Once Saved Always Saved??

Hello, friends. Today, I want to talk to you about a uh thing I was taught when I first came into the church, which was this doctrine of once saved, always saved. Um Now, that phrase, that exact phrase, once saved, always saved, is not actually not in the Bible, okay? It comes loosely from a concept that's based on John 10 verses 28 through 29, and we're going to read it now.

Uh and this is Jesus speaking, "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. But my father, who has given them to me, he is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one."

Now, that's a true statement. It's in the Bible. Jesus said it, okay? And there's other passages that support that.

Romans 8, uh 38 and 39, Paul says neither height nor depth nor basically anything will keep us from the love of God, okay? It's a beautiful truth. So, if you've repented, and you've asked Jesus into your heart, and you've been born again by the Holy Spirit, and you are clearly then in his hands, the beautiful truth is no one can snatch you out of his hands. That does not mean you're always saved, okay?

If you choose to walk away from Jesus because you want to become a Muslim, or you want to become an atheist, or you want to walk away from Jesus, you still have free will. You have that Okay, God's never going to force you to stay in his hand. He doesn't want a love where there's chains on you, and you can't go anywhere. You have to stay in his hand.

He's always going to give you free will. Hence, because of that, once saved, always saved can't possibly be true because you can choose to walk away from Jesus and lose that salvation. Hebrews 6:4-6 is an example of this in the Bible. We're going to read it now.

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted [clears throat] the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit. Listen to that, partakers of the Holy Spirit. Means the Holy Spirit's in them. And have tasted [clears throat] the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put him to open shame.

This person was clearly saved. He had the Holy Spirit in him. He was clearly saved and he made a conscious intellectual decision to walk away from Jesus Christ. You see, >> [sighs and gasps] >> we're all sinners and the wages of sin is death and we deserve death.

We deserve to be in hell forever, but because of Jesus, because of grace, because of what he did on that cross, taking our punishment for us, he offers a channel for us to stay to go to heaven and stay with him forever, for eternal life. So, you get a choice. You can accept Jesus and go to heaven or you can reject Jesus and go to hell. And you can accept Jesus and then decide you don't want anything to do with him anymore.

And if you do, the end result of that is hell. The only unforgivable sin, guys, okay, is rejecting Jesus. You have [clears throat] to have a relationship with Jesus.

That means if you got sprinkled when you were born and as as a Catholic saying and then you never spent any time with him, never went to church, never spent any time with him, or you got saved at a or you you asked Jesus in your heart out of emotion at a teenage event and then you spent the rest of your days just living for you, never living for him, you may hear the tragic words that Jesus shares in Matthew 7:22 and 23, where he says, "Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, done many wonders in your name?'

And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.'" >> [sighs] >> He's basically saying, "Get away from me. I didn't know you."

Okay? We had no relationship because you walked away from me. The good news is, Hebrews 13:5 says that God will never leave us or forsake us. So, you can leave him, but he's not leaving you.

Okay? His hand, you're secure in his hand. If you asked him into your heart, you are secure in his hand. Okay?

But, you do have the free will to leave. Okay? Now, this does not mean if you slip up that you lose your salvation. Okay?

It's not what I'm saying here. Let's be clear on that because this is a This is an an issue that that freaks people out. Okay? If you truly repented and you asked Jesus in your heart, you were a sinner.

And then you were saved by grace. But now, after what Jesus did on the cross, after accepting his faith his faith his grace, you are a saint who occasionally sins. Okay? You're a new creation.

You are a different person. You're no longer that old person. You are now a new creation. You are a saint who sometimes sins.

You may slip up, repent, ask God to forgive you, he will. Turn, try not to do it again. If you're stuck in a persistent sin, but you feel bad about it and you're trying to to to conquer it, that very conviction is proof that you're saved. So don't question whether you're saved or not.

That conviction is proof that you're saved. Seek Jesus harder and ask him to help you overcome that uh that bondage, okay? The more you spend in this word and growing your faith, the less hold the bondage will have on you. That's kind of how that works, okay?

>> [sighs] >> So there is only one sin that's unforgivable, okay? It's the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. It's rejecting Jesus. Every other sin you can ask God to forgive you and he will.

All right, so that's the good news. You are safe in his hand as long as you're seeking him and you are in a relationship with him and you don't walk [clears throat] away from him. Every other sin is forgivable except rejecting him. However, not every sin is acceptable, okay?

Just because every sin is forgivable except rejecting Jesus, doesn't mean it's acceptable. And none other than Jesus himself, the master himself, says that how we live matters. And if we're not careful, okay? We may not get a chance to join him in heaven.

And that's not me saying that. This is Jesus Christ and we're going to show some examples of that that are often overlooked in scripture and we're going to start in Matthew 24 and 25. This is called the Olivet Discourse. It is um called that because they were on the Mount of Olives and this is the longest recorded answer to a question in scripture by Jesus.

He's asked what's going to be like at the end of times and he spends two chapters, Matthew 24 and 25, describing it. The first half of 24 he talks about all the things that we see in Revelation, wars, rumors of wars, up until the time that he comes again, okay? And then he transitions in the half of 24 and the first part of 25 into three parables about how we should be living by the time he comes. Now, this is in his end times discourse, so these are end times parables.

Okay? We have to take it in the right context. These are end times parables. And in all of them, the master leaves his servants in charge, just like Jesus has left us to go and make disciples, to love others.

He's left us here to be his hands and feet, okay? And he will come again. And when he comes again, he sets accounts. And so, this is a picture of where we're at right now.

Jesus is left, he's up in heaven at the right hand of God the Father, and we're down here to be fruitful, to be his hands and feet. And he shows clearly in these three examples how we live does matter. Let's start with first one, Matthew 24:45-51. "Who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his master made ruler over his household to get them food in due season?

Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes back again, will find him so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods.

But if that evil servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' and begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and in an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and a port appoint him his portion with the hypocrites, and there will shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth teeth." That phrase, "weeping and gnashing of teeth," always represents hell.

And so, here we see an example of Jesus is gone, he's up in heaven, and some of the servants are living the right way. They're taking care of the commission, the great commission and the great commandment, the loving God, the loving others, and they're uh going and making steps, and some are living for themselves, getting drunk, harming other people, uh doing whatever it takes to to gratify their own desires. And he comes back and he casts those people out to hell where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. They're not being snatched out of Jesus' hands.

He's going in there and he's saying, "You didn't act like you're supposed to." That's not being taught today. And this easy grace doctrine that has people thinking they that sin is acceptable and they can live how they want because God loves them anyway. We're about to show multiple examples in Jesus' own words where it does matter how we live.

Okay, let's go to the next parable. Matthew 25:1-13. This is the parable of the 10 virgins. And let's read.

Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. This is the wedding supper of the lamb, really. Now, five of them were were wise and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

But while the bridegroom was delayed, Jesus has delayed his coming, they they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard, "Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him." Then all the virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.

And the foolish said to the wise, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out." answered, saying, "No, lest there should not be enough for us and you. But go rather to those who sell and and buy for yourselves." And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in to him to the wedding, and the door was shut.

Afterward, the other virgins came, also saying, "Lord, Lord, open to us." But he answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you." Just like he said in Matthew 7, "I do not know you." "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of man was coming.

The door was shut. If these virgins had been ready, they would have all gone in. So So, we can assume that these were all saved people. They were the servants of the master.

They were welcome to the wedding feast. Okay? But, five of them were lazy. Five of them weren't ready.

Five of them weren't uh getting their relationship getting ready for the coming of the groom and the door was shut to them. They were caught by surprise. Jesus says over and over again, "I'm going to come at a time that you're not ready." Okay?

They weren't ready, and what does Jesus tell them? The same thing that he told them in Matthew 7. In Revelation 19:7, the it says the bride has made herself ready. This is the wedding supper land.

The bride has made herself ready. I know a lot of people who when I talk to them that and I tell them, "I think Jesus is coming soon." They all like, "Yeah, yeah, it's obvious. Look at all around there."

But, not one thing is changing in their life. Same sins, same worries, same life every day. They're not getting ready for the coming of the king. And I don't want the door to be shut on anyone.

>> [clears throat] >> So So, start getting ready. Okay? And then we're going to share how to do that in a minute. Final parable.

How we should be living according to Jesus when he returns, okay, is the parable of the talents. Believe it or not, that's an end-times parable. It's talking about how we should be living when he comes. And I'm not going to read it all.

I'm going to paraphrase it cuz I think most people know the parable of the talents. The master leaves. He gives five talents to one, two talents to another, one talent to a third. The guy who has five turns it into 10.

The guy who has two turns it into four. And the guy who has one buries his talent. When the master comes back, the guy who who who took his five and made it 10 gets rewarded. The guy who took his two and made it four gets rewarded.

The guy who buried his one talent gets uh condemned. And And here is what the master says to that servant. It's Matthew 25 verses 28 through 30. So, take the talent from him and give it to him who has 10 talents.

For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will have abundance. But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast that unprofitable servant into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. What was his sin while the master was gone?

No works. He did nothing. He was saved. He was a servant.

He was supposed to be serving the Lord by taking his talents and applying them and he did nothing. He had no works. James 2:26 says, "For as the body without the spirit is dead." Did you get that?

Our bodies, if we don't have the Holy Spirit in it, we are spiritually dead. Okay? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead. So, the Holy Spirit's not inside of us, we're dead.

But if we're saved and we're doing nothing, we are also dead. And Jesus says, "Cast that unprofitable servant out where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." >> [clears throat] >> The way it's pitched in this in this in America today is that that you should be striving to be your best self now, live your best life now, be successful uh in in all these different things and that God is there to help you be successful. Okay?

And we were never created to be the center of the universe and God our helpmate. We were created for God. He's the master, we're the servant. In all of these examples, the people that got cast out were people who were living for themselves instead of doing what the master had told them to do.

The master has told us to love God, love others, and to go and make disciples. And that's what we should be doing. We should be living for him. We're We're taking the life of Jesus, but we're not giving him our lives.

Instead, we're living for us and asking him to help us. When we pray, we're praying for him to help us. We're not praying, "God, show me what you want to do. I'm your servant.

I'll do whatever you ask." Okay? Now, you may say these are just parables. Parables are absolute truths that are um woven into a story.

Okay? So, these are truths. Well, we're about to go to Revelation and hear specific lines of Jesus, specific warnings of Jesus. In Revelation, uh it starts out with seven letters by Jesus to seven churches.

These These are end-times letters to end-times churches. These churches represent the types of Christians we see today. There's lukewarm Christians and there's a a lukewarm church. There's compromising Christians, there's a compromising church.

There's faithful Christians and there's a faithful church. So, these are letters to to us. These are in Revelation, so they're end-times. Because they're in Revelation and and Revelation freaks people out, they don't want to read it, they're usually ignored.

Whereas Paul's letters to seven churches, Ephesians Galatians Corinthians Thessalonians are um read and taught over and over every Sunday in every church in America, okay? But these are the last words of Jesus before he comes again. The last Revelation 2 and 3 are all red letters. They are the last words of Jesus before they came again.

And I wrote a book called The Last Instructions of Jesus, where I break all of these down. It's a really strong and powerful book. It's an easy read. It's not uh it's not going to take you months.

And but it's very good and it will grow you. And I strongly encourage you. can get it on Amazon, The Instructions of Jesus. I'm not going to go over all all of those.

I'm just going to highlight three specific warnings to three specific types of churches, okay? And in it we will see that again, just like the parables, it cannot possibly be true that once saved always saved. It's just It's just not a true statement. It doesn't appear in the Bible and it's not a true statement.

The first church is the church of Ephesus. It's called the loveless church. They have works, all right, but they have no love. They They're like the Pharisees of old were, you know, where they did everything right, but they but they have no love.

There's churches out there that teach the the mortification of sin, that your your job is try to eliminate all sin from your life so that you're as close to perfect as possible. And then when people see you, they want Jesus because you're so perfect, which is false doctrine also, okay? Um churches that judge other believers that are holier than thou, that look down on everybody. Um Christians that condemn the speck in your eye, while they've got these big logs of judgment in their own eye, okay?

To this church, Jesus says, "Come back to your first love. Come back to him." Revelation 2:5 we read, "Remember therefore from where you have fallen." Okay, this is his synopsis after saying you've lost your first love.

"Remember where if you've fallen, repent and do the first works." That word repent is repeated over and over. It's critical word. "Repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent."

Now, what's a lampstand? When Jesus first appears to John, John sees seven stars and seven lampstands and Jesus tells him what those represent in uh Revelation 1:20. He says, "The seven stars that you saw are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches. So, he says here, "If you don't come back to your first love, he's going to remove your lampstand.

He's going to remove you." Okay? We have to have a relationship with Jesus. We have to be in love with Jesus.

These are letters here. These letters in Revelation are letters to saved people. They're to the church, okay? These are people that ask Jesus into their heart.

They They're living supposedly, they think they're living for him, just like so many people in America. Ask Jesus in their heart, and they believe they're living for him. But, Jesus is saying, "Are you?" And And he's gives example after example of where Mm.

Maybe not, okay? Now, don't get mad at me. This is Jesus speaking. Okay?

It's not me. I'm just reading scripture. But, if you're Christian, it matters what the the Lord is saying about these things, because I do believe he's coming soon. We're here, it's August 8th, okay?

I believe America will get attacked probably within the next month, probably by September 11th, okay? We are in World War III. It's just not called that. Right now, the 37 highest nations by GDP and all the nuclear powers are in some form of a war.

There are more nations involved in war right now than there was in World War II. We are in World War III, and there's not going to be a fourth World War, in my humble opinion. So, So, once we do get attacked, then it will be called World War III, just like in World War II, Hitler attacked Poland, but it wasn't called World War II until we got bombed at Pearl Harbor. Then, they called it World War II and pointed it back to when Hitler attacked Poland.

Same thing. They're going to point it back to when uh Putin attacked Ukraine, but not until we get attacked, which I do believe is soon. Now, I hope I'm wrong. I really do, okay?

But, I think that's coming. Not only that, I believe that the covenant that starts the tribulation period will happen in the last few months of this year, before this year is out, okay? Again, I hope I'm wrong, but but you can look around and see and it does feel like Jesus is coming soon, doesn't it? And if so, we've got to go back to our first love.

We've got to get serious about our relationship with Jesus. It's critical because he is coming soon. Um, going to skip to the fifth church, which is the church at Sardis. It's also called the dead church, okay?

This church was a church that essentially ghosted Jesus. They asked Jesus in the heart, so they were saved technically, but they never spent any time with him. They did not work on that relationship with him. They went about living their life their way, okay?

We talked about earlier being sprinkled at birth, but never living for him or or accepting him at some church camp and then never living for him. That type of uh person, they ghosted Jesus. To that group, Jesus says in Revelation 3:3-5, listen to this. This is "Remember therefore how you have received and heard.

Hold fast and repent. Hold fast and repent." Over and over. "Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief and you will not know what hour I will come upon you."

There he goes again, you won't know what hour. Now, he goes, "You have a few names that even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments and they'll walk with me in white for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in garments and I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but will confess his name before the Father and the angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

So, he's saying here, "Listen, there's a few of the you that are good. I won't blot you guys out. What's that mean for the others that aren't? He's going to blot them out.

Now, the book of life is what when you ask Jesus in your heart, you get your name written in the book of life. It means you're going to heaven at judgment at the great white throne judgment, you're in because of what Jesus did, you're in. So, these people were in. You can't get blotted out of a book that you're not in.

They were in. They were saved people. The these letters were written to saved people. They were in, and Jesus says, "Because they didn't know him, because they had no relationship with them, he may blot them out of that book of life."

Okay? It is true. No one can take you out of Jesus' hand, but you do have free will to walk away and reject him. And he may say, "Mhm, you had no works.

You're out. Mhm, you weren't ready. The door is shut. Mhm, I don't know you.

I'm sorry. That can happen. Don't let that happen to you. How do we stop that from happening?

The relationship with Jesus. Okay? We've [clears throat] got to get into a relationship with Jesus. What does that mean?

His Bible, spending time in prayer, and obeying him. And we're going to we're going to talk about that in just a minute, okay? Final church, the lukewarm church, the Laodicean church. >> [sighs and gasps] >> This church is lukewarm, and we're just going to read Revelation 3:15 and 16.

This is to the church at Laodicea, the lukewarm church. "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you're lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth.

I mean, lukewarm feels good. All right? Not too too hot. I don't have to be on fire like talking to everyone about Jesus on a holding up signs on a street corner.

Not hot, okay? But, I'm not cold. I I I go to church on Sunday. I can check off the Jesus box.

I listen to some Christian songs sometimes. I I can check off the I got enough Jesus to feel good about my spiritual, but really when I wake up in the morning, I'm I'm I'm living for me. I'm thinking about my job, my bills, my relationships. My husband, my kids.

I'm thinking all about me. And Jesus really is just there to help me if I need him. Um that's lukewarm. And the church today, by and large, kind of teaches that kind of thing.

Their success seminars wrapped themselves around one little verse of scripture. And And Jesus is there to help us live our best life now. It I call it cultural Christianity, and it sounds good. It's got a form of godliness.

You see a little bit of Jesus in there, but it denies the power. And And And it's a form of godliness without the power. The power is Jesus. John 15 Uh >> [snorts] >> John 15 verses 9 through 11, Jesus tells us what we should be doing.

How we can make sure we're never in that group that gets pulled by him out okay? This is the heart of the Christian walk right here. John 15 verses 9 through 11. As the Father loved me, I also have loved you.

Abide in my love. How do we abide? Jesus tells us. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.

Okay, so we got to obey him. Keep my commandments, you'll abide in my love, just as I kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. What happens if we obey God, obey Jesus' commandments, love God first before ourselves, love others by dying to ourselves for them, putting them above us, their needs above us, reaching out and reaching people that are lost, going and making disciples? What happens if we obey God in that?

Here he is, verse 11. "These things I have spoken to you," says Jesus, "that I my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full." Not just a joy here on this planet, but also when we die, a joy in all of eternity. And if you're living that way, if you're living for Jesus, okay?

You are as safe as safe can be. You can't get thrown out, okay? There is no way. And that's scripture, that's truth.

Jesus is coming soon, so the question is, how is your relationship? I encourage you open up your Bible and read it. Get to know him. This whole thing is about Jesus.

This whole book right here, it's all about Jesus. Okay? Focus on him. And if you do, your salvation is secure.

I was at Texas Roadhouse last night and with a trying to minister to a one of our members. And the lady next to us wasn't a part of our church, maybe she'll come tomorrow, but she goes, "So, if you think Jesus is coming soon, then what should I be doing to get ready?" And I thought, "That's a great question. Here's what you need to be doing, okay?"

Getting You got to get to know the groom better, okay? He's coming back for a bride. He's the groom, Jesus is the groom. You got to spend some time in this word.

This is This is This This book is all about Jesus. You got to spend some time in this book. You got to spend some time in prayer with Jesus, okay? And you've got to obey him, okay?

Stop living for yourself and start living for him. What if you've been doing that? What if you've been And here's the thing, any area where you are worried, nervous, fearful, I'm worried about money, I'm worried about this relationship, I'm worried about that. That's an area that you're trying to control and you're not putting Jesus into it.

Focus on Jesus, focus on this and he will make sure this the horizontal is okay. But it starts here. You've got to get to know him and as long as you do, you you won't get out of his hand. So, if you've been living for yourself, just repent.

Every sin is forgivable. He will forgive you for being selfish and living for you. Repent. Turn and live, start living for him.

>> [sighs] >> And you will be safe eternally in his hands, okay? Now, if you believe in a pre-trib rapture and I'm right and it's going to come here in the fourth quarter to like stop, man, we're out of time, okay? It's final exam time, time to cram. If if if that's your belief, it's time to cram.

Get serious about this relationship with Jesus. Don't put it off anymore. Don't say, "Well, I just want to take a few more vacations and then I'll start getting serious about God." No, no, no, no, no.

Get serious about him now. He's going to come at an hour that you don't expect. He's going to come when you don't know and you're not promised tomorrow. You could die tomorrow.

Stop putting off the relationship with Jesus cuz you're too busy. One more party, one more thing you want to go to, one more thing. I just got to I just got to spend a little time with this person before I I give any time to Jesus. This, you know, this is fun right now.

Man, it's go time. It's go time. He's coming. He's coming soon.

>> [clears throat] >> And and maybe it's not in the fourth quarter. I could be wrong, of course, but but it's sooner it's sooner now and you're not promised tomorrow. So, get it right today, okay? Repent of the way you've been living.

Turn, start living for Jesus, obeying him, obeying his commandments, getting to know him. It's all about relationship. Whether you end up in heaven or you end up in hell depends on one thing, your relationship with Jesus Christ. So, get focusing on that relationship today, okay?

And I will see you on the other side in heaven. And that's going to be a good time for all of us. Amen. So, I I I just want you to to focus on Jesus and be blessed.

And remember, Jesus loves you and there's nothing you can do about it.