You cannot lose your salvation,
but can you walk away from it?
Beloved,
when it come to the words:
“DO NOT”
many of us have a problem with those words.
Do not touch
do not go
do not pass
do not take
do not give
do not gossip.
Many have no respect or fear and I mean
are not afraid of the words
DO Not!!!
And then there are those
who just REFUSED TO BELIEVE
the impact these
two words have.
Beloved,
let me tell you
there are
consequences for refusing
to believe or ignore
these two words.
Application:
Let me tell you,
fear is a powerful motivator.
It’s often mentioned in Scripture.
We are instructed
"fear God"
or praise God at least 47 times.
Now,
someone out there might be saying,
Bishop Houston,
“that’s just in the Old Testament.”
Well,
no it’s not.
We find that in
1 Peter 2:17
Peter writes that Christians should:
"Show proper respect to everyone:
Love the brotherhood of believers,
FEAR GOD, honor the king."
Now,
I’m sure some of you out there
might be saying:
“when the Bible uses the word ‘fear’
that means ‘respect.’”
Well, not in all aspects,
and not here.
You see,
the word in I Peter for example
is “phobeo”
a word from which we get
our term "phobia."
It means to be "terrified."
Phobeo
is found again in Romans 11:20
“…Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.”
Now there may be someone asking:
Bishop Houston:
Afraid?… Afraid of what?
WELL I’M GLAD YOU ASKED!!!
Allow me to give you a little
backdrop here:
I.
At the church at Rome
there was a small problem.
The congregation there
was made up of
Jewish & Gentile believers
and there was tension
between the two groups.
The Jewish believers at Rome
looked down on the Gentiles,
because the Gentiles were
poor cousins.
In other words they were the
Johnny come latelys.
They were the newcomers
or late starters in the faith.
The new believers or
they found their Christian
position later than others.
These non-Jews had not been
part of God’s 1st covenant with Israel,
and hadn’t taken part
in the blessing and promises
of the Old Testament.
Besides,
for generations,
there had been dislike
and hatred of these outsiders.
Gentiles were called "dogs"
and contact with these undesirables
was avoided whenever possible.
If a Jew were to buy goods
from a Gentile,
the purchased item was often
taken home and washed
to clean away the pagan filth
before being used.
Jews grew up hating Gentiles,
and it was a hard habit to break.
In the book of Romans,
Paul spends the first 4 or 5 chapters
addressing the Jews prejudice.
Now as for the Gentiles,
they were not
trying to here or (listen)
to all of this sit down and be quiet mess coming from the Jews.
They simply responded
to prejudice Jewish
by saying “Oh yeah???
You want us
to sit down and be quiet …
But wasn’t it you so called smart Jews
the ones who rejected Jesus to begin with?
How could you possibly
maintain that God loves you
more than us
if you crucified His only Son?"
In the book of Romans Chapters 9, 10, and 11, you will find that
Paul focused on counteracting
this attitude on the Jews part.
Paul said (in essence)
God hadn’t rejected Israel.
In fact He loved them.
Now,
it’s hard to tell how bad
this finger pointing had gotten
at Rome
but it did bring some value
to Paul’s writing:
in Romans 15:7-9 it says:
"Accept one another, then,
just as Christ accepted you,
in order to bring praise to God.
For I tell you
that Christ has become a servant
of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth,
to confirm the promises
made to the patriarchs
so that the Gentiles may
glorify God for his mercy,
as it is written:
‘Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name.’"
II.
Beloved,
it’s here, in Chapter 11,
that Paul sums up his rebuke
of the Gentile believers in Rome.
Here,
he sets the record straight:
Yes,
the Jews were cut off,
because of unbelief.
AND yes,
you Gentiles have been grafted
or in other words
(embedded, inserted, implanted, attached)
in their place.
BUT then he warns the Gentiles,
He tells them:
don’t get big headed to arrogant or
walk around with swag because,
you can be cut off too.
Paul writes in
Romans 11:19-21:
“You will say then,
‘Branches were broken off
so that I could be grafted in.’
Granted.
But they were broken off
because of unbelief,
and you stand by faith.
Do not be arrogant,
but be afraid.
For if God did not spare
the natural branches,
he will not spare you either."
III.
Beloved,
there are many people
who have problems with this
particular teaching from Romans.
They complain that it’s unbiblical
for a person to fear losing
their salvation.
They stand on the cliché
“once a person is saved
they will always be saved."
Illus:
One author believes:
“God’s elect are unconditionally
secure in Christ.
He believes
It’s impossible for
a true believer
to ever become an unbeliever,
a saved sinner
to ever become unsaved,
a redeemed person
to ever become unredeemed,
or one of God’s elect
to ever become non-elect.
He says,
to teach otherwise,
to teach the nonsense
of ‘conditional grace’
and ‘conditional salvation’
is to teach salvation by works.”
ILLUS:
Another writer
addresses the issue of people
who have "given their lives to Jesus,"
went to church for many years,
but then left never to return.
The writer says:
"We have all seen it happen,
and I would like to say
that they have probably
never been saved.
If they left the faith and stayed away,
then they were never saved.
They didn’t lose their salvation,
they simply never had it to begin with.
The reason they fell away
and stayed away is because
they were never saved."
Friends,
this type of teaching
can be so intense
that it causes some
of these believers to question
the salvation of others
who might "doubt"
their salvation once in a while.
ILLUS:
I had a friend named Thomas
who was once visited by a minister
who was doing “door to door” evangelism.
The minister asked Thomas
was he saved.
Thomas responded that he’d
been baptized just a year or so ago.
Then the minister asked Thomas
if he ever doubted his salvation.
And Thomas had to admit that he had.
The Minister then tried
to convince Thomas that if he
doubted his salvation he wasn’t saved,
and tried to lead Thomas
in a "prayer for salvation" on the spot.
IV.
Well let me tell you,
I have a problem.
These authors and that preacher
tell us we can’t be cut off from our salvation…
But Romans says we can.
Now there may be someone out there asking:
Bishop Houston,
are these people totally ignoring
Scripture?
WELL I’M GLAD YOU ASKED!!!
Well NO.
They’re not.
It’s just that the Scriptures
they’re using to support
their position
(that people can’t walk away
from their salvation),
don’t totally say
what these people believe they do.
One such scripture is
John 10:27-29
it says:
"My sheep listen to my voice;
I know them,
and they follow me.
I give them eternal life,
and they shall never perish;
no one can snatch them
out of my hand.
My Father,
who has given them to me,
is greater than all;
no one can snatch them
out of my Father’s hand."
Now what this scripture means is:
that once you’re saved,
nobody can take your salvation
away from you.
they can steal your car,
burn your home,
destroy your family,
but they can’t take
your salvation away from you.
No army known to man,
to terrorist with explosives
can
forcibly remove your salvation.
But,
that doesn’t mean
you can’t get up
and walk away from God.
The Bible tells us in
Romans 11:22
"Consider therefore the kindness
and sternness of God:
sternness to those who fell,
but kindness to you,
PROVIDED THAT YOU CONTINUE
in his kindness.
Otherwise,
you also will be cut off."
In 1 Corinthians 15:2
we’re told:
"By this gospel you are saved,
IF YOU HOLD FIRMLY
to the word I preached to you.
Otherwise,
you have believed in vain."
And in John 15:6 Jesus affirmed
"IF ANYONE DOES NOT
REMAIN IN ME,
he is like a branch
that is thrown away and withers;
such branches are picked up,
thrown into the fire and burned."
Beloved,
Hebrews warns us
it says:
“How shall we escape
IF WE NEGLECT
so great a salvation?”
V.
But now,
those who believe in
"once saved, always saved"
do have a point.
But the key to the
"once saved, always saved cliché’ ”
the believer
must avoid living in
abject fear all their life,
in other words
afraid of losing their salvation
when they are not
paying attention.
Now let’s go over a few points:
1. You can’t lose your salvation.
It’s not like misplacing
your glasses or your car keys.
You don’t someday wake up
and realize you’ve forgotten
where you put it.
2. No one can take
your salvation away from you.
Jesus won’t let that happen.
3. Salvation is something
you have to
DELIBERATELY WALK AWAY FROM.
ILLUS:
Let me give you an example:
I once read an article in the Reader’s Digest:
A man was explaining that
“during the Mortgage Closing
on his summer house,
he and his wife were asked
to sign documents
containing small print.
When the man asked if
he should read it, his attorney replied,
"Legally, you should,
but here’s the bottom line:
If you pay your installments
on time,
there is nothing in there
that could harm you.
But!!!
If you stop paying,
there is definitely nothing
in the small print
that can save you."
ILLUS:
Beloved,
whether you rent,
lease or own,
if you make
your payments
on it it’s your.
NOBODY CAN TAKE IT
AWAY FROM YOU.
If you’re buying your home
make sure you have
some mortgage insurance
that will pay off
the mortgage for your family.
That way you will not be afraid
of losing your home,
just be faithful in making your
payments every month.
There is a home next door
to one of the centers I serve.
It’s a derelict home.
The owners walked away from it.
They didn’t pay their taxes,
they didn’t pay their
mortgage payments.
THEY WERE NOT FAITHFUL.
They didn’t keep up their home
nor did they
meet their responsibilities.
And now it’s condemned.
Now there may be someone out there asking:
Bishop Houston
Why do people walk away from God?
Well I’m glad you asked!!!
I’ll give you six reasons:
Deception
Fear of missing out
A desire for total freedom
An unforgiving spirit
Denial of potential consequences
and Arrogance.
Now let’s look at each one a little closer:
Many walk away from God because of
A. Deception-
Beloved,
(Gen. 3:4-5),
Satan deceived Eve into thinking
that God was lying to her.
The Devil may convince us
that we have to look a certain way,
drive a particular car,
make more money, and/or wear the right clothing to be happy in life.
Many walk away from God
because of
B. Fear they might be missing out:
You know,
people sometimes resist God’s will
because they doubt
He has their best interests in mind.
Let me give you a couple of quick Example:
(a) Marrying the wrong person
for fear of never marrying;
(b) believing that a godly life
won’t be any fun.
Many walk away from God
because of
C. A desire for total freedom:
There are many people that seek to be completely free.
But let me tell you
( according to James 1:15 it tells us )
if they do what they want, when they want it, to whomever they want,
they will eventually find death.
Many walk away from God
because of
D. An unforgiving spirit:
Some people just stop
trusting the Lord
because they were hurt in the past.
Unless they deal with that pain,
it will affect every area of their lives.
Many walk away from God
because of
E. Denial of potential consequences:
There are people that believe that they will escape the effects of sin.
But none of us
can smoke, abuse drugs,
or commit acts of immorality
without reaping the consequences
of those choices.
Many walk away from God
because of
F. Arrogance
Will have people lean on their own understanding.
Self-centeredness, egotism and pride
will become their new God
and they will boldly walk away
from God.
Which brings us back to our
message.
Beloved,
that’s exactly,
what Paul said about the Jews.
They walked away from
God’s gift for them.
Now,
do you remember
WHY Paul said the Jews were cut off?
a look back at Romans 11:20.
Paul says:
"(the Jews)
were broken off
BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF,
and “you” stand by faith.
Do not be arrogant, but be afraid."
Did you get that?
Friends,
they weren’t cut off because
they slipped, and sinned.
It wasn’t because they said
a bad word or did a bad thing –
NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THEY REFUSED TO BELIEVE.
That’s why they were cut off.
They didn’t want
what God had to offer,
so they proudly turned
their back on all that God wanted
to give them.
So they were cut off.
But now,
here’s the cool part:
in Romans 11:23
it says:
"And if they do not persist in unbelief,
they will be grafted in,
for God is able to graft them in again."
_____________________
Now I have some BAD NEWS
AND SOME GOOD NEWS.
But the bad news is
you can walk away
from your salvation.
The GOOD NEWS is this:
If you return to Him,
God will open the house
back up for you.
He’ll take the locks off
the doors
and the bars off the windows
and fix your life back up again
even if you’ve wandered
way off course from Him
and you feel you’ll never get back.
ILLUS:
several years back
when I just started
out in the ministry
as a minister
I met a woman
who was always worried
about her salvation.
She had been a Christian
as a teenager,
but then she fell into
a life of sinfulness.
Later,
she repented and came back to Jesus,
and back to the church.
But she felt she had sinned so badly,
that she felt God would never forgive her – never fully accept her back.
I hadn’t been preaching that long
and I’d never run into that kind
of emotional response
from the people
I’d known before.
How could I comfort her
and help her in her fear.
THEN it hit me!!!
I’m sure many of you
out there
No the story of the prodigal son.
located in
(Luke 15:11-24)
"There was a man
who had two sons.
The younger one said to his father,
‘Father,
give me my share of the estate.’
So he divided his property
between them.
"Not long after that,
the younger son got together
all he had,
set off for a distant country
and there he wasted his all his money
on wild living.
After he had spent everything,
there was a severe famine
in that whole country,
and he began to be in need.
So he went and hired himself out
(He had to go get a job)
to a citizen of that country,
who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.
He was so hungry that he would have eaten the slop the pigs were eating
but no one gave him anything.
"When he came to his senses,
he said,
‘How many of my father’s hired men
have food to spare,
and here I am starving to death!!!
I will leave here and go back
to my father and say to him:
Father,
I have sinned against heaven
and against you.
I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’
So he got up and went to his father.
"But while he was still a long way off,
his father saw him
and was filled with compassion for him;
he ran to his son,
threw his arms around him and kissed him. "The son said to him,
‘Father,
I have sinned against heaven
and against you.
I am no longer worthy to be called your son. ’ "But the father said to his servants,
‘Quick!!!
Bring the best robe and put it on him.
Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattest calf and kill it.
Let’s have a feast and celebrate.
Because this son of mine
was dead and is alive again;
he was lost and is found.’
So they celebrated."
I believe that Jesus
told this story,
in part,
to deal with
and answer the questions
in our message this morning
“Don’t Walk Away From God.”
Now Notice -
a son walked away.
The father
didn’t pursue him,
but waited
for the day his child
would return.
|And when the son repented,
the Father RAN TO HIM.
Again the Father RAN TO HIM!!!
The father didn’t even wait
for the son to make it
all the way back in his embarrassment.
Beloved,
there is some bad news,
we can be cut off from God
if we insist on living apart
from Him
in the foreign land
of selfishness and pride.
But now there is some GOOD NEWS also,
the good news is
that God is able
and MORE THAN WILLING
to graft us back in again
when we repent.
Beloved,
do not stay away from God,
Do not continue to be disobedient
Do not trade your blessings
God has provided
just for you
for something
that is temporal
of the world.
Beloved,
come back to God!!
He’s
waiting for your return.
Beloved,
We are always protected!!!
Until we walk away.
And for those of you
have walked
away from God
Come back to God!!!
No matter how bad
the situation or issues
are in your life
you can return to Him.
Don’t let anyone tell you
any different.
Many people believe the lie
that they have sinned
too much to be forgiven.
But let me tell you beloved,
there’s no one
and I repeat NO One
That’s beyond the reach
of God’s grace.
Regardless
of what you have done,
the Lord will show mercy
if you confess and repent.
His forgiveness
will not erase all the scars of sin—
the emotional, financial,
or physical consequences—
but it will give you
a clean heart before Him.
Follow the example
of the Prodigal Son.
1. He “came to his senses
He realized he could change,
and didn’t have
to live in poverty.
2. He made a conscience decision
and took positive action
based on it.
He knew his father’s servants
were better off,
so he decided
to return home
and beg to work for his father.
3. The young man
repented
for how he had been living
and started acting differently.
Ohhh and look how his father responds;
1. With forgiveness and unconditional love. Luke 15:20 says that
“while [the son]
was still a long way off,
his father saw him
and felt compassion for him,
and ran and embraced him
and kissed him.”
2. The broken, impoverished
young man was greeted with a robe,
a ring, new shoes, and a celebration.
3. This parable illustrates
that our heavenly Father
willingly receives everyone
who comes to Him in humility
and brokenness.
So come back to God
and get some real protection.
