Lesson 1

Our Eternal Salvation

     Are you really sure of your eternal salvation?  This is a very important question, and one that will have lasting eternal consequences.  If you were to die today, do you know for certain that you would go to heaven?  This is a question about which we cannot afford to be wrong, because eternity is very permanent.  One day each of us will know the true answer to this question, "For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ", Romans 14:10.  Every one of us have two appointments that have already been made for us and that we will definitely keep, whether we want to or not.  They are, "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment", Hebrews 9:27.  These two appointments, death and the judgment, cannot be cancelled.

     The tragedy of what happened in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa. on September 11, 2001 shows the uncertainty and brevity of life.  God tells us in James 4:14, "Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is even as a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away."

     We must not make an error concerning our salvation in following what "seems right" to us, or that we "feel in our heart that we are saved".  The Bible says in Proverbs 14:12, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death".  Our feelings are not a safe guide, but only the Bible is.

     What prior assumptions have we already made about our salvation?  Many of these assumptions, that people make, contradict what God says in his word to us.  All we have to do is to look around at all of the many differing doctrines that are being taught, and then compare them to what God says in the Bible, and we can see a great difference.  Our Lord says in Mark 7:7, "And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men".  Our worship is vain if it comes from the doctrines of men and not from God.  Can we say that all these many differing doctrines have come from God?  I think not.  I Corinthians 14:33 says that, "God is not the author of confusion."  Or are they from men?  Where else could they have come from, if they did not come from God?  This becomes a very serious question.  Our worship becomes vain and useless, if our doctrines come from men when they meet in conventions and conferences to decide what we are to believe and do.

     As the apostle Peter told the Jewish council in Acts 5:29, "We ought to obey God rather than men".  Do not believe anything that I tell you, because we are not going to be judged by what I say.  Do not believe anything any other person tells you, because we are not going to be judged by what some other person says.  In fact, we are not going to be judged by what we personally believe.  On the Day of Judgment we are going to be judged only by what the Lord says in the Bible.  That is going to be the only standard for judgment, for our Lord says in John 12:48, "The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day".  So, if I or any other person cannot point to it in the Word of God, then please do not believe it, because there is too much at stake – your soul!

     Our soul is worth more than the whole world and everything in it.  Jesus says in Matthew 16:26, "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?  Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"  Our soul is the part of us that is going to continue to live on forever throughout all eternity.  We cannot afford to lose it into eternal punishment.

Our Eternal Salvation
(click on the button of the answer of your choice)

1)  (Romans 14:10) Who will appear before the judgment seat of Christ?

       Only the lost.

       Only the saved.

       All people.

2) If we are wrong about our salvation we will be lost.

3)  (Proverbs 14:12) The way that seems right unto man leads to

       Spiritual death.

       Success.

4)  Our feelings are a safe guide when it comes to our eternal salvation.

5)  (Mark 7:7) If we follow the doctrines of men

      It doesn’t matter.

      God is still well pleased.

6)  It is pleasing to God if we follow the doctrines of men in our worship.

7)  (John 12:48) What will be the standard of judgment on judgment day?

       The words of Christ.

       What my preacher says.

8)  Just because we feel in our heart we are saved does not mean we are saved.

9)  (Hebrews 9:27) What two appointments have already been made for us?

       Dental.

       Death and Judgment

10)  We can cancel our appointments with death and judgment.