Transcription
[Music] a [Applause] [Music] Howdy, howdy, and welcome to the Real Faith live show. While the world is getting darker, Real Faith is getting a little hotter and a little brighter. Welcome to the 100th episode of the Real Faith live show. [Music]
Well, howdy and welcome to the Real Faith live show. My name is Pastor Landon, and this is my scared wife, terrified Ashley.
Hello.
What's your last name?
Chase.
I is yours forever.
Is yours?
I did legally change it.
Yeah, and I did not hyphenate it.
Take your husband's last name and don't hyphenate it. There's just a side note.
Yeah, for sure. Your uh, your parents addressed that in a recent Q&A.
That did. If you don't want to take your husband's last name, it is a major sign of disrespect. You should not get married. You should not get married anyway.
Agreed. That was not in our plans for talking about today, but apparently it's been a big issue for you. Apparently, it's a b--
Where are you today? Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? And I'm so sorry if you're new here; we would love to send you a free gift. All you have to do is go to realf--Howdy, or text "howdy" --that's H-W-D-Y-- to 993. All the other spellings, in case you're dyslexic, and we will hook you up with a Bible in a year plan and one of Pastor Mark's bestselling books, "Act Like a Man," as a thank you for for tuning into the show.
Before we get into today's sermon, we want to give you guys a friendly reminder to go check out our social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube if you haven't already. They're a great place to find the sermon recaps and all of the hot takes on current events.
Yes. Um, I wanted to show you a real--that's actually my ringtone--just as a daily reminder that I'm not special. You haven't done a damn thing. You young men need to realize this: you don't deserve to be anywhere near the top. You have not earned it. You have not produced results. You are not a snowflake. You are not one of a kind. You are not special. The world is not better because you are here, and you are disposable.
Say, I went to college. That actually may hurt your ability to work. They talk about socialism and how to tax people who do work, and so what happens is a lot of young men say, "I would like to be like Joseph. I would like to be well compensated. I would like to be the leader. I would like to get a promotion. I would like to be out or near the top." Freaking earn it! You got to grind. You got to work. You got to hustle. You got to earn it. Here's a young guy in his 20s climbing the ladder in the organization, and he's doing so by character, integrity, and hard work. Any man with a sense of entitlement is a joke. No one owes us anything. If you're a man, you've got to earn it.
Uh, if you guys aren't following us, just search the handles to get connected. Uh, on Instagram, it's @mariso; on YouTube, it's @markrisMinistries. Drop those below, etc., etc., etc. On uh, we're on TikTok, we're on Parlor, we're on Rumble, we're on X, X, TikTok, Facebook; we're on TikTok twice. There's lots of fake accounts on there. Um, some of them actually have really great content, and then uh, sometimes we just yell on the corner of the street and just say the sermon. Uh, so we're everywhere.
It's true. It's true. Well, I hope you guys have enjoyed picking back up this month for part two of Hebrews: Selfish Christianity. This month's study guide will walk you through some questions that go along with the sermon series like this study guide. Okay, like, "Can a Christian lose their salvation? Or will people who go to church go to hell?" Can a Christian lose their salvation? I don't want to talk about that on camera 'cause I probably disagree with my dad. Uh, in this study guide--to get fired--in this study guide, Pastor Mark will cover Hebrews 4:8, helping you understand who Jesus really is and why he's greater than any religious leader or system. He will also include some of the simple questions to think about as we continue walking through our Hebrew series. Uh, this is the resource you guys want to grab if you're just getting into the ministry or you've been here a long time. If you want to go deeper and uh, just dig into the word in a whole new way, a lot of people have never studied Hebrews at a deep level, and you might feel like the sermons are good enough, but um, they're not. You need to go deeper. You need to read. You need to read your Bible. Uh, Pastor Mark's sermons will not get you into heaven, but a relationship with Jesus and going deep in your faith will.
So true. Um, head over to [Music] It's all there, and it's a great place to check out all of Pastor Mark's sermons, books, study guides, and a whole lot more merch. Good things there. Lots of good things.
Yeah. Don't forget we have an amazing trip giveaway this month, and here's an amazing pastor to tell you all about it. Who wants to come to Scottsdale, Arizona? Well, almost everybody, but it's kind of expensive, and we want to fly out a couple or a very straight uh, best friends to Arizona to come out to Pastor Mark's biggest ever Easter or our Real Men finale. We want to bring you out. We want to set you up in an incredible Airbnb, get you a sweet truck, we want to get you a plane ticket to get here and maybe even some meals, but we will do all this if you text "vacay" to 99 383--that's V-A-C-A-Y to 99 383. You won't want to miss it. Arizona is a great place to be, but you know what's even better? Celebrating that Jesus is risen with a ton of great people uh, in the biggest ever Easter that Pastor Mark's ever thrown.
Today, today we'll be diving into one of the Bible's most powerful warnings: that those who attend church, hear the truth, and even experience God's blessing but still turn away from Jesus--right--not record into heaven. So this sermon will be a wake-up call for some of you who treat your faith as just a passing phase, um, cultural Christianity--that's kind of what my dad's talking about today--something to walk away from when it's convenient, um, rather than a life-changing commitment. So hopefully this is convicting; hopefully this will help um, turn some lives around, and it's never too late as long as you're alive to turn to Jesus.
So excited for you to hear the sermon. Yeah, we've been uh, Pastor Mark's talked about a bit recently, but um, there may even be quite a few pastors in hell. Um, it's uh, pretty wild. We've seen it the last year specifically. I think pro-Kamala pastors, like pastors that are pro-choice, um, all these things like very unlikely these people are headed into heaven, and uh, they're going to face a much higher judgment 'cause they're leading people astray, and the pulpit is a very sacred place, and uh, being a shepherd is a very, very important calling, and using it um, to lead people towards things that are anti-gospel um, is maybe the worst thing you could do as a pastor. So um, we're trying to deliver the truth uh, through Real Faith, so thank you guys for tuning in. Um, head over to [Music] G-L [Music] [Music]
Well, howdy and welcome to church. Good to see all of you. Welcome, welcome, welcome. If uh, you're new, we are a church that likes to go through books of the Bible. We're in a book of the Bible called Hebrews; it's a book in the New Testament. We're in chapter 5, if you want to find your place; that's where we will be today. We're going to answer a big question that Christians debate, argue about all the time: Can a Christian lose their salvation? We're in Hebrews 5:11 through 6:2. Couple quick notes, and then we'll get to work. This is going to be a deep-into-the-pool sermon. I'm going to be your blue-collar scholar brother. We're going to go way into the weeds, and we're going to get deep into the text, and uh, some of you are going to try and take notes. Uh, grab a free study guide if you're with us on the way out. Most of what I tell you is going to be in here, or you can go to realfaithmusic.com/topics and the study guide. I want to help you go deep and learn God's word, but today the question is, and perhaps this has been your experience, or maybe even somebody you know, somebody said they were a Christian, and then they walked away from their faith, and the question is, well, are they still a Christian? I mean, you can lose your keys; can you lose your salvation? Like, is it possible that you're with Christ and then you're not with Christ? And if that happens, what happens to that person? Do they still go to heaven? Do they go to hell? What happens? Right? How many of you know somebody like this? And how--don't raise your hand--but how many of you like this is your question? You're like, like I'm still hung up on this; this is my question. Okay, so so we're we're going to answer that question, but before we do what we like to do in this series, we like to just read all of the scriptures that we'll be studying, and I'm asking you to stand, and I'll read them over you, and I'll read them because we want to come under the authority of God's word. So all rise, please. Stand. All right, I'll read it to you. Here we go. Hebrews 5, starting in verse 11 through chap 6:12.
About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing; for though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the Oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food; for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child, but solid food is for the mature, those for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrines of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And this will do if God permits; for it is impossible--here's the part where everybody debates--it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come and then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that is drunk the rain that often falls on it and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. Lastly, but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, beloved, we feel sure of better things, things that belong to salvation; for God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for him in serving the saints as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end so that you may not be sluggish but imitators of those who through faith, faith and patience inherit the promises. You may be seated. I'll pray for you, and if it's okay with you, we'll get to work. You ready to go? All right, we're going to do this.
Lord God, thank you so much that I have the honor of teaching your word, and God, as this is talking about people's eternal faith and destiny, it's exceedingly important. God, I pray we would come with a humble, teachable spirit, and that as we examine the text that the text would examine us, and the Holy Spirit, you would reveal to each who would hear this sermon exactly where they are and what their next step needs to be. Lord God, I pray against distraction, and I pray for clarity, and we invite the Holy Spirit to teach us the scriptures because he has written them, in Jesus' name. Amen.
So um, how many of you um, you've had a cell phone go off recently, a warning? You had that recently? Um, often times it's kind of unexpected, unanticipated. You're just living your life, and then the alert comes. Grace and I had this yesterday. It's beautiful in the valley today, but we were up in the mountains, and I was hi--in the snow, and we were driving home late last night, and our phones just started going off with a severe weather alert, and I love that 'cause we're in the middle of a blizzard, and they're like, "It's going to snow," like I know that. Um, but what I love about the severe weather alert is it allows everyone to know what is coming and to prepare for it. The book of Hebrews is like God's severe weather alert; it's God's way of over and over giving warnings: "Hey, trouble is coming; prepare yourself; make sure that you're ready for what comes next." That's kind of the heart and theme behind Hebrews. So sometimes it's loud and it's intense and it's abrupt, and it's to get your attention because God loves you, and the big warning in Hebrews is this: Don't take Christ and Christianity for granted. Don't just assume that you're saved. Don't presume that everyone dies and goes to a better place, or that just because you're in church you're in Christ and you're going to be in heaven when all is said and done. To soberly assess, anal--analyze, examine like, "Where am I today, and am I drifting away, or am I going the right way?" And so this warning, just to be clear that we're going to deal with today, it's not directed to those who are not Christians; it's about people who say they're Christians but they're not walking as Christians or living as Christians. In addition, it's not for brand-new Christians. Some of you, you're brand-new Christians, and you're wondering, "Am I doing it right?" No, you're not, okay, but God loves you, and he's walking with you, and it'll get figured out--out--just give it a little time. And in addition, it's not for repentant, tender-hearted Christians. Some of you will read these warnings, particularly the one we'll examine today in Hebrews, and you'll wonder, "Oh my gosh, am I going to hell? Am I not saved? I've rejected God as he rejected me." And what I would tell you is this: If you're a tender-hearted person, you need to know that God's heart is tender toward you. Amen. We had this recently with a Q&A at the church. I've been staying after some of the sermons to do Q&A, and there was a very dear woman just off to my right, and and she had tears in her eyes. She could barely ask her question. She'd walked away from the Lord; she's come back to the Lord; she's got a tender heart toward the Lord, and her question was, "Will Jesus forgive me for walking away?" And and I told her, "Yes," and she actually asked, "Does this scripture that we're studying today, does it apply to me?" And I'll give you the answer as we go through it, but I said, "No. I said, 'You have a tender heart. You've repented and returned to the Lord.'" And furthermore, most people that are going to hell are not tremendously worried about it. Like, I don't find people coming to church with tears in their eyes and their Bible open saying, "Am I doomed?" If you're that concerned, you're probably doing pretty good. Okay. All right. If you're worried about it, you're probably with Jesus. That being said, it is talking about here who--people have hardened their heart. One of the themes in Hebrews up to this point is a quotation from Psalms: It says, "If today you hear his voice, do not harden your heart." These are people that have hardened their heart toward God. They know about God; they know the word of God; maybe they experienced some of the the love of God, but they've not responded with repentance of sin and faith in God. We will call them apostates, meaning they were with Christians, and now they're acting Antichrist. And so here in Hebrews, it gives us seven ways people become apostate and deconstruct their faith. Number one, they're unteachable. It says in Hebrews 5:11, "They're dull of hearing." See, they're hearing, but they're not listening. Do you know what this is like? How many of you are parents? You told the kid they weren't--they didn't listen. God's a father; we're his kids. These are people--they're hearing the sermon; they're hearing from the Holy Spirit; they're hearing from their conscience, but they're not listening. In addition, they're disobedient. He said, "You need milk, not solid food." In Hebrews 5:12, they've heard teaching but they've not applied it, so they can't move on to more mature things. They're still needing the basic milk of Christianity. Let me say this: There's no problem, you know, drinking milk and eating baby food if you're a baby. If you're a 37-year-old guy in your mom's basement and she's still making your lunch and paying for your Wi-Fi, you're a baby. You're a baby. Okay? And what it's saying here is that some people have been in church for a long time, but they've not grown up and matured. They're right where they started. It's like, "Do you read your Bible?" "Not yet." "Do you pray?" "Not yet." "Well, have you overcome that sin?" "Not yet." "How long you been working on this?" "Since the '80s." Well, it's probably time to mature. You're acting like a child, and you're a baby. In addition, that's the next point. He says that some are immature and a child. Hebrews 5:13. There is no problem being immature if you're a new Christian. As you are a Christian for more years, you should have more maturity. If you're still struggling with the same struggle, if you're still quoting the same verse, if you're still following the same follow, and it has been a season or an extended season of seasons for you, you need to know that you may be saved, but you're a child. You're just a baby. And the goal is not just to get to heaven, but to mature and grow on the way there. In the same way, how many of you are parents and you've got a kid? You want them to be born, but you want them to grow up. See, God's a father; he wants you to be born again, but he wants you to grow up. And for some of you, that's the word. In addition, some are self-destructive, causing their quote "own harm." Hebrews 6:6. These are people that self-destruct their own life; they implode. Like, they they maybe are Christians, and maybe they are in the church, and maybe they do know right and wrong, but they just keep making foolish choices. These can be single women who keep choosing the wrong guy. These can be guys who keep choosing the wrong G--these can be people who keep making financial disastrous decisions. These are people that just self-destruct their own life. It's self-harm. Think of it this way: Let's say you're in great pain, and you call 911, say, "You know what? I'm in great pain; someone has assaulted me; send an officer." "Who was it?" "It was me." "Well, sorry; we're not sure who to arrest." See, some of our harm is self-induced. Much of our harm is self-induced. Number five, some are rebellious, having fallen away. Hebrews 6:6. Think of it in this way: Think of someone who is uh, on the precipice of a cliff, and they're just teetering over the edge, and a bunch of Christians are behind them, and they're worried about them, so they start warning them, "Don't fall over the cliff; don't fall over the cliff," and the person just leans right over the cliff, falls to the bottom, doesn't die, but crushes themselves. Now someone walks along; they see this person who's suffering, but they didn't see what happened at the top of the cliff. They walk up to this person, and they ask, "You're in such pain; what happened?" "The Christians yelled at me; they've caused all this pain; they were yelling at me." "Oh, oh, that's spiritual abuse. I studied this in Community College. I did. I had a non-binary professor that identified as a turtle, and they talked about spiritual abuse. I took the class; I mean, I didn't pass, but that's not the point. I took the class, and they talked about if people yell at you, that's spiritual abuse, and I was told they're not like Jesus; they're not like Jesus; not not not not like Jesus. Jesus would never yell at anyone." You know what has happened to you? You know--have church hurt? And two things should happen: You should deconstruct your faith, and start a blog. You should do those two things because what you have is trauma, and the--there's two kinds of trauma: There's regular trauma, and severe trauma. Regular trauma is like when your country gets invaded or your dad's a Republican, but then there's severe trauma; it's microtrauma. Microtrauma, like when Christians yell at you. By the way, what did they say? They said not to jump off the cliff. See, it's fallen away; it's intentionally self-destructing. And some of you have done that, and Christians are like, "Don't do that; don't go there; don't date them; don't don't don't don't; you're going to hurt yourself." You're like, "Why are you yelling at me? I thought you were the loving people." We are. That's a cliff. Cliffs are undefeated. Okay? You still with me? Some of you like, "That's what happened." Yeah, it did. Okay? Wasn't the church's fault, right? Okay. Number seven, lazy spiritually and morally, quote-unquote "sluggish." Hebrews 6:12. These are the people that--you know their doctor's like, "You need to change your diet." Two years later, "Did you?" "No." "Pastor, like you need to read your Bible." "No." "Well, I mean, have you--have you prayed once?" "No." "When will you?" "I don't know." Just no sense of urgency, no sense of ownership, no sense of activation in the faith. Okay? So he's talking about these kinds of people. So then the question is, what happens to these kind of people? So here's the question: You ready to go? What happens to someone who goes apostate? They act like this. Here's the highly debated verse. This is the verse many Christians argue and debate about: Hebrews 6:4-6.
For it is what impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come and then have fallen--they went off the cliff; they went off the cliff--to restore them again to repentance since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. So briefly stated, this is perhaps the most debated verse or section of verses in the New Testament. There are different interpretations. I'll give you five of them. Okay? I'll give you five of them; three of them are possible; two of them are not. In addition, this scripture is hard to understand. There's a guy named Peter; Jesus' lead disciple wrote two books of the Bible; he says in 2 Peter 3:16 that some of the Bible for him is hard to understand. Just because it's hard to understand doesn't mean it's not true; it just means we need to be humble; we need to do our research; we need not be arrogant or rushed to conclusions; and that at the end of the day, godly people can have differing opinions because it's not a closed-ended issue; it's an open-ended issue, and that's what this is. So that being said, we're going to look now at five interpretive options. You're really getting your money's worth; usually you get one; this is like a great group-on experience; this is really fantastic. So I want to show you all five, and then you could figure out maybe if one appeals to you. Number one, interpretive option number one for Hebrews 5:11 through 6:12: Jewish people who have professed faith in Christ but stop short of saving faith. That's one of the major interpretive options among the scholars, and the point is that there were Jewish people in the church. These are Jewish people who have heard about Christ; they've not taken a full step to where they're Christians; they've taken a half step, meaning, "I kind of go to synagogue; I kind of go to church; I kind of believe in Judaism, not--I believe Jesus was maybe a teacher, a rabbi, a good man, but I've not accepted him as my Lord and Savior. I'm halfway there, but I'm not all the way there." That's the anticipation of this interpretation. Here's the problem: Number one, we don't know who wrote Hebrews or who it was written to. This is one of the great debates in church history; it doesn't name the author or the audience, so we can't say it's written solely or even primarily for Jewish people. Number two, does this sound like people who have taken a full step and are Christians? Like, does this sound like people that have taken a half step or a full step? Sounds like a full step. Let's read it again: Hebrews 6:4-6. Here's these people: "Those who have once been enlightened"--that's the ministry of the Holy Spirit--"who have tasted the heavenly gift"--salvation--"have shared in the Holy Spirit, have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come." That, to me--how about you?--sounds like a true believer. Like, you received the eternal gift; you have the Holy Spirit; you've learned the word of God. Like, that to me is someone who is not halfway there; they're there; they've crossed the line of faith, and they are a true believer in Jesus Christ. And so within this, I would say to this perspective, the most likely answer is no; that's not what is intended; that's not what is intended. Interpretation uh, option number two for Hebrews 5:11-6:12: The second interpretation: It's believers who have fallen into sin and lost their eternal rewards but not their salvation. So there's a difference between your salvation and your rewards. Your salvation was secured by Christ; your rewards are contingent upon your faithfulness. That's right. So there's a difference. You can not lose your salvation, but you can lose your rewards. Come on, let me say it in this way: The Bible encourages believers to live fruitful lives for eternal rewards. How many of you have a retirement account? Okay? This is God's version of your retirement account. All the suffering, all the serving, all the giving, all the learning, all the repenting, it all gets credited. Jesus says, "Store up your treasures in heaven." It gets credited in this eternal account, and then when believers stand before Jesus Christ, it's not for salvation; it's for the judgment of rewards, and Jesus will say, "You've suffered a lot; let me reward you. You've served a lot or given a lot; let me reward you. You are faithful to my calling on your life; let me reward you." And these are eternal rewards. And so you can't lose your salvation, but you can lose your rewards. Here's how Paul says it in Colossians 3:23 and 24: "Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward." You serving the Lord, Christ--here's what he says is the Christian's perspective: "I'm here to serve my king, and his name is Jesus Christ, and even if you lie about me, you oppose me, you attack me, you slander me, you rob me, I'm going to serve him, and even if you take everything from me, I know that when I stand before him he will return it all to me with much more." I don't know about you; that's great incentive. How many of you right now you're setting aside money all the time for retirement? Your rewards is your eternal inheritance; it's your eternal--it's your eternal retirement. And so you can't lose your salvation, but it will be embarrassing when you stand before Jesus and he's like, "Uh, welcome. Like, what do I get? Welcome. Well, do I get to rule a city or travel or--welcome?" Right? You get a participation trophy; that's all you get. Okay? I believe that this could be what Hebrews is talking about. Let's read it again: Hebrews 6:7-8.
For land that is drunken the rain that often falls on it produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated receives a blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and in the end it is burned. And so what he's saying is this: It's--he's using the language in Hebrews of fruitfulness, and he says the rain falls on two pieces of land, and one is very fruitful, and the other is very barren. What he's saying is Christians are like that: Like, Jesus loves you, and Jesus loves you, and you got a lot done, and you didn't even get started. And what he's saying is that some believers are less fruitful than others, and it is because of their own choice and condition; it's because you're choosing if you're going to live a fruitful life or not live a fruitful life. And so I do believe that this interpretation is a possibility, and the warning here to all of us is this: What are you living for? For? And are you storing up your treasures in heaven? And are you living for the day of judgment of rewards when you stand before Jesus Christ? And if you're not, and you are a Christian, number one, here's the problem: You're wasting your life. That's right. Like, I don't talk to people about Jesus; I don't give--I don't pray; I don't serve; I don't read my Bible other than once in a while. Well, then you're wasting your whole life. Number two, you're a terrible witness. All the family and friends that see you, they're like, "They don't care; why should I care? They're the Christian; I'm not." If the Christian doesn't even care, why should I care? Jesus calls these people in Revelation lukewarm; they're lukewarm. Okay? In addition, think about this: What does this say to God? "Hey, Jesus, you got off the throne, came down, humbled yourself, suffered, died on the cross, rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, save me, gave me the Holy Spirit, gave me my eternal inheritance. Thank you for everything you've done for me. I'm just very busy, so I can't do much for you." That's just--yeah. If you're a true believer, should go, "Yeah, I probably should have an attitude of gratitude," you know? And and if he died for me, I should probably live for him. Yeah. Okay? That that's the warning. Interpretive option number three for Hebrews 5:11-6:12: Former believers who have slipped back into unbelief and have lost their salvation. This is one of the real debated ones, so I'll read it again: Former believers who have slipped back into unbelief and have lost their salvation. We all know people who it seemed like they were a Christian, and now they're not. What happened? I will say this as well: This is my 30th year as a senior pastor; I know hundreds, if not thousands, of former pastors that are today non-Christians. Hundreds, if not thousands. It's like, okay, you you went to Bible College, Seminary; you were a pastor; wow; you drifted to the point of shipwreck; like you're gone. The question is, well, what happened? Did they lose their salvation? Did the Christian become a non-Christian? To ask it another way: Did Jesus die for all their sin except for the one that they committed? Okay, so look, now we're going to go nerd. You ready? We're going to go nerd. I'm going to give you something called the perspicuity principle. It's from the Protestant Reformation, and one of the principles of the Protestant Reformation is that scripture is best to interpret scripture. So if you're in the Bible, you're like, "I don't understand this," don't automatically leave the Bible; go to other places in the Bible, and then study those parts of the Bible together. Perspicuity means clarity, and so if you come to a part of the Bible and you're like, "That's not very clear to me," then go to the other parts that are clear, and then what you do, you interpret the less clear--clear scriptures by the more clear scriptures. This is the exact opposite of what cults do. They take all the weird parts of the Bible, and that's all they talk about. Like, there's certain people like, "Do you know who the Nephilim are?" "No." "You're a weirdo; I want to talk about something else." "Ezekiel's wheel within a wheel; I think it was a UFO when I was smoking weed. I saw the Revelation." "No, you're a weirdo. You're a weirdo. You're a weirdo." Okay. "Oh, the Nephilim were on the--oh, smoking weed too?" You're like, "Oh, no. Now you just put the two weird sections together; now you're the most weird." Okay? Don't do that. Instead, if something is unclear, interpret it in light of what is more clear. Does that make sense? And so I'll do that with you now. All right, so Jesus talks about this: John 10:28-29. Jesus says, "I give them what kind of life?" "Eternal life." Let you a little secret--well, secret--you ready? Eternal is forever; it's not like the hypothetical possibility
Let me fix that. All right. Let me give you a little warning. Little warning: you can't lose your salvation, but you can fake your faith. Yeah, that's right. Shots fired. He's a cranky old man, that one. You okay? And I want you to examine yourself, cuz if you truly are a Believer, you can't lose your salvation, but lots of people in church fake their faith. That's right. Genuine True Believers in Jesus Christ have eternal life; counterfeits and frauds do not. That's right. In church, there are a lot of people that are in church, but they're not in Christ, and they're counterfeits; they're not the genuine and real. Furthermore, they're faking their faith. I, I, I give this to you as a warning. I love you, but I want you to examine yourself. You should judge yourself so that then you're ready to stand before Jesus on the day of judgment. Amen.
Did Jesus have 12 disciples? Yes. Was one of them faking his faith? Yes. Yeah, he was. Did Judas, the betrayer, the denier, did he lose his salvation? No. No, cuz he was never saved. That's right, he was never saved. Come on. The Bible says that he's the son of Destruction, or the son of perdition. In addition, it says that for the three years he was with Jesus, he was stealing from him and plotting against him. You be like, "But Judas did the same thing as everybody else." He sat there and took notes when Jesus preached the sermons, and he helped distribute the little boy's lunch when it was multiplied to feed the multitude. And when we prayed, man, he had great prayers. He was a good prayer; he was beseeching and bowing and binding and loosening. Like, dude, could pray. When we sang songs, he had a great voice. Every once in a while, he'd lead worship, raised his hands, he cried sometimes when he sang. He knew a lot of verses. He was with Jesus, but he had a hard heart. See, the Bible says that man looks at the outward; it's why religious people are always performing. That's right. It says that God looks at the heart; it's why one of the themes in Hebrews is, "If today you hear his voice, do not harden your heart." See, Jesus looked at Judas, and, "I, I know what's in your heart. You've been plotting against me and stealing from me, and now you're going to betray me and you're going to murder me." He's not for Christ; he's Antichrist. Yeah, okay, he's Antichrist. Don't be a Judas. Don't play Church. Don't be a counterfeit Christian. Don't fake your faith, and don't presume upon the grace of God.
Number four, maybe this is now you after I just scared you: Hebrews 5:11 through 6:12. True believers who are fearful, panicked—I can see it. Some be like, "Oh, oh, I didn't know we need to bring a cup to church. This is a lot." Okay, I know it's intense, but here's what we're talking about: heaven and hell, forever and ever, and you. So these are serious things. I love you far too much to just say it quietly or try to nuance it politely. The other option here: true believers who are fearful, panicked, and need to stop worrying about the impossibility of losing their salvation and grow up and mature and move forward in faith. This possibility, I believe, is a yes. Do I believe the previous is a possibility? No. You cannot lose your salvation. This interpretation? Yes, it is a possibility. And what this could be is what we would call the prodigals. Remember the story of The Prodigal Son? Yeah, had a good dad and blew it. Like, "Dad, that's it. I'm going to Oldtown. I'm drinking. I'm dating the gallon clear heels. I'm going to ASU. I'm not going to graduate." Okay, so that's what he's doing, and he wakes up and all of a sudden he's broke, and he's, you know, he's crashing on his buddy's couch, and he's eating the pizza box cuz he ate all the pizza. Like, that's where he's at. Life is just cratered. What, what does he do? Says, "I, I got to go home. I, I have a good dad. I'm a bad son. If I go home, I bet you my dad's going to have some grace for me." So he goes home. What does he get? Grace from his dad. His dad the whole time is looking out the window. Is today the day my crazy son comes home? [Music] Okay, and he sees his son. What does he do? He runs to him. Just so you know, older men don't run. We don't, even if there's a fire. Like, I'm, I'm, it's like, I know where I'm going. I'm going to walk this out and see what happens, right? Like, older men don't run. He runs to his son because he can't stand another second without him, and he embraces his son, and he blesses his son, and he's generous to his son, and he celebrates his son. See, that's a prodigal. Your heart may have temporarily closed toward the Lord, but his heart never closes toward you. Amen. Okay, and you repent and you return. Some of you, you are a prodigal, meaning you know the Lord and you walked away, and now you've come to your senses and you're asking, like, "Uh, will he take me back? Is there any forgiveness? Like, what happens now? Do I get, you know, tasered?" Like, what do we do to make this right? And some of you feel very guilty and shameful. You're like, "I knew what to do, and I did the opposite. I don't have any excuses. Like, I just, I shipwrecked my own life." And these people have a tender conscience, and they regret what they've done, and they return. And let me say, if you're this person and you're so worried about you and Jesus, you're probably a believer, right? Because people who are believers aren't really that concerned about them and Jesus. So little nerd fact here: I'm going to give you something in rhetoric and argumentation and debate. It's, uh, it's a way of arguing a point; it's called a reductio ad absurdum, reduced to the absurd. It usually is used to take a thesis that is incorrect, follow it to its logical implications to an absurd conclusion. Okay, uh, I've got a Bachelor's in speech with a the emphasis in rhetoric and debate, and then a master's in Bible, and what I love the most was the classes on argumentation, rhetoric, and debate; how to form an argument. And if someone is just determined, like, "My conclusion is right," okay, let me agree with you. Let's walk that out, and I'll show you it's crazy. Okay, we should do this for all Democrats, just throwing it out there. Okay, so throwing it out there just wasn't in my notes but was on my heart. Okay, so, okay, so, so I believe what he's doing here, he's doing a reductio ad absurdum. They're just like, "Jesus won't take us back. We've gone too far. There's no hope for us. It's over. We've, we've parted. We've done the wrong that can never be undone." He's, "Okay, let's assume that's true, and I'll show you it's absurd."
Two reasons why you can't lose your salvation in this text: Number one, if there is a sin that Jesus did not die for, we need to bring him back from heaven and to kill him for that sin by crucifying once again the Son of God. Hebrews 6:X. Jesus didn't die for this. Okay, okay, okay. So when he died on the cross for all your sins, he, he missed one. He missed one. If that's true, we got to find a way to bring him back so we could crucify him again for that one. Answer: no. That's absurd. That's absurd. Jesus died for all your sins, past, present, and future. And some of you be like, "I didn't know I was going to do this." He did. He did. Colossians 2 says that there, 2 and 3, there was a list in the unseen realm at the cross of Jesus with all of your sins, past, present, and future, and he died for everything on that list. That's what it says. Amen. Okay. Number two: tell me if this doesn't sound like a believer that needs to heal up and move on. Hebrews 6:9-12: "Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, who, beloved—those are believers, right—we feel sure of better things, things that belong to salvation, for God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promise." What he's saying is this: God still loves you, beloved. There's better for you. You need to get going. Work on that relationship. Jesus loves you; he's waiting for you. Stop freaking out and start moving forward. That's what he's saying. And it says here that they didn't lose their salvation, uh, but they did lose their quote "full assurance." You can't lose your salvation, but you can lose your assurance of salvation. In any relationship, to have full assurance of the relationship, both parties need to be working on the relationship. If you stop working on the relationship, you'll start losing the assurance of the security of the relationship. I'll give you an example: this week, uh, my wife Grace and I, we celebrated the 37th anniversary of our first date. 37 years. Okay, so thank you, baby, for having low expectations and a high pain tolerance. I appreciate both. So, and here's what I, this is the best season of our life. She's my dearest friend. We've both been committed to working on this relationship for 37 years. I have full assurance that whatever comes this year, we're going to face it together. I have full assurance because I'm committed to this marriage; she's committed to this marriage, and we're both working on it every day. Amen. If one of us stops working on the relationship, we may still have the relationship, but we lose the full assurance of the relationship. Let's say I didn't call Grace this year; we didn't communicate. If I woke up one day and I'm like, "I'm not sure where we're at," that would be a reasonable conclusion. Okay, your relationship with God: he's always working on the relationship, but if you stop, stop working on the relationship, you can't lose the relationship, but you can lose the assurance that that relationship is still intact. That's right. That's why the greatest way to have assurance, the greatest way to have assurance, is to keep working on the relationship. Read my Bible, pray, worship God, give, serve. I'm going to keep investing in this relationship.
So here's the difference between a prodigal and an apostate: The prodigal goes away and comes back. Excuse me, say it again. The prodigal goes away and comes back. The apostate goes away and never comes back. How do you know which you are? The question is: do you come back to Jesus? See, in Jesus' ministry, Judas was the apostate; Peter was the prodigal. There was a time around his death; they both walked away. Peter came back with tears in his eyes and apologized and worked on the relationship, and Judas never did. And Judas never did. We want you to come back to Jesus, and he will always receive you if you are a True Believer.
Last one: I'll hit this one quickly. It's a more recent one: interpretive option number five, Hebrews 5:1-6:12. This view would be: this section of scripture is a warning about the rebellion at Kadesh Barnea in the days of Moses, using the same language of Numbers 13-14 and Psalm 95. Here's the big idea: so God delivered his people from slavery and bondage in Egypt. There, a big theme in Hebrews, massive section of the Old Testament in Exodus, they're free. God's bringing them to the promised land; they're going to get home, and they just kind of don't care. They have a hard heart; they start committing sexual sin, creating idols to worship, grumbling against God. Finally, it reaches the point where Moses, their leader, and Aaron, kind of the vice president, gathers all the people and says, "Hey, we need to go forward, not backward. God said to get to the promised land. We're supposed to be the Jews who do Israel. God's got a lot for our future. We got to go forward." The people say, "We're going to go back. We missed the old days in Egypt. Remember the good old days when we were slaves to a pagan demonic King and working for a corrupt government? Oh, those were the good old days." Moses and Aaron say, "No, no, no." God says, "We go forward, not backward." The people decide, "We need to kill Moses and Aaron." Then a riot, a mob emerges; they all grab stones, the Bible says to stone them. Not this, but this: they're going to kill them. So now they're going to kill Moses and Aaron so they can go back to Egypt. It's total treason and rebellion after everything God did: part the Red Sea, crush the nation of Egypt, bring the plague of death on the firstborn. God did all these incredible things. They're like, "Ah, we're kind of indifferent." It's kind of like Christians, like, "Yeah, I know Jesus died and rose, but, ah, little different." Some of them were True Believers; some were not. So what? God tells them is, "No, we're going to go forward. You can't go backward." And then what they do, they do this, dear friend, they, uh, they go to war and they try to defeat a local, uh, nation so that they can take that land and make that their home because they want to live where they want to live and they want to live how they want to live. They don't want to live where God wants them to live, and they don't want to live how God wants them to live. And that whole, that whole generation died in the wilderness. God's like, "I can't bring you into my Promised Land." Promised land is a portrait of Heaven. The question is: did they die and go to heaven, or do they die and go to hell? The answer is yes; there was both. So this is where we need to examine ourselves, like, okay, where am I at and where am I going? And let me give you this: 2 Timothy 2:19. I'll close with this. Let me bring the prayer forward. Bring the band up. If you need prayer for anything, come forward. If you're prodigal and it's time to repent and come home, if you've got some sin that you just need to leave here, not take with you, if you've got some burdens that you're carrying, if you have some doubts and fears, some anxiety that you're struggling with, we want to pray for you. We love you. If you want to give your life to Jesus and finally cross that full line of faith, that full step of faith, we would love to pray for you and give you a Bible. And as well for those who are online, let us know how we can pray for you. But let me close with this: 2 Timothy 2:19. "God's firm foundation stands," here's the bedrock. You could build your life on it; you can build your eternal life on it. "God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: the Lord knows who are his." The Lord knows if you're his; the Lord knows if I'm his; the Lord knows if we're his. Do you know that you're his? The Lord knows who are his. Don't worry about them or them; worry about you and you. Amen. In addition, and let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. Two things: name the name of the Lord. I believe in Jesus; I love Jesus; I serve Jesus; I'm under the authority of Jesus; I'm trusting in Jesus; I'm looking forward to seeing Jesus; I want to be like Jesus. You can do whatever you want to me, but I am going to serve him because he is my King, and his name is Jesus Christ. Call on the name of the Lord in prayer, and we're going to call on the name of the Lord in worship. Call on the name of the Lord and depart from iniquity. Yeah, not doing that anymore. I repent; it dies today because Jesus died for it. I want to live with full assurance of salvation; I want to live a fruitful life; I want to die a purposeful death, and I want to enjoy my eternal rewards. And between now and Jesus, I don't want to waste a minute; I don't want to waste a day; I don't want to waste a moment because I'm here on divine assignment, and God has things for me to do. Let me pray for you. Go ahead and stand, and we're going to call on the name of the Lord. Jesus, we thank you that you are savior. May we not take that for granted; may we not presume upon your grace, but may we enjoy it as needed, and may we strive every day to grow in this relationship so that we can have full assurance and one day have rewards in Jesus' presence, in Jesus' name. Amen. [Music] [Music] w [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] w n [Music]