Latest / Millennial Mustard Seed / S7 287. Rethinking Eternal Security, PART 8 - It's Not Over ' Till it's Over Final

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S7 287. Rethinking Eternal Security, PART 8 - It's Not Over ' Till it's Over Final · Millennial Mustard Seed

• 0:19
  Welcome back to another mini episode.
• 0:21
  Hey Rod, my mini Co host. What's going on?
• 0:25
  It is the series of the mini micros and we're back at it.
• 0:30
  Let's do it. We're back at it and we've
• 0:33
  tossed her on this idea of perhaps putting in episode 8 on
• 0:38
  the eternal security once saved, always saved, rethinking eternal
• 0:43
  security idea. And so here we are.
• 0:47
  We're going to try to do that as sort of a foundation to the
• 0:51
  Foundations of Apostasy series that we have batted around as
• 0:57
  well. And I think they really lead
• 1:00
  well from 1 into the next, because how can you talk about
• 1:05
  apostasy that is 1 leaving one's faith and the great apostasy,
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  the great falling away that's warned about in the Bible,
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  unless we first believe it's possible to fall away.
• 1:22
  And so we have to start with that idea that it's possible.
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  And so I think our Eternal Security series hopefully give
• 1:31
  some things for people to wrestle with and chew on with
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  regard to our personal responsibility to our faith and
• 1:42
  God not leaving us alone, that we have to do everything
• 1:45
  ourselves, right? And if we are faltering, he is
• 1:49
  most certainly going to be chasing after us.
• 1:52
  And I think there's even a verse that that's kind of vaguely
• 1:56
  coming to mind right now, Rod, where it says, you know, when
• 1:59
  you hear his voice, don't harden your heart, right?
• 2:02
  So we have a choice in the matter, but we have to believe
• 2:07
  it's possible to fall away. Otherwise, the Bible wouldn't be
• 2:11
  replete with all these warnings, wouldn't you say?
• 2:14
  Yeah, I mean, the Scripture that comes to mind as I'm listening
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  to you right now, Pete, is God is saying you work out your
• 2:21
  salvation with fear and trembling.
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  So this is a personal, isolated thing where it's an individual's
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  responsibility to get into it. If we were just able to take
• 2:30
  someone's word for it and just say, oh, I'm OK.
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  The pastor preached, preached a message.
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  I felt giddy and happy after service on Sunday.
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  I'm a part of the flock, right? No, there's stark warnings in
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  the word of God for these very topics.
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  And before we kind of get into it, one thing I've been thinking
• 2:48
  about continually is our personal harpazo or rapture is
• 2:53
  if we died tomorrow. So replanning the idea that why
• 2:58
  would we want to theologically argue that the entire world has
• 3:02
  to be subjected to a singular thought, like, oh, if you're, if
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  you're saved this way, you're going to endure the rapture or
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  no, it's not the rapture. It's after the tribulation.
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  There's a million things going on here.
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  And like, I'm like, God, what do I do with this?
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  And he's like, I can take you at any time.
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  Yeah, I've almost died guys. The the listeners on the MMS
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  know this. I've almost been killed a
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  numerous times in my short time years.
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  So, so Rod, if I can jump in and and piggyback on that, that that
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  is the doctrine of imminency, right?
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  The doctrine of the rapture. Imminency may not be biblical.
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  I no longer believe it is with all due respect to the late
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  Chuck Chuck Missler, right? Not everybody has everything
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  right, but the individual rapture of our own souls, we are
• 3:52
  going to be translated whether into the glorified body or into
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  the departure. The way the Bible defines the
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  word death is separation. Our body and soul are going to
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  be separated. Our soul and spirit are going to
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  go on someplace, somewhere that separation is going to take
• 4:13
  place. And and and yeah, so we're we're
• 4:17
  going to have our own personal rapture of that is imminent,
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  absolutely imminent. We don't know when we're going
• 4:23
  to go into that next life. And so we're going to talk about
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  this in kind of the Michael Heizer already not yet phrase
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  the already not yet of salvation.
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  And we've kind of hinted at that before Rod about being saved,
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  already saved, yet to be saved right there.
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  There is a an incompleteness to salvation at the current hour.
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  At the current moment, one who professes faith is not fully
• 5:00
  saved. What does that mean?
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  Well, first of all, we don't have our glorified bodies.
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  We have the spirit of adoption. What is the adoption, the
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  redemption of our bodies? So we don't have that part yet.
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  So that's at least one aspect that is yet to be fulfilled.
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  And the other thing is we still have free will in this life.
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  I think it's some point we are locked in in the next life to
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  the to the decisions that we've made.
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  Where are allegiance is are we going to be in Adam and
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  therefore under judgment or are we going to be in Christ hidden
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  in his righteousness, right? That still has to be walked out
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  towards the end of our life. So there isn't already, not yet
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  of salvation, right? Absolutely.
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  And it even reminds me strangely enough, of Ruth and Boaz, where
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  you have the kinsman Redeemer and there's a process that takes
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  place for the kinsmen, right. If you go read that story,
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  there's applicable laws that Boaz has to follow to make sure
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  that he's able to inherit Ruth, right?
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  Like there, there's a protocol. And so if we think about the
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  process of us continuing to work out our salvation with fear and
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  trembling and the effort, I mean, we're not saved by works.
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  We know that we've already discussed this.
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  But I think that there's a deep seated intimate part of each one
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  of us individually that we know when we're getting close to the
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  father or when we're pulling away.
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  And so we're at times, many of us can be a few bad decisions
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  away from, well, falling away, right?
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  And this idea of which, which monster are you going to feed?
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  Right? Because because there's the,
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  the, the the monster of the flesh, the lust desires,
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  passions of this age and world, many of which have been blinded
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  by the God of this age the Bible talks about.
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  And then there's a monster killer.
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  There's a heart like David had, which was slaying the monsters,
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  right? It was literally taking them
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  out. And so once again, we're at this
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  point where I think it's a daily thing.
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  It's not so much as I want one time you make a decision and
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  there I'm seated there internally.
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  This is something we're walking out daily.
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  Yeah, it is, yeah. And, and you hinted at a few
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  things that that we're going to talk about right now in our
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  notes. Here is the old Native American
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  story. You know, Grandpa telling his
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  grandson, I've got 2 wolves inside of me.
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  Which one was is going to win the the grandson asks.
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  The one that I feed right and I, I saw a clip and I tried to pull
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  this up Rod, I couldn't find it again, but it was an interviewer
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  with someone on death row, I believe.
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  And the the death row inmate said, I can show you how you're
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  10 bad decisions away from being right where I am.
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  And that that was profound because this is someone from
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  experience who can look at his own life, look at his friends
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  lives, those that are in prison with him, those that are 6 feet
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  under and see those 10 bad decisions compounding one after
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  another. And that should give us pause.
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  So what do we do with that? When we say, OK, John said in
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  his gospel, I have written these things that you may know that
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  you have eternal life. Does that refute that?
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  I don't think it does. I think ultimately what you do
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  with that is you say that the Bible gives us enough to define
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  our present state. Knowing whether we are in the
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  faith. As Paul said, test yourself to
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  see if you are in the faith. We can know that at this moment
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  and we can know it tomorrow morning as we continue to press
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  in towards our Creator, getting to know, getting to know Him and
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  following His ways, right? What we don't know though, is
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  what kind of person we're going to be 5 years from now.
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  Now, of course, you have the old sow a thought, reap an action,
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  sow an action, reap a habit, sow a habit, reap a destiny.
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  I might be skipping one of those, but you get the idea,
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  right? So in that sense, putting good
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  thoughts and good actions and good habits towards intimacy
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  with God is a way that we do our part to preserve our faith.
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  But we do have to continue to walk that out with fear and
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  trembling day after day. What we don't know is if we
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  might make those 10 bad decisions in the next 5 years.
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  Anybody out there who has had a wayward season in their faith,
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  some really sinful decisions, some things that even decades
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  later you say to yourself, I don't even know if I was saved,
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  and am I even a Christian right now?
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  I don't know. Because you're so hard on
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  yourself and you're letting the accuser's voice speak to you
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  after you've already been forgiven.
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  But that's just the kind of thing we're talking about, Rod.
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  We're talking about things that we didn't think we were capable
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  of doing. We are, we are, but they are a
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  series of bad decisions, one thing leading to the next,
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  right? You, you didn't set out to have
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  an affair, but you didn't stop it when the flirting at work
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  turned into getting the phone number turned into late night
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  texts and so on. It's one bad decision after
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  another, and that's kind of how that works.
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  So I think the whole idea of we can know that we are saved now
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  can be absolutely true. But what we don't know until
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  we've either gone into our glorified body or we've had our
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  personal rapture, like you said, Rod, and we've gone into the
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  next life. We still have a faith that we
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  have to pursue diligently. I'm going to read Ezekiel a
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  couple verses here that are timely, starting at Ezekiel 1829
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  through 32. In particular, I'm going to be
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  reading under the new King James.
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  Yet the House of Israel says the way of the Lord is not fair, O
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  House of Israel. Is it not my ways which are
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  fair, and your ways which are not fair?
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  Therefore I will judge you, O House of Israel.
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  Everyone according to his ways, says the Lord God, Repent and
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  turn from your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be
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  your ruin. Castaway from you all the
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  transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a
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  new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O House
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  of Israel, For I have no pleasure in death of one who
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  dies, says the Lord God, therefore turn and live.
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  And this points right back to this.
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  You know, the prophets, as you guys know, in the old they, they
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  were giving direction, they were rebuking, they were bringing
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  correction to empires and individuals.
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  And when God is speaking through a prophetic voice just the same
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  God who then is now is literally saying to us, repent, turn,
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  there's always that chasing out our heels.
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  Have I gotten too lackadaisical? Have I gotten too comfortable?
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  Have I relied on other people's sermons?
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  Have I relied on the tickling of my ear from other speakers that
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  I have not found a fear and trembling or a broken and
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  contrite heart before the Lord God most high.
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  And that's my contribution to these micro minis because I'm in
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  a seat where there's plenty of times I've questioned, am I on
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  the right track? Lord, am I in danger?
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  Remember, the scripture says even he who says to his brother,
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  you idiot, or you know, you're worthless.
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  Raqqa. Raqqa.
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  Yeah. I mean, in the Hebrew, right.
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  But I'm trying to think of it in the English without being too,
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  you know, needing a disclaimer for any young listeners in the
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  in the in the car as the parents are driving.
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  But that that person, that individual's in danger Hellfire
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  themselves. You guys, a blanket of humility,
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  a preference for one another, a desire to work this thing out no
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  matter what it takes. Allowing the Word to wash over
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  is transforming our minds and personally and secretly
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  subjugating our hearts to hear what the Spirit is speaking.
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  Warning and comfort. We need to learn to accept them
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  both the same. I'm going to play a clip here of
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  Joel Richardson, and I think he really put it as best as aligns
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  with where I'm at with this rod. As far as it's not a done deal
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  in terms of full salvation until we pass into the next life.
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  And even then the glorification of the body yet remains.
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  But as far as being locked into being saved or not doesn't
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  happen until we have our personal rapture away from our
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  body. And so I'm going to play this
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  this quote and it's I think it's really going to lead in well to
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  talking about the great apostasy and foundations of apostasy as
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  we will bridge into that series together on these many episodes.
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  Because it again sets up the idea that falling away is
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  possible. And how can you fall away unless
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  you have believed? It doesn't make a lot of sense
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  to say you fell away from something you were never a part
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  of, right? You can't really quit a job that
• 15:53
  you didn't work at. So I'm going to pull up this
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  clip here. You're trying to say that in
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  order to be saved you need the cross, but also your own
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  endurance. You're trying to add to
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  salvation. Like they play all these sort of
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  like guilt trip religious games. Look, I'm just reading what
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  Jesus himself said. He said the one who endures till
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  the end shall be saved. If you don't endure, if you are
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  not faithful until the end, if you walk away, you will inherit
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  the lake of fire. And if anyone has told you,
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  you're saved. So you don't ever have to worry
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  about that. You can embrace the mark of the
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  beast. You can sleep around, you can
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  leave your wife, you can do drugs, you can be a drunk, you
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  can be homosexual, you can do anything you want.
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  You're saved. If anyone tells you that they
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  are lying to you, listen to the words of Jesus.
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  Now again, you can hold to the eternal security.
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  If you're a Calvinist, you can hold that and say like once
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  saved, once truly saved, always saved, that type of thing.
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  But guys, you don't know if you're saved, quite frankly.
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  And if you think you know, you're deceived because you
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  don't know until you are in your glorified resurrected body.
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  Until you're saved, you're not saved.
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  If you think for one second you are exempt from potentially
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  backsliding and falling away, you are deceived.
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  This is one of the greatest doctrines of demons in the body
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  of Christ today. The combination of once saved,
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  always saved with the pre tribulational rapture.
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  Together, these two have the potential to lead many to fall
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  away from the faith and end up in the Lake of Fire is very
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  real. And I think the key take away
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  from that is it is not a done deal.
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  While we still have breath, we still have the dual natures that
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  Paul said he wrestled with, right?
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  I do what I don't want to do. I don't want to do what I ought
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  to do. And and having to put to death
• 18:00
  that flesh. We're going to still have that
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  dual nature in this life. We still have to walk that out.
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  And I think if if Joel had it to say over again, he might clarify
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  what he said by if you think you're saved, you don't really
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  know. I think what he means to say is
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  it's not a completed deal, right?
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  We still have to hold on to God's hand as he's holding on to
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  us through the storm of this life until he leads us into the
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  next. Once we make it to the next
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  life. My contention is, biblically
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  we're in. But until then, eternal security
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  relies on us holding God's hand and us allowing Him to work in
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  our lives. Because remember, we're a
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  vessel, a cracked clay pot, a vessel of his that He wants to
• 19:01
  fill, but he's not going to fill it without our permission.
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  He's too much of A gentleman that way.
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  Yeah. And the scriptures also at one
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  point talk about there's decorations made for honor and
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  dishonor within the home, right? And it's this idea of walking
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  this thing out, realizing nothing is certain.
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  There are a couple decisions away at any point in time from
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  breakthrough or tragedy, from loss or promotion.
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  We really do have the free will, day by day, moment by moment,
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  and the enemy is prowling around out there like a devouring
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  beast, seeking death, destruction.
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  He's a thief, he's a liar. And guess who the target is?
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  It's me and you, you listener, and so trusting.
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  In the way of Lord, you know, Pete, you said a minute ago,
• 20:13
  trusting in the Lord to bring us there.
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  It is the Lord who works all things together for the good of
• 20:20
  those who are called according to his will and his purpose.
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  Make sure we're positioning our hearts and our lives to be a
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  display for honor within the House of God because there's
• 20:36
  been too many days personally where I I've questioned it
• 20:40
  myself. Have I gone too far?
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  Have I thought too wicked? Have my actions led me to
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  distant from you? It's a scary and sobering
• 20:52
  reality. This is the meat of the
• 20:54
  conversation. There's not a sip, sip of milk
• 20:58
  present to wash down the meat that you're chewing on in these
• 21:01
  kind of conversations, but somebody had to.
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  Do it. The enemy surely has come in
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  like a flood, with distractions and noise and complexities.
• 21:12
  Maybe God is choosing broken vessels to rise, a standard
• 21:15
  against it. And the seeds we're planning
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  with you here today? Well, the choices you make
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  regarding what you're hearing in your prayer life have eternal
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  consequences. They do indeed.
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  And as we complete this Rethinking Eternal Security
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  series now with a part 8, and I will eventually put those all 8
• 21:41
  together so you guys can listen to them in one go without having
• 21:45
  to click around. It does lead very well into what
• 21:50
  we're going to record next, Rod, which is Foundations of
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  Apostasy. What are those things that
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  predetermine or give us a predisposition towards falling
• 22:04
  away? What are those risks and those
• 22:06
  weaknesses that we might have, whether it's our biblical
• 22:11
  interpretation or a shallow faith or not taking the Bible
• 22:16
  seriously or literally, All of these things are foundations of
• 22:22
  apostasy. And we're going to look on our
• 22:26
  next recording at those verses that Paul and Jesus himself said
• 22:32
  about that great falling away. So thanks for being out there
• 22:35
  listening, guys. And until next time, keep
• 22:39
  praying and God bless. I'm calling you.
• 23:09
  Still trying to let Jesus, I'm calling you I I feel guilty, but
• 23:14
  I'm still trying. I'm still trying to let it go.
• 23:18
  I feel shackled, but I'm I'm shackled.
• 23:21
  You, I'm unworthy. I'm calling you.
• 23:26
  I'm still trying to let it go. I feel guilty, but I know that
• 23:31
  guilt's not from you. I feel guilty.
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  I'm calling. I feel guilty.
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  I'm calling you. I'm calling you.
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  I've been a friend of many. Strangers a stranger.
• 23:49
  To many friends, I always handle all the dangers, always make
• 23:52
  amends. I hear the prophetic release.
• 23:54
  Can you detect I'm recognizing to walk?
• 23:56
  In my brokenness. To be perfected.
• 23:59
  It's the sacred dance of life and death.
• 24:02
  Powers in your tongue. So rewrite the rest.
• 24:04
  A mumble, the grumble, a true prayer from my spirit.
• 24:08
  I walk with the broken and neglected.
• 24:10
  I walked away from the only ones I love And not going to feel the
• 24:13
  bang. Always the spot or the
• 24:15
  detective. I always cry when push come to
• 24:18
  shove. And then you check it.
• 24:19
  I've sat with the old and the barrack.
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  I've danced with the young and wild.
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  Since there's nothing left, I'll feast it with the starving
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  masses. I've starved in the President
• 24:28
  Kings and I always defend the class.
• 24:30
  I feel guilty, but I'm still trying.
• 24:32
  I'm still trying to let it go. I feel shackled.
• 24:37
  But I'm. I'm shackled.
• 24:38
  You, I'm unworthy. I'm calling.
• 24:43
  I'm still trying to let it go. I feel guilty, but I know that
• 24:49
  guilt's not from you. I feel guilty.
• 24:53
  I'm calling. I feel little guilty of calling
• 25:00
  you. Of calling you.
• 25:18
  I trust no one.