Part 17

Save a soul from what death? Not from physical death. “It is appointed unto men once to die,” physically. In that sense everybody has to die, the good and the bad alike. The only death from which you can be saved is the second death, which means to be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone (Rev. 20:14, 15; 21:8). This verse says that if you save a sinner from the error of his way, you have saved him from the second death. But who are the sinners here addressed? They are members of the church. Verse 19 says, “brethren,” you people who have already been saved, “if any one of you”—one of you saved people—“do err from the truth, and someone convert him,” then he has saved his soul from eternal torment. Surely this teaches that a brother in the church, who has been saved, may so sin as to go to hell, and will go to hell if somebody doesn’t convert him.

No wonder, then, the Apostle Paul said, “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). Let him who thinketh he standeth—let the man who thinks that apostasy is impossible—take heed, lest he experience that which he denies. These Scriptures then are sufficient to show that there is a danger of one’s falling from grace.

II The Power to Stand

Please do not get the impression, however, that you have to fall from grace. You don’t have to do it! You can stand if you will. If you will stand, God will give you the power to stand. If you submit your life unto Him for safekeeping and maintain the right attitude toward Him, and the right sort of service for Him, then He will keep that which has been committed unto Him. You don’t have to fall from grace. Anybody can be saved who wants to. If you don’t go to heaven, it will be because you didn’t want to badly enough to put forth the proper effort.

I’d like to emphasize the fact that anybody can go to heaven who wants to. It is like Brother Freed used to tell us at school: “You can do anything you want to, if you want to badly enough.” A story which illustrates the point comes from England, where they are said to dig graves deeper than we do in America—in fact, ten feet deep. Instead of having the cemeteries hard by the church building as we often do, the story says that they have them adjacent to the school buildings, sometimes on the school campus.

In one instance they had a graveyard between the boys’ dormitory and the administration building. Of course the boys did not walk around it. They made a path right across it. One day the caretakers digged a grave ten feet deep across the path and failed to put up a red light, leaving the grave open during the night. After it got dark a boy started from one building to another and fell into the open grave. He tried to climb out, but the walls were straight up and down and ten feet high. Finally, he gave up and sat down in the corner to await developments. It wasn’t long till he heard another boy coming down the path—“pat, pat, pat.” He sat right still, and boy number two fell off in the grave with him. Then boy number one said, “Can’t you let a man rest in peace in his own grave?” The second boy jumped right out of the grave like a cat—without any trouble at all. He had a stronger desire to escape than the first boy did. He was scared worse!

This illustrates the point that you can do anything you want to if you want to badly enough. If you are scared enough of hell, you will go to heaven. If you want to go to heaven more than you want to do anything else in this world, then you will go there, and there is no power on earth, or in heaven, or beneath the earth that can keep you from going to heaven if _you_ want to (Rom. 8:35). You are the only person in all this universe who can keep you out of heaven.

Now I may surprise you a little bit when I tell you that there are not many people who want to go to heaven. I can prove it by the Bible. The Bible says that very few _are_ going to heaven, and since anybody can go who wants to, then only a few want to go. If many wanted to go, then many would go; but the Bible says that there is a strait and narrow way which leads to life everlasting and few there be that find it. But there is a broad way that leads to destruction and many there be that travel it (Matt. 7:13, 14). Anybody can go to heaven who wants to, but only a few are going; then only a few want to go. If you will examine yourself and observe the people around you, you will soon become convinced that not many people want to go to heaven.

An illustration which I frequently use on this point is this: One Sunday afternoon I was talking to two young ladies who were backsliders. I asked them if they loved the Lord. They said, “Why, Brother Dark, of course we love the Lord.” Then I said, “Do you want to go to heaven when you die?” As you might expect they answered, “Why, sure, everybody wants to go to heaven!” My next question was, “Will you be at worship this evening?” They grinned a little bit and looked at each other. I said, “You have some dates, don’t you?” They grinned a little more, and said, “Yes.” I said, “Your boy friends don’t want to go to church with you, do they?” They grinned a little bit more and said, “No.” Well, they didn’t come to worship that night. I asked which they loved more, those boy friends or the Lord. They didn’t make any answer.

Now, which do you think they loved the more? They said they loved the Lord more than they loved anything else in the world, but they went out with some boy friends that night instead of coming to worship. They thought they wanted to go to heaven, and they did want to a little bit; but they wanted to go out with those boys more than they wanted to go to heaven. And that’s the case with a great many people. You ask them if they want to go to heaven and they will say “Yes”; but there is something they want to do more. They want to have a good time, make money, or do something else, more than they want to go to heaven. That’s the trouble with most people. That’s the reason most people are going somewhere else. God allows people to go anywhere they want to and if they prefer to go somewhere else rather than to go to heaven, then they go somewhere else and He permits them to do it.

Just remember this: you cannot possibly go to heaven without traveling the road which leads there. A lot of people would like to go to heaven but they don’t want to travel the road which leads there. They want to travel some other road and then get to heaven. Well, you can’t travel the road that leads to Memphis and get to Chattanooga, can you? You can’t travel the road that leads to hell and wind up in heaven. It just can’t be done. So if you want to go to heaven more than you want to do anything else in this world and are willing to put forth the effort required to do it, you can certainly go there.

That to me is a very encouraging thought. My destiny, under God, is completely within my own hands. I don’t have to depend upon anybody else’s wishes, anybody else’s choice or word about it whatsoever. God wants me to go to heaven, and with that point settled then it is all up to me, and you can’t keep me from going there. Nobody else can, if I want to go. Nobody can keep _you_ from going! Sometimes people make excuses, and they blame others for their failure. They find fault with other people and say, “He did so and so, and therefore I did so and so.” That’s no good at all. There is nobody in this world who can keep you from going to heaven if you want to.

III Three Rules

From this point on I shall assume that I am speaking to people who do want to go to heaven. On this assumption I can give you three little rules to follow, which will insure your success. I do not mean that the mere formality of doing these three things will make you safe for heaven. There is not necessarily any virtue in the mere routine suggested. But granting that you want to go to heaven, if you will follow these three simple rules, they will enable you to do what you want to do. The beauty of them is that they are so simple that anybody can follow them who wants to.

1. The first one is to read the Bible every day. If you want to go to heaven, you are willing to do that much, aren’t you? If you really want to go to heaven, won’t you _want_ to read the Bible? It’s the book that tells you how to get there. It is the road map that shows you the way. If you want to go to heaven, the first rule then is to read the Bible every day. From doing that you’ll learn what God wants you to do in order to _be_ saved and in order to _keep_ saved. The Bereans were more noble than the Thessalonians “because they received the word with all readiness of mind and _searched the Scriptures daily_” (Acts 16:11). Now, if you don’t read the Bible every day, I believe you’d have a hard time establishing the fact that you want to go to heaven. Don’t you believe you would? How can you prove that you want to go to heaven when you fail to read the only book in the world which can tell you how to get there?

I suspect that I’m talking to two or three hundred people right now who don’t read the Bible daily, and if I knew how to make this more emphatic, I’d do it! I’d like to fix it so you never would forget it. The Bible is the only book that can tell you how to do what you propose to want to do. It is the word which _God hath spoken_. The mere fact that you are a member of the church is an announcement that you want to go to heaven, but your behavior contradicts your profession, if you do not read the Bible every day.

I have found sometimes that those people who argue the loudest and take the most dogmatic positions on points of doctrine are the very ones who don’t read the Bible. They think they know! They can tell you what’s right and what’s wrong. If you ask them how much they read the Bible, they’ll hang their heads in shame and say, “Well, I haven’t read it much.” Sometimes they even preface their remarks by telling you they haven’t read it much. They say, “Now, preacher, I don’t read the Bible much, and I know you do, and so and so” and then proceed to tell me just exactly how it is. _A man who doesn’t read the Bible has no right to express an opinion in the field of religion._ A man who begins his conversation by saying, “Now, I’ll admit I don’t read the Bible,” ought to stop right there until he has read it. He doesn’t have any right to talk about it, nor to undertake to tell anybody what to do, or what one ought to do until he has read the Bible—the only reliable standard of right living. “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby” (1 Pet. 2:2). “Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls” (Jas. 1:21). “Study to show thyself approved unto God ...” (2 Tim. 2:15).

If you will read the Bible every day, there is not much that needs to be done for you; if you will not read the Bible, there is not much that can be done for you! Anybody who doesn’t love the Lord well enough to read this letter that He has written, anyone who doesn’t want to go to heaven bad enough to be a daily student of God’s word, I just can’t see much chance for him. One of the most alarming things is the ignorance of our own people concerning the Bible. Many of our own members are not daily students of God’s holy word. I wish I could say something that would scare you just as much as the second boy who fell in the grave. If I knew what to say, I’d say it. I’d like for you to become so badly scared that you would read the Bible every day.

Now, you can do it! If you don’t read it, you cannot blame anybody but yourself for your failure. You say, “But, Brother Dark, I don’t have time.” Oh, yes, you do; you have as much time as anybody. There are twenty-four hours in the day and you have all twenty-four of them. You say, “Yes, but I have so many other things to do.” Well, are those other things as important as going to heaven? Do you love them more than you love going to heaven? Do you want to do them more than you want to be saved?

How many of you read the newspaper every day? I suspect we would get a unanimous response on that. How many of you listen to the radio every day? Now, it is not wrong to listen to the radio. It’s not wrong to read the newspaper, maybe, but certainly you will agree that a man who loves the newspaper and the typical radio program more than he loves the Lord isn’t much interested in going to heaven. He had rather go where they have newspapers and radios, than to go to heaven where they have the word of God and a choir of angels singing.

You see, your behavior reflects your interests. So, you _can_ read the Bible every day; and if you don’t do it, you can blame no one but yourself for your failure. You can’t say, “I tried to be a Christian and couldn’t.” You’ll just have to say, “I didn’t try. I didn’t do what I could. I didn’t do my best.” Sometimes I hear people say, “Well, I’ve done the best I can,” when I know they have not. I know they are telling a falsehood when they make that statement. Anybody who doesn’t read the Bible daily is not doing the best he can!

2. Rule Number 2 is just as simple: “Pray every day.” You _can_! The Bible commands you to pray without ceasing (Eph. 6:18). Anybody, who can talk, can talk to God. I am afraid that there are a great many church members who do not pray to God every day. One cannot believe the Bible and deny the efficacy of prayer. Prayer is powerful! Prayer moves the hand that rules the universe. Prayer will cause God to do things that He would not have done if you had not prayed. Prayer is a means of drawing upon the riches and the glory and the wisdom of God. What a wonderful thing it is to be able to write a check on the bank of heaven with the assurance that it will be honored. That’s exactly what prayer is. Through prayer you can draw a check upon a bank whose resources are inexhaustible, with the full assurance that the Teller will honor the draft or check. Prayer changes things. God will do things for you after you have prayed that He would not have done if you had not prayed.

Whatsoever ye would therefore, that God should do unto you, ask him for it. “Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matt. 7:7, 8). He will withhold no good thing from them that call upon Him according to faith and in the name of His Son. “If ye then, being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matt. 7:11). If you haven’t been praying to God daily, you ought to begin to do so right now. I heard Brother H. Leo Boles say one time that he never even bought a pair of shoes without first asking God to guide him in the choice that he made. One should ask God’s guidance in every choice, however trivial it may seem to be. If you are not using the power which can come to you through prayer, then you are going along without a great blessing that you could be enjoying. You are not doing what you can. You can only blame yourself for the failures that come your way.

3. Rule Number 3 is one that I have emphasized here many times: “Go to worship every time the congregation meets.” Be faithful and regular in your attendance at worship. Now, you _can_ do this also! Of course, I know there are legitimate exceptions in cases of severe sickness on your part or some member of your family or something else of like nature; but you know the difference between that and just staying away because you prefer to sleep, read the paper, listen to the radio, go fishing, take a trip, or some other such illegitimate, unscriptural excuse.

You need to have the contact with other saints upon the first day of the week. God knew what He was doing when He arranged for us to meet together to worship Him. He knew we would get inspiration and encouragement there that could not be found anywhere else. Whenever you show me a man who is neglecting his church attendance, I’ll show you a man in the same person who is drifting away from God. I believe there is no exception to this statement. Whenever a man willfully stays away from worshiping with God’s people, he certainly drifts away from the Lord.

I read a story one time about a certain family who had been missing the worship. One of the overseers of the church went to see this family. He went into the room and exchanged the customary greetings; then sat down before the open fire. He picked up the tongs and got a red hot coal, just glowing with heat, and laid it out on the hearth by itself. It wasn’t long until it cooled off and turned black. The man of the house spoke up and said, “Brother, you need not say anything. We’ll be at worship next Sunday.” That illustrates what happens to anybody who deliberately stays away from worshiping God with the saints. You can attend worship regularly; if you don’t you can only blame yourself for your failure. You cannot say, “I tried, and couldn’t.” You’ll have to say, “I didn’t try.”

One time in West Virginia, I closed a meeting by talking along this line. When I went back a year later one of the elders got up and said, “We had twenty-four additions when Brother Dark was here last year. Eighteen of them are still with us. Three of them have moved to other towns, and three have fallen from grace.” I asked whether the three backsliders had followed these three rules. Of course they had not. They couldn’t have fallen from grace if they had been following these three rules; at least I have never heard of anybody’s falling who did. Have you? I have heard of people’s falling from grace while following one or two of them, but not all of them. These are not the only requirements but when faithfully performed they make it possible and easier for you to do your duty in every way. May I insist then, if you want to go to heaven—and you say you do—that you read the Bible every day, pray to God every day, and go to worship every time you can.

Let me read a Scripture before I close this lesson. It’s found in the first chapter of 1 John 1:4. It’s one of the sweetest promises in all the Bible. “These things write we unto you, that your joy may be made full.” God wants us to be full of joy. He said, “I’m writing these things that you may be full of joy.” Well, what is it, John? “This, then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Will you note this promise again? “If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” This promise is to those who walk in the light.

The word “walk” suggests continuation. The blood cleanseth from all sin those who continue in the light. Just as the word “walk” suggests continuation, I believe the cleansing is also a continuing process. The best way I know to illustrate this point is by the blood of the human body, one purpose of which is to remove poison from any place which becomes infected, and eliminate the poison through the natural channels of elimination. So the blood of Jesus Christ flows, so to speak, through the veins of a Christian, keeping all impurities removed therefrom. This I believe with all my heart.

But don’t get the wrong impression. Somebody might say, “Well, if that’s the way it is, I’ll not be so careful. I’ll just take it easy and drift along and let the blood of Jesus keep me clean.” Well, it won’t do it in your case. You’ve missed the point entirely. The promise is to those who walk in the light, to those who are doing the best they can, to those who are working at the job, to those who really want to go to heaven, who read the Bible, go to worship, and pray to God, and do everything they can. In spite of all this they’ll make some mistakes.

This Scripture doesn’t say that you won’t sin. The promise is to those who do sin—who sin in spite of the fact that they are walking in the light. If people who are walking in the light can’t sin, then this promise would be out of order; but this promise is to those who are walking in the light, who are doing the best they can, and yet they sin. When they do so, the Bible says the blood of Jesus will cleanse them from all unrighteousness—keep them clean. In that sense, you see, you can stay in a saved condition all the time.

Suppose I were to ask you right now, how many of you believe, if you were to die at this minute, that you would go to heaven; I wonder how many would raise your hands. I find very few people who answer this question properly. They say, “Well, I hope I would. I’d like to. I don’t know.” People go through life in doubt about their own salvation. God didn’t expect his people to experience such uneasiness. He has written these things that our joy may be full. A lot of people have doubts and fears. They think if they were to die just after saying their evening prayers, confessing their sins, that they would go to heaven, but if they were to die five minutes before, that they would go to hell. If I felt that way about it, I’d want somebody to shoot me just after I’d finished my evening prayer so I’d be sure to go to heaven.

I’m not boasting when I say that I believe with all my heart that if I should fall dead in the midst of this sentence, I would spend eternity in heaven. That’s not because I’m so good; it’s certainly not because I have never sinned. But I _can_ say this: if there is a single sin against me of which I have not repented, I do not know it. If I did know it, I would repent of it before I finished this statement. I wouldn’t wait till time for my evening prayer. The time to repent of a sin is just as soon as you become aware of it, right then and there. That’s what you have to do in order to be walking in the light. Never allow an unforgiven sin to hang over you for one minute for you might die during that minute, and have to spend eternity in torment.

God doesn’t expect his children to go through life having so many ups and downs, thinking one minute they’re on their way to glory and the next minute on their way to hell. It isn’t necessary to be like that. God doesn’t want you to be. He wants you to be full of joy. If you will read this verse, meditate upon it, and conform to the conditions stated, it will certainly help you to be full of joy.