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Can we lose our salvation?
sermon by
Manfred Schreyer
(Ezekiel 18:21-24 NIV) [21] "But if
a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my
decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not
die. [22] None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against
him. Because of the righteous things he has done, he will live. [23] Do I
take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD.
Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?
[24] "But if a righteous man turns
from his righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things
the wicked man does, will he live? None of the righteous things he has done
will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and
because of the sins he has committed, he will die.
(Matthew 24:10-13 NIV) [10] At that time many will turn
away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, [11] and many false
prophets will appear and deceive many people. [12] Because of the increase
of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, [13] but he who stands firm
to the end will be saved.
(1 Timothy 1:18-19 NIV) [18] Timothy, my son, I give you
this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that
by following them you may fight the good fight, [19] holding on to faith and
a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their
faith.
(1 Timothy 6:20-21 NIV) [20] Timothy, guard what has been
entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing
ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, [21] which some have professed
and in so doing have wandered from the faith. Grace be with you.
(2 Peter 3:17 NIV) Therefore, dear
friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not
be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure
position.
(John 15:6 NIV) 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.
There is the same old question
different groups in our Christian faith have asked themselves for
hundreds of years: "Once saved always saved?"
Those who believe say that
Christ only died once for us and cannot be crucified again and that one
cannot lose his or her salvation. Their argument is also that if one is
saved and dies immediately he will go into heaven and there is nothing
humankind can do to save themselves.
I think that is a reasonable
argument.
Those who believe that one can
lose their salvation say that one must constantly ask for forgiveness
for the sins one has committed in order to go to heaven and that
salvation is not a free pass to go into heaven.
I think that also is a very
reasonable argument.
In all cases we have to take a
close look at what the scripture tells us, because the scripture should
be the guiding light that gives us the answer:
Phil 2:12 Therefore, my dear
friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much
more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and
trembling 2:13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act
according to his good purpose. :14 Do everything without complaining or
arguing, :15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God
without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like
stars in the universe :16 as you hold out the word of life
By committing our life to
Christ we commit to understand the word of God and to allow His
commandments and to find the Truth for us by God.
1 Cor 15:2 By this gospel you are saved, if you
hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in
vain.
Mr. Milken faced 98 charges of racketeering,
insider trading and securities fraud and, after plea-bargaining, pleaded
guilty to six. He was jailed for 22 months in 1990 - released early from a
10-year sentence - and was banned from working in the financial services
industry for life. He also had to pay more than $1bn in fines and
repayments, but it did not ruin him. He kept approximately 700 Million for
his personal wealth.
As you may have followed his case, you may have
heard him several times say that he was misunderstood and that he is
really a good person.
In fact when you listen to the
story of those who were caught up in dealings which are more then shady
you always hear them say: That is really not me, I am a good person and
people misunderstood me.
Take the recent case of Martha
Steward. Martha is allegedly involved in insider trading and will go to
trial in January. If you have ever followed her life, you become aware
that she is a rude, un-polite and selfish person. I invite you to read
what her neighbors have to say about her, the comments she made to
friends, and lastly how she even lied to reporters in her early years
and made herself out to be an owner of an establishment she used to work
for.
Nevertheless, in a recent
interview asked about her dealing with the trading firm her comment was
the same as I mentioned before: "I am really a good person and people
misunderstand me."
People say that because they
are afraid of the consequences that they are about to face and they have
not come to the realization of what they have done wrong to others in
their life. They have only watched out for themselves, brought misery to
others and now want to paint themselves as being misunderstood.
Think that in terms of
salvation: You are a sinner and you got caught by God . . . and because
you got caught, God is telling you that you will go to eternal
damnation. And now you are saying: God I am misunderstood, please set me
free . . . I don’t want to go! And now imagine God’s reply being: "OK,
that is fine, sorry for having you misunderstood for who you really
are." From that moment on, you are really not aware of the thing you
have done wrong. In fact what you may possibly do, is continue to sin.
If that would be the way it works we as Christians could honestly
question the death of Christ.
Why did Christ die? He died so
we can reach eternal life and come closer to God and His will.
The reason we can find
salvation is because we are sorry for what we have done and NOT that we
are misunderstood by others or by God. We do not find salvation because
we do not want to go to hell, but because we love God, and we want to
live a life of God so others can see God in us.
Does one find eternal salvation
if one is saved and continues to sin? No! Because according to Paul we
are to work out our salvation in trembling and fear.
You see, even the Devil
believes in Jesus Christ, but he is NOT saved.
We are to be conscientious of
God’s will for us. We are to worship, we are to give of us and our
resources and we are not to sin. How do we know when we sin? We must
study the Word of God. I invite you to attend our bible study, to find a
prayer group or to find a mentor who can teach you the word of God.
The covenant of salvation
(whoever believes in Jesus and remains in Him will be saved) is true,
but it takes two to uphold the covenant. We as believers must constantly
reach out and be aware of sin in our life. To continue to deliberately
sin, (deliberately sin see: Heb 10:26 If we deliberately keep on
sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice
for sins is left, :27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of
raging fire that will consume the enemies of God . . . there are
many sins which we had no understanding of: the history of slavery . . .
oppression of women, children, countries, etc. . . . and those are not
meant) will lead to the effect of losing salvation.
Why because we have the gift of
choice. Just as we chose to find salvation, so we have the choice of
giving it up by our own behavior. (John
15:6 NIV) 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.
Those who remain in our faith in God will always have salvation: Those who are willing to give it up,
who are willing to deny God again will lose their
eternal life with God.
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Sermons by Pastor
Manfred Schreyer
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