sheep – Auriesville Tubthumper

The question is on the table. Can we lose our salvation?

This topic will cover several continuing posts so stay with us… People profess Christ and then fall away. What about Judas? In the Gospel of Matthew, when Judas goes to the chief priests, he asks: “What will you give me if I deliver [Jesus] to you?” (Matthew 26:15). This verse suggests Judas betrayed Jesus out of greed. In the Gospel of John, however, after Jesus gives Judas the piece of dipped bread, “Satan entered into him” (13:27). This verse suggests Satan’s spirit entered into Judas and caused him to do evil. Jesus was sitting right next to him and allowed it. We know from scripture that Jesus knew ahead of time it would happen. Was it a choice a Judas made? What about Demas? Demas had been a faithful servant of the Lord, and a trusted companion of the apostle Paul. He served the greatest cause, and he served alongside some of the Lord’s most devoted disciples. It says in 2 Timothy 4:10, “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.” So Demas chose the world over the Kingdom and deserted Paul in his greatest time of need. All of his time spent with Paul and the other disciples could not preserve him from the wiles of Satan, the lure of the world, and the lusts of the fleshly nature.

They both went back to the world, they went back to sin. Or were they ever saved to begin with?

Is there any assurance of an absolute and permanent salvation? Some say when a person turns away from God after genuinely being a Christian they lose the saving grace they once had. (This is the classic Armenian and Wesley position.) But others say when a person turns away from God and back to the world it proves they were never Christians to begin with. (This is the classic Calvinistic and reformed position.) So one says hey, “They were never saved to begin with.” And the other side says, “No sir, they once had it but they lost it.’ Where do you stand on this issue? There is yet the third position which is that once someone prays to the Lord and confesses their sin with repentance along with an outward profession of faith they are saved and they can never lose it.

But… people profess and then turn away. Sadly I am seeing a lot of it these days. Is it because of dead faith? You will find in the book of James three different kinds of faith. In James 2:14-26, we find James discussing those different kinds of faith, with an emphasis upon that faith which works to the saving of the soul. Those with a dead faith are just pretenders. Their “walk” does not measure up to their “talk”. Is only an intellectual faith and they have never really submitted themselves to God and trusted in Jesus for salvation. Any form of belief that does not result in a changed life and good works is a dead end street. It is dead. Dead, dead, DEAD! What about false faith? It says in 1 John 2:19, “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.” This is what John said about those that turned against Christ. He was making a point. Just like a healthy body keeps poison out of your system and will purge your body of the poison a healthy church or healthy Christian will purge itself from the poison. The insincere become detected and the apostates and revolters and antichrists, they went out, and are made manifest that they were not all of us.

You may be reading all these words about faith and thought we were on some rabbit trail. All this about faith is because a truly saved individual has saving faith. Saving faith causes a regeneration of the person which then becomes manifest in works revealing the fruit of the spirit. Others will know of your regeneration by your fruit. Without regeneration it is morally and spiritually impossible to savingly believe in Christ. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see, he cannot understand, he cannot come to Christ”, (John 3:3; 6:37, 44; 1 Cor. 2:14). Regeneration is the renewing of the heart and mind; and the renewed heart and mind must act according to their nature. This regeneration is the act of God alone. But faith is not the act of God. It is not God who believes in Christ for salvation; it is the sinner. Although it is by God’s grace alone that a person is able to believe, faith is an activity of the person alone. In saving faith we receive and rest upon Christ alone for salvation. It might be hard for you understand this concept that the Bible teaches but it is there. This is God’s way of salvation, expressing His supreme wisdom, power, and grace.

We are portrayed more than once in the Bible as sheep. There is a promise for the sheep. A true Christian, a true saved one, one with saving faith, cannot lose their salvation because of the promise scripture gives us. The shepherd gave his life for the sheep. Please allow me to turn your attention toward Jesus, The Good Shepherd in John. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand”, (John 10:27-28) Please let verse 28 sink in. He gives us eternal life and we will never perish and NEITHER SHALL ANY MAN PLUCK THEM OUT OF MY HAND! He holds us tight to his chest forever. Forever safe Forever saved.

A person that is truly one of Christ’s sheep, born again of the spirit has Christ as the shepherd with his body lying across the sheep-gate protecting and keeping His sheep. God is committed to them and he will never let them be lost.

Just be sure you have that saving faith.

Have your prayer be similar to that of the Psalmist’s:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart;

try me and know my anxieties;

“And see if there is any wicked way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.”

— Psalms 139:23-24

Believe and live!

“The Tubthumper”

Join me on the next post as we continue by looking at more evidence leading to “Once saved, always saved”. Click here to go to next post.

Click here to jump to other posts in the series:

Part 1 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

This post is about one of my long time pet peeves with the church. It is about the faces I see or have seen in the seats and pews that I no longer see. It is my concern for the sheep that have gone astray. I am often thinking about what is done to follow up with people and find out why they are not with us. Some like to call them lost. There is a piece of scripture that talks about the lost sheep. I prefer to call them strays. I call them strays because sheep just don’t get lost. They usually have a pen and they usually have a shepherd or some method of keeping them where they are supposed to be. If a sheep is not in the pen it is because it wandered off or strayed away to find something more exiting outside its pen.

So why am I talking about sheep anyway? I talk about sheep because we humans are like sheep in many ways. I know it is not very flattering to be compared to sheep but I didn’t design it, God did. The Bible actually compares us believers to sheep in the Gospel of John. It also describes Jesus Christ as the “Good Shepherd”. It is unfortunate that us sheep are disobedient and want to check out other pens. When a sheep wanders out and moves to another pen, away from the shepherd, the evil wolves wait to devour them.

In Jesus’ parable in Luke 15 we see that every sheep is important to the shepherd. Every person is important to Jesus. Whatever your situation in life, however bad you are, Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, “lays down His life for you.” He says, “Take My hand.” If you will turn your life over to Jesus Christ He will give you pardon, peace, purpose, power, and a permanent relationship with God.

When I look around and don’t see someone that once was present I want to find out where they wandered off to and what pen they are in. Sometimes I feel as though my concern is not shared. I even heard once that Jesus never followed up with anyone and there is no evidence in the Bible that he did so. I can’t argue the issue of no proof that Jesus followed up with anyone. But do we need to argue it? Who thinks Jesus needs to physically follow up with someone to know where they are? C’mon, we are talking about the great “I AM, I AM” here. He knows each and every hair on your head. He created all. He was here before here was here. He is omnipotent and sovereign. He doesn’t need to follow up because he knows. He knows your name and he knows where you are, what you are thinking and where your heart is.

There is evidence in the Bible that God does want us to follow up with people. There is plenty of evidence.

Let me start with a passage in the Old Testament: “The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.” (Ezekiel 34:4). God was not happy with the shepherds of Israel. They did not seek after the strays. They were out of favor because they didn’t work hard enough to save the lost sheep.

John Chrysostom said, “…if a human being wanders away from the right faith, great exertion, perseverance and patience are required; for he cannot be dragged back by force, nor constrained by fear, but must be led back by persuasion to the truth from which he originally swerved. The pastor therefore ought to be of a noble spirit, so as not to despond, or to despair of the salvation of wanderers from the fold, but continually to reason with himself and say, ‘Peradventure God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil.” Don’t be swayed by the reference to pastor in that passage because it pertains to all of us brethren. If we are saints in His kingdom we are all lay ministers and need to follow up with our fellow brothers and sisters in the kingdom.

Now I bring attention to what I call the “one another’s” in the Bible. There are many but we really only need to look at one. “Love one another”. That one is actually a commandment. Now I ask you this, “How can you love one another without following up with one another?” You can’t. Need I say more? If the Lord commands us to love one another he also is commanding us to follow up with one another.

I place before you a list of 22 of the fantastic ‘one another’ verses in the Bible. As you read through them ask yourself how many of them you can do without seeking the lost among us, finding the strays or following up.

1. ‘Do not deceive one another’ – Leviticus 19:11

2. ‘Show Mercy and Compassion to one another’ – Zechariah 7:9

3. ‘Love one another’ – John 13:34,35

4. ‘Be devoted to one another’ – Romans 12:10

5. ‘Live in Harmony with one another’ – Romans 12:16, 1 Peter 3:8

6. ‘Accept one another’ – Romans 15:7

7. ‘Instruct one another’ – Romans 15:14

8. ‘Agree with one another’ – 1 Corinthians 1:10

9. ‘Greet one another with a holy kiss’ – 2 Corinthians 13:12

10. ‘Serve one another in love’ – Galatians 5:13

11. ‘Bearing with one another in love’ – Ephesians 4:2

12. ‘Be kind and compassionate to one another’ – Ephesians 4:32

13. ‘Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs’ – Ephesians 5:19

14. ‘Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ’ – Ephesians 5:21

15. ‘Admonish one another’ – Colossians 3:16

16. ‘Encourage one another’ – 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Hebrews 3:13, Hebrews 10:25

17. ‘Spur one another on toward love and good deeds’ – Hebrews 10:24

18. ‘Do not slander one another’ – James 4:11

19. ‘Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling’ – 1 Peter 4:9

20. ‘Love one another deeply’ – 1 Peter 1:22

21. ‘Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another’ – 1 Peter 5:5

22. ‘Have fellowship with one another’ – 1 John 1:7

We are instructed to worship steadfastly (think about that word) and to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together but to exhort one another. (Hebrews 10:25)

So can you think of someone who hasn’t been to church in a long time? Did they leave without even an explanation or a good-bye? What about people in our communities and neighborhoods that just plain don’t go to church. Where’s the love?

Anyone that considers themselves a Christian and also considers themselves a leader should be taking a lead in showing genuine concern for the strays or for the lost. We should be seeking them with a “noble spirit” and as a patient servant.

We should be rounding up those strays.

It amazes me how fast I can fill a post with words…

God bless you all,

“The Tubthumper”

Tag: sheep

Finders Keepers, Part 2

Round up the Strays