draw back on a petition but of them who believe them that believe to the side saving of the soul let's pray uh dear lord god thank you again for everything you've blessed us with just ask that you'd be our pastor now please strengthen him and fill him with your
holy spirit as he preaches your word this morning and just give us all readiness of mind to receive the message in the jesus name we pray amen amen okay we're in hebrew chapter 10 this morning and the time of my sermon this morning is the eternal security of the believer
the eternal security of the believer i want to talk about the doctrine of eternal security the fact that the bible teaches one saved always saved and what the bible explicitly says about that particular doctrine hebrew chapter 10 and verse 38 says now the just shall live by faith but if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him now when the bible says here that the just shall live by faith this could have two meanings one meaning would be that the just will live eternally by faith right
and that's because of the fact that the bible explicitly teaches that in order to have salvation to possess salvation we have to place our faith in Jesus Christ in order to obtain eternal life
but then also of course we live by faith thereafter faith in the promises of God in either instance the just shall live by faith
but it also says here that if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him now what does that mean?
well when it says draw back another way of describing that or defining that would be someone who backslides right?
someone who regresses in the Christian life someone who gets involved in sin maybe they get out of church
they're no longer living a godly virtuous life we can essentially describe that person as drawing back from the Christian life
why? because the Christian life is a life of going forward right? it's pressing forward it's growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
and it says here that if a man draws back from those things my soul shall have no pleasure in him
meaning that God's not pleased with that right? he has no pleasure in his children regressing, backsliding, getting involved in sin
you know essentially abandoning the commandments of God not living a godly life he says my soul has no pleasure in that
if you backslide if you regress he's not happy with that and that's pretty self-explanatory there
but I want you to notice verse 39 it says but we are not of them that draw back into perdition
now what is perdition? Perdition is hell, destruction, damnation right and he's saying here that
when a person draws back they will never draw back to the point where they will lose their salvation
right because we are not of them that draw back unto perdition and in fact he clarifies this
in the latter end of the verse he says but of them that believe to the saving of the soul
in other words a person who backslides who regresses yeah they might have god's hand
against them in this life they may suffer the consequences of their actions they may live a
life that's not pleasing unto the lord but at the end of the day we believe and the bible tells us
here that they'll never draw back to the point where they will lose their salvation why because
we believe to the saving of the soul the soul is eternally saved it's secure in the hand of god go
to first john chapter five if you would first john chapter number five first john chapter five let
me say this is that people today either believe you can lose your salvation because of sin or
they'll pay lip service to the doctrine of eternal security and assert that if you don't persevere in
your works then you're not really saved right so you have two groups one group will say well if
you get involved in sin you will lose your salvation there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins
and all of the terminology that goes along with that particular doctrine but then others will say
well we believe that you are saved eternally yeah we believe in eternal security the believer
however the bible teaches that if you don't persevere in your works that's an indication
that you weren't saved to begin with and let me just say this both of them are a workspace
salvation both of them are essentially teaching that you have to do something on your end either
to keep yourself safe or to secure your salvation whereas the bible teaches us that the work is
fully on the lord jesus christ his death on the cross his resurrection fully purchases our salvation
he secures us salvation is based upon what he did for us not based upon what we do for him
okay that's why it's important for us to use biblical terminology when describing salvation
sometimes people will say well i'm saved because i gave my life to christ but you know that's
backwards because salvation is based upon him giving his life for us not us giving our lives
to him and let's just be honest here we when we give our lives to him when we commit ourselves
to him that has to be renewed every single day and not a single person in this world can honestly
say that they give their lives to christ every single day you know why because we are uh human
we're sinners we make mistakes we have bad days we have good days but thank god that salvation is
not contingent upon the works that we do how much we persevere it's based upon the saving
faith of jesus christ and that's it okay look at first john chapter five and verse nine you say
well you know i heard this one pastor say this so i've heard this one church say this i've heard
various podcasts or sermons where they make these types of arguments well look what verse nine says
at first john chapter five if we receive the witness of men i want you to notice this the
witness of god is greater in other words you know it's great when a pastor gets up and tells you
what the bible says but at the end of the day if it doesn't match up with the bible the witness of
god is greater we need to side with what god says in his word right he says for this is the witness
of god which he hath testified of his son he that believeth on the son of god hath the witness in
himself he that believeth not god hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that god
gave of his son now this is very powerful here because what this is telling us is that god has
testified of the lord jesus christ in regards to salvation and what is he testifying of his son
well look what it says verse 11 this is the record that god had given to us eternal life and this
life is in his son he that hath a son hath life and he that hath not the son of god hath not life
this is echoing the repetitious verses that we see in the book of john that we have to believe
on the lord jesus christ to be saved now if you sit there and say well you know i think there's
more that you have to do then according to the biblical standard you've made god a liar because
this is the testimony that god has given of his son and we know that god is not a man that he
should lie the bible tells us let god be true but every man a liar and so we need to side
with the witness of god and what is god's witness that you have to have the son in order to have
life how do you have the son by believing on him for salvation he says in verse 13 these things
have been written unto you that believe on the name of the son of god and here's the here's the
important part here that you may know that you have eternal life you know that tells me you can
know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're saved and let's just be honest a lot of people in this
world the vast majority of them don't know if they're saved they might even be god-fearing
people they might be individuals who you know they they they believe that they love god they
might attend church but at the end of the day they have this lingering doubt in their mind whether
they're really saved or not and you know that's a scary place to be in it's a scary place to be
able to read your bible go to church and still wonder am i actually saved and that is the the
fear within the heart of a person who doesn't understand what the bible teaches about salvation
well the bible says here that you may know so god wants you to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that
you're saved there's a lot of things in the bible that take a lot of studying and understanding to
be able to decipher there's a lot of deep doctrines in the bible but one doctrine that is explicitly
clear from genesis to revelation is the subject of salvation and you know why it's so clear it's
because god wants you to know that you're saved it's not something he's trying to hide from you
it's not something he's trying to make obscure for you it's not something he's trying to get
you to work for no he wants you to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life he
says that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the son
of god go to john chapter 10 if you would john chapter 10 if uh you have a visitor with you
today please share your bible with them so they can see the verses as well this morning i'm
preaching on the doctrine of eternal security essentially teaching us that once we're saved
we're always saved once we believe on the lord jesus christ we are eternally secure in the hand
of god we cannot lose our salvation for any reason and i'm going to prove to you from the
scriptures this morning that that is biblical now why is the doctrine of eternal security biblical
well because of the fact that number one because of the promise listen to this of ever and never
the doctrine of eternal security is biblical because of the promise of ever and never so what
do you mean by that look at john chapter 10 verse 27 jesus christ speaking here says this my sheep
hear my voice and i know them and they follow me and i give unto them eternal life and they shall
what maybe maybe perish every once in a while perish no never perish now what does never mean
it means never means it's just not going to happen it means there's no caveats he didn't put any
conditions on this he says that he gives us eternal life and they shall never perish and then he
follows up with a very strong statement here neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand
my father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's
hand i and my father are one how do we know that eternal security is a biblical doctrine i'll tell
you how because of the promise of ever and never you'll never lose your salvation and you are ever
saved meaning that you have it forever and ever that is what the bible teaches now it's interesting
that when jesus christ is describing salvation describing eternal life he essentially illustrates
it by you being placed in the hand of christ and in the hand of god the father and he specifically
says that no one is able to pluck you out now what i find hilarious and comical is that there's
people out there that think well yeah but you can pluck yourself out well are you any man though so
if you're any man you would fall into the category of any man not able to pluck you out of god's
hand and quite frankly you know people say well yeah but you know you can walk away well does that
contradict what the bible says here that no man is able to pluck you out and it does what he's
saying there is that you're eternally secure in the hand of god nothing no one can pluck you out
you'll never die now in the bible in psalm 37 the bible says this that the steps of a good man are
ordered by the lord and he delighteth in his way and i want you to notice is though he fall who the
good man you know why because the good man falls the good man makes mistakes the good man sins and
in fact the bible says there's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sin is not so we're
always going to sin every single day this is not this is not me giving you a license to sin because
you sin with or without a license everyone makes mistakes everyone breaks god's commandments we fall
short of god's glory that's a fact that's what the bible literally teaches there's none righteous no
not one there's not the bible teaches us that there's none that doeth good no not one we're
sinners and so what that teaches us is that the good men will fall but the bible says this
though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down why because the lord upholdeth him with his hand
isn't that interesting so even when you fall into sin even when you fall out of church obviously
god has no pleasure in that he's not happy when you do that you're going to suffer the consequences
of your actions you will suffer the earthly ramifications of your actions for sure but the
bible promises us that you will not be utterly cast down because god upholds you with his hand
isn't that what jesus said in john chapter 10 that no man is able to pluck you out so even though
you fall you make mistakes you sin you transgress you're still here okay and look i don't have time
to develop it this morning but the bible tells us that when a christian a believer sins first of
all he's not utterly cast down but the bible also says that god will chastise you which is
another indication that we're saved why because the bible says whom the lord loveth he chasten it
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth what does that mean god punishes you here on this earth
when you sin why because you're in his hand and because you're in his hand you're in close
proximity to being whooped every time you commit sin and you're involved in unrepentant sin and
look any parent who's disciplined their child know this is true right you know a parent disciplines
his child my parents discipline me and god who the bible says is our heavenly father and we are his
children disciplines us when we get involved in sin in order to get us right with god to get us
back on track but the point is is that you won't lose your salvation why because no one no man is
able to pluck you out go to john chapter 3 if you would john chapter 3 let's look at a couple
verses here why how do we know that the doctrine of eternal security is biblical well because of
the promise of ever and never you shall never perish you have ever lasting life and there is
no but in that yeah but yeah but the thing is no it just says never perish look at john chapter 3
verse 15 says 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 not a temporary life because if you can lose your salvation it
should be called a temporary life because you can lose it at any moment you can lose it the moment
you sin but the reason it's called everlasting is because once you have it you have it from here on
out look at verse 36 if you would it says he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life he that
believeth not the son shall not see life but the wrath of god abideth on him once again ever lasting
life go to john chapter 5 if you would john chapter 5 as you're turning down i'm going to
read you from john chapter 4 and verse 14 says 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 eternal security is biblical because of the promise of ever
and never look at john 5 24 verily verily i say to you he that heareth my word and believeth on
on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed
from death into life i mean how many more ways do we got to hear it he says you'll never perish
you'll have everlasting life you won't come into condemnation you pass from death into life yeah
but there are no but here everlasting life never perish it seems as though god's trying to get
across this concept that we just can never lose our salvation right look at john chapter six if
you would john chapter six just a chapter over look at verse 37 and look we can spend the entire
sermon just kind of going over these ever and never promises but this is just one point of the
sermon just to drive home the fact that this is a promise given to us by god and really it should
just be case closed based upon these verses look at verse 37 all that the father giveth me shall
come to me and him that cometh to me i want you to notice is i will in no wise cast out now the
phrase no wise is not a phrase that we would commonly use today but it simply means for any
reason right so basically once you get saved jesus will never cast you out for any reason
whatsoever any sin any transgression he won't cast you out yeah but but there is no yeah but here
and i encourage you to look for the yeah but the verse that we're reading look for the yeah but
there it says no wise for any reason under any condition under any circumstance look at verse
40 if you would and this is the will of him that sent me to everyone which seeeth the sun and
believeth on him may have everlasting life and i want you to notice this and i will raise him up
at the last day so part of the promise of ever and never is not only that we will never perish
that we'll have everlasting life but he even promises that he will resurrect you in the last
days this is what it means by raising him up in the last day you will experience the resurrection
of your body the glorification of your body look at verse 47 i'm sorry go to go with me if you go
to john chapter 11 john chapter 11 first timothy 1 verse 16 you're going to john chapter 11 i'm
going to read to you from first timothy 1 16 it says how be it for this cause i obtain mercy
that in me first jesus christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which
should hereafter believe on him to everlasting life john 11 verse 25 very powerful scripture here
he says jesus said unto her i am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were
dead yet shall he live and in this context he's referring to lazarus lazarus had died but he had
believed on the lord jesus christ and jesus is affirming he's consoling his sisters by saying hey
you know your your brother though he's dead because he believed on me he's going to live again one day
and obviously we know that in the story he actually brings him back to life but even then
in the last days he will resurrect but look at verse 26 if you would and whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die believes thou this so it's easy for me to say yeah well of
course he's going to go to heaven he already believed and he's dead already he's going to
be going to heaven well it says here anybody who lives and believes shall never die and obviously
we know that that's not referring to a physical death because we're all going to physically die
right we're all going to die physically that is a promise we die this is referring to a spiritual
everlasting life the fact that we will spiritually live forever and we will never die the bible
tells us go to first peter chapter 1 first peter chapter 1 the doctrine of eternal security is
biblical because of the promise of ever and never you shall never perish you shall have everlasting
life whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die over and over again we see this concept
being put forth look at first peter chapter 1 you say are you saying that like there's nothing
that we have to do on our end to maintain our salvation no i'm saying that there's nothing
you could do on your end to keep your salvation you you think pretty highly of yourself if you
think you could actually participate in keeping your salvation you we can't even people can't
even keep a schedule people can't keep money in them you can't you can't do the basics of life
let alone keep your salvation i mean and if you ask anybody like so what do you have to do to
maintain your salvation well you have to keep the commandments do you know how many commandments
there are the bible says there's not a just man upon earth that doeth good sinneth not the bible
says therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law thank god
for that by the way because at the end of the day james 2 10 says this whosoever keepeth the whole
law yet offend in one point he's guilty of all see people think oh you know well you have to
at least try well the at least try is not a standard in the bible that's not the biblical
rule the biblical rule according to jesus christ is not hey you know at least be willing at least
try no god's standard is perfection so it's like if you're going to try to keep the whole law to
be saved you better keep the whole law perfectly from beginning to end now i'm just going to throw
it out there i don't think anybody here has and in fact i know that no one here has because the
bible says that the law was our school master to bring us unto christ so in light of the perfect
law of god that we cannot keep it's supposed to show us our need for a savior it's supposed to
strip us of our righteousness bring us to humility to recognize i need to say i need someone to save
me because i can't save myself i can't keep god's commandments to be saved you know therefore we
need to rely on someone who has kept god's commandments perfectly from beginning to end
who's that jesus christ look what it says in first peter chapter 1 verse 5 it says who are kept by
your works your good deeds no by the power of god through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time you know what keeps you saved is the power of god it's god's power it's god's hand
that keeps you saved it's this promise of ever and never that keeps you saved and will never allow you
to be utterly cast down because the lord upholdeth you with his hand that's what the bible teaches
go to romans chapter 8 if you would roman chapter 8 roman chapter number 8 i'm going to read to you
from philippians chapter 1 and verse number 6 says this being confident of this very thing
that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of jesus christ so notice
that salvation is not contingent upon us performing it's not based upon our performance based upon our
works it's actually based upon jesus christ performing the work in us until the day of jesus christ and
the apostle paul says i'm confident that he which hath begun a good work in you through salvation
will keep it until the day of jesus christ he's going to perform it look at romans 8 verse 37
he says nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us
for i am persuaded similar to what we see in philippians 1 6 that says i am confident
that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present
nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
verse 39 shall be able to separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord
so the bible is saying here that nothing can separate us from god's love and he specifically
says in verse 38 nor things present nor things to come now what are the things to come your sins
all right your mistakes you backsliding you disappointing and disobeying god those are
things to come and you think about this you know let me ask you this do you think that god knows
the future of course that's pretty obvious right so that would mean that he saved you knowing what
sins you would commit in the future it's not like he sees you saying he's just like i can't believe
you did that give it back you did what unbelievable no obviously he saved us knowing the mistakes that
you know and maybe in your mind you're thinking oh man i'm going to sin less after salvation
i'm going to do my best to endeavor to live a godly life and those are good goals
but you know what god knows the failures that we're going to commit in the future though he
knows them and this is why he's constantly hammering in this point that nothing will
separate you from the love of god look at romans you're in roman chapter 8 i want you to go back
to verse 30 if you would he says in verse 30 moreover whom he did predestinate them he also
called and whom he called them he also justified now what does it mean to be justified it means to
be made righteous this is another word that's used to describe salvation when we believe on the lord
jesus christ we're justified in the eyes of god right and i want you to notice that he says whom
he also justified it says them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified
so what is the end result of the person who's justified glorification the resurrection this is
the promise that god's going to perform that which he promised to do you see the only condition
that salvation has is that we have to believe on jesus christ that we have to place our faith in
him that we have to trust that his death bear and resurrection is sufficient to save you're like well
what if you know i want to work for god you know we're supposed to work for god but never mix in
those works with the message of salvation that's the that's the issue there the issue is not works
because the bible says that we are as workmanship created in christ jesus unto good works which
god has before ordained that we should walk in them i mean look maintain good works amen the issue
arises when people mix in works with salvation essentially asserting that you have to do works
to get saved or stay saved when the bible clearly says for by grace are you saved through faith and
that not of yourselves it is the gift of god not of works less than a man should boast the doctrine
of eternal security is biblical because of the promise of ever and never go to roman chapter
four if you would roman chapter number four why is it biblical well number two because it is gifted
not earned the doctrine of eternal security is biblical because of the promise of ever and never
but it's also biblical because it's gifted not earned now this is one of the most powerful pieces
of evidence in the bible to substantiate the doctrine of one saved always saved it's a gift
and everyone collectively agrees that a gift is something that's given to you freely with no
strings attached free if you have to do something for it's no longer a gift that's why santa claus
doesn't give gifts right it's always dependent on whether you're a good boy or a bad girl
good girl bad girl good boy bad boy if you're if you're naughty then you're not getting anything
well then don't call it a gift santa because now i'm working for the gift a gift is something we
receive freely not based upon our merit not based upon our moral uprightness not based upon our
perfection or lack thereof it's based upon the generosity of the giver okay now look at romans
chapter four verse number one i've already quoted ephesians 2 8 that says that is the gift of god
but look at romans four verse one what shall we say then that abraham our father is pertaining to
the flesh hath found for if abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to glory but not before
god now what does this mean he's saying you know if abraham was saved if he was made righteous this
is what justified means if he was justified he has whereof to glory in other words he can boast
but the thing is he's not going to be able to boast before god right because of the fact that
he's not saved by his works he says he has whereof to glory but not before god and he goes on to
say in verse three for what sayeth the scripture abraham believed god and it was counted unto him
for righteousness now look at verse four not to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of
grace but of death now that's an important verse there because he's explaining what salvation is
and how we don't deserve it we don't merit it we didn't earn it we can't work for it why because
of the fact that salvation has to be freely received by god through faith in jesus christ
paul is using a simple illustration here when a man works for rate for wages his payment is owed
to him right it's the person is indebted to give him that thing so in other words you know if
salvation was by works that means that god owes his salvation because we are meriting salvation
but the overall narrative of the bible is that salvation cannot be earned which is why jesus
christ has to shed his blood to give it to us because he's the only one qualified to make the
payment we cannot make the payment why because the bible specifically says that our righteousness
are as filthy rags in the eyes of god so what is righteousness it's our good it's the the our
moral uprightness it's what makes us good you know the bible says that we have no good so we're
essentially spiritually bankrupt in other words right therefore we need to rely upon the payment
of someone else who can make the payment for us and it's saying here that the person who works
is the person who deserves salvation but the bible tells us clearly that salvation is not of works
look at verse five but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly
his faith is counted for righteousness so there goes the concept of well if you're saved you'll
do works because of the fact that verse five is literally saying yeah but there's people who don't
work right it's making the distinction that there's individuals in this world that do not do works so
how do you explain that and the bible is saying here that the person who does not work they do
not serve god they don't go to church they don't preach the gospel they don't live a virtuous life
guess what their faith is still counted for righteousness and here's a good example of this
is the thief on the cross thief on the cross believed on the lord he said remember me when
i'll come into thy kingdom jesus said today thou shalt be with me in paradise i don't know if you
noticed me he couldn't really get down from you know he couldn't really do any works he was being
held up a little bit you know from doing any works and he is a clear testimony of someone who
believed on the lord and went to heaven and no it's not an exception to the rule because there is no
exception to the rule when it comes to salvation there's no exception the bible is clearly telling
us here that works are not necessary to be saved why because works means that you earned it salvation
cannot be earned it has to be gifted look at chapter 5 if you would chapter 5 if salvation
could be earned by our works then god would be paying us what we deserve but the bible clearly
says that salvation is of grace and what is grace getting something that you don't deserve and the
bible explicitly says in romans 11 verse 6 and if by grace then it is no more of works otherwise
listen to this grace is no more grace so you'll make the grace of god null and void into yourself
if you believe that salvation is by works that's what it's telling us look at roman chapter 5
and verse 15 it says but not as the offense so also as the free gift for if through the offense
of one many be dead much more the grace of god and the gift by grace which is by one man jesus
christ hath abounded unto many and not as it was by one that sinned so was the gift
for the judgment was by one to condemnation but the free gift is of is of many offenses unto
justification for if by one man's offense death reigned by one referring to adam much more they
which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one jesus
christ therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation
even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life skip
down to verse number 20 moreover the law entered that the offense might abound and i want you to
notice this but where sin abounded grace did much more abound do you know what this means that
doesn't matter how much you sin grace is always like 10 hundred steps ahead of it so when sin
abounds you backslide yeah you'll suffer the consequences of your actions for sure yeah god
will punish you for sure but you know what you'll never go to hell why because grace always abounds
it's always ahead there's never a time when grace is here and your sin is here it's always the other
way around because when sin abounds grace much more abounds he says in verse 21 that as sin
hath reigned unto death even so might grace reign through righteousness until eternal life by jesus
christ our lord that's powerful he's saying here in verse 21 that sin will reign unto death but
hold on a second the grace of god will reign unto everlasting life meaning you will never lose your
salvation you'll always have it and look folks we preach against sin in this church you know
sometimes people think well you know this is not a good message you're going to enable people to
commit sin no because the bible teaches us to preach against sin the bible teaches us to teach
believers to repent of their sin but the bible teaches us to make the distinction that repentance
of sin is not necessary for salvation but rather to live a godly life so that you don't suffer the
consequences of your actions this is important folks you see believing on jesus christ or believing
that he exists should i say and is and believing you have to repent of your sins to be saved
is not salvation salvation is exclusively placing your faith in jesus christ in the finished work
of christ on the cross for salvation now go to james chapter two james chapter two if you would
the point that i'm making here is that the doctrine of eternal security is biblical
because of the promise of ever and never you'll never lose your salvation you will in no wise be
casted out you have everlasting life you'll live with christ forever this is the promise that god
gives it is a biblical doctrine because it's gifted not earned you cannot earn righteousness
you cannot earn your salvation and in fact the bible explicitly teaches that we enter into heaven
because of the righteousness of jesus christ you don't want god to look at you through your own
righteousness it's no good it's monopoly money it can't pay for anything therefore in order for us
to have eternal life he has to see us through the righteousness of jesus christ which is given to us
at the moment of salvation it's gifted not earned now a lot of times when we talk about this
particular doctrine we can just repeat all these verses that i just showed go through countless
verses in john countless verses in romans where it explicitly says the salvation cannot be lost
it's a gift it can't be earned if you don't work it's okay because your faith is still counted for
righteousness amen amen and then someone's gonna be like yeah but faith without works is dead
though being alone and here's the problem with this statement okay it's not a problem with the
verse because the verse is in the bible and it's biblical the problem lies in the interpretation of
the verse and the problem lies in the interpreter of the verse do you know why because they're
implying that james 2 overrides every other scripture in the bible so they essentially
use james 2 to weaponize james 2 against all the scriptures in the bible that tells us to trust
on the lord jesus christ for salvation so essentially saying james 2 has more authority
than every other verse in the bible that teaches that salvation is a gift but that's not what we
believe we believe that they're both right james 2 is god's word james 2 is biblical we just got
to get the right interpretation of james 2 because they they're supposed to live in harmony one with
another right look at james 2 and verse 15 here's the context of james 2 it says if a brother or
sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them depart in peace be warmed
and filled notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body what does
it profit what is the context james is addressing believers in this particular church and he's saying
look if you find out that a brother sister has certain necessities they're going without food
the necessities of life clothing food they're hungry and you're a believer and you'd say well
i hope you find yourself a meal go to coles they're having a discount right now you'll find a really
warm jacket but you don't do anything about that how does your faith profit that person right
because if you're saying you're a christian you believe in the bible you believe in the principles
of god's word but you don't do anything to actually help a brother sister that is in need
then how profitable is your faith not to yourself but how profitable is it to someone else now how
do we know that's the context because verse 17 says even so tying in verses 15 and 16 to verse 17
even so faith if it hath not works doesn't exist no it's dead being alone now people will
interpret this verse to mean well no it means that you're not you're not really saved if you
don't have works you didn't really have faith well it doesn't say that because it indicates
that it's alone in order in order for someone to be alone it has to exist right it's just dead
you know if you have a vehicle that's sitting in your garage right now but it has no gas no oil
no one can walk into your garage and say this is not a car and you're like well it has an engine
doesn't matter doesn't have a car i mean it can't run if it can't run it's not a car no you would
say it's just not working got the motor we just got to put some gas into this thing we got to
you know give it an oil change or whatever so we can start running no one can say oh no this is
this car does not exist because it's not working we're just saying that it's a it's a car that's
inoperable well in like manner our faith benefits us but you know what if it's not working to help
other people it's unprofitable to everyone else james who isn't teaching that you're not saved
if you don't have works coupled with your faith because that would contradict all the other
portions of scripture that literally tell us not to do works what it's telling us is that in order
for our faith to profit someone else you have to have works and guess what you say what if you don't
have works well to him that work is not but believe it on him to justify the ungodly his faith is
counted for righteousness he says verse 18 yay a man may say thou has faith and i have works show
me thy faith without thy works and i will show thee my faith by my works i want you to notice
that in both instances faith can be seen he says show me your faith without your works i'll show
you my faith by my works now how do you show someone your faith without works by what you say
you're christian yes how do you how do you know for sure that you're going to go to heaven when
you die believe on the lord jesus christ what james 2 is telling us here is that if we want to prove
our faith to others we have to have works because the way god sees our faith is by our faith in
jesus christ but the way others see our faith because they can't see our hearts they have to
see it by our works verse 19 is a common verse that people like to pull up thou believe if there
is one god thou do us well the devils also believe and tremble and i can't tell you how many times
people bring this up like well the devils believe you know the devils believe you know i miss the
part where it says that they believe in jesus christ for salvation or something like that as
if this is referring to salvation this is just simply referring to mental assent right and i
forgot the part where devils can be saved if they place their faith in jesus christ this is simply
saying you know the devils even have mental assent but it doesn't help them much and it doesn't help
anybody else look at verse 20 but thou will know oh vain man that faith without works is dead which
is the equivalent to saying that faith without works is unprofitable to someone else and that's
why our church promotes works not for salvation but to help someone else you know what good is it
for us it only benefits us if we know the gospel but we don't give the gospel to anybody else
i'm saved i believe in the lord jesus christ i have eternal life but how does that benefit the
person across the street who doesn't know that unless i go and tell him right my faith will not
benefit anybody else unless i put it into work go to matthew chapter five if you would matthew
chapter five the doctrine of once saved always saved the doctrine of eternal security is a
biblical doctrine because of the promise of ever and never because it's gifted not earned you say
well you know that's the iffy part right there you know not having works or you're saying that
you can like get involved in sin and do the opposite of what the bible says and and still
be saved i don't know about that well let me show you an example of someone who did that and yes
they still want to have it look at Matthew 5 19 whosoever therefore shall break one of the least
commandments and shall teach men so so this is pretty bad this guy is not only breaking God's
commandments he's also influencing others to break God's commandments that's bad right that's not
just like that's not like not doing works that's like not doing works and sin that's like two
right he says whosoever therefore shall break one of the least commandments and shall teach men so
he shall be called the least in hell no the least in the kingdom of heaven but whosoever shall do
and teach them the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven so here we have an example
of someone who is breaking God's commandments and unfortunately teaching others or influencing
others to break God's commandments yet we see here that they are not excluded from the kingdom
of heaven they're just the least in the kingdom of heaven proving beyond a shadow of a doubt
that your sin cannot impede you from entering into heaven your lack of works do not impede you
from entering into heaven as proven by this particular verse right here go with me if you
would to Ephesians chapter one Ephesians chapter one if you would the doctrine of eternal security
is biblical why because of the promise of ever and ever why because it's gifted it's not earned
all you have to do is receive it but as many as received him to them give you power to become the
sons of God even unto them that believe on his name the bible says what's another reason why
eternal security is biblical i'll tell you why number three you're not just saved you're sealed
the doctrine of eternal security is biblical because you're not just saved you're actually
sealed with the holy spirit of God and here's a portion of scripture or biblical doctrine that
those who believe in a workspace salvation can't really answer they don't know what to do with this
because it's so explicit that it proves that beyond a shadow of a doubt that we stay saved
all the days of our life here in this world look at ephesians 1 13 it says in whom you also trust
it after that you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also after that
ye believed ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise go to chapter 4 if you would chapter 4
now i don't think i need even need to explain ephesians 1 13 it's pretty self-explanatory
trusted jesus you hear the gospel you believe god places his holy spirit within you and he
supernaturally seals that holy spirit within you and until when that's the question right
because according to the workspace salvationist or those who believe you can lose your salvation
when you sin when you do things that are contrary to the bible that should be the time when the
holy spirit leaves you right but the bible actually tells us how long the holy spirit
is sealed in you for look at verse 30 of chapter 4 it says grieve not the holy spirit of god
whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption called heaven now isn't it interesting that he
says grieve not the spirit does he say because you'll lose your salvation because he'll leave you
what does it mean to grieve the holy spirit it means when you sin when you displease god
when you're involved in drunkenness fornication adultery any form of sin sins of omission sins of
commission you're grieving the holy spirit of god that dwells within you and the warning here
is not oh you know if you grieve him he'll leave you because it literally says that he's sealed
within you until the day of redemption showing us that he's there to the very end he's not grieved
and he's just like i'm out of here i can't live in these conditions anymore this is just not you
did not agree to this i didn't agree to this what does it mean to be grieved it means he's saddened
by your condition when someone is is willfully sinning an unrepentant sin the holy spirit god
that dwells within us is grieved he's saddened by it and you know the mere fact that he's saddened
by it is proof that he has to see that he's basically committed to stay there this is what
the bible tells us to walk in the spirit you should not fulfill the lust of the flesh it says
quench not the spirit it says to be filled with the spirit but it also gives us the warning to
make sure you don't grieve him why because he has to live within you until the day of redemption
he's sealed there and this adds more credence to what jesus said i will never oh there goes
that word again i will never leave you nor forsake you now what does that mean will never means
never is there a but though nope he just said i'll never leave you nor forsake you showing us
that you're not just saved you're sealed with the holy spirit of promise go back to romans chapter
eight i want to show you a couple verses here before we move on to our next point romans chapter
number eight if you would second corinthians 1 22 says who hath also sealed us and given the
earnest of the spirit in our hearts now let me also say this before we read romans chapter eight
what's the purpose of god sealing us with his holy spirit obviously it's a great indication
that we are saved eternally that he's not going to leave us he's not going to forsake us it gives
us access so we can walk in the spirit to be filled with his power to understand the scriptures to be
empowered to live the christian life but the bible tells us in ephesians 1 14 that he is the earnest
of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased possession let me explain to you what
that means when god saved you according to the bible he purchased your entire body now what
literally happened is that the holy spirit essentially brings your dead spirit to life
this is what it means when it says that he quickened our spirits that was dead in trespasses and sin
so any person who has believed in the lord jesus christ we have a living spirit within us what the
bible refers to as the new man right we have the old man which is the flesh but we also have the new
man which is the spirit that was brought back to life it was regenerated by the holy ghost according
to sec according to titus 3 5 okay so that's what happened now you don't feel different when you
get saved it's not like like you know you start feeling like this thing in your stomach that's
from last night whatever you ate last night okay you know it's the too many onions on your burger
or whatever salvation is not a feeling obviously sometimes people get emotional about it and that's
perfectly understandable based upon the truth that they're hearing that their sins are forgiven they
have eternal life they love that right but not everyone has that same experience and you don't
have to have that experience to get saved some people just get saved and just get saved because
we walk by faith and not by sight so salvation is a spiritual experience meaning that it's not
something that you feel with your emotions it's something you just believe by faith and so when
the spirit is quickened within you when he's brought back to life you know you're not like
jumping or something you know not seizureing or anything like that it just happens okay it's a
spiritual transaction so to speak that takes place there now let me say this is that now that you're
saved if you believe on lord jesus christ it doesn't mean you're no longer a sinner because
we have the old man still he's like prove it lift up your hand like this everyone lift up their hands
like this turn it this way and look at it there it is right there because according to the bible
your old man is the corruptible flesh this flesh is corruptible given some more corruptible than
others but corruptible nonetheless and the bible talks about the members of our body that desires
to sin this carcass is a sinful carcass this is why the apostle paul said oh wretched man that i am
who shall deliver me from this body of death you know because the apostle paul wanted to do right
he wants to serve god but there's he's constantly combating the sinful nature within himself that
desires to disobey god and any christian if you've been a christian for any length of time you know
that struggle just constantly fighting over it's like every single day this is why we never talk
about like give your life to christ we just say like live for god today serve god today why because
tomorrow's a new battle it's a new war you get up in the morning you have to read your bible you
got to pray you got to walk in the spirit you got to fight the world the flesh and the devil the
spirit is constantly fighting against the flesh the flesh against the spirit these are contrary
to the one to the other so you cannot do the things that you would you have these two natures
constantly fighting now you know to give yourself a fighting chance you got to be in church you got
to read the bible you got to strengthen the spirit be strong in the lord in the power of his might
so that you don't subject yourselves to the desires of the flesh likewise reckon yourselves
also to be dead indeed into sin but alive unto god through jesus christ our lord let not sin
therefore reign in your mortal bodies that ye should obey it in the lust thereof neither yield
ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield yourselves unto god and your
members as instruments of righteousness unto god so god is commanding us like hey don't let your body
just tell you what to do you know put away the ho-hos you know don't go for seconds keep your
under your body and obviously you know thanksgiving is coming around so i'm not gonna be saying that
too much because i'm gonna subject myself i'm gonna let my my sin i'm gonna let my my flesh
rain a little bit during that particular time point is that god wants us to reign over our bodies
right but the point is also is that our bodies are still present so don't live under this delusion
that once you get saved you're just never going to sin it doesn't exist it just doesn't exist it's
a delusion we have these two natures well i thought the bible says if any man be in christ he is a new
creature old things have passed away behold all things are become new absolutely and the old
things that are passed away is referring to the flesh that was crucified with christ but unfortunately
i don't know if you notice he's still here you're alive your physical body is still there your
corruptible flesh is still there so what is the answer well you know the answer from the false
gospel is that once you get saved once you repent of your sins to be saved that somehow this means
you will never sin but that's not true because we still have this corruptible flesh that desires
to sin so what's the solution well the solution is this the resurrection what is the resurrection
the resurrection is when christ raptures us because the rapture is biblical christ raptures us
and gives us a glorified body completely absent of sin but that hasn't happened yet so the bible
tells us that the holy spirit of god that dwells within us he's there as a down payment so to speak
until god receives the redemption of this body what he purchased until he gets the entire thing
right now it's just our spirit that's saved but in the end of in the end times when he raptures us
he's going to redeem the entire body and therefore will be completely sinless that's the purpose of
the holy spirit now look at roman chapter 8 verse 15 it says for you have not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry out the father
the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of god so you know this
is why it's important to be in church to read your bible so that the spirit can remind you hey
you're saved right you're a child of god why because sometimes saved people can backslide
so much they can often think man am i even saved because they're so carnally minded they get involved
in sin and they quench the spirit and therefore the spirit cannot testify of the biblical truths
because you become so carnal but the purpose of the spirit is to remind you that you are a child
of god okay turn with me if you would last passage here go to romans chapter four again if you would
roman chapter four here's my last point and that is that eternal security is biblical because
redemption isn't repentance of sins it's remission of sins oh you got to repent of your sins to be
saved wrong you need the forgiveness of sins to be saved because no one can repent of their sins
completely for salvation it doesn't exist that's another delusion and in fact the bible literally
says if we say we have no sin we lie and do not the truth we deceive ourselves and do not the
truth the bible says because no one can turn from their sins completely should we endeavor to clean
up our lives absolutely the bible calls that sanctification but it's a fool's errand listen to
me it's a fool's errand to try to repent of your sins to be saved because you will never turn
from your sins completely because you're encapsulated by sin you live in a corruptible
body that sins every single day then what's the solution forgiveness of sins let me read to you
from luke where did i have you turn romans 4 let me read you from luke 176 it says and thou child
shall be called the prophet of the highest for thou shall go before the face of the lord to prepare
his way to give knowledge of salvation into his people by the repentance of sins no by the
remission of their sins to give knowledge of salvation to others is to tell them of the
remission of sins that they'll receive because of salvation look at romans 4 and verse number six
it says even as david also described it the blessedness of the man unto whom god imputed
righteousness without works so david in the old testament talked about people receiving salvation
which is righteousness without works and he expounds upon that by saying verse seven
blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and to that we say amen forgiven is past tense
everything you committed in the past forgiven right oh but it doesn't stop there he says
blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven whose sins are covered present tense verse eight
blessed is the man to whom the lord will not impute sin future tense that tells us that when
jesus christ saved us he forgave us of past present and future sins why because salvation
is not redemption is not repentance of sins it's the remission of sins that we receive through the
blood of jesus christ what's the point of the sermon this morning the point is is that god has
removed our sins as far as east from west god has eternally secured us in his hand if we believe on
the lord jesus christ and you know what my greatest desire today is that if you don't know beyond a
shadow of a doubt that you're saved that you'd get saved today and you know the reality is this
this is that death surrounds us just never know when we're going to die and you know once you die
it's just it's over it's game over there's no second chances after that there's no afterlife
where you can choose again it's just that that's that's the end of the road and so my hope is that
if you don't know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're saved if you're questioning if you're
doubting if you're saved that you'd settle that before you leave i'm glad you enjoyed the meal
hope you enjoy that coffee but i hope beyond everything else that you just received the free
gift of eternal life and you know you don't have to do anything to get it you don't have to do any
works you don't have to repent of your sins you don't have to be baptized you have to place your
faith in jesus christ and recognize that it's ever and ever and ever that once you're saved
you're always saved god eternally secures you let's pray father we thank you so much for your word
and thank you for salvation and the promises thereof lord we're thankful that you have
explicitly taught us in the bible how eternal salvation really is there's just no end to it
whatsoever and we're thankful that you've expounded that unto us in your word in various
manners and ways to help us to understand and i pray that lord if there's someone here who
doesn't know for sure that they're saved they're doubting their salvation they're questioning it
they're fearful what's going to take place in the afterlife that they would get that settled today
pray that you bless us as we go on our way thank you for all the friends who showed up
we pray this thing's in jesus name amen please turn your songbooks to song number 135 song number
135 i know i am saved this is a short song it's only one verse so we'll sing it twice over song
number 135 all together nice and strong on that first verse i know turn your songbooks to song
number 152 song number 152 security song number 152 all together nice and strong on that first verse
more secure strong on that first verse as i'm here tell us your name have you trusted jesus
as your savior upon your public profession i'm gonna baptize you in the name of the father and
of the son and of the holy spirit go ahead and sit down and cross your arms over your chest
cross your arms over your chest there i got you i got you here you go buried in the likeness of his death
praise to walk in the midst of life let's pray we'll be dismissed father we thank you once again
for this day thank you for the baptism and all those who came i pray that uh we soon not forget
the message we heard i pray you bless us for our evening service as well we love you we thank you
pray these things in jesus name amen you are dismissed