Can God Cast You Out?
Hal Lindsey

   Even many of those who believe that we can do nothing to earn God's forgiveness and acceptance in salvation have fuzzy thinking about whether we can lose our salvation afterward. No other issue in the Bible is more important than this one. The factors involved in the questions go straight to the character of God. The most fundamental core of the questions involves attributes in the Character of God that He has revealed in His Word.

   The salvation of each human being is the result of the expression of several of God's absolute attributes. The Lord Jesus brings this out clearly when He said, "ALL that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never cast out." (John 6:37) This verse emphasizes the Divine side of salvation. To fully comprehend the meaning of this statement, let's carefully work it backwards. "Everyone who comes to the Lord Jesus does so because he was previously given to Him by the Father." And once a person comes to Jesus, The Lord promises He will never cast him out."

   The construction in the original Greek for this promise is ironclad. It is two negative particles plus the subjunctive mood in the verb "cast out." This means, "never under any circumstances will I ever cast you out once you have come to Me." God's attributes of foreknowledge, sovereignty, immutability and veracity are all involved here. God has always foreknown and chosen (sovereignty) everyone who would come to Jesus Christ for salvation. The Father gives each one to the Son as a gift because He died for his sins. Then Jesus promises that He will never cast out anyone who comes to Him because they were given to Him by the Father.

   Once God makes a clear promise, it can never be broken. His attributes of veracity and immutability guarantee this. Then the Lord Jesus goes further in assuring us of our salvation, "This is the WILL of Him who sent me, that of ALL that He has given Me I lose nothing [literally, not even one], but raise him up on the last day." (John 6:39) Now the Lord Jesus adds "the Father's will for Him is to raise up everyone who comes to Him on the last day." If even one that comes to Him is not raised up on the last day, then Jesus failed to carry out the Father's will; which is clearly impossible.

   This promise is so important that the Lord restates it with additional clarification, "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." (John 6:40) This emphasizes the human side of salvation; "Everyone who beholds or recognizes who the Son is and believes in Him is given eternal life." And again it is emphasized that it is the Father's will that the Son raise up everyone who believes in Him on the last day.

   This offended the self-righteous religious people (as it still does today). So the Lord Jesus sums up the issue for them again, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day." This emphasizes again that salvation is a work of God for man, and not vice versa. The one who comes to Jesus and believes in Him does so because the Father has given him to Jesus and the Father draws that one to Him by the Holy Spirit. This is why salvation is forever and cannot be lost.

   It depends upon the work of God and His faithfulness to keep His promises. If anyone who believes in Jesus for forgiveness is not raised up on the last day, then Jesus failed to do the Father's will; and that can never happen. God does not want us to live in fear of loosing our relationship with Him. He wants us to fully understand what He has done for us and to love Him back. "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [satisfaction] for our sins." "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" (1 John 4:10 and Romans 8:32) Serve God out of gratitude for such an unimaginable gift of love. This is what pleases Him most.

FOJ Note: We can harm or even lose our fellowship with God, but once we have been born into the family of God, our relationship is intact. There is a distinct difference between relationship and fellowship with God. A relationship is a kinship, while a fellowship has to do with how well two parties communicate and interrelate. We can no more become “unborn” spiritually than we can become unborn physically.