The False Doctrine of Eternal Security

Good evening and welcome to the Manassas Church of God Bible study. We welcome you all. Tonight Bob Hill’s going to be giving us our lesson on The Fall and Redemption plan of man. We thank you all for tuning in and we hope that you’ll get edified by the lesson Bro. Bob is bringing.

Ok. So normally we start with prayer so why don’t we go ahead and do that. Bro. Jim you’ve got a prayer request.

Certainly I have some souls I would love to see come to the church and get saved. And there’s a good number of saints that are sick and needy and we do appreciate prayers for them.

Anybody out there—Mike—do continue to remember souls that’s backslidden and ones that’s been witnessed to. We’d like to see visitors come in and some souls come back. Husbands that are not saved. And also remember the afflictions:  brother Dave Crouch and Brother Wilcoxon.

Ok. We’d also like you to remember the Philippine camp meeting that will be starting up OK. Brother Mike. Can you go ahead and lead us in prayer please.

The Great God in heaven. Lord as we humble our hearts before you tonight we truly thank you Lord for safety. Lord being able to get to the Bible study tonight. Thank you Lord for safety on the highways and Lord. Do remember those that couldn’t make it out dear God. Heavenly Father we just thank you for the again the Tuesday night Bible studies Dear God and we think of those who are interested to tune in on line. Dear God. To hear that streaming. Well we just ask you Lord to bless Brother Bob as he brings the lesson we pray. Give him the very thoughts that you’ve laid on his heart help him bring them out the way that you wanted him to bring them out and not say the things you would not have him say.  Help us each one to pull up to the table and get our part Lord that we might take something from this Bible study and apply it throughout our daily lives. Dear God. We might grow and be what you’d have us to be. Lord do remember those special requests, Brother Jim’s request for loved ones, for the sick, and I think his wife dear God, and do remember his unsaved loved ones God we pray Dear Lord we want to pray for our pastor you see how long he has been not doing well in his body. We want to see him up and about, want to see him be able to come to services even tomorrow night Dear God and Sunday in the pulpit in his place.

God we pray that You bless there and then we do ask you to remember the camp meeting up in the Philippines. God we pray that you just bless the meeting there Lord we’d just love to hear a good report God. That people got saved, bodies got healed, Lord it was just a good camp meeting there God. And for what’s accomplished we’ll give you thanks and praise; again we do ask you remember the Bible study tonight, help Brother Bob Dear God and for what’s accomplished we’ll surely step aside and give you all the thanks and the praise in Jesus name we ask all these things.  Amen.

OK the title again of our lesson is the Fall and Redemption plan of man. Now I have this picture up here; it’s a picture of the world, but what I want you to think about is all the people in the world, all the billions of people that are on the earth and I just want to let you know that God has a great plan for every person on this earth. And tonight we’re going to discuss three things. First we’re going to consider the heart of man. We’re going to take a look at God’s plan. The doctrine of justification and sanctification. So why would God be so interested in the hearts of men?

Well the heart is listed eight hundred and thirty-three times in the Bible. Let’s go ahead and read our scripture. If you would, Proverbs 4:23.

So here’s our plan. And we’re gonna do it. We’re gonna do a quick overview of the five heart conditions of man. Our first heart represents Adam and Eve. And it was created in the image of God. The second heart is the impact of Sin on humanity. The third heart is after you’ve reached the age of accountability. You have a choice to serve God or serve sin. The fourth heart is a justified heart. And we see that the tree has been cut down and the committed sins have been forgiven. Now the fifth heart is the saved and sanctified heart. And that person has received the Holy Ghost and has been restored in the image of God.

OK so we’re going to go over each heart individually and we’re going to explain each heart. So let’s start with heart number one and we call that the original heart. And like we already said it was created in God’s image. So let’s go if you would turn to Genesis First Chapter 26 through 27 and I’ll go ahead and read this but we’re going to need some readers here just to give my my throat a break.

But Genesis the first chapter verses 26 through 27.

But God had some rules in his garden now. Brother Jim if you would turn to Genesis 3:3 and we’re going to take a look at some of the rules that God had. Go ahead and read that Brother if you could.

Ok so what we learn from that, this is not a physical death. It is a spiritual death. And that’s very important. We’re going to see this in the New Testament.

And I just want you to follow along with that. So let’s look at this next slide and we’re going to consider what is temptation?  And a good definition is the desire to do something, especially something wrong or unwise, for apparent pleasure or gain. Now what we need next is Genesis 3:6. So whoever can get there first please feel free to read that.

OK, according to our definition for temptation, she felt that there was going to be a gain or pleasure from this temptation. OK now let’s take a look at Genesis 5:3.  Go ahead and read, Brother Charlie.

Ok now notice they are no longer in God’s image. It’s a likeness after image which is Adam’s. Now. Look at this second bullet point:  the image of God was lost. Now what do I mean by that? An image is an exact representation. So in Adam’s case because of sin he was no longer conformed to the image of God but died spiritually. That’s very important to understand. OK. Now for all you know that’s my granddaughter I had to put her in there but you know it’s kind of a serious scripture but if somebody wouldn’t mind going to Romans 5:12.

OK let’s think about this thing for a minute. Over in Genesis 3:3 God said if you disobey you’re going to die. And we talked about that as not being a physical death. That’s a spiritual death.

And look what Romans says. OK. It says “wherefore by one man” (like brother Nathan said, that’s Adam) “sin entered in the world and death by sin,” so death causes a spiritual condition. And you are spiritually dead if you sin. OK. That’s important to know that. So I guess the point that I’m trying to make is death by sin is the same in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament. OK. Now. Let’s talk about the next heart, number three, which is the sinful heart. So we need to go to Luke the six chapter verses 44 and 45 and I need somebody to read that for me. [PAUSE] We’ve got to be a little faster on the trigger!

All right. Luke 6:44-45.

There is a sinful heart and a man is known by his fruit. All right. Now we’re going to talk about the conditions for salvation because that’s what we’re really interested in. We’re interested in seeing people get saved.  The whole world needs this plan and they need to be saved. OK so let’s take a look at Godly sorrow. We’re going to talk about Godly sorrow. The difference between Godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. So I need somebody to read II Corinthians 7:10. I’ll tell you what, I’ll read this one.  II Corinthians 7:10. If you wouldn’t mind, go ahead and somebody get Isaiah 55:7.  Yes. That would be great. Okay.

Now what is Godly sorrow?  Anybody would like to answer that question? What is Godly sorrow?  I mean, I can remember when I went to the altar.  I understand what Godly sorrow is! If you could give me a definition. Brother Charlie give me a definition.

What’s Godly sorrow?  Godly sorrow would be sorrow with a broken and contrite heart where you realize that you have offended an almighty God and that you would do anything in your power, anything possible that you may be able to make that right.

Ok that’s a good definition. What about worldly sorrow? What about when we were at the parties, right?  And we said I’m never doing this again, I’m never going to do it; I’m not going to do it!  And then your friends come, right, your buddies, your best friends, right (supposedly), they come and they sit down beside you and they say “Oh come on!”  Right?  And you really don’t want to do those things that you used to do, but you can’t help it because it’s like a vicious cycle you can’t ever get out of. So that’s a worldly sorrow, all right. What about Isaiah 55:7?  What does God want us to do?  He just doesn’t want us to say that we’re saved and then keep going back into the old bad habits that we used to have.

What’s he want us to do . . . remember, just because the scripture’s in the Old Testament, that doesn’t mean it does it doesn’t hold water—because we just read you a definition that sin and spiritual death is the same in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament. So let’s take a look at what God wants us to do.

Somebody read Isaiah 55:7.  It says…

Great. Does anybody have I John. 1:9?

Ok so there you have it. When we came to God we had Godly sorrow, not worldly sorrow.  We said we are sick and tired of what we’re doing, we’re never going to do it again, and we confess our sins to God and by his blood he washed every sin away. That’s a wonderful thing! So let’s look at the results of justification and we’re going to need some some scriptures. Yeah. Please do.

I just want to make a point on Godly sorrow versus worldly sorrow. I was just thinking when he read the definition of Godly sorrow there, that when we repent with a Godly sorrow, it is Repentance that is not to be repented of. That means that we are determined. We’re tired of sinning and we don’t want to have to repent of that sin ever again. That’s right, turning away. Worldly sorrow, though, a lot of times people they know that they’ve done something wrong and they just want to . . . for that moment . . . it could even be emotional but they’re not really having a Godly sorrow because tomorrow they’ll repent again.  So that’s not Godly sorrow, that’s only worldly sorrow.  There’s a difference there.

Good thought. OK. All right. The results of justification. So we need somebody to read Romans 5:19, and Romans 3:25. And also I’ll go ahead and read II Corinthians 5:17.  Romans 5:19  “For as one man’s disobedience” [that’s Adam.  We’re talking about Adam there.  Go ahead.]  “Disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one man [Jesus. Yes.] shall many be made righteous.” Great.

Ok. All right who’s got Romans 3:25?

Ok. Two points. Propitiation means turning away of wrath by an offering. And I want you to notice:  sins that are not sins in the! OK. It’s sins in the past. There’s some . . . there’s a lot of people out there that believe that the blood of Christ (or Grace) covers their sins in the future. But what does that say?  It doesn’t say sins that are in the future, it says sins that are past.  Very important!  Go ahead. Yeah. I don’t believe anywhere in the Bible can you find that future sins are forgiven. That’s correct.

Ok. We’re talking about the results of justification. Let’s look at this next scripture. This is an awesome scripture!  II Corinthians 5:17.

Now we’re going to talk about temptation. We’re going to talk about temptation versus sin. And we’ve already discussed that sin is a spiritual death. So we’re going to need James 1:12-16. And I’ll go ahead and read that.

What we need to do is listen to every word of this scripture, because it’s going to tell you the difference between temptation and sin. OK. James 1:12-16  “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation.” OK. I should say blessed is the man.  There’s a word that means he’s enduring temptation; that means he’s fighting the devil. He’s not giving in!  “For when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man.”  Here’s the important part.  “But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust” [and what lust means is that is a strong desire. That’s all that means] “and enticed;” “then when lust [or strong desire] hath conceived [everybody knows what conceived means; it means it is the thought or the deed goes into the mind and it becomes an action], it bringeth forth Sin, and Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death.”  It’s the same death that Adam and Eve had in the garden. It’s the same death that we’ve talked about in the New Testament and Romans.  And then listen. This is the important part. A lot of people say that they’re not talking about somebody that’s saved—but there is no wiggle room here. That’s why I chose this scripture “Do not err my beloved brethren.”  He’s talking about “the brethren,” the ones that are saying that I am saved.  OK. And he’s saying the consequence of sinning is spiritual death. Now you tell me if you die in that condition where are you going to go?  And we’re going to look at this in a minute, and there is just no wiggle room at all.  We have to be saved and we have to be sanctified. We’re going to talk about that in a minute. OK now we’re going to get a little closer here. Let’s talk. Let’s look at I John 3:6 and 8. We need somebody to read that please. This is Nathan’s favorite scripture. Well maybe not. I don’t know.

Okay right. And we could read these other scriptures; let’s go ahead and read. Let’s see. Let’s read Romans 6:16 I think we got the idea about sinning and death is spiritual death. I think we get that idea. Hopefully everybody understands that’s important. Go ahead brother Mike.

Ok now let’s go to one more place in the Bible that we’re going to talk about. We’re going to go to Corinthians and we’re going to talk about how Paul had some problems. Yeah. Do you want to read that? That’s fine. I was going to . . . OK. You’re right. Sorry, brother Jim go ahead and get that. I was going to skip it but that’s fine.  No problem.

Okay. Wonderful. And again in Genesis 3:3 the Old Testament is saying if you disobey you’re going to die. So we know it’s not a physical death. And again in the New Testament it’s a spiritual death. So let’s go to I Corinthians 3:1-4.

I think something needs to be cleared up.  Again you mentioned earlier about future sins. All right.  Nowhere in the Bible does it speak of asking forgiveness of future sins, as brother Charlie mentioned. OK. We just want to make sure that is clear. Absolutely.  Yes, that’s right. Well that Scripture says past. You know you can put other words in there, but it still says past.  Right? So you can’t ask forgiveness for something you haven’t done yet.  Right. How could you?  How can you be guilty if you went to court and said “Well, I’m thinking about stealing something.  I haven’t done it yet. Will you arrest me, please?” I don’t think so. They’re gonna say well did you do it? Have you done it yet?  [Multiple voices talking over each other on this point, indistinguishable]

Now, I need some readers. OK. We want I Corinthians 3:1-4.  I’ll go ahead and start reading it:

Let me read that over again.

OK now, Brother Paul has gone to the Corinthian church and he is just basically laying it out and he saying listen guys you know there’s several pastors here that are trying to preach to you but you’re lifting them up like they’re above God; you’re lifting them all up and you’re causing . . . now notice I have envying and strife underlined there.  So what we want to do now is we want to go to Galatians and I want you to notice some things.  He’s talking to them, he says “brethren,” right, but I want to show you that any brethren that does these things isn’t saved.  If you have envying and strife and you’re pushing heresies and all these things, you need to repent!  So that’s what Paul saying, and we’re going to get to this in a minute because there’s no room for sin.  There’s no such thing as the sinning Christian. That’s one thing I want to get straight, so let’s go ahead and read Galatians 5:19-22. Go ahead brother Mike if you could read that.

Okay, let’s stop there for a minute.  What I want you to notice is this on this slide he’s saying . . . He’s calling them “brethren.” But look at this: envying and strife. OK now look at this. Look at this scripture over here:  strife and envyings.  And he said if you do these things you will not inherit the Kingdom of God. So apparently there are some people there in the congregation that are brethren. But then there’s also some people that are causing all these problems. And Paul is saying you need to get saved because you will not inherit the kingdom of God. But then now, now look what he’s doing. Now look what he’s doing. Read that brother Mike, Galatians 5:22. Let’s look at this:

Ok so what he’s saying is hey you’re going to die and you’re going to go to you aren’t going to go to heaven if you have those kind of things. And I haven’t really taken the time. Let me let me take the time to explain what that picture is on the left hand panel.  What that is, is that is a tree that I chopped down in my yard. You can see the saw marks in it. I’m talking about the picture on the left, of course. Now notice the little trees or the little plants that are coming right up. That is that tree starting to grow again and that is a good illustration of what happens when you don’t obey God. You might start out as the brethren, just like that other Scripture says, you might start out just fine. OK. You had the top of the tree chopped down. But now look what happens to you. You started envying and strife and wrath and all these things. Now you’ve got these roots that are grown back up and you need to repent and that’s all there is to it. And Paul is saying y’all need to repent. But then then he’s contrasting the works of the Holy Ghost. What would you rather have:  envyings and strife in this congregation, or would you rather have love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, and faith? I think that’s a pretty good trade, you know, to throw away the carnality and have the peace of the Holy Ghost.

Ok. All right. So now we’re going to do a quick review very quick. I think we still have a little bit of time. Yeah. We got some time. OK. So again we’ll go through this very quickly. There’s heart number one our original heart talking about Adam and Eve created in the in God’s image. The innocent heart was the result of the fall. OK and man is now created in Adam’s image. OK. Now the sinful heart. Heart number three. This describes the sinful heart. OK heart number four is the justified heart; committed sins are forgiven. And heart number five is the saved and sanctified heart. And that is the heart that does receive the Holy Ghost. OK. All right now we’re going to talk about the need for sanctification. Justification is really about deliverance from your committed sins. I think we all agree on that. Now sanctification is about the removal of the inherited sin of Adam, or the carnal nature, or that root of sin.

Now notice in the left hand panel. Notice that root, and we talked about where that came from—that came from Adam, and that sin (or that root) was passed on to all men. So, very important, we are justified; we are saved from our committed sin.  But that sin, or that nature, is still there and it needs to be dealt with.  We don’t want to end up being like the brethren that are having these things popping up all the time.  Well, the so-called “brethren” I should say.

All right. So what does the word sanctification mean? Sanctify comes from the Greek word Hagiazo, and it means to make holy or purify and Webster’s 1828 dictionary tells us that sanctify means to make sacred or holy; to set apart to a wholly religious use; to consecrate by appropriate rites; to hallow; to make free from sin. That’s a good definition, isn’t it?  To cleanse from moral corruption and pollution; to purify.  Now this is my favorite all-time scripture right here. Look at the left hand panel. Baptism of the Holy Ghost equals root removal. So let’s take a look at that. Matthew the third chapter verse ten through twelve.

Go ahead, read that brother Jim if you don’t mind. Just read down to eleven. Don’t read through twelve.

Look at this. Okay, that’s good. Look at the axe. Okay, everybody remember the heart with a root in it.

“The axe is laid to the root.”  I have a little story; I’m going to tell it real quick.  My dad had this tree in his yard and he wanted to get rid of the tree. I think it was an old apple tree. So he dug and dug and dug around that thing but it wasn’t coming out no matter what. Because he had to get it by the root. So he hooked his old car up to that and now wrapped a chain around it. And he was going and like really trying to get this thing out and he could not get that tree out until he got every last root. And he used an ax, and I’ll never forget it. I was just a little guy and he just kept whacking at that thing and putting pressure on it and it fell in the hole. The whole tree jerked right out of the hole, root and all, but he had to get the axe in there to get it out.

So go to this next one. So the ax is laid to the root of the tree of the justified person’s heart. All right, now let’s go to Matthew 3:12 and I’ll read that now, the last part. OK. We just read Matthew 3:10-11, now we’re going to read Matthew 3:12. And I’ll explain this, what’s going on here.

What does purge mean?  It means to cleanse or purify by separating and carrying off what is impure; to purge away sin. So what’s going on here, is this woman, what she’s doing is she’s taking her grain and she’s trying to separate the chaff from the wheat or corn or whatever it is she’s doing, so she’s throwing it up in the air and the Scripture says the fan is in his hand. They used a fan, they used the wind, they used whatever they could, so they threw this stuff up and then the wind took away the chaff. And you can see it right over there, right in front of the man. You can see all that dirty nasty stuff; you couldn’t eat that, you couldn’t bake with it, you couldn’t do anything. It’s no good for anything. And look at the grain coming right down there. Right. Right there at the woman’s feet. Yeah that’s right. Whose fan is in his hand. And he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner. OK. Think about that when you’re sanctified. He’s going to gather that wheat, or that’s the sanctified individuals, into his garner.  And what that is:  that’s his house. That’s the church of God. OK. He’s bringing all the sanctified into the Church of God. OK. And look. But he’s going to burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.  And that’s the fire of the Holy Ghost. That’s the baptism of the Holy Ghost. This is exciting to me!  All right. Let’s look at this.

I’m going to just throw this scripture in here:

Now, lots of scriptures here.  The reason why I got all these scriptures:  I want to show you.  I want to prove what the Bible says about justification and sanctification.

There is an order in the Bible. And if we’re going to be Church of God; if we’re going to follow the Scriptures of God’s word, we got do it like the Apostles did.  And we’re going to learn here that the Apostles were saved first, and then they were sanctified. It’s so obvious, that this is not hard to understand. You don’t go to the altar as a sinner and get the Holy Ghost. Are you with me on that?  That’s important to know, because it’s not scripture. All right. So the apostles were saved first, then sanctified.  Look at this. Everybody knows some people who don’t understand their Bible, they say things like Oh, the Apostles really weren’t saved. But that’s not true, because look at the scripture Luke 10:20 says the apostles’ names were written in heaven. OK so if you aren’t saved, obviously your name wouldn’t be written in heaven.  But Jesus said that their names were written in heaven.

We’ll go over these quickly:  John 17:17. Jesus prayed that his disciples would be sanctified. Let’s go ahead and read Acts 19:1-2. Can somebody get that for me please?  And then we’re going to need–Brother Jim if you don’t mind, if you could get Romans 12:1-2 if you can get that for me.

The second verse of that scripture is proof that the Apostles were saved first and then were sanctified. Very important. Paul was saved on the road to Damascus. He was blind. He stayed in Damascus for three days.  Ananias went to Paul, and what is so wonderful about this story is God told Ananias that Paul (remember who Paul was; Paul, he was Saul). He was on the way to Damascus to capture some good saints down there and throw them in jail or do whatever he had to do.  But here he is on the road to Damascus. God smote him with blindness. He was a very bold man, but can you imagine he’s held by the hand going into Damascus and he’s there for three days blind. Right. And Ananias, God sends Ananias and tells him to go and see Saul or Paul because he prayed.  So you know God’s not going to tell Ananias . . . unless this man is saved . . . because Saul had a pretty bad reputation at that time.  So Ananias goes there and the scripture says Paul received his sight, then he received the Holy Ghost. So he was saved for three days and then he received the Holy Ghost. So there’s more proof that you got to be justified. In other words, God is not going to sanctify a sinner. He’s not going to sanctify a sinner. So you have to be justified first and then sanctified. OK so let’s go ahead and read Romans 12:1-2. This is your consecration. This is how you . . . if you want to be sanctified, this is how you think when you go to the altar and you ask God to sanctify you. This is what you should be thinking in your mind. Go ahead and read, brother Jim.

The conditions for sanctification are that you must be saved. Then you are a candidate for sanctification.  Let’s look at this. And this is one of my favorite parts of this study. The results of sanctification. Let’s go ahead and read. I’ll tell you what, I’ll read this one if you wouldn’t mind.  We need to go down the list pretty quick.  Brother Jim, if you would get II Peter 1:3-4.  And brother Mike, Romans 8:29, and brother Charlie Colossians 3:10. I’ll go ahead and read II Corinthians 3:16-18.

Listen to that! That’s good:  with the spirit of God is there is liberty.

So what we’re going to look at.  I’ll just tell you what I think that means.  If you have a mirror and you’re looking right in your mirror and you see . . . I should say it like this:  If other people are looking at you and they see the Spirit of God coming out of your life, then you can know that you have been changed into the same image. If you’re living free from sin, you’re saved and you’re sanctified. Then you have the image of God.

So let’s go ahead and read those other scriptures.  II Peter, thank you. First chapter, 3 and 4.

Look at that: partakers of the divine nature!  We’re being restored. We’re being restored into God’s image by sanctification.

Ok, go ahead brother: Romans 8:29.

I was thinking about this word predestination. You know what. There’s a lot of people think that people are predestinated.  But it’s the Church of God that was predestinated.  And once we were in the Church of God and were justified and were sanctified:  sanctification causes us to be conformed to the image of God.  Think about that. That is how our image is restored.

We have one more scripture Colossians 3:10. I’ll go ahead and read that.

Now, God has a sanctified church. Sanctified ministers.  We have a sanctified church. It’s called the Church of God.  Sanctification is the will of God. We are perfected by sanctification.  We aren’t sanctified partially, like some people say “Well, I grow into it.”  You cannot grow into justification. You cannot grow into sanctification; you are sanctified wholly, not partially.  So how are we sanctified?  We’re sanctified by the laying on of hands.

I’m pretty excited about this lesson!  You might notice. Go ahead.  I just wanted to also throw in there that sanctification . . . that’s when we begin to grow.  There’s still growth after sanctification; sanctification is not the end, but that’s when God is actually able to mold us, even though there’s still times when he’ll make any dross rise to the surface.  He’ll continually work on us, always improving, and yes, advancing.  Ok. So we are sanctified and then we’re meet for the master’s use.

Ok that’s good. The work is done now. Let’s dig into that a little bit more.  When you’re justified, your sins are immediately washed away, and when you’re sanctified, you aren’t sanctified partially, you’re sanctified wholly. So the Holy Ghost . . . We can we can take a look at the justified heart:  you have that root, and that root is washed out because you are not in the image of God with the carnal nature there. OK. And we talked about the image of God. But let me make one point about sanctification:  you grow in knowledge and experience. You cannot grow into holiness. You cannot. So, we gain knowledge by listening to the message. We gain knowledge by studying our Bible, and we gain experience by going through things because . . . And I have a slide that talks about that, that shows that because we’re walking in the spirit and we have to obey the spirit.

So let’s go on. All right. Benefits of the Holy Spirit. We’re going to hit this close if you want to write the Scriptures down. We’re going to go through this fast but there’s one:  He’s our guide. He’s our comforter, and I’ll leave this up for a minute if you want to get it. He’s our Sanctifier; he’s our teacher. He’s our intercessor.

Think about that:  when we’re so burdened we can’t even hardly pray, God is there. Jesus is in the middle.  And he’s the intercessor, too.  The Holy Ghost is there; he gives us power to tread on serpents, tread on the devil. When temptations come to us we just can tromp on that devil because we’ve got this power that is inexhaustible. He searches the heart, and he gives us victory. Think about that. That is amazing!  Who would not want to be sanctified?  The benefits of the Holy Spirit.

Victory is a really good point. This is . . . you know out there a lot of people you talk to . . .  when it comes to sin, a lot of people that you talk to, they’re defeated. They say they sin more or less every day. So they don’t really ever get the victory over sin.  But with God—with his power working through us—through salvation and sanctification we have a victorious experience where we can defeat the enemy every day.

Go ahead.  So we get the victory when we get saved over sin and then we get the victory over ourselves. So the carnal nature we’re suppressing by the blood of Christ when we get saved, but that second work is going to remove that carnal nature. Well, we still live in our natural body and have the human nature; that’s a part where we’re going to grow in, but sanctification will remove the depravity. So we have control of ourselves. That’s right. That’s good.  Some people, when we knock on doors, say I can’t stay saved, or I can’t live a holy life, because I’m carnal.  What I realize is they need to get saved. Yes, suppressive by the blood of Christ, learn how to make consecration, and then go in because it’s the good sense of self as a living sacrifice Romans 12:1, and then you get sanctified. But the victory actually starts when you get saved.

That’s good. That’s good. What I was discussing, what the reason why I put victory on here . . . But I do perfectly understand what you’re talking about.  I’m talking about if you’re in a battle and you’re asking for direction, right, and the Holy Ghost is saying do this and you might say I don’t know, I don’t. Should I do that?  What you . . . OK, I’ll do it, right?  I’ll do it. And then you get the victory over the battle or where he brings you through a battle. That’s the kind of victory . . . but you are absolutely right.

That’s right brother. OK. Now this is the part that you have to do if you’re sanctified. You have to walk in the light of God’s word. This is where the knowledge comes. God’s going to show you some things that we just have to obey. OK are you walking in the spirit?  God’s going to show you some things; he’s going to put his light on your pathway, so it’s up to you to obey. He’s only going to show you so much light. And if you don’t obey it, you’re walking in darkness just like that Scripture says. All right. So the question is are you saved and are you sanctified.  The saved and sanctified heart has been conformed to God’s image; there is a picture of this scripture and I want to read it again.  I want to end with this last Scripture.

Now I want you to think about what’s going on. This individual, my daughter-in-law has conformed to God’s image, is conformed to God’s image. So what we should see when we look at her, we should see Christ in everything that she does, and that is what can be conformed to Christ’s image. So let’s read this scripture again and look at it maybe a little bit differently. II Corinthians 3:16-18.

So that’s what we expect. That’s what we expect to see from a saved and sanctified. There’s a word in the Bible that talks about perfection, and what it means is “complete.”  You are complete.  When you are complete in your salvation, you have justification and you have sanctification. And this is what people see. They are not going to see carnal fits. They aren’t going to see like some of the scriptures we talked about, wrath. Those kind of things, all that has been purged out just like the winnowing. All the chaff has been burned away by the power of the Holy Ghost:  full salvation. That’s right.

So here’s a question: How has your life changed?  And I’m talking about our lives here. Since you’ve been saved so we’re going to start, and we’re going to go around and we’re going to . . . I want to ask these good brothers here. How has your life changed since you’ve been saved? What has God done? What can you say, what can you tell the people out there how has God given you the things that we’ve talked about tonight.

Go ahead brother Nathan.

Well I feel like the scripture says I found the pearl of great price. I used to be depressed for months, seemed like weeks at a time. Happiness and the opportunities in life are always like always messed up on. Like now the Lord’s given me a chance where I can now excel at some things in life; before I always felt like I was a klutz. I feel like our time I will try to do so. The door kept closing on me and job wise I kept struggling financially, had terrible times, but now I’m doing a lot better in life. So knowing me spiritually is also helping me physically and financially with my health. So to me, being saved is, it’s a win-win. Spiritually and physically you just go up you don’t go down, thankfully.

That’s good. How about you, brother Mike.

Well I could take all night to say the change that has happened. You know, you talked about that victory. I remember there was a time when I didn’t have victory. I could not defeat like a lot of times we talked to people when we go knocking on doors and they say well we can’t live life a victorious life free from sin. Well that was me when I was in sin. When I got saved, all that changed. That is the victory that we have when we get saved. That’s the difference because now the reason that I got saved so I could have that victory. OK. And the reason I got sanctified is because there was a victory over self. There was complete victory over self there. You know there’s a change of direction in my life now. Life is worth living.

That’s right. You know it’s not just wandering anymore. You know I’m running for the prize, and that’s good. So that’s that’s how life has changed for me. Thank the Lord! Brother Charlie?

Well, I’m thankful for what God’s done for me. Like brother Mike said it could go on for quite a while. You know I don’t look the way I used to look. I don’t have long hair down to my shoulders. I don’t have clothes that are trying to show off my body. I’m not out chasing fleeting pleasures that don’t satisfy; I’m not doing drugs anymore. I’m not out trying to find fulfillment in relationships. I’m, you know, myself is not the center of my life anymore. God is the center of my life. I wake up each day thinking about God. I start each day with prayer and meditation; throughout the day I’m thinking you know as are the things in my head that I’m doing. Are they pleasing to God. God is there to keep me in check, to guide me. You know when I face a temptation or a difficult situation I can immediately reach out to God and trust that he will guide or in some manner work this thing out for my good. Even though it may not appear as such initially but my trust is in God. You know I don’t trust myself or my own power and abilities to do things. You know what. Another change I attend church regular now. You know I’m not going down to the bars and it’s kind of funny because some of the guys I used to hang out with you know, you ask them what are they going to do Saturday night. And they said they are going to go to church and they weren’t talking about going to church what they really meant was they were going out to the party and do all these crazy things. It’s just really ironic. Looking back on it. But my life has done a one hundred and eighty degree turn. I don’t talk like I used to talk or go to the places I used to go. I mean I could just I could just go on and on but I think that’ll do for now.

OK thanks! Brother Jim you got a few thoughts?

Reasons I could never be able to do it at all tonight. Like brother Charlie said a 180 degree turn. No never more the bad habits I used to have. No more talking and having anger and fighting and all that. Like how you used to do. Used to be very unlearned. Both spiritually and materially and God has blessed me both ways blessed me financially. He’s healed my body of very serious things. But the biggest thing is the joy of contentment. I’m so thankful for the joy of contentment.  No matter how things are going you can still be content knowing your life is in his hands and he has blessed us. I am very very thankful.

Ok here’s another question maybe for some of the folks who are listening. I want you to think about what’s at the end of your road.

Do you have some of the things that we talked about? Do you have joy and peace in your heart?  Do you have contentment? Are you OK, are you content with your life as it is? Do you realize that there could be something missing? Is there something missing in your life where you might not need God right now but some time in your life you’re going to need God. And we’re here to tell you. And we talked about the plan, the plan of salvation tonight. And if you would consider that. We would like to ask you to come to come to our services. We have service tomorrow night and Sunday, and Sunday night. But mostly we want you to think about your soul. All right.

So we want to thank everybody for joining us at the Manassas Church of God Bible study. We want to thank you, and we hope you’ll come back. So what we want to do is we want to go ahead and end in prayer if you would. Brother Mike go ahead and pray for us if you would.

Ok. Brother Nathan that’s fine.

Heavenly father truly we thank you again Lord. Just to be here tonight Lord you see how the weather was bad. But Lord you see our heart Lord we want to have a study and we pray Lord it was edifying Lord we got much of it Lord we thank you Lord even the small things a stream going off how you helped us get back on Lord truly be thank you from that from the day you saved us from our sins Lord. Lord as much to say we could spend a great length of time and still not be able to get to the first base of the great things you have done but truly the greatest thing you’ve done was when you die in the cross and Lord we never forget that day when you redeemed us Lord and true all we want to be a light and give you glory and give you honor Lord and we want to live that life. Paul said he fought the good fight of faith Lord and truly Lord. We feel blessed tonight we thank you for Brother Bob sharing these nuggets a truth we’ll never get over. Lord it just reminds us, refreshes and drives the stakes deeper and what it means to be saved from sin and be a Christian Lord and we pray each one Lord God save me from this day Lord bless this night, remember each one drives home Lord and as we come back in tomorrow  giving you the praise you righteously deserve.

Truly we thank you in Jesus name we love you and do remember all the prayer requests.  Amen. All right, we thank you all for joining us with our Bible study tonight all those views that joined in on the stream we’d like to invite you all to attend our invitation to come Sunday morning we have we Sunday school for all ages at 10:00 a.m. We have general service at 11:00 a.m. We begin with the prayer and praise. Then we have preaching sometime around 11:30 to 12:00 and then we meet again at six o’clock on Sunday night and we start with worship followed generally by the word of God preaching. We have a very strong young people’s group for which we give much thanks to God and give him the glory it’s all because of him and what he does and works in us.

So we do hope to see you in person sometime soon. We thank you again for joining us tonight. And hope you found it of interest and we’re edified and hope to see you next time. Bye bye.