Can A Christian Walk Away From Their Salvation
Part 2
Scripture: First Peter 5:2-4; Matthew 24:3-5; First Timothy 4:1-2
I closed the message last week with a brief definition of apostasy and it was my intention to delve a little deeper into the subject this morning. But Sunday afternoon and most of the day Monday, I kept thinking about a couple of phrases that would not leave my mind and in doing so I believe I need to address them before I can continue with this series. I truly want to ensure that I am being obedient to the Spirit so please bear with me this morning.
You have all heard me say that God holds me accountable for what I teach to you. I want to read to you what was written in Ezekiel chapter thirty-three and the first seven verses. It says, “Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, ‘Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say unto them,’ ‘When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man from their territory, and set him for their watchman: if when he sees the sword come upon the land, he blows the trumpet, and warns the people, then whosoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and takes not warning; if the sword comes, and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that takes warning shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman sees the sword come, and blows not the trumpet, and the people are not warned; if the sword comes, and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. So you, O son of man, I have set you a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.’” (Ezekiel 33:1-7) These verses sum up one central thought: the man or woman of God is a watchman. It is our job to hear from God and warn (teach) the people. If we warn the people and the people do not heed the warning and continue in their ways, then it’s on the people. However, if God gives a warning and the man or woman of God fail to warn the people then God holds them accountable for the people who perish in sin. This idea of responsibility and accountability is also captured when God speaks of the pastors being shepherds of the flock.
Turn with me to 1 Peter 5 and we’re going to read verses two through four. It reads, “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.” (1 Peter 5:2-4) I want to point out some things in this passage because they will help you understand, in addition to what I read from the book of Ezekiel, why I must occasionally teach about difficult things as a warning to you while understanding that some people will often disagree with me.
New Light, you are God’s flock, not mine. For everyone else listening to me this morning, whatever Church you attend, you are a part of God’s flock, not your pastor’s! The Church body belongs to God and the pastors are just the overseer taking care of God’s flock. So for each of you, New Light, as long as you consider yourselves members of this Church, God has entrusted you to me. Just as a shepherd watches over, feeds and cares for their sheep, my role as your shepherd/watchman is to feed you what the Lord feeds me for you while watching over you to make sure you’re not straying. That’s my job! And do you see the word “overseers”? An overseer is the person God holds responsible for protecting his flock against the wrong doctrine that is taught in the body of Christ. I take that responsibility very seriously. I only teach what the Chief Shepherd wants me to teach, but I don’t have the right to force it upon you. That’s what “nor as being lords over them” means. Now, for me, here is the most important part of the passage – “but being examples to the flock.” How am I supposed to be an example? By living out what I teach to you as evident in the things I do. What comes out of my mouth should be exemplified by how I live. What I say and do as your pastor, shepherd, and your watchman, you can rest assured that I am following what I truly believe are the instructions of the Chief Shepherd. And He holds me responsible for every word I preach and for how I live my life because I am representing Him. So, trust me when I say New Light, I am going to give you what the Lord has given to me. I wanted to share this with you because, as I said at the close of my message last week, what I am presenting is going to be a struggle for some and that’s okay. But don’t let your struggle stop you for searching the scriptures for yourself like the believers in Berea who “received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things be so.” (Acts 17:11)
I was asked recently about how I manage to prepare sermons, Bible study lessons and work all at the same time. I shared with the person that oftentimes during the day and night, the Lord will whisper a thought or a passage to me over and over again. You know what I’m talking about. They are the kind of thoughts that won’t let you sleep until you do something with them. When this happens to me during the day, I use my notes app on my phone to write it down so I do not lose it. When I go to bed at night I place my cell phone on the nightstand near me in case God speaks to me in the “midnight hour.” I must do this because during these moments I know God is trying to get something to me that I either need to know for myself or He is preparing me for what He wants me to share with you. And, as you can imagine, if I do not capture it immediately, sometimes it is forgotten. To that end, I had not intended to specifically answer the question “Can Christians Walk Away From Their Salvation” so soon in this series. But I’ve been on this journey with the Lord a long time New Light and I know when He wants me to be flexible and shift with Him versus staying on my own schedule. And the message this morning is just that – a slight shift versus where I thought I was going today. In addition to looking at a Christian choosing to walk away from their faith, we are going to look at “Can a Christian lose his or her salvation?” Now let me explain why I must do this. These two questions are not the same as some have made them out to be. One question is based on a willful action while the other is not. If you go on the internet and search “Can Christians walk away from their salvation?” a lot of what you will see pertains to if a Christian can “lose” their salvation. So this morning we will answer both questions and then next week I will circle back and tell you the “why/how” a person can walk away from their faith. I just want to provide the answer to these questions today and next week we will return and clarify apostasy and heresy.
Turn with me to Matthew 24. We’re going to jump right into answering the question, “Can a Christian choose to walk away?” Let’s read verses three through five. “Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’ And Jesus answered and said to them: ‘Take heed that no one deceive you. For many will come in My name, saying I am the Christ, and will deceive many.” (Matthew 24:3-5) Jesus had just pointed to the buildings of the temple and said they will be destroyed. Then the disciples asked Him about His return and what the signs would be. The answer Jesus gave them is critical. Jesus tells them how the deception will come. He warned them sayings, “Take heed that no one deceive you. For many will come in My name, saying I am the Christ, and will deceive many.” Jesus tells them that many will “come” in His name with some actually saying they were the Christ. Now I won’t spend any time on the false Christs because I hope you all know how to recognize them, but I do want to talk about the others who will deceive many. New Light, Jesus is talking about people in the pulpit. He’s talking about people who claim to speak for Him, who claim that what they are teaching is what Jesus would teach – sort of like what I am doing right now so you really need to go back and verify what I am telling you. These people will be the very ones deceiving God’s flock. Why is Jesus’ warning about deception so important? What caused Adam and Eve to lose their eternal life on earth and be kicked out of the Garden of Eden? The serpent convinced them that what God said was not true. Let me put it this way: the serpent deceived them into believing something different than what God had said. And it cost them greatly as it broke the fellowship they had with God, cost them their eternal lives here on earth, and they had to leave the garden He had prepared just for them. Then their troubles magnified. Had they not sinned, Adam and Eve would have lived forever in the garden. But they didn’t believe God when He said if they eat of the forbidden tree they would die. Adam and Eve walked away from the eternal life within them when they didn’t believe God was telling them the truth. New Light, God, the creator of everything, could not stop them from sinning against Him and eating of that tree.
Now keep what Jesus said about those who will deceive many as we look at what Paul warned Timothy about. Turn to First Timothy 4 and we’re going to read verses one and two. “Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to deceitful spirits, and doctrines of demons; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” (First Timothy 4:1-2) Do you see the word “depart”? It means “to withdraw, to remove oneself, forsake, desert, retire, cease from something.” The Holy Spirit says that in the latter times, and that’s where we are, some will depart from the faith. A person cannot withdraw from, remove themselves from, forsake, desert, retire or cease from something they don’t know. New Light, this person has made a choice and that choice was to leave the faith, to leave the things taught by Christ. Then he tells us why they will do it? He said they would walk away from their faith by “giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” What was the stern warning that Jesus gave in Matthew 24? Do not let anyone deceive you into believing something He did not say. And we see here in First Timothy that some men and women in the pulpit will leave the faith – and take some of the flock with them – because they have believed doctrines that were influenced by demonic spirits. New Light, I want you to really pay attention to verse two. “Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.” These ministers have left the faith and don’t even realize that they are no longer teaching what Jesus taught. New Light, when you depart from the faith, you are departing from Jesus and you will not go to heaven. Now I want you hear how Paul closes this chapter. “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” (First Timothy 4:16) Continuing in the faith, the doctrine of Jesus, will keep a person saved and will help that person save others as well. I want you to think about this, God cannot lay down the conditions upon which He will bless us and then ignore them and bless us anyway if the conditions are not met. Paul told Timothy by staying with the doctrine of Christ he will save himself and those that hear him. So if that is indeed true, then the opposite must also be true. The opposite being that if Timothy did not take heed and stay with the doctrine that he would not be saved and neither would those that listen to him and follow him. New Light that is all I am trying to do every time I preach or teach. I am doing my best to stay faithful to what is taught in the Bible so that I can, not only save myself, but each of you also.
Before I close I want to answer the question that seems to get dumped into the same basket with once saved always saved and whether or not a Christian can walk away from their salvation. This question, for me, is easy to answer. The question is “Can a Christian lose his or her salvation?” As I said previously, walking away is a willful act. However, to lose something is not. Unlike purposefully choosing to withdraw, remove, forsake, desert, retire or cease from something, when a person loses something what is lost is not lost on purpose. By most definitions, to lose something means “it has been lost accidentally and without a person’s knowledge.” The person doesn’t know the thing is lost until they begin to look for it and can’t find it. And this is the key New Light: the person is searching for what is lost. In other words, they didn’t want to lose it. They wanted to hold on to it. New Light, you can take this to the bank: no one can take your salvation without your knowledge and put it in a place where you can’t find it. No Christian can simply lose his or her salvation. It is simply not possible. Now when I make statements like this some will say that it contradicts what I said earlier. But it doesn’t if you keep in mind a person who doesn’t want to lose something will do everything they can to hold on to what they don’t want to lose because they know that it is possible to lose it. But what I want you to know is that if you are trying your best to walk with God, even though there are times when you mess up, which happens with all of us, your salvation is not lost. You are not destined for hell if you made a mistake, repented and asked for forgiveness. Making a mistake and repenting from it is not the same as living in the sin and enjoying it. As we have seen in our studying of First John in bible study, if you sin and repent (stop), you will be all right. Remember, First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all righteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
Next week we will return to apostasy. As you reflect on the definition of apostasy which I gave you last week, please take some time and review John 15:5-7. It says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing. If a man abides not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.” (John 15:5-7) We will dig deeper into this Scripture next week. However, please take some time this week and meditate on this Scripture, especially the word “abide”. Abide in these verses literally means to willfully stay in place and endure or withstand something without giving in or giving up. I hope that each of you have a blessed week.
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
(At this present time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are broadcasting live on Facebook Live at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings. Please tune in to "New Light Christian Fellowship Church" and like our page if you wish to watch our broadcast and be notified when we go live. If you are ever in the Kansas City, KS area, please come and worship with us at New Light Christian Fellowship, 15 N. 14th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102. Our service Sunday worship starts at 9 a.m. and Thursday night Bible study at 7 p.m. Also, for use of our social media, you can find us at newlightchristianfellowship on FB. To get our live stream services, please make sure you “like” and turn on notifications for our page so you can be notified when we are live streaming. We also have a church website and New Light Christian Fellowship YouTube channel for more of our content. We are developing more social media streams so please stand by and we will notify you once those channels are up and running. We look forward to you worshipping with us. May God bless and keep you.)
