So, let's talk about this issue of Luke chapter 8, if you turn there, where it says they
believed for a while.
Some people have tried to use this as a proof text of, hey, you can stop believing
in Christ, or that you could lose your salvation, or something like that, and I've heard interpretations
like that.
First of all, you never want to base a doctrine on a parable, base it on clear statements
from the Bible that tell us that we have eternal life, we'll never perish, we're passed
from death unto life.
There's plenty of clear scriptures that tell us what the gospel is, what believing is,
how long we're saved, that Christ will never leave us or forsake us, and that nothing can
separate us from the love of God.
So when we see a verse like this, you don't want to just panic, because you might just
not understand what it's saying.
So it says here that for a while they believe, and in time of temptation, fall away.
Now the Bible already explained to us why they fall away in Matthew 13, because of
the fact that they have no root, so any persecution, any tribulation, they fall away.
So why does it say that they believe for a while?
They believe for a while.
First of all, the fact that they believe makes them saved, period, end of story.
Why?
Because John 3, 18 says this, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth
not is condemned already, because he hath not believed, in the name of the only begotten
Son of God.
So those that are not saved, they have not believed.
They've never believed on Christ, because Christ will say to them one day, depart from
me, I never knew you, not I used to know you.
They have, John 3, 18 is key there.
There's those who believe, and there's those who have not believed.
Those are the two groups of people.
So especially when you look at it in context, that the first group, it says, lest they
should believe and be saved, making it clear that those who believe are saved, OK?
And there's hundreds of other verses for that in other parts of the Bible.
But then right there in the context we see that, and then he talks about these
people who for a while believe, and in time of temptation, fall away.
First of all, what this verse does not say is it does not say they stop believing.
That statement is not here.
Now you could see that implication of they believe for a while, so the implication would
be that they only believe for a while.
I get that, but what I'm saying is that there's not an outright statement that says
they believe for a while, and then they stop believing.
It says they believe for a while, and in time of temptation, they fall away, which
I believe is referring to the fact that they're falling away from church, falling
away from serving the Lord, falling away from any chance of bringing forth
any fruit, because they don't want the persecution, they don't want the
tribulation, they can't make it through the testing.