Admonition Podcast

Good morning.

You notice at times in life as certain things change, for instance, a routine that...

uh

There are some things that you notice about that routine and about the things that you
normally do and the way your brain expects things to happen that uh just don't work the

same way.

So I can tell you it's very normal for me to expect to be teaching a Bible class first and
then preaching a sermon.

And it feels very odd to be preaching a sermon first and no Bible class.

But I appreciate your willingness to be here for two hours while I combine the two into
one.

Now we are grateful for your ability to be out this morning.

uh James, I'm gonna ask you if you would to go plug the screen in since you knew that it
wasn't working so that I can see what's up there.

This morning we're going to be dealing with the eternal destiny of blank.

Many things in life so far this year have

brought to the forefront for many of us the brevity of life, the fragileness of our
existence, the difficulties that we face in this life, and the reality that there is a

day, as the Hebrew writer tells us in Hebrews chapter 9.

where for all of us, no matter where we are in position, no matter where we are in
prominence, no matter where we are in prosperity, we will come to an end of this life.

And the text tells us there in Hebrews chapter nine, after that, the judgment.

When you turn to Matthew chapter 25, you'll find that Jesus will speak to those who are
present about a judgment day.

About a day where the king will determine those who will be on the right hand side, those
who will be found acceptable before him, and those who will be pushed to the left hand

side, those who had not been acceptable to him.

And as we consider these thoughts, as we consider the brevity of life and the reality of
life, we find that it really would help us to know which side we're going to be on.

To know before we reach the end, before this life is over, before we breathe our last
breath, where am I in that separation?

And while the text is not written so as for you to find your name as you're scrolling down
through the text and say, Aaron Kozort, dash saved or lost.

That's not the way the text of Scripture is written.

Rather, we have in Scripture example and instruction, example and instruction, example and
instruction on what we can do so as to know.

Am I saved or am I lost?

And when I breathe the last breath of this life, where will I go?

So I want us to notice some examples and some instructions this morning.

First, to the perfect.

What is the eternal destiny of the perfect?

In Hebrews chapter four,

We'll notice that the Hebrew writer, as he lays forward the argument and the conclusion
that Christ is better above everything else, above every alternative, will speak

concerning the rest of God in earlier on in chapter 4.

He will speak concerning the fact that Israel failed to enter God's rest because of
rebellion.

But in chapter 4 and in verse 14 of the book of Hebrews we read, then that we have a great
high priest who has passed through the heavens.

Notice the location.

Notice the destination.

Notice that when Christ left this earth, he did not proceed to hell.

He did not proceed to a place of torment.

Rather, he passed through the heavens.

And notice what the text says, who passed through the heavens.

Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was at all
points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need.

The text makes it clear that when Christ ascended from this earth, having lived the only
perfect life,

of anyone who has ever lived on this earth, who has reached an age of accountability, who
knew no sin, who was without guile, the text tells us, who was one who was tempted in all

points like as we are yet without sin, standing as a stark contrast to all of humanity
from Adam and Eve all the way forward, we find the eternal destiny of the perfect one who

was Jesus Christ.

to be at the right hand of the throne of God, to serve as a mediator and a high priest and
an intercessor between everyone else who was not perfect.

and God.

Because without Christ, we would not have grace, we would not have mercy, we would not
have salvation before God.

So we're incredibly grateful and it's incredibly important for us to realize that for the
perfect one, his eternal destiny was heaven with the Father.

But then consider for the innocent.

This is a struggle for some mostly because of the false doctrines that have been pervasive
throughout the last seven or eight centuries where individuals have taught that

that all individuals who are born, all humans who are born, are born in sin.

They're born and conceived and they bear the sin of Adam from the day that they enter into
this world.

Now we're not going to go through all of the texts, maybe not even all of them that we
have here, but all the texts that speak to the fact that God judges individuals based upon

their own actions.

Ezekiel chapter 18 makes it incredibly clear that God does not judge the Son for the sin
of the Father, that God does not give righteousness to the Son because of the

righteousness of the Father.

that God judges individually those who are obedient to Him and those who are rebellious
against Him and the sinner who sins, he shall die.

But in 2 Samuel chapter 12.

we're provided an example, testified to by a prophet of God, spoken by one who was
inspired by the Holy Spirit at times in his life to write scripture.

that the destiny of a child who is innocent.

is a location that those who are righteous will also go to.

David, having committed the sin with Bathsheba that he did, having been confronted by the
Lord, having declared to him the consequences of the sin which he has committed, that the

child born of Bathsheba will die, will know of the situation with the child, of the health
of the child will

fast, will not get up, will not do anything while the child is sick and while the child is
in this state and eventually his servants come to him and tell him though they're afraid

to do so, the child has died.

And the text tells us that his servants are astounded when David gets up, he cleans
himself up, he goes and he eats, and they're wondering, why?

After all the grief, after all the mourning, after all of the experience that they
witnessed over the days proceeding, why is it that now that you've heard that he has died,

you go back to normal?

David will tell those who are present, I can't bring the child back to myself, but I can
go to where he is.

David as one who is knowledgeable concerning Scripture, knowledgeable concerning that
which God has said knows that there is a dwelling place for the innocent.

You'll notice that David didn't spend those intervening moments between the child's birth
and the child's death trying to get the sin of Adam washed away from the child.

No, he was seeking the continued life of the child.

And yet once the child died, David was in complete peace as to the location and the
eternal destiny of the child.

Matthew chapter 19, Jesus, as He speaks to His disciples concerning the kingdom, will
declare that the kingdom of heaven is that which has been allocated to those who will

receive the Word of God and be obedient to it as little children.

even the figure of those who are righteous described by Jesus multiple times in his
ministry is to be pictured as little children.

Those who are innocent and obedient to God.

In James chapter 4, James will point out in verse 17, to the one who knows to do good and
does not do it to him it is sin.

You say, Aaron, what does that have to do with a little child?

What does that have to do with a baby?

There's an important emphasis there in that text, which is found elsewhere, but it's right
here visible in James 4 verse 17 that the

the fulcrum of the decision as to whether or not this action is righteous or unrighteous,
whether it is lawful or whether it is a transgression of the law, is that the person who

is doing it knows the difference between good and evil.

The person who is taking the action is cognizant of good and evil.

They are of an age and of a mindset and of a maturity so as to discern the difference
between good and evil.

and for any individual who does not meet that criteria.

They are not accountable for their actions.

This shouldn't seem strange to us.

Our entire legal structure is built on the assumption that there is someone who is of an
age that they might commit an action that results in a catastrophic event and not be held

accountable for it because they do not understand the difference.

between taking that action and getting up and getting out of bed.

In Genesis chapter 3, we really don't have to go any further than the opening pages of
Scripture to find God making this point incredibly clear.

For God will tell Adam and Eve as they're there in the garden that there are two trees in
the midst of the garden.

One of those trees is the knowledge of good and evil.

And God tells Adam and Eve, now these individuals are adults, they're not little babies.

They're not crawling around wondering which direction to go.

These are mature, knowledgeable, intelligent men, a man and a woman.

But God tells them because of how He has made them, do not eat of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die.

And yet, in Genesis chapter 3,

when the serpent questions Eve.

Verse 2, the woman said to the serpent, may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden,
but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall

not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.

So my question is, well see, she clearly knows the difference between right and wrong.

She can rehearse the instruction.

But we all also realize there's a difference between someone who can rehearse an
instruction and can even perceive a consequence and someone who knows the difference

between right and wrong.

The four-year-old who has been told, don't put your hand on the hot stove, can rehearse
the instruction.

They can even perceive the consequence of the instruction.

They can even reiterate what will happen if they do that which they've been instructed not
to do.

That does not mean the four-year-old knows the difference between good and evil.

Eve is aware of the instruction.

Eve is aware of the consequence.

Eve is aware of the scenario that God has placed in front of her.

That does not mean Eve understands the difference between good and evil.

But notice what happens in the text.

The serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die.

For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like
God.

knowing good and evil.

Even the serpent makes it very clear that the acknowledgement of the instruction is not
the same as discerning the difference between good and evil.

So the woman saw the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree
desirable to make one wise.

She took of its fruit and ate.

She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

Then both of them, the eyes of both of them were open, and they knew that they were naked,
and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves coverings.

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and
Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the

garden.

Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you?

So he said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I
hid myself.

And he said, Who told you that you were naked?

Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded that you should not eat?

the moment that Adam and Eve ate of the fruit.

They went from knowing what they had been told to do and not to do.

knowing the difference between good and evil.

They immediately experienced shame.

They immediately recognized that their state was improper.

They immediately became aware of a number of things and they immediately feared the very
presence of God.

Something changed.

because they now knew the difference between good and evil, not just the acknowledgement
of an instruction and a command.

But what do we get out of this?

We get out of this that God has been consistent from the very beginning that there is a
state of innocence prior to the knowledge of good and evil, whereby those who are in an

innocent state are not accountable for their actions under the law and their eternal
destiny is secure.

all through scripture, from the beginning all the way to the end, we read about those who
cannot know the difference between good and evil, who are not of an age to discern the

difference between good and evil.

All of these things are important for us to realize that God has been clear about their
destiny, the destiny of those who are innocent.

In Romans chapter four.

Beginning in verse we read, the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to
Abraham, or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of no
effect.

Because the law brings about wrath, for where there is no law, there is no transgression.

for the one who is not capable mentally or because of their age to be able to discern the
law.

God says, don't hold you accountable for that which you cannot know, for that which you
cannot understand.

But then consider the obedient.

The eternal state, the eternal destiny of the obedient is also laid out in scripture.

In Hebrews chapter 10, the Hebrew writer as...

He is reaching the end of his writing to these Jewish Christians.

We'll speak to them about where they were, what had been done for them, the salvation that
had been provided for them, and the eternal glory that they had been provided through that

salvation.

And in Hebrews chapter 10 and in verse 13 we read,

from that time waiting till his enemies are made his foes, speaking concerning Christ.

For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." As the
Hebrew writer points out that Christ did not go continually day after day after day to

sacrifice himself again and again and again.

He rather through his blood having been sacrificed one time

has made those who come to him perfect." Now remember, what is the state of the perfect?

Those who are perfect have an eternal destiny with the Father and the blood of Christ
having cleansed someone has put them in a state whereby they are perfect.

Not of their own righteousness.

Not of their own perfection, but basically covered in His perfection.

And the Hebrew writer says that for the one who is made perfect, they are made perfect
forever having been sanctified.

Now, when you come to this text, you should be careful not to rip it right out of the
context and say, see, when a person is saved, they're always saved and they can never be

lost.

They've been made perfect and they're perfect forever.

That would be correctly stating the words of the text, but manipulating the text to not
mean what the text says.

because the Hebrew writer is going to continue to discuss those who have been made
perfect, who are now departing from the perfection.

The point of the discussion about forever in the text is not about the possibility of
being lost or saved after you are converted.

It is a discussion about the potency and the power of the blood of Christ.

It doesn't wear off.

It doesn't diminish.

overtime.

The Hebrew writer having discussed in the text the fact that every single year the
Israelites were to come before the Seat of Atonement, they were to come before the very

mercy seat of God and offer their sacrifices again.

to again bring to reminder their sins.

The Hebrew writer says, not the blood of Christ.

That blood doesn't wear off.

That blood doesn't diminish in power.

That blood doesn't diminish in potency.

That blood does not decay, nor does it affect, or nor does it affects.

Get my words out in a minute.

But rather, he says, this man, verse 12, after he had offered one sacrifice,

Four sins forever.

There's his point.

There's where the text and the discussion of forever resides in this passage.

That is, the sacrifice was made once, forever.

Well, you go back down to verse 14, he says, for by one offering he has perfected forever
those who are being sanctified, but the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us

For after he has said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those
days, says the Lord.

I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them.

Then he adds, their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.

Now where there is remission of these, remission of what?

Remission of the sins that are under discussion.

There is no longer an offering for sin.

He says, when you have had the offering and the blood of Christ atone for your sins, you
don't go looking for another sacrifice.

You don't go searching for another additional atoning sacrifice.

there's no longer an offering for sin.

He says, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus.

Now notice, because we're discussing what's the eternal destiny of the obedient.

The Hebrew writer tells us right here in the text, the eternal destiny of the obedient is
access to the very presence of God.

He says, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living
way which he consecrated for us through the veil, that is his flesh.

Let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised his
faith.

the Hebrew writer as he draws their attention to the eternal atoning value of the blood of
Christ.

that that sacrifice and that blood does not decay, it does not diminish over time.

He says this gives you boldness to enter the very presence of God.

And he says that promise doesn't diminish either.

You can hold fast to that promise because the one who promised is faithful.

But then he says, verse 24, and let us consider one another in order to stir up love and
good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some,

but exhorting one another in so much the more as you see the day approaching.

As a hero writer says, the blood of Christ will not diminish, the blood of Christ and its
potency will not diminish, the blood of Christ will never fail, the blood of Christ will

never be replaced, the blood of Christ will have no new atonement or new offering needed
to replace it.

He says at the same time, you as obedient people must make sure you maintain your
obedience.

You turn over to 1 John chapter 1.

John takes this discussion further and he says, we say that we have fellowship with Him,
verse 6, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and
the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.

John writes to the Christians and he says, cannot depart from God, depart from His
commandments, depart from His fellowship, and keep the blood.

But if you walk in the light as he is in the light...

There's not a sin that you can commit that God cannot forgive you of so long as you are
willing to repent of it.

You say, Aaron, I don't see repentance anywhere in the text.

Wait a minute.

Verse 8, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us.

My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin.

And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.

It's important to realize that an advocate's role is to be an intercessor between two
parties who have been separated because of some law circumstance.

The advocate is the lawyer who's petitioning on behalf of the one who's done wrong.

John makes it clear, not only must we be willing to confess that we have sinned, we must
utilize our access to the Advocate to correct the problem.

What is that?

That's repentance.

But then consider as well, he says, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous.

And he himself is the provitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the
whole world.

Now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments.

He who says, know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in
him.

He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walks.

John makes it clear that the eternal state of the obedient is fellowship with Christ and
with the Father.

Not to say that we'll be sinlessly perfect.

As a matter of fact, if we try to claim we're sinlessly perfect, John says, you're a liar
and the truth is not in you.

but rather that as we continue to walk at times making mistakes, at times sinning against
God, at times violating the commandments, at times failing to keep the commandments, then

when we realize it, we confess that to the Father that Jesus Christ is faithful and just
to use His blood to continue to cleanse us from our sin.

to the obedient.

Their eternal state is described in that hope of the Hebrews writer in which he describes
a new way to reach the living God.

But before we depart from this discussion, let's consider what do the obedient do?

Not enough to just academically say, you're obedient to God, you're saved.

How then can I become obedient?

And notice, if you go through these texts, which we don't have all of the time to do all
of these as we notice them, but if you look through these texts, if you're a righteous

good person, sorry, religious good person, here we find Cornelius as an example of one who
is religious.

He's praying, He's giving alms, He's a good person and it's testified that He is by
multiple people within the text.

Yet we find in Acts chapter 10 that he is a good person who is lost.

He is someone who is kind, is someone who is thoughtful, he is someone who desires to be
obedient to God, he is someone who is acknowledging of God's power and his will, he also

recognizes he is lost.

So he sends for Peter because he was instructed to do so, that he might learn what to do
in order to be saved.

Peter will tell him, in that very hour, he and all his household will be baptized for the
remission of their sins.

You go to another text and you find the condemned murderer.

As matter of fact, you find a whole crowd of condemned murderers.

In Acts chapter 2 and in verse 36, Peter will testify to that crowd on the day of
Pentecost that they with wicked hands have slain the very Son of God.

And in verse 37 of Acts chapter 2, that crowd, someone in that crowd will cry out, men and
brethren, what shall we do?

to which Peter replies to them, repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins.

He says, you're covered in sin.

You're covered in this thing which will condemn you and cause you to be lost and separated
from God eternally.

And they knew that.

They knew Isaiah 59, 1 and 2.

And yet Peter says it is possible to have those sins washed away.

and he commands them to repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins.

For the person who's the condemned murderer, there's a path to being coming obedient.

For the person who is a woman, you say, Aaron, why are you singling out women?

because there are places all over this planet where as far as certain religions are
concerned women have no status with God separated from a man.

That women have no path to God separated from a husband.

And that's simply not what the text of scriptures teaches.

And you find there in Acts chapter 16 that as Paul is preaching, he finds a group of women
there by the river and they're praying.

And when Paul teaches them, he doesn't say, go find your husband.

As a matter of fact, there's an example of a woman who by all indications the text has no
husband, and yet she will become obedient to the command of Paul.

to be saved.

A woman's path to salvation is not through a husband, it is through obedience to the Word
of God.

But then consider as well, Acts chapter 16, a little later in that text, after some events
occur there in Philippi, Paul and Silas are thrown in prison.

And in the midst of the night as they are praising God in midnight,

The earth begins to shake and the doors are open.

And the jailer having awoken realizes that the doors are open and comes to the assumption
that all the prisoners have escaped and his life is now forfeit and he's about to take his

own life.

And Paul cries out from the midst of the prison, do yourself no harm, we're all still
here.

So he calls for a light, he goes into the midst of the prison, and he inquires of Paul and
Silas, what must I do?

to which Paul subscribes him to a three-month correspondence course so that at the end of
three months he might know how to be said.

No!

Paul and Silas will teach that Philippian jailer and his household.

And that same hour of the night, the Philippian jailer will go and wash their stripes, and
they will baptize him and his household in water for the remission of sins.

You say, it possible for a person who's ignorant of the Word of God to come to a knowledge
of the Word of God, to come to a realization of their sins, to be taught, and to be saved

in one night?

Yes.

It is possible for someone who is ignorant of all of scripture to become saved in one
night.

to know enough to become obedient to God.

Then consider the religious zealot.

Here's an individual who believes they know God, they believe they're keeping God's
commandments, as a matter of fact, they are actively pursuing everything they know about

God's commandments so as to maintain the purity of God's people.

So they're going about persecuting those who are blasphemous in their eyes toward God.

And Saul is going to recount these events later on as he stands there on trial as the
Apostle Paul, and he will make clear that when he was on the road to Damascus, he was

there and he saw a light and he had a conversation with Jesus Christ.

and he walked out of that conversation, actually he was led out of that conversation
because he was then blind.

He was led out of that conversation a believer and still in his sins.

Many will say an obedient person is just simply one who believes that Jesus Christ is Son
of God and then they admit that Jesus Christ is Son of God and then they're saved.

And yet Paul testifies of his own conversion.

That's not what happened.

Having witnessed the very presence of Christ, having talked with Christ, having come to a
knowledge of who Christ was, having come to a realization that He was the very Son of God,

having come to a realization that He was persecuting the very church that belonged to God.

He then spent three days in prayer and fasting, waiting for someone to come and to tell
him what he must do in order to be saved.

And three days later, Ananias shows up and tells this individual, Saul of Tarsus, Saul,
Saul, why tarryest thou?

What are you waiting for?

Arise and be baptized and wash away your sin, calling on the name of the Lord.

Ananias didn't come and say, soon as the Holy Spirit falls on you, you'll be saved.

He doesn't say, say the sinner's prayer and you'll be saved.

Saul had been praying for three days.

If prayer was all that was necessary combined with a believing heart, Saul would have been
saved already.

And some might say, you know what, that's this, no, no, no, I read and he believed and he
was saved there on the road to Damascus.

Paul says, no, I wasn't.

I was in Damascus for three days, still in my sins.

waiting for someone to tell me what to do and how to get rid of them.

What does the obedient person do?

They do this.

They hear the word of God and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

They repent of their sins, a change of mind that brings about a change of action.

Paul didn't say, well, can I still go and arrest the Christians?

He had a change of mind that brought about a change of action.

Confessed in the name of Christ and they are immersed in water for the remission of their
sins.

Rising to walk in newness of life, Paul will teach the exact same thing that Paul did as
he writes to the Romans in Romans chapter six and says, this is exactly what you did.

But then consider the departing.

What is the eternal state of the departing?

Turn back to Hebrews chapter 10.

In Hebrews chapter 10

We find there in verse 25, the Hebrew writer says, not forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another in so much the more

as you see the day approaching.

The term for forsaking here means to turn back and no longer do this thing.

And the Hebrew writer is saying there are some among you, there are some Christians who
were once faithful

to God's commandments, who were once abiding in His hope, who were once continuing in His
commandments, and now they have forsaken the assembly of those who are righteous.

And notice what else He says.

He says, for if we sin willfully, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there
no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.

You remember, just earlier in the text, He said there is no other sacrifice besides
Christ.

He says when you depart from Christ, you're going look for another sacrifice.

You're not going to find one.

He says, verse 27, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation
which will devour the adversaries.

What is the state of the person who having become knowledgeable of the Word of God, having
to become saved by the blood of Christ, then departs and forsakes the assembly of those

who are righteous?

He says they have a certain

fearful indignation of the judgment of God.

He says, anyone who rejects Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three
witnesses.

Of how much worse punishment do you suppose will he be thought worthy?

Who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he
was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.

And again the Lord will judge his people.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of living God.

What is the state?

What is the eternal destiny of the one who has departed and forsaken the salvation that is
in Christ?

certain judgment.

The Hebrew writer in chapter 2 verses 1 through 4 will ask the question of the Hebrew
brethren.

How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

He says, we've had the witnesses.

We know their testimony.

We know what they've told us as directed to speak to us from God, and if we ignore it,
where are we going to find salvation?

The eternal destiny of the departing, the forsaking, is fiery judgment.

But consider the eternal destiny of the false teacher.

The person who becomes obedient to the Word of God.

The person who determines to be faithful to God but then determines later to teach their
own false doctrine.

To teach their own doctrine and to draw away people after themselves.

To teach that which brings about a destiny that they desire on this earth, but what is
their eternal state?

Peter will write in 2 Peter chapter 2 and in verse 18, for when they speak great swelling
words of emptiness, they allure themselves through the lust of the flesh, through

lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error.

The target of the false teacher isn't the world, he says.

The target of the false teacher who was once a faithful Christian is their own brethren
who have actually escaped the world.

Now they're drawing them back in.

He says, while they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption.

For by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.

For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter

end is worse for them than the beginning.

For it would have been better for them to have not known the way of righteousness,

than having known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.

But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, a dog returns to his own vomit
and a sow having washed who are wallowing in the mire.

Peter makes it clear that the eternal destiny of the one who has once become a Christian,
who has once been obedient to Christ, who has once put on the faith of Christ and taught

the truth, but then has departed and begun to teach a different doctrine.

is a state worse than if they had never been safe.

But what about the pendant?

What about the person who having heard the truth, obeys the truth, and then gets caught up
in that which is false?

They get caught up in sin.

They get caught up in false doctrine.

They get caught up in something.

Are they now without hope?

No.

Jude, the half-brother of Jesus, will write concerning these individuals in verse 17 of
Jude,

But you, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus
Christ.

How they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to
their own ungodly lusts.

These are sensual persons who have caused divisions not having the Spirit.

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith,

praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of
our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

And on some have compassion making a distinction, but others with fear pulling them out of
the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

Jude as he writes to these Christians urging them to contend for the faith, to contend
earnestly for the faith, will tell them that you will encounter some as you have

maintained your faithfulness, as you have maintained your Christianity, you will encounter
some who have been swept away by these false teachers.

He says, some of them you're going to distinguish that you can gently lead them back to
the truth.

and caused them to be penitent and caused them to be restored back to their saved state.

And he said, some you will encounter that you're going to have to grab them and you're
going to have to snatch them out of the fire.

But what's He saying?

He's saying for those who have drifted away into false teaching, those who have drifted
away into false doctrine, those who have set aside their Christianity and their hope and

their salvation for that which is false, He says they have hope and it's faithful
Christians who will pull them.

and restore them to the truth.

I want us to close in verse 24 and 25 of Jude.

Because what we all, no matter the state we find ourselves in, need to realize is this.

that there is coming a day when this life will be over.

where we will face the judgment.

and we need to understand who we're facing.

Verse 24, Jude writes, now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present
you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

To God our Savior, who alone is wise.

Be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forever.

Amen.

Jude says, know how you can be saved.

I know how you can be assured of your salvation.

I know how you can have no doubts whatsoever about your eternal destiny because I know how
you can have fellowship with the one in whose power and control is the decision.

obey His commandments, walk in the light as John would write, have fellowship with Christ
and the Father, and as Paul would write as he reached the end of his life, be faithful

unto death.

Fight the fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life.

You might say Aaron.

How do I know if I'm ready?

because you don't know when your time will come.

My answer is go look in the book.

Go find the example of your life.

Go see what you've done and what you haven't done and come to a determination as to
whether or not you're saved or lost.

And if you're lost, do what the book says to be safe.

And if you were once faithful and you've departed either through false doctrine or through
allowing sin to once again corrupt your life, do what the text says to be restored.

I then be faithful unto death.

Because you don't need to step into eternity questioning your eternal destiny.

The text is too clear on the state.

of saved and the destiny of the lost.

If you have need of the invitation of Christ for any reason, why not come forward now as
we stand and as