Welcome everyone to Redemption Church in Plano Tx. My name is Chris Fluitt & I am glad to be here with everyone in the room and everyone joining us online.
We have worshipped together.
We are about to receive the Word of God together.
And before we are done, we will all talk to God, together.
I have an unusual message for you today. I would have never thought to preach a message like I am about to deliver you today. I really feel like the Lord gave me this message and directed me in how to deliver it to you.
Our Jesus was often asked controversial questions. He was often asked questions that were designed to be complex and would have tripped most people up. Instead of dancing around issues, Jesus would go right to the heart of the matter. Instead of trying to answer the nuance of complex theological doctrines, Jesus would cut right to the weaknesses that are present in the heart of man.
Denominational religion could learn a lot from Jesus if we would just pay attention.
There are more than a few doctrinal issues that divide the body of Christ. Usually, the Church addresses these issues in one of 2 ways…
#1 We ignore the difficult issue and preach something fun & light instead.
#2 We preach strongly how what we believe is right and insinuate that anyone who believes differently is likely not a Christian at all.
I have been in both kind of services, and I think neither are particularly helpful.
Today, I pray to be more like Jesus and cut to the heart of a controversial subject. Today I am challenged with the task of talking to you about 2 viewpoints on salvation called eternal security and conditional security.
Eternal Security vs Conditional Security
These are 2 different interpretations on Biblical salvation.
Many times I have heard a minister stand and deliver a message supporting or damning one of these 2 positions. I have heard ministers stand and quote scripture after scripture to build a case for their belief.
If they are teaching eternal security, they will focus on one set of scriptures…
If they are for conditional security, they will focus on another set of scriptures…
Nearly 100% of the time no one left changed. Most people left believing the same as when the service started. Have any of you ever experienced this? Am I the only one?
Many people approach scripture from their already cemented point of view. How will you approach the Word today?
I find a lot of doctrinal teaching messages to be like “presidential debates.” Analysts say the strong majority of people who watch a presidential debate do not change their minds, they only double down on what they already believe and grow frustrated that not everyone agrees. I see this also happen in denominational religion.
I want to tell you today, WHAT you believe is not nearly is not as important as “On WHOM you have believed.”
WHOM YOU HAVE BELIEVED > WHAT YOU BELIEVE
Can we focus on WHO we believe upon for a moment?
We are the Church of Jesus Christ!
“I will not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name!
On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking stand… all other ground is sinking sand.”
Eternal Security vs Conditional Security
Today we are going to cut through the complex argument of eternal vs. conditional security; we are going to focus on the heart of the issue.
I pledge to you today to approach this subject in a very Christ like way. I am not going to try to win an argument. My hope today is NOT to change the belief you profess, but to change the way you live your faith.
Upon studying the subject, I see truth on both sides & also areas of weakness on both sides of this argument. I want you to consider this with me today.
Eternal Security
Eternal Security is the belief that when a person comes to faith in Jesus, they are at that moment saved for eternity and can never fall, or turn away from salvation.
Some scriptures like John 10:28 are presented.
John 10:28 (NIV) 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.
I am not preaching today to persuade or dissuade this doctrine. Instead, I need to point out a weakness in this philosophy. Here is the weakness.
Eternal Security can lack urgency.
I want your mind to go back to the day you were saved. I want you to think back to the moment you first heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. You heard about a savior named Jesus. You heard about the cross and His agony upon it. Remember when you heard about His death, burial, and PRAISE GOD, His resurrection.
Please remember the moment you realized that you were a sinner. This was an urgent moment!
You knew you could not remain the same, but you had to be changed. You understood that sin had separated you from God and that you were worthy of death & hell. You understood that Jesus died in your place as a way of escape for you.
There are stories of people who ran to the front of the church. The thought of remaining in their sin a moment longer was too much.
There are people who became convicted while on the other side of town and they called the preacher and said, “Preacher meet me at the church.” As that convicted person made their way across town, they literally prayed, “Please, Jesus just let me reach the church house. Do not take me before I can get right with you.
Did you ever have this urgency?
In Acts 2, while Peter was preaching about the gospel of Jesus, the crowd with urgency began to plead with each other and Peter…
Acts2:37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
The message of salvation is a message of urgency. The message of salvation carries a heavy burden that sits right upon your heart and convicts you to the place where you know YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING, RIGHT NOW.
When was the last time you felt such an urgency?
I remember a preacher in my youth named John Edwards. I remember him preaching in Waco Tx this verse…
Romans 13:11 (KJV) And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
It is high time! It is a time of the highest urgency! Your salvation is nearer today than when you first believed. Awake out of your sleep and regain the urgency you felt when you first believed. I remember urgently going to the altar that day, like it was my first time in that altar.
If we are not careful, we can treat salvation like a finish line. A runner who is running in the race has urgency. The runner who has crossed the finish line stops running and turns around to watch who else crosses the line.
I have not come here today to argue with your beliefs on salvation, but I am hear today to ask you, “When was the last time you felt urgent…?”
Is urgency something in the past for you? Did the urgency subside when you believed, when you prayed a prayer of repentance, when you were baptized, or when you received his Spirit? Or, are you urgent today?
I remember vividly, like it was yesterday, as a young pastor approaching an older lady who was attending our church. I approached her during a time of talking to God. There was worship and prayer going on all over the room. People all over the room were drawing close to God, and I saw her looking unhappy and unfulfilled. I saw her and my heart hurt for her. I walked up to her and I asked, “How can I pray for you?” I will never forget how she looked up at me, put on a fake smile and said, “I am just fine. I received His love in 1972.”
Not content to let her go without praying, I said “Sister pray for me. Sister, pray for my family. Sister, pray for my son’s health. Pray, pray, pray…”
I do not mind appearing urgent! There is something wrong with a Christian who is no longer urgent.
We must be urgent for others! Even if you are saved, there are many who are not saved.
Matthew 9:36 (NIV) When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Jesus also said “WE MUST WORK WHILE IT IS STILL DAY! NIGHT IS COMING! (John 9:4)
Our faith needs to stay urgent.
Revelation 3:11 (NIV) I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.
Lord let us be urgent today!
Eternal Security can lack urgency.
I am glad you feel secure in your salvation, but I am praying that God will stir an urgency into your heart today! Before today is over, I want to see this place filled with urgent prayer & worship.
Now that I may have offended all my eternal security members, let me be offensive to my conditional security members.
Eternal Security vs Conditional Security
I am an equal opportunity offender. I have pointed out a weakness in one side, now let me do it for the other side.
Conditional Security
Conditional security is the belief that when a person comes to faith in Jesus, they are at that moment saved but must maintain their faith in Christ to remain saved.
Some scriptures like Hebrews 6:4 are presented.
Hebrews 6:4-6 4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance.
I am not preaching today to persuade or dissuade this doctrine. Instead, I need to point out a weakness in this philosophy. Here is the weakness.
Conditional Security can lack confidence.
A lack of confidence in Jesus is a real weakness.
I want you to remember that moment you had obeyed the command of God. I want you to remember how it felt to know that your soul now belonged to Jesus. You knew that you were loved by Jesus. There was a confidence in that moment.
I remember the confidence of knowing I was loved by God. I remember as a child hearing the preacher say things that made me feel confident that no devil in hell could stop me.
I remember certain songs that just made me feel confident in Jesus…
Yes Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so.
Blessed assurance Jesus is mine!
I’m on my way to heaven and I’m so glad! The world can’t do me no harm.
I remember reading the Bible and confidence would just pour out verse by verse.
Hebrews 13:5 “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
Philippians 1:6 (NIV) being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
I know a woman who played piano in Church every Sunday. She was raised in church. She had believed, repented, been baptized, spoken in tongues, been used by God, heard from God… you name it, she had probably experienced it. Yet, she lacked the fruit of the Spirit… she lacked love, joy, and peace… she was miserable, depressed, and angry. I remember one day my dad saw her at a grocery store and she was not looking well. My dad sensed there was something wrong.
My dad asked her, how are you? What is wrong? She responded in anger and said that she had failed God and that no matter what, she was going to hell. She really believed it… she had no confidence in her salvation.
There is something wrong when a Christian does not have confidence.
Hebrews 10:35 …do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
I have 4 objects that I lose at least 1 time a day. I misplace my glasses, my wallet, my keys, and my phone. I don’t mean to lose track of them, it just happens as I grow distracted by life.
Your salvation is not like your car keys. You cannot accidently misplace your salvation. “I wasn’t paying attention and just lost my salvation…
I feel safe in saying the salvation that Jesus purchased on the cross cannot be easily misplaced!
Conditional Security can lack confidence.
You need confidence in what Jesus did on the cross for you.
It still reaches to the highest mountain. It still flows to the lowest valley. The blood that gives me strength from day to day, it will never lose its power.
His grace is greater than all your sin. You can be confident in that. Scripture says “where sin abounds, grace much more abounds! (Romans 5:20)
Christian I am not hear today to go round and round in an argument over eternal or conditional security. I am here to implore us to have both URGENCY & CONFIDENCE in our heart.
Urgent & Confident
Chances are good that you have a weakness in one of these 2 areas.
I think we can accomplish so much by bypassing the eternal/conditional argument and simply changing our hearts.
Have you been living urgently? Why not! Come now! Do not delay!
Have you been living confidently? Why not! Come receive and renew His love right now!
We are going to have a time of talking to God. I want you to bring your weakness to this altar today.
Urgently and confidently talk to God today.
Come asking. Come believing.
Urgently & confidently worship God today.
Boldly, with urgency & confidence come before his throne.
With urgency seek His plan for your life.
With confidence walk in His plan for your life.
If you need forgiveness today. Come urgently! Come confidently!