"If at one time you believed..."

[eternalmatters]

I'm having a very hard time with this phrase..."If at one time you believed on Jesus Christ for your salvation..."

Where does it say that in the Bible?
Where does it even describe that?

As I understand, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ would to be to BELIEVE. When you believe something your actions stem from what you believe in, what you trust...unless, of course, you don't really believe something. Right?

So to repent toward God and believe on the Lord...would be a continuous life-long thing...not a one time, in the moment thing, right?
You don't look back to see if you repented (changed your mind) back there...you look at now. If you have belief and repentance you have it...where could it go?

Since Paul said to follow after his pattern...was that just a statement he made with the assumption that he forgot to say outloud, "If you feel like it, of course." ()

So, without being a legalist...but using common sense...does anyone see what I'm saying?

[Faith]

I think I get what you are saying.

It is hard for many of us who truly appreciate the matchless Grace of God to ever imagine that someone may believe in the finished work of Christ on the cross at one time, and not move forward with that understanding by growing in that Grace or sharing the message with others.

I think that since God deals with us on an individual basis, then many situations are so different. And it would be terribly incorrect for us to make a blanket statement concerning those who may have at one time professed to trust Christ for salvation, but yet do not go on to live as though they have such salvation, or even for those who may turn to something else later. It is solely based on the understanding of the individual at the moment of their salvation. And that is something that may be rather difficult for us to distinguish.

For instance: I do believe that a person can trust in Christ at one time, and for whatever reason, be led astray, whether it be by bad teaching, a negative church experience, a traumatic life situation, etc. and still be saved.
But I also believe that if that person is truly part of the Body of Christ, that by grieving the Holy Spirit, and not allowing Christ to work through them, that they will never be as content as they could be in this life.

And then there may be those who might even have the correct gospel given to them, and who may believe it - yet they never trust in it for their salvation.

Our testimonies are SO important. That is how we identify to one another that we are saved and part of the Body of Christ. I am a firm believer that one must be absolutely certain of their testimony of the faith- for many reasons. One being "self-examination."
But a sure sign that one may not be saved is if their testimony of salvation lacks and understanding of the grace given to us by God through Christ's finished work on the cross. Here are the key elements that I look for when listening to the testimonies of others:

1. A belief that Jesus is God's Son (God in the flesh).
2. A belief in the Death of Christ
3. A belief in the Resurrection of Christ
4. A complete trust in 1-3 for payment of all sins, that righteousness is imputed, and that eternal life is given through Christ.
5. An understanding that there is nothing that an individual who has trusted in those things can do to add to or take from the completed work upon the cross.
6. An assurance of being accepted of God ONLY through His Son.

While I understand that there are SO many more riches that we receive by the grace of God when we are saved, these are the key things that I am concerned with when listening to others speak about their own salvation.

And, while it may be possible to once believe this, and then walk away from that "belief" - I don't believe for one second that it is a very common thing - I could be wrong, but it's hard for me to think of that as being something that you'd see very often.

That is why this understanding of Grace, while being IMMEASURABLE joy for me to know, has also at times caused me to step back and re-evaluate the ones that I know, and who I thought all of my life without a doubt, that they were saved. I constantly find myself overwhelmed when I hear the words of others concerning their testimony of salvation. It's like some one has just poked me in the side REALLY HARD and said, "Hey! - They probably aren't saved. You need to talk to them about this!"

I know I've probably gotten off of the topic a bit. I think you may have been referring more to those who may be saved that are not choosing to grow in the grace of God. But for me, I would rather see one person who at one time trusted in Christ's payment for all of their sin, knowing the security of it, that has "gotten of the path" than to see a billion souls attending church every Sunday, doing missionary work on the foreign fields, devoting their entire life to what they perceive to be the "work of God" - and know that those "billion souls" have never trusted Christ alone for their salvation.

And to make it worse - the lost who are "churched" are usually extremely difficult to get through to.

I could go on... but hopefully, you'll find something that I said that may be relevant to your questions in all of my rambling! lol.

The point is this, we cannot measure the salvation of others according to our own zeal. -Which is sometimes a difficult thing for me to do, because I am going on my own experience, and how I have a burning desire to grow and spread the word. But the fact is this - if the meth addict, or the prostitute, the drug dealer, etc. (I think you get the picture) has trusted Christ for their salvation, and yet they have made extremely poor choices that will cause them to weaken their quality of life, or even self-destruct - they are still saved. Poor life decisions and bad choices do not define our salvation any more than good works do.

We have the ability to destroy our bodies, and to become someone that no one is likely to listen to concerning the gospel of Grace, but if we are sealed by the blessed Holy Spirit of Promise, then not one, not even us, can break that seal. It's not about ANY good or bad that we do. It's ALL about Christ and what He did for us. I'm not sure that we can say with certainty that just because some may not grow in the Gift of Grace they have accepted that they are not saved. But we can be concerned about their growth.

If you know someone who's behavior is questionable, yet they proclaim that they have salvation - why not give them a "refresher course" in Grace. Leave out any reference of "guilt" for their actions, and just take them to the place of salvation alone. By doing so, you could potentially accomplish one of two things. If they are already saved, hopefully, they will develop a better sense of thankfulness for what Christ has done, and allow the Holy Spirit to help them to become more mature in it. If they are not saved after all, then hopefully they will understand and finally become saved.

I don't think you can ever talk about the Gospel of the Grace of God TOO much! lol. For some, it just may take YOUR testimony to finally make it "click" for them.

Grace and Peace!