There were times in the early stages of my Christian years where I was told that if you didn’t do this, or if you didn’t participate in that, your salvation might be at risk. I can understand why people experience doubts about their salvation when these forces are coming at them with ‘checklist’ items. You can’t find this anywhere in God’s Word, and churches hold it over people’s heads to keep them in line, fearful of their salvation. Philippians 2:12 says, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Most people don’t understand what this verse is saying, especially in context; it’s not because Christ wants you to fear and tremble over it, but because of everything else you will be facing after. Once you understand God’s Word and you start getting the necessary knowledge, (hopefully sitting under someone who is rightly dividing the Word of God), you will come to realize that you fear because of your ignorance of the Scriptures, just as I did. This ignorance allows these opposing forces and information of everybody’s opinion, including those from behind a pulpit, to influence you, and you started questioning and doubting your salvation. It comes down to this: many are confused on what the Scriptures say about salvation. That is going to be tonight’s subject matter, and then we will go to the Table of the Lord.

Let’s review Hebrews 10 before moving forward. The word atonement in the Old Testament meant to cover. Jesus didn’t atone for mankind’s sins, even though that is preached over and over. He took those sins away completely, washing them away, as I have been saying, removing them away with His precious blood. There is a difference between the Old Testament atonement of sin and Christ’s blood removing sin in the New Testament.

Verse 4, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”

In other words, remove them. The blood of bulls and goats didn’t take away sin, they only temporarily covered the sins of the people in the Old Testament. It could remove their sins. It was just a temporary covering.

Hebrews 9:12 reads, “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood [Christ’s] he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”

Jesus Himself entered into the heavenly holy place to appear before His Father and obtain eternal redemption for us. I have said Jesus applied His blood on the heavenly mercy seat just as the Old Testament high priest had to apply the lamb’s blood on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies.

Hebrews 9:23 also reads, “It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.”

The Old Testament tabernacle holy place, mercy seat and the work of the high priest were all patterns of things in heaven. In Hebrews 4:15-16, Jesus is our heavenly priest.

“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly [with confidence] unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

Even though we are unworthy, we are made worthy by the precious blood of the Lamb. Therefore, a believer has a right to boldly (with confidence) approach God’s throne of grace. See, Jesus paid it all. If you think about it, that should give us the peace, assurance and understanding that our sins were washed away—not only washed away, removed by Jesus’ blood at that salvation experience and His precious blood cleanses from all sin.

I always like going back to Revelation 1:5, “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us [literally to bathe us in His blood] from our sins in his own blood,”

It is the blood sacrifice of Jesus that saves us, not our self-righteousness. God, no. That wouldn’t save an ant. The Bible tells us we are saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, yet I hear from a lot of believers around the world saying they doubt their salvation. They wonder if they did the right thing, if they said the right prayer, if they correctly prayed to God, if they had enough faith for this or that, or if they were sincere enough. Does the Bible ask for any of that for salvation?

I really don’t care about your sins or how far you have strayed from God. All I know is that you may still come to Jesus for forgiveness and salvation. Doesn’t the Bible say when we were without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly? Isaiah 1:18 plainly states, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” The definition of the Hebrew word for crimson here refers to a worm used to make clothing dye. Once the dye stained the cloth it was permanent; it couldn’t be removed or bleached. God’s Word is saying that although your life may be permanently stained with sin, He can cleanse you as white as wool. (Both Testaments have that same message.) In other words, what was permanently stained could only be removed through Jesus’ precious blood, the ultimate stain-remover that washes away and makes your sins vanish. This is the power of Jesus’ redeeming blood that cleanses and removes our sins forever.

God’s Word is full of promises. He is a promise-keeping God too. Some say the Bible holds over 7,000 promises of God, some conditional and others unconditional. Romans 10 is one of those promises. In context, this chapter is referring to the Israelite’s that I have taught on in the past but personalize it for you. What does it say?

Verse 13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord in the Greek simply means whosoever appeals unto the Lord shall be saved. If we simply come to Jesus to be saved, we will be saved. All that God really requires is just having that little amount of faith, because faith comes by hearing; verse 17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Just hearing enough of the Word of God introduces Jesus to you and what He has done for you. If you recognize that you are a vile sinner, (as God’s Word says you are) and you come to the realization that you need a savior to wash and remove these sins away and start anew, you will be saved. It requires just a little faith if you think about it. How much faith do you need to be saved? Just enough faith to obey God’s calling on your life, just enough faith to obey God’s calling that Jesus provides salvation. Just enough faith to obey the Scriptures by placing your faith in Jesus Christ to forgive your sins and be your savior.

By the way, I lean more towards ‘once saved, always saved’ but I’m not a once saved, always saved doctrinal-type person that believes the way they believe. There is one thing you can do to lose your salvation. I think the unpardonable sin is to deny Jesus Christ and that goes whether you are a believer or non-believer. If you had access to some knowledge or listened to someone who introduced Jesus Christ to you and you completely ignored it, mocked it, and denied it as a non-believer, you have problems. But as a believer, if you decide it is not for you and you move over to the Muslim faith after years as a Christian going to church, the doctrinal ‘once saved, always saved’ folks will say that you were never saved in the first place. Oh, malarkey. They are just trying to save their doctrine. I’m somewhere in the middle of that.

I plan to show how salvation statements of faith sound good, but lead people in the wrong direction. Their declaration on how to receive salvation isn’t in God’s word. I’m going to show (and I don’t think it is intentional) that a lot of what these ministries produce and convince people to follow in order to be saved comes from ignorance of the Scriptures. It leads to a wrong understanding of salvation, and it unfortunately brings up other baggage: if you did this, if you did that, you are going to lose your salvation. I’m telling you that you’re not. You lose your salvation if you deny Jesus Christ saved you. If He didn’t, you’re not concerned about it in the first place.

I said at the beginning of this message there were times in my earlier years I had doubts wondering if I had enough faith. Of course, just thinking about winding up in a lake of fire or hell scared the bejesus out of me. I remember as a young boy in New Jersey living in a scary old colonial mansion; one of the oldest homes in the district that was built right after the Revolutionary War. (If I ever get into demonology, God willing, I have some stories to tell.) I had to go down to the basement in this old colonial home to get to the garage area and the basement was huge. Basements usually had the furnace which was converted to oil tanks that supplied the necessary fuel to send it up to the heating system of the house. The old steam radiator-type systems that heated the house made all kinds of crazy noises and I hated to go down into that area. It was dark and there was just a tiny light from a lousy 60-watt bulb. Nobody ever thought about putting in a 150-watt bulb. There were other lights to switch on, but you had to get to certain sections. You had to go through the darkness to turn on the lights. As a young kid I didn’t like it. It scared the bejesus out of me. I dreaded going down to that basement. You know why I dreaded it? Because I feared the unknown, the uncertainty of what might be down there lurking behind something.

“What does this have to do with what you are preaching?” Years of doubt people have concerning their salvation is based on the same principle: fears of the uncertainty of the unknown and worry, based on what they can’t see. Because of uncertainty of the Scriptures and because (unfortunately) not many are rightly dividing the Word of God, my early years of doubt—questioning if I had enough faith—was based on my ignorance of the Scriptures concerning salvation. I’m sure many of you have probably experienced the same thing.

I knew I would survive going through that basement, but I was fearful of the unknown between getting in and getting out. Well, guess what, I’m not in the dark any longer about what God’s Word says about salvation and one of my missions is to make you worry-free and fearless about what God provided as a promise—if you trust Jesus Christ and His precious blood. Of course, it took years to learn about salvation and it took years to realize that salvation only comes by and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything I worried about, all the doubts that I had, were rooted in my failure to comprehend the truth in God’s Word. I’m telling you; we have the assurance and peace that we are eternally saved, and our name is written in heaven. How do we have that assurance? By relying on the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation period—nothing else. “What about discipleship?” That is a whole other issue. I’m not discounting it. It has to be included. I’m not like some that try to say it is only salvation and not discipleship. I will get to that but not until I drive this point home that I have been trying to make the last few weeks.

If I go to the lake of fire it will be Jesus’ fault because I’m trusting in Him a hundred percent with my salvation. You heard me correctly. I’m not going to be disappointed because Romans 10:11 says, “For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him—What does it say? —shall not be ashamed” for believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. When your faith is solely on Jesus Christ because of the literal blood that He spilled and shed for our sins to cleanse us to remove those sins and make us whole, we shall not be ashamed! Let no one shame you. “Well, I don’t know if I’m saved today because of this or that.” God’s Word says we shall not be ashamed. Do you still trust that Jesus Christ cleansed you and removed your sins? “Yes, but I fail.” Your failure is not dependent upon Him saving you. If that were the case, He would never save you in the first place. I have news for you, you are going to fail, not just today, not just next month, but probably many more times before He takes you home or comes back for you. If you keep trusting in Jesus Christ, your salvation is assured. I know I wasn’t born saved, but I know I’m saved today because I decided to trust Jesus Christ. If you are on the fence on whether to trust Him or not, hopefully I can convince you to trust Him to forgive your sins as He has forgiven mine, becoming my Savior and He can be your Savior too. Salvation really is simple. It really is! We are sorry sinners. Sorry to break the news to the people that don’t think they sin. Jesus is a wonderful Savior. Salvation, my friends, is receiving not giving. We can’t give anything to receive it. Eternal life is a free gift.

Romans 5:15, “But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”
Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.”

Who? “through Jesus Christ our Lord.” It is simple, Jesus paid the sins for many. He paid my sins so I wouldn’t have to. That is God’s divine justice.

One reason many people are insecure is because of the ‘works salvation doctrine’ or the ‘lordship salvation doctrine.’ There are different names for it. It is a cursed teaching that teaches believing or trusting in Jesus Christ is insufficient to save a lost sinner. How pathetic a doctrine, but how often it is preached is unbelievable. These doctrines, which have been incorporated into many different churches, proclaims that you must make a commitment to cease from sinful living and serve God with all your heart. I have no problem with the last part, but commit yourself to cease from sinful living? I wish I could do that, but it is impossible. They deny that the reason Jesus came to pay the sin debt is so we wouldn’t have to.

Romans 4:5, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth [literally pisteuo here; trust and confidence in Jesus Christ] on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith…Even as David also describeth, the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,”

Salvation is without works. Christ’s righteousness is imputed to the sinner by faith. Romans 4:5 and 6 is saying, “a man’s faith is counted for righteousness.” Those who teach this ‘works salvation doctrine’ and ‘lordship salvation doctrine’ have perverted the Gospel by adding works to faith. “Well, discipleship adds works.” Discipleship is not salvation. The very idea that a sinner must stop sinning to be saved is impossible. Even the best Christians still commit sin. Even if they don’t think so, they do. Go to Romans 7:14 through 25 and see how Paul struggled with sin, and we are speaking about the apostle of all apostles. Some of the greatest heroes of faith in the Bible, including King David in the Old Testament, was one of the biggest sinners, and he was called a man after God’s own heart. Go to I Samuel 13:14. Remember, David committed adultery with Bathsheba, impregnated her, and then murdered her husband Uriah to try to hide his sin. Nathan the prophet called him out, but God still used David to write a good part of the Psalms.

This theology of ‘works salvation’ and ‘lordship salvation’ mandates a changed life as a prerequisite    to be saved. I’m telling you that it is a doctrine straight from the devil. God saves us so He can change us, but He doesn’t make that a prerequisite to be saved. Beware of these false doctrines that are more popular now than ever. They also teach salvation can be lost, but not the way I said earlier. They are more rooted in ‘works salvation’ and if you don’t do the works, then your salvation can be lost. Bull spit. If you can’t do anything to earn salvation, what makes you think after you are saved you can do anything to keep your salvation through works? The works in the discipleship journey is for a whole other reason, but not for salvation. It is necessary for you as a disciple to grow and understand those works—and not necessarily the works most people think of works—need to be applied and practiced in your life so you can grow and mature as a Christian, but it has nothing to do with salvation.

Think about it, if we cannot do good works to get saved, my friend, then how can we do bad works to get unsaved!? There’s a riddle for you. Answer it! You will find that you can’t find a sound doctrinal-wise basis to give a sufficient enough answer. It is impossible! The spiritual birth is as irreversible as a physical birth, except, as I said, I’m somewhere between once saved, always saved and the others who teach just the opposite. There is one thing that can happen, once saved you turn your back on Jesus Christ and deny the saving power of His blood.

The very notion that salvation can be lost places a heavy burden to maintain a certain level produces a certain self-righteousness. God hates that. It is straight from the pit of hell and negates the gift of God and the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Think about it, how can we be assured of salvation if we must live our lives in constant fear of sinning too much? I’m not condoning sin. I’m also not really introducing it here in these messages. Christ does the changing. As much as you want to sin in some areas, you’ll find that you have no interest in it any longer—and why is that? Because Christ’s spirit is in you and He is doing the necessary work as a potter to mold you and change you into what He wants for His purposes.

Think about it, if salvation can be lost then we were all lost a long time ago because we are all vile sinners in the eyes of God, if we didn’t have Christ’s precious blood to change His opinion about us. That happens because He doesn’t see sin in us any longer. All God requires for salvation is for a person to change his mind; not the word repent as understood that is used so often, but in the Greek a change of mind. Yes, you have to understand that you’re a vile sinner. But with trust in Jesus, all that will change, and it starts with your mind. The Gospel of John translates the Greek word pisteuo (having trust and confidence in Jesus) as the word believe most of the time, but never mentions the word repent once. That is a man-made doctrine, and they will have you believe you have to be crying and sorrowful, looking the part so God thinks you are sincere in your repentance. Jesus never did that in the New Testament. Why do we have to practice that 2,000 years later? The devil somehow was able to introduce a false doctrine of what coming to Jesus really means and how it is done.

With what is being preached today I think it is almost normal for a Christian to feel ‘unsaved’ when they sin, mainly because one cannot feel right if they don’t live right. I’m saying that your salvation is safe and secure in the redeeming power of Jesus’ blood, we are not saved by good works—never have been, never will be. We cannot be lost by bad works either. We might be reprimanded by God, but we won’t be lost. Salvation is receiving, not giving. You can’t give back works to keep it. Romans 4:5 says salvation is without works and comes only by faith in Christ Jesus, who justified or made the ungodly right with God. Our confidence, our trust in Jesus and God the Father should be based solely upon the promise contained within the Word of God. Your faith should remain steadfast on the written promises of God I have been sharing with you. Let’s be strong in the Lord trusting what is written in God’s Word instead of personal feelings and false doctrines and guard against placing God on trial as the heathen world does, my friends.

I will close with John 5:39, “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life:” Where are you going to gain that knowledge? In the Scriptures. “and they are they which testify of me.” Read it again: “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”

Our salvation is grounded in the promises of God’s Word. Don’t take some statement of faith concerning what you have to do to be saved. Searching the Scriptures and what it testifies about Him will ground us, especially about salvation because it is going to be verifiable. God’s Word confirms our assurance and peace concerning our salvation. Many people battle with this because they focus on themselves rather than Jesus Christ’s work of redemption. Stop focusing on yourself, your failures, and your sins. Christ paid the price for them to be removed. He knows you are going to sin, but He is going to work on your life. Our salvation is of Jesus Christ complete and there is nothing to do other than to trust what He did for us, period. It is not what we do for Christ that determines our eternal salvation, but rather what Christ has done for us at Calvary.

That is why He wants us to remember Him always and as often as we eat, and drink remember that your salvation is assured if you keep trusting in Him. That is enough for me every day. I want to go to the table of the Lord with excitement to remember how assured I am of my salvation. If you just keep trusting in Jesus Christ, your salvation is sure. Salvation is an exclusive thing that Christ did for us. It is our starting point for one heck of a journey that He has for us, and through that journey and all its circumstances, if we stay trusting in Him the one thing we don’t have to worry about is our salvation. He will be there waiting for us when we cross over, or He comes to get us. God only knows what He has planned for us throughout eternity. Remember Jesus every day and thank Him for the precious blood He spilled that provided you salvation. Remember you didn’t have to do anything to receive it. It is His works, not ours ever, so remember that now as we go to the table of the Lord. Thank you, Jesus.

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