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

Alright, as I mentioned last week, we're going to be going through a lot of very fundamental doctrines. So every service is going to be important. I encourage you to stick around for the evening service if you can. I was kind of going back and forth between which sermon I wanted to preach in the morning and which sermon I wanted to preach in the evening just because they're both extremely important. This morning I'm going to be preaching and I just couldn't see not preaching this at the first service here when I'm going through all these doctrines is titled The Main Thing. It's what it's all about and it's basically about salvation, once saved, always saved, eternal security, easy believe-ism, whatever I call it. You know, what we believe about being saved is primary and is due to have preached first. But what I want to preach on in the evening, that's why I'm hoping you can stick around, is the Godhead and what we believe about God and the Trinity because there's been a lot of false doctrine and heresy that's been going around and we have a brand new church and I just want to make sure we're very clear on what we believe here with all of that that's been going around. I'm going to preach a sermon that I haven't heard a whole lot about. I mean, there's been some information put out there, but tonight I'm going to be preaching on the eternal sonship of Jesus Christ. So it's a very important doctrinal sermon. So if you're able to stick around, we'd love to have you stay here for that. But let's dig into the sermon, this sermon right now, The Main Thing. You know, you've heard, maybe you've heard before people say, we got to keep the main thing, the main thing, right? It's easy to get off track on a lot of different things. When it comes to churches, churches have a tendency to get off track doing all kinds of other activities and all kinds of other stuff and their focus ends up getting off what it's supposed to be on. The focus, the main focus, the main point in our life and in this church and for born-again believers is to bring other people to Christ. It's the Great Commission. It's the gospel. We're supposed to go out and preach the Word and preach God's Word and get other people saved. That's what it's all about. That is the main thing. But we need to make sure that we've got the main thing right. We've got the right doctrine when it goes out. I'm preaching the gospel. What is the gospel? What is it that we believe? Now, people ask me out soul winning very frequently. I don't know what it's like here but I can't imagine it's that much different. You run into a lot of people who are relatively ignorant when it comes to Christianity and the Bible and things like that and they have this real, real vague kind of concept of what Christianity is. Maybe they're Catholic or maybe they brought up some type of Christianity but they don't really know anything. And one of the main questions I get is, well, what's the difference between Christian and Baptist or between Catholic and Baptist? It's kind of funny because when people ask, well, what's the difference between Christian and Baptist? They'll say, hey, I'm from a Baptist Church. You know, I'm from a strong old Baptist Church. They'll say, well, what's the difference between Christian and Baptist? Well, Baptist is Christian, first of all. We're not like Catholic. Now, there is a distinction where people would say, well, are you Catholic or are you Christian? And that, for decades, that was a common question and it actually made sense because Catholics aren't Christian. I mean, they may claim to follow Christ or whatever but they're really not. It's a false religion. But that is a common question that you'll probably get that's a common question that I've always gotten is, well, what's the difference? And I always tell them, well, there may be many differences. There's a lot of little things that we can point to and it's not that any of those things are unimportant. You know, people have a lot of different beliefs but the main thing and the main reason why I'm a Baptist, the main reason why I'm a pastor of a Baptist Church, the reason I call myself a Baptist is because of salvation. It's because of what different churches and what people believe it takes to be saved. And I sum it up for the person just say, you know, the vast majority of people out there, even those that call themselves Christian, whether it be non-denominational or Lutheran or Catholic or whatever, whatever denomination you want to put on there, the vast majority of churches out there are gonna tell you to one degree or another that in order to be saved and go to heaven, you have to be a good person. That's what it boils down to. They may tell you have to believe in Jesus or go to church, you have to do all these other things in addition to believing, but you have to do more. That believing is not enough. And I always explain to people, we don't believe that. We believe very specifically that salvation is a free gift and it's not of works. It has nothing to do with how good you are. Whether or not that means you have to be a certain, you know, good in order to get salvation or you have to be good after you get salvation in order to keep salvation. We don't believe in any of that works. That works are required at all. They are not. Salvation is completely free. It's a free gift. We started off reading here in Ephesians chapter number two because this is where we get what we believe about salvation not being of works. Now this isn't the only passage, but this is a very clear passage and one where it's spelled out very, very clearly. Now I'm going to mention this as well. When you go out and preach the gospel to people or talk to anybody for that matter, when it comes to Scripture, when it comes to doctrine, we always want, if you're trying to convince somebody or persuade somebody, you want to start with using the most clear, concise verses that you can possibly find to teach on any given subject no matter what it is. Now we're talking about salvation specifically and when it comes down to our works necessary, our works required, Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9 are extremely clear on this. You don't want to go to parables. You don't want to go to other passages where it could be easy to kind of misunderstand or misinterpret what the Bible's saying. We want to go to a passage that's going to be just very clear, black and white. There is no wiggle room or getting around what the Bible actually says. Look down there in verse number, well look at verse number 5. It says, Even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 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 what I love about this verse is very clear. Verse 8 is talking about being saved. It's talking about our salvation very clearly. It's spelled out in the first verse there in verse 8. For by grace are you saved through faith. Grace is something that's given to us that we don't deserve. It's undeserved. It's like a gift, which is already mentioned in this verse. For by grace are you saved through faith. Faith is just what you believe. We're saved by God's grace. He's had mercy on us and extended grace unto us, and we're saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's not based on us. It has nothing to do with us. It is the gift of God. It has nothing to do with how good we are. It's something that you receive for free, that's bought and paid for, given to you. And then we have verse 9, not of works. It cannot get any clearer than that. I mean, there is no way I think you could ever possibly word this understanding or the, you know, this thought than just clearly saying not of works lest any man should boast. There is no argument there. There should be no argument there. And these are the types of verses that we want to show to people. These are the verses that I like to use when I'm teaching a doctrine. This is what I like to use to prove, hey, this is why I believe what I believe because the Bible says right here, it is not of works. It is grace. It is through faith. It has nothing to do with me. It is a gift. It's something I receive for free. Now you may have a lot of people that are going to say, oh yeah, I believe that. I agree with that. Yet in their heart, they're still trusting in their works. The reason why is because this is so clear that even churches that teach a false gospel will still give lip service or say, hey, we believe salvation's by grace through faith. I mean, all the Reformed churches will say that. I mean, the vast majority of churches will say that. The vast majority. They're gonna say that they believe that, but when it boils down to it, they really don't. Now you may be thinking, you know, well what are you talking about Pastor Burson's? I remember when I first got saved, I thought that there were a lot of people that were saved out there. I kind of felt like I joined the club. And you hear about, you know, Christianity. And I didn't know much of anything about all the different denominations, but I just assumed that, hey, well, they're all Christian. I mean, they're all believing in Christ, and I had the simplicity of the gospel of just, hey, I just need to put my faith in Christ as my Savior. And once I did that, I was, you know, it was amazing. I was like, wow, cool, I'm saved. This is awesome. But I didn't have a lot of knowledge when it came to all the different denominations. So for a long time, I just kind of had this belief that, yeah, people believe some screwy things or, you know, like the Pentecostals or whatever. They kind of have some weird beliefs, but they're still believing in Christ. And I held that and maintained that thought. I mean, the only people I thought I was like, oh, man, they're just way screwed up would be like Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons, because it was pretty obvious they have another Jesus. I mean, they were way, way, way too far out to even, for me, for in my understanding, to see, yeah, they weren't, they're not saved, but everyone else I thought was. It wasn't until I really started going out soul-winning, and especially soul-winning with someone who was really good at it, who was really good at getting the heart of the matter before I started to realize, wow, there's actually not a lot of people that are saved. So what do I mean by that? What I mean is, when you start digging people and asking a little bit more questions and actually doing a very thorough job of getting to the heart of the matter of what people believe, you'll start to realize that a lot of people don't actually believe this. Now we have to present God's Word when you preach the gospel to people. It has to be there. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. But what also needs to be there is a very proper and thorough explanation of these verses and just digging into it, similar to the way I was just doing. You go through the Word. Say, it's for by grace. So when you're showing someone the Bible, take the time to explain, hey, grace means it's undeserved. Grace means it's not based on our works. He says it's through faith. It's what we believe. It has nothing to do with works or church attendance or anything like that. And go through each aspect of the verse and just explain it out thoroughly to make sure, because just on a surface reading, a lot of people say, oh, yeah, I believe in that. But as you start getting in a little bit deeper, people might start to come up with an objection, at least in their own mind, if they don't verbalize it, saying, well, wait a minute, I don't actually believe that. And it gives you an opportunity to explain it even further. Now, when it says here not of works, because people will try to pick these things apart. They say, well, what do you mean by works? What does the Bible mean by works? Because a lot of people say, well, I don't believe you have to work your way to heaven, but they'll still believe you have to obey the commandments. But, I mean, you can't do anything you want. You still have to obey, you know, God's rules for the most part. Well, when the Bible's talking about works, I'm going to prove this to you. Turn, if you would, to Romans chapter 9. When the Bible is talking about works, it's talking about the works of the law. It's talking about keeping the commandments of God. Those are the works. We're not talking about going out with a shovel and digging a ditch or, like, work in that sense. That's not what the Bible's referring to when it's explaining that, hey, it's not of works. And even in the context of Ephesians chapter 2, the very next verse explains, and I know I had you turn to Romans 9, stay in Romans 9, verse number 10 says, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them. Now, a lot of people who believe a false gospel will point to this verse, and I have no problem with this verse. We're saying, see what we're created under good works. Okay, amen. We are created under good works. We are supposed to, but the key word in that verse is should, that we should walk in them. Of course we should. It doesn't mean you automatically will if you get saved, but see, that's what they try to say is that, oh, well, if you are saved, you will just automatically do all the good works. It's not true. We should. We should walk in those works. But it says we're his workmanship. He's worked through us, and we are created unto good works, doing good things. And the way that we do good things is by the law. Look at Romans chapter 9, verse number 30. And you say, well, I don't understand because, you know, a lot of people think the law is, well, you shouldn't kill or you shouldn't steal. And yeah, those are part of the law. But say, what if I just help a lady across the street, or what if I just help this person out or do that? Well, that's still encapsulated in the law, those things. It's not just a bunch of thou shalt nots in the law. The law actually has things that you're supposed to do and things you're not supposed to do. So when you're supposed to, you know, love or treat your neighbor as yourself, that's still considered as part of the law. Look at Romans 9, verse number 30. The Bible says, What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore, because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. So there we have the phrase in verse number 32, the works of the law. Those are the good works. We have the the Jews who thought they were going to achieve their salvation through their obedience to God's law. And the Bible's talking about that as being the works of the law. Keeping the the sacrifices, keeping the commandments, keeping themselves, you know, supposedly keeping themselves pure. Obviously they made excuses for any time they failed the law and still thought they were following the law. And you know what? That wasn't just specific with the Jews. People do that still today. Jews and Gentiles alike want to make excuses for why what they did really wasn't a sin, or really wasn't that bad, and want to cover that up instead of just confessing or admitting, yeah, you know what? That is a sin. The Bible says in Galatians 2 16, you have to turn there, turn if you would to Romans chapter 4. You stay in Romans, turn to Romans 4. Galatians 2 16 says that knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. By the works of the law, by keeping God's law, nobody's justified. Let that sink in. And these are, again, Galatians 2 16, if you're taking notes, is another very clear verse to show somebody that is not of works, that our salvation does not come through our working, our actions, our obedience to God's law. It does not come that way because no flesh is justified in the sight of God by our works. We all fall short. We all come short of the glory of God. So the next point I want to make is then is because people will follow this this train of thought and say, well, is it possible to believe and not have works? And we just we just experienced this on Wednesday with with a Catholic lady and she's like, well, I know that the Bible says, you know, faith without works is dead. And they get that from James chapter two, and I'll quote it for you. James 2 19 says, thou believeth that there is one God, thou doest well. The devil's also believe and tremble, but wilt thou know, vain man, that faith without works is dead. So you get some people that will say, oh yeah, of course we have to have faith. Of course it's by faith and it's not of works. Right? They'll say that and they'll agree. I think this lady even agreed to some extent, you know, out loud. Now some people you just can't convince and you just have to be able to, you know, after one and two admonitions just reject and say, fine, you know, maybe another day. But there are some people who've just been a little bit deceived and if they're having a good conversation with you, if they seem like they're receiving what you're saying, then you explain some of these things. The Bible says in James chapter 2, because most people just know, they'll say, well, faith without works is dead. And they've heard enough preaching just saying, oh, well, then if you don't have works and you don't have faith, you've never had faith and you're never, and you're not saved. And they kind of tie all that stuff together into one thought that just, oh well, since because the Bible says faith without works is dead, then automatically if you're not doing good things, then you're not saved. And that's what they'll say. But they're missing a lot of key doctrines or points about salvation. One is that it's eternal life. Once you receive eternal life, eternal means forever. I'm going to get in, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself with that. But if you have very clear verses, like we already looked at that it's not of works, and then we have one verse here that says, well, if you believe there's one God, and see some people, well, the devils believe, but they're not saved. Well, verse 19 in James 2 says that believing there's one God. Almost every religion believes there's one God. There's a few polytheistic religions out there that believe in multiplicities of gods, but believing in one God isn't one gets us saved anyways. So when someone throws that at you and says, well, the devils also believe, well, yeah, the devils believe there's one God. But the devils aren't putting their trust and their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior to save them, and that's because that's what's necessary to be saved. Besides the fact that angels and devils, God doesn't deal with them the same way that he deals with human beings. We're different creatures, just like God doesn't deal with human beings the same way he deals with animals and cows. I mean, they're different creations, they're different creatures. Angels were created to be ministers or ministering spirits, the Bible says. So, you know, there's nothing that talks about how they are to be saved. So, you know, you don't want to get too off on that type of subject, though, because the way that you could answer this with, you know, answer this question, but wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? That's a question. Don't you, like, do you know that? Will you know that? Romans chapter 4, verse number 5 explicitly says, there's a very good example of someone who doesn't work at all, but they do believe, because they say, well, faith without works is dead. But what they mean by that is that basically it's not even possible to have faith without works. See, that's what they end up saying, and you should ask someone, well, is it even possible for a person to have faith and not have works? Because they'll probably say no if they're believing in this false gospel, if they're believing in works. Then you turn them to Romans 4 or 5 and say, well, the Bible says here, but to him that worketh not, but believeth. So does this person work? Do they do any good works? Because the Bible says here this person works not. He doesn't do any good works. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. So there you have it. An example of someone doing no good works, yet they believe. They're saved. Does their 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. And again, Romans 4 goes on to just explain that salvation has always been by grace through faith. It was by grace through faith when David was reigning. It was by grace through faith then when Abraham was around as well. Salvation's always been that way. We're not dispensational in any way. And it's very clear here in Romans 4 saying, look, God is not going to impute. It says your iniquities are forgiven. Your sins are covered. It's done. It's paid for. Blessed is the man whom the Lord will not impute sin. He will not punish you or hold you responsible by sending you to hell for your sins. It's done. So not only do we have that verse that says, you know, him that worketh not is believing really enough. We get this question a lot as well. Is believing really enough? Like, I mean, come on, you can't tell me that that you can just live however you want and still go to heaven, still be saved. Well, let's see what the Bible says. And I'm talking about clear verses. Acts chapter 16. You can turn there if you'd like. You probably know where I'm going. Acts chapter 16 verses 30 and 31. These are all very common verses that we use out sowning and for very good reason. I remember when I first went out sowning, I kind of followed and copied Pastor Anderson's pattern in the verses that he would use. And I would spend a lot of time then as I was reading my Bible and studying and trying to find other verses to use. There's still a lot of verses that I use and the method I use is still very, very close to what he uses. And for the simple reason that the verses that are being used are extremely clear. There was a time where I started wanting to use, I was getting real excited about sowning and I was like, oh man, I want to use this verse and this verse and this verse. And I found out through practice that some of those verses weren't always the easiest to explain. Even though they were rightly talking about salvation, they were very great verses, they were good doctrinally, they were right on, but they weren't always the easiest or the clearest to just get across to a person that's an unbeliever to show them just very simply, very straightforward that this is all it takes. Acts 16 verses 30 and 31 are verses that are very straightforward and clear on getting the message across on what it takes to be saved. Because people are saying, well I don't know if believing is enough. Well there's a man that asked the question in verse number 30, says, and brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? It's a great question. What do I have to do? What must I do? And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house. I'll typically ask people after reading this verse, I'll say, well what what does the Bible say that you have to do to be saved? And oftentimes they'll repeat what this says, they'll say, believe on Jesus. Sometimes they'll say something else, they'll say, well you got to go to church, you got to read your Bible, you got to pray, and say, well is that what the Bible says? So no, look at what the words actually say because that's what matters. Not what you've been taught, not what do you think, what it says. And then you could use this verse to say, well, they say, oh well you're just looking at one verse. Okay, we are, well we're looking at two, there's two verses. But let's say that there's something else that needs to be done. Maybe the Bible says somewhere else that you need to do something other than believe on Jesus to be saved. Wouldn't they be lying to this person then? Because what they said and their answer was, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. It's a very clear sentence, a very clear statement. He asked the question, they gave the answer, he said, it's believe on Jesus. If there is anything else that you had to do then they gave him a wrong answer. It's a lie. And then you have to ask, well is this a lie? I mean is this, it's written in God's Word, it's recorded, it's the Apostle Paul and Silas. Did this guy not get saved because they went back and they baptized him in his whole house for believing. Very, very clear verse. Just like John 3 16, John 3 18, for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3 18, he that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already. Why? Because he hath not believed in the name of the begotten son of God. That's why he's not saved, because he didn't believe. This person's saved, they're not condemned, they're not guilty because he believed. The other person, they are condemned because they have not believed. Very simple, very straightforward verses. These are the verses that we want to use, these are the verses I love to use when explaining salvation because it is that critical. Well what about repenting? A lot of people say, well you have to repent of your sins, you have to, you know, you have to believe and repent, believe and repent. They'll say these two things go together, you can't tie them apart, you can't do it, you know, believe and repent. But see the problem is what they say, and this could go an entire sermon of its own, but the vast majority of people when they say you have to repent, they just add repent of your sins or they automatically think that that's what it means. You have to repent of your sins, you have to turn from your sins, you have to repent of your sins. Let me tell you, the word repent all by itself does not mean turn from your sins, not at all. The easiest way, the easiest definition I can tell you what the word repent means, just rethink. The word pent is is a is a root word for for thinking, you know, I believe it comes from Latin, but regardless if you know any Spanish you know pensar means to think, it's the same again the same root word where the word comes from. Repent just means you're rethinking something, you're changing your mind. That's what the word repent means. If it had anything, if it inherently was talking about sin like turning from your sins, well then that would make God a sinner because God repents in the Old Testament. You can see God repenting, which says even in Jonah chapter 3 verse number 10 the Bible says, and God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil he thought to do unto them. So God repented, God was going to destroy Nineveh, but he changed his mind when he saw their works. That's what the Bible says, he saw Jonah 3 10. Write that down if you don't ever use that when you come across someone who who says no you have to repent of your sins, go to Jonah 3 10. It has all that you need is very clear and very concise to prove that person does not have to turn from their sins in order to be saved because one it shows that God repents so you can you immediately just destroy their definition of the word repent. So was God a sinner? Did God have to repent of any sin? No he doesn't. Because that's an important point to get across because people just hear the word repent and they just automatically in your mind are going to add of your sin, of your sin, of your sin. It's not of your sin in every case. You can't understand the Bible with that with that definition of repent. You're not, you're going to be all screwed up. So one it shows that the definition is different, but two it shows then and defines that if you're turning from your evil way or turning from your sin, it's works. So the Bible says God saw their works that they turned from their evil way. Turning from your wicked way. So I'll say well is repenting of your sin the same as turning from your wicked way? Yeah it is and the Bible defines that as works. Why? See people use this phrase oh you're turning from your sin to the Savior but that's not, that's not, that doesn't even make any sense because if you're turning from your sins and look we all ought to turn from our sins. I believe in this. I believe in turning from your sins but not in order to be saved. If you turn from your sins, what's going to happen as a result is you are going to be obeying God's law because what is it that's making you sin? It's God's, you know, it's it's your lack of obedience to God's law. That's what's making you a sinner. You're not obeying God's law therefore you're sinning. So when you turn from not obeying God's law you're going to turn to obeying God's law. That's how you turn from your sins. So if you have to turn from your sins to be saved then what you're saying is you have to obey God's law in order to be saved. That's the works of the law which we already showed are not a requirement for our salvation. But it's a very big very a lot of brainwashing going on out there about turning from your sins to be saved but if you could break it down for if you find someone that's willing to listen you could break it down for them because one of the most important things we can do in giving the gospel is just break things down very simple very easy to be understood and use the verses that are clear. Jonah 3 10 there's no doubt about what it's saying. People might reject it because they don't like what it says but what it actually says is clear it defines turning from evil as works turning from wicked ways as works. Since salvation is not determined by our good works we're very established and only by our faith the next thing is is then well how can our bad works take away our salvation because some people will say oh no salvation is a free gift it's completely by grace through faith you know you just have to receive it believe in Christ and you're saved but then they'll say but but I mean if you commit murder if you don't follow the technique then God's gonna take that gift away from you and then you're not saved anymore see there's all different ways that people try to back in works into the equation instead of just accepting that it's totally free and bought and paid for and once you receive it it's yours because they'll say murder or suicide well if it wasn't based on our good works then how can our bad works take it away it doesn't that doesn't make any sense I didn't deserve salvation when I got saved when I was 20 years old didn't deserve it I was a sinner I don't deserve it but guess what I did get saved I'm 41 years old today I still don't deserve salvation I'm not going to deserve salvation tomorrow or in a year or in 10 years I don't deserve it I'm still a sinner I don't deserve it I'll never deserve it so it's not based me keeping salvation has nothing to do with being good enough because I'm not good enough nobody's good enough that's why it has nothing that's why Ephesians 2 says not of yourselves like not of yourselves at all not to receive it not to keep it not to maintain it it has nothing to do with you it has to do with Jesus and what he did because he gets all the credit and all the glory and all that I get none of it it doesn't matter how much I clean up my life I still am not worthy of having that great gift but Jesus was worthy and all the direction all the attention goes to him if I never deserve the gift to begin with how can I undeserve it later that again it doesn't make sense we can't lose it we do believe in once saved always saved once you receive salvation you are saved forever now when you say that to people oftentimes what people get confused with is they'll say oh so you're Calvinist because Calvinist will use that term and say they're one saved always saved or you know but always make sure that I'm clear we're not Calvinist and if you're not familiar with Calvinism don't worry about it it's just a heretical false doctrine but basically they believe one of the things they have an acronym it's called TULIP and in each letter stands for one point of their doctrine of this this doctrine that John Calvin came up with he didn't come up with the acronym but it's basically the same belief and the the P part of their what they believe is the perseverance of the saints so one of the things that they believe in once saved always and their version of once saved always saved is that if you're saved you will persevere unto the end meaning that you will just live you know this life and you'll you'll be you know you're not gonna be perfect but you will continue to persevere in the faith and your works and everything else that if you don't actually kind of live up to what a saved person should be then you are never saved to begin with that is not what we believe again because your works don't determine even if you were saved or not your works don't determine that it's your faith whether or not you put your trust in Christ because let's face it we all have this flesh and we all have free will I myself tomorrow can choose or today right now I can choose to just start walking in my flesh and say you know what I'm fed up with this I'm tired it's too hard I'm just gonna go back off into the world and just live a worldly lifestyle and go off and party and drink and do drugs and do whatever feels good and ruin and destroy and waste my life but that wouldn't change what happened when I was born again that wouldn't change the fact that Christ already paid for my sins and has given me a free gift none of that would change that so we don't believe that it's an automatic thing that the saints will persevere unto the end but what we do believe in that starts with a p is preservation we believe that god will preserve our souls he preserved once he saves us we are preserved forever turn if you would to psalm 37 psalm 37 and psalm 97 both spell this out very clearly the preservation of the saints as opposed to the perseverance of the saints now don't let because in both psalm 37 and both psalm 97 the word saint is used and sometimes the word saint can throw people off because again the catholics have this perception or teaching of what a saint is and they don't call someone a saint unless they've done all these good works and stuff and they have to vote on or however they go through their process of someone who's achieved sainthood based on their works that is not a biblical definition of a saint the word saint just means someone who is sanctified that's where the two words come from the same root so someone who's sanctified is someone who is sanctified through christ basically you're cleansed or you're washed through jesus christ he has sanctified us from our sins he's cleansed us he's sanctified us so we are saints every believer is a saint because you've been sanctified so that's the biblical definition of what a saint is so when you see the word saint you don't have to think oh it's someone who does all these great works because it's not someone who's a believer who's been sanctified or set apart because christ has paid for all their sins psalm 37 verse number 28 the bible says for the lord loveth judgment and forsaketh not his saints they are preserved forever but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off god's not going to forsake you just like it says in hebrews you know lord that god will never leave thee or nor forsake thee that's a promise from god god doesn't back out of his promises he will never turn his back on us even if you turn your back on him he won't turn his back on you he won't forsake you now if you remember jesus christ was forsaken the famous verse of you know the famous statement he made on the cross said my god my god why is thou forsaken me now why was it that jesus was forsaken because first of all when anyone dies and their sins they are forsaken of the lord they are rejected and since jesus christ came to pay for the penalty for our sins when he was on that cross when he bare the sins of the whole world on the tree when he was up on that cross and he took our sins on himself in order to pay for those sins he had to be forsaken he had to be rejected his soul went to hell before rising again from the dead because he paid for all of our sins so he was forsaken but because he did that because he was forsaken for us we will never be forsaken of the lord we're preserved forever through the gift that he gave us through what he did for us psalm 97 10 basically is going to teach us the same exact doctrine psalm 97 verse number 10 the bible says ye that love the lord hate evil he preserveth the souls of his saints he deliver them out of the hand of the wicked again teaching that our souls are preserved you don't have to persevere for your soul to be preserved god does the preservation it's not left up to us we are sealed ephesians chapter one shows us that we're sealed with the holy spirit ephesians 1 13 this is actually the verse that i used on the on the front of our tracks that we would give out at word of truth baptist church not only does have word of truth in there but it's a great salvation verse that's very very useful when going out and preaching the gospel to people verse number 13 says in whom he also trusted after that you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation so it's talking about trusting in jesus after you've heard the gospel right in whom also after that you believed you were sealed with that holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of his glory we're not calvinist we don't believe in the perseverance of the saints but we believe in preservation but when we believe that we are saved forever we have eternal security we are secure in our salvation and this is one more passage that explains that why because god has set a seal on us once you believe once you make the decision make the choice to trust in jesus christ with all of your heart that he is your savior then god seals you and what what it refers to it as it says it's the earnest of our inheritance we're going to receive an inheritance later but the moment you believe you're sealed and there's a down payment kind of you know put down where god gives you the earnest of the spirit until the redemption of the purchased possession the purchased possession is us in full our bodies everything god has bought us with a price he's purchased us with the blood of jesus christ we are bought and paid for we belong to him so once we put our faith in him we belong to him he seals us and he gives us that spirit as the down payment saying i'm gonna come back for the rest so when jesus christ comes back then our bodies are changed we're reunited with our soul spirit body everything back in one glorified and we belong to god it says unto the praise of his glory if you go to john 5 24 john 5 24 very very rare that i ever give the gospel anybody without turning to john 5 24 is my favorite verse in the whole bible i think it's extremely powerful we sang that song this morning verily verily comes from this verse so john 5 24 jesus christ speaking he says verily verily i say unto you he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me half everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life and one of the things i like to point out about this verse when i'm preaching the gospel is that there's three verb tenses used in this one verse it's got the present the past and the future so when it says you believe on him that somebody says you half everlasting half is present tense it means you have it right now something that you get immediately right now i have everlasting life so i'm good right now and then he says and shall not come into condemnation that's future tense so not only do you have everlasting life right now you shall not come into condemnation in future but is passed from death unto life it's already happened it's already done because you believe the moment you believe you pass from death unto life you're headed towards death as a sinner you believe in jesus that's that's the line mark if you have a timeline of your life from birth until death you're living your life you're living your life as soon as you believe in jesus boom that's the moment you've passed from death unto life it's done it's paid for and from that moment you have everlasting life and because you have everlasting life it lasts forever so you shall not come into condemnation at any point in the future ever because you have everlasting life and it lasts forever you cannot lose that it can't be taken away it is eternal the words eternal and everlasting mean forever turn if you would to just flip over to john chapter 10 we're here in john 5 where we'll spend the rest of our time probably here in john john chapter 10 verse number 28 and again if you want to take notes of any of these verses if these any of these verses aren't ones that you normally use out sony you may want to make a note of them and maybe you want to kind of incorporate them if you think that makes sense there's always um people that get hung up on different things different different issues that they struggle with on understanding the gospel and it's good to have extra verses to help explain what you're trying to explain to them john chapter 10 verse number 28 the bible reads and i give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand my father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand very clearly says i give it's a gift i give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish so when jesus gives you eternal life are you ever going to perish no what's perish mean to die now physically we know we're going to die but this body isn't just all who we are we have a soul and a spirit and who we really are is what's on the inside that's what makes us who we are so when this body passes away we don't die we don't perish we still continue we still exist we have eternal life and when it says no man any man can pluck them out of my hand no no man includes yourself you can't pluck yourself out of god's hand and god's not going to let go because he's not going to forsake us we've already seen that the lord is faithful he cannot break his promises this is why we're so solid on our salvation because god cannot lie titus 1 2 says in hope of eternal life which god that cannot lie promised before the world began god made up when god makes promises he can't he cannot back down man let man let let god be true but every man a liar any man can tell a lie every man can tell a lie and has told lies but god never lies that's he's holy he can't lie it's not in his nature he cannot tell a lie so when god says something we can be sure he's proved himself over and over and over again through all of his words he always rings true with his promises so if he promises eternal life if he promises that you'll you'll live forever if he promises he'll never forsake you then we can trust that with with more trust than anything else that we have in our entire lives and once you're born you cannot be unborn i'm going to hit this last point real quick john chapter 3 you flip over john chapter 3 i found that this illustration that god has given us in the bible while being born again is very useful for people to understand the concept of salvation the concept of being able to be saved and never have to worry about being unsaved the concept that is completely free and there's other illustrations that i use but this one especially especially when it comes to people moms are probably the the easiest to to grasp this concept but i mean anyone really can but it really hits home with people who have children it's about being born again so let's read here in john chapter 3 what jesus is talking to nicodemus he says in verse number three jesus answered and said on him verily verily i say unto thee except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of god so well you want to go to heaven you want to see the kingdom of god well you got to be born again you cannot go unless you're born again right very clearly nicodemus saith unto him how can a man be born when he is old can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born he doesn't understand what jesus is talking about he's like wait a minute i don't see how this is going to work jesus i'm a grown man okay i mean like in my case i'm bigger than my own mom all right there's no way i'm going to go back in my mother's womb and she's going to give birth to me again it can't happen right obviously he doesn't know what he's talking about but jesus explains himself verse number five jesus answered verily verily i say unto thee except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter in the kingdom of god that which is born of the flesh is flesh that which is born of the spirit is spirit so he's talking about it's a spiritual birth there is a spiritual birth that takes place the moment you put your faith in jesus christ your spirit is born again john chapter one you flip back to john 112 because the bible explains it right there and this is another very clear verse because it's one thing to say okay well we need to be born again so and he says well that which is born of the flesh is flesh so of course physically we have a birth we need the spiritual birth but then but how exactly do we do that john 112 explains that but as many as received him to them gave me power to become the sons of god even to them that believe on his name so when you become a son of god well if you're becoming a son it means you're born right you're born into a family when we are born into god's family it's when we receive christ it's when we believe on his name we become a child of god we become born again that spirit is born within us and the reason why i said that i think a lot of women have a better time especially moms have a really good time understanding this is because then i go through and explain you know being a parent and having a child and having a son that's born to you you say you know what do you have do you have rules for your child of course why do you have rules for your child why don't you just let them do whatever they want or because they need instruction right they need guidance they need to be taught right from wrong you want them to grow up and do what's right you want them to be a good person when they grow up you don't want them to create some monster some some horrible person so they need to have rules they need to have discipline but i'll tell you what no matter what your child does does that mean if they do something real bad does that mean you don't love them anymore of course not well parents say no i mean i love i love my child no matter what there's an unconditional love that parents have for their children from the moment that they're born i remember the moment my first child was born and i looked down and there's a feeling i've never had in my life of just this unconditional love for your own child and god has created us with that inherently as part of his creation that gives us even more understanding of what it means to be a child of god because just as much as my child i love my child no matter what god loves all of his children now he has rules for us just as i have rules for my children and when my children break my rules they get punished they get disciplined well god disciplines his children also just because you're saved doesn't mean you just go off and do whatever you want and there's no consequences no god's not a deadbeat father okay god god is a very good father and a very loving father and he's not going to want you to get off track so he will discipline you but just as much as i'm not going to take any of my children no matter what they do and put it in my oven and turn it on broil and lock it up and just leave them in there god won't do that to his children either because what that's what hell is there's nothing my children could do to be you know no longer my children now i know in this world you might you know some kid might get kicked out of their home and just not able to live there but in their blood in their dna they're still a child of their parent nothing can change that that is and and you know we live in an imperfect world but god is perfect and with god when we're born of his seed of the word of god that seed remains in us and doesn't go away and just as much as our dna my dna is in is in my children you know god's word is in us god's seed is in us he sealed us with the spirit we cannot break that bond we are always his children and when we take our last breath whether a good child or a bad child we all get to go home to be with god and that is a concept that many people who especially those who have children can really relate to and grasp and understand and say yes i get it yes that's what you know that makes sense to me and god gives us these you know these ways of understanding so that we can grasp it and get it god doesn't want us to be ignorant and any one god you know god wants everyone to be saved for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son the lord's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance he's given us the opportunity he's given us the information he's even instilled in us that concept of of having children and knowing what that's like and knowing the love of a father the love of a mother and he relates that to our salvation because that's what our salvation is like it is forever it is eternal galatians 4 is the last place i'm going to look at this this afternoon i'm going to close with this galatians chapter 4 again and just in reference to being a child of god or being a son galatians 4 verse number 4 the bible reads but when the fullness of the time was come god sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons and because you are sons god has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying abba father wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son and if a son than an heir of god through christ as a child as a son now because we're in the family there is an inheritance inheritances are received only by the family members typically right here your an inheritance is passed on from father to son we have an inheritance in heaven with god through jesus christ because he is who made it possible for us to be saved to be adopted children to be brought into god's family that air that you know there's there's so many things that the bible relates and helps relate to us of what salvation is and and help us understand this it's a very important doctrine you know i may not have preached anything new necessarily today but we need to have this reinforced and hopefully you got maybe a few extra scriptural references that you can use or tips on going out and preaching the gospel to people but this is the most important doctrine and the primary thing what we're all about so it only makes sense to preach that first and just make sure we're all on the same page this is what salvation is and let's go out this afternoon and bring this good doctrine out to the people out there out to the lost world and see how many souls we can save let's far as i've ordered prayer dear lord we thank you so much for um for the free gift of salvation for just allowing us to be totally secure and and know that we're saved no matter what because you bought and paid for our salvation dear lord um we thank you for such a great gift and i pray to please help us to be able to explain it's an easy concept it's not difficult dear lord but so many people have been twisted around with bad doctrine and bad teachings dear lord and um i pray to please help us to undo some of that damage and just bring the truth to people and that they would have the best chance that they could to just understand what the gospel is and what you've done for them and that we can uh help bring those people to christ and it's in jesus name we pray amen