A. We’ve saved because of what we believe, not because of how we behave.  (Ephes. 2:8-9) If your husband is born again he’ll go in the rapture. There’s nothing in the Bible that prohibits drinking beer.  And while drunkenness is certainly frowned upon, it won’t cancel a person’s salvation.  The only thing that Jesus requires of us is that we believe He came to Earth and died for our sins so that we could go to Heaven and live with Him. (John 3:16)

A. I think the issue of Solomon’s salvation rests with something the Bible does not reveal, and that’s if Solomon made peace with God before his death.  I say this because while Solomon didn’t stop believing in God, (how could he after what he’d experienced) he did permit and even encourage the worship of other gods, and even worshiped them himself.  1 Kings 11:1-13 explains how the Lord was angry with Solomon and caused the nation to be torn apart because of his disobedience.

A. From the gospel accounts (Matt. 26:36-47, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:40-46)  you can tell that Jesus was pleading to be released from His promise to die for us if any other way to redeem us could be found, so this was not something made up for the movie.  He made this plea twice, sweating blood as He did so.  But each time He ended by confirming His submission to His Father’s will, since there was no other way to save us from our sins.

In Matt. 26:53 Jesus rebuked Peter for drawing his sword when the soldiers came to arrest Him, saying that if He asked for them, His Father would put 12 legions of angels at His disposal.

So the over view of the crucifixion is that Jesus knew it was going to be incredibly painful and wanted to be absolutely certain it was necessary.  But at the end of the day, it was His choice to go through with it.  He could have stopped it at any time and left us without a Redeemer.

A. I think the language of 1 Samuel 28 makes it clear that the witch of Endor really did summon Samuel up from Sheol, the abode of the dead.  Not that Samuel was resurrected mind you, but that he appeared as an apparition to the witch.  Remember Saul couldn’t see him. He had to ask the witch to describe Samuel. From that point on Saul and Samuel had a conversation through the witch, who was acting as a medium. I believe the Lord permitted this to happen to advise Saul of his fate, the result of his ongoing disobedience to the Lord.  His final act of disobedience, consulting a medium in violation of Deut. 18:10-11, resulted in the announcement of his death.

Before the cross, no one who died went to heaven.  Instead they went to Sheol to await the Lord’s sacrifice, which would open Heaven to all who had died in faith.  But I don’t believe Saul was saved, if that’s what you mean. 1 Samuel 16:14 says that the Holy spirit had departed from Saul and that the Lord had sent an evil spirit to torment him.

A. Moses was denied entrance into the Promised Land because he disobeyed God. (Numbers 20:1-12) The first time the Israelites needed water, the Lord told Moses to strike a large rock and water came forth (Exodus 17:1-7).   The second time He told Moses to speak to the rock.  But Moses was angry and yelled at the people and then struck the rock again, twice, and again water came out.   So what was the problem?

The water was a foreshadowing of the Holy Spirit that the Lord promised to all who believe (John 7:37-39) and the rock was a model of Christ, who had to be struck (crucified) before the Spirit could be given. But after His death one only needed to ask to receive the Spirit.  By striking the rock the second time Moses was violating the lesson the Lord was trying to teach us.  Jesus only had to die once for us to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  After that all we have to do is ask to receive Him (Matt. 7:7-8)  So this was more than a single act of disobedience on the part of Moses.  It was in effect a denial of the sufficiency of the Lord’s death.

When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted. May all the kings of the earth praise you, O LORD, when they hear the words of your mouth. May they sing of the ways of the LORD, for the glory of the LORD is great. Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me. The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever— do not abandon the works of your hands.

There are two things the Lord honors above all else, His name and His word. When He promised to restore Israel in the last days, He said, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.” (Ezekiel 36:22-23) It’s not because they’ve proven themselves worthy, but because His name was at stake. They besmirched it, and He had to restore it because He’s made big promises to us as well.

And where His word is concerned He said, “For this is what the LORD says—he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited— he says: “I am the LORD, and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right.” (Isaiah 45:18-19) And “Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. (Isaiah 46:8-10)

For those of you who were taught that the New Testament canceled or superceded the Old, Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Matt. 5:17-18) In the idiom of the day, the phrase “the Law and the Prophets” referred to the Old Testament. God’s word is final, infallible, forever.

Why is this so important to us? Well, in the first place it’s because God uses prophecy to validate Himself.

“I foretold the former things long ago,” He said, “My mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. For I knew how stubborn you were; the sinews of your neck were iron, your forehead was bronze. Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say, ‘My idols did them; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.’ You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not admit them?” (Isaiah 48:3-6)

Of all the world’s so-called Holy Books, only the Bible does this. In fact, God uses prophecy as the standard for evaluating anyone’s claim to be God.

“This is what the LORD says— Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come—yes, let him foretell what will come.” (Isaiah 44:6-7)

All anyone has to do to prove that he’s God is to answer two questions. First, tell us everything that has happened. And second, tell us everything that will happen. God has been doing this very thing for nearly 6000 years now and He’s never been wrong. No one else can make that claim.

So, His word is so important because it’s His proof that He is Who He claims to be. You don’t have to wonder if there’s really a God. Just study His word. You’ll find more proof that He’s who He claims to be than you can muster up to prove that you’re who you claim to be. It doesn’t take any faith to believe there’s a God. It just takes the application of your God-given intellect in a search for Him. That’s why in the New Testament, one of the Greek words translated unbelief also means disobedient. There’s simply too much evidence to deny the existence of God, so the people who do so have to remain consciously ignorant the facts. They have to refuse to know Him.

The second reason this is so important is that we’ve been asked to stake our eternal destiny on the fact that God is reliable. It’s good to know that someone who has asked you to take His word for something so critical values His word so highly, because by the time we find out if He was telling the truth, it’ll be too late. But when Paul wrote “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” in Romans 10:13 the One standing behind his promise had a 4000 year track record of honesty and integrity, and nothing has happened in the 2000 years following to diminish that record. If anything we have more supporting evidence now than then.

So where your salvation is concerned, God has placed the two things He values most highly on the line, His name and His word. You have every right to feel secure in His hands.

A. Of 15 popular translations I checked, about half (7) include verse 37.  Those who omit it say that the earliest and most accurate Greek manuscripts did not have verse 37 and it didn’t appear in any of them until about 500 years after the cross.  Those who include it say the early manuscripts left it out because early church leaders felt they needed some time to observe new converts to be sure they didn’t hold any erroneous beliefs before baptizing them.

Whether it’s there or not doesn’t alter the fact that the Lord knew the eunuch was saved because He whisked Philip off to his next assignment, his work there being finished.   The argument over verse 37 is between theologians.  God knows if a person is saved or not.  If he isn’t, 100 baptisms won’t help, and if he is he doesn’t really need even one.

A. According to 1 Samuel 16:14 the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, most likely because of his disobedience. I take this to mean that if he had been saved, he lost his salvation at that time.  Remember, the Holy Spirit was not sealed within believers before the Church Age, nor will He be afterward.  It’s a promise given exclusively to the Church.  There is no mention of Saul in the Psalms.

A. In the Letter to Sardis (Rev. 3:1-6)  the members are separated into 2 groups, those who will walk with the Lord dressed in white and those who won’t. Those who won’t are warned to obey what they heard at first, which was the gospel.  Belief in the gospel is necessary to make their deeds complete. Those who take His advice and rely on the gospel are promised that their names will never be blotted out of the book of life. In other words they’ll have eternal life.

I believe Sardis represents the liberal denominations who never teach the need to be born again, but that people inherit eternal life through church membership or infant baptism. At the rapture, the people who believe only that will be left behind, their deeds incomplete, while the ones who believe we must be born again to see the Kingdom (John 3:3) will be taken.

A. This is not a contest where the outcome is in doubt.  Satan has already been defeated. He can not gain any advantage because Jesus won the victory at the cross.  The only remaining question is how many humans will join him in that victory.  Most observers have concluded that many more will side with Satan than with God.  While God desires that none should perish but for all to come to repentance, (2 Peter 3:9)  He has given us the right to determine our own destiny (John 3:16).