Berkshire Hills Baptist Church
190 Pleasant Street - Route 102, Lee, MA 01238
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A Defense of Once Saved, Always Saved!

5/20/2020

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“14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness …” Ephesians 6:14
 
Many Christian denominations today say we cannot be assured we are eternally saved. However, the Apostle Paul has told us to put on the breastplate of righteousness. That breastplate (given to us as God’s righteousness) guarantees those who believe on Jesus Christ that they belong to God. No church, no priest, and no belief system can take away God’s promise or claim you can lose eternal life.
 
Sometimes, Satan will come to you and say, 'You're a failure. God doesn't love you anymore because of sin. You've lost your salvation.' The breastplate of righteousness reminds you, when God puts His righteousness on you, you are His. You cannot lose that. We call it eternal life, eternal security, and once saved always saved. The truth is, once you truly know Jesus Christ as your Savior, once you have had your sins forgiven, you are born again. You have security. You won’t lose it.
 
John 10:28 tells us that Jesus said, "I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." That's what Jesus said. He did not say “temporary life if you can keep it”!
 
What if the devil torments you and says, “You know those sins you've done? The ones you forgot to confess? God's going to send you to hell for that!” Remember Romans 8:1-2:
 
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
 
Tell the devil you are wearing God’s breastplate of righteousness and that you will not lose your eternal security. It is not prideful to say you belong to God because you are not saved or kept by your own power, but by God’s power!
 
Listen to the entire sermon here! Or click here to get the full sermon, transcript, and hymns of the day!

Also, check out the following wonderful quote from the great Welsh Minister, Martin Lloyd Jones.
 
"The wearing of the breastplate of righteousness is our one security. Keep it on. When the devil comes and says you have no standing, you are condemned, you're finished - you must say no! My position did not depend upon what I was doing or not doing. My position is always dependent upon the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to the devil and tell him, my relationship in God is not a variable one. The case is not that I'm a child of God one day and not a child of God the next day. Then a child of God, then not a child of God. That is not the basis for my standing. That is not the position. When God had mercy on me, He made me His child and I remain His child. A sinful and unworthy one sometimes perhaps. But still His child. 
 
"When I fall into sin, I've not sinned against the law. I've sinned against love. Like the prodigal, I'll go back to my Father and I'll tell Him, Father, I'm not worthy to be called thy son. But He'll embrace me and He'll say, don't talk nonsense. You are my child. He'll shower his love upon me. That is the meaning of putting on the breastplate of righteousness. Never allow the devil to get you into a state of condemnation. Never allow a particular sin to raise again the whole question of your standing before God."
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05.19.2020 - Our righteousness no good for Heaven!

5/18/2020

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If we try to be good on our own or even if we try to mix our good works with God’s good works, we’ll never make it to heaven! But, if you're going to heaven, you need to have perfect righteousness. But, this righteousness cannot be your own because there is “none righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10)”.

Your attempts to live a holy life to earn salvation comes from your self effort or from following the law or from being a nice person. Unfortunately, there are so many people in this world who say, "I'm going to heaven because I've lived a good life." They're relying on their own righteousness. In fact, they could follow every one of the ten commandments, and that still wouldn't be good enough!
 
So, how, then, can we get into heaven? We are told in Philippians 3:9 that we're “found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." So when we have faith in God, when we have faith that brings salvation, then we have righteousness.
 
God's righteousness (a righteousness outside of ourselves) is what we need. When we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior by faith, we can have our sins forgiven, and then we are given the righteousness of Christ which belongs to God! Believe on Jesus Christ and put your trust completely on what He did on the cross (He died, shed His blood, was buried, and rose the third day). When the day of judgement comes, God will not look at our righteousness, but on Christ, His Son, who obeyed the law perfectly.
 
Pray something like this. “Dear Jesus, by faith I believe that only Jesus can save me from my sins because He is perfect and holy. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins; I repent of my sins and believe completely on Jesus for eternal life. Thank you Lord for giving me a new life in Christ! Amen.”
 

Let us know that you’ve received Christ Jesus as savior today! Email us today at pastor@berkshirehillsbaptist.com.

Listen to the complete sermon here:

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    Pastor Doug Mann

    A graduate from Baptist Bible College East in Boston, MA, Pastor Doug Mann also received his Doctorate in ministry from Bethany Divinity School in Dothan, Alabama. 

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