That Dumb Question...

Jesus response to a very dumb question:

Who asked this very dumb question?

The Sect of the Sadducees.

What was their core beliefs?

No Resurrection
No Spirits/Angels

The Dumb Question: Matthew 22:23-28

"The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,   Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.   Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother:   Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.   And last of all the woman died also.   Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her."

So, here is this stupid hypothetical question put forward to Jesus, trying to trip him up in his words so that they might have something for them to accuse him of. However like all dumb question like, what about the guy in Africa in the middle of nowhere? There have been more missionaries sent to Africa throughout history than any other country in the world...

Well any way, the purpose of this post is to show you the simple truth, so that you are not fooled or bamboozled by phony Christians trying to suck you into their money making S club 7 type memberships.

So Who's Wife will she be in the resurrection? bearing in mind the Sadducee's don't even believe in the resurrection!

The Absolute truth given by Jesus: Matthew 22:29-32

"Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.   For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.   But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,   I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."

The first thing Jesus tells them is that they are in error, they are in error because they do not know the scriptures! How many times must we keep telling new born babes in Christianity to read their bibles! Many people are in error because they do not know their bibles and what the word of God says!!!!

When you lack any knowledge of the scriptures how then can you even begin to understand or know the power of God?

Jesus says, for in the resurrection we don't marry or are even given in marriage!
For we will be like the angels of God in heaven.

Pretty simple huh? no mentions of sealing each other together for eternity, no mentions of being married forever. Jesus SAID THERE WILL BE NO MARRIAGE!!!

As touching the resurrection, Jesus is basically saying, well, why don't you believe in the resurrection? For God said, I AM the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, see, he didn't say WAS, he said AM, as in present tense, that means Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive still, when Jesus made reference that God is God of the Living, Jesus is referring to the fact that they are living, and we know from scripture that after death, a saved person goes directly to heaven, whilst an unsaved person goes to hell.

There you have it, easy peezy, no scripture twisting, no adding or removing from God's word, just good ol' plain truth from the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

I thank the Lord for giving us his clear word, all praise and glory to the Father in heaven, in Jesus name.

Amen.

Bible Study Series – Romans Chapter 6

 

Romans 6:1 "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?"

 
And here we have it, the apostle Paul here is addressing people who ridicule easy believism, they ridicule the true biblical teaching of today as they did then in Paul's time.

Here we have these false teachers creeping in saying stuff like, if Salvation is a free gift from God, given to us by his grace, does that mean we can continue to sin as much as we want?

Can we then go ahead and live our lives anyway we like?

Let me answer that for you, the answer is, it's your choice but be prepared to reap what you sow.
I have explained this time and time again using the bible, so I'll keep it short here. 

When a person gets saved, they do not immediately change their outward appearance or attitudes, this becomes a process, called sanctification.

Our bodies did not change, this will happen when the Lord Jesus Christ returns, only our spirit has been quickened (made alive), we become born again of the spirit, our flesh (body) still wars against our spirit and through sanctification, we need to bring our bodies under subjection of the spirit.

Now we have a choice to live righteously, which is what the epistle to the Romans teaches, and we should serve the Lord to further the kingdom of God, we can take up our cross, forsake our father, mother, brother, sister, children, literally give up everything we have and be a disciple of the Lord, known as discipleship or, go on living like the world and face divine discipline.

The truth is, not everyone who gets saved will go on to produce fruit (another saved person), look at the apostles, they saved thousands of souls, did they (the saved) all go on producing more saved people?

No, in fact if they did, the world wouldn't be like the way it is now, full of hypocrisy and false religious institutions.

But if we do continue in sin, grace does abound, do you understand that you cannot lose your salvation you are completely covered by the blood?

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians the following:

 

Galatians 5:17 "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would."

 
The flesh is at war with our born again spirit, think about it like this, our flesh is older or matured than our spirit (which is a babe) when we are born again, guess which one is going to win more often or have a stronger influence over what decision you are going to make in our spiritual infancy?

 
You can never reach a state of sinless perfection, Paul the Apostle says he dies daily, everyday he has to bring his body under subjection of the spirit. Have ye not read in the scriptures that they who say they have no sin deceives themselves and are a liar?

 

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Romans 6:2 "God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"

 
God Forbid! One of the strongest statements one can make to deny or reject something or a statement. Notice this is a question that Paul is asking, we must be careful not to base a doctrine on a question, but only by clear statements should we derive doctrine from.

So Paul here is asking a question, he is asking that as we are dead to sin, how shall we live any longer in sin?

The next verse is also a question:

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Romans 6:3 "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?"

 
Paul is asking a question here again, he is asking us if we knew that when we got baptised in Jesus Christ, we got baptised into his death as well.

Baptise means to immerse or submerge, it implies being "all in".

When we are baptised by the Holy Spirit, we are being immersed or put in Christ, completely covered in him. This is the baptism you receive when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a supernatural event and takes place spiritually, as you become born again.

Then after this (Salvation) happens, one should make the decision to get baptised in water, to get saved? To stay saved? No!

Being immersed in water does not save, FAITH ONLY in the Lord Jesus Christ as your saviour saves!

But water baptism is a public profession of your faith to man that you believe, it is to show the world that you are a believer in Jesus Christ!

So is baptism salvation?

The answer should be no, Salvation is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

Baptism by immersion in water is a picture of Salvation, not literal salvation. It is a picture of you going into the water dying and when you come up out of the water picturing the resurrection.
Noah on the Ark is a picture of Salvation not literal Salvation.

I'll say it again, literal Salvation is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved!

Here's another question for you baptismal regeneration believers (must be baptised to go to heaven), if you have to be water baptised like what John the Baptist did, was he baptising the people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?

He couldn't have baptised in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; why?

Because the Godhead was not yet made known, so how could John the Baptist baptise people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit if the Godhead were not yet revealed?

As a matter of fact, the Godhead was not revealed until Jesus himself came to be baptised:

 

Matthew 3:16-17 "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: ¹⁷ and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

 
In verse 16 we read that the Spirit of God (Holy Spirit) descending on Jesus like a dove, and lighting upon him (Jesus being anointed with the Oil of Gladness): and then verse 17 tells us that a voice (The Father) from heaven can also be heard. 

This was all done as a testimony or witness to show that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ. The beginning of the Lords earthly ministry!

 

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Romans 6:4 "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

 
For this reason we are buried with Jesus by baptism into death, the old man, the carnal man; sin had died: and just like Christ was raised up by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. This is saying as the old you had been buried in the likeness of his death by baptism, we now emerge as the new man, the born again spirit child of God whom should walk in the spirit; the new life.

When Jesus entered Samaria he came to a well and spoke to a Samaritan woman by Jacob's well. 

This woman says to Jesus, that the Samaritans worshipped in the mountain; but you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place you ought to worship, let's see what Jesus answers the Samaritan woman.

 

John 4:21-24 "Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. ²² Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.²³ But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. ²⁴ God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

 

In context, the woman is asking Jesus where they should be worshipping God, she is asking should they be worshipping in the mountain (most likely Mount Gerizim) or in Jerusalem (Solomon built temple).

Jesus says to her that the hour cometh (his death by crucifixion) when man will worship the Father neither in the mountains or Jerusalem.

Jesus says you don't know what you worship: but we Jews know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews, what does this mean?

Salvation is come by the way of the root and offspring of King David, of the tribe of Judah; Jesus is of the tribe of Judah, and Jesus is salvation, of the tribe of Judah; also known as the Jews of the southern kingdom of Israel.

Jesus says true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for that reason the Father seeks such to worship him.

Verse 24 is rather a smack in the face to Mormons who believe the Father is of flesh and bones like man, to deny this scripture is to call Jesus a liar.

From the mouth of Jesus himself, he says God is a Spirit: and they that worship him MUST worship him in spirit (born again) and in truth!

My friends, here is the answer to the question of how do we worship God?

Not in building made with hands, it is not the building or place of worship that matters, it is believers coming together and worshiping the Father in spirit and truth and the start of walking in newness of life!

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Romans 6:5 "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:"

 
Seeing as we have been planted together in the likeness, notice the word likeness it doesn't mean literally, in the likeness of his death, we shall also be raised up in the likeness of his resurrection, meaning we shall also receive a new body at the second coming of the Lord, glorified the same manner in how Jesus Christ's body was glorified at his resurrection.

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Romans 6:6 "knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."

 
Knowing that we shall be like him at the resurrection (2^nd coming) that our old man (The flesh) is crucified with him (Jesus) that the body of sin (flesh, the spirit cannot sin because it is of God) might be destroyed, that henceforth, the word henceforth means "from this time on" or "that time on" we should not serve sin. 

Notice it doesn't say "must not" it says we "should not" serve sin, as man, we are still prone to sin, whether it be wilfully or in ignorance, we will still sin.

 

Colossians 3:1-4 "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. ² Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. ³ For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.⁴ When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory."

 
As believers we should set our affections or cares on things above (Heavenly), and not of things on the earth; John says it beautifully in his 1^st epistle.

 

1 John 2:15-17 "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. ¹⁷ And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

 
Just beautiful!

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Romans 6:7 "For he that is dead is freed from sin."

 
When the body dies, as a believer we are free in Christ, free from sin, free from bondage to sin; the Apostle Paul says the following to the Corinthians:

 

2 Corinthians 5:8 "we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."

 
Paul says he is rather willing to be absent from the body, so that he could be present with the Lord. 

This scripture also punches in the face of false doctrine that teaches when you die you go to a sort of spirit prison to await the 2^nd coming and judgement, and then there's the soul sleep crowd where when you die, you stay asleep in the grave to await the 2^nd coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; these are false teachings because when we die (in Christ of course), we leave our bodies and go to be present with the Lord, and where is the Lord presently?

The Lord Jesus Christ is presently in heaven sitting at the right hand of his Father!

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Romans 6:8 "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:"

 
This verse can be taken two ways, an earthly interpretation of dying physically we believe that we will go to heaven to live with him as explained above.

And the spiritual interpretation of this verse would be because the old man has been crucified with the Lord, or the old man, the carnal man has been buried in baptism with him, then we are risen with him, as a new man of the spirit with him living in us also.

Our new life is in Christ, not in the flesh.

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Romans 6:9 "knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him."

 
Jesus was risen from the dead, he will no longer die; death itself has no dominion over him. If we die with Christ (believers) we are promised eternal life through faith in him, to never die ever again.

 

2 Timothy 1:9-10 "who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, ¹⁰ but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:"

 
And we read in 1^st Corinthians the following:

 

1 Corinthians 15:54 " So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory."

 
And Jesus says the following in Revelation:

 

Revelation 1:18 "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."

 
Jesus has the keys of hell and of death, they have no dominion over him.

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Romans 6:10 "For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God."

 
Baptism is a picture of our old man, our old self put to death, and when risen, our new self now lives for God, we should walk in the spirit and do those things that are pleasing to God.

 

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Romans 6:11 "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

 
Notice how Paul hammers the same thing over and over again?

He is saying here likewise meaning in the same manner reckon that you yourselves be dead to sin, but alive to God by Jesus Christ our Lord, our saviour; by his precious blood is it made possible to live unto eternal life.

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Romans 6:12 "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof."

 
Because we are now living unto God, we should not let sin reign in our mortal body, our flesh, if we let sin reign in our mortal body then we are going to more than likely obey it according to our lusts. 

James Chapter one illustrates this perfectly when we allow our lusts of the flesh reign in our bodies.

 

James 1:15 "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."

 
What is lust? Our desires, a sense of longing for something, ultimate what the bible calls covetousness, when we desire to have something that does not belong to us.

That beautiful beach mansion, your neighbours wife or husband, heck wishing your husband or wife was more like so and so is covetous, you get the idea.

And God here is saying that when lust has conceived, when we desire something that does not belong to us in our hearts it will eventually outwardly manifest itself in the form of sin: and when sin is finished, it brings forth death.

We should walk in the spirit so that we are not tempted to walk in the lusts of the flesh.

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Romans 6:13 "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."

 
God is saying here don't let sin be the master of you, don't let it control the various members or body parts that you have, don't let them be under the control of sin; rather yield or give over your members, yourself to God, as those that are alive whom are no longer dead, yield your members as instruments or tools of righteousness to God.

It is in our own power or freedom of choice to decide whether we want to yield ourselves to sin or to God, either your master is sin or the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Romans 6:14 "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace."

 
If we yield our members over to God, sin will no longer have dominion over us: for we are NOT under the law, but under grace.

The law was never meant to save us, man could not keep the law it was impossible under the Old Testament, the law itself was holy and righteous, therefore the law cannot be broken as in James chapter 2 it says that whosoever offends in one point of the law, has offended in all. For man it was impossible and it became a curse for man.

Since it cannot help anyone to keep God's moral standard; it can only show the standard, and thus rebuke, convict and condemn those who fail to keep it.

We are under grace, by grace we are saved through faith, and it is not of our works lest any man should boast. It is by God's grace we have been saved through faith, by the goodness and righteousness of God, salvation is a free gift, it is not earned by any man. Even though we do not deserve it, God has freely given it to those who believe on his Son.

We have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ, it is Jesus' blood that washed away our sins and inequities, and he will remember them no more.

By grace when establish the law, and begin the process of sanctification.

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Romans 6:15 "What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid."

 
Paul continues on in his train of thought about us being under grace and not the law, and asks the question, because we are not under the law but under grace shall we continue in sin?

Paul says God forbid!

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Romans 6:16 "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?"

 
Again Paul is repeating what was said before, his question he is asking is do you not know to whom you yield yourselves to obey, is your master sin which is unto death or of obedience unto righteousness?

As a believer, after salvation, if you are living for sin, in the flesh you will face divine discipline, God will scourge and punish EVERY son he receives.

And just because you sin, and nothing happens immediately don't think that recompense isn't coming.
Think not that God has not killed people and taken them home (Heaven) because they consistently refused to obey, and live according to God's will.

So chose your master, sin or God?

For believers, this can mean being removed sooner from this earthly life or living a long fruitful life in serving the Lord to further the kingdom of God.

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Romans 6:17 "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you."

 
BUT GOD BE THANKED! PRAISE THE LORD!

We believers used to be servants of sin, we read in Romans chapter 5 that all men have sinned.  

Thank God we do not have to remain in sin.  

We who believe in Christ have taken on the righteousness of Jesus Christ and no longer serve sin.

We obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine, Faith on the Lord Jesus Christ who imputes his righteousness to you, a sinner who is now clothed in the righteousness of the Lord.

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Romans 6:18 "Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness."

 
We are made free of sin by the blood of the Lamb, our Lord Jesus Christ who died for all our inequities, if it were not for the selfless sacrifice the Lord had done for us, we would all still be in bondage to sin, and we will all be appointed wrath; for there is none righteous, no not one.

But now we have been freed from our bonds, we have now become the servants of righteousness, since Christ has clothed us in his righteousness we are able to become his servant.

The Corinthian's are told the following:

 

2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

 
On Salvation, the believers has become a new man in Christ, a new creature!

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Romans 6:19 "I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness."

 
Paul is speaking after the manner of men or in human terms, most found it difficult in grasping divine truth so Paul would use this master/slave analogy to try to convey what he is saying with more clarity.

Our members was explained in verse 13, our different body parts that we have in our physical bodies, and that before we yielded these body parts as a slave to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity: in other words like a vicious animal when you feed it, the appetite to sin only grows when it is being fed.

Even now we should give our members over to be servants of righteousness and from righteousness to holiness.

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Romans 6:20 "For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness."

 
Notice how Paul just keeps on hammering this down hoping it hits home with everyone? 

When we were servants of sin, before Salvation we were in bondage to sin, free from righteousness. We were living in the flesh.

 

1 John 2:16 "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."

Galatians 5:17 "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would."

James 4:4 "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."

If we are living in the flesh, we are living in the world, and James states that if any therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

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Romans 6:21 "What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death."

 
The life you lived before in sin, what fruit did you have, that fruit that you are ashamed of? 

Living in sin and iniquity only leads to death. James put it well:

 

James 1:15 "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."

 
Sin begins with the thoughts of our hearts, our desires and when it has conceived in the heart it will manifest out in the form of sin, and when you follow through with that sin, it will bring forth death.

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Romans 6:22 "But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life."

 
A servant obeys his master, obedience is better than sacrifice. God wants our loyalty and our love, and the very reason for creating us, for fellowship with him.

 

1 Samuel 15:22 "And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."

 
We see here the problem is not the offerings but the disobedience of God's commands and the desire for approval of people rather than the approval of God.

We are servants of God, and our fruit unto holiness, we should be soul winners, a soul winners fruit is another soul won to the Lord. At the end everlasting life.

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Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

 
Great soul winning verse to explain after telling someone that we all fall short of the glory of God, and that there is none righteous, no not one, they have all gone out the way.

And the wages or payment for sin is death, not any death as we might know it, but the second death; but the GIFT of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Salvation is a FREE gift, Amen.

Bible Study Series - The 1st General Epistle of John Chapter 2

 

1 John 2 Authorized (King James) Version

 
Diving in chapter 2, we notice John starts out by addressing his audience here, he says "My little Children" this is Johns affectionate phrase to the brethren, to all believers in Christ; so when he says this, he is talking to the justified in Christ.

 

1 John 2:1-2 "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: ² and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

 
John says, my little children, I write to you that you sin not. What does that mean?
The bible teaches us that, even though we are born again, that moment, that instance, that one point in time that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, in a twinkling of an eye we get saved; but did our body change at that moment, did anything change about our physical selves?
Paul writes to the Galatians in Chapter 5 the following:

 

Galatians 5:17 "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would."

 
The flesh is at war with the spirit, at the moment of Salvation the spirit is quickened, made alive and now wars against the flesh. What your flesh would do your spirit would not do, even though we have been saved, we will still sin, and if we do sin, John says we have an advocate (supporter) with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous: he is the propitiation of our sins, the word propitiation means to soothe, pacify, to appease, and not just for us only, but for the world also.

That does not mean everyone in the world is forgiven, you have to have the Son, if you don't have the Son, you don't have forgiveness of sins and ultimately; you don't have the Father.

This is a generic term, referring not to every single individual, but to mankind in general. The pardon for sin is offered to the whole world, but received only by those who believe. There is no other way to be reconciled to God.

John reminds us, for that reason we can go on trusting God and not ourselves and not therefore fall into sin.


 

1 John 2:3-5 "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. ⁴ He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him."

 
Ok, I'm going to stop here to take a moment to explain something, many people will read verse 3 and say, see, we have to KEEP his commandments, and they'll use it to say you have to DO his commandments to promote a works based religion.

My dear friends, Satan has gripped the world in a counterfeit religion, his devices are subtle and if you're not in the inspired Words of God through the KJV bible you will be deceived by the wolves out there. (Don't start me on the modern perversion bibles!)

The common theme we see in all religions besides true biblical Christianity is a network of systems based on works and self or personal effort. This can be seen through their ideas about God or many gods, the afterlife, reincarnation, and exaltation to becoming a god themselves; these diverse religions will always contain (albeit differing in ways) steps you must take "to progress" or "to make it" upon personal effort.

Remember that the diverse religious scene spawned from the tower of Babel (Genesis Chapter 11), where God went down to disperse and confound (confuse) the people because of their ambition to exalt themselves.

Satan loves to sow confusion and contradiction, his subtle attacks on the Word of God can be really hard to detect to the unsuspecting person, but if we KEEP and HOLD dearly to the Words of the Lord we will not be easily deceived. Satan's false belief systems all contain these common elements of personal effort and works.

Unfortunately, we find many self-professing Christians in the same boat, deceived and in ignorance because they are not continually in the Word. Many of these Christians find themselves unable to enter into spiritual rest by the grace of God and finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our saviour and redeemer.

Christians are unable to rest spiritually due to the legalistic prophesying or preaching by these false teachers and is further instigated by the massive influx of modern bibles in which the way they are translated.

Now before I turn this piece into another article of its own, I want to explain what it means to KEEP vs OBEY.

So the KJV Bible renders the reading:

 

1 John 2:3-5 "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we KEEP his commandments. ⁴ He that saith, I know him, and KEEPETH NOT his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ But whoso KEEPETH his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him."

 
The 1984 NIV renders the verse like this:

 

1 John 2:3-5 "We know that we have come to know him if we OBEY his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does NOT DO what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone OBEYS his word, God's love is truly made complete in him."

 
And here is the 2011 NIV, notice the subtle changes they made in this edition compared to the 1984 version:

 

1 John 2:3-5 "We know that we have come to know him if we KEEP his commands. ⁴ Whoever says, "I know him, "but does NOT DO what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. ⁵ But if anyone OBEYS his word, love for God
is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him:

 
OK so what's the difference between KEEP and OBEY? For starters it's a BIG Difference. 

Every well trained bible student will use the bible itself to act as its own dictionary, an online concordance can help and also referrals to the underlying Hebrew or Greek text in the KJV's case we can look at the Textus Receptus online.

 
Now listen, the word translated "TO KEEP" in both Hebrew and Greek does not mean "to obey" or "to do".

The Hebrew word "Shamar" (Strong's #8104) is translated as to keep, to observe, to take heed to, to preserve, to regard, or to be a watchman.

The Greek word "Teereo" (Strong's #5083) is translated to keep, to guard, to watch, to reserve, to hold fast or to preserve.

An example would be this, if I wanted to go swimming, I would take out my wallet, my car keys and ask one someone to keep them for me; in other words I want that person to hang on to them and not lose them!

 
Take heed, Satan has his hands in the modern bible versions, think about this; we've had if not, the best and inspired version of the bible given to us in the English language in the form of the KJV bible for around 400 years (where millions of saints lost their lives for) and suddenly the Word of God is being attacked by these counterfeits?

This fact alone proves that the KJV is the inspired Word of God in English, otherwise if it were NOT inspired, there would be no reason to bring out other versions would there?

You say money? 

Who is the God of THIS world?

 
Honestly, if your bible version is truly the inspired Word of God, why isn't it being attacked? Why aren't other versions attacking your so-called inspired version? Why are they all attacking the KJV bible?

You might say this is an extreme view but, why don't you do a study for yourself, these changes aren't in your face, that would be stupid of them, these changes are subtle and in very strategic places. Think about it, if Satan were to completely reveal himself and his true motives, would you not run in the other direction immediately?

 
The NIV translates the Old Testament word "Shamar" as "to obey" 29 times and as "to do" 5 times. It also translates the New Testament word "Tereeo" as "to obey" 21 times and "to do" 3 times.

Satan's hand is at work here to promote a works oriented religion, throw in some careless preaching, and hey! All these people end up in hell…

There is too much at stake to let yourself be deceived, please be vigilant!

 
To bring this message home, I will give some examples in the Old Testament of where the word "Shamar" is used and see if you can fit "Obey" or "to do" in the statement in place of the English word "KEEP".

 
Genesis 2:15 "And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to KEEP it."
Genesis 4:9 "And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's KEEPER?"
Isaiah 62:6 "I have set WATCHMEN upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence,"

 
And some New Testament examples of the word "Teereo" is used, see if you can do the same as before.

 
John 2:10 "and saith unto him, every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast KEPT the good wine until now."
Acts 12:5 "Peter therefore was KEPT in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him."

 
The bible also makes a distinction between the words "to keep" and "to do", we find an example in Deuteronomy:

 

Deuteronomy 5:1 "And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them."

 
To KEEP and to OBEY are two very different concepts, when the bible tells us to KEEP the commandments of the Word of the Lord, God is telling us NOT to forsake, let go of, forget, or turn away from, God is telling us rather to guard, preserve, hold on to and cling to them.

 

1 John 2:6 "He that saith he abide in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked."

 
Verse 6, what does this mean? If you remember from verse 5, it said whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

In light of other scriptures, this is telling me that if we say that we abide in him and by God's grace we hopefully will not only keep them but also should do and obey them.

I don't want to go into this in more detail, as this would be an entire 5000+ word article in itself, but I reckon I've put a handle on this subject so we can continue with the rest of the intended bible study.
BTW, John is talking to fellow believers here, moving forward!

 

1 John 2:7-11 "Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. ⁸ Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. ⁹ He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. ¹⁰ He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. ¹¹ But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes."

 
John is talking to all believers, the word brethren is synonymous with the word believers, which is an archaic term for brother. John says he writes no new commandment, but an old one which ye had from the beginning, and what is this commandment?

 

John 13:34 "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."

 
So the commandment to love one another, this is not referring to the Laws of Moses or the 10 Commandments; but to love one another is the fulfilment of the Law.

1 John 2:8 "Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth."

Verse 8 says near the end of the verse it says the darkness is past, and the true light now shines. What does it mean darkness is past?

The Law made us aware of our sins, it showed us that we are living in darkness, dead in sins, the law was there to make us realise that we needed a saviour, and now that saviour has come, the Light, the Life, Jesus Christ.

At the moment of salvation, our sins are forgiven, not just past sins, but ALL sin you will ever commit will be remembered no more, you are no longer in darkness you now have the light, the true light that shines, the Lord Jesus Christ!

 

1 John 2:9 "He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now."

 
Those who profess that they are in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. This is just saying, those who hate others are not walking in the Light. The perfect Light provided for believers leads us into His perfect love. It does not allow hate of any kind. Hate is of the devil and is surrounded by darkness.

 

1 John 2:10 "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him."

 
Loving your brother causes you to have no desire to do him harm in any way. The lust of the flesh causes sin. The Light of God helps us see things more clearly, and causes us not to lust.

In God all things are clear, so true intimate fellowship is possible in Him and with Him when we are in the light. But we can also have intimate fellowship with one another when we are in the light.
In fact, John indicates that fellowship is only possible in the light. When there is deceit, true fellowship cannot occur.

A friendship can only go as far as there is trust and trust must be based on the truth.

It is impossible to trust when there is deceit, if trust grows in a relationship that has had some deception in it, it is certainly not on the basis of that deception, but on the basis of assurance that the deception has now ended.

 

1 John 2:11 "But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes."

The person who hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, we cannot see that person clearly. When we hate even ourselves we cannot see clearly.

And when we proceed to relate to another then out of hate, we proceed blindly. Here is a wonderful reason to turn our troubled relationships over to God.

We cannot possibly move forward when we are looking at a distorted picture of reality.

Hate is a product of the devil. 

The devil is in darkness.

This is what Jesus said in John 12,

 

John 12:35 "Then Jesus said unto them, yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth."

 
In the darkness, we cannot see clearly and do not see things that cause us to stumble.

 
In the following next verses (12-14) we read the reason why he is writing this letter…

 

1 John 2:12 "I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake."

 
This is John stating his reason for writing the letter to them. Their sins are forgiven, so they are Christians. They are sons of God. They are not full grown, because he calls them little children. God forgave us our sins, because Jesus paid our debt.

What is interesting about this section is that John says he is writing because of things that are already true about each of these groups. He does not say here that he is writing in order to get them to do something new of change the direction of their lives.

It seems to me that he writes to remind them of what is already true about them because of what is true about who Jesus is and what He has done.

John wants to remind them again of this truth, this reality because, I would think, in the midst of their present circumstances they are being tempted to forget.

And remember the little rant I was on about "to keep" and "to obey", and that we established that to keep is to not forsake, let go of, forget, or turn away from, God is telling us rather to guard, preserve, hold on to and cling on to them.

 

1 John 2:13 "I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father."

 
When we look at the three groups this is spoken to, it is the progression of spiritual growth in our belief. We come to Christ as little children.

We grow to young men as we learn more about God, and are better equipped to resist the devil and overcome him. Then lastly, we rest as old men in the knowledge of God.

 

1 John 2:14 "I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one."

 
The difference in this verse is being that the little children are omitted. Those remaining have learned to overcome the devil. They have matured by the study of the Word of God.

They are not overcome of the devil, because they are grounded in the Word of God. Again, speaking of fathers is just a further knowing of God.

Think about it, most of us were taught or heard about God and Jesus, among other things as we were young, I was exposed to God and Jesus at a young age, the seed was sown, but it was delivered by evil trees, those false prophets, I didn't even get become like a little child until 8 months ago (considering I'm in my 30's), you could say I'm a young man now in terms of spiritual growth, the group that has overcome (overcome by the way is synonymous with salvation, getting saved) working our way to become fathers, who are spiritually mature, and as I stated above, the way we achieve this is by constantly reading and studying the Word of God.

 

Love not the World

 

1 John 2:15 "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

 
One of my favourite verses in the bible, I always use this on people who start to talk about their worldly possessions and the babble on about how when we do good works that God will bless us with material things, God knows what we need, and he will provide them for us.

There is, of course, one sense in which Christians should love the world, since God Himself did and does. - John 3:16

But what it is that is being talked about here is for us to not devote ourselves to the things of this world and forsake the Father, we are to love God first and not put anything before or above him.

 

Deuteronomy 6:5 "and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might"

 
Christians are in the world, but not of the world. Our home is in heaven. We need to keep our thoughts and desires set on things above. Jesus said the following in Matthew chapter 6:

 

Matthew 6:19-23 " Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: ²¹ for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. ²² The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. ²³ But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!"

 
Loving the world, in this sense, would be trying to please the desires of our flesh. To love the world, would make us a carnal man. Christians should be spirit men. The world and the things of the world are carnal.

This does not mean that we cannot enjoy the families God has given us, or the blessings we have received from Him. It does mean that we should not be caught up in worldly living. God must be first in our lives. We should not be hanging on to the world, but should eagerly await our home in heaven with Him.

No middle ground between these two alternatives exists for someone claiming to be born again. The false teachers had no such singular love, but were devoted to the world's philosophy and wisdom, thereby revealing their love for the world and their unsaved state.

 

1 John 2:16 "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."

 
Pretty self-explanatory really, while the world's philosophies and ideas and much that it offers may appear attractive and appealing; that is deception.

Its true and pervasive nature is evil, harmful, ruinous, and satanic. Its deadly theories are raised up against the knowledge of God and hold the souls of men captive. 

 

2 Corinthians 2:3-5 "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: ⁴ (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) ⁵ casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"

 
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are what got Eve in trouble in the garden. She looked, desired, and wanted to be as God. Lust of all kinds fall into the category of flesh and worldliness.

 

1 John 2:17 "And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

 
This physical world will pass away, and the lust thereof, meaning all sin: but he that does the will of God will abide for ever, God's will is permanent and unchangeable. Those who follow God's will abide as His people forever. While God offers eternal life to His children, the present age is doomed.

 

Denying the Son

 
In the next handful of verses we are going to read about the warnings of us denying the Son.

 

1 John 2:18"
Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time."

 
John tells us it is the last time, why does he say that?

He said we have heard that antichrist shall come, singular, the Antichrist, this person that is coming is going to be the ultimate opponent of God, God's plans and God's people. - 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 and Mark 13:14


John then goes onto say that there are many antichrists, those false teachers that are seeking to pervert the Gospel of Christ.

That is how we know that it is the last time, meaning we are living in the last time.

 

1 John 2:19 "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."

 
This is giving us characteristics of those false prophets, they went out from us, meaning they were among the faithful, amongst the church, but they were not of us; they arose from within the church and departed from true fellowship and lead people out with them.

Many times these false teachers and prophets, who are really opposed to Christ, pretend to be Christians. Can you imagine how much worse for you it would be if you end up in a church full of antichrists?

What about ending up in a church that doesn't believe in the Jesus or God of the bible?

Make up their own views of God according to their own lusts of the flesh?

What about a church that tells you too can become as a god, isn't that what Satan told Eve in the beginning?

What about one that says there certain things you must do behind closed doors, and certain handshakes and passwords that you cannot disclose to the public?

Has God hidden the essential message of salvation in the bible?

Ask yourselves these questions, if you're in anyone of these churches that teach this stuff you should get out of that place very quickly.

 

1 John 2:20 "But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things."

 
The word "unction" means anointing, this would mean an anointing from the Holy Spirit of God; the Oil of Gladness. The Holy Spirit is our teacher and guide.

 

1 John 2:21 "I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth."

 
John is writing to the church, and not to the world. Notice the word "know" which is so apparent in John's writings, he reminds them that no compromise of the truth will do, this verse says what it says!

 

1 John 2:22 "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son."

 
Another characteristic of antichrists, whosoever denies that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ is a liar! These people are antichrists, they who deny the Father and the Son.

Their blatant rejection of Him as the Messiah is also a rejection of His incarnate deity.
This includes any perverted unbiblical view of whom the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

1 John 2:23 "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: [but] he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also."

 
John goes onto expound on verse 22 that whosoever denies the Son, does not have the Father: but he that acknowledges the Son has the Father as well. You can't have one without the other!

And that just totally kills the Oneness Pentecostals and the Jesus only movement, they say it only Jesus, there is no trinity, there is no 3 in 1 God and stuff like that, but if you don't have the Son, you don't have the Father; a very clear distinction indeed.

 

1 John 2:24 "Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father."

 
The pure gospel message that had been brought to them was to be kept at all cost. Let this gospel message live continually in you.

This is simply saying for us to reject the false message of the antichrist.

To hang on to the teachings of Christ, and bring the Father and the Son into your life.

 

1 John 2:25 "And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life."

 
We see from this that eternal life is in Jesus. To have Him is to possess eternal life, which is the promise. You can read more about the promise in my article called "Eternal Security" here.

 

1 John 2:26 "These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you."

 
John makes it clear that much of his discourse has been called forth by opponents of conventional teaching. This is identifying another characteristic of false prophets and teachers.

"Them that seduce you" is speaking of those who are opposed to Christ who with flattering words is trying to draw you away from the Truth.  John is writing to us to be aware of these false teachers.

 

1 John 2:27 "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."

 
The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, this is the Holy Spirit, he stays with us, he dwells within us to teach us all things, John says the Spirit will teach us, and that we do not need any man to teach us the things of God.

The Holy Spirit teaches us all things that are true, there is no lies being taught by the Spirit.

 

1 John 2:28 "And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming."

 
For when this day comes, when the Lord appears in the clouds! It shall be a glorious day when the Lord returns!!!

 

1 John 2:29 "If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him."

 
If ye know that he is righteous, who? The Lord Jesus Christ, we can know that everyone that does righteousness is born of him…such a wonderful truth!

This concludes Chapter 2.

Go to 1 John Chapter 1 2 3 4 5

Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

Salvation

The Bible Way to Heaven

The bible is very clear on Salvation, it is not based on how good you are.

1. Admit that you are a sinner.

The bible says:

Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"

And the bible says:

Romans 3:10 "as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:" 

I'm not righteous, your not righteous, if it were our goodness that is going to get us into heaven; NONE OF US WOULD BE GOING!

2. Realize there is a penalty for sin.

The bible says in Revelation 21:8

Revelation 21:8 "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

Quite a list of serious sins there right? but look at the last one listed, it says "All LIARS". Now listen, I've lied before, i'm sure you have told a few lies in your time as well, i'm sure everyone has lied at some point in their lives, and let's face it we've all done something worse than lying; but look ALL will have a part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

What is the second death?

 Spiritual death.

3. Believe that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again for you.

But the bible says:

Romans 5:8 "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us"

And so Jesus Christ, because he loves us, and the bible says in 1 Timothy that:

1 Timothy 3:16 "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."

God basically took on a human form, he lived a sinless life, he did not commit any sin.

They took him and beat on him, spat on him and put him on a cross to crucify him, and the bible says that Jesus:

1 Peter 2:24 "who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."

 So every sin that you and I and everyone in the world had ever done, and every sin that all have yet to commit, Jesus took all that on the cross and bare it in his own body; he took that punishment for us, every single sin that we all ever committed he bare that punishment on our behalf.

After that they took his body and buried it in a tomb, his soul spent three days and three nights in hell according to Acts 2:

Acts 2:31"he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption."

Then after the 3 days and 3 nights he rose from the dead, he showed unto the disciples the wounds on his body.

The bible is very clear that he died for everybody:

1 John 2:2 "and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

So not just for our sins only, but for the whole world.

4. Trust Christ alone as your saviour

BUT, there is something we must do to be saved. The bible says, and this has to be one of the clearest scriptures about Salvation has this question; "What must I do to be Saved?"

Acts 16:30-31 "and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? ³¹ And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."

And that's it, he didn't say:

• Join a Church and you'll be saved.
• Get Baptized and you'll be saved.
• Live a good life and you'll be saved.
• Repent of your sins and you'll be saved.

No! All he said was BELIEVE!

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

John 10:28 "and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."

John 6:47 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life."

The bible says if you believe on Jesus Christ, you'll have everlasting life. You will never lose it. Read my article on eternal security.

Now the disciples asked Jesus this question and it was this, "Are there few that be saved?"

Luke 13:23 "Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them,"

Do we think that most people are saved, or is it few that will be saved?

We would like to think that most people are going to be saved, but let's take a look at the profound answer that Jesus gives us in Matthew 7:

Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: ¹⁴ because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

Notice the word "strait" that means narrow: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and MANY there will be that are heading in that direction.

And then Jesus went on to say this:

Matthew 7:21-23 "Not every one 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. ²² 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? ²³ And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

Not everyone that will call Jesus "Lord" shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.

They are saying to Jesus that they have done many wonderful works, but Jesus says to them, "I never knew you, depart from me, you that work iniquity"

These people are trusting in their works to save them.

Christ Alone.

The Eternal Security of the Believer - updated

Once Saved, Always Saved

1 John 5:10-12 “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. ¹¹ And this is the record; that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”

This study is going to be about the eternal security of the believer, and that once you get SAVED; there is nothing you can do to lose your salvation.

generally speaking, the term once saved always saved (osas) is usually heard coming out of the mouth of someone who is against this doctrine, usually in mocking or criticism towards the person who believes this concept.

I personally embrace this concept, once saved always saved is a really great way to explain in what we believe.

you will hear from out the mouths of these people such derogative terms as “easy believism”, but that shouldn’t bother you, because it’s EASY TO BE SAVED, AND IF YOU BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, THOU SHALT BE SAVED!

The hard part was done by Jesus Christ!

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 getting out of bed

·         it’s as hard as smiling

·         it’s as hard as opening a door and walking through

ITS’S AS HARD AS CALLING UPON THE NAME OF LORD, That’s what the bible teaches!

now I’m going to go through the bible to prove to you that you can’t LOSE your salvation, we’ll go through many scriptures in this study including scriptures that people will use to try to prove that you can lose your salvation and it doesn’t hold any truth to it, but we will see through discernment and rightly dividing the word that they are wrong.

Are you Saved?

This is something I believe ever since I got saved by the Lord, this teaching I will always stand firm on and that if you do not believe in eternal security of the believer or once saved always saved; then you, are NOT saved...Period.

A lot of people may not agree with that statement, but I assure that this is what the bible teaches. When you talk to people who do not believe this, it boils down to the fact that they’re not trusting in faith alone to save them, if you think about it, these people are really trusting in their works to save them; instead of faith alone, in Christ alone.

Let’s begin with the scripture I quoted from 1 John 5.

1 John 5:10 “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.” 

So in 1 John 5:10 we read; he that believes on the son of God has the witness in himself, now if you read that in context from the beginning of this chapter, the witness is the Holy Spirit. So if we are saved, we have the Holy Spirit of God abiding in us: if we believe not God, then we make him a liar.

So from reading this verse, this tells me there are two kinds of people on this earth, there are people that believe on the Son of God, and there are people that are calling God a liar; why are they calling him a liar? Because they do not believe on the record that God gave his son.

And what is the record? The answer is given in verse 11.

1 John 5:11 “And this is the record; that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”

 

That God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his son.

This is what you have to believe in order to be saved; you must believe the record in verse 11 to be saved. If you do not believe this record, then you are making God a liar.

Let’s break down verse 11 and go through the elements of this verse. There are 3 things that we will see.

Number 1:

It is Given, a gift.

God has given to us eternal life, it is a gift it is not earned by anything that we do.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹ not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Number 2:

Salvation is Eternal Life.

We make no effort on our part to obtain salvation, we must believe it is a gift, we accept the record, we accept the Lord Jesus Christ and upon this we receive the gift of eternal life.

What does eternal mean? It means NEVER ENDING! Therefore, if you do not believe God gave you eternal life; you are not saved.

Number 3:

This life is in his son.

You have to believe that this gift is through his son, Jesus Christ.

That’s the 3 elements that make up this verse. Now in verse 13 gives us why these things are written to us.

1 John 5:13 “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

So here, he is saying I wrote these things to you, so that you will believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you HAVE eternal life. Notice the word “Have” it is not past tense “Had”. The word “Have” means you possess it right now as opposed to, “I had a dog but it died” versus, “I have a dog, he is so happy”.

It wouldn’t make sense to say you “Had” eternal life, because then what’s the point in saying eternal?

Eternal = never ends, to say “had” would mean that eternal life is not eternal life at all, it ended because you lost it, so it would cancel out eternal altogether!

It makes no sense for God to say to us, here, because of your faith I will give you eternal life, from this point on, you “Have” eternal life, you may know your life will never end; and that is a promise.

But then, suddenly you end up living in the flesh, being all worldly and disobeying God, and suddenly God says to you, because you have done this I am taking the GIFT I gave you, which is eternal life away from you.

You might say, hang on, you said I have never ending life and that it was a gift because I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. You promised me! You said I will never die! This doesn’t make any sense does it?

Does God break promises? No.

So the scripture was written so that whosoever believes on the name of the Son of God, will have eternal life…Period, and Amen!

Here is another scripture to show you that you have everlasting life.

John 6:47 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

See the use of the word “Hath” it is present tense, not past tense. You have everlasting life; everlasting means to last forever and is the synonym for eternal life.

Turn your bibles to Matthew 7:21-23.

Matthew 7:21 “Not every one 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.”

V21. What’s interesting here is we read that NOT everyone saying to God “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven. 

Now let me ask you something, does calling God “Lord” get you into heaven?

If saying Lord, Lord was enough to get you into heaven then this verse would not be true.

So the answer to the above question would be a resounding NO!

To get into heaven, you need to do the WILL of the Father which is in heaven.

Now I’m going to show you the will of the Father in a moment, but I want go through verses 22 and 23 with you to understand something about these scriptures.

Matthew 7:22-23 “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? ²³ And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

V22-23 Jesus is saying here that there will be many people coming to him calling him “Lord” and they will be listing their works, their deeds. They are saying many things like prophesying or preaching in his name, casting out devils in his name, but take heed of the last statement; and in your name have we done many wonderful works. If you go through their list, these people have done some impressive things for the Lord right? Casting out devils, wow! But look at what we read in verse 23, Jesus will profess to them that he never knew them. This is such a profound and dark statement, “he never knew you”. Why? Because these people trusted in their WORKS!

They’re saying to the Lord, look at my wonderful works, and let us into heaven!!

Notice Jesus said he never knew them, if they were saved could Jesus have said I never knew you? Did Jesus say, “I used to know you”? It just wouldn't make sense to say that you could lose your salvation and then Jesus says, “I never knew you”.

You can’t lose your salvation according to this scripture. These people were not saved to begin with, why?

Because they have trusted in their own works to get them into heaven, the bible says in Ephesians 2.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹ not of works, lest any man should boast.”

No one is saved by their works, no one shall glory of their own accord in his presence, Jesus PAID it all, and sin had left a crimson stain, and Jesus washed it white as snow!!!

The bible is crystal clear here in Matthew 7 that it is teaching that if you go to hell; it is because Jesus never knew you…Period.

Now I said I was going to show you the will of the Father, but firstly let’s define what the word “will” is; what does it mean to do someone’s will?

It means to do what they want, how they want it to be done, their way, not yours.

Turn to John chapter 6 in your bibles.

John 6:40 “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.”

That everyone which seeth the Son, and believes on him, may have (present tense) everlasting life; this is the Fathers will.

John 6:28-29 “Then said they unto him, what shall we do, that we might work the works of God? ²⁹ Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”

The people ask Jesus a question, what should they do, that they may work the works of God? 

Jesus answers them in verse 29 and says this is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent. That is the only work we are required to do to have eternal life.

Salvation is a one-time event. NOT an ongoing process or something that has yet to happen.

Look at verses 35-39:

John 6:35-39 “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. ³⁶ But I said unto you, that ye also have seen me, and believe not. ³⁷ All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. ³⁸ For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. ³⁹ And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”

Jesus is the bread of life, Jesus said, whoever goes to him shall never hunger, and he that believes shall never thirst, this all spiritually equates to never dying!

The he says to the people that they have seen him and they believed him not, these people still didn’t believe in him.

Here comes the next “you can’t lose your salvation” passage, verse 37 Jesus says, everyone that the Father has given him shall go to him; and whosoever comes to him, he will in no wise cast out!

Does that sound like you can lose your salvation? No.

Verse 38 Jesus did not come down from heaven to do his own will, he came down to do his Fathers will; and the will is that ALL which he has given to him, he would lose nothing.

It’s just ridiculous that people should think that you can lose your salvation, not only is it illogical but to say you can lose it just doesn't make sense. Let’s think about God being omniscient, he knows all from past, present, future; he knows the end from the beginning.

God knows everything about you, your life and everything you are going to do. Would it make sense if God gave you eternal life today, and God knowing you will lose it tomorrow and still call it eternal life? Its complete nonsense, it doesn't make any sense at all!

Some people say you can lose it, and then get it back again. This idea is just as ridiculous, now you’re saved; now you’re not, now you’re saved; now you’re not. This is just plain rubbish false teachings here.

Two great verses that show you can’t lose your salvation:

John 3:18 “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

John 5:24 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

He that believes on the on the Lord Jesus Christ is not condemned. Now peradventure, a man says he believes in Jesus Christ and got saved, then later down the road he stops believing: he who believe not is condemned already right?

But this man does not fall into any of these categories because he did believe and got saved, but then fell into unbelief, what would the bible call this condition? Can we call this Backslidden? If Jesus said, the father and I will lose none and in no wise shall ye be cast out, which category do they fall into? None of them right?

You couldn’t say this man have not believed, because he did once before it wouldn’t make any sense; once you believe, you are saved, sealed and secure, you cannot lose your salvation!

Jesus said in John 5, he that hears my word and believes on HIM that sent me have everlasting life and is passed from death to life. Not only is this scripture proving that you can’t lose your salvation, but it also reveals that the Father and the Son are one.

Want more proof? Turn to John 10:

John 10:28-30 “and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and my Father are one.”

Jesus says he will give to them eternal life, and watch this! “AND THEY SHALL NEVER PERISH; NEITHER SHALL ANY MAN PLUCK THEM OUT OF MY HAND”!!!

I’ve heard people say that if you are holding his hand and he is holding your hand, and then you decide that you want to let go, thus losing your salvation; this does not make sense at all.

For example, as a father ask a small child to come and hold your hand and you grip the child’s hand firmly and ask the child to let go of your hand without you releasing your grip. Is that child going to go anywhere? No way! Because you are stronger than that child!

Verse 29 Jesus says his Father is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of his father’s hand: if you are in Jesus’ hand and his Father’s hand and both being stronger than you, and they will NEVER let go, do you think you can just release your grip and walk away?

I don’t think so…No man can pluck you from their hands.

Jesus and the Father are one.

Now turn to John Chapter 11,

John 11:25-26 “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: ²⁶ and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”

Jesus says he is the resurrection, and the life: whosoever believes in him, though he is dead, yet shall he live. And whosever lives and believes in him SHALL NEVER DIE!

Jesus equates eternal life with never dying. There are some false teachers that say eternal life doesn’t mean never dying; they say it is more like a quality of life, hahaha I have to laugh at that, it’s just absolute nonsense! Eternal life or everlasting life means to never die!!!

Now turn your bible to 2 Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 1:22 “who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.”

When we are saved, we are sealed, and we are given the earnest of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. What does the word earnest mean? Well, it can mean sincere or intense conviction it can also mean serious. So this verse can be interpreted that God is showing how serious he is about saving us that once we believe, he seals us with the Holy Spirit as a down payment. God has made a deposit to show that he is serious about giving us eternal life. Now this is because we are not fully redeemed yet, our spirit and soul have been saved, but our bodies have not; this will not happen until the Lord Jesus Christ returns and we get raptured (caught up in the clouds) after the tribulation to meet with the Lord Jesus. That’s why we are sealed with the Holy Spirit as a down payment: to ensure us that we have eternal life.

We have not yet experienced the full benefit of salvation as of yet, this will not happen until the Lord’s Day, the resurrection, the Lords second coming.

We have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, the promise; because he that begun a good work in us will finish it.

Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”

1 John 2:25 “And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.”

Ephesians 1:13-14 “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, ¹⁴ which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”

You see, God has purchased us with the earnest of the Holy Spirit until the time of redemption when we will receive the full benefits of salvation; there is a lot more coming to us from the Lord when he returns, and it’s going to be a glorious day for the election!

Ephesians 4:30 “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God or you will lose your salvation…does it say that? No!

Nowhere in the bible will you find any scripture where it will read that you can lose your Salvation!

So even if you do grieve the Holy Spirit, you are still sealed till the day of redemption, he says don’t do it, don’t grieve him but you’re sealed; sealed until the day of redemption!

Another aspect of eternal life, once Saved Always saved; let’s take a look at Romans Chapter 4:

You see after we’re saved sin is not imputed to us, we are covered for past, present and future sins.

Romans 4:5-8 “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. ⁶ Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, ⁷ saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. ⁸Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”

To him that worketh NOT. Does it say, a little bit of work? No it doesn’t, it says to him that worketh not, no works at all, just believe on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

The deceived will tell you that if you have the faith, you’ll also have the works too, not according to Romans 4:5 and numerous other scriptures don’t say that at all, no works at all; it says you work NOT but you believe and your faith will be counted for righteousness. 

There are people out there who believe who don’t have the works! But then the false teachers will throw you James 2 and they say; well faith without works is dead; right, but if faith without works is dead, that means faith without works exists. That condition exists.

How can people say faith without works is dead if it is not possible to have faith without works?

People falsely teach that if you have faith, you’ll have the works and that the two go hand in hand together.

And I’ll respond to them with well faith without works is dead. And they’ll say exactly!

Do you see where this is headed? It makes no sense, and is poor exegesis of James 2.

Look, there is a condition of a believer in the bible called dead faith, this is not about Salvation. The ONLY criterion to receive everlasting life is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

For example, if today I woke up out of my bed didn’t do any soul winning, didn’t read my bible and was totally in the flesh, I spent the day not doing anything spiritual but living in the world: This is Dead Faith. In fact, you could categorise the Thief on the cross next to the Lord as having dead faith; let’s be honest, the thief on the cross believed in the Lord, got saved and did no works.

James is speaking to believers, and is not talking about salvation or losing salvation. He is talking about being justified by our fellow man, NOT God. Man cannot see ones faith, only by his actions can another man see his faith, by his works: but no man is justified by his works in the sight of God; this is another study in itself so I will not go deeper into this subject of James 2 but I’ll throw in the following scripture to reinforce what the bible says.

Romans 4:2 “For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.”

There are people out there that will falsely tell you that you need to repent of your sins every day to be saved, that is a flat out lie and is not  taught nor found in any scripture in the bible. In fact, if you did a search throughout the bible for the word “repent” you will find that most of the scriptures that talk about repentance are about God himself repenting from something. Repenting of your sins is a false teaching, for God is Holy and has no sin. The false teachers will add the words “of your sins” after the word repent, my brethren there is no biblical evidence for this false doctrine.

Once you are saved, you will know it; The Lord Jesus will baptise you with the Holy Spirit, which is the sealing of the Spirit of God in you, it is unlike anything that you will ever experience in this world.

Romans 4:7-8 “saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. ⁸ Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”

Paul says under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, breaking this verse down that, your past sins are forgiven, your present sins are covered and your future sins, the Lord will not impute onto you.

So at the moment of salvation by faith alone, your sins are covered from past, present and future, tell me; is there a need to keep repenting of your sins to be saved?

A saved person who is born again spiritually will continue to sin because our bodies have not yet been glorified, this is why our sins are completely covered because the Lord will continually make intercession for us until the day of redemption, oh how glorious is our almighty living God!

Let me ask you another question, if you are saved, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; will God ever stop loving you? The answer is no, he will not stop loving you and you can never be separated from his love because you have become sons of God.

Let me ask you another question, is it loving for God to send someone to hell? Sending someone to lake of fire loving?

If I love you, I would not send someone to hell.

Now wait a minute…then why is God, sending people to hell? Doesn’t God love everyone? Show me where in the bible it says that God loves everyone in the world…

There are 19 scriptures in the bible where it says God hates people, look at John 3:16 it says:

For God so Loved (Past Tense) the world, that he gave his only begotten son, you see the past tense? The word “loved”, not “loves”.

That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

So it’s whosoever believes in him right? Is that everyone? No, only whosoever believes in him.

God loved everybody, God loves everybody at some point but there will come a time where God will love them no more.

Hosea 9:15 “All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.”

There will come a point where if you don’t believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you die without the Lord Jesus Christ, you will not be in the love of God; No, you will be under the Wrath of God.

Does God love the unsaved? Yes, Does God love the saved? Yes of course, he will never stop loving the saved.

There will come a point for the unsaved where he will say to you “I love you no more”, there will come a time when God will give you over to your own lusts and the time will come where God will say that you will be eternally condemned.

Look, the bible does not teach that God loves everyone in terms of being sons of God or children of God, the false teachers will tell you that we’re all God’s children this is a false teaching and not found in the bible.

Have you ever heard the term “Hate the sin, love the sinner”? This is NOT a biblical term. This was coined by Mahatma Gandhi and let me ask you this? Did he believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? No, so he is under condemnation right? Is he, according to the bible, not burning in hell this very moment?

Gandhi says, “Hate the sin, and love the sinner”.

Here are some of the things Almighty God says in the following:

Psalms 5:5 “The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.

Zechariah 8:17 “and let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord.”

Malachi 2:16 “For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.”

Proverbs 6:16-19 “These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: ¹⁷ a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸ an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, ¹⁹ a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren”

There are many more scriptures that show God hating someone or something, why because it is sin. Now you might say, but that’s just the act of people doing the sin, not the person.

Think about it this way, personal responsibility: we are all responsible for our own actions, when we sin there is only one thing we deserve and that is death. Saying hate the sin, love the sinner is separating the sin from the sinner saying that it not the persons doing; this is rubbish. We are accountable for our own actions!

Ezekiel 18:4 “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”

Job 19:4 “And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.”

Deuteronomy 24:16 “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.”

God is never going to stop loving you, and you will never be separated from the love of God, you’re not going to end up in hell.

Will the Lord Chasten us, believers that have become the sons of God? Yes, the bible says the following:

Hebrews 12:6 “or whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”

Almost the entire chapter of Hebrews 12 is about believers becoming sons of God and how God will deal with us when we backslide or fall into sin, we don’t lose our Salvation, but God will punish us the more like our fleshly fathers would if we disobeyed. God chastens us because he loves us.

Proverbs 3:12 “for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.”

Revelation 3:19 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”

YOU CANNOT LOSE YOUR SALVATION! Turn to Psalms 89, this next passage is applied to King David, but there is a spiritual side to the follow scripture I am about to show. Who is going to sit on David’s throne forever and ever? The Lord Jesus Christ is, and who are the seeds of the Lord Jesus Christ? Jesus did not have any physical children while he was here on earth, Hollywood has tried to make that false assertion that he did have children, but that is a flat out lie.

Psalms 89:29-37 “His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. ³⁰ If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; ³¹ if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; ³² then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. ³³ Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. ³⁴ My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. ³⁵ Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. ³⁶ His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. ³⁷ It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

Believers are the seed of Jesus Christ, we are his children whom he will chasten and scourge, who’s covenant he will in no wise break.

People will say, so what then, if we can’t lose our salvation does that mean we can do whatever we like? Can we just constantly live in sin and still go to heaven?

People, you are forgetting about this current life you have. What do you think is going to happen to you in this fleshly sinful body of yours when you start disobeying God and going off living in sin?

Are you really OK with living a sinful life, being absolutely miserable in this life because God is constantly scourging and chastising you, he will destroy you in this life and then go to heaven?

Are you really OK with that? I’m not; remember if you fall into sin, the Father will be there to discipline you like your fleshly Father would when you are doing wrong. I want to also be blessed in this life as well, I would not want God to always be there to curse me and punish me for every wrong doing I have done.

God scourges every son he receives, if you think you can just go out there and break every rule and behave like the reprobates out there; God WILL DESTROY you in this life anytime he wants to, he will take everything away from you in this life.

Deuteronomy 27 & 28 Contain scriptures that will tell you what God will do if you disobey him.

*Updated* 8th January 2015 - 

People that say you can lose your salvation will point you to Hebrews Chapter 6 and say see look what happens when you backslide, these people have lost their salvation.

This is of course, is poor exegesis of chapter 6. They will try to use this portion of the chapter:

Hebrews 6:4-8 “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, ⁵ And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, ⁶ 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. ⁷ For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: ⁸ But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.”

If one could indeed lose their Salvation, then does that not bring you to a realization that you have to trust in your own works to keep it?

If God said in Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹ not of works, lest any man should boast.”

I have decided to update this section of my article to reflect on what Hebrews 6 is really teaching, i'm not changing my doctrinal view but reflecting on my own experiences on this chapter.

It has become apparent from giving the gospel to the unsaved and illumination from the Holy Spirit as to why i'm changing my understanding.

To correctly interpret this passage in Hebrews, being one of the more difficult scriptures in the bible especially from the heresy of the “first glance” you will be stumped and what appears to be a contradiction. However, you must never allow a scripture in the bible to contradict what is a clear teaching taught on the subject.

Proper exegesis is to use the clear scriptures or teaching, to interpret a difficult passage.

Breaking it down in verse 4 it says, for it is impossible for those, who? We see a list given to us which as we go through reveals what a person will go through when they are given the gospel.

·         Those people “were once enlightened”: what does that mean? It means they have been given the Gospel and now made aware of the truth; every unsaved person you give the Gospel to becomes enlightened, as they were in darkness and now have been brought into the light. Romans 10:17 “Faith cometh by hearing…”

It's like the light bulb has turned on, ding! Yeah I get it now, I understand it now is what they might be thinking here.

·         They have “tasted the heavenly gift”: the heavenly gift is Salvation, eternal life or everlasting life. Romans 6:23 “…the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Tasting the heavenly gift is not the same as accepting the heavenly gift.

Think about when you go into the shopping mall and you see those little stalls with samples of new products, they give you a sample to entice you to buy the complete product based on whether you like it or not, and in the case of the gospel, you are tasting the gift, then it's down to you to make that decision to chose to believe it or not. 

·         Were made “partakers of the Holy Spirit”, the bible teaches us in Romans 8:9 that believers are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, that the Spirit of God dwells in you. If any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. In other words, if you don’t have the Holy Spirit you are not saved.

The moment the person believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, this person will partake of the Holy Spirit.

Giving the gospel to the unsaved involves the work of the Holy Spirit, as the person is hearing the gospel the Spirit is working on them to assist them to make that choice to believe the gospel.

Partaking the Holy Spirit is having the Spirit work in them, even the High Priest Caiaphas in John 11:49-52 prophesied by the Spirit, whom he was indeed an unsaved man.

In fact, only through the power of the Holy Spirit can anyone get saved.

·         “Tasted the good Word of God”, the bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” The natural man is the unsaved man, only the saved man can taste the good Word of God.

·          “And the powers of the world to come”, only “born again” (John Chapter 3) Christians can experience the power of God, and know what powers of the world to come is, the new heavens and earth under the supreme reign of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” A person who is born-again has experienced the power of God.

And just like my previous example of the shopping mall sample tasters, this is when the unsaved should make that conscious decision to believe the gospel. 

·         In verse 6 “If they shall fall away”, this is not referring to losing one’s Salvation, no where does it say that these people were saved at all, this whole passage isn't talking about a Christian or a saved person!

The key words to understanding this particular passage is in verse 4 and 8. In verse 4 the key words are, "for it is impossible" and the whole of verse 8.

The other major keyword here in verse 6 is the word "THEY", if "THEY" shall fall away. In a grammatical contextual point of view, this is an epistle written to the saved, and in the case of this epistle it is to the Hebrew Christians. The word "they", "them" or "those" are referring to the unsaved in contrast with words like, "us", "we"or "our".

FOR IT IS IMPOSSIBLE for those people who were:

1. once enlightened - someone who was given the gospel and understood it.
2. tasted of the heavenly gift - Tasted Salvation
3. made partakers of the Holy Ghost - Holy Ghost working in them
4. tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come - Had the gospel preached to them and aware of the coming kingdom of God

IF THEY SHALL FALL AWAY, TO RENEW THEM AGAIN TO REPENTANCE;

This is really talking about a persons last chance to get saved, in most cases this is actually the persons final rejection of the gospel after hearing it numerous times, why?

Verse 7 tells us what happens when someone receives and accepts the gospel.

Verse 8 tells us, "But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned." 

The person who rejects the gospel, is those who bear thorns and briers and IS rejected, and is near to cursing; whose end is to be burned.

The other word for rejected has a synonym in the bible, that word is REPROBATE.

In context, Hebrews 6:4-8 is teaching about someone who is being given the gospel, and if they keep rejecting the gospel, it could be their last chance to get saved. God will in turn reject them and give them over to their own lusts (Romans 1), whose end is to be burned.

You never know when it is going to be your last chance to accept the gospel and believe.

The bible does not teach that one must be born again, and again, and again…

You can only be reborn again once, like your flesh birth from the waters of your mother’s womb. For what is born of the flesh (water) is flesh, and of the spirit is spirit.

You will never be cast out!

John 6:37 “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”

Or forever lost!

John 6:39 “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”

You have been given the gift of eternal life, and it cannot be taken from you; you are no longer condemned and have passed from death (unsaved, spiritually dead) to life (saved, born again of the spirit).

John 5:24 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

We believers may very well find ourselves in this situation one day (if not already happened) where we have “fallen away” from the service of the Lord, the solution is to start serving the Lord again in labour of love, one to another.

Hebrews 6:10 encourages us by saying “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” God will remember what you have done in honour of his name; God will reward faithful service to him.

1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

The writer in Hebrews writes that God wants us to start being mature Christians, which we are no longer spiritual babes that require milk and honey, but to show ourselves mature, to grow in knowledge of him, and to serve him.

I spent a great deal of time on this part of the study because I will admit that Hebrews is a very difficult passage to deal with, I hope this exegesis makes it clearer for my readers.

To sum it all up we have learnt the following from Hebrews 6:4-6 –

·         You cannot lose your Salvation, that is why it is impossible to get saved again

·         Seeking to get saved again puts shame on the Lord Jesus Christ

·         To serve the Lord again brings glory and honour to him – John 12:24

Continuing on with the next scripture people will try to use to show that you can lose your salvation.

Matthew 24:22 “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”

This one blows my mind actually as how could anyone think this verse is about losing your salvation. They’ll say if you don’t endure to the end you’ll lose your salvation…what in the world???

It says no FLESH shall be saved, this is not a salvation passage, in context Jesus is talking about the coming of the Great Tribulation, and except those days be cut short, the elect (believers) will all perish due to persecution by the Anti-Christ in the coming last days. I mean goodnight! Losing your salvation? Are you serious???

When they say you got to endure to the end; they are teaching a works salvation.

We need to be vigilant and use the Word of God to help us discern what heresy is and what truth is. I have shown you from the bible scriptures upon scriptures to prove that you cannot lose your salvation; these are the things we need to diligently teach our younger generation so that they may not be caught up with the lies and deception of these false teachers.

You can believe on the eternal security of the believer.

I leave with the following verse:

Matthew 10:28 “And 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.”

Dearest Heavenly Father I thank you for your Word, I thank you for the truth in your Words. Thank you for teaching me that Salvation is by Faith alone and not of my own works of righteousness. Father I ask that you keep your election from being deceived by these false teachers and ask that you shine your light on the ignorant so that they may come to realize your truth.

Father I ask also, please deliver us from temptation and evil, I say these things in the name of your only begotten son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.