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Never flow, could my zeal, no languor know, The tears of sin could not atone, Thou must stand on Thou alone, In my hand no Christ I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling, While I draw this fleeting breath, When my eyes shall close in death, When I rise to worlds unknown, And behold Me on Thy throne, Rock of ages, life for me, I'm behind Myself with Thee. Amen. Great start to sing tonight. I'd ask for the Charles Dickens to open this up in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father and Lord, we thank You, Lord, for bringing us here tonight to sing praises to Your name and to listen to Your word. We ask, Lord, for Your blessings on this service and be with our pastors. He gives us the sermon today this evening. We thank You for it. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Hymn number 228. I love to tell the story, number 128. I love to tell the story of unseen things above. I love to tell the story of unseen things above, Of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love. I love to tell the story because I know the truth. It satisfies my longing as nothing else can do. I love to tell the story, building my kingdom for it, To tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love. I love to tell the story, how wonderful it seems, That all the golden fancies of all our golden dreams. I love to tell the story, it did so much for me, And that is just a reason I tell it now to thee. I love to tell the story, building my cleaning glory, To tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love. I love to tell the story, it is pleasant to repeat, What secrets my mind has leaked, more wonderfully sweet. I love to tell the story, more some have never heard, The message of salvation, of God's holy birth. I love to tell the story, where we might be in glory, To tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love. I love to tell the story, for those who know it best, Seek wondering and thirsty, to hear and find the past. And when it seems I'm glory, I sing the new, new song, It will be the old, old story, that I am once upon. I love to tell the story, will be my cleaning glory, To tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love. All right, this time we'll go through our announcements together. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one. On the inside, we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6, and then Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week will be in Ezekiel chapter number 11. We've got the soul-winning times listed below, as well as salvations and baptisms. And then across the page, the annual church picnic is coming up in November. It's a little ways out, but we're just giving you a heads-up on this. It's going to be different this year, because instead of doing it as more of a dinner thing, we've changed it this year. So you'll notice it's at noon this year. So it's more of a lunch thing. So we're going to be meeting up at noon, Papago Park. But be sure that you go to the part of Papago Park that's indicated here, because Papago Park is massive. So you want to type in that address or make sure that you're at the southwest corner of East Curry and North College Avenue. The church is going to provide burgers, hot dogs, beverages. And then we would ask that people bring a side dish or a dessert to share. If you can't bring anything, don't worry about it. Just show up, of course. There's no requirement to bring anything. And then below that, we've got the bridal shower coming up for Chandler Young. That's on Saturday, October 23rd. Please RSVP to the number provided if you're planning on going to that in a couple weeks. And then on the back, the church yearbook portraits have been taken. And you can sign up to get your picture taken at the back of the auditorium there. Those time slots fill up fast, so try to get in there. Get your photo taken for a couple reasons. Number one is that you can have this nice photo, because we've got a really pro setup going on. And you can get a beautiful picture of either yourself or as a couple or as a family, depending on your situation. And then also you'll be in the yearbook. And then below that, the Sierra Leone mission strip is in full swing right now. And I've been seeing a lot of the pictures, getting a lot of the reports. And things are going great. They've run into some difficulties, of course, as to be expected. But they've been getting a lot of people saved and having a great time, from what I can tell. And so pray for them to all get home safely. And then below that, October 31st, we're going to have a chili potluck at 5 o'clock. So start experimenting and perfecting your chili recipes so you'll be ready for this. The best way to bring it is in a crock pot. You don't necessarily cook it in a crock pot, but you bring it in a crock pot. Then you can plug it in, just kind of have it on warm, and that way it stays good. And then that's about it, four announcements. Let's go ahead and count up the soul winning from the past few days. Let's go back to Thursday. Anything to report from Thursday? Anything from Thursday? How about Friday? Anything from Friday? Okay. Any other soul winning from Friday? What about Saturday? Anything from Saturday? Like you're doing some calculations there? Get back to me later. Okay, what about today, Sunday? Brother Scott, your group, anything? One here? Okay. Gotcha. Anything else from today? All right, very good. Keep up the great work on soul winning. And with that, let's go ahead and sing our next song. Come lead us. All right, we're going to sing He is Mine. You should find the insert in your hymnal there. If you don't have one, please raise your hand. We'll sing it on that first. Long before the fall of man, God designed a master plan. Long before the fall of man, God designed a master plan. He exchanged the sinner for a sinless one. Jesus left His throne on time, came to earth to bleed and die. He said, Father, not my will, but thine be done. He is mine, He is mine. I am blessed beyond all measure, He is mine. I have parted bold and free through the blood He shed for me. Safe forever I shall be, He is mine. Through God's mercy and His grace, He's prepared for us a place. Words cannot describe the matchless beauty there. We will praise the perfect Lamb, King of kings, the great I AM. He has made the joys of heaven ours to share. He is mine, He is mine. I am blessed beyond all measure, He is mine. I have parted bold and free through the blood He shed for me. Safe forever I shall be, He is mine. Does Jesus care when my heart is fit to deeply for birth and song? As the burdens rest and the cares distress, and the way grows weary and long. Oh, yes, He cares, I know He cares, His heart, my grief. When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares. Does Jesus care when my way is dark with a nameless dread and fear? As the daylight fades into deep night shades, does He care enough to be near? Oh, yes, He cares, I know He cares, His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares. Does Jesus care when I've tried and failed to resist some temptation strong? When for my deep grief I find no relief, though my tears flow all the night long. Oh, yes, He cares, I know He cares, His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares. Does Jesus care when I've said goodnight to the dearest honor to be? And my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks, is it on to Him, does He see? Oh, yes, He cares, I know He cares, His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares. Amen. Good singing tonight. All right, this time we'll quickly pass our offering plates. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to the book of 2 John. 2 John, short little book right before the book of Revelation. You've got 1, 2, and 3 John, Jude and Revelation. 2 John, as we always do, we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1. Follow along silently with Brother Dan as he reads the book of 2 John. The Bible reads, the elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth, for the truth's sake which dwelleth in us and shall be with us forever. Grace be with you, mercy and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father. And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment that, as ye have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. For he that biddeth in Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds. Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink, but I trust to come unto you and speak face to face, that our joy may be full. The children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen. Father in heaven, thank you for this chapter in your word, which is the Bible. I pray that you please bless Pastor Anderson as he preaches your word and help your children get better with your word. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen. The title of my sermon tonight is Perseverance of the Saints. Perseverance of the Saints. Now, the problem with this term is that because it's not found in scripture, it can mean different things to different people. Different groups and different denominations would define this different ways. And so I'm going to explain the various viewpoints on this and examine them in light of scripture. Now, the first thing that I want to point out about this thing of perseverance of the saints is that the way that most people are using it is something that's a false doctrine. Because if you, if you just Google it, perseverance of the saints, I'm not saying this is the final authority, but again, it's an unbiblical term. So, you know, different people are using it in different ways. If you just Google it, it says perseverance of the saints is a Christian teaching that asserts that once a person is truly born of God or regenerated by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, they will continue doing good works and believing in God until the end of their life. Now, the problem here is that we're mixing a few things here by saying, oh, they're going to continue to do good works and believe in God until the end of their life. Let me just start out by explaining to you what we believe about this, and then I'm going to prove it all from scripture. You know, the first thing I want to say is that we do believe that once a person is truly born of God, they will continue to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the rest of their life. They're not going to stop believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay. Also, what we would agree with is that there's no way for a person to lose their salvation. Once they've been saved, they will never lose their salvation. We believe that. Okay. But the part that we don't believe is that a person who's saved is for sure going to continue doing good works. Now, if everyone who is truly saved was for sure going to continue doing good works, well, the world would be an extremely different place from what it is right now. I mean, if people who are truly saved are just going to keep living for God and serving God, well, then, you know, that sounds great, except that it's not reality and it's not what the Bible teaches either. And the problem with this is it's a marriage of basically believing and works for salvation. It's combining these two things. And salvation is by faith and it's not of works. And whenever you see people mixing faith and works, they're teaching heresy because of the fact that the Bible clearly differentiates between these two things. If the Bible says, you know, by grace are you saved through faith, you're saved through faith, and then it turns out it says not of works, and then you'll go and talk to people and they'll say, well, you know, faith includes doing the works, right? It's like, hello, how can it say, yes, you're saved by faith, no, you're not saved by works. Oh, but they're the same thing. They just go together. They're just like this. That is false. They are not the same. They are not always going together. And then someone will bring out, oh, faith without works is dead. Okay, just the fact that the Bible says this statement, faith without works is dead, proves that it's possible to have faith without works. Because if it were impossible to have faith without works, that statement would be meaningless. It would be describing an impossible condition. Well, if you have faith, you're for sure going to have works. Then how can faith without works be dead? Sounds like it's possible to have faith and not have works. And guess what the Bible says? But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto God impudeth righteousness without works, saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. You have to read James 2 in tandem with Romans chapter 4. James 2 is talking about being justified before man. Romans 4 is talking about being justified before God. And those are two very different things. And when it comes to salvation, what matters is our justification in the eyes of God, not in the eyes of man. So you have various beliefs on this. You have various false doctrines on this thing of perseverance of the saints. And the first thing that I want to say is that the worst possible view to have of this subject, the worst heresy, is to teach that you can lose your salvation. You know, I believe that is a damnable heresy when people teach that you can lose your salvation. Because what that is, is just a thinly veiled work salvation. Because you don't have to do works to get saved. But guess what? You also don't have to do works to stay saved. And so when you teach that someone can lose their salvation if they don't live right, if they sin, or if they don't live up to a certain standard, you're basically teaching that Jesus made the down payment on the salvation, but you have to make the payments. But no, Jesus paid it all. It's a done deal. It's paid for by the blood of Christ. The Bible says, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. So once you are saved, you are saved, you're sealed by the Holy Ghost unto the day of redemption. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We have eternal life. We shall not perish. We shall not come into condemnation. So the most important thing to walk away from this doctrine is to say, well I know that we have eternal life and we can never lose our salvation. We'll never stop being saved. So that's the most important thing. So when you have people saying, oh, perseverance of the saints is wrong because you can lose your salvation, that's the worst possible view that somebody could have because the most important thing we need to understand is that our salvation is paid for in full by Jesus. It's received by faith alone, not of works lest any man should boast, and we have eternal life because we have believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. I mean, that's the most basic teaching here. Okay. But then there comes this issue of, okay, so if you believe on Jesus Christ, you're eternally saved and you're eternally secure, some people would say, well, you know, that means you're also going to continue doing the works. And we already talked a little bit about that, that that isn't really true. Go if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter number 3. 1 Corinthians chapter number 3. And let's get the true story on this from the Bible. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Because remember, you don't have to do any works to be saved. A lot of people will then turn around and say, well, you don't have to do any works to get saved, but if you're really saved, you'll do stuff. And they set the bar really low anyway because, you know, they can't say, like, you're going to be this awesome Christian because what do we see? We see most Christians not being an awesome Christian, unfortunately. Like I said, the world would be a very different place if everybody who's saved just automatically lives this godly, zealous Christian life. Wow, we turn the world upside down. I mean, isn't one of the biggest commandments of Christ to preach the gospel to every creature? I mean, didn't Jesus tell us to go into all the world and teach all nations? And isn't there the scripture where Jesus said, if you follow me, I'll make you fishers of men. I mean, if every single truly saved Christian were a fisher of men, everybody would be getting the gospel given to them, like, every month. I mean, think about it. There are tens of millions of people in the United States, I believe, that are saved, and yet do you see 10 million people out there winning souls and preaching the gospel? No. If so, man, you would evangelize America in one afternoon. You could evangelize the entire nation in one day. So what does that tell you? It tells you that 99 some percent of Christians are not evangelizing. So are they continuing in the works? Are they saved? Yes, they're saved, but they're not doing the work that Christ has laid out for us, are they? They're saved. But many Christians, let me tell you something, will go years and years and years without sharing the gospel with a single person. And you know what? I can tell you that for a fact, because I've done it. You know, when I was growing up, there were times in my teenage years where I went a whole year without ever preaching the gospel to someone, without ever attempting to get someone saved. I was saved. People around me were the same way. And so, you know, works are not required for salvation, and works are not automatic after salvation either, okay? That's why they're called works, because you have to do them, okay? And they don't come automatically either. But look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3. The Bible says in verse 11, For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, 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 it is. If any man's work abide, which he had built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire. Now this guy who is saved, yet so is by fire, he doesn't have any works of any eternal value. So this guy gets to heaven, he's saved, the Bible says he himself shall be saved, but he makes it in without getting any rewards, because he didn't do any works that had any eternal value whatsoever. Everything that this guy brought to the table is wood, hay, and stubble. That's all he's got. No gold, no silver, no precious stones. But isn't it interesting how he's still saved though? Why? Why was he saved? Because he believed in Christ, even though his works were all just garbage. They were all worthless, they were all refuse, they all got burned up in the trash. Nothing made it through. Now, why is that? Because you don't purchase your way into heaven. See, gold and silver and precious stones could be used to purchase something, but you can't purchase heaven. So you can walk into heaven with literally no money in your pocket and no spiritual currency either. No gold, silver, and precious stones from the judgment day either. You just walk in, paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ, a free ticket, you're saved. It's that simple. And so 1 Corinthians chapter 3 shows us that even if none of your works are up to snuff, you still shall be saved. Okay? So this idea that everybody who's truly saved will do works isn't really biblical, because the Bible says, him that worketh not but believeth is still saved. Here he says, all your works are burned up, you're still saved. Why? Because you have the foundation of Jesus Christ. You have Jesus as your savior. That's it. You could be a guy like the thief on the cross who gets saved at the last minute, and that guy didn't do works. I mean, he didn't go around doing works, didn't get baptized. All he did was just call upon the name of the Lord. Lord, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom. That's all he did. And then he's dead. He did nothing. Okay? Yet he is saved. Now, he's not going to have a bunch of rewards when he gets to heaven. He's not going to be in the same situation as the Apostle Paul or something, but he's still saved. Okay? So another false idea that could come from this thing of whether or not we believe in perseverance of the saints is some people would say, you're not even going to continue to believe. Basically, what they believe is that you could believe on Jesus Christ, be truly saved, be truly born again, truly indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and then just totally stop believing in Christ. Now, I don't believe in that for one second, and I'm going to show you a lot of scriptural evidence against that. Because here's the thing. As independent, fundamentalist Baptists, we're not really in danger of this false doctrine that says you can lose your salvation because we all know that that's a lie. That's one of our most strongly held core beliefs as Baptists, that you can't lose your salvation, and we hammer that literally every single week. We talk about that at soul winning every week. And so, you know, that's not really something that we're susceptible to. Thank God. And because we emphasize the Gospel and do so much evangelism, I don't think our church is really susceptible to this idea that says, well, you know, if I don't see somebody doing works, that means they're not saved. You know, they better be doing works. That's how I'll know that they're really saved. You know, we are not really going to fall for that because we know how distinct faith and works are and that salvation is 100% by faith. And, you know, a lot of people would say, well, if you really believe, you'll do that stuff. But, hold on, the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And so there are people who truly believe, but yet they still live a life of sin. And they end up messing up their lives and ruining their lives on this earth, but they're still saved. But I'll tell you the doctrine that seems to try to creep in to our church sometimes or some of our friends' churches is this idea that, you know, perseverance of the saints, they'll say, is 100% wrong because you won't even continue believing, necessarily. And that there could be people who stop believing, but they're still saved. I don't believe that for one second. Okay. Now, let me break this down to you again. Do we believe in perseverance of the saints? Well, it depends on what you mean by that because if you mean do we believe in eternal security, the answer is yes. Do we believe in perseverance of the saints? If you mean do we believe that a person who's truly saved will continue believing in Christ until the end of their life, yes. Amen. We believe in that. The part that we don't believe in is the part that says, oh, they'll continue doing good works. Now, this is one of the letters of the tulip in Calvinism. And the problem is that the vast majority of Calvinists, when you actually talk to them about what they believe on this subject, they're going to fall under, you're going to continue living the Christian life, you're going to continue doing the works, and that's why I would say that I reject that view, that Calvinist view. But if somebody is a Calvinist and they believe that perseverance of the saints just means you're going to continue believing in Christ, you're going to remain in the faith, I would say, amen, I absolutely believe in that. That's the distinction. Okay. Now, let's examine this in light of scripture. If someone stops believing in Jesus Christ or switches religions, were they ever saved in the first place? And I would give a resounding, for sure, no way. Absolutely not. Now, you say, how can you be so firm on that? Well, look at 1 John chapter 2. Look at 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. I'm sorry if the first part of the sermon was a little confusing. False doctrine is always confusing because it's all over the place, you know. You got people with all these views all over the place. Let's get some clarity from what the Bible teaches. We know the Bible teaches that salvation is by faith alone. We know that you can't lose your salvation. We know that faith and works are two separate things that happen separately. You can do works without having any faith. You can have faith without doing any works. These are two separate things. One of them saves you and the other doesn't. It's not of works, but it is a faith that can't be connected in that way. But then, this question of perseverance of the saints can be a question of will a person who believes on Jesus Christ continue to believe on Jesus Christ or is it possible for them to just stop believing or switch religions or whatever? Well look what the Bible says in 1 John chapter 2 verse 18. It says, Little children, it is the last time, and as you have heard that antichrists shall come, even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us. Now, when the Bible talks about going out from us, it's not talking about physically. It's not talking about geographically. It's not saying, hey, if they quit the church, they were a phony. No, that's not what it's saying. If they leave Phoenix, Arizona, you know, that's not what it's saying. What it's saying is, if they go out from us, he's talking about leaving the faith, leaving the doctrine of Christ, leaving right beliefs. They went out from us, but they were not of us. Now, everyone who is among us is not necessarily one of us. Now, we don't know that, though, until they go out from us. When they go out from us, it becomes manifest. What does manifest mean? Obvious, apparent, clear, that they were not of us. So, basically, while they're here, we think they're one of us. I mean, you know, we all show up. We sing hymns. We listen to the same sermon. People are saying amen. Everybody's going out soul winning. Everybody's smiling. Everybody's here. You just kind of assume that we all believe in Christ. You kind of assume that we all believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and salvation by faith alone, and that we're all on the same page, that we all believe the Bible is the Word of God. But then you'll have somebody go out of here and go into damnable heresy, join a false religion, become an atheist, become an agnostic, just completely renounce the Gospel or the teachings of Christ or just basic biblical doctrines. And when we see that, it's not that that person has changed. Oh, man, they sure have changed. They did not change at all. They have only now become manifest, what they always were on the inside. We thought that they were one of us because they talked the talk, but they went out so that they would be manifest that they were not all of us. It was obvious that they were not one of us. Because if they had been of us, you know, maybe they would have continued with us. Is that what it says? No, it says if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. And they went out for the purpose that they might be made manifest so that we could all see this guy is not of us. Go to 2 John, 2 John. So again, if this is what people mean by perseverance of the saints, this is a good doctrine. But if they mean you're going to keep doing works, well, that's a dangerous doctrine and it's a wrong doctrine. Okay, but are they going to continue believing the gospel? Absolutely. And if you don't believe the gospel, you're not saved. Well, I used to believe it. You're a liar now, is what I would say, because I don't believe that you ever truly believed in Christ because if you did, you'd be saved and you would continue to believe. And the fact that you went out from us is just making it clear that you never were one of us, actually. Look at 2 John for more clear evidence on this doctrine. It says in verse number 9, Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. So we see right here that those who abide in the doctrine of Christ, remain in the doctrine of Christ, are saved. People who depart from the doctrine of Christ, people who transgress and depart from the doctrine of Christ, they are not saved. They don't have God. That's why they did that. Now what does the word transgress mean? Transgress literally means to cross a line, to cross a boundary, right? Trans means a cross, like a transcontinental railroad or something, Trans-Siberian Express. And then gress has to do with going or movement, like progress. You're moving forward, regress, you move backwards, right? So transgress is to go across. Okay, so when the Bible says, whosoever transgresseth, you could read that as whosoever crosses a line, basically. Whoever transgresses crosses a line and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ. They don't remain in the doctrine of Christ. So here's the doctrine of Christ, they leave. They cross a line. Now here's the thing, no one's doctrine is going to be perfect, because none of us have a perfect understanding of the things of God. None of us knows the entire Bible perfectly. We're all going to make mistakes. We're all going to get things wrong at times. We're going to express things wrongly at times. We're never going to have a perfect belief on every single subject or issue, or a perfect understanding of exactly who God and Jesus are. Until we get to heaven, will we have a perfect understanding? Okay. But, there are people who are a little off on something, and then there are people who cross the line where they're not even in the doctrine of Christ anymore. Right? If somebody says to you, Jesus was a created being, they've crossed the line. Jesus is not a created being. Oh, Jesus is just a human, he's just a man, he's not divine, he's not God, he's not deity. That, you've crossed the line. Okay. People teaching, oh, the Trinity is polytheistic and Jesus is God the Father in another form. You've crossed the line. You've rejected the Trinity, you've rejected these key teachings that Jesus is the Son of God. You know, you have crossed the line. Okay. If somebody says, you know, I believe salvation is totally by works, I mean, you're way over the line, buddy. Now look, we have had people leave our church, people who came to our church for months and months and months, leave our church and join the Russian Orthodox Church. Now let me tell you something, the Russian Orthodox Church, it's like Roman Catholic except worse. So if you think Roman Catholicism is a false doctrine, if you think Roman Catholicism is teaching a false way to Heaven, if you think that they are not teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, if you think that they are pagan, well then, let me tell you something, the Russian Orthodox Church has all those same problems and then it has some other additional heresies and problems. It's not better. You could say it's either the same or worse. Okay. So how am I to interpret it when somebody leaves our church and joins the Russian Orthodox Church? And it's not that they just started going there because their buddy dragged them there or something and they just are oblivious. I mean, I talked to this person and said, what is wrong with you? What are you doing? And this person said to me, oh no, the Russian Orthodox Church, and just starts basically just preaching to me how their doctrines are all the right doctrines and how their plan of salvation is the right salvation and just all of this junk. What am I to make of that? What am I to do with such a person who says, I'm Russian Orthodox now? I'll tell you what I do. I say that person was never of us. That guy was never saved in the first place. You know, and people could come to a church like ours for a variety of reasons and they don't all include being saved and loving the Lord. Okay. This particular guy, I don't believe he was any kind of an infiltrator or any kind of a Judas Iscariot or anything like that because the guy, he never caused any issues or taught any false doctrine or anything. He's just one of these that's being tossed to and fro with doctrine because he's not rooted in the truth because he's not saved. And I think that this guy was just attracted to our church because he liked the preaching that I did on the end times. He liked the preaching that I did about Israel and the Jews. He liked our Marching to Zion film and stuff like that. That's what he was jazzed about, but he wasn't jazzed about soul winning. He never went soul winning. He wasn't jazzed about the gospel or anything like that. He was just, he liked some of the stuff that I said. He came here for several months. He seemed like he was a part of the crew here. Seemed like he was on board. But when he joins the Russian Orthodox Church, he's proving that he's not. Right? Okay, we had another lady come to our church for years and go soul winning and participate and do all this stuff. She quit the church because she said, well, I'm a flat earther now. Okay. And I know that Pastor Anderson, he rebukes the flat earth and says it's stupid and he rips on it. And so she said, I'm quitting the church because I'm a flat earther. It's like, bye. Then, six months later, this same lady sends out an email to like everybody in the church that she had an email address for, which was a lot of people. Recruiting them to the Church of Christ, which is the Campbellite cult that teaches that there are seven steps to salvation, including being baptized, speaking in tongues. They teach you to lose your salvation. Salvation is by works. You got to be dunked in order to be saved and all this stuff. It's a total works-based, tongue-talking, lose your salvation, whatever. I mean, it's complete heresy, not even close to being the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's seven steps to salvation instead of just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. What do we say about that? What do we look at that and say, well, you know, she's still saved because she used to believe right. She never believed right. Well, she really changed. She did not change at all. And some people would say, well, you were so mean about the flat earth, you know. You were so mean and made her feel bad. And so, you know, okay, let me just explain something to you. Let's say I offend someone, right. I mean, I know it's hard to imagine, but let's say, I know you got to suspend your disbelief for a minute, okay. You got to be real imaginative, all right. Let's say I were to offend someone and they're to get mad and leave the church for whatever the reason. You think they're going to be like, well, I'll show you. I'm going to join a cult. I'll go be a Mormon. That'll learn you. I'm going to go be Russian Orthodox. I'm going to go join the Church of Christ. I'm going to go believe in seven steps to salvation. I'll show you. Folks, how can you believe that? That's insane. No one does that. No, listen, if someone's actually saved and I do something that offends them or makes them mad or they get disgruntled for whatever the reason, you know what they do? They quit the church, but they don't quit the doctrine of Christ. They don't quit believing salvation by faith. They don't quit believing the Bible. They don't quit being a Baptist. They just quit our church and go to a different church or no church at all. But they don't go out and believe heresy. And so it's like, well, if you hadn't offended them, you know, if you hadn't hurt their feelings, it's your fault that now you've driven them into the arms of the Church of Christ or into the arms of, no, I didn't because anyone who is actually saved will never fall for that garbage because they're saved. They have the Holy Spirit living inside of them and he'll guide them into all truth. So the Bible says here, whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. You know, it said in 1 John chapter 2, they went out from us, but they were not all of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out, that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us. She's just proving that she was never one of us. Period. Now go if you would to John chapter number 10. John chapter number 10. Here's what's funny is that then people will turn around and say, oh, you guys are a cult because when people leave, you know, you demonize people that leave and blah, blah, blah. Now, now hold on a second. I don't demonize anybody who leaves the church to go to another Baptist church or to go to no church at all. I demonize someone who leaves the faith and basically goes out and starts teaching damnable heresy. I mean, if somebody, I mean, look, didn't the lady that I'm talking about, didn't she walk up to somebody in the store? Who was it? Yeah, you know, she's running into our church members around town at the bus stop, at the store handing them Church of Christ literature, emailing out Church of Christ. This is somebody who's spreading a false gospel. Yeah, we're going to demonize people who spread a false gospel because the Bible says if anybody preaches any other gospel, let them be accursed. So, yeah, if somebody goes out of our church and preaches heresy, yeah, we're going to call them accursed. Hello, is anybody home? Of course we're going to demonize them because they're demonic. They're teaching a false gospel. Now, look, if somebody gets backslidden and quits the church, we're not going to demonize them. You know, we'd pray for them, want to restore them and just wish them the best, but it is what it is. And I mean, look, folks, our church has been here for 16 years. We have hundreds of people in our church. We have first-time visitors literally every week. We have people coming and going from our church every month. Just in a church this size, there's a revolving door. And let me tell you something, people leave all the time and you know what? It is what it is. It's no big deal. If people tell me, hey, I'm leaving to go to this other like-minded Baptist church, I'm always like, great, praise the Lord. Let me pray for you that God will bless you and that, and you know, we're going to miss you, buddy. And it's all real positive, right? Other people just basically fade away. They just get a little backslidden, get a little bit, uh, just burned out on the Christian life because it's hard work and they just kind of fade away slowly and we just, we just kind of feel like, oh man, it's too bad. You know, I hope they come back. And then maybe someday they come back six months later, a year later and we're real happy. Or other people just decide, I don't like Pastor Anderson or I don't like this church or he did something to make me mad. And then they just go to another Baptist church locally here and it's like, okay, amen. And let me tell you something. I believe that you can be 100% right with God living in Phoenix, Arizona and going to a different independent Baptist church. I mean, if you just decide, hey, Faithful Word Baptist Church is not a good fit for me. It's not for me. It's not for my family. I just want to go to this other church across town. You know what? I would say that it's possible for you to be 100% right with God smack dab in the perfect will of God going to another independent Baptist church because I do not believe that this is the only legitimate church in Phoenix or in Arizona or in, you know, that's a cult would say, we're the only ones that are legitimate. You gotta be in our group and our club. Folks, there are churches out there that literally despise me. And I would still say, I think that's a good church. I'll recommend it. Why? Because it's because we're not in a cult because we are only interested in, do they have the right gospel in the right Bible? You know, are they, are they doctrinally sound? That's what matters. We don't believe that we're exclusive or anything. So people will try to say, oh, look how they demonize this guy that left. Yeah, we demonize the guy who left and preached heresy. Now let me give you another example. You know, we had a guy at our church that came to our church for a long time. He was pretty involved and whatever, you know, he eventually left the church and he sent me an email confessing to me that he never believed in Jesus and that he was only coming to the church for, for social reasons and, and just because of family reasons and that he did not actually believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but he, you know what, he wished us all the best and he really enjoyed the preaching and everything, but he just doesn't believe, he just doesn't believe the Bible, doesn't believe in Jesus, never has. He was just going through the motions. I'm not going to demonize that guy because it's just, you know, it is what it is. I mean, I feel bad. I want the guy to get saved. I prayed for him and, and, and I hope that eventually he gets saved, although it's hard to understand how somebody could come to church for, for years and not be saved. But here's the thing about that. When somebody goes out of here teaching lies, teaching heresy, teaching a false doctrine, you better know that we will mark and avoid that person and call that person out. And you know, if that makes sense, you say, who cares? I don't care. You know, they called the master of the house Beelzebub. How much more shall they call them in this household? The Bible says that people who depart from the doctrine of Christ and teach another doctrine about Christ, you know, they should be accursed and, and you shouldn't even receive them into your home. You shouldn't even bid them Godspeed if they come bringing another gospel, another doctrine of Christ. And I make no apologies about believing that. Look at John chapter 10 verse 1. We're talking about the fact that true believers in Christ, truly saved people, will continue with Christ. They may not continue with the works. They may not continue with our church. They may not continue with any church, but they're not going to join some false religion or just become an atheist or whatever. Look what John chapter 10 verse 1 says, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that enterth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber. But he that enterth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth and the sheep hear his voice and he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Now this is all very literal. This is a parable. Just talking about, this is how it works with shepherds. Shepherds have a flock. They call their sheep by name. The sheep know their voice. The sheep follow them. They know the difference. In verse 5, and a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers. So sheep, we're talking about the literal physical animal here, knows the difference between its actual shepherd and just some random dude that just says like, here sheepy sheepy sheepy. Like they know the difference and they flee like, whoa, I don't know you man. And they'll watch out for that. So this parable, verse 6, spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. So you know, they get it like, okay, I get that that's what sheep do with shepherds, but they didn't understand how to apply this parable. So Jesus is going to explain them this. It says in verse 7, then said Jesus unto them, again, verily verily I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. Now jump down to verse 26. It says, but ye believe not, he's talking to some unbelievers that are there, he's talking to unsaved people. He says, but ye believe not because you're not of my sheep. As I said unto you, 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. My father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand, I and my father are one. So here, Jesus again is affirming eternal life saying you're in his hand which is in the father's hand, no man can pluck you out of his hand, you have eternal life, you shall never perish, etc. But notice what he says in verse 27. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. Now let's think about that in the context of the parable because he's explaining the parable. What did the parable say? Verse 5, a stranger will they not follow but will flee from him for they know not the voice of strangers. So if we take this whole thing in context, we see that just as a literal sheep can tell the difference between the shepherd's voice and an imposter, also people that are actually saved can recognize the voice of the shepherd. They can recognize, okay, this is the voice of the shepherd, this is the word of God, this is Jesus Christ talking, versus this is a thief and a robber. Because remember, the one who's not the shepherd who shows up is the thief and the robber. He's coming to kill, he's coming to destroy. So what are we talking about? False prophets, false teachers that are coming to murder and kill and destroy versus the real shepherd of the sheep, Jesus Christ. So therefore, let's say you're saved but you don't really know a lot of doctrine, you haven't really been taught a lot of doctrine, it's still possible for you to be sitting under some preaching and because you're indwelled by the Holy Spirit to just kind of realize that something's not right here, this isn't right. Or conversely, to hear preaching or hear the Bible and say, you know what, that's the voice of the shepherd. So part of the phenomenon of being saved and indwelled by the Holy Spirit is basically being able to recognize the voice of the shepherd. That's part of the package when you get saved, you become one of his sheep, now you have the ability to discern the voice of the shepherd. This is why in Matthew 24 the Bible can tell us that the Antichrist will be so slick that if it were possible, he would deceive the very elect. Now how can the Bible say that in Matthew 24? That if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect. False Christs, false prophets. Because it's not possible. If it were possible, they're so good, they're so slick, they're so believing, believable that if it were possible they would deceive the elect. What's he saying? It's not possible. Now how can it not be possible? Because when someone comes that's a false Christ or a false apostle or a false prophet, they recognize this is the voice of a stranger, right? A stranger will they not follow, a stranger they will flee from for they know not the voice of strangers. This is why when the Antichrist, the big A Antichrist shows up, saved people aren't going to fall for him. Because of the fact that they have the Holy Spirit and they know this is a stranger. This is not the shepherd. They know the voice of the stranger because they're of his sheep. You know when Jesus Christ came on the scene, think about this, the Old Testament had already been around, the word of God had already been around, salvation had already been around, and when Jesus Christ showed up there were a bunch of people who were already saved. It's not like when Jesus came on this planet everyone was unsaved. A lot of people were already saved, you know, they're believing on the Lord and they're living in the Old Covenant and they're already saved. So here's the thing, when Jesus Christ showed up everybody who was saved believed in him. And then people who weren't saved, if they switched and believed in him, they got saved. But there's no such thing as somebody who was saved and is confronted by Jesus and says, no, no, this isn't the Messiah. What are they doing? They're proving what? You know what, you're proving that you're not one of my sheep. Look at chapter 8 of John, John chapter 8 verse 47. It says, he that is of God heareth God's words, ye therefore hear them not because you're not of God. So when Jesus Christ shows up and he's preaching the word of God, the sheep hear his voice, the sheep recognize the voice of the shepherd, the sheep believe on him, right? Or people that are not saved, when they hear the preaching of his word, you know, they could repent and believe the Gospel as he commanded them to do, right? They could be saved. But there's no such thing as a saved person, one of the sheep, that would say this isn't the Messiah. Anybody who denies that Jesus is the Christ is not of God. That person is of that spirit of antichrist and not of the Lord. And so this doctrine is not really hard to understand. You know, it's just that if you're actually saved, you know Christ, you're indwelled by the spirit of God, you can tell the difference. Go to Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13 is where we find another parable, the parable of the tares of the field. Matthew chapter number 13, the Bible says in verse 24 of Matthew 13, another parable put forth unto them saying, the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field, but while men slept his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up and produced, excuse me, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. Now tares are weeds, in case you're not familiar with that terminology. So this guy plants good seed in his field and the good plant that he wants, the wheat that he wants grows, but then also the tares. Now here's the problem with these tares. These aren't just ordinary weeds. These are weeds that actually could in the initial stages resemble the wheat. So at first you can't tell the difference. Does everybody understand? So you've sowed the good seed, an enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and as the tares and the wheat grow up, they look the same. Right away you can't just right away go, whoa, get rid of that. You know, it's just, no, you look at it and it's just, it just seems like it's all wheat. It's all good to go. But then as time goes by, eventually you can tell the difference and specifically you can tell the difference because the Bible says when the blade was sprung up, verse 26, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. This is where the tares become apparent, is in the fruit-bearing phase because of the fact that the Bible tells us, you know, you shall know them by their fruits. And so in the fruit-bearing phase, now all of a sudden we can tell the difference. Okay, now I can see we've got the wheat, we've got the tares, and so there's a problem here. So the servant of the householder, verse 27, came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it tares? Like, didn't you sow the right seeds? I mean, where are all these bad plants coming from? Where are these weeds coming from? Where are the tares coming from? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. So it wasn't just an accident. No, a malicious person came and actually sowed bad seed in that field. And that is what is happening in the world today, my friend. It's not just there happen to be some people in the church who don't pan out and turn out to be bozos or phonies or whatever. No, no, actually Satan has planted people. Now I'm not trying to sound all paranoid here, but what does the Bible say? The Bible says there shall be false teachers among you. There shall be false prophets among you. There will be people who creep in privily. There are people who went out from us, but they were not all of us. In fact, they're antichrists, John said. They're wicked people. An enemy has sown tares among the wheat. Face it. Now if this was said 2,000 years ago, this hasn't changed. It's not that in 2021 this no longer applies. No, this is relevant. Even in Bible believing churches, even among God's people, the enemy has sown tares among the wheat. We will always have false brethren among us. It's just a fact of life. Now should we become paranoid? Should we go on a witch hunt? Should we try to figure out who it is? Look what the Bible says, you know, because that's what these servants want to do. They want to eradicate the tares. Their first thought is get rid of this stuff. Get it out. It says in verse 28, an enemy had done this. The servant said unto him, wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? You know, do you want us to go remove these tares? But he said, nay, lest while you gather up the tares, you root up also the wheat with them. The concern is that if you're trying to eradicate or uproot the tares, that you might accidentally uproot some of the wheat as well. And you'll see this sometimes where people become overzealous and becoming paranoid and thinking, you know, that there's so many tares among the wheat and there's so many Judases and so many false brethren crept in and then they start just kind of, no pun intended, but they see a heretic behind every blade of grass because they have this mentality that they just, you know, hey, we've got to get rid of these tares. But you're better off letting some tares abide than to start just uprooting everything and just, you don't want to have this kill them all, let God sort them out mentality. You know, just, just, just start uprooting stuff that look, hey, you look like a tare. You're out, buddy. Because then you're going to accidentally end up smoking some of the wrong people, okay? So you don't want to do that. That's why God says here in verse 3, let both grow together until the harvest and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. So we see here that, you know, God in the end is going to separate the wheat and the tares. It's not our job to be on a witch hunt to figure out who the tares are and get rid of them. Obviously, when there is one who is teaching damnable heresy or just gets exposed as a false prophet or, or heretic, you know, we're going to follow scripture and we're going to put away from among ourselves that wicked person. We're going to cast out the heretic. We're going to mark and avoid those who, who, uh, preach doctrines and offenses contrary to the doctrine that we've heard. You know, we're going to obviously let the false prophets be accursed. People who teach another gospel, we're going to call them out. We're going to deal with them. But what we're not going to do is say, all right everybody, let's remove all the tares. We can't because you don't know who they are. That's the whole point, okay? And even when you think you know who they are, you can sometimes uproot the wrong person. So we have to give people the benefit of the doubt and we, we just have to come to grips with this fact and come to terms with this fact that we're going to have these people among us. Now look, couldn't Jesus have gotten rid of the bad guy out of his church? Because Jesus knew all things from the beginning. From the very beginning, Jesus said, have not I chosen you 12 and one of you is a devil? From the beginning, he knew who it was that believed not. And the Bible tells us that from the beginning, Judas not believed. Don't let these lose your salvation bozos try to tell you, oh, Judas lost his salvation. Wrong. Judas did not believe. That's what the Bible actually says. From the beginning, Jesus knew who didn't believe. He said, from the beginning, have not I chosen you 12 and one of you is a devil? And so, you know, we see that Jesus knew exactly who the bad guy was, yet he allowed him to remain in the church for three and a half years. Why would he do that? And in fact, he even had him as the treasurer. He let him handle the money, knowing what he was, knowing he was a thief, knowing that he was a phony. Why did he do that? Well, there are several reasons. Obviously, we know that the scripture needed to be fulfilled, Jesus needed to be betrayed by someone close to him in order for the scripture to be fulfilled. But not only that, I believe that the reason why Jesus allowed Judas to be there is as a picture, a symbol of the fact that we are going to be in the same situation. Because think about it, if Jesus has this pristine church with no phonies, no infiltrators, no Judases, if he has this pristine church, then here's the thing, we don't have an example now. Then basically, we might get to thinking, well, if we have a Judas in our church, there must be something wrong with us. We're doing something wrong because we have these infiltrators, we have these false prophets, these Judases, we must be doing something wrong. And you know, there have been some people that have looked at our church and said, you know, you've had to kick out all these heretics and you've had to fight all these battles and you've had all these phonies infiltrating your church, there must be something wrong with you, Pastor Anderson. There must be something wrong with your discernment. There must be something wrong with Faith Forward Baptist Church. But you know what, the problem with that is that I guess there was something wrong with the eleven disciples too. Because they did not realize that Judas was bad. And they were with him day in and day out for three and a half years and they still didn't realize he was bad. And in fact, at the Last Supper when Jesus just basically flat out says that it's Judas, they still didn't believe it. They still didn't get it. Who is it, Lord? It's the guy, I'm going to dip the sop and I'm going to hand it to the traitor, okay? You ready? Dips it, hands it to Judas, that don't do us too quickly. Judas leaves the room and it's like, he's going to buy something, right? He must be going to buy something. Is it I, Lord? It's Judas. No, but is it me though? You know, it's like, what? They did not even suspect Judas, okay? So to sit there and criticize a church that has had to deal with phonies and false prophets, here's the thing. You know, some people can't relate to this because when you're not doing anything for God, you don't get attacked. I mean, think about it. What if I would have just started this church back in 2005 and didn't put my sermons on the internet, didn't knock a lot of doors, just kind of put it out in the phone book and just kind of let it cook, didn't really make any waves, preached all the traditional independent Baptist doctrine, didn't say anything about Obama or faggots or anything, you know, just kind of just stayed cool and just been kind of a run-of-the-mill guy, just kind of plugging along, running 30, 40 people. You know what? There'd probably be no drama either. Ah, it's too much drama. You know, have you ever read the New Testament? It's a lot of drama. You know, if the book of Acts were a movie, you know what genre it'd be? Drama. If 2 Corinthians, you want to make 2 Corinthians the movie, put that in the drama section. Okay. The book of 2 Corinthians is drama, Acts is drama. Why? Because of the fact that when you're actually doing stuff, you attract a lot of good people and you attract a lot of weirdos because you just attract a lot of people and, you know, people find out about you because you're out there doing stuff. You're out there knocking doors. You're out there inviting thousands of people to church every week. You're on the internet reaching thousands and thousands of people every day. Obviously, there are going to be problems. There are going to be phonies. I mean, look, if you're the devil, who are you going to target? Some do-nothing church that nobody's heard of that goes out hanging a door hanger once a year for Easter? Or are you going to attack the church that has soul-winning seven days a week and people are out knocking doors and people are getting saved almost every single day and, you know, tons of people are being saved. That's what you're going to go after. And so obviously, I don't feel bad about our church being infiltrated or having to deal with phonies because it's just the price that you pay for doing stuff. You end up dealing with a lot of enemies and problems. The Bible says there's a great door open unto me and effectual and there are many adversaries. Anytime the door is open and effectual, there are going to be many adversaries. And so the parable of the tares of the field tells us we are going to have tares among us and we're not going to know who they are until they leave the faith. That's when you know. Until then, you don't know. They go out that they might be made manifest. That they were not all of us. You know what that says? It was not manifest before. Now you might think that you're Mr. Super Discernment and you can tell and Pastor Anderson's an idiot because you can just smell that it's a false prophet. You know, you just and you just know that it's a false prophet. But you know what? Here's the thing. I don't have that gift to be able to just smell a false prophet like some kind of a spiritual bloodhound. And not only that, it's my job as pastor to give people the benefit of the doubt. You know? And as a church member, you have more of a luxury of just saying, hey, this person's a bozo. I'm just going to avoid this person. I don't want anything to do with that. You know, as a pastor, it's my job, it's my duty to minister to everyone. You know, I can't sit there and say, well, you know, I'm going to pick and choose who's pastor I'm going to be here. You know, it's my duty to love everybody in the church and to minister to everybody and to give everybody the benefit of the doubt. So I constantly am going to keep having egg on my face because I give people the benefit of the doubt and they turn out to be a phony. But you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to keep giving people the benefit of the doubt. And I'm going to keep getting stabbed in the back. I'm going to keep getting betrayed. And you know what? That's okay because that's what it means to be a pastor. The apostle Paul was constantly talking to, oh, this guy forsook me. This guy bailed on me. This guy's a phony. I think this guy's okay. It's life. I'm not going to stop loving people. I'm not going to stop, you know, and constantly when people are warning me about people, I'm constantly saying to people, I like that person. It's like, yeah, but you like these other people and look how that turned out. Yeah, but you know what? It's my job to keep liking people and to keep giving people benefit of the doubt and trying to help people. And you know, a lot of my job, a lot of brothers say Gora's job and other of us, you know, we're constantly defending people like, hey, you know, relax, you know, this person's okay. And we're constantly trying to keep the peace and make sure that people don't get overzealous and just want to just start, you know, they got a hammer in their hand and everything starts looking like a nail. And they just, you know, they're just going to find all the heretics and infiltrators and phonies. You know, we'd rather just let both grow together until the time of harvest and then to be overzealous on just, you know, rooting out the bad element. Okay. So this is what the Bible, you know, I'm teaching the Bible tonight. I mean, right? I mean, this is what the Bible says. Matthew 13 is there for a reason. So to sum all of this up, to put this all together, perseverance of the saints, okay, there's a whole spectrum of beliefs on this. What's the worst possible reaction to this doctrine? What's the worst possible interpretation that you could have in this area is to say you could lose your salvation. Okay. That's the bad guy. That is the worst. Okay. There are other false doctrines though, that could surround this doctrine where somebody would say, yeah, it's perseverance of the saints, you're going to keep doing good works and keep on living for God. No, you're not. I hope you do. I'm going to, but that's not a guarantee. I have to make an effort to keep doing that. There's no guarantee that I or anyone else will make it all the way to the end. Now some people will say, as far as our works are concerned, but what about our faith? Are we going to continue believing? Absolutely. Are we going to know the voice of the shepherd and the voice of strangers? Yeah, we're not going to stop being a sheep, okay, but we can still get backslidden and sin and not do good works, but we're going to, let me give you another example. There's a guy that I know who would tell you, I don't believe the Bible. This guy would say that he does not believe the Bible and that he does not believe in God and then maybe God exists, maybe the Bible is true, but I don't believe it. That's what this guy would say. So he's a what? He's an agnostic and he'll classify himself as agnostic. But this guy told me, he said, but when I was a kid, I was a devout Christian, I went to Bible college and I believed all of it and I believed just like you and now I don't. What's my reaction to that? You're wrong. You were never saved. Because if you were actually saved, you would still believe in Christ right now. See that's why it says in John 3.18, it says, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed. The unbeliever hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. They've never believed. Because if they ever had believed, they'd be saved and they would continue to be saved and they would continue to believe because they have the Holy Spirit bearing witness with their spirit that they're the children of God. So this guy, he claimed, oh yeah, I believed just like you, it was all by faith, whatever. He claimed that. But then later in talking to this guy, he let it slip out a couple times where he basically talked about it like, oh yeah, when I was in Bible college, it was a big debate about whether you could lose your salvation. And he's basically talking about how he was like, he didn't believe in eternal security. So there you go. You know, so that's not putting all your faith in Christ. Because people who believe you can lose your salvation are, you know, it's a thinly veiled work of salvation is what that is. And so, you know, I would look at that and say, this guy's not saved, right? Because anybody who is truly saved is going to continue in the faith. They're not necessarily going to continue with the works, but they're going to continue believing in Christ. And look, I had a good buddy who got backslidden to the point where he literally became a homeless person on drugs. He was literally in front of a grocery store, dirty, homeless, all of his possessions in a backpack, addicted to drugs. But you know what he had in that backpack? A New Testament. And he confessed the gospel and Christ and he did not change anything that he believed on that. He said, I backslidden, I'm ruining my life, I'm doing wrong, but he was saved. He didn't say, oh, I'm agnostic now. I'm Mormon now. I'm Buddhist now. No, no, no. He was, he knew he was saved. He knew the gospel was right. He was just, had gotten very far from the Lord because sin will do that to you. That's it, right? And so we see that. Now, some people will say, well, you know, he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Get that in context. It's talking about your physical body. It says, except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened in Matthew 24. And then he says, whosoever shall endure to the end shall be saved. He's talking about enduring all the tribulation, then basically you'll be physically spared because you'll be saved by the rapture, okay? Get that in context. It's not like you got to endure to the end as a solid Christian. And again, these people are setting the bar pretty low because 99% of people are not doing the first works. 99% of people are doing zilch. I'm talking about saved people are doing zilch to carry out the great commission. But you're going to turn around and tell me, well, if you're saved, you'll do the works, you know, I mean, you know, you'll quit drinking or something. Well, are you going to do the main thing that God told us to do, which is to preach the gospel? Because, you know, isn't it amazing how many Christians aren't doing that? Are they saved? Yeah, they're still saved, even if they're not doing that, okay. So perseverance of the saints, is it a good doctrine, is it a bad doctrine? Look, I don't use the term because I don't want to be confused with what comes up on Google when it says, oh yeah, it means you're going to continue doing good works. I don't want to be associated with that, you know, so that's why I don't, I wouldn't say, I believe in perseverance of the saints. But if somebody, if somebody asked me if I believe, because, you know, you'll be out soul winning or something and somebody will hit you with this, hey, do you guys believe in perseverance of the saints? Here's what I say. I say, well here's what I believe, I believe that you cannot lose your salvation and I believe that anyone who departs from the doctrine of Christ was never saved in the first place. So if you want to call that perseverance of the saints, fine, but it's possible for a truly saved born again Christian to get backslidden. And again, just to make it super clear, you can leave Faithful Word Baptist Church whenever you want with my blessing. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart with no bitterness, no hard feelings, and people do it every month. People are constantly coming to me, hey, I'm moving to this state, I'm moving, or hey, we're going to this other state. I've recommended to people, hey, maybe you'd be happier somewhere else. You know, let me help you find a church that's a better fit for your family or whatever. You can leave whenever you want and you know what, if you get backslidden and leave, you know, it's a shame. It's too bad. I hope you come back though. I hope eventually you get right with God and come back. If you switch to another church, amen. Keep serving God. Totally fine. There are thousands of great churches in this world. Keep going, brother. God bless you. Godspeed. But if you go out of here and start denying the Trinity and denying the Gospel and denying Christ, then you know what, I'm going to call you out. If that makes us a cult, then you know what, I give up at that point. I give up. You know, I mean, if somebody goes out of here and just becomes this hateful enemy of our church and then just immediately just does a 180 on everything that they've claimed to believe, what does that tell you about them in the first place? You know, when somebody walks out of here and just boom, no longer King James Bible. Boom, different salvation. They walk out here, boom, it's oneness. No Trinity. It's oneness. Boom. They walk out here and it's like, boom, you know, Pastor Anderson is mean to gays. Were they ever really of us? You know what I mean? It's like they come, you know what, you know why? It's because these people have no beliefs. If you actually have belief, no one can offend me so much where I'm just going to change my beliefs to show, I'll show you. Nobody can ever offend me that much and I've been offended. We've all been offended. We've all gotten mad and upset and angry and you know what, teenagers, they get a rebellious streak and, and whatever, you know, I'll show my parents, but they're not like, oh, still my parents, I'll bring home the Book of Mormon. That just shows they're not saved. So be able to distinguish these doctrines. Don't let man just create these labels, you know, you got to go to what the Bible says and actually, you know, figure out what, what we believe based on the Word of God, not just grab hold of a label and, and fight that label or embrace that label. You know, we need to get the details of what we believe from the Word of God. Let's pray and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for the fact that we are eternally saved and eternally secure, Lord, and we thank you so much for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that guides us into all truth, Lord. Thank you that we as your children can, can recognize your voice and discern it from the voice of strangers, Lord. And Lord, if there's anybody who's left our church because they got backslidden and they're just kind of sitting at home right now listening to the sermon, eating chips off their chest, Lord, I pray that they would come back to the fold, Lord. We would love to see them back. If there's anybody that has left our church and gone to another Baptist church and is continuing to serve you, Lord, I pray that you'd bless them and, and continue to work in their hearts and lives, Lord. And if there's anybody who doesn't want to be at our church, Lord, I pray that you would just help them to find a church where they'll be happy, a church that they'll like, a church where they can get on board and, and, and feel good about serving you there, Lord. And, and Lord, uh, those who have, uh, gone out of our church and, and denied salvation and denied the Trinity, Lord, I pray that they would be anathema and that, and that you would punish those people for their wickedness, Lord, and that you would cut off the evildoers because Lord, it's not our job to, uh, to punish, uh, vengeance belongs to you, Lord. And so we'll leave that in your hands and in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's take our song books together and turn to hymn number 363, Wonderful Words of Life, hymn number 363, Sing Them Over Again to Me, Wonderful Words of Life, 363. Sing them over again to me, wonderful words of life, Let me more of their beauty sing, Wonderful words of life, Words of life and beauty, Teach me faith and beauty, Beautiful words, wonderful words, Wonderful words of life, Beautiful words, wonderful words, Wonderful words of life, Christ, the blessed one, gives to all, Wonderful words of life, Sinner, lesser, the loving God, Wonderful words of life, All supremely given, Will bring us to heaven, Beautiful words, wonderful words, Wonderful words of life, Beautiful words, wonderful words, Wonderful words of life, Sing the echo the gospel from, Wonderful words of life, Offer pardon and peace to all, Wonderful words of life, Jesus, only Savior, Saved them by forever, Beautiful words, wonderful words, Wonderful words of life, Beautiful words, wonderful words, Wonderful words of life. Amen. Great singing tonight. You want to do this? You want to do this? You want to do this? You want to do this?