Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Wednesday,
May 1, 2019
Unless you understand the correct interpretation of the passage, you will think that these two verses coming up teach that a believer can lose his salvation.
Joh 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and he does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.
Do you see any reference to a believer being lost or any references to salvation; or any references for the believer to keep themselves saved and no longer sin.
None of the passages talk about believers losing their salvation but really it refers to believers who will be placed under divine discipline if they do not repent and bear fruit.
He had reached a place where he no longer sins because he thinks he has reached the point of “sinless perfection.”
Sinless perfection is a major doctrinal error that teaches that a believer can reach a point where he or she no longer sins.
Sinless Perfection is to be in a state that a believer thinks that he can reach a point where he or she no longer sins nor desires to do so.
Some of the current day cults like “Christian Science” actually teach that there is no such thing as sin and that all believers have the power and ability to “sin no longer.”
False doctrine -- a believer can reach a spiritual high with some sort of experience like sinless perfection which begins from the day of their salvation and maintained all the way to physical death.
These individuals, especially like those involved with Christian Scientology, teach that there is no such thing as sins and that sin is nothing more than a mirage.
One of the founders of Christian Science was a woman named Mary Baker Eddy who founded this cult in 1879 as a Christian denomination that mixes the Bible with psychology.
What did you expect to find from a cult, the Truth or a lie?
Notice our Lord gave instructions to all the “twelve disciples,” including the one mentioned in Joh 13:1 our Lord is said to have
loved His own who were in the world, including Judas Iscariot.
Judas is still with our Lord in the upper room before the “Passover Supper” begins.
He who is least in the kingdom of heaven are said to be greater than John the Baptist, (winner believer) who was the greatest of all in the Kingdom of God among all the Old Testament saints.
The only reason why we have been elevated is because of our union and owe position in Christ.
2CO 5:17 Therefore if any man is [notice the phrase “en Christou” which means that the believer is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Our position in Christ also gives us the right to walk in the newness of resurrection life; Rom 6:4.
Our position in Christ also deals with dying with Him as He dies for us; Rom 6:5.
We have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.
What happens to him, happens to us!
ROM 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life (where) in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In Eph 1:4, we have election and predestination because of our union with the Lord.
EPH 2:6 is given as a blessing of our position in Christ.
Here we have been identified with Him as He was raised from the dead and so will we.
We also have been identified with Him as He was seated at the right hand of God and therefore so are we as we are identified with His session, being seated at the right hand of God.
MAT 24:4-5, our Lord says to His disciples; "See to it that no one misleads you for many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many.
Scientology -- founded by L. Ron Hubbard in 1953 as an independent religion.
Christian Science was founded by a woman named Mary Baker Eddy as a Christian denomination. Scientology was founded by L. Ron Hubbard in 1953 as an independent religion.
You are choosing teachings that eventually lead to the elevation of the old sin nature and deprive its students of the grace of God as the basis of living the spiritual life.
These different manifestations of the teachings of Christ have been diluted and members of the human race are even told that they can become like a god, that is like a little god.
PSA 58:1 (For the choir director; set to Al‑tashheth. A Mikhtam of David.) Do you indeed speak righteousness, O gods? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men?
PSA 82:6 I said, "You are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High.
Humans can become like gods, that is “little gods” in JOH 10:34-36 Jesus answered them, "Has it not been written in your Law, 'I said, you are gods'?
JOH 10:35 "If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),
JOH 10:36 do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?
One of the major points that our Lord was revealing is the difference between fallen humanity and fallen angels.
The main point is this that our belief system in the human realm is called evil.
Colonel Robert B. Thieme, III has summarized the problem BETWEEN human good and divine good.
Divine good also known as "altruism, brotherly love, humanitarianism, reformation, public welfare, liberalism, even socialism are not always antithetical to God's plan, and therefore, are not always evil.
Many times, they look like believers who may correspond to establishment principles or constitute a bona fide function of government.
And this is one of the main reasons why most believers live under a set of rules that tries to raise up the good that humans produce which is called “human good.”
Kindnesses, such as feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, and giving to the poor and needy, and other acts of charity, done with proper motivation are not only helpful but mandated by the word of God.
The proper motivation includes freedom from self-promotion or personal elevation for both believers and unbelievers, and the filling of the Spirit plus "spiritual momentum" is for believers only.
These acts of charity are never permanent solutions for the problems of mankind, the old sin nature quickly corrupts good intentions.
The only lasting solution is the personal, spiritual one: Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ for the unbeliever and spiritual growth and utilization of the problem-solving devices for the believer."
In cults like “Christian Science,” sin is believed to be a delusional state of human thought.
You need to be cognizant of sin and evil and repent strongly enough to bring on reformation in your soul personally.
Freedom from sin is only possibly through Christ; the Word of God is what leads us away from temptation and sinful beliefs.
Scientology believes that while "man is basically good," about two and a half percent of the population "possess characteristics and mental attitudes" that are violent or that stand in opposition of the good of others.
Scientology has its own justice system to deal with crimes and offenses which is carried out by Scientologists.
They teach that scientology's methods are what free you from pain and early trauma in order to be able to achieve the state of "clear conscience.
In Christian Science, salvation encompasses your ability to awaken to the grace of God in you but then you must make a decision either for it or reject it.
In Scientology, the first goal is to achieve a "clear" state, which means "releasing all the physical pain and painful emotion" involved in whatever your life demands.
Prin: There is no Bible doctrine of a state of sinless perfection for the believer.
In our study of whether or not a person can lose their salvation has been a doctrine that has separated Christianity since the Church-age began.
There are two verses in this passage that seem to say that a believer can lose his status with God or that a believer can say to God, “I no longer believe in you.”
You cannot give a gift back to the Lord.
You can reach a point where you think you have the power to do so is the epitome of arrogance because you are saying that God did not have the power to keep you.
Do you realize that if you could lose your salvation that you went from being a believer to an unbeliever and then back to becoming an unbeliever once again.
You can never really have the confidence that you will need if you are occupied with “your salvation” and trying to keep yourself saved.
You are saved and kept saved by our Lord not by ourselves; 1Pe 1:5.
If a believer could lose his salvation, wouldn’t the Lord make sure that there are some passages or even just one passage that says, “Be careful Brethren, that you do not lose your salvation.”
Do you believe that our Lord finished the work that God the Father assigned to Him?
JOH 17:4 "I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do.
MAT 5:16 "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
JOH 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit.
It is a subject that has destroyed a lot of believers and have caused a lot of judgmental believers to judge and put down other believers by making an issue out of sin rather them the Son.
What I am about to show you are a couple of verses that have scared thousands of believers into thinking that the Lord has rejected them and they have lost their Salvation.
We need to emphasize our first approach which I will call the Eternal Security Approaches.
In Joh 15, this one passage in verse 6, has been misunderstood by many believers who have good intentions but really cannot grasp the “Finished Work” of our Lord.
JOH 15:6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
You cannot lose your salvation and we will approach this subject very carefully by using the word “Approach.”
PHI 3:14 “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
To do this you have to make sure that you do not fall away from the Lord but believe that you can live the spiritual life and as you forget what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.
PHI 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
- So, our first approach is what we call the Positional Approach: Rom 8:1; Eph 1:3-6; Jude 1. Every believer is in union with Christ and that is why Rom 8:38-39 says what it does.
If you are “in Christ,” then this verse says you will never be condemned or judged by God no matter what you think, say, or do.
There is conviction by God the Holy Spirit which is legitimate but condemnation is not.
Holy Spirit conviction verses satanic condemnation is always a crossroads as to which way we will go.
Holy Spirit conviction always gives us a way out in which the grace of God is magnified and reconciliation is the goal of God the Holy Spirit.
Whereas satanic accusations condemn a person and has no way out except satanic condemnation.
It is the Spirit verses Satan.
Conviction verses condemnation.
It is life spiritually or death experientially.
We have our Lord’s word on the type of judgment we will face; Joh 7:24.
When we are told that we are “in Christ” that is our position and not our condition.
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Later on in this passage the apostle Paul stresses that we are in Christ and we can never lose what God has given by means of grace.