Deut 13:13 - Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;

        There is a great move of God coming in this last hour. One of the highlights of this move will be a setting free of God’s people from error that has kept them in bondage and in some cases damned others who thought they were saved to an eternal hell. The Lord Jesus Christ is NOT divided. There are not two, three, four gospels. There is only one gospel, one faith, one Lord and one baptism. There are not two ways to get to heaven. There is only ONE and that way has been made plain by God from the beginning of man's fall and man's redemption through Jesus Christ.

        Paul wrote that in the last days there would be a great falling away. He said many whom once knew God would turn their back on God and depart from the faith. Many in Christendom teach today that once you are saved this is impossible. While I’m not writing this message to correct or rebuke or draw lines in the sand, I do want to say this one thing.  If it were to be impossible for a person to WILLFULLY walk away from the Lord and backslide and NOT lose his eternal soul, WHY THEN ARE THERE SO MANY WARNINGS IN THE BIBLE AGAINST IT? Why do we wrestle the scriptures to our own destruction. How many sincere, but misguided people are in hell today because a preacher or teacher or friend told them they were ok and there was no need to repent of their sins because they had said a prayer. “You are still saved, just out of fellowship,” is a favorite saying. In addition, many that doubt their salvation are often told, “Don’t pay that any mind, the devil is telling you that.” Friends, why would Satan, who is called the DECEIVER of all mankind, want to do something to get you to believe the TRUTH about your salvation experience? Most of the time people who are doubting their salvation have good reason to be doubting it. John said we would KNOW that we are born again by the assurance the Holy Spirit gives us in our hearts. While I do agree the enemy seeks to lie to us, attack us, and cause us to doubt God’s love for us, he is not interested in seeing people come to a saving knowledge of the TRUTH – JESUS CHRIST. Truth is more than abstract theological ideas. IT IS A PERSON. Millions are in hell today who held on to abstract theology but they never met the MASTER. They never had a one on one encounter with Jesus.

        I heard a sermon very recently on the straight and narrow way of salvation. Jesus said that more people would die and go to hell than would go to heaven. He said most would miss the mark or way to find eternal life. Many would cast out devils, heal the sick, prophesy, do miracles and other wonderful works, yet stand before the judgment of God without hope of mercy or reprieve because they were deceived. How sad and horrific to think of the blood that will be on the hands of so many who convinced these people those “doubts” were of Satan, when in fact those doubts were the prompting of the Holy Spirit to get our lives right with the Lord before eternity called.

        I was raised Southern Baptist. My dad is a godly man who loves the Lord and has ministered the gospel for nearly 35 years. In 1987, I had an encounter with Jesus that changed my life when He gloriously baptized me in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking with other tongues. I can remember the transitional years between leaving the Baptist denomination and finding a place of ministry in the Pentecostal work. One of the hardest things to deal with was the difference in opinions between the two camps on this one issue – the doctrine of unconditional eternal security.

        While growing up I was taught that once you got saved you could NEVER lose your salvation no matter what you did over the course of your life.  This doctrine basically taught that even if you backslid you would only fall out of fellowship with God but if you died, you would go to heaven - even if you died in that backslidden state. I was told that the worst possible scenario was that you would probably lose any crowns you might have received if you had stayed faithful throughout your life to the Lord Jesus. Regardless of the state you died in, as long as you had been saved at some time in your past, you were never in any danger of eternal damnation. Attached to this teaching was a fact that there was such a thing as a sin unto death but even committing that sin would not jeopardize your eternal soul.

        When I entered the Pentecostal realm of the church things changed. All of a sudden I was being taught that even though you were saved you were ALWAYS in jeopardy of losing your soul at the least little thing you did. Basically, it came down to a saved today, lost tomorrow thing which I found very unsettling to say the least having been raised and taught what I had been all my life. I found myself questioning the grace of God about my own experience. I had had a knowledge of Christ since I was small. I was baptized at age seven but in all honesty cannot say that I had had a true born again experience. In my heart, I believe that in the fall of 1986 right before I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit that I came to a true and saving knowledge of Jesus despite battling sins of my flesh and past.

        That brings me to my next point. As I was watching the two sides fight it out I began looking at the people doing the talking. People who heralded “once saved, always saved,” were people usually not living for God and making no pretense to live for God. Others who were living for God were very Pharisaical and always quick to judge someone else's' salvation experience by comparing it to their own. Paul told us emphatically to “work out our own salvation with FEAR AND TREMBLING." This was not the attitude from most of the proponents of this doctrine.

        On the other side of the coin the people saying you could lose your salvation were people who lived in constant fear and were bound by so much legalism their Christian lives were not one of joy, but sadness. If serving Jesus brought this on – “please deliver me from this!” I would think. In addition, the people who were opposing the “once saved, always saved” theory were always quick to judge people and condemn them to hell without allowing ANY room for the grace of God to cover their failures and sins. Most were very arrogant and rude as well.

        On a personal level this battle was heartrending. I found myself holding on to the fact I knew I was saved, yet in my heart I knew I was battling sins and not getting victory. I knew God loved me and He wanted me to overcome these things – but would He disqualify me from heaven if I didn’t? And then there was my family ties. My dad was most concerned about me entering the Pentecostal work over this one issue. The tongues didn’t bother him. The striving to live a holy life didn’t bother him. The Pentecostal praise and worship didn’t bother him. THIS BOTHERED HIM GREATLY. As I got older and we saw less and less of each other we would talk about this on separate occasions with him trying to convince me the Pentecostals were wrong. His argument was simple but a valid one – what sin was it that caused you to lose your salvation? I didn’t have an answer for him because the people telling me about their beliefs didn’t have one either.

        On a side note, I remember when I left the Baptist church and went into the Pentecostal work that I was expecting Pentecostal people to be “gods” and perfect. I had had brushes with the charismatic experiences through my mother’s side of the family but up until 1987 had been one of the movements’ biggest skeptics and critics. It didn’t take me long to look around and realize that Pentecostals were just as carnal as most Baptists, just as arrogant, just as rude, just as unfaithful at times, just as haughty, dealing with just as many demons, and having just as many questions and fears about their walk with the Lord even though many of them I knew spoke in tongues. Unfortunately, I had fallen into the trap most Pentecostals fall into – SPIRITUAL PRIDE and ARROGANCE.

        I felt like because I spoke in tongues I knew more than anyone else and had become better than my dad and everyone I knew in the Baptist denomination. When the Pentecostal people I had met questioned this doctrine, it was very easy to accept because I had already developed a prejudice against the Baptist view of eternal security. What I hurt about to this day is that I dished my roots for a movement. I became blind to God’s love for people of all beliefs even those who didn’t see eye to eye with me on certain things – including the doctrine of unconditional eternal security.

        So please understand what I am about to say is not being said adamantly or arrogantly or with any movement in mind to defend or uphold. I don’t have a movement or doctrine to defend – the BIBLE doesn’t need defending. Let me draw the line in the sand right here: I don't think a person really ever LOSES their salvation because once we are born again we become a child of God. However, a child of God, THROUGH WILLFUL SIN and a WILLFUL DECISION can apostasize and go back to their old life. The people who do this are in eternal jeopardy and will NOT INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE - unless they repent and make things right with God before they die. The brevity of life dictates to us that we do not need to wait till tomorrow. TODAY is the day of salvation!

The Three Sins God Will Not Forgive

There are three sins listed in scripture that the Lord Jesus said men would not find forgiveness for:

• Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit

• Unforgiveness

• A sin that has not been confessed

Matt 12:31 - Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.

Matt 6:14-15 - For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

I Jn 1:7-10 - But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

        Another sin that is mentioned in scripture that the Lord said He would not grant forgiveness for is when we forsake the Lord and serve strange gods AFTER HE HATH DONE US GOOD. This was not speaking of an isolated miscue or single sin – it was an attitude of the heart that drew Israel away from the worship of the true and living God. He told Joshua to warn Israel that if they did this, which they did, He would do them hurt. Israel went into gross idolatry and God forsook them.

Josh 24:19-20 - And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.

20 If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.

        In taking up this theme in the New Covenant, Paul warns us that the backslidings of Israel were recorded in scripture to give us a warning:

1 Cor 10:1-12 - Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;

4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.

7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.

9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.

10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Look at what Paul said about Israel:

• They all passed through the cloud

• They all passed through the sea

• They were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and the sea

• They did all eat the same spiritual meat

• The did ALL drink the same spiritual drink – and that Rock was Christ

Paul said that AFTER they did these things, some were OVERTHROWN in the wilderness. Why? Because they:

• Committed Idolatry

• Lusted after worldly things

• Murmured and complained

• Committed fornication

• Tempted Christ

•  

Again, these are not isolated sins or miscues on the part of the individuals involved. Israel committed these sins as a result of an attitude of the heart that caused them to forsake God and be overthrown after they had experienced the salvation experience given to Old Testament believers. As a result, many lost their souls and wound up in Hades, or Sheol, which was the place of departed spirits during Old Testament times.

        If God didn’t spare Israel as Paul wrote in Romans 11, and God didn’t spare the angels that sinned as stated Hebrews 2, where do we stand today? Is our covenant based upon a different element or condition other than obedience to the Lord? NO! Our standing today as Gentiles is based upon the NEW COVENANT – GIVEN TO ISRAEL in Jeremiah 31 and restated in Hebrews 10.

Jer 31:31-34 - Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:

33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

        Paul said that we Gentiles need to understand that if God spared not the natural branches which by purpose and plan were set to inherit the promises but some missed it by unbelief – THEN WE SHOULD NOT BOAST -  BUT FEAR!

Rom 11:13-21 - For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:

14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.

15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.

20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:

21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.

        The attitude of the church world today is this: We are the chosen of God, not Israel. We can live like we want to live, we can do what we want to do, we can believe what we want to believe and we can sin without impunity – BECAUSE WE ARE IN COVENANT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. The arrogance of the western church then proceeds to cast the Jew completely out of God’s redemptive plan and place the Gentile at the forefront of God’s promises. This is exactly why the nation of Israel fell into God’s displeasure because they felt that there was no one else God would raise up to evangelize the world but them – THEY WERE WRONG and we are wrong today if we think that God doesn’t have anyone else to do His work if we decide we don’t want to do it. 

        Friend, God can raise up stones to praise Him. God can raise up trees to praise Him. We have been grafted into the vine, which is national Israel and her covenants, to PROVOKE the Jew to jealousy so he will accept Christ as his Lord. When he comes to Christ, the veil of unbelief is removed according to Paul. So it is with us today, when we turn to the LORD, our eyes are opened and we are set at liberty to worship the Lord in SPIRIT and in TRUTH. And if by our choice we choose to serve God, we can by our choice choose to walk away from God! Our wills are still ours even after we get saved. God does not redeem us and then create robots. That is not the way of the Lord. Grace gives us the ability, but it doesn't zap us into perfection.

2 Cor 3:13-18 - And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:

14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which veil is done away in Christ.

15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.

16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.

17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

18        But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Israel – Our Example and Warning

        As already stated, the nation of Israel fell into repeated backslidings.

Jer 5:6 - Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.

        The prophet Jeremiah predicted the judgment of God upon such disloyalty:

Jer 2:19 - Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.  

        There are at least five instances of Israel’s backsliding recorded in scripture:

•      At Meribah

Exod 17:7 - And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?   

Num 20:13,24 - This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them. Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah.   

Num 27:14  - For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.  

Deut 33:8 - And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah;

Ps 81:7 - You called in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

        The Bible says Israel tempted the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Isn’t that the feeling of so many today? They’re not sure whether the Lord is in their heart or not. They always have doubt.  If you don’t know the Lord personally there will always be a question about that. When a person is born again and he or she is right with God - you won't have to tell them they are saved. THEY WILL KNOW IT!

        Granted, Satan always tries to bring doubt, but the inward witness of the Spirit bears witness with our SPIRIT that we are the children of God. When we become deceived is when we do not have this inward witness but yet still put on the act of religion such as going to church, doing good deeds and going through the motions. You can speak in tongues and shout and not be sure you're saved. That's what Israel did at Meriba. The waters were bitter because they were not sure about their standing with God. They tempted God here with their unbelief. Is the modern church today any different??

• When Aaron made the golden calf

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Exod 32 – And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.

2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.

3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.

4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.

6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:

8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people:

10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)

26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord's side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.

27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.

28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.

29 For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.

30 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.

31 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.

32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.

33 And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.

34 Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.

35 And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.   

        The Bible says the people “sat down to meat and rose up to play.” In another part of this passage it stated that the nation "turned aside out of the way I commanded" The Bible called them "stiff-necked"  and said that in making the golden calf "they corrupted themselves." (I wonder how many golden calves the modern day church has yet we smirk at this incident in Exodus and never fear the same could happen to us today?)

        These were God’s covenant chosen people He had just brought out of Egyptian bondage. When Moses came down from the mount, the Bible says they appeared to Moses as “naked.” Moses interceded for the nation that was a second away from being consumed by the wrath of Almighty God. He ask God to blot him out of His book if He didn’t spare Israel. The Lord said, “whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out my book.” I can hear the theologians now. "Well, this are Old Testament experiences and you cannot make statements about the grace of God using this type of example. God dealt differently with people in the Old Testament than He does today." That my friend is the voice of delusion. God has never dealt with any generation differently because God is not different. The only difference between their experiences and ours was the law of sacrifice. They brought lambs and looked ahead to the Cross. We embrace THE LAMB and look back at the CROSS. 

        Repentance was necessary under the Old Covenant when people sinned and it is required under the New Covenant today. Idolatry was punished under the Old Covenant then and it will be punished under the New Covenant now. In fact, under the New Covenant, Jesus used the same terminology to the one of the churches of Asia Minor as did God use to Moses when concerning idolatry and the book of life:

Rev 3:4-5 - Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

5 He that overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

    Jesus plainly says, “If you don’t overcome and walk in white, (a type of the righteousness only Jesus can give) I will blot out your name from the book of life.” If you do overcome, Jesus said He will confess your name before the Father AND before the angels. Get the picture? It has not changed just because we are under a different Covenant!

•  During their wilderness wanderings

Num 14:1 - And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.

2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!

3 And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?

4 And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:

7 And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.

8 If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which flows with milk and honey.

9 Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.

10 But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.

11 And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?

12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.

        Again, this was not about isolated sins or mistakes by the nation of Israel. This was a conscious effort and desire in the hearts of the corporate body to GO BACK TO EGYPT! They were ready to stone Moses and Aaron and forsake the Lord just because of their unbelief. Once again without the intercession of Moses, God would have totally destroyed them without trace and not blinked an eye. That's how angry He is when His Covenant people backslide and turn back after they follow HIM!!

        The argument rages still today. "So what if people don't believe God, He doesn't hold us under the same accountability He did the people under the Old Covenant." That again is the voice of delusion. If anything we are MORE ACCOUNTABLE to believe today than they were because we have been give A BETTER COVENANT! We have been given a better promise and a better way to God. We might think God winks at our unbelief today but don't be a fool, HE DOESN'T! This incident in the wilderness was AFTER the nation had passed through the cloud and the sea and had drank from the Rock. They wanted to go back and God overthrew them in the wilderness because of it!

• After Joshua's death

Josh. 24:19-20 - And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.

20 If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.

        Israel ignored Joshua’s warnings and started a perpetual cycle of bondage, deliverance, backsliding, repentance, deliverance and then back into bondage for nearly 400 years. The Lord’s soul was GRIEVED for the misery of Israel that their backslidings had brought on them.

Judges 10:13-16 - Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more.

14 Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.

15 And the children of Israel said unto the LORD, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seems good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day.

16 And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.

        I wander how grieved the Lord is at America today and our lack of both national and individual repentance over serving strange gods? The reason we don’t repent is we have been told there is no need to because of our security in Christ. Eternal security in Christ is guaranteed to those who humble themselves before the Lord and confess their sins to Him. His blood is able to cleanse us and deliver us from any bondage. We must behold both the goodness AND severity of God. The Lord's Grace is available to the humble, not the froward, proud and self-righteous. We must rest in His Grace but we must also fear His WORD! Israel lost their fear and wound up in bondage.

•  During Asa's reign

I King 15:25-34 - And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned over Israel two years.

26 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.

27 And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon.

28 Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah did Baasha slay him, and reigned in his stead.

29 And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite:

30 Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation wherewith he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger.

31 Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

32 And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah began Baasha the son of Ahijah to reign over all Israel in Tirzah, twenty and four years.

15                And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.

        These verses are self-explanatory. Israel again after been given the opportunity to obey God chose not to and were turned over to wicked leaders and Kings such as Nadab as did Judah with Asa.

•  Hezekiah's reign

II Kings 17:13-23 - Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.

14 Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.

15 And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.

16 And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.

17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

19 Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

20 And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.

21 For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin.

22 For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;

23 Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.

Apostasy in the New Testament

Heb 3:12 - Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

Apostasy appears twice in the New Testament as a noun:

Acts 21:21 - And they are informed of thee, that you teach all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake (Greek, apostasia) Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.

II Th 2:3 - Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

        It also appears in Hebrews 3:12 as the word “turn away,” or departing. The Greek term for apostasy is defined as “a falling away, defection, rebellion, abandonment, withdrawal, or turning from what one has formerly turned to.” To apostatize means to sever one’s saving relationship with Christ or to withdraw from vital union with and true faith in Him. Thus, individual apostasy is possibly only for those who have first experienced salvation, regeneration and renewal through the Holy Spirit.

Heb 6:4-6 - For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,

5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,

6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

Luke 8:13 - They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.

        It is not a mere denial of NT doctrine by the unsaved within the visible church. It is the determined, willful rejection of Christ and His teachings by a Christian believer <Heb. 10:26-29; John 15:22>. This is different from false belief, or error, which is the result of ignorance. Some Christian groups teach that apostasy is impossible for those persons who have truly accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord. I've just listed several Bible passages, not isolated verses, concerning this horrible sign that the apostles warned would take place prior to the rapture and the Second Coming. The falling away spoken of is already occurring but the intensity of it will increase during the Great Tribulation period. 

        In addition, let me interject one more point here. I've heard it argued all my life that people who apostasize were never saved. Well if you willfully reject something you first must have embraced it in the beginning to reject it later. You cannot use that as a valid argument against conditional eternal security:

Heb 10:26-31 - For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,

27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

28 He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:

29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.

31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

John 15:6-7 - If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

Heb 3:12-13 - Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Deut 13:13 - Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;

John 15:21-22 - But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.

            Theological apostasy is a rejection of all or some of the original teachings of Christ and the apostles. Moral apostasy occurs when a former believer ceases to remain in Christ and instead becomes enslaved again to sin and immorality. These are not OLD COVENANT scriptures listed below. They are taken out of Romans in the New Covenant:

Isa 29:13 - Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

Rom 6:15-23 - What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rom 8:6-13 - For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

         The Bible issues URGENT and REPEATED warnings about apostasy, both to alert us to the deadly danger of abandoning our union with Christ and to motivate us to persevere in faith and obedience. The divine purpose of these warning passages must not be weakened by the view that states, “the warnings are real, the possibility of actual apostasy isn’t.” These warnings are not idle words issued by an idol god. They are breathed into the hearts of men by the Holy Spirit to speak to us of the reality of our probationary period here on earth. We should regard them with alarm if we want to attain final salvation. The word IF implies a condition. That is what we are talking about. Eternal security is a truthful doctrine, but it’s only eternal as long as we abide in CHRIST. IF we decide to reject Christ, we will not attain final salvation.

The Road to Apostasy

            Apostasy does not happen overnight. God is merciful and He will do whatever is necessary to bring a person who has fallen away back to Him - just as He seeks to bring a sinner to faith in Christ for the very first time. The danger in apostasy is once you have believed, it is much easier to harden your heart to the things of God and reach a point you just don't want to come back. Religion has a way of deceiving us into thinking we're ok and we don't need to repent of our condition. It can also wound us and hurt us to the point we seek to run or shy away from anything that resembles church or the work of God. The steps that lead one to apostasy are as follows:

•  Believers, through unbelief, fail to take the truths, exhortations, warnings, promises and teachings of God’s word with utmost seriousness.

Mark 1:15 - And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

John 5:44-47 - How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?

45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuses you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.

46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.

47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

John 8:46 - Which of you convinces me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?

•           As the realities of the world become greater than the realities of God’s heavenly kingdom, believers gradually cease to draw near to God through Christ.

Heb 11:6 - But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

• Through the deceitfulness of sin, believers become increasingly tolerant of sin in their own lives. They no longer love righteousness and hate wickedness. This is a foundational theme that is missing in much of the gospel preaching today.

Eph 5:5-8 - For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them.

8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

1 Cor 6:9-11 - Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Heb 3:13-19 - But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end;

15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?

18 And to whom swore he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

•                   Through hardness of heart and rejecting God’s way, believers ignore the repeated voice and rebuke of the Holy Spirit.

Eph 4:30-32 - And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

1Thes 5:19-22 - Quench not the Spirit.

20 Despise not prophesyings.

21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.

Heb 3:10 - Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.

•            The Holy Spirit is grieved and his fire put out and his temple violated by continuous sin. He eventually ceases to move any longer upon the former believers until they repent and are ready to come back. The Holy Spirit is God and He acts in a manner of a dove. He doesn't intrude. He will convict, woo, touch and manifest His love to us, but He will never intrude on our backsliding.

1 Cor 3:16-18 - Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

Judg 16:20 - And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.

Ps 51:10-11 - Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

Heb 3:7-8 - Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,

8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

            There is a point where God will stop dealing with your heart. This point is unknown to natural man and NO ONE can be the judge of when the Lord has stopped dealing with a person. The safeguard against such a condition is to listen to what the Spirit of the Lord says to us and obey His voice. It must be emphasized here that while apostasy is a danger for all who drift from the faith and fall away from God, it is not made complete without CONSTANT and WILLFUL sinning against the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Heb 6:6-9 - If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

7 For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:

8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.

9                    But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.

Matt 12:31 - Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.

•     Some Apostates From Scripture:    

            Many who have backslid into apostasy may think they are Christians but their indifference and unwillingness to listen to the commands of Christ and the Spirit and the warnings of Scripture points otherwise. Because of this possibility of self-deception, Paul urges all those claiming salvation to “examine yourselves to see whether you be in the faith; test yourselves.” Many don’t see the need for this because they feel like they have done all they need to do to secure their place in heaven by saying a prayer 20 years ago. Friend, is your soul’s eternal destiny that unimportant to you to take that type of chance?

Some noted apostates in the Bible whom we will look at briefly are: King Saul, who turned back from following the Lord <1 Sam. 15:11>; Hymenaeus and Alexander, who "suffered shipwreck" of their faith <1 Tim. 1:19-20>; and Demas, who forsook the apostle Paul because he loved this present world <2 Tim. 4:10>. One of the most argued about persons in history pertaining to this issue is Judas Iscariot who betrayed the Lord Jesus. Some feel Judas was never saved in the first place, while others wander how could a lost man walk around for 3 ½ years casting out devils and healing the sick by the power of the Holy Spirit? Satan cannot cast out Satan.

Another apostate we overlook is Satan himself. Satan was known as Lucifer when he was created (Isa. 14) and was an angel in good standing in the Lord’s kingdom. There is a lot of evidence that he may have been over all the other angels in heaven and we know from scripture that he was in charge of heaven’s worship. Is there any wonder why rock music has such a hold on our children today? Satan was in charge of music!

Pride entered into his heart and he led a rebellion against God. The Bible says the devil took a third of the angels with him. Other examples of falling away include Solomon,  Annaias and Sapphira, Amon, Asa, Rehoboam, Joash,  Amaziah, Jonah,  many disciples who once walked with Jesus, Peter, the Corinthian Christians, the Galatians, Hymenaeus and Alexander,  Phygellus and Hermogenes, Demas, and five out of the seven Churches of Asia. In addition to these humans listed in scripture, we know that a third of the angels cast their lot in with Satan and attempted to lead a revolt against God with Lucifer. Paul wrote in Hebrews that if God didn’t spare even the angels that sinned, where does that put us if we neglect our salvation?

Heb 2:1-3 - Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

2 For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;

3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

        Jude, the half brother of James and the Lord Jesus, wrote an epistle warning the church to earnestly contend for the faith. One of the rebukes he gives is that some had embraced a doctrine that turned the grace of the Lord Jesus into lasciviousness, or license, and denied the only Lord God, and Jesus Christ. He said he wanted to put his readers in remembrance of how God saved the people out of the land of Egypt but afterward DESTROYED them that believed not:

Jude 1:4-7 - For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

5                    I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

He then takes up the theme that the angels which left with Satan have been reserved unto judgment even though God created them perfect and were once in good standing in heaven:

6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

            Peter picked up the same theme in his second epistle:

2 Pet 2:4-5 - For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

2 Pet 2:19-22 - While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.

20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

        In closing, I want to say this. I’m not a Rhodes scholar nor do I have a degree in Bible theology. But just reading these MANY passages, (not one or two verses) gives me great indication that there is a danger in once believing in the Lord but then falling away from that belief. I wonder sometimes how we can just reason away what God is saying or wrestle with the scriptures to fit our theology. I’m not defending the Pentecostal view of eternal security because in my heart I believe we are eternally secure IN CHRIST  and the Baptists are not wrong totally on what that means. To be honest, Baptists have a better grasp on the fundamentals of the faith such as the Blood of Christ, the Cross and Salvation than most Pentecostals. It would do us Pentecostals well to listen to our Baptist brethren. (And vice versa) 

         But I also want to make it clear that if you teach once saved, always saved, then why shouldn’t we be forced to accept once lost, always lost? The same thesis for the once saved, always saved movement comes from the same tree – Calvinism – which basically predestined everyone with their eternal fate before they were born. The theory of Calvin was that God only had an elect few who would be saved and those who were not in that elect just were not going to make heaven. It was out of this theory that the doctrine of unconditional eternal security sprang from. It teaches that once you’re saved, you are eternally sealed – NO MATTER what you do or don’t do in relation to the Lord Jesus. Ladies and gentlemen, that is not right regardless of who is teaching it.

        If that is right, then we need to stop evangelizing and winning people to Christ because everyone who is lost may or may not be the “elect,” and their doom is sealed. It’s the same theory behind what Calvin taught. The problem is not with Calvin though – it’s with our modern day techniques to get people to say a prayer without really travailing for born again experiences. The hand of the Lord must be present for people to be saved today just as His hand was present in the days of the early church. Once we get them saved we need to make true disciples out of them and we won't be worrying about their final state. JESUS IS ABLE TO KEEP US! HIS BLOOD IS ABLE TO SECURE ETERNAL SALVATION FOR US ALL - as along as we abide in HIM! That is the key. That is the answer. That is the gauntlet that is laid down for your soul and mine. There is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved and STAY SAVED! You can't get saved by Grace and then put your faith in the Law to keep you. It won't work. Jesus saves and He keeps us through the power of the Holy Spirit, His Word and the Blood.

        Praise God. You are eternally secure in Christ. Rejoice. Rest in that statement. If you sin, repent quickly and allow God's grace to cover you and set you free. God is merciful to the sinner and He wants you to make heaven. He gets no pleasure out of people dying and going to hell. All of heaven is behind you and IN YOU! Glory! God bless:)

Because It's Getting Late Neighbor