Let's start with what we know from the New Testament using clear scripture.
We should always base what we believe on clear scriptures in context and especially the most
relevant scriptures.
Well obviously we're living in the New Testament.
Our most relevant scriptures on this idea of people continuing in the faith are going
to be found in the New Testament.
That's where you're going to find clear New Testament teachings on this.
Like for example where the Bible says, "They went out from us, but they were not all of
us.
For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went
out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."
That's a pretty clear scripture, isn't it?
I mean that's pretty powerful, it's pretty clear, it's pretty obvious what that's saying.
That when you see people departing from the faith, then that tells you these people were
never saved to begin with.
Now again, let's get the context.
What I just quoted to you is from 1 John chapter 2, and the context, he says, "Little children,
this is the last time, and as you know, and as you've heard that antichrist shall come,
even now are there many antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time.
They went out from us, but they were not all of us."
So the "they went out from us" is talking about false teachers, false prophets, antichrists,
people denying the Father and the Son, or people denying doctrines of Christ.
That's the going out from us.
It's that they did not abide in the doctrine of Christ.
Let's get the greater context of John's epistles.
In 2 John, it says, "Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ,
hath not God."
He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
So both of those, when you put those together, you get a picture here that's saying, "Look,
the doctrine of Christ is something that people who are actually saved abide in."
And when you see people departing from the doctrine of Christ, it's showing you that
they were never saved to begin with.
They were not of us.
They went out that it might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
So even while they were here, they still weren't of us.
We thought they were, but they weren't of us.
The proof of that is that they went out from us.
The going out, all it did was just make manifest that they were not all of us.
It's not that they lost their salvation.
You can't lose your salvation.
Salvation is eternal.
It's once saved, always saved.
Once we have eternal life, nothing can separate us from the love of God.
We're His sons and daughters, and we'll get to that a little bit later in the sermon,
in fact.
But the point is, though, that when you see someone departing from the doctrine of Christ,
I'm not saying that they're getting a minor doctrine wrong or a side doctrine or a secondary
doctrine.
I'm talking about people who would go out and start denying the Trinity.
Or they would say that Jesus is not divine.
Or they would say that, you know, for example, we're saved by works and it's not faith that
saves us.
Or hey, you can lose your salvation.
And they go out and just start teaching these damnable heresies of workspace salvation that
strike at the very core of the doctrine of salvation through Christ or the very nature
of who Christ is.
If they start saying, "Well, you know, Jesus Christ is just a created being, he's just
a human being, he became divine," or some kind of a crazy doctrine, that would just
be a red flag where you'd say, "Whoa, this person wasn't saved, this person's a damnable
heretic."
I'm not talking about getting end times prophecy wrong.
I'm not talking about being a little bit foggy on the gospel or muddy on the gospel.
I'm talking about people who go all the way over, which is what transgress means to cross
the line.
People who go all the way over that line and are just teaching damnable heresy.
I mean, if somebody left our church and joined the Roman Catholic Church, or they left our
church and joined the East Orthodox Church, or they left our church and became a Mormon
or a Muslim or something like that, folks, they're not saved.
The Bible says, "My sheep hear my voice.
They will not follow another.
A stranger will they flee from, for they know not the voice of strangers."
The saved child of God knows the voice of the stranger and he knows the voice of the
shepherd and he can tell the difference and he's not going to fully apostatize.
Now is it possible for a Christian to get mixed up in false doctrine?
Absolutely.
A Christian can get mixed up in false doctrine and they can even get a little bit mixed up
in doctrines of salvation or the doctrine of Christ, but they're going to abide in general
in the doctrine of Christ.
They're not going to go all the way over the line.
They're not going to go all the way off the cliff, okay.
Now people have criticized me for teaching that and said that that makes me a Calvinist
to teach that.
Well, look, first of all, I've always been against Calvinism, and not only that, my family's
always been against Calvinism.
My parents both hate Calvinism, and yet my parents taught me this doctrine my whole life
because what we're teaching is biblical, okay, that you, if you are saved, will continue
believing in Jesus Christ.
And if someone says, "Well, I used to believe in Jesus, and now I don't believe in Him anymore
at all," I would just say that person was never truly saved to begin with, okay.
Now if somebody goes off and starts living a sinful life, but they still have all the
right doctrine, and they still believe the right things, but they've just completely
made shipwreck of their life, I would say that that person is still saved.
You know, I would say, "Yeah, I'm not going to declare them unsaved just because they're
living a wicked life."
And here's the reason why, because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
The flesh can lead people deep into sin.
Even if they're a saved Christian, which is why we need to take heed lest we fall.
So it's possible to go deep into sin as a Christian, but it is not possible to just
stop believing in Christ.
Now, is it possible to have doubts?
Virtually everyone in the Bible, you know, has doubts.
I think everyone that would be honest would say that at some point they've doubted the
Word of God or they've doubted their salvation or doubted something in the Bible.
That's just human to have doubts.
But there's a big difference between doubting and just saying, "Oh, I'm an atheist now.
I'm a Mormon now.
I'm an agnostic now.
I don't even believe in Christ."
See the difference between those things?
Those who believe on, and here's more proof.
John 3, 18 says, "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."
The one who believes not is the one who hath not believed because once you believe you're
saved, you have eternal life, the Holy Spirit moves in and the Spirit itself, beareth witness
with our spirit that we're the children of God and he which hath begun a good work in
you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Okay, now this, the reason that I've been accused of being Calvinist for teaching and
believing that my entire 15-year ministry and even when I was a little kid since my
dad hammered that doctrine into me, it's one of his favorite doctrines to bring up and
he can quote all the relevant scriptures off the top of his head in any moment, he's
always talking about this, why?
Because he lived a whole Christian life watching people fall away and saying, "Hey, that guy
was never saved, look what he's saying now, look what he believes now."
So the reason is because in the Tulip doctrine, you know, the Tulip acronym for Calvinism,
the fifth part of that is called perseverance of the saints.
And so people have said, "Well, you're a one-point Calvinist because you believe in perseverance
of the saints."
But here's the thing, it depends on how you define perseverance of the saints.
I would prefer to call it preservation of the saints or perseverance of the Savior.
But here's the thing about that, most Calvinists today would say that perseverance of the saints
involves basically a saved person continuing to live the Christian life.
And I don't believe in that for one second because I know it's possible for Demas to
forsake us because he loves this present world.
And that doesn't make Demas unsaved, it just means he loves this present world.
He got enamored with the things of this world.
He got seduced by the deceitfulness of riches or the pleasures and the fun that life has
to offer.
Hey, that doesn't make Demas unsaved that he loved the world and got taken away.
The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
And so if that's what perseverance of the saints is, then I'll reject that doctrine
all day long because I know that it is possible for a saved Christian not to persevere in
their works, not to persevere in living the Christian life or persevere in church attendance.
Look, the apostle Paul said, "Hey, I keep under my body and bring it into subjection
lest having preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."
He said, "I don't want to become all washed up.
I don't want to become a loser.
I don't want to crash and burn.
I don't want to be somebody that God can't use anymore."
And look, he's not talking about losing his salvation because there are an abundance of
scriptures teaching you cannot lose your salvation.
So you can't lose your salvation, but you know what?
You can lose your effectiveness, you can lose your testimony, you can lose the will to go
to church, or you can lose the desire to go soul winning, and you can become backslidden
and worthless, hey, if the salt loses its savor.
And so there's a big difference between those two things.
So do I believe that a Christian will persevere in believing in Jesus and believing in the
gospel?
Absolutely.
I believe that if someone is truly saved, then they will continue to believe the gospel.
And if somebody said, "I don't believe that anymore," then I would just say, "You never
believed it in the first place."
Or you'd have the Holy Spirit inside you and you'd be saved, and you wouldn't be saying
that.
And again, I'm not talking about doubt.
So look, the Bible teaches in the New Testament that those who are saved are indwelled by
the Holy Spirit, and it says that when you see them not abiding in the doctrine of Christ,
it's because they don't have God.
And when you see them going out from us, and we're not talking about geographically.
There's no problem with somebody switching churches, going to another church across town,
and there's absolutely no problem with somebody moving to a different state and going to a
different church.
We're talking about departing from the faith.
That's the going out from us, okay.