Yet we all know of folks (possibly ourselves) who confessed their sins, accepted Christ, got baptized and yet within a couple of weeks, months or years seemed to fall away from their faith and become "backsliders," doubters, hellions or apostates.
So how do we reconcile those two realities? How can a person be "Once saved, always saved" yet later still resist God and pursue a sinful life ... as if the moment of their salvation never happened? Can such a person be rebellious and rife with sin, yet still feel that God's grace is upon them? Was that person "really truly genuinely sincerely and authentically" saved, or not?
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The Holy Spirit isn't fairy dust, a magic potion nor an obscure allegorical symbol. Scripture is clear that the Spirit is living, equal with God and with Christ ... which makes the Spirit as powerful and as righteous as God.
Which means the Spirit doesn't aim and misfire, make mistakes or say "Maybe." When it comes to the Spirit's impact on a person's life, there's no such thing as a tie. The Holy Spirit never needs overtime to win, because the Spirit can't be defeated.
Once a sinner's repented, surrendered and is reborn through Christ, God will never throw up his hands in despair, turn his back, walk away or forsake him: when it comes to his own, God doesn't forget, quit or give up.
Described another way, sometimes lost lambs don't cry out for the shepherd until they've been surrounded by wolves. Being pathetically short-sighted, lost lambs may not see that no matter how far their sinful wanderings have been, the Good Shepherd has never once forgotten or let them out of his sight.
