Salvation, once saved always saved? - Tim Conway

If you weren't at our church on Sunday,

let me just tell you.

I preached from Romans 13:11-14.

And in verse 11, Paul says,

"and this, knowing the time..."

And the thing that he says
about the time there

is that our salvation is closer

than when we first believed.

Well, one of the things that I brought out

is the fact that we tend not

to think about salvation biblically.

We typically talk about
salvation past tense.

Like I emphasized then,

we live in this "once
saved, always saved" era.

Somebody's probably wondering,

well, hey, I thought once you were saved,

you're always saved.

No doubt about it.

The problem is the
Bible doesn't typically -

for one thing, the Bible never says that.

That doesn't mean it's not true,

but the Bible never says it,

and it never emphasizes it that way.

And what most people mean

when they say that

is I said a prayer, I walked an aisle,

I went to church,

I believed in Jesus,

I was saved -

now no matter what happens

and no matter how I live,

I am going to get to the end.

That is an error.

That is absolutely erroneous
to the Scriptures.

The Bible says - Jesus Christ Himself

says very plainly

that only if you endure to
the end will you be saved.

What does that endurance look like?

Well, the Bible describes
it in a lot of places.

What I've done - I've done this before,

and I encourage you guys to do it too.

Go through your entire New Testament.

Look at every place where "saved,"

"saving," "salvation," "saves."

Any of the words "salvation," "saved,"

type of words,

and guess what you find out?

You find out that only

maybe not even a handful of times

out of all the many times that it's used

does it ever speak about salvation

as a past tense thing.

Most of the time,

salvation is looked at as

an ongoing process or future.

Your salvation is closer

than when you first believed.

Why do I emphasize that?

I emphasize it for this reason,

if we talked;

if we spoke the way the Bible speaks,

we would talk about:

Hey brother, are you being saved?

But we don't talk that way.

But listen, just one place

that just shoots to my mind right now

is found in 1 Corinthians 15.

"Now, I remind you, brothers,

of the Gospel I preached to you,
which you received, in which you stand,

and by which you are being saved

if you hold fast to the
Word I preached to you,

unless you believed in vain."

You know what he doesn't assume there?

He doesn't assume that your past faith

is worth anything unless you endure;

unless you persevere in this truth.

And he says, in fact,

"You are being saved."

That's just like Paul says
over in Romans 13.

Your salvation is closer

than when you first believed.

Peter talks about a salvation

ready to be revealed in the last time.

Well, okay, what does that
have to do with creation?

Well, it's got a lot to do with it

because what it's got to do with,

it's got to do with our Bibles.

It's very important that we talk

the way the Bible talks.

Like I say, you and I

typically talk about salvation

as a past event.

Which the Bible does.

Look, to do that is not erroneous.

But folks, generally heresies

are not just a total
turning from all truth.

Heresy typically is when you

exaggerate a certain truth to the point

where it becomes no longer truth.

Like, imagine a human face.

If all of a sudden, my eye

starts getting bigger and bigger

until it's about that big,

and I walk in here.

Suddenly, something
seems very wrong, right?

If somebody came in with
about a four foot eyeball,

we would all notice.

And it would not be beautiful, right?

We would look at it and we would say

that's hideous, that's grotesque,

that's abnormal.

Something's wrong.

Well, that's what heresy is.

(Incomplete thought)

Typical heresies comes

when people find one verse or two verses

and they so jack them out of proportion

that you end up with something
that's no longer truth.

And see, when you and I,

we get into the mold

where we talk in a certain way,

but the emphasis is not biblical.

Well, then, we're beginning
to depart from truth,

even though what we actually say

may in the concept itself
and in the statement itself

be accurate.

I mean, there are places

that speak past tense
about us being saved.

"You've been saved by grace through faith,

that not of yourselves."

We know the Bible talks that way,

but not often.

I mean, I would challenge
you folks right now.

Any of you,

other than the text that I just mentioned,

Ephesians 2:8-9,

find somewhere in your Bibles

where salvation is past tense.

I challenge you guys to do it.

Most of you have your Bibles.

Most of you know your
Bible to some degree.

Can anybody even think of another verse

or produce anything

or look something up?

Now look, if you've got a concordance -

some of you might be turning
to a concordance in the back -

but even so, that's legitimate.

Go ahead.

Learn how to use your Bible tools.

(unintelligible)

Say it.

(unintelligible)

2 Timothy 1:9

"Who saved us and called
us to a holy calling,

not because of our works,

but because of His own purpose and grace,

which He gave us in Christ Jesus

before the ages began."

Okay, we've got two now.

Anybody think of another?

Titus 3:5

"He saved us, not because of works

done by us in righteousness..."

Okay, we've got three.

Now, if I were to ask you

how many times do you think

that some form of "save" or "salvation"

is found in the New Testament,

what do you think?

You think like six?

So, like half the times it's past?

No, it's found there a lot. A lot.

It really is.

I don't have all the statistics.

And this isn't something I
really meant to go with,

but it's something that I
want to encourage all of you,

when you read your Bibles,

think about what your Bible's saying.

Ask yourself,

because like I said before,

if we're going to be biblical;

if we're going to talk
like the apostles talk,

we ought to talk about being saved,

and we ought to talk about a salvation

yet to be revealed.

And that we're closer to it.

Because this is how Paul

sought to encourage Christians.

This is how Peter did.

They talked and they set our hope

on a future salvation.

(from the room)

Excuse me, on this verse in 1 Peter 5,

It says we're kept by the
power of God through faith.

That's right.

No question about it.

(from the room)

But you said that God would keep us

in salvation sometimes and sometimes not?

Tim: No. No, no, no, no.

We are kept by God.

We are kept by the power
of God through faith.

The power of God is
demonstrated in our lives

by the faith He keeps us in.

The bottom line, folks,

if our faith is real to begin with

and it is indeed the powerful,

the power of God sustaining faith,

that we're kept by,

then all you folks know
what James 2 says, right?

James 2 says, "faith
without works is dead."

Bottom line is we find that
if we say we know Him

and we don't keep His commandments,

we're liars and the truth isn't in us.

Bottom line, if we are those

who practice unrighteousness

according to 1 John 3 -

you can read about the first 15 verses

of 1 John 3 -

the Bible's pretty explicit.

Jesus Christ says you're
only going to be saved

if you endure to the end.

The fact is there are
people that have faith;

there are demons that have faith,

and their faith doesn't save them.

Bottom line is in John 2

there were people who believed in Jesus,

and you look at the
last couple verses there,

it says Jesus didn't
commit Himself to them

because He knew what was in men.

And the bottom line is this,

there is a faith that saves, and
there is a faith that does not save.

The Bible's pretty explicit about that.

The faith that does not save

is a faith that's no better

than what the demons have.

The demons believe Jesus Christ

was a true historical figure.

There's no question about it,

when God saves us, we are born again,

and nobody plucks us
out of the Father's hand.

I'm not saying that
speaking about salvation

as a past event is wrong.

But because the Bible is so aware

that multitudes that claim to know Christ,

in the day of judgment for one,

are going to say, "Lord, Lord,"

and He's going to say, "I never knew you."

Well, what happened there?
Did they not believe?

Well, certainly, they believed
He was a true historical figure.

Certainly, they even believed He was Lord.

They called Him Lord.

And yet there was something innately wrong

with their faith

because they're being
cast away in that day.

And by the way, Jesus
doesn't say it's just a few.

He says multitudes, many.

In fact, He says in another place

that we need to strive to
enter into the straight gate

or the narrow gate

because many are going
to seek to enter in therein

and are not going to be able to.

Brethren, the way the
Bible lays this thing down

is we need to work out our salvation

with fear and trembling.

And there are people that fall out

and make shipwreck all the time.

Now, what do we say about those people?

Well, we can say that basically

it's the type of soil where
the plant began to grow

and there were no true roots

and it rejoiced and received
the truth for a season.

But we know, basically the Bible tells us

that God keeps His own.

But what the Bible also makes very clear

is if we don't persevere to the end,

we give the definite proof

we never belonged to
God in the first place.

And there's a whole lot of people

that believe they belong to God,

claim they belong to God,

make testimonies of such,
go to church,

but they fall out and make shipwreck

or they make it to the end,

but then there on judgment day,

they find out at the judgment bar itself,

He didn't know me.

What happened?

What was wrong there?

Did they not have any faith at all?

No, they had a certain type of faith.

But there is a certain type of
faith that doesn't save us.

There's no question about it,

when somebody truly comes to faith,

that true faith is a gift of God.

God doesn't repeal it.

By His power, He keeps that individual

in that faith.

But I'll tell you this,
the reason Jesus says

you've got to persevere
and endure to the end

in order to be saved

is because the true faith

that is energized by
the true power of God

will always declare itself
by persevering till the end.

And if you fall out shy of the end,

you give the greatest evidence

that it wasn't a God-given faith.

And the only reason that
I even brought this up

is really not to get into any debates

over the nature of salvation.

The reason I brought this up

is because we need to
talk like the Bible talks.

We need to talk about being saved.

And we need to talk
about a future salvation.

And you see, this was the very point

Paul made to the Corinthians.

He said you're being saved by this Gospel

unless you've believed in vain,

which he's acknowledging they did believe.

But it's possible people
can believe in vain.

And the way it demonstrates itself

is when they fall out of the race.

(incomplete thought).

Look, a faith that is not
connected with works

is a dead faith James says.

(incomplete thought)

Are we saved by our works?

No, but true faith is always

accompanied by works

because it's always accompanied

by regeneration.

Regeneration is being made

a new creation in Jesus Christ.

That's the truth that comes
right out of 2 Corinthians 5.

If we're not new creatures in Christ;

if we haven't been born again,

we will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

Lay it down, folks.

You must be born again.

Born again means radical transformation.

New creations in Christ.

Old things passed away.

All things become new.

The problem is that as
much as all that's true,

the Bible does two things.

It looks at salvation

from the standpoint of
God in some places, right?

In some places, salvation is viewed

from God's power,

God's responsibility,

God's protection, God's saving grace,

God's saving power.

For instance, anybody think of one?

I think of Philippians 1:6 right off.

We have this guarantee, right?

That if God begins a work,

He's going to finish it.

(from the room) Ephesians 4:30,

we're sealed by the Holy Spirit.

Tim: That's true too.

We're sealed with the Holy Spirit.

Nobody takes that seal off.

In other places, salvation is viewed

from man's responsibility.

And that's why we have places in our Bible

like Hebrews 6, Hebrews 10,

that actually describes
people who fall away.

Paul distinctly speaks about people

making shipwreck of the faith.

Christ specifically speaks
about enduring to the end

if you'll be saved.

Well, why those verses?

Because brethren, when the
parable of the soils is given,

only those who bear
fruit are the true deal.

Those who don't bring forth fruit

aren't the real deal, and they fall out.

Why do people fall out?

We know it.

This has been true of
Christianity for 2,000 years.

People start the race
and they fall out. Why?

You've got Demas.
What type of soil was he?

I'd say he's a pretty good
indicator of the third type.

What happened? Cares and riches.

What did he do? He loved the world.

He fell out.

Paul talks about others that
made shipwreck of the faith.

Why do people make shipwreck?

What about Judas? He made shipwreck.

People right in Paul's own
company made shipwreck.

Brethren, it's been that
way throughout history.

People don't make it till the end.

Christ says if you don't endure...

So you have it from both standpoints.

You have the truths that God gives to us

that are meant to encourage us.

Nothing can separate me
from the love of Christ.

My faith sinks its teeth in that.

But you know what? There are some people

that when the allurements
of the world come along,

they look at that and
they look at the world

and they'd rather have the world.

It doesn't mean anything to them

that the Bible says

nothing can separate them
from the love of Christ.

They don't care.

They don't have faith to
even lay hold on that.

They're looking at the
worldly things over here

and they weigh it out and they go.

There are the people that
are the second type of soil.

What happens to them?

Boy, they receive it gladly

for a season,

but then what happens to them?

They can't endure persecution.

They can't endure trial.

Why is that?

(incomplete thought).

I'll tell you what it always is.

There may be a number of answers,

but it always comes down to this.

You know why the true
Christian doesn't bail out

when the trials come?

Because He wants Christ
more than anything else.

He wants Christ. He loves Christ.

And when trial comes,

he doesn't like the trial

any better than the other guy.

But he wants Christ more
than he wants ease.

He wants Christ more
than he wants money.

He wants Christ more than
he wants anything else.

And so no matter how hard the trial gets,

even Paul getting beat by the rods

and scourged and in the sea

and false brethren and
all that came upon him,

he never bailed out of the race. Why?

For him to live was Christ

and to die was gain to be with Christ.

Be absent from the body
and present with the Lord.

Folks, when Christ is your all,

you'll hold the line.

No matter what comes,

no matter what riches
you're tempted with,

no matter what trials come,
no matter what persecutions come,

no matter what pain, sufferings, sorrows,

you'll toe the line.

Why? Because it comes back to faith.

Faith believes in a Christ
we have never seen.

Bottom line, the only way

people will hang on to Christ

at the expense of everything else

is if they have a faith

that really believes,

if somehow in their faith,

they've seen in their mind's eye

the beauties and the glory

and the preciousness of Christ,

that in their estimation
outweighs everything.

We love Him, folks, not having seen Him.

We believe in an unseen Christ.

You and I haven't seen Him.

There was Thomas,

"My Lord and my God."

And Jesus said to Him,

"You believe you've seen.

Blessed are those who believe

and they haven't seen." Right?

The fact is people fall out
of this race all the time.

And if they do, it's because
they don't endure to the end.

And the reason that Paul would have

the Corinthians in one
place examine themselves

whether they be in the faith
is because you can believe it,

there's a number of them
that weren't in the faith.

Why? You had all sorts of
wickedness going on there.

Paul never came along and assumed

that everybody that said
they were a Christian

were actually a Christian.

He doesn't assume that.

Now, he deals with people

based on testimonies they have.

If people claimed to be Christians,

he would deal with them on that level,

but he would also tell them,

examine yourself whether
you're in the faith.

In the pastoral epistles,

he calls men out by name.

He talks about men that made shipwreck.

And the writer of Hebrews

is pretty straightforward.

Let me tell you this too.

Peter's pretty straightforward as well

in 2 Peter 2.

He says you know what?

We've got some people in the church.

They're pigs. They go back to the mire.

They're dogs and they
go back to their vomit.

What does that tell us about?

It tells us that there
was something wrong.

These men had professions.

You look at the context there,

very likely even those

that may have been teaching the Gospel.

But what happens? They fall out.

And then they prove to be
what they always were,

which is what? Dogs and pigs.

And how are they proven?

They go back. They go back.

Brethren, this is serious stuff.

When Christ says, "strive to enter in,"

many are going to seek to go in there

and will not be able.

What do you guys do with that?

Do you just write it off?

Well, once saved always saved.

For one, the Bible
doesn't speak like that.

Number two, the way the Bible speaks

is the violent take it by force,

strive to enter in,

many are going to seek to
enter in and will not be able.

What's this?

This isn't what you hear in many pulpits.

But this is most certainly
what you read in the Bible.

You say, where's that come from?

Well, that comes in
places like Matthew 12,

Matthew 7, Luke 13.

Brethren, the Bible talks about violence,

force, striving, pressing in,

narrow gates, narrow ways,

few there be that find it,

many in that day saying "Lord, Lord,"

and He says "I never knew you."

Few there be that find it.

We live in a country where, what,

40-some-odd percent claim to be

born again Christians.

And yet the Bible says,
"few there be that find it."

Amazing.

You know what?

It's not amazing that on judgment day,

Jesus Christ is going to say to many,

"Depart from Me. I never knew you."

Why isn't that amazing?

That's not amazing

because 45% of Americans
claim to be born again.

That's why it's not amazing.

We see the very fruits of what
the Bible says already, do we not?

I mean, come on, folks,

when you look around at the 45%

that claim to be born again,

and their abortion rates are just
as high as the rest of the world,

their divorce rates are just as
high as the rest of the world,

they watch the same filth that
the rest of the world watches,

immerse themselves in the same garbage,

and what? What are we led to believe?

Well, the church isn't much different

than the lost world out there?

No, folks, that's not what
we're led to believe.

Look, the Bible says this.

In Romans 8, it says you are

predestined to be conformed
to the image of Christ.

Guess what it says in Ephesians 1?

It says that before the very
foundation of the world,

we were chosen.

God chose us.

It doesn't say we chose Him, by the way.

It's amazing how many people
flip that thing on its head.

It says - what does it say?

"Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ

who has blessed us with
every spiritual blessing

in Him in the heavenly places,

even as He chose us..."

Not as we chose Him; as He chose us.

"...In Him before the
foundation of the world

that we should be holy and
blameless before Him."

Holy and blameless.

We're chosen for that.

Predestined to be conformed

to the very image of Christ.

Folks, the church of Jesus Christ

is very healthy and holy.

Fighting? Yes. Striving? Yes.

Having to cut off hands? Pull out eyes?

Is there all-out battle? Yes.

Are they pressing? Striving?
Is there violence? Yes.

But just like with the
verse you brought up,

listen, folks, if it wasn't
for the power of God,

we'd fall out of this race in a second.

Because the violence it takes,

the strength it takes,

the plucking out of eyes it takes,

the lopping off of hands,

the tears and the groanings

and the fighting

and by the Spirit of God

putting to death this sin,

the all-out battle,

if it wasn't the power of God

keeping our faith a reality,

keeping us locked onto Christ,

keeping us in the midst
of the heat and the battle,

keeping us believing that Jesus Christ

is more precious than anything else -

we would fall out of the race.

We'd fall out of the battle.

The race would be over.
We'd be all done.

Folks, the Bible says

that fornicators and adulterers

don't inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

Bottom line.

We've got to fight against this.
We've got to overcome this.

Basically, we are people
who walk in the Spirit.

We are people who we oppose

the deeds of the flesh

and we put them to death by the Spirit.

And it's battle.

And folks, listen, if you're here

and you've become a Christian,

and all of a sudden,
you've encountered battles

against sin that you never thought

you would ever come up against,

and all hell seems like
it's raging against you,

don't think: "Oh no!
I must not be a Christian!"

What you ought to be thinking

is praise the Lord!

He's brought me into this thing.

He's given me a hatred for sin.

And there is all-out battle here.

What does Peter say?

Peter talks about these lusts.

He talks about these things

that wage war against the flesh.

What does he call them?

What wages war against us?

What is it that's all-out against us?

Anybody know?

What is it?

(from the room)
Powers and principalities?

Tim: No - I mean, no doubt.

Principalities and powers are against us.

But Peter talks about something

that wages war against us.

Fleshly lusts.

They wage war.

Folks, when you become a Christian,

fleshly lusts wage war against us.

Principalities and powers
wage war against us.

And in the midst of all of it,

Spurgeon likened the Christian life

to a dove flying through

a literal cloud of arrows.

And that God guides us against all odds

through all the arrows

to a haven of rest.

And that's what it is.

And I'll tell you what,

if you don't have God supporting you;

if you don't have God holding you up;

if you don't have God moving you through;

God giving you grace;

God giving you strength;

God giving you power;

God keeping your faith real;

God keeping you repenting;

God keeping you mightier than the sins

that are trying to overtake you;

keeping you in a walk in the Spirit,

a walk that does have
the aroma of holiness,

of righteousness.

How does that happen
with everything against us?

It happens one way.

God predestined us to be conformed

to the image of Christ.

And against all odds
and against all enemies,

He is going to work that fabric

into the very character and being.

2 Corinthians - I brought
this up on Sunday,

but 2 Corinthians 3:18,

folks, as we behold Christ;

as we behold the glory of the Lord,

we are degree by degree transformed

into the same image.

That's the reality.

So, why do we have to
work out our salvation

with fear and trembling?

Where's the fear?
Where's the trembling?

The fear and the trembling is this:

unless you work out
your salvation to the end,

unless you endure to the end,

you won't be saved.

And believe me, in 20 years as a Christian

I've seen people start well

and fall out.

Why? The same thing Christ said.

The cares of this world.

Riches - they ensare.

(from the room)

So then, for the sake
of speaking biblically,

you would change it from:

"once saved, always saved"

to "if saved, always saved"?

Tim: Well, like I say,

I'm really wanting to encourage us

to speak biblically

and speak to one another -

brother, sister -

you know, you are being saved

if you hold fast to this Gospel.

And I'll tell you this,

the Gospel is essential

to this whole thing.

In fact, let me tell you something.

We are so programmed in our thinking

that I think oftentimes,

we miss probably the truth

in the first chapter of Romans.

Romans 1:16-17,

so often because we are so programmed

to think about salvation past tense,

we tend to think about v. 16-17

as having to do with when
sinners are saved the first time.

I don't believe that's the case at all.

Somebody want to read those two verses?

I heard a couple Bibles open to it.
Somebody read it.

"For I am not ashamed
of the Gospel of Christ,

for it is the power of God to salvation

for everyone who believes..."

Tim: Okay, wait.

Anybody ever get that?

The Gospel is the power
of God unto salvation

to everyone who believes.

Not just to everyone who doesn't believe

and then hears the Gospel and believes.

It's the power of God unto salvation

to everyone who believes...

keep going.

"To the Jew first and also the Greek.

For in it, the righteousness of God

is revealed from faith to faith,

as it is written,

'the just shall live by faith.'"

Tim: You see that?

It's how the just live.

How do they live?

They live by faith.

Not just faith at one time,

but from faith to faith.

You see, folks, and this is

exactly what he said in
1 Corinthians 15 as well.

Is it not?

You are being saved

if you hold fast to that
Gospel I delivered to you.

You see, folks,

what is it that keeps our faith?

How does God keep the power -

we are kept, no doubt about it,

1 Peter 1:5 -

"kept by the power of God through faith."

That's how the old KJV says it.

Where does that faith come?

It doesn't come out of nowhere.

It comes by constantly
looking to the Gospel.

What's the Gospel?

The Gospel is all about Christ

and my salvation

and Him taking my sin to the cross;

Him living a perfect life;

Him doing everything that's required

for my justification.

Beloved, that's where your meat is.

Don't ever think the Gospel,

yeah, we outgrow that,

we get past that, we move beyond that.

Brethren, the very Gospel is the very meat

upon which your faith thrives.

It's the very heart, it's the very core

upon which we live.

Brethren, let me tell you something.

Churches where maybe some of the people

sometime came to the Lord,

but now you get in this church

and all they want to talk about

is how long women's dresses ought to be,

or whether the ladies
ought to wear head coverings,

or whether we ought to dance,

or whether we ought to smoke,

or whether we ought to drink.

Brethren, legalistic churches

that become all hung up
in all sorts of stuff,

look, does the Bible have things to say

about whether I drink?

Or how much I drink?

If my drinking causes
a brother to stumble?

Or whatever it is, whether I eat meat?

Whether I drink? Whether I observe a day?

I'm not saying those
things aren't important

in their place,

but I've been in churches

and I know of churches,

and there's lots of these
fundamental churches out there

that they just want to
press all these little things.

Brethren, I'll tell you what -

I'll tell you where the sweet aroma

of the real thing exists

is where people talk about Christ,

they sing about Christ,

they hear preaching about Christ,

where everything is coming
back to Christ all the time -

that's where the life is.

That's where we move from faith to faith.

We're not ashamed of that Gospel, folks.

It's the power of God unto salvation -

unto salvation!

You see, if we think about salvation
all the time as a past thing,

then we miss what
he's really saying there.

The Gospel unto salvation.

Faith to faith.

Yes, God preserves this faith,

but it's faith to faith.

I keep going.

I don't live by bread alone.

I'm living by the Word of God.

I'm living by this Gospel.

I keep going back to it.

I keep going back to the cross

and to the risen Christ

and to His victory

and to the payment of sin.

And brethren, you know how it is,

when we sing about it,
when we hear about it,

when we go back there,

this is where our strength
to live comes from.

This is where our strength to survive,

this is where are strength to move on...

Justification.

Brethren, we have to have works

with our salvation or it's dead stuff.

Look, if you say you know Him

and you don't keep His commandments,

you're a liar!

That's not me, that's John.

But if we get to the place

when we go to the mirror

and we're looking: okay...

how well am I keeping the commandments?

how well am I doing that?

I'll guarantee you not
one of you in this room

keeps them well enough

to merit your salvation with God.

And not one of you has
done it perfect in the last hour.

You say, well, what does that mean?

(incomplete thought)

Brethren, it's like we
talked about before.

It means that bottom line,

we're people that are
producing the fruits of God.

Is that not what Ephesians 2:10 says?

Anybody know what that verse says?

Some of you have memorized it.
What does it say?

"For we are His workmanship..."

What does it say?

"...created in Christ Jesus
unto good works

which God beforehand ordained
that we should walk in them."

Good works.

We've been ordained to produce good works.

We've been ordained.

Anybody think of any
verse in all the Bible

that says that we ought to be
producing righteousness?

Anybody think of somewhere where it says

we're a people for His own possession?

For what?

Anybody know where it says that?

Titus.

A people for His own possession for what?

Zealous for good works.

Folks, He gave Himself up for us

to purchase a people
for His own possession

who would be zealous of good works.

He saved us.

Listen, the book of
Romans starts with this:

What is it? Romans 1, about v. 4?

It says that Paul went
forth preaching the Gospel

to bring forth a people that
are going to be obedient.

Or he talks about the obedience of faith.

You guys ever heard that?

He starts the book of Romans

with the obedience of faith,

and he ends the book of Romans

with the obedience of faith.

I think it's Romans 1:4

and then it's at the end there,

about Romans 15 -

it's right at the end of Romans 15

if I reckon right.

But he starts and ends the book that way

that there is an obedience of faith.

Brethren, if your faith
doesn't have obedience,

if your faith doesn't have works,

if your faith isn't accompanied

by a zealousness for good works,

if your faith isn't accompanied by

a regular demonstration
of commandment keeping,

what does John say?

His commandments are no longer grievous.

Doesn't he say that?

Anybody think I'm making that up?

That John would say that His
commandments aren't grievous?

Which means what?

The desires of the flesh
have been crucified.

And God gives me new desires.

Anybody think of anywhere in the Bible

where it talks about me
actually having new desires?

Where is it?

(from the room)

In Isaiah where He says
He'll give you new heart?

Tim: That's Jeremiah -

he does say He'll give me a new heart.

That's under the New Covenant.

And that's good.

Jeremiah 31, Jeremiah 32, Ezekiel 36.

We get these pictures - Ezekiel 11,

Ezekiel 18 - we get these pictures

of the New Covenant.

And he says He's going to cause us

to keep His statutes

and walk in His judgments.

According to the old KJV.

I'm thinking somewhere in Philippians 2.

What about verse 12-13?

He says we should work out our salvation

with fear and trembling, for it is...

God who does what?

To will and to do His good pleasure.

Isn't that amazing!

If you're actually in Christ,

God works in us not just to do

what we need to do,

but to will what we need to do.

This is salvation, brethren.

It says they would call His name Jesus

and He'd save us from our sins.

Don't think that that
just means from hell.

Yes, it is that. It is from hell.

But He promised to save us from our sins,

from the power.

Brethren, Romans 6:14 says

sin will not have dominion over you.

You're not under the law.
You're under grace.

Do you know what it means
when you're under grace?

It means sin will no longer have dominion.

Why?

Because according to Romans 8:13,

by the Spirit we put to death
the deeds of the body.

Brethren, if you don't put to death

the deeds of the body by the Spirit,

you're not going to make it to heaven.

You say how do you know that?

Because Romans 8:13 says

if you live according
to the flesh, you die.

If by the Spirit, you put to
death the deeds of the body,

you will live.

This is life and death.

This is always the case.

It always comes back to this.

Life and death.

Is there righteousness?

If you're practing righteousness,
you're born of God.

If you're practicing unrighteousness,
you're of the devil.

If you are one to whom God causes you

to will and to do of His good pleasure,

His commandments are no longer grievous,

He causes us to walk in His statutes.

You say, perfect?

No, brethren, not perfect.

But in the eyes of God, perfect.

Why?

Because the blood of Jesus Christ

has atoned for every one of our failings.

And so, John would say,

I write to you, little
children, that you sin not.

But if you do... if you do,

we have an Advocate with the Father.

And how does His advocacy work?

Well, because of His shed blood.

There's been atonement made.

But brethren, what I was getting at before

is as much as all this is true,

we don't live on looking at ourselves.

We live on looking at Christ.

And listen, if you ever get to the place

where you're running to
the mirror all the time,

and you're looking at your performance

to try to draw your assurance out of,

you'll look at yourself for 10,000 years

and you can look at yourself
till you're blue in the face,

and it is not going to
do a thing for your faith.

Brethren, we need to live

on the doctrine of justification by faith.

In all of our working,

in all of our good works,

in all of our seeking to do good,

in all of our seeking to
keep His commandments,

in all our seeking to perform

as righteously as we can,

and work out our salvation
in fear and trembling,

brethren, what is it that's
revealed in the Gospel

that we live on from faith to faith?

The righteousness of God

is revealed in that Gospel.

Wait! What's that?

If you look over at Romans 3,

what? About v. 22?

Right in there somewhere?

It says that the righteousness of God

which is for those who
believe in Jesus Christ.

It's a righteousness that is for us.

What does that remind us of?

Maybe like 2 Corinthians 5,
last verse there,

which says what?

"He who knew no sin became sin,"

that what?

"That we might become the
righteousness of God in Him."

Brethren, you know what message

is kept in that Gospel that we live on?

The Gospel that is unto our salvation,

that we live on and feast on

from faith to faith -

it's Christ satisfying all
the demands of the law

in our place.

And paying the penalty in our place

for every violation and transgression

of that law.

And now, a righteousness

has been bestowed upon me legally.

Brethren, that's where
we go back all the time.

Because I guarantee you,

no matter how righteous

the life of the Christian is -
and it is - it is.

You have to deny all of the
New Testament to say it's not.

But no matter how
righteously you might be

living right now,

and no matter how much of
a new creature you may be,

and no matter how much old
things may have passed away

and all things become new,

I guarantee you this,

you are not glorified yet.

And until you are,

you know what the problem is?

We have been renewed on the inside,

and day by day, we're being renewed,

but this outside -

we still live in the same fallen body.

And we have not experienced

the resurrection of our bodies.

We have not experienced the glorification

of these.

These things belong here.

They're of this place.

And because they are,

we still tote around the flesh.

The flesh.

The word "flesh" - that sinful part of us

sounds a whole lot like
what I've got right here.

Why? Because it's connected.

Sin seeks to reign in my mortal body.

Why? Because that's where the flesh is.

That's the only place sin can any longer

find a seat.

And that's why even on our best days,

we find this struggle.

We find this battle that goes on. Why?

Because these things wage war against us.

Sin wages war against us.

Fleshly lusts wage war against us.

No matter how righteous
your life might be -

and I guarantee you this,

if you're truly saved,

your life looks a whole lot different

than it did before.

It's not yet what you want it to be,

but it is certainly a whole lot different

than it used to be.

That's the picture of Christianity

displayed before us.

We're still putting sin to death.

And I'll tell you, once in a while,

while we're putting it to death,

it lashes out at us

and knocks us in the jaw good.

And if you want to go
over to your little mirror

and gaze in that mirror

and try to draw out of that confidence

in your standing before God,

you're going to fall right on your face.

And you'll get about as
much assurance out of that

as you can out of a very
imperfect performance.

What you want to go over
and look in the mirror at

and gaze at is the glory of Christ

working and sweating and laboring out

a salvation in our stead.

Working out a perfect righteousness.

Fulfilling all righteousness.

Born of a virgin; born under the law.

And keeping that law so that His Father

could say, "This is My Son,
in Whom I'm well pleased."

Well pleased.

And by the obedience of one,

the many are declared righteous.

And you have a very similar truth

come at us in Isaiah 53.

Brethren, who can bring charge against us?

It's God who justifies.

There is now therefore no condemnation

to them that are in Christ.

That's where our confidence is.

That's where we look.

That's where we trust.

And I'll tell you this, brethren,

you're only going to be saved
if you make it to the end.

You're only going to be saved,

if you stay locked into
that Gospel to the end.

Isn't that exactly how we started

when we read out of 1 Corinthians 15?

Brethren, I'll read it to you again.

"I would remind you, brothers,

of the Gospel I preached to you

which you received, in which you stand,

and by which you are being saved,

if you hold fast to the
Word I preached to you

unless you believed in vain."

Brethren, faith to faith.

The just shall live by faith.

We live in faith of the Gospel now.

In it, the righteousness
of God is revealed.

That's our hope.

Well, we'll get to creation next week.

Any questions or comments or observations?

(unintelligible)

To the Thessalonians on several occasions,

he said, "more and more."

They were loving already,

but more and more.

Love characterizes the redeemed life,

but more and more,

pressing on, pressing upward,

towards Christlikeness,

onward, upward, inward.

We do believe in progressive
sanctification.

No question about it.

Progressive sanctification, and yet,

the new birth is so radical

that when a person is first born again,

they become new creatures in Christ.

Although they are not what they'll be

even in a year,

old things have passed away.

And there's something
drastically different and new.

Sometimes if you're
looking from the outside,

we don't always see it so much

because the body doesn't hardly change,

but that's a reality.

It's kind of like this,

we live way down here in the doldrums

of total wretchedness and depravity,

all the way down at
the bottom of the barrel.

We're born again

and we fly way up to this level.

And then now it's kind of this...

and we have our ups and our downs,

but it's constantly upward.

And the Spirit of God takes us

through that sin-killing,

walking in the Spirit more and more

adventure going on to perfection.

That's kind of the picture
we get in the Scriptures.

And the thing that the Bible warns about

is no matter what this thing looks like,

if you return to the vomit and the mire,

you show yourself to be a pig.

Never a lamb.

(from the room)

It's heartbreaking how many churches

don't teach this.

Tim: It's heartbreaking how many churches

have abandoned the Scriptures.

You know what?

The danger in all of this

is what we're talking about is the Gospel.

If we were talking about ecclesiology,

maybe the forms of church government,

or if we were talking about eschatology,

maybe the end times,

we could have some happy debates maybe.

But we're talking about the Gospel.

We're talking about if people are wrong:

"Many will say to Me in that day,

'Lord, Lord.'"

And He's going to say, "I never knew you."

This is life and death.

This isn't marginal.
This isn't optional.

Folks, people can get bent out of shape.

They can get all worked up.

But if they're wrong, they're wrong.

They can be so confident in this world -

blindly confident;

unbiblically confident.

If you're wrong in that day, you're wrong.

And it's going to cost you your soul.

We can be wrong about lots of things.

Brethren, it's supposed to rain tomorrow.

If we're wrong, if you
think it's not going to,

you don't take your umbrella,
you get rained on.

I don't carry an umbrella anyway.
I don't care if I get rained on.

Bottom line is you can be
wrong about the weather,

it doesn't really matter.

If you're wrong about this,

it's all that matters.

If you're wrong about this,

there's hell to pay.

We don't want to hide anything.

We just want to say it
like the Bible says it.

Brethren, the thing is

none of us should be embarrassed

about any of this.

This is what the Bible says.

We're open to examination

from anybody and everybody.

We're not like the Jehovah's Witnesses

that have to come to the door

and be subversive

and not really tell our agenda,

not really tell what we believe.

We can lay it out there.

This is what we believe.

Bottom line, if somebody looks to Christ,

and it doesn't radically change the life,

they're going to hear
words on judgment day

of such horror and fear

that they do not want to hear.

Brethren, think about it,

if this wasn't true,

what in the world advantage do I have

to emphasize this?

None at all!

You know what, if the truth was

that we could be saved and live like hell,

I'd tell you that.

But the Bible doesn't say that.

And you know the thing
about it is anyway,

brethren, God gives us new desires.

Don't you guys agree?

I don't want to live like hell.

I don't.

The two things I want
more than anything else

in the entire universe

is to see Christ face-to-face,

and to be done with sin forever.

Those are the two greatest
longings of my heart.

Even if I found that you could

live like hell and get to heaven,

I wouldn't want that.

I don't want that.

Even if I could find out I could

live here forever living like hell

and never have Christ -

that would be hell to me.

I want Christ.

And I want to be like Him.

That's what the Gospel produces.

And that's our hope, right?

And as it was brought up before,

we read this in Ephesians 1.

The Holy Spirit -

He's the guarantee of our inheritance

until we acquire possession of it.

What does that mean?

Well, where the Holy Spirit is,
He puts sin to death.

Where the Holy Spirit is

He works love, He works joy,

He works peace -

you know those fruits of the Spirit.

Where the Spirit is

He assists us in our prayer, does He not?

Where the Spirit is He bears witness

with our spirit that
we're children of God.

Where the Spirit is He's
the Spirit of adoption

by which we cry, "Abba, Father."

Those that have the Spirit
are led by the Spirit.

Those that have the Spirit
walk in the Spirit.

You see, having the Spirit

as a guarantee of our inheritance

is not a blind thing.

It's something that's real.

It produces fruit.

And if the fruit of the Spirit isn't there

then you give the very evidence

that you don't possess the guarantee

of salvation.

You see where I'm coming from?

There's no question the
Spirit is the guarantee.

But the way that's a guarantee to us

is we see the manifestations

of the presence of the very Spirit -

the Spirit Who leads us into truth;

the Spirit Who convicts us of sin;

a Spirit Who can be grieved.

And when once you've
been given a love for Christ,

a love for truth,
a love for righteousness,

and you grieve the Spirit, you feel it.

Any of you that have
known the smile of Christ

and then had it disappear,

any of you that have known that,

you know what that feels like.

For the Christian, that's
the worst thing in this life.

Give me trials, just don't
hide Your face from me!

Any other comments, questions?

Okay, what would you guys say?

What verse would you go to

to absolutely solidify to somebody

that you cannot lose your salvation?

(unintelligible)

He's the guarantee of our salvation.

You can't guarantee salvation

by giving the Spirit of God

if the Spirit of God can be taken away

and it's no guarantee.

There are any number of places

that we could go to,

but it was brought up the New Covenant.

"This is the covenant that I will make

with the house of Israel after these days

declares the Lord,

I will put My law within them;

I will write it on their hearts;

I will be their God;

they shall be My people.

No longer shall each
one teach his neighbor

and each one his brother saying,

'Know the Lord,' for
they shall all know Me

from the least of them to the greatest,

declares the Lord.

I will forgive their iniquities.

I will remember their sin no more."

And then over in v. 32,

He says this, "They shall be My people.

I will be their God.

I will give them one heart and one way

that they may fear Me forever,

for their own good

and the good of their children after them,

I will make with them
an everlasting covenant.

I will not turn away from
doing good to them.

I will put the fear of Me in their hearts

that they may not turn from Me."

I will put My fear in their hearts

that they will not turn from Me.

And I think grandmother back there

brought up 1 Peter 1:5,

"We are kept..." the ESV

doesn't bring it forth as clearly,

but the KJV: "We are kept

by the power of God through faith."

And we are kept.

He will complete that work -
we've got Philippians 1:6.

But the very tenets of the New Covenant -

nothing's left up to us.

God says, "I will,
I will, I will, I will..."

And He says, "I will put My fear in them

that they not turn away from Me.

I will rejoice in doing them good."

Ezekiel 36 - we can go there as well

and just carry on all the "I will's"
that He says He's going to do.

In Ezekiel 36, He says,

"I will sprinkle clean water on you

and you shall be clean
from all your uncleanesses

and from your idols, I will cleanse you.

I will give you a new heart

and a new spirit I will put within you

and I will remove the heart
of stone from your flesh

and give you a heart of flesh,

and I will put My Spirit within you

and cause you to walk in My statutes

and be careful to obey My rules."

And if somebody comes along and says,

well, yeah, He said He'd do
that for the house of Israel,

I would say, whoa...

did you never read that
a true Jew is one inwardly?

And circumcision is a matter of the heart?

And to the Gentile Philippians,

he says we're the true circumcision.

What is that? Philippians 3:3.

We are the true circumcision.

And it doesn't matter
if we're Gentiles or not.

Who is a true child of Abraham?

According to Galatians.

They're those who have
faith in Jesus Christ.

Bottom line, a true child of Abraham

are those that believe in Jesus Christ.

The true circumcision are those that what?

Put no confidence in the flesh.

They make their boast in the Lord.

If they want to say, well,
that's speaking about Israel,

well, we are the Israel of God.
We're the true Jew.

Who? All of those who
are children of Abraham.

All of those who by faith

have trusted Christ.

Do you guys believe that?

That's what the Scriptures speak.

Have you ever read in Ephesians 2?

It says that middle wall of partition

has been taken down. How?

He's created one new man from the two.

And what?

We used to be at one time

called the uncircumcision by
what is called the circumcision

which was made in
the flesh by hands, right?

At one time, we were.

At one time, we were what?

Separated from Christ.

You were alienated from
the commonwealth of Israel.

We were separated from
the covenants of promise.

But now, that's not true.

Now we're not.

We're no longer on the outside.

Now, we're fellow citizens.

We're heirs, folks.

We're on the inside.

We all - those who were near
and those who were far -

have been all brought and accepted by God

through the shedding
of the blood of Christ.

He's done this, folks.

We Gentiles by faith in Christ

are true Israel.

So don't ever let anybody disarm you

of the New Covenant

just because they say
that promise is for the Jews.

There's no question about it.

But have you never read in Romans 9?

"Not all Israel is Israel."

There is a spiritual Israel

to whom the promises have truly been made.

And in fact, when Paul realizes

some of the Jews are going
to take issue with that,

he said, whoa, wasn't it even said

way back to Moses,

"I will have mercy upon
whom I will have mercy,

and I will show compassion

to those to whom I will show compassion."

And it says God shows compassion

and God hardens.

There are vessels of mercy
and there are vessels of wrath.

You know, the problem is

we make God out to be a very small God

when we say we can lose our salvation.

Yeah, He's not strong enough to keep us.

But, He's not only strong
enough to keep us,

He's strong enough to keep
us doing good to the end.

He's strong enough to keep us persevering

all the way.

You see, you make God weak either way.

If you say, "God can't keep us,"

you make Him weak.

And if you say,

"We're going to make it,

but we're not going to
make it doing good works,"

you make Him weak too

because you're saying basically
He's going to drop the ball.

But He says, Philippians 1:6 - let's read.

Do you have your KJV over there?

Somebody read the KJV.

Philippians 1:6

I never memorized it in the ESV,

so I'm not sure exactly how it reads.

Philippians 1:6,

"Being confident of this very thing,

that He which hath
begun a good work in you

will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ."

Paul was confident.

God was going to perform
it to the day of Christ.

Any other questions or comments

or observations?

(from the room)

I think what I'm hearing though

is that you don't know if
you've really been sealed

unless you persevere to the end.

It's like saying that the narrow way
is more like a narrow plank.

I can walk sincerely believing on Christ

for 15 or 20 years and fall off.

But the fact that I fell off proves

that I was not in Christ.

So what churns in my heart

is where's the peace

that Christ leaves with us?

So I feel that the only assurance

is if you persevere to the end.

It's not that there's faith in Christ...

(unintelligible)

Tim: Well, actually, that's exactly

what I wasn't saying
as far as the mirror thing.

And that if we keep going
back to that mirror

and we keep gazing in that mirror

at our performance,

that basically that is not
where the power of God

is dispelled into the
life of the believer.

It is looking to what Christ
has accomplished for us.

But there's no question about it,

the Bible is replete
with texts that tell us

that we've got to endure to the end,

that there's got to be a
keeping of His commandments,

that there's got to be
a practicing of righteousness,

and so, Paul can come to the Corinthians

and say, look, fornicators, adulterers,

thieves, effeminate,
homosexuals, whatever...

they don't inherit the kingdom.

Bottom line,

the Bible never is going
to give confidence

to a person who's walking a wicked life

to believe that the power of God

has ever transformed them.

They shouldn't expect to have any hope.

But bottom line is this,

the Spirit of God is distinctly
said in Romans 8:16

to bear witness with our spirit
that we're children of God.

And in fact, if we go back before that

to about Romans 5:5,

we've got the truth

that the love of God

is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Spirit.

And if you read, you see
where that love's coming from.

It's coming out of the cross.

And I would say this,

that bottom line,

if somebody is truly saved,

they love Christ,

they believe Christ,

they trust Christ,

they look to the cross

and they find hope in Christ,

and the Spirit of God energizes

that look to the cross

and floods that person

from one degree to another

with assurance.

And that Spirit is the Spirit of adoption

that is bearing witness.

And it's the Spirit of adoption

that brings an inner compulsion

now to look at God not as
a far and a distant God,

but as a God Who's very close

and Who is a Father.

We cry, "Abba, Father."

And so, bottom line is

the Christian feeds and finds his strength

in Christ.

Christ said that He was going to send

a Helper or a Comforter.

And He said that
"He's going to glorify Me."

I guarantee you this,

no matter what operation
the Spirit is involved with,

Christ is the focus.

Christ is always the focus.

Not the Spirit - Christ is the focus.

And in our assurance,

in our strength,

in our persevering,

Christ is always going
to be central to that.

And the Spirit is going to
bring that assurance,

bring peace,

bring that confidence,

bring a sense of that shedding abroad

of the love of God into my heart

as we gaze at Christ.

And that is a real, vital

manifestation of the Spirit of God

that the true Christian
is going to experience.

And so, I think what happens is

we end up creating a straw man

if we're not careful.

And what I mean by that,

the man doesn't exist

who has true assurance from the Spirit

and no works.

It's a straw man.

The man who, in the end, falls out

was a man maybe who in self-righteousness

was striving to please
God in his own merits.

He's a man who maybe was a Pharisee

and he put up a good outer shell show.

He had confidence in a lot of things,

maybe in his church-going,

maybe in his efforts, but like Demas,

he ends up falling out.

But I guarantee you,

whatever confidence he had
was a vain confidence.

And it wasn't a Spirit
of God-wrought thing.

And so, no, I would adamantly
say that's not true.

The true Christian doesn't all of a sudden

find out at the end of
the race that he's true.

The true Christian had that
Spirit of God indwelling,

and there was true, living manifestations

of His presence

that gave the believer confidence.

And where the Spirit gives confidence,

the Spirit also works love

and works the fruits of the Spirit

and works these works in us,

giving us desires,

giving us the compulsion,

giving us a love for God

that compels us and constrains us

by the love of Christ to carry this out.

And the two go hand-in-hand.

Where men and women fall out of the race,

they didn't have that.

They had confidence

and they believed certain things,

but in the end, it was a vain confidence.

And I believe the truth is

the flags were always there,

because Jesus Christ
says this in Matthew 7:

"Depart from Me, you
workers of lawlessness."

And bottom line, it was there.

There was lawlessness.

The Spirit of God was not
communicating with them

the way the Spirit of God does.

Because they weren't children.

And in the end,

it wasn't true. It wasn't right.

We have a lot of people
with vain confidence.

A lot of people believing
that everything is okay,

but it's vain.

And so, yeah, if that's
what it sounded like,

definitely I don't think
that's anywhere at all

the flavor that we feel coming from

what the Spirit of God
does in the life of a believer.

(from the room)

1 John 5:13 also says,

"I'm writing these things to you

who believe in the name of the Son of God

that you may know that
you have eternal life."

Right, and you know,

think about 1 John.

What are the proofs in 1 John

that we're true believers?

We keep His commandments.

We walk as He walked.

We have answer to prayer.

We love the brethren.

Basically, you go through all these proofs

and you get to the
last chapter and he says

I write these things that
you might have assurance.

And there's no question about it.

Folks, I don't know how it is with you.

I look at the cross

and the Spirit of God

assures me I'm His child.

Then I look at my life

and I see I'm not what I used to be.

And that gives me assurance.

And then I find out that when I stray,

the Spirit of God -
my Father comes for me

and He lays the rod on my back

and He brings me back.

I have found that the corrections of God

in my life,

they give me assurance
like few other things do,

that I see His faithfulness to me;

that if ever I begin to stray,

bang! He's there. He's on me.

And He pulls me back.

I mean, sometimes that has caused me

to go to tears more than anything.

He is so faithful.

That gives me such confidence.

He's not going to let me go.

I'm in my Father's hand.

If I start drifting, He
puts the clamps down.

This thing is real. It's living.

I look at this thing and realize

I need to make it to the end.

I pray, "God, get me to the end!"

"Help me to the end!"

Because I feel that if God let me go,

I would run away.

I mean, prone to wander,

Lord, I feel it.

I feel it.

If You let me go, I'm going!

Not that I want to, but I feel that.

I feel the battle.

But at the same time,

I feel this confidence.

Do I expect that God's going
to take me to the end? Yes.

I don't feel like I have
to wait to the end

to figure out whether I'm truly saved.

I believe with all my heart
God has truly saved me.

And I've seen a massive
transformation in my life.

And I think that's exactly what
the Bible tells us we should see.

And on top of that,

I've known repeatedly the floodings

and the sheddings abroad

of the love of God in my heart

at sights of the cross.

I know that He has caused me to will

in a way that I never willed before.

I have a desire now to do things

I never had a desire for before.

I know I don't love
the brethren perfectly,

but I love the brethren.

I want to be around Christians.

I want to be where they are.

I want to talk with them.

I love the same Christ they love.

I love being at church with them.

I love hearing preaching.
I love hearing about Christ.

I mean, the simple Gospel -

there's times that when
I'm studying for a message

and I'm looking at just the old truths,

and they flood over me again,

and then I find myself falling
out of my chair on the floor.

Can you guys relate to this?

This is Christianity.

This is the living reality.

This is life in Christ.

This isn't make-believe.

(from the room)

One last thing in regards
to what the brother said

I think about assurance,

on that day when the Lord said

not all those who call Me
Lord shall enter the kingdom,

and there was that one
worker of iniquity that said,

Lord, we cast out demons in Your name.

And they stood before Him

and questioned the Lord about His works

(unintelligible).

I've never seen assurance described

that says that you must place your trust

in the fact that you prayed the prayer

and you believe.

That doesn't guarantee assurance.

Assurance is by what pastor
brought forth in the Word

and that is by the work of your life.

(unintelligible)

That worker of iniquity never once said,

"But I was sure! You gave me assurance."

Tim: No, He was drawing
it out of the fact,

He was there with God's people,

did some mighty works,

we cast out demons, we spoke in tongues.

(Incomplete thought)

And you know, you get at the end too,

and you've got judgment day in Matthew 25.

Isn't it interesting?

"I was naked. You clothed Me."

"I was naked, and you didn't clothe Me."

I was pointing past you, brother.

He doesn't care. He's not even listening.

Anything else before we stop?

Okay.

(from the room)

Just to finish it off,

Paul talks about you were delivered

by grace through faith -

you were saved by grace through faith.

That same thing that you were saved by,

continue in that same thing as well.

(unintelligible)

It's not about the
reflection of who you are,

but who He is.

It's Who God the Father sees,

which is Christ in His righteousness

upon your life, and not your own self.

Tim: And I still have faith to this day

20 years later

that I don't know anywhere else to go

when I'm in trouble.

And I'm in trouble pretty regular -

like hourly.

Amen.

Good night.