Always Saved?

that. But good to be here tonight. We're going to get to the word of God. We're going to go to Matthew 24. I want to talk tonight about something that I'm not wanting to be controversial, but I felt in prayer as I was studying that the Lord directed me towards a a specific topic tonight. And it can be a little controversial, and that is not my intentions. So, I want to say upfront that uh I've prayed over this and I hope that my attitude and approach to it is right and I hope that we can receive it the way it's intended to be. Tonight, we're going to talk about something that is in mainstream Christianity. However, I've seen it infiltrate even the apostolic Pentecostal churches.

I'm going be talking about how that it's easy to get comfortable feeling like you're saved. And because of that, you can go into an autopilot mode. Uh not not bad. Not that you're doing anything wrong necessarily, but hopefully I'll be able to show you through scriptures that we are to be actively engaged in our relationship with Jesus Christ every day. And if we're not, well, there's there's a real potential for us to miss important things and maybe maybe even miss out on what we assume is a right relationship, and all along it's not. Um, and I I've said a couple of pieces of of this message before and some teaching of mine, and I'm going to bring one of them up now, and that is one of the things that often times is difficult as pastor is to watch people's walk with God plateau.

And uh that's that that's a little frustrating because the longer we live for God, the more we should be coming like him. And I think it's safe for all of us to look and evaluate back in our life. And uh for the vast majority of the people in this room, we have the ability to look back over the last 10 years and actually remember it. So we look backwards 10 years from right now. Let me ask you this question as I get ready to start. If you look backwards 10 years in your walk with God, are you closer to God or further away from God or in the exact same place? And two of those answers are wrong. You should be closer to God. Now, what what's happened, and here's where I'm going to get into some controversial talking tonight.

And again, I'll say one more time, I'm not meaning to be offensive by this. I want to bring you the word of God. Okay? I'm going to say this again. I want to bring you the word of God. This is not Kevin Allen's opinion because honestly whether it's Kevin Allen or or Phil the priest or David Bernard or Calvin or whoever you want to put out there Spurgeon all good men. I don't really care what they have to say. What does the word of God say because I'm not going to be held accountable to men's words but you and I are going to be held accountable to the word. The word. So I'm I'm going to say that to this tonight because I want to talk about a teaching has become deeply rooted in modern Christianity and that is the teaching of eternal security are once saved always saved.

So let's unpack what the word of God has to say about it. Matthew 24:13 redlettered words. So these are the words of Jesus. He says, "But he who endures to the end shall be saved." Everybody say endured. This basic premise of once saved always saved or eternal salvation and security that is there is that once a person has genuinely been saved their eternal salvation is permanently secure regardless of what happens afterwards. In other words, if you are truly saved, you can never be lost. Now again, I want to approach this carefully because I know that a lot of people are very sincere. There's a lot of very sincere people in the world and I love having conversations with people who are very sincere about the word of God.

So, I I've learned in my time of being in ministry that if if you're trying to talk with someone about the word of God and they become very argumentative, often times you're never going to get anywhere. So, what I've learned to do is say, "Hey, let's talk about the word of God, but let's pray before we do and let's pray that that we both have right spirits and right attitudes and let's let the word of God speak for itself." And then we we can weigh in and say how we feel, but we got to make sure that we temper our feelings and ground our feelings in the word of God. Because let's be honest, my feelings have misled me before. And I I would dare say that there's not a one of us in this room that our feelings at one point or another haven't misled us or we were wrong about how we felt.

So we got to be careful about saying that, well, this is how I feel. Make sure that you're you're basing it on something that has stood the test of time, which is the word of God. So I want to approach this carefully. But sincerity doesn't determine truth. Scripture determines truth. And when we examine the whole council of scripture, not one verse, not one writer, not one theologian, not one theological tradition. I believe we that that if we do this openhearted and open-minded, we can discover something that's very important. Once saved, always saved. It's hard to be supported doctrally. In fact, I I don't know how you can support it doctrally. And I I hope you give me time to unpack this because I'm going I'm I'm going to use a lot of scripture tonight unapologetically because I want to bring you the word of God.

Beyond being unbiblical, I think it becomes spiritually dangerous because it can give someone confidence that a past experience with God and they're presently not walking with him. This isn't about making a memory. This is really dangerous in our North American culture because we're all about the experience, right? We love experiences. We love to go do things. We love to to make moments and preserve them forever on social media about the great time that we had. But that's not what salvation's about. It's not a one-time experience. It's not, well, I remember when I was 12, I went down to the altar and I had a moment, had an encounter with God. I'm thankful for that moment. It was a great time. Like, those are good. Hang on to those memories.

But don't let that be the sum total of your relationship with God is that one time you went to the altar. You guys okay? So, I struggle when people talk about their salvation process. And you guys have heard me say this before. And I don't mean to be like, oh, let's say it this way. I struggle when someone says they're saved. You know that if you've been here any time, you've heard me say that many, many times. I struggle with that because they put the ed on the end of it means that you are finished. I'm not done, guys. I'm a piece of work and God has to work on me every day. I I need him every day working on me and I have to be submitted to him.

And I'm like the Apostle Paul. I have to die daily. Sometimes multiple times. Sometimes multiple times in an hour. I got to go back and say, "God, forgive me again. It's me. It's me again. I'm back here again. I have messed up. Just drive across town in traffic. Yesterday's encounter." And this I'm going to try my best to remember the notes. If you're a notetaker, here's a note for you. Yesterday's encounter with God was never intended to replace today's relationship with him. Yesterday's encounter with God was never intended to replace today's relationship with him. Jesus never taught his disciples to merely begin. He taught them to continue. John 15 and4 Jesus said, "Abide in me and I in you." Everybody say, "Abide." Listen to listen to what he's saying here.

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. Revelations 2:10. Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation 10 days. Listen to what he said here. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. Matthew 24:13. But he who endures the end shall be saved. Notice the language that was there in these verses of scripture. I'm going to unpack these a little bit more in just a few minutes, but there's abide, there's be faithful, there's endure. Language is specific. Now, you've heard me say this before if you've been here for any length of time.

Every word matters in the word of God. There's no there's no filler words. There's no accidental words. They're all there on purpose for us to grab a hold of. So, abide, be faithful, endure. These words describe something continuing. Biblical salvation is is more than just a starting line. There's also a finish line. I don't want to just begin something. I want to finish the race. So, make sure I get across the finish line. I'm sure you feel the same. But, let me make something clear. I do not believe scripture teaches that Christians should live every day terrified that they're one mistake away from God throwing them away. That's no way to live either. That's not who that's not who our God is. That's not that's not how our heavenly father behaves.

That we're just going to be cast away. So it's balancing out. It's it's understanding that if I'm doing the things I'm supposed to be doing and being obedient to his word, that he walks with me and gives me the power to overcome the things that come into my life. So I don't have to live in fear. And we'll get to that in just a few minutes. We are saved, ladies and gentlemen. The gospel message is we are saved by grace, but we are kept by the power of God. I'm so thankful that his mercy is new every morning. So thankful when I get up and the first thing I do when I cry to him is I say, "God, thank you for your mercy today.

Thank you for keeping me through tonight and thank you for the mercy that I have in my life today." When we stumble, we have an advocate with the father. When we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. First John tells us that God isn't looking for an excuse to lose you. Did you hear me? God's not looking for an excuse to to lose you. When we stumble, we have the ability to go there. But the Bible does, it teaches that because once I believed, I can now I can't just simply abandon faith and say to myself, it's all settled. You know, I got my certificate that says I was baptized. I got my certificate that says I'm filled with the spirit.

I'm good to go. my heaven ticket is punched. But I'm afraid there are so many people that live that way when that is not supported in scripture. I'll say it this way. There there are there are individuals that I have seen and heard them talk in such a way that they believe that in the apostolic Pentecostal church. Blows my mind. I want to say where did you find that in the scripture? I know that's a great thought to try to hang on to. Like that'd be be great if I could just go pull it out of the file cabinet and say, "Well, I'm guaranteed I'm going to heaven. I got it right here." But we don't have that ability. The word of God doesn't support that.

So, we got to be careful about making sure that every day I'm proactive in my relationship with God. There are tremendous difference between struggling while following Jesus and turning away from him. There's a difference in falling down and walking away. There's a difference between having biblical assurance and false assurance. We have to believe the whole of scripture. One of the easiest ways to create bad doctrine is to take one scripture and isolate it from the rest of scripture. And that frustrates me. There are a lot of people who are studied in the word to a point. But we're not to make a whole dogma or to make a whole doctrine out of one or two verses. You have to take the scripture as a whole.

because they'll take one or two verses and when they read the one or two verses to you and and try to support their feeling, it makes sense based off of the one verse they read, but when you put that verse back in the context of the chapter that it was written in, all of a sudden it takes on a new life. So that's why it's important and that's why I encourage you often that you guys need to be studying and reading the word of God yourself. Don't take my word for it. I want you to trust me. I'm doing my best to be trustworthy, but at the same time, we're talking about eternal salvation, your walk with God. Where you going to spend eternity in heaven or hell?

To me, I wouldn't take somebody else's word on that. That's the kind of thing I'd spend a little time thinking, sure, I got an understanding that I'm doing all the things that are right, not just what somebody told me. You ever had been one of those situations where someone told you something that wasn't true and you went and told everybody? Yeah. You anybody been guilty about telling by some telling somebody something that wasn't true accidentally and then they come back and like why did you tell me that? Well, so and so told me that. Well, you didn't vet it. No, I didn't vet it. You didn't tell anybody, did you? I did and it was wrong. It can be a little comical, but we're we're talking about where you going to spend eternity.

We don't play with that. You need to make sure for yourself. Scripture doesn't compete with scripture. John 3:16 is true. John 3:16 is true. You can believe on God, right? That's what it says. But John 3 and 5 is also true. You got to be filled with the water and the spirit. So, baptized in the water and the spirit. Romans 8 is true. Romans 11 is also true. Ephesians 2:8 is true. So is James 2:17. We don't get to choose which ones we like. Here's what I'm going to do tonight. Every verse I just mentioned there, we're going to visit. We're going to unpack these verses and what they mean for us. The question isn't which scripture am I going to believe? The question that we should be asking is how do all those scriptures tie together and how do I apply them into my life?

That's what's important because the truth doesn't contradict the truth. Paul doesn't contradict contradict Jesus. Peter doesn't contradict Paul. James doesn't contradict Peter. The Old Testament doesn't compete with the New Testament. It all works together. All scripture is given to us. All scripture is given for instruction, for reproof, for doctrine, for you and I to all. Not just one or two, not just the ones I like. This isn't the This isn't the the make a reference here. It's going to date me. This isn't the Morrison's cafeteria plan of the scriptures. Give me a little scoop of that. I'll take a little bit of faith, a little bit of grace. Throw in a little baptism in there. I'm good to go. Hang on to the jello. No, this is we take it all.

Because if you don't take it all, you might as well not take any of it. You need to get it all. When we allow the whole council of scripture to speak, a pattern begins to emerge. God's people are I'm I'm going to bring some words up to you. These are both these are Bible words. And when I say these words, I want you to think for a minute why these words are included in scripture, why they're given to us. Listen to these words. Abide, continue. Watch. Be diligent. Bear fruit. Keep the faith. Endure. Be faithful. If it's a one-saved always package, then why are these words given to us? Because if I if I go in to the to the prescribed plan of just confessing with my mouth and believing in my heart and that's all I have to do, then why am I encouraged to be faithful, to be diligent, to abide, to continue to watch, to bear fruit, to keep the faith?

Why? Why? Why am I giving those instructions over and over and over again? Why are they there? There must be a reason. Why would scripture repeatedly warn believers if continuing didn't matter? Why would Jesus tell us to abide if leaving were impossible? Why would he give us instruction and said, "You got to abide in me and I got to abide in you." If if if it wasn't necessary, if there wasn't an option for that not to be possible, why would Paul tell someone who stands by faith to take heed lest he fall? If it's an impossibility, why would Peter tell a believer to make your call on election sure if nothing could ever jeopardize a relationship with God? Why would he use those words? That doesn't make sense to me.

He's not just wasting words. There has to be a reason behind it. Why would Jesus tell a New Testament church, remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent if they couldn't fall? We have to ask, you have to ask the question. Diligence requires, well, if that's the case, then why are all these other verses here? Why did all these other statements being made? Those aren't questions we should be afraid of. Those are questions that we should allow the Bible to answer because I don't want my eternal confidence built on anything else except scripture. As I said before, it doesn't matter if it's Kevin Allen or David Bernard, a field of priest, or even a Pentecostal tradition. I want my salvation anchored in the word of God.

Religion makes me tired. You heard me say that, right? Religion makes me tired. Kind of sick of religion, but I love relationship. I'm all about some relationships. I want to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. All my salvation anchor in his word. If the message of scripture isn't merely start with Jesus, it is stay with Jesus. Because Jesus said in Matthew 24:13, "But he who endures to the end, he who endures to the end shall be saved." Salvation by grace, right? Whenever we begin talking about faithfulness and obedience and endurance and continuing Jesus, somebody will inevitably save. But but Pastor Kevin, we're saved by grace. Yes. Ding, ding, ding. You get a point. We are saved by grace. Thank you for bringing that up. Let's start there.

That's a great place to start that we're saved by grace. Ephesians 2, for by grace have you been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. See there, Pastor Kevin, it's not about doing all these works. We're saved by grace. There's nothing we can do to earn salvation. You are right. You are right. You are right. So far, we're doing real good, but we cannot build salvation alone from that verse. It is one of the verses that talks about salvation. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot be good enough. Some of you are pretty good. Some of you are not. But none of us are good enough. But thanks be to God, he realized that he was willing to take our place at Calvary.

That he died on the cross. You didn't have to die for me and I didn't have to die for you. He died for us. The perfect one was slain. At Calvary, Jesus did what we can never do for ourselves. He paid the price. He shed the blood. He conquered death. Jesus made salvation available to us all. So when we talk about obedience and we talk about faithfulness and endurance, we're not talking about earning salvation. What we're talking about is responding to salvation. There's a tremendous difference in those two things. Grace has always required a response. Grace always So, so there's no theologian worth their salt that will argue with you on when the New Testament church started. The New Testament church started in Acts chapter 2.

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind. And that's where the church started. They stumbled out of the upper room. And those that who were witnessing what was taking place thought, "These guys are drunk. They're like they're not they're speaking some kind of crazy language some like well hey wait a minute that that's my home language I'm hearing they're over there they're speaking in tongues to the point that Peter stands up with the other 11 and says look these men are not drunk as you suppose but this what's the this this that you hear is that that was prophesied that his spirit was being poured out and he preaches this powerful message the first message of the New Testament church was preached in Acts chapter 2.

Nobody's going to argue with that. No. When they heard the gospel, the scripture says in verse number 37, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest apostles, "What do we got to do? We can we hear you that we we crucified Jesus. We made a mistake. We're convicted. You you you you've cut me in my heart. So tell me tell me now what I got to do to be saved." They asked the question. And Peter didn't say, "You're good." And I say this respectfully. He didn't say you just need to confess. The question was asked, "What do I have to do?" And the answer was given to the question that was asked in verse number 38.

Then Peter said, "Repent. Let everyone be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ with sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Peter called them to respond, to repent, to be baptized in Jesus name, to receive the Holy Ghost. Their obedience didn't purchase salvation. Obedience didn't make Calvary effective. Their obedience was faith responding to grace God had already approved. Obedience doesn't compete with grace. Obedience is the response of faith to grace. They realized what had been done and because of the realization of what had been done, it caused them to say, "I need to do something. What do I need to do with what you just told me? I can't just sit on the information." Think about Noah in Hebrews 11:7. By faith, Noah being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which was according to faith.

Noah believed God. Noah had one conversation with God. And he didn't do this. He didn't after the conversation, he didn't say, "Well, that's pretty cool." He said, "It's going to rain. I'm going to sit here on the porch, Lord. when it rains, I'll start building. Was that Noah's response? No. God talked to him and he had to activate his faith. He had to get a hammer and a saw. He had to start cutting some wood and putting together something. Faith is activated when grace is given. Faith that never responds is not biblical faith. James put it this way in James 21:17. Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Down to verse 26. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Now, is James fighting with Paul? I don't think so. Because Paul talks about that it's not by works. You can't earn your way into heaven. But James is all of a sudden he's talking about works. So, is James negating what Paul was saying? Is he taking the way? No, no, no. He's not. That's not what's going on. James isn't teaching salvation by works. While Paul's teaching salvation by grace, they're addressing two different errors. Paul says, "You cannot earn salvation through your works. You can't do enough good things to have salvation." James says, "If your faith never produces obedience, something's wrong with your faith. It's broken." Two different problems. Both are true. Both are genuine faith responses to God. You can't make a doctrine out of one or the other.

It's both the word of God dealing with two different problems. But today often times we find individuals who want to take one stance or the other. Got to be careful. That's why it's important that you know the word of God. Not because you can put somebody in their place, but so that you can talk about it and allow God's spirit to lead you to somebody who maybe needs to see the way more perfectly. Here's what here is where this con or excuse me connects to the once saved always saved. If faith must respond to God when salvation begins, why would we suddenly conclude that faith is no longer needed to respond to God afterwards? If it starts with faith, what what what what would make us think that it doesn't take faith to continue?

Paul describes the gospel a little bit differently because it's not about believed once and nothing afterwards. 1 Corinthians 15:1. Moreover, brethren, I declare to you that the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, everybody say received, and in which you stand, say stand, by which you also are saved. If you hold fast the word which I preached to you unless you believed in vain. Look carefully Paul's language. He said you receive the gospel and you're presently standing in the gospel. And then Paul said if you hold fast, in other words, you got to hang on to it. If you're not purposely hanging on to it, it'll slip out of your hands because you'll get caught up with other things that are going on in your world if you're not intentionally daily activating the gospel in your life.

You don't just repent once and then decide you're never going to repent again. No, you better be repenting every day. I promise you, you're not that good. You don't believe once and then decide faith no longer matters. You don't receive the Holy Ghost and then decide walking in the spirit doesn't matter. You don't enter into a covenant relationship and decided faithfulness to that covenant doesn't matter. The same grace that brings us into relationship with Jesus teaches us how to live in that relationship. Grace, grace, guys, everyone's talking about grace. Grace is a teacher. Titus 2:1, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared unto us and appeared unto all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.

Grace doesn't say it doesn't matter how you live. Well, you Pentecostal apostolic, you guys get all legalistic and this and that and the other, and you always do this, you just you just make it all about this, those those rules. You guys are just so rule bound. You're just so bound up. So bound up. I'm not bound up by anything. if I eat too much cheese maybe for a day or two, but I mean outside of that I'm not really bound. Sorry. Not bound. There's actually an understanding of the liberty that comes along inside of living the way God asked me to live. There's freedom that is there. I'm not bound. It's understanding that the life I live is not my own to live. But I've been bought with a price, a very high price he paid for me.

He He purchased flawed material when he got me. And if you're honest with yourself, you were flawed, too. And he paid a high price to buy flawed material because of the potential he's seen inside of us. And he gives us the way he wants us to live so that we can become what he designed us to be. So when I live, I'm not living for myself, but I'm living for the one who died for me. That makes all the difference in the world and how I approach things. It's not something that it's a burden for me to bear, but it's a life that I'm allowed to live. I get to live this life. He allowed me to live this life. He fills me with his spirit that wants to guide me and direct me every day of my life.

And there's things he's trying to protect me from because here's the reality. He lives outside of time. He sees things that I can't see, understands things that I can't understand. his ways are are higher than my ways and and he's he's far bigger than I can fit into my brain. I'm thankful that I have a God that way. And there are times I don't always enjoy the stuff I'm going through, but I've learned to trust him over time that Lord, you you promise you wouldn't put more on me than I can bear. So even though I'm not happy in the moment, I know that all things are working together for good to them that love you. So I'm going to keep loving you and I'm going to keep trusting you even when it doesn't make sense.

Even when I feel like, go, Lord, you may not let me break, but I feel like I'm in a bending point right now. But Lord, if I look backwards in my life, I see you've been faithful time and time again. So even when I'm tempted to question, Lord, your record proves to me that I can continue to trust. Grace teaches us how to live. It calls out sin. It empowers us to overcome. Grace picks us up when we stumble and gives us strength to keep walking. Grace is not God's permission to stop following him. Grace is God's power that enables us to keep following him. If but if we turn the grace into an unconditional guarantee that nothing about our continuing faith matters, we've challenged the biblical message of grace.

Grace is amazing, sufficient. It reaches further than failures. But grace was never intended to become an excuse for rebellion or abandonment in our relationship with God. His grace covers me. Yes, it does. But that doesn't mean that I need to continue on. In fact, Paul said this in Romans 6 and1. Why shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. Don't sin just for sin's sake, just because you have grace and mercy that is there. That's not living a life that is pleasing to God. In other words, don't use grace as an excuse to continue what grace came to deliver you from. There's another note for me. I'll say it again. Don't use grace as an excuse to continue in what grace came to deliver you from.

Remember it was Jesus who said what? Abide in me. If once saved always saved is biblical then we should be able to hear it in the teachings of Jesus in my opinion. Right? I mean red letter words matter to me. John 15 Jesus is describing our relationship with him. Okay. I'm going to read you the verses of scripture talking about our relationship with Jesus. Everybody say our relationship with Jesus. That's what's going on here. He says this in John 15:1. I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me, everybody say in me, that does not bear fruit, he takes away and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. Don't rush past those two words in me.

He's talking about us, right? We we we we've been brought in. We've been filled with the spirit. We're in him. He calls me a branch. And yet Jesus says that fruitfulness still matters. He's not talking about a branch laying on the ground. He's talking about one that's connected. He continues in verse number four, abide in me and I in you. And as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. There's the word abide, to remain, to continue, to stay. Jesus doesn't simply say get connected. He says stay connected. That alone should cause us to examine any doctrine that says continuing doesn't matter. If I'm not connected to him, it's going to show.

If you go out to any of your landscaping that's in your yard and you cut a piece of it off and you walk away with it, you can cut a branch, you can walk away with it. It still looks like everything else is still on the on the bush or on the tree, right? It's the leaves are still green, still connected. You know, if it's a flower, it still has smell to it. But give it a couple of days and go back and revisit. What's it look like? Does it look like everything else that's there or does it look different? What's different about it? It's been cut from the vine. It has no source of life. So, if it's been cut, it's reason to say that life goes away from it.

So, we we have to stay connected to the source, which means there is some responsibility that I have on my part. That's what Jesus is saying. Again, he's talking about our relationship. Abide in me and I in you. And he puts it down the road where we live. You cannot live on yesterday's connection. A branch doesn't have life because it used to be connected to the vine. It has life because it is presently connected to the vine. Yesterday's connection cannot sustain today's fruit. The branch must abide. So, if you're not connected to God, then your fruit will tell the tale. That's why some people that say they have a walk with God, yet their fruit kind of stinks, looks withered and dead. I have a hard time saying, "I'm believing you."

Well, pastor Kevin, you should not judge. Judge not lest you be judged. Really? That's the verse you got memorized. It also says later on the same chapter, "Judge with righteous judgment. The fruit that you're bearing, I'm supposed to look at and identify. You're my people, you're not my people." It got quiet, didn't it? So, we're going to go quote scripture. Make sure we quote all of scripture because I have a lot of Bible that says I'm to look at you by the fruit that you bear and determine whether or not you're connected to him or not. So, what fruit are you bearing? Are you bearing good fruit? When people look at you, when they have conversations with you, when they see your actions and how you handle circumstances and situations, does it identify you with being tapped into the true vine?

What are you saying, Pastor Kevin? I'm saying your fruit speaks for you. Verse number five, John 15. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. Did you see that? He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me you can do nothing. Notice the progression. Connection produces life. Life produces fruit. Fruit gives evidence of connection. I'll say it again. Connection produces fruit. Life produces fruit. And fruit gives evidence of connection. This is why faithfulness matters throughout scripture. Fruit doesn't save the branch. The vine gives life to the branch, but a living connection to the vine will eventually produce fruit. So if you're not bearing fruit, then you're not connected.

Your life will show. What happens if the branch does not abide? Now we come to the verse that really struggles when it comes to eternal security. Pay attention to verse number six. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch. and is withered and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned. Jesus gives us a possibility if a man abide not. How is that possible? If there's one saved always saved there's eternal security that is there. How is that possible that he says if a man abide not? He was part in he was he was grafted in. It was part that was there. So he was once there but he says there's something that can happen.

This statement only makes sense if a not abiding is possible. Jesus didn't say if the branch were never connected. He didn't say if the branch was pretending to be a part of the vine. He's already described these branches by saying he we start off by saying in me. Remember I had you repeat that they were in me. So they were already grafted in and they were already apart. So you following me? This is where I I have a hard time personally when I read through scriptures trying to understand how someone can believe once saved always saved. When Jesus himself in describing this says because I know what some someone will say they'll say the argument is well if you were really with God then then then you wouldn't act that way.

But he says you can be connected. He says in me but if you're not producing the fruit you get cut out. A branch cannot walk away from the vine and continue claiming the life of the vine. Jesus doesn't say remember that you were once connected. Jesus says abide in me. Jesus expects fruit. But here's the deal. So this wasn't the only isolated teaching on this. Let's go to Luke chapter 13. He tells a parable. He also spoke this parable. A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came seeking the fruit of it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, "Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit of this fig tree and find none.

Cut it down. Why does it use up the ground?" But he answered and said to him, "Sir, let it alone this year also until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well, but if not, after that you can cut it down." There is both mercy and responsibility in this story. God gave another opportunity. God cultivates. God works the God waits. But God still expects fruit. He still expects fruit. That's important because sometimes we misunderstand mercy. We think we think mercy means God doesn't care how I live. No. No. He does care very much how you live. He's expecting a fruitful life. He's expecting you to bear the fruit that he desires in your life. So it matters just because he's not smacking you in the head every time you do something wrong.

Well, well, if God didn't want me to do that, if God didn't want me, you know, thinking that or seeing that or doing that or whatever, smoking that, drinking that, then he would just he would just thump me in the head. But because he hasn't done that, then it must be okay. No, don't take his silence as consent. There's mercy in this story, but I promise you, there comes a point to where he says, "I've been coming here." In this case, it was three years. I'm not saying three years is the mark. Some of you going to set your counter. Well, I got three years, so I got two years. And stop. I don't know what your time's plan is, nor do I know mine.

I just know that he's looking and he's merciful. I'm thankful for his mercy. I'm thankful for his grace. But he's his desire is that we will dig and fertilize and get our roots strong so that while we can bear the fruit he wants us to bear. It's not about perfection. All right? Mercy gives you and I another opportunity to respond. It's not about perfection. It's about connection. Fruitfulness does not mean perfection. A healthy branch can have scars. We were several years ago we went out to Mir Woods in California. If you never get a chance to go out there just outside of San Francisco, you need to go. Anybody been to Mirror Woods before? It's phenomenal. I mean, it is it is like straight out of a Tolken book.

I was expecting Gandalf and Froto to come around the corner. Huge trees, these big redwoods. Just mindboggling how tall they are. But there had been a fire there. I don't know how many years was like 100 years ago, 120 years ago. There's a fire there. And if you walked up to the trees, you could see the scars that were on the trees from the fire. So trees still strong, trees still healthy, but they had scars. Let's just be honest with you. I don't know that it's possible to go through this life and not have scars. Just because you have scars doesn't mean you can't be fruitful. In fact, often times it's those type of things that cause us to actually grow stronger and to endure more.

Jesus says that a fruitful branch gets pruned. Did you pick up that while ago? Some of you don't like the pruning process. I don't know that anybody in their right mind likes to be pruned. But the pruning process is necessary. You talk to any good gardener, they'll tell you you got to go in and do that. Why? Because it stimulates growth. Pruning stimulates growth. So it's never about us not struggling because life brings struggles. That's a part of you living. It's a part of us living in a broken world. I mean, if you're going to get technical, you go back to Genesis, the beginning that was there before the fall, Adam and Eve, it just says that they had to work the field. They they they did all that.

And and I have every reason to believe that the work was good, pleasant work, and easy to do because it didn't say anything about sweat until the fall. And then after the fall, when sin entered the world, he said by the sweat of your brow. No, every time you get out there in the yard and you're sweaty, you just look up and say, "Adam, it grows us." So, it's not about struggling. It's not about even having moments of failure in life. It's about refusing to disconnect from Jesus. When you fall, run to him. When you when you fail, run to him. When when conviction comes, run to him. When you're hurting, run to him. When you don't understand, go to him. The danger is not that you're going to struggle.

The danger is that you decide you no longer need to abide or you think God has forgotten you. There's a world of difference between a believer who's struggling while reaching towards God and someone who's decided that because something has happened years ago, their present relationship with Jesus no longer matters. I've seen that. Pastor Kevin, you don't know what I've been through. You You're probably right. I don't I don't know what you've been through, but here's what I do know. We all been through things. We've all been through things. Your unique situation hasn't disqualified you from his grace and mercy. You turning your back on it is not going to make your situation any better. But I promise you, if you'll learn to run to him, I promise you, he is a faithful God that can be trusted.

I promise you, your life is better with him than without him. I promise you, I promise you, regardless of what you've been taught, regardless of of how someone maybe misrepresented him in a pullpit to you before, I'm sorry about that. I really am sorry. But don't don't base it off of man. Base it off of his word. Build a relationship with him. And I promise you, it'll serve you better than you could ever ever imagine in your life. So the question to me, scripture keeps repeatingly asking is, are we continuing with Jesus? And if anyone argues with that, it's emphasis on continuing belongs only to the teaching of Jesus. Then let's look at look at what the apostle Paul says because Paul says Romans 11, thou standest by faith, not be not high minded, but fear.

You got to learn how to stand by faith. Jesus said you need to abide. You need to endure. You need to be faithful. But somehow we're told that when we get to Paul, none of that really matters. The problem is Paul never taught that. Paul certainly taught about grace. He taught about justification through faith. Paul taught about security that we have in Jesus Christ. But the same Apostle Paul also repeatedly warned believers about the danger of unbelief and spiritual carelessness and falling away. He said this in Romans 11 19. Thou wil say then the branches were broken off. Here we go again. Branches. The branches were broken off that I may be grafted in. Well, because of unbelief, they were broken off. Everybody say unbelief.

And thou standeth by faith. Be not high- minded, but fear. For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed, lest he also spare not thee. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God on them which fail severity, but towards thee goodness, if thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou shalt be cut off. What's he talking about? How how can we say that everything's settled and I don't have to worry about anymore? when now we went from Jesus who said you got to abide or you're going to be cut off. And now we're now we're now we're to Paul and Paul says hey he broke the natural branches off because of their unbelief. Unbelief in his purest definition meant lack of obedience because of their lack of obedience.

He broke them off. And to us Gentiles, which is the majority of this room tonight, he grafted us in. But Paul gives a warning. He says, "Don't you get too comfortable in your walk with him, too. Because if you're not obedient, if you're have unbelief in your life, he'll he'll snap you off, too." Cuz why? Cuz he's looking for you to be fruitful. As I said this past Sunday, he's looking for you to serve your kingdom purpose. Thou standest by faith. Take heed if thou continue. Otherwise, thou shalt be cut off. That doesn't sound like Paul believed continuing was optional. He says you got to stand by faith. Not by what happened 20 years ago. Not because your name's on a church roll. Not because you once prayed at an altar.

Not because you had a genuine experience with God somewhere in your past. Thou standeth by faith. And the very thing that caused the natural branches to be broken off was unbelief. Unbelief. It's important. They were not broken off because of God's grace suddenly became insufficient or because his promises failed because something became more powerful than God. Paul said because of unbelief they were broken off. That's why he says be not high-minded but you need to be mindful. He said fear that if you're not doing your part you won't be fruitful. Assurance is not presumption. There's a difference between those two things. And Paul absolutely believed that we could have assurance because he says in Romans 8:38, "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I believe every word of that. Death can't separate me. Life can't separate me. Angels can't separate me. Demons can't do it. Trouble can't do it. Persecution can't do it. Hell can't overpower Jesus Christ and drag me out of his hands. None of those things. But I can willingly walk away myself. Nothing outside of me is more powerful enough to defeat the keeping power of God. But Romans doesn't end with chapter 8, ladies and gentlemen. There was a chapter 11 like I just read to you. Because of unbelief, they were broken off. We don't use Romans 8 to erase Romans 11. We don't use Romans 11 to erase Romans 8. We believe them both. God is powerful enough to keep me and I am responsible to continue believing and obeying.

I have an obligation to take what he already did for me at Calvary and to live it out in my life every day through obedience to his word. That I have to walk in obedience every day. I don't get to do what I want to do when I want to do it. Be careful about anyone that comes and say, "Well, you're good to go." Like God loves you. He's covered you. You if you already been there, God's filled you with his spirit. You're good to go. You're good to go. Don't worry about it. Don't don't sweat the small details. Now, I'm telling you what Paul said. You got to be careful not to be so highminded. Fear Be aware that I have a responsibility and you do too, to bear fruit, not to build my kingdom, but to build his.

Biblical responsibility says I must continue to walk and obey Jesus. Paul took his own warning seriously. He said in 1 Corinthians 9, "Therefore I run thus, not with uncertainty. Thus I fight not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become a disqualified." Who is writing this? I mean, think about what he's saying. Paul, the guy who wrote the majority of the New Testament, is saying, "I got to keep myself in check." Right? So if there's such a thing as eternal security, he's not displaying it in this verse because he's saying, "I got to check myself unless I become let's me, less Paul." Yeah. The one who wrote it all.

Unless I become disqualified. What's he saying? As I've realized that every day I make a decision, either I'm getting closer to God or I'm by by default I'm drifting away. I'm never staying still. So, you got to be careful, ladies and gentlemen, that we don't fall asleep sitting on a church pew convinced that everything is good just because I'm not creating or or committing some kind of gross sin in my life. I'm not committing adultery. I'm not I'm not stealing. I'm not But yet yet, you have harboring thoughts of anger or jealousy or covetish coveting in your life. you you you you have a responsibility and obligation to do some self-examination on a daily basis to make sure if Paul said, "I got to make my make sure I'm not being disqualified."

What makes you think that you and I aren't supposed to be doing the same thing? Keep yourself in check. Paul refused to become spiritually careless. If he's that way, then I probably shouldn't build a theology that allows me to be more spiritually careless. Paul understood something. Starting the race isn't the same as finishing the race. I've done a few half marathons in my life. Be honest with you. Starting is the easy part. First couple miles that ain't no big deal. It's the last couple of miles. That's why he uses the imagery of an athlete. You can enter the race. You can even run well for a long time. But he was determined, I'm going to finish. That's why he said at the end, I fought a good fight.

I finished the course. I've kept the faith. What powerful imagery he uses there that is about endurance. Take heed lest you fall. Then immediately after Paul's discussion of running the race, he points to Corinthians back to Israel. He said in 1 Corinthians 10:1, "Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all of our fathers were under a cloud. All passed through the sea. All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All ate the same spiritual food. All drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them. The rock was Christ. But with most of them, God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. He reminds them, "Hey, don't you get so caught up and forget that they all died in the wilderness."

Yeah, he got them out of Egypt, but that wasn't the goal, just to get them out of Egypt. He got them out to get them in. I'll say it again. He got them out so that he could get them in into the Canaan land into the promise. But because of their unbelief, because of their disobedience, they died in the wilderness out of Egypt, but not in the promise. Vivid imagery. Most every one of us in this room remember our first encounter, our first real encounter with God. You remember your altar? Remember remember when he filled you with his spirit? You remember that day or that night? You remember that altar encounter? We all do. We all remember that. Okay. He got you out of Egypt, but that wasn't his full mission for your life.

For you just to die out in the desert on your way to the promised land. I'm afraid that we live in a place that is so comfortable because we're getting mana every day and occasionally we get some quail and our shoes aren't wearing out and our clothes aren't wearing out that we become really comfortable in the desert. We're just going to die and miss the promised land. You guys okay? Good. I got about halfway through my notes so far. The wilderness is a powerful warning. He brought them out, but he brought them into a place that was going to give them. Got to keep walking. You got to keep believing. You got to keep following. You got to keep trusting. Keep your flesh under subjection.

Do you realize you got to fight that every day of your life? Every day we got to fight. And I don't know about you, but I feel like when I go to sleep, my flesh goes to the gym and works out. It seems like it's stronger the next morning trying to wrestle me down to the ground. That's why you better you better have some kind of a routine prayer life reading of the scriptures in your life every day. If you're not, I promise you I promise you you can you can hate me if you want to hate me, but you're going backwards. You're going backwards. You miss the day, you're going backwards. You got to fight. Don't stop in the wilderness. Don't turn around. Don't let unbelief steal what grace has made available to you.

Don't become careless because you experienced deliverance yesterday. Keep walking. Be faithful. Be faithful. Be faithful. And if Paul tells us to take heed, Peter takes it one step further. Paul said, "Take heed lest you fall." Peter says, "Give diligence." These two ideas belong together. Second Peter 1, but also for this very reason, giving all diligence. Everybody say, "Diligence. Add to your faith virtue. To your virtue knowledge. To your knowledge self-control. To your self-control perseverance. to your perseverance, godliness. Through your godliness, brotherly kindness, through your brotherly kindness, love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know what was going on there? He says, "Add to your faith. This is the progression of life."

That's why I saved this one to the end. This is the progression of our walk with God is you got to add to it. Starts out with faith. Without faith, it's impossible to please him. You got to have faith to start your walk with God. You got to have faith to talk to start that out. You got to have faith. But you don't you don't stand on faith alone. Faith, virtue, virtue, knowledge, knowledge, self-control. You see this? Think about your own personal walk with God. I hope for those of you who've been living for a while for God, you see this progression in your own life that you went from faith to virtue, from virtue to knowledge, from knowledge to self-control, from self-control to perseverance, from perseverance to godliness, from godliness to brotherly kindness, and brotherly kindness to love.

That's the progression. Why didn't he put love at the end? Because let's be honest, it's hardest to love. Oh, we we say we love each other. I love you, man. I love you, bro. Love you. I got you. when it's convenient. But if you've added all these things in time, by default, love is there. Peter makes an incredibly important statement in second Peter 1:9. For he who lacks these things, right? We were just in verses 5 through8. Listen to all the stuff that was there, but listen what he says. Verse number nine. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted even to blindness and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. A past experience with God should never become a substitute for a present walk with God.

I was thankful that I was purged, but I want to walk with him today. I was thankful for my alter experience I had when I was 12 years old when he filled me with the spirit, but I want to walk with him today. I'm thankful that he forgave me, but I want to remain sensitive to his voice. I'm thankful that he filled me, but I want to make sure I'm walking in the spirit every day. Then Peter makes this statement in verse number 10. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling or your call and your election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble. That's powerful. notice the word if if you do those things, Sister Sister Sue, he said you'll never stumble.

The recipe is right there. If you do these things, Peter isn't trying to make believers insecure. He's trying to keep believers from becoming careless in life because it's so easy. And as I'm wrapping this up, it's so easy to go on autopilot. And it's one of the most dangerous places you can be when you simply find yourself being comfortable. There should always be an awareness of God, I'm a work in progress. Lord, what do I need to do today? How can I improve? How can I be more like you? We have to finish Matthew 24:13. But he shall endure the end. Same shall be saved. Revelations 2 and10. But thou faithful unto death, I will give thee a crown of life. There's the message. Faithful until, faithful until, faithful until we've cross the finish line and stand forever in his presence.

Then, then we will be once saved, always saved. Will you stand with me tonight? I love you so much, Jesus. So thankful for the truth that is in your scripture and the word that you've given us to to lead, guide, and direct our lives every day. God, I pray that we would be aware that we are a work in progress and that every day your desire is to do a work inside of us. Help us, God, to be honest with oursel, to take inventory, to make an assessment, to make sure that we're on the right path, walking towards you, to build, Lord, on our faith and moving towards eventually getting to the place where love is there. Go with us as we leave this place.

Keep us, Lord. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.