Have You Received the Invitation to the Great Wedding Feast of the Lamb?

 

Revelation 19:9 "And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, these are the true sayings of God."

 
It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to post on this blog, been caught up in holidays, work, family, work, holidays; but, God willing, I can continue posting a stream of articles and bible studies.

So today, I felt it necessary to write about the Great Wedding Feast of the Lamb, especially in light of what is going on around the world today with the Ukraine, the Middle East, and all other manner of dark and wicked plans the world leaders and elites are planning to unleash on the world.

So, the title of this sermon/article is exactly what is in the heading, and I want to ask you, will you be attending the wedding feast of the lamb?

 
Jesus gives us a parable in Matthew 22:2-14 and he talks about a wedding feast, lest use scripture with scripture to interpret what he is talking about.

 

Matthew 22:2-14 "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, ³ and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. ⁴ Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. ⁵ But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: ⁶ and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. ⁷ But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. ⁸ Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. ⁹ Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. ¹⁰ So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.¹¹ And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: ¹² and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. ¹³ Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ¹⁴ For many are called, but few are chosen."

 
What's unique about this parable is that it spans over the Old and New Testaments, the parable speaks of a King who throws a wedding feast for his son, he sends out invitations but the initial guests refuse to go, we'll find out what happens when we begin to dissect this parable.

 

Verse 2 "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,"

 
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, this certain king is God the Father; which made a marriage for his son, and the son being the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Verse 3 "and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come."

 
So this part of the parable is taking place in the Old Testament, and sent for his servants, who are the servants?

They are the Prophets of the Old Testament sent forth to call them that were bidden (means offered) to the wedding: and they would not come. So we see here, God sent forth his Prophets but they would not come, who are the "they"?

Well, Jesus is speaking to the crowd of Jews or more specifically the religious leaders, namely the Pharisees. 

But if you are familiar with Old Testament, then you will know that God had been sending his Prophets to the Children of Israel, but the majority of times they kept rejecting the Lord, they kept turning their backs on the Lord and worshipped other gods.

So it is these people that refused to come to the wedding.

 

Verse 4 "Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.

 
Again, this word "Again" is denoting that this isn't the first time the king sent forth his servants, but it says he is sending forth other servants, what's happened to the first lot of servants?

We'll find out soon enough, but the new lot of servants have also been sent forth to tell them that were bidden, that the king has prepared his dinner, the king says my oxen and my fatlings are killed, next notice what he says because this is the key phrase, he says, "ALL THINGS ARE READY" come unto the marriage.

It's very important to note that we are still in the Old Testament period, and the key phrase to this parable is "ALL THINGS ARE READY".

 

Verse 5 "But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:"

 
"They made light of it", who made light of it? 

They did, the children of Israel made light of it. 

What does the phrase "They made light of it" mean?

To make light of something is to treat something as unimportant, to make a joke of it, which is what the Nation of Israel did, they thought it was just a joke, treated it as unimportant.

And then what did they do? 

Well it says, they went their ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise. 

Just like today, when you give the gospel to an unbeliever, they make light of it, then go about their daily business, one to his own house, some to their TV's, Movies, Sports, Facebook and son on.

 

Verse 6 "and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them."

 
"Remnant" means a small portion of the majority or the people left, so these people took the servants, they entreated them spitefully, and slew them, these people killed the Prophets. This is what they did to the Prophets in the Old Testament.

 

Verse 7 "But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city."

 
But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth (Angry): and he sent his armies, throughout the Old Testament the Nation of Israel kept rejecting the Lord, they killed the Prophets and would not listen, after King Solomon's reign the Nation of Israel split in two, The Northern Kingdom retained the name of Israel, while the Southern Kingdom was known as Judah (Later called Judaea in Pagan Roman times).

Solomon's sons would not rule in the northern kingdom, this kingdom had 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel. The northern Kingdom was ruled by a succession of wicked kings that were not descendants of David and Solomon. This kingdom would eventually have Samaria as its capitol. 

This kingdom became so wicked that God had the Empire of Assyria invade and destroy the Northern Kingdom, the Northern Kingdom became no more. What was left of the 10 tribes of Israel had now been intermingled with the heathens, they would later became known as the Samaritans.

The Southern Kingdom of Judah which consisted mainly of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin (A few remnants of others as well) would eventually be taken captive to Babylon as punishment for their sins, most notably serving other gods. There was also a remnant left behind in Judah when the rest got taken captive to Babylon.

The Capitol of Judah, is known as Jerusalem, this is also the Location of Solomon's temple of the Lord.

When the Babylonians took Jerusalem, they razed the first temple to the ground by fire, along with much of Jerusalem.

However, this part of the parable in verse 7 is actually prophesying the complete destruction of Jerusalem which was carried out in 70 AD by the Roman Emperor Titus in which, fulfilled the prophecy given by Jesus (Matthew 24:2, Luke 21:6, Mark 13:2).

We now read the cut-over into the New Testament.

 

Verse 8 "Then saith he to his servants, the wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy."

 
Then saith he to his servants, these are New Testament servants, as it will be explained in the next verse. Remember, here is the keywords again, "THE WEDDING IS READY", I will explain the wedding in a moment, but for now let's just understand that we know that "ALL THINGS ARE READY" and "THE WEDDING IS READY", but those that were bidden, those whom were offered a place at the wedding were not worthy, they rejected the Lord, served other gods and killed the Prophets, they are not worthy, the Nation of Israel is no longer the branch on the vine, it has been cut off, and cast aside, and another branch has been grafted in; the Gentiles.

 

Verse 9 "Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage."

 
Go ye therefore, that phrase means for that reason, what reason? "They which were bidden were not worthy".

This phrase is linked to what Jesus told his disciples and by extension all Christians in Matthew 28 the great commission:

 

Matthew 28:19-20 "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

 
Notice the same wording, "Go ye therefore", Jesus says for us, the soul winner to go into the highways, and AS MANY AS YE FIND, bid to the marriage, or in other words invite them to come to the marriage.

 

Verse 10 "So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests."

 
So those servants, the New Testament Christians, the soul winners went into the highways, and they gathered together as many as they could find, look what the texts says, BOTH BAD and GOOD: and the wedding was furnished with guests.

You see, they gathered anyone that they could find it didn't matter if they were bad or good, they just had to go.

 

Verse 11-14 "And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: ¹² and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. ¹³ Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ¹⁴ For many are called, but few are chosen."

 
Now let's just stop for a moment, I want to explain something here and make it perfectly clear. This is a PARABLE, it is an illustration of a heavenly truth. We should not use a parable to form the basis of our doctrine, our doctrine should come only from clear statements in the bible, not from a story, not from what a man has said and certainly not from a parable. We should however use clear statements in the bible, especially if it came from the mouth of the Father or the Lord Jesus Christ himself, those a clear statements.

We should use a clear statement to interpret a parable in this case. I'm saying this because people have taken this part of the parable to prove that you can get into heaven and then be thrown out, this is flat out wrong.

A parable is like a good truck, it'll get you to where you need to go, but it will eventually break down, much like a parable, if we dissect it too much it will break down and can conflict with clear statements from the bible.
Now where were we?

Ah yes, when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there which had not on a wedding garment. OK, so this man had not on a wedding garment, what's the deal here?
What we know so far:

1. ALL THINGS ARE READY
2. THE WEDDING IS READY
3. CALL ANYONE TO COME, BAD OR GOOD

   
    

   Verse 12 "and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless."

 
Again, not teaching you can get into heaven and then get thrown out of heaven, Jesus is making a point here. You will only get into heaven for the wedding feast if you have this garment.
So what is this garment? Turn to Isaiah 61:10

 

Isaiah 61:10 "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels."

 
God hath clothed me in the garments of Salvation, he hath covered me in the robes of righteousness! This is of course the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, are you covered by the blood of the Lamb? Are you placing all your faith that you have, your trust in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ to enter the wedding feast of the Lamb?

 

Verse 13 "Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

 
Because if you are not clothed in the righteousness of Christ you will be cast into outer darkness (referring to the location of the lake of fire), there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth which is describing the degree of torment one will go through for eternity.

 

Verse 14 "For many are called, but few are chosen."

 
Jesus says, for many are called, he means that God is constantly calling out to all men, because it is his will that all be saved. But Jesus says that only few are chosen, this does not mean that certain people are chosen by God to be saved, that's what the Calvinists say, the heretics!
What he means is that there be few that have made that decision to go to the wedding feast that accepts Christ only as their Saviour.

 
Are you only trusting in Christ? Are you clothed in his robes of Righteousness or are you clothed in your own righteousness?

This Parable is a picture of Salvation!

Amen.

 

 

 

Bible Study Series - Romans Chapter 4

Romans 4

Authorized (King James) Version

 

 

Romans 4:1 "What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?"

 
As you recall, chapter 3 ended with a call to establish the Law by or through faith, Jesus did not come to abolish the Law and the prophets, he came to fulfil. 

The Law is still in effect and by no means gone. Paul said for us to "establish" by faith the Law, the word "establish" means to set up on a firm or permanent basis or foundation, and who is that foundation?

That foundation is no other person than the Lord Jesus Christ of course!

 

1 Corinthians 3:11 "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."

 
In the book of the prophet Isaiah we read the following:

 

Isaiah 28:16 "therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste."

 
This scripture is quoted in many other books of the bible, one of them being recorded by Matthew chapter 21 in the words of Jesus himself:

 

Matthew 21:42 "Jesus saith unto them, did ye never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?"

 
The Lord Jesus Christ is the rock, the foundation, he is the head or chief of the corner stone where the church must build its foundation upon.

 
Now Paul starts Chapter 4 using the patriarch Abraham, whom God promised his seed would be a father of all nations as example to explain faith.

"As pertaining to the flesh, has found?" near the end of Chapter 3 the context was about boasting, Paul asks the question where is boasting then? 

So what works of the flesh did Abraham have to boast with?

The scriptural answer would be none, before God for the scriptures says, there is none righteous, and they have all gone out the way. As the next verse explicitly tells us.

 

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

 
This scripture concludes that "IF" notice conditional proceeds Abraham's justification by works, so if Abraham were justified by his works, what works does he to glory in?

Well, Abraham had the works of circumcision, and the notable event of when he proceeded to offer up his son Isaac to the Lord. But the scriptures says, these works he had to glory in, but not before God. If not before God, then who?

 
Abraham would glory in works before man, NOT God.

 
You know, I've had people challenge me on the whole Works Vs Grace issue and say to me, that this event with Abraham which is also mentioned in James chapter 2, was him being justified by his works, and use this to prove that we have to have good works to get into heaven.

They'll say nobody else was around when Abraham offered up Isaac, which is correct; but the event was written down so that man may read of how great of the faith of Abraham must have been in the Lord to do such a thing. Not many of us could do such a thing with our own child.

When we read this event, we can conclude to ourselves that this man, Abraham had such great faith in the Lord by his WORKS.

 

James 2:23 "And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God."

 
Who is calling him the friend of God?

 
Man is calling him the friend of God. If you interpret this scripture some other way, you create a contradiction, and there is no contradiction in light of other scripture because James is talking to his fellow man, to the saved.

The scriptures tell us that Abraham was justified before God long before he got circumcised, Abraham got circumcised around the age of 99 recorded in Genesis 17:24 but we read earlier of the account when he was imputed righteousness by God in Genesis 15:6 which is referred to in the next verse.

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Romans 4:3 "For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness."

 

 
So we can see here that Abraham was counted to righteousness before God, because he BELIEVED.
The word counted has many synonyms in the bible and are used interchangeably such as, imputed, and all convey the meaning of crediting to an account, or chalk up, or accredit.

According to scripture we see no reason why Abraham was justified in the sight of God, but to the fact that he believed, this scripture references Genesis 15:6.

In fact, some people will say that the Old Testament you had to follow the Law and in the New Testament it is all about grace, this is not true as the bible teaches from the beginning of the cover to the end of the cover that it has always been by grace that man is justified in the sight of God.

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Romans 4:4 "Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt."

 
To those who work, or try to justify themselves before God for Salvation by their own deeds, believe that it is because we feel we owe God something, a debt; this is NOT grace. 

Salvation is a free gift from God, by his grace he will impute righteousness to anyone who believes, even to those who are dead in sin.

 
Regardless of what we have done, by God's grace, salvation is obtain through faith, and it is not of our own works, lest any man boasts.

The Apostle Paul put's it perfectly in the epistle to the Ephesians in chapter 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."

 

Mockers will call this cheap grace, what a heresy! Grace is unmerited favour and not achieved by any man's deeds, no man can boast of his own works to obtain salvation, it is given freely by God's grace to those whom do believe on him.

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Romans 4:5 "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."

 
I love this verse, it's straight to the point, and every time someone decides to defend their works based beliefs and they say, show me where in the bible does it say that you don't have to do works to be saved?

And I put on a big smile and say turn to Romans 4:5 and boom! It says plain as day, to him that worketh NOT, but believe on him, who?

God, who justifies the ungodly, who is the ungodly?

Mankind…of course, unless you think you're godly enough to come to God on your own good works?

 
Sinners, all of mankind, if you believe on him who justifies the ungodly, YOUR FAITH IS COUNTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS!
Love that verse!

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Romans 4:6 "Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,"

 
Even King David, a man who is said to be a man after God's own heart back in the Old Testament who too was dead in sins, was saved by faith. 

Remember, David committed adultery with Bathsheba the wife of Uriah and had him murdered to cover up his sin with Bathsheba, whom God punished for that act of sin for a season.

The doctrine of Imputation is described as being given, inherited or accounted something by another source, or person because you satisfy a condition.

David describes this in the book of Psalms Chapter 32:

 

Psalm 32:1-2 "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. ² Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile."

 
Interesting that this verse recorded in Psalm at the end says to those whose spirit has no guile, if you ever give the gospel to someone or when you're out soul winning, you can come across people who pretend to get saved, or don't really believe it even when they say they do (generally just to get you off their backs) but they really don't believe at all.

Or you come across people in other religions and you're trying to evangelise them, especially religions based on works salvation who just won't let go of their religion, these people will not get saved until they do this, it's Faith Alone.

Ever tried evangelising to the cults? It's very difficult to get past their indoctrination of their institution of manmade (Or satanic) fables.

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Romans 4:7 "saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered."

 
Upon belief, God has forgiven all iniquities committed by the sinner, and whose sins are covered, meaning any future sin you are going to commit will also be covered. 

When you get saved, you don't automatically stop sinning, you will continue to sin in the flesh.

This scripture reinforces the doctrine of eternal security, you cannot lose your salvation.

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Romans 4:8"
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."

 
Again, the scripture states how blessed is the man whom the Lord will not IMPUTE sin, which emphasises the fact that all believers will still sin, God knows this until the day of redemption, the Lord's Day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns; known as his second coming.

Knowing this, God will not impute or account any sin to the believer that they will commit in the future, but you say, you can't just keep on sinning, and the cheap grace promoters will say you can't just live anyway you want to when you get saved!

What these works based Salvationist heretics don't understand is what the bible teaches true believers is what is called the doctrine of Divine Discipline.

I will cover this in another post at another time.

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Romans 4:9 "Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness."

 
If we say that Abraham was made righteous by his faith, was it then only given to the circumcised only or upon the uncircumcised as well?

Could you only be justified by God's grace ONLY if you got circumcised?

We'll find out the answers to these questions in the following scriptures.

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Romans 4:10 "How was it then reckoned? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision."

 
The word "reckoned" means to "count", "add up", "and establish calculation", "figure", or it's synonyms are "believe", "think", "be of the opinion", "be of the view", "be convinced".

So here in this scripture, it is written, that Abraham was imputed righteousness when he was uncircumcised and NOT before; also referring back to Genesis 15:6.

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Romans 4:11 "And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:"

 
Abraham received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of his faith when he was still uncircumcised. When Abraham got circumcised, God made a covenant or a promise with him that he would be father to all people that believe, from all nations, kindred's and tongues.

The false teachers we're running around trying to pervert the Gospel and undermine Paul by saying to the people that they had to get circumcised or they couldn't be saved, that they had to follow the laws and ordinances to be acceptable to God.

But the truth is, God is not a respecter of persons, it doesn't matter what colour you are, what nationality you are or whether you are circumcised or not, if you believe on him, that is good enough!

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Romans 4:12 "and the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised."

 
Abraham was made a promise of God that he would be a father to all as discussed in the previous verse, be it of the circumcision or uncircumcision it doesn't matter, those who walk in the same steps of faith as according to Abraham when he was made righteous before he received the sign of circumcision, and that Faith, is to believe on the Lord God, whom we now know his name to be Jesus.

 

Romans 4:13 "For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith."

 

For the promise, what promise?

The promise that he should inherit the world, was NOT made to Abraham and his seed, note the word "seed" is singular not plural, this seed is the Lord Jesus Christ, that the promise was not made through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith, notice how it wasn't worded as just faith?

The promise was made through the righteousness of faith, does that not mean that to have faith is to have righteousness?

Bingo!

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Romans 4:14 "For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:"

 
Now read this carefully, those who think keeping and doing the law will get them into heaven, and gives them the right to be heirs are sorely wrong, you couldn't be more wrong than wrong, look at what it says next, FAITH IS MADE VOID, and the promise is made of none effect, that right, the promise is cancelled out.

If you try to approach the Holy God by your works of righteousness, this act in itself cancels out Faith, it means you have no faith at all, and you are not under the promise, because the promise was given by the righteousness of faith.

If you trust in your own works to get you into heaven, then you don't have faith in God, and there would have been no reason for him to come in the form of man to sacrifice himself would there?

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Romans 4:15 "because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression."

 
The Law works wrath, this is God's wrath, and those who trust in their own works will meet in the end with God's wrath, not something I'd be looking forward to…

For where there is no law, there is no transgression. What does that mean? Does that mean that if you have never heard of the law, you cannot sin?

God forbid! The answer to this verse is actually found in Romans Chapter 2!

 

Romans 2:12-16 "For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; ¹³ (for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. ¹⁴ For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: ¹⁵ which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) ¹⁶ in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel."

 
So here Paul is contrasting those who had the law, the Jews and those who didn't have the law, the Gentiles. We read that the law is written in the hearts of the gentiles, so there is no excuse.

Chapter 4 verse 15 is stating that there is no transgression if there is no law; but if we know that the law has been written in our hearts then there is transgression, because God wrote those laws into our hearts, and our conscience either convicts us or allows us to make excuses for our transgressions towards God.

This internal law by the way I believe is our moral compass, our boundary that we would normally not step over, and in the case with reprobates: those people who constantly rejects God's calling, God removes this moral compass and gives them over to their own lusts.

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Romans 4:16 "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,"

 
For that reason, it is of faith, and by grace through faith, the promise which was made with Abraham can also be given to all the seed. 

So it is not only given to the Jews, but it is given to all who believe, because Abraham was imputed righteousness by faith, and so are all who come to the Lord by faith because he is the father of us all.

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Romans 4:17 "(as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were."

 
As it is written in Genesis 17:5 where Abram gets his name changed to Abraham by God because he has been made a father of many nations!

What's interesting about the last part of the verse, "even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were."

God whom quickens the dead, the word quicken means "to make alive", but the most interesting part of this verse is what comes next, where it is said that God calls all those things which be not as though they were; this means that God speaks and tells us of these as if though they had already happened, even though it actually hasn't happened yet, this is true of biblical prophecy and that we can know, that the Holy bible is God's word because there is no other book in the world that accurately predicts, and is proven to be true with the prophecies written within this holy book.

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Romans 4:18 "Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be."

 
Against hope believed in hope, this is faith:

 

Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

 
Abraham believed on the Lord God and was given the promise that he shall be father of many nations, and that same promise is given to his seed, that seed being the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord and God.

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Romans 4:19 "And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:"

 
Being not weak in faith, to a works based Salvationist heretic a person with weak faith would be someone who had very little works, this would be their point of view, however, Salvation is not by works, it is by faith, and to say in a biblical truth one who has weak faith is someone who trusts in their own works, rather than completely trusting in the Lord.

Trusting in only the Lord is strong faith, we place our trust and hope in something that is not seen, yet hoped for, and it is described in Hebrews chapter 11 as a substance, not nothing.

Even at his age of an hundred years old consider he himself not dead, along with his wife's womb to be dead (She was about 90 years old) especially when the angel of the Lord came to tell him and Sarah would born a child at such an old age; this event is recorded in Genesis 18:10.

~

Romans 4:20 "he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;"

 

 
The last few verses expound more on verse 19, he staggered not, meaning he was not shocked or amazed at the promise given to him by God because of unbelief; but was strong in faith, what we talked about before, his strength of his faith by placing it all on the Lord God, and giving him all the glory!

~

Romans 4:21 "and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform."

 
Abraham being fully persuaded, it is his faith that he is able to be fully persuaded, and Abraham knowing that God cannot lie, will keep his promise enabling Abraham to perform, or to do God's will.

~

Romans 4:22 "And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness."

 
And for that reason, what reason? His Faith of course, he was imputed righteousness. By faith we have been justified by our Lord God's grace.

~

Romans 4:23 "Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;"

 
It was not just written for Abraham's sake alone, that it was accredited to him, this is the doctrine of Imputation. We have inherited by faith, righteousness, not ours, but God's righteousness.

~

Romans 4:24 "but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;"

 
So not just for Abraham's sake, but for us also, for those who believe, whom have faith in He that raised up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. 

This passage reflects on how I got saved, I was in the Old Testament and I believed on Him that raised up our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus said I and the Father are one, and also if you have the Son, you have the Father. Jesus is God manifest in the flesh, he is the God of the Old and New Testament.

~

Romans 4:25 "who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification."

 
Jesus Christ died for our sins, and the sins of the whole world, and God the Father raised him to life so that we all might be justified in his sight.

 
Amen.

Bible Study Series – Romans Chapter 3

Continuing on from chapter 2, in chapter 3 Paul begins with asking a series of questions.

 

Romans 3:1 "What advantage then hath the Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision?"

Now we know that being born a Jew doesn't make you one of God's people in light of Romans Chapter 2:28-29. And we also know that circumcision profits nobody, and being so does not make you part of God's people either according to Romans 2:28-29 as well.

So what advantages does being a Jew have, Paul gives the answers in the following verse.

Romans 3:2 "Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God."

Paul here is saying that the Jews had a greater exposure of God's word, it was delivered to them via the prophets through visions and revelations, and they really experienced what God said he would do in his prophecies!

Romans 3:3-4 "For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? ⁴ God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged."

Paul asks a series of questions here about what if some of them did not believe, shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? The fact that some reject the Truth does not make it any less the Truth. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

God will fulfil all the promises He made to the nation of Israel, even if individual Jews are not able to receive them because of their unbelief.

If some did not believe, it doesn't nullify God's faithfulness, it doesn't impact the faith of God at all, Paul answers his questions by saying absolutely not, he says let God be true, but every man a liar.

 
As it is written:

           Psalm 116:11 "I said in my haste, all men are liars."

Psalm 51:4 "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest."

We see above that men are liars, but it is impossible for God to lie, since He is the Truth. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Every man and woman shall stand before this absolute Truth and be judged. We will be justified by Jesus Christ when we Christians stand before Him.

Those who rejected Jesus as their personal Saviour will be without excuse!

 

Romans 3:5-8 "But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man) ⁶ God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? ⁷ For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner? ⁸ And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? Whose damnation is just."

What we're reading here in verse 5-8 is that Paul is anticipating and then answers the objection that his teaching actually impeached the very holiness and purity of God's character.
Verse 5 says we have no righteousness except that what was purchased for us by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because we are unrighteous, do we presume to judge God for taking vengeance on our unrighteousness?

Those who do not accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour will not take on His righteousness; and they are they, whom are without excuse and deserve God's vengeance.


Verse 6 says for then how shall God judge the world? Well, if God condoned sin, He would have no justifiable, righteous basis for judgement would He?

Verse 7, for if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner? 

We might try to justify our sin before God, telling God that our lie makes His truth even greater, but He will not go for that poor, weak excuse.

Verse 8, Paul is saying that some liars are going around saying that He says to do evil so that God's good will be greater. Paul just simply says they are lying, they not only lie, but their condemnation is just.

Heartbreakingly, the apostle's gospel message of salvation by grace through faith alone had been perverted by his opponents who argued it provided not only a license to sin, but outright encouragement to do so. 

In no way does the true gospel encourage us to do sin, and that is what you will hear from the opponents who reject the simplicity of the gospel.

 

No One is Righteous

Romans 3:9 "What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;"

The "We" Paul is referring to would be fellow Christians in Rome; Christians do not have an inherently superior nature to all the unsaved people which Paul has shown to be standing under God's condemnation. 

Both Jew and Gentile are ALL under sin, meaning completely enslaved and ruled over by sin, ALL unbelievers are appointed to Wrath.

 

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

 
The verse should always be part of a soul winners arsenal, short quick and cuts deep, it says what is says, there is none righteous, no, not one!

The Jews could not and did not keep the law and the heathen did not even have a law to keep. All have sinned, but praise and all glory be to the almighty living God, He provided us a Saviour named Jesus. His righteousness is what we must have. 

Our righteousnesses is but filthy rags.

 

Isaiah 64:6 "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."

Continuing on…

 

Romans 3:11 "there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God."

 
This verse clearly implies that the world's false religious systems are clearly a result of fallen man's attempts to escape the true God, not to seek Him.

Man's natural tendency is to seek his own interest, to appease his own pride and self-worth, but his only hope is for God to seek him. It is only as a result of God's work in the heart that anyone seeks Him.

This describes our generation perfectly. It seems there is no one seeking after God; or at least very few. If we seek God we will find Him.

 

Romans 3:12 "They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."

 
Another self-explanatory verse, we have all gone out the way and certainly we have all at one point in our lives that we have been unprofitable, not one of us does good, no not one!

 

Romans 3:13 "Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:"

 
Their throat is an open sepulchre, a sepulchre is a tomb or cave where a body is placed inside for the body to decay, and it is usually sealed at the entrance. 

Now this analogy is talking about a sepulchre that is open, and you can imagine the stench of the decaying body coming out of that tomb; absolutely putrid, he likens the open sepulchre to the vile putrid things that come out of their mouths.

"With their tongues", we read about our tongues being a little member of our body but can be used as an instrument of evil especially when it comes from someone with an evil heart. James explains this really well, let's take a look:

 

James 3:6-8 "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. ⁷ For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: ⁸ but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

 
In verse 8 we read a profound statement that no man can tame the tongue; when we receive Jesus as our Saviour, the very first member of our body that we should turn over to Jesus is our tongue. 

The natural tongue is very evil, if not controlled by the Spirit.

 

Romans 3:14 "whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:"

 
Let me ask you something, which generation do you think from all human history would probably be guiltier in cursing and bitterness than any other generation in all the worlds' history?

I would tell you it is this generation we are living in now, this current period, when I grew up it was so bad, but now my heart sorrows for this generation we are living in now.

Every movie, every song, every idiot box we see it, cursing and bitterness are on every hand. Cursing and bitterness against parents is perhaps #1 on the list.

 

Psalm 10:7 "His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity."

 
The Psalmist is referring to wanting the worst for someone and publicly expressing that desire in scathing, scornful language.

 

Romans 3:15 "their feet are swift to shed blood:"

 
The wicked are swift on their feet to shed blood, some of the Jewish leaders wanted all followers of Jesus killed; they even thought they were doing God a favour.

 

Romans 3:16 "destruction and misery are in their ways:"

 
Man damages and destroys everything he touches, leaving a trail of pain and suffering in his wake. In fact, if we did things that were for the good of each other, we wouldn't have filthy rich people would we? 

And let's be honest, these people didn't get like that because they were God fearing Christians. In order to get to the top and stay at the top you've got to be ruthless, think of how many people would've gotten hurt and ruined along the way to being the number one person in the world?

It's like a politician, when they're running for candidacy they're smooth talking right? 

They tell you what you want to hear, and they'll even say the right things to different groups, even if the groups being spoken to have conflicts of interest…but when they get into power or that position of authority, they don't even care about what they said they would do, in fact most of them would do the opposite of what they promised to do!

 

Romans 3:17 "and the way of peace have they not known:"

 
Not the lack of an inner sense of peace, but man's tendency toward strife and conflict, whether between individuals or nations.

 

Romans 3:18 "there is no fear of God before their eyes."

 
Biblical fear of God is knowing that he is all powerful, all mighty, all seeing, all everywhere (can I say that, does that make sense?), and knows everything, and knowing this that there is also a penalty for transgressing His Holy character, His Laws; the wicked do not have this fear of God, the world has turned, they have all gone out the way.

 

Romans 3:19 "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God."

 
What law? 

God's Law, them 10 commandments you keep hearing about, that's right, and the other laws that hung off it, Moses Laws, and what does it say to them that are under the Law?

Who is under the Law? Every single human being on this Earth who has not been redeemed by the saving grace of the Father through faith, through belief on his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just because the Jews had the Law didn't make them any more immutable to the convictions of the Law, they had the Law and didn't keep it, neither are the gentiles are without excuse, it was written on their hearts, you say what about the people that did not hear the Word, well I say, and the bible says it was written on their hearts.

The bible says in Hebrews Chapter 9 the following concerning what happens to man when he dies.

 

Hebrews 9:27-28 "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: ²⁸ so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation."

 
We are appointed once to die, but after this Judgement, now does this say that when we die we have a second chance to be redeemed after we die here without the Lord? 

No!

 
Every mouth will be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God, meaning there will be no excuse for anyone who will be judged guilty by God.

 

Romans 3:20 "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

 
Therefore, means for that reason or consequently by the deeds or works of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. If you try to come to God by your own works or deeds and say to him, but look at all my good works, I am righteous expecting to get into Heaven, expect to be very, very, very, very, very, very, very disappointed.

I mean how clearer do you need to read this?

For by the Law is knowledge of sin, this means that the Law is to show us that we are sinners, it is our school master our guide to show that we cannot measure up any way or fashion. Through the Law, we are made aware of our sins.

 

Romans 3:21 "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;"

 
The righteousness of God without the law, he is forever righteous, by his grace has been revealed being spoken of by the law (which was used to show that we are sinners and that we needed a saviour) and the prophets in the Old Testament all testify to the coming of the Messiah.

 

Romans 3:22 "even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:"

 
Interestingly, it is not because of our faith that saved us, but the Faith of Jesus Christ which is the whole reason why we can be saved. Our righteousness is but filthy rags.

Our righteousness that is acceptable to God is the righteousness of Jesus Christ that we put on when we accept Jesus as our saviour and Lord.

And it says to all, everyone in the world, and upon all them that believe: there is no difference, no difference for what?

 

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

 
For this, whether you are unsaved or saved, believer or non-believer there is no difference, no respecter of persons for ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God! 

No one can live completely free of sin. By the way, great verse to employ if you are soul winning!!!

 

Romans 3:24 "being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:"

 
Being justified freely, meaning declared righteous freely by God's grace through the redemption, that is, through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Romans 3:25 "whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;"

 
This great sacrifice was not accomplished in secret, but God publicly displayed His Son on Calvary for all to see!

Verse 24 ended with a colon (:) meaning verse 25 is going to define or expound more on what he meant in verse 24. Whom? 

The Lord Jesus Christ of course, had been set forth or to give an account of, Jesus being the propitiation or appeasement through faith in his blood.

Christ's violent death satisfied the offended holiness and wrath of God which was appointed against those for whom Christ died.

Forbearance means to hold back. Rather than destroying every person the moment he or she sins, God graciously holds back His judgment. God's justice demands that every sin and sinner be punished. 

God would have been just when Adam and Eve sinned, to destroy them, and with them, the entire human race. But in His goodness and forbearance, He is withholding His judgment for a certain period of time.

 

Romans 3:26 "to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

 
To declare what? 

His righteousness, through the incarnation, sinless life, and substitutionary death of the Messiah, whom is Jesus. 

By the wisdom of God's plan allowed Him to punish Jesus in the place of sinners and thereby justify those who are guilty without compromising His justice.

 

Romans 3:27 "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay: but by the law of faith."

 
Boasting is excluded, it plays no part in Salvation, our efforts play not part; do you get it?

God holds in contempt human wisdom, not only by not allowing it as a means to knowing Him, but also by choosing to save the lowly. 

He does not call to salvation many whom the world would call wise, mighty and noble.

What was said to the Ephesians sums it all up perfectly:

 

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."

 
God came to reveal his wisdom to the poor, the meek and the weak, those who were considered by the so called "elites" of the world nobody's who place their faith, their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

God clearly received all the credit and the glory for causing such lowly ones to know Him and the eternal truths of His heavenly kingdom.

No saved sinner can boast that he has achieved salvation by his own intellect or efforts.

 

Romans 3:28 "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."

 
Do I really need to explain this verse? It says what it says and you better believe it!

 

Romans 3:29-30 "Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: ³⁰ seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith."

 
God is God of all, we are all part of God's family. There is one God and Father of us all. 

Keeping the ordinances of the law will not do away with sin and will not save anyone. Without faith it is impossible to please God. 

Hebrews 11 is the bible hall of faith, read through that chapter to get a grasp on what faith can do for you.

The circumcision are the Jews and the uncircumcision refers to the Gentile, and both can only be saved by faith in Jesus Christ.

 

Romans 3:31 "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law."

 
Salvation by grace through faith does not make the law any less of importance, but emphasizes its true importance:

1.    By providing a payment for the penalty of death, which the law required for failing to keep it;
2.   By fulfilling the law's original purpose, which is to serve as a tutor to show mankind's utter inability to obey God's righteous demands and to drive people to Christ; and
3.    By giving believers the capacity to keep it.

The law is not done away with by Jesus, but fulfilled in Him. The law is good, the law is perfect. The law declares the need to be righteous. 

Jesus makes it possible to be righteous in Him. The law showed us our great need for Jesus as our Saviour, THE MESSIAH!

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.