Suppose it were true that a person once saved could be lost again.

Suppose such a person, to gain heaven, would then have to be saved all over again.

But suppose the person in question never did get saved the second time and, departing this life a lost man, went finally to the lake of fire–after having once been “saved?”

In what sense, then, was he first saved? From what was he saved?

Was he saved from the penalty of sin? No, for he did not escape the lake of fire.

Was he saved from the power of sin? No, for he fell back into sin and died a lost man.

And most assuredly he was not saved from the presence of sin. None this side of heaven have yet been saved from that.

From what was he saved then? The answer is: Nothing at all.

He may have thought he was saved. He may have felt saved. He may have acted as though he were saved. His friends may have thought he was saved. But, in the final analysis, he was saved from nothing.

Salvation, to be anything more than a mere term, must be everlasting. Any person who has been saved has been eternally saved. No one is saved until he is eternally saved. Anyone who dies in a lost condition never was saved at all.

Does this mean we must wait until after this life is over to find out? No. We may be saved now and know it. This is evident from such passages as 1 Corinthians 1:18, where the Apostle Paul refers to “us which are saved.”

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

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