Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Good morning. If I have not had the chance to meet you, my name is Michael Fueling. I'm the lead pastor here and I want to invite you. Would you open up your Bibles? We're gonna be in the book of Galatians and we're gonna be in chapter five. I wanna just. On the front end, prevent the most frequently asked question that I'm going to get today.
[00:00:23] Pastor Michael, where are your glasses?
[00:00:27] And let me tell you, I don't know. And if.
[00:00:32] Would you let me know? I have not a clue. I have looked and looked and looked. So I do have contacts on. And lo and behold, I guess when you're blind as a bat, you take off your glasses and you can't see where you put them.
[00:00:42] They'll show up inevitably. Anyways, so I do have. It's a weird. I guess it's like a subconscious nervous tic. My wife tells me about that when I'm preaching, I'll use my finger and push up my glasses so I can tell you what's going to happen. I'm going to do it anyways, but there'll be nothing there.
[00:00:59] So maybe let me know how many times I do it. All right.
[00:01:04] Have you ever heard of Southern mom advice? Okay, so I lived in the south for a bit, and I just love Southerners. Have these really witty, short, pithy, like, sayings that kind of just, like, cut to the heart of a matter.
[00:01:22] Here's a few.
[00:01:24] If God closed the door, quit jiggling the handle.
[00:01:30] You can't keep watering weeds and wondering why nothing good's growing. That's a good word, right? Stop feeding things that keep biting you. Gosh, if I only had a Southern mother, I'd just be a much better human, apparently. I guess this is my favorite. You can't fix people that enjoy being broken facts.
[00:01:50] If God had to drag you out of it, don't you go walking back.
[00:01:53] Okay, here's one. You ain't stuck. You're just comfortable in the wrong place. Okay, here's what I love about one liners, okay? They cut to the heart of an issue. And because it's in a Southern accent, it softens the blow. So let me reread to you the last one, but I'm gonna do it in a Midwestern accent, which actually isn't an accent. Cause we don't have one. Okay.
[00:02:20] Am I wrong?
[00:02:23] You're not stuck.
[00:02:25] You're just comfortable in the wrong place.
[00:02:27] That's not like a jerk.
[00:02:30] Like, if I just put on an accent, all of a sudden, you're like, that was a warm hug, right? Okay.
[00:02:35] It's amazing. It is astounding to consider that our ability to receive truth can hinge on something as superficial as an accent.
[00:02:54] Okay, most people. None of you in the room, all of your friends and family outside. Right? None of you, but most people.
[00:03:01] We have multiple rules that prevent us from receiving truth, wisdom, or advice from others. Let me share with you a few.
[00:03:13] If you don't say it in the way that I require to receive truth, then I will obsess how you spoke to me, and I'm therefore not required to receive truth from you.
[00:03:23] Now, you don't say it, but that is essentially what happens. Or this one. I don't like the timing of when you said it. Therefore, I will allow my offense to overshadow the truth of what you said.
[00:03:35] Or I don't like where you said it. I am therefore not required to receive any of the wisdom you just gave me.
[00:03:45] If I have chosen to not forgive you from something in the past that you're not aware of, then I will not receive any truth from you, no matter when, where, or how you deliver it. Oh, good to know. Here's my favorite. If you're in a similar position to someone who hurt me. Mom, dad, pastor, then I will refuse to listen to any truth that comes out of your mouth. Okay, so this morning, we are going to eavesdrop and receive what I would probably say of the entire New Testament. This is the second most most offensive rhetoric you will find. And you might be thinking, if this is the second, what is the first? You're just gonna have to wait and pay attention. I'll tell you toward the end. Okay, so let me briefly set up the context of Galatians, Chapter 5 For those of you who are new. So you have a series of churches in a region called Galatia. And Paul went and started churches in each of these major cities. In this region of Galatia, Paul would go, he would preach the simple, pure Gospel. People would hear it. They would believe in Jesus. He would ra elders, and he would establish a church, and then he'd move on to the next city. Well, after Paul would leave a city, there's a group of people who would come into that city, and their goal was to undo what Paul. The work that he had done spiritually in that community. And here's how they would do this. They would slander Paul, they would slander Paul's Gospel, and then they would lie and say that they represented the apostles and in Jerusalem.
[00:05:18] What's interesting is that this group of people, right, what they believed today we would actually call them a cult. And so they were called the Judaizers and they had a nickname and it was the Circumcision party. And so here's what these Judaizers were trying to do. Paul would leave, they'd come into a church and they would try to convince people that first, if you wanna be saved men, you all need to get circumcised. And then everybody, you need to follow the Old Testament law and you need to believe in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. And then, and only then, can you be saved. Okay, village church, is that the true gospel? The answer, Please say no. No, it's false gospel.
[00:06:01] You kind of know a cult because they're almost always gonna add some sort of extra work on top of the gospel. Now, Galatians, chapter 5, verse 1. At the outset, Paul is going to show kind of his heart, his vision for what he wants to see God do in these Galatian churches. And it seems that it's going to be sort of to soften the blow of what is about to be said. Verse 1. He says this for freedom.
[00:06:27] Christ has set us free.
[00:06:30] Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. What is Paul's desire for every single one of the Galatians and it's desire for every one of us? In one word, it is freedom. Okay? Freedom from sin, freedom from shame, freedom from guilt, freedom from addictions. Like this is what Jesus wants to do in the heart, mind and life of every person who comes to him. Now, if you are here and your friend or your family member, they keep talking to you about Jesus, it is because they. Their heart for you is that you would be set free from sin and you would have the opportunity to live in eternal life with Jesus Christ. That is what they want. They don't want you to. Yes. They don't want you to go to hell and they don't want you to live in slavery here and now. So if anybody ever tries to talk to you about Jesus or Christianity, take it as a compliment that they love you enough that they want you to experience freedom. And those who are free are unstoppable and alive. And this is what Paul and Jesus want for us. Now, I would be remiss if I did not say this to those of you who are newer Christians. Maybe those of you who are sort of trying to like, consider whether or not you're gonna trust in Jesus.
[00:07:52] Please do not confuse your friend or your family members.
[00:07:58] Struggle ongoing Persistent struggle with sin as an indictment on Jesus ability to set someone free.
[00:08:08] Most Christians, they know how to be saved, but they do not know how to live free.
[00:08:14] And the ones who know how to be saved and the ones who know how to live free, most of them refuse to do what is necessary to work, walk in the freedom that Jesus has for you and me.
[00:08:29] So I don't want you to mistake their addiction to their sin as weakness on the part of Jesus Christ.
[00:08:38] Okay? Your friend and family members. Addiction and slavery to sin is not an indictment on the power of Jesus to set someone free. Most Christians are unwilling to do what is required to actually repent of sin, sin and to walk in freedom. Not gonna beat that dead horse anymore. Look at verse one again. Paul says this, stand firm, therefore.
[00:09:02] And Paul uses the same kind of language when he talks about spiritual warfare, especially when he talks about spiritual warfare against demons and Satan himself. So, like, if you're. If you're talking to a group of people and you are watching that they are on the verge of danger that leads to their eternal death, do you think you're going to be cool, calm and collected, or do you think you're going to have a little bit of emotion and energy behind your warnings? We're going to go with emotion and energy for most of you. Okay, so verse two, he gets blunt. We're not even to like the difficult part yet. He says, look, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. In other words, Galatians, take your pick.
[00:09:53] You can have salvation through a strange surgical procedure with an old guy and some flint, or you can have salvation through faith in Christ, but you can't have both.
[00:10:07] And if you choose the old guy with flint, you don't get Jesus.
[00:10:11] I know, Pacha, I'm way more interested in salvation through faith in Christ alone than I am with some old guy. Okay? And so, like, this is the dichotomy. Now, if you think I'm being crass, I am not being crass. I'm literally gonna walk through with you the kind of vocabulary that Paul is using here. Verse three, he tells us why salvation by law cannot save. He says, I testify again, like, just gonna repeat myself to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. Now, I want to say something that out of context, you could probably get me in trouble for, but we're going to keep things in context because we love context, right, Villa? Church. Okay.
[00:10:50] You actually can be saved by good works. But here's the catch.
[00:10:59] You have to be perfect.
[00:11:01] And you can be saved by Old Testament Law, all 613. But you need to be flawless. Not just in the letter, but in the heart and motivation of the law.
[00:11:13] And so that is not possible for any human being that has ever existed. There is only one perfect person. That is the God, man, Jesus. Perfect in behavior, heart and motivation. You and I, last time I checked, you're not God. You're not Jesus. Amen. Amen. And so if you want to try to earn salvation by law, okay, you can do that.
[00:11:32] You will fail miserably. Now, verse four, a singular verse that has created so much unnecessary debate.
[00:11:39] He says this. You are severed from Christ.
[00:11:44] You who would be justified or saved or made right with God, you who'd be justified by the law, you have fallen from grace. There are two primary interpretations of this passage. Here's the first.
[00:12:00] The Galatians who abandoned the gospel lost their salvation. The interpretation goes like this.
[00:12:08] They believed in Jesus. They were saved. And the Bible teaches that when you're saved, you're filled with the Holy Spirit.
[00:12:14] But then they chose to unfollow Jesus, and then the Holy Spirit said, whoops, I'm out. And then they lost their salvation. Okay, this cannot be interpreted to mean you can lose your salvation because the Scriptures have already spoken on that issue with unbelievable and repeated clarity. All right, so here's what I wanna do.
[00:12:42] We're in Galatians, chapter five, and we're gonna take a very brief mental hiatus and we're gonna talk about losing your salvation for just a moment. Okay? So we're gonna go back to this, and I want you to shift your brain with me for one second, and. And I just want to read to you from some scriptures so that we can settle all the questions that are going to come. You ready? All right, here's how Paul says it. To the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Our Lord Jesus Christ will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so if when you trust in Christ, Jesus does not sustain you. Either Paul or Jesus is a liar. Here's how he says it. In first Peter 1, 5, Peter says, by God's power, you are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Here's how Paul says it to the Philippians, chapter one, verse six. He says, I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Here's how Paul says it to the Romans 8:29. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he he also glorified. And I want you to just look at this. Every person foreknown was predestined. No one was lost. And every person who's predestined was called. None were lost. And every person who was called was justified. None were lost. And every person who was justified will be glorified. Not a single one will be lost. Here's how the author of Hebrews says it. Chapter 7, verse 25. He is able to save to the uttermost. This means fully, completely and forever those who draw near to God through faith. Every author of Scripture who broaches this subject never puts the burden and obligation to keep your salvation on you. They always put it on God. And by the way, this is tremendous news because you do not have the power to undo what God has done in you. Amen. And where did Paul and Peter and the New Testament authors get this crazy idea? From Jesus. Remember, Jesus is the Bible. That's gonna be like most of the time, the answer you're gonna give in church. So look at John, chapter 6, verse 39. Jesus says, and I'll read this. I don't have my notes. I'll put it on the screen.
[00:15:04] This is the will of him who sent me. That I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. And some people will say, oh, it says it not a person. Oh, good. Maybe Jesus will clarify. And he does in verse 40. Thank you, Jesus. This is the will of my Father. That everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life. And I depending if I do a good job or not. No, I will raise him up on the last day. Or John, chapter 10, verses 28 and 29. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who is given, given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. Again, there are no exceptions. No one is lost. 100% of people who truly believe will be ultimately saved. Now again, have I beaten this dead horse to death? The answer, I think, is yes. I will never understand.
[00:16:03] Never understand why some people are so intent on trying to convince you that you can lose Your salvation. Okay, back now. Galatians, Chapter 5.
[00:16:13] For those who go back to a false gospel, verse 4.
[00:16:17] You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law, you have fallen away from grace. So interpretation number one. The Galatians who abandoned the gospel lost their salvation. False. We already knew, know with overwhelming clarity what the scriptures say about that. Interpretation number two, this is a warning with vivid imagery and strong language. Okay, Paul is mixing two very, very vivid metaphors.
[00:16:48] The. The first image here of severing. It is harsh and it's crass.
[00:16:54] But I'm going to give you the Michael translation of what's. What he's saying.
[00:16:58] Christians in Galatia, if you rely on circumcision to save you, you might as well cut the whole thing off while you're at it.
[00:17:11] Pastor Michael, that can't be what it means. Well, let's go to verse 12. In case you're unclear. He gets even more clear. He says, this is verse 12. I wish that those who unsettle you, the Judaizers, would emasculate themselves.
[00:17:25] Do you know what emasculate means in the Greek? You can figure it out. The same thing as Sephiroth.
[00:17:33] Modern evangelicals, most of us, we don't have the stomach for much of the language around rebuke in the New Testament.
[00:17:46] The harshest words of rebuke in the New Testament are for false teachers and, and for people who create division in the church.
[00:17:55] Earlier I said, this is the second harshest, most difficult rhetoric in the Bible. You might be asking, what's the first? I'll tell you.
[00:18:04] It's Jesus himself and the entirety of Matthew, chapter 23. If you don't know what that is, or if you get bored of the message, go read it. But essentially it is a series of woes or damnation or curses to hell to the Pharisees for leading people astray with a false gospel and their religiosity.
[00:18:24] And he is not nice. He is not kind. In fact, if Christianity Today or most Christian journalists were to hear Paul or Jesus speak, they would probably write an article of condemnation about him. That's how little of a stomach that the modern church has for actual, real rebuke for people who. Who are leading people to the pit of hell.
[00:18:48] Now, I don't want you to forget this, and I think this is sort of hilarious.
[00:18:52] Paul's writing this letter and he's like, I wish they would emasculate themselves. You're severed from Christ and he knows exactly what he's doing. And he also knows exactly who's going to be in the room when it's read. Because here's what would happen. Paul would write a letter, it would go to a church, and the church would gather on a Sunday, and then they would read the letter out loud. And so it's not just the Galatians who are in the church. Who is in each of these churches hearing this letter real time, the Judaizers. This dude isn't making himself any friends. And I gotta imagine like there's some little kid in church, he's like, I think he's talking about those guys in the robes, right? Like, I just imagine like the awkwardness of sitting in this room while this is being read and Paul is in and he is strong. There's another image here. He says this, you who would be justified by the law, says that you have fallen from grace.
[00:19:44] And the image here is of someone holding on to grace. And grace is the only thing preventing them from falling into hell. And these Judaizers, they're trying to convince the Galatians, trust us, let go, you're gonna be fine. And Paul's like, you're not gonna be fine. I've said, seen what's in the ravine. Hold on to grace, because if you let go of that, you're as good as spiritually dead forever. Do not let go.
[00:20:16] Verse 5. Paul kindly reiterates the simple gospel.
[00:20:20] He says, for through the Spirit, by faith, not by works, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ, Jesus Christ, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything. It doesn't matter if you do the work or there's certain works that you don't do. It's irrelevant.
[00:20:41] But only faith working itself or proving itself in love. Every false Christian gospel follows the exact same formula. If you've been around, this has been up on the screen almost every other week. Faith in Jesus plus. Fill in the blanks. I don't care what you put in the blank. The moment you fill that blank, it's ceases to be a gospel. The gospel with the power to save. Faith in Jesus plus sacrament. No. Faith in Jesus plus law. No. Faith in Jesus plus good works. No, I don't care. Faith in Jesus plus baptism. I don't care what you put in that blank. Paul is like, we don't get to add to the finished work of Christ on the cross, period.
[00:21:19] The true gospel is by grace, through faith, not by works. And guys, that's awesome news because you don't have to clean yourself up before you come to Jesus, you come as broken and dirty as you are, and you call it out, I have sinned. I believe in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. You literally come as you are. And God's like, yes, if you ask for forgiveness, I want to save you. There's nothing you have to do to prep yourself except come ready to own your sin and be believe in Jesus.
[00:21:53] Verse 7 forces us to reflect on the Judaizers, kind of in our own life, right?
[00:22:01] He says this, you were running. Well, who hindered you? Who hindered you from the truth?
[00:22:08] This persuasion from the Judaizers, it's not from him who calls you. A little leaven, leavens the whole lump.
[00:22:19] The influence of God's spirit. Here's how you can kind of know and discern it's his spirit.
[00:22:25] It will always make much of Jesus in your life.
[00:22:29] The influence of God's spirit, the persuasion, as he says of God's spirit, will always be to push you and I toward Jesus. The influence of God's spirit, you'll know it's him because it's helping you become more like Jesus.
[00:22:44] The influence of God's spirit, it's gonna lead you, when you follow the Holy Spirit, it's gonna lead you to freedom and not to more slavery. And so he asks who's hindering you spiritually. And again, I imagine the kids like, it's the Judaizers, right? Like, I just imagine them in the room.
[00:23:01] Because he's saying this. I can tell you for a fact, the Holy Spirit is not the one moving this doctrine, teaching this doctrine, inspiring this doctrine.
[00:23:13] And there's a simple little rubric that we've taught you many times, but it's. How do you discern what spirit is at work? Well, the Spirit of Jesus leads towards life, the spirit of the flesh towards self, and the spirit of the demonic towards destruction. And what is the end of this doctrine of salvation by law or works or circumcision?
[00:23:32] It's destruction in hell, you know, it's coming from the pit of hell. You know, the.
[00:23:37] Because the outcome is division and destruction.
[00:23:40] Verse 10. He says, I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view.
[00:23:44] And the. I love this. And the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. And what's the penalty for these Judaizers?
[00:23:55] Being cast out of the church. We saw that last week. Being exposed publicly as false and destined to hell because they are preaching and believing in a false gospel.
[00:24:07] I also want you to notice something. And commentators really Just highlighted this and I thought it was really astute. I want you to notice that the apostle Paul assumes that there is a ringleader.
[00:24:20] And when you kind of just read about the, the ministry of Paul in these churches and, and if you've led like spiritually, God's people in any way, shape or form, you'll realize pretty quickly that this tractor.
[00:24:31] Whenever there is a heresy or a division or a dissension, there is almost always a ringleader. Almost always. And again, Pastor Math. But I would say like 80% of the time that there's division, it's connected to some kind of heretical doctrine or some idea that gets elevated as gospel that shouldn't be gospel. Like so much of the church, splits that you watch happen are so unknown, necessary because they're rooted in doctrines that are just vague, ethereal, or not even in the Bible. But here's what you find. Whenever you find in a church that there's heresy or there's division or dissension, you will almost always find a ringleader who is the voice of it. And if Jesus were here in Galatia in the spirit of Matthew 23, he would say something like this.
[00:25:18] Woe to the ringleaders of heresy and dissension and local churches, they will bear the penalty. All right, so what I want to share with you two, so what's the first so what is about how to read the Bible? And it's very simple.
[00:25:34] It says read fuzzy texts like Galatians 5, 4. With biblical literacy, can we agree that you all want to be biblically literate? Amen. Good. Some of you were like, we'll see. All right, two rules for Bible interpretation. Number one, we use the clear Scriptures to interpret the fuzzy scriptures.
[00:25:53] We don't take fuzzy scriptures and create central doctrine off of those. When you have a fuzzy scripture that seems to contradict a whole bunch of clear scriptures, we let the clear Scriptures establish our doctrine and then we take our time on the fuzzy doctrines. Here's what I found on fuzzy verses. I found that with enough consultation, with enough study, with enough thought and prayer, the vast majority of them, they start to make sense if you are patient and sit on them. Bible interpretation rule number two.
[00:26:24] Discerning between the what and the why will often make sense of difficult passages.
[00:26:31] And so here's what I mean.
[00:26:33] The Bible will go back and forth between describing what happens and then some verses will pull back the curtain and tell you why it happened. So let's have a really non controversial, fun example of this. And you don't have to Agree with me on this, you'll be okay. But I'll give you my example, okay?
[00:26:55] When you became a Christian, you heard the gospel, and you probably thought to yourself something like, I am going to choose to believe in Jesus. And that is true. You did. You heard the gospel, you made a choice, you believed. That is what happened.
[00:27:11] But sometimes when the Bible describes people coming to faith, it describes what happened. They heard the gospel, they believed, and everything's good.
[00:27:18] Sometimes the Bible doesn't talk about what happened, it talks about why it happened. And it will use words like predestination or election or Jesus says it this way, you didn't choose me, but I chose you. And you're like, wait a minute, I did choose him, and that is what happened. But why did you choose him? Because he chose you first.
[00:27:36] Most complicated doctrinal disputes can be resolved if we separate what is being said versus why the Scriptures say it happened. Pastor Michael, what does this have to do with Galatians 5:4? We're going to get there. Let me just give you a quick example of the what and the why.
[00:27:54] Sometimes the what and the why converge in a single verse, and I'm going to show you 1. Acts 13:48. And so here's what it says. The Gentiles heard this. That's the Gospel. And they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. That's the what? Yeah. Like, they heard the gospel, they believed, they made a decision. They said, we're gonna choose Jesus. Awesome. But then Acts 13:48 pulls back the curtain and tells you why. This is striking. And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
[00:28:24] All right, I've just settled the debate for all of you, right? Once and for all, forever. Now, again, you don't have to agree, but the what and the why are really important when it comes to losing your salvation. The what and the why is essential, because here's what you're going to see. If you live long enough, you'll watch someone hear the gospel, believe, okay? And then over time, they will abandon the gospel, and you might be tempted to think they lost their salvation. And it's actually the Bible pulls back the curtain. That's what happened. And we'll tell you why it happened. And by the way, we get this directly from Jesus. He gave us an entire parable telling us why people fall away from the faith. And I'll give you the answer, and I'll read it to you. The answer is because the gospel got into their head, but it never took root. In their heart. And the only way you know if the gospel has taken root in your heart is give it some time. So let's show you this. In Matthew, chapter 13, here's the first seed, the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. And this is nuts. Like, think about it. You might be here and you might be, like, resistant to the gospel and just, like, shutting everything we say down because the devil himself might be taking the seed of the gospel, tricking you to not consider. How frustrated would you be if you found out the only reason you weren't considering the gospel is because you were the victim of demonic spiritual attack.
[00:29:48] Like, that's ridiculous. Like, let me consider the gospel on its own terms, on its own merit. So some people, they hear and nothing happens. But then it says In C, number two, in verse 20, there's what was sown, the gospel sown on rocky ground. This is the one who hears the Word immediately, receives it with joy. Yet he has no rules, but he endures for a while. And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the Word, immediately he falls away. What happened? A person believes, and then they fall. Why did it happen? He says, because the gospel, it was only here. It never got its way into their heart. There's a third seed in verse 22. It was sown among thorns. This is the one who hears the Word. But the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, choke the world, and it proves unfruitful. So what happens? Someone gets saved. They're excited. They grow for a little bit, and then it costs them too much. And then they walk away from Jesus. Did they lose their salvation? He says, no. Actually, the issue is, all they did is expose that it never made its way to their heart. But there's a fourth seed.
[00:30:50] This is sown on the good soil. This is the one who hears the word, understands it. Indeed, he bears fruit and yields.
[00:30:58] There's what happens. You watch it. And sometimes we're gonna watch people grow. Trust in Christ, get baptized, be pumped. And then the cares of the world. Or they're embarrassed about being affiliated with Jesus. Like, it's gonna be too much of a demand. Jesus is gonna ask too much, and they're gonna say, I'm out.
[00:31:16] And here's what we do. We look at that. We acknowledge the what. But then we pull back the curtain, and here's what Jesus wants us to know. It's not that they lost their salvation, it's the that the gospel never took root in their heart in the first place.
[00:31:27] If the Gospel did take root, if the soil of the heart was good, they never would have lost their salvation or they never would have fallen away, to be more theologically accurate. And so here's the deal. Can you lose your salvation or not? But I watch people do it all the time. That's the what? And now we need to let Jesus and the rest of the Scriptures pull back the curtain on why people come to faith and then walk away.
[00:31:52] This brings us to SOA. Number two.
[00:31:55] Prove your salvation.
[00:31:58] Second Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 5. Here's what Paul says. He says, examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. That's what he says. And it's really good to kind of step back and just say, is this real? Right? And so according to Jesus, in the parable of the Sower, the majority of fake Christians will be exposed. They'll fall away in one of three scenarios. Number one, demonic attack.
[00:32:25] Number two, loss, difficulty suffering.
[00:32:28] Number three is temptation to worldliness. And if the Gospel hasn't taken root in your heart, one of these will expose that and you will functionally fall away. But all it's doing is revealing the fact that the Gospel never actually took root in your heart.
[00:32:48] In my experience with adults, kids, it's a different conversation. But in my experience with adults, typically in the first six months of conversion, they're out.
[00:32:58] Sometimes it's two to three years. And I mean rare, rare, rare. Is it longer than three to five years?
[00:33:05] Usually it might take long for an adult to walk away from the faith if their life is remarkably easy. An easy life, like, does not test faith.
[00:33:16] And so, like, I think if you live long enough, right, life tests you. And so here's just an encouragement you can test, improve your salvation by believing in the gospel. Like, I can look at you if you tell me I don't believe in the gospel. I can look at you and say, you're not a Christian. You're, you're not saved.
[00:33:31] Enduring spiritual attack, loving God during real loss, and growing in godliness in a sinful world. And I want to be clear about all of these.
[00:33:41] If Paul were here and you're testing yourself, it's never about perfection. It's about trajectory.
[00:33:47] And so you're going to have a season where you're going to lose stuff. You're going to be having, like, real arguments with God and it's going to be really challenging.
[00:33:53] That is okay.
[00:33:55] But if life gets hard and you say, I'm out, I don't want anything to do with you. I don't even believe anymore.
[00:34:00] Well, then the trial, the difficulty, the tribulation, it did its job. It exposed the reality that it didn't go into your heart. But here's the nature of spiritual growth, is that you want to see it up and to the right. But sometimes it's like really, really slow. And it's up and it's down, it's back. It's two steps forward, one step back, three steps back, six steps forward. It's the nature of it. It's kind of messy. And so we step back, we look at our spiritual life, and we say, over the long haul, is my trajectory up into the right? Do I believe as hard as a spiritual attack can be? Am I enduring it? Am I loving God more and more in the midst of real loss? And am I growing in godliness? And I think as you kind of step back and you look at your life, for most of you, you'll say it hasn't been perfect, but this is evidence that the Holy Spirit is in me and that my salvation is real, not my perfection, but what God is doing in me, evidenced by trajectory.
[00:34:50] Now, this is primarily not a message for those who are worried about whether you can lose your salvation. So I did it again. See, there we go.
[00:35:00] If last week I offered to you if there is, like, a subject you want to go deeper on, a bunch of you asked me for a couple messages that I had on a subject. I sent it to you also, like, I did a message probably three years ago on if you can lose your salvation, if you want to go deeper there, let me know, Talk to me, to text me, email me, and I will send you that. This is primarily a message encouraging those of you who are real Christians to stand firm.
[00:35:29] Do not tolerate heretics who bring false gospels into the church. Don't tolerate it. You don't have to be a jerk, okay? If somebody needs to be a jerk, let the elders of the church be the jerk, okay?
[00:35:43] I found sometimes people will bring up a false gospel idea and they don't even know it's wrong. They don't even know. And sometimes a gentle correction is all they need. Don't just assume that because somebody has a really terrible gospel idea that they know that it's really terrible. But if there's somebody who's just creating havoc and just making a mess and trying to, like, create division and pull people away from Jesus, let the Elders know and we will do what God has called us to do in that. This is also a message for those of you who you're like, you know what? I've never trusted in Christ and I just want to encourage you. This is awesome news. Clarity on the gospel. I hope you got it. You can be forgiven and saved by trusting in Jesus Christ. And you don't have to clean yourself up and be perfect. You can come to him as you are and he will receive you and forgive you if you believe in Jesus and what he did on the cross for your sins.
[00:36:36] That is incredible news. And I just want to encourage you, if that is where you're at today, trust in Christ and if you have questions, come talk to one of us. We'd just love to encourage you and pray with you. Amen. Village Church Amen. Let's pray together.
[00:36:49] Father, I want to just say thank you for weighty, heavy passages like this. I thank you for fuzzy texts. These fuzzy texts just make us work harder, dig deeper.
[00:37:01] Lord, I thank you that on these big issues you have spoken with clarity over and over and over again, whether we could lose our salvation or the gospel or all this stuff.
[00:37:12] God, I also pray that you would teach each and every one of us to be thoughtful, intentional as we read the Word, that we would dig to find what the truth and reality is of what you're trying to tell us.
[00:37:24] Father, I also pray that you, if there's anyone here who maybe unknowingly or knowingly has added to the gospel, God, would you bring real conviction so that they might believe and be saved. Or maybe someone's here and they're like, I didn't know it was not true and they just want to be aligned with you. God, I pray you would give them just that courage and confidence to come to you, knowing they will be forgiven.
[00:37:48] And thank you that we stand here not because we are good, but because you were good for us. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for choosing us. Thank you for pursuing us. Thank you for saving us. We worship you, we honor you, and we do all of this in Jesus name. Amen. Village Church Amen.
