In more than one corner of the religious world there exists doctrines that cast doubt on whether or not a person can be lost after being found. "If your salvation can be lost, then how could Jesus ever be claimed as your savior?" is the contention.
The contention contradicts the lesson the church is called to learn from the children of Israel’s history with God, their deliverance, their sin, and their abandonment of God’s grace. Such was Paul’s point to the Corinthian congregation when he said:
“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5 But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were cut down in the wilderness. 6 These things happened as examples for us, so that we will not crave evil things as they did. 7 So do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 And let us not be immoral, as some of them were, and 23,000 died in a single day. 9 And let us not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes. 10 And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel. 11 These things happened to them as examples and were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 So let the one who thinks he is standing be careful that he does not fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12)
Though all of Israel was delivered by God from their slavery in Egypt, not all of Israel entered the promised land. The failure to enter Cannan was not due to a lack of faithfulness from God (1 Corinthians 10:13), the failure to enter was due to many of the delivered Israelites taking God’s faithfulness for granted. The wilderness experience of the children of Israel served (and serves) as a clear warning for Christians according to an apostle who understood God’s grace very well (1 Corinthians 9:27; 15:1-2, 9-10; 1 Timothy 1:15-16). One cannot fall from a deliverance that never existed.
So, "Can Jesus save a person, but they still be lost?" The answer is, "Yes."
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