{"id":19142,"date":"2017-03-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-12T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/soteriology-051\/"},"modified":"2024-05-03T08:28:26","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T13:28:26","slug":"soteriology-051","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/soteriology-051\/","title":{"rendered":"Soteriology 051"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[459],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19142","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-soteriology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Soteriology 051","sermon_date":"20170312","sermon_month":"03","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":4451,"sermon_slides":4450,"sermon_mp3":4455,"sermon_id":"3121795766","series_or_event":459,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"22:18-19","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\r\n\r\nSoteriology 51, Revelation 22:18-19\r\n\r\nMarch 12, 2016\r\n\r\nLet\u2019s open with a word of prayer.\u00a0\u00a0 Father, we thank You for this morning and we thank\u00a0 You for the cool weather and we just ask, Father, that\u00a0 You would be present today through Your Spirit you would be illuminating the Scriptures to us so that we can understand some of the more difficult parts of the Word.\u00a0 And I pray You\u2019ll be with us during the worship service that follows and I just pray for people to be changed today eternally and only You can accomplish that and we ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name.\u00a0 And God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.\r\n\r\nLet\u2019s open our Bibles to the book of Revelation which is easy to find, Revelation 22:18-19.\u00a0 We continue, we\u2019re actually coming near the end of this study.\u00a0 I know I\u2019ve said that for about six months but we\u2019re coming to the end of this study on eternal security, which of course means the grace of God that saves us is the grace of God that keeps us.\u00a0\u00a0 We didn\u2019t get into this by human works so therefore it\u2019s not human works that\u2026 human works didn\u2019t get us into the front door so human works don\u2019t keep us in the door once we\u2019re in.\u00a0 You guys with me on that?\u00a0 And if you believe that there\u2019s really nothing you can do to lose your salvation.\r\n\r\nI gave you the strongest arguments I know of in the Biblical text related to eternal security.\u00a0 And we decided to go a step further and look at the various passages that people use to deny security; there must be a lot of them or else this wouldn\u2019t be debated.\u00a0 So we\u2019ve been basically looking at these one by one and we\u2019ve gone all the way through the Bible and now we\u2019re at the very last book of the Bible, the very last chapter of the Bible and one final Scripture that people use to deny security is Revelation 22:18-19.\u00a0 This is how John concludes the book of Revelation, with the words of Christ, He says, \u201cI testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; [19] and if anyone takes away \u00a0from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away\u201d oh-oh \u201chis part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.\u201d\r\n\r\nSo if you add or subtract to the Word of God then your part will be taken away from the eternal city, the tree of life, and you can see how the two systems of both Calvinism and Arminianism would gravitate towards this verse.\u00a0 Calvinism basically says if you add or subtract from this book you were never saved to begin with.\u00a0 And this is more of a stronghold for Arminianism which teaches you can lose your salvation and they\u2019re basically saying if you add or subtract from this book then what happened to your salvation?\u00a0\u00a0 You lost it.\u00a0 So that puts people in a state of paranoia, oh my gosh, I hope I don\u2019t interpret the book of Revelation wrong, I hope I don\u2019t add things to it, I hope I don\u2019t subtract from it because if that\u2019s true then my salvation is in doubt.\u00a0 Either I never had it or I lost it.\u00a0 So this is again another example of not really respecting the Bible in\u00a0 its proper context.\r\n\r\nIf you go back to verse 17 you see what John does here, the immediately preceding verse.\u00a0 He\u2019s been talking to believers but then all of a sudden in verse 17 he shifts to unbelievers and he gives an evangelistic invitation.\u00a0 And notice what he says in verse 17, \u201cThe Spirit and the bride say, \u2018Come.\u2019 And let the one who hears say, \u2018Come.\u2019 And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.\u201d\u00a0 So very clearly in verse 17 he\u2019s talking to unbelievers, right?\u00a0 Because he\u2019s giving them an evangelistic invitation.\u00a0 So he\u2019s been talking to believers, believers, believers, believers and then you get around to verse 17 and he gives an evangelistic outreach to unbelievers that happen to be reading this book.\r\n\r\nAnd we know that this is evangelism because he says, \u201clet the one who wishes take the water of life without cost\u201d and that should bring to mind John 4:14 where the Holy Spirit is analogized to water as Jesus was speaking to the woman at the well.\u00a0 [John 4:14, \u201cbut whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.\u201d]\r\n\r\nSo he\u2019s speaking, obviously to unbelievers in verse 17, not the whole book but in verse 17.\u00a0\u00a0 And then I think as you go into verses 18-19 He\u2019s continuing to speak to unbelievers.\u00a0 And He really doesn\u2019t shift back, as I\u2019ll show you in a second, to believers until the last two verses, verses 20-21.\u00a0 So moving from verse 17 into verses 18-19, the words we just read, He\u2019s warning those who reject God\u2019s offer of salvation.\u00a0 So he\u2019s offered salvation, verse 17 and then verses 18-19 is a warning \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0to those who reject the offer.\u00a0\u00a0 And He begins to describe the characteristics of unbelievers.\r\n\r\nUnbelievers by nature have not respect for God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 Unbelievers by nature will, without even blushing, will add to the Scripture or subtract from the Scripture.\u00a0 And this is not the only place in the Bible where we have this characteristic of unbelievers that typically will add and subtract at will.\u00a0 Peter, if you go back to 2 Peter 3:16-17 said basically the same thing.\u00a0 He\u2019s talking about Paul and he says, \u201cas also in his letters, speaking in them of these things in which some things that are hard to understand.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m sure glad Peter said that about Paul, I don\u2019t feel as bad now, not understanding some of the things Paul said.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026which the untaught and the unstable distort, as they do the rest of Scripture, to their own\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201cdestruction.\u201d\u00a0 So he\u2019s making an allusion there to unbelievers.\u00a0 And then he goes right back to believers, verse 17, \u201cBut you therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, [be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, [18] but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be<\/em> the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.]\u201d\u00a0 And he continues to exhort believers.\r\n\r\nSo we know from 2 Peter that there are really two groups to understand 2 Peter correctly; you\u2019ve got the saved audience but then you\u2019ve got these unsaved false teachers that come into the flock.\u00a0 And I\u2019m pretty sure that these false teachers are unsaved because going back to 2 Peter 2:1 he says, \u201cBut false prophets arose among the people just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift\u201d what? \u201cdestruction upon themselves.\u201d\u00a0 So that\u2019s describing an unbeliever I would think.\r\n\r\nAnd then you go down to chapter 2:9 and he says, \u201cthen<\/em> the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under\u201d what? \u201cpunishment for the day of judgment,\u201d he\u2019s speaking of the state of the unbeliever in hell.\u00a0 If you go to verse 12, I\u2019m in 2 Peter 2,\u00a0 \u00a0he says in verse 12, \u201cBut these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s\u00a0 not the believer that\u2019s destroyed in hell, it\u2019s the unbeliever.\r\n\r\nGoing down to verse 14, \u201chaving eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children;\u201d that\u2019s a pretty strong word there, which I think is talking about an unbeliever.\u00a0 Dropping down to verse 19 it\u2019s talking about their false doctrine, \u201cpromising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.\u201d\r\n\r\nSo when we were in 2 Peter in this study I tried to make a case that you\u2019ve got two groups you\u2019re dealing with; you\u2019ve got first of all the saved audience and the unsaved false teachers.\u00a0 Now Peter, in 2 Peter 3 continues to talk about these unsaved false teachers.\u00a0 And one of the things they do is they gravitate towards the obscure things Paul says and they deliberately twist them for their own purposes.\u00a0 And Peter says that as they do that they\u2019re revealing their true character as unbelievers; they do so to their own destruction.\u00a0 [2 Peter 3:16, \u201cas also in all his<\/em> letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do<\/em> also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.\u201d]\r\n\r\nThat\u2019s the second place in the Bible where we\u2019re told that unbelievers by nature have no respect for the Word of God, they willfully add to the Word of God, they willfully subtract from the Word of God.\u00a0 So therefore going back to Revelation 22:16 and before, really verse 16 is speaking to believers; verse 17 is an evangelistic opportunity for unbelievers.\u00a0 Verses 18-19 I think should be understood as the characteristics of unbelievers; what fate awaits unbelievers if they reject the gospel invitation in verse 17?\r\n\r\n[Revelation 22:16, \u201cI, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.\u00a0 [17] \u201cThe Spirit and the bride say, \u2018Come.\u2019 And let the one who hears say, \u2018Come.\u2019 And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.\u00a0 [19] I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book;\u00a0 [19] and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.\u201d]\r\n\r\nAnd of course when you study the kingdom of the cults, whether it\u2019s Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, Mormons, right on down the line you\u2019ll discover that one of their characteristics is they always add to the Bible; the Bible is not enough.\u00a0 So not if the Mormons come to your door but when the Mormons come to your door they will try to sell you on the idea that there is an extra testament of Jesus Christ that you don\u2019t have, and it\u2019s the guest appearance that Jesus supposedly made in North America in the 1800\u2019s.\u00a0 And Jude 3 says truth has once and for all been delivered to the saints.\u00a0 [Jude 3, \u201cBeloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.\u201d]\r\n\r\nSo how could there be an additional book of the Bible written in the 1800\u2019s under Joseph Smith when Jude 3 tells us the truth has already been delivered 2,000 years ago and the canon of Scripture is shut.\u00a0 So cults, by nature, will add to the Scripture.\u00a0 So that would be a characteristic of unbelievers and that\u2019s what John is really addressing here.\u00a0 He\u2019s not addressing the issue of maybe you have salvation, maybe you don\u2019t, he\u2019s changed his focus into unbelievers; an invitation is given, verse 17, and then the fate of those who reject the invitation is described in verses 18-19.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s the same kind of thing Peter is doing in 2 Peter 3.\u00a0 So John, as he\u2019s describing unbelievers in verses 18-19 says God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book;\u201d now that has to be describing an unbeliever, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Because throughout this book we\u2019ve been getting a description of the plagues that are coming upon the earth\u2014seven seal judgments, seven trumpet judgments, seven bowl judgments.\u00a0 And we, as the church, are not candidates for those plagues. Right.\u00a0 We are going to be raptured to heaven before these plagues come upon the earth because we believe in a pretribulational rapture.\r\n\r\nThat\u2019s why we are told at the end of 1 Thessalonians 1:10 \u201cand to wait for His Son from heaven,\u201d are you waiting \u201cfor His Son from heaven?\u201d\u00a0 Or are you looking for the antichrist.\u00a0 See, a lot of the church today is storing up water, not that that\u2019s bad in and of itself, and buying gold and all these things and they\u2019re kind of arming up to meet the antichrist.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a bad thing to have some savings and things like that in your house in case of emergency but that action has nothing to do with the book of Revelation.\u00a0 I don\u2019t do those things because I\u2019m preparing to eyeball it with the antichrist because I\u2019m told \u201cto wait for his Son from heaven, [whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus,] who rescues us from the wrath to come.\u201d\r\n\r\nI\u2019m not looking for the antichrist, I\u2019m looking for Jesus Christ.\u00a0 That\u2019s why when you get into the book of Revelation, really beginning in chapter 4 where the end time judgments are described, the Greek word church, ekklesia<\/em>, which is us, the church, it\u2019s not found a single time.\u00a0 The church is addressed nineteen times in chapters 1-3 prior to the rapture but once you get beyond the rapture into the tribulation period you don\u2019t find the Greek word ekklesia<\/em> in the book; it doesn\u2019t even show up until verse 16 of chapter 22 when John signs off and just generically says preach these things in the churches.\u00a0\u00a0 [Revelation 22:16, \u201cI, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.\u201d]\r\n\r\nSo all of that to say we are not candidates for the plagues, but the unbeliever, who is revealing his true state by adding and subtracting from the Word of God is revealing his true state.\u00a0 The unbeliever will miss the rapture; the unbeliever will go into the tribulation period itself and what is going to be added to him?\u00a0 The plagues that are described in the book, the seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls.\r\n\r\nSo all of that to say that John here has switched subjects and he\u2019s talking about the fate of the unbeliever who rejects the gospel invitation given in verse 17.\u00a0 And he goes on in verse 19 and he says, \u201c\u2026God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city.\u201d\u00a0 Now you read that as words, \u201ctake away his part\u201d you think it means someone who is enjoying the tree of life and then they\u2019re ripped away from it.\u00a0 And that\u2019s really not what it\u2019s talking about.\u00a0 The word \u201cpart\u201d here, the Greek word meros,<\/em> refers to a future experience, in the book of Revelation it refers to a future experience in which people have yet to participate.\u00a0 And I think it\u2019s only used three other times in the book of Revelation, but notice how it\u2019s used here, this Greek word meros<\/em>, or \u201cpart\u201d in chapter 20 verse 6.\u00a0 \u201cBlessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection;\u201d so that\u2019s talking about a future experience which people are yet to participate in, and this is also how the Greek word part or meros<\/em> is used in Revelation 21:8, which says, \u201cBut for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part\u201d that\u2019s meros<\/em> \u201cwill be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.\u201d\r\n\r\nSo what John is saying in verse 19 is he\u2019s using this word \u201cpart\u201d to indicate a future experience in which people have yet to participate in.\u00a0 An unbeliever will have no experience in, is what John is saying, in two things; number 1 he will have no experience in the Holy City, the New Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven, which is described in Revelation 21:23-27.\u00a0 [Revelation 21:23-27, \u201cAnd the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is<\/em> the Lamb. [24] The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. [25] In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; [26] and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; [27] and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb\u2019s book of life.\u201d]\r\n\r\nAnd number 2, he will have no future experience in the tree of life which is described in Revelation 22:2.\u00a0 [Revelation 22:2, \u201cin the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of<\/em> fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.\u201d]\u00a0 So what John has done here is he\u2019s switched topics, he\u2019s given a gospel invitation, verse 17, so he\u2019s obviously speaking to unbelievers at that point.\u00a0 And then he begins to describe the consequences of rejecting that gospel invitation. If you\u2019re an unbeliever you will miss the rapture, should it occur in our lifetime and you\u2019ll go into the place that is described in the book of Revelation.\u00a0 And if that weren\u2019t enough you will not be in the eternal city with all the believers, you\u2019ll be in the lake of fire so you will have no future experience in the holy city or the tree of life.\r\n\r\nAnd we also can put this together with other verses, like in 2 Peter, which clearly indicate that the plight of the unbeliever or the characteristics of the unbeliever is such that they deliberately twist the Scripture.\u00a0 So what I\u2019m trying to say is verses 17-19 is all speaking to unbelievers.\u00a0 And if that\u2019s true you don\u2019t have to sit there as a Christian and panic over verses 18 and 19, oh my gosh, what if I misrepresent the book of Revelation?\u00a0 What if I misunderstand the book of Revelation?\u00a0 What if I misteach the book of Revelation?\u00a0 Maybe my eternal security is not eternally secure.\u00a0 That\u2019s not John\u2019s subject.\u00a0 His subject is unbelievers.\r\n\r\nAnd after he describes the gospel invitation, verse 17, the consequences of rejecting it, verses 18-19 he goes right back in the last two verses of the book to addressing believers.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 And look at how he closes.\u00a0 \u201c\u00a0He who testifies to these things says, \u2018Yes, I am coming quickly.\u2019 Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.\u00a0 [21] The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.\u201d\u00a0 So he\u2019s closed the book with an exhortation to the Christian but in verses 17-18 it\u2019s an exhortation to the unbeliever.\u00a0 Hopefully that helps a little bit because a lot of people look at verses 18-19 and think their salvation is in jeopardy if they mishandle God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 And we ought to be concerned, of course, about mishandling God\u2019s Word, because James 3:1 says let few of you presume to be teachers knowing that they will incur the stricter judgment.\u00a0 [James 3:1, \u201cLet not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.\u201d]\u00a0 But jeopardizing one\u2019s eternal security because of their mishandling of the Word of God is a question that John is not dealing with in these verses.\u00a0 So the Arminian system is forcing this text to address an issue that it\u2019s not addressing because the subject matter has changed from the believer to the unbeliever.\u00a0 Hopefully that makes some kind of sense.\u00a0 Thumbs up, okay.\r\n\r\nThe lights are too bright, I couldn\u2019t see anyway; plus we lost an hour\u2019s sleep didn\u2019t we, which takes me to another rant; I don\u2019t know why we have to switch our clocks forward on Sunday, that only hurts one group of people, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Church people that want to go to church.\u00a0 So why don\u2019t we all wait till Monday to switch our clocks forward and just have church service at normal time.\u00a0 I might just start a revolution here\u2026 anyway, that\u2019s always bothered me. Everybody\u2019s rights are protected in this society, what about my rights as a church-goer.\u00a0 All right, let\u2019s get off that.\r\n\r\nNow let me give you, kind of wrapping up this discussion of eternal security, let me give you one more argument that people use.\u00a0 Now this is not a text based argument but if you become a defender of the doctrine of eternal security you\u2019re going to hear this all the time from people.\u00a0 People will say this:\u00a0 well, eternal security allows people to live in sin without fear of losing their salvation.\u00a0 Have you heard this?\u00a0 So the idea here is man, if you really want to produce holiness in your congregation you\u2019d better dangle hell over them every Sunday because they\u2019re going to behave properly on Sunday but Monday through Saturday they\u2019re going to live like the devil\u00a0 and unless you are always in a posture where you\u2019re ripping out the carpet from under people they have no incentive to live holy.\r\n\r\nWell, I love the way Charles Ryrie answers questions like this because he always gets you to think about something in a way that you may have never thought about it.\u00a0 So Ryrie responds to this in \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A Survey Of Bible Doctrine<\/em>, page 133, he says: \u201cActually one need not fear losing his salvation as long as he could be saved again by believing again.\u00a0 So even a doctrine of insecurity could bring licentious living.\u201d\u00a0 So what he\u2019s saying is this argument isn\u2019t solved by teaching that you can lose your salvation because what people think is well, I can be saved on Sunday, I could lose my salvation Monday through Saturday and what can happen on Sunday?\u00a0 I can get saved again.\r\n\r\nSo both systems, Arminianism and eternal security have this problem of letting people believe they can just live like the devil without dangling hell over them.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been in churches were people are literally getting saved every single week and then the same people get saved the next week.\u00a0 And the exact same people get saved the week after that.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been in churches with altar calls where these exact same people\u2026 I say wait, didn\u2019t you go up last week?\u00a0 And you see, what\u2019s happened is they got saved and then they don\u2019t really have any teaching on the spiritual life or how to live it so they got out into the big bad world Monday through Saturday and the pull of the sin nature is still there in the Christian.\u00a0 Amen!\r\n\r\nThe secret to overcoming the sin nature is not a secret, it\u2019s tapping into the resources God has given to the Christian.\u00a0 But if no one teaches you that and the pull of the sin nature is so strong what you will start to think is oh my gosh, how could I as a Christian think that, or do that, I must be unsaved.\u00a0 So they feel like they have to get saved again.\u00a0 When in reality what they need to do is they need teaching on the spiritual life, they need teaching on what it means to be in fellowship with God and out of fellowship with God and they need fellowship restored, they don\u2019t need their salvation all over again because that\u2019s a one-time deal which is eternally secure.\u00a0 So having said all that, this idea that eternal security allows people to live in sin without constant fear of hell, well, we can make that same argument against the Arminian system because it allows you to get saved over and over and over and over again.\r\n\r\nHaving said all that, what would be the response to this idea that eternal security allows you to live like the devil Monday through Saturday?\u00a0 Well, I believe this, that the more a person understands the grace of God the greater their incentive will be to live holy.\u00a0 And I can defend that, I think, simply by looking at how the book of Romans is structured.\u00a0 This is a multipart outline, all of these begin with the letter S, I got this from Charles Ryrie I think, Salutation, which means greeting, is described, chapter 1, verses 1-17.\u00a0 Then Paul gets into the subject of sin, chapter 1 verse 18 through chapter 3, verse 20 and he doesn\u2019t even talk about the love of Jesus a single time in that section.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t talk about God\u2019s grace, he doesn\u2019t even talk about the gospel, he just talks about sin.\u00a0 He says the Gentile world is in sin, the Jewish world is in sin, oh what the heck, let\u2019s just sum it up, the whole world is in sin.\u00a0 He says that in chapter 3.\r\n\r\nAnd it\u2019s rough terrain reading through that and I\u2019ve taught Romans at this church; I noticed we had a precipitous decline in our attendance when I was going through that section.\u00a0 But Paul is doing this because you can\u2019t understand your need for the gospel until you understand your what?\u00a0 You\u2019re lost.\u00a0 So finally in chapter 3 verse 21 through the end of chapter 5 he talks about salvation.\u00a0 And it\u2019s there he explains that your salvation is secure; it\u2019s s one-time deal, it\u2019s not based on what you\u2019ve done, it\u2019s based on what God has done.\u00a0 So if it\u2019s something God has done then I can\u2019t do anything to undo it so your salvation is secure, you\u2019re eternally secure.\r\n\r\nAnd once we understand that then he moves into chapters 6-8 where he gets into the subject of shall we continue to sins that grace may abound?\u00a0 And it\u2019s in chapters 6-8 that he says by no means, the Greek there is m\u0113 genoito<\/em>, which is the strongest negative you can have in the Greek language. \u00a0And he\u2019s saying to go back into sin is inconsistent with who you are.\u00a0 He never dangles hell over people when he gets into that subject it\u2019s, just inconsistent with what God has done in you, it\u2019s inconsistent with your new identity.\u00a0 And then someone in the back of the room, some wise guy, puts up his hand and says Paul, I\u2019ve got a question, if God is so faithful what about the nation of Israel, because Paul wrote this book of Romans about A.D. 57, by then the nation of Israel had rejected Christ, her king, but a number of decades had passed and the nation of Israel was under discipline, and the nation of Israel was about to be swept away in the discipline of God\u00a0 in the events of A.D. 70, which would be a little over ten years later.\r\n\r\nAnd if all of that, from the vantage point of the first century it looked like God had forgotten Israel and if God can forget Israel and Israel has a covenant with God, called the Abrahamic Covenant, then God can also forget who?\u00a0 He can forget me, He can forget you.\u00a0 So the guy in the back raises his hand and says what about Israel, and Paul understands\u2026 you guys realize that when I say \u201cthe guy in the back\u201d I\u2019m adding a little bit, I\u2019m adding and subtracting from the Word\u2026 so Paul understands that this question is an attack on God\u2019s faithfulness, because if God can\u2019t keep the Abrahamic Covenant and it looked like the Abrahamic Covenant had failed in the first century because Israel was a Christ-rejecting nation, then how in the world can I trust God to keep His promises to me?\u00a0 They\u2019re not even as good as the paper they\u2019re written on.\r\n\r\nSo now he gets into the subject of Israel, Romans 9, 10 and 11 and he says Romans 9, Israel in the past\u2014elected.\u00a0 Romans 10, Israel in the present, which would include right up to today, 2017, in the present\u2014rejected.\u00a0 Then he gets into Romans 11, Israel in the future\u2014accepted.\u00a0 So Romans 9, Israel in the past\u2014elected.\u00a0 Romans 10, Israel in the present\u2014rejected, Israel in the future\u2014accepted.\r\n\r\nNow that people understand the absolute trustworthiness of God and His faithfulness, that God has a whole plan in mind whereby He will keep His promises to national Israel, Romans 11 explains that, I know that God is a true promise keeping covenant keeping God.\u00a0 And if God is\u2026 remember the movement Promise Keepers, well the reality is there\u2019s only one promise keeper and that\u2019s God and if God can keep His promises, if He can be trusted to even keep His promises to His wayward nation then every single promise He\u2019s ever made to me in Romans 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 is absolutely reliable and you can take it to the bank.\u00a0 Once that has been solidified in the minds of the reader now he\u2019s ready to move into service, Romans 12:1, look at that just for a minute.\u00a0 \u201cTherefore, I urge you brethren,\u201d who\u2019s he speaking to, believers or unbelievers?\u00a0 Believers!\u00a0 Therefore, I urge you brethren by the mercies of God,\u201d what mercies?\u00a0 The ones he just got finished talking about in 9-11, 6-8, 3-5, it\u2019s all connected.\u00a0 \u201cTherefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God to do\u201d what? \u00a0Live like the devil and get saved the next week?\u00a0 No!\u00a0 \u201c\u2026to present your\u201d what? \u201cbodies as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship.\u201d\r\n\r\nPaul believes that once they understood the total reliability of their salvation, because he\u2019s vindicated God as a promise keeping God, that\u2019s the kind of God you can build your life on.\u00a0\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 That\u2019s the kind of God you can faithfully serve your whole life.\u00a0 So in Paul\u2019s thinking security doesn\u2019t create licentious living, it does the opposite.\u00a0 And\u00a0 you will notice that people that really understand what God has done for them, once it\u2019s intellectually grasped they have a tremendous heart for God.\u00a0 And I think they become the most effective servants in the body of Christ.\r\n\r\nSo all of that to say it\u2019s totally foreign to Paul\u2019s thinking that you have to threaten people every week to get them to behave.\u00a0 It\u2019s the opposite the way Paul thinks.\u00a0 God is a promise keeper and this is the kind of God you can build your house on, your life on, and this is the kind of God you can serve all the days of your life.\u00a0 You see, the story of the Bible is not what man does for God; the story of the Bible is what God has done for man.\u00a0 And as people grasp that it creates a powerful motivation for service, because guess what?\u00a0 I\u2019m not serving God out of fear anymore.\r\n\r\nOnce I understand\u2026 gosh, I\u2019d better show up at the Wednesday night Bible study or I might go to hell; that\u2019s no longer the proper motivation for going to Wednesday night Bible study.\u00a0 The proper motivation for coming to Wednesday night Bible study or serving God in any capacity is you do it out of gratitude.\u00a0 \u00a0See that?\u00a0 You do it out of worship, you do it out of thanksgiving.\u00a0 So the fact of the matter is this idea that man you\u2019ve got to dangle hell in front of people every week to get them to behave, Paul doesn\u2019t think that way.\u00a0 Paul\u2019s ministry is largely explaining to people what God has done for them.\r\n\r\nTake the book of Ephesians as an example.\u00a0\u00a0 How many commands do you find in Ephesians 1-3?\u00a0 Zero, no commands; it\u2019s all grace, grace, grace, here\u2019s what God has done, here\u2019s what God has done, then if you get to chapter 4, verse 1, and he uses the word \u201cTherefore,\u201d which switches us from doctrine to what?\u00a0 Practice, now Paul gives 38 commands; so he never gives commands to people until people understand who they are in Christ and what they have.\u00a0 Do you see that?\r\n\r\nAnd this is one of the problems with modern day preaching, is the preacher goes immediately to application, here\u2019s five things you need to be doing in your life this week to live for Jesus, when the reality of the situation is that\u2019s not how Paul thinks, Paul never developed any book that way.\u00a0 The whole book of Galatians is the same structure; 1-4 is doctrine, 5-6 is practice.\u00a0 The book of Romans is that way, 1-11 is doctrine, 12-16 is practice.\u00a0 The book of Ephesians is set up this way, 1-3 is doctrine, 4-6 is practice, because Paul understands something, that once people grasp the grace of God and they understand what they have in Christ and what Christ has done for them then service comes out of joy, not out of fear of hellfire.\r\n\r\nSo to this argument you\u2019re allowing people to live in sin without fear of losing salvation.\u00a0 I mean, I understand what they saying from a philosophical point of view but that\u2019s not how the Bible is set up.\u00a0 The Bible is not set up that way.\u00a0 The opposite is true, the more you understand security the more you\u2019ll want to serve the Lord and\u00a0 not be afraid of him.\u00a0 Think about this, at your job what bosses do you work the hardest for?\u00a0 The boss that threatens you all the time or the boss that has your well-being, looks out for you, has your respect?\u00a0 Obviously it\u2019s that latter boss.\u00a0 And somehow we\u2019ve gotten in our minds this idea that we\u2019ve got to threaten people all the time for holy living and I\u2019m just trying to say that\u2019s a way of thinking that\u2019s foreign to the Scripture.\r\n\r\nSo all of that to say you can\u2019t lose your salvation.\u00a0 Why didn\u2019t I just say that, I could say it in several weeks, months\u2026 now in soteriology we only have one other subject left to cover.\u00a0 You say oh no, I saw what you did with Roman numeral VII, that took multiple weeks, good grief, what are\u00a0 you going to do in Roman numeral VIII?\u00a0 Well, don\u2019t worry, this goes by, we could finish it today or next week, so either today or next week we\u2019ll be finished with the study.\r\n\r\nI just want to expose you to the faulty views of salvation.\u00a0 There are two unbiblical views of salvation that you need to be aware of and they are very big now in the culture with the movie The Shack<\/em>, and people like Rob Bell, who wrote this book, Love Wins<\/em>, who\u2019s now appearing on the Oprah Winfrey network and all that kind of stuff.\u00a0 The two are, number 1, universalism, and a slightly difference nuance view called inclusivism.\u00a0 So let\u2019s talk for just a moment about universalism.\u00a0 Universalisms says everyone will eventually get saved so it\u2019s not denying the cross, it\u2019s not denying Christ, it\u2019s just saying in the workings of God everyone ultimately is going to end up believing the gospel.\u00a0 And with any false teaching it always has some kind of scriptural support.\u00a0 There are certain Scriptures that it uses that you read them and it looks that way.\r\n\r\nSo the Scripture universalists use are John 12:32, look at that, John 12:32 says, \u201cAnd I, if I am lifted up\u201d Jesus, on the cross, \u201cfrom the earth, will draw all men to Myself.\u201d\u00a0 So they say well there it is, everyone is going to get saved.\u00a0 But the verse doesn\u2019t say that.\u00a0 The verse says God draws everybody, whether they actually believe the gospel or not is up to them.\u00a0 So you can send out a life preserver but the person has to actually grab the life preserver.\u00a0 And this verse never says everyone grabs the life preserver; what it says is the life preserver goes out to everybody.\r\n\r\nThey like to use Philippians 2:11, \u201cand that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.\u201d\u00a0 So the universalist says look, it says right there that everyone is going to confess Jesus Christ as Lord.\u00a0 Well, I\u2019ll tell you what I think that means? I think it does mean everyone will confess Jesus Christ as Lord but some people will do it from heaven, other people will do it from hell.\u00a0 Some people will do it from heaven as an act of joy, other people will do it from hell under duress to do so.\u00a0 So again that verse is not saying everyone will be saved.\r\n\r\nThe universalist likes to quote 1 Timothy 2:4, which says, (and there\u2019s a parallel passage in 2 Peter 3:9,\u00a0 [8b] \u201cGod our Savior [9] who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.\u201d\u00a0 So everyone will be saved, right?\u00a0 No, all that\u2019s saying is God desires all people to be saved.\u00a0 You have the same type of teaching over in 2 Peter 3:9, \u201cThe Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 So the universalist says the whole world is going to come to repentance, and it doesn\u2019t say that, it says that\u2019s God\u2019s desire\u2026 God\u2019s desire!\r\n\r\nSo none of these passages really teach universalism.\u00a0 In fact, when you go to the bottom of the screen there are other crystal clear passages that very clearly teach that not everybody will be saved.\u00a0 We want everybody saved but the reality of the situation is not necessarily everyone will be saved.\r\n\r\nMatthew 7:13-14, says, \u201cEnter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. [14] For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.\u201d\u00a0 Does that sound like everybody is going to be saved to you?\u00a0 I mean, the way this reads to me is the path to destruction is like the five lane highway, or freeway, and the way to life is that little tiny access road on the side.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t give you the foggiest\u2026 it teaches really the opposite, the idea that everyone in the end will be saved doesn\u2019t comport at all with that passage.\r\n\r\nNotice Matthew 13:49-50, it says, \u201cSo it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, [50] and will throw them\u201d that\u2019s the wicked, \u201cinto the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Clearly talking about some people tragically in hell.\r\n\r\nNotice Matthew 25:32, this is very common, people will cite a verse but they don\u2019t look at the whole Bible on a subject; whenever you want to get the mind of God on a topic you can\u2019t just consult a<\/u><\/strong> verse, you have to look at everything the Bible has to say about that given subject.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I\u2019m doing here with this doctrine of universalism.\u00a0 Matthew 25:32, Jesus is speaking, and He says, \u00a0\u201cAll the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;\u201d verse 34, \u201cThen the King will say to those on His right,\u201d now that\u2019s always interesting, the sheep are on the right, I don\u2019t know if I want to go too far with that, the goats are on the left, I\u2019m just saying, that\u2019s all.\u00a0 Verse 34, \u201cThen the King will say to those on His right, \u2018Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Well what about the goats, those on the left?\u00a0 They\u2019re in verse 46, \u201cThese\u201d that\u2019s the goats, \u201cwill go away into\u201d what kind of punishment, \u201ceternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.\u201d\u00a0 I mean very clearly with this sheep and goat judgment not everyone is saved.\r\n\r\nAnd if there\u2019s a verse in the Bible that causes people to get saved, if it doesn\u2019t it should, it\u2019s Revelation 20:11-15 which is the description of the Great White Throne Judgment.\u00a0 It says, \u201cThen I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. [12] And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. [13] The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. [14] Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. [15] Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.\u201d\r\n\r\nSo if your name is not in \u201cthe book,\u201d the Lamb\u2019s Book of Life, then you\u2019re judged by \u201cthe books.\u201d\u00a0 So if\u00a0 your name is not in the book, singular, you\u2019re judged by the books, plural.\u00a0 So the big question is what\u2019s in \u201cthe books\u201d?\u00a0 I would guess that the \u201cbooks\u201d plural, is a record of our deeds as unsaved people, a record of sin in other words.\u00a0 And those determine degree of punishment in hell.\u00a0 I mean, hell is hell, but it\u2019s more hell for some people than others, which would make sense if you\u2019re dealing with an omniscient perfectly just God.\u00a0 We wouldn\u2019t expect just an unbeliever to be punished the same way as an Adolf Hitler throughout eternity.\r\n\r\nSo just as there are different degrees of reward in heaven there are differing degrees of punishment in the lake of fire.\u00a0 And it very clearly says\u2026 it\u2019s a terrible scene here, that if you name is not in the Book of Life\u201d you\u2019re thrown into the lake of fire and the books are consulted just to determine the degree of torment\u00a0 you experience throughout your life. \u00a0So how could a person read a paragraph like that and claim that everyone is going to be saved?\u00a0 It\u2019s impossible.\r\n\r\nNow what am I trying to do?\u00a0 Just give scare tactics?\u00a0 No, I basically am a theologian and studying theology has taught me something, that theology is like dominoes in a row; if you knock over one domino what\u2019s going to happen to the rest? \u00a0They\u2019re going to start to fall.\u00a0 Any area of theology that you compromise in is going to, whether you realize it or not, indirectly affect another area of theology.\u00a0 So think about this for a moment.\u00a0 If in the end everyone is going to be saved what does that do to the urgency of evangelism; it short-circuits it.\u00a0 See that?\r\n\r\nWhat does that do to the doctrine of missiology or missions, where people at great labor and expense to themselves and tedious time, learn another culture, learn another language, to go to a foreign country and then they get the Bible translated from Hebrew and Greek and Aramaic into some foreign dialect with the hope that some people will read it and not go to hell.\u00a0 If everyone in the end is going to be saved then, I mean, I guess the urgency of doing all of those things to get the gospel to the lost is not as urgent.\u00a0 And you start fiddling around with the doctrine of eternal retribution, as much as it comforts us to do that, because the doctrine is sort of scary to us, it throws an automatic wet blanket over missiology.\u00a0 The urgency of evangelism, missions,\u00a0 learning about other cultures to share the gospel with them, learning another language to share the gospel with them basically disappears.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why I bring up things like I do because in my training I see how what\u2019s happening over here is going to impact over here, dominoes in a row.\u00a0 So the Bible does not teach universalism.\r\n\r\nNow a slightly nuance view is inclusivism and this is what\u2019s coming through on the movie The Shack<\/em>, and Rob Bell and things like that.\u00a0 Inclusivism is the idea that all sincere seekers will be saved regardless of whether they know the name Jesus Christ; as long as you\u2019re seeking God to the best of\u00a0 your abilities, in your own religion, whether it be Islam or whatever, that\u2019s all that matters.\u00a0 And in the end God will accept such a person.\u00a0 And I just give you these quotes not to pick on people but I want to show you how close this is coming to home.\r\n\r\nThis is a You Tube exchange Oprah Winfrey had with a member of her studio audience.\u00a0 You can find this on\u00a0 You Tube very easily and see this.\u00a0 Oprah says: \u201cOne of the mistakes that human beings make is believing there\u2019s only one way.\u201d\u00a0 She goes on and says, \u201cThere are many, many paths to what you call\u2026\u201d she\u2019s reacting to an evangelical Christian in the audience, \u201cto what you call God.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter whether she\u201d that\u2019s the person her audience she\u2019s reacting to, \u201ccall it God along the way or not.\u00a0 There couldn\u2019t possibly be just one way.\u00a0 There couldn\u2019t possibly be only way with the millions of people in the world.\u201d\u00a0 And at the end she says, \u201cYou\u2019re on some remote part of the earth and you\u2019ve never heard the name Jesus, are you telling me you can\u2019t get to heaven.\u201d\u00a0 See, what she\u2019s arguing here for is inclusivism; of course God is going to accept people because they\u2019re sincerely seeking Him with what they know.\r\n\r\nThis one is painful to put up; this is Tony Evans, and this is from his book, Totally Saved<\/em>, The First Edition.\u00a0 Now to their credit the publishers removed this statement from the second edition but they never issued any sort of public apology or retraction.\u00a0 But in the first edition this is what Tony Evans says.\u00a0 Now this is painful for me because he\u2019s one of our guys, he\u2019s a DTS grad like I am, I enjoy a lot of his teachings on the radio and what I\u2019m trying to demonstrate is how close this is hitting to home, this inclusivism.\r\n\r\nHe says: \u201cIn a class I once taught at Dallas Seminary I inadvertently asked an exam question on material I had not covered in class.\u00a0 One of the students brought this discrepancy to my attention.\u00a0 To be fair I had to rescore all of the latest papers because I could not hold the students liable for information they had never been given.\u00a0 So the premise is that God will not hold people accountable for a decision they cannot make based on information they have not received.\u00a0 And people in faraway lands who have never heard the gospel still have to answer for their sins.\u00a0 This means we need to talk about the provision God has made for those who cannot believe.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the spiritual principle at work; when people respond to what they do know of God He takes personal responsibility for giving them more information about Himself.\u00a0 In the case of a person who never hears the gospel,\u201d now here\u2019s the part, up to this point it\u2019s like yeah, I agree, but here\u2019s the troubling part, \u201cIn the case of a person who never hears the gospel and never knows the name Jesus but who responds to the light he has, God treats that person like an Old Testament saint, if you will.\u00a0 That is, if the person trusts in what God has revealed God deals with that person based on knowledge that he has, not based on the knowledge he has never received.\u201d\u00a0 Do you see that?\u00a0 \u201cI call this trans dispensationalism\u201d as if we as dispensationalist don\u2019t have enough bad press, now he\u2019s blaming it on us, \u201cby this I mean if a person is sincerely seeking in a desire to know Him and responding to the truth he knows, if there\u2019s no missionary or direct manifestation of God then God judges that person based on his faith in the light he has received.\u00a0 And in the case of Abraham God will retroactively count this person as righteous by applying the death of Christ from the dispensation of grace.\u201d\u00a0 That is inclusivism, that\u2019s what he\u2019s saying there.\r\n\r\nI\u2019m not quoting Oprah any more, this is one of our guys.\u00a0 Now one more, if I haven\u2019t offended you yet, this one will.\u00a0 This is Billy Graham, the greatest evangelist in the 20th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 My own mother was saved through Billy Graham and his evangelistic ministry.\u00a0 People get saved all the time through Billy Graham.\u00a0 However, there is a Youtube exchange between Billy Graham and Robert Schuller that you can find online.\u00a0 Robert Schuller is The Hour\u2026 well, he\u2019s dead now but the Hour of Power, Crystal Cathedral. I basically grew up 20 minutes from Robert Schuller\u2019s church and I would drive on the Garden Grove freeway and see that giant shimmering glass structure that he built.\r\n\r\nDr. Schuller, as he\u2019s talking to Billy Graham, \u201cWhat is the future of Christianity?\u201d\u00a0 Dr. Graham, \u201cWell, Christianity and being a true believer, you know, I think there\u2019s the body of Christ which comes from all the Christian groups around the world or outside the Christian groups.\u00a0 I think that everybody that loves Christ or knows Christ, whether they are conscious of it or not they are members of the body of Christ and I don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to see a great revival that will turn the world to Christ at any time.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what God is doing today, He is calling people out of the world for His name, whether they come from the Muslim world, the Buddhist world, the Christian world or the non-believing world they are members of the body of Christ because they have been called by God.\u00a0 They may not even know the name Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 You see that?\u00a0 That\u2019s inclusivism.\u00a0 \u201cBut they know in their heart they need something that they don\u2019t have and they turn to the only light that they have and they\u2019re saved and they\u2019re going to be in heaven with us.\u201d\r\n\r\nNow Robert Schuller, \u201cThis is fantastic, I am so thrilled to hear you say that, there\u2019s a wideness in God\u2019s mercy.\u201d\u00a0 Now am I trying to discredit everything Billy Graham has ever said?\u00a0 No!\u00a0 Am I trying to discredit everything Tony Evans has ever said?\u00a0 No!\u00a0 I\u2019m trying to, before I explain inclusivism, which I\u2019ll do next week, I\u2019ll get more into it, I\u2019m trying to show you that this is not just pie in the sky stuff out there on the periphery, this is in the culture and sadly the church is becoming just like the world and buying into the world\u2019s soteriology.\u00a0 And some of the leading figures in Christendom today, in their moments of candor or weakness, whatever you want to call it, will start to make inclusivist types statements.\r\n\r\nSo I\u2019ll stop talking; most of you are saying amen, let\u2019s get off that subject.\u00a0 But we\u2019ll finish this next week with inclusivism.","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