Wow, it is no easy task raising children! I’ve had the blessing of raising three. They’re all grown and married and they’re raising their own children today. As I watch them, I just think to myself, “Oh my goodness! That takes so much work and effort. Did I actually do that?” Because now as a grandfather, I don’t have what it takes any longer. I can love them and leave them and that’s about the extent of it.
Last month’s e-teaching generated a lot of interest, receiving 4,700 views on our website so far. In that teaching, I did my best to show that God does not require of divorced and married Christians what “Divine Divorce Proponents” claim He requires, namely that they divorce again and remarry their first spouse, or live celibate lives until that person, to whom they are allegedly “still married in God’s eyes,” is dead. If you didn’t read that article, it would be best that you do before you read what follows.
Today, we’re going to talk about good works and what part they play in the equation of salvation.
Now, there are extreme views on this topic. Some, the Greasy Grace guys—the hyper-grace folks—tend to promote an idea that good works are not a part of the salvation equation at all. And if you just pray a little prayer and ‘accept’ Jesus as your personal savior, you’re in, and you got it, and you can’t lose it.
How do I get victory over sin in my life? That’s a great question. The first thing to understand is that that’s not an unusual question because it’s not an unusual struggle. Just because you’ve become a believer in Jesus doesn’t mean that you automatically are a super holy person.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatian Christians that “the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please” (Galatians 5:17).
Today’s Little Lesson is especially for people who are married or people who want to get married. Is there a secret to having a great marriage? I think that there is. I’ve been married for 38 years and I think I have a great marriage. If I was going to break it down as to why, of course I’ve got a great wife. That’s it. But what makes her so great? Have I helped out at all in this equation?
When you come to believe in Jesus—when you’re born again—you just want everybody to be born again, you want everyone to believe in Jesus! Because your sins are forgiven, God is your Father and you have eternal life. Naturally, you want everyone else to have that same blessing. And if you haven’t felt that desire for other people to have that same blessing, that’s probably an indication that you really don’t have it yourself yet.
As we endeavor to try to tell people the Good News of Jesus Christ, should we attempt to persuade them to “accept Jesus” as their personal Savior? I ask that because that’s a very, very common expression that we find within the evangelical world.
In today’s Little Lesson, we’re going to talk about faith and hope. Faith and hope are not the same. And Scripture gives us a very clear explanation that differentiates between the two.
Hebrews 11:1 says that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for.” So clearly faith has an assurance that hope doesn’t have. Hope is always saying “maybe,” but faith is always very confident. Much more confident than is hope.
This is the third Little Lesson where we’ll be discussing this subject of the security of the believer. Is it unconditional, or is it conditional?
When you believe in Jesus, does that guarantee that you have a salvation that there’s no possible way you could forfeit? Or is your security conditional? Conditional upon you continuing in the faith, as evidenced by your continued walk of obedience to the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ?
We ask for a second time, is it possible for a true Christian to forfeit their salvation, under certain circumstances? I started answering this question in our last Little Lesson.
We’ve looked at 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 where Paul definitely says that certain categories of people who are involved in the most grievous types of sin as a lifestyle—as a practice—will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Today’s question is another good one. We hear it often: can true Christians lose their salvation? First of all, I don’t like how the question is phrased because it implies that you can lose your salvation just like you lose your car keys: totally accidentally, never expecting it. In fact, you don’t even realize it until sometime after you discover that they’re lost.
The answer to that question is: absolutely not. Salvation is very precious and valuable. It’s not something that you get accidentally and, certainly, it’s not something that you lose accidentally.