"Insurmountable"

"They that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at Thy tokens: Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice." (Psalms 65:8) So a question arises, Can I lose my salvation? or is it true, "Once saved, always saved?" Google that little phrase and see what you come up with! But the other day, as I was having dinner with family, the statement was made, "Once saved, always saved", and I was speechless. Don't ask me why, I just had a check in my spirit, and I felt the Holy Spirit making me still on the issue; almost as if the statement was made in a way that was not respectable to God's standard or desire for us to be set apart. In other words, I do not believe that a person can be saved and still want to do whatever it is that they wish to do; at least not without having some serious conflicting issues going on inside their heart, and without getting into some serious trouble with God. I was listening to a message the other day, and Pastor Mike was using the example of "God getting up off the couch", as if to say, God will tolerate some foolish behavior, but push His patience, and He is going to get up and give you a spanking! God does not do that unless you are His child; and if you are a child of God, then yes, you will always be His child. So in the case, the statement is abundantly correct, You cannot lose your salvation; you did not earn it, so you cannot spend it! That said, there are several different levels of eternal security, and there are several different ways that the saved will enter the promised land. Notice I said "saved", because no one will get into heaven without being born again; it's like this: Be born once, die twice; be born twice, die once! Now the real question is about when did the "once death" happen? It does not happen when you are dead and buried in the ground; that is called moving on for those that have been born again; it happens at the time of your salvation, which is the time when you are born again; you cannot be born again unless there is a death that takes place. Paul says, in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, that not all will fall asleep, as he calls it, but that when the Lord comes, the ones who remain will be "caught up", and they shall ever be with the Lord. So for those, there will be no physical death or sleep; just a transformation from corruptible to incorruptible, which takes place between earth and heaven... "God's law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God's wonderful grace became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God's wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of His wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined Him in His death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives." (Romans 5:20-6:4) NLT