Alright, we're here in 1 John chapter 5, and I love talking about eternal security.
I remember when I first got saved, this was my big thing I wanted to study, and I wanted to make sure I could answer this very clearly.
Because the Bible is just very clear, and we're going to talk about this later on, that you must understand this to go to heaven.
You must understand that you are eternally secure, that it's once saved to always save, that you cannot lose your salvation.
Now a lot of people get confused from the book of 1 John, because often times in 1 John, it's giving you verses that say,
this is how you can know that you love God, or this is how you know God, meaning a close relationship.
But not in terms of getting to heaven. There's a big difference there.
You see, you can be saved, but not really know God.
I mean, most people that are saved don't know anything about God.
They don't know what the Bible teaches, they're confused on everything.
So there's a lot of verses people are confused about, but the book of 1 John is for believers,
and then it gives us this verse here in verse 13.
And most of us probably know this verse, we love this verse, and this is what it reads in 1 John 5, verse 13.
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
See, the Bible says that you can know that you have eternal life.
Not that you know that one day you'll receive eternal life, but right now, presently, you know you have eternal life.
The Bible says you can be sure of that 100%, and here's the truth.
If you don't know you're going to heaven, it's because you're not. That's the truth.
Now, if you're saved and you are going to heaven, guess what? You know that.
And so it's a great verse here where it says you may know that you have eternal life,
and honestly, you know, I don't really usually mention this in sermons,
but if you're in this room and you're not for sure you're going to heaven, please talk to someone before you leave.
Because the vast majority of people in this room, they know how to explain it to you,
they can explain to you how you can know 100% for sure you're going to heaven.
Now turn back to John 3, John 3.
And what we're going to do in this sermon is go through a lot of verses that show us in a lot of just different points
of how we can know and why we know that once we're saved, we're always saved.
That once you're a child of God, you cannot lose your salvation,
that you have a home in heaven, it's secure, and you can never lose it at all.
It says in John 3, verse 15, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
So in verse 15 it says eternal life. In verse 16 it says everlasting life.
Now in Tagalog for both of those it would say, hu hai na walang hangam.
Now you have to understand something. In the Bible here in English it says eternal and everlasting.
These things mean the same thing. They're expressing the same thought.
So when the Bible translates in Tagalog, hu hai na walang hangam,
that's not wrong even though there's different words used in English.
Because what eternal means is it never ends. And everlasting means it lasts forever.
Those are expressing the same thing.
And so basically what it's saying is when you receive spiritual life, it will not end.
First it says in verse 15 that it is eternal. And that's our first point.
One reason why we can know we're going to heaven and not lose it is because God says everlasting or eternal throughout the Bible.
And honestly we could spend over an hour just going through the verses that say once you have life it's everlasting or it's eternal.
There's so many verses. We're not going to cover all of them because there's a lot of points we need to cover in this sermon.
But first it says in verse 15 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life which means it never ends.
Now whosoever believeth is anybody. So it includes the person that believes and does not repent of their sins as we talked about last week.
If you believe, the Bible says you have eternal life.
Now when I was a young child I believed Jesus existed ever since I was born.
Because my parents said the name Jesus. It doesn't mean that when I was three years old I understood exactly what Jesus did.
In fact when I was a teenager I did not understand what it meant that Jesus died on the cross and paid for my sins and rose again.
And you know honestly the truth is that all of us, we needed somebody to give us the gospel to understand that.
Because we can't receive these things as the unsaved person the Bible says.
So the Bible says here eternal life and somebody explained this to me when I was 18 years old.
I remember we were arguing about it because I was telling my friend he didn't know what he was talking about.
I had never read the Bible and I was so confident I knew what the Bible said. Isn't it funny how that works?
Because once you get saved you read and read and read and you start realizing man I don't know anything about the Bible.
I'm still learning quite a bit. But I was confident that you know what if you commit suicide you're going to go to hell.
Because that's what I was taught at a young age. It's a Catholic belief that's got passed down to almost all churches.
But yet the Bible says eternal life. It's never going to end.
Now this is obviously talking about our spirit. It's not talking about our body.
But when your spirit receives everlasting life or eternal life that's God's promise it's never going to end but it will last forever.
You see if our life would ever end for any reason then God lied when he said everlasting life.
He says it's everlasting. You know when I preach people the gospel I'll always say this in verse 16.
I'll ask them does it say everlasting life as long as you don't commit a bad sin or does it say everlasting life?
Does it say everlasting life as long as you stay true and faithful to the very end or does he say it's everlasting life?
It says it's everlasting. It's not conditional. It's not temporary. It is everlasting or eternal.
Look at verse 36.
And so that was Jesus speaking in John 3 verse 15 and 16. I think Jesus is a pretty good source for knowledge.
Don't you? The words that he says. But I also think John the Baptist is a pretty good source as well.
And in verse 36 he says he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life or has everlasting life.
That's present tense. You don't have to wait to the end of your life to find out if you're going to heaven.
It says he may know that you have eternal life. You can have it. You can know that for sure.
And John the Baptist says hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the son shall not see life with the wrath of God abideth on.
So here's the thing. Since we receive everlasting life by believing, when do we receive it?
At the end of our life or the moment we believe?
It's going to be the moment we believe because that's how we receive it. We don't wait to the end of our life.
And look, over 90% of people in this country believe that you have to wait till the day you die to find out if you're going to heaven.
They're not sure they're going to heaven. They do not believe that you can know.
In fact, a lot of people, we start preaching the gospel to them and they'll say, well, I don't know. Nobody knows that they're going to heaven.
Don't you hear that a lot? People will tell you, well, nobody knows.
Well, the Bible says he may know that you have eternal life.
And when I was 18 years old, I went from being a scared to death teenager that did not know where I was going to spend eternity.
Someone preached the gospel and the biggest feeling of relief came over me.
Because when I got saved, it was very clear to me I would have gone to hell and now I can never lose my salvation.
What a great feeling of relief knowing that when you're saved, you can't screw it up.
Because he promises it's everlasting life.
Turn to John 4.
And we're only going to cover a few of these verses on everlasting or eternal because we've got more points.
But, I mean, there's so many verses in the Bible that say once you have life, it's yours forever.
Because God wants us to have that surety. He doesn't want you to stand in doubt about it.
It says in John 4 verses 13 and 14, Jesus answered and said unto her,
Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.
But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.
So Jesus is using an earthly example.
Now look, this is a pretty big bottle of water, right?
Now I'm going to drink it, I'll feel refreshed, but you know what? I'm going to thirst again later today.
Especially as we go out sowing in the heat. I'm going to get thirsty again.
But the example that he's giving is, if I give you this water, you're never going to thirst.
Meaning you don't have to worry about refilling it or buying a new bottle, but it's going to last 100% forever.
That's what he says. He says, whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.
Is God lying or is he telling the truth? He's telling the truth.
And look, people say they'll believe the Bible when they see it, but the truth is, most people don't want to believe the Bible when they see it.
They'll see verses like this and they just don't believe it because it doesn't make sense to them, they just don't agree with it.
But the Bible says that when you drink of this, you're never going to thirst.
Turn to John 5.
And so if it lasts forever, you only need to receive it one time.
Salvation is a one time thing, it's not something where you have to keep getting saved every week, or keep receiving forgiveness or presents every week.
The Bible says salvation is a one time thing, everlasting.
If it lasts forever, you receive it one time the moment you believe and it's guaranteed that you're on your way to heaven.
It says in John 5 verse 24, I think this is the best verse proving eternal security in the Bible.
It says, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life.
Present tense, you have a home in heaven, you know you have everlasting life.
But then it says, and shall not come into condemnation.
It means you won't be condemned in the future when you screw up.
Not if you screw up, but when you screw up, you won't be condemned.
Look, if God's already promised you it lasts forever, he can't declare you guilty one day.
So you won't be condemned in the future when you screw up, because he already promised you everlasting life.
But then notice what it says, but is passed from death unto life.
Is is present tense.
Which means that when you get saved, you pass from spiritual death to spiritual life.
You go from being spiritually dead, and if you die you're on your way to hell, to being spiritually alive.
You're a child of God, you have everlasting life.
Three times in that verse he says it's going to last forever.
It's everlasting life, shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.
Let's look at one more, John 6 verse 47.
Now a lot of people have this idea that, some people will say, well yes I believe in eternal security,
but I don't really think it's essential to going to heaven.
You know, whether or not you believe you can lose it, or whether or not you believe that it lasts forever,
it doesn't really make a difference, as long as you put your trust in Jesus.
But look, like we said in the bulletin, if you believe that you can lose your salvation,
you have not put your full trust in Jesus.
You say, well I think that you can only lose it if you do something bad that's not everlasting,
that's not the gift Jesus is offering, you're calling God a liar, you're not believing what the Bible says.
That's the truth.
And look, all those Pentecostals that we have out there, that believe you can lose your salvation,
they don't believe the same Gospel we do.
All those people out there that think, well if I do something really bad I'm going to lose my salvation,
they believe in a different Gospel.
And look, we're doing baptisms next week, and here's the truth,
you might have been raised in a church and prayed and asked Jesus to save you when you were 12 years old,
but if you just started believing that salvation lasted forever a year ago,
that means you didn't get saved until a year ago.
That's the truth.
And look, there's going to be people at our church that are going to be getting baptized that have been baptized before,
that just aren't sure if they believed properly before.
It's going to be that way next week, and also in April we had that many people in this room.
And look, if you got saved when you were young,
but you thought your whole life that you could lose your salvation,
you were not saved.
The Bible says you must believe this.
John 6 verse 47, John 6 verse 47,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
It's that simple.
Hath is present tense if you believe you have everlasting life.
Now turn to Acts 16, Acts 16.
So the first, and I believe the best proof that you cannot lose your salvation,
that you're eternally secure as a believer,
is the fact that just overwhelmingly it says everlasting or eternal life so many times.
It's not like there's just a couple examples where maybe we're misunderstanding them.
I mean there's scores of verses that say it's everlasting life.
It's eternal life.
I mean you can turn to like 50 verses and show someone,
and they'll pull up one verse they don't understand and try to overhaul at 50 verses.
It's because they don't really believe the Bible.
But the second reason why we know that we are eternally secure as believers is this.
The Bible uses the phrase salvation, okay?
Acts 16 verse 30, And brought them out and said,
Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
So the Bible uses the term saved or salvation.
And when you believe, the moment you believe, the Bible says you are saved.
Now saved means it's a done deal.
It's finished.
It's not one day you will be saved.
It's no, you are saved.
You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you are saved the moment you believe.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 1.
When I was around, I think 23 years old or so, I came very close to drowning.
I almost died.
And I remember there was somebody who grabbed me and kind of picked me up on this rock.
This was in West Virginia.
He saved me.
Now look, that was a long time ago.
Right now, I'm not worried about drowning.
You know why?
Because I already got saved.
This is what people, I mean, why would the Bible use the term saved if you couldn't lose it?
That would be like saying, well, God says, well, you're saved, but if you screw up, I'm going to drop you down to hell.
I mean, does that make any sense?
It doesn't make sense whatsoever.
If he uses the term saved, it's a done deal.
What would be the point of getting saved if you could lose it?
You might as well just wait until right before you die.
It doesn't make any sense.
The fact that he uses the term saved, it's done.
Look, that was over a decade ago I was saved.
I have not been worried in the last 10 years whether or not I'm going to drown because of the fact I'm not swimming right now.
And look, I got saved when I was 18 years old spiritually.
I have not been worried over the last 15, 16 years whether or not I'm going to go to hell because he promised you're saved,
which means it's a done deal.
Not that, well, you know, once you start sinning, maybe you're not really saved.
No, he promised me I was saved no matter what I did to screw it up.
Because look, we sin every single day, but God says you can be eternally secure.
And look, if your works were evidence of your salvation, you can't really be sure because you're not really sure whether or not you did it or not.
But God's promise is you have everlasting life, you're saved.
1 Corinthians 1, verse 18.
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness.
When it says them that perish, those are people that are going to die and go to hell.
But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God.
It says to us which are saved, not one day you will be saved, but to us which are saved.
Now you can look at modern versions of the Bible, and they won't change this verse.
They'll change it from our saved to our being saved.
They made salvation a process.
Now the fact that there's hundreds of verses that say, hath everlasting life, that shows salvation is not a process.
But it's just that you go from being a moment for being unsaved to being saved.
From not having life to having life.
It's either dead or alive.
There's no in-between position.
Well, I'm kind of dead, I'm kind of alive.
Look, this morning here, physically, I'm alive.
I'm not dead.
I'm not in-between, I'm kind of dead, I'm kind of alive.
You're either dead or you're alive.
Same thing with spiritually.
In 1 Corinthians 1, it's very clear, are saved, not are being saved.
Like, well, I'm working it out, and then one day I'll receive it.
Isn't that what the Catholics believe?
That you're being saved, and it's a lifelong process where you hope you're going to make it.
And you reach the end, and if you do well, you'll only spend like 10 years in purgatory burning.
I mean, isn't that what they believe?
I believe what the Bible says when it says they are saved.
The moment you put your faith in Jesus, the Bible says you are saved.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 6.
Now, the reason why this is such an important sermon is not because there's a lot of people in this room that disagree with what I'm saying.
I mean, the vast majority of you believe in eternal security, right?
Because the vast majority of people in this room are saved, which means you believe in eternal security.
But the vast majority of people outside this room in Metro Manila, they don't believe in eternal security.
They're not saved.
And this is an issue of whether or not they're going to go to heaven or hell.
So when we preach the Gospel, we must explain that salvation lasts forever.
You see, there's a lot of cool techniques to preaching the Gospel where you can get a lot of people to pray with you.
But we're not interested in just getting a big number in our bulletin that's not real.
We want people to actually believe on Jesus Christ.
And look, you can spend three minutes and get somebody to pray with you.
Look, we were out sowing for hours yesterday, and we could have just used that technique and had 30 salvations, each of us.
We could have gotten people to pray with us and say, why accept Jesus as my Savior?
That doesn't mean that they understand or that they believe.
And the fact that people do not believe in eternal security, if we want to get them to believe that,
we must explain it to them when we're preaching the Gospel to them.
Because if they don't believe it's eternal security, they are still trusting in their works.
You say, well, I only think you can lose it if you commit suicide.
You're still trusting that you don't commit that sin.
That's not trusting in Jesus alone.
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6, verse 2,
For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I suckered thee.
Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.
The Bible refers to salvation, the day of salvation.
Which means it's not something you receive one day, where at the end of my life, he says, no, now is the accepted time.
Now is the day of salvation.
When I go soul winning sometimes, and somebody's kind of on the fence of believing this,
sometimes I go to this verse and try to persuade them and say, hey, now is the day of salvation.
You're hearing it, just decide to change your mind about what you believe.
All of us have to change our mind about what we believe if we're going to go to heaven.
Because we believe something false before.
The Bible expresses the day of salvation.
And understanding that salvation, being born again, receiving everlasting life, happens the moment you believe,
that ends this discussion.
Because if it happens the moment you believe, he's clear, it's everlasting, it's eternal, and it's the day of salvation.
People don't think that you can receive this until the end of their life, but the Bible's very clear.
The day of salvation. You are saved. It's everlasting. It's eternal.
Let's look at one more. Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1.
Another way people express this besides eternal security is once saved, always saved.
And look, if it's not once saved, always saved, you weren't saved.
That doesn't make any sense. Man, I saved you from hell. Whoops, you screwed up. I'm dropping you back in.
I mean, is God just holding us over hell and saying, I'm just waiting.
I'm just waiting to drop you down to hell when you screw up again.
It doesn't make any sense.
Of course if you're saved, you're always saved, because the word itself implies that.
That if you have a home in heaven, it's secure. You cannot lose that.
It says in Ephesians 1, verses 13 and 14,
In whom ye also trusted, that's when you put your faith in them, you believe on them, believe on Jesus,
after that ye heard the word of truth, so you hear the gospel first from someone, the gospel of your salvation,
you put your trust in them by your own free will,
in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
See, it says when you receive the gospel of salvation and you believe it, you're sealed.
You're sealed. That means you're guaranteed you're on the way to heaven,
which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession,
on to the praise of his glory.
The Bible says we're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
He promises us we have a home in heaven. It's secure.
If you're indwelt with the Holy Spirit, you're always going to be indwelt with the Holy Spirit.
That's what the Bible teaches.
It says it's the earnest of our inheritance.
It's like if you're buying a house. I don't know if they use this term here,
but they call it earnest money in the U.S.
Where basically you put money down and say, I'm going to make a bid on this house.
You give them, let's say, $2,000.
If you're going to give them $2,000, you're not going to change your mind.
If you change your mind, they keep your money.
That's a lot of money to throw away.
So basically, God is saying, hey, this is the earnest.
It's the earnest money.
It's the guarantee.
I put it down to show you that your inheritance, your home in heaven,
it's reserved for you.
You're never going to lose it. It's forever.
Turn to John 1.
So the first reason why we know that we are eternally secure as believers
is the fact that God uses the term eternal,
which means never ends, or everlasting, which means it lasts forever,
over and over again.
But also that he uses the term saved.
That shows you that, of course, if you have it, you're going to have it forever.
But he also uses the term born again.
John 1, let's look at verses 12 and 13.
So the Bible says that when we receive Jesus Christ, we become a son of God.
What that shows you is not everybody in this world is the son or daughter of God.
Now yes, God created the world, but the Bible says you must be born again.
So the implication is you go from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
You get born into God's family the moment you believe.
And so the people that God sends to hell,
you say, why would God send his children to hell?
God does not send his children to hell.
He sends people that are not his children to hell.
The people that are cast into the lake of fire,
their name is not in the book of life.
And so when they die, unsafe, they get cast into hell
because they have not put their faith in Jesus.
They've never been born again.
Obviously, if I were to look at my son,
I'm not going to throw my son in a burning lake one day.
As a loving parent, of course I'm not going to throw my son into a fire.
But you know, when my son acts up, of course I'm going to discipline him.
That's what you're going to do as a parent.
But obviously you're not going to throw him in a burning lake.
God's the same way.
We don't serve an evil God.
He doesn't throw his children in hell.
He throws the people in hell that rejected him over and over again
when he says it's a free gift and they chose not to believe it
but be prideful and trust in their works.
The fact that he uses the term born again
proves that once you're saved, you're always saved.
Turn to John 3.
Now this is a great way to express the Gospel and show people salvation
because of the fact it almost sounds too good to be true
that you can just believe and go out and do whatever you want and go to heaven.
Right?
That sounds too good to be true.
And honestly, if we express it like that when we give the Gospel,
I mean, it's going to make it hard for them to believe in eternal security.
When you're basically saying, hey, you can believe and just go out and do whatever you want.
But when we explain that, well, yes, going to heaven or hell is based on belief alone,
but in this life, God's going to judge you by your actions if you disobey him,
that makes eternal security make a lot more sense.
It makes sense that obviously God's going to judge his children in this life if they break his rules.
That's what a parent's going to do to their child if they break their rules.
It's the same with God.
Yes, we put our faith in Jesus.
We're born into his family.
We're his child.
But a parent does discipline their children if they're smart.
If they want their child to grow up and not be a terrible kid,
they're going to discipline that child.
And that's the same way with God.
In John 3, let's look at verse number 3.
The Bible says in John 3, verse 3,
Jesus answered and said unto him,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.
So the Bible says that a man must be born again.
Now obviously a baby, a very young child,
they're not a grown adult, they're not a man yet,
and if a baby were to die, they would go to heaven.
Because they can't even comprehend believing on Jesus at that age of one or two or three.
They're too young to understand that.
But once you're an adult, which the vast majority of us are in this room,
the Bible says you must be born again in order to go to heaven.
You must be born into God's family
because before that you're spiritually dead.
Nicodemus saith unto him,
How can a man be born when he is old?
Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?
Now Nicodemus is extremely confused with what Jesus is saying.
He's like, how can I be physically born again?
Now if we're thinking of this physically,
you're right, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
How can you be physically born again?
And it says in verse number 5,
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Now we're going to talk about this next week as we talk about baptism.
But in John 3 verse 5 it says,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born of water.
Now a lot of people would look at that and say, well that's talking about baptism.
It's not talking about baptism.
When it says born of water, it's talking about physically being born.
Born of water and of the Spirit.
You say, why would it be talking about that?
Because Nicodemus is thinking about a physical birth.
And so Jesus is telling him, yes you were born physically, you were born of water,
now you have to be born of the Spirit if you're going to enter into the kingdom of God.
Now the argument's over when you look at verse 6 because Jesus makes it very clear.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh.
That's a physical birth.
And that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
He's telling Nicodemus, yes you've been born physically, now you must be born spiritually.
And so he's very clear on this.
You're born physically, then you have to be born spiritually.
But look, this example of being born again,
this proves that once you're a believer, once you have salvation, you're always saved.
Because when you're born into this world, your parents are always your parents.
My dad, Curtis Stuck, is always going to be my dad.
Nothing can ever change that.
You say, did you ever break his rules growing up?
I broke them all the time growing up.
I have an older sister and I played sports all day long growing up.
Now in West Virginia during the winter time, that means when there's snow outside,
you're pretty much stuck indoors some of the time.
And so pretty much I was just kicking soccer balls off the walls all day long.
My sister was just reading books for like 10 hours a day.
That's why she's really smart, I'm kind of bold.
My sister read for like 10 hours a day, and I played sports all day long.
So guess who got in trouble more?
I got in trouble more.
But no matter how much I got spanked, no matter how much I got sent to my room,
it doesn't change the fact I was born into my family a long time before that,
and they were still my parents.
Look, if my son acts up, he doesn't become somebody else's son.
That doesn't make any sense.
And when you're born into God's family, you're his child forever.
People get confused because they think everybody's the child of God in this world.
No they're not.
You must be born again, go from spiritually dead to spiritually alive,
and once you're a child of God, you are his child forever.
Now turn to James 2.
And so the first point we have is this.
We know that once we're a child of God, we're always a child of God,
because he uses the term eternal, which means never ends,
or everlasting, which means it lasts forever.
The second reason why is because the Bible uses the term saved,
and the term saved shows you and implies to you that you can't lose it,
that once you have a home in heaven, it's yours forever.
The third is he uses the example of being born again.
But the fourth point we see is this.
I want you to think about this.
Let us say for a second that someone could lose their salvation.
As an example, if somebody could lose their salvation,
let me ask you the question,
how many sins would they have to commit to lose it?
Let me ask you a question.
How many sins condemn us to hell?
One sin.
If you've lived a perfect life and told one lie,
had one bad thought, you need a savior,
which is everybody in the world.
So let's say for example you could lose your salvation.
How many sins would it take to lose it?
Just one.
Which means we would all lose our salvation every single day.
It would only take one sin, one little white lie,
one bad thought, one time you got angry at your spouse,
and you know what? You lost your salvation.
James 2.10, let's see this.
For whosoever shall keep the whole law,
and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
You see, if somebody lives a perfect life
and they break God's law just one time,
they tell one lie, they're condemned to hell,
and they need a savior.
And see, if we could lose our salvation as an example,
it would only take one sin.
And that would be a ridiculous sin.
We would all go to hell.
Turn to Revelation 21.
Revelation 21.
Sometimes when people are struggling with eternal security,
I'll mention this to them.
I'll show them in James 2.10 and Revelation 21,
and I'll ask them that question.
If you could lose your salvation, how many sins would it take?
How many lies would it take to lose your salvation?
And sometimes that's the big light bulb that clicks with them.
Like, oh wow, it would only take one lie.
It's like, well then none of us would go to heaven.
It doesn't make any sense.
It says in Revelation 21 verse 27,
And there shall no wise enter into it.
Anything that defileth,
neither whatsoever worketh abomination,
or maketh a lie.
Just one lie.
But they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.
You see, we tell people with Revelation 21, 8,
we'll ask them sometimes,
how many murders would it take to make you a murderer?
And they'll say just one.
How many lies would it take to make you a liar?
Just one.
Right?
And he makes it even clearer here in Revelation 21, 27,
in case people try to argue this,
because people would try to say,
well, I'm a liar, but I'm not a liar.
Well, no.
You are a liar if you've lied before.
A liar means that you lie sometimes, right?
We all lie sometimes.
So that's all of us.
And so it only takes one lie.
He makes it very clear.
So here's the thing.
If you could lose your salvation,
it would only take one little sin to lose it.
The great thing about salvation is that when we get saved,
all of our future sins are forgiven.
It doesn't matter if it's a big sin,
like murder or suicide or whatever sin,
or if it's a little white lie.
All sins are forgiven.
So the first point we had was this,
that we know we're eternally secure
because he uses the term everlasting or eternal.
We know that once we're saved, we're always saved.
We're eternally secure because he uses the term saved.
We know that we're eternally secure
because he uses the term born again.
And we know just from common sense
that if you could lose it,
it would only take just one little sin.
But what I want to do before we're done,
I want to go through some of the objections.
Because honestly, there's so much proof
that once you're saved, you're always saved.
So what objections do people have to eternal security?
And so one objection that we have is
people talk about the unpardonable sin.
They'll say, well, you know,
the Bible talks about a sin that can't be forgiven.
Now, one thing we believe here at Verity Baptist Manila,
we believe in something called the reprobate doctrine.
Now, I'm not going to go super in-depth now.
I will preach whole sermons on this in the future.
But what that means is that there's certain people
in this world that are basically walking dead men.
They are spiritually dead.
They will always be spiritually dead.
Because of the fact they've reached a point
where they rejected God so much
that they can no longer believe on Jesus and get saved.
Now, if a person believes,
they'll receive everlasting life.
But there's people that are incapable
of believing on Jesus Christ.
You say, well, who is that talking about?
People like that.
Look at 90% of Catholic priests.
Probably higher.
I mean, we just put up a video earlier.
I thought it was hilarious
where President Duterte was talking about morality.
And he basically said, you know, that he's like, you know,
he's like almost 90% of Catholic priests are homosexuals.
So he says, don't talk to me about morality.
And it's just like, you know,
he kind of underestimated that percentage.
I mean, he's close.
He's kind of higher than that.
But look, you know, there's people in this world
that would do such atrocities and such wicked things,
and a normal person does not have those desires.
And that's proof that this person,
their mind, their conscience is defiled.
The Bible talks about people like that.
And see, the Bible says, yes,
there's things that are unpardonable, unforgivable.
You reach a point where you blaspheme the Holy Ghost.
You can no longer believe on Jesus and get saved.
But this is referring to unsaved people.
Who are the people that committed
the unpardonable sin of their lives?
Saved people are unsaved.
It was unsaved people.
A saved person can't commit the unpardonable sin.
And that's a big objection they have.
Or if you take the mark of the beast,
a believer's not going to take the mark of the beast.
A believer's not going to bow down before the devil
and say, I declare you God.
Like, this is what's going to happen in the end times
with a lot of unbelievers.
They're not going to do that, okay?
And so, yes, you know,
the Bible talks about the unpardonable sin.
Those are unsaved people that commit that.
That's not a believer.
A believer's not going to do that.
You say, well, I thought God would forgive for any sin.
There's certain sins, though,
that a normal person would not do.
I'm not saying even a saved person.
There's certain things
that a normal person wouldn't even do, okay?
Now, we see believers commit murder in the Bible.
But there are certain things
that a normal person wouldn't do,
like be a pedophile.
That's weird.
That's not normal.
That's not a natural or normal desire.
And so the Bible says there are certain things,
certain people that are reprobates.
They cannot be saved, the Bible says.
That does not negate eternal security, though,
because those that are saved are saved forever, right?
Now, turn to John 15.
That's one objection people have.
Another objection people have is this.
They'll say, well, what about free will?
You know, if you're saying that once you're saved,
you're always saved, and you're eternally secure,
they'll say that gets rid of your free will
to make your own choice, okay?
Now, oftentimes, I mean, what they're basically implying
is that you have the free will to go to hell
if you want to go, okay?
Now, let me explain something to you.
Nobody wants to be on fire their entire life
and burn forever, okay?
Whether you're saved or unsaved,
I mean, I've burned myself before.
It hurts, doesn't it?
Does anybody want me to set them on fire
after the service?
Anybody?
Nobody is going to want to burn in hell forever, okay?
So to suggest that, well, you have the free will
to go to hell if you want,
nobody wants to go to hell.
Now, when people say this, though,
they're being misleading,
because they basically still think, usually,
that salvation comes down to how faithful you are.
And they basically say, well, don't you have the free will
to decide if you follow God or don't follow God?
Yes, you do, but following God
does not determine whether or not you go to heaven or hell.
Believing on Jesus determines
if you're going to heaven or hell.
And look, when you put your faith in Jesus,
you are receiving eternal life.
You've made an eternal decision
to believe on Jesus Christ.
And once you put your faith in Jesus,
you're already born again.
Look, I can't decide.
I no longer want to be a child of my parents.
I was already born 34 years ago.
I can't change that.
And here's the thing.
When you get saved,
God indwells you with the Holy Spirit.
And this is what it says in John 15, verse 26.
But when the Comforter is come,
whom I will send on you from the Father,
even the Spirit of Truth,
which proceedeth from the Father,
He shall testify me.
See, the Bible says when you get saved,
you're indwelled with the Spirit of Truth.
Now, I'm going to go in depth later on,
not in this sermon some other week,
and talk about this,
but when a person puts their faith in Jesus,
they believe on Jesus,
they will always believe in Jesus.
Okay?
Now, it is possible for people to get confused.
We see that in the Bible.
But look, I promise you this,
that every single person out there
that does not believe in God,
I don't care if they prayed and asked Jesus to save them
and went door-to-door soul-winding
every week for a long time.
They never believed on Jesus.
You don't get saved and be indwelled
with the Spirit of Truth,
and then become an atheist one day.
Or become a Muslim one day.
Right?
And so people can get confused
because there's false prophets
that are trying to deceive them.
But you know, the truth is that
when you're indwelled with the Spirit of Truth,
the Holy Spirit's always inside of you,
and you know what the truth is.
And look, when somebody gets confused on things
because there's false prophets,
if we show them John 3.16 and quickly explain,
they'll immediately flip.
I've seen that before,
where people have heard false prophets
showing them something,
and we explain it to them,
and immediately they flip.
Now, there's some ways that false prophets
are kind of deceiving
and make it confusing,
like this repentance of sins thing that we talk about.
Or say people have heard it over and over again,
and they can get confused on it.
But look, everybody who's an atheist out there,
they never believed on Jesus Christ.
I promise you that.
You're indwelled with the Spirit of Truth.
That's what the Bible teaches.
And honestly,
we determine if someone's saved
based on what they believe, okay?
Not based on what they do,
but what they believe.
And if somebody believes wrong,
I assume that they're not saved, okay?
Now, if there's people that we know,
like family,
that we think got saved,
and it's years later,
and they still seem to just reject
the Bible completely,
I'm not saying that they live
a sinful life.
Look, people get saved,
and they're drunks.
That doesn't mean that they're not saved.
But if they just seem to just not believe
what the Bible says,
they still pray to Mary,
they still have their rosary beads,
you know what?
They're probably not saved
because of the fact
when you get saved,
you're indwelled with the Spirit of Truth.
And you can only get confused for so much.
You're not going to become an atheist
or just completely reject
the Jesus of the Bible.
So that's another thing people talk about.
What about free will?
Yeah, we have free will as believers
to choose if we're going to sin or not,
but we make an eternal decision
to believe on Jesus Christ,
and we're immediately born into God's family,
and we receive everlasting life.
That is a done deal.
Now turn to Matthew 24.
And let me say this,
that there's people out there that are saved,
that they choose to go back to a life of sin.
Maybe they start living for God,
they choose to go back to sin.
But look, none of us want to just completely
no longer believe in Jesus
and worship the devil.
None of us want to do that.
None of us want to do that that are saved.
Now we can get caught in sin
and become worldly,
but no one just wants to
just no longer believe in Jesus Christ.
Everyone who's saved,
you made an eternal decision,
you believe on Jesus,
you want to believe on Jesus.
It doesn't mean you're going to follow Him
and do His rules or commandments,
but you don't want to quit
believing on Jesus Christ.
The Bible says in the third thing
is the difference between physical salvation
and spiritual salvation.
See, a lot of people,
what they're going to do
is take you to verses
where it talks about
being saved physically
and it has nothing to do with
going to heaven or hell
or being saved spiritually.
An example of this is in
Matthew 24 verses 9 through 13.
Well, let's look at verse 13 first.
Verse 13,
But he that shall endure unto the end,
the same shall be saved.
Now if you were to take that verse by itself,
it sounds like you've got to keep walking the walk
if you're going to stay saved.
We'll go back to verse 9.
Let's look at the context.
Then they shall they deliver you up
to be afflicted and shall kill you.
Is that physical or spiritual death
when it says they shall kill you?
Physical death, right?
And he shall be hated
of all nations for my name's sake.
And then shall many be offended
and shall betray one another
and shall hate one another.
And many false promises shall rise
and shall deceive many.
And because iniquity shall abound,
the love of many shall wax cold.
But he that shall endure unto the end,
the same shall be saved.
It's talking about physically they're going to be saved.
You endure unto the time of the rapture
and then you will be raptured.
Now the problem is you've got these people
that want to hold on to the pre-tread rapture
and it's like, well you've got a lot of verses
you aren't able to explain it.
Because you say you believe in eternal security,
how are you going to explain this verse?
Well, if you're really saved,
you're going to do good works.
That's what they're going to do
because they don't want to reject
the very clear post-tread rapture
that the Bible talks about.
They want to hang on to that pre-tread rapture.
When the Bible says he that shall endure
unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Well, what do you believe that's referring to then?
I'd like to ask these Baptist pastors
that believe in the pre-tread rapture
and say that you can't lose your salvation.
Well, what's that referring to?
I mean, they'll say, well, you know,
that's referring to physically being killed.
Well, I mean, that links with the rapture
later on in Matthew 24.
And so here it's just talking about physical salvation.
And I'm not going to go through all the verses
that talk about this.
That's what they'll often do is take you to a verse
where it talks about physically being saved
or physically spared.
But it has nothing to do with going to heaven or hell.
So it's a new point
when we're talking about eternal security.
And the last argument I want to show you about is
when people say, turn to 1 John 2, 1 John 2.
And another big argument people use is,
well, yes, you know, once you're saved,
you're always saved.
But, you know, what about a big sin
like murder or suicide?
See, a lot of people are okay with saying
I believe in eternal security.
You know, if you tell a lie, you won't lose it.
But not if you commit a big sin like murder.
Once again, that doesn't make sense
because you lose your salvation
with just one little white lie according to the Bible.
But, you know, people say, well, if you commit a big sin
like murder or suicide, you're going to lose it.
Especially here in the Philippines
and in Catholic countries,
suicide is a big topic that people are confused on.
You know, you can go back a long time ago
to, you know, when people used to commit suicide
that were Catholic,
they thought that committing suicide
would damn them to hell.
So what they would do is they'd kill themselves in a way
where they could ask for forgiveness
while they're dying.
Like, for example, they'd jump off a ship
and put, like, something, lock it on their legs
so they would sink.
And so they'd still have, like, a minute
to ask Jesus to forgive them
while they're dying, okay?
Now, we look at that and think that's crazy.
I mean, that is crazy.
It's like they don't understand the Bible at all.
People who commit suicide,
it would be like somebody jumping off
a really tall building
and on the way down saying, you know,
forgive me for jumping off the tall building.
It's like, man, you really don't understand
what the Bible says about salvation.
The truth is they're gonna hit the ground.
They're gonna go straight to hell.
Because of the fact they don't understand
an eternal security.
But here's what I want you to understand
about suicide or other huge sins.
First off, when you look at suicide,
there are people in the Bible
that committed suicide that went to heaven, okay?
Now, we don't have the time to go in depth on that,
but you can look at King Saul
as someone who very clearly went to heaven.
You can look at Samson
as someone who very clearly went to heaven.
I personally think it's pretty clear
a hint of hell went to heaven, okay?
It doesn't explicitly say that with a hint of hell,
but with the other two we know for sure.
But there are people that committed suicide
in the Bible that went to heaven.
Now, how did they go to heaven?
Because committing suicide does not determine
whether or not you go to heaven or hell.
It's whether or not you believe on Jesus Christ.
Now, let me say this, though,
that when we explain suicide
to someone who's unsaved,
the best way to explain it
is not to go to 1 Samuel 28
and then go to 1 Samuel 31 with King Saul
and show them that Saul went to heaven.
Now, I used to do that when I preached the gospel,
but it is not a good way to explain it,
and I'll explain to you why.
Because of the fact
that's not the clearest passage
in 1 Samuel 28 and 31,
it takes a lot of time to explain that.
And, you know, you show them
1 Samuel 28 verses 11 through 15
and then take them to 1 Samuel 31.
Look, you're bouncing all around.
It's gonna be very confusing for them.
When we preach the gospel,
it's a message that's very simple
that a child can receive.
It's a gift. It's born again.
So there must be a simple way to explain it
where people can understand it, okay?
Now, this is my opinion.
It's up to you what you want to do
when you go soloing.
But I think there's much simpler ways to explain
that you cannot lose your salvation.
This is what I do
when I'm explaining this to someone.
I'll explain,
if I committed suicide,
did I kill my body or my soul?
Okay?
I killed my body.
What has everlasting life?
My body or my soul?
My soul.
So, look, committing suicide
does not affect whether or not
you lost your salvation
because I didn't kill the Holy Spirit, right?
I killed my body, okay?
Now, oftentimes,
that really helps make you click with people.
Another way to explain this,
you know, in 1 John 2 verses 1 through 2,
let's look at this.
My little children,
these things write on you
that you sin not.
And if any men sin,
we have an advocate
with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous.
And he is the propitiation for our sins
and not for ours only.
Not for ours only,
but also for the sins of the whole world.
He died for the sins of the whole world.
Whether you're here in the Philippines
or the United States,
he died for your sins.
Whether you lived 4,000 years ago
or you live 1,000 years from now,
he died for all of your sins,
past, present, future,
big and small.
Jesus died for the sin of suicide.
So I'll ask people,
did Jesus die for the sin of suicide?
Now, the answer to that question is yes.
We know that because there's people
that committed suicide
that went to heaven.
But we know that because
the Bible says Jesus died
for the sins of the whole world.
He died for all sins.
So one way to explain suicide
is not only that when you commit suicide,
you killed your body,
not your soul.
But look, Jesus died
for all of your future sins.
Now, I like to set up
eternal security during the conversation.
I started explaining
eternal security in Acts 16,
where I explained that
you receive salvation
the moment you leave.
And I'll ask them,
which sins are you forgiven for?
Is it some sins or all sins?
And they'll say,
well, you know, all sins.
Just the past sins
or the future as well?
The future as well.
Just the small sins or big sins?
They'll say big sins as well.
And I'll say, well,
so even if you did commit
murder or suicide one day,
that's forgiven the moment you leave.
So how many times
do you need to get saved?
Just one time.
That really helps it
make sense to them.
I think it's good
when we're preaching the gospel,
you'll notice the verses
that talk about salvation,
Romans 6 23, John 3 16,
they really give you
everything in one verse.
They explain that it's
only in Jesus in those verses.
They explain that it's
a gift in those verses.
They also explain
it lasts forever.
So when I explain
Acts 16, I explain all of that,
that it's believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ,
not just believe there's a God,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's believe
and it's all your sins forgiven.
Same thing with John 3 16,
it explains everything.
It's good to just show them
everything because honestly,
people have trouble
with eternal security.
So it's best not just
to spring it on them
the final minute,
but kind of say,
but kind of set the scene
for that earlier on
to help them start
changing their mind
because most people,
they think it sounds crazy
to say you can never
lose your salvation.
We must explain it to them
and you know,
it's going to take probably
more than a couple minutes
to explain eternal security
for them to get that.
Now turn to 1 John 5.
Now it's up to you
if you want to explain
King Saul with 1 Samuel 28,
you can do that.
I'm just trying to tell you
that it's going to take
more time
and it's more confusing
and the Gospel's meant
to be simple.
I think it's a lot simpler
and I've found to be
much more effective
just to explain
that you know,
when you commit suicide,
you killed your body
not your soul
and that Jesus died
for all your future sins
including suicide
and so you can't
lose your salvation.
But let's look back
at 1 John 5 where we started.
Remember 1 John 5 13
is where we started
and it says in 1 John 5
verses 10 through 12
because the Bible says
you can know
you have eternal life.
Now the way you can know
is if you understand
and believe what it says
in verses 10 through 12.
It says he that believeth
on the Son of God
hath a witness in himself.
The witness is referring
to the Holy Spirit.
He that believeth not God
hath made him a liar
because he believeth not
the record that God
gave his son.
So the Bible says that
if you don't believe
the record,
you're making God a liar
and you're either
believing what the Bible says
or you're calling God a liar.
You either believe it
or you're calling him a liar.
There's no in-between position
while I think he's
kind of telling the truth.
You're calling him a liar.
So you either believe
or you're calling God a liar.
So you must understand
this record which means
what's written about Jesus Christ.
What does it say
in verse 11?
What's the record?
And this is the record
that God hath given to us
eternal life.
So given means it's a gift.
This is parallel 1 John 5 11
with the second half
of Romans 6 23.
And it says he's given
to us eternal life.
He says at the end
life is in his Son
so you must understand
it's only in Jesus.
But he says he's given
to us eternal life.
Eternal life.
He that hath the Son hath life
and he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life.
Look, the gift God is offering
is eternal life.
When we explain the Gospel
they must understand
that what they're getting,
what they're receiving,
what they're believing on
is eternal life.
It's not conditional.
It's not temporary.
But it is eternal
or everlasting.
It's buhay nawalam hangan
which means you can never lose it
no matter what.
It's eternal.
And look, when you look at
all these religions out there
you look at INC
they don't believe in
eternal security.
They got a lot of things wrong
but they don't believe
in eternal security.
On Datin Dam
they don't believe
in eternal security.
The Catholics
they don't believe
in eternal security.
They don't think
that you can know
you're going to heaven.
They don't believe in it.
The Charismatics,
the Pentecostals,
the Mani Pacchials
and you can look that up
on YouTube.
Listen to Mani Pacchial.
Now look, I know
he's a great boxer.
He's not saved.
He doesn't believe
on Jesus Christ.
He thinks that
his repentance of sins
he thinks if you're
a true Christian
you're going to walk the walk.
You can hear it
out of his own mouth.
He's not saved.
I wish he was
but he's not.
Look, Protestants
they don't believe in this.
I remember growing up
I grew up a Protestant.
I know Protestants
aren't really big
in the Philippines
but I grew up
a United Methodist
which is basically
Catholic light.
And look,
they don't believe
that you can know
you're going to heaven.
They don't believe
in eternal security.
The vast majority of people
in this world
don't believe
in eternal security.
Now in this world
33% of people
claim to be a Christian.
33%, okay?
But when we talk to Christians
the vast majority of those
do not believe
in eternal security.
They do not believe
it's a free gift.
That's why the Bible
truly says,
narrow is the way
which leadeth them to life.
You say,
what about those people
they accepted them
but they think they can
lose their salvation.
They need to
hear the gospel again
because they're not saved.
And look,
I wish I was wrong about this.
I wish that the vast majority
of the world
wasn't going to hell.
But it's reality.
And there's no point
in just burying our head
in the sand
and pretending it's not real.
There's no point
in just throwing a blanket
over our head
and just pretending
like a child is foolish.
They'll just kind of
cover their eyes
and think that
it changes something.
It doesn't change anything.
We already saw you
steal that cookie
from the cookie jar.
Right?
And look,
we can just pretend.
This is what most people do.
They want to pretend
there's a lot more people
saved out there
than there actually are.
They're not saved.
If they think they can
lose their salvation,
they don't believe
the record is eternal life.
You must believe it.
And that's why
it's so important
that we understand
that you know what?
Once you're saved,
once you're a child of God,
you are always
a child of God
no matter what.
Let's go to the one in prayer.
Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father,
thanks for allowing us
to be here today.
I'm just talking about
this really important subject
of eternal security
once they've always saved
which is essential
to salvation, God.
Help us today
to be able to share
this message with so many
people out there
that are deceived
and they don't realize
that they can know
they have eternal life.
They're still trusting
their works, God.
I ask you to just
continue to bless us
and pray this
in Jesus' name.
Amen.