Glad to have the Prauls back with us again. I hope I'm saying their name somewhere near right. Is that approximately right? We said this morning we'd be speaking, the Lord willing, on the subject, "Why I Know a Saved Man Can Never Be Lost." So, we want to do that now with you. We want to study this like we might study a lesson in the Bible college together. "Why I Know a Saved Man Can Never Be Lost." That is an important question. Because if a man can be saved and then be lost, then there's not really all that much point in even being saved is there? Because he might be lost just before he died and then he'd go to hell anyway, you see. You can see this is really an important question! It is a much more important question than some people realize that it is. I'm going to show to you from the Word of God in just simple, everyday language, plain Scriptures, that it's absolutely impossible that a saved man, if he's truly saved, should ever be lost again. No matter what happens, no matter what occurs, no matter what he does, no matter what anybody else does, it's impossible if he's truly saved. Now that, of course, is the key. Be sure you're talking about a man who is truly saved.

We have so many people around us today who know nothing about salvation, people who pretend to be Christians, some of them even truly believe they are Christians and they really know nothing about God or salvation. All they know is a little moral life and a little homily that they hear occasionally at church --- and that's all they know. And that is not salvation, of course. Salvation is repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, at which point when that really occurs, we are born again and a big change takes place inside of us. And that change can never be reversed. We will always be different from that time onward if we truly experience that new birth.

But let's get back to our "study" message tonight, "Why I Know A Saved Man Can Never Be Lost." Now I've been, of course, introducing it by starting out to think a little bit about real salvation. And I wrote myself a little note here on my scribble that says, "Define real salvation." And, you know, that's a lot easier to write down than it is to do, define real salvation. I wrote myself a little side note like that on my main notes here.

Now the question is how to identify it, that is, real salvation as opposed to the many false professions. That is a difficult thing to answer clearly and concisely. But I think I have a verse here that will make it plain to you in simple language how we can identify people who are truly saved. And how we can tell them from those who just say they're Christians but are not really Christians.

If you look with me to John 10:27, the Gospel of John chapter 10, verse 27, it says something that you've heard me preach or mention in sermons before. It says there: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them," but it doesn't stop there, does it? What else does it say in that same verse? "And they follow me." Now that's simple enough even these small children here can understand the words, can't they? They can understand the meaning of those words. "My sheep hear my voice," it's Jesus, of course, Himself giving the parable of the Good Shepherd. And, of course, He's obviously the Good Shepherd Himself. And the sheep are obviously the saved. You wouldn't find anyone who even pretended to believe the Bible who would deny either of those statements --- that Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are His sheep.

Now Jesus Himself said, "My sheep hear my voice." Okay, when a man tells you he's a Christian, does he hear the voice of Jesus? Does he? Does he really listen to the voice of Jesus? Truly hearing is listening, isn't it? And real hearing means that you're going to do something about it, too, doesn't it? "My sheep hear my voice." Not only did He say that but He said, "I know them." And then He didn't stop there but He said, "And they follow me." Now that sure eliminates a lot of people who claim to be Christians, doesn't it? "And they follow me."

We've got every imaginary wrinkle of so-called Christianity that you can imagine right here in the Republic. I don't have a count of how many different so-called religious groups we have here but I'm sure it would be up into several hundred, possibly even up into the thousands of different groups here in the Republic claiming to be Christians. And many of their teachings are diametrically opposite to each other and diametrically opposite to the Word of God. Now it doesn't matter if they're diametrically opposite to each other, but the thing that counts is when they don't agree with God's Word, isn't it? That's what really counts. But here Jesus said, "And they follow me." So that's the way you can identify real salvation, a real Christian, a genuine, honest-to-goodness, born again person. They will follow Jesus. And if they don't and they just continually refuse to follow Him over a long period of time, you can just "put it in your pipe and smoke it, only I don't smoke, but you can put it in your pipe and smoke it", they're not a Christian. They're liars, they're hypocrites, that's what they are. Some of them even believe they're Christians. But they don't know what a Christian is. Because the real sheep, Jesus said, "They follow Me." "They follow Me." Now what needs to be said to people like that and to people who may say they're Christians but we might have doubt whether they are or not? We need to read that verse to them in John 10:27, where it says, "And they follow me."

And then we also need to turn over to II Peter 1:10 where it says: "Give diligence to make your calling and election sure." What is he talking about? "Be sure you're saved," that's what he's saying, isn't it? Be sure you're truly saved, not just that you've gone to some cultural association that calls itself a church. Not just that you've gone to some social club that calls itself a church. That has nothing to do with whether you're saved or not, does it? Nothing at all. The thing that counts is, be sure you're really saved. That's what Peter is really talking about here in II Peter 1:10. The same thing Jesus is talking about when He said, "And they follow me." And He'd just said up there in John 10, let me read it to you there in John 10, just above verse 27, He'd been talking to some of the Jews, the doubting Jews, the unbelievers, and Jesus said to them this, in verse 25: "Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.'"

That's the reason they didn't believe, the same reason they didn't follow is because they were not His sheep. They were not real, born again people. They were not believers --- they didn't follow Him, therefore they didn't believe. Or you can say it backwards, forwards, sideways, any way you want to, it's all the same thing, isn't it? They don't believe, therefore they're not saved, therefore they don't follow. Or if they say they're saved, they don't follow, then they're not telling the truth, are they? That is plain from what Jesus Himself says here.

Okay, now let's leave that and go a little further. Remember we're going to show and prove to you from the Scripture why we know a saved man can never be lost. We have identified what a saved man really is, so any time now in the future when you hear me say something about a saved person, you know that I'm talking about a truly, born again person who has repented of his sins and exercised faith in Jesus Christ to the saving of his soul. He's been born again when that happens. He's been changed inside. His heart has been changed and his mind has been changed as well. Now that's what I'm talking about when I talk about a saved person. All these others that claim they're Christians, they're not really saved because they don't follow Jesus, and they're not true believers.

Now, God's Word plainly says that a saved man, (when I say saved, remember I'm talking about a truly saved man, not just one who says, "Oh, I'm saved. I'm a believer.") That doesn't mean anything, does it? Unless he really is a believer. "It doesn't mean spit," as we used to say when I was a kid. It doesn't amount to a hill of beans," as they used to say in Texas, twenty-five years ago when I was there. It doesn't amount to a hill of beans. It doesn't amount to anything just to say, "I'm a believer," unless you really are one.

Now, God's Word plainly says that a man --- a saved man, a really saved man --- can never be lost. John 5:24 says this to us, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." That is John 5:24. That's a good one for all church members to memorize, John 5:24. It is plain enough. That message is simple, isn't it? Nearly everything Jesus spoke was simple. That is, it was simple enough that people who would look at it with the eye of faith could believe it, and understand it, and accept it.

He said, "The one that hears My word," that's the preaching of the gospel, "and believeth on Him that sent Me," that's believing in God. And the only way you believe in God is by faith in Jesus Christ. These people who say, "Oh, I believe in God the Father but I don't believe in Jesus," they're liars. Jesus Himself said they're liars, didn't He? He said, "You can't believe in God without believing in Me." That's what He said. He goes ahead here and says, "Hath everlasting life." He has it right now --- Present tense. He has everlasting life right now, not "someday he'll get everlasting life." Maybe if he lives a good enough life, the Lord will go ahead and move him up another notch and then he'll really be saved. That's not what He said, is it? It says right now he has everlasting life.

And not only that, but He goes ahead just to make sure nobody could twist it like they do today to make it mean something different, and He said, "Shall not come into condemnation." Now what does that mean? If you couldn't possibly come into condemnation or judgment, how could you ever be lost again? It'd be impossible, wouldn't it? If you come from death unto life, you've come --- by repentance and faith in Christ, you've been born again --- and we'll get to all these things later, but you have come from death to life, you've passed from death to everlasting life, you have it right now and you can't ever come into condemnation again. How could you ever be lost again if you've already got eternal life now and you can't ever come into condemnation again, there's no way you could be lost, is there? Completely impossible, illogical and ridiculous to believe that you could be lost again.

Then He goes ahead and just makes it real tight by saying this at the end of the verse, not only does he now have everlasting life, the saved person, not only can he not ever come into condemnation or judgment again, but also he is passed, right now, present tense, from death, that's from sin, from that death in sin which all men are born into, he's passed from death unto life. He's already come out of that death into the life that is only in Christ.

Okay, John 10 again. We looked at that a minute ago in the introduction. John 10:27. Now we said in this point we're making now that God plain—God's Word plainly says that a saved man can never be lost. And this is one of the ways that we know a saved man can never be lost, because God's Word plainly says it. In John 10:27, He said this, and I quoted this one to you a minute ago, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me: And," now listen to this, "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which give them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." Then He goes ahead and says, "I and my Father are one." Isn't this wonderful? Isn't glorious to know that once you've found Jesus, you've got Him, He's yours and you're His from then on? Isn't that a wonderful thing to know? Just makes you feel good all over, doesn't it?

The Word plainly says that a man can never be lost, and I just read it to you, He said, "I give unto them eternal life." Now what does eternal life mean? Well, we've got all kinds of knotheads who try to say that eternal doesn't mean eternal, but they keep trying to tell us that God didn't say what He meant and He didn't mean what He said in the Bible. But let me tell you, if He didn't say what He meant and didn't mean what He said, why didn't He? After all, He made the tongue. He certainly would be able to tell these men what to write down, wouldn't He? He made the hands that they wrote with. He certainly should be able to get them to write what He wanted, shouldn't He, when He inspired men to write the Bible? So, the whole idea that they try to give us that God didn't say what He meant and didn't mean what He said is just completely ridiculous in itself.

Fifty-three different times in the New Testament, salvation is called either eternal or everlasting. Fifty-three different times in the New Testament alone, it's called either eternal or everlasting. Now that word eternal, because of these knotheads that we have that always try to tell us that this word doesn't mean that, and doesn't mean something else to try to make it mean what they want it to mean ---just for them, I looked that word up again recently in the Oxford dictionary. And this is the official definition of the Oxford dictionary on the word eternal. "That always has existed and always will exist." Now what could be plainer than that? Eternal life, that has always existed and always will exist. That's what the word eternal means. That's the definition of it from the Oxford dictionary, "that always has existed and always will exist." Couldn't mean anything except eternal life, could it? Couldn't mean anything except something that you can't possibly lose, could it? Couldn't possibly mean some other word that they keep trying to tell us, "Oh, that means if I hold onto God, I'll be all right." That's idiocy, isn't it? And yet, you'd be surprised how many millions of people right here in the Republic would tell you, "If I hold onto God, I'll be okay." But that's not it. You've got to cast yourself upon Him and then He holds onto you. There's a whole lot of difference there, you know. A BIG difference. You might turn loose if you were holding onto Him, but He's not going to turn loose from you when He's holding onto you. He's omnipotent, He has all power. There's no way He's going to lose you. You might lose Him but He's not going to lose you.

From man's viewpoint, salvation is everlasting. You say, "Well, what's the difference between everlasting and eternal?" Well, in the mind of God, there's no difference. We can tell that from reading the Scripture. Because God told men, inspired men what to write word by word. So you can see from reading the Scripture and studying it and comparing various references that in the mind of God, there's no difference at all relative to salvation between these two words, eternal and everlasting. They both mean forever and ever. But from man's viewpoint, we need to look at it this way. Everlasting means that it has a beginning but no ending. Now as far as we're concerned, salvation began that day that we heard the story and we came to Christ and He saved us, didn't we? That's the day salvation began for us, wasn't it? Everlasting life.

Everlasting has a beginning but no ending. But now eternal, from God's view salvation is not just everlasting but it's eternal. From God's view it's eternal. That means it has no beginning and no end. Like a perfect, endless circle forever, no beginning and no end. Because in the mind of God, a means was planned before the creation of the world, way back there in eternity, that all men who would come to Christ in repentance and faith, come to God through Christ in repentance and faith would be saved. And so as far as God's concerned, since it was in His mind from way back there in eternity past, it's eternal, has no beginning and no ending. Because anything in the mind of God is as far as He's concerned eternal, isn't it? But from man's viewpoint, it's everlasting because for us it has a beginning, our salvation does and no ending. But to God it's eternal, and to us as well when we get to heaven we'll see how eternal it is when we get to heaven.

From God's view, as we said, eternal means no beginning and no ending. It has always been from eternity past. God's will, God's purpose and God's plan to save all who will come to Him in repentance and faith through Jesus Christ. Now that's what eternal is to God, isn't it? It's always been His plan and His will and His purpose to save all who will come to Him in repentance and faith through Jesus Christ. And He's still in the saving business today too, don't you worry. We see it once in a while here, don't we? Somebody gets saved and we just all get real happy, don't we? We all get real happy. And they do, too, of course.

Going on now a step further. We've said God's Word plainly says so therefore we know that a saved man can never be lost. Now another way that we know why we know a saved man can never be lost is the relationship with God makes it impossible for a man to ever be lost if he's truly been saved. The relationship with God makes it impossible for a saved man to ever be lost. Romans 8, verses uh, 16 and 17. Let's turn over there and read that one together quickly. Not sure if I can quote that one to you letter perfect, and I'd rather read it than to miss a word or two. Romans 8, verses 17 and 18. Remember what we're talking about now is that the relationship with God makes it impossible that a saved man should ever be lost again. Romans chapter 8, verses 16 and 17, and it says this, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." Now listen, "And if we children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."

Now what's he saying there? He's saying that we're heirs and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. In other words, we're in the inheritance with Jesus. And what's the inheritance of Jesus? The inheritance of Jesus is all the glory of eternity in heaven, isn't it? Seated at the Father's right hand with millions of angels at His beck and call. That's the inheritance of Jesus. And we're joint heirs with Him in that. Did you know that? It says so right here. I just read it to you, didn't I? The saved man has a relationship to God that makes it impossible that he should ever be lost again. Because that would mean that he would lose his part of the inheritance. And he's a joint-inheritor with Jesus. It's unthinkable that one who is a joint-inheritor with Jesus could ever lose that inheritance, isn't it? Unthinkable.

Let me ask you another question. Can a father ever cease to be a father? Now you think about that. All of us here, all of us who are adults here that have children, mine are far away, but I have three children as well. All of you have children who are adults. Can a father ever cease to be a father? There is no way that a father can ever cease to be a father, is there? Just for us—a—an illustration here, I know Tom won't mind. If Tom said, "Now, I disown my wife and all four of my daughters," does that make him not their father? It doesn't change it at all; he's still their father, isn't he? He could kick them out of the house, of course, he wouldn't do anything like that, but he could kick them out of the house and say, "I won't have anything to do with you ever. Never again. Don't even come in the yard anymore. In the lot—in the garden anymore. Don't come to the gate anymore." He'd still be the father of those girls, wouldn't he? Got four of the cutest ones around, too. He'd still be their father no matter what he did.

And no matter what they did, they're still his children, aren't they? No way that they could do anything that would change them from being his children. They were born of the love of Tom and Ann. And there's no way that can ever be changed. Never could be changed. No matter what anybody did about it. On the side of the parents or the side of the children, they're still their children no matter what. It makes no difference. And that's what we're talking about the relationship with God makes it impossible that a saved person should ever be lost.

We said, "Can a father ever cease to be a father?" And we've already answered that. Can a son or daughter ever cease to be a son or daughter? No. There's no way they can. They could get angry at their father or mother and say, "Well, you're not my father or my mother anymore." It wouldn't make any difference how much they said it, if they said it five hundred times every day for the next fifty years, they'd still be the son or the daughter of that mother and father, wouldn't they? It wouldn't change it at all.

It's not a matter of us holding onto God, it's a matter of God holding onto us. And He holds onto us when we once come to Him by repentance and faith through Jesus Christ, and from then on He holds us. We're His.

Going on a step further now. Another way that we know, another reason why I know that a saved man can never be lost is, and this is the third one, the third main point I'm giving you, the saved are sealed by the Holy Ghost. They are sealed by the Holy Ghost.

If we read Ephesians 4:30, it says this, "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." You say, "Aha, unto the day of redemption. What about that?" Well, that's no problem at all. He's talking there about unto the day of redemption of this physical body. Not even talking about the redemption of the soul when he said that. He's talking about the fact that you're already sealed, your spirit, your soul is already sealed in God, in Christ, in God by the Holy Spirit, until the day of the redemption of this physical body when we'll have a glorified body and a body that'll never know pain again and never have any sickness or anything. Won't be any bullet scars on any of us. Won't be any broken legs around and there won't be anything like that. It'll all be a perfect, glorified body. We won't even have to wear these glasses anymore, Ann, we can throw them away. We can throw them away. You too, Tom. I'm sure the Lord will take care of you on that as well. Just throw them away. And Wayne over here that ought to be wearing them, he won't need to wear them then, you see. Of course, he doesn't wear them now anyway but he ought to be wearing them. He won't need to wear them then. Talking about the time of the redemption of the body.

But the soul is already redeemed and sealed by the Holy Spirit. No way it could be lost. Romans 8:16 and 17 again. We just read that to you just now. Look at it again. "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."

And then I read to you there Ephesians 4:30, "Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." That is, the day of redemption of this physical body when we get a new body, a perfect body. So the saved are sealed by the Holy Spirit.

Going on a step further now, another reason why we know that a saved man can never be lost. And when I say saved, remember what I'm talking about. I'm talking about a man who's really saved. I'm not just talking about a man who says, "Oh, yeah. I'm a Christian. Yeah, I'm born again. Yeah, I—I believe." That doesn't mean anything unless it's in his heart, does it? Doesn't mean a thing unless he's got that saving faith down in his heart. Unless he's had that change take place in his life. Unless he follows Jesus, it doesn't mean anything. It just means he's a liar if he doesn't follow Jesus. And he says he's one of God's—uh, one of the Lord's sheep, means he's a liar. That's all it means if he doesn't follow Jesus. Because Jesus Himself said, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."

Okay. We know an—another reason now why they can't ever be lost, a truly saved person. Because of God's covenant. God's covenant. God's covenant. Hebrews 10, verses 16 and 17. Hebrews chapter 10, verses 16 and 17. "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." Isn't that good? He writes His law down in the heart and He won't remember our sins and iniquities anymore. And that writing the law down in the heart is a picture of the fact that He's put it there and we—we'll follow Him. We're going to follow Him because He's written it in our heart.

Micah chapter 7, verses 18 and 19 fits well here with this same reference from Hebrews that I gave you. Micah chapter 7, verses 18 and 19. I believe this is the first one I've used tonight from the Old Testament. Micah 7, verses 18 and 19 says this, "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy."

You know, the way some people act you'd think that God was just sitting up there on His throne just watching down there for Jim Dearmore to do something wrong so He'd say, "Aha, I caught you. You're on the way to hell, buster." But that's not the way God is at all, is it? But you'd think that's the way He is the way some people talk, wouldn't you? You'd think that's the way He is. But that's not the way God is. He says, "He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy." He's not just looking for a chance to catch you out. "He delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities;" that is, put our iniquities down, conquer them, "and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." Takes the sins of His people and throws them away in the depths of the sea, never to be called back again.

Going on a step further now. Another reason why I know a saved man, a truly saved man can never be lost again. Because his name is written in heaven. Because his name is written in heaven. The devil, in order to get a saved man lost, he'd have to go up there and attack heaven, take control of it, erase the name out of the book of life to get a saved man lost again. You think that's going to happen? You think that's likely to happen? There's no way that's going to happen, is there? He'd have to go up there and attack heaven, take over the—the records room and hold it and erase the names off of the book of life. The Lamb's book of life.

Revelation 13:18 speaks of this when it says that those who refuse to worship the beast or the dictator of the Tribulation Period are those—and now I'm quoting from Revelation 13:18, that he—it says that those—They are those whose names are not—those who do worship the beast, I should have said there. Those who worship the beast in—in the Tribulation Period are those whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life. They are those whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life. Or as it says there in Revelation 13:18, those in other words who are obviously unsaved because they worship the false uh, god of the antichrist, "whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." That's the exact wording of it in Revelation 13:18. Those who are obviously lost, in other words, because they do worship this false god of the antichrist during the Tribulation Period. It says tho—they are the ones whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Or if you look at Revelation 20:15, you find another reference to this book of life. This is telling about the end result of the Great White Throne Judgment. Revelation 20:15, when it says, "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Now the other was looking at it from a different direction, you see. These who worshipped the antichrist, meaning, of course, obviously that they're unsaved otherwise they wouldn't worship the antichrist. They are the ones whose names are not written in the book of life. Then here in Revelation 20:15, he goes further and speaks in uh, connection with the judgment, the final judgment, the Great White Throne Judgment, and says that whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. That is, they were sent to hell with the devil, those whose names were not written in the book of life.

Of if you look at Revelation 21, a chapter further over, verse 27, Revelation 21, verse 27, it says this, "And there shall in no wise enter into it," talking about the glorious place that God is preparing for His own, "and there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsover worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but," in other words, now he's going to tell who is going to enter into it, "but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." They're the ones that are going to enter into this glorious place that he's been talking about before there. Those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Paul also speaks of this book of life in Philippians chapter 4, verse 3, talking about some saved people, some faithful church members in the church. And he said, "Whose names are written in the book of life." That's what Paul said in Philippians 4:3.

Now going on quickly another step. Another way we know that a saved man can never be lost. Because of the way that salvation is received. Because of the way salvation is received. You say, "Well, how is it received?" Well, the very first thing you've got to understand is it's entirely of grace. It's not anything you work for. It's not anything you did anything for. It's not anything that you helped for. It's not anything that you uh, qualified for in yourself. It's entirely of grace. Ephesians 2:8 and 9 says it pretty thoroughly when it says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; Not of works, lest any man should boast."

Now I never noticed until today when I was reviewing these notes for this message, this afternoon I was looking at my notes again and I realized the real wording of Ephesians 2:8 and 9. Never had noticed it before and I've read that and quoted it thousands of times. Look over there with me again. I've quoted to you but let's look at it actually in print so that you'll be sure and see it exactly the way it is. Now there in verse 8, "For by grace are ye saved through faith." Okay, that's perfectly straightforward. Salvation, in other words, is entirely by grace through faith. Now, what does it say after that? He says, "And that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." In other words, even that faith is not of yourself. Even that is a gift from God. Isn't that good? That's good stuff. Even the faith mentioned there is the gift of God. That's what he said right there in verse 8 and 9 of uh, in fact, in—all of it's in verse 8. "For by grace are ye saved through faith." But then he goes ahead and explains that and he says, "That not of yourselves." In other words, even this faith is not of yourself. "It is the gift of God." He even gives us the faith to believe. Isn't that wonderful? Gives us the faith to believe. And without it we'd probably never believe. In fact, I know we wouldn't because he says here even that faith to believe is from God, doesn't he? When you read it properly, that's what it says, isn't it? Not even the faith mentioned there is your own but all of it even is the gift of God.

Salvation is the gift of God for believers. Remember we're thinking about the sixth way why we know that a saved man can never be lost. And we said because the way salvation is received. We said it's entirely of grace, we showed it to you there in Ephesians 2:8 and 9, then we showed you that even the faith to believe and accept this grace is given to us by God. Showed that to you from Ephesians 2:8. Now we say salvation is the gift of God to believers. That makes all of it the gift of God, doesn't it? When He even gives us the faith to believe. It's all the gift of God to believers.

Then if you look at Romans 6:23, and I quoted this one to you this morning, or the first part of it in connection with the devil's wages to people. But Romans 6:23, the whole verse says this, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Eternal life is a gift from God and it comes to us through Jesus Christ. It comes only to those who come to Christ in repentance and faith. And God even gives us the faith to believe. When we get up to the point, He gives us the faith to really believe it and grasp it and und—and comes into our heart. He does it. We're not able to do it ourselves.

The last thought now. The seventh reason why I know a saved man can never be lost. Remember now, of course, I'm talking about a really saved man. I'm not talking about just one who says he's saved. I'm not talking about one who says, "I'm a believer." I'm not talking about one who says, "I'm born again." I'm not talking about one who says, "Yes, I'm an active church member." Not talking about one who says, "Yes, I've been in the church since I was eight years old and very active all the time and I'm thirty-nine now," or "I'm forty-five or sixty-five," or whatever the case may be. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about a man who's truly been saved. Born again.

Now we know that a—this kind of man, a really saved man can never be lost because what God does, He does properly and forever. You think God would do a half-baked job of saving somebody? That's ridiculous to even think such a thing, isn't it? It's blasphemous to think such a thing. To think that God would do a half-baked job of saving somebody. Or a half-baked job of anything. He doesn't operate that way, does He? He's God. He's God and that's it. He doesn't need to do any half-way jobs. When He does the job, it's done. And it's done right and it's done forever. And He doesn't have to go back and save that same guy again next week because he fell from grace. Because it's impossible if the guy really got saved to ever fall from grace. Can't happen because what God does, He does properly and forever.

Ecclesiastes 3:14 is as good verse to read there. "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be fore ever; nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him." Isn't that great? When God does it, it's done. You know the difference between the religions that we have in the world today? We have a little faithful group all over the world spreading the truth of a done religion. D-O-N-E. It's already done. Jesus did it all. But then we have millions and millions and billions of dollars and—and rands being spent on another kind of religion. It's the "do" religion. "You do this and you do that and you do something else and maybe you'll get to heaven." Now that's about the way their spiel goes, isn't it? "You do this and you do that." There's is a "do" religion. But ours is not a "do" religion, ours is a done religion. Jesus has already done it. He's made the way complete and perfect in Himself to come to God.

So the only question left to answer that I want to ask you now just before we sing and close the service, and that is this, "Did you save yourself or did God save you?" Did you save yourself or did God save you? And I can tell you, of course, and you already know from what I've been preaching and teaching tonight that if you think you had anything to do with your own salvation in the way of helping God do it, if you think you had any part in your own salvation except just to cast yourself on Him in repentance and faith, then you're not saved, are you? Because that's not the way He operates. He does it all. He does it all. So the question, "Did you save yourself or did God save you?" automatically sorts out the ones that say they're saved and the ones who really are saved, doesn't it?