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All right, go ahead and open up your green or red hymnals to page 437, Battle Hymn of the Republic, page 437. This is about the most patriotic song I do, so. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He hath loosed the faithful lightning of his terrible flip sword. His truth is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on. I have seen him in the watchfires of a hundred clinging lamps. They have built him an altar in the evening dews and damps. I can read his faithful anger in the damagery lamps. His day is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! His day is marching on. He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never sound retreat. He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat. O be swift my soul to answer him. Be jubilant my feet. Our God is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Our God is marching on. In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea with the glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me. As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free while God is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! While God is marching on. All right, the ushers will come forward to take the offering. Brother Ramon, could you pray for the offering? Heavenly Father, thank you so much, Lord, for this church and this day to worship you in it, Lord. We pray that you bless our church and protect it always and bless this offering that we may serve you with it. In Jesus' name, amen. We pray that you bless our church and protect it always and bless this offering that we may serve you with it. In Jesus' name, amen. 1 John chapter number 5, if you don't have a Bible, there should be a Bible under the seat in front of you. 1 John 5. 1 John 5, the Bible reads, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and every one that loveth him is born of God. And every one that loveth him that begot loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Son of God, this is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God, which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us, and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of him. If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death. I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. And we know that the Son of God has come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. Brother Eli, will you pray for us? Amen. All right. We're in 1 John 5.10. Before I get to the scriptures there, I just want to give you the title of the sermon. The title of the sermon this morning is Steps for New Believers. It's the new series that I'm gonna be going through. It's a seven-part series. And like I said in the announcements, my first sermon's gonna be Assurance of Salvation. Assurance of Salvation. And if you're newly saved, this sermon is, like I said, the first in a series of seven sermons designed to help new believers and to guide them in the way that they should go after being saved. And I realize that pretty much everybody in here is saved, but there could be, of course there's children in here, and maybe possibly other people that might not be saved. So, and unfortunately there's many people out there that get mixed messages and they have been preached a false gospel and messages that are not truth about salvation. Because there's things that the Bible says are another gospel, which are really not another. And we'll go through those scriptures a little bit later into the sermon. But there's a lot of false messages out there. There's false religions out there that'll teach that there's other ways to get to heaven. Even Islam claims that there's other ways to get to heaven. And so they just think that Jesus was just another prophet and even though they claim he's sinless, he was born of the Virgin Mary, we believe that too, but then they say a doppelganger was on the cross and it wasn't really Jesus that died on the cross and Jesus just went to heaven and he's gonna come back and kill the infidels with the Imam Mahdi. So, well Jesus is gonna come back and he is gonna kill the infidels, but he's not gonna be the Islam Jesus. He's the Jesus of the Bible, not the Jesus of the Quran. So, the first sermon purpose is a three-fold purpose. It's designed to help those people that are actually newly saved to strengthen their faith and to teach them truths that might not have been told them when they were born again. Because sometimes people get saved and they're not gonna understand everything, they're not gonna remember everything, and I just want to strengthen the faith of those people and help them maybe to understand things that might not have been hammered home to them. When I got saved, eternal security was not hammered home into me when I got saved. But people get saved nonetheless. There's a lot of churches that preach the gospel and they'll go through everything and they'll go through the gospel just fine. Our church does emphasize eternal security when we go out and preach the gospel, but not every church does, but yet still people get saved because the gospel saves people. And number two, those that were given a false gospel to believe the true gospel and get saved by the true and only gospel that saves that the Bible teaches, not the gospel that man teaches, not the gospel that the devil wants people to believe. Because there is false gospels out there taught by quote-unquote Christian churches that are false. There's a lot of denominations out there that teach a different gospel. They teach a works-based salvation and there's even works and faith mixed salvation that aren't true and I just want to unravel and destroy those arguments in this sermon and to show people that there's no way once someone is truly saved that they could ever lose their salvation no matter what they do. Once saved, always saved. Always saved, that's what the Bible teaches. So number one this morning, let's look down at your Bible and number one, God wants you to know 100% for sure that you are saved. And you're like, well, where does the Bible teach that? Well, look down at 1 John 5 verse 10. The Bible says, He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. So there are people out there and we run into them all the time when we're out knocking doors and soul winning and they don't believe what God has said about salvation. They believe that they can lose their salvation. They don't believe the record that God gave of his Son and we'd like to point these verses out to them because the Bible does say that you can know 100% for sure. The Bible does say that there's a certain record of salvation and if they're saying that salvation is not eternal life they are calling God a liar. Look at what verse number 11 says. And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son. Given to us. Notice that term, given to us eternal life. We don't earn eternal life. God gives it to us. He that hath the Son, hath life. He that hath not the Son of God, hath not life. You either have it or you don't have it. There's two types of people out there. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may know that you have eternal life. So can you know that you have eternal life? Yes you can know because the Bible says that you may know you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. So what does God want you to do? He wants you to believe on the name of the Son of God and he wants you to know that you have eternal life. That's why we ask that question at the door to people. Are you 100% sure that you're going to heaven if you die today or if you were to pass away today are you 100% sure you're on your way to heaven? And what do people like to say after that? They say well nobody can be 100% sure. Nobody knows that. Nobody knows that. Do you know that? I'm like yeah I do. The Bible says that you can know and I quote these verses and go to John chapter 20 please. Go to John chapter 20 and Jesus himself so John the apostle he wrote first John of course it's named after him but he also wrote the gospel of John. He wrote the book of Revelation. He wrote first, second and third John so he wrote a lot of the New Testament when it comes down to it you know you have Paul wrote over half the New Testament and John has the most written in scripture after the apostle Paul and you have John 20 verse 30 here and it tells us the reason why the gospel of John was written to us. Look what it says. And many other signs, verse 30, many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book. You just can't capture it all in one book all the ministry years and the things of Jesus' life but it says these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ or the Messiah that's what it means. The son of God and that believing you might have life through his name. So why is the book of John written? The gospel of John that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God and that by believing you might have life through his name. What kind of life? What kind of life? Eternal life. I just got done showing you those verses. So when people say that to you at the door and they say well nobody can really know that's not true. You can know for sure. The Bible says you can know for sure and it's by believing on the son of God that's how we're saved. It's not just generically God even though God is a name of God of course but you have to specifically believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You have to call upon his name and ask him to be saved by faith right? So look at John chapter three. John chapter three. You're like well prove it. Well I can show you tons of verses in John but I'm just gonna go to a few other passages where Jesus himself is telling you how to be saved. John chapter three of course is has some of the most famous verses in the whole Bible and this string of verses he's trying to show Nicodemus how to be saved and he just hammers these verses home and says it in multiple different ways so that Nicodemus and you know not just Nicodemus but the whole world can see these verses. Why are they so famous? Well because it's super clear crystal clear verses on how to be saved and what being saved actually means. What is it? It says in John excuse me John chapter three verse 15 it says that whosoever that means anyone right? Whosoever believeth in him should not perish meaning going to hell but have eternal life. So if you believe in him you won't perish but have eternal life. Eternal life means what? A life that doesn't terminate. It doesn't end. You have everlasting you know you have eternal life. Look at verse 3 16 the most famous verse in the whole Bible by far for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him again that means anyone believe means believes right? in him should not perish he's repeating himself again but have everlasting life. What does everlasting mean? It means the same thing as eternal. It means a life that lasts forever. Everlasting means it lasts forever right? For God sent not the son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. So there's no what is it saying? Through him. That's the way you get saved is through him. He that believeth on him is not condemned. If you believe in Jesus you're not condemned isn't that what it says? But he that believeth not is condemned already. There's a lot of people out there and they're already condemned. You're like well that's not fair but they're already condemned because they're sinful and they're marked as sinful people they have to put their faith in Jesus or they're already condemned it says because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. Why are they condemned? Because they haven't believed. Why are they going to hell? Because they haven't believed. So what is Jesus hammering home here? You have to believe in him. You have to believe in him. And what do you get when you believe in him? Everlasting life. That's what being saved means. You don't perish. You don't go to hell. You have everlasting life. Turn to John chapter 5 verse 24. John chapter 5 verse 24. The Bible says verily verily means truly truly I say unto you he that heareth my word and believe believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life. That word hath means has our modern vernacular would say has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation. You won't be condemned. You can't go to hell. But is passed from death unto life. Once you believe in Jesus you have everlasting life. It's present tense. And you are past. But is past. That means that's present tense. You already are past from death unto life. Right then. So it's not something that you still have to attain to. It's something that happens the moment you get saved. Look at John chapter 6 verse 40. John chapter 6 verse 40. It says in John chapter 6 verse 40. So far have I read you any verses that say that you have to repent of your sins. Or that you have to make Jesus the Lord of your life. There is no verse in the King James Bible that says you have to repent of your sins to be saved. There is no verse in the King James Bible that says you must make Jesus the Lord of your life. There is no verse in the Bible that says you have to do works to be saved. So what is Jesus saying? He's making some clear statements isn't he? So shouldn't you trust these red letters? If you have a red letter Bible this is Jesus talking. So these words are the words that you should trust. Not some preacher. Not some person that's telling you stuff. You should just listen to what the Bible is saying. What the word of God is telling you. John 6 40 says, 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. If you die and you've believed on Jesus he's gonna come back and he's gonna raise you up and give you everlasting life. So yes our bodies will die. These bodies that we live in right now they can't go to heaven the way they are. Because even when you're saved your body still is flesh and your flesh will fight against your new man, your new spirit that God gives you. The Holy Spirit will fight against that flesh until the day that your physical body dies and then Jesus is gonna come back he's gonna resurrect that body and turn it into a body that cannot die. It'll still be your body but it'll just be a body that can't die it can't get dander from BO and all that stuff it can't be hurt you don't have to sleep and you're gonna have you're gonna be immortal. That's basically what it means. So skip to verse 47. Here's a real plain statement. Verily, verily, I say unto you he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I mean that's just pretty simple right? Multiple verses here where Jesus is just saying it's faith alone, it's believing alone it's trust alone and you get everlasting life. Look at Ephesians chapter two verse number eight. Ephesians chapter two verse number eight. Ephesians two verse number eight the Bible says for by grace are you saved through faith. Faith is another word for believing. Grace means that you're getting something that you don't deserve. We are sinners. We don't deserve to go to heaven. We're saved because of what Jesus did for us. God gave him for a sacrifice for sins. Jesus never sinned. Jesus was punished for something he didn't do. Jesus shed his blood for us for something that we did. He took our punishment. He died on the cross. He went to hell for three days and three nights. He rose from the dead victoriously so that we could go to heaven. He put his blood upon the mercy seat. He satisfied the atonement. He's the one that did it all. We had nothing to do with that. And our works are filthy rags in his sight. We can't offer anything. We just have to say we have to just have to plead the blood of Christ and he just gives it to us. He gives us everlasting life. He says for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's nothing that we've done. It is the gift of God. So what is the Bible teaching here? Salvation's a gift. It's given to us. It's not something that you help earn. He doesn't say believe in me and then do a bunch of good works and then I'll get you to heaven. It says it's a gift. It's something that you get for free. That's the definition of a gift. Something you get for free. That person that gave it to you paid something for it. So who paid for salvation? Jesus paid for salvation and when he paid for it he can offer it for free to whoever he wants to. But there's a prerequisite for that. You just have to believe. And believing is not a work. Believing is faith. I've never seen Jesus. You've never seen Jesus and if you have you should probably check into a mental institution because he's in heaven. He left. The last person that saw him was the apostle Paul. I'll show you those verses later. But it says it's not of works in verse nine. You see that? You're looking down your Bible. It says not of works. So what are works? Trying to do good things. Trying not to do bad things. That's work. Repenting of your sins, hard work. Now should you repent of your sins after you get saved? Absolutely. You should try to cut those sins out of your life and let God help you do those things. But a person does not have to do those things as a prerequisite for being saved. And submitting yourself and saying you're gonna make Jesus the Lord of your life. That's not a prerequisite for being saved. The Bible never says that. And so people that believe that they still continue to sin. How is Jesus the Lord of their life? And they're just submitting completely to Jesus and they're still out sinning. That's not making him the Lord of your life and the Bible never says that you have to do that. It says lest any man should boast because I guarantee you if this is part of salvation that you just had to do a bunch of works also that people would be bragging about how good they are. And guess what? People that believe this they go around and brag about how holy they are all the time. And even people that believe that you have to show works to prove you're saved they still go around and brag and act all holier than thou and ultra spiritual. Look at Romans chapter six verse 23. Romans chapter six verse 23. The Bible says for the wages of sin is death. That's what we deserve for our sin. We don't deserve heaven. We deserve death. And that death is not merely talking about the death of our body it's talking about death and hell. That's called the second death. It says but the gift of God is eternal life. So there's another verse there that teaches that salvation is a gift. The gift of God is what? The gift of God is what? Eternal life. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. You can't take that part out either. It's not through anybody else. It's not through Buddha. It's not through Mohammed. It's not through Krishna or any other guru of any kind. It's not through Joseph Smith. It's not through Charles Taze Russell. It's not through any other human or any other God so called. It's through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's what the Bible teaches. You can't get to heaven. You can't get eternal life through anybody else but by Jesus. And I'm just pointing out here also there's another verse that says it's a gift. Now turn to Romans chapter 4 verse number 5. Romans chapter 4 verse number 5. Romans chapter 4 verse number 5. It says and for those people that say well you do have to work for it. I believe that you still do have to work for it because faith without works is dead or whatever. I'll address that at the end of the sermon but look at this verse here. Romans 4 five it says but to him that worketh not that means to him that doesn't do any works right but believeth on him that's Jesus right that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness. What does that mean? Well the fact that he believes is counted for righteousness. Jesus puts his righteousness on us when we believe. Isn't that what has been said throughout this sermon already? Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness what's those last two words say? Without works. Without works. So God imputes righteousness see we don't get to heaven by our own righteousness. The blood of Christ has to be applied to us we're not going to heaven. When God sees the blood of Christ he passes over us like in Exodus chapter 12 that's the picture of the blood being stricken upon the doorpost. God passed over those houses because it's a picture of him passing over people that are saved and then the people that don't have the blood he destroyed them didn't he? He destroyed their first born but he's not going to destroy us because the blood of Christ if the blood of Christ is applied to you it's imputed to you then God will not impute sin to you. Look what it says in verse number actually look at verse 7 it says, saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. When you get saved look your iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered how do I know it's all of them? It's not just the ones until you get saved. Look what it says in verse 8 blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Once you get saved there's no more imputing sin to you. Now you're like well I know but why do I still get punished while I'm here for the things I commit here? Because God will punish those things we do here but when you're talking about the whole account you're still passed over and still get to go to heaven. But he has to punish sin here otherwise he would have to punish it in hell. So we get punished here for the things we do but we're never going to get punished in hell for the things we do. He passes over and ultimately we get to go to heaven because of imputed righteousness. So that means Jesus puts his righteousness upon us and we don't have to go to hell. And that's good news isn't it? Number two this morning. There is only one true gospel and everything else is false. There's only one true gospel and everything else is false. And I've kind of already been talking about this a little bit but let's look at John chapter 14. John chapter 14 verse 6. John chapter 14 verse 6. The Bible says and this is Jesus it says it's Jesus saying this Jesus saith unto him I am and this is like a famous thing in the Bible that Jesus says multiple times. When he says I am he's claiming to be God. I am the way. So that term the means the definite article. He is the way. The only way right? The truth. The only truth. And the life. The only life. No man cometh unto the Father. Where does the Father live? God's throne is in heaven as Psalm chapter 11 says right? But by me. There's another verse bolstering the fact that salvation is through Jesus Christ alone. The only way to get to heaven the only way to get to the Father is by Jesus Christ alone. That's what the Bible is teaching here. Turn to Galatians chapter 1 Galatians chapter number 1 Galatians chapter number 1 verse number 6 Galatians chapter 1 verse number 6 The Bible says I marvel that you're so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. What's happening here? The apostle Paul is talking to these churches that he started in this province called Galatia which is modern day now the area called Turkey. Okay? So he's saying that people are coming and they're saying another gospel to them. They're preaching another gospel. And look people will do this now. If you're saved I'm sure you've had Mormons come to your door and they come with what? Another gospel of Jesus Christ isn't that what they say? It's a new one. And guess what? It's brought to you with another book. They bring the Bible but then they try to pull the switcheroo and give you the Book of Mormon. It's another gospel. Another testament of Jesus Christ is what they say. So what's Paul saying? I marvel that you're so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ onto another gospel. Which is not another. So he just wants you to understand it's not really another one. They're saying it's another one. But there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. And this I really just want you to understand this new believer and you know any believer that there are people out there that they seemingly would be trying to do something right and good but in reality they might look nice they might have a little badge that says elder on it they might have a nice white t-shirt or a colored shirt with a tie they might have a nice sharp haircut and they might look nice they're riding little bicycles and going ding ding ding right? They might offer to help you with your lawn care. They might offer to help you move some stuff into your house and give you cookies and kool-aid or whatever but they're inside they're ravening wolves they're bringing to you another gospel same thing with Jehovah's Witnesses. I mean I think that they've stopped kind of going door to door now they stand outside with their trashy garbage watchtower magazines or whatever and then they write letters and send them to your house now you know after COVID they're just all freaked out or whatever I don't know they just don't want to go door to door anymore now it's just that maybe the watchtower has deemed it not necessary to go door to door anymore or something which I'm glad because I just get tired of telling them to go to hell but anyway but he says which is not another but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ so the other gospels that are out there are perversions of the gospel they're not the true gospel it says but the we so Paul's talking about himself and the people that he rolls with or an angel from heaven what did Joseph Smith tell everybody that an angel came to him with these golden plates and then he looked in his magic hat with some stones and then wrote the book of Mormon out of that so he literally said what the apostle Paul warned us about the we even if they sent them a letter and said it was the apostle Paul he said don't believe this the we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed look these people are wicked and they can look nice and be nice what's the Bible say about people like this they're called wolves in sheep's clothing and people are like well I just can't believe that that church person did this it's like wolves in sheep's clothing they look like church people they act like church people but on the inside they're wolves and what do wolves like to do they like to eat sheep that's their favorite dinner and sometimes they just like to gut them and leave them for dead they don't even really care about eating them all the time they'll go through a whole flock and kill them all and then not eat them all they just want to kill and destroy so now Paul is using some pretty strong language here what does a curse mean let them go to hell that's what Paul is saying well the apostle Paul would never say something like that he's only loving he wrote Romans 1 read Romans 1 see what it says and as we said before he's going to just say it again right as we said before so say I now again if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received let him be what's it say accursed let him be damned let him go to hell okay that's what it's saying you know and look the Bible doesn't mince words you know preachers mince words preachers don't want to tell you what the Bible says because this might hurt your feelings you might stop tithing and go to their church that's why they don't preach stuff like this but look we got to be honest with what the Bible says and Mormons the Bible says you should not receive these types of people in your house because then or say or bid them God's speed because they that bid them God's speed are partakers of their evil deeds don't ever let a Mormon come into your house don't ever let a Jehovah's Witness come into your house because you're receiving them into your house and then when you say oh God bless you you're a partaker of their evil deeds you want to be a partaker with the Mormons evil deeds of sending people to hell because that's what they're doing they're getting followers to follow them into hell they're agents of Satan for real I'm not just saying that they are they can look nice they can act nice but they're not really nice they have an agenda so turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 11 2 Corinthians chapter 11 now being saved is easy I already showed you all those verses where the Bible teaches that being saved is easy it's believing on the Lord Jesus Christ that is a simple thing to do but it says in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 3 Paul is saying again here but I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ see he's warning people again but what's he saying that he doesn't want people's minds to be corrupted and so this is a message to all believers don't let somebody corrupt your mind from the simplicity that is in Christ what does that mean that the doctrine of being saved is simple it's easy and people that are even simple minded can get the gospel pretty easily so it says for if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus whom we have not preached or if you receive another spirit which you have not received or another gospel which you have not accepted you might bear with him so look he's saying there are people that preach another Jesus there are people that preach another spirit that's not the Holy Spirit and another gospel which is not the real gospel didn't Paul just say those people are cursed skip down to verse 12 it says but what I do which is he's warning people that I will do that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion look these false prophets these false teachers what do they want they want an occasion to mess with your minds to corrupt your minds with the simplicity that is Christ and that's what these people that want to go back to the law they want to circumcise people circumcision is the heart it's not of the flesh they want to put you under the ten commandments they want to make you blow these ram horns in your services and all this weird stuff and make you wear these prayer shawls and rock your head back and forth and all this weird stuff and keep these feasts and new moons Jesus Christ did all the away with all that stuff we don't have to keep the Sabbath anymore Jesus Christ is our Sabbath so but look what it says in verse 13 for such are false apostles anybody that calls themselves an apostle today they're false there's no more apostles today deceitful workers transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ and no marvel it shouldn't be like wow I can't believe that these people are calling themselves apostles it says for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light isn't that what Joseph Smith received an angel came to him that might have been Satan himself I mean because look at how popular the Mormon religion is even though they're clearly a cult and that there's millions of followers of Jehovah's Witnesses clearly a cult there's millions of Seventh Day Adventists clearly a cult there's millions of billions of Catholics clearly a cult you're like oh Catholics are a cult yes Orthodox clearly a cult oh you're stepping on the Orthodox have been around for a thousand I don't care they're a cult you have to kiss some icons to walk inside one of their buildings they're a cult that's weird you kiss old saints bones and stuff cult you have to be baptized to be saved cult they don't teach the right salvation this is therefore it is no great thing if his ministers you know the people that say that they're Christians or whatever religion also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness so what what do you mean transformed these people are wicked these people are evil and but what do they do they pretend to be ministers of righteousness whose end shall be according to their works what are their works wicked evil so how does God judge people that are doing these wicked things he sends them to hell and not only you know some of these people are getting sent to the lower hell to the lower depths of hell I'm sure Joseph Smith is in a lower level than a lot of other people because he's the one that started it he's the one that made that lie with his angel Muhammad same thing he said some jinn came to him which is like a genie or whatever but he said you know it's kind of they say it's an angel same thing as Joseph Smith both of them perverts Muhammad's a pervert he's a pedophile it's a pedophile religion you know people get all mad and scared about that or whatever they're pedophiles folks and their book is trash it doesn't even make sense it's garbage so now turn to first Corinthians 15 first Corinthians 15 what am I trying to warn you about here that there are evil people out there that will try to corrupt your minds and teach you things that are not true about salvation and they'll try to corrupt you and say oh the Bible's not that simple salvation's not that simple you do have to do works you do have to do all these other things you have to show your works or you're not really saved stuff like that and you know they'll say you can lose your salvation and they'll take you to verses that say that now look at first Corinthians 15 one it says moreover brethren I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you which also ye have received and wherein ye stand so he's talking about the gospel he preaches that they received and that that's the gospel that they stand in that's the one that saves right look at verse two by which also ye are saved he's making it very clear this is the gospel that you're saved by if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you unless ye have believed in vain I'll cover this here in just a second for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures according to the Bible right and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures and that he was seen of Cephas then of the twelve after that he was seen above five hundred brethren at once of whom the greater part remained to this present but some are falling asleep after that he was seen of James then of all the apostles and last of all he was seen of me also as of one born out of due time so four times Paul says he was seen you notice that I've never noticed that before I just was studying for the sermon but he says it four times so the gospel is that he died according to the scriptures he was buried he rose from the dead and he was seen there was witnesses to the fact that he was seen this is you know the basic concept or nutshell of what the gospel is he's saying this is how you're really saved now then he says unless you believed in vain what does that mean well unless you didn't actually believe that's what it means unless you just it was just like oh you just said it or it wasn't really a true belief you believed in vain maybe it's because you believe now let me just show tell you what the context of this passage is though what is what is first Corinthians chapter 15 actually about what is it called it's called the resurrection chapter isn't it this is the chapter it's a long chapter and Paul's mainly focusing in this chapter about the resurrection of Christ so why is he saying unless you believed in vain because there's some people that were going around saying that there is no resurrection right so that's the context of the passage and he's saying there's people are saying that there is no resurrection and he's saying well if there is no resurrection then you're dead in your sins if you believed you know in Christ and you didn't believe that there was a resurrection that's believing in vain because that's not the right gospel that's the context of this passage so if you believe in some form of gospel that doesn't teach the resurrection or that you don't believe the resurrection you believed in vain that's not a true belief you know it's an empty gospel that cannot save right if your gospel you believe teaches that Jesus is not God manifest in the flesh and that he is in fact God and that's not the Jesus of the Bible you have to believe in the right Jesus the Mormon Jesus you know is not the Jesus of the Bible the Mormon Jesus is the smiley long haired hippie skinny effeminate that's brothers with Satan and that he had a better plan for mankind or whatever bunch of garbage and then he came back and visited the Native Americans later on which that's just not true not that the natives don't deserve to be visited or whatever I'm just saying that that's just not true if your gospel you believe teaches that you had to turn from or repent of your sins in order to be saved you believed in a works based salvation you believed in vain that's not the real gospel if you were told that you had to make Jesus the sovereign Lord of your life the Bible never says the word sovereign by the way in order to be saved you believed in vain the Bible doesn't say that anywhere in the scriptures if you believe you can lose your salvation by committing certain sins by like walking away giving it back setting it on some hypothetical shelf that's not in the Bible you believed in vain and you are yet in your sins you believed a false gospel but you don't have to remain in that state because if someone preached you a false gospel or you had the wrong idea you can still get saved right away all you have to do is just simply put all your faith in Jesus Christ and him alone and call upon him and ask him to save you it's pretty simple but the hard part is admitting to yourself that you never were really saved and this is the hard part when we go out soul winning when people won't admit that they weren't saved when you first got there they won't change their mind to repent when it comes to salvation means you have to change your mind about whatever false thing you believed and you have to truly get saved the way the Bible says you have to put your faith in Jesus alone and change your mind about the fact that you thought you had to repent of your sins or that you thought you had to do works to you thought your baptism saved you or whatever false notion that you had you have to change your mind and believe the truth that's what true biblical repentance is talking about so if that's what you believe about repentance then I 100% agree with you but if you had to turn from your sins that's not no, you can't turn from your sins until after you get saved doing it before you get saved is dead works that's what the Bible teaches so if you didn't truly get saved by someone if you think you got saved by someone that preached you a false gospel you have to swallow your pride and admit that you weren't really saved and you have to trust Christ alone as your savior that's it the Bible says in 2 Peter chapter 1 10 it says wherefore rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if you do these things you shall never fall so what is Peter saying he's saying make sure that you're actually saved and so if you didn't get saved according to what I have already gone over then you need to make sure that you actually are saved for real what if what is it that you trust in for your salvation repenting of your sins making Jesus Lord of life being a good person being baptized going to church what is the right answer believing in the Lord Jesus Christ should be the right answer so make sure you believe the right thing the simple easy gospel of faith alone in Jesus Christ number three this is my last point and I'm just gonna kind of cover common things false teachers will say to make you doubt your salvation now I'm not gonna go I mean there's a lot of things that false teachers will say so I'm just gonna try to hit the things that I I could think about last night if there's anything else well maybe I'll have to cover it another sermon or something but there's a lot of scriptures that false teachers love to twist they love to twist passages in the Bible and make them appear to say that someone can lose their salvation or that you have to do works to be saved all these other things let's look at the first one 2 Peter well let's just look at 2 Peter chapter 3 go ahead and turn to 2 Peter chapter 3 this is just kind of proof that people do this kind of thing I've already kind of showed you some verses but this is a good passage here we'll look at 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 15 the Bible says there's some hard passages in the Bible and you know some things you're not gonna get right away and Paul does say some things that are hard to understand and that's because he you know he's saved and he understands a lot of doctrine that might not always be clear to everybody but you know sometimes the Bible's gonna be hard and sometimes you're not gonna understand the first time through reading it you're not gonna understand everything God's gonna let you understand things as you mature and grow as a Christian but it says rest that word rest is another word you could say twist as they do also the other scriptures unto their own destruction so he's saying that there's some people that take things that are hard to be understood they take scriptures that might not be the easiest scriptures to wrap your mind around or that unlearned or unstable people they take those things and they twist those scriptures and other scriptures onto their own destruction ye therefore beloved seeing you know these things before and this is another reason why I'm preaching this sermon because I want you to know these things before someone gets a hold of your mind and tries to poison you with these things beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness so you don't want the error of the wicked to take you by surprise and to fall from your own steadfastness you know be steadfast is what the bible says so steadfast is your unmovable you're not going to move from the doctrine that you've already been taught so this sermon is to help you to warn you that there are people out there that are like that that not everybody's your friend not everybody has the best intentions for you and if you know it says elder on their pen that they're not your friend no matter how nice they try to be look do you think that false prophets are just not nice no they pretend to be nice they pretend to be our friends you know there's people that would pretend you know to like John MacArthur's church they tried to come and rent space from us and hold church services in between our services I didn't even answer them I'm not going to have some Calvinist church in here are you kidding me? John MacArthur's like one of the worst devils he's on his last legs that hopefully dies and goes to hell soon they're going to let their disciples come and rent space from our church you've got to be kidding me anyway it says look also some denominations and cults will teach a false doctrine and pass those false teachings onto unsuspecting Christians to get them to doubt and this is what was happening with Paul and the Galatians the whole book of Galatians is basically like Paul's like I'm afraid of you lest I bestow labor on you and then you're just like some apostates or something he really harps on them because it seems as though they're getting carried away by these people that are teaching a works based salvation your own flesh and mind will sometimes make you doubt your salvation so you already have enough hard enough time you're doing some sin and you're like how could I be saved if I'm still sinning but look like I said there's a war going on between your flesh and your spirit and sometimes your flesh wins because it's not like you're never going to sin again once you get saved that's just not true and people will say well you know they'll say how could you they're born again they'll never smoke cigarettes again it's just like oh yeah it's easy for you to say that because you just never smoked before but smoking cigarettes is a physical addiction and a mental addiction but they like to pick on things that they don't do but a Christian would never say that word or a Christian would ever do this or that it's like Christians are capable of doing any sin in the Bible pretty much not sodomy but that's another subject altogether so anyway your flesh and your mind will tell you or ask you how can you be saved and think those thoughts how can you be saved and do these things so you already have enough battle in your mind over that and every once in a while you might dial your salvation I think that you probably do it more when you're a young Christian than you would as an older Christian but being backslidden doesn't mean that you're unsaved and continuing to struggle with sin it'll be something that lasts until Christ returns but it's something that we have to fight that's why Jesus says take up your cross daily and follow up for me he doesn't say take up your cross once and you're never going to sin again it's a daily fight it's a daily battle morning by morning new mercies we see because every day we need more mercy because we screw up every day right? a Catholic will say if you commit suicide it's a mortal sin and you cannot be saved no matter what and they pass this on to other people that might not even be Catholic that's why I always ask that question at the door I make sure that if they get eternal security then they'll answer the question right about suicide and because Catholics pass this on to other people and they say well no you wouldn't be saved because you killed yourself well yeah but if you're saved you'd go to heaven I'm not saying for people to kill themselves obviously but you still would go to heaven if you were saved Samson went to heaven Saul went to heaven, King Saul I just talked about that on Thursday it hit the fell possibly went to heaven it seems as though he was saved even though he betrayed David he kind of pictures Judas but maybe he wasn't I don't know that's kind of a toss up for me I haven't really pulled into that too much but that's three people that killed themselves and at least two of those guys are saved you know there's also the journey doctrine that gets taught out there you'll be saved as long as you don't stop believing right I haven't gone to that one in a long time but that's what people say as long as you keep believing you'll be saved it's like look if you're saved you're not going to quit believing that's not going to happen but here's the confusion is that the church that they went to they've watched lots of people come and pretend to get saved or they got saved by a false gospel and then the next thing they know they're the worst wicked person in the world and that they're completely fallen away from the faith they're saying they're not even a Christian they don't believe in Jesus anymore and so when someone sees that and they're still going to church they're going to say well yeah they lost their salvation so I understand why people would think that turn to 2 Timothy chapter 2 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse number 13 now I believe that this passage is actually talking about when we lack faith as a Christian that's what I believe that this is the primary teaching of this but it still would apply to someone that would say what if we're just lacking faith in our salvation but I think that if someone is truly you know you can't show them if someone says I don't believe I'm saved or I'm doubting my salvation and you just keep showing them verse after verse and they say I just don't believe that I'm saved even after that then I think well maybe they do need to get saved but if you can show them clear scripture and that just helps them then they're probably saved but this verse here 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 13 says if we believe not yet he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself so if we get saved the promise is that we will never lose eternal life so if someone you know because some people say well I think that you're saved as long as you keep believing and that is why I say that's the journey doctrine because journeys sing that stupid song but that's not true but I don't again I don't believe that someone's ever going to quit believing if they're truly saved they will never quit believing but then you'll see people like I said that will pretend to get saved or they got saved by a false gospel and they'll completely turn into atheist they'll completely turn or they'll go to some cult they'll go join the orthodox church or they'll join a catholic cult or some other cult and it's like well that person would just never really save that's what I believe it is they just were never really saved because nobody's going to be a bible believing born again christian and turn into an atheist that's just not possible and you're like well yeah it is no it's not you are saved forever and if you try to go to a mormon cult or you're an atheist that means you're not saved if you're believing in false damnable heresy you're not saved so nobody just quits believing they were never saved in the first place you only get saved once you know some people say you can lose it but if you repent then you're saved again right we run into this all the time too oh yeah I mean well because you say well if you sit what if you're because they'll say I believe in jesus you know we they pass the first test us I believe you know jesus is my savior I believe in jesus you say well is there anything you can do to lose your salvation you know if you committed a horrible sin would you still go to heaven well yeah if I repent that's what they say and what they mean by that is that if they repent of that sin you know if they sin a horrible sin they'll lose their salvation but if they repent they get it back but the bible does not teach that the bible teaches that you're born again jesus told Nicodemus you must be born again there's no teaching in the bible where people say you know and when we ask people hey have you been born again they don't say oh yeah I've been born again and again and again again and again nobody ever says that do they have you has anybody ever heard anybody say please raise your hand has anybody ever said oh yeah I've been born again and again and again and again has anybody ever said that that's truly what they would have to say if they believe that doctrine really wouldn't they oh yeah I've been born again and again and again and again and again and again they'd have to say it like 50 times a day or something people sin every single day so that's what they really have to say but jesus said you have to be born again how many times were you born everybody in this room was born one time by their mother and hopefully nobody by their father because that's just not possible unless you're some name around anyway you're born once by your mother jesus said you must be born again that birth is talking about a spiritual rebirth when you're saved you're born once by the spirit once by the water once by the spirit right you're born by water and blood when you come out of your mother's womb there's water and blood come out right when you're saved by the spirit you're born again into god's family not again and again and again and again just one time so once by mama once by god almighty spiritually turn to matthew chapter 7 verse 21 this is another verse that people just love to pick but it's not really saying what they think it says it's really actually in our favor but people say these people have lost their salvation look at this passage this is where they lost their salvation matthew 7 21 it says not everyone that saith unto me lord lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven so they'll say see this person said that they were saved but they're not actually going to be saved it says many will say to me lord lord have we not prophesied thy name preached in thy name have cast out devils in thy name done many wonderful works and then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity now so they'll say see there's people that will have believed but they go to hell because they lost their salvation but did it say that they believed in that passage no it says they said that they did many wonderful works are works what save you works don't save you so when they say that they've done all these wonderful works they're giving themselves we call this their works resume when we talk to people at the door oh I'm a good person I've rescued many puppies from getting killed at no kill shelters or kill shelters I was a teacher I was a school teacher for 30 years I was in operation Iraqi freedom I was a soldier I've raised a good family these are reasons why people say that they're going to heaven they'll give you all these things that they've done they've done all these wonderful works but unless they're saved by faith in Jesus Christ this last sentence is what Jesus is going to say to every one of them so this is they're actually they pull this verse out but in reality this verse works against them because when they try to say we've done these wonderful works Jesus is going to say to them depart from me you workers of iniquity I never knew you not I knew you didn't knew you didn't know you knew you didn't know you knew you didn't know you because wouldn't there be people if you could get saved and not saved and saved and not saved and saved and not saved and born again not born again born again there'd be multiple instances of this right but he said I never knew you not I I knew you once but now I didn't know you that statement wouldn't be true I never knew you that means they were never saved in the first place isn't that what it means so that the verse doesn't work as far as giving the gift back of salvation there's another teaching out there the Pentecostals like to use that you can just give back your salvation and there's nowhere in the Bible a verse that teaches that there is some hypothetical shelf where you can give it back because this is I've heard this multiple times out sowing sure you have to that you can place your salvation on some shelf who's heard that before out sowing hands all over where's the shelf show me the chapter and verse on shelf in the Bible where you can place your salvation back on it where are they getting this from so next time somebody asks you that question out sowing would somebody please just ask me or ask that person where's the shelf in the Bible because I really want to know like there's this false doctrine has to have some some you know it's just like purgatory or Abraham's bosom has these the apocrypha or whatever I want to know where this is coming from I really want to get to the etymology of the shelf but anyway so salvation is a gift that is true they say they can give it back can you give back a gift that someone gives you absolutely gifts can be returned or thrown away or regifted or given away that's also true but salvation is everlasting so it's a gift that lasts forever so that particular gift cannot be given away once you have it it's yours forever whether you like that or not if you want to give it back it's too late it's like one of those gifts you can't give back that's the only gift you can't give back really but I mean maybe there are other gifts you know if you get a child I mean I guess you could give it back to somebody you can put them up for adoption but it's still your child no matter what right so but salvation is a gift that you cannot give back because it lasts forever otherwise it wouldn't be forever it wouldn't be eternal it wouldn't be everlasting people say well here's another thing well I'll get people at the door they'll say well you know if you what about if someone blasting the Holy Spirit that's a common thing that people say well I could lose my salvation if I blasting the Holy Spirit but because Jesus said if you blasting the Holy Spirit blasting the Holy Ghost you have no forgiveness in this life nor in the life to come but here's the thing about that you can't lose your salvation therefore you cannot blast from the Holy Ghost and be saved I mean it's just common sense nobody that's saved would ever do that so it's just like God's just not gonna allow you to do that and nobody would want to do that if they were saved anyway so like it's just a that's it's kind of a dumb hypothetical it's kind of like saying that a Christian would take the mark of the beast turn to Mark or Matthew chapter 24 verse 24 Matthew chapter 24 verse 24 so the Bible's clear that anybody that takes the mark of the beast they'll have no rest day or night who worship the beast in his image whosoever receive with the mark of his name so that's saying that they're gonna go to hell right and if anybody messes with the or corrupts the Bible their part will be taken out of the book of life it says in Revelation chapter 22 so this verse kind of just helps you to understand this Matthew chapter 24 verse 24 for there shall arise false Christ and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders in so much that what does it say there if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect if it were possible what does that what does that statement mean if it were possible but it's not possible no but if you're saved you're not gonna be fooled by the mark of the beast you're not gonna corrupt scripture you're not gonna blaspheme the Holy Ghost and so your name can't be taken out of the book of life for corrupting scripture because it's not gonna happen you're not gonna do it you're not gonna do any sin that would cause you to just be terminated out of the book of life and everybody's name is written in the book of life and I don't really have time to get into this but everybody's name starts out in the book of life and if there is some sort of sin like those things that are committed that God just you're done you're canceled at that point he blots your name out of the book of life and you're finished forever if you blaspheme the Holy Ghost if you reject God and he rejects you God's done with you he blots your name out of the book of life and a Christian cannot do that a Christian is saved forever and God cannot lie in hope of eternal life which God who cannot lie promised before the world began and unlike us God keeps his promises and God can't lie so he can't take your name out of the book of life he cannot take away your salvation so anybody that's saying you can lose your salvation is just a lying piece of garbage false prophet don't listen to him and so there's other ones but I don't have time to really get into them but people will say you know that you can faith without works is dead but it's still faith they'll use that verse faith without works is dead you know they always want to use that verse Mormons love to use that verse but you know it's still faith a car without a car battery is still a car isn't it a dead flattened squirrel on the ground is still a dead flattened squirrel it's just it's body or whatever it's spirit is gone but it's still a squirrel isn't it so just because faith you know you can't see someone's faith without seeing some works but it doesn't mean that they don't have faith it just means you can't see it that's what that means so those are some basic things that people will use to try to veer you off the path and in the context of James chapter 2 there's a lot of James verses that people try to rip out and in Hebrews they'll try to say you can lose your faith you can be unsaved or whatever but like I said people take these verses and they'll try to twist them so don't let anybody tell you you can lose your salvation always go with the clear scripture you know of faith alone and by grace alone and that it's an everlasting life if someone brings you some verse that seems to be teaching you can lose your salvation rest assured they're twisting obscure and hard passages to you know in the Bible to fit their false doctrine this is what they do salvation is easy it's eternal it's free it's as easy as eating a piece of bread drinking a glass of water walking through a door looking at a snake on a pole alright it lasts forever you can't lose it or give it away it costs Jesus his perfect sinless life his shed blood and he suffered in hell for you he resurrected from the dead for you and he's preparing a nice place in heaven for you and he's gonna come again so never let anybody or anything even your own mind or flesh doubt your salvation if you have truly trusted in Jesus alone to save you you can never lose it and it's yours forever let's pray Lord we thank you so much for the scriptures and how clear you make salvation Lord I pray that anybody that's a new believer that's listening to this sermon that listens to this sermon in the future or anybody in our church that's new in the faith I pray Lord that you'd help them with these things if they ever doubt Lord that they would go to the scriptures and that those things would ease their mind and I pray that you'd help them to not get tangled up with any false teaching or false teachers or false doctrine I pray Lord that they would go to the comfort of the scriptures and their brethren to help them in any situations like these and we thank you for people that are new in the faith I pray that you'd help them along and that they would be taught by the Holy Spirit and by their own Bible reading and we pray these things in Jesus' precious name Amen Go ahead and open up your green or red hymnal to page number 187, Jesus Loves Me page 187 Jesus Loves Me page 187 Jesus Loves Me Little ones to Him belong They are weak but He is strong Yes Jesus Loves Me Yes Jesus Loves Me Yes Jesus Loves Me The Bible tells me so Jesus Loves Me He who died Heaven's gate to open wide He will wash away my sin Let His little child come in Yes Jesus Loves Me Yes Jesus Loves Me Yes Jesus Loves Me The Bible tells me so Jesus Loves Me He will stay close beside me all the way Thou hast bled and died for me I will henceforth live for Thee Yes Jesus Loves Me Yes Jesus Loves Me Yes Jesus Loves Me The Bible tells me so Alright Brother Eli would you close us in a word of prayer? Thank you