A pastor at one of the churches I attend (I attend three :) said this Sunday that he "would not be able to stand up there at funerals if this was not true; that someone was not always saved once they were saved."
So it is a doctrinal conclusion he has come to based on emotion. He does not want to feel sorry for the person who died, so he believes what he wants to about the Bible.
I heard something similar before. My high school English teacher and I were pretty close. He said to me once, "Lisa I can't stand up here and teach these kids every day and care about them knowing that most of them are going to hell." I said, "Yes I know it's hard but it's the truth."
Emotions. Emotions made my English teacher, who I so greatly admired, turn from the faith and believe that all roads lead to heaven, therefore loosing his own salvation for the sake of others. If you stop believing that Jesus is Lord and everything that he said is the truth, you are no longer saved.
My teacher chose to walk away from God. He told me, "I once believed as you did. I really did. But I just can't anymore." Why? Because of his emotions. Because he started to love his students more than he loved God and God's truth.
And the pastor speaking about funerals, that was an emotional decision on his part. He is a very knowledgeable pastor; he knows the other verses that seem to say someone can loose their salvation. "If a branch does not bear fruit it is cut off and throw into the fire." But because of his emotions and love for others above God, he Chooses to ignore those verses.
The facts are, in the King James Phil. 1:6 does not say what everyone thinks it says. In the most accurate translation, the KJV, it says, "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." It does not say that God will complete it. It just says he will perform it. That is a much more passive term. It just means that he will do his part in us, and in the context of the rest of Scripture, he will IF we stay faithful to him. "To him who perseveres to the end I will give the crown of life." It is all about how we finish, not about how we begin.
I learned in college that good hermeneutics are that we never read a single verse. We should never read a verse just by itself or we can make it say whatever we want it to say. We have to read it in context. What does Paul say before this to the Philippians?
"Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,
5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;
6 Being confident of this very thing....."
First of all we need to realize that Phil. 1:6 was written to the Philippians, not to every supposed Christian who will ever live.
Why is Paul confident that God will "perform" a good work the Philippians? Because they have been consistent and very faithful thus far in their "fellowship in the gospel" with him. He sees that they have the fruit of the Spirit of faithfulness.
The book of Philippians was written in response to a huge gift that the Philippians sent Paul when he was in prison. That is why it is considered to be the happiest book in the Bible. Paul is overjoyed at their generosity and gift. :) Maybe that money enabled Paul to get food and water in prison. Who knows. So this church may have kept him alive so he could write all the letters he wrote from prison, which would then be added to the New Testament.
Their monetary gift could have been vital in advancing the gospel.
So he tells them that he is confident that God will continue to work in them, why? Because he sees that God already IS working in them. God is not necessarily already working in all people who call themselves "Christian." Only God knows the heart of a man or a woman. Paul sees that the Philippians already have a commitment to the faith. Therefore, he is confident that they will not fall, because he believes that they will persevere in the faith, given their good track record already.
But do some fall who seem to have a good track record thus far? Yes, all the time. Look at pastors who have an affair and walk away from God and the church. Look at someone who might be serving faithfully in the church and decide to molest a child. Look at people raised in the church who decide later that they want nothing to do with God. It may have "looked" like all these people were saved, but either they never were, or they walked away from the faith. And why didn't God "carry the good work to completion" in them. Because THEY didn't want him to. They rejected God. They walked away.
We choose God initially, to put our faith in his son Jesus and make him the Lord of our lives. And then we can later chose to not have our faith in Jesus and make something else the Lord of our lives.
Make what the Lord of our lives? Money or greed or possessions, lust or relationships, drugs, alcohol, or other people.
So I will ask you, even if you are "saved," is Jesus the Lord of your life? Is he still the Lord of your life? Or is something else?
1 Cor. 6 says, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."
Why would he say "be not deceived." Because we are all the time. We seem to think that if we are saved and we have our golden ticket to heaven, that this list does not apply to us. But it applies to everyone and anyone. "Take heed lest you fall." No one is exempt.
This list includes those who are "saved" as well. Jesus isn't going to force them to stay with him. He gives us freedom to choose to do what we want, to love what we want. Just because someone is saved does not mean that if they fall into one of these sins heavily that they will still be saved. They will not. They then lost their salvation. God is loving but he is also just.
So what is on this list? If we were totally honest with ourselves, a lot. Fornicators means anyone who has sex before marriage. Sex can range from a number of different things. If you are constantly making out with a boyfriend or having sex outside of marriage and you were to die tonight where would you go? Even though you're saved? I don't know. I can't say for sure but it seems you would not go to a good place.
Idolaters covers a lot of people if they were really honest with themselves. What dominates their thoughts? If it is not God, that is their idol.
Adulterers are those who have an affair. Looking at pornography is the same thing as having an affair. Any who look at pornography would fit on this list, either in marriage or outside of marriage.
Effeminate I think is referring to homosexuals. There are homosexuals who get saved. But once they are saved, they cannot continue in their homosexual lifestyle. If they do, they are not actually saved. "You shall know them by their fruit."
Thieves, anyone who steals anything, can not say they are really saved.
Drunkards. This one is harder. A drunkard is someone who consistently gets drunk. Christians stumble and maybe have a bit too much to drink at times. This is referring to someone who goes out every single weekend purposely to get drunk. They cannot say they are saved if they continue to do so with no remorse. If they were really saved, the Holy Spirit would convict them and they would stop doing that.
A reviler is someone who is verbally abuse to others consistently, with no remorse. They try to dominate and control another person. They attack and accuse and belittle another person's character consistently. Such a person cannot say they are saved. If we really know God we would love others. None of us can perfectly, but they would generally be able to love others.
An extortion would be like a student loan company lol. :) They use threats to obtain something by force. Again, they seek to control another.
Love is not controlling. Love is patient, kind, not rude etc. If we know God we will be such things, generally. :) God bless!
If Jesus is no longer number one in our lives can we really still say we are saved? If something else has complete control over us that is not Jesus can we say we are still in the faith?
The pastor Sunday asked, "What controls you?" And he said, "Whatever you think about the most, that's what controls you."
So what controls you? What do you think about all the time that isn't God?
But some do fall. Some do loose the faith. Some walk away from believing Jesus is the only road to heaven based on an emotional decision.
Maybe someone they love doesn't believe that, so then they don't want to believe that. They don't want to see the truth that their loved one might be going to hell.
But then are we putting people above God? Are we idolizing a person above God? Will we forget the truth and sound doctrine because we love someone on this earth more than God?
It would seem that that would be the case if someone decides to no longer believe that Jesus is the only way. They are loving people more than God and they are putting their concern for people above the truth.
Sure we are supposed to love others. But NOT more than we love God. He needs to be, he demands to be, number one, always and forever. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." This includes people.
May God help us in all this! It's not easy, but we have the help of the Holy Spirit to guide us. Praise Jesus! :) May we become ever more and more sensitive to God's voice speaking to us. Amen!
Listen to what God is saying to you. He is always speaking, you just have to listen. :)
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