Are You Saved the Truth

Once saved, always saved. This is non-biblical, my beloved. You have misinterpreted the holy bible because the holy bible definitely does not say that.

Paul and his companion in his ministry, Demas. When you read in the epistle of Saint Paul to his disciple Timothy, 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verse 10. What is Saint Paul saying about his companion Demas? Now Demas by the way was full of the Holy Spirit.

Demas had accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and he believed, he confessed Jesus Lord and he believed in his heart that God raised him from the dead. He was a believer, full of the Holy Spirit and if some people may call him born again. Look what Saint Paul is saying about Demas.

For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, having loved the world. What is in the world? Very dangerous when you love the world. You know Saint Paul says the roots to all evil is the love of money.

Is money evil? No. Who gave money? God. But when is money becomes evil or the roots to all evil? When you begin to love money.

Because what Saint Paul is trying to tell us that love was only meant to be given to God and no one else. The moment you give that love to someone or something else, that someone and that something else becomes your God. Demas left the ministry of Jesus Christ and his companion Saint Paul because he had the love for the present world.

Looks like he had a business opportunity that a door opened up. By the way I'm telling you guys, not every business opportunity is from the Lord. It can be from Satan.

This person used to come to church always and one day I asked him, I haven't seen you for a long time father. You know what? I hit the jackpot. I got this job and I did this business and it's flourishing.

I am so busy. I can't find the time to scratch my head. It's so beautiful.

I'm working 10 days a week, seven days a week non-stop. You know what? I wish I had the time father. I would have come to church but you know I gotta run the business.

The business took you away from the Lord. Seven days, no time to pray, no time to stop, no time to think, no time to see where you are, where you are in the map, in relation to Christ. Are you close? Are you far? Have you fallen short of the glory of God again? What is happening to your spiritual life? All you care about is the physical realm.

You are chasing this world. Well, you chase this world, all you gotta get in the end is false realities. It's like a mirage in the desert.

You think it's water. You're so thirsty. You chase the mirage and as you chase that fake water, as you chase it, it walks away from you.

You'll never get to it. What is there in the world to love? Nothing. The world is being placed in the bosom of Satan.

You chase the world, Satan will devour you before you know it. And at the end, when the spirit departs this body, are you gonna take anything with you from this world? Absolutely nothing. Saint Paul says very clearly, it is known that I came from the womb of my mother with an empty hand.

It is also known that I will go back to it empty-handed. I came from my physical mother empty-handed and I'll go back to my earthly mother from dust to dust. I'll go back to the grave empty-handed.

I'll take nothing, no money, no wealth, no fame, no nothing. Everything of this world is for here. Demas was full of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was his Lord and Savior. He believed and he confessed. What happened? He got lost.

He can't be saved always. So whenever a sinner comes and you say a prayer, you can say whatever prayer you want to say. But is that enough? Of course not.

He just brought him back. He's gotta work at it. Or she.

We need to work at it. Salvation is not just, there is no such thing as a moment salvation, just like that you're saved. I just want to know, what kind of a biblical teaching is this? False, obviously.

When you come from an apostolic church, we do have certain prayers that we say and that are part of the church order. But also I can say a prayer that comes from the heart. The Lord accepts both.

As a clergyman, I am obligated to say certain prayers that my church fathers have written for me to save the sinners and for repentance. There are certain prayers that I need to say when someone comes and asks for a prayer of repentance. But also I can say a prayer from the heart.

Lord Jesus, you are the Savior of the world. Have mercy on this sinner. I can say that, but that is not all.

That is not all. How are we saved? Only one thing we are saved by, the blood of Christ. That is the only way any one of us can be saved.

There is no other way but the blood of Christ. In Him, in that blood, salvation was made possible. St. Paul says, all are under judgment, Jews and Gentiles alike.

Now this truth I discovered. What do I need to do now? I need to know how to claim the blood of Christ. I've come to this realization that the blood of Christ is the only way to save me.

But there are certain criterias for me to qualify for this blood. I can't just come and say, yes, I'm receiving the blood and that's it. No, you got to work and being qualified for this blood.

You need to claim the blood of Christ. Now let's see. We claim the blood of Christ through mysteries in faith, sacraments, the Holy Eucharist.

This is my body. This is my blood. We receive salvation through the blood when we claim it through the mysteries in faith.

Not just saying it into thin air. Jesus, let your blood come and cover me and and wash me. What is this? This is not biblical.

We need to receive the blood and the sacraments. Jesus, wash me with your blood. What is there a tap over there? Open and now close.

No, we need to respect Christ for his sake. He's got a house. He's got an altar.

That's where his body and blood are on the altar. My beloved, the proof is in the gospel of Saint John. Look what the Lord is saying.

Nicodemus confessed that he believed in Jesus Christ, but it was not enough. Jesus answered and said to him, most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And there's another question for this beloved about the term born again.

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time and into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. The mystery of baptism saves unless one is born of water and the spirit cannot, cannot enter the kingdom of God.

What is born of water and the spirit? If it is not the holy baptism, the holy baptism is made of two water, the element of water and the holy spirit descending, sanctifying and making those that water hollowed holy. It is through that sacrament. The child is born and through that baptismal birth, then they can only enter the kingdom of God.

Who said this? Jesus Christ, our Lord, our God, no one else. When it comes to salvation, we need to look at three areas. Number one, I have been saved.

I am being saved and I shall be saved. I have been saved in the past. I am being saved in the present and I will be saved in the future.

Salvation has to be throughout your journey on this earth. It is not a moment of history and that's it. Salvation must be achieved every single moment, every single day of your life because you can miss and lose that salvation like Demas did.

He was saved but now no longer. So I need to acquire it, I need to claim it, I need to receive it all the time, past, present and future tense. Now, how have I been saved? In baptism, I began my journey as an infant in baptism.

That's where I was saved, past tense. In baptism, I receive justification, sanctification and adoption into God's family. I became the child of God through baptism.

The son of God adopted me in baptism to be the son of God, a child of God where God becomes my dad and I become his son. This baptism, I have been saved. How am I being saved now, present tense? Church mysteries, the holy Eucharist, the priesthood rank, the anointing oil, the seven sacraments of the church.

This is the present tense of being saved. I am being saved every time presently through the mysteries of the church, the sacraments of the church and also through the commandments, the word of God, which is law. Mysteries and commandments, exercise faith in the mysteries and obeying the commandments.

Grace comes through the mysteries to help us obey the commandments. I'll say it again. Grace comes through the mysteries in order to help us obey the commandments.

Without the mysteries, I cannot obey the commandments. One day, this person asked me about the gospel of John chapter 6, where the Lord Jesus is talking about this is my body and this is my blood. Now, when you read in the gospel of John chapter 6 verses 52 or 51 to 57, you'll come across this and it's throughout the chapter.

He talks, I am the living bread that descended from heaven. It is not like the manna that your fathers ate in the wilderness and they died. I am the true, I am the true bread that descended from heaven.

Who he eats me shall live in me forever. If you eat the body and the blood of the son of man, you have life in you. If you don't, there is no life in you.

Jesus said this. I don't think there is any clearer statement than this. And then this man said to me, well, can you continue past verse 57? I knew what he was trying to do because when you go to verses 60, 61, the Lord Jesus says, he says, what I'm saying to you is, is spirit.

I'm not talking to you in the literal sense, like as if you eat my body and blood, I'm going to take, get it out for you. So you know exactly what I am talking about. So when you go to the gospel of John chapter 6, and you go towards the end of it, when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples complained about this, what is about this? When he said, you need to eat my body and you need to drink my blood.

So the disciples said, how can we eat his body and blood? Man, are we eaters of people? And that's difficult to comprehend, to fathom. So when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples complained about this, he said to them, does this offend you? What then if you should see the son of man ascend where he was before? It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing.

The word, listen to this, the word that I speak to you are spirit and they are life. This man said to me, you see, the Lord Jesus himself later on says, the flesh profits nothing. Look at this, I'll read it again.

He says, does this offend you? What then if you should see the son of man ascend where he was before? It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life.

So this man said, when Jesus said, eat my body and drink my blood, he was referring to his word, not to his literal body and blood because he said the flesh does not profit. I said, what are the words that Jesus spoke to us? The words are, this bread is my body and this wine is my blood. He who eats my body and drinks my blood shall have life in him.

These are the words I said to you. When you obey the commandments of God, which is his word and his word is saying that this bread is body and this wine is blood. When Jesus is saying, this is my body and this is my blood.

These are the words that he's saying to us. He says, if you do by them, they are spirit and they are life. They will give you life and they will bring you into the spiritual life.

They will give you nourishment when you obey them and do by them. These are the words I said. If you listen to my word, hear it, believe in it and do by it, you shall receive life.

And the words are, this is my body, this is my blood, eat and drink from them and you shall receive life. These are the words. I don't know, did you get what I'm saying? Yes, I hope you did.

Saint John the Baptist cried in the wilderness saying, bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance and begin not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham as our father, Luke 3, 8. We must bear fruits worthy of repentance as Saint John the Baptist said. So there has to be a deed followed with our faith. It is not just accepting the Lord and I'm saved.

I need to reflect that faith in Christ with my deeds. My deeds need to be fruitful. The fruits of repentance have to be vividly clear in me.

Otherwise, how am I going to say I am a believer if I don't have the fruits of repentance? And what is the fruit of repentance? Changing attitudes. Repentance means before I was doing one thing, now I stop doing it and I'm beginning to do something else opposite to it. That is repentance.

Before I used to swear, I used to use foul language. Now I praise the Lord and I give thanks to the Lord and I use constructive words, not destructive. It is a change of behavioral pattern.

These are the fruits of repentance. If they are not vividly clear in me, how can I claim that I'm saved? I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, Ephesians 4, 1. You need to be worthy of the calling that you were called to. You need to walk in the path of the Lord.

You need to reflect Christ in your life. You can't just say I'm a Christian and that's it. I just called Jesus to be my Lord and Savior and that's it.

Since I called him to be my Lord and Savior, well Romans 10, chapter 10 says, well if you if you confess Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you are, you will be saved. Yes, but it needs to be followed. That's the beginning of the road.

You need to walk the distance, my dear friend. You need to walk the journey. Now how shall I be saved when Jesus returns? Our future salvation is not a matter of faith, but a matter of hope.

Our future salvation is not a matter of faith, but a matter of hope. I am hoping for the second coming of the Messiah to have a place with the Lord. Saint Ephraim, one of the church fathers in the 4th century, he was a deacon in our church, in our holy church.

In one of his beautiful sayings or homilies, he's talking to his soul. He says, soul, I'm asking you, what are you afraid of the most? And he says, the soul replied and said, I am afraid of three things. And then I asked the soul, what are these three things? And the soul said to me, I am afraid when I hear that voice saying, be ready, the king is coming.

Go out and welcome him. When that cry comes and says, be ready, the king is coming, that moment is so awesome and so fearful. I don't know, am I ready for the welcoming of the king? That moment shakes me and makes me fearful.

And he said, what is the second one? He said, when I go out and I'm standing along with the people awaiting the coming of the king, and when the king comes and he stops and he looks at me and he points his finger, he says, bring that one to me. He said, when he points that finger at me, I am so afraid, where will I be? And he said, what's the third one? He said, when he says, call that person. And when I get called to him, he will say to me, I don't know who you are.

Depart from me or you evildoer. How shall I be saved through hope that when the Lord comes in his second coming, I find favor in his eyes, calls me and puts me at his right hand, in his glory.