A person accepts Jesus as Savior, and says the prayer of salvation. Then, lives in the same way they did before… pretty much forgetting about the saving experience. Are they going to Heaven?
Keith Hafner
Someone who accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior won’t forget their Salvation! They may leave their first Love and stray from the Lord, but the Salvation they received can never be forgotten nor lost. The Holy Spirit that lives in the reborn believer won’t let them forget! Revelation 2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: 2:3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Reading the passages above, you might wonder what the Lord’s talking about when He says “repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” Would you believe that a Christian can become so useless to the Lord, that He would just bring them on home? There’s something called “the sin unto death”. Simply put, the Lord may just as well bring home a servant who refuses to serve Him. As for an accounting for that sin, consider the following: 1st John 5:16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. 5:17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death. 5:18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. Then again, it’s also possible that this individual was never saved in the first place. Only they and the Lord knows!