Once Saved, Always Saved? (part 7)

Thank you for joining us once again as we look at the doctrine of Eternal Security, also known as Once Saved, Always.

I hope that this series has taught you, or at the very least caused you to search the scriptures to see what is indeed true regarding this doctrine.

There are plenty more scriptures that we will be looking at in the next coming weeks.

But, as today is the 7th entry into the series, I thought we should pause briefly and once again turn to the very words of our Lord... Christ Jesus of Nazareth.



When we start reading the bible, the first parable we come across (that is actually identified as a parable), is the parable of the four soils.

Matthew 13:3-9
And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, "Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:

But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.

Who hath ears to hear, let him hear".

This parable is also mentioned in Mark.

Mark 4:2-9
And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, "Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.

And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred".
And he said unto them, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear".

Lastly, the parable is mentioned in Luke.

Luke 8:4-8
And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable: "A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.

And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.

And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.

And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold".

And when he had said these things, he cried, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear".

Before we start looking at the parable, the first thing we need to ask is... why look at all three instances rather than only one?

A good reason is that each writer tends to focus on certain things. So one writer might include something that the other two left out. Each writer may say the same thing in a different way, helping us to have a better understanding of the parable.

You see, those who reject the doctrine that everyone who God saves, He keeps saved... either know and simply misunderstand this parable or do understand it and just don't teach it because it contradicts their belief. And yes, there are many people who do this sort of thing. They would rather continue in their doctrinal error than walk in obedience to the scriptures... for whatever the reason.

The parable of the 4 soils is important for us as it deals with salvation from the perspective of the flesh as well as gives spiritual insight as to what is going on in those who are said to have lost or given up their salvation.

Now, for this parable, we don't have to rack our brains trying to understand what Jesus is saying.

So, if you ever hear someone teach/preach on the 4 soils, and apply a different meaning, you can automatically be sure they don't know what they're talking about because the speaker of the parable, Jesus, gives us the explanation.

So let's turn again to Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

Matthew 13:18-23
Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.

When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Mark 4:14-20
The sower soweth the word.

And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.

And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

Luke 8:11-15
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.

And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.

But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

Now that we have the parable and the explanation of the parable, let's walk through what is being said.
The parable starts off with a sower. Who is that?

Jesus doesn't tell us who the sower is. No explanation is given as to the identity of the sower except that the person sows seed.

Well, we are told that the seed is the word of God... the word of the Kingdom.

This is the gospel.

So the sower is anyone who speaks the gospel.

So I'm a sower, your a sower, even those who are unbelievers but present the gospel, they too are sowers.

Jesus says nothing about the belief system of the sower. Only that he sows the gospel.

Next is the ground. We are told that the different grounds are the state of a person's heart.

Jesus tells us that there are 4 different kinds of hearts. And based on the condition of the person's heart, there will be 1 of 4 type of responses to hearing the gospel of the kingdom.

The first heart we come across is the "way side". Seed is sown here, trodden on, and the birds of the air takes the seed.

These are the people who hear the gospel, but don't understand it. Satan then comes and takes away that seed.

Some people might think that he does this by some kind of supernatural means, but this is not the case.

Satan works in various ways throughout and a lot of times, it's through natural means like deceit.

In Luke, we are told that the seed is trodden upon. This makes sense since it's the way side, or walk way.

In other words there is a direct attack against the gospel in the heart of this person.

The person doesn't understand the gospel anyway, but there are things that go against the gospel that are satanically inspired.

Atheism and evolution spring to mind. Political correctness and feminism comes to mind. False prophets and teachers come to mind. All other religions come to mind.

These trod all over the gospel of the kingdom. Because of these things those who believe the gospel are called bigots, people full of hate, and many other things.

Satan uses these means to trod on and take sway the seed.

You meet these people. They can give you 99 reasons why believing in the bible is stupid yet don't understand the gospel at all.

So their reasoning is not based on understanding something and disagreeing with it, but they are empowered by the spirit of the anti-christ (I don't mean that literally).

Some people get stuck on the fact that the seed was indeed sown into the person's heart.

We must remember that the gospel is only effective... as someone once said... "if the victim's screaming 'help me'".

Jesus proclaimed the kingdom plenty of times in front if the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees yet we aren't told that a large portion of them repented at all.

So the condition of the heart determines what the response is to the seed sown.

In the first soil, the seed is directly attacked and taken by Satan.

The second soil is when the seed is sown on stony ground.

We are told that the seed didn't have enough soil for the roots to be embedded, and because of this a sprout came up very quickly.

But, because of the lack of soil, there wasn't enough moisture to sustain the seed. So when the sun came up, it was scorched and withered away.

Jesus tells us that these are those who hear the gospel, and seem to believe unto salvation. But, and here's the issue, it's all superficial.

Jesus tells us that these people even endure for a time, but when tribulation comes because of the word they are offended and leave.

A lot of people who are said to have lost or given up their faith, are from this soil.

Jesus says that these people were never saved to begin with because there was no depth of the gospel in their heart.

Now, keep in mind that the gospel that this person hears is the real one. It's not that prosperity nonsense.

Some might say, but the seed has started to grow... that indicates salvation.

It doesn't indicate salvation.

It indicates an outward change, but there is no change on the inside. Remember there is no root.
These people are not in Christ because they have no root.

This is how a lot of Christians misunderstand. All outward changes doesn't indicate an inward one.

Look at what happens when tribulation and persecution comes, they are offended.

Who or what are they offended by? God and His word. This is why they leave.

So, they make a public declaration of faith. They endure for awhile (however long that is), and make outward changes, but something happens and all of a sudden God isn't real or the bible is full of lies. But if they really did have a relationship with God and trusted the bible, they wouldn't say this.

It shows that all they were never real, but superficial.

From the outside, they looked like a believer, and were even affirmed by other believers, but persecution and tribulation reveals that it wasn't real.

The third type of soil is full of thorns.

Jesus tells us that the thorns are the cares of this world. In other words, they've heard the gospel but it's not more important than money, things, etc.

These are those who would use the gospel to gain money, power, prestige, etc.

One thing that we should realise is that these people continue to walk according to the lusts (desires) of the flesh.

There is no satanic activity here. It's the lust of that heart the choke the word. The desires for the world and the things of the world are much stronger than the desire for God.

Another thing we should realise is that these people also show an outward change. This is indicated in Luke.

But unlike the previous soil, these ones aren't said to whither.

So, these people also profess to be believers but aren't.

Before we continue onto the last soil, have you picked up what the first 3 have in common?

Yes, they are all unsaved, but within the analogy of the parable, there is something that the last soil has that none of the first 3 has.

That is... fruit.

The first soil, obviously, would bear no fruit. But the second and third soil, even though... outwardly... it looks like there is growth, there is no fruit.

The last soil, we are told, is good. And it's this soil that bears fruit.

When we look at the characteristics of these people, the first thing we see is that they understand the gospel.

The people of the way side are completely devoid of understanding. There is no mention about whether or not the other two groups of people understand, but... by the way the parable is told, it is clear that they did have limited understanding because there was some kind of response.

The people of the stony ground had a little bit of understanding, but it's quite clear that it wasn't a proper understanding, else they wouldn't have been offended by the word.

The people of the thorns had a bit more understanding, but theirs was also not proper, else they would have pushed the world aside for the exceedingly greater treasure found in the gospel.

The people of the good soil had a proper understanding of the gospel. This is a trait of those who are saved.

The second thing we notice about this last group is that they kept the word. In other words, they were obedient to it.

This characteristic isn't mentioned at all for the other groups.

Lastly, as mentioned before, there's the producing of fruit. None of the other three groups bore any fruit.

Curiously though, the amount of fruit that appears is not natural. You would not get that amount of fruit.

What's going on here is supernatural. The fruit is supernaturally generated.

This is the essence of salvation. It is a supernatural event in which the person is born of the Spirit (born from again).

We as believers don't bear fruit by working. The fruit is of the Spirit.

It's similar to when peter first encountered Jesus. He was fishing and couldn't catch anything. Jesus came and told him to cast his net again. Peter protested because they've been fishing for a very long time and hadn't caught anything... and they're fishermen by trade.

He eventually did what Jesus said and caught so much fish that the nets started to break.

This is the same picture of the fruit that is born from the good soil. An explosion of fruit from unnatural means.

Some people equate these fruits to those who we are instrumental in their salvation.

But that is not the case at all, as salvation is of the Lord.

The fruits are simply what we know as the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

This is the evidence that people are saved. They will begin to produce this fruit over time. But it's not by their strength and effort that the fruit is produced but the Holy Spirit who works in us to produce them through His sanctifying work.

This is the Parable of the 4 Soils. Jesus gives us the blended perspective of what we see and what God sees.

Out of these soils, only one bears fruit - so only one group is saved. But, Christians often lump the 2nd and 3rd groups into saved group as well.

If we had God's perspective we would clearly identify those who belong to Him. Jesus tells us over and over that we will make this mistake. And it does seem like we won't be able to distinguish who's who apart from them rejecting the nature and person of Christ Jesus.

I hope this look into this parable has helped someone get a better understanding of salvation.

Join us next time as we continue looking into the verses that are used to try and prove Christ Jesus wrong.