Ask and answer. Also, an important question, namely, if you can't lose your salvation, what can the believer lose? And so let's get started by opening our Bibles to First Peter, chapter one. First Peter, chapter one. I read the fictitious story of a man who was taking it easy. He was laying on the grass and he was looking up at the clouds. And as he was enjoying the scenery and identifying the shapes, he decided to talk to God. And he said, God, how long is a million years? God answered, well, in my frame of reference, it's about a minute. Well, the man asked, well, God, how much is a million dollars? And God answered, well, to me, it's a penny. The man asked, God, can I have a penny? To which God answered, in a minute. Now, using that timetable, let's take less than a fraction of a second to address the question today. If you can't lose your salvation as it's eternal and secure, what can the believer lose? But since some of you weren't at our two previous studies, let's establish that first truth before we go on to the second. In first Peter, chapter one, let's begin in verse three. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, have begotten us again. We were born again onto a lively or living hope. by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, that fate is not a way reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Now, previously, we have looked at 25 proofs or reasons why, if you put your trust in Jesus Christ, your salvation is eternal and secure. It can never be lost. It can never be forfeited. It can never be returned. Thus, your salvation is certain and guaranteed. You can know the moment you put your faith in Christ that you're going to heaven. But let's attach to those 25 reasons five more. Number 26. All right, we covered that one already, didn't we? Because Christ has promised to never leave you and to never forsake you. That's how we ended last hour. Number 27. Your salvation is eternal and secure because you are kept by the power of God. The power of God. Now, he told his readers in verse 3, Peter told them, that they were born again. And it was all based on the finished work of Jesus Christ. Verse 4 again, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that faded not away, reserved in heaven for you. Now, does that sound like something that can be lost? Do words mean anything? The Bible is teaching here that your inheritance is not subject to decay. It's not subject to impurity. It's not subject to change. And it's reserved in a wonderful place. It's reserved in heaven for you. And that word reserved is in the perfect tense, which means at the point of time in which you trusted Christ, you were saved. That inheritance was reserved with the results continuing. It remains reserved to this very day. You see, it's talking here about a heavenly inheritance that every believer has. Your inheritance has no termination, no imperfection, and no change. Nothing can destroy it. Nothing can defile it. Nothing can change it, diminish it, or displace it. And you see, not only is your inheritance secure, Five says that the inheritors are secure, who, in reference to you as a believer, are kept by the power of God. Now the word kept there is in the present tense. Now remember, what did I say was true of your inheritance? It's reserved perfect tense. The moment you trusted in Christ this inheritance, was reserved and remains reserved. But in the meantime, you are constantly, present tense, being kept. Not only is your salvation secure, you are secure. And it's in the passive voice, which means, again, you don't keep yourself safe. God keeps you safe. It's not faith in Christ, plus a really good spiritual batting average. So every day I'm doing so good, I think I'm still saved. That's not it at all. Because if that was the case, you'd strike out. If you had to keep your salvation, you would never keep it for a day. So while you, I don't know, you can say, ah, you don't know how true blue I am. Yeah, remember Peter? I'll never deny you cock-a-doo-da-doo, cock-a-doo-da-doo, cock-a-doo-da-doo. were kept by the power of God. And we enter into that salvation, verse five, through faith, through faith in Jesus Christ. That's why eternal security does not refer or apply to people who simply claim to be saved, but have never really trusted in Christ alone. We're not talking about people who are religious here, we're talking about people who have come to understand that as ungodly, helpless, hopeless, hellbound sinners, that God in his love provided his son to die for their sins, picked up the penalty, and rose again from the grave, and now offers to them as a gift salvation, eternal life, forgiveness, redemption, a home in heaven, and on and on we could go to those who simply would receive that gift by putting their trust in Christ, by taking God at His word. It's that simple. So does the believer keep his inheritance secure? No, God does. Does the child of God keep himself eternally secure? No, God does. And thus, if you have put your faith in Christ alone today, you are kept by the power of God. Now, does this sound like something you can lose? Not at all. Proof number 28. Your salvation is eternal and secure because all your sins are forgiven forever. And to see this, go back to the Old Testament book of Psalms, Psalm 103. Now, when God forgives and that God is perfect, can He forgive imperfectly? If God is infinite, can God forgive finitely? Absolutely not. And therefore, in Psalm 103, let's begin in verse 10. He, God, hath not dealt with us after our sins. Praise the Lord for that. nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us." Now, forgiveness means God releases you from the guilt of your sin. Now, does God know all of your sins? Does He know the ones you've already done? Does He know the ones you're going to commit today? Does He know the ones you'll even commit tomorrow, or a week from now, or ten years from now? And when Jesus Christ died, did He not pay for all of those sins? So that the moment you come and put your faith in Christ, He forgives you totally. As far as the East is from the West. Now, how far is that? A long ways, right? In fact, the Bible says God takes, as it were, your sins and He puts them behind His back so that you're forgiven totally and completely. In fact, one passage says that He puts them into the depths of the deepest sea and someone has wisely come along and said, and someone put a no fishing sign there, because we're prone to drag up the past, aren't we? God has forgiven us totally. Completely. You see, are you saying, Pastor Rockster, that believers in the Old Testament who placed their faith in a coming Redeemer, not only were saved, but eternally secure? Were they eternally secure in the Old Testament too? Absolutely. That's why David was able to say in Psalm 23, I will dwell in the house of the Lord, how long? Forever. That's why Job was able to say, I know that my Redeemer liveth and in my flesh I shall see God. Boy, that was absolute assurance of his salvation being eternal and secure. You ask, but what about my future sins? Are they also forgiven? And the answer is yes. Colossians 2.13 says, And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, have he quickened or made alive together with Christ, having forgiven you all trespasses. And I say that because there are some who believe That when you get saved, only your past sins are forgiven. That you need to keep up to date with your present sins by way of confession. And that somewhere along the line, if you don't and you die with sin in your soul, you won't make it. Which means you don't have any more assurance of your salvation than some unbeliever who never heard the gospel. In fact, I was talking to one fellow once and he said to me that he believes something like that. And so I said, Buzz, are you telling me that if right now at the kitchen table you put your faith in Christ, And as you were walking out of the house, as you were coming to the street, you saw this beautiful woman go by and you lusted after her in your heart. And as you were walking across the street, you didn't notice the oncoming Mack truck because you had your eye on this cow. And all of a sudden, that truck ran right over you and you were flatter than a pancake. Are you telling me, though you put your faith in Jesus Christ, that you're going to go to hell because you didn't confess that sin? I said, boy, what are you really saying? That your sins can condemn you? What did Jesus die for on the cross? Now, am I condoning lust? No. Am I recognizing believer's sin? Yes. But that is what Christ died for. Completely and fully. And by the way, good news, Buzz understood the Gospel by the time it was over. And since that time, Buzz has died and went to be with the Lord he had come to trust. And he knew he was saved, not because of his righteousness, not because of his work, not because he was the best confessor in town, but because he had put his trust in Christ. Because you see, your salvation is eternal and secure because all your sins are forgiven forever. Number 29. Your salvation is eternal and secure, because though you may fall, you shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds you with His hand." Look at Psalm 27. You see, some people have this idea That salvation is like Noah's ark. But on the outside of the ark, there's this wooden peg. And I say, I know that ark can save me as long as I can hold on. If I can just hold on long enough, I'll make it. And though the flood's going to be high and it's going to be rough, and there's going to be all kinds of carnage floating all over the place, if I can just hang on long enough, I'll make it. And I'll make it because the ark can save me. Oh, wait a second. The ark plus your strength, plus your holding on, plus, plus, plus will save you. Now instead, what did they do in Noah's day? They walked through the door and the ark did all the saving. You didn't have to hold on to stay saved. And that is what the Bible teaches. And that's why in Psalm 37 we read in verse 23, The steps of a good man, a righteous man, are ordered by the Lord. And he delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. Why? Because he can really hold on good. No. For the Lord upholds him with His hand. And the word uphold literally means hold on. You see, it's not a matter of you holding on to Christ to be saved. It's a matter of Christ holding on to you. Because you've put your trust in Him. Do saved people ever fall? Do they ever fall into sin? Do they ever fall into disgrace? Do they ever fall into disuse? Do they ever fall into divine discipline? Yea, perhaps even unbelief? Yes? But the Lord still upholds and holds on to them with His hand. Hallelujah! That's eternal security. Which leads me to proof number 30. Your salvation is eternal and secure because though you may lose your reward in heaven for failing to faithfully serve Jesus Christ, God guarantees that you shall still be saved. And go with me now to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians 3. Now in 1 Corinthians 3, let's begin at verse 11. It says, For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, let's pause for a moment. Imagine for a moment a foundation here, and we'll make it Jesus Christ. Every person that is saved has that foundation. They've come to know the Lord, and now they must choose how they will live their life. Now they must choose what kind of materials they will use in building their life. Now, what are the choices? Now, if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, or stubble, as a believer, you make choices. What kind of building materials? Gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, stubble. In other words, you can choose to build your life through divine wisdom versus human wisdom. You can choose to live your life in a way that honors the Lord instead of honoring yourself. You can choose to live a life in which the Spirit of God can enable you to do the will of God, or you can just cater to your flesh. But one day, you will give an account. You will give an account of your post-salvation walk, your life, and your work. after you were saved. Now what is the purpose of that evaluation? Verse 13, Every man's work shall be made manifest, it will be revealed. For the day, the day of Christ, shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try or test every man's work of what sort of quality it is. So whatever materials you've chosen, one day God's going to put the fire test to it. Now, what happens to wood, hay, and stubble when you put fire to it? What happens to gold, silver, and precious stone? It stays in there. You see, these first three, wood, hay, and stubble, they're perishable. Gold, silver, and precious stone, they're permanent. Verse 14, if any man's work abide, this test by fire, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive what? A reward. Now, please keep in mind, salvation, eternal life, forgiveness, a home in heaven, is not a reward. It is a gift from God. Rewards are only for those who have received the gift. It's only for those who have been saved and have put their faith in Christ. And if you choose to live a life that honors the Lord, you're going to get a reward for that. But what if you don't? Verse 15, if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss. Loss of what? Loss of the reward he could have had. You say, are you sure he won't lose his salvation? Verse 15 ends by saying, but he himself shall be saved. Yet so as by or through fire. Now that phrase shall Be saved. I'm going to be technical for a moment. It's important. This is a future passive indicative. In the Greek, every Greek verb has a mood, a tense and a voice to it. And that's the case here. So what does that mean? That means though at the judgment seat of Christ, their whole life might go up in smoke. Yet, Because they have the foundation of Jesus Christ, they shall be saved in the future. Passive voice, God will save them. Indicative mood, it is a fact. That is the guaranteed promise of God. You can lose a reward, but you can't lose your salvation. That's tremendous. And that is what the Bible teaches. Now, while we're in 1 Corinthians 3, let's go back to chapter 2 for a moment. And let's see three men you need to recognize that ties right into what we just saw. If you do not understand these three categories in which God places people into, you will be confused about a number of verses in Scripture. The first individual is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14. It says, But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Now, here's our first person. He's a natural man. Now, the word natural is the Greek word, psuchikos. The word psuch, or psych, is the word for soul. Ikkos is the dominating factor of his life. Now, let me just illustrate that for a moment. Let's say you're the kind of person who has a big nose. And when people see you, they immediately, big nose, you know, they might not say, well, he's sure got a hunker of a proboscis, you know. The dominating factor of your life might be your nose. So we would, you know, in the Greek, it would be big nose Ikkos. You know, that would be the idea. Now, what he's saying here is that the natural man is dominated by his soul. He's a soulish man. Now, according to Jude verse 19, this kind of person does not have the Holy Spirit. And we know from Romans 8-9 that if you don't have the Holy Spirit, you're not saved. So the natural man is an unsaved person. He may be refined or not refined, cultured or uncultured, educated or uneducated, moral or immoral, religious or agnostic, but he is unsaved. And he doesn't have the Holy Spirit, and therefore verse 14 says that the things of the Spirit of God, the truths of the Word of God, are foolishness unto him, Neither can he know them because they're spiritually discerned. They're understood by means of the Holy Spirit, which he does not have. So when he reads the Bible, it's macaroni and spaghetti. It makes no sense. You know, he doesn't know what's coming about as he's reading the Bible. He may pick up some data and some information, but it never, ever comes together in his thinking because you have to be saved by hearing the gospel and putting your faith in Christ for the Spirit of God to indwell you and for the rest of Scripture to start to make sense. That's why the most important message the unsaved, natural man needs is he needs to hear the Gospel. For it's that message that the Holy Spirit uses to convict the lost and open their eyes to the truth of the Gospel of Christ and Him crucified. That's why in chapter 2, verse 2, Paul wrote, For I determined when He came to Corinth, not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's what Paul emphasized. That's what Paul preached, because that's what the unbeliever needs. But that's category number one. Now, notice the second individual he mentions, verse 15. But in contrast to the natural man, he that is spiritual. Here's our second guy. spiritual. Now, this is the Greek word pneumatikos. Now, we know what ikos means, right? Dominating factor. The word pneuma is the word for spirit. In other words, here is a person who is a spiritual believer. He has the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit of God is free to dominate him with the Word of God and thus influence his thinking and his actions and his decisions. Verse 15 says, But he that is spiritual judgeth all things. The word judge means discerns. In other words, because he's allowing the Spirit of God to take the Word of God to influence him, he can come to right conclusions. Yet he himself is judged or discerned of no man. In other words, the unbeliever can't really figure out the spiritual believer. You know, I don't know what makes that guy tick. You know? They don't really understand. Man, he was out doing this and used to do that. Now he goes to church twice a week. You know, I don't know what's got him. Really a religious nut. Jesus freak. Bible banger. You know, what's got into this guy? Well, the Spirit of God got into him. That's what happened. And not only the Holy Spirit entered him, the Holy Spirit is having his way in his life and in his thinking. And you know, the unbeliever doesn't think that. They can't say, well, it's the Lord. No. They just think, boy, that church he goes to must be a cult dominating his life. You know, I don't know what's going on there. It must be the church. You know, don't look at the pastor's eye. He puts you in a trance, you know, or something. You say, man, I can't see our pastor's eye. I can't get by the glare on his head, you know. But they don't understand. Verse 16, For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. You see, when you're walking into the control of the Spirit, allowing the Word of God to fill you with Jesus Christ, you develop the mindset of Jesus Christ. You get the perspectives that He has. And thus, you can think from a divine viewpoint. So that's person number two. Person number three, verse one. And I, brethren, term for a believer, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, verse 15, but as unto... category, carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. Now, that word carnal is the word sarkikos. Now, we know what ekos means. Sark is the word for flesh. The dominating aspect of this person's life is his sin nature. He's fleshly. He's operating under human viewpoint, under the control of his flesh, living for himself or through his own power. Now, is he saved? Is he saved? Yes, look at verse 1 again. And I, brethren, that's a term for a believer in the family of God. Look at the end of the verse. Even as unto babes in Christ. So are there people who are saved, members of the family of God, who are in Christ but are living fleshly lives? The very thing that characterizes their life is carnality. And I say that because there are people who say, well, genuine believers may slip into sin and lapse occasionally, but they don't live carnal lives. Wait a second, the word carnal carries the idea of the dominating factor in their life. And what about these believers? Did they have prolonged carnality? Verse 2, I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are you able, for you are yet carnal. They had remained. Characterized by carnality over a prolonged period of time. For you see, there are those today who say, well, if you're truly saved, you may lapse into sin, but you won't live in sin. Well, really. Now, let me ask a question. Is it possible for a believer to be carnal for one second? Well, yeah. How about one minute? Well, yeah. Well, how about one hour? How about one day? How about one week? How about one month? When do you finally realize you were never saved? Well, when you're thinking that way, it's all quantitative and all subjective. And therefore, people are looking for the assurance of salvation in their walk instead of Christ's work. And Paul didn't doubt these believers' salvation. He said they were in Christ, so he recognized that their sin nature, And the thinking of this world is what characterized their life. And as a result, it stunted their spiritual growth and that they had a limited capacity for the Word of God, namely, milk. Now, let me illustrate this for a moment. It might help you put this together. Remember, Jesus talked about the broad road and the narrow road. The one leads to hell, the other leads to heaven. And before an individual is saved, They're on the broad road that leads to hell. Now, in doing so, they might live for a number of things. They live for themselves, obviously. They might live for their job, or they might live for sex, or they might live for approbation, just running around like a chicken with his head cut off trying to please everybody. They might live for pleasure, having a hedonistic mentality. They might be striving for a certain position or status in life. And they're especially occupied most of the time with things that they want to accumulate and the cares of the world. And through hearing the gospel and the good news of what Jesus Christ died for them, and paid for their sin and rose again, they understood that Christ alone was the only way to heaven. And through putting their trust in Jesus Christ, they come through the door and they receive eternal life. And now it is guaranteed they will go to heaven. Now, God wants them to grow from spiritual babyhood, to being a spiritual adolescence, to be spiritually mature. Between the time they were saved from the penalty of sin, to the time in which they are saved from the very presence of sin with the Lord. In other words, God wants them to grow, walk by means of the Holy Spirit so that they can enjoy salvation from the power of sin in their life and become more and more like Jesus Christ. And yet, because you have a will, you have choices to make. And too often believers, instead of being a spiritual believer and allowing the Holy Spirit to control them, They live their lives in a way that runs parallel to the broad road that leads to hell. And they live for themselves and their job and their sex. They put themselves first and try to please everybody. And they live for things and so forth. And when that's true, are they still saved? Yes. And is their destiny still going to be heaven? Yes. But living a carnal life means they live a life that has little impact on anyone for Christ. They lose fellowship with God. They'll lose reward in heaven. It's basically one great big waste of a life. Now, these Corinthians were carnal. It's interesting. I just happened to turn on the TV this morning as I was getting my daughter ready for church, at least part of getting her ready. And I turned on channel 21, and here's this preacher saying, the myth of the carnal Christian. There's no such thing as a carnal Christian. Because if you're saved and you don't live, da-da-da-da-da-da, you are never really saved. I thought, that's what I'm preaching on this morning. The truth of the carnal Christian. Now, is it true? Does God want you to live carnally? No! He didn't save you to be a what-not. He saved you for a purpose. If you want your life to honor Him, yes. Should your life be a great big thank you note for your salvation? Yes. Should the love of Christ motivate you? Yes. But reality is that believers do sin. And that's why Jesus taught the parable of the four soils. that the seed of the soil, one landed on hard ground and the birds came and plucked it up and he taught us that Satan comes and plucks the seed of the Word out of people's hearts so they do not believe. This is soil number one right there, the unbeliever. Soil number two says that the seed was received and that they believed for a while, but then when difficulty came, they caved in. and never continued to grow and therefore did not bear fruit. Were they saved? Absolutely. But they are living carnal lives. You know, when the seed was received, there was life and there was limited growth, but no fruitfulness. And then he told soil number three, the seed fell on ground that had thistles. And it was received. But pretty soon, the thistles grew up next to it and choked out the Word in their life. And he says, these are like individuals that receive the Word of God, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things choke out the Word and they become unfruitful. Are they saved? Absolutely. Are they going to be in heaven one day? Absolutely. Were they fruitful? No. And then he said, there is a fourth seed. the forced soil, who not only received the word, but kept receiving and kept responding. And as a result, they bore fruit 30 fold, 60 fold, 100 fold. The Bible teaches this in a number of places, and we need to understand it. Now, look again at verse 11 and see how this doesn't fit with what he was saying. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and stubble. Now, take a look. Who's building with wood, hay? Wood, hay and stubble. Right here, right? The carnal believer. Who's building with gold, silver, precious stone? A spiritual believer. Verse 13, Every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall be declared, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort of quality it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive what? A reward. A reward. If any man If any man's works shall be burnt, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved. Yet so as through the fire." Very clear in what the Bible teaches. You see, there's coming a day at the judgment seat of Christ, after the rapture of the church, which is the next event on God's prophetic timetable, in which the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. At that time, our post-salvation lives will be evaluated whether or not we receive a reward or not. Heaven is not the issue. And these rewards are likened to crowns in the Bible. The crown of life for believers being faithful to God on death and trials, James 1.12, Revelation 2.10. The crown of righteousness for believers being faithful in doing God's will, 2 Timothy 4, verses 7 and 8. The crown of glory for pastors being faithful in their ministry, 1 Peter 5, verses 1 through 4. If you're saved, if you put your trust in Christ, the issue is not will you go to heaven? The question is, will you hear from the Lord? Well done, thou good and faithful servant. As he evaluates your post salvation life. And so if you trusted in Christ alone and you can't lose your salvation, You can still lose through carnality what? Your reward in heaven. Now go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 9 and let me expand that a little more. 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Same book, same author. And he addresses later the same issue. 1 Corinthians 9, let's begin in verse 24. No ye not, the day which run in a race, all run, run all, they all run. Now, if you've ever been down to grandma's marathon, you see that they don't all run. Some walk, and some walk very painfully in time. But his idea is, when you have a race, they all run. But one receives the prize. Only one comes in first. So run that you may obtain." Obtain what? A prize for running. Now, salvation is not a prize for running. It's a gift for doing nothing but putting your trust in Christ. This is for the believer. Verse 25, And every man that strives for the mastery is self-controlled, he's temperate in all things, Now, they do it to obtain a corruptible crown. You see, in those days, there was the Isthmanian Games and later the Olympic Games. We know them. And as they would compete against other athletes, they would do it to gain a crown, a little wreath that would be put on the head. And the significance wasn't in the wreath because it didn't hardly cost a thing. But wearing that crown back to your town Honor associated with it caused these athletes to be very vigorous in their training, very determined in their course of athletics. They do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we, an incorruptible crown, one that will never corrupt, never decay. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, So fight I, not as one that beats the air, but I keep under my body. The idea there is I keep my body under control. I discipline my body and I bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. Now, I need to clarify the last phrase. A castaway. The word be is the Greek word. You know, my, you know, my means to become. To become. A castaway. Something that Paul was not, but could become. Now, the word castaway is the Greek word a document. So that's all Greek to me. I know a little Greek. Yeah, he's a guy who owns this fish market down Canal Park, a document. Now, documents means approved. Approved means put to the test and as a result or for the purpose of approving something, you see that word are there are means no, no approved. Paul says, while I preach to others, one day I could stand before the Lord and be disapproved, disqualified to receive the crown, the prize. You see, if someone was running a race and he decided, like that lady a few years ago in the New York Marathon, to take a bus and cut across town and then jump back in the race and finish. And they would have never caught her had they not had cameras set up. And see, she didn't cross checkpoints 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. You see, when you run unlawfully, you don't gain the prize. When you violate the rules, you lose. And the idea here is Paul recognized it was possible for him while having preached to other people. to stand before the Lord one day saved, but have his ministry disapproved and thus disqualified to receive the crown. Now he writes this in around 59 to 60 AD. Paul knew he was saved forever, yet he feared standing before Jesus Christ one day and not hearing, well done thou good and faithful servant. He was concerned about God's disapproval of his post justification works and whether he would persevere and finish the race. Now, that was honest, because, you know, who plans to bomb spiritually, who said who says, well, you know, I'm planning to just waste the rest of my life in carnality. I mean, nobody plans to bomb spiritually. Now, sometimes they think, well, you know, I really want to do this right now. And they have all this lust and this desire to sin in whatever particular way. And they're thinking, well, well, when it's over, I'll just get right with the Lord and we'll move on. And they do it and they don't get right with the Lord. And sin perpetuates and their heart gets harder. And before you know it, they've been out of fellowship, not for one hour, not for one week. Look at 2 Timothy 4 with me. And we'll see some of the last words he ever wrote at the end of his life. Did he finish the race? Will he gain the reward? In 2 Timothy 4, we begin in verse 6. Now, 2 Timothy is the last book he ever wrote. Verse 6, for I am now ready to be offered, I'm ready to depart, I'm ready to die. And the time of my departure is at hand. It's right around the corner. 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. 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 that love His appearing." Notice, Paul says he knew he was going to get a crown of righteousness. A reward for fighting the good fight of faith. For finishing the course God had for him. And for keeping the faith. The issue was one of faithfulness and therefore reward, not salvation. You know, a week ago, last Friday, I went with my son to the monster truck races at the deck. I've never done that before, and frankly, I don't think I'll ever do it again. And I went not because I really like monster trucks, but my son loves cars and trucks. I wanted to spend some quality time with him. So we got our earplugs. You put these hearing devices over your ears if you've got them. And we met some other believers there. So we sat down and we had a nice time together. And you watch these big monster trucks. They have all these clunkers in this line. And they're going to get smashed. And they have these big monsters. They go and they hit that first one. They go way up in there and they come down. And they make it. And they time them. 4.3 seconds. And I thought, you know, that's like a lot of believers. Start out the Christian life. You wonder if they're going to finish or not. And you know, there's some ups and downs in the Christian life, aren't there? In fact, you know, one of those trucks, he basically hit and jumped almost all of them and came down at the end and his wheel just fell right off. Now, it's not easy jacking up a monster truck and dealing with that issue. And I thought, boy, this is like believers. They lose a wheel and they go up and down. But by the grace of God, they finish. They finish. And I thought to myself, this is amazing. Some 5,000 people at $13 a head to breathe in exhaust fumes and lose their hearing. And here, I offer them to come and hear the Word of God for free. I'm not interested. Now Paul said that this reward is not only something he knew was going to happen to him, but was possible for all of us. Verse 8 ended by saying, "...and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." Now why do they love His appearing? Because they love Him, Jesus Christ, because He first loved them. and because they're occupied with and looking to Him. You see, living by faith is a battle. But the resources of God's grace are available for all of us to live victoriously and finish the race and receive the crown. So who are you living for? Is it Jesus Christ, the Leader? Or is it for yourself? And what excuses are you using for your own carnality? Are you blaming others? Christians oftentimes do that. Well, you know, so-and-so wasn't very kind to me. He said this. Well, I said, oh, that's really, I'm really sorry to hear that. But why is that stopping you serving Jesus Christ? You know, when you stand before the Lord one day, you would say, well, so-and-so said something nice, wrong to me. And the Lord says, oh, really? Blow that one away. Forget that. What are you using? You're mad at God. I'm mad at God, because He didn't do it my way. Really? He is God. He does have some prerogatives, and He does know what's best. And that's a test of faith. And you know, sometimes new believers, they get saved, and they're just, I'm saved, and they're thrilled about this, and one day the balloon pops. Beep! What have I done? Especially if someone comes along and says, you know, you're really changing. God is saying, you haven't changed enough. But others, they might be a little shocked by it. You may begin to doubt things. You're going to realize you can't live on somebody else's fellowship. You've got to learn how to fellowship with the Lord and taste and see that He is good. And Satan comes along and uses the world as a word to tempt you and says, why don't you just quit, hang up the spikes and go back to the world. Remember how great it was in the world? Yeah, puking every Friday night and waking up with a hangover, not remembering what I did. Yeah, really living, you know. You know, on Monday morning say, did you have a good weekend? Oh yeah, it was great. What did you do? I can't remember. Can't wait for this Friday night though, you know. And the other guy says, who has to wait until Friday night? Let's go tonight, you know. On the other hand, God allows trials in our life to test us and say, now what is it you really want, believer? Are you going to let what that person said hang you up? Are you going to let the idiosyncrasies of that pastor hang you up? Are you going to let that difficulty stop you from trusting the Lord and moving on for Him? And when you do, God just puts you to the test and you flunked. You flunked the test. Now God is quick to forgive. In fact, let's go to 1 John 1. Walls handy. And we'll see how do you handle it when you sin. For you see, the second thing you lose, and that's about all the fire that we're going to get today, that you can lose through carnality is your fellowship with God. In 1 John 1, let's begin at verse 3. John writes, "...that which we have seen and heard declare unto you that you also may have..." Underline it. "...fellowship with us." and truly are, underline it again, fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things write unto you that your joy may be full. John is writing so that as a believer, you might have fellowship with God. Now again, you must distinguish between being a member of the family of God and having fellowship with God. The moment you're born again, you enter the family of God, the forever family of God. And now you have the privilege of having fellowship with God. But fellowship can fluctuate. Salvation does not. He's writing that you might have fellowship with the Father and with His Son. Verse 5, this then is the message which we have heard of Him and declare unto you that God is light, He's holy, He's true, and in Him is no darkness or lie or sin at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, And at the same time, we're walking in darkness. The result is we lie and do not the truth. Now, in verse 6, verse 7, verse 8, verse 9, and verse 10, we have the word, if. And in this case, it's in the third class condition, which means these are all conditional clauses. It requires that something be fulfilled. There's a condition, and then you will see that there are two consequences in each case. Verse 6, if we say we're having fellowship with Him, and at the same time we're walking in darkness, consequence number one is we lie. Consequence number two is we do not the truth. See, obedience to the will of God is the byproduct of being in fellowship with God. When you are sinning, when you're not doing the will of God, it's because as a believer you are out of fellowship with God. Now you might think you're in fellowship, you can claim you're in fellowship, but you are not in fellowship with God. And I want to say that because sometimes believers deceive themselves in this. They're very double-minded. They're living for Christ and they're living for the world, trying to put their arms around both at the same time. It does not work. And as a result, they lose sensitivity. And they might blame others while they admit nothing. And they're dishonest about their fellowship with God. Verse 7, But, in contrast to that, if we walk in the light... Here's another one. walk, present tense, if we keep on walking, where? In the light. Now this doesn't demand sinless perfection because we could never have fellowship then. But it means that we walk in the realm of truth and that which is pleasing or holy. And the only way to do that is by walking by faith in the Word of God. It's more than just a genuinely positive attitude towards God. It's an attitude that's responding by faith to the Lord in your own personal life, day by day, moment by moment. It's a walk. If we walk in the light, if he's in the light, notice the two conditions. One, we have fellowship with Him, fellowship with God, and what's the second thing? Verse 7. And the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. He cleanses us from sin. Now this is in the present tense. That means as you're walking by faith in the Lord through His Word, you are enjoying a fellowship with Him, an open, communicative, relational, fellowship, and in doing so, God keeps cleansing you from sin. He's changing your life. He's giving you victory over sin in your life because He's giving victory over the flesh that produces the sin. Verse 8. Here's another one. If we say that we have no sin... Now, before you leave, notice that the word sin It's singular. It's not plural. It's not, if we say we have no sins. You see, that's taken up in verse 10, when it says, if we say that we have not sinned. Now, this is a noun. If we say we have no sin nature. You know, there are even Bible teachers today who believe in one-natureism. They believe that when you get saved, you lose your sin nature. Men like John MacArthur, Charles Stanley, K. Arthur and others believe that. That is not what the Bible teaches. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. Isn't that cute? We don't deceive anybody else. Ask your wife. Does your husband have a sin nature? Oh, does he? Well, he claims he doesn't. He's lying again. We deceive ourselves and the truth, the Word of God on this issue is not residing in us. Verse 9, here's another one. If we, what this time? Confess. If we confess what? Our sins, plural. Now this is in the present tense. If we keep on confessing our sin. Now you can confess what you don't. No. But as you're walking in the light, the Spirit of God takes the Word of God to show you. Boom! That's wrong. Boy, you've been thinking wrong over there. Now that doesn't mean you're yielding to your flesh at that moment in that area necessarily. He starts to show you, you know, what you said to your wife an hour ago was very inappropriate. And you know how she swore at you? That was wrong too. Do Christians ever do that? Somebody said, no. You liar. Now, does God want you to do that? No. If we confess our sins. Now, you only can confess what you know. I've never confessed an unknown sin in my life, have you? I don't know of any sin here, Lord, but I'm confessing it. No, you can only confess what you know. But if you're willing to be honest with the Lord and to have a good relationship with anyone, you've got to be honest, don't you? If you're going to have a good relationship with the Lord, you've got to be honest with Him. You've got to put your cards on the table and do business with Him. Now, our part is if we confess our sins, two consequences, remember? Number one, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Do you have to ask Him to do it? Do you have to ask God to forgive your sins? No. In fact, don't ask Him. Just confess it as a believer. You say, well, what do you mean? I thought we were already saved. It's not an issue of confessing sin. It's not an issue of confessing sin. To get saved, confession of sin deals with fellowship after you're saved. And if you're not willing to confess what God is pointing out in your life, You're not going to have fellowship with Him. And by the way, God doesn't point out everything at once. He knows that He would put you into shock. I mean, if He just started to say, now I'm going to show you everything about you. You know, you're going to say, let's get over that thing. I can't handle this. So God, carefully like a chef, takes you as it were an onion and starts to just peel. And He peels the first layer and you go, oh, I didn't think I was that bad. God says, that's the first layer. The next, next layer. Third, he says, I'm just getting down to some of the root things down here. You know, the external things at first. This is the real easiest thing, you know? And I got drunk the other night. I don't think God was pleased with that. That's pretty easy. What about mental attitudes, then? like pride, self-righteousness, envy, competition, covetousness. Now God started, I'm getting down that little part of it. You look at how proud and arrogant you were, how stubborn you were in that situation. God answered, six things does the Lord hate, yet seven are abomination. Number one was what? A proud look. And so God starts to show you these things. And as He shows you, you just want to say, you know, you're right, Lord. That was wrong then. Thank you for showing me that. I confess it for the purpose of forsaking it and admit that I am not capable of living the Christian life. That's why I need you and I'm depending on you. And God wants to teach you how to live by faith. So if you look at all the verses on living by faith in the Bible, and you look at the verses on confessing your sin in the Bible, relative to the believer's walk, you will see that the ones by faith greatly outnumber the ones that are confessing. Now, some people have gotten imbalanced in that, and they say, well, there's no place to confess your sin as a Christian. There are some who teach that. Well, that isn't true. On the other hand, the key to the Christian life isn't being the best confessor in town. It's learning to live by faith and understanding your position in Christ, Romans 6, and how to unleash the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, Romans 8 and such. So, consequence number one, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, consequence number two, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, even those sins we're unaware of. Because even when you confess your sin, God says, well, that was just the tip of the iceberg, but I'll forgive the whole thing. Because you are really honest about that. And you are willing to come on my terms and admit it, and I'll forgive you, and I'll cleanse you, even those other things that you never saw. And that's why as you grow in the Lord, you begin to look back and say, whew, God cleansed me about a lot of different things I never even realized that were going on. But it allowed me to enjoy fellowship with Him, so that I could grow in grace, and increasingly see these matters. Now, what's the opposite of confession, verse 10? If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. The opposite is to cover your sin. Now, what do you do when you cover it? You just deny it or justify it or ignore it? In fact, let me ask you a question. When's the last time you admitted to God you sinned? Now let me take it a step further. When was the last time you admitted to your mate that you sinned? Do you ever admit you're wrong to your husband? Ever? You say, yeah, when I married you. No, I'm beyond that. Do you ever admit, you know, I was wrong there? Or to your wife, you know, I shouldn't have said that. Boy, was I insensitive there. Or boy, I was really unthoughtful. I'm really sorry. Well, you forgive me. Now, you have to ask for forgiveness, usually from a human, because they haven't guaranteed it. But you don't have to ask from God. He's guaranteed it. Now, I can imagine already someone saying, boy, you mean all I have to do is confess my sin and I get restored to fellowship? Well, if that's the case, let's sin and we'll just 1 John 1, 9 and after. Chapter 2, verse 1. My little children, these things write I on to you, I'm writing this on to you, that you sin not. Don't think for a moment that what I've written is to be a license to sin. It's not. In fact, the idea of the Greek here is, I'm writing these things on to you that you don't sin even one time. And you know, that's one of the things about the grace of God. It can be abused. Now that doesn't mean you don't teach it. You have to just teach it correctly. I pray people will respond correctly. Your salvation and even the ability to respond back to fellowship with God through confessing your sin is all on the basis of grace. It's based on what Christ has done for you. But it's never designed to be a license for you to live in ungodliness for yourself and in sin. Now he moves from the ideal at the beginning of verse 1 to the real in the second part of verse 1. For he says, and if any man sin. Now that's the real. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Now that's the super deal. And He is the propitiation for our sins. And not for ours only. But also the sins of the whole world. God doesn't want us to sin. God has provided a means by which we don't have to sin. Based on our position in Christ, the power of the Spirit, the promises of the Word of God. We're willing to walk by faith. And as a result, we can have fellowship with God and we can grow as a believer. And our wives can count for Him. And yet reality is, even in the midst of best intentions, we do sin. And He wants to assure us that when we sin, we have a defense attorney, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He is the propitiation, He is the satisfactory payment for our sins and not for ours only. Not only for believer's sins, but also for the sins of the whole world. I've used the illustration before, I end with it today. Some people have the idea that God is on a swivel chip. And when you sin, He swivels. And when you confess, He swivels back. And that isn't what the Scriptures teach at all. Because based on the work of Jesus Christ, the Father has been propitiated. He's satisfied. The fact, however, is we're on a swivel chair. And when we get saved, we turn to Jesus Christ and we trust Him for our salvation. And we believe He died for us on that crop and rose again. And that God will save us just like He said. And we take Him at His Word and we're saved from the penalty of sin. And we know we're going to heaven now. But we have decisions to make in our life. And every time we choose to go our own way, we swivel away from the Lord. And when we swivel back in faith and confession when needed, we have fellowship with this God who has not changed. who keeps loving us, who keeps treating us in grace, and who desires our fellowship more than we desire His. And we have a defense attorney there to defend us against every accusation, the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we're safe and we're eternally secure in Him. And though we can lose a reward in heaven, though we can lose fellowship with God in the meantime, we can never lose our salvation. What an amazing God of grace we have. Don't you love Him? Don't you want to praise Him? Don't you want to say thank you to Him? And by His grace, shouldn't you want to live for Him? Father, I want to just thank you again for your word. Thank you for its clarity. Thank you that we study it carefully by your grace, we can rightly divide it and not be confused on these issues. Father, I would pray today for anyone here who has never been saved. They've never put their trust in Christ alone. And maybe they've run down a lot of dead-end streets trying to find purpose and happiness and meaning in life, and they keep coming up empty because life is found in Jesus Christ. Or maybe they're religious, and they thought that by their works that they have to strive to be saved. And they've heard now it's a gift. paid for by Christ, offered in love, and received through simple faith in Him. Should someone be here today, Father, who doesn't know for sure they're saved, I pray that You would convince them of the truth, and cause them to see that right now, in the quietness of their heart, where they're seated, they can decide to put their trust in Christ, and become a new creation in Christ, and get a new life, and be forgiven. and settle their eternal destiny. Bless them with that sense of restlessness in their heart, Father, till they come to rest by faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work for them. And for those of us who are saved, Father, may we not waste our life in carnality. May we be careful in the materials we choose to build our life with. May it be from your Word may be to fulfill your will through the power of your Holy Spirit. May we not quit in running the race, but may we persevere to the end, that as a result we might hear one day, well done, thou good and faithful servant. And when we sin against you, may we be quick to confess it and keep short accounts with you and learn to live by faith, walking in the light that we might have fellowship with You, and that You might continue to cleanse us from sin, and change our lives, and make it more and more like Jesus Christ. What great hope You give to all of us, Father, through Your Word and by Your grace. And so, Father, help us not to abuse Your grace, but may it motivate us out of love for the Lord Jesus, to live for Him who died for us. For it is in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.