(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So, what I wanted to preach on tonight is something that is very important, and actually that's what I'm calling it, is the importance of eternal security. The importance of eternal security. So this is something when we go out soul winning that we really try to make very clear and we try to always go into this aspect of eternal security. Because not everybody does. And there's a lot of people, even in this movement that we have today, people that are getting really excited about soul winning, that don't go into eternal security. That basically will give a few verses and say a prayer and then count that as a salvation. And so, I don't think that's good, I don't think that's right, I don't think that's being thorough and I don't think that's giving justice to the people that you're giving the gospel to. I think we need to be, and we need to realize why it's so important to go into eternal security. And yes, what I believe is that if someone does not believe in eternal security, if someone believes they can lose their salvation, then they're not saved. If they do not understand that, before they call upon the name of the Lord, before they so called put their faith in Christ, then they're not saved. And it all comes down to they're not really putting their faith in Christ. They're not really believing on Christ. And 1 John chapter 5 is a great passage, when I'm talking to somebody about eternal security, I take them to 1 John 5 and verse 10 usually. And so let's look at that passage there, 1 John 5, 10, and we know verse 13 is one of the most famous verses that we use out of soul winning. And that is, these things that are written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. So this passage is something that we're using all the time to say, hey, you can know you have eternal, you can know you're going to heaven 100% sure. But right before that it tells us what we need to believe. And so when anybody's ever struggling with eternal security, this is where I take them usually. And I'm going to show you some other passages that you can take them to and that prove, what I want to prove to you tonight is that someone that needs to understand eternal security, they need to understand that you can't lose your salvation in order to put their faith in Christ, in order to, that's what they're believing. And I'm going to go through that and the importance of this. So if you've gone out soul winning and you're not going through eternal security, this is a call to action that you need to. And so I'm talking to soul winners, but I'm also talking about the fact of if someone's not saved, which I don't believe there's anybody in this room that's not saved, but if there's someone that's not saved and they think they can lose their salvation, they need to get saved. But I want to talk to the people that are saved that understand they can't lose their salvation and understand why it's important that when you try to win someone in Christ that you go through this doctrine, that this is something that you, it's almost like the vocal point of what we're trying to get across when we go out soul winning. And so verse 10 there, notice what it says. It says, he that believeth on the Son of God hath a witness in himself. Talking about the Spirit of God. Just read about the Spirit of truth that beareth witness. And it says, for this is the witness of God, which he hath tested, or I'm sorry, I've went back up to that. It says he that believeth on the, let me just start over with verse 10. It says he that believeth on the Son of God hath a witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave his son. So what we have here is basically these two contrasting thoughts. He that believeth is the one that has a witness of God, he's saved, and he that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave his son. Well we don't have to wonder what that record is, what they're not believing. Because it spells out in the next verse what that record is. In verse 11 it says, and this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his son. So we see there, there's three things in that verse. It's given to us, so we know it's the gift of God's eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We know it's through his son, at the end there it says, and this life is in his son, so we know that no man cometh unto the Father but by me, Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. And so we know Jesus is the only way, and that salvation's only in his name. But notice it says that we have to believe that he gives to us eternal life. And that's the key tonight. If you get anything out of this, know this, that someone, if they do not believe that Jesus gives them eternal life, they're calling God a liar. They don't believe the record and they're not saved. Because it comes down to the fact that it's not just about believing someone existing and believing the facts about who he was, it's believing and trusting in what he said he would do for you. And I'm going to show you some other verses on that as far as showing the need to understand that. So if someone believes they can lose their salvation, and you can go about this all different ways as far as understanding that. If someone believes they can lose their salvation, how can they lose it? Well, you know, committing murder, well that's a commandment, thou shall not kill, right? And doing other things, suicide, well that's murder too. But there's a lot of other things people try to put in there and say, well you need to do this, this, and this, or you can't do this, this, and this, well that's works. So you can put that to bed with the fact that we're saved by faith and not works, and hopefully by this morning's sermon we put that to bed, that we're not saved by doing good works but by faith alone in Jesus Christ. But here's the thing, we need to understand that it's believing in what he said he would do, his promise. What is he saving us from? Are we believing that he actually will save us? Are we believing that he actually paid for all our sins and not just some of them? And so if someone thinks they can lose their salvation, they're not believing the record. They believe it's temporal life. They believe it's something that's not everlasting, it has a condition to it, and they're not believing the record, therefore they're calling God a liar. Romans chapter 4, I know we were there this morning, but Romans chapter 4, go down to the bottom of the chapter there in verse 21, and we're talking about Abraham again. Remember Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness. Well this kind of expounds a little bit about what that meant to believe in God. Is it just to believe that God existed? Or is there something deeper in that, in that what are they believing, what are they trusting in, right? And trust and believe are synonymous a lot of times in the Bible. In the Old Testament, if you looked up believe, you may not find a lot, but if you looked up the word trust, you'd find a whole lot more. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. It says, kiss the son lest he be angry, and thou perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. And who? The son. Psalm chapter 2. And there's other places where it talks about every word of God is pure, he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. So trust and believe, and even in the New Testament we see that as far as trusting in Christ, who first trusted in Christ, and that believing is trusting in him. It's trusting someone to save you from hell, right? But it's a belief. And so in Romans chapter 4, in verse 21 there, so we're talking about Abraham, and I don't want to go through that whole chapter again as far as Abraham being justified by faith, but notice what it says here in verse 21. It says, in being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform, and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. So when we talk about believing on Christ, what are we believing? We're persuaded and trusting that what he had promised he's able also to perform, right? What did Abraham, what was he trusting in? That he was actually going to, that the seed, meaning Christ, right, not Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He said, saith not unto him as seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ, right? So what was the promise to Abraham that in his seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed? That Christ was going to come through him, and that was going to be through Isaac. So he was fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform, and therefore it was imputed unto him for righteousness. He believed in the promise of God. And so that is something that if someone's not fully persuaded, and we see this in Acts chapter 8, when the Ethiopian eunuch wanted to be baptized, and he said, here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, if thou believeth with all thine heart, thou mayest. With all thine heart, right? We don't have to move mountains, but it has to be with all thy heart. It has to be fully persuaded, and you remember King Agrippa almost persuadest thou me to be a Christian, right? You need to be fully persuaded, and Paul said, I wish thou art both almost and altogether as I am, except these bonds, right? So he was basically saying, I wish you were fully persuaded. I wish you would get saved. And so you need to be fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform. And what did he promise? He says, and this is the promise that he had promised us, even eternal life, in 2 John chapter 2. In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began. That salvation, that eternal salvation, that eternal life was promised before the foundation of the world, and if we don't believe it's eternal, if we think we can lose it, if we think that we have to do anything else for it, then we don't believe that he's able to perform, that he's able, that we're not persuaded that he's able also to perform it. And he is able to save us to the uttermost, the Bible says. And so we have to believe that. That's what we're believing. And so go to John chapter 11. I just want to show you a few passages here of places where it's very clear that if you don't believe in eternal security, if you don't believe the promise of eternal life, then you're not saved. You're not really believing. You're not trusting in what you need to trust in. And so in John chapter 11, this is a famous passage of Lazarus being raised from the dead. And what we have here, and go to verse 25, in verse 25 we have Martha coming up to Jesus and Jesus is talking to her about the fact that he's going to rise. And she was thinking, well, this is going to be at the resurrection. And that's true. We're all going to rise at the resurrection. So she wasn't completely out of it there, but I think he was trying to make, hey, no, he's going to rise today. I'm going to raise him from the dead right now. And so in verse 25, notice what it says there. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die, believeth thou this. Now notice what it says. It says, she saith unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. So what's he saying? Now what if she said no? Now would you say that she's a saved, born again believer, if she said no, I don't believe that whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die? Now we're talking spiritually, right, because Lazarus just died, right? He's in the tomb as he's speaking, right? So we're talking about the fact that your soul will never die, right? To be asked in front of the bodies, to be present with the Lord. But Jesus is saying here, whosoever liveth and believeth in me, that means that you have to be alive in order to believe. People that are in hell cannot believe, or put their trust in Christ, it's too late for them. But whosoever liveth, meaning that they're here alive in the body, and they both put their faith in Christ, shall never die, believeth thou this. And that's the question I would have for everybody that we talk to out soul winning. Do you believe that you'll never die? Believeth thou this. And this is something that we need to make sure is a very important aspect of our soul winning presentation. Because if someone doesn't understand this, then they're not getting saved. And I've been in fundamental Baptist churches where it's the one, two, three, repeat after me. Now I am easy believism all day long. I mean, I believe it's only believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But someone needs to understand what that means. You have to explain to them that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ means that He is your only hope for salvation, that it's only by His blood, it's only through what He did on the cross, the death, burial, and resurrection. And if you put anything else in there, if they think they can lose their salvation, then they're not trusting in Him alone. And so if they don't understand that and you pray with them, they're not saved. And what a lot of people are doing and why I'm preaching this sermon is a lot of people are going out and they're praying prayers with people, not being thorough with the gospel, and then they're praying with someone and saying, you're saved, you're 100% sure you're going to heaven, and that person's lost as can be because they don't understand what it takes to go to heaven. And here's the thing. I'm sure there's people that I've given the gospel to and I've gone through all this stuff with that still didn't get it and we prayed and they told me they understood it and they didn't understand it. I don't understand that. I'm not saying that you need to, no one's going to ever really know, right? You're not going to know 100% sure whether someone completely understands it, whether someone believes it, right? You can only go off what they say. But here's the thing. We need to be careful. We need to be thorough and we need to be diligent when it comes to this because this isn't a game. When we go out soul winning and we bring in numbers of people that got saved, we need to know that's a serious thing. And I don't want to ever have someone come in here and say, we want all these people to Christ because we prayed a prayer with them, but we didn't go through eternal security with them. We just gave them like a couple of Romans verses and said, hey, pray this prayer with me and they clearly probably didn't get it at all. Don't come in here and tell me that you got all these people saved when you don't go through eternal security. Now, a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while and sometimes you do find people that don't need that much in-depth explanation of eternal security. You show them that it's a gift and they get it like that. That's happened. And I've come to that where I'm beating a dead horse after I just show them that it's a gift and that it's eternal life, right? There's people out there that it's not like a big stumbling block, but that's not the majority of the people. The majority of the people that we go out and talk to have a huge stumbling block called I can lose my salvation. Just mark it down that anybody that's not a child has that huge stumbling block that I can lose my salvation, therefore it needs to be talked about. And as I go out, you know, as the world gets darker and as the days go on and as we go through these last days, there's more and more things that people don't understand like Jesus is God. And that was something, you know, when I started going out so many, I didn't really hit on every single time. But then I found that about 50% of the people I talked to don't know that. So you have to hit on things that people have a need to hear or that people have trouble hearing. And from experience, most people are stuck on the fact that they think they can lose their salvation and that they have to do something to keep it. And so therefore, the importance of this is crucial. We have to go through eternal security. And so the reason that I'm preaching, I'm preaching to the saved today. I'm preaching to people that go soul wanting. I'm preaching to that crowd and I just want you to know that your labor is not in vain when you go out and you're preaching about eternal security. And here's the thing. Would you get more numbers by just praying prayers with people and say, hey, come pray with me? Yeah, of course. But what does that profit, my brethren, if they don't understand it? It says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in whom they have not heard? And here's the thing. How is someone going to believe in Christ alone if you don't explain it to them? The Ethiopian eunuch said, how can I except some man should guide me? And so we need to guide them into that truth. And this is something that I battled in independent fundamental Baptist churches where I've actually been, I've been told that I'm adding works to salvation. I've been told that I've been putting a stumbling block in front of people getting saved because I believe that they need to understand eternal security. And so it is a hot topic with me. It's a contention with me because I take it personally when people are praying prayers with people and not going thorough with them and they're not saved. And they're given a false sense of security and I take that personally because to me it's not a game. It's not something where I'm just trying to get numbers out there or I'm just trying to look like I'm a great soul winner. The thing is it's all about the souls of men. Each one of those souls is precious and we need to view them that way. And so if we're going to win less people by being more thorough, I'd rather be that way. I'd rather the numbers that we bring in are more like 95% that they got saved than when I look at them it's more like 5% because who knows, and you have a huge number, right? We need to be thorough when we're going through the gospel. I want to go through a few verses as far as just eternal security in general. Why do we believe in eternal security? Well, we believe it's by faith alone. That's first off. But there's a lot of verses that teach eternal security. So here's some ammunition as you go out soul winning when it comes to teaching them eternal security. What we just went through, those are definitely good verses to prove to someone, hey, if you think you can lose it, you're not saved. But here's some other verses, and these aren't all of them. This isn't the tour de force of eternal security in the Bible here. But these are just ones I thought off on the top of my head as far as verses that really teach eternal security, teach that you can't lose your salvation. And so I go to John chapter 4, and I try to keep them in order so we can kind of just go through it if you want to turn there to really see. So I'm going to show you some verses on eternal security, basically on verses that you can't lose it, that it's forever. But then I'm also going to show you some passages that Baptist pastors have tried to show me that certain people didn't believe in eternal security, but they were still saved. And turning other verses on their head to try to show me that that's not really saying you have to understand eternal life. And let me say something. We're not changing the gospel here. Eternal security is the gospel. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And when you look through the Bible, when you're talking about salvation, most of the time when you're talking about verses on salvation, it's being saved or getting eternal life. And so you can't get around eternal life, everlasting life, living forever, never die. That's what Jesus said throughout all the great verses in the Bible in John that we use all the time. This is talking about everlasting life, eternal life, never dying, never perishing. So what should we focus on when we go out soul winning? I'm going to focus on what Jesus focused on. But one of these most famous passages is the woman at the well. John chapter 4 and verse 13. John chapter 4 and verse 13. The Bible reads, Jesus answered and said unto her, whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. He tells this woman, if you take this water I give you, you'll never thirst. Now if that woman ever thirsts, meaning like she goes to hell and is thirsty just like the rich man, then he lied to her. It all is based on the fact that if we don't believe the record, what are we calling God? A liar. Because he said we never thirst. Go to John chapter 6. John chapter 6 verse 37. John chapter 6 verse 37. And I could go all day in John and all these other passages, but I just want to give you some key ones, some ones that maybe you want to write down and say, you know, these are good ones that I could show somebody and real quick show them that, hey, once you're saved, you're always saved. In verse 37 there, it says, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. So as soon as you come to Christ, he will in no wise cast you out. And it's interesting, there's so many different phrases, different terminology, it's almost like Jesus is like, I'm going to say this in so many different ways that you can't take this out of context, right? How many different ways has he said, you'll never perish, I'll no wise cast you out, you'll never thirst, you'll never hunger, like all these different things, you'll live forever. He says it in every sideways, frontways, backways, forwardways, and it's almost like he just knows that people are going to be dense about this and not understand that, hey, once you're saved, you're always saved. But keep reading there. It says, for I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which had sent me, that of all which he had given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. So whosoever believeth on him, he will raise up at the last day, he will in no wise cast them out, and he will lose nothing. He said that about his disciples in John chapter 17, I don't have it written down, but in John chapter 17 he says, you know, all of them are saved, I've lost none of them except for the son of perdition that it might be written. So we know that Judas was a devil, he never believed, and so as it is written by all his other disciples, they were saved, and none of them are lost. John chapter 10, one of the most famous passages when you think of eternal security. John chapter 10 verse 27. John chapter 10 and verse 27. So I just want to give you a little bit of ammunition as far as just verses on you can't lose it, God's not going to cast you out. John 10, 27, it says, 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. So again, he's giving you another illustration, he's saying, I know my sheep, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. But then he says, no one's going to pluck you out of my hand, and he's in the father's hand, and no man's able to pluck you out of his father's hand. So you're well in hand, so to speak, right? So there's all these different analogies, all these different allegories that God is using to show, hey, once you're saved, you're secure, you're saved, there's nothing that can take you out of his hand, and you know what, I'm a man, just like anybody else, so that means I can't do it either, I'm not stronger than God. So there's a lot of these verses that teach this. 1 Peter chapter 1, if you want to turn there, 1 Peter chapter 1, and then you don't have to turn to all of these, but I just kind of want to show you just these different passages that teach that you're kept by God, you're saved by faith, that's the only requirement, that's the only condition for salvation, is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved, but at that point, God is the one that is doing all the work. He already did all the work on the cross, and He'll keep you, He'll save you, but you have to believe that. And it takes faith to believe that, it takes faith to let go of pride and say, you know what, it doesn't have to do with what I do, it's not me at all, I'm putting all my chips on Jesus, so to speak, I'm putting all my eggs in that basket, and that's where you're putting away pride and just trusting in Him alone. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 3, it says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again until a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that faith is not a way reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. So again, so many different ways that He's trying to get this across, you're kept by the power of God through faith, so faith is the only condition for salvation, but once you believe on Him, you're kept by the power of God, and you have an inheritance that faith is not a way that's reserved in heaven for you. That's a promise. And take it to the bank that God's not going to back down on His word and on His promise, He can't lie. Remember, in hope of eternal life, which God cannot lie, promised before the world began, and so we're banking all this on the fact that God's not going to break His word, and He hasn't yet, so I trust that He never will, that His word cannot be broken. And so, since He's not going to break His word, when He says to me that I'm kept by the power of God, that inheritance will never fade away, and that it's reserved in heaven for me, and that goes into the next point that we have the earnest of the Spirit. So when Christ saved us, we're saved spiritually, right? And so we have that earnest of the Spirit. We have the Spirit of God in us, and with that purchased possession, that new creature that's inside of us, that new man, and it's not until the resurrection that we're going to have that purchased possession, which is the redemption of our body, but we're waiting for that. It's like the earnest, right? Where you're waiting for that, kind of like you're getting a house, and you have to put down the earnest money, right? But that's showing you, hey, I'm getting it. I'm going to pay for this, right? And so God, when He saved us, gave us that earnest of the Spirit, and notice what it says in Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 13, Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 13, Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 13, and notice how trusted and believed is used synonymously in here. It says in verse 13, it says, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. And then in chapter 4 and verse 30, so you're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise after you believed, notice what it says in Ephesians 4, 30. It says, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. So you're kept by the power of God. How? Because you've been given the earnest of the Spirit, because you're sealed unto the day of redemption by the Holy Ghost, by the Holy Spirit. And so He didn't leave us comfortless. He gave us the Holy Ghost that's indwelling us, and it talks about the truth that abideth in us forever, and it shall be with us forever. And so there's so many verses that I could go to, I don't want to be here all night going to them, but we already talked about Titus 1, 2, and hope of eternal life, which God had promised before the Lord began, and this is the promise they have promised us, even eternal life. But I want to show you a couple of Old Testament passages, because this isn't something that's just New Testament, and I think starting next Sunday night, what I'm going to be going through, I'm going to start doing a series on Old Testament versus New Testament, and what we're going to talk about is what is the difference between the two, where people say differently in the Old Testament than the New Testament. When did the Old Testament start? Did it start at Genesis 1, or did it start at Moses? When did it end? When did the New Testament start? What does it mean? What was the reason for all the sacrifices? What's the reason for what we're doing now? Will the New Testament end? All these questions, right, that a lot of people have about the Old Testament, New Testament, and all these misconceptions that they have too, and this is where a lot of dispensationalism gets in there too. I believe on Sunday night, starting maybe next week, I'm going to be going through different aspects of that. I think it'll be interesting, and maybe some things that maybe you haven't seen before, but I hope they explain that as far as what's the difference between the Old Testament and New Testament, what was done away with in the Old Testament and New Testament. How do you know that? How do you know that the Sabbaths are done away with? Anyway, all that to say is that, I'll give you this little spoiler, we're saved the same way in the Old Testament, so, Abraham believed God and is imputed unto him for righteousness, but here's the thing, go to Psalm chapter 89, and maybe when you go home, and I'm not saying you haven't read Psalm 89, but read through Psalm 89 with this in mind, eternal security, Psalm 89, and this is a great passage here, we're not going to read the whole Psalm because it's not a short Psalm, but go down to verse 28 and we'll start reading in there. So here's Old Testament, right? This is Old Testament, this is before Jesus came, but I want you to see eternal security even in the Old Testament, and yes, people went to heaven in the Old Testament too, so there's a lot of stuff I want to cover, that's why I'm making it a series, because I'd be here all night long trying, I'd be free, somebody would be falling out of the loft, you know, Eutychus or, you know, we don't have a loft, so I guess no one would die here, but everybody would be falling out of their chairs by the time I got done. So Psalm 89 verse 28, notice what it says here, it says, my mercy will I keep for him forever, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. And this is talking about David, but it's also a picture of Christ, because Christ is the seed of David, remember, he is the David that's going to come to sit on the throne forever and ever and ever, so, but keep that in mind, but it says, if they break my statutes, in verse 31, and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes, nevertheless, verse 33, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail, my covenant will I not break, nor alter to the thing that has gone out of my lips, once I have sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David, his seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me, it shall be established forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven, Selah. So we have here a perfect example of salvation from Old Testament and New Testament. You're saved, and he will never break that covenant that he makes with you as soon as you believe, but he will come after you with the rod, remember we were talking about whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth, so he'll bring the chastisement upon us if we break his commandments and don't keep his covenant, but will he break his promise? No. The Bible says that God, it is impossible for God to lie. And so we need to know that this isn't something that's just New Testament, this isn't just something that just came about, but this is very important to know that this has always been the same way. Now, did they know the name of Jesus at that time, that he was going to be named Jesus? No, but they had different names for God as they went on, but guess what? They believed the same exact thing. They believed that they would be saved forever for eternal life and that they can't lose their salvation in the Old Testament. You may say, well why, or there's not all these verses revealed, and you know that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and that's how we had the Bible, but it said, God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets. You know there's a lot of things that weren't written that they spoke. There's a lot of things in the New Testament you'll see as spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, but then you look in Jeremiah, it's not there. As spoken by the prophets that Jesus shall be called a Nazarene, but you won't find that in the Bible. You know that Enoch prophesied that the Lord shall come with ten thousands of his saints, with execute judgment upon all. But that wasn't written that he said that until Jude, but it was spoken by him, and then it was written eventually. It only took thousands of years before that finally got written down. But what I'm saying is that there's a lot of things that were spoken, and you'll see in Job, you'll see he knew about the resurrection. He knew he was going to be resurrected. How did he know that? How did they know all this stuff? Well there's a lot of stuff that was spoken, and that's another sermon. I'm getting ahead of myself with the Old Testament stuff, I'm excited to preach about it, but I need to stay with this. So the Old Testament preached eternal security. Isaiah 45 verse 17, this is the last one I'll show you, but I just want you to see this too. I just want you to see that the Old Testament is not anathema to salvation by faith alone, salvation by trusting in him. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him, he's a shield unto them that put their trust in him. There's a lot of Bible on that, and even in the Old Testament. If you go to Isaiah, you'll see that in and out, and Isaiah's like reading the New Testament. It's like a little mini New Testament, or like a little mini Bible, right? 66 chapters, 66 books, and so you see that through there. Isaiah 45 verse 17, but Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. He shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end. Do you know the only other place that that phrase, world without end, is used? This is in Ephesians chapter 3, and it's talking about the middle wall partition breaking down and Israel and all that stuff, but all that to say is that this everlasting salvation was in the Old Testament, it was back then, it was before the Old Testament, that this everlasting salvation, and it says, they shall not be ashamed nor be confounded. What do we see in the Bible? As it is written, he that believeth on him shall not be ashamed. He that believeth on him shall not be confounded. And then in Isaiah it says, shall not make haste. Those things are always synonymous, confounded to make haste, ashamed, that's salvation. He that believeth on him shall not be confounded, shall not be ashamed, and it's an everlasting salvation. It's eternal life, and don't tell me for a second that people in the Old Testament thought they could lose their salvation, and that everybody was saved by works and all that other garbage. But I want to show you some passage, because here's the thing. What this comes down to is that we all believe in eternal life, right? We're all saved in this room, unless there were, like, infants or children that aren't saved yet, right? But here's the thing, we all believe in eternal security, right, amen? And so the thing is, though, what I battled with in independent Baptist churches is the fact that they don't believe someone needs to understand that. And so they think that someone could just, they're like, well, it's just faith. Well, yeah, faith in what? That's the question. What are they putting their faith in? Their works? Yeah, well, I guess it is faith in something, but it's not in the right thing. It's not in Jesus Christ, you know, and if by grace there is no more works, otherwise grace is no more grace. You add one work to salvation, you're not believing in Jesus alone. It's either Jesus or nothing, plus nothing, minus nothing. And so, but I was, I went to this church in Uniontown, this was years ago, and I went soul-winning with some of the deacons and different people in the church, and I went through eternal security. Well, they weren't. So I'd go up to a door, and one of the deacons or whoever, I don't know if he was a deacon or not, but he was definitely high up there, and we went up to a door, and he asked the person, you know, do you know 100% sure you're going to heaven? They said yes, and he said, was there a time that you accepted Jesus Christ into your heart? And they said yes. They said amen, that's great, have a nice day. I'm like, whoa, wait a minute. So I'm like, wait a minute, I said, let me ask you a question. I said, do you think that you can lose that salvation? Oh yeah, you gotta do the work, you gotta be baptized, you can do all this stuff, right? So it all came out, like flood waters. Well, what happened was we were winning a lot of people in that church after that, so I had a lot of my friends there, and a lot of the people were like, wow, we didn't realize that you couldn't lose it, and you know, we were lost. And this happens a lot in these Baptist churches, that's why you have a lot of infiltrators, that's why you have a lot of reprobates in there too, but here's the thing, that stirred some waters in that church, because we came in there, and we were just doing what we were normally doing, soul winning, talking about eternal security, and what happened was we were stepping on a lot of the big guys' toes, because a lot of these people that they thought they got saved were coming to them later saying, we need to get baptized because we weren't saved, because they didn't understand eternal security. And I was going out with them, and after this, long story short, I left that church, and the guy didn't believe that the King James, he thought that there was errors in the King James Bible, and that was one of the big reasons, but when I, they called me into this soundproof office to give you an idea of the old IFB, they put you into a soundproof office so that they can yell and berate you, and so I took someone with me, Adam Shuttler, if you ever met him, he's like tall as a tree, so I took that big guy with me, and so they had like four other deacons, and then the pastor was sitting there, and they were just like drilling me with all these questions, right, they were just kind of hitting me with all this stuff, and I don't claim to be Jesus, but I felt like it was the Pharisees, but they were just trying to catch you in your words, right, there's like, there's got to be something we can get them on, because they kept asking me questions, they were like, what about this, what about this, what about this, and there was stuff about, you know, well, we shouldn't hate anybody, well, David said that, you know, do not hate them, O Lord, that hate thee, hate them with the perfect hatred, and they were like, well, what about this, so they would keep going through all this stuff, and the pastor's like, well, hate doesn't mean hate there, and I was like, well, what about Psalm 55, he's like, well, hate doesn't mean hate there, you know, if you go back to the Hebrew, I said it doesn't say hate in that verse, and he's like, oh, so they start, you know, going off on all this stuff, but all I have to say is that one of the big contentions that I found out, I had no idea, to be honest, I did not know that they had a big contention about this eternal security issue, and because I had a big contention with them, but I just kept it to myself, that they were being shallow with their soul winning, they were not going thorough, and they were doing a disservice to everybody in that town, and so I had a big contention with them, but I kept it to myself, but I found out they had a big contention with me for going through eternal security, and they brought this passage, go to Mark chapter 10, Mark chapter 10, so they were throwing all this stuff at me, they're like, well, what about this, what about this, you know, someone doesn't have to believe in eternal security, it came down to the pastor saying, you won't believe this, Jason, but you're adding works to salvation, I'm like, you're right, I don't believe it, because that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life, because eternal security is the gospel, it is eternal life, we say eternal security, but what we're really saying is everlasting life, never ending life, if you don't believe that, you don't believe the record, and you're calling God a liar, and so what they took me to was Mark chapter 10, now they didn't take me there, they were just explaining the story to me, and so I want to read this story, I want to tell you what they said, and I want to tell you how foolish what they said was, and so, and Mark chapter 10, and verse 17, it says, and when he was gone forth in the way, there came one running and kneeled down to him and asked him, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life, so this is a story about the rich man asking Jesus what he can do to inherit eternal life, so let's see what Jesus says here, verse 18, it says, and Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God, thou knowest the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, the fraud not, honor thy father and mother, and he answered and said unto him, master, all these things have I observed from my youth, then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, one thing thou lackest, go thy way whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come take up the cross and follow me, and he was sad at that saying and went away grieved, for he had great possessions, and Jesus looked round about and saith unto his disciples, how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God, and the disciples were astonished at his words, but Jesus answered again, and saith unto them, children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God, and they were astonished out of measure saying among themselves, who then can be saved, you know what they said to me, they said they didn't understand eternal security, they were asking Jesus how can we be saved, they didn't understand they were confused on salvation, they were like how can anybody be saved then, therefore ergo they didn't understand salvation, they didn't understand eternal security, they didn't know what it meant to even be saved. Now Jesus says here, next verse it says, and Jesus looking upon them said, with men it is impossible, but not with God, for with God all things are possible. Now to answer this whole passage of what he's doing here, he's trying to get this guy to realize he's a sinner, because he came to him saying good master, he says why call us out on me good, there's none good but one that is God, so first of all he's trying to show him hey I'm God, because I'm the good shepherd, and there's none that do it good, no not one, so therefore you need to realize that hey you haven't kept all the law, isn't that what he said, I've kept this all from my youth up, you cannot go anywhere, if someone is stuck on the fact that they haven't sinned, there's nowhere else you can go with that, they've got to realize they're a sinner, that's the first thing that we go to right, and so Jesus is the best soul winner out there, so that's why when we go out soul winning the first thing we try to show people is hey you're a sinner, you need a savior, if they don't get to that point what's the point of going through the rest of it, if they don't realize they even need a savior, but then he's saying keep the law, now yes you can go to heaven if you keep the law, if you never offended one point, good luck with that, because there's not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not, so yes if you kept the whole law, never faltered in one point, you would go to heaven, because you're perfect, and Jesus obviously was perfect, so he's the only one that did keep the law, but it says that with men this is impossible, well if they would have read Mark chapter 9, before they got to Mark chapter 10, they'd have the answer to this question, Mark chapter 9 verse 23, Mark chapter 9 verse 23, and then I'll explain to you why the disciples were not confused about salvation, and why they would be astonished at what he's saying here, Mark chapter 9 verse 23 says, Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believe it, so what's the answer to what he said to his disciples, he said this is impossible, meaning that it's impossible for you to keep the law and go to heaven, but with God all things are possible because it's all things are possible to him that believe it, so that answers that question about what he's saying to this man, but here's the thing, you got to think about this through a saved person's eyes, let's say you were there with Jesus, and he tells this guy you got to keep the whole law, wouldn't you be a little surprised too when he said that, who then can be saved, wouldn't you say the same exact thing, if you're like oh I thought it was just by faith, I thought none of us could keep the law, but he's telling this guy you got to keep it all, so you got to look through it as a saved person looking at this passage saying hey you know what, Jesus is telling this guy to do all this stuff, what in the world, that would confuse people if you didn't understand what he's trying to do, and so that's why he answers that, he said this is impossible, what I told this guy to do, it's impossible, but with God all things are possible because to him that believeth they'll be justified from all things which they cannot be justified by the deeds of the law, so they threw this passage at me like oh this is their trump card, that oh they couldn't believe, and so they tried to tell me it was works, to teach people that they had to, I don't know how, they didn't prove that, they didn't try to say why it was works or anything, but it really just came down to that they were getting their toes stepped on and they were getting rebuked or reproved for their weak soul winning and for doing people a disservice by not going through eternal security, another pastor, and it seems, when I leave churches it was either because of the King James Bible or it was like a soul winning, eternal security related issue, and so I was a trouble maker, I believed that the Bible was perfect, without error I didn't believe you had to go back to the Greek, and I also believed that you couldn't lose your salvation but that that was necessary for someone to be saved, they had to understand that, or at least they had to understand that Jesus paid it all, and in turn eternal security teaches that, and so, but this is one that baffles me to this day, okay, go back to first John, we're coming full circle here, go back to first John chapter 5 and verse 10, we're going to end with this one, this is where a pastor turned this verse on its head, and you probably won't even believe this, but this actually happened, this was actually said, and maybe you'll be as baffled as I was, because I didn't know what to say, and by the way none of this happened at the church I was sent out from, so I did not have this course with my pastor that sent me out, thank the Lord for that, so, but first John chapter 5 verse 10, he that believeth on the Son of God hath a witness in himself, he that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave his Son, you know what this pastor told me, he said there's a colon there, see right after it says hath a witness in himself, see that colon, that means everything after that is just re-explaining what's said before, you know what he said, he said that he that believeth not God hath made him a liar is talking about a saved person, yeah, that's what I thought, probably the same reaction, I was just like, I had to take it in, I'm like what in the world are you talking about, because what he said, verbatim, he said well a colon's always, now what you gotta understand is this is the King James Bible that was translated in 1611, and in 1769 they even made punctuation and spelling differences, right, because son used to be s-o-n-n-e, and like s used to look like an f, and so there was like a lot of things in there that, it would be really hard to read right now in the modern English that we read now, but here's the thing, he was saying well colon always just is re-stating something that was said before, it's explaining something that was just said, and generally in our English language today that's true, but not in the King James Bible, and so there was verses off the top of my head when he said this, I'm like I know there's verses that use the colon for a contrasting statement, so I'll give you a couple, in first Peter chapter two verse seven, these are the first ones that came to the top of my head, first Peter chapter two and verse seven, and you'll find this throughout if you ever look for this, not that you would probably care to look for this, you know the colon and how it contrasts statements sometimes, but in first Peter chapter two and verse seven it says unto you therefore which believe he is precious, so there's a subset right, unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but, so there's a colon, but unto them which be disobedient the stone which the builders disallowed the same is made ahead of the corner, obviously two contrasting things right, one believes he's precious unto them, the other one's disobedient meaning they didn't believe therefore he is the stumbling stone to them, contrasting statement, John, go to John chapter three verse 36, one of the verses we use all the time, now you're going to be looking at these colons, I didn't know there was a colon there, but these were two that I hadn't memorized off the top of my head when he said this to me, and for some reason I even remembered that there was a colon, usually I don't remember all the punctuation, I'm just going to be honest with you, I don't try to remember all the punctuation, I'm just trying to get the words down, John 3 36, he that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life, colon, and he that believeth not the sun shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him, so again contrasting statements, no one would say in John 3 36 that these are the same people, right, it's strange, it's weird, and in both these he said well there's a contrasting word in there, but or and, in both those cases, even though there's a colon there, and that was his whole argument, because in 1 John chapter 5 verse 10 there was a colon but there was no but or and or anything like that, well go up a couple verses, John 3 31, John 3 31, it says he that cometh from above is above all, colon, he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth, colon, he that cometh from above is above all, so now you have over here he's from above, colon, contrast, he's from earth, he that is of the earth is earthly, colon, contrast, and so he's contrasting with a colon two different times there, he came full circle with that colon, right, so this whole, that whole argument fell on its head, and this is what you get when you have a bunch of pastors that are weak on soul winning, that don't want, that they go to this Bible college and they're taught you know this one, two, three, repeat after me, they don't want to be taught anything, and when they're backed into a corner that they're not being diligent with their soul winning, and not doing a service to these people out there, then they have to turn the Bible on their head, they have to start saying that the disciples thought they could lose their salvation, they have to start saying that first John five ten, that those that don't believe God, and that are calm and a liar is a sane person, no sane person would read that passage and get that out of that passage, and so they have to try to use grammar and say oh, and as I was talking to him he said, you know the more I read this the more I see that's true, I'm like I don't know what to say to him, I was just like I gotta leave, I gotta go, I can't take this, because I can't talk to somebody that's that illogical. So why do I get upset about this doctrine? Because there are people that are dying and going to hell, there's a bunch of people that are getting a false sense of security, because people aren't diligent enough, because they care too much about the numbers, because they care too much about saying I won ten people to the Lord today, instead of saying I didn't win anybody, but I gave them the gospel, I gave a lot of people the gospel and went through it. You know, you have to go through those days and it is wicked as hell for someone to come in here and tell me that they won someone to Christ, that they didn't go through eternal security, but they led them in a prayer just to get a number. That is wicked as hell, and you know, God have mercy on you if you've done that, but here's the thing, don't do that again, you know, this is a warning out there that we need to take this seriously, soul winning is not a game, this is not a game, we're not here to play church, this is something that I take very seriously, and when it comes to soul winning, when it comes to giving someone the gospel, I take that very seriously, and so I'm not out there playing a game, and I want to do everything I can for them to understand. And in the end, here's the thing, we can only be as thorough as we can be, and I'm not saying to be there for an hour just beating that horse, if they got it, they got it, and some people, it doesn't take that long, some people are just like, man, yeah, that makes sense, that makes sense, I've had people that I've literally, I could have went through the Romans road with them, and they just got it, they were just ready to hear it, and then other people, I'm beating that horse, I'm just like kicking that thing, kicking that thing, kicking that thing, to where it's just like, man, are they going to get it, and I've gone through like the whole book of John, I've gone through all these different passages, and they're just like, yeah, I still think you can lose it though, I'm like, how do you still think you can lose it? But here's the thing, in love, in meekness, in gentleness, we need to guide them, I'm not kicking the pulpit in front of them, right, I'm not like hitting things when I'm talking to them, I'm being very gentle and kind and just trying to show them, hey, no, this is what it takes, this is what it takes, this is what it takes, and in the end, I'd rather spend two hours going through that with someone that's just wanting to hear it, and them not getting saved, then go pray a bunch of prayers with people, and then they don't get saved, and now they think they are, and that's what, the hardest people to win are the people that think they're saved, and that really think that they got that down, and so that's why it angers me when someone doesn't go through eternal security, and people tend to hate us for going through eternal security, and it's not worth salvation, it's not a stumbling block, you know what the stumbling block is, works, the stumbling block is their old religion, there's a lot of stumbling blocks, and the stumbling block can be the word sometimes, as we see here, the disobedient that stumbled at the word, and so, don't tell me that eternal security is a stumbling block, but I want you to see the importance of that, why do we go through eternal security, because it is that important, because if someone doesn't understand it, then they're trusting in their works, they're not trusting in Christ alone, they're not believing the promise, they're not fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform, they're not believing in that record, and they're calling God a liar, and we need to make sure that we're very diligent when we go soul winning, and to take it seriously, and I don't believe that there's anybody in this room, or in this church that has done that, but what I'm saying is that, just take it to note that we need to be diligent, we can always get better at our soul winning presentation, but just be diligent, and in our movement, we have a lot of this happening, I've gone to soul winning marathons, where people would come back with huge numbers, and people that said they'd only been out once maybe, but then they have like ten people saved in two hours, and I'm like, there's no possible way that's true, the most people I've ever won in one day is ten people, and that was like a whole day of soul winning, and even with those, I happened to have people that were in groups, and so I won people like two at a time, and stuff like that, and I know people have won more than that in a day, I'm not saying it's not possible, and you can preach to big crowds and win a lot of people, but I just tend not to believe it, and I hate, I hate not believing it, and so, when I read to you Richard Symes' letter, when he won 41 people to Christ, how many people do you think I believe he won? 41 people to Christ, because I went out with Richie, I know that he's very, very thorough with the gospel, and he's very conservative on who got it, there'll be people that he prays with and be like, yeah, I just don't think they got it though, and he won't count it, there's a guy that doesn't care about the pride of numbers, doesn't care about just having accolades of men in the church, but now he's doing great works for God, he's winning tons of people to Christ, but I believe him when he says that, and I want to believe all these people that are out there winning people to Christ, but you know when these missionaries, these typical missionaries that come back with these thousands of people to Christ, I believe maybe one of them got saved, or a couple maybe, if they're preaching the right gospel, so the importance of eternal security, take it to heart, I pray, if you have any questions about it, come to me, but I am glad that this church stands on that, stands on eternal security, and that we have soul winners that are very diligent when they go out soul winning, and praise God for it, but we need to keep a lock on that, we need to make sure that people understand that that's where we stand here on this issue, so let's end with a word of prayer, Father we thank you for today, and thank you for everybody that came out, and Lord we just thank you for your word, thank you for eternal life, and Lord, salvation being full and free, paid for by you, and we just thank you for that assurance of salvation, just that, just so great to know, but help us Lord as we go out soul winning to be as diligent as we can, and Lord that we would help them to understand in any way that we can, and Lord to not just see them as a number, but as an actual soul that needs to be saved, and Lord we love you and pray all this in Jesus Christ's name, Amen.