{"id":19129,"date":"2016-11-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-13T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/soteriology-038\/"},"modified":"2016-11-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-11-13T06:00:00","slug":"soteriology-038","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/soteriology-038\/","title":{"rendered":"Soteriology 038"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[95],"series_event":[459],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19129","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-philippians","series_event-soteriology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Soteriology 038","sermon_date":"20161113","sermon_month":"11","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":4253,"sermon_slides":4051,"sermon_mp3":4059,"sermon_id":"111316109523","series_or_event":459,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":95,"chapter_and_verse":"2:12","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nSoteriology 38, Philippians 2:12\n\nNovember 13, 2016\n\nFather, we\u2019re thankful for today, we\u2019re thankful for what I would call Your hand of grace on our country and You treat us beyond what we deserve and so we are grateful for that, we\u2019re grateful that we begin with You by grace and we stand by grace and we\u2019re kept by grace.\u00a0 Help us to understand this doctrine of grace as we go through it this morning in Sunday School, particularly as we try to understand grace in light of the issue that many people think you can lose your salvation and so we recognize that a lot of verses have been misapplied\u00a0 And so we pray that You will be with us today and help us to come to a right understanding of these verses.\u00a0 We lift these things up in Jesus\u2019 name, Amen.\n\nI think we have some handouts back there; does anybody need a handout.\u00a0 Maurice has got it, the guy that\u2019s injured is walking around giving people handouts.\u00a0 The guy just out of surgery is hobbling around there.\n\nAnd you can take your Bibles and turn to the book of Philippians if you don\u2019t mind; Philippians 2:12.\u00a0 The big picture, as we have been doing a study on soteriology, the doctrine of salvation, and we\u2019re at Roman numeral VII where we\u2019re learning a lot about eternal security.\u00a0 And we\u2019re spending a lot of time on that one because that\u2019s a big issue; it\u2019s a big issue in terms of\u00a0 your walk with God, coming down on where you settle on the issue of eternal security.\n\nEternal security is the idea that the grace of God that saved\u00a0 you is the grace of God that keeps you.\u00a0 So just like we\u2019re not saved on the basis of our works we\u2019re not kept on the basis of our works either.\u00a0 And so if you believe that your salvation is a grace operation from beginning to end it leads to the conclusion that you really can\u2019t lose your salvation because your salvation doesn\u2019t depend on you to begin with.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 Does it make anybody want to rejoice?\u00a0 That makes me very happy to see that in the Bible.\n\nSo we\u2019ve gone through eternal security arguments and most of your studies that you get today in the modern church on eternal security will just sort of give you their favorite passages, which we\u2019ve done but the reason people are confused about this is nobody stands up and explains the other side and the passages they use and how their use of passages can be explained.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why this study is taking a little longer than your typical eternal security in eight weeks.\u00a0 We\u2019re actually trying to interact with the other side of the argument.\n\nSo there are many, many passages that at first glance make it look like you can lose your salvation. There\u2019s a bunch of them in the Old Testament, a bunch of them in Matthew, including the unpardon\u00adable sin, a bunch of them in John, many passages people use to deny eternal security in the book of Acts, and currently we\u2019re going through passages that Paul brings up.\n\nHere are the ones we\u2019ve looked at: Galatians 5:4; Galatians 5:19-21, Romans 8:13, isn\u2019t it great, we\u2019ve covered all this ground.\u00a0 1 Corinthians 8:11, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, I Corinthians 11:28-32, \u00a01 Corinthians 15:2.\u00a0 Now last time we were together, and I thank Jim McGowan for teaching last week, I trust you enjoyed his ministry to you, but the prior Sunday we spent the whole time on \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02 Corinthians 13:5, which says examine yourself to see if\u00a0 you\u2019re in the faith.\u00a0 And I tried to show you that that verse is not opening the door to a denial of eternal security; it\u2019s a test to determine your growth in Christ, not whether you\u2019re \u201cin Christ\u201d to begin with.\n\nSo we\u2019ve got about five more passages to look at and then we finish Paul and what he allegedly says that denies security, which he doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how far we\u2019re going to get today, I\u2019d like to finish these today, I kind of doubt we will but we\u2019ll give it a good shot and what we don\u2019t finish today we\u2019ll finish next week.\n\nBut notice Philippians 2:12, this is one of those verses that\u2019s constantly used by people who deny eternal security.\u00a0 Paul writes, \u201cSo then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;\u201d so people look at that expression \u201cwork out your salvation\u201d that must mean I have to do something to keep myself in God\u2019s power and if I\u2019m not doing something to keep myself in God\u2019s power then I need to be experiencing \u201cfear and trembling\u201d because maybe I could go to hell; maybe I could be saved, commit some kind of sin and lose my salvation.\n\nSo with most of these verses it\u2019s just a matter of putting them back in the context.\u00a0 If you cherry pick one verse you can make it sound any way you want it to sound.\u00a0 But verses and words have meanings based on the context that they\u2019re found in.\u00a0 So what is the context of Philippians 2:12?\u00a0 You might remember the three tenses of salvation, have we gone through that enough, do I need to go through that again?\u00a0 I have been saved, justification; I am being saved, sanctification, that\u2019s my growth in Christ; and I will be saved, glorification.\u00a0 So justification, I\u2019m saved from sin\u2019s penalty at the point of faith in Christ; now God loves me as I am but He loves me too much to leave me as I am.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 So now He ushers me into phase two of my salvation which is my growth, where here I am hopefully not sinless but I\u2019m sinning less as I grow in the knowledge of my resources in Christ and appropriate those by faith and obedience moment by moment.\u00a0 That\u2019s the middle tense of salvation that we are all in today. \u00a0And then of course the day will come where I\u2019ll either die or be raptured, one of the two, and I\u2019ll be out of this body and I\u2019ll be saved from sin\u2019s very presence.\n\nSo people, when they apply Philippians 2:12 to the eternal security debate and it says \u201cwork out your salvation by fear and trembling\u201d they think that is speaking of phase one of salvation and that\u2019s the confusion.\u00a0 But Philippians 2:12 is not speaking of phase one of salvation, I believe it\u2019s speaking of the middle tense of salvation and I know that based on what? Context, because when you just stop looking at verse 12 and then you look at verse 14-16 which comes right afterwards, what does it say?\u00a0 [14] \u201cDo all things without\u201d what? \u201cgrumbling or disputing;\u201d now is that phase one of salvation or phase two?\u00a0 It\u2019s phase two.\u00a0 He goes on and he says there in verse 15, \u201cso that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.\u201d\u00a0 Is that talking about the believer\u2019s initial salvation or is it talking about his or her experience?\u00a0 It\u2019s talking about his experience or her experience as they walk with God.\n\nHe goes on in verse 16 and he says, \u201cholding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.\u201d\u00a0 Here he\u2019s not talking about initial salvation, he\u2019s talking about his experience with Christ as a result of being a Christian.\n\nSo that is the context of \u201cwork out your salvation with fear and trembling,\u201d\u00a0 it\u2019s not a statement about how to get saved or how to stay saved, it\u2019s really a statement about how to grow.\u00a0 And we should do it with \u201cfear and trembling\u201d because God, although He\u2019s not going to rip the carpet out from under you should you fail, and we fail often, He is very concerned about our development in Christ.\u00a0 He\u2019s like a parent, I look at the amount of work that my wife puts in homeschooling our daughter because she\u2019s not just worried about the initial birth of our daughter, she\u2019s worried about her intellectual and moral development.\u00a0 And that\u2019s how Paul is treating these Philippians here.\n\nThe whole book of Philippians is really not a book about how to get saved, it\u2019s how to stay saved; that\u2019s a misreading of the book.\u00a0 If you go to Philippians 4:2-3 you see the middle tense salvation emphasis on this where it says, \u201cI urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord.\u00a0 [3] Indeed, true companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.\u201d\u00a0 Now is there any doubt that these two women had experienced salvation?\u00a0 I mean it\u2019s obvious that they are saved because it says there at the end of verse 3 that their \u201cnames are in the book of life.\u201d\u00a0 The only way you get your name in the book of life is if you exercise initial faith in Christ.\u00a0 And Paul thought they were saved because he had recruited them into his ministry, because he says there they have struggled with me in the cause of the gospel.\n\nBut you see, they were failing, not in the first tense of their salvation, they were failing in the middle tense of their salvation because they were fighting like cats and dogs; we\u2019re not really told what issue it was but what can happen to us as Christians is we can go back into the sin nature and get very self-centered.\u00a0 And we get offended at the slightest thing that happens and so we revert back to our old sinful ways which is very easy to do.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I call these women instead of Euodia and Syntyche, I call them Odius and Sin touch\u00e9.\n\nSo you\u2019ve got a couple of women\u2026 it\u2019s not just women that are like this we\u2019re all like this, but in this case he\u2019s dealing with two women.\u00a0 These are women that are saved, they once stood with him in the cause of the gospel and now they\u2019ve reverted back into the sin nature\u00a0 and they were arguing about something.\u00a0 It must not have been that important what they were arguing about because Paul never tells us what the issue was.\u00a0 I have a tendency to believe it was someone\u2019s turf was interfered with.\u00a0 You know, you got more time on the piano than I got (I don\u2019t know if they had a piano back then but...), you got more time giving announcements than I got, or something like that, some really important issue\u2026.\n\nAnd they were going back into the sin nature and they were fighting with each other and they were dividing the body of Christ.\u00a0 Paul never questions their salvation; he never says you all aren\u2019t saved or you wouldn\u2019t be acting that way because the Christian very much has an ability (sadly) to revert back into the sin nature, away from divine resources and become like this very quickly.\u00a0 So Paul is calling them on the carpet here, not for the first tense of their salvation but they\u2019re failing in the middle tense of their salvation.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the whole context of \u201cwork out your salvation with fear and trembling.\u201d\u00a0 So therefore Philippians 2:12 really has zero to do with loss of salvation.\n\nContinuing on with the prison letters, why do we call these the prison letters?\u00a0 Because Paul wrote them in prison.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go one book to the right to Colossians 1:23, here\u2019s another verse that\u2019s commonly used to deny eternal security.\u00a0 By the way, an easy way to remember these Bible books is G<\/u>od\u2019s E<\/u>lectric P<\/u>ower C<\/u>ompany\u2014G<\/u>alatians, E<\/u>phesians, P<\/u>hilippians, C<\/u>olossians. Or if you don\u2019t like that one G<\/u>o E<\/u>at P<\/u>op C<\/u>orn, G<\/u>alatians, E<\/u>phesians, P<\/u>hilippians, C<\/u>olossians.\u00a0 Sometimes when you\u2019re in a Bible study and somebody says turn here or turn there it\u2019s kind of hard to remember where all the books are but if you just remember that anacronym you won\u2019t get lost too bad I don\u2019t think.\n\nSo we go to Colossians 1:23 and here\u2019s another one that is used by folks that deny security.\u00a0 Paul says in Colossians 1:23, \u201cif indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.\u201d\u00a0 Now you notice this expression, \u201cif indeed you continue in the firmly in the faith firmly established and steadfast\u201d so the person that denies once saved always saved looks at that and says well, \u201cif\u201d is the door being opened to the possibility that maybe these people will not continue in the faith.\u00a0 And if they don\u2019t continue in the faith they will not continue to be \u201cfirmly established,\u201d they will not continue to be \u201csteadfast.\u201d\u00a0 So the if clause\u00a0 (in the minds of a lot of people) opens the door to the possibility of loss of salvation; maybe they won\u2019t continue in the faith and if they don\u2019t continue in the faith maybe they will not be secure, \u201cestablished and steadfast.\u201d\n\nSo you can see at first glance how a verse like that looks like you can lose your salvation.\u00a0 But once again the context is the key.\u00a0 So what is the context of the book of Colossians?\u00a0 The context is he\u2019s again addressing believers so he\u2019s not talking to people that maybe they\u2019re saved, maybe they\u2019re not.\u00a0 Colossians 1:2 he says, \u201cTo the\u201d what? \u201csaints and faithful\u201d what? \u201cbrethren in\u201d who? \u201cChrist\u201d sounds like they\u2019re saved people to me, then it says, \u201cGrace to you and peace\u201d these are things that they\u2019ve already experienced from who? \u201cfrom God our Father.\u201d\n\nAnd I won\u2019t go through every verse but when you just look at verse 4 of chapter 1, verse 5 of chapter 1, verse 6 of chapter 1, verse 14 of chapter 1, verse 15 of chapter 1, it\u2019s almost impossible to argue that these people were unregenerate or maybe their salvation is in doubt.\u00a0 That\u2019s just outside of the context to argue that.\n\n[Colossians 1:4, \u201csince we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; [5] because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel [6] which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing<\/em> in you also since the day you heard of it<\/em> and understood the grace of God in truth;\u201d\u00a0 [13-14] \u201cFor He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, [15] in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.\u201d]\n\nHaving said all that then if they\u2019re already saved then what is Paul worried about?\u00a0 I mean, they\u2019re going to heaven, what is Paul concerned about?\u00a0 Paul\u2019s concern is their continued maturity.\u00a0 Paul is not just an obstetrician, that helps with the birthing process, he\u2019s also a what? Pediatrician that helps the child grow.\u00a0 Paul desires their continued maturity.\u00a0 Now why would he care about that?\u00a0 So they can have a favorable ruling at the future judgment seat of rewards.\n\nNow when I was in Albuquerque last weekend speaking at a prophecy conference and they let me into the pulpit on Sunday morning, that\u2019s dangerous sometimes for a pastor to let some other pastor he doesn\u2019t even know into the pulpit, I taught on the judgment seat of rewards, it\u2019s a prophecy conference, the judgment seat of rewards is a prophetic issue, and as you study the judgment seat of rewards you see that this is something that Paul is really concerned about.\u00a0\u00a0 And I think Paul thinks differently than we think in modern evangelicalism; our whole focus is to get people saved, get them to believe in Jesus so they won\u2019t go to hell, which obviously is a big deal.\u00a0 But what you discover with Paul, and we think once they\u2019re saved, okay, we\u2019ve got them checked off our list, let\u2019s go get other people saved.\u00a0 But you see with Paul he is concerned about getting people saved but he\u2019s also concerned about the fact that they are going to stand before the Lord as a Christian at the future judgment seat of rewards and they\u2019re either going to be given rewards or not given rewards based on how they allowed the Lord to express Himself through them during their Christian life.\n\nAnd what you discover when you read Paul is this like an overarching concern and he\u2019s very concerned about the Corinthians on this issue and when you study the book of Corinthians you can see why he\u2019s concerned.\u00a0 They are about as saved as you can get but about as carnal as you can get and that\u2019s why to the Corinthian church in chapter 3 he unfolds the future Judgment Seat of Rewards.\u00a0\u00a0 And what you discover is Paul is concerned with the Colossians on this because take a look at Colossians 1:22, he says, \u201cyet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death,\u201d in other words these are people that have already experienced reconciliation with God, they\u2019re no longer enemies of God, they have a right standing with God because of justification, personal faith in Christ.\u00a0 So Paul is acknowledging that they\u2019re already saved.\u00a0 Yet the concern of Paul continues, verse 22, \u201cyet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to\u201d what? \u201cto present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach\u2014\u201d So Paul is concerned about not just their justification, he\u2019s concerned about the fact that they are going to be presented before Jesus Christ at this future judgment seat of rewards.\n\nIf you go down to verse 28 he says, \u201cWe proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.\u201d\u00a0 So my goal is not just to evangelize you and get you saved, I want to complete you in Christ, I want to give you the full realm of doctrine that I as an apostle have been given by God because I want you to be \u201ccomplete,\u201d complete in the sense that I want you to be ready for this future judgment seat of rewards that\u2019s coming.\u00a0 Now for this to happen they, the Colossians, must continue on in the faith despite the inroads of false doctrine because what was happening in Colossae is false doctrine was coming into the congregation.\u00a0 False doctrine cannot deactivate your initial salvation, that\u2019s eternally secure; what it can do is it can stagnate, it can thwart, it can hinder, it can retard if I can use that expression, or slow down your development.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why Paul is so concerned about false doctrine.\u00a0 He\u2019s not worried about it because somehow the Colossian\u2019s salvation is going to be undone, what he\u2019s worried about as a pediatrician their maturity and their growth.\n\nAnd notice what Paul is worried about; go to Colossians 2:8, he\u2019s writing here to saved people, \u201cSee to it that no one takes you\u201d what? \u201ccaptive\u201d isn\u2019t that interesting, that a Christian can go into captivity theologically, \u201cSee to it that no one takes you captive through\u201d what? \u201cphilosophy\u201d in other words the ideas of man that aren\u2019t anchored in the Scripture, that\u2019s philosophy.\u00a0 \u201cSee to it that no one takes\u00a0 you captive through philosophy and empty deception,\u201d notice a Christian can go into deception, \u201cempty deception according to\u201d what \u201cthe traditions of\u201d who? \u201cmen,\u201d you buy into the ideas as a Christian that aren\u2019t found in the Bible,\u00a0 you just hear someone say it and if someone says it it must be true, I mean, I read it on the internet after all, it\u2019s got to be true, and\u00a0 you don\u2019t really look at the actual biblical content of what is being taught, you just buy into an idea.\u00a0 And as that happens you move into captivity, philosophy, empty deception, according to the traditions of men, \u201caccording to the elementary principles of the world,\u201d elementary meaning if you buy into the teachings of man instead of God you go back to your ABC\u2019s, you go back to really simplistic stuff although it comes across as real sophisticated.\u00a0 So the teachings of Christ are so high and so grandiose that when you leave that and buy into the traditions of men it\u2019s almost like returning to kindergarten, that\u2019s what he\u2019s worried about.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.\u201d\n\nWe won\u2019t look at the whole thing but if you want to know what they were on the precipice of buying into it\u2019s expressed in verses 16-23; it\u2019s what\u2019s called by the commentators the Colossians heresy which is an early form of Gnosticism with a bunch of other strange ideas rolled into the mix.\u00a0 There\u2019s a heavy dose of angel worship; there\u2019s a heavy dose of legalism; there\u2019s a heavy dose of the physical world is evil, the spiritual world is good; there\u2019s a heavy dose of trying to put people back under the prior dispensational teachings of the Law, the Mosaic Law and the whole thing is kind of rolled together in this nightmare, it\u2019s such a nightmare we don\u2019t have a word for it so the commentators just call it the Colossian heresy.\n\nSo if you go into that heresy what is going to happen?\u00a0 Colossians 1:23, [\u201cif indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.\u201d] you\u2019re not continuing in the faith, and you\u2019re not continuing in the fact that you\u2019re firmly established and steadfast;\u00a0 you\u2019re not progressing to your destination, even though you\u2019re going to heaven.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to stand before the Lord and you\u2019re going to have salvation to be sure, but when it comes to rewards you\u2019re not going to have anything from the Lord, and that\u2019s what Paul is worried about; that\u2019s his overarching concern.\n\nNow the \u201cif\u201d here, \u201cif indeed you continue in the faith\u201d is what we call in Greek a first class condition, I haven\u2019t spent much time in this church talking about first class conditions, second class conditions, third class conditions, fourth class conditions, and I may get into that at some point but the key thing to know about a first class condition in Greek grammatically is the \u201cif\u201d assumes they will persevere.\u00a0 So it\u2019s like saying \u201cif\u201d and giving a conditional statement and assuming that that condition will be met for the sake of argument.\u00a0 That\u2019s how this reads in Greek.\u00a0 So in Colossians 1:23 Paul says, \u201cif indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast,\u201d and because that\u2019s a first class condition he\u2019s assuming they\u2019re going to continue on.\u00a0 So he is worried a little bit about the Colossians heresy but he looks at his audience and he says you know it\u2019s not going to\u2026 in the big picture I think\u00a0 you guys are going to be okay; I\u2019m warning you about it but you\u2019re on the right path and you won\u2019t succumb to it.\n\nAnd you see, once you get into the subject of first class conditions that blows the whole eternal security argument because the way people read this is they want to read maybe they\u2019re not going to continue on in the faith and Paul wouldn\u2019t have expressed his idea that way through a first class condition.\u00a0 So believe it or not, I know we look at grammar and we roll our eyes and say oh no, I\u2019m going back to grammar school, the pastor is talking about grammar; actually Greek grammar is a big deal in terms of developing your theology.\u00a0 So I don\u2019t bring up grammar and Greek just to drown you and bore you with it, I bring it up where it\u2019s pertinent.\n\nSo the big picture is this: their ultimate salvation is not in doubt but Paul, it\u2019s also clear to them that their ongoing growth would require that they persevere in the faith, resist the allurements of the Colossians heresy and they\u2019re going to stand before the Lord and they\u2019re going to be fully rewarded at the Bema Seat Judgment of rewards.\u00a0 So again you put this back in context and isn\u2019t a verse at all that opens the door to the possibility that you can lose your salvation although it sort of reads that way at first glance.\n\nLet\u2019s leave the prison letters and what are the prison letters?\u00a0 Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, actually let me give them to you in order.\u00a0 The prison letters are written in Acts 28:16-31, that\u2019s the time period when Paul was in Roman prison the first time, and during that time period he had two years; it probably went from about A.D. 60-62.\u00a0 And during that time period he wrote, because of circumstances that arose, four letters, Ephesians, secondly would be Colossians, and he also wrote during that time Philemon and then Philippians he wrote probably last.\u00a0 And the reason we put those in the order we put them into is you can see Paul\u2019s rising optimism that he\u2019s going to be getting out of prison because he thinks his trial before Caesar is probably going to go in his favor.\u00a0 So you see this rising optimism, particularly in Philippians, he\u2019s very optimistic that he\u2019s going to be getting out of prison soon.\u00a0 So that\u2019s one of the reasons that we put them in the order that we put them in.\n\nBut then Paul is let out of prison and he is\u2026 the book of Acts doesn\u2019t record this but from about A.D. 62 to A.D. 67 he\u2019s free and in that time period, about five years, he starts to write what are called the pastoral letters because they are written to who? Pastors.\u00a0 So we have in Paul\u2019s writings three pastoral letters.\u00a0 When he got out of prison the first one he wrote was 1 Timothy, written to Timothy who was struggling to be a pastor at the church at Ephesus.\u00a0 Then he wrote Titus; Titus is trying to be a pastor on this little island called Crete there in the Mediterranean ocean.\u00a0 How would you like that assignment.\u00a0 And then Paul, in A.D. 67 is thrown back in prison and that\u2019s where he writes which book, which is his last will and testament?\u00a0 2 Timothy, which we\u2019ve studied in depth at this church.\n\nSo in 1 Timothy, his first pastoral letter, chapter 5, verse 15, let\u2019s go over there if we could, just go to Colossians and just jump past the Thessalonian books and then you should come to 1 Timothy 5 and verse 15. He makes a statement in 1 Timothy 5:15 which makes it look, at first glance, as if you can lose your salvation, because he says, chapter 5 verse 15, \u201cfor some have already turned aside to follow Satan.\u201d\u00a0 People look at that, \u201cturned aside to follow Satan,\u201d how could a Christian turn aside to follow Satan?\u00a0 So obviously what\u2019s happened here is these people have lost their salvation.\u00a0 So let\u2019s see if we can unpack this a little bit by putting it back into its what?\u00a0 Context.\n\nIf you look at 1 Timothy 5:15 he is talking about widows and in this paragraph he\u2019s not talking about the elderly widows, he\u2019s talking about the young widows that have lost their husbands for whatever reason, so they\u2019re kind of footloose and fancy free, I guess we can put it that way, and look at what he says in the whole context there, beginning at verse 11.\u00a0 He says, \u201cBut refuse to put<\/em> younger widows on the list,<\/em>\u201d now \u201cthe list\u201d is probably those in the church that need financial support.\u00a0 You have to understand that in the first century world you didn\u2019t have a safety net of any kind; there\u2019s no such thing as social security and Medicare and some of these safety net things that we have today.\u00a0 So if you were a widow without a husband you were in a state of vulnerability.\u00a0 So the church, when their family couldn\u2019t pick up the slack and help them or many times they had no family, the church is responsible for helping out its members that are in that condition, an elderly widow.\n\nBut after talking about elderly widows he starts talking about the younger widows and he says, [11] \u201cBut refuse to put<\/em> younger widows on the list,<\/em>\u201d in other words they\u2019re young and they can remarry, \u201cfor when they feel sensual desires in disregard of Christ, they want to get married, [12] thus<\/em> incurring condemnation, because they have set aside their previous pledge.\u201d\u00a0 So it\u2019s really talking here about younger people with their sexual desires, sexual impulses and\u2026 I don\u2019t know how much I want to say about that but that\u2019s the best I can do with the context.\u00a0 He says at the time they also learn to be idle.\u00a0 See, these aren\u2019t widows that he\u2019s dealing with here that are godly, have a godly character and need support.\u00a0 Look at how these people are described here:\u00a0 [13] \u201c\u2026they also learn to be<\/em> idle, as they go around from house to house; and not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper to mention.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 So they become talebearers, they just run around in the church and they cause trouble, and these are not the people to put up with.\u00a0 The elderly women that need the support, that have demonstrated godly character, you do put them on the list for purposes of helping them, but not this group here that he\u2019s talking about.\n\nThen he says, [14] \u201cTherefore, I want younger widows<\/em> to get married,\u201d I don\u2019t know how well Paul would have done in the 21st<\/sup> century world, some of this stuff he says; I mean, look at what he says, it just cracks me up, \u201cTherefore, I want younger widows<\/em> to get married, to bear children, and to keep house,\u201d wow, go over to U of H and say that today and see what kind of reaction you\u2019re going to get.\u00a0 \u201cTherefore, I want\u00a0 younger women to get married, to bear children, and to keep house and<\/em> give the enemy no occasion for reproach.\u201d\u00a0 Then he comes to the verse that I just quoted on the screen a little earlier, verse 15, \u201cfor some have already turned aside to follow Satan.\u201d\u00a0 So what is he getting at here?\u00a0 He\u2019s not even getting into the subject of eternal security.\u00a0 What he\u2019s talking about is believing younger church widows becoming worldly; that\u2019s what he\u2019s talking about.\u00a0 And when he says \u201cfollow Satan\u201d I believe that what he\u2019s talking about here is these younger widows are following Satan\u2019s system because what you\u2019ll see in the Scripture is a connection between Satan and his world system.\n\nSo sometimes to refer to the world system the biblical writers will just use the expression \u201cSatan\u201d because who is running the world system?\u00a0 The devil.\u00a0 Satan is called the prince of this world, John 12:31 [\u201cNow is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.\u201d KJV].\u00a0 He\u2019s called the prince and power of the air, Ephesians 2:2, [\u201cin which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.\u201d]\n\nAnd Paul oftentimes in his writings refers to the world as Satan.\u00a0 He does that in 1 Corinthians 5:5, 1 Timothy 1:20 and I believe that he\u2019s doing that again here in 1 Timothy 5:15 and that\u2019s what he means when he says for some have already turned aside to follow Satan.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0[1 Corinthians 5:5, \u201cI have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.\u201d 1 Timothy 1:20, \u201cAmong these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.\u201d\u00a0 1 Timothy 5:15, \u201cfor some have already turned aside to follow Satan.\u201d]\n\nIn other words, these younger Christians, these younger women, these younger widows, they\u2019re sort of following the satanically energized world system.\u00a0 So you put all of this together and this is a warning against worldliness, that\u2019s really what it is.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a warning about loss of salvation; obviously a Christian has the ability to go back into the things of Satan.\u00a0 Just ask Peter about that sometime when you get to heaven.\u00a0 Peter made a statement about Jesus trying to talk Him out of going to the cross and Jesus said to Peter, \u201cGet behind me\u201d what? \u201cSatan.\u201d\u00a0 And we know that we easily go back into the satanic system of the world when we start catering to the sin nature.\u00a0 That\u2019s what gives Satan an inroad into our lives.\n\nSatan cannot possess the Christian because your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 He can, though, if we yield to the sin nature, which we don\u2019t have to but we yield to the sin nature because we want to many times, we give Satan an ability to influence us; not possess us but influence us. And this is why the book of Hebrews, chapter11 and verse 25 speaking to Moses says, \u201cchoosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.\u201d\u00a0 Notice the expression \u201cpassing pleasures of sin.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s what these younger women in Ephesus, Timothy is pastoring at Ephesus, were getting involved in.\u00a0 And as they were getting involved in the \u201cpassing pleasures of sin\u201d they were opening up their minds and their hearts and their bodies to some extent to the influence of the devil.\n\n1 John 2:15-17, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the pride of life, it\u2019s a description of the satanically energized world system that we\u2019re in, and as we move back into Satan\u2019s system as Christians, James 4:4 says we become adulterers, spiritually, because we are the bride of Christ. [1 John 2:15-17, \u201cDo not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. [16] For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. [17] The world is passing away, and also<\/em> its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 James 4:4, \u201cYou adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? \u00a0Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.\u201d]\n\nSo when Paul says \u201csome have turned aside to follow Satan\u201d he\u2019s not, I don\u2019t believe making a statement about loss of salvation.\u00a0 In fact, you read this and loss of salvation is not even in the passage at all; he\u2019s talking about Christians yielding to the sin nature, giving Satan influence in their lives and consequently going back into the world system from which they came.\u00a0 It is completely possible for a Christian to go back into that world system and still be a Christian. \u00a0And I\u2019ll show you an example of that in just a second.\n\nBut if you doubt the idea that a Christian can be influenced by Satan in any way ask yourself this basic question: If Satan has no influence over me as a Christian then why am I told over and over again, in Ephesians 6, to put on the full armor of God.\u00a0 I mean obviously that command, and those are all imperatives there in Ephesians 6, that we put on the different pieces of armor, the command doesn\u2019t make any sense unless the enemy has targeted me and has targeted you and wants us to compromise our walk with Christ.\n\nIn the same book, Ephesians 4:26-27, Paul very clearly says, \u201cBE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your wrath\u201d or anger, [27, \u201cand do not give the devil an opportunity.\u201d]\u00a0 That\u2019s why I\u2019ve always wanted to move to Alaska because the sun never goes down, right?\u00a0 I could just be angry all the time.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what I\u2019m getting at.\u00a0 What he\u2019s saying is don\u2019t become bitter; when someone hurts you which happens in the church world, Amen?\u00a0 Don\u2019t sit there and hold on to that and let it develop in you what the book of Hebrews calls a \u201croot of bitterness.\u00a0 [Hebrews 12:15, \u201cSee to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;\u201d] \u00a0\u00a0But forgive as\u00a0 you\u2019ve been forgiven because if you don\u2019t do that Paul says very clearly, \u201cDo not let the sun go down on your anger, lest you give the devil a\u201d what? \u201cfoothold.\u201d\u00a0 Satan comes right in, he can\u2019t possess you but he can influence you, just like he influenced the thinking of Peter.\u00a0 And hurt people (as the saying goes) hurt other people. So I know that when I\u2019m harboring a bunch of anger because someone hasn\u2019t treated me correctly I know the stuff that comes out of my mouth towards innocent parties many times.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a bunch of venom and anger which hurts them so by allowing the sun to go down on my anger I\u2019ve given the devil a foothold.\n\nVery clearly the Christian cannot be possessed but he (or she) can be heavily influenced by Satan.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what was happening to these widows here as they were following Satan and his world system.\u00a0 So again these are not first tense salvation issues; these are what tense salvation issues? Middle tense salvation issues.\n\nI was going to go into 2 Timothy 2:12 but I think that will take too long so we\u2019ll come back to that next week but let\u2019s go to 2 Timothy 4:10, this would be an example of a worldly person.\u00a0 If you doubt that a Christian can go back into the world study the few biblical references we have to this man named Demas.\u00a0 And this is something that Paul says at the very end of his life; he\u2019s now in his second imprisonment.\u00a0 It\u2019s not like his first imprisonment that\u2019s given to us in Acts 28 where he could receive visitors and evangelize freely.\u00a0 This time he\u2019s basically by himself; he\u2019s only got a few people with him that are still standing.\u00a0 And in fact, in this letter he talks about how Asia has deserted him.\u00a0 That blows my mind because that was\u2026 Asia was Paul\u2019s most prolific ministry if you study Acts 19, particularly verse 10, it says \u201call in Asia heard the word of the Lord.\u201d \u00a0[Acts 19:10, \u201cThis took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.\u201d]\n\nAnd then, I don\u2019t know, a decade or so more perhaps had passed, he\u2019s by himself, he\u2019s ready to die, he says, \u201cFor I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.\u201d\u00a0 And in this same letter he says all in Asia have deserted me.\u00a0 So it\u2019s staggering how the church can be birthed, how people could be walking with the Lord and then something hits the church in the way of persecution or deception or false doctrine and that causes people just to no longer walk with God.\n\nAnd one of the guys that he was very troubled about was this guy named Demas, and this is what he says in 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 10, he says, \u201cFor Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens and has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.\u201d\u00a0 So people that deny eternal security look at that and they say aha, there\u2019s an example of a guy that deserted Paul so he obviously lost his salvation.\u00a0 The Calvinist camp looks at that and says well, this was obviously a guy that didn\u2019t have true faith in Christ because in the Calvinistic system it you\u2019re a true Christian, which is faith given to you as a gift, it could never fail.\u00a0 So if God gave you faith your faith cannot fail and there should be nothing in your life but increasing fruit and productivity.\u00a0 And if that\u2019s not there then I don\u2019t know, maybe you\u2019re not one of the elect, maybe you never received the gift of faith, which to me is a nightmare of a doctrine because what that does is it makes\u2026 because who\u2019s lived perfectly as a Christian?\u00a0 It makes everybody guess well, am I a Christian or am I not a Christian.\u00a0 And so as that doctrine takes off and gets inroads into the body of Christ you have this epidemic of people that lack the assurance of salvation, which we think is a Scriptural idea.\n\nSo what\u2019s going on here with this guy named Demas?\u00a0 Well, there\u2019s no doubt that Demas was a legitimate believer.\u00a0 How do I know that?\u00a0 Because Demas is not just mentioned there in verse 10; he is mentioned earlier in Paul\u2019s prison letters, favorably.\u00a0 He\u2019s mentioned in Colossians 4:14; he\u2019s mentioned in his one chapter book to Philemon, in Philemon 24.\u00a0 [Colossians 4:14, \u201cLuke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas.\u201d \u00a0Philemon 24, \u201cas do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers.\u201d]\n\nAnd when Paul says \u201cDemas having loved this world has deserted me\u201d [2 Timothy 4:10] does he ever say Demos lost his salvation?\u00a0 I mean you have to read that completely into the passage; it never says he lost his salvation.\u00a0 What it says is he deserted me at a ministerial level.\u00a0 This is the guy that stood with me and now he\u2019s bailed out. Paul never says the guy is in hell or going to hell.\u00a0 He never opens the door to maybe this guy\u2019s name was not written in the Lamb\u2019s book of life.\u00a0 He never opens the door to the possibility that maybe his name was erased from the book of life.\u00a0 See, all these Arminian concepts have to be read into that passage; the passage is not saying that.\n\nSo what\u2019s going on with this man, Demas?\u00a0 Demas, just like the younger widows in 1 Timothy 5, just like Euodia and Syntyche in Philippians 4, they basically had become worldly.\u00a0 Now why had they become worldly?\u00a0 Because who orchestrates the course of this world?\u00a0 The devil.\u00a0 That\u2019s why when Jesus is tempted three times by Satan in the wilderness, the way Luke records it, the middle temptation, Satan came to Jesus and said all the kingdoms of this world have been given to me and I can give them to whoever I want, so if you will just worship me I\u2019ll give you the whole thing right now.\u00a0 And when you understand that middle temptation what you understand is the devil is offering Jesus a way, an end-run around the cross.\u00a0 Son of God, I know\u00a0 You\u2019ve come into the world to redeem the world through the cross but You really don\u2019t have to do that, I\u2019ll just give You the whole thing now if you just worship me.\n\nAnd you\u2019ll notice that Jesus never says well that\u2019s not true Satan, because it is true; we are living in the devil\u2019s world.\u00a0 And that, beloved, will not change until the book of Revelation.\u00a0 It\u2019s not going to change until Revelation 11:15, which says, \u201c\"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of\u201d what? \u201cour Lord and of His Christ; [and He will reign forever and ever.]\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s why when you study the book of Revelation, particularly the judgments, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls, you read all that, you say man, I\u2019ve read that before somewhere.\u00a0 Where else did the water become blood red?\u00a0 Well, that\u2019s in the book of Exodus.\u00a0 Where else have I read about darkness?\u00a0 That\u2019s in the book of Exodus.\u00a0 Where else have I read about locusts and scorpions? Oh, that\u2019s in the book of Exodus.\u00a0 There was a reference to frogs in Revelation 16, demons like frogs.\u00a0 You say where else have I read about frogs?\u00a0 Well, that\u2019s in the book of Exodus.\n\nJohn is deliberately using Exodus imagery to describe the judgments of the book of Revelation.\u00a0 Now why is that?\u00a0 Because in the book of Exodus God is taking His people, Israel, out of 400 years of Egyptian bondage under a Pharaoh.\u00a0 What God is doing in the book of Revelation is the ultimate exodus where He\u2019s not just taking His people out of Egyptian bondage under a Pharaoh, He\u2019s taking the whole world out of the satanic bondage that it\u2019s been in since the fall of man in Genesis 3.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Romans 8 talks about how we are groaning, yearning for the day when the Lord redeems planet earth.\u00a0 And this time He won\u2019t take His people out of the grip out Pharaoh, He\u2019ll take the whole world out of the grip of the devil.\u00a0 So what we have to understand is until that happens, and by the way, the church is not going to make this happen; this is the great error of Kingdom Now theology, where the church wants to get out there and get active in the culture, which is not necessarily a bad thing but we think by our activities we can somehow bring in the kingdom.\u00a0 And you have to just throw out your whole eschatology to believe that.\n\nThe only person that\u2019s going to bring in the kingdom is the who?\u00a0 The King.\u00a0 And if I understand that I\u2019m not going to waste my time trying to build the kingdom today.\u00a0 I can\u2019t tell you how many ministries I know that are out there and their vocabulary and their promotional literature, they say they\u2019re doing kingdom work, well what does that mean? We\u2019re building the kingdom, we\u2019re expanding the kingdom.\u00a0 I\u2019m not doing that because I understand eschatologically that the King is going to bring in the Kingdom.\u00a0 And this is sort of disturbing to me because people think eschatology doesn\u2019t matter, who cares about the book of Revelation?\u00a0 The reason it matters is if you have a correct eschatology it will shape your view of what the church is called to do and not called to do.\u00a0 That\u2019s why eschatology is a big deal.\n\nSo Satan orchestrates this world system; it\u2019s orchestrated, 1 John 2 tells us through lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, the pride of life, it\u2019s like a magnet that pulls on your life as a Christian constantly and tries to get you back into its system.\u00a0 And by the way, when you got saved you inherited three enemies that you didn\u2019t have before.\u00a0 I call it three dimensional warfare: the world, which I\u2019m describing here, the flesh, which is your sin nature that rebels against the dictates of the new nature, and then the world, the flesh and the devil himself, Lucifer who fell along with a third of the angels.\n\nSo you have inherited three enemies that you didn\u2019t have before and they tag team on you to stop your witness, to thwart\u00a0 your development in Christ and this is why we need our minds renewed, Romans 12:2, because the world system is\u2026 I like how the Philips translation (I think it is) translates it.\u00a0 Paul says in Romans 12:2, don\u2019t let the world squeeze you into its mold.\u00a0 [Romans 12:2, \u201cAnd do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.\u201d]\u00a0 Every single day of your life as a Christian the world is exerting its value system on you, trying to pull you back into the way it thinks, knowing that your mission will be compromised if you move back into that system.\u00a0 And the only remedy to that is the renewal of the mind; you have to start thinking differently than the way the world works or thinks and the only way to do that is through a constant intake and input from the Scripture.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve become spiritual adulterers.\n\nSo what happened to this man, Demas?\u00a0 He didn\u2019t lose his salvation, he just succumbed, as so many do, to the siren song of the world.\u00a0 And Paul holds out Demas as a contrast to Paul because he says to young Timothy, in verses 6-8, \u201cFor I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.\u00a0 [7] I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;\u201d consequently I\u2019ll be ushered into the presence of God and I\u2019m going to receive a very favorable ruling at the Judgment Seat of rewards.\u00a0 Verse 8, \u201cin the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.\u201d\u00a0 I never became worldly, I fought the good fight under God\u2019s power.\n\nBut compare that to Demas, verse 10, \u201cfor Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me [and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.]\u00a0 Now why is he holding out these two examples, a positive example of non-worldliness and a negative example of worldliness?\u00a0 He\u2019s saying to Timothy who do you want to be Timothy?\u00a0 Do you want to be me or do you want to be Demas, because Timothy is, as we talked about in our study of 2 Timothy, is thinking about throwing in the towel because the work of ministry is too difficult.\u00a0 He\u2019s thinking about becoming worldly and Paul\u2019s holding up a positive example in himself and a negative example in Demas, trying to get Timothy to make a choice.\u00a0 So that is the context of 2 Timothy 4:10, \u201cDemas, having loved this present world, has deserted me,\u201d Paul never talks here in any way about potential loss of salvation.\u00a0 That\u2019s outside of his thought pattern completely.\n\nI think I\u2019ll stop now.\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