Let us turn our Bibles again to the gospel of Luke chapter 17. The gospel of Luke chapter 17 and we continue on really a series of sermons I call stumbling blocks and dealing with stumbling blocks. Offenses that impact the faith of true believers and block the door to salvation for unbelievers. And so I want to just start with Luke 17 in the first two verses as our introduction, but effectively my text will be coming from the Gospel of John chapter 10. And so we'll turn to John chapter 10 once I read these first two verses of Luke 17. The title of my message for the next couple of weeks is God's Salvation is Eternal. God's Salvation is Eternal. The past several weeks we talked about God's salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We all get to heaven based on what Jesus Christ has done and not what we have done. And it is imperative for us to trust the Lord Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross of Calvary, his perfect life, to have faith in what God has done. So with that said, let's again look at Luke chapter 17, verse one and two. Then he said, he here is our Lord Jesus Christ, and he said to the disciples, it is impossible that no offenses or stumbling blocks should come, but woe to him through whom they do come. I'm gonna stop there for just a second before I read verse two, and in a few weeks I'm gonna deal with those who bring the stumbling blocks. Again, I've dealt with are we saved by works or are we saved by grace? Now we're going to deal with is this salvation eternal and secure or can we lose it? So I just want to let you know in a few weeks I'll be dealing with those who cause the stumbling blocks. Verse 2, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea that he should offend or cause the stumble one of these little ones we are saying these little ones are his disciples true believers but also those who did not know the truth of God's word they were blocking the door They had the key of knowledge and they withheld that from these people. These little ones causing them to sin against God. Now turn your Bible to the Gospel of John chapter 10. The Gospel of John chapter 10. And I want to pick up in verse 22. We will not necessarily be effectively dealing with it today. We'll expound upon it next week but I want to read the text itself because again we're talking about is God's salvation eternal? It is a gift of God according to grace according to Ephesians 2 so let's just pick up in verse 22. Now it was the feast of dedication in Jerusalem and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then the Jews surrounded him and said to him, how long do you keep us in suspense? How long will you keep us doubting or in doubt? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly, clearly. Jesus answered them, I told you and you do not believe the works that I do in my father's name they bear witness of me now they're not Christ there if you look back again at verse 24 if you are the Christ the anointed of God the Messiah the Jews was or expecting a Messiah and Christ was the claim that he was indeed the prophesied Messiah so that they're saying how long would you keep us doubting Jesus answered and said I've already told you over and over and over he's told them that he's a Messiah And then he said the works that I do in my father's name they bear witness of me but you Don't believe you do not believe You know why because you're not of my sheep. You're not one of my sheep Verse 27 my sheep hear my voice and and i know them and they follow me and i give them eternal life now watch the next phrase and they will never perish neither will anyone snap them out of my hand my father who gave them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand that's the definition of never i and my father are one for the past three weeks we have been addressing what the lord jesus would describe as offenses that is errant teachings that directly impact the faith of the true believers and blocks the imperative biblical knowledge, the keys of knowledge that is essential for salvation to the unbeliever. I remind you in Luke 17 there's a massive crowd of people following Jesus and not all of them are necessarily the enemies of Christ. Then there are the learners, the believers, the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, true believers, and then within that group are those who are listening attentively to the Lord and have not made a decision yet. They're still unbelievers, but they're not essentially enemies, which is the other group, which is the Pharisees and the preachers of that day. The Lord Jesus, in that passage, issues a very, very, very serious warning to anyone who would misguide or mislead anyone with false supposed biblical teachings. I call these biblical errors stumbling blocks in one's relationship with God, whether a believer or non-believer. Remember, as a believer, it is essential, as I have mentioned in prior sermons, that we have absolute faith in our Lord, in our God. We are to trust him implicitly. Therefore, we are beholden to interpret his word absolutely correctly. We are to be serious. One of the requirements of a pastor or any preacher is he must be sober serious about the Word of God you will see this seriousness in their characteristics and their demeanor they're serious about the Word of God in the book of Revelation chapter 22 you don't have to turn but you can chapter 22 verses 18 and 19 John in concluding The book of Revelation, the final book in the 66 books of our Bible, wrote, I testify to everyone who hears the words of this prophecy, of this book. If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the book of life, from the holy city, and from things which are written in this book. And this is applicable to the final book that closes the canon of scripture, the 66 books given to us by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But this effective warning is for the entirety of scripture. No one is to take or input anything into the inspired word of God. Or the condemnation of God is upon that person. For one to do this and commit the sin here, the egregious sin that John is detailing for us is an unbeliever. The language, he will have his, take away his part from the book of life, literally means he is an unbeliever. It is not that he loses his salvation, but what he does indicates he's not saved. So it is a warning when we deal with the Word of God. This is applicable to the entirety of scripture. We're never to induce or put into the Bible our opinions. We have to study it in its rightful context and extract the truth from the Word. What was the meaning of the author when he wrote this? Not what I want it to mean. It is actually what does it mean? And every true believer is serious when he goes to the Word of God. These types of warnings it would be you would think be common sense that we are not to tamper with almighty God's sayings or his words For the past several weeks we address the first stumbling block essentially essential to sound doctrine and that is how are sinners saved And that would seem like a very simple question, but you know the tragedy of it is when I've asked professing Christians to tell me how God saved them, they have no idea. They cannot explain it. They can simply say, well, Christ died on the cross. That's the depth of their theological knowledge of the great salvation of Christ. And yet the Bible is saturated with this knowledge directly and indirectly of Christ and what he did on the cross. As a matter of fact, you see it throughout the scripture. It always refers back to the glorious death, resurrection, and the divine achievement and work of the Lord Jesus Christ in saving sinners. It's a fulfillment of Genesis 3.15. The seed has come into the world to save sinners, to reverse what the devil caused in the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve sinned, sin was introduced into the world, the world was cursed, and all of their progeny were sinners, including you and I. His sin and he and Adam's, Adam and Eve's sin separated us from God. We lost that intimate relationship with the triune God, Jesus restores it. This is what the brother Mike was speaking about this morning in teaching in Romans chapter five. It contrasts what Adam did versus what Christ accomplished. Adam introduced us into sin and the entirety of humanity are now sinners and Christ comes and redeems those through faith in him and reconciles us to a holy God. This is why when we were looking in Ephesians chapter 1 and 2 Ephesians 1 is extremely theological and technical and unless you have some maturity in it, it is difficult to understand because essentially what Ephesians 1 is showing us is the grace of God. It is showing us how the triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit play a part in the salvation of the believer. The Father chooses, the Son pays the debt, the Holy Spirit seals it. He seals the true believer, and even in the language there, there's no way the true believer can lose their salvation. It is a gift of God. But if you ask most professing Christians to explain Ephesians 1, they would have no idea. As a matter of fact, if they read it now, they probably never heard it from their pastors. If they read it now, their head would begin to hurt. It would explode. They would be lost in the technical theological details given by the Apostle Paul. They would be, as the Hebrew writer said in Hebrew chapter 5, you should be now mature, but you're still children. You're still drinking milk from a bottle but today we'll address the essential doctrine of the eternal security of the believer this is what they call it the eternal security of the believer a popular term used for this true doctrine is once saved always saved and it is absolutely true or Once again, eternal security. Is the true believer who comes to Jesus Christ by faith, who has the spirit of God dwelling in him, can he lose that? And I've asked professing Christians who go to church all the time and ask them, can you lose your salvation? And you would be surprised at how many of them would say yes. Or how many of them say, I don't know. Yet the Bible is crystal clear, absolutely clear. And this is one of the reasons that many pastors standing behind these pulpits are going to be in a world of trouble. Because through omission, they're not teaching their people the great grace of God, the great love of God. God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. They don't unpack it and show them how great and merciful and kind and loving God is in sending his son to pay the debt that you and I owed that we might inherit eternal life and be with the triune God forever. They don't teach you these things by omission. They misdirect you through commission and teaching you myths and fables and nonsensical supposedly theological doctrine and sadly most people have no idea that they're being led astray Can a true believer lose their salvation? The more accurate question is not that can a true believer lose their salvation but rather are they really true believers? That's the question. In Matthew chapter 7 verse 21, the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of his Sermon on the Mount said, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord is going to heaven. That is a frightening passage. And the fact that I am just repeating what the Lord said should cause us to do introspection. Not everyone who says to me, curious, curious, master, master, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. This should be frightening to us. Am I one of those who are saying, Lord, Lord, and yet he doesn't know me? And as in that passage, you remember they were religious. They went to church. They did things in the name of Jesus. And yet they thought they knew Jesus by name, and yet Jesus didn't know their name. He did not know them. That is a terrifying verse and it should cause us to look deep within our hearts to make sure that we know the Lord Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, when we get back to John 10, you're going to see Jesus say, my sheep hear my voice, I know them, they follow me. That is far more than the simplistic, careless, indifferent following that most of us have for Christ. This is absolute committal to Christ. It is becoming the slave of Christ, and we'll talk about that when we get to it, but in Luke chapter 18, verse 13, a verse that I've mentioned often, in the parable of the sower, Jesus says there are some people who believe for a while. They hear something they're excited about in the message, and for a little while, their lives might conform to some type of moral, biblical standard. But issues arise, and the Bible says they fall away. But did they lose their salvation? Turn to Mark chapter four. Mark chapter 4, and Brother Mike mentioned parables in Sunday school. Do you know that parables were spoken by Jesus as a judgment? They would not listen to the clear teachings of Christ, so what Christ began to do is put the truth behind a story, an illustration. And so this parable had a two-fold purpose It blinded the ones that did not want to hear the truth And it revealed that same parable reveals spiritual truth to the believer So parable was a Could be used for G by Jesus or God as a judgment and when we study these parables today, don't you find them complex? And you don't understand them I remember when I first got into the Bible and I started reading parables I had no clue what these things meant. I'd read the story and have some idea of what he was illustrating but that spiritual application and meaning evaded me. So I ask God for knowledge and wisdom and understanding and after 30 years the parables make absolute clear sense now. That means that my Lord has not hid his truth from me. You may not understand it today, but it's imperative to get into the parables, ask God for wisdom. The disciples asked him. He is the source of understanding. And do you know it drove me to that? It drove me to ask him. That's why you always hear me praying about knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. It caused me, Lord, what does this even mean? I don't understand it, Lord, and you would see that with the disciples. When they didn't understand, guess what? They'd ask Jesus. What is this, what are you talking about? And so when you look at Mark 4, this again, just as with Matthew 7, 21, Mark 4 should make us think, too, and examine ourselves. I'm gonna just begin in verse 13. I was gonna go down to verse 16, but let me go to verse 13. Jesus now is explaining, let me back up a little bit for those who may have never seen it. If you back up to verse 10, I want you to see as we lead into the various soils, the heart, the conditions of the heart. In verse 10, but when he was alone, those around him with the 12, you see what they did? They asked him about the parable. And the other account said, what does this mean? Why do you speak to them in these parables? And what does the parable mean? So Jesus is now going to explain the parable. As a matter of fact, if you back up to verse nine, this is one you've heard me say before. He says, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. Literally, he says, if you're able to understand what I said, understand. And so the disciples don't know what the parable means that he gave in verses, basically verses three through nine of Mark chapter four. And notice what Jesus said while he's speaking the parables. In verse 11, he said to them, to you, emphatic, who have asked me what this parable means and why I speak parables to them, these illustrations, these stories, To you it has been given, you see what it says? To you it has been given. Who gave it to us? Where did this knowledge and understanding of this parable, John, come from? If I'm able to understand it, do you know why Rod's able to understand these parables? It is not because Rod is smarter than anyone else. It is not because Mike is smarter than anyone else. that anyone who understands them is smarter than anyone. It has been given from heaven to me to understand the spiritual message of this parable. And so he says, notice what he says, to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside of the kingdom, all things come to them in illustrations. Why Jesus, verse 12, so that seeing they may see and not understand. In other words, they can see Jesus tell the illustration, they just can't understand it. Why is he doing this? You know why he's speaking the parables? It's because when he tried to tell them the truth, they wouldn't accept it. And so we don't believe God will put us in the dark. The illustration I used in Sunday school, go down that cave, the lights are on, get far enough down in that cave. And when they cut those lights out, you cannot even see your hand in front of your face. God puts you in absolute darkness when it comes to his word and you cannot understand it. It loses its impact. And it's actually a judgment of God. You wonder why so many people sit in these churches with these clowns as pastors, and they've been sitting there year after year after year after year. And when you try to tell them the truth, Alicia, they don't want to hear it. And because now I understand, I have no control on you understanding what I'm even preaching. It is God who has control of your understanding. If you're understanding what Brother Mike taught this morning and I'm preaching now, it is because Almighty God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the teacher, has revealed through the agency of the Holy Spirit the understanding of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. You've got to thank Him if you can understand it. If you have a hunger and thirst for the truth, it is Him. It is the Spirit of God that He has given to the true believer that drives them to want to know what the truth is. Who take the Word of God serious, who revere their Lord, and we have two responsibilities. Fear God, keep His commandments. I've got to know what His commandments are. But if I'm going to keep his commandments, I must fear him. I must fear him and study diligently to make sure that I get it right. And I tell you, I may get some passages wrong, but it won't because I didn't study him and I really wanted to. It's not on purpose. And even then I've got to, when I found out that I've taught something wrong, I've got to say, Lord, forgive me. Forgive me for getting that wrong. Even the minutest of doctrines. But especially when you're dealing with how God saves people, you're not taking any glory from Jesus Christ. You're not taking any glory from the triune God for salvation. You're not gonna stand next to the Trinity and claim you helped them. that you assisted them in saving them, you, the fallen, sinful creature, will stand next to the triune God? You'll stand at the throne and take credit with the three persons of the Trinity for the salvation of sinners? Are you crazy? You will not stand. You will bow down and acknowledge that Jesus alone saved us. that it was God alone, His grace and mercy, unmerited, unearned favor, you will fall down. And as true believers, when we get to heaven, we know we have no business there on our own merit. We will be so grateful that the Lord saves such wretched people as we are. Oh, you're not wretched? Check your heart out now. What are you thinking? What were you thinking this morning? What were you thinking yesterday? What did you do yesterday? If you think you're holy, do a real examination of yourself. You will fall down. I've already, I'm going to fall down. Remember the song we sang? I can only imagine. Will I stand up? Will I dance? Will I fall down? I don't know, but I know I have no business there. I know if it wasn't for his mercy and his grace, I wouldn't be there. You know what that makes you do? That makes you extremely thankful, because you know you have no business there. And yet you're sitting there in heaven with, and you looking at Christ, you see Christ and you see the Father, and you see the myriads of saints, male and female, from history, and you're saying, I'm here, I'm here, what do I do, do I fall down, do I stand up? You're gonna be so happy, so joyful. Happy don't even seem enough, joyful. I got carried away there a little bit, didn't I? But he says again in verse 12, seeing they may see and not understand, perceive, and hearing they may not hear. And you see this? They won't be able to see it and understand it. They won't be able to hear it and understand it. Why? Here's the tragedy. Look what he says. Lest they would be converted, turn, repent, and their sins be forgiven. Do you see what the Lord Jesus Christ is saying? The reason Jesus is speaking in these puzzles is because God has condemned them to destruction. He will not allow them to turn from their sins and be forgiven. And you think Mike and I are nuts? Because we are so dedicated to trying to get it right and show you the severity and the terror of God. religious leaders in john chapter nine said they see in jesus said no you don't you're blind we have studied theologically we studied the old testament the religious preachers of that day say and we have come to the conclusion that you are not the messiah you aren't him the blind man who was born blind who now Not only has his physical eyes opened, but his spiritual eyes are now open. And Jesus said, do you believe in the Son of God, the Son of Man? He said, who is he that I might believe? And Jesus said, I am he. And the man immediately drops down to his knees and prostrates himself. before the Lord and worshiped him. And yet the ones who are supposed to be the theological preachers of that day had said, we have assessed the scriptures, studied them diligently from Moses to Malachi, I said from Genesis to Malachi, we've studied the word of God and you know what we conclude? You are not the Messiah. And Jesus said, that's your last time, you're done. And now I'm no longer gonna speak to you in clear language. I'm gonna start telling you illustrations. And you know what? Those illustrations that reveal divine truth and the gospel, you had better believe it. And you can't even understand it. But yet you're required eternally to believe it or God will damn you, send you to hell. Look what he's saying, I will not allow them to turn. We're playing in church though, we gonna play though, we gonna bring our Bibles and we got them all in our pockets. We got ten four hats bringing in the signals so that we can understand about all of that. and we still are not serious in understanding this is the terror of God. Do you know I pray this prayer? Lord, please do not put me in the dark. I know how sinful I am. I say, Lord, please don't put me in the dark because the thing about it is you won't know you're in it. Why? It is not that the disciples are hiding this. This is God doing it. He's hiding the truth. And you think he just says it here? It's repetitively preached. This very same passage is quoted over and over through the New Testament. This is scary. You know, the thing about it is somebody could be sitting right here looking at me and have no idea what I'm talking about. It makes no sense. Now, I didn't mean to stay there. But I just wanted to show you the terror of God, the danger of God. This is what happens when people are turned over and they can't understand the truth. And it doesn't, because they did it one time, it's a consistent, habitual rejection of truth until you get to the point where you can't understand truth. And on top of that, then God gives you the false teachers. You will listen to them though. And Paul said you, well, we'll look at that in a minute. Okay, so look what he said, let me move quickly now, verse 13. Do you not understand this parable? If you don't understand this parable, how will you then understand all of the others? Verse 14, the sower sows the word, that's the gospel, the word of God. And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown, when they hear it, Satan immediately comes, takes the word away from them that was sown in their heart. 16. These likewise are the ones sown on stony grounds, who when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness, but it doesn't take root. Churches full of people who hear, but the word never takes root. This is superficial Christianity. It displays itself with behavior that looks godly and moral and Christ-like, but it's only an act. They never ever accepted the word of God, yet you and I see them and we believe they're Christians. They go to church. and they preach in Jesus' name, and they witness in Jesus' name, and they do many things around the church in Jesus' name, but yet, when the Lord looks at their hearts, it's devoid of His word. It is never, the word has never taken root. These are superficial Christians. Luke 8.13 is the parallel to this passage and Jesus explicitly and clearly says in Luke 8.13, there are some who believe for a while. You wonder how, and some of us know preachers and people who are in the church who are in the church every Sunday, but watch them during the week. You can tell the word of God has taken no root. They don't obey the commands of God during the week. Matter of fact, they don't obey them on the Sunday either. The Word of God is not serious to them. They don't make their decisions based on what the Word of God said. These are superficial Christians. And this is what leads to people believing a true believer can lose their salvation because they don't understand how the true believer got their salvation. See, they believe that salvation is you hearing the Word of God and making Jesus the Lord of your life. You don't make Jesus Lord of nothing. You don't have the prerogative or the authority. In order to make Jesus the Lord of your life, you would have to be equal to him or superior. No, God made him the Lord. He told you he made him the Lord, and he told you to bow your knee and confess with your mouth what God has said of his son. See, preachers are not going to tease the superficial Christians. All they got to do is go to their homes and watch them. Or watch them at work. Or watch when they make decisions. What drives them? How do they make decisions on moral issues? Is it the word of God? Or even do they make moral decisions? I think I mentioned this in 1 Corinthians 5. There was a young man who was sleeping with his stepmother. That was his father's wife. and so Paul wrote the Corinthian church in 1st Corinthians 5 and he wanted to know why they weren't grieving over this they were actually laughing and I never really could understand that passage fully until today when I watch how professing Christians view the wickedness in this world and you can say do you see what's going on this world how them people stupid they don't know no better ha ha ha ha ha ha Why are we not grieving? Why are we not grieving over the wickedness that is going on in this world? We laugh and we mock and we even stand with it politically. We stand with this wickedness. And rather than grieve, these are these types of Christians. They believe for a while Some of us stay in the church. They don't go anywhere. Some just leave the church. You see them, they come in the front door, go out the back. They were baptized and hung around for a little while, then they're gone. And then we say, hey, he lost his salvation. She lost his salvation. No, they never had it. You know how I know they didn't have it? Because of what Jesus just said. He's saying the gospel and the word of God never gets into the heart. It never takes root. It may just go in a little bit, but it's not enough to give them eternal life, spiritual life. Now y'all go to some of these crazy churches and turn the TV in and tell me you'll hear what I just said. The assumption that everybody who picks up a Bible, if you walk in the church, you're a believer. If you walk up and tell somebody, hey, I give my hand to the preacher, and I made Jesus the Lord of my life, and they baptized me, and I walked out the door, and I'm fine. If anything, Brother Mike and I try to do, we try to make Christianity serious. This is serious stuff because you know what? Eternity, what are we talking about? God's salvation is eternal. We're dealing with eternity and everyone in here, me included, everyone in here. Think about this. Every one of us will be in one of two destinations when it's all said and done. You're not taking none of this stuff with you. You're either going to heaven and you're not taking it or you're going to hell and you're not taking it. You're leaving all this stuff that you love so much. Even these bodies that we have an affinity for, we keep it in shape so we can look good. Put 90 years on it, it's not gonna look so good then. It's not going. You're either going to heaven with the Lord or you're going to hell. This is why the Bible is a serious book. This is why Jesus came into the world, to save us. I pray none of us in here go to hell. And if you sit here for any length of time, you have no business going to hell. But I'm not under the illusion that everyone in here is saved. Because Jesus even said to people, why don't you understand what I'm saying? They were sitting there and listening to the devil. Even Judas was listening to the devil. You heard when Someone read this morning in the Bible, you saw who gave Judas the idea to betray Christ? The devil. That's the reason, this is one of the reasons people believe one can lose their salvation is because they think people who are superficial Christians who like something they heard and claim Christianity but the word has not taken root in them it does not dwell in them richly they're not serious about it that's what you have here and Jesus says verse 17 they have no root in themselves and so endure only for a time and then guess what happens when tribulation persecution I throw temptation in there The temptations of the world arises for the sake of the word immediately they what? They're offended. They stumble. But notice, says the Martha, the word never took root. It never got into the heart. Look what he says on the last one, verse 20. Or let me go ahead and read verse 19, because I know a lot of y'all like money and stuff, so I'm going to read that one. Now these are the ones sown among thorns. They are the ones who hear the word, but the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things enter in and strangle the word, and it becomes unfruitful. It's the prosperity gospel. This is what you go to hear. This is what you want to hear. You don't want to hear what I'm saying. You want to go listen to them tell you about the riches of the world. It belongs to you and desire for other things become more important than God's Word. You got those in the church too. They came because they heard Jesus is handing out riches. Deceitful riches. They didn't come for Christ alone. They didn't come for what he came to offer which is salvation. They came because they want a better life. James said well what do you want the money for? All you're going to do is spend it on yourself. You're going to spend it amiss. That's why God doesn't give it the true believer all that money. Because he can't trust them with him because all they're going to do is go out especially in America and spend it on their riches. On their passions, their desires. Their desires are not given to them by God. He does not give them the desires of their heart. It's the devil that gives them the desires of their heart. They want what he wants. This is his world, he offers them, and that's what they want. But you see what happens? The avarice and the concern of the world overshadow the word of God. Verse 20, but these are the ones shown on good ground, those who hear the word, number one, they accept it, and they what? Bear fruit. The word goes deep into their hearts. It takes root like a crop would, a plant would, wheat, corn, whatever. It gets deep into the heart, and then it begins to grow. It's sustenance from the spirit-inspired heart, and the word of God, and you see this in their lives. Some 30, some 60, some 100. Varying degrees, but nonetheless, you see the fruits of righteousness in their lives. The other three, you see nothing. It produces nothing. So some people believe you can lose your salvation because of people who they think are Christians. They believe themselves to be Christians. And this is again, another text that calls us to examine ourselves. Go to 2 Timothy, go to 2 Timothy chapter four. And I'm gonna read Titus for you just a moment. Just go to 2 Timothy and I'm gonna go over to Titus. And again, you see this type of language where we confuse people who we think are believers and they're not. The apostle Paul was dealing with this in Titus. I mean, in writing the Titus, And he writes in verse 15, to the pure all things appear, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But even their mind and consciences are defiled. Now listen to what he said. Now he says in verse 15, their minds are defiled. They have no conscience. Their consciences and their minds are defiled. They are unbelieving and nothing when it comes to the word of God is pure. But yet in verse 16, they profess to know God. But in words, their moral, righteous behavior, they deny him. Paul says the assessment of such individuals are they are detestable, they're disobedient, and they're disqualified. In other words, they're not saved. But they say they know him. And so we see these people and we see them living these impure lives. Their minds and consciences are seared and we think because they're in church or say they're Christians that they are. And so when they fall away completely, many of them, we assume that they were believers and they have lost their salvation. They were never saved. And as we continue to explore this, you're going to see why I'm able to definitively say that these people are not believers. They didn't lose their salvation. They never had it. Don't ever confuse religious behavior or moral or Christ-like superficial behavior with genuine transformation. You know, you look at me, you assume I'm saved. How do you know it? You don't know, really. You can kind of base it on the fact that I seem consistent and habitual. But do you really know him? Say Judas did that, Judas fooled him. He was so good at mimicking Christianity that they entrusted him with the money. If you know he's a thief, you wouldn't give him the money, yet the Bible says he was a thief. But he was so astute at mimicking Christianity that you could not tell. Those kinds of people like me and Brother Mike, you're not going to see until Jesus sticks the bread in their mouth. Jesus has to expose that one. Lord, who is this going to betray you? Okay, I'm going to take this piece of bread. Y'all can't see him. This is why you're asking the question, who is he that is going to do this abominable, detestable deed in betraying the Messiah? You're going to ask me, because you can't see his heart, but I know who he is. The Lord knows those who are his. He said, now I'm going to dip this bread in the sop, and I'm going to give it to him. And then that's going to be the betrayer. I take that same illustration and I said, just watch. Just watch me, watch Mike, watch all of you. Watch. You're not going to be able to mimic this all. You can't do it, it's supernatural. The Spirit of God is the one that motivates and moves the true believer. If you're not saying, you're not gonna live this life, you know why? Because just like in that parable, when the temptations, the tribulations, or the persecution, to stand up and defend the gospel, defend Christ, defend truth, you're not gonna do it. Eventually, the pressure will become unbearable, and you are going to abandon it. But you're not going to abandon religion. You're going to go to a false church, because you want to get that little feeling of religiosity. He says Jesus. He says the Bible. He says Christ died on the cross. There are 66 books. Oh God's merciful, you hear all that, that's all you want. Well Rod you don't know what you're talking about. Well you're in 2 Timothy 4 right? Paul, this is Paul's last book. Paul's about to die, you know how he's gonna die? This wasn't his best life. He was about to lose his head for Christ. Paul probably could have saved himself if he would have renounced Jesus Christ, but you know what? He wouldn't do it. When the trials and the temptations and the persecutions came to Paul, Paul didn't mind losing his head for Christ. He understood, being the steward of God, what he would encounter. He knew Jesus had said, the world will hate you. But remember, it hated me first. It's not gonna hate you if you talk like it, walk like it, act like it, believe like it. You're walking in the same direction as the devil and his crew. Why are they gonna be offended with you? But as soon as you stand up and call sin, sin, Call out the evil that we see in the world. Now, all of a sudden, you're walking against Satan. And now that's when the problems begin. So listen to what Paul tells Timothy. He's about to die. It's in a sense his last will and testament, his commands to this young preacher, who was not super young, but nonetheless, He would carry on the ministry of the gospel as a good steward. Notice what he says in verse one. I charge you, emphatically, I charge you, Timothy, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ. They're watching, Timothy, who will judge the living and the dead when he appears and the coming of his kingdom. If there's a reason why the Apostle Paul mentions this to Timothy, He puts the superior and lets him know that he has to give an account to God. This charge is before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who would judge the living and the dead at his appearing, at the appearing of his kingdom. This is why Paul brings up God first. He went to remind Timothy that he doesn't have to give an account to y'all, he has to give an account to God. God is going to judge my preaching. He's gonna judge his preaching and he's gonna judge your preaching or teaching or witnessing or whatever you do When this kingdom come he doesn't have favorites oh He's not gonna send me to hell I'm a woman or smoke He's not gonna send me to hell I'm black smoke I He's not going to send me to hell. I'm an American. Smoke. I was at this church over here with Jamal Bryant. Smoke for real. Smoke. He's not coming here, he's coming to judge Peter, I mean Timothy, he's gonna judge your preaching. You remember, you preach in light of the fact that he's coming back one day and he's gonna say, Rod, what was you talking about? What were you teaching those people? Were you putting a stumbling block in front of them? Were you not preaching the gospel and warning them that if their faith is not in Jesus Christ and me, they were going to hell? Why didn't you warn them? No, I'm not moonwalking. He better not moonwalk. I know he's not gonna moonwalk. No moonwalking over here. You wanna see the pastor swinging from chandelier to chandelier, going into his 50 cent rap? He's Angelo, what that lady name, the poet? Maya Angelou or whatever her name was. He's rhyming, yeah, he's giving you some little ditties and little rhymes and stuff like that. Boy, you walking out thinking you got something. I see these quotes on Facebook all the time, people done got from these knuckerheads. And they be quoting them like that's theology. I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. This is the mandate to the preacher. I don't care what you think, I've got to deal with God, and that's terrifying. So you think I'm gonna sit up here and, let me say this, the word is taking root in me, and I'm gonna say what he says. I'm gonna show you in context, I'm not pulling verses out, or phrases out, or words out, and I'm building a whole sermon around him. I'm showing you exactly, verse by verse, what he is saying. Here is the Lord Jesus Christ, and he didn't come the first time to judge, but when the second time, it's on and popping. Now think about that. Oh, he's just going to get Brother Mac and Rod. No. Everybody. Well, I'll escape it because I'll be dead. Well, he's going to be judging them, too. Well, I'm alive. He's going to judge. He's judging everybody. You're not being a kid. You think you're going to die and get away from it? I'm dead. Well, he's judging the dead, too. Notice what he tells him. Now, in light of verse 1, preach the word. Be ready. In season and out of season. That means I don't care whether you want to hear it or not. Whether it's convenient or not. You don't worry about what they're pausing. I don't care about what they're looking at me. I don't care. I'm going to preach the word of God. I'm preaching the truth. Because you know what? The Lord's coming back. And what am I supposed to do? Convince them. Rebuke them. Exhort them. With long suffering. and teaching. Why should he do this Paul? Look at verse 3. For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine. Word sound there means clean, hygienic, pure. See, you don't want to hear the truth. You want to go listen to the nonsense. You don't, you don't, look what he says. But, according to their own depraved passions and desires, because their ears want to be tickled, they will go and get a pile of teachers for themselves to tell them what they want to hear. And they will turn their ears away from the what? and be turned aside to fables, myths, stories, made up myths. They exchange the truth of God for a lie. And that's the tragedy when you know the truth and know that many of these people sitting up in these churches have picked these teachers, these preachers aren't holding a gun to your head. Well, I gotta go to church today and listen to McKissick because somebody put a gun at my head. He told me if I didn't come to church and give him my money and sit up and listen to that nonsense, he'd shoot me. Jamal O'Brien, Creflo Dollar, I can go down the list with all of these guys. T.D. Jakes, Benny Hinn, Creflo, I already said him, Copeland and his wife. I mean, it's a plethora of these people. Joseph Prince, and that's why they have a crowd. You have Jamal Bryant, and I hope you're listening, Jamal. You have Jamal Bryant, or if somebody know him, let him listen to this. You have Jamal Bryant saying Christ, 80% of his ministry was wrong. You have to be smoking crack. I'm telling you. What do you understand what that man said? That means Christ was only 50% better than we are. What? I went to jail. I've been sitting in there on that front when he said that I totally went to jail because you don't look like he could beat a drum. I'd have fought him. We gonna fight today, dude, what you just said. We gonna fight in words. But then the Lord, the Spirit of God said, well, you know the pastor can't be a fighter. He can't go fight the man. But you be wanting to fight him, though. Yeah, put it down. Now I've got to close. I got carried away a little bit. I only see you once a week, so when I'm dealing with various passages, I want to make sure you understand that passage and why It ties in with my sermon, why people believe that true believers can lose their salvation when they can't. And the Bible is abundantly clear they can't. Again, can a true believer lose their salvation? The Apostle Paul would respond with a resounding and emphatic negative, certainly not. the most powerful no Apostle Paul could give a true believer cannot lose their salvation and we'll continue to unpack this next week it's about father