good morning everyone welcome to steadfast baptist church you please
find your seats and grab a song book
we're gonna start with song four hundred and twelve
onward christian soldiers four hundred and twelve
onward christian soldiers
song four one two let's sing it out
morning thank you so much for coming to steadfast baptist church if you didn't
get a bulletin but you'd like one just lift your hand up
nice and high
church can come by and get you an extra bulletin
on the front we have a bible memory passage psalm fifty nine
working on verse number twelve for the week
on the inside we have our service times
our churchwide soul winning times
church stats please
continue to work hard
on our soul winning efforts
on the right we have our expecting ladies list
we have several ladies who can be in prayer for throughout the week
also some upcoming events
a new one
to put in your memory bank here is august fourth
the evening service were just gonna have a going away
desert fellowship
for
brother alls and his family and so
uh... we're not exactly sure
the exact date that he's going to be moving
it's gonna be probably pretty soon after that week and it could even be
their last sunday here and so we just want to make sure that we have
a uh...
a time of fellowship for them
and uh... we'll have a basket so if you'd like to bring them a cash gift or a
gift card or even just a gift you can of course bring anything that you'd like
but uh... you probably want to make sure you get it here before august fourth
that way they can have it
also
the mighty men's conference august fifteenth of the seventeenth
for you guys
we do we have that sign up sheet
okay the sign up sheet is out here please make sure you sign up for that
and you can indicate if you're planning on coming
when and how many nights that way we can make sure that were accommodating you
even if you can't make the entire event you're still welcome to participate as
much as you'd like
plus it's only about maybe an hour and a half from here
so even if you just want to come out for the preaching services you can
Pastor Roger Jimenez is going to be coming out and preaching for us that Friday night
and so if you'd like to hear Pastor Jimenez preach
I'd really encourage you to come out at least Friday night even if you can't
just even if you can't make the entire event or the conference
also Dr. Stringer is going to be preaching for us September 8th
which is going to be both that Sunday morning and Sunday evening services and
so I really encourage you guys
even if you don't normally come to Sunday evening service to make it out
for that one just so
we can encourage Dr. Stringer and I'm sure he's going to bring
some really good messages he's going to be focusing again on the King James
Bible but he's a wealth of information on that subject
October 4th through the 6th is going to be our Heritage of the Lord conference again
and so this is geared towards younger audiences but we're going to have
Pastor Bruce Mejia, we're going to have Pastor Anderson coming out and preaching for us
and we'll have a couple extra activities, we'll have our spelling bee and so
I encourage you to participate if you can and then
church rules and reminders please make sure kids are not running in the church
building
they shouldn't be on the stage we wanna make sure that we're keeping them away
from all this equipment
and instruments and stuff we don't want anything to get hurt or broken
also children shouldn't be in the kitchen areas unattended if you do have upset
or crying children please take them out of the sanctuary
you can use our mother baby rooms if you'd like but they should
always be where the mother is accompanying her children in those
rooms also quiet time on Sunday afternoon so from 2 to 4 p.m
immediately following the soul winning we just have a quiet time in the sanctuary
turn off half the lights and so there's no talking also
but we do have Mother Bay rooms that are available for all if you'd like to use
those
and then the fellowship room is for more quiet activities such as reading
or using electronic device so if you please accommodate us with that
and then we have our prayer list as a separate handout
so if you want to be praying for our church family throughout the week
we have several there that you can be praying for
one other announcement I was just gonna make is the next Sunday morning
I won't be here for the morning service because I'm going to be going down to Pure Words
and I'll be preaching for them for that morning service
but I'm gonna try and drive back and make it for the evening service on next Sunday
so everything seems to be going very well in Houston
I know that they actually lost power for a while at the building and everything like that
because of the hurricane but I think that they're recovering okay
and so I'm really excited to go down there and at least get to visit and see them
it's been a little while since I've been down there and we're definitely
encouraged by evangelist Salvador and what he's doing down there doing a
really good job
and so I'm looking forward to getting down there and visiting with them as well
that's pretty much all I have as far as announcement specifically we'll go ahead
and sing
our third song which is our Psalm of the Week Psalm 139
sing it out nice and loud
you can use your special handouts for that Psalm 139
let's sing it out together Psalm 139
Bible reads
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God
one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him
by this we know that we love the children of God and we love God
and keep his commandments for this is the love of God
that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous
for whatsoever is born of God overcome at the world
and this is the victory that overcome at the world even our faith
who is he that overcome at the world but he that believe it that Jesus is the
Son of God
this is he that came by water and blood even Jesus Christ
not by water only but by water and blood
and it is the spirit that beareth witness because the spirit is truth
for there are three that bear record in heaven the father
the word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one
and there are three that bear witness in earth the spirit
and the water and the blood and these three agree in one
if we receive the witness of men the witness of God is greater
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
and this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life
and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
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
and this is the confidence that we have in him that
if we ask anything according to his will he heareth us
and if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask
we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him
if any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death
he shall ask and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death
there is a sin unto death I do not say that he shall pray for it
all unrighteousness is sin and there is a sin not unto death
we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not
but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not
and we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness
and we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding
that we may know him that is true and we are in him that is true
even in his Son Jesus Christ this is the true God
and eternal life little children keep yourselves
from idols. Amen. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in heaven we thank you for
this day for our church
I pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit enable him to preach the
sermon you've laid on his heart with clarity of mind and with boldness and
Lord I pray also that you would soften hearts in the room to receive the
preaching of your word and keep us safe as we go out soul winning later. We love
you and in Jesus name I pray
Amen. Amen. I want to look back at verse 13 the Bible says these things have I
written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you
have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is
a really essential and core doctrine of the faith and that is the idea that you can know
you have eternal life because once you're saved you're always saved. And that's the
side of my morning sermon is once saved, always saved. Now what's really clear in verse number
13 is that you can know that you have eternal life. That's important because having something
is a present tense consideration. The fact that someone right now has eternal life and
not only do they have eternal life, they know that they have eternal life. And because it's
eternal life, we understand that this is something that can never change or be altered. God does
not hand out temporary life or conditional life, but rather he gives his children eternal
life. And so once they've been saved, they know they are saved forever because they've
been given eternal life. And that's really point number one. I have 10 points this morning
on what I want to describe as how you can know that once you're saved, you're always
saved. And point one is that you have eternal life when you believe on Jesus Christ. Now
it says in this chapter, if we back up a little bit, look at verse nine, it says that we receive
the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. Meaning that if you believe anything
in this world, the Bible is more believable and more trustworthy than any textbook, any
TV news report, any science book, anything you could learn from anyone out there, the
Bible is a more reliable witness. Even the information you've learned from your parents,
even the fact that two plus two equals four, the Bible is more reliable. That is what the
Bible is saying. It says, "For this is the witness of God, which ye have 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."
So there are those who believe the Gospel, the record that God gave of his son, and there's
those who are liars. Those are the only two options out there. Either you believe the
record that God gave of his son, or you're a liar, is what the Bible says. There's not
another option. According to the text, if you don't believe the record that God gave
of his son, you are a liar. It says in verse number 11, and this is the record that God
has given to us, eternal life. And this life is in his son. He that hath the son, hath
life, and he that hath not the son of God, hath not life. So that's the context leading
into the fact that you can know you have eternal life, because if you have the son, you have
life. You have eternal life, and we understand we received this, and we have acquired this
through believing the record that God gave of his son. Notice that it doesn't say because
you're a good person. Notice it doesn't say because you're repentant of your sins. Notice
it doesn't say because you have this commitment to serve God for the rest of your life. No,
what the Bible says is you believe the record that God gave of his son. That's specifically
what gives you eternal life and gives you salvation. Now let's go to the most famous
verse in the Bible. Go to John chapter number three. Go to John chapter number three. But
it's super clear that once you believe in Jesus Christ, you're saved forever because
you have eternal life. That is a present tense thing. Now the most famous verse in the Bible
says the exact same thing. And it says in John 3 16 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. The verse preceding says the same thing. That whosoever believeth in
him should not perish but have eternal life. Eternal life, everlasting life, we're describing
the exact same thing here. And that is something that lasts forever. Once someone has believed
in Jesus Christ they will have a life that lasts forever. And of course this perishing
in John 3 16 is not talking about a separation of body and spirit. We will all go through
that and that can be referred to as death. But generally speaking in this context we're
talking about a spiritual distinguishment here. And you won't go through a spiritual
death in a place called hell. And because you have everlasting life your soul and your
spirit will never die. And that's what it's describing here. Why? Because your soul and
your spirit have eternal life. Your physical body doesn't change. When you believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ nothing happens to you physiologically. There's not some kind of a metaphysical change
or there's not some kind of a physical change. It's really a spiritual change that happens
where inside you are given eternal life, everlasting life, and your spirit has been quickened. And
it even says in verse 36, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." That's
present tense again. So we notice that it's not like, "Well, one day I'll get eternal
life," or "Eventually I may have everlasting life." No, the Bible says that when you believe
on the Jesus Christ, you have everlasting life right now. The Bible says in 1st John
chapter 5, which we just read, that you can know that you have everlasting life, that
you have eternal life. So you can know right now that you have it because why? Because
you believed on Jesus Christ. Because you believe the record that God gave of his son,
that Jesus Christ died on the cross, that he was buried, and that he rose again, paying
for all of your sins, and that you're trusting only in what he did to save you. When you
put that faith in Jesus Christ, you have everlasting life, and there's nothing that can ever stop
you from going to heaven. You are saved. And that's of course why we believe that someone
is saved with a "D" at the end. Not being saved, or could be saved, or hopefully will
be saved, or some kind of a question mark here. You know, you knock on a lot of doors,
you talk to a lot of people, you ask them, "Are you sure if you die that you go to heaven?"
I hope so. I think so. Maybe. That illustrates the fact that this person hasn't put all
their faith in Jesus Christ, and they don't know that they already have eternal life.
Because if you know that you already have eternal life, well, the answer, of course,
is going to be yes. And God wants us to have that confidence to know, "Yes, I am going
to heaven." But it's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but by His mercy that
He saved us. You know, I didn't get saved because I did some great work for God, or
because I changed my life, or because I made some commitment, or because I know I'm going
to be faithful in the future. No, I just accepted His free gift, and I just believed on what
Jesus already did for me, and that's what gave me everlasting life. So point one of
how you know that once you're saved, you're always saved is because once you believe,
you have everlasting life in that moment. Here's a second reason. Look at chapter one, John
chapter one, and these are some great points to emphasize. If you go out preaching the
gospel, if you go out soul winning, these are great points to emphasize to someone you're
trying to explain how to get saved because it's necessary for them to understand the
everlasting nature of salvation. Didn't we notice in first John chapter number five that
you have to believe the record that God gave of his son. And when it says, and this is
the record, what does it say that he has given us eternal life? That was the first statement.
The absolute first statement of the record that God gave of his son is that he's given
unto us eternal life. That was the first part. It's an eternal salvation that God is offering
through Jesus Christ. Okay? Not some kind of a temporary salvation. Not just a, you're
at peace with God for this moment. No, it's an eternal salvation. It's eternal life that's
being offered. Okay? That's what's being offered. Now additionally, the Bible uses other analogies
or other illustrations or other descriptions of salvation to help us recognize and understand
how salvation itself is an eternal process that happens in a moment. Sometimes when you
talk to people, unfortunately, they think salvation is a process. They think that being
saved is something that takes time and it's something that happens over your whole life
and that God's evaluating and judging every decision you make and all the different sins
and if you stay faithful. But the Bible makes it clear that salvation is a moment in time.
It is a one time event, just like human birth is a one time event. Salvation is a one time
birthing event, but it's not a physical birth. It's a spiritual birth. And once you've been
born a child of God, you are forever a child of God. It says in John one verse 12, but
as many as received him, to them gave you power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name. The word even means specifically. So those who believe in Jesus
are the ones who become the children of God. Now this I think is a really important point
to make to somebody when you're out preaching the gospel. It really helps them understand
several different points. Because number one, most everyone understands that birth is a
one-time event that happens in a moment. Not only that, but if you think about it, even
physical birth, your mother is the one that did all of the work, all of the labor, all
the effort. You basically just get a free ride. You get birth without having to do anything.
And that's similar in the context of how Jesus Christ did all the work for us and how we
simply get a free ride and we're just born again, not by any works or effort of our own,
but rather by the full effort of the Lord Jesus Christ. And once you've been born by
your mother, she is your mother forever. There's nothing that could change that. Even if your
mother, you know, technically abandoned you or you're adopted or any of these different
things that you could dream up, your mom is your mom forever. She's your birth mother
forever no matter what happens. You can't change that fact. Now, of course, you could
have a good relationship with her. You could have a bad relationship. You know, my mom,
unfortunately, has already passed away, so my mother's dead. But here's the thing, she's
still my mom. Nothing's going to change that fact. Same way, I'm her son, nothing can ever
change that fact. Even if I technically got adopted by somebody else or other circumstances
happened in my life, even if I was the worst person ever to live, well, she's still my
mother. It's just a fact of life that that is my mother and I can't change it. Here's
another thing that's important about this, is no matter how much free will I possess,
I still can't change the fact that my mother is my mother forever. Just because my mom
is my mom forever doesn't change the fact that I have free will and it doesn't change
the fact that with my free will I can't change that. Because it's already happened, it's
already been locked in. So once someone believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, they become a child
of God in that moment. And even though they have free will, nothing can change the fact
that they are a child of God forever. I want you to go to a couple other places. Go to
Galatians chapter three for a moment. Go to Galatians chapter number three. But notice
that not everybody is a child of God. You have to become a child of God. Why? Because
everybody is God's creation, but not everyone is a child of God. You have to become a child
of God. And the only way to become a child of God is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's why it said, it's saying in John chapter one verse 12, "Even to them that believe on
His name," meaning specifically to those who believe in Jesus, those are the ones that
become the children of God. Now, this concept of being a child of God is mentioned in multiple
places in the Bible, not just in John 1-12. I like using John 1-12 when explaining the
gospel because it's right next to John 3-16. So a lot of times, right when I'm done explaining
John 3-16, I can just go right to John 1-12 and explain the fact that we're also children
of God. Now, why I think that it's important to explain the fact that we're children of
God is because it helps to understand why it's still important to serve God. And for
many people, they're just confused because they think when they hear how salvation is
free or it's just by faith or that you can't lose it, that you'd somehow be motivated to
not serve God or that following His rules or commandments aren't important all of a
sudden. But that logic doesn't follow in our lives. I wasn't motivated to break my parents'
rules even though I knew that nothing could change the fact that they're my parents. Just
because I know my mom is my mom forever. And even though my parents have told me that they'll
love me forever, even if I was a bad kid they would still love me, it didn't motivate me
to be a bad kid. I still loved my parents and I wanted to do right and the same is with
God. Just because I'm saved and just because I have eternal life, and even though I know
it's free and even though I know I can't lose it, it doesn't motivate me to be a bad person.
And what kind of insanity to think that just because you can't lose your salvation you're
now going to be motivated to just be a bad person. When in fact 95 plus percentage of
the entire world doesn't believe that and they're really bad. Have you ever thought
about that? Have you ever realized that people, like most people, don't even believe that
and they're still really bad? So if telling someone you have to be good is the only way
for them to be good or that's actually an effective method, wouldn't we see some fruit
of that? Wouldn't we see some evidence of that? Yet when we look at religions, when
we look at people who actually believe and genuinely think you have to be a good person
to go to heaven, they don't live faithful lives. They don't follow God's commandments.
They're not living some higher level of righteousness than those who believe in salvation being
free and by grace. And so really it's a straw man argument to put it out there and say,
"Well, if you tell people they can't lose their salvation, they're not going to want
to serve God." Well, number one, they don't want to serve God already. All right? So even
if that didn't change, well then nothing changed, right? But salvation can be free and you can
still be motivated to serve God. Why? Because you want God to be pleased with you. Just
like I want my parents to be pleased with me. You know, I want my parents to love me
but also like me. Okay? You know what? You can love someone and not really like them
at the same time. Okay? And the reality is that we want God to not just love us in an
ultimate fashion but we want him to also like us and we also want to be God's friend. Okay?
These things are related to how you serve God and following his commandments. But no
matter what, if you believe in Jesus Christ, you are a child of God. And you're not a child
of God because you follow rules. You're a child of God because of faith. What does it
say in Galatians chapter 3 verse 26? "Fear all the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus." You know what makes you a child of God? Your faith in Jesus, just like John 1
12 just said. Now think about it this way, and I try to help people understand this distinction.
I say, "You know, if I follow all of your rules, would I now be your son?" And they're
like, "No, of course not." Right? Because that's not how you become someone's son is
by following the rules. I say, "Hey, if I go to work and I follow all of my boss's rules,
am I now my boss's son?" And they're like, "Of course not. You're not your boss's son
by following rules." So then I ask this, I say, "So if I decide to just go to church
and try to follow all the rules of the Bible, am I now God's son?" And you know, it's sad.
Sometimes they got the logic like, "Right, right." And then they're like, "No, of course
you would." It's like, "No, that's not how you become God's son." It's not just showing
up at the building. It's not just following rules. Just like in every other scenario,
that's not how it works. The same is with God. Going to church and following rules does
not make you God's son. It's by faith in Jesus Christ like we just saw here in Galatians.
That's what makes you a child of God. And once a child, forever a child. Now go if you
would to 1 John chapter 3. Go back to 1 John. Sometimes it's important to also show some
of these present tense verses because this is what somebody might say. Oh yeah, you will
get eternal life and you will become a child of God if you remain faithful. But you know
that's not what the Bible says. The Bible said in John chapter 3 that you hath eternal
life, you hath everlasting life. That's present tense. And not only that, the Bible can say
right now that you are a child, not that you're going to become a child eventually or maybe
you might become a child. The Bible says we are children. What does it say in 1 John chapter
3? Look what it says in verse 2. "Behold," I'm sorry, "Beloved, now are we the sons
of God?" Notice it doesn't say we will become the sons of God or we could become the sons
of God or I hope some of us become the children of God. No, beloved, now, now are we the
sons of God. Right now I am a son of God. And you know when that will change? Never.
I will always be a son of God. Now notice it doesn't say we're all good children of
God. That's depending on how good of a child you are. Okay. Some of you might not be a
very good son of God or a daughter of God. But guess what? If you believe in Jesus Christ,
you are right now, present tense, a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus. So that helps
you understand that once you're saved, you're always saved because once you're a child,
you're always a child. Go if you would to Ephesians chapter number one, go to Ephesians
chapter one. That's point one point two. I almost always explain point one and point
two when I go soul winning. When I go soul winning, I pretty much thoroughly explain
these two points because I think it's really important to help people understand a few
things. Number one, that salvation is just by faith, that you have eternal life, you
can't lose it, that you're now a child of God, and why it's important to still follow
God's rules, even though it has no impact on me going to heaven. You know, maybe even
challenge them and say, so if I believe in Christ, but I don't follow all the commandments
or I break some of the commandments or I commit a big sin, would I still have eternal
life? Would I still be a child of God? And that kind of gives them a test to understand
if they understand, they, they realize what salvation is being offered, that it's an eternal
life, that you can't lose it. And of course, that's where some people may not fully have
grasped what we're talking about. And so it's a good idea to kind of test people and help
them understand, you know, if you believe in Jesus Christ, can you lose it? Because
that illustrates where your faith is at. If you think you can lose your salvation, you're
not really placing your faith on Jesus Christ. You're really placing your faith on yourself
to either be good in the future, to stay faithful, or to do right. You're just kind of relying
on yourself. And it illustrates, I think, for most people, that they're just not saved.
If you're trusting in yourself, you're not saved. And I would just, I just throw it out
there. I think everyone who believes they can lose their salvation is just not saved.
Okay. And I'm going to treat them as unsaved. Now, is it possible that someone can get a
little mixed up on this and still be saved? Yeah, I do believe that. But you know what?
Why would I want to treat that person as saved when I feel like they might be in danger?
Just like in Galatians, people that got a little mixed up on the gospel, yeah, some
of them could have been saved. But at the same time, like Paul's not really treating
them with kid gloves here. In fact, he's saying, I'm afraid of you. He's saying, you know,
and again, I'm not necessarily when I go out soul winning, going to just say like, hey,
I'm afraid of you, you know, or anything like that. But I try to help them understand, you
know, how eternal security is tied to salvation and how truly people who are saved understand
they can't lose it. And that the denominations and the churches that teach you can lose your
salvation, they're by and large all unsaved. The Pentecostals, the Charismaniacs of this
world, the Catholics, all these different creepy denominations like the Jehovah's Witnesses
and all these other groups, they believe you can lose your salvation and they're not saved.
They don't believe salvation by faith alone. They're not even just a little bit mixed up.
They're just definitely not saved. They misinterpret the whole Bible and so it's important distinction.
We want to make sure that people understand that salvation is eternal because that's a
necessary component to putting your trust and faith in Jesus Christ. And I don't run
into people who deny eternal security, who deny salvation being once saved always saved
and I think, "Oh, this person is saved. This person has a good grasp on the Bible. This
person is producing a lot of fruit." No, those people are always mixed up, have doctrinal
issues and so I don't want to pretend like I think those people are saved because I don't.
I just don't think that they are. Now, maybe someone is a little bit ignorant, like they
just, they heard salvation was free and they never really thought about it. Yeah, I guess
they could be saved. But generally speaking, someone going around denying eternal security
and thinking, "Oh, you can't just sin. You can't just live however you want." It's kind
of a process. Any of these kinds of statements, that person is not saved. And they just don't
understand it. They haven't seen clearly enough. And so they need to be shown from the Bible
that you cannot lose your salvation. Now, look at Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13, "In
whom ye also trusted, after that ye 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, which
is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession under
the praise of His glory." So point one, when you believe in Jesus, you have eternal life.
Point two, you become a child of God. Point three, you're sealed by the Holy Ghost. You've
been sealed by the Holy Ghost. There's no way to alter that because notice specifically
in verse 14, "which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession unto the praise of the Lord," meaning that God has put an earnest down on us signifying
that he will redeem us and that we will be saved and that earnest payment was the Holy
Ghost. And he's saying it's going to happen until the day of redemption. So that gives
us that assurance that once we're saved, we're always saved because we've been sealed. And
once you've been sealed, you're always sealed. So again, a lot of these things are really
easy to grasp if you kind of understand elements of our world. You know, what is an earnest
payment from a context of buying a house when you're trying to purchase a property, they'll
often ask for an earnest down payment. And that's just basically money. It's not the
entire contract, but it's just a portion of the funds that you're going to deliver to
buy the house. And you're basically giving it because you are saying, I'm serious about
buying this house. And a lot of times it's 1%, maybe 2% of the purchase price. So if
you're going to buy a house, it's $100,000, which that's like 1990s, sorry, inflation.
But if you're buying a house for $100,000, you know, you might have to put 1000 or $2,000
down as an earnest payment. And if you decide not to buy the house or you back out, you
lose that money. You don't have that anymore. But what you're, you already know, I'm going
to buy this house in 30 days or 60 days or whatever closing is. And as kind of a guarantee
to the seller to help make them comfortable with the arrangement, you go ahead and you
give them a little bit of money saying, look, I'm doing this to show you and illustrate
how serious I am about buying this. Now think about that in the context of God. If God's
giving us and sealing us with the Holy Spirit, is he going to lose that by not purchasing
us later? Of course not. And so it's just God showing how serious he is about salvation,
that he's already sealed us with the Holy Spirit and indicating to us that, hey, he's
serious, he's going to save us, and we're not going to go to hell. Because the reality
is we haven't died yet, and we haven't faced that consequence of hell yet, and yet we can
know with confidence that I don't have to worry about that because of the fact that,
hey, I've already been sealed. Just like, you know, if someone were to sell their house,
you know, they want to have that confidence that the arrangement's going to go through
because they've already moved all their stuff out, they need a place to go, they need that
money to move on with their life, and, you know, to give them confidence that the arrangement's
going to happen, they had that earnest money that was being put down in the same context.
Now, a couple other things that are important about this verse. Did you notice in verse
13 how it says, "In whom ye also trusted with a D at the end." What does that mean? It's
already happened. Did you notice that? It's not a process. No, I already trusted. And
I already did something else. Notice in this verse, I already believed. Meaning, you know,
it's not I have to believe my entire life to be saved. No, I already believed and I'm
already saved. I believed in the times past and I'm sealed with the Holy Spirit. That's
why a lot of people, you know, will even write in their Bible the day they got saved because
that was the day that they trusted. That was the day that they believed. That was the day
that they were sealed. That was the day that they were saved and they're always saved.
So that day can live in their mind as a reminder of the fact that they've already believed,
that they've already trusted. And you know what? It also defines what believing means.
Did it say believe means follow the commandments? No. Did it say believe means you're going
to surrender your life? No. Did it say believe means repent of your sins? No. It says believe
means trust. So that it helps define in our mind what these words even mean. Hey, what
does it mean to believe in Jesus? It means to trust Him. Okay. That's what it truly means
because many people will use the right verbiage but with a wrong definition. Salvation is
by faith. What that means is you're going to follow all the commandments. Whoa! That's
not what faith means. And even if that's what faith meant, why would there be any admonition
to even follow the commandments? Because everybody that has faith is automatically going to do
it. You know what? Just because you have faith and you trust in someone does not mean you're
going to follow all their commandments and follow all their rules perfectly. That's where
the work comes into play. Okay. And so we have to understand that what sealed us was
the fact that we believed in times past. And what did we believe? We believe the word of
truth. We believe the gospel. Okay. That's what it says in verse number 13. Look at chapter
four, because I want to show you the permanency of the sealing and look at verse 30 and grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. So he's
saying, look, I just want to make you comfortable with a certain fact. The Holy Spirit, when
you've been sealed, it's going to be until the day of redemption. Now, of course, can
you grieve him? Yes. Should we sin? No. Will we sin? Yes. But you know what? Even if I
sin, even if I grieve the Holy Spirit, guess what? I'm still sealed until the day of redemption.
You know, so there's nothing that can really change that. I'm good to go. It's going to
happen. Go to John chapter five, go to John chapter five. And sometimes it's good to have
some of these talking points in the back of your mind so that if you're preaching the
gospel to somebody or you're trying to help them understand what you're saying, you could
pull out some other verses or you could pull out some other passages that could be used.
And again, Ephesians one is a good one to keep in the back of your mind. If you're needing
to help illustrate to somebody what believe means. So no, no, no, the Bible says that
believe means trust. Let me show you. It has it right here in Ephesians chapter number
one, verse 13. I can show you right here how trusting and belief and notice these are past
tense indicating this was an event that already happened in some point in the past. It's not
a process. It's not continually going. This can help you to illustrate to people the one
time event and how it can't be changed. And then think about it. You're right there to
Ephesians one. Ephesians four says, Hey, you're sealed until the day of redemption. And yeah,
we don't want to sin. We don't want to agree with the Holy spirit, but we're saved no
matter what. And when I'm talking to some people, you know, you want to use a little
bit of discretion when determining if someone's saved or not, because sometimes people are
just bad at wording things. Most people aren't even reading the Bible. And so sometimes they
give a little bit goofy answers. But after you kind of talk to them for a few minutes,
you can find out what they really believe. Or a lot of times what I'll do if someone's
being vague on eternal security, they seem safe. They say like, Hey, it's faith in Jesus
or believing in Jesus or accepting Jesus. And I asked about eternal life. They're like,
I don't know. I'm not sure. You know, I don't just immediately just say like unsaved. Okay.
But sometimes what I may do is I may say, well, the Bible teaches that once you believe
in Christ, you become his child and you can never change that. The Bible teaches a one
time event. Is that what you believe? And then you get a test to see like, and they're
like, oh yeah, that's what I believe. I talked to some liberal, you know, non-denom guy and
he was kind of being weird and kind of vague about, you know, salvation and like eternal
life. And he was there with his girlfriend who she seemed way more unsaved potentially.
But and that may even affect some of their answers. But I kind of just said, well, I
believe the Bible says salvation is a one time event. You can't lose it even if you
didn't have any works. And then after I said that, he's like, oh yeah, you're right. I
agree with you. You're right on that issue. I wasn't going to say like, oh, you were
unsaved because you gave some weird answers at first. You know, we want to make sure that
we're kind of really clear and that they're really clear and that you get good responses
and you can help people actually genuinely change their mind if needed. Now, sometimes
people are even, they kind of get it, but then they're a little screwed up or maybe
they're like, I'm not sure. And you kind of say this and like, yeah, I think you're right.
Then maybe I'll just show them a couple of internal security verses just to help them
realize that they can be confident in it. Okay. But I'm not going to necessarily just
deem them unsaved and just be really rude to them. For me, if someone doesn't change
their mind, I didn't get them saved. Okay. And my litmus test for if they change their
mind is what they say. Not if I'm like, I think you changed your mind. It's if you think
you changed your mind. So that's why I ask many questions to that effect, or I may try
to clarify with them at the end, say like, is this what you believe? If they're like,
no, then I think they don't believe it, right? If I say, hey, you said this before. You said
that you can lose your salvation. You said it was a process. Now that I've showed you
in the Bible that it's a one time event, that you can't lose it, did you change your mind?
And they're like, yes, I changed my mind. Well, that's an indication to me that this
person needs to pray and get saved. Because why? Because they changed what they believed,
right? But if they're kind of vague and weird at first, and then you end up clarifying for
them, and I'm like, "Did you change your mind?" They say, "No." I mean, I don't know that there's
really a point necessarily praying with that individual. Because, you know, I'm not just
going out to just see how many people I can pray with like a Catholic. I'm not just trying
to see how many people I can pray with like Todd White, going around just like hitting
people like, "Can I pray for you, brother?" You know? No. I want to actually have people
change their mind and actually repent of something, and they understand that they repent of something,
and that's why we're praying and getting people saved. So, you know, I'm not one of these
1, 2, 3 repeat after me, you know, "Hey, did you change your mind? Did you actually repent?"
You know, you guys don't preach repentance. No, I do preach repentance. In fact, I won't
get anybody saved without repentance. But it's not repenting of your sin, it's recognizing
that salvation is an eternal gift that you can't lose. It's realizing that you're trusting
in what Jesus did for you and not in yourself, that you're taking all reliance and all faith
and all trust and taking it off of yourself and putting it on Jesus Christ. It's also
that it's not like faith plus works, it's just faith alone. The Catholic, this is what
many people think that are Catholic when you talk to them. You say, "Hey, salvation's not
faith and works, it's just faith." This is what they think, "Oh, I'm saved then." Because
imagine if you were to go to the store, or a restaurant, let's say we're going to a restaurant
and you're going to buy a burger. And you say, "How much did the burger cost?" And it's
like, "$20." "Oh, great. Well, I have two 20s, so I'm good." That's what they think.
They think, "Well, I already have two 20s, so I can pay for it." But you know what? That
is not how salvation works. Salvation is not simply, "I have more than enough money because
I have faith and works." No, because if you're believing in yourself, well, then you can't
get in. It's like, "Hey, you show up at the door and to get in, you have to know the host."
Okay, that's how you get in. It's not like, "Well, I know myself. I can get in." No, you
have to put all of your faith in Jesus Christ and He's who gets you in because you can't
pay for it. You know, if we were actually going to use a money analogy in a similar
way and you say like, "Hey, it's faith alone. It's not faith and works." It's like the
burger is actually $2 trillion and you have two twenties. Okay, that's the real analogy
and say, "But there's a guy that has that money. There's a guy that already paid for
it." You can get in. But if you try to say like, "It's him and me," well, you're not
getting in. You have to just say, "It's all him." Because if it's you and him, well, you're
paying $1 trillion. You can't even pay half of it. You can't even pay 1% of it. You can't
pay any of it because the reality is you don't even have two twenties. For all of sin it
comes short of the glory of God. Your righteousness has filthy rags. You literally have $0. Christ
has unlimited riches and the price to get in is infinite. You can't even put a price
tag on it. And then you think like, well I'm going to get in based on what I do. You have
nothing to offer. You can't get in that way. And so we don't want people to think when
you knock on doors, you're talking to Catholics, hey it's faith plus works. No, no, no, no.
It's faith only. And if you think it's faith plus works you're not saved. You can't get
in. It's not an option. Like hey we need to go to Europe. Well how do you get there? Well
I'm going to take a plane and a car across the ocean. No you're not. You're either taking
the plane and you're going to get there or you're not going to make it because at any
point you try to the car across the ocean you're not making it. So it's like it's not
the plane plus the car across the ocean. It's just the plane or you could just try swimming
but that's not going to work either. Okay. And that is how many people are looking at
salvation. They think like oh I'm going to take both. You can't take both. You have to
get on the plane. You're not flying. Jesus is flying. You don't even know how to get
there. And you just sit back and relax. And that's how you get there. And once you believed
in him, he gives you that eternal life. You become a child of God. You're sealed by the
Holy Ghost. And here's a fourth one. You've been passed from death and life. Look at John
5 verse 24. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on
him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed
from death and life." So this verse actually hits a point we've already made. That you
currently have everlasting life. That's present tense. Here's a second idea that's in this
verse that's a really good one. You can't even come into condemnation. Meaning no matter
what sin you commit in the future, you can't get into condemnation again. Why? Because
you've already been passed from death and life. And notice again that the word "past"
is a past tense word. Past is a past tense word because it already happened. I've already
been passed from death and the life. I already have everlasting life. So there's no way I
can ever go to hell because I can't come into condemnation and I've already been passed
from death and the life. I've already passed hell. Just like the Passover lamb, once the
death angel passed over the door, well now they're saved and they can never die from
that death angel because it's already been passed. It's already over, the blood's already
on the door. There's no more condemnation. They've been saved. That is the picture, the
illustration we're getting. Go to John chapter 10. Go to John chapter 10. There's so many
great passages in the book of John on eternal security. That would make sense if you think
about it because the gospel of John at the very end, it tells you specifically why it's
even written and it says, "But these are written that you might believe that Jesus the Christ
the Son of God and that believing you might have life through his name." So it's like,
I want to write an entire gospel dedicated to you getting eternal life. So you think
you would emphasize eternal life then? You think you would emphasize how to get that
and what it takes and the importance of believing? Sure. Whereas other books of the Bible, that's
not the main goal. The main goal of the book of Ruth is not to explain to you how to have
eternal life. Okay. Or it's the Song of Solomon or Ecclesiastes or Revelation. Okay. There's
different books for different reasons, different seasons, different aspects of information.
The Gospel of John is telling you specifically, this one is for a specific reason of believing
and getting eternal life. So it's like, if I want to explain to somebody how to be saved
and how to have eternal life, I should be going to a lot of John. But what I notice
is people who do not believe in one saved, always saved, they're going to take you to
the passages, not in John. Like they pretty much just avoid John completely. They didn't
want to bring up any of the verses in John because John is just so clear. It's just hammering
this point over and over and over. So they have to go to some cryptic other passage that's
not in the Gospel of John. But John is such a great book. And you know, after getting
someone saved, I even emphasize, hey, why don't you start in John or read a lot more
in John because it's going to remind you the importance of how salvation is by believing
and that you have eternal life. So there's other books in the Bible that teach you other
things, but right now it might be important to really just hammer this in by believing
in Christ and understanding the gospel of John uses the word believe like 99 times.
So you're just getting it hammered, just believe, believe, believe, believe. And in John chapter
10, this is a great verse, a lot of people use, look at verse 27, "My sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." Notice how Christ describes
this, never perish. That's showing you another aspect of eternal life or everlasting life.
He's going to give unto you eternal life, meaning what? You're never going to perish.
Of course, what is this perishing describing is being in a place called hell. Perishing
or being dead or death, those are describing hell and He's saying you're never going to
go there, you're never going to experience that, and you are in Christ's hand. He even
follows that up with the fact that in verse 29, "My Father, which gave them Me is greater
than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand." So it's almost
as if you're going to cross the street and in one hand Christ is holding you and in the
other hand the Father is holding you and they're going to walk with you across the street.
And whatever danger is in that street, even if you yourself don't want to cross the street,
well guess what? They're going to drag you across. You know, we have a lot of people
in the park across the street and if you are taking your young child or your young toddler
with you, you usually grab them by the hand. Some parents don't, not recommending that,
okay? Your young toddlers and stuff, grab them by the hand, you walk over there with
them. If they start trying to run away or they're resistant or even if they fall down,
you're stronger than them, you're going to get them across the finish line. You're going
to get them across the street. You're going to bring them to safety because you love them.
The same is with God. God is going to bring us to the finish line. God is stronger than
us and so that's the illustration of how once you're in God's hand, no one can get out.
Sometimes I hear, this is what people say, "Well, no man can pluck you out, but you can
jump out." And I'm like, "Okay, so is my two-year-old going to be able to jump out of my hand when
I'm walking across the street?" And the answer is no. I'm stronger than him. I promise you,
it doesn't matter how much he doth protest, I can take him across the finish line. And
you know what, even if a Christian is trying to get out of God's hand, they can't. And
it really wouldn't be them getting out of God's hand. And I'm kind of getting ahead
of myself, but you know, when you get saved, you have a dual nature. You have your old
man, you have your carnal nature, and then you have your new man and your new nature.
And the only person trying to get out of God's hand would be that old carnal nature, because
your new man wouldn't want to do that and won't do that, okay? So, and in fact, according
to the Bible, that's not even you anymore. That's your old man that's dead in trespasses
and sins. And so, it doesn't even matter what he wants to do. He doesn't want to serve
God at any point in his life, okay? The old man is not interested in things of God. It's
only the new man that wants to serve God. And so, that's important to understand that,
you know, even if you wanted to get out of God's hand, you can't. And even if you want
to, it's not really you, it's your old man anyways, okay? So don't get discouraged if
you think like, "I just don't want to go to church today." Just be like, "Shut up old
man." You know, don't talk to your dad that way, all right? Talk to yourself that way,
all right? And you just say, "You have to crucify the flesh." That's what the Bible
means by that. Go if you would to Romans chapter number five, Romans chapter number five. So
we've covered five points, and they're probably the most important. I'm going to give you
another five that I think are good, and sometimes I even use these. But the first five are
just so important and great to use out soul-wanting. Hey, number one, you have eternal life. That's
why once you're saved, you're always saved. Number two, you're a child of God. Number
three, you're sealed by the Holy Ghost. Number four, you've been passed from death into life.
Number five, you're in Jesus' hand, and you could even say you're in God the Father's
hand too. It says both, but you're in God's hand. Number six, and I really like showing
this still, and I don't always, but sometimes I do, is the fact that salvation is a free
gift. Now that's important, because if it's free, how can I lose it, right? If it's absolutely
free and I didn't deserve it and I did nothing to get it, how in the world could I lose that?
If it's a free gift, then it's just mine forever, okay? There's no strings attached, there's
nothing extra. And you know, the Bible says that salvation is a free gift three times
in basically the same breath. So, you know, sometimes when you're out there and you're
talking to people and you're trying to explain the gift analogy to them, a lot of us, including
myself, will use Romans 6.23, right? But, you know, just the chapter right before it
even makes it more clear when it says free. Because some people get confused on a gift
for some reason. I blame Santa Claus, okay? Because he doesn't give out free gifts, you
have to be good in order to get them. But God doesn't give out gifts if you're good
for salvation. He gives out free gift of salvation. Now look at Romans chapter 5, verse 15. But
not as the offense, so also is 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 abound unto many. So the Bible is saying that salvation is a free gift and it's by
one man, Jesus Christ. You only get it by one person. Look at verse number 16 now. So
this is just the next verse. We don't even have to go anywhere exotic. Just the next verse.
And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift. For the judgment was by one to condemnation.
But the free gift is of many offenses unto justification. Again, saying that salvation
is a free gift and no matter how many offenses, no matter how many trespasses, no matter how
many sins we have, we still get that free gift of justification. So it's like, well,
I've sinned a lot, doesn't matter how many offenses, it's still free. It's like, well,
but you don't understand. I do understand. It doesn't matter how many sins, the free
gift covers it. And then you just, you have to skip verse 17, but if you look at verse
18, therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. And you
know, if I'm showing somebody something like this in the Bible, I usually show this verse
because it's a little easier to understand. But what is the one person that brought judgment
upon everybody? It's Adam, right? So I just say that to them, "Hey, Adam, he brought sin
and made us all sinners." That's what it's saying. But it says, "Even so, by the righteousness
of one who is the only person who's ever righteous, Jesus Christ, the free gift came upon all
men under justification of life." So Adam caused us all be sinners and Jesus caused
us all to possibly be righteous by what? The free gift of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.
And again, that's really clear, that notice it says by the righteousness of one, it's
not your righteousness too, it's not you repenting of your sins too, it's not what you do, it's
not you being faithful, it's not you continuing, it's not you persevering, no it was the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men under justification of life. So it's just by grace.
That's what grace means, free. Did you notice that it also said it was the gift by grace
In verse 15 and the gift by grace, which is by one.
What does grace mean? Free, unmerited.
You didn't deserve it.
It was only by Christ's righteousness and it was simply imputed by faith.
It's not something that's conditional, temporary.
It's not something that you have to continue being good to keep.
It was a free gift.
It says it over and over. Free gift, free gift, free gift.
And people, if they struggle with gift, they for some reason
don't struggle with free gift. All right.
Free just is a beautiful word.
And it's not like we invented it.
Oh, you just think salvation's free.
No, the Bible says that over and over.
Says free gift, free gift, free gift. I love that.
Now, of course, if you're right here, we can continue.
And look what it says in verse number 20.
Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound.
But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
So point number six of why you can't lose salvation is because it's free.
So there's no way to ever lose that because you can earn it.
You couldn't you couldn't deserve it.
And you've already received it. It was free.
Number seven is that God's grace will continue to abound over your sins.
So isn't this another great point right here in Romans,
chapter number five of the fact like, well, but what if I sin more?
Well, grace will have to abound more, but grace will abound.
But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
So even if you sin worse after getting saved,
than you've ever sinned before, God's grace will still abound and still cover it.
That's why once you're saved, you're always saved is because God's grace
doesn't just cover the past, it covers the future.
It goes in both directions.
And so when I sin tomorrow, grace is going to cover that.
And when I sin the next day, grace covers that again.
And it's like, well, when does grace run out?
It never runs out.
Now, of course, should I do that?
Is that a good way to live?
Well, what does it say in verse one of chapter six?
What shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
And this is good.
If you're going to ever show this point,
please show this too, because I just I explain to them, they're like, well,
you're just saying you just live however you want or that it doesn't matter.
Well, that's the logical thought,
because that's literally what Paul brings up right after that,
which also illustrates that we understood the point.
Think about this.
You show someone that verse.
You know what the question they're going to ask?
Well, then should we just live however we want?
And it's like, don't worry.
Paul's going to ask and answer that exact question right now
because that is exactly what he said.
You know why you thought of that question?
Because that you understood exactly what the point was.
The point was that you literally can't lose your salvation.
The point is literally that no matter what sin you commit, grace will abound.
So then what's the logical question?
Should I do that?
Well, then do we just live it up?
Isn't that isn't that a logical question?
And then what is he saying?
Do you God forbid he doesn't say like, oh, do it.
It's cool now.
It's fun.
God saved you by grace so that you could live like the devil.
Of course not.
But even if you did, you're still saved.
Now, here's the thing.
Do you think someone living like the devil,
God's going to allow them to live for very long?
No.
And in fact, what is one of the first
commandments with promise or the first command with promise is the honor of thy
father and my mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God
hath given thee, so of course our righteousness impacts the length of our
life, but it does not impact the location that I end in.
I'm going to heaven based on nothing
that I did, but I'm determining when I get there.
All right.
You know, and if you want to get there
soon, you can live like the devil, you know.
But if you want to have a longer
prosperous life that's blessed and God is pleased with you and you're racking up
rewards in heaven, well, you know what?
God's going to get you there.
Just like if if you're on the job,
the only way you're going to keep getting paid is by continuing to work.
And as soon as you clock out, it's over.
As soon as you clock out in this life, it's over.
It's payday. All right.
And some people, well, they don't have
the night, get much wages because they didn't do much work.
And those who didn't get saved, well, their wages is to go to hell.
But even if you did nothing, hey, you're still saved.
And even if you send a bunch in the future,
you can't lose it because grace will continue to abound.
Go to Titus, chapter one, go to Titus, chapter one.
I keep one of hammering these points.
Why you're safe once you're saved,
always saves because you have eternal life.
Number two, because you're the child of God.
Number three, you're sealed by the Holy Ghost.
Number four, you pass from death and life.
Number five, you're in Jesus hand.
Number six, it was a free gift.
Number seven, grace will continue to abound.
Here's number eight.
God promised us eternal life.
And why that's important is because God Himself cannot lie.
And so we have that here in Titus, chapter one, verse two, in hope of eternal life,
which God that cannot lie promised before the world began.
So I know that I have eternal life because God can't lie.
And he told me that if I believe in him, I have eternal life.
So I can rest assured that whatever he says, it's going to work.
Just like if you were a trapeze artist
and if the net says never can never break, that gives you the assurance that you're
not going to die because the net says it can never break.
Now, Ken, if it was made in China or made in Israel, don't trust that net.
All right. You know what?
We're talking about a net that catches you.
That's Jesus Christ.
That's God. And he cannot lie.
So that's another great truth that people like.
Go to First John, Chapter three.
Go back to First John, Chapter three.
God promised eternal life and he can't lie.
First John, Chapter three.
I want to look at verse number nine.
John gives us a lot of great verses on
eternal security in both John and First John.
First John, Chapter three, verse nine.
The Bible says whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin
for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he's born of God.
Now, this is a little bit more deep of a point.
So if I were to try and illustrate to
somebody why they can't lose their salvation, I'm going to show them point one
that you have eternal life, then I'm going to show them point two.
You're a child of God.
Pretty much after that, 99 percent of people already got it.
Then I might still show them three, four, five.
I'm not going to necessarily go to this one,
but I think it's still good that we understand how many proofs there really are.
And here's another great proof, though, is the fact that, hey, when you're saved,
you cannot sin.
Now, that's confusing to someone that's not saved yet and doesn't even
understand the difference between the new man and the old man.
But just generally speaking,
this is true that once you've gotten saved, you can't even sin.
So what could cause you to lose it?
It's impossible to lose your salvation because you can't even sin.
Now, of course, that's confusing to somebody because they'll say, like,
well, of course I can say, yeah, but here's the distinction.
It's not you that sin.
It's the old man that sins.
Go to Romans, chapter seven.
Go to Romans, chapter number seven.
Well, but the Bible says that liars are going to go to hell.
And the Bible says that fornicators can't enter the kingdom of heaven.
And they'll show you all these verses on that.
Well, here's the thing. I'm not those in my new man.
And my old man isn't going to heaven.
They're like, oh, when you die, you're going to go six feet under.
Yeah, my old man.
But my new man's not.
OK, and here's the thing.
If you have a dead spirit, your dead spirit is not just going six feet under.
It's going six thousand feet under.
OK, into the center of the globe.
All right.
Even the flat earthers, that's like an extra special punishment for them.
I don't even know if they're going to.
I don't even know if what's going to chap their hide more is the fact that they're
burning on fire or that the earth is a sphere.
Like, I don't even know.
Like, they're so annoying, those people.
But, you know, they'll probably be a few former flat earthers when we get into
heaven, because on their way up, they're going to be like, what in the world?
I was so stupid.
My old man was dumb.
OK, you know, look at Romans, chapter seven, verse 20.
Now, if I do that, I would not.
It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me.
Notice the apostle Paul saying, hey,
if I do things I don't want to do or they're not right, I didn't even do them.
It was just a sin that was in me.
And so another reason why you can't lose
your salvation is because once you've been born of God, once you're a child of God,
once you've been saved, your new man, he cannot sin ever.
He never will sin.
It's only your flesh and your outward man that sins.
And that's why when you walk in the spirit, you do not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
And that's why the Bible is constantly
trying to hammer the idea of us walking in the spirit.
Go to Romans eight.
We're right here. And look at verse 38.
Here's my 10th point, my final point for why you can't lose salvation this morning.
And once you're saved, you're always saved.
And it's because of the love of God.
Look at verse 38, for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor
principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor
death nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Once you are saved, nothing can separate you from the love of God.
That's a great promise.
And that's a great understanding.
Hell is not a place of love.
God's not going to send anybody that saved to hell because of the fact that
nothing can separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And again, notice the object of God's love is the Christ that's in us.
It's not us necessarily.
It's the fact that we have the imputed
righteousness of Christ that has made us a new creation.
And we're born again in holiness and in righteousness.
And he loves us for what Christ has done for us.
He doesn't take us to heaven because we were so good or we did something
or there's something special about us inherently.
It's because we put our faith in Christ and because of what Christ did.
That's what gives us that love of God that can never be stripped away,
that can never be taken away.
We have to appreciate Christ even more for our salvation.
When we understand that's the reason why God loves us.
The reason why God doesn't love the other
people is because they don't have Christ in them, because they haven't been born
again, because they they are sinners.
And here's something that's a hard truth.
God hates sinners and he's going to send them all to hell.
That's why you have to believe in Jesus Christ and be born again.
And your new man is not a sinner.
He cannot sin.
He's been born in righteousness and holiness.
And so therefore, at that point,
nothing can separate us from the love of God who is in Christ Jesus Lord.
And, you know, God wanted everybody to be redeemed.
God wants everyone to be saved.
But if they choose not to believe in Jesus, well, he won't redeem them.
And he won't love them anymore.
That's why in John 3, 16, it says for God so loved with a D at the end,
because there's some people that have already died and gone to hell.
And God does not love them anymore.
He loved them in the past.
Why? Because he sent Jesus to die for them.
But if they don't believe in Christ, they will go to hell.
Now, I want to go to just a few quick
passages that are what I would call opposition passages.
Go to Philippians, chapter two, go to Philippians, chapter two.
And what's funny to me is anytime you look up something online like one saved
always saved, debunked or why that's not true.
You know, a lot of times I'll find like a Catholic article.
They'll give you all the reasons why
once you're saved, you're always saved in those articles.
It's so funny, like they'll show you all these verses.
I'm just thinking like, wow.
But then they'll try to they'll try to like
sneak in like other verses that are like, yeah, but what about this verse?
And this is this is their opinion.
Yeah, some places in the Bible, it makes it sound like you're already saved.
But then there's these other places that make it sound like you're not.
So I guess we just can't know.
And it's like, no, no, you're just interpreting those ones wrong.
And you did understand that there's plenty that say that you can know.
You know why? Because you can know that's contradictory to say, hey,
some passes sound like you can know and then others sound like you can't.
Well, both can't be true because you either know or you don't.
You either are for sure or you're confused.
You can't be both.
I'm for sure confused.
You know that this doesn't work.
OK. And of course, you know, when they want to teach us work salvation,
virtually every passage is not in the Gospel of John, which revisit that last point.
Additionally, if you watch people that
debate on these topics or discuss these topics, they pretty much avoid almost
every verse I showed you and don't want to talk about those verses at all.
They only want to go to these weird,
cryptic passages and us argue about those because the ones I showed were just so
clear, so evident, but let's look at a few opposition passages for a moment.
Philippians, chapter two, look at verse 12.
Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as my presence only,
but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling. So they'll say, oh, see, you have to work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling. Well, is there any context with this?
Yes, absolutely.
Is the word salvation or saved always mean the same thing?
No. OK, number one, the Apostle Peter,
which was the disciple at the time, was drowning in the sea and looked up at Jesus
and said, Lord, save me. That was not when he asked to go to heaven.
He was not wanting to drown and die.
OK, there's other passages in the Bible
that talk about women being saved and childbearing.
You don't have to give birth to go to heaven.
That's not what saves you.
OK, so that's not, again, talking about spiritual salvation.
What if we just use the book itself
where it brings up salvation and other passages to see what it even means?
What if you look at Chapter one, verse 19?
This is the apostle Paul speaking for I know that this shall turn to my salvation
through your prayer and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ.
Now, is anybody going out there teaching
that in order for Paul to be saved, other people have to pray for him?
I guess this is where you get that like
praying people out of purgatory or something.
But this is not what it's talking about.
The apostle Paul in the context of Philippians is in jail.
And he thinks that, you know, he's very
confident in the fact that he's going to be released from jail and he's going to be
saved from jail. Okay.
And he's thinking, why is he going to be saved from jail?
Because the Philippians are praying to God
and asking for God to deliver Paul out of jail.
Now, do you think that makes sense?
Yes, that's exactly what it's talking about.
And if you read this passage in context, you'll get that point.
I want you to understand, look at verse 25 and having this confidence.
I know that I shall abide and continue
with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith.
He's talking about how he's he's like, I wants to die kind of.
And he would like to.
But he's he's confident that he's not going to die and he's going to be saved
from jail and he's going to come under them and he's going to see them again.
That's what the whole context is.
If you look a little further in this
chapter, look at verse 28, when he's talking to them and in nothing terrified
by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition.
But you have salvation and that of God.
Now, here's the thing in verse 28.
What I want to point out is it's not
necessarily the salvation word there, but it's really the adversaries word.
Why? He's talking to Philippians saying you have adversaries.
OK, if you look at verse number 29,
for unto you, it is given to the behalf of Christ, not only believe on him,
but also to suffer for his sake.
What adversaries bring suffering.
OK, then he says in verse 30, having the same conflict,
which he saw in me and now here to be in me.
So saying I have adversaries, I'm suffering.
And then he's saying having the same conflict, saying
you have adversaries and you're suffering.
Why? Paul and the Philippians have the same conflict.
If they have the same conflict, what is the apostle Paul hoping for?
That their prayer will give them what? Salvation.
OK. And then what is he describing to them in Philippians,
chapter number two, that they would work out their own salvation
with fear and trembling, meaning that if they're serving God
with fear and trembling and doing right, that God will deliver them
and save them from what? From their adversaries.
That's the whole context of the passage of Philippians,
is that they would be delivered and saved from their adversaries,
just like the Apostle Paul would be delivered and saved from prison
and from his adversaries.
It has nothing to do with going to heaven.
It's a saved person talking to other saved people.
And since we both know we can't lose our salvation,
we're going to talk about something else.
And again, look, there's there's always a time and a place
even amongst saved people.
Let's discuss one saved always saved.
But you know what, tonight I'm not going to teach you how to get saved again.
And then the next Sunday morning and the next Wednesday night and the next.
You know, that doesn't make a lot of sense.
That's why the apostle Paul, when he's writing to the churches and the epistles,
he's not really emphasizing salvation a ton because he's
already talking to save people.
Maybe in Galatians he does a little bit because they're screwed up on that point.
But generally speaking, the epistles are different subjects.
So this salvation is not a salvation of going to heaven or hell.
Notice it did not say in verse number 12 of chapter two,
eternal life, going to heaven, anything about that.
It was talking just just generally work out your own salvation.
You don't want to just interpret words
without any context or any idea of what was being talked about.
What was the context?
They have adversaries.
They're suffering that they have the same conflict that the apostle Paul does.
OK, that is the context upon the salvation upon which we find.
So this point is just immediately debunked.
Go to Romans, chapter 13.
I want to show you just a couple more Romans, chapter 13.
Look at verse number 11.
And I'm trying to debunk points that are about eternal security specifically.
You know, a lot of opposition just to being saved is James, too.
Faith that works is dead.
That's not necessarily like something that's describing eternal life directly.
So I'm kind of going to passages that are more focused on eternal life.
Here's one, it says in verse 11, in that knowing the time that now it is high time
to awake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we believe.
It's kind of crazy with like, we're going to discard everything
we've learned this morning for this verse.
OK, but but it's like this is them proving that salvation is not a time
like a one time event, but it's like a process or it's going to happen
sometime in the future.
But think about this.
It's like, OK, well, we already read that we are the children of God.
We already have everlasting life.
Are we going to totally negate that?
But did you even notice that in this verse, it says believed?
It's like that already happened.
So meaning that if I think about what this verse is actually saying
in times past, there was a moment when I believed.
And then what happened?
I had salvation now saying I'm approaching that.
I'm getting closer to that.
What is that? I'm getting closer to being saved
or the time in which I'm going to die physically and be saved from hell
and saving the judgment of God.
That's what it's describing.
OK, it's certainly not talking about the idea that,
well, I'm working towards getting saved eventually.
No, I've already believed I already have salvation.
Yeah, it's getting closer every second.
But that doesn't mean that I don't already have salvation.
OK, I want to show you this.
Go to First Corinthians, chapter number three.
Salvation does have a future component,
but it doesn't change the fact that I'm already saved.
The future component is just simply the event of the judgment of God.
And specifically when you die, that you're not going to hell.
When I die, I'm not going to go to hell.
That's an aspect of salvation.
And when God has the great white throne judgment,
I'm not going to be cast in the lake of fire because my name is written down
in the book, The Lamb's Book of Life.
That event hasn't happened.
OK, so, yeah, those two events will happen.
But I'm already safe because remember, I got that earnest until the redemption
and I'm going to get a new body in the future.
That hasn't happened either.
But that doesn't mean that I'm not saved.
I'm already saved.
It's already a past tense object.
Now, I want to show you what, you know, from a timeline perspective,
that salvation is going to happen in the future, but it doesn't change
that this person was saved in times past.
Now, look at first Corinthians three, verse 11 for other foundation
can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ is Jesus Christ.
Once you're saved is by believing in Jesus and you have that foundation.
Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stone,
wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest
for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire.
And the fire shall try every man's work of what sort of this.
So you get saved. That was foundation.
Then if you decide to serve God, that's the works
that you're building upon that foundation.
But you if you don't have the foundation, you're going to hell.
The foundations will get you into heaven.
The works on top of it, those are extra.
And we're going to judge those to determine
if you get a reward or if you don't get a reward.
Says in verse 14, if any man's work abide,
which you have built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
So if you serve God, you get a reward.
If it doesn't abide, what does it say in verse 15?
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss.
But notice this, but he himself shall be saved.
Yet so as by fire.
So notice that that moment in time
when you're at the judgment seat of Christ,
there's a salvation that's being described there.
And I'm getting nearer to that point in time.
But that doesn't mean that I'm not saved already.
I'm already saying I already have the foundation of Jesus Christ laid.
Yes. Is our salvation something that's future to? Yes.
But that doesn't mean that I don't have it already.
So that's just another misleading point
that people who are unsaved may cherry pick or take out of there.
Go to chapter nine for a second time.
I'm not going to use all these.
John 15 is another one that will go to about abiding in the vine.
And if you don't, then you'll be burned.
But think about what we just read.
Isn't this guy being burnt, but then he's still saved.
So you can literally be burned and still be saved.
Now, is that like a purgatory?
Is that like a hell? No.
And even in this life, if you don't serve God, God could cause you to die by fire.
There's a couple of different examples of this.
But, you know, think about the young prophet in the Old Testament.
There's a young prophet who ends up getting tricked by an old prophet.
And then as a result of disobeying God,
God sends a lion to kill him.
So it's just like just because you're saved,
doesn't mean that God won't kill you in a dramatic fashion.
In First Corinthians five, I know you're in nine.
In First Corinthians five, the guy who's committing fornication,
he specifically will be destroyed by the devil.
Yet he's still going to be his spirit's
going to be saved in the day of redemption.
So, you know, again, you can be destroyed.
I'm not going to go down that point too far.
First Corinthians, chapter nine, look at verse twenty seven.
The Bible says, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection
less that by any means when I have preached others, I myself should be a castaway.
OK, he doesn't want to be a castaway.
Does that you can lose your salvation because Paul doesn't want to be a castaway.
You know, again, doesn't bring up eternal life.
It doesn't say thou shalt lose eternal life.
You're going to hell.
It's just generic.
But what does that mean?
Well, what does it say in verse twenty four?
No, you not that they which run in a race run all but one receive it the prize.
So run that you may obtain.
Paul doesn't want to lose his reward.
He doesn't want to be a castaway in the sense that he loses that prize
that he was running for.
So therefore he keeps under his body that he's not a castaway in that context.
It has nothing to do with eternal life and has everything to do with reward.
Go to Matthew seven will finish Matthew chapter seven.
And just to just kind of recap, once you're saved,
you're always saved because number one, you have eternal life.
Number two, your child of God.
Number three, you're sealed by the Holy Ghost.
Number four, you've been passed from death to life.
Number five, you're in Jesus hand.
Number six, you have a free gift.
Number seven, grace will continue to abound.
Number eight, because you've been
promised eternal life from God that cannot lie.
Number nine, you can't even sin.
And number 10, nothing can separate you from the love of God.
Now, in Matthew chapter seven,
this is another passage people often bring up in the idea that you can lose
your salvation, but it doesn't say that.
In fact, it says the opposite.
They'll point to verse 21.
Not everyone that say that me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven,
but he that do it, the will of my father, which is in heaven.
So they're saying, oh, you have to do the will of the father.
But if you look that up in John, chapter six, verse 40,
the will of the father is to believe on Jesus Christ.
And if you even read the rest of this passage, it says many will say to me
that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in the name of
cast out devils and in the name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess them?
I never knew you.
Depart from me that work iniquity.
Notice he's oh, he didn't have enough righteousness.
He was too sinful.
That's what they'll say.
Notice they're workers of iniquity.
Well, that's a problem because the Bible says for all of sin.
So if you don't go to heaven because you're sinful, no one's making it.
The reason why they're sinful is because they never got saved.
Because remember, the person who saved can't sin.
And notice this.
How could you ever use this to prove
that you lost your salvation when he said specifically that I never knew you?
At what point was this person ever saved?
And think about this way.
If being saved means I don't go to hell, if it means I don't die in hell forever
and I've never done that like I've been to hell, I've never been to hell.
I've never died forever in hell.
OK, imagine if at some point in my life
I was, quote, saved and then later I die and then go to hell.
When was I ever saved?
At what point was I saved and what was I saved from?
So there's no way to lose your salvation because the fact is that people who don't
go to hell were always saved and the people that go to hell are never saved.
There's no like, well, I went to hell for a while and then I got out because I was
saved, but then I got thrown back in.
You know, the only person that really
does that is like the devil and the Antichrist.
OK, but you know what?
They didn't like lose their salvation.
That's that's not what it's talking about.
And when people talk about losing their salvation, they're not saying like, well,
I died, went to hell for a while, then I came out, then I had to go back in.
Then I came out.
They're like in their mind just playing
this game of like, I'm safe and I'm not, I'm safe and I'm not.
Imagine if you were like dating somebody and you were like, you said like, well,
we were married and then we're not married and then we got married and we're not married.
It's like, when did you get married? Well, I never did.
But in my mind, we were just married and we're not married.
Like, you either got married or you didn't. Right.
And you're either saved or you're not.
And once you're saved, God knows you and you can't get out of his hand.
The reason why you go to hell is because he never knew you, because, you know what?
You never had eternal life.
You were never a child of God.
You were never sealed by the Holy Ghost.
You never passed from death into life.
You were never in Jesus' hand.
You were never given the free gift.
You don't have any of God's grace.
You are not you're not promised eternal
life because you didn't believe in him.
OK, and you do sin and you don't have the love of God anymore.
The grace and love of God was only extended
to you while you were alive and you rejected those.
And so you no longer have them.
You don't see life.
You have the wrath of God upon you for the rest of eternity.
But the Bible is crystal clear that once you're saved, you're always saved.
I want to go to one more place.
Go to Second Timothy, Chapter three, because I think this verse is important, too.
Why? Why preach this?
Well, number one, God wants us to know that salvation is eternal
so that we will believe in him.
That's why I think it's, again, important to know this to be saved.
You have to believe salvation is eternal to get saved.
And the reason why we believe in him is because he's offering us eternal life.
That's why we even believed in him in the first place.
That was what the record that God gave his son as he had given us eternal life
and his life as a son.
If Jesus wasn't offering us eternal life, what will we be believing for?
Will we be believing to obtain or to acquire?
It doesn't even really matter.
You know, the reason why we believe in Jesus is because he's offering us
eternal life through what he did.
That's what it means to believe.
That's what it means to trust.
OK, if you're thinking you have to get to heaven by what you do,
you're not trusting in him and you're not believing in him.
And you're not thinking he's giving you anything.
Number two, it's important to realize and believe that you are a child of God
and that that will never change, because then there's no reason
to ever stop being good.
Like, what's so funny is the accusation is if you think you could never lose
your salvation, you won't be good.
But it's actually the opposite.
That's true, because if you think that getting to heaven is being good,
well, once you screw up enough, you just quit trying
because you think there's no point anymore.
It's kind of like swimming across the ocean.
You know, if we just dropped you in the middle of the ocean and said swim to Europe,
most people might swim a little bit just because just that instinct
of not wanting to die.
But then they're going to get to a point when they're like,
I can't make it.
I know I can't make it.
It's impossible for me to make it.
So they'll just quit swimming and they'll die.
Whereas once you're saved and you're always a child of God,
you know, like there's no reason for me to stop trying to please God
because I'm going to see him no matter what.
So I'm not motivated to quit because I know, hey,
there's there's always a reason to try to be good.
There's always there's always a reward on the table.
There's always God being pleased with me.
And there's always not wanting to get punished.
And so there's no reason to ever give up on God when you're saved.
If you're not saved and you're a reprobate,
they're not trying to seek the pleasure of God.
They know that they're destined to hell.
That's why they don't try at all.
That's why they don't want to try.
But those of us that are saved, we should always try.
If you're saved, you should always get back up.
A just man falls seven times when he rises up again.
And because we're saved forever, we need to use that to give God glory,
to give him the honor, because you doing something good
illustrates not that you are trying to get to heaven, but that you appreciate God.
If you go out and preach the gospel today, you're different than Joe's witness.
They think they have to do that to go to heaven and it doesn't give any glory to God.
You know, it gives glory to them.
Then, oh, look at them and look what they're doing.
You know, we go out and we preach.
It's going to give all the glory to God because I don't have to do that to go to heaven.
I'm doing it because I want God to save someone else
and to give that free gift to somebody else.
And I want to go out and praise what God did.
Think about the Jehovah's Witness message.
Hey, come and be an amazing person like me and you might go to heaven.
Actually, it's not even they don't believe that.
You might get to be one of the hundred and forty four thousand.
Or you might just take a really long nap.
Homeless people are like, I'm already a soul sleeper.
What do you mean?
They don't even do anything anyways.
I mean, what kind of a life is that?
You know, that's why they walk so slow.
They say their hope is to become a sleeper.
Right. Sleepwalking.
They're just zombies.
You know, we actually have hope.
We actually have good news.
We have the grace of God.
We have a free gift that we're giving.
I'm not soliciting.
I'm giving out a free gift.
And I can't even give it.
I can just tell you how to get it.
And so let us be eternally grateful
and show God why we're grateful
by going out and preaching the gospel.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you heavenly father so much
for giving us an eternal salvation
through your son, Jesus Christ,
and his sacrifice and his righteousness
and what he's done.
Thank you for giving us the love of God
through Christ Jesus.
I pray that we would be motivated
to serve you because of how good you are,
because of how much grace you give us,
because of what you've done for us already.
I pray that we would understand
that we've already trusted,
we've already believed,
that we already have eternal life.
And even though we can't lose that,
that it's still important
to give you honor and glory in this life
and that you'll still reward us
for the works that we do.
And I pray that you would help motivate us
to tell other people about the good news,
about the free gift,
and about what Christ has done
so that you can get more honor and glory
in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, for our last song,
very fitting song this morning,
149, "Trusting Jesus,"
song 149.