One of the features of the BibleTalk website that Hal and I do is that people
can make comments, they can ask questions, they can send emails directly to me
about the content or they send emails to Hal concerning technical matters. Most
comments I'm happy to say are kind they're encouraging coming from people
who are members of the church, but most comments are from people from the United
States and other countries who watch and use BibleTalk materials but who are not
members of the Church of Christ, they're members of other churches some of them
not members of churches at all. Now they have many questions which I try to
answer personally however one question or challenge to my teaching is often
repeated and that is: why do I teach that it is possible for a Christian to lose
his or her salvation? They challenge that idea. This question or challenge is
expressed in different ways, for example someone will say has said
quote well you're just preaching a works type of gospel you're a Pharisee I've
been called worse.
This is because I insist that baptism along with faith and repentance is a
necessary response to the gospel. The point of the objection here being that
baptism is a work and we're saved by faith only, I get that so many
times. Another charge is that I'm preaching a salvation by discipleship
that's a new one on me never heard that one before. The
accusation based on my insistence that Christians must grow spiritually or
they'll die spiritually, the argument here being that once we are saved
nothing nothing that we do or fail to do like grow spiritually for example can
cause to lose our salvation nothing.
Of course these arguments and pushback are based on the notion described by the
title of this sermon here: Once Saved, Always Saved? Of course I put a question mark
after but normally there's no question mark. A lot of people believe once you're
saved that's it there's nothing you can do that will make you unsaved. Now this
debate reached a critical point recently when one of the BibleTalk viewers
challenged me to name a single person in the Bible that was saved and then
according to the Bible was lost. And he, it was a he, he said just show me one one
you know underline fifteen times one person he said. So this challenge made me
realize that I had not talked specifically on the topic of once saved
always saved before and it was time to bring some biblical clarity to this
important subject and that's what I'd like to do this morning with this lesson.
On top of that I'd like to be able to say in the future to people who
challenge me please refer to sermon, Once Saved, Always Saved? so I don't have to
write the response you know 12 times a week so that's another reason. Let's look
at the history of this once saved always saved idea, perseverance of the saints
also referred to as eternal security as well as the doctrine known as once saved
always saved is a teaching that essentially says that: once a person is
born of God regenerated by the Holy Spirit nothing in heaven or on earth
will be able to separate that person from God and usually the proof text is
Romans 8:39, "Nothing in heaven and earth will
separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus." In other words once you are
saved this is how you will always be no matter what. Of course no doctrine exists
in a vacuum, teachings are based or formulated to complement or to support
other teachings, same with this particular teaching. This idea once saved
was a very old idea. No exception to the rule. Being a doctrine originally
formulated by Augustine of Hippo who was a fourth century Catholic monk and
theologian and this is what I taught and I will quote I won't paraphrase what he
taught I'll quote it, he said, "Those whom God chooses to save are given, in
addition to the gift of faith, a gift of perseverance which enables them to
continue to believe, and precludes the possibility of falling away."
That's where it started. Then John Calvin incorporated this idea as part of his
five points of Calvinism defined and confirmed at the Synod of Dort in 1618
and very briefly I have to give you this base material to make my points later on
here are his five points of Calvinism: the first point being total depravity. In
other words mankind is dead spiritually and cannot want or understand the gospel
or salvation unless he is unable to do so by God's Spirit, something God has to
do something to that person for that person to want to believe or be able to
believe. Second point of Calvinism: unconditional election, in other words
God chooses who He will give eternal life to without considering anything
good or bad about that person. Point number three of Calvinism: limited
atonement; the death and payment for sins is limited to only those chosen by God
for salvation. Point number four of Calvinism: irresistible grace, God's grace
to save a person cannot be resisted, in other words you cannot say no to God. If
He decides to save you that's it you're done you have to accept it. And then
number five: perseverance of the saved, in other
once saved always saved. And if you notice the little acrostic on the side
this is the tulip famous idea how to remember the five points of Calvinism
you remember tulip: total depravity, unconditional
election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, perseverance of the
saved. All right now when someone says what's the difference between us and our
Baptist friends across the street or what's the difference between ourselves
and our evangelical or Pentecostal or Protestant friends what's the difference
between us? The answer is not which I often hear the answer is not simply well
they use instruments in their worship and we don't or the difference is they
have women preachers and we don't or they don't think baptism is necessary
and we do. These are important differences yes but the core differences
that produce these outward are twofold: number one, they don't accept the fact
that what the Bible specifically teaches about a matter is the binding and final
authority and we do. This is why they permit and encourage non biblical
practices such as women in the role of elders or pastors preachers so on and so
forth or instrumental music being used in worship or acceptance of openly and
practicing gay members and ministers and we reject these things and other non
biblical practices because all of the things I just mentioned cannot be
supported with Scripture. It's not being narrow-minded or legalistic to say that
something cannot be supported by Scripture come on. And then their
doctrines and practices concerning salvation are to a lesser or greater
degree based on Calvin's five-point teaching on salvation while our teaching
on salvation openly rejects these relying solely on the New Testament's
plain teaching about salvation. Again that's not being self-righteous or
holier-than-thou that's just staking out a position. We
say when we teach about salvation the only information included in that
teaching comes from here, we don't have a theologian
we have many theologians in our brotherhood and in our history but we
don't have one theologian that has interpreted for everybody else what the
Bible says. Thomas Campbell one of the early preachers and teachers responsible
for the restoration movement from which come the Churches of Christ began to
reject and declare as unbiblical these teachings by Calvin that form the basic
theology for most Baptist, evangelical and Protestant churches. You're wondering
where did the break come what happened in history? Well this is what happened,
this man here Thomas Campbell. One of the reasons why the Churches of Christ grew
so quickly in the 19th and 20th centuries was the rejection of these
Calvinist principles in favor of the simple message of salvation from the New
Testament preached and taught by Church of Christ evangelists and teachers. For
example in the case of total depravity
we said man is a sinner yes but not so depraved that he can't hear and respond
to the good news of Jesus Christ. Where did we get that idea? Well just read
Matthew 28, "And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been
given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples" watch out
now "make disciples of all the nations," not some of the ones that God chose no
"make disciples of all the nations," and how do you do that?
"baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son of the Holy Spirit, teaching them
to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always even to the end
of the age.'" In the case of unconditional election not unconditional election but
he who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved. You don't
need to wait and wonder if God will choose you for salvation
salvations for everybody who believes and is baptized in Jesus' name, where
did we get that idea? Well from Mark 16:16 is pretty plain, "He who has
believed and has been baptized shall be saved;"
Seems to me that it puts the onus on the person who believes and is baptized. And
he who has disbelief which one will be condemned, the one that God doesn't
choose? Well it seems to me that the Bible says no, the one who doesn't
believe that's the one who will be condemned. As far as limited atonement is
concerned, Jesus' sacrifice is not only for a
precious view but as Paul says in I Timothy 2:6, "Who gave Himself as a
ransom," for who? Some of the people the ones that were chosen? No no no no, He
gave His ransom for His sacrifice is a ransom for everybody, everybody who does
what? Everybody who believes in is baptized that's who. How about the
irresistible grace? The believer does have a part to play in his own salvation
by the exercise of his will in expressing his faith through obedience.
Those who believed, there's the act of will, on Pentecost Sunday expressed their
belief according to Peter's command to repent and be baptized. Peter said the
following he said, or Luke writes that Peter is saying, "Now when they heard this,
they were pierced to the heart," what did they hear? They heard the gospel. "and they
said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brethren, what shall we do?'" Well
what is understood there: what do we do to be saved? And what does Peter say?
"Peter said to them, 'Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you'll receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your
children and for all who are afar off," Does
that sound like the promise is just for a few? "And with many other words he
solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them," If God had just chosen the ones to
be saved would Peter have kept on exhorting them he's trying to convince
them? Why was he trying to convince them? Because he understood that the people
listening to him had a choice to make, they had to make an exercise of their
will and so he exhorted them. "'Be saved he said from this perverse generation!' So
then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were
added about 3,000 souls." Those who believed, the act of will, expressed that
will according to Peter's command to repent and be baptized. The Bible doesn't say
that those who were arbitrarily chosen by God came forward and were saved
doesn't say that. Luke says that salvation, you know that promise, was for
everyone that God called to Himself, not everyone that God chose, that's grammar
that's not theology, that's simple grammar. The preceding
verses demonstrate how God does this calling, how does He call
people? By the preaching of the gospel to all the nations and there's a
demonstration on Pentecost Sunday. And then in verse 41 Luke writes that those
who received the word were baptized, there's no arbitrariness here there's no
irresistible grace here, the Bible says that those who believed an act of the
will in other words accepted as true that
Jesus was the Son of God and those who repented were baptized in His name,
those people would actually receive forgiveness and the gift of the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit didn't come before, the Holy Spirit came after they
made the act of will. These people acted on their belief or express their faith
according to Peter's instructions and therein lies the difference between
ourselves and our Catholic or Protestant or evangelical and Pentacostal friends
and neighbors. Their view of salvation and baptism
is more highly influenced by Augustin and Calvin's teaching than they are by
the New Testaments teaching on the subject. For example, in Roman Catholicism
Catholics baptize babies because they believe in total depravity, they call it
original sin. A baby is born, they believe, a baby is born with sin and based on the
vicarious faith of the parents or the godparents that sin is removed at
baptism. Never mind that a baby cannot repent or
give an assent of will according to the New Testament, Catholic dogma and
tradition trump basic Bible teaching, that's what's happening. Most Protestant,
evangelical, Pentecostal groups, Calvinistic teaching has crystallized
into traditions and practices where people do things not even aware of why
they do them. When I had talked to some Baptist people that I know and we happen
to get to talk about religion they can't explain why they believe what they
believe they don't know the background of it. The teaching on baptism being a
prime example. These groups don't see the necessity of baptism because it
represents man's conscious participation in his own salvation and they reject
that idea. The problem is baptism becomes that pesky thing what do you do
with it you know, the Bible says over and over you got to do it but they
don't know what to do with the thing. If as Calvin teaches God chooses
you and you can't resist His choosing
then baptism has no real purpose since it represents your response to God's
offer of salvation. This is why evangelical and Baptists accept Jesus
into their hearts, now that term accept Jesus into your heart that's not a
biblical term you can't find that anywhere in the New Testament as a
response in faith, no no they say that because they have no say in the
matter other than to accept what God has done. This is why they come up with so
many tortured explanations for the role of baptism,
none of which are supported by any Scripture, you know it's an outward sign
of an inward grace show me the passage that's all I ask you
show me the passage; or it's a symbol of your salvation really show me the
passage; or it's a witness that we are already saved really
show me the passage seems to me that when Peter is preaching remember Peter
the Apostle he's saying repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sin,
seems to me grammatically textually historically the repentance and the
baptism come here and then the salvation comes afterward not before. So if baptism
is essential, as we believe the Bible teaches,
then this undermines the theological framework that supports their practices
and public teaching. This then brings us to the fifth of Calvin's five-point
doctrinal theory, I have good news everything I've just said is preamble.
Here's the sermon, fifth point of Calvin's five-point doctrinal theory, the
perseverance of the saints, those chosen by God can never lose their salvation.
Now restorationists, Church of Christ teachers, restorationists taught that
man's continued salvation is based on his continued faith and those who remain
faithful until death or Christ's return whichever comes first these will be
saved. It seems Jesus Himself said it in
Matthew 24, "But the one who endures to the end, will be saved." And in the debate
or the back and forth that I had with a lot of people say oh well that
scriptures it's only talking about the millennial reign it's only
talking about the end time, so what? So what? You either have to be saved to the
end now or when Jesus comes or during the millennial reign or
whenever it is, it still says what it says you have to be faithful to the end
of whatever era you're in in order to maintain your salvation. In answer to the
statement, show me one person in the Bible who was saved and then lost, here
are some examples of this transformation: what about Lucifer, he was called
Morningstar and was created and anointed as a guardian cherub, Isaiah and Ezekiel
write of his change and fall from that position because of his own actions.
Ezekiel 28, "You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there. You
were on the holy mountain of God; you walked in the midst of the stones of
fire. You were blameless perfect without sin
you were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until
unrighteousness was found in you." Isaiah, "How you have fallen from heaven, O star
of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have
weakened the nations! But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I
will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of
assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the
clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'" So here we see that he fell from
this position because of his own actions his own pride and lost forever lost
truly, where does it say that? Revelation 20, "And the devil who deceived them was
thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false
prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."
Don't pray for the devil, he's done. The answer to the question can someone be
saved, excuse me, can someone who is saved
someone who is with God be lost? This question was answered with
Lucifer's fall from perfection before the world was even created that answer
was given. But let's look at some others shall we, how about Cain,
Cain was not a lost person he even consciously worshiped God as did his
brother Abel, God even warned him of his potential fall in chapter 4 says,
"If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well,
sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, and you must master it."
That was a warning, be careful you're going to fall be careful. So there was a
moment there where he had to make a choice and what happened? Cain made the
wrong choice, he became an unrepentant murderer and unrepentant murderers are
not in heaven, we know that Galatians 5:21. Let's take
another example: Judas. Judas was a Jew, he was among God's people chosen as an
Apostle, and he like the other Apostles went out to preach and heal and cast out
spirits right in Matthew 10 it says, "These twelve Jesus sent out after
instructing them: 'Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter the city
of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as
you go, preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" Judas was among that
group, but there was a precise spiritual tipping point where Judas rejected the
faith he had and gave in to his disbelief, dishonesty and greed.
In John 13:26, "Jesus then answered, 'That is the one for
whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.' So when He had dipped the morsel,
He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. After the morsel, Satan
entered into him." What does it say? After he took the morsel then Satan entered.
Satan was not in him when he went out to preach with the twelve, Satan was with
him when he finally decided he was going to reject all of that. Therefore Jesus
said to him what you do do quickly. God did not
force Judas to believe or disbelief, He merely knew in advance what Judas would
choose and folded that knowledge into His plan and to His purpose.
Peter pronounces the obvious end to the unrepentant traitor in Acts chapter 1
when he talks about replacing Judas and he talks about Judas who would
occupy this ministry and Apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to
his own place, again Peter is saying that Judas, what did he do? He turned aside, he
chose to go the other way, to go to his own place, what place is that? The place
of condemnation for having disbelieved and rejected the faith. One more, how
about the seven churches and the seven angels. One of the most dramatic examples
of the possibility of losing salvation is found in the book of Revelation. John
explains his vision of the seven lampstands and the seven stars, one verse
he says, "As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand,
the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven
churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches." In this vision John
receives a message from Jesus for the seven churches at that time located in
Asia Minor, each message contains an encouragement as well as a warning for
each church the encouragements are positive comments on these churches
faithfulness and perseverance and their service and their love; the warnings
however are all the same: the warnings are number one, the churches must endure
and overcome and remain faithful until death or Jesus' return if they
are to receive the reward which is described in different ways John writes
either you must endure to the end in order to eat of the Tree of Life or not
be hurt by the second death or receive the hidden manna or the white stone or
the new name all different ways of saying eternal life or the eternal
reward all refer to the reward of those who endure until the end. And then the
second part which is understood is that those who don't do this will not receive
this reward. In verse 5 he says, "Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and
repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will
remove your lampstand out of its place- unless you repent." What does that mean? Is
that a slap on the wrist? If you remove the lampstand where are you? You're in
the darkness, heaven is not ever referred to in the Bible as darkness, so if you're
in the darkness you're not in heaven. So these passages teach that
the saved by their conscious faithfulness maintain their salvation. If
individuals were chosen in advance by God for salvation and could never be
lost once they were saved there would be no need for these verses why these
verses? If there is no possibility that once saved the Christian could never
lose that salvation why would the Holy Spirit through the inspired writers give
us the following verses? Just a couple, how about Galatians 5, "It was for
freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not
be subject again to the yoke of slavery. Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you
receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to
every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole
Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by
law; you have fallen from grace." Paul is warning the Galatian
Christians that if they forsake the gospel which is what saves them,
and they succumb to the false teachers who were preaching a salvation based on
the law, primarily being circumcised then keeping food laws and so on and
so forth, he said if you do that you're cut off from Christ.
Notice he doesn't say if you rob a bank or if you cheat on your wife or you
do some sort of immoral bad thing he's not even saying that he's saying if you
abandon the idea that you're saved by Jesus Christ and decide to go back to
try to be saved by the Law and the expression of this would be being
circumcised and keeping food laws and if you do that he says you're cut off from
Christ; I don't know about you but cut off from Christ that doesn't sound very
good that doesn't sound like I'm still saved if you know what I mean.
They're cut off from Christ, they're fallen from grace, this is another
dramatic way of saying that they're lost, I mean what else could it mean?
Another scripture, II Peter 2 he says, "These are springs" speaking of people
making trouble in the church, "These are springs without water and mists driven
by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. For speaking out
arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who
barely escaped from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they
themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man has overcome, by this he is
enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world
by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in
them and are overcome, the last state has become worse than the first state." Did you
hear what he just said? They were saved they were ok and then they got tangled
up in the world and sin and they went back, does that sound like they're still
saved to you? "For it would be better for them not to have known the way of
righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment
handed on to them." Again a warning against false teachers this time
promoting teachings that enable believers to sin without any spiritual
consequences, labeling their heresies as a type of liberation theology or
religious freedom, that's what was going on here that Peter was writing about.
Note that Peter traces the dangerous consequences for believers who fall into
this trap: they're freed from the trap of sin by Jesus the gospel but
then because of false teaching which they choose to believe they returned to
the trap. Peter says that the last state being trapped in sin and lost but
knowing Christ is worse than the first state being trapped in sin and lost but
at least ignorant of Christ. If one was saved without the possibility of being
lost why would Peter write this? There'd be no point to this
unless Peter was confused. And then of course there's Hebrews
Hebrews 6:1-6, now this here passage was written to Jewish
Christians who were struggling with their faith and they were tempted to
quit and return to Judaism or just returned to the world as unbelievers. Now
in most of the letter the writer to the Hebrews explains how Christianity is
superior and the fulfillment of the Jewish religion and to return to
Judaism would be a forfeiture of all the blessings they had in Christ
including eternal salvation. If one could not be lost again I asked the question
why would there be a need for this warning in this letter? In chapter 6 the
writer graphically describes what happens to one who abandons Christ for
another religion or for the world, he says in verse 1, "Therefore leaving the
elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again
a foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God, of
instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the
dead and eternal judgment. And this we will do, if God permits. For in the case
of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and
have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of
God and the powers of the age to come," I'll stop there. Here the writer
establishes the identity of the person he's writing to, listen to what
he's saying to them: he says they're enlightened, meaning they have the
knowledge that Jesus is the Son of God. They understand that
God's method of salvation is through the atoning work of Jesus. They
have been revealed, the future that they will have, the resurrection that is to
come, they have that enlightenment. He says they've tasted of the heavenly gift
peace and joy that comes from forgiveness,
they have been partakers of the Holy Spirit, Acts 2:38 says the Spirit comes
within you that the Spirit indwells you at the moment of baptism, and in Romans
8:13 the influence of the Holy Spirit in our prayer life and in our conduct in
our study and so on and so forth this is how Christians partake of the Holy
Spirit. They he says have tasted the good word in other words the powers of the
age to come. Well Christians are witnesses of the
transforming power of God's work in their own lives and in the lives of
other people, at that time many of them had spiritual gifts of healing and
speaking in tongues and so on and so forth and so it is clear that he is
talking about Christians here he's not talking about lost people.
I mean lost people are not enlightened, they haven't tasted the gift of the
Spirit they don't have hope of resurrection does it though he's talking
to saved people here okay. So let's just read the last two verses he says, "and
then" these people here "and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew
them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of
God and put Him to open shame. For ground that drinks the rain which often falls
on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also
tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is
worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned." I don't know
about you but that's not good news.
That doesn't say you'll always be saved it doesn't matter if you fall away
you'll never be separated from God, I don't I don't get that from that passage.
He clearly states what happens the believer falls away and does so by
rejecting and abandoning the things that he's just described, the author then
describes what happens to the one who has done this: it produces sinfulness and
disbelief, you know the thistles and the thorns and
this type of product is considered worthless and close to being and you
know when he says close to being cursed well how are these people close to being
cursed well there's still alive there's still some time maybe but they're
awfully close to being cursed, and then he says and being burned yeah being
burned that's the final judgment that's the final loss at judgment. Now
Calvinists say that the reason this person fell and was lost is because they
were never really chosen by God in the first place, they were insincere or they
were just pretending to be Christians or give some other reason when I bring up
this passage here this is what they say to me; however the author of Hebrews
doesn't say this he doesn't even suggest it. The person he is describing is a
genuine Christian who because of weakening faith and the draw of the
world eventually rejected Christ and renounced his faith through worldly
living as opposed to spiritual living and as a result stands condemned and
will bear the punishment due a judgment, that's what he's saying, that's not what
I'm saying. Again don't don't be mad at me. You see
the free will that we have enables us to go in either direction, it's the
highway to heaven but it's also the highway to hell, it's what makes us human,
it's what makes our love to God and our love for God meaningful it's what makes
it worth something. So I hope that this study which is difficult to hear is
nevertheless clear about what the Bible teaches concerning the possibility of
one losing their salvation. This is not meant to be an encouraging or
I've preached encouraging and uplifting sermons but this isn't one of those, this
sermon is meant to be sobering. There's a time for everything under the sun and so
this morning it's a time for sober consideration as mature Christians. So
let me close with an admonition to sober mindedness and the reason that this is
necessary and this passage is found in I Peter he says, "Be of sober spirit,
be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion,
seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same
experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in
the world." I repeat once again if it were impossible to be lost,
once saved why would Peter warn Christians to be sober minded and aware
of Satan's efforts to destroy us, if that was not possible?
However sober mindedness doesn't mean being afraid, I said the purpose was not
to make you afraid but to make you sober minded. I'm not afraid of the devil I'm
not afraid of falling away I'm not afraid that I might lose my salvation
I'm not afraid of that, being sober minded means that I am aware.
I'm aware that He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world. I am
aware that God cares for me and does not want any believer to be lost, and when
God is on your side wanting you to be saved and remain saved when God is on
your side I mean who can defeat you? The only person who can defeat you is
yourself. I am aware that God Himself through the Holy Spirit within me has
promised to create and perfect the image of Christ's character upon me, I'm aware
of that I am aware that. God has given me everything I need to remain faithful to
the end, He's given me the words of Christ to save me and guide me and keep
my soul he's given me the Church of Christ to minister to me to train me to
minister to others and to help me remain faithful. The work of the shepherd's is
to help all of us remain faithful. He's also given me the Holy Spirit sent by
Christ to comfort me and strengthen me and at the end of time raise me up from
the dead to be with the Lord forever. So I am not afraid but I am sober minded
and I am aware. Let us therefore be sober minded and consider these things as we
stand sing a song of encouragement for those who may need strength to
continue believing despite trials and also invite those who have not yet
chosen to obey the gospel in repentance and baptism or who may have fallen back
and choose to be restored, this song invites you to come forward now as we
stand as we sing.