Opening Prayer - Heavenly Father we thank you for the oppertunity to worship your Son this morning. We are grateful for the oppertunity to be in the second week of this church. May this church really begin to grow and touch as many lives as possible.We pray that everyone who reads this sermon who are not saved will become saved. We're especially thankful for this time of the year when we can celebrate the birth of Your Son. Truly, if He had not came to this earth, there would be no chance for us to live with you in Heaven! In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Worship music - Please click the links and sing along if you know the words (You can also click skip ad to go straight to the songs) -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsRlCNeZu90
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO5Qt2VQn4k
Can Salvation Be Lost?
The theme for this sermon series is based on Romans 10:13 which says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Two different groups of people are misled on what this verse means.
One group seems to claim that if someone prays or makes a decision to get saved (call upon the name of the Lord) they will go to Heaven, even if there is little or no evidence that person has really been born again (2 Corinthians 13:5). The people in this group say things such as, “Everyone who prays to become saved will go to Heaven, if not, God has lied.” Not only is that disrespectful, but that is also very wrong. Jesus said in Matthew 7:21, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” This topic is also explained in much of the website - www.areyousureyouaresaved.com
Also, the Apostle Paul stated two verses on how to obtain salvation that use the title ‘Lord’ in Acts 16:31 and Romans 10:9, and they both mean the same thing etymologically, contextually, and historically (and that is “God who rules”). Acts 16:31 says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.” And in Romans 10:9 it says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” This doesn’t mean if someone simply says Jesus’ name and believes He arose from the dead, they will be saved. This means that someone is telling God that they are “willing” for Him to rule (or take over) every area of their life and every moment of each day “for the rest of their life”.
The Greek word for “Lord” is kurios. Dr. John MacArthur, in his book The Gospel According to Jesus, explains this very well. He said, “Proper understanding of any biblical term depends on etymology, context, and history. Etymologically, “kurios” comes from a Greek root that means “rule, dominion, or power.” Contextually, taking Peter’s use of “kurios” in Acts 2:36, it is important to note that verses 34—35 quote from Psalm 110, a messianic psalm of rule and dominion (“Rule in the midst of Thine enemies,” v. 2). Peter was not saying merely that, “God has made Him . . . God,” he was affirming Jesus’ right to rule. Historically, Peter’s sermon addressed the Jews’ role in crucifying their Messiah (v.23). At the trial of Jesus before Pilate and the Jewish mob, the issue was clearly His “kingship,” mentioned at least a dozen times in John 18:33—19:22. Clearly, careful historical-grammatical exegesis of Acts 2:36 can lead to only one conclusion: Jesus is the divine King who rules in the midst of both friends and foes. Having thus identified Christ as Lord of all, Peter makes his gospel appeal. Note that Paul preached Jesus in exactly the same way (2 Cor. 4:3–5): Jesus is our sovereign Lord, and we are His servants.”
The other group seems to claim that if someone prays or makes a decision to get saved (call upon the name of the Lord) they are saved, but if they sin on purpose (Hebrews 10:26) or don’t say or do what the Holy Spirit urges them to say or do, they have lost their salvation. They need to (call upon the name of the Lord) again in order to be saved again. When a Christian sins on purpose and doesn’t do what the Holy Spirit leads them to do, they are making serious mistakes, but if that Christian feels really bad about it and wants God to forgive them (Revelation 3:19), then that may be evidence that they are truly saved (Please see this webiste - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/makingsure for more information).
Notice that both examples (paragraph two and three of this sermon) do not mention that if someone is not willing to repent “from that moment on and for the rest of their life” (which basically means the same thing as being willing to follow Jesus and allow Him to become the Lord of their life – see this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/theanswer for more information, their heart is not prepared to receive Jesus (The Parable of the Sower.). Similarly, they ignore Luke 18:22,23 (The Rich Young Ruler) and John 2:23-25 which says, “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.”
In conclusion,
If you have not prayed or made a decision to get saved, please go to this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/howtogotoheaven
If you have prayed or made a decision to trust Jesus' death on the cross and His shed blood to erase your sins and let you into Heaven when you leave this world, but you are not living the way the Bible says you should live, please go to this website -
http://chriswaug5.wix.com/makingsure
Please look for the second sermon in this series next Sunday morning.