"I am the vine, you are the branches..."

-John 15:5

Occasionally, I meet someone who says we can lose our salvation if we do not continue to abide in Christ. The word “abide” means to remain or continue. Jesus uses the illustration of the vine and the branches to distinguish between a true believer and one who is a professor only. The dead branches are cut off and thrown into the fire for there is no life in them. They cannot produce fruit because Jesus said “for apart from Me you can do nothing”, and they do not belong to Christ. On the other hand, because a believer has been made alive in Christ, he has passed from death into life, Christ lives within him and therefore, he produces fruit. If salvation is all by grace, what can we do to earn it and what can we do to keep it? The “gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable”, so, how can we undo what God has done? Believers will continue to abide because “He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him”, because it is He who saved us and it is He who keeps us saved. Sadly, those who do not abide in Christ and remain dead in their trespasses and sins do not and cannot produce fruit and in the end will perish. Those who are alive in Christ will abide forever. Be encouraged!

Scripture References: John 15:5; Ephesians 2:1, 5; John 5:24; Galatians 2:20; Romans 11:29; Hebrews 7:25