Dear Christian,
Thank you for joining me today as we reflect on an important - and often emotionally charged - topic: Can a Christian lose their salvation? What do we do with lukewarm faith, and what role do works play in salvation and sanctification?
This question came up recently after a Bible study, during a thoughtful discussion with a visitor who asked several challenging questions related to what I had shared during the lesson. His concern centered on the issue of whether a Christian who appears lukewarm will ultimately be judged and rejected by Christ, based on texts like Revelation 3 and James 2. Though we seemed to agree in principle, I believe we were speaking different theological languages - and I suspect many well-meaning Christians have found themselves in similar conversations.
Let me walk with you through this, and together we’ll explore what Scripture actually says, where confusion often enters, and how we can hold fast to a biblical, grace-filled understanding of saving faith and true holiness.
Is Lukewarm Faith Genuine Faith?
Let’s start with the Revelation text in question. Jesus says to the church in Laodicea:
I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16)
This is a stern warning, no doubt. But it’s not directed at earnest believers who are simply struggling or weak in faith. It’s addressed to a congregation marked by spiritual apathy, self-reliance, and pride. The Laodiceans said, “I need nothing” (v. 17) - a claim that reveals their problem wasn’t weakness, but delusion.
Now, the key question is whether these “lukewarm” individuals were truly regenerate believers or merely outwardly affiliated with the church. The text leans toward the latter. They were a mixed bag at best. Some were unbelievers who needed to accept Christ for the first time, while others needed to return to him with a renewed and wholehearted commitment. Christ stands outside the door knocking (v. 20) - a powerful image not of intimacy but of exclusion. They had essentially pushed the Lord out of the church. This rebuke isn’t aimed at repentant Christians but at nominal ones - those who bear Christ’s name but not his heart.
The Human Condition Is Not a Math Problem
This brings up an important point we dare not overlook: the human condition is rarely simple or clean-cut. Spiritual life doesn’t neatly fit into binary categories predetermined by one person’s theological system. Some hearts are hard and self-deceived. Others are wounded, struggling, but still beating with love for Christ. We must be careful not to make sweeping judgments about someone’s eternal destiny based only on visible performance.
Does “lukewarm” necessarily mean there’s no faith present at all? That’s the assumption of some - but it’s not clearly stated in the text. If lukewarmness always equals unbelief, then we’re left with troubling and unbiblical implications. How do we measure the temperature of someone’s faith? How holy do they have to be before they’re “not lukewarm”? 60%? 80%? 100%? These are not biblical categories. They’re attempts to quantify what only God sees perfectly - the heart.
That’s why I return, again and again, to the truth that it’s grace from first to last. Grace brings us to Christ, grace keeps us in Christ, and grace bears fruit through our lives. Yes, we’re called to examine ourselves, but we must do so through the lens of the Gospel - not the microscope of human opinion.
Faith Without Works - Dead or Nonexistent?
James 2 is the next passage often cited in these discussions. James writes:
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:17)
Let’s be clear: James is not contradicting Paul. He’s not saying that works earn salvation, but that saving faith is never alone. Fruit follows faith.
As Calvin put it: “It is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone.”
If someone claims to have faith but shows no evidence of repentance, love, or obedience, Scripture calls us to question whether that faith is genuine. But this doesn’t mean a Christian is cast out the moment they falter. It means that the absence of fruit may reveal the absence of faith.
Once Saved, Always Saved?
The phrase “once saved, always saved” can be misleading if it implies that a one-time profession guarantees salvation regardless of how a person lives. But rightly understood, the biblical teaching is that those who truly belong to Christ are kept by God’s grace and power from beginning to end.
Paul writes:
He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)
And Jesus says:
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:28)
This isn’t human effort securing salvation – it’s divine mercy preserving it. This is exactly what John Wesley affirmed in his famous conversation with Charles Simeon. When Simeon asked Wesley if he was upheld every hour and every moment by God, Wesley replied, “Yes, altogether.” And when asked whether all his hope was in the grace and mercy of God to preserve him unto his heavenly Kingdom, Wesley answered, “Yes, I have no hope but in him.”
This moment between Wesley and Simeon shows the deep theological unity shared by Christians across traditions: we’re saved by grace, sustained by grace, and brought home by grace. As Wesley so beautifully said, “I must be saved by Christ from first to last.”
Backsliding Is Not the Same as Apostasy
Let’s distinguish something vital here: there’s a world of difference between the one who struggles and repents and the one who habitually and unrepentantly persists in sin with no regard for Christ.
If someone is living in open rebellion, indulging in sin with no desire for repentance, yet clings to a decision they made 30 years ago, that’s cause for deep concern. That person may have trusted a moment, not a Master. But if someone is limping along, confessing sin, asking God for strength, seeking direction, and desiring holiness - however imperfectly - they’re not lukewarm in the biblical sense. They’re alive. Perhaps wounded, perhaps weary - but not dead.
We must not confuse spiritual fatigue or struggle with unbelief. Nor should we assume that anyone with inconsistent fruit is unsaved. God is far more patient than we are. The Father disciplines those he loves, not to cast them out - but to draw them close.
Is Grace Part of Sanctification?
This is a crucial point where confusion often enters. Some Christians speak as though justification is by grace, but sanctification is by sweat. That’s not the Gospel.
Paul says in Titus 2:11-12:
For the grace of God has appeared… training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions.
Grace not only saves - it trains. It motivates holiness. It fuels obedience. It keeps us going when we fail.
If someone says we’re saved by grace, but we must maintain our salvation by works, they aren’t simply mistaken - they’re placing a crushing, unbiblical burden on others.
John 15: The Vine and the Branches
Jesus said, “Abide in me, and I in you… whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5)
This is the key to everything. The Christian life isn’t powered by moral resolve but by spiritual union. Fruitfulness isn’t about working harder - it’s about staying connected to the Vine. A branch doesn’t produce fruit by trying harder; it produces fruit by staying alive.
Yes, fruit matters. Yes, it glorifies the Father (v. 8). But the source of that fruit is always the grace of abiding in Christ - not a checklist of how holy we are on any given day.
So What Are the Key Issues Here?
True faith produces fruit.
Lukewarmness is a sign of spiritual danger, not necessarily loss of salvation.
Grace isn’t only for justification - it empowers sanctification.
Those who are truly in Christ are upheld by God’s grace and Spirit from beginning to end.
Assurance comes from trusting Christ, not tracking our holiness percentage.
Habitual, unrepentant sin is a warning sign - but so is forgetting that grace meets us even in our struggle.
The visitor and I were probably closer than it appeared. But vocabulary matters. When we use loaded phrases without clarification - like “lukewarm Christians” or “lose salvation” - we can quickly talk past each other.
Let’s speak the truth plainly: Saving faith leads to a changed life. But that change is powered by grace - not fear, not law, not guilt. It’s not our grip on Jesus that keeps us secure, but his grip on us.
One Key Principle
Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone - but true saving faith never stays alone. It bears fruit, fueled by the grace that saves and sanctifies.
Questions for Reflection
Am I trusting in my works, or in Christ’s finished work for my salvation?
Do I see growth in holiness as evidence of God’s grace, not a requirement for his acceptance?
How can I lovingly explain these truths to someone with a different theological vocabulary?
Walking Points
This week, reflect on Titus 2:11-14 and John 15:1-11. Ask God to show you how his grace is training you and keeping you connected to Christ.
Have a conversation with a fellow believer from a different tradition. Practice listening carefully and asking clarifying questions before assuming disagreement.
Addendum: Without Holiness No One Will See the Lord
Our visitor referenced Hebrews 12:14 as though it offered a decisive argument that Christians must attain a certain level of holiness to secure Heaven. The verse reads:
Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14)
At first glance, it may sound like a works-based standard for salvation. But a closer reading - and understanding the verse within the flow of Hebrews - reveals something far more hopeful and rooted in grace.
First, the exhortation to “strive” for holiness is directed to those who are already in Christ. Hebrews is written not to unbelievers trying to earn their way into God’s favor, but to Christians who are tempted to drift away under pressure, persecution, and spiritual fatigue. The author has just finished a section on God’s loving discipline (Hebrews 12:5-11), reminding us that God disciplines his children because they belong to him - not to make them worthy of belonging. Holiness, then, isn’t a prerequisite for adoption - it’s the natural outworking of sonship.
Position and Progress
We must also remember the New Testament speaks of holiness in two interconnected but distinct ways: positional and progressive.
In one sense, believers are already made holy through union with Christ. Hebrews 10:10 says, “We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” This is a definitive, once-for-all sanctification. But Hebrews also exhorts believers to pursue holiness, as in 12:14, meaning that while we are positionally holy in Christ, we’re also being practically conformed to his image by the Spirit (Romans 8:29). As I like to put it, you are holy, now go and be holy.
So, when Hebrews 12:14 says that without holiness no one will see the Lord, it isn’t demanding that we achieve holiness in order to gain God’s acceptance. Rather, it’s saying that those who truly belong to Christ will, by necessity and evidence of grace, pursue holiness. This pursuit isn’t meritorious - it’s indicative. In other words, we don’t pursue holiness to earn Heaven; we pursue holiness because Heaven’s life has already begun in us.
The Role of Grace in the Pursuit of Holiness
Holiness, then, is a grace-driven pursuit. As Paul writes in Philippians 2:12-13, we are to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” but then immediately reminds us: “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
Holiness is not self-improvement. It’s the Spirit’s fruit (Galatians 5:22-23), the result of abiding in the Vine (John 15:5), and the evidence of a life rooted in Christ. The moment we turn holiness into a spiritual performance for approval, we lose sight of grace and inevitably fall into fear or pride.
To the one who fears, “Am I holy enough to see the Lord?” the Gospel answers: No, but Christ is, and you are in him. And now, as one made alive in Christ, you are being made holy - not to gain God’s love, but because you already have it.
A Final Word on Assurance and Warning
Hebrews 12:14 is a sobering verse, and it should be. But it’s not meant to provoke despair in the sincere believer who struggles, repents, and presses on. It’s meant to awaken the complacent - the one who has no desire for holiness and yet assumes eternal security.
This ties back beautifully to the discussion above: habitual, unrepentant sin with no regard for God is a sign of spiritual death. But struggle, repentance, and the imperfect pursuit of holiness? That’s the evidence of life.
So yes, without holiness, no one will see the Lord - but if you belong to Christ, you’re already on that path. God isn’t calling you to earn your place in glory. He’s calling you to walk in the grace that’s already secured it.
Until next time, keep walking wisely, and may the Lord bless you every step of the way.
With gratitude and grace,
Pastor Dale
Thank you for joining me today. My hope is that you were encouraged and blessed by reflecting on this topic with me. If you’d like to explore more devotionals, Bible studies, and spiritual resources, click here: Walking Points.
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