{"id":19124,"date":"2016-10-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-02T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/soteriology-033\/"},"modified":"2016-10-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-10-02T05:00:00","slug":"soteriology-033","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/soteriology-033\/","title":{"rendered":"Soteriology 033"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[88],"series_event":[459],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19124","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-john","series_event-soteriology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Soteriology 033","sermon_date":"20161002","sermon_month":"10","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":3968,"sermon_slides":3969,"sermon_mp3":3975,"sermon_id":"10216955555","series_or_event":459,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":88,"chapter_and_verse":"6:66","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nSoteriology 33, John 6:66\n\nOctober 2, 2016\n\nLet\u2019s go ahead and pray.\u00a0 Father, we\u2019re grateful for this morning and grateful for another chance to gather and learn of Your truth, and I pray that You\u2019ll be with us during our Sunday School class today and also during the worship service.\u00a0 And I invite you, Lord, to change us today; change the way we think, change the way we live, change our point of view as we allow our minds to be conformed into the image of Your Son.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name and God\u2019s people said, Amen.\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 If we could take our Bibles and open them to the Gospel of John, let\u2019s not do that, let\u2019s open to Hebrews 11:32.\u00a0\u00a0 I want to welcome you back to our discussion, our teaching through the doctrine of salvation, spending quite a bit of time on eternal security because I know that\u2019s an issue that plagues people; eternal security, of course, being the idea that once saved always saved.\u00a0 \u00a0And I\u2019ve given you, earlier in the series, the major arguments for eternal security and most studies on the issue end there but they never take you to the other side\u2019s arguments.\u00a0 So what I\u2019m trying to do in this second part of the series is respond to the passages that really bother people and seem to deny eternal security.\n\nWe\u2019ve been through a series of Old Testament passages, we finished the passages in Matthew last time, but one of the things we did talk about was the unpardonable sin, and before I leave the unpardonable sin I just want to make a brief statement about suicide because many people, I\u2019m not sure why this is in their minds but they feel that if they commit suicide then they\u2019ve committed the unpardonable sin.\u00a0 In other words, suicide, as tragic as it is, if you\u2019ve ever been around a family that\u2019s gone through someone in their family committed suicide it just leaves this storm of emotional turmoil in the family members and people are always blaming themselves and what could I have done differently and it\u2019s just a horrible, horrible thing.\n\nBut let\u2019s say someone is a believer, born again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and they just become despondent because of life\u2019s circumstances and they take their own life.\u00a0 Is that the unpardonable sin?\u00a0 Does that somehow undo salvation as terrible an event as that is?\u00a0 But what you\u2019ll discover in the Bible is there are seven people that committed suicide.\u00a0 I have the list there on the screen, Abimelech, Samson, Saul\u2019s armor bearer, Saul himself, he fell on his own sword intentionally and committed suicide, Ahithiphel, Zimri, and of course the most famous suicide in the Bible is who? Judas.\u00a0\u00a0 Now three of them we can really drill down and figure out that these are actual believers: Samson we think was a believer; Saul was a believer, and Ahithiphel we think was a believer.\n\nNow there are direct comments given in the Bible concerning Samson and also concerning Saul.\u00a0\u00a0 You know from your Bible, you know from Sunday School that Samson committed suicide, he pulled down, through his superhuman strength that God gave him, he pulled down the pillars of the temple which caused the whole thing to collapse; that\u2019s a suicide.\u00a0 And what you\u2019ll discover is Samson is mentioned in the hall of faith with all the other saved people.\u00a0 So in Hebrews 11:32 it says, \u201cAnd what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, [Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets]\u201d and then you\u2019ll see Samson in there, so the fact that Samson that committed suicide and yet is in the hall of faith with all the other saved people, everybody in the hall of faith is an obvious believer.\u00a0 That in and of itself leads me in the direction that suicide, as terrible as it is, is not the unpardonable sin.\n\nAnd then you take another example, number 4, a guy named Saul.\u00a0 Saul, in 1 Samuel 31:3-6 intentionally fell on his own sword.\u00a0 [1 Samuel 31:3, \u201cThe battle went heavily against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was badly wounded by the archers.\u00a0 [4] Then Saul said to his armor bearer, \u2018Draw your sword and pierce me through with it, otherwise these uncircumcised will come and pierce me through and make sport of me.\u2019 But his armor bearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. So Saul took his sword and fell on it. [5] When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died with him. [6] Thus Saul died with his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men on that day together.\u201d]\n\nBut there\u2019s a very interesting statement that Samuel makes.\u00a0 You remember Saul consulted the witch at Endor; remember that story?\u00a0 And all of a sudden he\u2019s in this vision consulting the witch and who pops up from the dead?\u00a0 Samuel!\u00a0 I think it was actually Samuel, that\u2019s what the text says, not an demon impersonating Samuel.\u00a0 But when you look at 1 Samuel 28:19 Samuel, just prior to Saul\u2019s suicide, which would happen relatively fast after these words were spoken, makes this statement, he says, \u201cMoreover the LORD will\u201d he\u2019s pronouncing curses on Saul because of his disobedience, \u201cMoreover the LORD will also give over Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines, therefore tomorrow you and your sons will be with\u201d who? \u201cbe with me\u201d\u00a0 So that, to me, opens the door that after Saul committed suicide he actually went into the presence of heaven, in the Old Testament sense, where Samuel was.\n\nSo you look at Hebrews 11:32, related to Samson and then 1 Samuel 28:19 related to Saul, and as horrible as the circumstance suicide is I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the unpardonable sin because I have these two verses that give me the statements concerning the afterlife of two suicide victims, one in Hebrews 11, the other in 1 Samuel 28:19. \u00a0[Hebrews 11:32, \u201cAnd what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets,\u201d]\n\nI just wanted to cover that briefly because when you talk about the unpardonable sin people immediately want to know about suicide.\u00a0 The only sin that sends somebody into hell that God won\u2019t forgive is dying having never trusted in Christ.\u00a0 If you want an unpardonable sin that would be it.\u00a0 I was trying to cover that last week but there was so much information I had to kind of bump that to this week.\n\nHave you read Romans 8:38-39 lately, this is an interesting verse.\u00a0 Paul says, \u201cFor I am convinced\u201d and then he starts mentioning all the things that cannot separate us from the love of God, angels, principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, height, depth, nor any other created thing will separate us from the love of God.\u00a0 As you look at the first part there, \u201cFor I am convinced that neither\u201d what, \u201cdeath nor life\u201d can \u201cseparate us from the love of God.\u201d\u00a0 Death, of course, would encompass what?\u00a0 Suicide.\u00a0\u00a0 [Romans 8:38-39. \u201cFor I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.\u201d]\n\nSo of course a suicide is a sinful act, I believe because I don\u2019t think anybody has a right to take a life other than God, and all sin brings forth consequences, but we shouldn\u2019t think that the sin of suicide is something that separates us from the love of God.\n\nAll right, now here\u2019s where we wanted to go today, we\u2019re going to look at, if time permits, three passages from John\u2019s Gospel, having looked at the ones from Matthew\u2019s Gospel, which seem to deny the security of the believer.\u00a0 So let\u2019s go over to John 6:66.\u00a0 Here are the three we\u2019re going to try to look at today; John 6:66, that\u2019s a scary one, there\u2019s three 6\u2019s there aren\u2019t there.\u00a0 And then we\u2019ll look at John 16:6, and then we\u2019ll look at John 20:30-31, that covers all of the ones in John, because people are saying are we ever going to finish this series, I mean, you spent so much time in Matthew.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see that it\u2019ll start moving a lot faster now that we\u2019re out of Matthew and out of the Old Testament.\n\nJohn 6:66 is Jesus\u2019 bread of life discourse, and you\u2019ll notice that in the church growth literature this is never quoted because Jesus shrunk the church here, because today everybody is talking about how to make the church big and Jesus, in John 6, starts giving the hard sayings about discipleship and everybody disappears except the twelve.\u00a0 And in the process it says this in John 6:66, \u201cAs a result of this many of His disciples withdrew<\/u> and were not walking with Him anymore.\u201d\u00a0 So people see the word \u201cdisciples\u201d and they see the word \u201cwithdrew\u201d and they say very clearly there these are people that lost their salvation.\n\nSo let me try to answer that real quickly if I could.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice this word \u201cdisciple.\u201d Meth-ah-tase is I think how you pronounce that in Greek. And the thing to understand about the word \u201cdisciple\u201d is it\u2019s not a technical term.\u00a0 What is a technical term?\u00a0 A technical term is a term that always means the same thing whenever it\u2019s used.\u00a0 So every time in the Bible you see a word it always means the same thing, that would be a technical term.\u00a0\u00a0 But most words, what you\u2019ll discover, are not technical words.\u00a0\u00a0 Words have multiple meanings.\u00a0 Take, for example, the word \u201capple.\u201d\u00a0 Think how many meanings that word has; that could be something that you\u2019re looking at, the apple of one\u2019s eye, referring to the pupil.\u00a0 You could be referring to New\u00a0 York City, \u201cThe Big Apple.\u201d\u00a0 You could be referring to a computer.\u00a0 You could be referring to a piece of fruit.\u00a0 So when you look at the word \u201capple\u201d in a written statement how do you know which meaning to supply?\u00a0 What gives you the answer?\u00a0 Context.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we say the three rules of Bible study are what? Context, context, context!\u00a0 Context defines the meaning of words.\n\nIt\u2019s the same with this word \u201cdisciple.\u201d\u00a0 Disciple can refer to both a saved and an unsaved student of Christ\u2019s teachings.\u00a0 There are people that are students of Christ\u2019s teachings, because they\u2019re saved (I hope everybody in this room is in that category) but there are other people that are students of Christ, for example, they want to study the key philosophers of the day, and they throw Jesus into the mix and so they become a learner, which is really what a disciple is, they become a learner of Christ\u2019s teachings, not because they\u2019ve ever believed in Him for personal salvation but they\u2019re just kind of a disciple of His teaching.\u00a0 What I\u2019m trying to get at is disciple doesn\u2019t always refer to a saved person; it refers to a learner who could be a saved or an unsaved person.\u00a0 Do you follow that?\n\nAnd we have many examples of people in the Scripture that are students or disciples of spiritual things but aren\u2019t saved.\u00a0 The famous passage we went over in this class, Matthew 7:21-23 says, \u201cNot everyone who says to Me, \u2018Lord, Lord,\u2019 will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.\u00a0 [22] Many will say to Me on that day, \u2018Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?\u2019\u00a0 [23] And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.\u2019\u201d\n\nAnd we went through this passage and we said this is not a believer with weak faith, as this verse is often used to describe that; it\u2019s basically talking about people in the end time who are unsaved and they want to get into heaven on the basis of self-righteousness.\u00a0 But even though these people are unregenerate and Jesus says \u201cI never knew you\u201d look how spiritual they are; they\u2019re even calling Jesus Lord.\u00a0 They\u2019re even saying that we prophesied in Your name and we actually did miracles in Your name, and we cast out demons in Your name.\u00a0 So I would say these people here, in the final judgment were disciples of some kind of spiritual truth but they were actually never believers.\u00a0 And I think that\u2019s how the word \u201cdisciple\u201d is being used in John 6:66.\n\nAnd of course, we know that one of the twelve, as a matter of fact, let\u2019s go back to Matthew 10 for a minute, although I\u2019m not going into Matthew I just want to show you an example of someone who clearly was a disciple but was not regenerate (or saved).\u00a0\u00a0 What does Matthew 10:1 say?\u00a0 \u201cJesus summoned His twelve\u201d what? \u201cdisciples\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 And then it mentions them, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[2, \u201cNow the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; [3] Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus].\n\nAnd then you go down to verse 4 and it mentions not just \u201cSimon the Zealot\u201d but who else, \u201cJudas Iscariot\u201d so you\u2019ll notice here that Judas Iscariot is given the designation \u201cdisciple,\u201d the same word, methatase<\/em> there in Matthew 10:4 that\u2019s used in John 6:66.\u00a0 [Matthew 10:4, \u201cSimon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him.\u201d\u00a0 John 6:66, \u201cAs a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.\u201d]\n\nBut quite clearly Judas was never saved.\u00a0 Why would I say that?\u00a0 Let\u2019s go back to John 6 for a minute, and notice verse 64, just a few verse before the verses we were looking at, verse 66; it says, \u201c\u2018But there are some of you who do not believe.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Now if you don\u2019t believe that means you\u2019re not what?\u00a0 Saved.\u00a0 And then it identifies them, \u201cFor Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would\u201d what? \u201cbetray Him.\u201d\u00a0 So the ones that betray Him\u2026 (wouldn\u2019t that include Judas) never what?\u00a0 Believed.\u00a0 And then it\u2019s very clear as you drop down to verse 71, it says, \u201cNow He meant\u201d who?\u00a0 At the very end of the chapter, verse\u00a0 71, \u201cNow He meant\u201d who? \u201cJudas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.\u201d\u00a0 So Jesus clearly identifies Judas here as an unbeliever because He says the one who betrays me is the one who didn\u2019t believe and He mentions Judas by name when you connect verse 64 with verse 71.\n\nSo what I\u2019m trying to get at is Judas is an example of the type of entity or person mentioned in John 6:66.\u00a0 He was what we would call a disciple, he\u2019s called a disciple in the Scripture, but he was an unregenerate, unsaved disciple.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a mistake people make with this passage is they assume that a disciple means a believer.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t hold up, as I\u2019m trying to show you.\n\nIf you want more evidence that Judas was not saved, because I notice as I get on the internet, which is kind of a dangerous thing to do, there\u2019s a lot of people out there arguing that Judas actually was saved and I reject that; I do not think the man was saved because Jesus says of him in Matthew 26:24 \u201cit would be better for him if he had never been\u201d what? \u201cborn.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s a very strange thing to say to a believer, isn\u2019t it, who has the hope of heaven.\u00a0 [Matthew 26:24, \u201cThe Son of Man is to go, just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.\u201d]\n\nAnd Judas is given the designation, John 17:12, the son of perdition, which means the son of destruction.\u00a0 [John 17:12, \u201cWhile I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.\u201d]\u00a0 Now that title, \u201cson of perdition\u201d son of destruction, is only used of one other person in the whole Bible.\u00a0 Anybody know who it is?\u00a0 The antichrist.\u00a0\u00a0 Paul calls the antichrist in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 \u201cthe son of perdition.\u201d\u00a0 So just as the antichrist obviously won\u2019t be saved neither was Judas.\u00a0 [2 Thessalonians 2:3, \u201cLet no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come<\/em>, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;\u201d KJV]\n\nNow when Judas committed suicide, and this is sort of\u2026 people kind of lump this and they think that\u2019s why suicide is the unpardonable sin because Judas committed suicide, he wasn\u2019t saved, and I tried to show you earlier that there are two people in the Bible that did commit suicide that we think were saved, based on the New Testament and Old Testament; that would be Samson and Saul.\u00a0 But it is interesting that when Judas committed suicide it says in Acts 1:25 that he went to his own place.\u00a0 [Acts 1:25, \u201cto occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.\u201d]\u00a0 That\u2019s a very strange way to describe a believer\u2019s death, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Because the Scripture says \u201cto be absent from the body is to be\u201d what? \u201cpresent with the Lord.\u201d\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say that about Judas; it says he went \u201cto his own place.\u201d\n\nSo having said all that who are these people there in John 6:66, which is what we were looking at, \u201cas a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not following Him anymore.\u201d\u00a0 These are examples of what we would call false converts, people who were disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ but had never really exercised personal faith in Him, just like Judas.\u00a0 And it\u2019s interesting that when\u00a0 you study John 6, John, does he ever say all these people that withdrew from Him lost their salvation?\u00a0 It never says that.\u00a0 All these people that withdrew from Him I would argue most of them, perhaps all of them, never were saved to begin with.\u00a0 But John 6:66 becomes a real issue in the whole debate about eternal security because of that word \u201cdisciple,\u201d the disciples \u201cwithdrew\u201d and I\u2019m trying to show you that the term \u201cdisciple\u201d has a much broader meaning than simply a believer.\u00a0 Not every disciple is a believer; that\u2019s the point I\u2019m trying to get at.\u00a0 That\u2019s how to handle John 6:66 I light of eternal security.\n\nAll right\u2026 well, here comes the one that probably has caused more terror in the life of a Christian than maybe any other verse besides the unpardonable sin, and that\u2019s in John 15:6.\u00a0 So let\u2019s look at that one real quick.\u00a0 John 15:6, this is Christ in His Upper Room Discourse, the Upper Room Discourse was given where?\u00a0 In the Upper Room.\u00a0 And just prior to His crucifixion He began to unfold to His handpicked disciples truths of the coming church age, and He does that in John 13-17.\u00a0 And most of our doctrines that we find in the epistles, which govern our lives as church age saints, you\u2019ll find those doctrines in seed form in what\u2019s called the Upper Room Discourse, John 13-17.\n\nAnd in the process Jesus begins to talk about the vine and the branches.\u00a0 And this is what He says in John 15:6, He says, \u201cIf anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the\u201d what? \u201cfire\u201d oh my goodness, \u201cand they are burned.\u201d\u00a0 So you can see how this becomes a key passage for somebody that denies eternal security because it talks about a branch in Christ, clearly a believer, who is dissected from the\u2026 the branch removed from the vine and then that very branch is thrown into a fire and it\u2019s burned.\u00a0 So people say wow, that\u2019s somebody who is a believer in Jesus Christ and then they all of a sudden lost their salvation and went to hell, because people always look at fire and burned and they always interpret that as hell.\u00a0 I think fire and burned typically means hell in the Bible but I\u2019m going to show you in just a second that fire and burned doesn\u2019t always mean hell because fire and burned are not what?\u00a0 Technical terms; they don\u2019t always mean the same thing everywhere they are employed, kind of like the word disciple.\n\nSo let\u2019s see if we can navigate our way through this.\u00a0 First of all, you\u2019ll notice the context, verses 1-8, we don\u2019t have time to read all eight verses but you can go home and read these, they are wonderful verses, and it\u2019s Christ\u2019s branch and vine discourse, where He talks about branches disconnected from Him and branches connected to Him.\u00a0 The branches disconnected from Him do not bear fruit, and in fact are burned, and the branches that are connected to Him do bear fruit.\n\n[John 15:1-8, \u201cI am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. [2] \u201cEvery branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch<\/em> that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. \u00a0[3] You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. [4] \u201cAbide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can<\/em> you unless you abide in Me. [5] I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. [6] If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. [7] If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. [8] My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so<\/em> prove to be My disciples.\u201d]\n\nNow there isn\u2019t any real doubt that this is a saved audience that he\u2019s talking to because a lot of people say well, He\u2019s really addressing here people that really aren\u2019t regenerate.\u00a0 But that can\u2019t be because of the expression \u201cin Me.\u201d\u00a0 Go back to verse 2, you see that little prepositional expression \u201cin Me\u201d \u201cEvery branch in Me that does not bear fruit,\u201d when you track that through John\u2019s Gospel what you\u2019ll discover is that prepositional expression is used to describe Christ\u2019s relationship with the Father.\u00a0 John 14:11 says, \u201cBelieve Me that I am in the Father and the Father is\u201d what? \u201cin Me;\u201d it\u2019s the same prepositional expression.\u00a0 So would you say that the Father and the Son are in a secure relationship?\u00a0 So just as the Father and the Son are in a secure relationship when Jesus talks about branches \u201cin Me\u201d He\u2019s basically saying just as the Father and I are in a secure relationship these branches are in a secure relationship with Me, the vine.\n\nWe also know He\u2019s talking to a saved audience because of verse 3, He says \u201cYou are already\u201d what? \u201cclean because of the word which I have spoken to you.\u201d\u00a0 Now \u201cclean\u201d He\u2019s used earlier in this same discourse because back in John 13:10-11 Jesus says, \u201c\u2026He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; [and you are clean, but not all of you.<\/em>\u201d] \u00a0Now in prior sermons when we were going through John we talked about the difference between being washed and being clean.\u00a0 Being washed is being restored to fellowship; being clean is being regenerate in the first place because of initial faith in Chris, because He goes on and He says, \u201cbut not all of\u00a0 you are clean.\u201d\u00a0 Then verse 11 he says\u2026 this is another verse that proves that Judas couldn\u2019t have been saved, he says in verse 11, \u201cFor He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason\u201d when \u201cHe said, \u2018Not all of you are clean.\u2019\u201d So when He uses this expression \u201cclean\u201d a few chapters later, going back to John 15:3, He\u2019s talking about (very clearly) saved people.\n\nAnd beyond that what you have to understand is when Jesus got to the vine and the branches part of the discourse Judas, the only unbeliever in the group of twelve had left the Upper Room.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find Judas\u2019 exit from the Upper Room in John 13:29-31.\u00a0 [John 13:;29-31, \u201cFor some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, \u2018Buy the things we have need of for the feast\u2019; or else, that he should give something to the poor. [30] So after receiving the morsel he went out immediately; and it was night.\u00a0 [31] Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, \u2018Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him;\u2019\u201d]\n\nSo when Jesus starts to give the branch and the vine discourse, and this is another very important principle of Bible study, you have to identify the audience.\u00a0 Who is the audience that Christ is speaking to?\u00a0 \u00a0So when Jesus gives this branch and vine discourse He\u2019s talking to eleven saved people.\u00a0 That\u2019s the context.\u00a0 So the expression \u201cin Me,\u201d the expression \u201cclean\u201d and the fact that He\u2019s only talking to eleven saved people is very clear proof that He\u2019s only talking about saved individuals here.\n\nNow what is He going to say to saved people?\u00a0 Is He going to tell them how to get saved?\u00a0 No, that would be a bit redundant, wouldn\u2019t it; they already are saved.\u00a0 So what is He getting at here?\u00a0 He\u2019s not talking about salvation initially, He\u2019s talking about \u201cabiding\u201d in Him.\u00a0\u00a0 Saved people abiding in Him.\u00a0 And look at verse 4, \u201cAbide in Me.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 5, \u201cI am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in Me\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Verse\u00a0 7, \u201cIf you abide in Me,\u201d see the context here?\u00a0 What does it mean to abide in Christ?\u00a0 It means not just to believe in Him for initial salvation, it means to walk in moment by moment intimacy with Him.\n\nNow one of the disciples that heard Jesus talking about these branches abiding is a guy named John, who recorded these words.\u00a0 And he\u2019s going to unpack Christ\u2019s teaching on the subject in which book of the Bible?\u00a0 1 John, where he\u2019s going to give an in depth teaching, it goes about five chapters, about the distinction between a believer abiding in Christ and a believer not abiding in Christ.\u00a0 And the reason I\u2019m bringing up this context is people want to drag into this all this teaching about whether people are saved or can lose their salvation and things like that and that\u2019s not what he\u2019s dealing with at all when you actually do an audience analysis.\u00a0 What he is talking about is some saved people continue to abide in Him and bear fruit; other saved people have a tendency to wander out of fellowship with Christ consistently and they don\u2019t bear fruit.\u00a0 That\u2019s what He\u2019s talking about.\n\nThe whole context here is abiding and fruit bearing.\u00a0 If you look at verse 2 he says, [John 15:2] \u201cEvery branch in me that does not bear fruit\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 If you go down to verse 4 He says, \u201cAbide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 5, \u201cI am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit,\u201d see the context here.\u00a0\u00a0 Verse 8, \u201cMy Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so<\/em> prove to be My disciples.\u201d\u00a0 Going down to verse 16, \u201cYou did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear\u201d what? \u201cfruit.\u201d\u00a0 So what He is saying is the disciples, their calling is not to produce fruit, it\u2019s to bear fruit.\u00a0 And that\u2019s such a revolution in how we think because I used to think as a young Christian I needed to get out there and get it done for Jesus (through human power), and there\u2019s not a shred of biblical proof to support that.\u00a0 My calling as a saved person is to walk in fellowship with Him and as the branch stays connected by way of fellowship to the nurturing sap of the vine the fruit comes organically, spontaneously, naturally and it\u2019s fruit that will last.\n\nAnd you say well, I\u2019m a Christian\u2026 you might be saying to yourself well, I\u2019m a Christian how do I know if I\u2019m in fellowship with Him or not in fellowship with Him.\u00a0 And I would recommend a very good book to you for that called what?\u00a0 1 John; 1 John is going to answer that question.\u00a0 John, being there in the Upper Room absorbing these teachings is going to unpack them to a fuller extent a bit later in biblical history.\n\nNow having said that, since we\u2019ve laid the foundation here look at verse 6 again.\u00a0 \u201cIf anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.\u201d\u00a0 Let me tell\u00a0 you what I thought this verse said for years and years and years and years and years, I thought it said this, I thought it said God takes the branches that aren\u2019t bearing fruit and throws them into the fire.\u00a0 I mean, how many people think that\u2019s what the verse says?\u00a0 Nobody; you guys know that lying is a sin, right?\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 I mean, what I thought it said and I\u2019m talking I thought it said this up until maybe a few years ago, that God comes and He takes these branches that don\u2019t bear fruit and He throws them into the fire; isn\u2019t that what that verse says?\u00a0 Who throws them into the fire?\u00a0 Not God but \u201cthey\u201d, other men.\u00a0 Would God ever entrust the task of hurling people into hell to other people?\u00a0 Obviously He wouldn\u2019t; that\u2019s something only God does and in fact that\u2019s something only Christ does because in John 5 Jesus says the Father has entrusted all judgment to who? \u00a0To the Son.\u201d\u00a0 [John 5:23, \u201cFor not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,\u201d]\u00a0 So God here, as you look at this, is not throwing people into the Lake of Fire or into hell, it\u2019s \u201cthey\u201d that would be other men, or other individuals and see, that\u2019s a huge point to make that He is not talking about hell here when He mentions fire.\n\nAnd beyond that, and this is sort of a revolution in how we think, fire in the Bible doesn\u2019t always mean hell; it typically means hell but it doesn\u2019t always mean hell.\u00a0 I can give you three other examples where very clearly fire doesn\u2019t mean hell.\u00a0 One is the rewards being dissolved at the Bema Seat Judgment because Paul unfolds a judgment in the future for the believer, which is us, where we will be evaluated, not in terms of our salvation but rewards that we receive beyond salvation, and it has to do with the investment of our lives.\u00a0 We\u2019re all building on the foundation of Christ but are we building with wood, hay and stubble.\u00a0 What do wood, hay and stubble have in common?\u00a0 They\u2019re combustible.\u00a0 Or are we building with gold, silver and costly stones.\u00a0 What do those have in common?\u00a0 They\u2019re noncombustible; the only thing a fire can do is refine them.\u00a0 So every day of my Christian life I have a choice, I can live in the flesh\u2026 every second I have a choice, I can live in the flesh or live for Christ under His power.\u00a0 And the things that I do that are fleshly are going to dissolve in this fire.\n\nBut when\u00a0 you look at 1 Corinthians 3:15, \u201cIf any man\u2019s work is\u201d what? \u201cburned up,\u201d well, that\u2019s not talking about hell there because it says \u201che will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved yet so as through fire.\u201d \u00a0So there\u2019s an example where fire doesn\u2019t mean hell.\n\nAnother example where fire (I\u2019m convinced) is not talking about hell is over in Hebrews 6; now we\u2019ll be getting to Hebrews at some point in this class, not today but down the road, because there\u2019s some passages in Hebrews that are very troubling related to eternal security.\u00a0 Hebrews 6:8 says, \u201cbut if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.\u201d\u00a0 See the word \u201cburned\u201d there?\u00a0 He\u2019s talking about a field, that\u2019s the analogy that the author of Hebrews is using, He\u2019s talking about a field set on fire.\u00a0 Now you can go back into Greco-Roman historians, like Pliny the elder, and he will tell you that the reason in this day, when Hebrews was written, the reason you set a field on fire was not to destroy the field but it was to do what?\u00a0 To make it more productive.\u00a0 And see, I think that\u2019s the sort of meaning that\u2019s being used here in John 15:6.\u00a0 As we are\u00a0 unfruitful God is going to allow all kinds of problems into our lives; that\u2019s the other men that are described and they are analogized to a fire because what\u2019s God trying to do with these unfruitful branches at the end of the day?\u00a0 He\u2019s trying to make them what?\u00a0 More fruitful.\n\nLet me give you another example of this, where fire doesn\u2019t mean hell.\u00a0 Over in the book of 1 Peter, chapter 1, verses 6-7, see, Peter was there in that Upper Room when Jesus was giving this teaching and I think Peter unpacked some of the meaning of the fire as well in 1 Peter 1:6-7, it says this, \u201cIn this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various\u201d what? \u201ctrials,\u201d anybody in that boat today?\u00a0 Anybody distressed by various trials?\u00a0 Well, that\u2019s actually a good thing because verse 7 says, \u201cso that the proof of your faith, being more precious than\u201d what? \u201cgold which is perishable, even though tested by\u201d what? \u201cfire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.\u201d\n\nSo there fire is not hell, there it\u2019s described as the refining fire which purifies.\u00a0 So when we go through trials it\u2019s analogized to a fire which is not talking about eternal retribution, rather it\u2019s talking about purification of our practical lives that God brings into our lives through human suffering.\u00a0\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it interesting, we have a tendency to draw closer to God during times of suffering, don\u2019t we? \u00a0I mean, when my life is cruising the way I want it to I always say to the Lord I\u2019ve got this one Lord, you know, I don\u2019t really need You today.\u00a0 But a few things go wrong and I\u2019m like Lord, you know, HELP me!\u00a0 And I have a tendency to pray more, I have a tendency to be closer to Him by way of fellowship.\u00a0 So that\u2019s the kind of thing Peter is talking about.\n\nSo going back to John 15 I think that\u2019s the fire, the branches thrown into the fire that are unproductive is not the fires of hell; this has nothing to do with someone who is never saved.\u00a0 The \u201cin Me\u201d construction denies that.\u00a0 The reference to \u201cclean\u201d denies that.\u00a0 And the fact that Judas has left the room and Jesus is only talking to eleven saved people, that denies that as well.\u00a0 So it doesn\u2019t have anything to do with maybe my faith isn\u2019t the right kind of faith so I\u2019m going to be thrown into hell.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what it\u2019s talking about.\u00a0 And I don\u2019t think it\u2019s talking about loss of salvation either because what is the context of John 15?\u00a0 It is abiding and fruit bearing.\u00a0 So what does God do with these branches that aren\u2019t abiding and bearing fruit?\u00a0 He explains it back in verse 2; \u201cEvery branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit He\u201d what? \u201cprunes it so that it\u201d does what?\u00a0 \u201cmay bear more fruit.\u201d\n\nI think what\u2019s being described here is the pruning process and oftentimes what God does through the pruning process is He uses other people; people can be very difficult, amen?\u00a0 You guys agree with that?\u00a0 He uses all kinds of people to come into your life with all kinds of troubles and trials and they cause you a lot of adversity but behind it all God is not throwing the branch into hell, He\u2019s going through the natural burning and pruning process to make it more productive.\n\nSo having said all this I think there\u2019s a lot of proof that this is not talking about losing your salvation and going to hell.\u00a0 The meaning is more related to the pruning or maybe it\u2019s speaking of a loss of rewards at the Bema Seat, something to that extent.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s talking about divine discipline because \u201cwhom the Lord loves the Lord\u201d what? \u201cchastens.\u201d\u00a0 Have you ever been under the disciplinary rod of God?\u00a0 It feels like you\u2019re in hell, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 But it\u2019s not hell.\u00a0 It feels like a fire but it\u2019s not, it\u2019s not hell itself.\u00a0 So that\u2019s my quick take on John 15:6.\n\nLet me give you one more and with this we\u2019ll finish.\u00a0 Notice John 20:30-31, you\u2019re saying oh no, not again, we had this one drilled in our heads for three years, you\u2019re not going back to that are you?\u00a0 And I am just briefly.\u00a0 You guys know this one, it\u2019s the purpose statement of John\u2019s Gospel.\u00a0 \u201cTherefore many other signs Jesus performed in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. [31] But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,\u201d now notice this, \u201cand that by believing you may have life in his name.\u201d\u00a0 And people make a huge deal out of this word \u201cbelieving.\u201d\u00a0 They argue (correctly) that it\u2019s a present participle and so what they say are things like this:\u00a0 this is a quote from Dan Wallace who generally is a very good Greek grammarian, but I think here he let a little of his theology slip into his exegesis.\u00a0 There\u2019s a big difference between theology and exegesis.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019re supposed to get your theology from your exegesis; exegesis is what does the text say.\u00a0 So we come to the text not wanting to defend a theology.\u00a0 And a lot of people do that, they come to the Bible trying to make it fit their system.\u00a0 And we need to be humble because I may not have my system correct, right?\u00a0 So I need to come into the Bible and I need to figure out what it actually says and then let my theology develop naturally from the Bible.\n\nAnd basically Dan Wallace is an advocate of that but here\u2019s a case where I think he let his, what I would call his Calvinistic theology corrupt his exegesis.\u00a0 He talks about continual belief based on the present participle, believing is \u201ca necessary condition of salvation.\u201d\u00a0 And what he\u2019s saying is this:\u00a0 if you believe in Jesus Christ but you have doubts later on, or maybe you go through a phase of your life where you don\u2019t believe, then you never had the right kind of faith because faith, after all, in Calvinism is a gift, which I don\u2019t think the Bible ever teaches faith is a gift; faith is the only thing we can do which is not a work which God will accept.\u00a0 So what Wallace is saying is look, if you have doubts, if you go through phases of your life, valleys where you just quit believing then you\u2019re not saved, because he says, \u201ccontinual belief is a necessary condition of salvation.\u201d\n\nNow it\u2019s not just here in John 20:30-31, you\u2019ll see the present tense \u201cbelieving\u201d and we don\u2019t have time to look at all these but you\u2019ll see it in John 3:18, at least it\u2019s very clear in the Greek, I\u2019m not sure if the English translations pick it up, John 3:18, John 5:24.\u00a0 So what I think is happening here is this is what I would call an abuse of the present tense.\u00a0 The present tense, and this is where they\u2019re getting this argument from, the present tense does not always require continual behavior.\u00a0 Typically the present tense is describing continual behavior but it does not always describe continual behavior.\u00a0 Why would I say that?\n\nLook at Mark 6:14, it\u2019s a description of John the Baptist.\u00a0 Why do we call him \u201cJohn the Baptist?\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s not a trick question; he baptized a lot of folks, Amen. Okay.\u00a0 Now look at what it says in Mark 6:14, \u201cAnd King Herod heard of it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, \u2018John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Now when he says \u201cJohn the Baptist\u201d he\u2019s saying the baptizer, and when he says John the baptizer he is using the verb in participial form for baptize in the present tense.\u00a0 So does the present tense usage there indicate that John just kept on baptizing throughout eternity?\u00a0 It can\u2019t mean that because when these words were spoken where is John the Baptist?\u00a0 He\u2019s in heaven because he\u2019s dead.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to baptize when you\u2019re dead; do you guys agree with that?\u00a0 And yet the present tense participle is used to describe John the Baptist, John the baptizing one.\u00a0 So does the present tense mean continual unbroken action always?\u00a0 It does not mean that because here\u2019s the present tense participle for baptism being used long after John the Baptist had passed from the scene. I mean, it\u2019s hard to keep baptizing people after you\u2019re already dead, and yet the present tense participle is used to describe John there.\n\nSo this is not describing John\u2019s continual baptizing; it\u2019s simply used as a description of John.\u00a0 That\u2019s all it is.\u00a0 So when this expression, \u201cJohn the baptizing one\u201d is used it\u2019s not trying to communicate that John kept right on baptizing up to the time Mark wrote those words or Herod spoke those words; that can\u2019t be the meaning because John is already dead at this time.\u00a0 Rather, the present tense participle is used simply to describe John.\u00a0 So what I\u2019m trying to get at is the present tense does not always require continual action.\u00a0 So when Dan Wallace says \u201ccontinual belief is a necessary condition of salvation\u201d I believe what he is doing here is he\u2019s abusing the present tense.\u00a0 That is not always what the present tense communicates.\u00a0 Dan Wallace, one of the world\u2019s greatest Greek grammarians, you would think would know that and understand that; to me this is sort of a simple idea.\u00a0 Dan Wallace has forgotten more about Greek than I\u2019ll ever know but you have to watch people very carefully because a lot of times they\u2019ll make statements and what happens is their theology slips into the mix.\u00a0 And I think this is a case, and I have a lot of respect for Dan Wallace but it\u2019s a case where his Calvinism, that faith is a gift and therefore must be continual started to control his exegesis.\n\nLet me ask you a question; how many times do you have to murder before you\u2019re called a murderer?\u00a0 I mean, are the people on death row and they say well, I\u2019ve only done it once, is that going to fly in a court of law?\u00a0 No, you are a murderer because you murdered what?\u00a0 One time!\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to keep murdering people to get the designation \u201cmurderer.\u201d\u00a0 And what I\u2019m trying to say is that\u2019s true of a believer.\u00a0 You, as a believer, can exercise initial faith in Christ and you can do that one time and be saved, on the authority of the Word of God.\u00a0 And yet you can go through your life, and go through valleys, you can go through doubts, you can go through times where you\u2019re saying where is God and have I believed the right thing, where you faith can wane and sometimes it might even disappear, and yet you\u2019re still a believer, just like a murderer is still a murderer just because he murdered once.\u00a0\u00a0 Just like John the Baptist is still designated as a baptizer even though his baptizing ministry had ceased after his head got cut off.\n\nNow Bob Wilkin, and I have the link at the bottom of the screen where you can access this article, [Bob Wilkin, \u201cThe One Who Believes: Is Continuous Faith Required to be Born Again?,\u201d online: http:\/\/www.faithalone.org\/magazine\/y2006\/06jf1.html<\/u>, accessed 06 May 2015.] finds all of the places, particularly in John\u2019s Gospel, and you\u2019ll notice he mentions Mark 6:14, where the present tense participle does not always mean forever and so you can look those up on your own and you\u2019ll start to see what I\u2019m talking about.\u00a0 [Mark 6:14, \u201cAnd King Herod heard of it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, \u2018John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.\u2019\u201d]\n\nSo what am I trying to get at?\u00a0 Faith does not\u2026 saving faith, we can use that expression, does not preclude ongoing faith but it does not require it.\u00a0 Now what I\u2019m trying to get at there and I didn\u2019t word that the best way, what\u2019s important is has there ever been a point in your life where you\u2019ve exercised faith in Jesus Christ?\u00a0 That\u2019s the initial issue; that determines heaven or hell.\u00a0 Now generally speaking those who have exhibited initial faith in Jesus Christ will continue to believe in Him.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not a requirement; there can be room for valleys, there can be room for doubts.\n\nAnd by the way, if the present tense was such a big deal in communicating what saving faith is why are other verb forms used to describe belief?\u00a0 For example, in John 8:30-31, describing saving faith it says this: \u201cAs He spoke these things, many came to\u201d what? \u201c believe in Him. [31] So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, \u2018If you continue in My word, then<\/em> you are truly\u2019\u201d what? \u2018\u201c disciples of Mine;\u201d so there you see the word \u201cbelieve\u201d twice.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice that believe, the first time it\u2019s used is not a present tense participle; it\u2019s an aorist active indicative.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice the second time the word \u201cbelieve\u201d is used it\u2019s a perfect active participle.\u00a0 Those are different than the present tense.\n\nSo if perpetual faith is what is required why does he use different verb forms?\u00a0 If perpetual continuous faith is what God demands then the same present tense participle would be\u00a0 used all the way through the whole Bible to depict what saving faith actually is.\u00a0 Is it possible for a Christian to struggle with faith?\u00a0 My answer is yes, and you can still be a Christian.\u00a0 How do I know that?\u00a0 I know that from 2 Timothy 2:13.\u00a0 Who\u2019s the book of Timothy written to?\u00a0 Timothy!\u00a0 Written by Paul.\u00a0 Who is Timothy?\u00a0 He\u2019s a pastor.\u00a0 Obviously Timothy is in faith or is a believer because he is called Paul\u2019s son in the faith.\u00a0 And what does Paul say to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:13?\u00a0 \u201cIf we are faithless, He remains\u201d what? \u201cfaithful, for He cannot deny Himself.\u201d\u00a0 And people look at that and they say well, really what that means is there could be times in your life where you\u2019re not faithful to the Lord.\u00a0 That is not what that\u2019s talking about there.\n\n\u201cFaithless\u201d is what we call in the Greek an alpha privitive and you know what those mean because it\u2019s an \u201ca\u201d in front of a word that negates the word, so if say \u201catheist\u201d the \u201ca\u201d in front of \u201ctheist\u201d is someone who\u2019s denying God.\u00a0 That\u2019s an alpha privitive.\u00a0 It\u2019s the alpha (which we would understand as \u201ca\u201d in our English language) in front of the verb faith, and what it\u2019s saying there is without faith.\u00a0 So what he\u2019s saying to Timothy is look Timothy, you\u2019re obviously a believer, I put you in charge at Ephesus as a pastor.\u00a0 But you know,\u00a0 you may go through your life and you may be saying where is God and you might have all kinds of doubts and your faith itself might waver.\u00a0 In fact, it might even disappear.\u00a0 And even if that happens you\u2019re going to lose a reward in heaven but you\u2019re not going to go to hell because \u201cHe remains\u201d what? \u201cfaithful.\u201d\n\nSee, my salvation is not based on\u2026 this is the key thing to understand; my salvation is not based on what I do and my mental state and emotional state from day to day.\u00a0 There are times when I feel great and there are times where I feel terrible about spiritual things, I\u2019m wondering God, have\u00a0 you got the right guy.\u00a0 Ever felt that way?\u00a0 But even when\u00a0 you go through these valleys where faith deteriorates it\u2019s not based on what you\u2019ve done anyway, it\u2019s based on His promises and the fact that you\u2019ve exercised initial faith in Him and He\u2019s going to keep His end of the bargain.\u00a0 It\u2019s not about me keeping my end of the bargain to get into heaven; it\u2019s about Him keeping His end of the bargain.\n\nSo what is a lack of faith?\u00a0 A lack of faith is doubt.\u00a0 Can a Christian have doubts and still be a Christian?\u00a0 Clearly because notice, and this will be the last verse we will look at, James 1:5-8, James, of course, being the half-brother of Christ.\u00a0 James 1:5-8, now you know he\u2019s talking to believers here because he keeps saying \u201cmy brethren\u201d and he talks about how the faith that\u2019s in them is being tested, that\u2019s in verses 2-4.\n\nLook at what he says as he\u2019s speaking to believers.\u00a0 [James 1:5] \u201cBut if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.\u00a0 [6] But he must ask in faith without any doubting,\u201d oh my gosh, so a believer can have doubts and still be a believer?\u00a0 \u201cfor the one who\u201d what? \u201cdoubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.\u201d\u00a0 Have you ever felt that way?\u00a0 That can be our condition as Christians when we step out of fellowship with God and we stop trusting Him for certain things.\u00a0 And then he goes on in verse 7 and he says, \u201cFor that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,\u201d so you can get to a point in your Christian life where you have such little faith in God you\u2019re not expecting him to do anything.\u00a0 And then you become \u201cdouble-minded\u00a0 and unstable in all his ways.\u201d\n\nAgain original audience, this is written to believers, so a believer can find themselves in this position.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s a good place to be, by the way.\u00a0 I\u2019m saying it\u2019s a possibility that we\u2019re warned against.\u00a0 And if you doubt this all you have to do is watch the Apostle Peter; did Peter go through times of doubt and a lack of faith?\u00a0 Is this not the fellow that denied the Lord three times?\u00a0 Is this not the fellow who Jesus says come out here on the Sea of Galilee and walk out to Me on the water?\u00a0 And as long as his eyes were on Christ everything was great, and then he looked at the wind and the waves and he started to sink like a rock.\u00a0 There\u2019s a guy who\u2019s struggling with a lack of faith or doubts. \u00a0\u00a0So all of that to say I don\u2019t think John 20:30-31 with a present tense participle is communicating a loss of salvation.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve given you my take on John 15:6 and John 6:66.\u00a0 I\u2019m finished talking.\u00a0 We\u2019ll look at Acts next week, including Simon, the sorcerer.\u00a0 Ooooh man, we\u2019re really just bringing out full ammunition here.\u00a0 Any thoughts or questions.","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