SAVED
2 Corinthians 11:1–4
1 Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. 2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
This sermon today is perhaps not going to take the natural form of a sermon but more of a lecture, yet I pray that it may be a sermon proper, for I need to address a heresy.
Its not a new heresy, in fact it is as old as the Bible itself, it is the most ancient of all the heresies of the world and it is shared by all the religions of the world except for Biblical Christianity.
We see it addressed specifically in the book of Acts 15, in Galatians, in Hebrews specifically and alluded to in many other passages in the scriptures.
It takes many different forms but it always ends at the same place, A CONDITIONAL SALVATION.
A salvation that is not salvation at all and makes the gospel of none effect (1 Cor 1:17).
2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy
The jealousness referred to here is not a negative brethren, it is a love that is a great love that cares for and desires no harm to those who are loved.
Parents have this sort of love for their children just as much as husbands have for their wives. It is not a selfish jealousy, but one that desires all that is good and is terrified by anything that is bad for those whom they love.
Pastors ought to have this kind of jealousy over their flock. A care for them and a concern for them that they would not be led astray.
“The simplicity that is in Christ”
Paul is burdened by the corruption of many minds that had been ushered in through the subtlety of the same serpent that beguiled Eve in the garden.
It is a burden that I am well familiar with, a sorrow that mourns to see so many given over to “another gospel” which takes the simple gospel, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” and turns it into a complex confusion that continues to contradict every aspect of the Bible and all that it presents respecting salvation.
“Vain jangling” is how Paul refers to it to Timothy (1 Tim 1:6), for it is not a monolithic belief.
The idea that you can lose your salvation takes on multiple forms and no one believes exactly the same thing.
Some understand that it is works based, others deny it to be works based but cannot see that they turn faith and belief into a work, nor can they see the most vital change of all….
That SAVED no longer means saved.
This week, this year, as is the case almost every year, I have had to address the idea that “Saved” does not actually mean “saved”.
Individuals believing that salvation is tentative, provisional, doubtful or conditional.
It is the notion that our salvation can be lost.
That it is NOT secure, that somehow eternal life is not absolute to those who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The belief that the saved soul is actually saved is considered a heresy by them.
They believe the most astonishing claim of all, that such a teaching is not presented anywhere in the Bible. “Saved” therefore, does not actually mean Saved in their view.
Yet they fail to see that what they believe respecting how we go to heaven is the most common belief in the world and always has been.
But it is NOT THE GOSPEL.
The true Gospel is a stumbling stone, the people of the world cannot comprehend how we can know NOW that we have eternal life NOW, and so this idea is easy to take on board.
They stumble at that stumbling stone (Rom 9:32-33, 1 Pet 2:8, 1 Cor 1:23) and are turned away from the simplicity that is in Christ. They turn away for the simple gospel, believe and be saved!
Beloved, I am very familiar with the arguments, it was the very first doctrinal dispute I ever had as a new christian with an elder in the church. It is vast in response and today I can only address one aspect of it and that is how it changes EVERYTHING.
(If you believe you would like to hear more on the topic, if it is an idea that you hold and are willing to consider an answer, or one that you have been told and are not sure on the truth of it, please let me know for I cannot answer everything in this sermon. Meanwhile read Acts 15, Galatians, Hebrews.)
I have no desire to offend anyone beloved. I am truly sorrowful over this idea for it changes everything we know of the gospel.
There is no doubt those who believe salvation is conditional will not think of their trust as ‘works’ based, but there is simply no other alternative if your salvation, in the end, is up to you.
The very purpose statement of the coming of Christ given in Matthew 18:11; is spoken by Jesus himself; 11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost, If this is not true it is a failure. It is unsuccessful at best, untrue at worst.
And so we may as well remove Matt 18:11from our Bibles altogether if men CANNOT BE SAVED BY CHRIST ALONE. ….
….and so all modern versions of the Bible have done so.
Look and see if you can find Matthew 18:11 and you will not find it. “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost” has been as removed from modern Bible versions in actuality or, in the case of the NKJV, in the footnotes, and has done so as the very meaning of the word SAVED has been removed from the hearts of many Christians today.
Saved no longer means “SAVED”.
As a result of this change, everything else needs to also change.
“Sealed” can no longer mean sealed.
“Promise” can no longer mean promise.
“Inheritance” no longer means inheritance.
“Gift” can no longer mean gift.
“Justified” no longer means justified.
“Grace: no longer means grace.
And what does “Peace with God” really mean?
What does being “Born again” mean? What is the new birth referring to? What does “Converted” now mean?
When Ezekiel spoke of a New Heart given to us in Ezekiel 36, what was he referring to?
What are we “predestined” to?
What does “Chosen” now mean if SAVED no longer means SAVED? To what are we chosen?
If our Salvation is conditional, what the heck does the Gospel mean? Why did Jesus come, what was his purpose if in the end, to one degree or another, we are to save ourselves?
And what on earth does Baptism represent if it is no longer a representation of the death of the Old Man and resurrection of the NEW MAN?
Romans 6:11
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
What does that verse mean now if SAVED does not mean saved?
2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy:
Paul was sorrowful for the Church of Corinth, just as he was for the bewitched church of Galatia when “another gospel” was being presented that took away “the simplicity that is in Christ”.
Every year it seems I need to address the topic of Salvation to someone, and it seems to be increasing more and more in these last of days.
I am fully aware beloved that each of us have come from different traditions and the longer you have been around the more you may have witnessed and the more often you have been deceived and corrected, for satan has never stopped trying to deceive us to stop the gospel.
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Paul reaches back into the beginning of history to remind us of Satan’s subtly, all of which began with a question of the meaning of words;
“Hath God said….?” (Gen 3:1).
All it took was that initial doubt in his words.
While God said “thou shalt surely die” (Gen 2:17), the serpent took the opportunity through the doubt created to say “ye shall not surely die” (Gen 3:4).
SAVED? Do you think that really means “saved”?
Words Changed
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS.
There was a land in which she journeyed, a fantasy land where, following a white rabbit with a waistcoat and a fob watch she had seen many impossible things, all of them presented true but all of them false and matters of dreams.
The next time she played pretend it was through a looking glass, a mirror which reflected reality opposed to truth, and which presented words the opposite of how they are written when reflected in the Looking Glass (The mirror).
Some of you may know that I am referring to Alice in Wonderland and its sequel “Through The Looking Glass”.
These two novels written by Lewis Carrol, who’s real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a poet, mathematician and writer who came from a line of high church Anglicans, presents a skewed version of reality to Alice.
His goal through these works were to challenge her (our) general understanding of logic, authority and identity. His focus was that related to words.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master – – that’s all.”
When a person scratches a giant sign in the sands of a deserted island, or whether via morse code the dot, dot, dot, dash, dash, dash, dot, dot, dot is sounded out to the ears of potential rescuers, WHAT DO WE BELIEVE IS THE DESIRE OF THOSE writing and sounding out the classic SOS?
Do the words, “Save Our Souls” mean what the reader CHOOSES them to mean or do they mean what they mean?
2 Corinthians 11:1–4
1 Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me.
The folly we are looking at is trying to make words mean something they don’t say.
2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
The jealousy he is jealous over them beloved is the very gospel itself. It is the way of God, the hope of Christ and through Christ that is being placed into question through deception.
When the meaning of a word is changed from what it says in the Bible, it is not only the meaning of that word that is affected but every other word that is related to it.
The Bible is as a tapestry that presents the fullness and completeness of the Gospel where if a single thread is pulled from its place, destroys the entirety of that which it presents.
Everything changes.
Such is the case when the single word “SAVED” no longer means what it says.
Saved
Turn to
2 Corinthians 2:14–17
14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. 15 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: 16 To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
Interesting verse 17 of this passage. For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God:
Verse 15 presents the present tense of the word “Saved”, simply saying “For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved”. “Are saved” is the present perfect tense of the word.
NB: The word “Saved” does not have a tense in an of itself, it requires a qualifier. “Are Saved” is present tense, “Have been saved” is past tense; “will be saved” is future tense.
The devil does not want us to know the present and completed sense of the word in verse 15, and therefore EVERY MODERN translation ADDS a word BETWEEN “are” and “Saved”, the word added is found in no greek document.
It is the word “being”, and thereby makes an INFINITE alteration to text. A “corruption”. Today there are yet “many which corrupt the word of God”
Instead of saying simply, “in them that are saved” it is says in the Bible, to “in them that are BEING saved” in modern versions.
Thereby calling into question the finished work of Christ.
In fact, the greek all reads the same way, εν τοῖς σωζομὲνοις (in them that are saved)
The word for “being” (ὺπάρχων) is found in 174 verses of the New Testament, yet it is conspicuously missing in every greek manuscript, including those relied upon by the translators of modern versions, in this text in 2 Cor 2:15.
SO WHY WAS IT ADDED other than to create doubt in the finished work of Christ, and to make SALVATION progressive and thereby conditional?
Mark 16:16
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Acts 4:12
12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Acts 16:30–31
30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
Meanings Altered
DEAD AND ALIVE
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
“Dead’, that is how the Bible presents us prior to our salvation. DEAD in trespass and sins BEFORE we were made alive.
Ephesians 2:1
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Ephesians 2:5
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
We “were dead” but are now alive.
How can this make any sense in the light of believing we can lose our salvation? Do we die again? Can we live again after we have died again? Is there an ongoing and perpetual cycle of dying and living until perfected…is this the western christian version of hinduism and reincarnation?
Colossians 2:13
13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Beloved, all that is dead now is the Old man. The old Edi is dead, he no longer exists, I am now a NEW creature.
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
HOW beloved can this make ANY sense if your salvation is temporary or conditional?
If I am a new creature, if “old things are passed away” and “all things are become new”, how can it be that nothing significant has happened in me?
Romans 6:11
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
How can these verses reconcile with the idea of a conditional salvation? Can you yet see how many scriptures are completely made nonsensical with this idea?
Galatians 2:20–21
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
Righteousness by the law is the only alternative ever posited in the bible. “Works”, another gospel.
Baptism
Romans 6:4
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Colossians 2:12–13
12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
The New Birth
John 3:3-8
1 Peter 1:23
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
A new Heart
Ezekiel 36:26–27
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Doctrine Corrupted
Preservation of our souls is testified to again and again in the Bible. Jesus himself spoke of it in John 10 saying,
John 10:27–30
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and my Father are one.
What does “shall never perish” mean now if you or I can loose ourselves from the hand of God and Christ?
So many words and so many passages are rendered incomprehensible if it is true that salvation is conditional.
For it is God who promises to preserve us.
Paul wrote;
2 Timothy 1:12
12 …. for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
Did you know that Paul wished he could be accursed from Christ?
Yes, his love for his brethren was so great that he would choose to separate himself from Christ for the sake of his brethren;
Romans 9:3
3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
John wrote his first letter for one distinct purpose in 1John, “that ye may know ye have eternal life”
NO, we are SEALED.
Just as God shut Noah and his family into the ship, so are we sealed in Christ. He is our salvation, he is our ark as we sail through this judged and condemned world.
2 Corinthians 1:21–22
21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
Ephesians 1:13–14
13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
I am so glad to be sealed, just as I was glad to have a mother and father who would not let me go and play in the traffic, but loved me enough to keep me safe.
So too is God our father. He knows the foolishness of our flesh and keeps us preserved in him because we are HIS PURCHASED POSSESSION.
Jude 1
1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:
Beloved, if our salvation is conditional, in what way are we SEALED?
Sealed loses its meaning, so too does any reference to us as his “purchased possession”.
“Promise” loses its meaning
Romans 4:14–16
14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:
Works still remains the only alternative to faith, and turning faith into a work retains the idea of works. If it is by our works then the promise is made of none effect. There simply cant be any promise to apply, for now it is turned to a wage….indeed, a debt obligation. God “Owes” you eternal life…really?
15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. 16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
What was it that declared Abraham righteous? Faith, he simply believed God and was declared righteous. If you believe the Gospel, God has saved you!
Look at the beginning of the fifth chapter
Peace With God loses its meaning.
Romans 5:1
1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Justified loses its meaning.
What does it mean to be justified if suddenly salvation is provisional or conditional?
(Double jeopardy).
Can this truly be “good news”?
Who would be willing to die to share the hope of Christ if a few days later that same person can be lost again?
“Inheritance” loses its meaning
Ephesians 1:11–14
11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
1 Peter 1:3–5
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Chosen
Predestined
Elect
Ephesians 1:4–7
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
GIFT, what is the gift then if eternal life is conditional?
Gift of God
John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
See also Romans 5:15-17
How do we now explain this “Gift” is the “gift” of eternal life is conditional…how is it a gift?
Why Christ Came?
Galatians 2:21
21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
Beloved, before I close with the final point, WHY DID JESUS COME if salvation is conditional upon you and I in any way?
When Jesus said on the cross, “it is finished” in Jn 19:30, what is finished???
The people that have had more practise in answering this logical question is the Roman Catholic Church, this is where the ONLY alternative to grace is given….which leads where all false gospels lead, to works!
Simplicity in Christ
2 Corinthians 11:2–3
2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
The single greatest desire that I have for our church is that we would be so completely sold out for the gospel of our lord and saviour Jesus Christ in thees last of the last days, but what gospel is it that is so complicated as that which tells us SAVED DOES NOT MEAN SAVED.
And
We don’t really know and can’t really show how you can lose you salvation, but we know you can…somehow.
When the Bible says;
Saved, it does not mean saved.
Sealed
Justified
Preserved
Promise
Gift
Grace
Born Again
Baptised
Saints
Children of God
Bride of Christ
The Church
The Body of Christ
Crucified with Christ
The Old Man
The New Man
New Creature
Chosen
Predestined
Elect
When it says;
“Saved to the uttermost” (Heb 7:25)
“Shall never perish” (John 10:28)
When it says;
Romans 8:37–39
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master – – that’s all.”
When you are willing to change the single word “SAVED” to make it not say what it says, you will find your doctrine to end no better than Humpty Dumpty…. And “not all the kings horses, nor all the kings men will ever put Humpty Dumpty together again”.
You may find it fascinating to know, that Lewis Carrol moulded the fairy tales of Alice in Wonderland on a little girl by the name of Alice Liddell who lived in his neighbourhood.
Alice Liddell is the daughter of Henry George Liddell, the famous (infamous) creator of the Liddell Scott Greek English Lexicon (1843) which became the “standard Greek Dictionary”[1] from which most of todays corrupt translations of the Bible stem.
“When I use a word,” “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”
If Alice in wonderland is framed on Alice Liddell, I wonder who Humpty Dumpty is framed on?
2 Corinthians 11:3
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Liddell
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