[0:00] Good morning again. The message is dealing with the P in tulip. And if you'll turn to Ephesians, we're in the first chapter, verses 3 through 14.
[0:22] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.
[0:56] In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
[1:23] In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished on us.
[1:40] in all wisdom and insight, He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention, which He purposed in Him, with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.
[2:15] In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose, who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end, that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be to the praise of His glory.
[2:45] In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.
[3:21] What an incredible passage of Scripture this is. It talks about predestination a couple of times, and for a number of believers, that's a pretty scary term.
[3:33] It appears that the situation, at least from the common definition of the word predestined, which means to determine beforehand, it appears to some, and the way some interpret it, is that it takes us and our will completely out of the mix, because everything is predestined, that is, predetermined, and it's going to happen regardless of what you do or do not do.
[4:04] And frankly, that's nothing but a definition of fatalism, and that is not the message of the Scriptures, and that's not where we're going, but it's very difficult to escape that if you embrace the five points of Calvinism that we have been talking about.
[4:19] Today, we're going to be looking at the P in the TULIP, the T-U-L-I-P, and the P stands for the perseverance of the saints, which is another word for the continuation of the saints, or we may think of it in terms of the final preservation of the saints.
[4:43] And it is, in my estimation, the second most glorious truth found in all of Scripture. And the first, of course, is that which involves the gospel itself.
[4:58] Next to actually being saved, the greatest thing in the world is in knowing that you are, and having no doubt regarding it, because you know, and have come to appreciate, the basis for your salvation.
[5:12] And you know that it is not your ability to hang on. It is God's commitment to hang on to you. And that's where in our strength and our confidence lies.
[5:25] It's not in our ability. In this passage, here in Ephesians, ending with the P in the TULIP, it, of course, becomes a necessary adjunct to all of the other letters in the...
[5:43] Hmm. I wonder if I'm plugged in. Well, that would do it, wouldn't it? Good old Tom Edison.
[6:03] To just give you a brief run-through with these, and I will be as brief as I can, I really don't prefer the term total depravity, and I have replaced it with total inability.
[6:23] And yes, I do still embrace that. And all I mean by total inability is that it is impossible we are unable to do anything that will make us acceptable to God.
[6:40] No amount of good works, no amount of good intentions, no amount of good deeds or anything else can make us acceptable to God. That means in and of ourselves, under our own strength, there is no help and no hope for us.
[6:56] That's what I mean by total inability. You cannot save yourself, nor can you contribute to your salvation. Our Calvinist friends use the term total depravity, and that is a little bit of a misnomer.
[7:14] We tend to think of people who are depraved as being very base kind of individuals, and that's not really the idea that's to be communicated. The whole issue centers around the idea of how were we impacted in the fall.
[7:34] When God gave us volition, when God imbued humanity with the power to make a choice, when he instilled within us the idea of moral accountability, a knowledge to appreciate the difference between right and wrong, to what degree was that impaired in the fall?
[8:01] Our Calvinist friends say it was completely, utterly wrecked and ruined, so that there is no ability at all to even respond to God. Well, we do know that we have the ability to respond negatively, and all I am saying is, yes, we do.
[8:19] we do have the ability to respond negatively, and we also have the ability to respond positively. That means that spiritual death does not mean a cessation of existence or no ability at all to respond.
[8:37] Spiritual death means a separation has occurred. Man and God have become alienated, but it does not mean that man, because of the fall, is unable to hear the voice of God and unable to respond to it.
[8:55] He isn't. Although, I must confess, as I've told you before, at one time I believed that, and that is the Calvinist position. The Calvinist position embraced by my heroes like Spurgeon and Barnhouse and numerous other individuals of stellar ability to communicate the word of God, they are Calvinists who believe this, that man does not have the capacity to even say yes when God calls him, because he is spiritually dead.
[9:33] And because he is spiritually dead and cannot respond, God has to quicken that individual and make that individual spiritually alive.
[9:47] Apart from the will of the person, the person makes no contribution at all. And that is called unconditional election.
[9:59] That simply says that God selex, God chooses certain individuals to be saved. And all of the rest of humanity, he simply passes over.
[10:14] He ignores them. He allows them to go to perdition. But those whom he has elected to salvation, he will make them alive, so that when they hear the gospel, they will be able to respond.
[10:31] And that of course sets the stage for the L in tulip, which is limited atonement. That simply says it would be a waste if God died, if Christ died on that cross for the sins of the whole world, that would simply be a waste.
[10:54] But the death of Christ was very efficient, and that's why he died only for those who will ultimately be saved, and that means Christ died only for the elect.
[11:07] On what basis did God choose some and not choose others? We are not told. We are told that it was according to the pleasure of his own good will. We are not given any criteria.
[11:19] God has never said in scripture, well I chose them because, thus and so and thus and he chose us because he chose us. That's all. That's the position that the Calvinists take, and the limited atonement simply says that Christ did not die for the sins of the world.
[11:34] I remember hearing R.C. Sproul say this one time in a conference that I was attending, and he is a very capable communicator of the word of God, and enjoys a great deal of respect among evangelicals, particularly among Presbyterians, which of course he is, and he made the statement, you do not have the right to tell anyone that Christ died for their sins, because you don't know that Christ died for their sins.
[12:04] All you may do is tell people Christ died for sinners. That's true, and you can tell them that, but you can't tell them Christ died for you, because you don't know that.
[12:15] They may not be elect, and that just goes to show you the practical application of this limited atonement, and when we come up with verses, and we say, well, you know, as you read the New Testament, it seems very much like Christ died for the sins of the world.
[12:30] And I, I will draw all men unto me. What does that mean? Well, it means he will draw all of the elect. Well, he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
[12:44] What does that mean? Well, that means for the whole elect world. But it doesn't say that. Well, yes, it doesn't say that, but that's what it means.
[12:54] And what about God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son? What does that mean? Well, that means God so loved the world of the elect.
[13:08] But it doesn't say that. Well, yes, but that's what it means. And you have to take the position, that's what it means, if you are going to make it fit the Calvinist system.
[13:22] You have to do that. In my estimation, that is simply taking undue liberties with the scriptures that we are not entitled to take.
[13:35] You just do not have the right to say, well, that means the elect world. No, it doesn't say that, but that's what it means. No, that is the context rules.
[13:46] And there is nothing in the context that would say, well, it's talking about a select few of the world, not the whole world. So, this limited atonement, as I told you, I never was a five-point Calvinist because I never could buy this.
[14:02] Never did. I was a four-pointer for a long time, and a lot of my friends are four-point Calvinists. Their position, of course, is, if Christ died for the sins of the whole world, but the whole world is not saved, saved, then those who end up ultimately unsaved are people for whom Christ died for nothing.
[14:33] And you know, there is a great deal of overkill in everything that God does. God when God saved you by His grace, He didn't just squeeze out just enough grace to do the job, but if you would have required a little bit more, you'd have been in big trouble.
[14:58] But God has grace unlimited. Whatever He does, He does in unlimited fashion. He is the infinite God. And when we talk about limited atonement and Christ dying in vain for those who ultimately are not saved, there is a verse in Colossians that talks about that Christ might have the preeminence in everything and I think He is going to have the preeminence in that too.
[15:24] I think there are going to be more in heaven than will not be there. I know that is a stretch and some think that that verse in the Gospels about narrow is the way and few there be the find it etc.
[15:39] indicates that there is going to be a minority in heaven and the majority in perdition I am not at all sure that that is true. If Christ is going to have the preeminence in everything it may very well be in the number of people who are ultimately going to be with Him especially when you consider things like infants and those who have forfeited their life in abortion and I think there is every reason to believe that from the time of conception a human being exists and in what form are they going to exist in eternity I don't know no they're not always going to be a blastocyte or a whatever in the uterus they're going to be a fully formed individual in their personality and the totality of their being and I realize that's a stretch for us to believe but I think God can handle it and then irresistible grace the position simply says that God elects and God has died for these individuals therefore when the gospel comes to these people who are elect they will believe because they are programmed to believe they don't have a choice they will believe because they are elect and it's impossible that they would not believe that is
[17:04] God's way of assuring that people are going to be in heaven so they see grace as irresistible but you know grace all throughout scripture is depicted as resistible grace is very subject to abuse probably not a one of us has not abused the grace of God it is of a nature that it sets itself up to be taken advantage of and people do that God's grace is resistible you can say no to Jesus Christ you do not have to believe that you're prerogative you ought to but you don't have to so I see grace as being resistible not irresistible and then the perseverance of the saints that simply means and this of course is the icing on the cake for the
[18:05] Calvinists because all these other things being true then it is absolutely impossible to think in terms of the elect not being finally ultimately saved in heaven so that's the perseverance of the saints and no the term is not used in scripture matter of fact most of these words are not used in scripture in the way that they are depicted in the tulip the bible does not use the term perseverance of the saints the bible does not even use the term eternal security but it does use the term frequently eternal life and eternal life is such that by definition built into the term it signifies that which has no end and if you look at the passage that was read earlier in Ephesians right here in Ephesians chapter one and I am not going to go through the chapter and try to exegete the verses and by the way let me just say this
[19:10] I have not by purpose and intent I have not dealt with the passages that seem to be teaching the Calvinist tulip we have not actually dealt with those verses we shall because I think it is only fair to point out to you where the Calvinists get their ideas and how they have arrived at them and how they interpret those various passages and we'll be in Romans 9 and Esau Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated and how God chose the one over the other these need to be addressed because they are troublesome passages and they troubled me for years but I've got some light on them now and I just want to share the light with you because to me it's a crystal clear thing the position that I've come to over the last 20 or 30 years that has caused me to reverse what I taught here so many years ago and this subject of the perseverance of the saints or eternal life is a very precious doctrine and as
[20:22] I told you before I only have two of the five points of Calvin left and that's the first and the last I do believe that man is totally unable to make himself acceptable to God that does not mean that he is incapable of responding with his personal belief or faith volition that God has given us is not laid aside or overwritten we still have the power to choose that's the basis for our accountability if we do not have that power I do not see any way that God can hold us accountable we are accountable because we do have the power and ability to make choices that's what makes us responsible or irresponsible so here in this Ephesian passage I just want to focus on a couple of verses here and then we'll just open this for some comments and questions that you may have if we could just jump in with verse 11 we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to his purpose who works all things after the counsel of his will to the end that we who were the first to hope in
[21:48] Christ should be to the praise of his glory in him that is in Christ you also after listening to the message of truth the gospel of your salvation having also believed you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise who is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view or looking forward to the end to the redemption of God's own possession to the praise of his glory and I just like to focus a little bit on the phrase that is used here in verse 14 the Holy Spirit of promise who is given as a pledge and this conveys the idea that the Holy Spirit is given as a down payment and the down payment is to guarantee that that which has been begun with the down payment will be brought to completion or fruition it is actually a business kind of transaction with which most of us are familiar and if you've ever sold or bought a piece of property and something that you're considering on owning eventually you look at this property and you tell the owner yes
[23:16] I would like to buy it and he says well I would like to have some earnest money and all earnest money means is it shows good faith that that that is why it's called earnest money you are making the offer in earnest so you give him a down payment if you will this earnest money is the seller's guarantee that you're going to go through with the deal that you're going to complete the purchase and the idea is that if for some reason you don't complete the purchase then you forfeit the earnest money and that's only fair because when you tell the man that you're going to buy the property then he considers it sold and is taken off the market and if you change your mind later on and decide well I've had buyer's remorse and I decide I don't want to buy the property can I have my earnest money back no you can have your earnest money back you gave the money in good faith with the intention of completing the deal and you backed out so you forfeit the earnest money that is a guarantee or a down payment that what you have begun you're going to complete and that's precisely the principle that is being talked about here only it isn't money it's something far more precious and something far more valuable it is the
[24:42] Holy Spirit of promise when you believed in verse 13 after listening to the message of truth see you've got to hear the message that's why we preach the gospel so people can hear the message and when you hear the message the gospel the good news of your salvation having also believed that's your response to the message upon believing the message the gospel of the grace of God at that precise moment God assigns the Spirit of God to you as his down payment or guarantee that he who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ Philippians 1 6 I think it is and this Spirit of God comes in and takes up residency in your life whether you know it or not and a lot of
[25:45] Christians don't they're not even aware of this they are indwelt by all kinds of wonderful things that God has done for them and they're not even aware of them and if you're not aware of them you can't appreciate them and if you can't appreciate them and be thankful for them you will not live on that basis so many Christians are not living the Christian life because they have no idea what's been provided for them and made available to them and as a result they're unable to respond to it that's why information is so critical that's why taking in the word of God is so critical you have to know what you possess in Christ and we had a study here several years ago in fact it was generated by Paul Pontus and the study had to do with the 33 things that were accomplished instantaneously when you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and what we are talking about here in Ephesians 1 is just one of them there are 32 other things that
[26:47] God did for you just like that the moment you believe Christ and you received his salvation just like that all of those things became true of you instantaneously and most believers don't have a clue as to what they are and if you don't you can't enjoy them you can't benefit from them you get no comfort from them you get no enlightenment from them you get no security from them because you don't even know it's just like somebody deposited a million dollars in your bank account in your name but you don't even know it's there and you can't even write a check on it you don't know what you have that's the pathetic situation for so many Christians and that's why we have the word of God and that's why we teach it and preach it and encourage people to read it and study it so Paul says after listening to the message of truth the gospel of your salvation having also believed you were sealed in him with the
[27:51] Holy Spirit of promise now if God seals you you've been sealed you can forget about anybody being able to break the seal you are sealed this speaks of finalities this speaks of something that is definite this is something you can count on and you know as well as I do there aren't a whole lot of things in this whole world that you can count on but the thing that matters most of all is that which you can count on this down payment that God made in you when you received Christ you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise and God who cannot lie who is given as a pledge or as an earnest of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of
[28:51] God's own possession what is God's own possession it's your body your physical body which you have of God and you are not your own for you are bought with a price your physical body belongs to God and the time is coming when he's going to redeem it what he did when he gave you the earnest of the spirit the down payment of the spirit what he did then was he redeemed your human spirit with his spirit he assigned his holy spirit to your human spirit and his holy spirit regenerated or made alive your spirit you were separated from God in your spirit that intangible part of your being that resides within you that constitutes the real you that's what was separated from
[29:58] God and when you believed on Christ and the holy spirit came in it was his spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God it was his spirit that regenerated your spirit made you alive inside through Jesus Christ this is why and how you got a new value system this is where your new attitudes came from this is where your new life came from this is where your new desires came from it is that spirit of God within you Paul talks about that when he writes to Titus in chapter 3 and verse 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he has saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit what did he renew didn't renew your liver your lungs your kidneys your eyes he renewed your spirit he made your spirit that was separated from him alive to him and his spirit bears witness with your spirit internally that you are a child of
[31:09] God that is the down payment and the purchase possession you see he purchased you all lock stock and barrel he purchased you he purchased you body soul and spirit he bought the whole works everything that makes you what you are he bought but it's not all redeemed only your spirit is redeemed so when you die physically your redeemed spirit exits your body and goes to be with the one who bought it who paid for it and your body which is not redeemed is cremated or buried at sea or buried in the grave and that's your physical remains now let's come over for just a moment to Romans chapter 8 Romans chapter 8 because this is all tied in together and you know how scripture interprets scripture
[32:19] Romans 8 and verse 18 Paul says for I consider that the sufferings of this present time and they may be great and they may be many but you see what what Paul is doing here is giving us a biblical perspective we we have our own perspective but it's very limited and often it's very inaccurate because things are not always as they seem we know that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us what is that let's read on for the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing the disclosing the putting on display of the sons of
[33:29] God and who are they that's you me all of creation is waiting with bated breath to see what we're going to look like and be like creation is waiting anxiously because creation was brought down too when Adam fell everything fell there was just a huge implosion everything fell everything came crashing down the ground is cursed animals are cursed everything is under this curse for the creation was subjected to futility that's emptiness worthlessness not of its own will but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption think of that everything that God created was impacted in the fall it all came crashing down and man came crashing down with it just one great big universal catastrophe in the fall and you know something we've never recovered from it we're still dying at a clip of one per person someone said no matter all the faith healers and all the world's best surgeons and doctors the death rate remains one per person hasn't changed has it because it's all under that curse in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of
[35:27] God and we're not there we're not there yet we have the promise of it we have an absolute guarantee of it because we got the down payment and God is not going to invest earnest money in something that he's not going to close the deal on he's not going to lose his earnest money you can be sure of that and the spirit of God that is that that earnest the whole creation grooms and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now this is a really dramatic thing that Paul is talking about here in verse 22 as I've told you in the past someone has noted that even the brook babbles in a minor key everything is out of kilter everything is wrong with this world we've got disasters we've got hurricanes and earthquakes and tsunamis and tornadoes and death and destruction and floods and all the rest what's the matter I'll tell you what's the matter it's the earth out of control the earth is under this same fall that man is under and this is why when Jesus
[36:38] Christ came and presented himself as the Messiah as God's panacea for earth and humanity's ills he took charge of everything and with all of the negative stuff that was going on then he fixed it he corrected when they had a wind blowing out on the sea that threatened with the height of these waves that threatened to inundate the boat and sink it he just stood up and said that's enough stop it peace be still and the wind and the waves if they could have spoken they would have said yes sir and they just stopped because he imposed his power over a cursed earth and what it was demonstrating at the time and when he came upon a corpse like the son of the widow of Nain was being carried to his gravesite and a weeping mother walking along behind he said this is not going to stand and he went over and put his hand on that stretcher and said young man arise and all at once he was alive because these are conditions that are predictable under the curse and Jesus in authenticating his messiahship demonstrated his authority over these elements disease everything he took charge of it he authenticated that he was who he said he was by the miracles that he performed even death itself could not keep its prey for we know verse 22 that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now and not only this but also we ourselves having the first fruits of the spirit what's that same thing as the earnest of the spirit it is that which is given first the first fruits in the biblical context the first fruits had to do with the very first product of the vine the first ripened grapes the first ripened grain whatever it was of the crop that was coming on the very earliest one that was the first fruits and what did the first fruits symbolize that there's going to be a large crop to follow that these first fruits is just the beginning the best and the majority is yet to come and the first fruits is the guarantee that there's going to be more and this is just the first to show up that's the first fruits and it's the same principle as the earnest it's like a down payment even we ourselves grown having the first fruits of the spirit even we ourselves grown within ourselves some of you are too young to know what this is about you just wait you just wait till the hips and the knees start giving out and they start talking back to you creaking and groaning and cracking and popping and not being cooperative and doing what your mind tells them to do and you tell your legs what to do and if your legs could talk they would say you gotta be kidding
[40:22] I'm gonna do that I can't do that that's the groaning within ourselves waiting eagerly for our adoption that is the final stroke wait it's kind of like it's kind of like you're going to be adopted like a child or a baby is going to be adopted but the papers haven't been signed yet and when does it become official when the papers are signed registered becomes official and we're waiting for the adoption as sons and look at this last the redemption of our body surely you didn't think your present body was redeemed did you not this thing it is when when this corruptible puts on incorruption this mortal puts on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying death is swallowed up in victory but it isn't now is it isn't it true now death swallows us up doesn't it death reigns supreme over our body death is coming to this body but life will one day overtake death and death the last enemy will be destroyed and all of this points to the security and the finality of our position in
[42:17] Christ how that we are secure in him we are safe in him we are locked into him we are bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh the sin issue is over and done with we are in Christ and his destiny is our destiny his life is our life this is the security that we have in him and apart from him there is no security in him there is nothing but security and the security is of an eternal nature I've often said the next best thing to being saved is knowing that you are because when you know you are then you have stability you have predictability you know where you stand with God and that's what enables you to serve him not out of fear for fear that you haven't done enough or aren't doing enough or that he's going to kick you out or change your mind or something it allows you to serve him out of a sense of gratitude we do not serve the
[43:30] Lord and love the Lord and serve our fellow man because we have to and because we're trying to score points with God so we'll be acceptable to heaven that's completely erroneous we serve him and love him and serve one another simply to express our deep appreciation to him for what he has done for us that becomes our motivating factor we love and we serve out of gratitude not out of fear and that's what makes it joyful that's what makes it joy in serving Jesus as the song goes well we've got more but we're going to quit now we've got just about five minutes left if you have comments or questions anyone Scott has a microphone anybody over there Mike I'm curious about what your assessment would be of a believer who just cannot accept the security that you speak of well my assessment of a believer who just cannot accept the security
[44:47] I would say that they have a very real problem with the concept of grace because when once you get a handle on the grace of God the security issue flies right out the window when you understand grace what it is and the basis for it the security issue just seems to take care of itself and and and as regards that person I would say that I feel really badly for them because they are unable to enjoy the freedom and the liberty that they have in Christ because they're scared to death they're going to lose it and when you're living on the edge like that you can't enjoy a believer like that they know enough to know how important it is to be saved but they don't know enough to be able to enjoy it because they think that it is all dependent on them them hanging on them being deserving them being worthy and none of us is that and as
[45:51] I've often said someone says well what happens if you are a believer and you do something really rotten so that you don't deserve to be saved anymore but you got to remind yourself you didn't deserve to be saved in the first place you never did deserve salvation and when it comes to doing something really rotten like murder well one thing we know for sure is that no Christian could ever be guilty of murder oh honey wake up and smell the coffee do you know that a Christian who is walking in the flesh is capable of every rotten low down sin that an unbeliever is capable of did you know that did you know that someone like David who is said to have a man to be a man after God's own heart David committed adultery and then he set the husband of woman that he violated up for his certain death that was really skunky behavior you know that and
[47:13] David was a believer listen there are a lot of really rotten believers out there for doing wrong and stupid things isn't that he looks the other way and just says well you're my child so it doesn't make any difference no no no no what son is he whom the father chasteneth not and if you endure not chastening whereof all are partakers then are you bastards and not sons if you're a child of God and you get out of line God knows away of the wood shed and he'll take you to the wood shed and he'll spank your butt because he loves you same reason you spank your children and it's no different
[48:22] Hebrews makes that very very clear so it isn't that and this is the big fear of people who reject the idea of the security of the belief this is their big fear well if you tell somebody that they are just going to go out and live like the devil because they know they can't lose their salvation there again there is an insufficient understanding of what the grace of God is if you really get a handle on the grace of God it will swell your heart and mind with gratitude not with license not with oh boy let me see how much hell I can raise now that I'm saved and can't get lost I'm just going to go out and send my heart away that is proof positive you have no idea what grace is all about grace has its own inhibiting factor and it is love not fear another question up here in front
[49:29] Ron Benson has we'll have to dismiss after this this will be our last run okay I'm going to make a statement and see if you agree with it and then I have a question my understanding of free will and predestination is this all are called and by the grace of God those that accept his call then God puts them into the body of Christ and gives them eternal life they are called the elect then the predestination part is where he predestines the elect to the body of Christ in eternal life do you agree with that well I have to think about I might have a little problem with some of the wording but I see where you're coming from I wouldn't disagree with it
[50:31] I think it needs some fine tuning though my question is this if you believe the gospel and you're placed into the body of Christ and you're the elect then he's already given you eternal life but what then if you don't believe in eternal security you don't believe that part of it you're still saved you're still going to have eternal life correct sure sure but you are robbed of one of the benefits of it because one of the things you see God doesn't want you to not know where you stand with him he wants you to know you are accepted in the beloved not for license or undue liberty but for peace for security for stability for serenity of soul one other question if a person doesn't search the scriptures and really try to find out the answers to their questions do you think that that will be a loss of reward later it may be a loss of reward and it will certainly be a loss of enjoyment in the here and now absolutely you don't have to know very much at all to be saved you don't have to know much at all you just need to know that you are a sinner and that
[52:12] Jesus Christ is the savior and if you put your trust and faith in him as your substitute for salvation he saves you that's not knowing a whole lot that's not and that's really all you need that's all you and yet there is so much more he who spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not also with him freely give us all things what things well get in here and find out because it's loaded and it's wonderful would you stand please father we are once again just in absolute all of the incredible love and grace that has been demonstrated and made available to bring us to
[53:13] Christ and we want these people each and every one to not only have the salvation that you provided but to be able to revel in it and rejoice in it and live a peaceable secure serene fulfilled life because that's the kind of life you died to provide Jesus came not merely that we might have life but life more abundant and that's what we want for each and everyone here thank you for making it within the grasp of all of us in Christ's wonderful name amen