Rick Hughes takes listeners on a journey through the doctrine of eternal security, providing clarity on complex spiritual truths. Using scriptural references, he illustrates how salvation is a gift of God’s grace, one that cannot be lost through the trials and tribulations of life. Through engaging storytelling, including the parable of the Prodigal Son, Rick offers insights into God’s unwavering love and forgiveness. This episode is a call for all believers to trust in their spiritual inheritance and to embrace the compassionate and enduring nature of God’s promises.
Welcome to The Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.
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Good morning and welcome to The Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes. And for the next few minutes, I’d like to invite you to stay with me because it’s going to be 30 minutes of motivation, inspiration, education. And we do this without any type of solicitation or manipulation. We don’t ask you for anything. We’re not trying to con you into doing anything. My job is simply to give you some accurate information. Information that may, if you listen, may help you verify and identify the plan of God for your life. You can always orient and adjust to that plan. That’s up to you. But the Flatline is designed to remind you of some truths you probably already know about maybe even introduce you to a different way of studying and learning God’s Word. As I said, no manipulation here, just 30 minutes of education. That’s my job. Give it to you straight up, clear, lucid, so you can understand. The first thing we all have to understand is it starts with the good news that Jesus Christ, the anointed Son of God, redeemed us out of the slave market of sin. Our debt to God was paid for, and we are now free of the penalty of sin as well as the power of sin in our life. So if we receive Christ as our Savior, we are in effect accepting the offering he made on our behalf. It’s a free gift for us, compliments of the grace of God. That’s why Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says, for by grace you are saved through faith. That’s not of yourselves, it’s a gift of God, not of works, lest any man would brag about it. Titus 3, 5 through 7 says this, not by works of righteousness which we’ve done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Lord. that being justified by his grace, not works, by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the confidence of eternal life. Eternal life is a wonderful thing to know that you possess it, to know that you do not have to worry about where you are going when it’s your time to depart, and it will be your time sooner or later, because the Bible says it’s appointed unto man once to die, and after that, the judgment. All people have to die. The reason is simple. This body won’t operate in the presence of God because it’s contaminated with a sinful nature. The Bible tells us, for by one man, sin came into the world and death by sin. And now death has passed on all for all have sinned and the wages of sin is death. And that’s not just physical death, the spiritual death. We are born physically alive. Yes, we are. but we are born spiritually dead due to the assignment of Adam’s original sin to us at birth. We are born into a sinful condition, and we have to be born again. And what’s happened is our human spirit is born spiritually dead. We’re physically alive, we have a soul, we have mentality, we have emotions, we have conscience, yes, volition, yes, but we are spiritually dead, separated from God until we receive Christ as Savior. When that happens, the moment we do what the Bible tells us to do, whosoever should call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you’ve done that, that’s the moment you entered into the eternal relationship with God. But the $64,000 question that people always ask is, can God cancel eternal life if you mess up? You know, it’s possible you may be listening to me today and incarcerated. You’ve messed up a little bit. You had a debt to pay to society and you’re in the process of paying that debt now. Does God cancel your eternal life because you mess up, whether you’ve been caught or not? No, God doesn’t cancel your eternal life. Once God gives it to you, he doesn’t pull it back, and we’re going to study that today, the doctrine of eternal security, how you can have complete confidence in what God gave you at the moment of salvation, and how you can comfortably know that even if you mess up, he’s not going to demand that you give it back to him. Let’s start with John 10, 28 and 29. The Bible says in these words, and I give unto them eternal life. That means you will live forever in a resurrection body. You will live forever in the presence of God the Father in a resurrection body in the new heavens and the new earth that will be created according to 2 Peter 3 because it says the universe will be destroyed and this earth will be destroyed and there will be a new heaven and a new earth and the new earth won’t even have a sea, the Bible says. That’s where we’ll spend eternity, and that’s after the millennial reign of Christ when we will be here with him for a thousand years as he sets up his kingdom, the kingdom of David on the throne of David actually in Jerusalem. We’re back with him for a thousand years. So we will have eternal life the minute you leave this body. The minute you exit this body, you are not dead. There’s no way you’re dead. You’re just transferring from going to be face to face with the Lord. This body goes back to the ground, back to dust to dust, to ashes to ashes. But your soul and your spirit will enter a new body, a resurrection body, and that’s the body you’ll live in forever, and that’s the perfect body. So I give unto them eternal life, John 10, 28 and 29. and they will never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all. And no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. So we know right away that Jesus Christ, our Lord, has given to you eternal life by faith alone in Christ alone. Paul put it this way to the Roman jailer, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. When you make a decision to believe in Christ and receive him as your Savior, you enter eternal life. John 3 is clear about that. He that believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. And he that believeth not the wrath of God already abides on him. So if you’ve made that decision, no one can take it away from you. In 2 Timothy 2.13, here is a verse you should find confidence in. If we believe not, yet he abides faithful. He cannot deny himself. What does that mean? Well, it means that a lot of times children will accept Christ as Savior when they’re young, but as they get older and they develop their mental faculties, they begin to doubt their salvation. They begin to buy into some humanistic philosophy, some atheistic philosophy, and now they say, well, I don’t even believe God exists anymore. Maybe when I was a kid, but Not now. Even if we believe not, he abides faithful. He cannot deny himself. How does this work? Well, it means this, that when you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, the Bible puts it this way, he who knew no sin was made sin for us, in order that we might be made the righteousness of God through Him. Remember that God is absolutely righteous, perfect righteousness, and He’s absolutely just. And so the justice of God judged Jesus Christ on the cross with all of my sin. When I come to the cross and believe in Christ and receive Him as my Savior, His righteousness is given to me. He took my sin and now he gives me his righteousness. And so we look at it this way. If God is absolutely righteous, in order for me to have a relationship with God, I must be absolutely righteous. And the only way I can be absolutely righteous is have Christ’s righteousness given to me. So he who knew no sin was made sin for us in order that we may be made righteous. the righteousness of God by means of him. So once that plus R, God’s righteousness, is accredited to my account because I receive Christ as my Savior, God’s not going to take it back. He’s not going to say, I want my righteousness back, and I’m going to kick you out of my royal family now, even though I said you were heir to all that Christ is heir to. Now that you messed up, You can’t be heir anymore. He’s not going to do that. That’s not the way God operates. He’s immutable. He does not change. How could he change his mind about you? It’s not going to happen. And so 1 John 5, 12 says, he that has the son has life. And he that has not the son of God has not life. In order to have eternal life, you must possess Jesus Christ as your savior. not by works of righteousness which we’ve done, but according to his mercy he saved us. The very verse I gave you at the beginning of this study in Titus chapter three, verses five through seven. Now let’s look at a case study in the Bible of who probably should have lost it, you’d say. You know, some people say if there’s anybody that should lose their eternal life, it’s this guy. But he didn’t. And this is a case study from 1 Corinthians 5, verses 1 through 5, and just reading out of the standard King James Bible. It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you. Fornication. Several words in the Bible that we have, fornication and adultery, you should know what that is. The word for fornication is the Greek word pornea, P-O-R-N-E-I-A. And that absolutely was a four-letter word in Greek vocabulary. Fornication is two people having sex outside the boundaries of marriage. And adultery is one of the other of the married couples having sex outside the boundaries of marriage. Fornication can include a lot of different things, such as homosexuality, bestiality, pedophilia, pornography, whatever. It’s all that junk. And so it is reported there’s fornication among you and such fornication. Now here’s the shocker, Paul said, it’s not even named among the Gentiles. In other words, the unbelievers don’t even do this. This is so horrible and so sick and perverted that lost people don’t even do it. And now he tells them what it is. This is in the church in Corinth, a member of the church in Corinth, that one should have his father’s wife. Do you get that? A member of the congregation is fornicating with his stepmother. Verse 2, chapter 5, 1 Corinthians 5, verse 2. And you are puffed up, and you have not rather mourned that he that did this deed may be taken away from among you. For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already as though I were present concerning the one that did this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, verse 4, 1 Corinthians chapter 5, when you’re gathered together and in my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Did you hear that last sentence? So that the spirit would be saved in the day of the Lord. Now here’s what’s going to happen. He’s going under dying discipline. There are three stages of discipline. You should know this. There’s warning discipline where God warns you that you’re out of line. And this might not hurt. This just may be a Bible verse or a preacher or a sign or something you read. But then there’s also intense discipline. This one hurts. This is when God has to take you out behind the woodshed and wake you up a little bit. This is all taught in Hebrews chapter 12. Those whom I love, I chasten and I scourge with a whip sometimes. Sometimes God has to bring pain into your life to get an attitude adjustment. That attitude adjustment is humility rather than arrogance. So warning discipline, God warns you. Intense discipline, God brings suffering into your life to correct your course before you self-destruct. And then there’s dying discipline. And this is where the verse says in Hebrews, we’ve had earthly fathers that corrected us and we respected them. How much more shall we respect God and live? And live. And in Proverbs 15, 10, he that hates the reproof of God shall die. So it’s possible as a Christian that God the Father could take you out way too soon. You’re still going to heaven. You still have eternal life. But you certainly made a mess of this life, and you will not have the rewards in heaven that others may have. And that’s exactly what’s happening here. He’s going out under the sin unto death. He’s going to be turned over to Satan. Okay, you can go ahead, you can ravage him. The Bible says Satan goes around like a roaring lion seeking who he can devour. And Satan’s going to devour this individual. But Paul said the spirit would be saved in the day of the Lord. Yes, his body will go back to the ground. Yes, he’s going to die too early. But since he had believed in Jesus Christ, his soul and spirit will go to heaven. He will not hear, well done, my good and faithful servant. He’s not going to hear that. but he does have eternal life. Why? Because number one, he didn’t do anything to gain it. If you can’t do anything to earn it, then how can you do something to lose it? Doesn’t that make sense? If you cannot do anything to earn it, well, how could you do something to lose it? It can’t be one way or the other. You either got to do something to earn it and you got to do something to keep it or you don’t have to do anything to earn it other than believe and there’s nothing you can do to lose it. So principle one, God in his grace does not cancel our eternal life. What he freely gives, he does not take back. Point two, if you got it freely… then had to work to keep it, then you really never actually had it to start with. Did you hear me? If you got it freely, that’s eternal life, and then you had to work to keep it, then you never really actually had it to start with. You were just hoping you had it. If you were just hoping you had it, that you could hold on to it without really messing up. So that’s what that means. If you got it freely and had to work to keep it, you never really actually had it to start with. You were just hoping you had it. And you were hoping that you could hold on to it so you wouldn’t mess up. Point three, this fact does not ensure that you’re going to be successful in executing the Christian life. The fact that you’re not gonna lose your salvation, that does not guarantee you that you will live a successful Christian life. Without learning the protocol plan of God, you will never, ever live a successful Christian life. You will have eternal life, you will go to heaven, But you will miss out on the phenomenal blessings of abiding in Jesus Christ while you’re in this world. Remember he said, if you abide in me and my word abides in you, then you can ask what you will and I’ll pour it out on you. Listen, if you abide in Christ, that means you stay filled with the Holy Spirit. That means if my word abides in you, that means you learn his word and apply it into your life and change the way you think. And you start thinking in terms of divine viewpoint, not human viewpoint. So the fourth principle here is the fact that the righteousness of God is given to us means that it would have to be taken away from us in order to lose our salvation. And that’s not gonna happen. In 2 Corinthians 5.21, he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we could become the righteousness of God through him. I’ve quoted that verse several times. That’s why you’re going to heaven, because you have the righteousness of Jesus Christ given to you. Point five, you cannot lose your salvation since it is strictly the work of God and not your work. Remember, for by grace you save through faith and not of yourselves. It’s the gift of God, not of works. Point six, knowing this fact does not give you a license to go out and raise Cain. That fact that I’m telling you that you can’t lose it should motivate you to want to know your heavenly father even in a more intimately way if he loves you that much. If he loves you so much that he’s not going to turn his back on you when you mess up, then your security is indeed assured. In Romans 8, 38, 39, I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And that means you messing up. You are royal family of God. You have been brought into God’s royal family through faith alone in Christ alone. In Romans 8, 16, the spirit bears witness himself with our spirit that we are indeed the children of God. You might not act like it. You may act like you’re a child of the devil, i’ve seen many christians who have been in fact saved and turned around and walked away from the plan of god they went down what i affectionately call the my way highway and they decided that they didn’t really need to learn god’s word And they were suckers for the lure of the world. Whatever Satan throws at them, the lies that he throws up, the deception that he throws up, much like the decoy in the duck field. And they’re like the ducks flying into the decoy thinking that, oh, look, look, look, there’s some ducks. Let’s land here and boom, boom, boom, they get shot down. How many of you have been decoyed and deceived by the devil? Decoyed and deceived into thinking that people or circumstances can make you happy, when in fact that’s a lie to start with. Because the Bible says true happiness belongs to those who hear my Father’s word and keep it. My joy I give to you, Christ said. Who for the joy that was set before him, the Bible says in Hebrews 12, endured the cross, despising the shame. The greatest joy you’ll ever have in your life is fulfilling the plan of God. Knowing that you’re doing exactly what God created you to do. You are representing Jesus Christ. You’re reflecting Christ in your life. That’s what you’re supposed to do. When you abide in him, you reflect him. It’s a wonderful thing to get up in the morning and look in the mirror and say, I need to shave or I need to put on some makeup. And you look at yourself and make yourself presentable. Well, that’s how you take care of your body. But what about taking care of your soul, the inside? and that’s where we take in the word of god every day taking in the word of god every day is the doctrine for our soul that keeps our soul presentable just as shaving and combing our hair and brushing our teeth putting on your makeup keeps you presentable to people that you come in contact with so we are children of god point one once we’re born into the human family we cannot be unborn to a human family Point two, once you’re in the royal family, you cannot be unborn from the royal family. Three, family does not guarantee you’re gonna turn out perfect. It just means you have a chance to make something out of yourself. Four, Some children of God do fantastic, and some children of God slide back into sin where they came from. They actually live their life back again like an unbeliever, and you can’t even tell them that they’re really a Christian. You couldn’t even really tell that they’re saved. Point five, just because you wind up being a total jerk does not mean that God is going to turn his back on you. He may just have to love you from behind. The illustrated parable that Christ gave about this is found in Luke 15, 11 through 24. Here’s the way it goes. Then he said, that’s our Lord speaking, A certain man had two sons. I always call them Frick and Frack. Frick and Frack, the older and the younger. And the younger one, old Frack, he said to his pop, Father, give me the portion of goods that fall to me. So he wanted his inheritance now. You know, normally the older son would inherit two-thirds, the younger son one-third. And he wanted his one-third now. So the father divided his livelihood with them, and it says, not many days after, the younger son gathered together everything that he had, and he took a journey to a far country, and there he wasted his possession with riotous living. What did he do? well i can assure you he fornicated a lot he got drunk he carried on he did crazy stuff he blew all his money he had no money left and i would be willing to wager that there’s an invisible friend with him that that went along with him probably encouraged him to do this so the bible says in verse 14 of luke 15 when he spent it all here comes divine discipline there arose a severe famine in the land And he began to be in want. And then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country. He had to take a job to feed himself. And the citizen sent him into the field to feed pigs. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the slop the pigs ate because nobody gave him any food. And when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father’s hired servants, this is an attitude adjustment because of divine discipline. How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough to spare and I’m dying from hunger. I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him, father, I’ve sinned against heaven. And before you, I’m not worthy anymore to be called your son. Just make me a hired servant. This may be you. Maybe you got away from your heavenly father. Maybe you went down the my way highway and maybe your life took a horrible turn and maybe you are miserable. Go back to your father. Go back to your heavenly father and confess your sin to God. First John one nine. If we confess our sins, he’s faithful and just to forgive us and purify us from all of our wrongdoings. And he arose, verse 20, came to his father, and when he was still a great way off, his father saw him. And look, I can imagine one of the slaves said, there’s a beggar coming up the driveway, should I run him off? And the father took a look and said, no, that’s my boy. He’s probably dirty, hadn’t had a bath, didn’t have shoes on, he didn’t have clean clothes on. The father saw him and had compassion and ran. and fell on his neck and kissed him. That’s exactly what God will do for you. He will love you so much if you will just come home. Just come home. And the son said, Father, I’ve sinned against heaven and in your sight, and I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. And the father said to the servants, bring out the best robe and put it on him and put a ring back on his hand, sandals back on his feet, get the fatted calf over there and kill it. Let’s have a party and be merry for my son was dead, but he’s alive again. He was lost and now he’s been found and they began to be merry. He wasn’t dead physically. He was dead temporarily, temporarily spiritually dead, not advancing in the plan of God. Listen to the principle. One, both of these boys were sons, but one was very lascivious, the other was very legalistic. Two, the sin of self-righteousness is just as bad as the sin of wanton debauchery. Three, one left home on the my way highway, but the other was already on the my way highway at home with his father because he had unrealistic expectations about who he was. So that’s the question. What are you? Who are you? Have you left home from your father? Have you abandoned God’s plan for your life? He still loves you. All you have to do is come home to the Father, confess your sin, and he will be faithful and just to forgive you. He didn’t take your eternal life away, but you sure may be miserable today because of how you’re living. Next week, same time, same place. Thank you for listening today.
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Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
