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

Now in 1st John 5, the part that I want to focus on is beginning there in verse 10 where the Bible reads, 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. 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. The title of my sermon this morning is Once Saved, Always Saved. It's about the eternal security of the believer, the fact that once we get saved, there's nothing that we could ever do to lose our salvation. Now usually when you hear the term once saved, always saved, it's out of the mouth of people who are criticizing that doctrine, or oh, you're one of those once saved, always saved. But you know what? I'll just embrace it. I think it's a great way to explain what we believe. It's a great term to embrace. And all throughout the Bible, and all throughout history, derogatory terms that have been used against God's people have been embraced by God's people. For example, they were called Christians by others. You know, they were called Baptists in the Middle Ages, many times, for re-baptizing people after they'd just been sprinkled as babies. You know, people will attack us and use terms like easy believism, once saved, always saved. I say to all of it, amen. I'm a Baptist, I'm Christian, once saved, always saved, easy believism. It's easy to be saved. You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. And you know what? It's the hard part that was done by Jesus on the cross. I mean, how hard is it to get saved? Well, it's as hard as taking a drink of water. It's as hard as eating a piece of bread. It's as hard as opening a door and walking through it. It's as hard as calling upon the name of the Lord. That's what the Bible teaches. Now I want to prove this to you from the Bible in many different scriptures that we could never lose our salvation. And not only that, I'm going to turn to some of the scriptures that people will try to use to say that you can lose it and show why that just doesn't hold water. But the first thing I want to point out in 1 John 5 is the part that is probably the most controversial. A lot of Baptists don't agree with this. Most independent Baptists probably wouldn't agree with this. But I make no apology for it. It's what I've always preached. It's what I've believed since I was a child. I'll stand on it now. This church has always stood on it. If you do not believe in eternal security, if you don't believe in once saved, always saved, not saved. You know, and a lot of people won't agree with that, but that's what the Bible teaches right here. Because of the fact that when you talk to people who believe that they can lose their salvation, here's what it comes down to. They're trusting in their works to save them. Because when you're trusting faith alone, you know, when you're trusting Jesus alone, you know you can't lose it. And look what the Bible teaches here in 1 John 5.10. It says, he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. Now if you get the context, that's talking about the Holy Spirit, because it talks about there are three that bear record in heaven, three that bear witness in the earth. The witness that abides in us if we're saved is the Holy Spirit of God. It says he that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. So from that verse we can tell that there are two kinds of people in this world. There are those that believe on the Son of God, and then there are those who are making God a liar. And why are they making God a liar? Because they do not believe the record that God gave of his Son. And then he tells us what that record is in verse 11. And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Look, that's what you have to believe to be saved. Verse 11 is the record that you must believe in order to be saved. If you don't believe that record, you're making God a liar. And there are three elements that I want to point out about that record quickly. It says this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life. Number one, it says he's given it to us. It's a gift. It says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. So in order to be saved, you have to believe that it's a gift. You can't try to earn your way into heaven and do it by works. You have to do it by faith alone and just receive that free gift of eternal life. So he says you have to believe the record that God has given. Number one, it's a gift. Number two, he's given to us what? Eternal life. What does eternal mean? It never ends. So therefore, if you don't believe that God gave us eternal life, then you're not saved. So if you think God just saved us temporarily, you're not saved. The Bible says you have to believe that God has given to us eternal life. And the third thing is that this life is in his son. You've got to believe that it's through Jesus Christ. These are the three elements that are found in verse 11. And he says in verse 13, 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. Now notice, when he says have eternal life, he didn't say had, past tense, that'd be you lost it. He didn't say will get, you know, like you wait till heaven to find out. He says you can know that you have eternal life. Now look, just before I get into all the multitude of scriptures that teach that you cannot lose your salvation, first, let's just look at the word eternal. That says everything right there. Eternal means never ending. It comes from a root word like terminate, right, termination, eternal. And the E at the beginning is a negating prefix. And so eternal means not ending. It has a synonym in the Bible, everlasting. So let me ask you this. If I have life today that never ends. If I have today on February 23rd eternal life and then down the road at some point I were to lose it, was it ever eternal? Because it ended. So if I have eternal life today, that means it can never end because by definition that's what eternal life even is. Otherwise it would make no sense. But turn if you would to Matthew chapter 7, first of all. Matthew chapter 7, we see that we have eternal life, we can know that we have eternal life. Jesus also said in John 647, he said, verily, verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Again, present tense. That you have it right now if you believe on Christ, meaning that it's going to last forever. You can't lose it. But look at 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. And I'm going to show you in just a moment what the will of the Father is. But let me start out by saying this, saying Lord, Lord doesn't get you into heaven. If saying Lord, Lord were enough, then this verse would not be true. Is saying Lord to God enough to get you into heaven? No. You have to do the will of the Father which is in heaven, which I'm going to show you in a moment what that is. But look what he says next. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works, and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me you that work iniquity. Let me point out, first of all, that he didn't say I used to know you. Now if you could lose your salvation, if these people had once been saved, and then lost their salvation, could he really say to them, I never knew you? If he used to know them, no. So this right here shows that the people who are going to be damned on judgment day who think they're saved but really aren't, are not people who lost their salvation. That's not possible. It's people who are trusting in, what's the last word of verse 22? Works. The people who are trusting in their works, Jesus says to them, I never knew you. God I used to know you because you can't lose it. They never had it in the first place. Now look, if you were to stand before God right now, and God were to ask you, why should I let you into heaven? Would you say I've done many wonderful works? Absolutely not. No Bible believing Christian, no one who understands that salvation is by grace or faith, would ever say to God, but God, how can you not be letting me in when I've done so many wonderful works? The only person who would say such a thing is one who thinks that their works have something to do with getting them into heaven. I mean look what they're listing. We've prophesied here today, we've done preaching, we've done wonderful works, we've cast out devils in your name. Look are these people claiming the name of Jesus? Have they called Jesus Lord? Are they doing a lot of wonderful works in Jesus' name? So why in the world are they cast out? Why are they not allowed into heaven? Because anyone who is trusting in their works is not saved. The Bible says it's not of works lest any man should boast. Boasting like what? Boasting like, I've done many wonderful works, I have done many wonderful works, I have prophesied in your name and cast out devils. Of course they're going to let me in. No, no flesh shall glory in his presence. But Jesus paid it all, all to him we owe, sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. We have nothing to boast of, our salvation is by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Bible is teaching us crystal clear in this passage that if you go to hell, he never knew you. And if you're trusting in works, even if you're saying I believe in Jesus, I'm doing it in the name of Jesus, but you say well I'm going to heaven because of my works, you're not saved. I mean that's what the Bible teaches. The will of the Father. Because a lot of people will get confused. They'll see the will of the Father in verse 21 and say, see you have to do the works. Well these people did the works. But go to John chapter 6, let's see what the will of the Father is. And also coincidentally, John chapter 6 is another great passage that proves that you can't lose your salvation in several different verses. But the Bible says in John 6 35, it says, and Jesus said unto them, now before I read this, what would you say if all of a sudden you got there and Jesus is telling you, sorry you can't come in heaven. I mean you know what I'd say, whoa wait a minute. I believed in you. You said whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. You said it's by faith that we're saved. You said that if I confess my mouth to the Lord Jesus and believe in my heart that God raised him for the dead, thou shalt be saved. What's the deal? Is that not true? I wouldn't be talking about my works. I wouldn't be bragging about my works because my works and my righteousness are nothing. They're as filthy rags before God. It's got to be by grace through faith. But look what it says in John 6 35, and Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall, well he might hunger in the future. I mean what does it say? He that cometh to me shall never hunger. You see how salvation is a one time thing? You come to Jesus Christ, you eat of the bread of life that he gives you, and he said, you shall never hunger. And he that believeth on me shall never thirst. It's the same thing that he said to the woman at the well in chapter 4 when he said, look if you drink of this water you'll thirst again. If you drink of the water that I give you, it'll be a well of water springing up inside of you unto everlasting life. You'll never thirst again. And it says in verse 36, but I said unto you that ye also have seen me and believe not. So he's talking to people that have not believed. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Another great verse about not losing your salvation. He says, you guys haven't believed, but one that comes to me, he says, I will in no wise cast out. Verse 38, 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, because remember in Matthew 7, he said you have to do the will of the Father which is in heaven. What does it mean to do someone's will? Do what they want. That's a perfect definition. If I said, I want you, if I said to my son, I want you to do my will, that means you're going to do what I want. We're going to do it my way. So look, if you get into heaven, you're not getting their man's way, you're getting their God's way. That's why it says in John 1 12, but as many as received him, to them gave you power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. It's God's will that matters in regard to salvation, not man's will. And what does it say here? This is the Father's will, which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing. Another great proof that we cannot lose our salvation. But should raise it up again at the last day, now watch another aspect of the Father's will in verse 40, 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 what's the will of the Father? That people will see the Lord Jesus Christ, believe on him, and be raised up at the last day. What is the will of the Father? According to verses 39 and 40, that people would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and that none of them would be lost, none of them would ever lose their salvation, and that they would be raised up at the last day. Now look, you cannot lose your salvation. He said in verse 37, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Once you are saved, you've been passed from death to life. Go to chapter 5, just flip back one page, chapter 5. So doing the will of the Father which is in heaven is not just saying, well in every area of life you're always doing God's will all the time, keeping every commandment. You know, if it were keeping every commandment that saved us, none of us would be saved. Number one. Because there is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. As it is written, there's none righteous, no not one. No one will be justified by the works of the law. No one will be justified by keeping the commandments. But it says in John 5, 24, verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life. Again, present tense. You have everlasting life right now. That means it's going to last forever and if it doesn't, then you never had everlasting life in the first place. Now what's so silly about this thing of saying, well you might have everlasting life today, but you might lose it tomorrow? Not only is that just completely illogical, because that didn't last forever if it only lasted one day. Okay. Not only is that completely illogical, but when you stop and think about the fact that God knows the future, and you stop and think about the fact that God knows everything, and that God knows how your life is going to go. He knows the end from the beginning to sit there and think, he knows you're going to lose it, but he just says it's everlasting anyway? He knows you're going to lose it, but he calls it eternal. I mean that's nonsense. It makes no sense. But he says here that the one who believes on him has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation. I mean that's a pretty clear statement, you will not be condemned. He doesn't say you're never going to sin again, but you're not going to be condemned is what he says. And then he says this, but is passed from death unto life. I mean that's just a powerful statement about the fact that we are saved eternally, we will not be condemned, we've been passed from death unto life. Go back to chapter 3, because in chapter 3 we find a very powerful scripture that kind of ties in with what Jesus said, I never knew you. Look at John 3.18, here's another verse to prove that you can't lose your salvation. John 3.18 says this, he that believeth on him, talking about Jesus Christ, is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed. Now notice the past tense, he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. There are two kinds of people in this world, those who believe and those who don't believe, and notice what does he say about those who don't believe? They have not believed, they never believed, because once you've believed on Jesus Christ, you're saved, you're a believer, you're sealed with the Holy Ghost, you can't lose your salvation. If you could lose your salvation, verse 18 wouldn't make any sense, to put it into two categories like that, those who believe and those who have not believed. Because think about it, let's say that you could lose your salvation, right? And let's say a guy believed on Christ, and then down the road, he stops believing, he loses his salvation, whatever you want to call it, right? Well then he wouldn't fall into any of these categories, because he neither believes, but you couldn't really say he hath not believed, because he did back then. See how this doesn't make any sense, because it's not true. Because once you believe, you're saved, you're sealed, and you're secure. But let's flip over to John 10, I just want to go through all the stuff in the book of John while we're here, we saw three back-to-back powerful evidences in chapter 6, just back-to-back-to-back that you can't lose your salvation, just in the space of a couple of verses. We saw chapter 5 verse 24, the verse that was shown me when I got saved as a six-year-old boy. We saw John 3, 18, another powerful verse that shows you've either not believed it, or you're still believing, and you're still saved, you still have everlasting life. Then we see John 10, 28, 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. He says, look, you're in Jesus Christ's hand, and you're in the Father's hand, and nobody's going to pluck you out of that hand. Now flip over to chapter 11. One time I had somebody say this to me, I was out soul-winding and I was preaching eternal life to someone, and they said this, they said, well, this is what it's like. You're holding his hand and he's holding your hand, and he's never going to let go of you, but you can let go of him, is what they taught. Come on up here for a second, John. Let's see if this holds water. Let's use this illustration that I was given by somebody who believed you could lose your salvation. So I'm holding his hand, and I'm never going to let go of his hand, but he can let go of mine. Okay, go ahead and let go of my hand, John. Go ahead and let go, son. Let go. Go back to your seat, son. Let go. No, remember, you can let go. I'm not going to let go, but he can let go anytime he wants to, right? Right? All right, go sit down. So you get the point, right? If I don't let go, it doesn't matter if he lets go. He can hold on as tight as he wants. He can let go. He can try to pull it out, but guess what? I'm stronger than him, and that's why he could not go. And the Bible says here, my father, which gave them me, is greater than all. God is stronger than you. So if you were to have this hypothetical tug-of-war with God, like, let me go, let me go, he's not going to let go because he said no one can pluck you out of his hand because his hand is so strong you can't get out. Go if you would to John 11 there, verse 25, it says, Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Now this is a powerful verse for those who try to twist the definition of eternal life. Some people will say, well, eternal life is, it doesn't mean it goes on forever, it's just talking about the quality of your life. Eternal life is a type of life, it's a style of life, it's a quality of life. Okay, what about never die? Because eternal life is equated with never dying, because people will try to say, well, if you go back into the Greek and you look at the word eternal, it's aionion, you know, like eon, because you know people will say something happened eons ago, or eons, and they say eon just means a really long time. So that's what Jesus was going around preaching. You're going to live for a really long time. If you believe in me, you're going to live for a long time. But what about people who would lose it then, according to these people, they could lose it a week later, two weeks later, six months later, I mean, how long, is that an eon? Now does anybody know how long is an eon? I don't even, I don't even know, I don't think anybody, Solomon, okay, you're, that's way too much information. Four eons equals 13 billion years, whatever, okay, that was over my head. These homeschooled kids, I tell you, but what I'm saying is that doesn't make any sense, but this whole thing of going to a foreign language, well, nobody can really, I mean, how do you dispute that unless you knew Greek, and how many people here are fluent in Greek, you know? So basically people throw that at you, well, if you go back to the Greek, you know, it's aionion, and that's like an eon, and that's, but you don't know whether that's really true. You know what I think that Greek word means? Eternal. And you know how I can prove that's what it means? Because Jesus compared it to never die. So if he puts on this side, live forever, everlasting life, eternal life, and then over here he said, never die, I think you get the picture. Those are both the same thing. Shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Makes perfect sense. So here he says, whosoever liveth and believeth in me. So if you're here, and you live, and you believe, you will never die. That's what the Bible teaches. Let's go to 2 Corinthians, actually you go to Ephesians 1, I'll go to 2 Corinthians 1, because another great teaching, besides all the stuff we've seen in the book of John, besides just the word eternal life, besides just the idea that he'll never leave us or forsake us, besides the idea that I never knew you, besides the idea that those who believe have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God, besides all that, there's also the doctrine in the New Testament that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption. Now in 2 Corinthians 1, 22, it says, who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. So the Bible says that when we're saved, God seals us and gives us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. Now what is the earnest? Well, do you remember the comic when you were a kid, Frank and Ernest? Did anybody ever read that comic? What does earnest mean? Serious. Earnest means serious. If I say something to you in earnest, it means that I was being serious. If I say something to you in jest, it means that I was not being serious. So when the Bible says here that God has given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts, an earnest as a noun, because obviously earnest is an adjective when we say, you know, doing something in earnest, okay, that would not be an adjective, but if I said he's a very earnest man, he's very serious, okay, this is a noun, the earnest. And what an earnest is, a down payment on something to show that you are serious about buying it. Okay, so for example, let's say there's a house for sale and I'm going to put down an offer on that house. Let's say they're asking $150,000 and I say, I'll give you $140,000 and just to show you that I'm serious, I'm going to put $1,000 in earnest money. Anybody who's bought a house has heard of earnest money. And you put, you know, I'm going to put down $1,000 of earnest money just to show that I'm not playing games. Because otherwise people will be like, oh, I'll give you $140,000, they're like, okay, and you're like, psych, you know. So the whole point is, you know, you put down the earnest money, maybe $5,000 in earnest money just to show that you're serious, okay, it's a down payment. What God is saying here is that He sealed us and that He gave us the earnest of the Holy Spirit, showing that we're saved, showing that we will have eternal life, showing that we're going to go to heaven and be with Him eternally, He gives us that down payment of the Spirit. Now the reason that the Spirit is called the earnest, or the down payment, is because we are not fully redeemed when we get saved because our body has not been redeemed. Now our soul and spirit have already been saved, but has our body been saved? I mean, did your body transform when you got, the moment you believed in Christ, did anything change about your body? Did it become perfect and did it become righteous? No. Your flesh is the same, but at the resurrection, at what's called the rapture, the Bible says in a moment between you and I, we will be changed, and the Bible says that we are waiting for that day to wit the redemption of our body. The Bible calls the rapture the redemption of our body. So we haven't got the whole package of salvation, we have not yet experienced all the benefits of salvation yet, but we have the earnest of the Spirit. The full benefit of our salvation will be when we get rid of this flesh and we have a brand new glorified body and we're in heaven with Christ, then we will have the full benefit of our salvation at that time. Until then we have the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts, showing that God's serious, showing that God is going to do what he said. The Bible said he that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. The day of Christ is another name for the rapture, for his coming in the clouds. Look if you would at Ephesians 1 there, it says in verse 12, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. Now what does it mean to trust in Christ? That's putting our faith in Christ, that's believing on Christ. It says in the next verse, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory. There's so much packed into these verses here. First of all it helps to define what it means to believe on Christ is to trust Christ, to put our faith in Christ, to believe he is the one who's going to save us, not trusting in our works, but trusting in Christ. But he says here that the Holy Spirit of promise, what promise? The Bible says in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. Still not convinced? 1 John 2.25, and this is the promise that he had promised us even eternal life. The Bible says the promise of God is eternal life. The promise of God is eternal redemption in glory. And the Bible says here he sealed us with the Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance. So do we have more coming? Absolutely. I mean the inheritance is going to be huge. He that overcometh shall inherit all things, the Bible says, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. We will inherit all things. We are joint heirs with Jesus Christ. We will inherit the kingdom of God. We will be redeemed in the body. We will receive a glorified body. And the Bible says here that the Holy Spirit is that earnest of our inheritance until we mess up. Until we sin, until we lose faith, until we let go, until we walk away, until we lose our salvation. No, it says until the redemption of the purchased possession. Because he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. It's not that he might perform it. He might back out. He might break his promise. He might put down the earnest money and then say nope, change my mind. No. He is serious. He has made a promise. He will redeem us, body, soul, spirit, we will inherit all things and just to guarantee that we will inherit, just to guarantee that we will be saved, just to guarantee that we have eternal life and that he won't bear your promise. He gave us that down payment. He gave us the earnest of the spirit and he sealed us unto the day of redemption. Go to chapter 4 verse 30. Same book. I mean we just saw it in Ephesians 1. He refers back to Ephesians 1 in chapter 4 verse 30 when he says, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God or else you'll lose your salvation. Is that what he said? No, because there's no verse in the Bible like that. Instead he says, grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you're sealed unto the day of redemption. So even if you do grieve the Holy Spirit of God, you're still sealed unto the day of redemption. He said don't do it. Don't grieve him, but you're sealed. You're sealed unto the day of redemption. Go to Romans chapter 4, Romans chapter number 4. I mean there's so much scripture on this. I'm just trying to cram it all into one sermon. Just to go over the fact that it's eternal life. Just to go over the fact that it's everlasting. Just to go over the fact that we shall never die. Just to go over the fact that he never knew those who weren't saved. Just to go over the fact that those who do not believe have not believed. Just to go over the fact that we're sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise unto the day of redemption, which is the earnest of our salvation. Just to go over the fact that we've been passed from death unto life and that we shall never come into condemnation, and now another aspect of eternal life, another aspect of once saved always saved. Romans 4 teaches that our sins after we are saved are not even imputed unto us. After we're saved, the sins that we commit are not reckoned to our account. Look at Romans 4-5, but to him that worketh not, did you get that? Well to him who only does a little bit of work, is that what it says? But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the end of it. Well if you have the faith though, you'll have the works too. Is that what this says? This says you work not, but believe. There are people who believe and don't have the works. Wow James 2, faith without works is dead, right? But if faith without works is dead, that means faith without works exists. How can you say faith without works is dead if it's not possible to have faith without works? People are like, well when you have faith, you always have works. The two go, you can't have the one without the other, okay, well what about faith without works is dead? Exactly. What? Like, faith without works is dead would be a meaningless statement. If it didn't exist. Faith without works must exist. I mean if I said the dog is dead, doesn't that mean that there is a dog there? I mean I'm just trying to break this down in a way where everybody can understand. I said the dog is dead, well I don't even have a dog, I don't even know why I said that. If I say the dog is dead, there's got to be a dog there that we're even talking about for it to be dead. So in order for faith without works to be dead, that means that there has to exist a condition called faith without works. And James 2 is talking to people that are saved, talking to people that are believers, he said my brethren, okay, and I've done whole sermons on James 2 and I'm not going to go into all the detail because I've already done it too many times, it's outside the scope of this sermon, but guess what? If I'm saved today, which I am, that means I have faith in Christ, right? What if I don't have any works today? What does James say about my faith? It's dead. Can I really say to you, let's say I did no works for the past week. No works, I've just been living in the flesh, I've just been doing the ways of this world and I haven't been following God this week and I just didn't go to church, didn't read my Bible, didn't pray, I'm just living a worldly life this week. Do I have works if that's the life I'm living for the past week? Then you could say my faith is dead, but does that mean that I've lost my salvation? No it doesn't. It just means that my faith will not profit anyone else. It's all talk unless I have the works to back it up. What does that mean? Not talking about getting into heaven, but talking about my relation with my fellow man. Because that's why the Bible says that no man will be justified by works in the sight of God. But are we justified by works in the sight of man? Of course, because can man see my faith? No. Man can only see my works. Man cannot see my faith. So in the sight of man, we're justified by works, that's what James 2 is talking about. And that's why it talks about Abraham being justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar at 130 years old. Are you going to tell me that Abraham got saved when he was 130? No. He got saved long before that, but he showed his faith to the world in Genesis 22 when he was willing to sacrifice Isaac his son upon the altar. That was an amazing testament of his faith unto man. That's why the Bible says in verse 3 of chapter 4, look at Romans 4.3, I'm sorry verse 2, For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof the glory, but not before God. So Abraham was justified by works, but not before God. Look at verse 5, But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness, even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now what do we see in that? We see the past, present, and the future. I mean think about it. A lot of people will say, well, when you get saved, all the sins you did before you got saved, those are all forgiven. But going forward, you're responsible for those sins, and you've got to keep on getting forgiveness. You've got to keep on getting salvation. You've got to keep on getting redemption. And there are people who think that you have to ask forgiveness every day to stay saved. I mean I've talked to them all the time, a lot of Catholics and even a lot of Protestants will tell you. You've got to ask forgiveness for your sins every day or you're not going to be saved. But what does the Bible say here? It says the past is covered in verse 7. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, that's past tense, whose sins are covered, that's a past tense verb, and it says blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. That's the future. So me today, Stephen L. Anderson, my sins are covered and forgiven, and he's not going to impute sin unto me going forward. I mean isn't that what the Bible says? He saves us from our sins past, present, and future. Otherwise I guess you'd be the best off just to get saved right at the end of your life on your deathbed. And that's what a lot of Catholics do, because Catholicism teaches that. They just think, you know what, I want to live it up, I want to be wild, I want to party, I want to sow my wild oats, and then when I get older, I'm going to go ahead and get it all forgiven, get it all absolved, go to mass every day. You know, I'm too old to party anyway at that point, so I might as well get up and go to mass every morning and get this all absolved, and they're going to split hell wide open because they're not trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior. They're trusting in works, they're trusting in religion, they're trusting in the church instead of in the Lord. Look, it's clear. How could I lose my salvation if God's not even going to impute my sins unto me, according to Romans 4.8. Flip over to chapter 8 of Romans, you're in Romans, go to chapter 8. Look what it says in Romans 8.33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect, it is God that justifieth. Now God's not going to lay anything to our charge, man can't lay anything to our charge, our sins are not imputed unto us, who is he that condemneth? Remember the verse that said we shall not come into condemnation, we've been passed from death unto life? Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. So what Christ did for us is not just past tense, yes he died, yes he was buried, yes he rose again, but he also ever liveth to make intercession for us, to make sure that we shall not be condemned, to make sure that no one can lay anything to our charge, to make sure that sin will not be imputed unto us spiritually going forward. It says he makes intercession for us, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword, as it is written for thy sake, we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter, nay in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let me ask you this, if you are justified, if you are saved, if you have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, will God ever stop loving you? Will you ever be separated from his love? No but let me ask you this, is it loving for God to send someone to hell? Is that an act of love? Sending someone to the lake of fire is not loving, I mean if I love you, I'm not going to put you in hell and make you burn forever and ever. Now it gets quiet because people are like, oh wait a minute, God loves everybody. Yeah, okay, where is that in the Bible? It's not there. The Bible, I can show you 19 scriptures after the service where God says he hates people. And look, God loved past tense, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Look God loved everybody, God loves everyone at some point but there comes a point, Hosea chapter 7 where he says, I will love them no more. And there comes a point where when you don't believe on Jesus Christ and you die without Jesus Christ and you're not in the love of God, you are under the wrath of God. You are under God's wrath. Now look, does God love the unsaved? Yes. Yes. Does God love the saved? Yes. But here's the difference, when you're saved he'll never stop loving you, nothing can separate you from the love of God when you're saved. But when you're not saved, you could come to a point where he says, I'll love you no more. Where he says, you're damned eternally, you are under my wrath. Look, people who, for example, blasphemed the Holy Ghost, I mean they were done, over. And to say that God loves everybody sounds great except that there are 19 scriptures where he clearly talks about hating people. And he even specifically talks about, I will love them no more. I hated them, I will love them no more, in the same verse. And so we need to study to show ourselves approved unto God. You know, it's easy to just repeat, God loves everybody, just repeat things that you've heard, instead of studying the Bible and learning what the Bible actually teaches. That is not what the Bible actually teaches. And so we need to just stop just repeating things that we hear. And here's another thing people will often do, hate the sin, love the sinner, hate the sin, love the sinner. Okay, you know who that quote is from? Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi was not a Bible believing Christian. Gandhi did not believe on Jesus Christ, and he's in hell right now. And he's the one who said, love the sinner, hate the sin. Here's what's funny, I would like to do an experiment one time. I'd like to go to Christians all across the world and all across America and just show them a couple of quotes and just say, which of these do you think is right? The first thing I'll show them is Gandhi's quote, okay? Gandhi's quote. Now I'll show them Gandhi's quote, I won't say who it's from, and then I'll show them the quote from David, the man after God's own heart who said, do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee? And am not I grieve with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred, I count them my enemies. Which of these is more Christ-like? Which of these is more Christian? Oh Gandhi, oh yes. That's the quote that they would take and they wouldn't even recognize the quote from the Holy Bible and they'd probably say, that's not from the Bible, how readest thou? That is in the Bible, that's Psalm 139. And so that's kind of off topic from the sermon. But my point is, here's my point and here's why this is important. If God's never going to stop loving you, if you're never going to be separated from his love, you're not going to end up in hell. I mean do you get that? Because look, will the Lord chasten us? But he'll do it because he loves us. The Bible says, whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourges every son whom he receiveth. Look will I spank my children? Yes, because I love them. But if I were to kill my children, that's not love. If I were to send them to hell, that's not love. So we live in this warped mentality where we just repeat stuff that we've heard and we just go around saying, you know, all sin's equal. You know, I mean it sounds great. It's not biblical and in fact it's borderline insanity to say that all sin is equal. Yeah, just kill 20 people or steal a pencil. Same thing. Same thing in God's eyes. God isn't a just God then, but guess what? God is a just God and all sin's not equal and there's no verse in the Bible that says all sin's equal. In fact, Jesus looked at Pontius Pilate and said, he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. Now how can you have a greater sin if all sin's equal? If God loves everybody, why are there 19 scriptures where he talks about hating people? Sorry to confuse you with the facts, okay? Let me just get back to my sermon. But anyway, go quickly if you would to Psalm 89 in the Old Testament, Psalm 89. And the reason I bring these things up is because there are just all these false teachings out there that confuse people and look, to me, some of these teachings just defy logic. Like for example, saying all sin's equal, that defies any reasonable person's mind. That defies anyone's logic who has a reasonable mind. Or saying God loves people that are roasting in hell right now. He sends people to be tortured for all eternity because he loves them. How can anyone believe that? That doesn't make any sense. I don't know, I mean, somebody help me out here. What else do I say to that? God loves everybody, but most people burn in hell. That doesn't make any sense. Now yes, God loved those people. He died for them. He wanted to save them. He did everything he could and they reject it and finally he says I'll love them no more. That makes sense because that's what the Bible actually teaches, that he doesn't love people. That's why he sent them to hell, because they're bad, because he sent them there, because they didn't get saved, because they did not get justified, they didn't get redeemed. And look, you say, well, but he's a loving God. But does that mean that he loves everybody? No, it doesn't. To sit there and say all sins equal is, I mean, you'd almost have to be, it'd be like something you'd expect to hear from someone in a mental institution. Like if you went to a mental asylum where somebody just thinks, well yeah, I mean, killing people is just the same as, you know, just, you know, doing whatever. I mean, just, you know, jaywalking, you know, yeah, right? I mean, you slap somebody in the face and you gun somebody down and, you know, we might think it's different, you know, but in God's eyes it's, you know, it's, I mean, good night. But you know what? God's given us the spirit of a sound mind if you actually read the Bible and get off these man-made teachings, but again, I'm getting off target here. Let's look at Psalm 89. Now quickly, I already mentioned earlier in John 1-12 that as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name. So how do we become a son of God? By believing on the name of Jesus Christ. Now is everyone a son of God? No, because he said we become a son of God when we believe on Christ. So if we become a son of God, that means we weren't one in the past and now we've become a son of God by believing in Christ. So when the Mormons tell you we're all God's children, that isn't true, because we become sons of God and we believe on Christ. Also it says in Galatians chapter 3 verse number 26 says, for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. So we're children by faith. Look what the Bible says in Psalm 89 about the children of God. It says in Psalm 89 verse 20, I have found David my servant, with my holy oil have I anointed him. David in the Old Testament is symbolic a lot of times of the Lord Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ is known as the son of David. And a lot of times he will call Jesus Christ prophetically David my servant also. Now this passage does have a literal application to David himself, but it also has a spiritual application toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Look down at verse 29 and I'll show you what I mean. This is talking about David. His seed also will I make to endure forever and is thrown as the days of heaven. But if we were to apply this to the Lord Jesus Christ, read this passage, his seed also will I make to endure forever and is thrown as the days of heaven. If his children forsake my law and walk not in my judgments, if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure forever and is thrown as the sun before me. It shall be established forever as the moon and as a faithful witness in heaven, Selah. Now there is an application there to David physically, but hold on a second. Is David really going to rule for all eternity on the throne or isn't it going to be Jesus Christ who's going to sit on the throne of his father David ruling and reigning? The Bible says in Isaiah 53, which is a prophetic passage about the Lord Jesus Christ, that he shall see his seed, that Jesus would see his seed and be glad. Jesus Christ did not have physical children while he was on this earth, despite what Hollywood will tell you. Jesus Christ's seed is a spiritual seed. All those who believe on him become his sons. And the Bible tells us here that his seed, if they disobey his commandments, what does it say he's going to do? Look at verse 31. If they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, they're going to lose their salvation. They're going to go to hell. I'm not going to love them anymore. Is that what he says? He says, I will visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that has gone out of my life. God's not going to break his promise. God's not going to break his covenant. God's not going to change what he said. He's not going to alter the thing that's gone out of his lips. He will punish us, but he will not stop loving us and he will not send us to hell. And a lot of people think, well, you know, if you can't lose your salvation, and flip over to Hebrews 6, people will say this, if you can't lose your salvation, then you might as well just go out and live a wicked life. And they say, what are you saying, you know, there's just no consequences, you just go out and live a wicked life and you just do whatever you want, you're still going to heaven? But hold on a second. What about this life? You're going to sit there and say, well, I'm saved, so I can just go out and live however I want because I'm still going to heaven. Yeah, true, but you're going to be destroyed in this life. Now is anyone just okay with that? Is there anybody here who would say, you know, I'm okay with just living a horrible, miserable life and losing everything and being severely punished by God every time I turn around, being cursed in everything I do, as long as I make it to heaven, I'm okay with that. Cool because we want to also be blessed in this life, don't we? I mean, do you want God to curse you and punish you and beat you? That'd be like if my children said, oh, wait a minute, so you mean to tell me that no matter how bad I misbehave, mom and dad, you're still going to be my parents? And you're still going to feed me? And I still get to sleep in my bed at night? Oh, cool, I'm just going to go out and just break every rule, I'm never going to obey. You know what's going to happen? They're going to get spanked and they're going to get spanked and they're going to get spanked and they're going to be miserable and they're not going to get to do anything fun. They're going to miss out on all the fun things and they're just going to keep getting punished and you know what? That's how it is in your life if you disregard God's word after you're saved. Now if you're not saved, you might be able to have a good time and get away with it, but you'll be in hell in the end, which is worse. But if you're saved, you can't get away with sin. If you're saved, he doesn't chasten most of his children. He scourges every son whom he receiveth. So if you're not saved, children, listen to me young people, you say, well you know what? I'm saved, I'm going to heaven, I'm just going to forget God's commandments. You know what? You will be destroyed. God can destroy your life any time he wants to. God can cause you to be fired from your job any time he wants to. God can infect you with disease any time, look, it's what he said he would do. If you go back to Deuteronomy 27-28, when he goes through all the blessings and curses, he says, look, I'll curse you when you go out, and I'll curse you when you're on your way home, and I'll curse your job, I'll curse your wife, I'll curse your children, I'll curse everything that you do, you'll fail, you'll be filled with disease, you'll lose your money. Look, God will punish his children, no question about that, if we just completely disregard his word. So there are plenty of reasons to obey God's commandments, even though escaping hell is not one of them. Plenty of reasons to obey God's commandments. We want God, first of all, we just love him. If we love God, let's keep his commandments. We should keep his commandments because we want to, not because we're being forced to, number one. Number two, we want God to bless us. Number three, we don't want God to punish us. Number four, we love our fellow man and we know we're going to get more people saved if we live for God than if we live for the world, because we love others, we want to get them saved. Where did I have you turn? Hebrew 6. Okay, so I've already shown you, you know, a huge amount of scripture that you can't lose your salvation. You know, several points, all different which ways. So now let's go, in the short time that we have left, let's go to some passages that people will try to use to say you can lose your salvation. And I'm starting with the most common ones. Now ironically, the number one scripture that people show me to show me that you can lose your salvation is Matthew 7, which was the first verse I showed you in my sermon this morning to prove that you can't lose it, where it says I never knew you, but I have literally, in my time soul winning and preaching, had more people show me Matthew 7, 21-23, to try to show me you could lose your salvation than any other verse in the Bible. See right here, it says you can't just say Lord, Lord, you got, you know, it's like hello, it says right there I never knew you and this is your proof text that you can lose it? But that shows you that those who believe not, those who are not saved, the God of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not. And the fact that someone can actually show you Matthew 7 as a proof that you can lose your salvation just shows you that they're spiritually blinded. That should just show you right there that they're not saved, that they can't even see the meaning of the simple words I never knew you. So I'm not even going to turn back to that one, we already talked about that one. The second most common verse that people take me to is Hebrew 6. And those of you that have been soul winning a long time, you'll probably agree that these are probably the top verses that people take you to. Hebrew 6, let's look at it, verse 4, it says, for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come. If they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh off upon it and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God. But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned. But beloved, we are persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation though we thus speak. So let's say a few things about this passage. First of all, number one, if this verse were teaching that you could lose your salvation, which it's not, but if it were, isn't it pretty clear that it's saying that you'd never be able to get it back? It says in verse 6, if they shall fall away, it says it's impossible in verse 4, if they shall fall away, verse 6, to renew them again unto repentance. So if this verse were theoretically teaching you could lose your salvation, wouldn't it be saying you could never get it back? But yet everybody you talk to who believes you can lose it, thinks you can get it back. And it's like now I'm saved, now I'm not. Now I'm saved, now I'm not. And it's like they go back and forth. But here's the thing about this passage. Where does this passage say that these people were saved or that they had everlasting life? It doesn't. And that's the thing. When we show verses to prove that you can't lose your salvation, they use words like saved. They use words like eternal life. They use words like everlasting life. They are clear scriptures. This verse does not say saved. It does not say eternal life. Here's what it actually says, those who were once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance. Now what is this talking about? This is not talking about a person who gets saved. This is talking about a person who hears the Gospel, the Holy Spirit is working in their heart, they finally understand it. What does it mean to be enlightened? Ding, the light bulb comes on. I get it now. I understand it. I comprehend it. And it fully hits home with them and they've been enlightened. They've tasted it. They're right there where this is it. I understand it. The Holy Ghost is working. They've tasted it. And they just, no. It's their final rejection. You know, it's funny, when my wife got saved and she got saved before she was my wife, she's never married someone who's not saved, this is before that, when I first met her, I met her out soul winning and the first thing I did was give her the Gospel. That's how my wife and I actually met. But I gave my wife the Gospel about 20 times before she got saved. It took about 20 times of her hearing the Gospel. She was a hard case, you know. I had to keep giving her the Gospel, keep giving her the Gospel. And it took like about 20 times before my wife finally got saved. But she will tell you this if you ask her. She'll say, you know, I never really fully understood it until I got saved. She said even though you kept telling it and explaining it to me and saying it, it just, I just never, it never quite clicked me, I just didn't quite understand it. And the Bible talks a lot about people hearing the Word and understanding it not. You don't get it. And so I kept explaining it and explaining it. It's hard for the unsaved person to understand. In fact, it's got to be through the Holy Spirit that they even understand. Because the natural man received not the things of the Spirit of God. It takes the Holy Spirit to even illuminate someone, enlighten someone. And when the Holy Spirit illuminates and enlightens someone and they get it and then they reject it, a lot of times that's their last chance. That's what the Bible says here. Because what is the key word here in this passage? It's the word in verse 8, but that which bear thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing. Those that are rejected, what's a synonym of rejected? Reprobate. Those that are reprobate. Now look, isn't the Bible here in Hebrews 6 talking about someone for whom it is impossible to get saved? This is talking about a guy, it's impossible to renew this guy to repentance. This guy's not getting, his end is to be burned. This guy is rejected. These are like the people in Romans 1 that God turned over to a reprobate mind. This is like Pharaoh whose heart was hardened. But the disagreement that I have with people who would use this to say you could lose your salvation is they're saying that these people got saved and then lost it. This passage doesn't say they got saved. This passage doesn't say they had it ever last night. It just says they tasted it and they partook of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost spoke through Caiaphas the high priest who wasn't even saved. The Holy Ghost came upon Caiaphas in the book of John and he spake as he was moved by the Holy Ghost and he was not even saved, did not even believe on Christ. So the fact that the Holy Ghost is working in someone does not mean that they're saved. Just because they tasted it, they're that close and then they fall away from it. And look, I've seen this, I've known people who were on the fence about getting saved. You know, they're open to it, they're coming to church, they're thinking about it, but they're not saved but they're thinking about it, the seed's being watered, the seed's been planted, it's being watered. And then they finally come to a place where it's like, no. And they walk away from it and then those people become reprobate. It's like you can never get that person saved. And I could name for you people specifically that I've known like that, where I've seen this in my own life. So that's Hebrews 6. We already saw Matthew 7. Let's go to Matthew 24, Matthew chapter 24. I'm just trying to go to the top scriptures that people try to use to say that you can lose your salvation. Matthew 7 is the number one. I don't even know what to say about that. It's so bizarre. It says I never knew you, period, end of story. Then we go to Hebrews 6, the second most common, and what do we see there? There's no clear statement that those people were ever saved or had eternal life. So therefore they must not have been saved because otherwise it would contradict the whole rest of the Bible. So obviously those are people who were just on the verge of getting saved. The Holy Ghost is moving and working in them. They taste it. It's right there and they walk away and now they're reprobate. That's what Hebrew 6 is teaching. And what's the moral of Hebrew 6? The moral is if you're not saved and God's working in you and you're hearing the word of God and the power of God's word is working in you, now's the time to get saved because you never know when is going to be your last chance to be saved. That's what Hebrew 6 is teaching. Now look at Matthew 24 verse 13. Here's another passage that probably the third most common that I've been shown. Verse 13, but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Now they say see right there, to be saved you have to endure to the end to be saved. Now if you go to verse 9, or let's go to verse 22 first. Look at verse 22. And except those days should be shortened there should know what? Flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. So let me ask you this. In verse 22 are we talking about people going to heaven when we say saved? We're talking about the flesh being saved. Is there a difference between the flesh being saved and the soul being saved? Absolutely. In verse 1 Corinthians 5 it says to deliver such in one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. So the flesh and the spirit are two different things. And so to sit there and use this passage to teach work salvation you got to endure to the end to be saved when it's talking about your flesh being saved, not talking about your soul being saved. For example, when Peter was drowning what did he cry out to the Lord? Lord save me. Is that when he got saved? Like that's when he's going to heaven because he cried out Lord save me. No. He's talking about save me from drowning physically. There's a physical salvation there. And here it's flat out spells out. Except those days should be shortened there should know flesh be saved but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. What days? The days of the tribulation. Go back if you would to verse 9 because remember the verse in question is verse 13 right? Let's get the verses leading up to verse 13 to get the context. It says in verse 9 then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you. Now does that sound like somebody's flesh is in danger? So do you see how they could be saved from being killed? Because it says then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake and then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another and many false prophets shall arise and shall deceive many and because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold but he that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved. Endure what? This period where people are being killed for the cause of Christ. Where people are being betrayed into the hands of the authorities. Where people's love is waxing cold and people are in danger. It's a time of great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world no one ever shall be. That's the context of Matthew 24 and it says the flesh shall be saved. What does that mean? It means that if you survive the famine, pestilence, warfare, and beheadings and endure to the end you will be saved meaning you'll be rescued out of there via the rapture. That's what it teaches and that's why by the way that's why if you believe in this phony pre-trib rapture it could lead you into other false doctrine like this right here because people who are pre-trib they don't understand this verse and that's why the biggest independent Baptist church in Arizona and I will preach against this church by name because they're not even King James only and in their statement of faith it says if you don't endure unto the end you shall not be saved. That's what it says. Tri-city Baptists in Chandler. Look it up on the internet. Tri-city Baptists. Oh I can't believe you criticize another church. Hey, if they're going to preach lies and heresy and false doctrine, if they're going to put an NIV in the hand of their teenagers and in their main service they'll use the King James to please the old people. They're trying to please the old people and please the elderly with the King James and in their teenage youth department where all the girls are in short shorts on their website and they're giving them all an NIV and giving them false Bibles, ESV, New American Standard, rock and roll. Hey, that is not the future of an independent Baptist church. That's the future of a church that one day is going to be completely off the deep end, new evangelical. I mean look, those old people are going to go to be with the Lord some day. If we're giving all the young people a different version, we're not even giving the young people the King James, we're not giving the young people the old hymns of the faith, we're not giving the young people standards of dress, where you dress like a lady and dress like a man and dress modestly, look you're destroying the future. And that church, that fraud, Tri-City Baptist, in their statement of faith, go look it up, it says you have to endure to the end to be saved under the salvation. Look it up, just go on there and just type in endure. You know the little find in their big long statement of faith? Well, you know, it's only those who endure to the end that are truly saved. You're teaching works is what you're doing. Oh but they say it's by faith, yeah but they say if you didn't endure to the end that you weren't saved. See, this Calvinist, look, I'm against Calvinism, and Calvinism is a fraud where they say, well you just never really were saved if you fall away. Well the Arminian says you could lose it, and the Calvinist says you never really were saved in the first place, and the Bible-believing Baptist says that you know what, you might get out of church but you're still saved. You might quit on God but He's not going to quit on you. The eternal security of the believer, once saved, always saved. And they're going to take this Matthew 24, a tribulation passage, and turn all that on its head, which is a sentence taken out of context. But if you take it out of context, right, he that endureth to the end shall be saved, I mean it almost, it sounds like that, right? I mean what if we just took that all by itself? Let's be honest, doesn't that sound like you have to endure to the end to be saved? That's what it says, right? But that's why you have to read the Bible in context. And that's why anybody who takes this verse by itself and quotes it by itself is a liar. Anybody who quotes and says, well you've got to endure to the end to be saved, that's how you're going to get to heaven, is a liar. That is not what this says. This says your flesh will be saved. This says they're trying to kill you, and you've got to endure that persecution. Go to Matthew 10, Matthew 10 will find the same thing. Matthew chapter 10, same exact thing, another passage that people will bring out to say you can lose your salvation. You say, why are you so fired up, why are you so upset? Because even Baptists are deceived today. You know, and we need to stand strong on this, look I know that everybody here already believes you can't lose your salvation, or at least 99%. I already know we believe this, but you know what, it's not enough just to know something, we need to know that we know it, and we need to know why we know it. And we need to know how to prove it from scripture. Because I want these foundations of doctrine to be strongly laid for the next generation, and that everyone will not just walk out of here saying, I know that we can't lose our salvation, but to say I'll give you 10 reasons why we can't lose it biblically. And I'm ready when they try to pull this fraudulent, you know, he that endured to the end shall be saved, and whip that out of context, and throw that at me. I know how to answer it. I know what the truth is. We need to know the truth. The Bible says in Matthew chapter 10, the same thing, let me find it, verse 21, and the brother shall deliver up the brother to death. So again, what are we talking about? People being physically killed. Saved people being killed for their faith, and the father of the child, the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. Why? Because the children don't believe the same things that the parents believe. I wonder if it's because they're reading out of a different Bible. I wonder if it's because they have a completely different music. I wonder if it's because they have a completely different doctrine, different lifestyle, different training, different schooling, different everything. He says the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death, and ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved, but when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another, for verily I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the son of man be come. So again, what are we talking about? The second coming of Jesus Christ. Is that not what it's talking about in verse 23? Second coming of Christ. So in verse 21, people are being killed for the cause of Christ. In verse 22, we're being hated and if we endure to the end, we'll be saved by what? The coming of Christ. He says look, just flee into another city. They're killing you. The heads are coming off. Flee into another city and eventually if you can endure to the end, you'll be saved. You'll be delivered. That's why, and again I could go on and on, there's so many scriptures on that subject of Matthew 10 and Matthew 24. We could go on and on. I mean it keeps going. Look at verse 28, and fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul. Do you see how there's a distinction made between the body being saved and the soul being saved? The body being killed, the soul being killed. Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. We could go on and on. I've got a few other scriptures that people will go to, 2 Timothy chapter 2. It just proves eternal security even more when you actually turn to it. I don't have any time, but folks, we can't lose our salvation and that's the best news that you've heard all day because if you could lose your salvation, we'd all lose it. We'd lose it this week. You know, I mean none of us would be able to live up to the standard of earning our way into heaven. Thank God that our sins are gone as far as the east is from the west. God has separated us from our sins and thank God for the promise that he has promised us, the earnest of the spirit and we've got his word that promised us hundreds of times that we can never lose our salvation. Don't let the false teachers spin you on this and be ready to give an answer. By the way, when you go out soul winning, don't ever give the gospel to anyone without teaching them about eternal security before you pray with them. Before you pray and have them call upon the name of the Lord, make sure they even understand what the gospel is, what the good news is that salvation is free and that it's eternal. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word and we thank you for the truths of your word. Please Lord, just help us all to preach this message to as many people as we can. People are not saved, they're lost and many people are even claiming the name of Jesus and they think their wonderful works are going to save them. Lord, help us to preach this message of once saved, always saved, of faith alone for salvation, that it's not of works. Help us to scream this from the housetops. Help us to stand against the churches that call themselves Baptists and that preach all this false works-based Calvinistic repent of your sins and jump through hoops to be saved. Lord, help us to stand against it, to fight the good fight, to earnestly contend for the faith and to just proclaim door to door and to our friends, family and loved ones that salvation is the free gift through Christ. We love you and thank you and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, let's sing one more song before we go. How about 227? All right. We broke the record again. What's the number? Oh wow, we only ... See, it's best when we only break it by one because that means that we'll break it again sooner, you know? But you know what, it's exciting because we're living in a day where a lot of independent Baptist churches are getting smaller, they're shrinking, but you know what, we need to keep growing and thriving and if we keep preaching the truth and knocking doors, there's no reason why we have to get smaller. We can only get bigger and so thank you everybody for being here today and helping us break the record. Let's sing 227.