we've had some mighty wonderful heart -to -heart
talks regarding this thing of, now, shall I say,
eternal security or being eternally secure or
call it anything that you will, but in reality,
it's just this. If after once you had been born
again, And you've had this wonderful experience
of having accepted the Christ as your personal
Savior. Are you eternally secure? No matter what
you do, will you still be an heir of God and
a joint heir with Christ Jesus? Oh, I know. This
thing has put many a church wide open. I know
that's one of the reasons that we have Baptists
and Methodists and Presbyterians. I know it as
well as you know it. Well, you know, sometimes
I think that some of these things that we consider
doctrine and that we'd stake our life on are
things that have just been handed down from one
generation to another. when really we need to
get back again to the Word of God. Now, in one
of our heart -to -heart talks, we read from the
first chapter of Ephesians this wonderful relationship
that there is between that one who's born again,
that one who's a Christian, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and God the Father. Oh, it's glorious. And you
will remember that from this portion of God's
word in the first chapter of Ephesians, and may
I just read two verses to refresh your memory.
According as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be
holy and without blame before him. in love having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by jesus christ to himself according to the good
pleasure of his will to the praise and of the
glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved oh what a picture what an inheritance
My friend, this is the most thrilling portion
that there is in the Word of God. This is glorious.
Every human being from the first Adam to the
very last person to be born in the flesh was
predestinated. It was in the perfect will of
God. that he should accept the Christ and be
literally an heir of God Almighty and a joint
heir with God's Son, Jesus Christ. That's what
it says. Sure, I believe in predestination. I've
got to believe in predestination. I believe in
it because the... Bible says so. But hold steady
just a minute. I believe in predestination exactly
as it was in the plan of God. In his plan, he
did not plan that any man should be predestined
to hell. That's a shocker. If you go to hell,
it will not be because God ordained that you
be sent to hell or predestined that you be lost.
It was never in his plan that any man, any woman
should be lost. You have made the choice. He
is not willing that any should perish. He is
not willing that you should be lost. That is
the reason he has done everything in his power
to keep you from going to hell. That's the reason
he sent Jesus. That's the reason the Holy Spirit,
the mighty convicting power of the Trinity, in
the world today. It was in His perfect will,
even before the foundations of the world, even
before you were born, it was in His perfect will
that you should be His heir and a joint heir
with His only Son. Jesus Christ. But you have
not chosen to be his heir. You made the decision.
I made my decision. You are free to make your
decision. You have made it. And you cannot blame
God for the decision you made. When you came
into the world, when you were born, you were
born with a will separate and apart from the
will of God. You make your own destiny so far
as your soul is concerned. But it doesn't change
the fact one iota. That he hath chosen us. That's
you. That's me. In him before the foundation
of the world. That we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. Having predestinated
us, you and me. unto the adoption of children
by jesus christ to himself according to the good
pleasure of his will why to the praise and of
the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us
accepted in the beloved all plans all arrangements
all power is there for you to be the very heir
of And yet you have chosen a different life.
And there it is. You can't get around it. Well,
sir, now watch something. I have to leave that
because I could stay on that for a week. It's
all so thrilling. It's all so wonderful. Now
remember, you are a free moral agent. Everything
from here on out depends on your will and on
what you do with your own life. Now, turn with
me, if you will, please, to Hebrews, the sixth
chapter. I just touched on that briefly the other
day. And I want you to see something. It means
something to be a Christian. It's much more than
joining a church. It's much more than just kneeling
down and saying a few prayers. It's much more
than having a father and a mother who are Christians.
It means much more than just shedding a few tears.
It means much more than immersion, or sprinkling,
or dedication, or knowing the catechism. Much
more. Mm -hmm. And there are thousands, I say
advisedly, tens of thousands who believe that
they are Christians, but it's only by their own
standards, are the standards of their church,
are the standards of two or three generations.
before them. We've got to get back to the Word
of God. There's no substitute for God's Word.
For one of these days, every man and every woman
will be judged from His Word, the Holy Word,
of which the Holy Spirit is the author. I referred
the other day to the sixth chapter of Hebrews,
and some folk really were in for a shock because
there's a portion of the sixth chapter of Hebrews
that has been misconstrued, misinterpreted. Let
me read. For it is impossible for those who are
once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly
gift were made partakers of the Holy Spirit and
have tasted the good word of God and the powers
of the world to come. if they shall fall away,
to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they
crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh,
and put him to an open shame. Now watch that
ninth verse. But beloved. Now he's talking to
another group. He begins by saying, it is impossible
for those. Now, he is talking to another group
when he says, But, beloved, we are persuaded
better things of you and things that accompany
salvation. If you've been born again, if you've
had this wonderful experience, there will be
certain fruits that will accompany you. accompany
your salvation. And it's just like that. The
Bible says we're to work out our own salvation.
And there are people who literally have spent
a lifetime working out something they've never
had. Oh, they're working themselves to death
today. They're working at being good until, honestly,
I tell you the truth, they're so good, they're
good for nothing. They're working so hard at
something that they've never had. You've got
to have something before you can work it out.
You cannot work out your own salvation until,
first of all, you've been born again. Then after
you have been born again, then, my friend, you
work out your own salvation because there are
certain things that will accompany salvation.
I'll come to that in just a moment. Because I
don't want to allow you to be hanging there in
thin air and not knowing what that scripture
means prior to this ninth verse. And just in
case, there are those who did not hear my interpretation
of it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
when I gave it recently. Those to whom he was
talking to prior to this ninth verse had never
experienced salvation. And this is the appalling
thing. The great tragedy in the world today is
the fact that there are thousands of people who
are making a pretense of this thing of being
a Christian. And they have never been born again.
I repeat, it means something to be a Christian.
You can fill a church pew 52 Sundays a year.
For 50 years, you can be given every award that
they give a human being for perfect church attendance.
You can sing from that hymnal and know every
song and every verse of that song. You can stand
and repeat the Lord's prayers, sing the doxology,
be able to quote the scripture better than the
man who stands behind the pulpit, and yet be
lost. I'll go a step further. Hold on to your
seat now. And if we're standing up, lean against
the wall. This is going to be a shock against
some of you. You can even enjoy the things of
the spirit. You can even speak in an unknown
tongue and never having been born again. I better
pause just a minute while you get your bread.
That's right. Somebody said, oh, Miss Cooman,
you're on dangerous ground. I'm never on dangerous
ground when I can back up everything that I say
with the Word of God. One never has to apologize.
If you stay with the Bible, but there are too
many people who have their own theology, there
are too many people who have left the Word of
God or who have taken just a portion, of a verse
or you've taken it out of context. My friend,
watch something. We need to get back to the word
of God again. Stop being swayed by every newfangled
doctrine that's coming up on the horizon. I've
gotten to the place where I've stopped reading
these religious magazines and these books and
every book that's being published and one has
to go a little further than the other and get
a little more sensational than the other. I'm
sick and tired of this sensational business.
We need to get back again to the word. And when
you stay with the word, you'll never get off
in fanaticism. And the devil will never be able
to make a religious nut out of you. That's right.
Somebody said, I wish I hadn't tuned in. Well,
I'll tell you, honey, just stick with me a little
longer. And if you'll just sit there with an
open mind and an open heart, let the Holy Spirit
speak to you. We need some of this old -fashioned
preaching again. We've gotten so far away from
thus saith the Lord. Mm -hmm. There are those,
I give the scripture, who were once enlightened.
You know. Oh, I'll say you know. You know you
sing in the choir. You go to church, you're there
for the prayer service, you attend those prayer
meetings in somebody's home, you sing louder,
you pray louder, you yell louder than anybody
else. Sure, you've tasted of the heavenly gift.
Sure, you felt the power of the Holy Spirit.
You were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. You
know all about it. You have all the answers.
You've tasted the good word of God and the powers
of the world to come. Sure you have. But watch.
Had you ever been born again, have old things
literally passed away and old things having become
new? Mm -hmm. Do you have the things that accompany
salvation in your life? There's no substitute
for the love that we as Christians manifest if
we've really been born again. There's no substitute
for the power. the real power of the Holy Ghost.
If you've really been born again, you will not
deliberately sin. I mean that. If you've really
been born again, it is not that you no longer
have the ability to sin. No, because even though
we've been born again, we're still in the flesh.
This is still corruption. We are a new creature
in Christ Jesus, but when we were born again,
the devil wasn't born again at the same time.
He's still in the world. He wasn't born again.
We still have sin all around us. Mm -hmm. We're
still in the body of flesh, the body that is
still corruption. But when we were born again
and we had that wonderful spiritual experience,
that new birth, born of the spirit, a new creature,
old things having passed away, and behold, all
things becoming new, we were given a love for
others, but a supernatural love for God and the
things of God where we will no longer deliberately
go out and commit sin. We may commit sin, but
the minute we do, we'll ask His forgiveness.
I would no more think of going out and deliberately.
knowingly commit sin, put Jesus, the Son of God,
to an open shame for anything in the world. My
friend, let's take this natural love. I love
my Papa more than any human being that I have
ever known. I have never known my father to ever
laugh. Never. I don't think Papa ever laughed
audibly. I was the only noisy one in the family.
But I knew his every facial muscle. I knew it.
My friend, I could watch Papa's face. He didn't
have to open his mouth. He never laughed audibly.
But I could tell by the expression on his face
whether he was pleased, whether he was hurt,
whether he felt badly. My papa never whipped
me. My dad never laid a hand on me. Never. Not
that I didn't need it. Mama made up for it. But
papa didn't. Not that I was afraid of him. But
I loved him too much to hurt him. And the very
moment... that I saw that book on his face where
I'd hurt him or displeased him. Believe me, my
friend, I was very careful to make it right.
I love my Heavenly Father enough that I would
never think of going out and deliberately, knowingly,
Not that I am afraid of his wrath. It's because
I love him too much. I love Jesus Christ, my
Redeemer, my Savior, enough that I would not
think of putting him to an open shame by deliberately
going out, knowingly committing sin. And my friend,
if you belong to him and you've been born again,
you will not deliberately sin.