“Perseverance / “Once-Saved-Always-Saved”? Part 8”
Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2025 11:53 pm
“Perseverance / “Once-Saved-Always-Saved”?) Part 8” by Romans
We are continuing in our current Series, "Perseverance," which, as I have been saying throughout this Series, is a feature of Christianity that I think needs to be more emphasized than it is. As Christians, we should not view our membership in the Family and Kingdom of God in the same way that we view a lifetime membership in a Health Club where we can still be regarded as members in good standing even if we never darken their door after signing on the dotted line. This is not what being a Christian is all about.
I read a daily devotional called, “Evening by Evening,” by Charles Spurgeon. He is a Calvinist, and fully subscribes to the doctrine of Once-Saved-Always-Saved. It is a truly wonderful and inspiring devotional. There are some days when he has encapsulated on a single day’s page, the full impact of an entire rousing and edifying sermon. But there are other days, as with his entry on March 28th, he teaches what the Bible systematically declares to be a false doctrine: I read these words:
“… What cleaning power there must be in His blood to take away sin such as ours. And what glory in His righteousness makes such unacceptable creatures to be accepted in the Beloved. How sure and unchanging our acceptance must be since it is in Him! Never doubt your acceptance in Jesus. You cannot be accepted without Christ but when you have received his grace, you cannot be unaccepted.”
In the eyes of many, both believers and unbelievers, for me to say that Charles Spurgeon, widely revered within Christianity and often referred to as the "Prince of Preachers" for his extraordinary impact on preaching and theology, for me to declare that he is wrong on this subject is the very height of foolishness and audacity. They would rightly ask, “Who is this nobody daring to doubt this minister and teacher for 38 years, followed and revered by millions for 170 years?”
And their revulsion with me would be absolutely justified. Who am I? I am a nobody. But I am also a Berean nobody. When the Apostle Paul preached Jesus to them at Berea, we are told that “that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). I search the Scriptures daily on a wide variety of doctrines and teachings, sometimes in preparation for this weekly Discussion, and other times at 4am, when I wake up with a thought or a question.
I have the Blue Letter Bible App on my phone that allows me to research verses and cross-references, original Hebrew and Greek terminologies, and compare what I find with 17 provided alternate English translations to help me to better understand God’s Word. As a Berean, I searched the Scriptures regarding “Once-Saved-Always-Saved,” and I found that it is not so, at least, not as it is currently misunderstood and incorrectly taught.
Charles Spurgeon’s claim that a Christian who has received the Grace of Christ “cannot be unaccepted” not only has no support in Scripture, it is flatly and repeatedly exposed and repudiated as untrue. Its proponents sometimes cite so-called “proofs” that are either taken out of context, or cherry-picked in order to support their view, but the doctrine is a flat out lie. There is no other word for it. I submit that, if what Charles Spurgeon said is true, that “when you have received his grace, you cannot be unaccepted,” then what the Apostle Paul wrote in his inspired Epistle to the Galatians was false.
Paul wrote that they had been “bewitched,” in his words (Galatians 3:1) by false teachers who taught them that in order to be saved they had to keep the whole Law of Moses. Throughout the epistle he chastised them : “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:” (Galatians 1:6), and then more specifically, “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4).
On the subject of grace, and of the Christian’s potential to be unaccepted, Paul and Spurgeon are diametrically opposed to each other. They cannot both be correct. Either you can or you cannot fall from grace. Either you can or cannot be unaccepted. You must decide who was correct: Paul or Spurgeon. I have made my choice: the Apostle Paul was correct.
Paul not only warned the Galatians that they had fallen from Grace being removed from Christ for embracing a false gospel, he applied the same fervor of faithfulness to himself lest he also become “unaccepted.” He wrote, “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain… I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:24, 26-27).
Of this, Albert Barnes wrote, “I myself should be a cast-away. - This word (ἀδόκιμος adokimos) is taken from “bad metals” and properly denotes those which will not bear the “test” that is applied to them; that are found to be base and worthless, and are therefore rejected and cast away. The apostle had subjected himself to trials. He had given himself to self-denial and toil; to persecution and want; to perils, and cold, and nakedness, and hunger.
He had done this, among other things, to give his religion a fair trial, to see whether it would bear all these tests; as metal is cast into the fire to see whether it is genuine, or is base and worthless. In doing this, he had endeavored to subdue his corrupt propensities, and bring everything into captivity to the Redeemer, that it might be found that he was a sincere, and humble, and devoted Christian.
Many have supposed that the word “cast-away” here refers to those who had entered the lists, and had contended, and who had then been examined as to the manner in which they had conducted the contest, and had been found to have departed from the rules of the games, and who were then rejected. But this interpretation is too artificial and unnatural. The simple idea of Paul is, that he was afraid that he should be disapproved, rejected, cast off; that it would appear, after all, that he had no religion, and would then be cast away as unfit to enter into heaven.”
Let's look at this look, again, at Paul's concern about being a castaway as translated in the New International Version. There we read, “No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:27, NIV). “Disqualified for the prize,” Paul wrote. Here, Paul indicates not only the potential for disqualification for the prize, but it is clear that he has not yet received the prize.
When did he expect to receive it? That he answers in the final chapter of what is regarded as his final epistle, namely, 2nd Timothy. There he not only no longer speaks of fearing disqualification, but he also tells us when he expects to receive the prize. We read, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:6-8).
Why does Paul no longer fear disqualification? He has reached the end. He is waiting to be executed by Emperor Nero, and he is able to look back on his life and say that he has fought the good fight, and finished the course. He has not put his hand to the plough and looked back. And the receiving of the prize is yet before him … but … when??? WHEN does he expect to receive the prize? He writes, “... there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
What day? Paul expects to receive his prize at the same time everyone else receives it who love the appearing of Jesus Christ. That day is the Second Coming of Christ. As we saw in previous Installments, our Salvation is yet future. It “is nearer than when we believed,” (Romans 13:11), but it is not here, yet. And the prize, our Salvation, our Redemption is accomplished when Jesus returns.
As we saw last week, Jesus spoke of the His Second Coming with these words: “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:27-28). Then, and not before, Paul and other resurrected and living believers will receive the prize.
But the bottom line of all of this is that Paul certainly believed that there was a chance that Christians, including himself, could become “unaccepted” if they do not run and fight and overcome to the end as he did. Charles Spurgeon’s false teaching that a Christian “cannot be unaccepted” is not merely wrong, it is catastrophically wrong because it completely erases not only the urgency, but any need at all for perseverance on the part of the Christian.
It replaces our need to run and fight and overcome to the end with a false sense of security that the Bible does not promise, and that can potentially lead to our letting down, losing our first love and just coasting, suffering a lukewarm shipwreck, instead of realizing that we are all combatants in a fierce war that requires that we put on the whole Armour of God daily, and fight the good fight, applying fervent prayer, watchfulness and vigilance.
I recall hearing a minister in a sermon speak of a teenager who attended a revival. He went forward in response to the Altar Call, and repeated the “sinner’s prayer.” As the years passed, he drifted from Church attendance and participation, fell in with a bad crowd, took up a life of crime, and was killed in a shootout with the police. “But,” said the minister, “he had prayed that sinner’s prayer, so when he died, the angels carried his soul straight to heaven.” That is a strict application of “Once-Saved-Always-Saved.”
I mentioned that John MacArthur is also a Calvinist, and he also subscribes to “Once-Saved-Always-Saved.” But his understanding is not as extreme as the minister whom I just quoted. John MacArthur maintains that a Christian cannot lose his Salvation, but we can tell who the true Christians if they continue in the Word. He gave Judas, Hymenaeus and Alexander as examples of those who were never true Christians because they did not continue with Christ. Later tonight, or later in this Series, I will provide a number of Biblical refutations to John MacArthur’s understanding.
For now, let me just say this. John MacArthur quotes the Apostle John’s First Epistle as so-called “proof” of his True Christian test being continuing. He quotes John's writing, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us” (1 John 2:19).
But who is the “they” who went out from us. The “us” is the Church, but the “they” in this verse are not Church members. This epistle was primarily written to combat false doctrines, false teachers, and those whom John refers to as “many anti-Christs.” Notice the preceding verse that says, “as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists...”
Right out of the gate in the first verse, John challenges the heresy that Jesus did not come in the flesh, but, rather, was only a spirit. He declares that Jesus was flesh-and-blood, writing, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life” (1 John 1:1). As he wrote in the opening of his Gospel Account, “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).
Later, in 1 John 4:3, John attributes the false teaching of Jesus not being flesh is the spirit of anti-christ. He wrote, “And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”
The Sermon Bible writes of John’s references to the antichrists, “Our Lord had clearly intimated in His last discourse to the disciples that before the end came false Christs should arise and should deceive many. "These antichrists," St. John says, "have gone out from us, because they were not of us." We can understand very well what he means by the facts of Church history. The belief in spiritual powers was strong in that age… Many of those who joined the Church exulted in the gifts for their own sake, in the inspiration for its own sake. These became enchanters and impostors of the worst kind.”
John is writing about false teachers and anti-christs who left, proving that they were never of us because they did not continue with us. John is not talking about applying a test to see who is a Christian, or supporting the false doctrine that a Christian cannot be “unaccepted.”
He repeats his warning of “antichrists” in his 2nd Epistle, “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist” (2 John 1:7). I submit that people who attend Church for a while, and then simply leave are never referred to by anyone that I have ever heard or read as “anti-christs, enchanters and impostors of the worst kind. This so-called “proof” of continuing as evidence is taken completely out-of-context and misapplied.
Before we go to the next verse, I’d like you to consider something else about this whole idea of continuing. The only way anyone can continue, is if they started to begin with. That means their mind was opened by God to understand and accept Jesus’ sacrifice for their sins, they repented of their sins, they were baptized, they received the Gift of the Holy Spirit, and they began their Christian walk.
All of these things have to have happened for them to either continue or draw back. To claim that a Christian cannot be “unaccepted” because any person who does not continue was never a Christian is a desperate grasping at straws. As I pointed out earlier, Paul refers to Christians who “suffered shipwreck.” Notice how he phrases it: “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: (1 Timothy 1:18-19).
Paul admonishes Timothy to “war a good warfare” and “hold the faith.” Neither of these would be necessary if a Christian could not be “unaccepted.” But then he says that some put away their faith, and suffered shipwreck. You cannot put away faith unless you have it to begin with. And you cannot suffer shipwreck unless you are actually on the ship and sailing on a voyage. A person who never boards the ship, and only watches it sailing away from the dock cannot suffer shipwreck if it runs aground.
The Apostle Peter also wrote about this in his second epistle: “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them…
But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire” (2 Peter 2:20-23). For the Christian who is entangled and overcome with the pollutions of the world, their latter end is worse with them than the beginning. They have been unaccepted! How did Spurgeon, and another great preacher and teacher like John MacArthur, not see this plain and consistent and repeated teaching as it is thundered in the Word of God?
There is another very plain teaching that is familiar to us all. But we almost never hear the whole verse quoted. Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount, “Ye are the salt of the earth:” And that is virtually all we are ever taught. But Jesus did not stop there! He goes on to very plainly declare, “but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men” (Matthew 5:13).
Far from Charles Spurgeon’s claim that a person cannot be “unaccepted,” the Bible repeatedly, in a wide variety of ways, refers to the Christian who has not continued in His Word, who has not abided in Christ, who has put his hand to the plough and looked back, who has lost his first love, has become lukewarm, who has been choked by the deceitfulness of riches and the cares of this world and who has become unfruitful.
According to Christ that Christian is the salt that has lost its savour, and is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. That Christian, who had been the salt of the earth, and lost its savour, and was subsequently thrown out, has been “unaccepted.” He has, in Paul’s words, “fallen from grace.” But don't be confused: that Christian did not lose his Salvation because Salvation is only nearer than when we believed (Romans 13:11). “He that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 10:22). The end is not yet!
Matthew Henry writes of the Christian being the salt of the earth: “(1.) What they are to be in themselves - seasoned with the gospel, with the salt of grace; thoughts and affections, words and actions, all seasoned with grace, Colossians 4:6. What they are to be to others; they must not only be good but do good, must insinuate themselves into the minds of the people, not to serve any secular interest of their own, but that they might transform them into the taste and relish of the gospel. What great blessings they are to the world.
Mankind, lying in ignorance and wickedness, were a vast heap of unsavoury stuff, ready to putrefy; but Christ sent forth his disciples, by their lives and doctrines, to season it with knowledge and grace, and so to render it acceptable to God, to the angels, and to all that relish divine things...
(2.) If they be not, they are as salt that has lost its savour. If you, who should season others, are yourselves unsavoury, void of spiritual life, relish, and vigour; if a Christian be so, especially if a minister be so, his condition is very sad; for, He is irrecoverable: Wherewith shall it be salted? Salt is a remedy for unsavoury meat, but there is no remedy for unsavoury salt.
Christianity will give a man a relish; but if a man can take up and continue the profession of it, and yet remain flat and foolish, and graceless and insipid, no other doctrine, no other means, can be applied, to make him savoury. If Christianity do not do it, nothing will. He is unprofitable: It is thenceforth good for nothing; what use can it be put to, in which it will not do more hurt than good? As a man without reason, so is a Christian without grace.
A wicked man is the worst of creatures; a wicked Christian is the worst of men; and a wicked minister is the worst of Christians. He is doomed to ruin and rejection; He shall be cast out - expelled the church and the communion of the faithful, to which he is a blot and a burden; and he shall be trodden under foot of men. Let God be glorified in the shame and rejection of those by whom he has been reproached, and who have made themselves fit for nothing but to be trampled upon.”
When I say that we are not now saved, and that our Salvation is yet future, some might object and say, “But I thought the Bible said, ‘Now is come Salvation’ in Revelation 12:10.” Yes. Very good! It DOES say that. But it’s never a good idea to surgically remove a phrase from a verse in order to prove a doctrine that is clearly and consistently opposed everywhere else in Scripture. Let’s read all of Revelation 12:10 and see if it agrees with Paul and Jesus about our Salvation coinciding with Jesus’ return: The entire verse states, “Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”
If Salvation is here, now, how many are here now of the other things named in that verse? Is the Kingdom of our God, here, now? The Kingdom of God cannot be the Church because, as Paul wrote in the Resurrection Chapter, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 15:50). Salvation and Jesus’ Second Coming and the arrival of His Kingdom all happening at the same time is incontrovertible proof that our Salvation is yet future. Christ has not returned, and the Kingdom is not here, now. But as I watch world events, I am more convinced than ever that Christ’s return coinciding with our redemption are both drawing nigh, and our Salvation is nearer than when we believed!
Earlier, tonight, I mentioned that John MacArthur stated that you can identify a true Christian by seeing if they continue in God's Word; if they do not continue, the were never a Christian. In order to refute this, I want to point out, first, that John MacArthur misapplies the Apostle John's reference to false teachers who depart, and who were never a part of the fellowship.
Second, I want to share with you a description that the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews gives about someone who does not continue. I ask you to listen carefully to how this individual is described, and you tell me if you think this person is just a “spectator Christian,” someone who attends for a while out of curiosity and decides this is not what they are looking for.
Or, perhaps if this is describing someone who attends for a while, and then realize they have to choose between obeying God and their sinful lifestyle. And they choose to cave to their besetting sins, and go back into the world. Or, is it, rather, someone who was an involved and active member of the Church who withdraws and falls away? And if they are, or were, a Church member, see what Scripture says, here, whether it is possible for them to be “unaccepted.”
Here are the verses and the description: “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame” (Hebrews 6:4-6).
This description is not of a “spectator Christian.” Those being described, here, were involved and active members of the Church. They “were made partakers of the Holy Ghost.” That happens after repentance and baptism and the laying on of hands. The Gift of the Holy Spirit is not haphazardly given. Paul states, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9).
I have heard some claim that God would give His Holy Spirit only to take it back. Then how do we explain the case of King Saul, Israel's first king. We read in 1 Samuel 11:6a, “And the Spirit of God came upon Saul...” And then in 1 Samuel 16:14a after Saul's repeated rebellion and disobedience of offering a sacrifice, himself, when Samuel delayed his arrival, sparing the best of the sheep and oxen dedicated to destruction, sparing Agag the king of the Amalekites, consulting the witch at Endor, all without repentance, we read “But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul.” David seems to have been aware of what happened to King Saul, and that the Holy Spirit can be withdrawn after God gives it.
I believe that is why, when he prayed and repented after committing adultery with Bathsheba, and having her husband Uriah the Hittite killed to cover his adultery, we read David's plea: “Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me” (Psalm 51:11). Like Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:27, David feared being a “castaway.” Unlike King Saul, David repented and asked that The Holy Spirit not be taken from him.
If we could not lose the Holy Spirit after we received it, why is there the admonition in Ephesians 4:30a: “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God...” If the Holy Spirit will not depart from us, this admonition would be unnecessary. And it would not explain King Saul's case when It did. But it is necessary because Scripture shows God's response to sin without repentance is to take His Holy Spirit from that sinner. Our continued repentance is the all-important key where Salvation is concerned.
I am going to re-read these verses: “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame” (Hebrews 6:4-6).
In its commentary of these verses, The Sermon Bible makes very clear distinctions between falling into sin, which we all do, and the very different prospect of falling away. But it strongly maintains, in not so many words that if we, as Christians, do not persevere, and do not continue in the Jesus' Word, do not fight the good fight and overcome 'til the end, that becoming “unaccepted” is a very real and terrifying possibility for a Christian.
The Sermon Bible writes, “To fall away is to go on in sin till you let Christ go altogether. It is to cease to acknowledge Him to be a Saviour at all. It is to be in the state of deadly hatred to Jesus Christ that we would rather He did not exist; and if we had the opportunity, we could do exactly what the Jews did, so hateful is He to us. To fall is to offend God; to fall away is to abandon God.
To fall is to sin, and be unhappy; to fall away is to sin and be happy. To fall is to leave Christ; to fall away is to forsake Him for ever. To fall is accompanied with a secret hope and wish and intention to come back again; to fall away is to be resolute that you will never return. To fall is the act of a deceived heart; to fall away is the perversion of the whole man. To fall is guilt; to fall away is apostasy.” J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 5th series, p. 125.”
But a distinction in made in Scripture between through weakness or being tempted, and falling into sin, and committing willful and deliberate sin. The Epistle to the Hebrews declares very plainly and very powerfully, “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries...”
It continues, “He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:26, 28-29).
Here, again, we do not see a “spectator Christian” being described who occasionally attends Church Services and then decides that Christianity is not his cup of tea. This is someone who is described as having not merely heard a sermon or two, but who “received the knowledge of the Truth,” who was “sanctified by the blood of the Covenant,” and someone who has grieved and done “despite to the Spirit of Grace.” This is a member of the Body of Christ who fallen away and has been “unaccepted,” who has suffered shipwreck, and who has been made a “castaway” as David and Paul feared becoming.
Of this, Matthew Henry writes, “From the description he gives of the sin of apostasy. It is sinning wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, sinning wilfully against that truth of which we have had convincing evidence. This text has been the occasion of great distress to some gracious souls; they have been ready to conclude that every wilful sin, after conviction and against knowledge, is the unpardonable sin: but this has been their infirmity and error.
The sin here mentioned is a total and final apostasy, when men with a full and fixed will and resolution despise and reject Christ, the only Saviour, - despise and resist the Spirit, the only sanctifier, - and despise and renounce the gospel, the only way of salvation, and the words of eternal life; and all this after they have known, owned, and professed, the Christian religion, and continue to do so obstinately and maliciously. This is the great transgression.”
This is the reality that the Bible paints, not the 'Once-Saved-Always-Saved' doctrine as it is currently misunderstood and falsely taught. Repentance is the all-important key. As long as we are in this flesh, we are not and will not be sinless until Jesus return and we are changed in the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:52). I sin. We sin. All have sinned. But... “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
David sinned but repented. And God forgave him. Peter denied Christ but then he “went out and wept bitterly” (Matthew 26:75) and he was forgiven. There is none righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:10). None of us are sinless, but The Father gives those who have become a member of the Body of Christ the Gift of The Holy Spirit to empower us to sin less.
We will never be perfect as long as we are in this flesh, but just as Christ told Peter to forgive his those who sin against him 70 times 7 times, or in essence, without limit, those who ask for forgiveness, so God forgives His repentant children who return to Him, and repent and ask to be forgiven. To avoid being “unaccepted,” we must repent and ask God's forgiveness when we sin. This is as important as our need to persevere, and to fight the good fight and to continue in God's Word.
God's Word has much more to teach us on this subject of “Once-Save-Always-Saved.” I ask that you not believe what I say. I am nobody. Believe, rather, what God's Word clearly and consistently teaches on this subject. Greater men than I will ever be, with millions of followers all over the world, teach the exact opposite of what I taught you, tonight. You have to decide which of us is teaching God's Truth, or their own groundless wishful thinking. I plan, God Willing, in the coming weeks to continue to present to you what my eyes have been opened to see on this subject. I invite you who are hearing or reading my words to join me right here at this same place and time.
This concludes this Evening's Discussion, “Perseverance, Part 8, 'Once-Save-Always-Saved'?”
This Discussion was conducted “live” on April 9th, 2025.
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We are continuing in our current Series, "Perseverance," which, as I have been saying throughout this Series, is a feature of Christianity that I think needs to be more emphasized than it is. As Christians, we should not view our membership in the Family and Kingdom of God in the same way that we view a lifetime membership in a Health Club where we can still be regarded as members in good standing even if we never darken their door after signing on the dotted line. This is not what being a Christian is all about.
I read a daily devotional called, “Evening by Evening,” by Charles Spurgeon. He is a Calvinist, and fully subscribes to the doctrine of Once-Saved-Always-Saved. It is a truly wonderful and inspiring devotional. There are some days when he has encapsulated on a single day’s page, the full impact of an entire rousing and edifying sermon. But there are other days, as with his entry on March 28th, he teaches what the Bible systematically declares to be a false doctrine: I read these words:
“… What cleaning power there must be in His blood to take away sin such as ours. And what glory in His righteousness makes such unacceptable creatures to be accepted in the Beloved. How sure and unchanging our acceptance must be since it is in Him! Never doubt your acceptance in Jesus. You cannot be accepted without Christ but when you have received his grace, you cannot be unaccepted.”
In the eyes of many, both believers and unbelievers, for me to say that Charles Spurgeon, widely revered within Christianity and often referred to as the "Prince of Preachers" for his extraordinary impact on preaching and theology, for me to declare that he is wrong on this subject is the very height of foolishness and audacity. They would rightly ask, “Who is this nobody daring to doubt this minister and teacher for 38 years, followed and revered by millions for 170 years?”
And their revulsion with me would be absolutely justified. Who am I? I am a nobody. But I am also a Berean nobody. When the Apostle Paul preached Jesus to them at Berea, we are told that “that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). I search the Scriptures daily on a wide variety of doctrines and teachings, sometimes in preparation for this weekly Discussion, and other times at 4am, when I wake up with a thought or a question.
I have the Blue Letter Bible App on my phone that allows me to research verses and cross-references, original Hebrew and Greek terminologies, and compare what I find with 17 provided alternate English translations to help me to better understand God’s Word. As a Berean, I searched the Scriptures regarding “Once-Saved-Always-Saved,” and I found that it is not so, at least, not as it is currently misunderstood and incorrectly taught.
Charles Spurgeon’s claim that a Christian who has received the Grace of Christ “cannot be unaccepted” not only has no support in Scripture, it is flatly and repeatedly exposed and repudiated as untrue. Its proponents sometimes cite so-called “proofs” that are either taken out of context, or cherry-picked in order to support their view, but the doctrine is a flat out lie. There is no other word for it. I submit that, if what Charles Spurgeon said is true, that “when you have received his grace, you cannot be unaccepted,” then what the Apostle Paul wrote in his inspired Epistle to the Galatians was false.
Paul wrote that they had been “bewitched,” in his words (Galatians 3:1) by false teachers who taught them that in order to be saved they had to keep the whole Law of Moses. Throughout the epistle he chastised them : “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:” (Galatians 1:6), and then more specifically, “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4).
On the subject of grace, and of the Christian’s potential to be unaccepted, Paul and Spurgeon are diametrically opposed to each other. They cannot both be correct. Either you can or you cannot fall from grace. Either you can or cannot be unaccepted. You must decide who was correct: Paul or Spurgeon. I have made my choice: the Apostle Paul was correct.
Paul not only warned the Galatians that they had fallen from Grace being removed from Christ for embracing a false gospel, he applied the same fervor of faithfulness to himself lest he also become “unaccepted.” He wrote, “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain… I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:24, 26-27).
Of this, Albert Barnes wrote, “I myself should be a cast-away. - This word (ἀδόκιμος adokimos) is taken from “bad metals” and properly denotes those which will not bear the “test” that is applied to them; that are found to be base and worthless, and are therefore rejected and cast away. The apostle had subjected himself to trials. He had given himself to self-denial and toil; to persecution and want; to perils, and cold, and nakedness, and hunger.
He had done this, among other things, to give his religion a fair trial, to see whether it would bear all these tests; as metal is cast into the fire to see whether it is genuine, or is base and worthless. In doing this, he had endeavored to subdue his corrupt propensities, and bring everything into captivity to the Redeemer, that it might be found that he was a sincere, and humble, and devoted Christian.
Many have supposed that the word “cast-away” here refers to those who had entered the lists, and had contended, and who had then been examined as to the manner in which they had conducted the contest, and had been found to have departed from the rules of the games, and who were then rejected. But this interpretation is too artificial and unnatural. The simple idea of Paul is, that he was afraid that he should be disapproved, rejected, cast off; that it would appear, after all, that he had no religion, and would then be cast away as unfit to enter into heaven.”
Let's look at this look, again, at Paul's concern about being a castaway as translated in the New International Version. There we read, “No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:27, NIV). “Disqualified for the prize,” Paul wrote. Here, Paul indicates not only the potential for disqualification for the prize, but it is clear that he has not yet received the prize.
When did he expect to receive it? That he answers in the final chapter of what is regarded as his final epistle, namely, 2nd Timothy. There he not only no longer speaks of fearing disqualification, but he also tells us when he expects to receive the prize. We read, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:6-8).
Why does Paul no longer fear disqualification? He has reached the end. He is waiting to be executed by Emperor Nero, and he is able to look back on his life and say that he has fought the good fight, and finished the course. He has not put his hand to the plough and looked back. And the receiving of the prize is yet before him … but … when??? WHEN does he expect to receive the prize? He writes, “... there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
What day? Paul expects to receive his prize at the same time everyone else receives it who love the appearing of Jesus Christ. That day is the Second Coming of Christ. As we saw in previous Installments, our Salvation is yet future. It “is nearer than when we believed,” (Romans 13:11), but it is not here, yet. And the prize, our Salvation, our Redemption is accomplished when Jesus returns.
As we saw last week, Jesus spoke of the His Second Coming with these words: “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:27-28). Then, and not before, Paul and other resurrected and living believers will receive the prize.
But the bottom line of all of this is that Paul certainly believed that there was a chance that Christians, including himself, could become “unaccepted” if they do not run and fight and overcome to the end as he did. Charles Spurgeon’s false teaching that a Christian “cannot be unaccepted” is not merely wrong, it is catastrophically wrong because it completely erases not only the urgency, but any need at all for perseverance on the part of the Christian.
It replaces our need to run and fight and overcome to the end with a false sense of security that the Bible does not promise, and that can potentially lead to our letting down, losing our first love and just coasting, suffering a lukewarm shipwreck, instead of realizing that we are all combatants in a fierce war that requires that we put on the whole Armour of God daily, and fight the good fight, applying fervent prayer, watchfulness and vigilance.
I recall hearing a minister in a sermon speak of a teenager who attended a revival. He went forward in response to the Altar Call, and repeated the “sinner’s prayer.” As the years passed, he drifted from Church attendance and participation, fell in with a bad crowd, took up a life of crime, and was killed in a shootout with the police. “But,” said the minister, “he had prayed that sinner’s prayer, so when he died, the angels carried his soul straight to heaven.” That is a strict application of “Once-Saved-Always-Saved.”
I mentioned that John MacArthur is also a Calvinist, and he also subscribes to “Once-Saved-Always-Saved.” But his understanding is not as extreme as the minister whom I just quoted. John MacArthur maintains that a Christian cannot lose his Salvation, but we can tell who the true Christians if they continue in the Word. He gave Judas, Hymenaeus and Alexander as examples of those who were never true Christians because they did not continue with Christ. Later tonight, or later in this Series, I will provide a number of Biblical refutations to John MacArthur’s understanding.
For now, let me just say this. John MacArthur quotes the Apostle John’s First Epistle as so-called “proof” of his True Christian test being continuing. He quotes John's writing, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us” (1 John 2:19).
But who is the “they” who went out from us. The “us” is the Church, but the “they” in this verse are not Church members. This epistle was primarily written to combat false doctrines, false teachers, and those whom John refers to as “many anti-Christs.” Notice the preceding verse that says, “as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists...”
Right out of the gate in the first verse, John challenges the heresy that Jesus did not come in the flesh, but, rather, was only a spirit. He declares that Jesus was flesh-and-blood, writing, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life” (1 John 1:1). As he wrote in the opening of his Gospel Account, “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).
Later, in 1 John 4:3, John attributes the false teaching of Jesus not being flesh is the spirit of anti-christ. He wrote, “And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”
The Sermon Bible writes of John’s references to the antichrists, “Our Lord had clearly intimated in His last discourse to the disciples that before the end came false Christs should arise and should deceive many. "These antichrists," St. John says, "have gone out from us, because they were not of us." We can understand very well what he means by the facts of Church history. The belief in spiritual powers was strong in that age… Many of those who joined the Church exulted in the gifts for their own sake, in the inspiration for its own sake. These became enchanters and impostors of the worst kind.”
John is writing about false teachers and anti-christs who left, proving that they were never of us because they did not continue with us. John is not talking about applying a test to see who is a Christian, or supporting the false doctrine that a Christian cannot be “unaccepted.”
He repeats his warning of “antichrists” in his 2nd Epistle, “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist” (2 John 1:7). I submit that people who attend Church for a while, and then simply leave are never referred to by anyone that I have ever heard or read as “anti-christs, enchanters and impostors of the worst kind. This so-called “proof” of continuing as evidence is taken completely out-of-context and misapplied.
Before we go to the next verse, I’d like you to consider something else about this whole idea of continuing. The only way anyone can continue, is if they started to begin with. That means their mind was opened by God to understand and accept Jesus’ sacrifice for their sins, they repented of their sins, they were baptized, they received the Gift of the Holy Spirit, and they began their Christian walk.
All of these things have to have happened for them to either continue or draw back. To claim that a Christian cannot be “unaccepted” because any person who does not continue was never a Christian is a desperate grasping at straws. As I pointed out earlier, Paul refers to Christians who “suffered shipwreck.” Notice how he phrases it: “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: (1 Timothy 1:18-19).
Paul admonishes Timothy to “war a good warfare” and “hold the faith.” Neither of these would be necessary if a Christian could not be “unaccepted.” But then he says that some put away their faith, and suffered shipwreck. You cannot put away faith unless you have it to begin with. And you cannot suffer shipwreck unless you are actually on the ship and sailing on a voyage. A person who never boards the ship, and only watches it sailing away from the dock cannot suffer shipwreck if it runs aground.
The Apostle Peter also wrote about this in his second epistle: “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them…
But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire” (2 Peter 2:20-23). For the Christian who is entangled and overcome with the pollutions of the world, their latter end is worse with them than the beginning. They have been unaccepted! How did Spurgeon, and another great preacher and teacher like John MacArthur, not see this plain and consistent and repeated teaching as it is thundered in the Word of God?
There is another very plain teaching that is familiar to us all. But we almost never hear the whole verse quoted. Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount, “Ye are the salt of the earth:” And that is virtually all we are ever taught. But Jesus did not stop there! He goes on to very plainly declare, “but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men” (Matthew 5:13).
Far from Charles Spurgeon’s claim that a person cannot be “unaccepted,” the Bible repeatedly, in a wide variety of ways, refers to the Christian who has not continued in His Word, who has not abided in Christ, who has put his hand to the plough and looked back, who has lost his first love, has become lukewarm, who has been choked by the deceitfulness of riches and the cares of this world and who has become unfruitful.
According to Christ that Christian is the salt that has lost its savour, and is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. That Christian, who had been the salt of the earth, and lost its savour, and was subsequently thrown out, has been “unaccepted.” He has, in Paul’s words, “fallen from grace.” But don't be confused: that Christian did not lose his Salvation because Salvation is only nearer than when we believed (Romans 13:11). “He that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 10:22). The end is not yet!
Matthew Henry writes of the Christian being the salt of the earth: “(1.) What they are to be in themselves - seasoned with the gospel, with the salt of grace; thoughts and affections, words and actions, all seasoned with grace, Colossians 4:6. What they are to be to others; they must not only be good but do good, must insinuate themselves into the minds of the people, not to serve any secular interest of their own, but that they might transform them into the taste and relish of the gospel. What great blessings they are to the world.
Mankind, lying in ignorance and wickedness, were a vast heap of unsavoury stuff, ready to putrefy; but Christ sent forth his disciples, by their lives and doctrines, to season it with knowledge and grace, and so to render it acceptable to God, to the angels, and to all that relish divine things...
(2.) If they be not, they are as salt that has lost its savour. If you, who should season others, are yourselves unsavoury, void of spiritual life, relish, and vigour; if a Christian be so, especially if a minister be so, his condition is very sad; for, He is irrecoverable: Wherewith shall it be salted? Salt is a remedy for unsavoury meat, but there is no remedy for unsavoury salt.
Christianity will give a man a relish; but if a man can take up and continue the profession of it, and yet remain flat and foolish, and graceless and insipid, no other doctrine, no other means, can be applied, to make him savoury. If Christianity do not do it, nothing will. He is unprofitable: It is thenceforth good for nothing; what use can it be put to, in which it will not do more hurt than good? As a man without reason, so is a Christian without grace.
A wicked man is the worst of creatures; a wicked Christian is the worst of men; and a wicked minister is the worst of Christians. He is doomed to ruin and rejection; He shall be cast out - expelled the church and the communion of the faithful, to which he is a blot and a burden; and he shall be trodden under foot of men. Let God be glorified in the shame and rejection of those by whom he has been reproached, and who have made themselves fit for nothing but to be trampled upon.”
When I say that we are not now saved, and that our Salvation is yet future, some might object and say, “But I thought the Bible said, ‘Now is come Salvation’ in Revelation 12:10.” Yes. Very good! It DOES say that. But it’s never a good idea to surgically remove a phrase from a verse in order to prove a doctrine that is clearly and consistently opposed everywhere else in Scripture. Let’s read all of Revelation 12:10 and see if it agrees with Paul and Jesus about our Salvation coinciding with Jesus’ return: The entire verse states, “Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”
If Salvation is here, now, how many are here now of the other things named in that verse? Is the Kingdom of our God, here, now? The Kingdom of God cannot be the Church because, as Paul wrote in the Resurrection Chapter, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 15:50). Salvation and Jesus’ Second Coming and the arrival of His Kingdom all happening at the same time is incontrovertible proof that our Salvation is yet future. Christ has not returned, and the Kingdom is not here, now. But as I watch world events, I am more convinced than ever that Christ’s return coinciding with our redemption are both drawing nigh, and our Salvation is nearer than when we believed!
Earlier, tonight, I mentioned that John MacArthur stated that you can identify a true Christian by seeing if they continue in God's Word; if they do not continue, the were never a Christian. In order to refute this, I want to point out, first, that John MacArthur misapplies the Apostle John's reference to false teachers who depart, and who were never a part of the fellowship.
Second, I want to share with you a description that the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews gives about someone who does not continue. I ask you to listen carefully to how this individual is described, and you tell me if you think this person is just a “spectator Christian,” someone who attends for a while out of curiosity and decides this is not what they are looking for.
Or, perhaps if this is describing someone who attends for a while, and then realize they have to choose between obeying God and their sinful lifestyle. And they choose to cave to their besetting sins, and go back into the world. Or, is it, rather, someone who was an involved and active member of the Church who withdraws and falls away? And if they are, or were, a Church member, see what Scripture says, here, whether it is possible for them to be “unaccepted.”
Here are the verses and the description: “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame” (Hebrews 6:4-6).
This description is not of a “spectator Christian.” Those being described, here, were involved and active members of the Church. They “were made partakers of the Holy Ghost.” That happens after repentance and baptism and the laying on of hands. The Gift of the Holy Spirit is not haphazardly given. Paul states, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9).
I have heard some claim that God would give His Holy Spirit only to take it back. Then how do we explain the case of King Saul, Israel's first king. We read in 1 Samuel 11:6a, “And the Spirit of God came upon Saul...” And then in 1 Samuel 16:14a after Saul's repeated rebellion and disobedience of offering a sacrifice, himself, when Samuel delayed his arrival, sparing the best of the sheep and oxen dedicated to destruction, sparing Agag the king of the Amalekites, consulting the witch at Endor, all without repentance, we read “But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul.” David seems to have been aware of what happened to King Saul, and that the Holy Spirit can be withdrawn after God gives it.
I believe that is why, when he prayed and repented after committing adultery with Bathsheba, and having her husband Uriah the Hittite killed to cover his adultery, we read David's plea: “Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me” (Psalm 51:11). Like Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:27, David feared being a “castaway.” Unlike King Saul, David repented and asked that The Holy Spirit not be taken from him.
If we could not lose the Holy Spirit after we received it, why is there the admonition in Ephesians 4:30a: “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God...” If the Holy Spirit will not depart from us, this admonition would be unnecessary. And it would not explain King Saul's case when It did. But it is necessary because Scripture shows God's response to sin without repentance is to take His Holy Spirit from that sinner. Our continued repentance is the all-important key where Salvation is concerned.
I am going to re-read these verses: “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame” (Hebrews 6:4-6).
In its commentary of these verses, The Sermon Bible makes very clear distinctions between falling into sin, which we all do, and the very different prospect of falling away. But it strongly maintains, in not so many words that if we, as Christians, do not persevere, and do not continue in the Jesus' Word, do not fight the good fight and overcome 'til the end, that becoming “unaccepted” is a very real and terrifying possibility for a Christian.
The Sermon Bible writes, “To fall away is to go on in sin till you let Christ go altogether. It is to cease to acknowledge Him to be a Saviour at all. It is to be in the state of deadly hatred to Jesus Christ that we would rather He did not exist; and if we had the opportunity, we could do exactly what the Jews did, so hateful is He to us. To fall is to offend God; to fall away is to abandon God.
To fall is to sin, and be unhappy; to fall away is to sin and be happy. To fall is to leave Christ; to fall away is to forsake Him for ever. To fall is accompanied with a secret hope and wish and intention to come back again; to fall away is to be resolute that you will never return. To fall is the act of a deceived heart; to fall away is the perversion of the whole man. To fall is guilt; to fall away is apostasy.” J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 5th series, p. 125.”
But a distinction in made in Scripture between through weakness or being tempted, and falling into sin, and committing willful and deliberate sin. The Epistle to the Hebrews declares very plainly and very powerfully, “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries...”
It continues, “He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:26, 28-29).
Here, again, we do not see a “spectator Christian” being described who occasionally attends Church Services and then decides that Christianity is not his cup of tea. This is someone who is described as having not merely heard a sermon or two, but who “received the knowledge of the Truth,” who was “sanctified by the blood of the Covenant,” and someone who has grieved and done “despite to the Spirit of Grace.” This is a member of the Body of Christ who fallen away and has been “unaccepted,” who has suffered shipwreck, and who has been made a “castaway” as David and Paul feared becoming.
Of this, Matthew Henry writes, “From the description he gives of the sin of apostasy. It is sinning wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, sinning wilfully against that truth of which we have had convincing evidence. This text has been the occasion of great distress to some gracious souls; they have been ready to conclude that every wilful sin, after conviction and against knowledge, is the unpardonable sin: but this has been their infirmity and error.
The sin here mentioned is a total and final apostasy, when men with a full and fixed will and resolution despise and reject Christ, the only Saviour, - despise and resist the Spirit, the only sanctifier, - and despise and renounce the gospel, the only way of salvation, and the words of eternal life; and all this after they have known, owned, and professed, the Christian religion, and continue to do so obstinately and maliciously. This is the great transgression.”
This is the reality that the Bible paints, not the 'Once-Saved-Always-Saved' doctrine as it is currently misunderstood and falsely taught. Repentance is the all-important key. As long as we are in this flesh, we are not and will not be sinless until Jesus return and we are changed in the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:52). I sin. We sin. All have sinned. But... “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
David sinned but repented. And God forgave him. Peter denied Christ but then he “went out and wept bitterly” (Matthew 26:75) and he was forgiven. There is none righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:10). None of us are sinless, but The Father gives those who have become a member of the Body of Christ the Gift of The Holy Spirit to empower us to sin less.
We will never be perfect as long as we are in this flesh, but just as Christ told Peter to forgive his those who sin against him 70 times 7 times, or in essence, without limit, those who ask for forgiveness, so God forgives His repentant children who return to Him, and repent and ask to be forgiven. To avoid being “unaccepted,” we must repent and ask God's forgiveness when we sin. This is as important as our need to persevere, and to fight the good fight and to continue in God's Word.
God's Word has much more to teach us on this subject of “Once-Save-Always-Saved.” I ask that you not believe what I say. I am nobody. Believe, rather, what God's Word clearly and consistently teaches on this subject. Greater men than I will ever be, with millions of followers all over the world, teach the exact opposite of what I taught you, tonight. You have to decide which of us is teaching God's Truth, or their own groundless wishful thinking. I plan, God Willing, in the coming weeks to continue to present to you what my eyes have been opened to see on this subject. I invite you who are hearing or reading my words to join me right here at this same place and time.
This concludes this Evening's Discussion, “Perseverance, Part 8, 'Once-Save-Always-Saved'?”
This Discussion was conducted “live” on April 9th, 2025.
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