{"id":19115,"date":"2016-07-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-17T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/soteriology-024\/"},"modified":"2016-07-17T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-07-17T05:00:00","slug":"soteriology-024","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/soteriology-024\/","title":{"rendered":"Soteriology 024"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[91],"series_event":[459],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19115","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-1-corinthians","series_event-soteriology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Soteriology 024","sermon_date":"20160717","sermon_month":"7","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":3766,"sermon_slides":3767,"sermon_mp3":3770,"sermon_id":"71716939316","series_or_event":459,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":91,"chapter_and_verse":"12:13","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nSoteriology 24, 1 Corinthians 12:13\n\nJuly 17, 2016\n\nI want to welcome everybody to our summer sessions on eternal security.\u00a0 Just as a quick reminder we are taping these for the benefit of our missionaries so we are holding questions until the end, so if you have a question just jot it down and we\u2019ll try to save room till the end for that.\u00a0 If you can take your Bible and open it to 1 Corinthians 12:13.\u00a0 If you\u2019re tracking with the whole class, which started spring Wednesday nights, here\u2019s the ground we\u2019ve covered.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [Definition, Election, Atone\u00adment, Salvation words, God\u2019s one condition of salvation, results of salvation, eternal security]\n\nWe find ourselves in Roman numeral 7, which is eternal security, the doctrine of eternal security.\u00a0 And I\u2019m really slowing down and spending a lot of time here because this is an issue that people struggle with, really their whole Christian lives if they don\u2019t get some clear teaching on this.\u00a0 Is it true that one saved always saved or are we on divine probation (that\u2019s how I like to phrase it).\n\nWe\u2019re going through eternal security arguments, I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll finish them today but we\u2019ll most likely have them finished next week and then in part 2 we\u2019ll be going through key problem passages which seem to deny eternal security.\u00a0 There are some passages at first glance that look like they deny eternal security, and I\u2019ll show you those in part 2 which we won\u2019t start this week or next week but the week after, and I\u2019ll show you how to analyze those properly, through proper Bible study methods.\n\nSo evidence for eternal security; here\u2019s what we\u2019ve covered so far.\u00a0 Number 1, because self-righteousness did not save us in the first place it\u2019s not a basis upon which salvation can be lost.\u00a0 Now if you have questions on these go back to our video archives on the website and you can get all the teaching as we\u2019ve covered these various points.\n\nNumber 2, salvation is not given nor maintained by works.\n\nNumber 3, if a believer can lose eternal life then how can eternal life be what?\u00a0 Eternal.\n\nNumber 4, the Bible promises eternal security, John 10:28, one of the clearest passages.\u00a0 [John 10:28, \u201cand I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.\u201d]\n\nNumber 5, the Bible promises the assurance of salvation, not only that you have eternal life but you can know you have it, which couldn\u2019t happen, could it, if we could lose salvation.\n\nNumber 6, the believer is predestined for glory, Romans 8:30, so if that\u2019s true how could we do something to forfeit our salvation.\u00a0 [Romans 8:30, \u201cand these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.\u201d]\n\nNumber 7, I, we are all sealed by the Spirit of God, and how long does the seal last for?\u00a0 Until the day of redemption, Ephesians 4:30.\u00a0 [Ephesians 4:30, \u201cDo not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.\u201d]\n\nNumber 8. God keeps us from falling; He doesn\u2019t necessarily keep us from sinning but He keeps us from falling, the present tense power of God preserves us, 1 Peter 1:4-5.\u00a0 [1 Peter 1:4-5, \u201cto obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, [5] who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.\u201d]\n\nNumber 9, Christ is our advocate and intercessor as we speak so if I could lose my salvation He\u2019s not doing a very good job \u201cintercessing\u201d or advocating.\u00a0 That\u2019s number 9.\n\nNumber 10, Christ\u2019s death paid perfectly for all sin, Titus 2:14 and other passages, which includes the sin\u00a0 you might commit this week\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t just cover sins committed in the past, it covers all sin. [Titus 2:14, \u201cwho gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.\u201d]\n\nSo we come to number 11, an eleventh argument for eternal security.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I had you turn to 1 Corinthians 12:13,\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 12:13, \u201cFor by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.\u201d]\u00a0 Number XI, if a believer can lose their salvation then they can become removed from Christ\u2019s body.\n\nSo notice, if you will, 1 Corinthians 12:13, it speaks of the baptism of the Spirit, and notice what it says, \u201cFor by one Spirit we were all baptized\u201d now what tense is baptism there?\u00a0 Past.\u00a0 \u201cFor by one Spirit we were all,\u201d not some of us, \u201call baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.\u201d\n\nI have a lot of students that come from a Pentecostal background and they always tell me they want to go to some meeting and get the second blessing.\u00a0 And I say what do you mean by a second blessing, when the book of Ephesians says, in chapter 1 verse 3 you\u2019ve already been \u201cblessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,\u201d and they say well you need to go further on in God and you need to get baptized in the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 But you\u2019ll notice here that the baptism of the Holy Spirit already took place in the life of the believer.\n\nAnd you\u2019ll notice that it\u2019s not given on the basis of how spiritual a person is because this promise is articulated to the Corinthians church, which is the most carnal church of the first century that we have record of.\u00a0 So how would you like to be the pastor of the Corinthians church, that\u2019d be a tough assignment wouldn\u2019t it?\u00a0 So even this carnal crowd, because they\u2019ve placed their faith in Christ has already been baptized into the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 So baptism of the Holy Spirit is not something you go out and seek; it\u2019s something that\u2019s already happened to you.\n\nAnd the confusion is when we see the word \u201cbaptized\u201d here everybody thinks of water baptism but water baptism is not in the context here; this is not a passage on water baptism, this is a passage on Spirit baptism.\u00a0 Water baptism just symbolizes it, it\u2019s an outward symbol of an inward reality of Spirit baptism that already happened.\n\nSo what does the word \u201cbaptize\u201d mean then?\u00a0 It means, baptiz\u014d<\/em> in Greek means identification.\u00a0 So the moment you trusted in Christ the Holy Spirit took you and connected you to the body of Christ.\u00a0 And you may not even know what church you\u2019re going to go to, what your style of preference is in terms of worship, it doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 You are connected to the universal church, the body of Christ, the moment you placed your personal faith in Christ.\u00a0 It\u2019s a positional truth that\u2019s already happened to you if you are a believer.\u00a0 It\u2019s not something\u00a0 you have to go out and seek, it\u2019s something that\u2019s already transpired.\u00a0 It\u2019s not given on the basis of how spiritual you are or are not; it\u2019s part of the grace positional truths you\u2019ve already received.\u00a0 So we are connected to the body of Christ already, the body of Christ being a metaphor here for the church.\n\nNow in this chapter Paul explains the different parts of the body.\u00a0 We all have different roles to play, just like I don\u2019t have two right hands, I\u2019ve got a right hand, I\u2019ve got a left hand, all the different parts of my body work together to fulfill different roles.\n\nSo we are, at the point of faith, connected to Christ\u2019s body, we are given specific spiritual gifts, most of them we don\u2019t even know exist\u00a0 yet, what gifts we have, so early in the faith, but we have them and God wants to use us in different ways in His body, the church, to expand or extend His purposes on the earth.\u00a0 All of that to say if\u00a0 you could lose your salvation it\u2019s the equivalent of Jesus walking around and all of a sudden His thumb falls off His hand, or His index finger falls off or His right arm disappears or something like that.\u00a0 To argue that you can lose your salvation is to undo a birth truth, which when you think about it is absurd.\u00a0 So this baptism of the Spirit, when you understand it correctly it argues against the prospect that you can lose your salvation.\n\nNow the baptism of the Spirit is not the only birth truth we have; we have also been spiritually born.\u00a0 Many,\u00a0 many verses we could look up, I won\u2019t go through all of them but just one,\u00a0 you might want to take a look at John 1, the Gospel of John, chapter 1, and notice verses 12-13.\u00a0 It says, \u201cBut as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even<\/em> to those who\u201d what? \u201cbelieve in His name,\u201d that\u2019s what makes you a child of God; then verse 13, \u201cwho were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.\u201d\u00a0 So when a person trusts Christ they become born of the Spirit of God; it\u2019s called regeneration which literally means to begin again, paliggenesia<\/em> is the word for regeneration, it\u2019s a new beginning.\u00a0 And it\u2019s taught here in John 1, this is what Jesus is talking to Nicodemus about, John 3:3.\u00a0 [John 3:3, \u201cJesus answered and said to him, \"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.\u201d]\n\nBoth James 1 and 1 Peter 1, I have the verses on the screen, indicate that we\u2019ve been born again as a result of believing the Word of God.\u00a0 And so it\u2019s a positional birth truth.\u00a0 Now if you understand that how could you lose that, when you understand the analogy to physical birth.\u00a0 Once you\u2019re physically born you\u2019re born, right?\u00a0 Have you ever known someone that was born and then they got undone or unborn?\u00a0 That wouldn\u2019t make any sense.\u00a0 Because the loss of salvation view basically says you can be saved, you can commit some sin and lose your salvation, then what do you do?\u00a0 Well, you\u2019ve got to get born again a second time.\u00a0 That\u2019s why in Arminian churches that don\u2019t have good theological understanding what you\u2019ll notice is when they give altar calls you get the same people getting saved, supposedly every single week.\u00a0 Now why are they doing that?\u00a0 They\u2019re doing that because they think they got unsaved that week because they did some kind of sin so they\u2019ve got to get saved all over again.\n\nNow think about that from the analogy of physical birth.\u00a0 Have you ever known someone that was born and then they became unborn, then they became born all over again, then they became unborn, then they became born all over again.\u00a0 That just wouldn\u2019t make sense, would it?\u00a0 So the whole analogy of our spiritual birth doesn\u2019t make any real sense in light of the doctrine that you can lose your salvation.\n\nAnother birth truth, and let\u2019s go to Ephesians 2:8-9, is the fact that you have been given a gift from God, which is salvation.\u00a0 Ephesians 2:8-9, and these are verses you probably know well, it says, \u201cFor by grace you have been saved through faith; it is not of yourselves, it is the\u201d what? \u201cgift of God; [9] not as a result of works so that no one may boast.\u201d\n\nSo that is another birth truth.\u00a0 You have actually been given a gift; a gift, what does that really mean?\u00a0 We\u2019re so works oriented and we so seldom receive gifts, sometimes, from people because there\u2019s always strings attached, but when God gives a gift it\u2019s actually a gift.\u00a0 So let\u2019s say when my daughter turns 16 I go out and buy her a bright red Porsche, which will not be happening, and I put it in the driveway and I say Sarah, you know, here\u2019s a gift from mom and dad and now that you\u2019re 16, you\u2019ve passed your driver\u2019s license test, dah\u00a0 dah dah dah, it\u2019s just a gift, go and enjoy it.\u00a0 And then I say to her before she gets is the car, by the way, I need you to start making payments and the payments start this month.\u00a0 Well, I just changed the vocabulary around, didn\u2019t I.\u00a0 that\u2019s not a gift.\n\nAnd see this is the whole problem with the loss of salvation mindset; it\u2019s a lack of understanding that salvation is a gift; it\u2019s like people are saying God gave you salvation but you\u2019d better mind your P\u2019s and Q\u2019s because you might do something to forfeit it.\u00a0 Now if I could do something to forfeit what God has given me then it\u2019s no longer a gift, is it.\n\nAnd there is a wonderful verse in the book of Romans, Roman 11:29, it\u2019s making a statement about the gifts that God gives and the context is talking about the nation of Israel.\u00a0 But I also interpret generically as the nature of gifts, and what does it say in Romans 11:29, it says, \u201cFor the gifts\u201d which would include salvation, wouldn\u2019t it?\u00a0 \u201cFor the gifts\u00a0 and the calling of God are<\/em>\u201d what? \u00a0\u201cirrevocable.\u201d\u00a0 Which is a legal term in contract law, it basically means you reach a certain point in contractual arrangements with somebody and once an offer is on the table under certain circumstances it cannot be withdrawn.\u00a0 So what Paul is saying here is \u201cthe gifts and calling of God\u201d to not only national Israel but also to us as recipients of this great gift of salvation, cannot be withdrawn.\u00a0 If it could be withdrawn then it violates the nature of a gift.\u00a0 Right?\n\nAnd then another birth truth that\u2019s also in Ephesians 2:8-9 is the description of our salvation as the fact that we\u201d have been saved.\u201d\n\nSo let me highlight a different part of Ephesians 2:8-9, it says, \u201cFor by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; [9] not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.\u201d\u00a0 Now \u201csaved\u201d I have this underlined and it\u2019s translated \u201chave been saved\u201d is basically a perfect tense verb\u2014saved, plus the present tense connecting verb, \u201cyou are\u201d or better translated \u201chave been,\u201d and when you have the perfect tense in Greek\u2026 now the perfect tense is, and I\u2019ve said this quite a bit from the pulpit so maybe some of\u00a0 you have picked up on it, maybe not, but the way the perfect tense works in Greek is it\u2019s a one-time action in the past.\u00a0 It happened one time and it has ongoing\u2026 whatever happened once in the past has ongoing benefits.\u00a0 It\u2019s the same tense that\u2019s used to translate Christ\u2019s final words on the cross, \u201cIt is finished\u201d which is a translation from the Greek verb tetelestai<\/em>, which is also in the perfect tense of the Greek verb, I think it\u2019s teleo<\/em>, if I remember right, so when it\u2019s tetelestai its perfect tense, it\u2019s a onetime action with ongoing results. So when it\u2019s tetelestai it\u2019s perfect tense, it\u2019s a onetime action with ongoing results.\n\nSo what it is saying is our salvation in the past at the point of faith has one time been accomplished.\u00a0 It cannot be undone.\u00a0 The only thing that we can experience today is the ongoing benefits of this onetime gift of salvation.\u00a0 So you have here the perfect tense plus the present tense verb and when you have those two together that forms in Greek what\u2019s called a perfect periphrastic.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a very strong linguistic clue indicating that what God has given us has already been accomplished.\u00a0 I\u2019m not trying to give you a Greek lesson here but I want you to understand that words mean things and there\u2019s a reason that when Paul wrote this he put it in what we would call a perfect tense periphrastic.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t a stronger way, in other words, for Paul to say salvation is already a done deal; salvation has already been accomplished.\n\nBeyond that, the verb is in the passive voice.\u00a0 Now active voice is the idea that the subject does the action.\u00a0 The passive voice is the idea that the subject receives the action.\u00a0 The subject here is you, us, the believer, so by putting this in the passive voice Paul is saying that we have not done the action, we have not saved ourselves but it is something that has entirely been done by God and He is the one that has done this for us, on our behalf, and we are the recipients of this great gift of salvation.\n\nSo all of this to say we \u201chave been saved,\u201d and the way this is structured is if it\u2019s already been accomplished and it\u2019s a gift, and it\u2019s irrevocable, what can I do to undo it?\u00a0 Nothing!\u00a0 I can\u2019t undo it any more than my baptism in the Holy Spirit can be undone, because that would be the equivalent of Christ losing a finger or a mouth or an ear, whatever part of the body, or a nose, whatever part of the body we\u2019re in.\u00a0 And I can\u2019t undo my salvation any more than I can, at the physical level, make a choice to be unborn and then born the second time physically.\u00a0 It\u2019s an impossibility.\u00a0 So these birth truths, in and of themselves, when you start to understand them, become very strong arguments for the idea of eternal security.\u00a0 So that takes us from number 11, a believer cannot be removed from Christ\u2019s body, let me give you a twelfth reason why a believer cannot lose their salvation.\u00a0 You might want to take\u00a0 your Bible and go over to Psalm 37:23-24.\n\nSo a twelfth of the thirteen reasons why you cannot lose your salvation is number 12, the Bible never specifies which sin or sins removes salvation.\u00a0 Think about this for a minute; if salvation could be lost by something we do or some sin we commit wouldn\u2019t the Bible say you need to stay away from that particular sin?\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t there be like warning, warning, warning, don\u2019t do that.\u00a0 I mean, what sin is it that undoes my salvation?\u00a0 Is it having doubts in times of trial?\u00a0 Does that undo my salvation?\u00a0 Is it gambling? Is it smoking?\u00a0 Is it chewing tobacco?\u00a0 Is it committing adultery?\u00a0 Is it looking at pornography? What sin is it that undoes my salvation?\u00a0 The Bible never tells us.\n\nAnd the reason the Bible never says stay away from that one is because there is no sin you can commit that can undo your salvation; if there was such a sin there would be warning signs, flashing lights, hazard, hazard, hazard, stay away from that.\u00a0 And you can go through the New Testament and you won\u2019t find any such warning.\n\nNow people like to bring up the unpardonable sin so just put that in the back of your mind because I\u2019m going to do a whole Sunday School lesson on what the unpardonable sin is, because people read those words \u201cunpardonable sin\u201d and they just\u2026 I always ask people, well what is the unpardonable sin?\u00a0 And they always say well I don\u2019t know but it\u2019s pretty bad, whatever it is.\u00a0 And I\u2019m going to show you that there\u2019s a way to understand exactly what Jesus was talking about when he mentions this \u201cunpardonable sin.\u201d\u00a0 It has nothing to do with what most people think it is; it has everything to do with national Israel in the first century rejecting the offer of the Kingdom which it\u2019s going to take me about a whole lesson to explain all that.\u00a0 So just file that in the back of your mind.\n\nSo if that is true, what happens when we do sin? Well, when we do sin\u2026 do you guys ever sin as Christians?\u00a0 Becky do you sin ever?\u00a0 Okay, just wanted to make sure, asking the most spiritual people in the church here\u2026 Eric have you ever sinned?\u00a0 Okay, just want to make sure I\u2019m with the right crowd here.\u00a0 We all sin as Christians, I mean hopefully we\u2019re sinning less but we don\u2019t become sinless.\u00a0 So what happens when a person sins?\u00a0 Well, it never takes you out\u2026 if you have trusted in Christ you never fall outside the hand of God.\n\nAnd Jesus made that clear in a verse we\u2019ve already gone over, John 10:27-29, \u201cMy sheep hear my voice,\u00a0 I know them, and they follow Me; [28] and I give them eternal life,\u201d see how it\u2019s a gift on God\u2019s part, \u201cI give them eternal life and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.\u201d\u00a0 Now when it says there \u201cthey will never perish,\u201d I hate that translation because that\u2019s such a poor translation from what the Greek says.\u00a0 In the Greek when it\u2019s translated \u201cnever perish\u201d it\u2019s got two negations together and when you have two negations together in the Greek language that\u2019s the strongest negative you can possibly give.\u00a0 So it\u2019s like my ten\u00a0 year old says can I have the keys to the car and take it out for a spin and I say no way, I can\u2019t express a negation in a stronger way, that will never happen, you CANNOT have the keys to the car.\u00a0 That, essentially, is what the double negation is doing there in John 10:28.\n\nAnd then, I don\u2019t understand why our English translation didn\u2019t translate this word, but there\u2019s also right there in the context an ai\u014dnios<\/em>, now you remember what aioni\u014ds<\/em> means?\u00a0 Forever!\u00a0 It\u2019s the same word used to describe God Himself in Romans 16:26.\u00a0 [Romans 16:26, \u201cbut now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith;\u201d\u00a0 \u201ceternal\u201d is aioni\u014ds<\/em>]\n\nSo really what that is saying is nothing, in the strongest negation possible, can ever take someone outside of the hand of God forever, is what that\u2019s saying.\u00a0 And then it says, \u201cno one will snatch them out of my hand,\u201d now in context it\u2019s the wolf that is coming to snatch the sheep away and Jesus is saying that can never happen.\u00a0 By the way, that word \u201csnatch\u201d is the Greek word harpazo<\/em>, which is used to describe the rapture.\u00a0 The rapture has been called the great snatch where God takes us out of the earth prior to the tribulation and brings us to the Father\u2019s house.\u00a0 Satan, in the same way, is trying to snatch us, remove us from the Father\u2019s hand and Jesus just makes a simple statement here that that can NEVER happen, forever!\u00a0 So nothing can snatch you from the hand of God.\n\nNow I mentioned before that I have a cousin and he\u2019s in the Lord and I\u2019m in the Lord; when he got saved he went the Arminian direction; as I got saved I went in the direction of eternal security, so we\u2019ve been arguing since 1983 about this, can a person lose their salvation.\u00a0 So I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any argument that I\u2019ve ever heard that I haven\u2019t heard before on this.\u00a0 And he always says well, but we can take ourselves out of the Father\u2019s hands.\u00a0 Well, doesn\u2019t \u201cno one\u201d mean \u201cNO ONE\u201d here?\u00a0 I mean nothing would include me, wouldn\u2019t it.\u00a0 It would include Satan, it would include any force that\u2019s trying to take me out of the Father\u2019s hand.\u00a0 So this is a direct promise from God.\n\nSo when we sin where do we fall exactly?\u00a0\u00a0 You can\u2019t fall outside the hand of God when you sin; that\u2019s an impossibility based on John 10.\u00a0 Well then, where do you fall?\u00a0 You fall within God\u2019s hand.\u00a0 David, when he sinned, fell, he no doubt suffered tremendous consequences for his actions but he did not fall outside the hand of God; he fell within the hand of God because David, I believe he\u2019s the author of Psalm 37:23, said this:\u00a0 \u201cThe steps of a man are established by the LORD and He delights in his way, [24] When he falls,\u201d notice he doesn\u2019t say\u00a0 if he falls, \u201cwhen he falls he will not be hurled headlong, Because the LORD is the One who holds his hand.\u201d\n\nSo we think that somehow all of these positional truths about us are erased when we happen to sin and Psalm 37 is saying that is not true; we, as I\u2019ll show you in just a minute, do suffer repercussions for sin, I\u2019m not promoting sin at all, don\u2019t get me wrong, there\u2019s consequences always with sin, but the consequences do not involve anything that\u2019s eternal, in other words anything that can undo the John 10 promise. [John 10:28, \u201cand I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.\u201d]\n\nSo when we fall we fall within the hand of God, not outside the hand of God.\n\nThis takes us to number 13, this is my last argument for eternal security, and this is what everybody asks: what about the person who\u2019s a believer in Jesus Christ but they don\u2019t have any real fruit, they have an unfruitful life?\u00a0 What about them?\u00a0 And I guess my answer to that is well probably you should be more concerned about yourself and lack of fruit, don\u2019t worry about what everybody else is doing.\u00a0 I mean, I have enough internal problems of my own and my own walk with God without monitoring what everybody else is doing.\u00a0 But this is a question that\u2019s always asked; you\u2019ve got this prospect of people that claim to have faith in Christ but there\u2019s not a lot of fruit there.\u00a0 And when we analyze that we\u2019re always looking at somebody else but maybe we should look at ourselves; are we in that category.\u00a0 And my response to that is there\u2019s only two options with that: the first option is you have people that really have never trusted in Christ but they are church-goers.\u00a0 Now I would put a particular disciple in that category; which one am I thinking of? Judas!\u00a0 Judas was a church goer, in fact, Jesus said one of you is going to betray Me and everybody didn\u2019t say it\u2019s Judas, He\u2019s the guy!\u00a0 [Mark 14:18, \u201cAs they were reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said, \"Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me-- one who is eating with Me.\u201d]\n\nWhat did they all say?\u00a0 Is it me?\u00a0 Is it me?\u00a0 Is it me?\u00a0 I mean, Judas just fit the part so well but we know and I showed you some verses at the end of John 6 last time that Judas was never actually a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 So that is a possibility.\u00a0 The other possibility is you have believers in an extreme state of carnality where there is a lack of fruit because of their carnality.\u00a0 Now whether someone is in category A, and by the way, if they\u2019re in category A that\u2019s why we at Sugar Land Bible Church give the gospel every single week, because we live in the south, we live in the Bible belt and a lot of people are church goers just because that\u2019s part of the culture.\u00a0 So we recognize that people can come to church and not be saved any more than sitting in McDonalds makes me a hamburger.\u00a0 So we give the gospel every single week.\n\nOr there\u2019s another possibility that someone is saved but they\u2019re in a state of carnality.\u00a0 That\u2019s a possibility as well.\u00a0 So we encourage people, through progressive sanctification to being to walk with the Lord under His resources.\u00a0 And whether someone is in category A or category B I don\u2019t have the omniscience or the equipment to know what\u2019s in people\u2019s hearts.\u00a0 I have no idea.\u00a0 I just need to be faithful with what God has called me to do rather than be worried about everybody else.\n\nBut you see, in that second category what is always the warning in the Bible with the believer with the unfruitful life?\u00a0 Let\u2019s focus on category B; a person is saved but there\u2019s\u2019 not a lot of fruit.\u00a0 What is always the warning?\u00a0 It\u2019s never you\u2019re going to lose your salvation!\u00a0 It\u2019s never you\u2019re going to go to hell one day!\u00a0 There is no verse in Scripture that teaches such a thing.\u00a0 Rather, what the believer is warned about constantly is temporal consequences of sin; consequences of sin that do not necessarily relate to hell.\u00a0 And just because you\u2019re saved and you sin and\u00a0 you\u2019re not going to hell doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t experience consequences in\u00a0 your life.\u00a0 And among these consequences, I actually have two slides on these there are so many of them, but you\u2019ll never see a warning of hell.\n\nIf you don\u2019t believe me you can take the life of David, for example. Is there any doubt n anybody\u2019s mind that David was a believer?\u00a0 Of course he was a believer.\u00a0 Well, he stepped out of line, as we know, through adultery, murder, deception, and all kinds of sins. \u00a0And David\u2019s life, it probably felt like hell, what he went through, but what does David say in the Psalms?\u00a0 Going back to Psalm 37, \u201cwhen he falls he is not hurled headlong, Because the LORD is the One who holds his hand.\u201d\u00a0 During all of that time of consequences David was still in the hand of God.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying David\u2019s life was easy, and as severe as that sin was it did not forfeit his eternity.\n\nSo we are perpetually warned about these temporal consequences; none of them relate to forfeiting salvation. So let me rehearse these temporal consequences because a lot of people, when you begin to teach the doctrine of eternal security they mishear what we\u2019re saying.\u00a0 What they hear is oh, you guys don\u2019t care about sin, you guys just teach everybody is secure and everybody can go sin all they want and it doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 Let me tell you something; it is serious about sin in the believer\u2019s life.\u00a0 And it is very severe but we don\u2019t dangle hell over people because of these consequences.\n\nSo here\u2019s some things that will happen in your life through unconfessed sin, perpetual unconfessed sin in the life of the believer.\u00a0 One of them is a lack of power, you\u2019ll start to experience a lack of power because the book of Galatians, Galatians 5:16 says that we walk according to the what? the Spirit.\u00a0 [Galatians 5:16, \u201cBut I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.\u201d\u00a0 And 1 Thessalonians 5:19 specifically says don\u2019t to the believer in context, \u201cDo not quench the Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 Don\u2019t put out the Spirit\u2019s fire.\u00a0 So when I sin I don\u2019t lose the Holy Spirit, my body is still the temple of the Holy Spirit but the influence that the Spirit of God has over me starts to shrink.\u00a0 So when I confess my sin and am restored to God in terms of fellowship I don\u2019t get the Holy Spirit again but the Spirit of God gets more of me, if you follow this distinction. So there\u2019s a lot of people in the body of Christ and you always wonder, you know, this person is talented and why aren\u2019t they doing more for God?\u00a0 Why isn\u2019t God accomplishing more through their life?\u00a0 And nine times out of ten it has to do with some sort of unconfessed sin which is not forfeiting their salvation but its inhibiting the power that God wants to demonstrate through them.\n\nAnother consequence of going back into sin as a Christian as I grieve the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 4:30-32 says, \u201cDo not grieve the Holy Spirit\u201d which is a very interesting verse because it shows us that the Holy Spirit is not like the movie Star Wars, we don\u2019t\u2026 you know, there\u2019s the dark side, there\u2019s the light side or The Force, and so people take the movie Star Wars and they get their theology from it.\u00a0 Star Wars is a great movie by the way, I enjoyed it, watched it recently as a matter of fact, but that movie is basically built on Eastern mystical thought.\u00a0 It\u2019s not based on biblical truth.\u00a0 Pantheism and Eastern Mysticism is all over that movie, if you study Eastern thought.\u00a0 [Ephesians 4:30-32, \u201cDo not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.\u00a0 [31] Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.\u00a0 [32] Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.\u201d\n\nSo people look at The Force like the Holy Spirit, like it\u2019s some kind of impersonal source of energy.\u00a0 That\u2019s not the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is the eternally existent Third Member of the Trinity who is actually a personage and a personality.\u00a0 He actually has emotions, the Holy Spirit does.\u00a0 One of the emotions that He can experience is grief, or emotional pain.\u00a0 And so when I go back into sin and unconfessed sin resides in my life I actually, if you think about this it\u2019s very severe, inflict emotional injury on the Holy Spirit that\u2019s inside of me.\n\nWe know from John 14:16 and other places that the Holy Spirit is in us for how long?\u00a0 Forever! [John 14:6, \u201cI will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;\u201d] And that\u2019s Paul\u2019s whole exhortation to the Corinthians as they were sneaking out late at night and wandering off into the temple prostitutes there in Corinth.\u00a0 In the mystery religions of the Greco-Romans world they connected sexuality, unrestrained sexuality with spirituality.\u00a0 So you go to this pagan temple, you have this sexual experience with this prostitute and then you call it being spiritual.\u00a0 And Paul says in 1 Corinthians 16:19 the Corinthian church, people in the Corinthian church were going off and doing this.\u00a0 [Now you go through 1 Corinthians 6, you go through the whole book of 1 Corinthians, Paul never says you know, you all are going to hell for doing that.\u00a0 Or you all were never saved, if you were saved you wouldn\u2019t act that way.\u00a0 This is how we handle issues like that.\n\nPaul says, verse 19 of chapter 6, \u201c1 Corinthians 6:19, \u201cOr do you not know that your body is a temple of the\u201d what\u201d \u201cHoly Spirit\u201d, you\u2019re involving the Holy Spirit in that sin, that\u2019s his whole exhortation to them.\u00a0 So if I am looking at pornography or involved in some kind of sexual sin or any other sin for that matter, I\u2019m actually inflicting injury into the heart of God who is forever connected to me, who I am enjoining in that sinful experience.\u00a0 So that\u2019s a part of it that we really don\u2019t think about when we sin.\u00a0 Sin has always been expensive; it always has been expensive, it always will be expensive and there are lots of consequences associated with it but there\u2019s nothing that removes us from God\u2019s hand.\n\nSomething else you\u2019ll start to experience, take a look at Psalm 51, with unconfessed sin is a loss of joy.\u00a0 Joy is very different than happiness.\u00a0 The word \u201chappiness\u201d comes from the root, hap in English, where you get the word happenstance; happenstance means luck.\u00a0 Luck or happenstance is referring to circumstances.\u00a0 So people are happy if circumstances are good. Right?\u00a0 As long as there\u2019s money in my account and as long as my body is working fine and my relationships are fine, I have this kind of euphoria.\u00a0 The problem is what happens when the money and the bank account dwindles and\u00a0 your body starts to deteriorate and relationships that you once had begin to go south?\u00a0 Then happiness disappears because happiness, by definition, is built on circumstances.\u00a0 So we\u2019re not talking here about happiness.\u00a0 The Bible never promises happiness; what it promises is joy.\u00a0 And joy is not a euphoria where I walk around with this kind of a plastic smile on my face and I ignore reality and I pretend like everything is fine when it\u2019s not.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what joy is.\n\nJoy is a deep-down internal satisfaction and contentment that a person in Christ has the ability to experience, regardless of circumstances.\u00a0 So it is not circumstance based.\u00a0 And one of my favorite stories, probably in the whole Bible, is over in Matthew 14 where a big storm comes up on the Sea of Galilee and the disciples are panicked to the hilt because they\u2019re focused on happiness and our circumstances just got wrecked and we\u2019re going to sink and drown.\u00a0 And Lord, don\u2019t you care that we\u2019re drowning.\u00a0 Do you remember what Jesus was doing in the midst of that?\u00a0 Sound asleep, sawin\u2019 them logs.\n\nAnd let me ask you a question: where does Jesus live right now?\u00a0 Inside of us, doesn\u2019t He?\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t Paul say in Galatians 2:20 \u201cit is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives\u201d where? \u201cin me.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So what I\u2019m trying to say is the same serenity in the midst of a storm that Jesus exemplified, Jesus wants to reproduce in the life of the child of God.\u00a0 And the same Jesus that was asleep in the midst of the storm, He will be a source of serenity, peace, contentment, satisfaction, to you when happiness has all disappeared because circumstances have gone unfavorably.\n\nAnd anybody that\u2019s walked with the Lord for a while and has gone through valleys can testify to this; I can testify to it.\u00a0\u00a0 When things have gone south I just say well Lord, you know\u2026 and I don\u2019t always do this, I typically\u2026 my first instinct is to hit the panic button but then when I finally take inventory and realize that I\u2019m in some kind of problem that I didn\u2019t create and don\u2019t really have a lot of control over, there\u2019s this inner peace that I can tap into at any moment.\u00a0 And if you really want a good book on it I would recommend the book of Philippians.\u00a0 The book of Philippians is all about this.\n\nPaul says, in that book, \u201cI have learned the secret of contentment,\u201d and he didn\u2019t write that from the penthouse suite of the Hilton.\u00a0 The man is in jail when he said that, and he\u2019s chained to a Praetorian guard and in that context he says I\u2019ve learned the secret of contentment.\u00a0 [Philippians 4:11, \u201cNot that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. [12] I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.\u201d]\n\nAnd he says there also in Philippians 4, \u201cBe anxious for nothing,\u201d you mean nothing?\u00a0 I can\u2019t be worried about anything?\u00a0 Not if you want to experience what God has for you.\u00a0 \u201cBe anxious for nothing, but in everything by\u201d what? \u201cprayer and supplication\u201d supplication means supply, you ask God to supply the need, \u201cby prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. [7]\u00a0 And the peace of God, which\u201d what? \u201ctranscends all understanding,\u201d well why does it transcend all understanding?\u00a0 Because the world doesn\u2019t understand it; the world doesn\u2019t understand it because they\u2019re focused on happiness in circumstances.\u00a0 \u201cAnd the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard\u201d that\u2019s a military term, \u201cyour hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus,\u201d because that\u2019s where the battle is fought.\u00a0 It\u2019s mental and emotional.\u00a0 So the Spirit of God will stand, the Lord will stand guard over those things and allow you to experience the inner peace of God in the midst of the trials of life.\u00a0 But let me tell you something about unconfessed sin; if you\u2019ve got unconfessed sin in your life you\u2019re not going to experience it.\n\nPsalm 51:4, now Psalm 51 is one of those psalms where David is reflecting upon the time after he committed all of those sins and was hiding from God.\u00a0 And then towards the end there he confessed his sin, he didn\u2019t get saved or reborn, he got restored to fellowship.\u00a0 And look at what he says there in Psalm 51:4, he says, \u201cAgainst You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.\u201d\u00a0 So now he\u2019s confessed his sin to the Lord (that he committed as a believer) and then if you go down to verse 12 it says, \u201cRestore to me the\u201d what? \u201cjoy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit.\u201d\u00a0 So all of that time where he was in this unconfessed sin the joy was gone.\u00a0 The salvation wasn\u2019t gone; his eternal destiny wasn\u2019t gone but the moment joy that he once had disappeared.\u00a0 He had nothing in his life but inner struggles, tranquility and turmoil.\u00a0 And when he confessed his sin and was restore\u00a0 to fellowship he says Lord, I just need that joy restored.\n\nJoy is one of the aspects of the fruit of the Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit is seeking to replicate in the life of the child of God.\u00a0 Galatians 5:22-23 says, \u201cBut the fruit of the Spirit\u201d see these are things\u00a0 you can\u2019t produce yourself, you have to rely on the Spirit to produce these because the Bible says like produces like.\u00a0 What does Genesis say?\u00a0 Each produced after its own kind.\u00a0 [Genesis 1:11, \u201cThen God said, \u2018Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them\u2019; and it was so.\u201d]\u00a0 Flesh cannot produce these; these things have to be produced by the Holy Spirit or they can\u2019t come into existence.\n\nGalatians 5:22, \u201cBut the fruit of the Spirit is love,\u201d what\u2019s the second one, \u201cjoy,\u201d what\u2019s the third one, \u201cpeace,\u201d what\u2019s the fourth one, \u201cpatience,\u201d are those lacking in your life?\u00a0\u00a0 Boy, those are in short supply today, aren\u2019t they?\u00a0 \u201clove, joy, peace, patience\u201d let\u2019s just forget about all the others, I mean, the Lord wants to reproduce those too but man, wouldn\u2019t Sugar Land Bible Church be a different place, wouldn\u2019t our lives be in a different place if we were all walking in \u201clove, joy, peace, and patience\u201d instead of getting so irritated with each other?\u00a0 And because we have the ability to quench the Spirit those, when we go into sin those things start to disappear from our character.\u00a0 So a loss of joy.\n\nSomething else that happens is a, and I\u2019ll just cover one more here, loss of spiritual sight.\u00a0 Take a look at 2 Peter 1:8-10, a loss of spiritual sight.\u00a0 The things that you used to be able to see you can\u2019t really see anymore because of unconfessed sin.\u00a0 Notice what it says, 2 Peter1:8-10, \u201cFor if these qualities<\/em> are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. [9] For he who lacks these qualities<\/em> is\u201d what? \u201cblind\u201d can\u2019t see, \u201cshort-sighted,\u201d you can\u2019t see things in the distance, you can\u2019t see things immediately in front of you, and then \u201chaving forgotten\u201d I can forget things as a Christian, \u201chaving forgotten his\u201d<\/em> what? \u201chis purification from his former sins.\u201d\n\nNow is Peter writing here to believers or unbelievers?\u00a0 It\u2019s very clear he\u2019s writing to believers because what does he say?\u00a0 You can forget your \u201cpurification from your former sins.\u201d\u00a0 If you\u2019re not a Christian you never had \u201cpurification from your former sins.\u201d\u00a0 He goes on in verse 10 and he says, \u201cTherefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.\u201d\u00a0 But the key verse is verse 19, you can actually, through unconfessed sin, forget your positional reality in God.\u00a0 The things that\u00a0 you receive with so much excitement as a new Christian, you wonder off into sin as a Christian and suddenly those things are not really on the forefront of your mind any more.\u00a0 They\u2019re not on the forefront of your thinking.\u00a0 And what has happened is unconfessed sin has damaged your spiritual sight.\n\nThe quintessential example of it is the prodigal son.\u00a0 Luke 15:18-19, this has to be one the most mistaught passages in the Scripture because everybody teaches the story of the prodigal son as an unbeliever that gets saved.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that how this is normally taught?\u00a0 How could that be when he has two sons, the prodigal son is still a what?\u00a0 A son.\u00a0 So this is not a story about an unbeliever getting saved, this is a story about somebody that has fellowship with his father and that fellowship is broken through unconfessed sin.\n\nSo notice what the prodigal says when he returns to his father in verses 18-19, when he hits rock bottom he starts to get spiritual all of a sudden.\u00a0 \u201cI will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, \u201cFather, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; [19] I am no longer worthy to be called your son;\u201d now that\u2019s spiritual blindness right there, you didn\u2019t become a child of God because of your own worthiness to begin with.\u00a0 So the prodigal had what I would say is lost sight of a key positional reality of grace, the only thing that got him into the door to begin with was the grace of God.\u00a0 \u201cI am no longer worthy to be called your son, make me as one of your hired men.\u201d\u2019\n\nHow can I make you one of my hired men when you\u2019re my son.\u00a0 So what I\u2019m trying to simply demonstrate here is the loss of spiritual sight that happened to this person because of unconfessed sin.\n\nSo all of this to say, as we go through the list, I\u2019m going to stop now because I don\u2019t have time to cover the rest.\u00a0 But I just want you to understand that we\u2019re not here promoting go ahead and sin just because you\u2019re secure, because there are horrific consequences you experience, but when you fall you fall within the hand of God.\n\nSo very quickly, basically what we\u2019ve covered today is three more arguments for eternal security: number 1, you can\u2019t undo birth truths.\u00a0 Number 2, the Bible never specifies which sins remove salvation; and then the last one, believers with unfruitful lives lose a lot but loss of salvation is not one of those things.\n\nAll right, any thoughts, comments, questions, testimonies, altar calls?","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t