{"id":19120,"date":"2016-08-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-29T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/soteriology-029\/"},"modified":"2016-08-29T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-08-29T05:00:00","slug":"soteriology-029","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/soteriology-029\/","title":{"rendered":"Soteriology 029"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[64],"series_event":[459],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19120","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-psalms","series_event-soteriology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Soteriology 029","sermon_date":"20160829","sermon_month":"8","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":3896,"sermon_slides":3902,"sermon_mp3":3904,"sermon_id":"828161022530","series_or_event":459,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":64,"chapter_and_verse":"51:11","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nSoteriology 29, Psalm 51:11\n\nAugust 28, 2016\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 If you could take your Bibles and open them to 1 Samuel 16:14.\u00a0 Those \u00a0of you that have been tracking with us in this study you know that we\u2019ve been working our say this summer through the doctrine of eternal security which basically means once saved always saved.\u00a0 And we spent some time going through about thirteen eternal security arguments which I won\u2019t rename for you all but all that stuff is available online if you want to rehearse that.\n\nAnd really what we start getting into now is response to problem passages.\u00a0 There must be some passages that deny eternal security or at least look that way or else there wouldn\u2019t be anything to argue about; right?\u00a0 And what you discover is that there are many passages that look at first glance like you can lose your salvation.\u00a0 I think I mentioned last time that the gentleman in church history who is most responsible for systematizing the idea that you can have your salvation and lose it is Jacob Arminius, so his followers today go under the name Arminians.\u00a0 And it\u2019s sort of hard to rejoice in your security if you have in your mind this nagging doubt, what about that passage over there.\u00a0 So what I\u2019m trying to do in the second part of our eternal security lessons is go through \u201cthose passages over there\u201d that look differently.\n\nAnd we started out with Old Testament passages last time; we saw that the example of Adam and Eve really doesn\u2019t work as a pretext for losing your salvation because that\u2019s more of an apples and oranges comparison.\u00a0 And then we saw that Nadab and Abihu and Korah\u2019s rebellion really can\u2019t be used to argue you can lose salvation because those passages really don\u2019t comment on salvation or eternity and hell, it\u2019s more talking about the maximum discipline of the Lord, where sometimes He disciplines the believer to the point of death.\n\nThen we saw that really troubling passage in Joshua 24:20 where it talks about God says to the nation of Israel, I will consume you, I will destroy you.\u00a0 [Joshua 24:20, \u201cIf you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you.\u201d]\u00a0 You say wow, that\u2019s got to be talking about loss of salvation.\u00a0 But one of the things we went over last time, if you recall, is that Israel has a special covenant; she has really many covenants but one of the key ones she has is a covenant called the Mosaic Covenant, which has this fancy title of Suzerain Vassal treaty where the Superior, God, enters into an agreement with an inferior, Israel, and He says if you obey the terms of the covenant I\u2019m going to bless you; if you disobey the terms of the covenant I will curse you.\n\nAnd there is, in every Suzerain Vassal treaty, and we call it this because it fits the pattern of everything we know about the Ancient Near East and archeology, there were actually treaties that people entered into that fit this pattern.\u00a0\u00a0 But all Suzerain Vassal treaties had a blessings and curses section.\u00a0 So you\u2019ll notice here at the bottom of the screen, you can\u2019t see it probably, but I\u2019ll read it to you, there\u2019s a little note that wasn\u2019t there last week but it\u2019s here this week.\u00a0 It says: The Suzerainty\u2013Vassal treaty, which Ancient Near Eastern kings made, were only with redeemed or conquered nations and never with individuals. [(2007). Christian Apologetics Journal<\/em>, 6<\/em>.]\u00a0 So when you look at the curses section of the Suzerain Vassal that\u2019s dealing with a country or a nation; it\u2019s not a statement about heaven or hell.\u00a0 The issue of individual heaven or hell is always determined on one basis from Genesis to Revelation, and that\u2019s faith alone in Christ alone.\n\nThose in the Old Testament looked forward to a Messiah that would come by faith, the key verse would be Genesis 15:6, \u201cAbraham believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness.\u201d\u00a0 We, in the New Testament, look backward to a Messiah that already came; we just have the benefit of knowing His name and who He was; those in the Old Testament were looking forward so they didn\u2019t know the name Jesus necessarily.\u00a0 But the plan of individual salvation from age to age is always the same\u2014faith alone in Christ alone!\n\nAnd that\u2019s not to be confused with the Suzerain Vassal treaty which is God\u2019s dealing, not with the issue of salvation, personal salvation, but His dealings with a particular country, in this case Israel.\u00a0 So it\u2019s important to keep these concepts separate in your mind.\u00a0 And what you\u2019ll discover out there is a lot of people don\u2019t separate these concepts, they just kind of merge them all into one and that\u2019s sort of what Arminius, unfortunately, was doing.\n\nNow we come to another Old Testament passage that at first glance looks like you can lose your salvation and that is God\u2019s dealings with Saul.\u00a0 Saul, as you know, was the first King of the United Kingdom, and this is what it says in 1 Samuel 16:14, \u201cNow the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him.\u201d\u00a0 People look at that and say oh, my goodness, the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, obviously the man lost his salvation and went to hell.\n\nThere\u2019s a parallel passage in the book of 1 Chronicles.\u00a0 Remember 1 Chronicles is sort of repeating everything that\u2019s in the two Samuel books but it cuts out a lot of things because it\u2019s a word of encouragement to the returnees from the exile.\u00a0 So it\u2019s highly selective; so it will remove, for example, David\u2019s sin of adultery and things like that.\u00a0 But it restates a lot of the same material found in 2 Samuel.\u00a0 And if you look at 1 Chronicles 10:13-14 there\u2019s another verse that looks like Saul lost his salvation.\u00a0 It says, \u201cSo Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the LORD, because of the word of the LORD which he did not keep; and also because he asked counsel of a medium, making inquiry of it,<\/em> [14] and did not inquire of the LORD. Therefore He\u201d that\u2019s the Lord, \u201ckilled him and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse.\u201d\n\nSo people look at verses like this and then 1 Samuel 28 where Saul really hits the bottom of the barrel and he gets into kind of some Jeanne Dixon stuff, he starts to consult a medium and the guy couldn\u2019t have scraped any lower to the bottom of the barrel in terms of his apostasy and his sin against God.\u00a0 So people sort of string these verses together and say this guy obviously lost his salvation.\u00a0 But I want to try to show you that Saul, I do not think lost his salvation.\u00a0 First of all, did Saul ever have salvation?\u00a0 1 Samuel 11:6 to me makes it fairly clear that at one point at least the man was saved.\u00a0 1 Samuel 11:6 says, this is of Saul, \u201cThen the Spirit of God came upon Saul mightily when he heard these words, and he became very angry.\u201d\u00a0 So the Spirit is using him, he\u2019s being provoked here to righteous anger.\u00a0 If you drop down to verse 13, \u201cBut Saul said, \u2018Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the LORD has accomplished deliverance in Israel.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 So there very early on in his career he\u2019s acknowledging God as the One that gave the victory here that described in this chapter.\n\nSo obviously the guy was saved, he had a relationship with the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 So what in the world happened to this guy?\u00a0 Well, he drifted away from God in his personal walk.\u00a0 If you go over to 1 Samuel 15 and you look at verses 13-14, it starts to describe his downward descent. It says, \u201cSamuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, \u2018Blessed are you of the LORD! I have carried out the command of the LORD. [14]But Samuel said,\u201d that\u2019s the prophet,\u00a0 \u201c\u2018What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?\u201d\n\nSo Saul was specifically told when he fought a particular people group here to go in there and wipe them out completely.\u00a0 And then beyond that I want you to\u2026the animal activists won\u2019t like this very much, kill all the animals.\u00a0 So there\u2019s to be no resemblance of this people.\u00a0 You say well, that\u2019s pretty cruel, why does God do things like that?\u00a0 Well, all you have to do is read the book of Judges to see why God told them to do that, because if the nation didn\u2019t do this, that\u2019s why these Canaanites were a thorn in the side of the nation for 800 years.\u00a0 Had they done exactly what God said 800 years of apostasy, up until the Babylonian Captivity would have never transpired.\n\nSo you see Saul here sort of partially obeying God, kind of like us, right?\u00a0 God says deal with this and we say well\u2026 and we make excuses.\u00a0 And then a decade passes and we see the consequences of our sins and we say wow, I wish I had dealt with the issue right away like God told me to; my life would have been a lot easier.\n\n1 Samuel 15:30 you see Saul\u2019s continual dissent, \u201cThen he said, \u201cI have sinned; but<\/em> please honor me now before the elders,\u201d well why do you deserve honor, Saul, if you\u2019ve sinned.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and go back with me, that I may worship the LORD your God.\u2019 [31] So Samuel went back following Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.\u201d\u00a0 So he wants to worship God but he wants to live in sin; this is sort of the pattern that you see in Saul.\n\nAnd so essentially what happened is God dealt with this man through maximum divine discipline.\u00a0 He never, I don\u2019t think, took away the man\u2019s salvation but He allowed him to experience the consequences of his choices.\u00a0 And in the very next chapter (in the verse we already read), 1 Samuel 16:14, the Spirit of the Lord, which I\u2019ll try to explain in just a little bit, actually departed from Saul.\u00a0 [1 Samuel 16:14, \u201cNow the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him.\u201d]\n\nThe Spirit of the Lord had a different relationship with people in the Old Testament than He does in New Testament times.\u00a0 The presence of the Spirit of the Lord was not necessarily an indicator of personal salvation; it was an indicator of an anointing and empowerment to perform certain tasks.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what was removed from Saul.\u00a0 So Saul is governing the nation of Israel for a period of time without the empowerment of God and without the anointing of God because of personal sin in his life.\n\nAnd it\u2019s interesting that when he consults this witch of Endor, you might remember the story, that Samuel himself pops up in the vision and Samuel makes a statement in 1 Samuel 28:19.\u00a0 It says, \u201cMoreover the LORD will also give over Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines, therefore tomorrow\u201d now Saul committed suicide \u201ctomorrow,\u201d \u201c\u2026therefore tomorrow you and your sons will be\u201d where? \u201cwith me. Indeed the LORD will give over the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines!\u2019\u201d\u00a0 So Saul, it\u2019s not going to end well for you from a human perspective, your wars are going to be lost, you yourself are going to commit suicide, which we know from subsequent chapters.\u00a0 But Samuel is very clear that you, your soul in other words, will be where?\u00a0 \u201cWith me.\u201d\n\nSo therefore we don\u2019t interpret these verses about the Spirit departing from Saul as a loss of salvation.\u00a0 What it\u2019s really talking about is a loss of anointing, a loss of empowerment, and Saul, as a one-time believer had this promise, Psalm 23:6, later written by David, \u201cSurely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me\u201d how long? \u201call the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD\u201d for how long? \u201cforever.\u201d\u00a0 So that is your promise in God if you\u2019re a believer.\u00a0 Your destiny is secure but that doesn\u2019t mean if, like Saul, we drift back into sin that we don\u2019t lose opportunities, we don\u2019t forfeit effectiveness.\u00a0 And Saul, because of the gravity of his sin forfeited all of those things but I don\u2019t think he lost his salvation.\n\nNow what about Solomon, the third king of the United Kingdom.\u00a0 Certainly this guy lost his salvation, right?\u00a0 Take a look at 1 Kings 11:2-6, you know Solomon, like Saul, started really well.\u00a0 Solomon governed\u2026he was the last king of the United Kingdom, he governed the nation of Israel from about 971-931 B.C.\u00a0 It was in Solomon\u2019s time period that the nation of Israel grew to its largest borders it\u2019s ever had, and experienced tremendous prosperity.\u00a0 And actually you remember that Solomon, David couldn\u2019t build the temple because David was a man of war, but the privilege of constructing the temple, the first temple in Judaism, prior to this time the only thing Israel had was a tabernacle, which was like a mobile temple that they moved from place to place.\u00a0 But it was Solomon that was given this privilege of anchoring the official worship center of God in Jerusalem and he\u2019s the one that built that temple.\n\nSo this guy started really well.\u00a0 In fact, you don\u2019t have to turn there but in 1 Kings 3:9-13 God came to Solomon and said ask whatever you want.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you wish God said that to you?\u00a0 I mean, what would you ask for?\u00a0 I\u2019ve got a long \u201cSanta Clause list\u201d that would probably ask for a bunch of things.\u00a0 Remember what Solomon asked for?\u00a0 Wisdom; I mean, all I want is wisdom on how to govern this people and God was so impressed with this prayer request, that he didn\u2019t ask for personal fame or personal wealth, the death of his enemies, that God gave Solomon wisdom in abundance and then gave him a whole bunch of things that he didn\u2019t specifically even ask for.\n\n[1 Kings 3:9-13, \u201cSo give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?\u00a0 [10] It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. [11] God said to him, \u2018Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discern\u00adment to understand justice, [12] behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. [13] I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days.\u201d]\n\nSo Solomon, like Saul, starts off well.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting, all of these kings, the first three kings of the United Kingdom, Saul, David, Solomon, there\u2019s a historical record of how they all started well but didn\u2019t finish well in every case.\u00a0 So what happened to Solomon is he began to get old, not that getting old makes you sinful, necessarily, maybe it makes you grumpy but not necessarily sinful.\u00a0 But he just sort of, towards the end of his life, after all of this success that he had he started to drift away from the Lord.\u00a0 And this is what it says in 1 Kings 11:2-6, it says, \u201cfrom the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, \u2018You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for<\/em> they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.\u2019 \u00a0Solomon held fast to these in love.\u201d\u00a0 So all of these kings, whether it\u2019s David, Saul, Solomon, they have a problem with falling in love with the Canaanites dwelling within the land of Israel that God originally told the Judges generation, the Joshua generation rather, to eradicate.\n\nAnd as you go down to verse 3 it says, \u201cHe\u201d that\u2019s Solomon, \u201chad seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives\u201d plural, a lot of them to choose from I guess, \u201cturned his heart away from the Lord.\u201d\u00a0 And basically that\u2019s an acknowledge that he also did something that he wasn\u2019t supposed to do, he started entering into treaties with these surrounding Canaanite powers.\u00a0 And when you entered into a treaty with the pagan king, the pagan king gave you his princess, or a princess in the kingdom as part of the deal.\u00a0 And so if Solomon had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines think of all the treaties with pagan nations that he had entered into.\u00a0 And if you go back to the book of Deuteronomy what you\u2019ll discover is Israel was specifically told not to enter into all these treaties.\u00a0 So it\u2019s really a sign of his generating apostasy.\n\nAnd as you go down to verse 4 it says, \u201cFor when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.<\/em> [5] For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of [the Ammonites]\u201d and then it mentions all of these names which are difficult to pronounce, the Ammonites and so forth [the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable idol of]\u201d\u00a0 Verse 6, \u201cSolomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow the LORD fully, as David his father had done.<\/em>\u201d\n\nSo it\u2019s almost as if Solomon woke up one day and looked at the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 17, verses 14-17, which had been written about 400, maybe 500 years earlier, it\u2019s almost like he woke up one day, looked at the book of Deuteronomy and said I\u2019m going to do the opposite because there\u2019s very specific provisions in the book of Deuteronomy for kings, what kings are supposed to do.\n\nDeuteronomy 17:14 says, \u201cWhen you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, \u2018I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,\u2019\u00a0 [15] you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over you\u201d so look at his birth certificate very carefully, make sure he wasn\u2019t born in some foreign country, \u201cyou shall surely not put a foreigner over you who is not your countryman.[16] Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, \u2018You shall never again return that way again.\u2019\u00a0 [17] He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.\u201d\n\nYou start entering into these treaties with these other countries and you get their choice princess, well guess what, she\u2019s coming with a bunch of baggage of paganism and she\u2019s going to negatively influence you.\u00a0 And this is the kind of thing that Solomon got wrapped up in at the end of his life and as the Lord warns\u00a0 us, we can get our hearts turned away from God very quickly when we get subjected to all of this paganism.\u00a0 And that\u2019s basically what happened to Solomon.\u00a0 So Solomon, it\u2019s almost like he woke up one day, read Deuteronomy 17:14-17 and then decided to do the opposite.\u00a0 And this is why God was so clear in the Old Testament times that when you get a king in a position of power the first thing you need to do is you need to get the king, and this is very clear as\u00a0 you study it in the Old Testament, he needs to write out the Law by hand.\u00a0 And he has to do it in the presence of not a priest but Levitical priests, plural, to supervise what he\u2019s doing.\n\nAnd there\u2019s a big difference between reading something and writing something. When you\u2019re writing something you\u2019re really forced to reflect upon what it is you\u2019re producing with your hand, so God was very clear that the king was to write out the Law.\u00a0 And this whole legal system that they had is so far advanced; all of the other nations of the earth at that time had what\u2019s called the divine right of kings, where the king was God, but not so the kings of Israel, they were not over the law, they were what? under the Law.\n\nAnd so every king you can trace their downfall because they put themselves over the Law instead of submitting to the Law of God.\u00a0 And that\u2019s in essence what happened to Solomon and so consequently, like Saul, Solomon went into very severe divine discipline because \u201cwhom the Lord loves the Lord\u201d what? \u201cchastens.\u201d\n\nAnd you start to see that divine discipline prophesied in 1 Kings 11:9-14.\u00a0 It says in verse 9, \u201cNow the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, [10] and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the LORD had commanded. [11] So the LORD said to Solomon, \u2018Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant. [12] Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but<\/em> I will tear it out of the hand of your son. [13] However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but<\/em> I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.\u2019\u00a0 [14] Then the LORD raised up an adversary to Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the royal line in Edom.\u201d\n\nAnd then if\u00a0 you don\u2019t mind, drop down to verse 35, 1 Kings 11:35,\u00a0 \u201cbut I\u201d that\u2019s the Lord, \u201cwill take the kingdom from his son\u2019s hand and give it to you, even<\/em> ten tribes.\u201d\u00a0 So Solomon, here\u2019s basically what\u2019s going to happen because you violated Deuteronomy 17:14-17, once you leave the throne the kingdom is going to be divided.\n\n[Deuteronomy 17:14, \u201cWhen you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, \u2018I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me, [15] you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one<\/em> from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. [16] Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, \u2018You shall never again return that way.\u2019 [17] He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.\u201d]\n\nAnd we know that\u2019s exactly what happened; once Solomon leaves the throne the United Kingdom is over and Israel, from that point in time is divided all the way through Old Testament times.\u00a0 You have the ten northern kings, or tribes I should say, headquartered in Samaria and they took on the name Israel.\u00a0 And then you have the two southern tribes who became what\u2019s known as the Southern Kingdom, headquartered in Jerusalem and you have a division starting almost right away once Solomon left the throne.\n\n1 Kings 12-14 describes it, it\u2019s a division between Rehoboam and Jeroboam and Israel moves into what\u2019s called the Divided Kingdom.\u00a0 All of that could have been avoided if Solomon had simply obeyed what God said in Deuteronomy 17:14-17.\n\nSo all the way through the Old Testament, right up to the scattering of the northern kingdom by the Assyrians, and then later the captivity of the southern kingdom by the Babylonians, the kingdom of Israel is divided between these two groups and there\u2019s constant friction, tension, warfare and animosity between those two groups because of what Solomon did.\u00a0 And so Solomon suffered because of his sin and the nation of Israel suffered because of his sin and that\u2019s something important to understand about sin.\u00a0 When we sin it\u2019s not just us that suffers; innocent parties that weren\u2019t even involved in the sin suffered, and Israel is experiencing all of this suffering, all the way through the pages of the Old Testament and that\u2019s what makes the writings of the prophet Ezekiel so wonderful.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have to turn there but particularly in chapter 37 God says those two sticks, north and south, I\u2019m going to, in the Millennial kingdom, bring back together.\u00a0 And in the Millennial kingdom I\u2019m going to reverse everything that Solomon brought in through the consequences of his sin and Israel will never be divided again.\n\nSo that\u2019s sort of the story of Solomon.\u00a0 Now the big question is well, surely the guy lost his salvation and went to\u00a0 hell.\u00a0 Now let me tell you why I don\u2019t think Solomon lost his salvation, because in that pathetic state that he was in, in the final years of his life, he wrote a book of the Bible, did he not?\u00a0 And what book am I referring to?\u00a0 The book of Ecclesiastes.\u00a0 Solomon actually contributes three books to the Old Testament Canon, the book of Proverbs which I think he wrote second, I think he wrote the Song of Solomon first, then later he wrote the book of Proverbs.\u00a0 And then sort of as an older man in this state of sin he kind of reflects upon what life is like when you\u2019re out of fellowship with God; life is meaningless and doesn\u2019t make any sense and that\u2019s why he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes.\n\nSo if you hold to the idea that Solomon lost his salvation then basically what you have is a guy that\u2019s unsaved writing a canonical book, which doesn\u2019t make any sense, does it.\u00a0 I mean, of course Solomon was saved, God wouldn\u2019t have used him to contribute the book of Ecclesiastes to the Old Testament, although just because you\u2019re saved and just because you\u2019re going to heaven doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t experience consequences.\u00a0 So the story of Saul and the story of Solomon I don\u2019t think can be used to deny once saved always saved.\n\nAnother common verse that\u2019s used is David, and take a look at Psalm 51:11, David makes a statement here in one of his psalms that he was writing under the inspiration of God; he makes this incredible statement.\u00a0 He says: \u201cDo not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.\u201d\u00a0 So the Arminian looks at that and says well, David is praying that the Spirit of God would not be withdrawn from him so therefore it must be possible that the Spirit of God can be withdrawn from people.\u00a0 And if the Spirit of God can be withdrawn from people clearly David was opening the door here, or acknowledging the reality that you can lose your salvation.\n\nBut you see, this gets into something I mentioned a little earlier; those in the prior age had a different relationship with the Holy Spirit than we have.\u00a0 In our age if you believe in Jesus Christ you are immediately indwelt by the Spirit, the body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit, and how long is the Spirit in you for?\u00a0 Forever.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we have been sealed by the Spirit, Ephesians 4:30 says \u201cunto the day of redemption.\u00a0 [Ephesians 4:30, \u201cDo not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.\u201d]\n\nJesus hints at this shift that\u2019s coming because He says the Spirit, John 14:16, once the church age starts will be in you forever.\u00a0 [John 14:16, \u201cI will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever.\u201d]\u00a0 So if all that is true then why was the Holy Spirit given to folks in the Old Testament times?\u00a0 In Old Testament times the Spirit of God came upon, not everybody, but it came upon certain people for purposes of empowerment.\u00a0\u00a0 Not salvation, empowerment or an anointing to do specific tasks.\n\nSo, for example, notice the book of Judges for a minute, Judges 14, and notice if you will verse 6, it\u2019s talking about Samson, and it says, \u201cThe Spirit of the LORD came upon him\u201d that was Samson, \u201cmightily, so that he tore him as one tears a young goat though he had nothing in his hand; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.\u201d\u00a0 So there young Samson, the Spirit of God comes upon him selectively and suddenly the guy has power that he didn\u2019t have before.\u00a0 In this case he has super human strength.\n\nNotice Judges 14:19,\u00a0 it says, \u201cThen the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of them and took their spoil and gave the changes of clothes to those who told the riddle. And his anger burned, and he went up to his father's house.\u201d\u00a0 But notice again the Spirit of God comes upon Samson, not for salvation but rather for an anointing for empowerment.\u00a0 And this is very common in Old Testament times.\n\nNow with Samson, look at Judges 16:20, it specifically says that the Spirit left Samson.\u00a0 \u201cShe said, \u2018Samson, the Philistines are upon you!\u2019\u201d \u00a0That\u2019s Delilah speaking, and \u201cHe awoke from his sleep and said \u2018I will go out as before and shake myself free.\u201d Because I\u2019ve got this super human strength that the Spirit of God is upon me.\u00a0 \u201cBut he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.\u201d\u00a0 So the Spirit of the Lord, because of Samson\u2019s sin, departed from Samson.\n\nYou say well then Samson went to hell?\u00a0 Not so because Samson is in the hall of faith, Hebrews 11, which is a record of all saved people who did great exploits for God but everybody in the hall of faith is saved, is in heaven; Samson is in that crowd, is in the group.\u00a0 So the withdrawing of the Spirit in Old Testament times was not, should not be understood as a loss of salvation. Rather, it should be understood as a loss of empowerment, loss of strength, loss of anointing, because the Spirit of God came upon some people in Old Testament times for the express purpose of strengthening them and empowering them.\u00a0 And that\u2019s completely different, as I\u2019ll explain in a minute, than our current relationship to the Holy Spirit today.\n\nNotice, if you will, 1 Samuel 10:10, this is also true with David and Saul, it says: \u201cWhen they came to the hill there, behold, a group of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him mightily, so that he prophesied among them.\u201d\u00a0 So here the Spirit of God comes upon this individual, I believe it\u2019s Saul, and Saul has this power that he didn\u2019t have before, in this case the ability to prophesy.\u00a0 But like Samson, what does it say in 1 Samuel 16:14, this is in relation to Saul, it says, \u201cNow the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him.\u201d\u00a0 So Saul, because of sin, lost the anointing of God.\n\nAs I\u2019ve tried to explain before, when the Spirit leaves\u00a0 Saul it\u2019s not a statement that he went to hell because in the vision that Saul saw of Samuel, Samuel said tomorrow you\u2019re going to be with me.\u00a0 When the Spirit left Samson, it\u2019s not a statement that Samson went to hell because Samson is mentioned in which chapter of the Bible?\u00a0 Hebrews 11, the hall of faith.\u00a0 So the removing of the Spirit in Old Testament should not be interpreted as a loss of salvation; it rather should be interpreted as ineffective ministry, ineffective strength from God but not a loss of salvation.\n\nSo I have this chart here, I don\u2019t know if you can see that, I think you can, it describes what the Spirit of God is doing in the Old Testament, and even in the Gospels, because the real shift in the Spirit\u2019s work doesn\u2019t start until the church age which begins in Acts 2. So you don\u2019t look to the gospels and you don\u2019t look to the Old Testament for what is normative activity of the Spirit today.\u00a0 So in that prior age a lot of people received the Holy Spirit long after they were saved.\u00a0 That was true with the tabernacle workers, who I think were saved; why would they be working on the tabernacle if they weren\u2019t saved.\u00a0 But the Spirit of the Lord came upon those tabernacle workers to help them with their building and their carpentry.\u00a0 That\u2019s how practical the Spirit of God is, he can even help you with basic tasks like carpentry, working with wood, and things like that, in Exodus 31:3.\u00a0 [Eternal security 31:3, \u201cI have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship.]\n\nIs that how it functions today?\u00a0 Do we get saved and then we get the Holy Spirit later?\u00a0 A lot of our charismatic brothers and sisters think that and they call it the doctrine of the second blessing,\u00a0 you got saved, that\u2019s nice but you need to really start crying out to God and you\u2019ll get this additional endowment of the Spirit later; they call that the second blessing.\u00a0 We do not believe that the Scripture teaches the doctrine of the second blessing because Ephesians 1:3, written to us, says we have been blessed, past tense, with how many spiritual blessings?\u00a0 Every spiritual blessing.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see that in Ephesians 1:3.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0[Ephesians 1:3, \u201cBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,\u201d]\n\nSo you don\u2019t have to go and grovel to God and beg Him for some additional blessing; He looks at those prayer requests and I think He starts laughing and says man, if you just read the Scripture you would see I\u2019ve given you everything I\u2019ve got to give, there\u2019s really nothing more I could give.\n\nSo Romans 8:9 says if you do not have the Spirit of Christ you do not belong to Christ.\u00a0 [Romans 8:9, \u201cHowever, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.\u201d]\u00a0 So everybody in our age receives the Holy Spirit at the point of personal faith in Christ.\u00a0 That wasn\u2019t how it was in Old Testament times.\u00a0 The Spirit came upon certain people for anointing.\n\nWell, how long does the indwelling of the Spirit last?\u00a0 In all of these passages we looked at in Old Testament times and even in the Gospels what you\u2019ll see is the Spirit left people. Psalm 51:11, David is acknowledging that.\u00a0 [Psalm 51:11, \u201cDo not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.\u201d]\n\n1 Samuel 16:14, we\u2019ve already talked about that verse, the Spirit departed from Saul.\u00a0 That\u2019s not how it is in our age.\u00a0 Once you have the Spirit the Spirit is with\u00a0 you and in you for how long?\u00a0 Forever!\u00a0 Let\u2019s go to John 14:16, Jesus made this point very clear when he was talking about a shift in the Spirit\u2019s work not many days from now which we understand is the beginning of the church age in Acts 2. Jesus says something totally radical in John 14:16, \u201cI will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper,\u201d or the paraclete, that\u2019s the Holy Spirit, \u201cthat He may be with you\u201d for how long, the very last word in the verse says \u201cforever.\u201d\n\nNow as a New Testament Christian therefore I cannot lose the Holy Spirit, like those in the Old Testament did.\u00a0 What I can do though is grieve the Spirit through sin, quench the Spirit, in other words, I can limit my usability before God through sin but I can never forfeit the Spirit.\u00a0\u00a0 And so when I confess my sin and get restored to proper fellowship to God don\u2019t get the idea that you\u2019re getting more of the Spirit.\u00a0 Rather the Spirit is getting more of you; there\u2019s a big difference there.\u00a0 And so there\u2019s an obvious shift taking place in the Bible.\n\nWho was indwelt?\u00a0 Well, in Old Testament times and the Gospels I don\u2019t think every single believer had the Holy Spirit, or else Joel\u2019s prophecy in Joel 2:28 doesn\u2019t make any sense because Joel predicted this wonderful day when the Spirit would be poured out on all what? \u201call flesh,\u201d talking about a regenerated Israel.\u00a0 [Joel 2:28, \u201cIt will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions.\u201d]\n\nNow why would that prophecy be special if the Spirit had already been poured out on all flesh, Israel?\u00a0 So the fact that Joel is talking about something different that God is going to do in the future, in the Kingdom where every child of God will have the Spirit, obviously that wasn\u2019t happening in Joel\u2019s day or else that prophecy wouldn\u2019t be unique or special.\n\nBut in our day everybody that\u2019s a Christian, everybody that is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ on the authority of the Word of God receives the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Notice 1 Corinthians 12:13, Paul says, \u201cFor by one Spirit we were\u201d what? \u201call baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink\u201d notice he keeps saying \u201call,\u201d \u201cwe were all made to drink of one Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 And he\u2019s making these comments to the Corinthians church which is not exactly a blueprint of spiritual living, these Corinthians.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Ray Stedman called First Corinthians\u00a0 First Californians.\u00a0 And they were basically living in rebellion against God, carnality and Paul never says well, you all lost the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Or you all never had the Holy Spirit, what he says is you\u2019re quenching the Spirit, you\u2019re grieving the Spirit, you\u2019re limiting the influence that the Spirit of God who is already in you wants to have, but you\u2019re not going to lose the Spirit.\n\nIn fact, he tells these people in 1 Corinthians 6:19 that your body is \u201cthe temple of the\u201d what?\u00a0 Spirit, and don\u2019t you know that when you join yourself to a prostitute, which is what some of these folks were doing, you\u2019re taking the Holy Spirit into that sexual sin and you\u2019re grieving the Spirit.\n\nSo this chart, I hope it helps you, it helps me.\u00a0 In the Old Testament people, and in the Gospels, people received the Holy Spirit subsequent to salvation; not true in the church age, we receive the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation.\u00a0 In the Old Testament and in the Gospels the Holy Spirit temporarily indwelt people; not so in the New Testament, we are permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 In the Gospels and in the prior age selectively people were indwelt for certain tasks to give a certain anointing to do something for God, it could be being a king over a nation or it could being a tabernacle builder, whatever the task was.\u00a0 But in our age every child of God is indwelt by the Holy Spirit.\n\nSo we have privileges today with the Holy Spirit that those in the Old Testament age could never even dream of.\u00a0 And this understanding comes from the dreaded \u201cD\u201d word, can I use it?\u00a0 Do you mind?\u00a0 Dispensationalism.\u00a0 What is that?\u00a0 The word \u201cdispensationalism\u201d is just a translation from the word oikonomia<\/em>, which you\u2019ll find in Ephesians 1:10 and Ephesians 3:2, oikonomia<\/em>, which is translated, at least in some Bible versions, as dispensation. \u00a0[Ephesians 1:10, \u201cwith a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.\u201d\u00a0 Ephesians 3:2, \u201cif indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you;\u201d]\n\nNow what is dispensation?\u00a0 Dispensation comes from the Greek word oikonomia<\/em>, which is a compound word meaning two words combined into one; oikos<\/em>, which means house, and nomos<\/em>, which means rules.\u00a0 So a dispensation is a change in house rules.\u00a0\u00a0 What never changes is the plan of salvation; that\u2019s consistent all the way through, people are always saved the same way, by faith alone in Christ alone.\u00a0 You\u2019re either looking forward as an Old Testament saint or you\u2019re looking backward as a church age believer; that never changes, but the outworking of God\u2019s purposes does change because there are shifts in house rules.\n\nNow\u00a0 you see this very fast in the Bible, because you read Genesis 1 and 2, and you get to Genesis 3 things look a little different, don\u2019t they?\u00a0 The fall has happened, pregnancy becomes difficult, now man has to work by the sweat of his brow to survive, death enters the picture.\u00a0 So there\u2019s obviously a change of rules in between Genesis 1 and 2 and Genesis 3.\u00a0 And so a traditional dispensationalist, like myself, would step back and look at the whole Bible.\n\nYou see, dispensationalism is not a theology; it\u2019s an observation from the Bible.\u00a0 The dispensationalist starts with the Bible; we don\u2019t come with a bunch of theology that we dump into the Bible, we say wait a minute, the rules changed between Genesis 1 and 2 and Genesis 3.\u00a0 And we can step back and a traditional dispensationalist like myself would see about seven times where the rules shift from beginning to end.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a change of the plan of salvation, that\u2019s a straw man argument that\u2019s hurled against our camp constantly\u2026 they\u2019re dispensationalists, they\u2019re teaching all these different ways of salvation.\u00a0 They don\u2019t even understand what we\u2019re saying.\n\nOne thing to understand is this: we read them, the opponents, we read what they\u2019re saying.\u00a0 They hardly ever read us because we\u2019re considered so backward fundamentalists we\u2019re looked at like members of the flat earth society.\u00a0 So we understand what they\u2019re saying; they really don\u2019t\u00a0 understand what we\u2019re saying and so they just say things that we really have never articulated or said. We\u2019re not saying there\u2019s a change of salvation from age to age; what we\u2019re saying is there\u2019s a change in the rules of God from age to age and if you can\u2019t embrace that then you don\u2019t have any explanation as to why the Holy Spirit departed from Saul, for example, but does not depart from us.\u00a0 Obviously God changed the rules for our age as compared to prior ages.\n\nSo to make a long story short, back to Psalm 51:11, when David says, \u201cTake not Thy Holy Spirit from me\u201d he is an Old Testament saint functioning in the prior dispensation and what he\u2019s basically saying is don\u2019t take your anointing away from me God, because of my personal sins; let me continue to be empowered by You to be the King of the nation of Israel that You called me to be.\n\nAnd I used to be in a youth group where we used to sing Psalm 51:11, which I won\u2019t sing for you this morning (unless God gives me a special enablement to do that), I know what my gifts are and where they\u2019re not and believe me, singing isn\u2019t one of them.\u00a0 But we would sing this song, we would sing it almost every Sunday, \u201cTake not Thy Holy Spirit from me.\u201d\u00a0 And then I got to thinking, why are we singing that?\u00a0 Do we not have John 14:16 which says that the Spirit of God can never be withdrawn from me.\u00a0 [John 14:16, \u201cI will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;\u201d]\u00a0 So why are we singing this song without educating people what Scroll to top<\/a>the song actually means and the whole subject of dispensationalism.\u00a0 So I was not very popular with my youth pastor, to say the least.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But you see, these are the basic errors you get into if you don\u2019t recognize basic dispensations.\n\nOne more and I\u2019ll close, Ezekiel 18:20, this one also is used as the fact that you can lose your salvation.\u00a0 Notice the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel 18:20, it says this: \u201cThe person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.\u201d\u00a0 So people look at that and say wow, \u201cthe soul that sinneth shall surely die,\u201d clearly this is talking about people who disobey God as a believer, and God took away their salvation and sent them to hell.\u00a0 And that is a, I believe, a very wrong interpretation of Ezekiel 18:20.\n\nWhen Ezekiel 18:20 was written the nation of Israel was functioning under the Mosaic Law and in the Mosaic Law, we don\u2019t have time to look at it but you might want to jot down Deuteronomy 17:6, for example, there were provisions for death when people disobeyed certain parts of the Law.\u00a0 [Deuteronomy 17:6, \u201cOn the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.\u201d]\n\nFor example, if you were involved in homosexuality or bestiality or you were a witch practicing witchcraft then under the auspices of the Mosaic Law you could be stoned to death.\u00a0 And that was common practice in the land of Israel every second the nation of Israel was under the Mosaic Law, for about 1500 years.\u00a0 So when Ezekiel 18:20 says the soul that sinneth shall surely die it\u2019s not making a statement about sinning and going to hell, it\u2019s making a statement about sinning, violating the Mosaic Law, and if it\u2019s a sin of a certain caliber then you could be executed by the nation.\n\nIn fact, if a kid smarted off to his parents and was disrespectful to his parents, you could actually be stoned to death for that.\u00a0 So they didn\u2019t have much of a juvenile delinquency issue back in that time.\u00a0 And if you interpret this as some sort of loss of salvation then you have to conclude that salvation is by works, not by faith, because look at Ezekiel 18:27, it says, \u201cAgain, when a wicked man turns away from his sin which he has committed and practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 So if you obey the Law and don\u2019t violate those parts of it that demand capital punishment your life will be saved.\u00a0 If you disobey the Mosaic Law and you commit a sin of a certain caliber then you can be executed through stoning as ordained in the Mosaic Law.\n\nIn fact, in the book of Numbers, chapter 15, towards the end of the chapter, some folks come to Moses and say hey, we found a guy picking up sticks on the Sabbath, and Moses said okay, grab some rocks and throw rocks at the guy until he\u2019s dead, because that\u2019s what the Mosaic Law called for, because the Mosaic Law demanded that the nation of Israel worship God on the Sabbath and if you were a Sabbath breaker you could actually forfeit your life.\u00a0 That\u2019s what Ezekiel 18:20 is saying; it\u2019s not making a comment about someone\u2019s eternal destiny in hell.\u00a0 And if it is commenting on that then what do you do with this verse, verse 27, which says if you practice righteousness you\u2019ll be saved?\u00a0 So is that salvation by works?\u00a0 I guess so if you won\u2019t interpret this correctly.\n\nSo if you interpret it as a capital punishment verse under the Law then you understand what the verse is saying.\u00a0 If you interpret this as a salvation verse or a loss of salvation\u2026 the only conclusion you can come to is salvation is by works, which is something denied by God from cover to cover.\u00a0 You have to come with sort of this crazy view that if I do good I\u2019m going to heaven; if I don\u2019t do good I\u2019m going to hell.\u00a0 But the fact of the matter is, these verses are not commenting on eternal salvation.\u00a0 They\u2019re commenting on capital punishment under the Law.\n\nSo you can\u2019 use Saul to say we lose salvation, he went into divine discipline, not a loss of salvation.\u00a0 You can\u2019t use Solomon to say we lose salvation, he went into divine discipline, not forfeiting his salvation.\u00a0 Psalm 51:11, you can\u2019t use to say we lose our salvation because that\u2019s talking about the relationship that folks had with the Holy Spirit in the prior dispensation.\u00a0 And you really can\u2019t use Ezekiel 18:20 to deny that we can lose our salvation because that\u2019s talking about capital punishment under the Mosaic Covenant.\n\nNow next week we\u2019re going to get into passages from Matthew including the one that several of you have asked me about, where Jesus says, \u201cWhy do you say to Me Lord, Lord,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cLord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name\u201d and so forth.\u00a0 Did we not work many miracles in Your name, and I will tell them plainly, Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew\u00a0 you, which I believe is the most abused verse in the whole Bible.\u00a0 And I\u2019m going to try to orient us back to context\u00a0 and try to show you what that verse means. It\u2019s like these others, it\u2019s not talking about loss of salvation.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [Matthew 7:23, \u201cAnd then I will declare to them, \u2018I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.\u2019\u201d]\n\nAll right, I\u2019m going to finish talking; any questions, thoughts, comments?","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