Recently I was asked about whether a repeated sin such as looking at pornography will cost you your salvation. The simple answer to this question is NO! The longer answer, which I gave, I have reproduced below to encourage and help anyone who feels they may have lost their so great salvation.
Dear (name deleted),
You cannot lose your salvation! It is not like your car keys where you put them down and then don’t know where they are. Your salvation is a new birth that creates a new you. You cannot lose your salvation because you cannot lose you – you is who you are.
Your salvation is you – it is you being alive spiritually having been born again and now living in him. However, you can reject the life of Christ from inside you and if you do this intelligently, deliberately and freely as a mature Christian, you will essentially die spiritually again and then there will be no more redemption for you.
This is found in Hebrews 6.3-4 among other places. But sin will not cost you your salvation. It might harden your heart and lead you to the place where you willingly reject God, but it in itself won’t make God reject you, to say otherwise is to insult the precious redemptive work of our Lord Jesus at Calvary.
So why should we not sin, and how can we avoid sin? The answer is in Romans 6. Romans 6.1-13 tells us that sin is not part of our nature. The more you meditate on the fact that you are in Christ, that you have been redeemed, that love coarses through your veins, that you are spiritual alive, that you are the righteousness of God, the less attraction sin will have on you. It is not normal or natural for you to sin. It is like an eagle banging its head on a tree – it is painful, it is not part of its nature. Just because someone else did it, doesn’t mean you have to.
Sin is powerful, sin is attractive, sin is pleasureable. I know that and you know that. However, Christ is more powerful, more attractive and more pleasureable. Seek your peace in Christ.
Keep confessing outloud: “I am righteous, I am wise, I am love. I am born again and my life is pure and peaceable.” Say it again and again. Keep these Words in your heart and mouth day and night and you will have great success.
Romans 6.14 onwards show us that sin makes us its slave. When we have a desire to sin, whether it is to lose our temper, act greedily, or watch porn, there is a lie in our minds that says if I do it this one LAST time, it will satiate the hunger.
Sin will never satiate hunger – it will only ever increase the hunger and make it worse. Fill up your time with worship and with prayer and with fellowship. Talking about pornography specifically, pornography is a substitute for intimacy. Not necessarily sexual intimacy. To really beat a pornography addiction, you need people around you who are like minded who care for you and think like you. People you can call day and night who will just be there.
Hope this helps,
Ben
Tree of Life Blog 