Can true Christians have addictions? In today’s Little Lesson, we’re going to talk a little bit about the subject of addictions, which a lot of people struggle with. Including those who are endeavoring to follow Christ.

Probably the first one that comes to mind is addiction to tobacco. I have heard that the tobacco addiction can be tougher to beat than some addictions to things that are considered to be hard drugs.

I don’t know. I’ve never been addicted to cigarettes or to drugs. I certainly have known my share of folks who have struggled with addictions to cigarettes.

Playing With Chemicals in Our Heads and Brains

Of course, obviously it’s a physiological thing. We’re playing with chemicals in our bodies and in our brains when we’re addicted. It’s not just a matter of it being an easy thing or “if I just could muster up enough willpower.”

Although some people have apparently been able to do that. But not so many. so there are different ways that people have to be able to give up smoking. Then there can be other addictions.

Of course, people can be addicted to caffeine. “I’ve got to have my cup of coffee. I’ve got to have my cup of tea.”

And there can be addictions to alcohol. And who wants that? Because that can lead to terrible, terrible things.

Is It Possible for Christians to Be Addicted?

So first of all, is it possible? If you’re addicted to cigarettes or caffeine, does that prove you’re not really a Christian? I certainly don’t think so, and I don’t think there’s any biblical evidence of that.

Of course, cigarettes weren’t around back in Jesus’s day. Alcohol certainly was, and the Bible does warn that no drunkard will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). So, if you’re in that category, finding yourself overcome by, at times, drunkenness, you are in a very precarious position.

Now here’s the good news. Here’s the good news. We all believe as Christians that we have the Holy Spirit in us. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that you could ask or think, according to the power that works within us (see Ephesians 3:20-21).

The Power Within Us

“ As those who have the Holy Spirit, there is enough power within us to break any physical addiction.

So, obviously there’s enough power within us to break any physical addiction that we might have been suffering or struggling against. I would say there’s a starting point of faith.

I think that comes into play in our struggles against any form of sin or doing things that we don’t really want to do. To believe that Christ is the Liberator, if He can set people free from demons, powerful demons, people who are running through the tombs naked, cutting themselves with stones (see Mark 5:1-12).

We’re talking about the God of the universe who put the planets and the stars in their place. That’s the power that’s in us. And so, I would go to work on first of all building my faith that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (see Philippians 4:13).

Fasting to Break Some Physical Addictions

Now, I have had myself I think a mild addiction in past times to caffeine. Anytime I would fast, which is something I’ve talked about not too long ago on our Little Lessons, one of the first symptoms I’d have would be withdrawal from caffeine giving me a headache.

But I would recommend that you might also consider fasting. That’s not giving up water, but giving up food, denying yourself food, as a discipline. And also in conjunction with looking for deliverance from anything else that has got you. Any kind of physical addiction, right?

Because the desire for food can be pretty strong, as I told you when we discussed fasting. The more frequently you fast, the easier that it gets to fast. But the first time you fast, it can be really, really tough and miserable. You think you’re going to die.

To get past those addictions, putting your body in subjection to your will and fasting, denying it food, not denying it water, I believe could also be a helpful method in seeking to be delivered from these other physical addictions.

Deliverance From Addiction

I have seen people delivered from a lot of addictions over the years. I’m thinking of one guy right now who was delivered almost instantly from a cocaine addiction that had him for years.

If God can deliver you from a craving for cocaine, He’s obviously able to deliver you from anything. I’m very thankful for secular and Christian rehabs, where people go to find deliverance from this stuff. Because they work on other things besides the physical side, but also of the mental and emotional side.

Teen Challenge

I’m no expert on that, but the one that has, to my knowledge, the absolute best results is one called Teen Challenge, started by David Wilkerson years ago.

It’s a heavy, heavy discipleship program. Jesus is right smack in the middle of it. People aren’t sitting around watching TV all day at Teen Challenge. They’re involved in Bible study. They’re involved in prayer. And they’re involved in work and service, keeping their minds occupied and their hands busy and so forth.

They have a great rate of success. My understanding is, more so than the non-Christian rehabs. And you have to commit yourself there. They call them Teen Challenges, but it’s not just for teens. It started off that way, but older people go with addictions who just can’t find deliverance. They won’t take you if it’s smoking. They won’t take you if it’s caffeine, but if it’s drugs, that would be a good place to look to see if you could find help.

Encouraging Those Who Are Struggling

But to answer the original question (and this is a Little Lesson), we need to have mercy and compassion upon those who are struggling with these things, and be careful in condemning people who are struggling with these things. Let’s encourage them. Let’s pray for them. Let’s trust God together with them to find the deliverance they’re looking for. And let’s not even suggest that, “Oh, you must not be a Christian because you smoke cigarettes.”

I don’t think that’s right. I think that’s passing judgment. I don’t think you have any biblical warrant for that. When you look at the hearts of some of these good folks who struggle with these things, you know that they really would love to be free, and we just want to encourage them. So that’s what I’m doing today, all right? Thank you so much for joining me on this Little Lesson. God bless you.

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Will God forgive you if you keep repeating the same sin over and over again? This is a great question because, as I mentioned on our previous Little Lesson, none of us have reached perfection yet.

“We all stumble,” James said, “in many ways, and if anyone hasn’t stumbled in what he says,” there’s the biggest stumbling place right there, “he’s a perfect man, or woman, able to bridle the whole body as well.” (see James 3:2). And he goes on to elaborate about how the tongue is this unruly thing.

There’s an area that we can always probably use improvement on, “that no unwholesome word would proceed from our mouths, but only what is good for edification that it might give grace to those who hear it,” as Paul wrote to the Ephesians (see Ephesians 4:29).

Stumbling Accidentally, Not Intentionally, Into Sin

“ Every true believer feels an inward resistance when they sin.

We’re still stumbling accidentally, not intentionally. No believer is willfully sinning. Every true believer, even when they do sin, has an inward resistance to that saying, “No, no, no, no, no.” And even if we yield to the temptation, the whole time it’s, “No, no, no.” After yielding to the temptation, there’s now a different feeling on the inside, “Oh, you shouldn’t have done that. You are guilty. You have sinned against God. You have disobeyed the Lord,” and it’s that feeling of conviction.

As we talked about on our previous Little Lesson, of course we’re supposed to confess our sins, and God promises that, when we do that, He will forgive our sins. Always, of course, there’s a purposing in our hearts to not repeat it. Of course you don’t want to repeat it. You didn’t want to do it the first time, and so, of course, when you confess it and you’ve gone through that process, then you’re thinking is all, “Man, I want to avoid this as much as possible. I don’t want to do this ever again.”

I did, one time, talk in a Little Lesson some time ago about how to get victory over sin and some Biblical principles there. But I want to talk, in this Little Lesson, about the question, “If I keep repeating the same sin over and over again, will God always forgive me?”

Will God Always Forgive Me If I Keep Repeating the Same Sin?

Well, that’s a great question, and no wonder we ask that question. We think, “Well, how much mercy does God have? If I do it too many times, it’ll expose that I must not really be sincere.”

But I think this is the place where the devil loves to get in and defeat us by condemning us, causing us to doubt the mercy of God and that he will keep his promise to forgive us if we confess our sins, to try to get us just to give up and say, “There’s no sense in even trying because I have out-sinned the grace of God.”

Well, Paul said, “God used me as an example to show everybody how merciful he is, because I was a persecutor of the church, and a blasphemer, and a violent aggressor, and yet God showed me mercy to set an example that He’d forgive the chief of sinners” (see 1 Timothy 1:12-17).

God’s Promise of Continual Forgiveness

So will God keep forgiving you? Yes, He will keep forgiving you. Another reason that we can believe that is because there was a time when the apostle Peter—whom I love so much because of his forthrightness and his transparency and his bumbling transparency, at times—one time he asked Jesus (almost you could imagine him with a bit of air of kind of superiority over his spirituality)…

Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? – Matthew 18:21

As if, woo-hoo, Peter, impressive! He’s thinking Jesus is going to say, “Wow, Peter, seven? I was only thinking maybe two or three. But wow, Peter, you’re really merciful.” But no, that’s not what the Lord said.

Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. – v. 22

So that’s 490 times if your brother comes and asks you to forgive him you are obligated to forgive him. 490 times. If the Lord expects that much forgiveness to come out of you and come out of me, well, that’s a pretty good indication that He’s going to at least come up to his own standards for us, right?

The Forgiveness God Expects of Us

I don’t really think that the Lord meant for us to be keeping one of those little counter clickers in our hands, and every time a brother or sister in Christ asks for our forgiveness we say, “Okay, that’s 1. You got 469 left, so be careful.” And then 7 years later, “Okay, that’s 422.”

No, I don’t think that’s what the Lord was saying. I think the Lord was saying just keep on forgiving as long as that brother or sister keeps on coming back to you, because it indicates some degree of sincerity.

Even though it becomes less believable every time they come, the Lord expects us to be that merciful. Boy, if you don’t forgive somebody that asks you to forgive them, you’re in big trouble according to Jesus. We’re taught to pray, in The Lord’s Prayer, “forgive us our sins or transgressions, as to the degree—to the extent—that we forgive others” (see Matthew 6:12). After that prayer, Jesus gave an explanation and said, “If you don’t forgive others, neither will your Father in Heaven forgive you.”

A Cliffhanger

Now, of course, it is important to add the element of expecting people to come to us humbly and ask for forgiveness, and this is actually the next question that I want to cover on our next Little Lesson, “Do I have to forgive people who don’t ask for forgiveness?” I’m going to leave it as a cliffhanger, so I’ll get you tomorrow or whenever the next time is you have a chance to hear the answer to that question.

But yes, I mean just think about this for a moment. Don’t you have to ask forgiveness to get forgiveness from God? Does He automatically give it? Something to think about.

Not a License to Sin

“ True Christians want to please God.

In any case, I’m not offering anyone a license to sin. And there will be some mean people who will, no doubt, say, “Well, you’re just a greasy grace preacher telling people they can sin all they want, and all they have to do is just confess it.”

No. No true Christian is thinking, “How many times can I sin and get away with it,” or “How many times can I use that forgiveness thing?” No, true Christians want to please God. They are trying. And even those that are stumbling and falling a lot, God loves them. And if they confess their sins, He forgives them. Amen.

Okay? Hope to see you in the next Little Lesson. God bless you.

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You’ve sinned and you still feel guilty; what should you do? Scripture says that everybody’s sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (see Romans 3:23). So if you’ve sinned, welcome to the human race.

But I’m not trying to give anybody any excuses. Because when we believe in Jesus, we’ve set ourselves on a course to follow Him. Which is another way of saying obey Him. Which is another way of saying we keep His commandments.

And that’s our intention. We repent of our sins. We’re turning away from that which we know is displeasing in God’s eyes, and we set ourselves on a course every day: take up your cross, deny yourself, and follow Him (see Luke 9:23).

Obedience is Progressive

But still, James said, “We all stumble in many ways” (James 3:2). He talks specifically about how we so often stumble with the things that we say.

Stumbling implies unintentional. Tt implies accidental. That is, within our hearts, within our minds, within our will we want to obey the Lord. We want to do what’s pleasing in His eyes. And that’s the mark of the genuine Christian. If you don’t care, if you’re not concerned, well, Jesus is not your Lord. So every day we’re striving to please him. Yet still we fall short.

Scripture talks about a progression called sanctification. Jesus said, “If you’re truly My disciples, you will abide in My Word. And you will know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (see John 8:31-32).

“ If you don’t care about your sin, Jesus is not your Lord.

He’s talking specifically there about freedom from sin. So that’s a progressive thing. As we renew our minds upon the Word of God, as we learn God’s will, as we walk with Him every day and try to learn what is pleasing to Him, then we’re growing in holiness and sanctification. But all along that way we are fraught with our own weaknesses and frailties and we face temptations, and we are apt to give in to those temptations. (continued after the graphic below…)

10 Bible Verses on Forgiveness to Encourage Your Faith

Good Guilt

So we all know what to do. When you fail, of course you feel guilty.

Now, let me encourage you just by virtue of that sense of guilt that you have. If God was giving up on you, and if this was the end and He was saying, “you’re hopeless,” well, there wouldn’t be any reason for Him to make you feel guilty.

The whole idea of guilt is to give us some motivation to repent. And within that of course is contained the realization that the Lord wants to forgive. The Lord wants to restore. He’s still on my side and He’s helping me along the path of sanctification, and guilt is a part of that process. So you recognize right off the bat, the guilt that I feel is another indication of the love of God.

Don’t ever forget, he is our Father. If you’re a father, or if you’re a mother and you have children, think of the compassion that you have upon them. Even when they disobey you blatantly, you still love them and you still want them to come to their senses if they’re not realizing what they’ve done. And you try to help them see that they’ve done wrong.

You might explain to your little daughter or your little son, “Well, here’s the reason we don’t do that. That hurts other people’s feelings.” Or, “That’s not right, you have to share, because God wants us to share.” So we’re helping them to understand what’s right and what’s wrong. The Lord’s the same way with that sense of guilt that He lets us all experience when we sin.

What To Do When You Sin

All right, so what do you do when you sin? Scripture is very clear: you confess it. Proverbs 28:13 says that “He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.”

You know how that works. In our relationships with other people, when people offend us, when they sin against us, the way to heal that breach in our relationship is if they’ll come and ask for forgiveness, if they’ll acknowledge and confess that what they’ve done has been offensive and say, “Would you please forgive me?” Then it’s very easy to forgive people who humble themselves like that.

So if you and I have that capacity to forgive people and give them another chance, we being human beings… Well, how much more does the Lord have that capacity? He’s longing to forgive us. He wants to bring us to a place where we can acknowledge our sins, and as we read there in Proverbs, not just confess, but also forsake them.

Okay? So there has to be a determination. And of course naturally there is if you’re sincerely asking forgiveness. And naturally, you don’t want to do it again, just like you didn’t want to do it the first time. (continued after the graphic below…)

A Promise to Memorize

Then we have a promise from 1 John chapter 1:9. I think this is the first Bible verse that I ever memorized (and for good reason, because I so desperately need it!).

“If we confess our sins,” there it is, “he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” So there it goes.

And God has made other promises similar to that. If we’ll confess, if we’ll forsake our sins, though they be as scarlet, they’ll be as white as snow (see Isaiah 1:18). So He erases it and He casts our sins, as He says, “Into the sea of forgetfulness” (see Micah 7:19). There are these beautiful analogies in Scripture that help us to understand how gracious and forgiving and merciful God is. (continued after the graphic below…)

Believing God’s Promises for Forgiveness

“ Faith doesn’t go by what it feels, it goes by what God’s Word says.

Now, our question on today’s lesson was, “I confessed it, but I still feel guilty; what should I do?” Well, now is the time to learn a little lesson about faith. Faith doesn’t go by what it feels, it goes by what God’s Word says.

So if God says He’s forgiven you because you confessed it, you met the conditions, then He has forgiven you. So believe it. If you believe it, then you’re not going to wallow in depression over it.

Now, again, if you’ve harmed somebody, the consequences you often can’t change. If you’ve messed things up, you can’t fix the consequences, and so you can’t get rid of that regret. But I’m talking about if you feel like God is still holding it against you, then that’s a feeling that doesn’t line up with God’s Word or God’s promise. And so you need to get hold of yourself and say, “Wait a second here, buddy, God said if you confess He forgives you, and so you’re forgiven. So go on as if you’re forgiven.”

Just like you would if you sinned against me and you asked me to forgive you. I’d forgive you and I’d want you to go on from then on not wallowing in it, not thinking I’m still upset at you. I want you to know you truly are forgiven. Okay?

A little more to say about this same subject on tomorrow’s little lesson. Hope to see you then! God bless you.

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We’ve been talking on Little Lessons about a very important subject, the subject of discipleship. Because Jesus told His apostles, “Go all the world, make disciples. Teach them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you” (see Matthew 28:19-20).

That’s what Jesus wants. That should be every minister’s goal. That should be every church’s mission statement. That’s what we ought to all personally be pursuing. And we should be evaluating ourselves. Am I truly a disciple of Christ?

The Lie That You Can Be a Believer, but a Not a Disciple of Jesus Christ

If you’ve bought into the lie that you can be a believer in Jesus but not be His disciple, well, that’s a terrible lie to believe. Because it is a lie.

If you’re not a disciple of Christ, you don’t believe in Him. Belief and discipleship are one in the same. True believers are all disciples. All the disciples, they’re the only true believers.

If you said, “I’m a believer, but I’m not a disciple,” you’re not really a believer yet. The preachers and the pastors who are presenting that kind of false dichotomy, they’re doing a huge disservice to their congregations and to their listeners. Because it’s so easy to see from the New Testament that that’s erroneous.

“ If you’re not a disciple of Christ, you don’t believe in Him. —DAVID SERVANT

True Disciples Love Jesus Above All

Well, in our last Little Lesson, we were looking at Luke 14, where Jesus, in front of a huge group of people who are going along with Him, stops and tells them,

“Here’s what you have to do. If you don’t do this, you’re not My disciple.” The first thing, He says, “You’ve got to hate the people you naturally love the most.” We interpret that simply as meaning that my love for my family, in comparison to my love for Jesus, almost has to see like hatred because I love Jesus so much.

I love Jesus with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength because I believe He’s God. And God alone deserves that kind of love. It’s great to ask yourself the question, “Do I love Jesus supremely? Is that reflected in what I do in my life? When I have to make a decision between loving one person or loving another one?”

Again, there’s not always a conflict. I love my wife and my children dearly. Generally, there’s no conflict between my love for my wife and my children and my grandchildren, and my love for Jesus. In fact, I consider my love for my wife as part of an expression of my love for Jesus as well as for my children and my grandchildren.

True Disciples Choose Jesus Over the Approval of Loved Ones

If Jesus is telling me, “David, I want you to spend two months overseas every year. Because of that, you’re going to be apart from your family.” And I said, “No. I love my family too much,” that would be a sign that I don’t love Him enough and that I’m not His disciple.

Glad that in my own life I at least have a chance to evaluate that by some of the things that I sense that God’s calling me to do. We all have those opportunities, don’t we? We have to make a decision. It’s Jesus or this person that I love.

Some families—I’ve heard stories, I’m glad this has never happened to me—where the gauntlet is laid down by Christians’ loved ones. They say, “If you’re going to do that Jesus stuff, you’re no longer a part of our family.”

That happens around the world in places where other religions are very dominant. Those people make the decision to follow Christ. They make it very plain and clear, “We love Jesus the most.” You need to think about that. We all need to think about that. Look at your life. Does it reflect you love Jesus the most?

True Disciples Take Up the Cross

Well, Jesus continued.

Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. – Luke 14:27

Who’s going to argue with Jesus? He’s the Lord. He knows what He’s talking about. You can not be His disciple, He says, unless you take up your cross and follow him.

Well, again, this is another verse that is worth our thinking about a little bit. Because it seems unlikely that Jesus meant that we should be literally carrying a wooden cross with us wherever we go. We don’t see that played out in the book of Acts. They weren’t carrying wooden crosses around.

It must be symbolic of something. Well, it’s obviously symbolic of death and hardship and suffering. At bare minimum, it means that we have to be willing to pay a price, to suffer for the sake of Jesus.

What Cross-Carrying Means

I wouldn’t be surprised if that phrase “carry your cross” was not a expression that was even coined by Jesus. But perhaps it was one that would have been fairly commonly used within Jesus’s world and by His contemporaries. Because Jesus and the Jews of his day were all living under the thumb of the Roman Empire.

I don’t know how many days you could have walked outside of the gates of Jerusalem and not seen somebody dying on a cross. And not just in Jerusalem, but any other city where the Romans were in control. If you committed a capital offense, that’s what they did to you. They did it publicly. You can imagine living in a country where at any given time, scores of people were hanging on crosses outside of the gates. It would give you a reason to want to stay home, all those people hanging on crosses.

“ Belief and discipleship are one in the same. True believers are all disciples. —DAVID SERVANT

At some point, a Roman soldier said, “Pick up your cross and follow me.” What that symbolized was this was the beginning of the end. We’re going to go crucify you now. Part of your punishment is, as it was in Christ’s case, you’ve got to carry your cross. Here’s the wooden beam. Let’s lash it on you and you’re going to carry it. Then we’re going to nail you to it.

It’s possible that that became an expression to signify doing what you naturally wouldn’t do. Right? You can imagine wives saying to their husbands, “Dear, I know you hate paying those taxes to the Romans. But the tax collector’s coming down the street right now. Why don’t you go get a little money, take up your cross, and go pay the guy?”

You can imagine dads saying to sons, “Son, I know you hate to go dig out the latrine. It’s a dirty, smelly job. But just take up your cross and do it.” Regardless if it was a common expression or not, it clearly represents an embracing of suffering, rejection.

Are You Willing to Be a True Disciple of Jesus Christ?

Of course, you’re going to get that in some form or fashion when you follow Christ. Count the cost.

Are you His disciple, willing to suffer shame for Him? Are you willing to be ostracized, to be looked at as a weirdo?

Again, the scale of persecution varies from country to country.

Well, we’re out of time for today. Thanks so much for joining me. We’ll continue this discussion on our next Little Lesson. God bless!

The post Are You a True or a False Disciple of Jesus Christ? appeared first on David Servant.

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.

And it’s like a tattoo. Even if you don’t want it later, you’re stuck with it. You can be a murderer, you can be an adulterer, you can be a thief, you can be the most incorrigible character on the planet. As long as you pray that prayer, you’re good to go. Well, I think most Christians can see that that’s nonsense. There are plenty of scriptures that would counteract such a ridiculous idea as that.

Then, of course, the other extreme is that you have to be as holy as the Apostle Paul, or you’re not qualified for heaven. Often times, those folks have come up with all kinds of new standards that you better keep or you haven’t got a prayer of hope of getting into heaven.

Well, the truth is in the middle. But let’s talk about the first extreme first of all.

People Who Believe in Jesus Act like It

I believe every Christian actually intuitively knows that good works have got to be a part of the salvation equation. If you press them, they’ll admit this.

First of all, if you believe, you will obey, at least to some degree, right? Right. Because faith without works is dead. If I believed that there was a scorpion crawling on the log that I’m sitting on right now, I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you. You’d know I believe there’s a scorpion crawling on this log where I’m sitting. I’d be standing up and getting away from the scorpion! So, people who believe in Jesus, act like it. So, that’s a given.

“ People who believe in Jesus, act like it. —DAVID SERVANT

Also, every Christian believes that if you’re born again, you’ve got the Holy Spirit in you, right? Obviously, that’s going to make a difference in your life. You’re going to be changed.

The Most Extreme Example

If we took the most extreme example, let’s say that we imagined a guy who prayed the Sinner’s Prayer and ‘accepted’ Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior. And then every day from then on for the next 10 years, he went out and murdered somebody.

Let’s make it even worse. Let’s say that it was a child that he killed every day. And, first of all, molested that child in terrible ways before ultimately murdering them. Every day. Every single day. Would you say that when that person dies, they would go to heaven? Would any Christian say that? Well, I can’t believe any Christian would say that.

Why do I not believe that? Because every Christian would say, “Well, wait a second. If you believe in Jesus, you’re not going to be molesting and murdering children every day!” Right? Right. They’d also probably add, “And if you believe in Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit in you. You could never do that.”

Minimal Standards of Those Who Believe in Jesus

You see, every Christian believes there are some standards that are minimal standards to show that you really believe in Jesus and to indicate that you really have the Holy Spirit in you.

What standards should we be setting for that criteria? Well, we ought to be setting biblical standards.

Let’s listen to Jesus. Let’s listen to the Apostle Paul. Let’s listen to John, and James and Jude. What did they say? Did they give us any standards in the Word of God?

Well, you can read the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said there are things that unless you do them or don’t do them, you’re in danger of hell. Those are biblical minimum standards that show whether or not you have faith in Jesus, and you truly do believe, and that you have the Holy Spirit living in you, and that your heart is inclined towards God.

Jesus warned about things like adultery and things like murder, and, of course, lesser forms of that, hatred. He warned about unforgiveness. If you don’t forgive, neither will your Father forgive you.

What do you think? Do unforgiven people get into heaven? Is God going to say, “Well, I didn’t forgive you and I don’t forgive you, but come on in!” Are you kidding me? Come on!

Jesus warned about lust, and He warned about hypocrisy, and so forth.

Maintaining Biblical Standards

Just take a look at what Jesus said and you come up with a balanced understanding of what it means minimally to be a believer in Jesus Christ. You’ll also notice that a lot of things that people say that you have to do in order to be proving that you’re a Christian aren’t in the Bible.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

We were talking on just our previous Little Lesson about the Spirit and the flesh warring against one another. You can read about this in Galatians 5. Paul said,

I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things [the works of the flesh] will not inherit the kingdom of God. – v. 21

Cults and Their Extra-biblical Standards

These are biblical things.

But you’re not going to find any dress codes in the New Testament. You will find some things about modesty.

You’re not going to find anything about going to such and such a church because only they are the ones going to heaven. That’s called a cult. When a little, tiny group says, “We’re the only ones,” run! For goodness’ sake, there are 7 billion people in the world and there are hundreds of millions of people that believe in Jesus Christ!

When one little church in one little town says, “We’re the only ones,” run! You’re in a cult. Those cults have all kinds of standards that you don’t find in the Bible. They’ll tell you that you have to be allegiant to the leader and so forth. That’s not in the Bible, but they’ll find some scriptures. Like, “don’t touch my anointed”. Oh, my goodness. I’d like to touch some of those anointed people!

“ When one little church in one little town says, “We’re the only ones,” run! You’re in a cult. —DAVID SERVANT

All right, this is a ‘little’ lesson. We’re out of time! But those are some of the salient points on the question of how good works fit into the salvation equation. Lovely being with you. Can’t wait to see you next time! God bless.

The post What Part Do Good Works Play in Your Salvation? appeared first on David Servant.

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.

What the Apostles Preached

I would answer that question to say, “Well, that’s better than nothing, but it could be very misleading because it’s really not a biblical phrase.” If you read through the Book of Acts, for example, as the apostles preached the gospel, they didn’t ever use that terminology, “accepting Jesus as your personal Savior”. Their goal was obviously to persuade people to believe in a Person—the Lord Jesus Christ—who was the Messiah, the One who was resurrected from the dead, the Lord, the One that they will stand before one day and before whom they will give an account.

They called people to repent because that would be the natural thing to do if you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, the One before whom everyone will stand and to give an account one day. When you tell people that they just need to “accept Jesus,” that’s a far cry from repenting and believing that he is the Lord, the Son of God, the Messiah, the One resurrected from the dead. Right?

Jesus Isn’t Looking for People’s Acceptance

The reality of it is that Jesus isn’t looking for people’s acceptance. That’s not what He wants. He wants people’s obedience and love. And to put Him in that kind of “acceptance” category is really demeaning to Him.

“ Jesus isn’t looking for people’s acceptance. He wants people’s obedience and love. —DAVID SERVANT

Where did the whole idea of “accepting Jesus as my personal Savior” come from in the first place? Well, it is a product of what many of us refer to as kind of a hyper-grace theology.

We know that salvation is by grace, we’re all sinners and we can’t save ourselves by our good works. And trying to emphasize that, I’m just afraid that the pendulum swung and has swung way, way, way too far to the grace side. To where now people think that grace is like a license to sin, that there is no requirement to repent, that there is no requirement to submit ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Cheap Grace

This is a very cheap grace to borrow a phrase from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German martyr for Christ, who wrote a great book called the “The Cost of Discipleship”.

Trying to emphasize the grace of God, and that salvation is not of our works, this phrase, “accepting” Jesus as your personal Savior, was coined.

Some will throw in “Lord”. Accept Him as your personal Lord and Savior. That’s a little improvement, but again, this is not biblical at all. We want people to receive the Lord. Now that’s a biblical phrase (see John 1:12). Or believe in the Lord.

Believing in a Person

This is another problem: we think that we’re supposed to tell people the plan of salvation, and once they understand that Jesus died for their sins on the cross—once they acknowledge: “Okay, that’s great. I accept that, yeah, I’ll go along with that. Jesus is just alright with me,” to borrow a song title from the Doobie Brothers—we think they’re saved.

But it’s not believing a doctrine about Jesus that saves you. It’s believing in a Person. That Person is a unique person. Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. – John 3:16

So you’re believing in a person—a unique person—of historyJ: God, the Son of God, God in the flesh, resurrected from the dead after they crucified Him.

“ It’s not believing a doctrine about Jesus that saves you. It’s believing in a Person. —DAVID SERVANT

The Only Right Response to Jesus

It’s so interesting to think about the fact (and you can research this out for yourself) that in the Book of Acts, when you read the sermons where the apostles were preaching the gospel or teaching the gospel to unsaved audiences, they never once said that Jesus died for their sins. They didn’t tell them that. Getting people to understand what happened when Jesus died on the cross wasn’t their goal.

They were trying to get people to see that Jesus is like no other Person, that He is the Son of God. If that’s the case, well, then you just can’t have a casual relationship with Him like you would have with anybody else. It’s unique.

The only right response to that is to say, “Oh my goodness! How does God, how does the Son of God, look at my life? Am I doing what He says?”

What James, Jude and Paul Taught

This is why James wrote faith without works is dead. It’s useless. It can’t save you.

This is why Jude warned, “There’s a heresy that’s cropped up. Some of these guys are turning the grace of God into licentiousness.” What does that mean? That means that they’re preaching a false grace, a grace that says “Do what you want, live the way you want, because God is just going to overlook it. Or God is just going to forgive it. Or God doesn’t really care about that.” That is in the category of heresy. It’s so unbiblical from the beginning to the end of the Bible.

Paul warned about certain grievous sins, saying that if you’re practicing these things, don’t be deceived: fornicators, adulterers, thieves, the covetous… these people will not inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Obviously, Paul believed that there was a component of works. If you truly believe in Jesus, well, then it’s going to show up in your life.

Who Do You Believe Jesus Is?

Let’s not be trying to persuade people to accept Jesus as their personal Savior. Let’s be encouraging them to consider, “Who do you believe that Jesus is?”

If you believe He is who He claims to be, then it’s going to show up in your life. It radically transforms your life because of what you now believe. Okay?

This is a Little Lesson. There’s much more to say about this. I wrote a whole book called “The Great Gospel Deception“. It is kind of on this theme. You can read it for free on our website here. Thanks for joining me! God bless.

The post Should You Persuade People to Accept Jesus as Their Personal Savior? appeared first on David Servant.

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?

If you’ve been listening to the last two Little Lessons (you can view the first one here and the second one here), you know that I’m in the camp that says that security is conditional upon a continued walk with Christ.

Now, we want to walk in love toward one another. We want to realize that the most important thing is not whether or not you can lose salvation. The most important thing is whether or not you have it right now! And if you do have it, there needs to be some evidence of this in your life. Faith without works is dead.

“ The most important thing is whether or not you have salvation right now! —DAVID SERVANT

What Jesus Taught About Conditional Security

One of the most obvious texts that shows us that it is indeed possible for a true believer to revert back to a life of sin and to miss out ultimately on salvation and eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven is in the Olivet Discourse. Jesus is speaking to His closest disciples. After He tells them about all of the signs that will precede His coming, He begins to warn them repeatedly of the importance of making sure that they’re ready.

So, I’m going to begin in Matthew 24:43, the first of three stories that Jesus tells that all have the same moral: make sure you’re ready, because if you’re not, there are dire consequences! Again, He’s talking to Peter, James, John and Andrew, his closest disciples.

But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will. Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. – Matthew 24:43-47

So, there is a slave who is now contrasted with an evil slave,

But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. – Matthew 24:48-51

A hypocrite is someone who professes to be something they really aren’t, as evidenced by their actions.

An Interesting Interpretation

Now, commentators who believe in unconditional, eternal security have to twist this scripture to such a degree in order to make it fit their particular doctrine. They say that the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth is not Hell. Oh no, it’s a place outside the main portals of Heaven where it’s not so bright and light!

The outer darkness is a place where unfaithful Christians will be regretting that they weren’t faithful. They’ll be over there weeping and gnashing their teeth for a while until Jesus comes and, as the scripture talks about, wipes every tear. Then he’ll welcome them in.

It’s so obvious what’s being said here. Jesus is talking to Peter, James, John and Andrew, His closest disciples. And He’s warning them, “Make sure you’re ready. Don’t be like the evil slave who thinks the master will be a long time in coming, so there’s no sense in worrying about what He will think of me or if I’m doing his will.”

So, this will represent a believer who becomes an unbeliever or a believer who is a stupid believer and who’s counting on something that he shouldn’t be counting on: the delay of his master.

Jesus said, “You don’t want to be like him, because, in the end, that guy is placed with the hypocrites. There’s weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And if you study Jesus’s use of the phrase, “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” it’s always a reference to Hell. Okay, so these guys are really desperate when they start saying that this place is Heaven!

Five Foolish Virgins

This parable is followed by two others. First, the parable of the 10 virgins (Matthew 25:1-13). Take note that it was spoken to Jesus’ closest disciples, Peter, James, John and Andrew. And it’s moral is, “Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour” (v. 13).

That is, you don’t want to be like the five foolish virgins. All 10 were ready at the beginning, but five of them became unready and they were not allowed into the wedding feast. “Don’t be like them, Peter, James, John and Andrew.” So, obviously, it was a possibility that these men, as free moral agents, could have become like the evil slave and the five foolish virgins and not have been ready and faced the consequences.

Three Stewards, Two Prepared, One Unprepared

Then finally, the very next parable is the parable of the talents. All of these men received some talents. One received five talents. One received two and one received one. The master goes on a journey and then He comes back.

The man with one talent buried it in the ground. And when the master came back, this man wasn’t ready. He didn’t have anything to present before his master as a return on his investment. His master said to him, “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30).

“This man wasn’t ready for his master’s return, Peter, James, John and Andrew. You don’t want to be like him.”

Keep Following Jesus!

Okay, so, what’s the message? The message is, yes, it is possible. It is possible to forfeit salvation. That’s very clear from these scriptures. If you’re not ready when Christ returns or at your death, you will forfeit salvation.

And so the message is, keep following Jesus. Strive to enter by the narrow door, as Jesus said.

If you make a mistake, well, just keep your heart soft. Ask God’s forgiveness, repent, get up and get going again. All of these men didn’t just make one little slip up. They had major, major flaws where they were not ready. So, I want you to be ready. I want to be ready. Let’s be ready together!

All right. Much more to be said on this subject. Books have been written about it. I’ve written a chapter on this subject in my book Forever Rich, and an entire book dealing with true and false assurance called The Great Gospel Deception. Thanks for joining me! God bless.

The post Is Your Salvation Conditional or Unconditional? appeared first on David Servant.

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.

Can a True Christian Stop Following Jesus?

Obviously, Christians could revert back to those lifestyles. Christians could become adulterers. They could become thieves. They could become idolaters.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:11, “Such were some of you.” This doesn’t characterize you anymore. You’re no longer unrighteous. You’re no longer fornicators and adulterers and idolaters and homosexuals and drunkards and revilers and swindlers. You repented. You were born again. You are new creations in Christ Jesus.

But that does not preclude the possibility that a dog can return to his vomit (2 Peter 2:22), to borrow a Biblical phrase that warns Christians about going back to their former lifestyles. We find many times in Scripture these admonishing statements to continue in the faith and strive to enter through the narrow gate. The second phrase is right from the lips of Jesus.

There are just plenty of reasons to believe from New Testament, Old Testament scriptures that it’s possible for Christians to stop believing, stop following, go back into their old ways and, at some point in time, resisting the discipline of the Lord, resisting the Holy Spirit and His conviction, that God would say, “Okay. If that’s what you want.”

But it’s not easy to lose your salvation. You don’t just lose it like you lose your car keys.

“ It’s not easy to lose your salvation. You don’t lose it like you lose your car keys. —DAVID SERVANT

Some Objections

What about those folks who say that you can’t possibly forfeit your salvation? Well, they have their proof texts. They don’t have nearly as many, by the way. But as I said in our previous Little Lesson, you don’t decide this issue by seeing who has the most scriptures. You see who can harmonize their proof texts with the opposite viewpoint’s proof texts.

Probably the most common scripture that’s quoted by those who say it’s impossible for Christians to ever forfeit their salvation is John 10. Jesus says,

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. – vv. 27-29

Well, that does sound like the believer is quite secure. Once you got it, as one guy said, it’s like a tattoo. Even if you regret it and would like to get rid of it, it’s too late. You’re stuck with it.

Once Saved, Always Saved?

So people will say, “There it is! Eternal security for the believer. Once saved, always saved! I’ve got my verse.”

Ok, but harmonize that verse now with the scores of other verses that would bring some balance to your position and maybe help us better understand exactly what it was that Jesus was promising here! It seems to me the emphasis in these verses is, “No one will be able to snatch them out of my hand.” That is nobody is going to be able to steal you from God’s love and care, from the salvation and the forgiveness that He’s granted you. Nobody can take that from you.

However, balancing that with so many other scriptures that would bring some balance, you can walk away if you want to.

An Example

I don’t have a dog, but if I did, I could say to my dog, “I think you’re a great dog! No one’s ever going to steal you from my house. No, sir! I’ll be watching you closely. You’re safe as long as you’re in my house. I’m not going to let any thief or dog snatchers get you. I’m going to feed you, take care of you. I love you. You’re sticking with me til the end, my dog.”

This may all be true, but it does not exclude the possibility of my dog saying to himself, or herself, “I’m out of here! I don’t like staying with David. There are greener pastures. There are nicer neighbors I’ve been noticing who would probably take a little better care of me.”

My dog has freewill and I can’t change that. It’s not a robot dog. It’s a freewill dog, as all dogs are.

A Balanced View

Again, we have to balance John 10. I mentioned Colossians 1 in the last Little Lesson. Here’s one of the many proof texts Paul writes:

Yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister. – vv. 22-23

Note the conditional “if”. There are so many scriptures like this.

The Olivet Discourse

I would direct your attention to the Olivet Discourse as well. Jesus was talking to his closest disciples, Peter, James, John and Andrew. Just those four, and no more according to Mark’s gospel. It was very clear, though, from the other synoptic gospels that it was definitely not Jesus speaking to crowds. It was Jesus speaking to his closest disciples. He emphatically warned them that they wanted to make sure that they would be ready when He returned. Because the consequences of them not being ready were very, very dire.

I’ll conclude answering this question in the next Little Lesson. We’ll look at the Olivet Discourse where Jesus told about all of the future things that are going to come to pass and his second coming. He spent a lot of time warning his disciples, “Make sure you’re ready for this because, if you’re not, you’ll be thrown into that place where’s weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Talking to Peter, James, John and Andrew. Something to think about.

Thanks for joining me! Hope to see you next time. God bless.

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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.

But is it possible for a true believer in Jesus Christ who possesses the gift of eternal life—who’s a child of God—to somehow forfeit or lose that? Well, Christians are divided on this issue and everybody has their proof texts.

First, a Lesson on Bible Interpretation

Let’s start with a little lesson on Bible interpretation, first of all. Because when you start ‘a proof text war’ and you say, “Here’s my scripture,” and someone else says, “Well, here’s my scripture,” and you see who’s got the longest list of proof texts, that’s really not the best way to interpret the Bible!

I would advise you to look at the proof text from both sides. Because if the Bible is saying that you can and that you can’t forfeit your salvation under any circumstances, then we ought to throw the Bible out, right? Because it’s unreliable, it doesn’t even agree with itself! But the Bible is internally unified—a consistent message—and so it’s one or the other. Either you can or you cannot forfeit salvation under certain circumstances.

If you have a list of scriptures on one side and a list of scriptures on the other side, you need to look at all of them. And then, whatever viewpoint that you adopt, you have to take the other side’s proof texts and somehow harmonize them with your proof texts. Then you’re going to be safe. The side that is not able to harmonize their proof texts with the other side, that’s the wrong side. So there’s a little advice on interpreting the Bible on any subject whatsoever.

What Scripture Says About Forfeiting Salvation

There are so many texts that make it crystal clear that it is possible, under certain circumstances, for Christians—true Christians—to forfeit their salvation. They are too numerous to list in a little lesson, but you can easily find them in your own Bible reading.

When people ask me how I can prove my view, I hardly know where to begin. But let’s start in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

I think that’s pretty plain and clear, isn’t it? People whose lives are characterized by the things that Paul lists in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 will not inherit the kingdom of God. And inheriting the kingdom of God is a clear reference to ultimate salvation. Jesus said in Matthew 25, speaking of the future judgment of the sheep and the goats, the king will say to the sheep, “Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” That’s a salvation statement.

Paul says that the kind of people he lists are not going to inherit the kingdom of God.

Can True Christians Backslide?

Here’s the next question then: would it be possible for a true Christian to backslide, turn his back on the Lord, revert (or whatever you want to call it) and be in one of these categories Paul mentions? Could a Christians become an adulterer? Of course a true Christian could become an adulterer. That’s a temptation that Christians, as well as non-Christians, face. And Christians can succumb. Does that mean that the very second that they commit adultery the Holy Spirit leaves them? If they were to die at the second they committed adultery, would they go straight to hell?

I personally don’t believe that. I believe God still loves folks that fall into sin—his children—and He does everything He can to try to reel them back in and get them to repent. Because God forgives people who ask for forgiveness and repent, right? God is a God of discipline. He disciplines everyone whom He loves. When we get off track, God has a way of getting us back on track.

God’s Discipline

Let’s consider a person who is a genuine believer and dives into adultery, ignoring the conviction of the Holy Spirit and continuing in that lifestyle. If that person resists the discipline of the Lord and closes his heart down, I believe that they are not going to inherit the kingdom of Heaven. Some people will say,

“Well, maybe God will take them home before God’s mercy runs out.” That actually is a possibility, believe it or not.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians,

For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep [obviously referring to death]. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. – 1 Corinthians 11:30-32

That verse is a little bit of a consolation.

Can a True Believer Stop Believing?

We could also ask the question, is it possible for a true believer to stop believing? Because Paul said that the Lord is going to, “confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:8). But he adds in Colossians 1:22-23, if you continue in the faith. Well, you are saved by faith, and you continue to be saved by faith.

Is it possible for a believer to stop believing, turn his or her back on the Lord and no longer believe in Jesus? If you’ve been around as long as I have in Christians circle, over 40 years now, you see some of that. It’s tragic. Absolutely heartbreaking, but I’ve seen it. Not only is this evident from scriptural examples, it’s true from our observation.

Some folks will say, “Well, those people were never saved in the first place!” Okay, all right, I get that. Maybe we’ll talk about that on our next Little Lesson. Love you, thanks for joining me! God bless you.

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