Opening Prayer - Heavenly Father we thank You for this opportunity to worship You and study Your Word. We're eternally thankful that the Holy Spirit has given us a knowledge about Your Word, the Bible, so that we can help lead other people to Your Son. We're especially thankful for the opportunity to do this series on false teachings. Please help us to not be deceived by these teachings. We pray that everyone who reads or listens to these sermons who are not a Christian will become a Christian. 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=x6cOOLTDAaQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ClwsynwVrI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-yYXFPCjJw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQIE1tO4Vzc
False Teachings
The Lord has led me to do a Sunday evening series on popular teaching in churches that has literally sent people to hell. The unfortunate thing is that these pastors and teachers refuse to admit that they are wrong and change their views. However, not all of these pastors and teachers are trying to trick people, but it is very important for you to learn about these unbiblical views and warn others so they will not be deceived by these false teachings. Therefore, please pass these sermons on to others.
Before I begin to warn you about teachings that are false, the Bible actually instructs members of a church to remove people from their church who claim to be Christians, but they refuse to stop their evil ways. This definitely includes proven false teachers who are pastors and Sunday school teachers. 1 Corinthians 5:12,13; 2 John 1: 9-11; 1 Corinthians 5:2,7; 2 Corinthians 6:14-16; 2 Corinthians 11:3-6,12-15; 1 Timothy 1:3; 3:1-10; and Titus 1:6-9 support this.
False Teaching # 20 -
It's really easy to become a Christian - You just say, "Lord save me" (Romans 10:13 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”), but it takes a whole lot to stay a Christian.
The Bible's teaching -
These people believe that someone can say, 'Lord save me', and they are saved, but if they sin on purpose (Hebrews 10:26) or sin by not saying or doing what the Holy Spirit urges them to say or do (Ephesians 4:30, James 4:17), 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 (explained in this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/makingsure)
Notice that they 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 – explained in this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/theanswer), their heart is not prepared to receive Jesus (explained in this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/chap16). 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.”
When someone thinks that they have lost their salvation because they have sinned, and they are upset because of it and call upon the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13) again, they are actually repenting (Revelation 3:19). This is evidence that they may be saved (explained in this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/makingsure). Although, they are incorrect when they claim that someone has added to the gospel when they urge a sinner to be willing to repent, and if they are willing to live that way from that moment on, then they are ready to believe and be saved (explained in Chapter 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 16 of this website - www.areyousureyouaresaved.com). The people who added to the gospel were the Judaizers, who believed that someone had to be saved and also be circumcised, keep the Ten Commandments, and keep the Law of Moses in order to go to Heaven. Also, if someone claims that “after” someone follows Jesus or “after” they do good works they are saved, they would be adding to the gospel. If you have read this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/chap34, you will see that being “willing” to serve (or follow) Jesus “before” you pray or make a decision to get saved, prepares your heart to receive Jesus (explained in this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/chap16). These people also don’t realize that true Christians would lose their salvation if Jesus didn’t continue to make intercession for them before His Father.
A concept that we agree on is Matthew 24:13 which says, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” I feel that this verse, compared with the rest of the Bible, means that someone can pray or make a decision to trust Jesus’ work on the cross to save them, but if they begin to live the Christian life but later give up living that lifestyle and never return, that proves that they wasn’t saved in the first place (explained in this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/chap16). The difference is that they believe when a Christian gives up living the Christian lifestyle, they lose their salvation, and they need to call upon the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13) again to be saved again.
When somebody witnesses to a sinner and tells them that if they want to be saved, they just need to call upon the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13), they don't know how prepared or unprepared the sinner's heart is (unlike Jesus). People won't become Christians if their hearts aren't prepared (explained in this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/chap16). There definitely is a possibility that their hearts are prepared, but we are not able to read people’s hearts like Jesus did while He was on the earth (For example, Jesus didn’t witness to everyone the same way because He was able to read their hearts, and He knew how prepared their hearts were. He seemed to make it much harder for the Rich Young Ruler to be saved (Luke 18:18-25) than He did for Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10). Notice that all Jesus said to Zacchaeus was, “Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.” As a result, he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully (Luke 19:6) and said, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.” (Luke 19:8). Luke 19:6 and 8 prove that Zacchaeus had been saved because in Luke 19:9,10 Jesus said, “And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”)
Therefore, we shouldn’t just tell people to call upon the name of the Lord without encouraging them to be willing to follow Jesus, and if they are willing to live that way from that moment on and for the rest of their life, then they are ready to trust Jesus’ death on the cross and His shed blood to erase their sins and let them into Heaven and believe that He arose from the dead. Although, when a Christian corrects someone, for example, who has (only called upon the name of the Lord) and tells them that they have lost their salvation because they are not following Jesus, and the person calls upon the name of the Lord in order to get saved again, they could actually become saved because they counted the cost (realized what kind of lifestyle they will have to live and know that there is no turning back) before they called upon the name of the Lord. And no, being willing to follow (imitate and obey) Jesus doesn’t always mean being willing to become homeless and go town to town and preach and teach (see paragraph 16 of Chapter 5 of this website - www.areyousureyouaresaved.com beginning with this sentence, “In many churches today, discipleship is not encouraged.”).
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, but you haven't been following (imitating and obeying) Jesus, please follow this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/makingsure
If you have prayed or made a decision to become a Christian, but you are not sure that you are really a Christian (Hebrews 11:6, Matthew 21:18-22, 1 John 5:14, and Hebrews 11:1), you need to be sure - please follow this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/howtogotoheaven
If you have never 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, please follow this website - http://chriswaug5.wix.com/howtogotoheaven