Sugar Land Bible Church

Guest (Male): Good morning. Welcome to Sugar Land Bible Church this rather warm August day. As you all know, Pastor Andy's on sabbatical for a couple more weeks. In fact, I believe he's in Alaska today. We've been blessed with so many good, very good Bible teachers, and our speaker this morning is someone we heard just back in June, Dennis Rokser.

Let me tell you a little bit about Dennis. He's served in the ministry for almost 45 years as a pastor-teacher. He's known for his verse-by-verse expository teaching with a strong emphasis on grace and rightly dividing the word of God. His messages are rooted in careful scripture reading, contextual interpretation, and practical application for believers today.

From 1985 to 2022, Dennis led Duluth Bible Church in Duluth, Minnesota. In August of 2022, he became the senior pastor of Grace and Truth Bible Church in Middle Georgia. He's now retired from full-time pastorate but continues to be very active with his teaching ministries at workshops and conferences and so forth.

A little bit of history here. In 1992, he founded Grace Institute of Biblical Studies to equip believers within the local church for specialized ministry roles such as pastoral work, youth ministry, and missions. In 2000, he expanded his training efforts internationally by launching Grace Training International Bible Institutes, which offer free biblical training to national pastors and teachers.

His ministry now reaches countries including El Salvador, Nicaragua, Kenya, Zambia, and Gambia. In 2012, Pastor Dennis co-founded Grace Gospel Press, now part of True Grace Books, to publish and distribute doctrinally sound grace-oriented literature. His publications are available through True Grace Books, Amazon, and also right out here; we have our own book table. Dennis has been married for 48 years to Nancy and has three children. So please welcome Dennis Rokser.

Dennis Rokser: Good morning. What a privilege and a joy to open and study the word of God with you today. Let me be transparent with you from the beginning: I am a sinner forever saved by the grace of God through faith alone in Christ alone due to the finished work of Christ alone out of a Roman Catholic background.

And now as a born-again child of God, I'm eternally secure by God's grace and power, and I am seeking each and every day to live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me, as I'm not sufficient of myself to think anything as being from myself; my sufficiency comes from God. Can you relate? Amen.

Whenever you hear a new Bible teacher, you're probably asking, "Who is this, and why should I listen to him?" And that's a great question. But as I already admitted to the reality of the fact that I'm not sufficient, that's taken out of 2 Corinthians 3:5. On the other hand, He is sufficient, and I've worked off that principle for years and years as I was saved back in 1973. It's one of my favorite verses.

Now let me mention something else before we get started. There is a book table, as Ed mentioned, and there are some books there that are for purchase if you're interested. But there's some things that are free. There's a new gospel tract that I introduced last night, put together by some friends of mine, and it's a very clear gospel presentation if you'd like to pick one up. There is a QR code on the back that takes you to the seven-minute gospel video called John 3:16 Illustrated.

But also I have a bunch of little business cards. I didn't come up with this idea; someone else did, but I've utilized it. And on it, I engage people in a very casual way when you are short on time and just ask them, "Are you a person of faith? Do you know for sure where you're going to spend eternity? Would you like to know 100%?"

There's a seven-minute video if you know how to use a QR code, and most people do, unless they're older like me. And you just go on there; it's an excellent presentation. And then there's another little QR code called Grace for the Race Ministries, as that takes you right to our website, and there you can see much more that is available if you are interested.

Now today, we're going to study the scriptures regarding one of the most important scriptural truths in the word of God, a truth which, when understood, clears up much confusion theologically and exegetically when studying the word of God. And when this is not clear, there will be confusion and usually a lack of assurance of salvation. What am I talking about? I'm talking about clarifying the confusion on the three tenses of salvation. And before we get started, let's pray.

Our Father, thank you that you have given us a copy of your word, along with the Holy Spirit to ultimately illuminate us to these truths. And Father, I pray as this is basic Bible doctrine that every believer should know and yet so many believers do not know, that today your word would just be presented in a clear, accurate, practical, and simple way that the Holy Spirit can mightily use to point people to the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ, to assure them of their eternal security, and to enable them to understand passages of scripture by rightly dividing the word of truth. So we commit our time to you now and pray that you could be glorified thereby, for it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Let me invite you to open your Bibles with me to the book of Titus, chapter 3. Titus, chapter 3. Are you saved? If you've trusted in Jesus Christ alone for your eternal salvation, you should be able to answer, "I have been saved (past tense) from sin's penalty. I am being saved (present tense) from sin's power. And one day, I will be saved (future tense) from sin's presence," only by God's grace.

I had you turn to the book of Titus because here I'm going to draw your attention to a passage that underscores the reality of salvation by grace. In Titus chapter 3, we begin in verse 3: "For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us."

Now, the word "saved" there is in what tense? It's in the past tense. This is an accomplished fact for every believer in Christ. And observe that this is not by our works of righteousness which we have done, which according to Isaiah 64, verse 6, are like filthy rags. But because of God's mercy and grace and because of what Christ has done for us.

Turn next with me back a couple books to 1 Timothy chapter 4. 1 Timothy chapter 4. In 1 Timothy chapter 4, Paul is writing to Timothy. Remember he is a believer. He's doing pastoral ministry in Ephesus. And I'd like to call your attention to verse 16. 1 Timothy 4:16: "Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you."

Now, this is referring to a present-tense experience in the life of Timothy who is a believer. He's not talking about a past event; he's talking about a present-tense, ongoing experience: taking heed to himself and to the word of God. Now go with me to Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13.

Again, the context is Paul's in the practical section of the book of Romans. He's been addressing earlier in this chapter about how a believer should respond to human government. He then talks about love, and then he cuts off at the pass the idea of grace being a license to sin. And then in verse 11, he says this: "And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed."

Now if you don't understand the three tenses of salvation at this point, you're confused. You say, "Well, I thought I was saved. So how can my salvation be nearer than when I first believed if I've already been saved?" Well, that's because salvation is in three tenses: past, present, or future, or in three phases, as we'll identify in a moment. Now, actually, in this verse, you see all three of them. Notice this: "and do this..."

"Do this" is in the present. "Knowing the time, that now" (in the present) "it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now" (in the present) "our salvation is nearer" (that means it's future) "than when we first believed" (in the past). All three phases of the Christian life are found connected in that one verse.

And this is where we must study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. For too many Christians, including pastors and teachers, have failed to rightly divide or handle accurately the word of truth, and it's resulted in doctrinal confusion, false teaching, ungodly practice.

And that's why I encourage you today, as I always would any audience, to be like the Bereans of old in Acts 17, where they received the word with all eagerness and then they examined the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Because the final authority isn't what Dennis Rokser said or what Andy Woods said; the question is, what did God say in His inspired word?

Now I'm convinced that when you rightly divide or accurately handle or examine carefully the scriptures, that God's plan of salvation by grace for you includes three tenses or three phases or three stages of spiritual salvation. So what are they? Well, theologically, they are usually called justification, sanctification, and glorification.

Justification deals with being saved from the penalty of sin at a moment of time when you trust in Christ as an ungodly, hopeless, helpless sinner on your way to hell. And you hear the message of the gospel: how Christ died for your sins, paid your penalty, rose from the grave in order to give you salvation, not as a reward for the righteous, but a gift for the guilty that you personally receive by faith in Him alone. And at that moment, you are instantaneously saved by God's grace.

A once-and-for-all, non-repeatable event in which in the courtroom of God you are declared justified or righteous in God's eyes, forgiven of all sins. Now this guarantees, as we're going to see today in the next hour, that that means you are going to heaven because you have received eternal life. And how long does that last for? Until you goof up? No, it's eternal; it's forever.

So at a point in time you were born again; at a point in time you'll die or go to be with the Lord via the rapture. And the question is: in the meantime, how will you live your life? It mirrors the reality of our human lives as we think of this spiritual life. And so we're saved from sin's penalty; now we are to be saved from sin's power day by day on our way to glory where we one day will be saved from sin's very presence, as there is no sin in heaven.

And none of this was accomplished through self-effort or efforts to keep the law or good works; it's all by God's grace. And when this is not understood, people mix birth truths with growth truths and then determine their assurance of security of salvation based upon their daily fumbling walk instead of Christ's finished work. Or they base their assurance upon their fruit or lack thereof instead of God's unfailing promises, and it undermines the 100% assurance of eternal salvation.

God wants you to know 100% that you have been saved by His grace. And that's something that is to be true the moment you trust in Christ. You see, when one is saved, and we're going to expand in the next hour on this, they're eternally secure. Their salvation can never be lost, but assurance can be lost of knowing you're 100% saved forever.

So we move from stage one (justification) to stage two (sanctification) on our way to glory, stage three (glorification). But at the very moment of faith alone in Christ alone, 1 John 3:5, verse 13 applies: "These things I have written to you who believe" (who's you? who believe) "believe in who? In the name" (which represents who He is and what He's done) "of the Son of God, that you may know 100% that you have as your present possession eternal life." Could it be any clearer?

But you see, when you add anything besides faith alone in Christ alone and His finished work alone, you now inject into the plan uncertainty because you just injected into the plan "you." And the good news of the gospel has nothing to do with you.

I mentioned last night at the evangelism workshop and I'll mention it again here: that you can always tell a true gospel from a false gospel. Just simply look where the spotlight's put on. A true gospel, the spotlight's on Christ. Is there any good news to be found in you? Well, no. That's why you're not saved by repenting of your sins (spotlight on you), giving your life to Christ (spotlight on you), or any other thing (spotlight on you). No, it's faith in Him and what He accomplished when He loved you and died on that cross for your sins and rose again to give you salvation full and free and forever.

Now as we think of the term salvation, keep in mind that very few words in the Bible are what's called technical terms. By that it means that it's only used in one kind of way. And the word salvation has a meaning, but it's not used in only one kind of way. In fact, as we think of the definition of salvation, the biblical words translated "saved," "save," "salvation," etc., carries the idea of deliverance, safety, rescue, preservation, release, victory.

The concept of salvation is found over 600 times in the Bible. And I have a little chart of some of them here, as you can see various times that they are used. The word salvation itself or "save" or "saves," again, you come out with 328 times that's used, let alone the word "saved" and so forth. So you say, "Well, what determines the actual nuance of meaning in each case or passage?" And as you've heard from your own pastor many times: context, context, context.

You see, as we think of context, a word apart from a context, you will not know its meaning. I've said before if someone says "go get the trunk," you don't know: are we talking about the box in the attic? Are we talking about the snout on the elephant? Are we talking about the back of your car? We don't know what you're talking about until we have a context.

Well, the same is true when it comes to the word salvation. And you see there are two distinct forms of salvation. In the Old Testament, the primary usage of salvation is predominantly a physical deliverance. It always means deliverance of some kind, but in the Old Testament, it's primarily used of a physical deliverance from physical danger or one's physical enemies or one's troubles or even physical death.

Without turning there, in Genesis chapter 45, in the story of Joseph and his brothers, we read that "God sent me before you to preserve" (there's our word) "a posterity" (physically, to save the Jewish nation) "for you in the earth and to save" (physically) "your lives by a great deliverance." Now clearly, he's not talking about being saved from hell here. He's talking about being preserved and saved from death or annihilation per se.

In Genesis 50:20, the Romans 8:28 of the Old Testament, we read, "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." To save them spiritually? No, to save them physically. The same is true in Deuteronomy 20, verse 4: "For the Lord your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you." To save you from what? From your enemies and perhaps even death. But notice, it's not talking about being saved from hell or saved from sin; it's talking about being saved from something physical.

Psalm 34, verse 6: "This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles." The idea again is from physical afflictions. Psalm 44, verse 7: "But you have saved us" (physically) "from our enemies, and have put to shame those who hated us." Psalm 106, verse 10: "He saved them" (physically) "from the hand of him who hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy." Psalm 107, verse 19: "Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses."

So we're talking here about physical deliverance. And by the way, the emphasis in the Old Testament is on physical deliverance personally or nationally by way of the nation of Israel. So while this emphasis on physical salvation is repeatedly taught in the Old Testament, that emphasis does not remain in the New Testament, though the New Testament does at times still employ this usage of physical salvation in a few places. I'll just give you a couple examples to support the point.

In Matthew 8, verses 24 and 25, we read, "And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He" (Jesus Christ) "was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, 'Lord, save us! We are perishing!'" Are they calling on the Lord to save them from hell? Oh no, they were already saved from hell, but to save them from the storm and potential death.

Matthew 27:40, saying here at the cross, there were people walking by who would say, "You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross." Save yourself from what? Imminent death. Not talking about hell. In Acts 27:31, in light of a shipwreck, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved."

Now can you imagine if you didn't understand the three tenses and someone said, "What do you have to do to be saved?" You say, "Stay in the ship." And you're like, "Stay in the ship? Well, it's right in the Bible, Acts 27:31. It says to stay in the ship, otherwise you can't be saved. Well, I'm looking for a ship." Now this is pretty obvious when you see the context, isn't it?

The second kind of form or nature of salvation is spiritually. For in the New Testament, the predominant usage of salvation has a spiritual salvation in view, especially in light of the fact that Jesus Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. So the emphasis is going to be spiritually. In fact, whenever you see the word "saved," ask yourself three questions. Number one: Who is to be saved? Number two: What kind of salvation is being addressed, physical or spiritual? Thirdly: Saved from what?

And if you ask those three questions whenever you come to the word "saved," if it's not obvious from the context, you will be able to start to work your way through the process to arrive at a right conclusion. And Lord willing, by the time we're done with this session, I'll give you three test cases to see if you're picking up the point.

So now as we think again of salvation by grace and three tenses - or I wrote a book also called *Salvation in Three Time Zones*, same point - that we'll examine at this point stage one, phase one: justification, being saved from the penalty of sin. Go with me to John chapter 3. John chapter 3. That famous chapter in the Bible, the born-again chapter.

When Jesus Christ said to Nicodemus, "You must be born again." For after explaining that we're not talking about two physical births - one physical, one spiritual - after explaining that that spiritual birth is wrought of the Holy Spirit of God, he asks the question, Nicodemus does, "How can these things be?" And you will find five times in the following verses the word "believe," "believe," "believe," "believe," "believe." And the object of believing in every case is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

Now, at this point, there's an illustration that is found, and we start in verse 14: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." Now he uses an illustration here that sets forth the truth from Numbers 21, in which the children of Israel were being bitten by serpents and they were dying. Moses goes to the Lord on behalf of those the nation of Israel and he says, "Lord, please spare these people."

And He says, "I want you to take a pole and lift it up and put a brazen serpent on it, and whoever has been bitten and is willing to look will live. Those who aren't willing to look at what I provided, they will die." And he uses that as an illustration because just like the serpent was lifted up on the pole, the Son of Man would be lifted up on the cross, that whoever would look to Christ or, in this case it says, "believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

By the way, for those who wrongly teach that regeneration precedes faith, which is the Calvinistic view at least of some Calvinists, it doesn't say "live and look" here; it's "look and live." It's "believe and then you get life," not the other way around. Now he goes on in verse 16 to that very famous verse: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever" (what?) "believes in Him" (Jesus Christ, the one who died for our sins and rose again) "should not perish but have everlasting life."

Verse 17: "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." Are we talking again, three questions: Who's to be saved? The world. What kind of salvation are we talking about here? Spiritual. What are they saved from? They're saved from eternal death, the lake of fire, hell per se.

And then in verse 18, he clarifies it one more time: "He who believes in Him is not condemned." No, he's not condemned; he's actually saved. He's got everlasting life. Or earlier in the chapter, he's born again. But he who does not believe is condemned already. Why? Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Notice he doesn't say "because he has not repented of his sins." It doesn't say that. "Hasn't prayed the sinner's prayer." Doesn't say that. "Hasn't been baptized." Doesn't say that.

Simply to believe in the name. And remember, the name represents who He is and what He's done: He's God who became a man who died for your sins and rose again. In the name of the only begotten Son of God. And so we've worked our way through this, and this is referring to salvation's first tense.

Now a familiar passage to you is in Acts 16:30 through 32, where in light of what transpired that day in the jails, that the jailer calls out to Paul and Silas and asks the question, "What must I do to be saved?" (spiritually). So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved." Now, the word believe is the one condition. It's an aorist active imperative of *pisteuō*, carries the idea of simply a decision to believe. An active voice means that you have the choice to do this.

You know what Paul and Silas assumed was the jailer could believe. He didn't say, "If by the way, if you find yourself somehow the gift of faith coming over you one day..." No, no, no. You have a choice and you can make that choice right now, and it's an imperative mood, which means it is a must to be saved. And while that's in the active voice, in the passive voice, which means God does it, it says, "you will be saved." And that is a fact.

Now, I like to ask people, "So tell me, what's the next verse say?" Because most people don't know what the next verse is. Because you see in verse 31, he gave them the punchline; he didn't give them all the details yet. The details in verse 32: "Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and all that were in his house." The word of the Lord wasn't merely "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved."

It was to explain again who Jesus Christ is, what He did, and so forth and so forth. And so there was a much bigger explanation given. And I say that because there are those who believe in what's called the "cross-less gospel" that would teach that you don't have to believe He's God, you don't have to believe He died for your sins, you don't have to know or believe He rose from the dead. If you just believe in Jesus for eternal life, you're saved.

But doesn't the word "Jesus" require a context? Who is He? And what did He do, and why would I believe on Him? And that's why verse 32 is there, because who knows what understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ the jailer had before it was further explained. So who is to be saved here? The jailer. What kind of salvation is being addressed? Spiritual. Saved from what? From hell.

As Jesus Christ came to provide the only way of escape from a hell we deserve for a heaven we don't, by dying on the cross crying out, "It is finished," which carries the nuance of being paid in full. So therefore, it's not a matter of Christ doing 90% of the work and you doing 10%, which would be salvation by works and not by grace; it's that Christ did 100% of the work so that you can rest in what He provided for you.

And that's why Ephesians 2:8-9 is very clear: "For by grace you have been saved" (past tense) "through faith." Faith in who? Jesus Christ. "And that salvation is not of yourself; that salvation is the gift of God. That salvation is not of works, lest anyone should boast." If you could do something to be saved, then you could boast in what you have done.

Now people say, "Well, where do good works fit in?" Well, the very next verse says, "For we who have been saved by grace through faith apart from works are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." And thus when the moment you put your faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work, you enter into salvation from sin's penalty. You're guaranteed salvation one day from sin's presence.

And in the meantime, God places you into Christ, gives you the Holy Spirit, the word of God now becomes alive and powerful to you personally. And as a result, as you learn to walk by faith like you were saved by faith, you will grow, and as you're walking and growing, the Spirit of God is enabling and filling, and good works will be the result. Not to be saved, not to stay saved, but because you've been saved. You're forever saved, and you're learning to have fellowship with the Lord and living a life that brings honor and glory to Him.

And so for the unbeliever, salvation is always in what tense? Future tense, because they've never been saved. But once they are saved and trust in Christ, then it's in the past tense: "I have been saved from sin's penalty." Secondly, we then move from saved from sin's penalty to saved from sin's power. From sin's power.

Now we already looked at 1 Timothy 4:16: "Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you." In other words, the word of God will have a sanctifying effect on your life and saving you from the power of sin, and as a result, as a pastor-teacher or doing pastoral ministry in Ephesus, Timothy, that others are going to hear you and they will come to grips and understanding with these truths as well. Saved from what? Power of sin in your life through the application of the word of God, practical sanctification.

Similar passage, which would be very confusing if you don't understand the three tenses, is Philippians 2:12 and 13: "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out" (not work for, but work out) "your own salvation." There it is. With fear and trembling. Question: Who is to be saved? Well, you can see the word beloved right there, so he's speaking to who? Believers, right?

The salvation is second tense. Salvation from what? From sin's power and its damaging effects in your life. But what I really like about this is it doesn't only tell you to work out your own salvation, but it then tells you how it happens. Verse 13: "For it is God who works in you, both to will" (which I believe comes from the new nature that gives you desires for God you never had before) "and to do" (that comes from the Holy Spirit) "for His good pleasure."

And so again, who is to be saved? Believers. What kind of salvation? Spiritual, second tense. Saved from what? Again the power of sin. Now go with me to James chapter 1. James chapter 1. Now James was probably the very first book written in the New Testament, and we'll be coming back to it, time permitting, to look at James chapter 2. But in James chapter 1 in verse 19, we read, "So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls."

Now let's ask the question: who is to be saved? We've got a real easy clue there, right? "My beloved brethren." Those who have already been saved from sin's penalty. Those who are part of the family of God through the new birth. Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. Spiritually, second tense. Again, from what? The power or damaging effects of sin in your life.

Here we're talking about practical sanctification. For though a believer in Christ can never lose his eternal salvation and security, they can through carnality lose their fellowship with God, their fruitfulness, their joy, their testimony to others, their future reward in heaven, and even their faith. But when it comes to our eternal salvation, Jesus Christ made it clear: "I give to them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand." That's eternal security.

But you see, we do recognize the reality of the carnal believer, and over time as you learn to walk and grow in the Lord, you should be experiencing more and more salvation basically from yourself. Because you know what the sin nature always wants to promote? The unholy trinity: me, myself, and I. It's all about you instead of all of Christ.

And the top graph should picture what God wants in a believer's life, but there are those - and any of us can become guilty of this - that we start to yield to our sin nature on a regular basis and walk in carnality, and we don't have the fruitfulness, the godliness, the eternal perspective that God would want us to have. Now as we think of third tense again, we move from first, second, and third, or stage one, two, and three, I point you back to what I showed you before in Romans 13, verse 11.

We read, "And do this" (in the present) "knowing the time, that now" (in the present) "it's high time to awake out of sleep; for now" (in the present) "our" (future) "salvation is nearer than when we first believed" (in the past). Notice all three tenses are at least being referred to here in that one verse. Now if you want to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 3 quickly, I want to show something about the Corinthian believers who were characterized by carnality.

Paul explains in chapter 2, verse 14, that the natural man, the unbeliever, does not understand the things of the Spirit of God. He doesn't have the Holy Spirit to make it understandable and to be worked out in their life. But in chapter 3, verse 1, he says, "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people" (those who are again being governed by the Holy Spirit) "but as to carnal" (fleshly, those who are being governed or dominated by the flesh that impacted their spiritual growth) "as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you're still not able; for you're still carnal. For where there are envy and strife and divisions" (which are the works of the flesh) "among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?"

In other words, you're behaving like the unsaved. Is it possible to be saved from sin's penalty but still be living like the unsaved when it comes to being saved from sin's power? That's what Paul says. For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not carnal? So four times in four verses, he says they're in Christ, they are brethren. He doesn't question the reality of their salvation, but he challenges them about the reality of their walk with the Lord.

Now later in the same chapter, if you drop down to verse 11, we read, "For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw, each one's" (namely believers) "work will become clear; for the Day" (the Day of Christ, which is the judgment seat of Christ) "will declare it, because" (when it comes to your life work) "it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work of what sort or quality it is."

Option number one: "If anyone's work which he has built on it" (on it is the foundation of Christ) "endures" (the fire test) "he will receive a reward." Over and above salvation, God wants to reward faithful believers. Option number two, verse 15: "If anyone's work is burned" (burned means that those works went up in smoke because they were wood, hay, and straw; human viewpoint, wrought of the flesh) "he will suffer loss" (loss of what? of the reward he could have had). "But not loss of salvation; for he himself will be saved" (future passive indicative, just like Acts 16:31. And indicative means it's a fact. He'll be saved) "yet so as through fire." The smell of smoke will be on his clothes, as it were.

He should have gone to hell, but he ended up in heaven all by the grace of God. Which by the way is the only way anyone can get there, right? So when we're talking about the judgment seat of Christ, we're talking again here about an event that happens after the church is raptured: the dead in Christ rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Now as we think of rewards, good Bible teachers at times disagree, and Andy and I hardly ever disagree. But on this particular one, we have a little nuance of difference. See, I believe there are three rewards, not five. And the incorruptible crown is not a separate crown; it's the nature of all the crowns. They're not corruptible; they're incorruptible. That's why it's not only found in 1 Corinthians 9; it's referred to even when it comes to the crown of glory for pastor-teachers that fades not away. It's incorruptible. And the passage in Philippians, I think the crown is the people, not a separate crown.

But regardless, we believe in the same concept and so forth, and one day I'll get straightened out by the Lord, or Andy will agree with me. Again, we know this is on the heels of that amazing event called the resurrection/rapture event. And you know, sometimes all three tenses are referred to in the same passage. Here we go, Titus 2:11-13.

Past tense: "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared" (in the past) "to all men." But then he shifts to teaching us as believers in the present, "that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live" (no, it doesn't say we will, we should live) "soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age." And then in the future tense, "looking" (what are we looking for in the future?) "for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ."

We see the same in Romans 5, verses 1 and 2. But for our purposes, I'd like to now give you a test and see how you fare when it comes to three passages, if we have time for that - we don't have much, but we'll try to cruise - that are usually greatly misunderstood and misinterpreted. One of the most misinterpreted and misunderstood passages in the New Testament is Matthew 24:13. What does it say? "He that endures to the end shall be saved."

And those who believe in the perseverance of the saints, Reformed theology, who teach that God preserves the elect, but the elect prove that salvation by their perseverance in faith to the end, and therefore strip everyone of the assurance of salvation until the day you die, they love this verse. "They that endure to the end." And how do they interpret the end? The end of your life. "Shall be saved."

But again, if you look at the context of the Olivet Discourse, which is basically Jesus Christ saying to Israel, "I will see you later, I will come back, I will fulfill My promises," we read in Matthew 24: "Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, 'Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.'"

By the way, the front porch to the Olivet Discourse are the last few verses of Matthew 23: that I won't see you again until you say, "Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord" at His second coming. Verse 3: "Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, 'Tell us, when will these things be?'" (regarding the temple) "'And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?'" Boy, you know, before you read verse 13, you should have started in verse 1 in the passage. Not the end of your life.

Verse 4: "And Jesus answered and said to them: 'Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, "I am the Christ"'" (or Messiah) "'"and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet."'" What end? The end of the age. Verse 7: "'For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.'"

This corresponds with the seal judgments of Revelation 6. "'All these are the beginning of sorrows'" (and birth pains). That's referring to the first three and a half years of the tribulation, and it's used in other passages as well. "'Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.'"

Endured to the end of what? Of the age. Not the end of your life. So the question is: saved physically or spiritually? Well, let's read verse 14: "'And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.'" The end of your life? No, the end of the age. Verse 15 indicates that further: "'Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand)'" (Daniel 9:27) - which is connected with Revelation chapter 12 - "'then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!'"

Very difficult to travel when that's the case. "'And pray that your flight may not be in the winter or on the Sabbath,'" which also would hinder you from fleeing, "'for then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened'" - the great tribulation lasts for only three and a half years out of the seven; it's the second part of it - "'no flesh'" (no human beings) "'would be saved.'" Spiritually or physically? Physically. None - nobody would survive if God didn't keep it to three and a half years.

In fact, by the time you're done looking at the body count in the tribulation period, I mean, you're talking, I don't know, 70% of the world is dead or so. "'But for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.'" Why? So some can physically enter the millennium phase of the kingdom on earth that Jesus Christ came to set up. If they're all dead, how could you do that per se? So those who believe in the perseverance of the saints instead of the preservation of the Savior totally misunderstand Matthew 24:13.

Now you should be in James, if I remember right, so go to James chapter 2 with me. By the way, can you see that those who take perseverance out of Matthew 24 just wrench it right out of the context? You know why? Because it fits their theology. It's eisegesis, not exegesis. A second passage is James chapter 2. Now you've all heard it, right? When you hear that it's just by faith alone in Christ alone, what does someone say? "Well, faith without works is dead!" You ask them, "Well, what does that mean?" A lot of times they or you say, "Where's that found?" They don't even know, a lot of times.

But they ask the question in verse 14, James does, "Can faith save him?" Faith without works is dead being alone. By the way, let me make a quick comment on that verse. In light of the Reformation, one of the comebacks of the Roman Catholic Church, as the Reformers were being accused of antinomianism or license to sin, the Reformers came up with this little saying: "Faith alone saves, but genuine faith is never alone." Is that what verse 17 says? "Faith without works is dead, being alone."

If it's alone, it can be alone. For someone to say it can never be alone if it's faith contradicts the very verse that they usually use. So when we think of these verses, we ask ourselves: Who again is this being referred to? Who is to be saved here? What kind of salvation and delivered from what? Well, the book of James was written to believers about sanctification, not to unbelievers about justification. The word "brethren" is referred to in chapter 1, verses 1 through 4, verse 12, 16 through 18, chapter 2, verse 1, 5 through 7, 3:1, 3:10, 5:7, so forth, so forth. Over and over again. How does he begin the book? "My brethren." And he's not talking about physical brethren; talking about spiritual brethren.

To my knowledge, there's only one verse in this whole passage that is directed towards first tense. Say, "Well, what is it?" Look at verse 18, chapter 1: "Of His own will He brought us forth" (we were born again) "by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." Now if we're born again, we're part of the family of God, so what does he say in verse 19? "So then, my beloved brethren." What do you call people that are in the family of God? You call them brethren. And he calls them brethren over and over again.

Secondly, this passage is writing about salvation's second tense. Now it's again, remember he's already referred to this in chapter 1, that taking in the word of God and responding to it results in being able to save your souls. So what is he referring to here? What is the issue that James is addressing in this passage? We begin in verse 14: "What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?"

"If a brother" (notice, why does he call him a brother? Because he's talking about believers) "or a sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?" How does your faith profit someone else when it doesn't manifest itself in works of love and kindness toward those in need, in this case, especially fellow believers? The key word there is profit.

See, it's not talking about: is good works a proof of initial saving faith? He already calls them brethren. He's talking about the profitable expression of an ongoing sanctifying faith in the Christian life that manifests itself in useful and beneficial good works to other believers in need. So notice the words: profit, brethren, save, brother, sister, what does it profit? Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. And remember, dead never means non-existent. It doesn't mean faith doesn't exist; what it means is death always means separation.

When you physically die, your soul and spirit are separated from your body. If you eternally die, your body and soul and spirit are separated from God forever. In this case, their faith was being separated from works that could have benefited others. You know when you say, "You know, the youth group, it's really dead," does that mean you don't have a youth group? When you say your battery is dead, does that mean you go and look under the hood: "There's no battery at all, I thought there was a battery, but I guess that proves there is none"? No, it just is separated; it's not activated, it's not functioning, it's not profiting.

A battery if it doesn't work does not profit you. And a faith that you say you're saved by faith and now you're walking by faith, but it doesn't show itself in good works, doesn't profit others. So how do we respond to the statement "Faith alone saves, but again, genuine faith is never alone"? It's interesting because over and over again, it says "faith by itself," "faith by itself." Which means there is such a thing as faith by itself. And in fact, isn't that true: that "not by works of righteousness we have done but according to His mercy He saved us"?

So the way we're saved is not by works; it's by faith. And the way we live the Christian life is by faith that is to result in good works that benefit others. And that's the context of this passage. So what is James' point? Your daily walk of faith in the Lord is separated from benefiting others when not expressing itself in good works. And by the way, he uses two illustrations: Abraham the patriarch and Rahab the prostitute.

And in both examples he uses, it was an example way after he was justified by faith. In the case of Abraham, it was years later he offered his son Isaac, and as a result he was justified, not before God (which happened at a moment of time, Genesis 15:6; he was declared righteous) he was declared righteous before man by that godly work that he did. But the same was true with Rahab. She had heard that 40 years earlier, if you read Joshua 2 in Jericho, that story there, she had heard that the God of Israel had destroyed the Egyptians. And she had put her faith in the true God so that when the spies came, guess what? She showed her faith in a profitable way by hiding them when the authorities came to seek them.

Is that when her faith began? Oh no, she was already justified by faith before that, but she then showed itself in sanctification by helping these spies, and as a result her and her family was spared the destruction of Jericho, and she made the Hall of Fame of faith in Hebrews 11. Turn with me lastly to 2 Corinthians chapter 7. 2 Corinthians chapter 7. And so going back to James 2: who's to be saved in that context? Believers. What's the nature of the salvation as it were? It's spiritual in nature but delivered from a life in which you live in such a way that it does not benefit or profit others, and therefore people don't declare you righteous before men, but instead you may be justified before God.

Here's a third one I wanted to just throw in quickly. In 2 Corinthians 7:10: "For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death." You know, oftentimes this verse is wrenched out of context and used to say, "See, in order to be saved, you need godly sorrow that produces repentance, and as a result of repenting from your sins, this can result in you being saved."

But you know the context: he's writing to the Corinthians. Question: Were they saved people or not? In fact, I think if I remember right, 34 times in 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, Paul calls them brethren. He had addressed some issues with them in a previous letter; they fortunately responded positively. Titus gave the good report, and as a result, he's saying that first when I went to write the letter, I was kind of regretting it because I was concerned about how you would respond.

But when I heard that you responded really positive, you took it as it was from the Lord, and as a result you made the correction, there was a change of mind that happened resulting in salvation (second tense), then I don't regret having written the letter. Again, salvation, every time you see it, ask yourself: who's to be saved, the nature of the salvation and delivered from what? Who's to be saved in this context? Believers. What kind of salvation? Second tense sanctification issues. Saved from what? The power of sin.

So let me begin where I - let me end where I began today: Are you saved? If you've trusted in Jesus Christ alone for your eternal salvation, you should be able to answer: "I have been saved (past tense) from sin's penalty. I am being saved (present tense) from sin's power. And I will be saved (future tense) from sin's presence," only by God's grace.

But by the way, it all starts with first tense. If you're here today and you've never - you do not know for sure beyond a shadow of a doubt you're going to heaven, there's never been a time when you transferred your faith from your works, your church, and rituals and such and trusted in Jesus Christ alone, the answer is very clear. "What must I do to be saved?" Believe on, resting upon, the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.

If you want a more developed version of what I've taught today, again, there are three books available on the book store: *The Three Tenses of Salvation*, *Faith and Works out of James 2*, and *Salvation in Three Time Zones*. My time is up, so let's pray.

Our Father, thank you again for an opportunity to go quickly through these concepts that allow us an understanding that when we come to the word "saved" in your book, the Bible, that we can have discernment. We can look at the context; we can ask who is to be saved, what's the nature of the salvation and delivered from what.

And in doing so, we can come over and over again by your grace and through the Holy Spirit to a correct understanding. Otherwise people, when they break down in sanctification/growth issues, sometimes either believe or are led to believe that they're really not saved. And while it's true there are those who claim to be saved who really aren't, the issue isn't breaking down in their Christian life is because they've never trusted alone in the Lord Jesus Christ to save them. So Father, we just thank you for this time in your word and directing our next hour as well. In Jesus' name. Amen.