be lost. And yes, there are many scriptures that can be cherry picked and presented to argue the point...but that does not take anyone who is actually saved, having been born [again] of the spirit of God, out of His hand, or that they can loose their salvation, because: It is no longer you who live, but God who lives-- salvation means you
gave you life to God...and God is forever.
Yes, there are many ways you can ho hum your way around thinking about actually giving your life to God, but if and when you totally do surrender your life to God and give it to Him,
it is finished: You are forever "
in God" and He in you--and He is
forever.
"God is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
So...now the matter of ongoing sin:
Just as Peter, having been "
washed clean" by Christ, was embodied by Satan, causing Jesus to say "
Get behind me Satan" to Peter...after we are born again of the spirit of God we can sin in the flesh without loosing our salvation-- Why? Because "
we are alive and remain" in the world. This is the stumbling block that causes people to believe they can lose their salvation. But, again, this is a misunderstanding of what actually occurs. At no other time in history, not even those times when most of the scriptures were written, have people died and lived on in the flesh.
These are those times...and the terms are different. And yes,
it is written of in the scriptures-- If you don't know of them, keep searching, nocking, and asking.
Nonetheless, if you are saved, having been born again of the spirit of God,
it is no longer you who lives, but God who lives...and He is
forever. While you remain in the world...your old flesh is still subject to death and decay..and sin. But that body of flesh is passing away, just as all
the world is passing away...and this is why we are counselled to
remain faithful to the end--because it is as if we have been left in the grave, in death...without which we could not survive without faith and the knowledge that
it is no longer we who live, but God who lives in us.
And we are here to serve--that is why we are left in the world...not to act out of our fleshly old bodies, but rather, to
walk in the newness of life-- that life we have been given in the Spirit.
Walk in the spirit.
So, yes, it is a daily labor to keep the old flesh under subordination of the spirit of God. But it is
in Him that we have the strength to do so.
Until the End.
