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Closer Look at "Real" Salvation

We have a new year. We have new goals. Some goals get revived from time gone by. It's a new beginning for many people, and we look forward with renewed optimism.

But you know what? It's also a time to be looking back. There's something about January 1st and new beginnings that push the human condition in various directions.

So today we're going to look back and look forward with our faith journey—and we're going to do that biblically. We're going to look at what the scriptures actually say in context and what the word actually means to us as fallen people in need of salvation.

Bringing Out the Old and the New

Let's start with Matthew 13:52:

"And he said to them, 'Therefore, every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.'"

Many times that gets interpreted as preaching out of the Old Testament and the New Testament. But we're talking about a complete balance of the truth of scripture and the love of the Savior in context.

The Pendulum of Truth and Love

Do you remember the old Timex watch? The old Timex watch that you had when you were in junior high or high school and the battery would die. When it died, it wouldn't just quit. The second hand would just sit there and get stuck.

Well, in your life, in your walk with Christ, there's a balance of truth and love that swings.

Some people get stuck on the love side. They get stuck like that Timex watch all the way bent over here. Love, love, love. Everything is love, love, love, love. You can do whatever you want. If we're real Christians, we'll just love.

And then you get people that swing over here on the truth side. And they get stuck there like that Timex watch. They're just stuck in truth. Truth pounding the Bible like an anvil. And their favorite verse is, "And God smoked them."

You need to come down here and have a balance of truth and love. Truth and love. You've got to have that balance in your life.

It's like diet and exercise. You've got to have a balance. There's no exercise program in the world that can overcome a really rotten diet. For those of you who are just giving up on your New Year's resolution today on the 11th—it's a balance. It's a balance in life.

And the balance matters. This means that our actual walk with Christ matters. With deception and manipulation around every corner, it is so important that we get up on the wheel and we drive hard in 2026. And yet we maintain our balance—the whole armor of God, fruits of the Spirit, truth and love.

The Theme: Examine Yourself

The theme today is 2 Corinthians 13:5:

"Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourself or do you not realize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you fail to meet the test?"

Three Stories, Three Principles

1. Reviving Things from the Past

It's okay to look back on things that once were beneficial and revive them. Maybe we sing a hymn or two. Maybe we relaunch a prayer meeting from time to time. Maybe we do a testimony service here and there in 2026.

Bring out the old and the new.

Sometimes we need to go back in kind of a way to armor up, to suit up for the battle. Because there's many times when we get ready to share the gospel, we get that game seven look in our eyes. This is why we play the game—because it's so exciting when you see people with new life in Christ.

This is going to be a throwdown year for many of us in many ways.

2. Spiritual Acclimatization

I want to talk about being acclimated. Being climatized. How you can become environmentally adapted both physically and spiritually. The same principle is in play. Spiritual climatization is a real thing.

A couple months ago, it was getting cold and those of us who have motorcycles didn't want to put them away. Rod Boggas and I went for one last ride. It was kind of a cold day, sunny day, beautiful day, about 47, 48 degrees.

We had a great ride and my hands are getting so cold. I've got my riding gloves on. We stop and I look over at Rod. He's got no gloves on.

I'm like, "Rod, aren't your hands cold?"

He's like, "No, not really." For decades he was out on the line twisting phone wire for the phone company. That was his job. His hands climatized.

Do his hands still get cold? Of course. But not like you and I because he's climatized.

The spiritual flip is this: if we are grounded in the word, our spirit will get cold a lot less and we'll be able to tolerate it a lot more. And that is something that we need to be focused on.

We need to quit looking at everybody else and know that we can climatize ourselves spiritually to the word of God. Will we still get cold? Yes. But not as bad as others when we're grounded in the word once we've been spiritually climatized.

3. Walking in Truth Wherever It Leads

What do people do when they uncover they were wrong? They had been misled, they had believed a lie.

Really, the big deal is this: what do people do when their eyes are open to the fact that they had a false conversion?

See, the issue with false conversions—you ever hear the phrase, "Well, 50% of all Christian marriages end in divorce, just like the world"? That's not true. 50% of people who claim to be Christian end in divorce.

There was a deep study done about 10 years ago, and I think we've fallen since then, that actually Bible-believing, saved-through-and-through Christians in America total about 8%.

Bible calls it a narrow road. Yes.

See, when you're on that broad road, that's not talking about lost people headed towards their destruction. That's talking about people who've heard the truth, who might even be in the church, but they're on the broadway that leads to destruction.

And I believe false conversions lead to a form of madness. Whether it's our country, the city of Minneapolis again, or the visible church—the issue is lies and deception leading to lawlessness.

In the church world, the appearance of what is called the body of Christ—the issue there is false conversions, counterfeits, fakes.

So my mission this year is to people in the larger visible church who are lost. The goal of what we are going to do this year, my prayer, is to see many of these finally soundly saved.

The Text: The Parable of the Sower

Luke 8:4-15:

"And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, 'A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away because it had no moisture. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.'

"And as he said these things, he called out, 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear.'

"And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, 'To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God. But for others they are in parables so that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand.'

"'Now the parable is this. The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard. Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who when they hear the word receive it with joy, but these have no root. They believe for a while and in time of testing fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. As for that in the good soil, they are those who hearing the word hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patience.'"

What Is Jesus Saying Here?

I love this one because not only does he give the parable, he gives the explanation. It's pretty hard to miss unless you're trying to miss it.

He's saying that there are many false conversions.

Look closer and see:

• There are four hearers
• There are three conversions
• Two are false—they're converted for a minute, for a little while
• Only one is real
• Only one is in the good soil
• Only one is in the good ground

Two Things That Are NOT Part of the Saving Seed

The seed is of course the actual saving gospel message. In our world, two things you must know are not part of that seed:

1. The Idea That People Are Generally Good

That is a lie. People are born sinful.

Look, we are made in God's image. We are given a God-shaped vacuum in our soul. We have eternity written on our heart. There is a righteousness that we all have—but that's been corrupted, making us, listen now, unredeemable.

All of us are unredeemable.

That's why in Revelation 5, they looked the whole universe over from the beginning of time to the end of time and they couldn't find anyone. And everybody was bummed out because how can mankind be left in an unredeemable state?

And then the Lamb was found—the only one who could take away the sins of the world.

Don't let your corrupted righteousness get you into the mindset that you're actually good people. We're all born in sin.

2. The Idea That Belief in God Will Save You

Belief in God by itself does not save you.

True saving faith is turning away from sin to the God who can forgive you and save you from eternal death. The Bible says even demons believe and tremble.

See, what happens is that many people want to create what I call "Jesus the Overlooker." Jesus will just overlook your sin. And of course, they want to avoid hell and eternal death. Who doesn't?

That is different from coming to Jesus because this person knows they have sinned against a holy God.

Coming to Jesus in regret and contrition and recognizing their sinfulness and their need for forgiveness, the need of new life, going from real death to real life—that's far different from coming to Jesus just to have a problem solved.

2 Timothy 2:19 says this:

"But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: The Lord knows who are his. And let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity."

See, there will be evidence of this departing from iniquity. There will be evidence of a new life, a life now based on faith in Jesus Christ.

This Is Not Behavior Modification

Now, some twist this to their own peril. Some say that all this gospel and Bible stuff is just to make bad little girls and boys into good little girls and boys. That it's behavior modification. "I know Jesus now, I got to act right."

That's not it. No.

The Bible and the gospel and salvation found in Jesus is to take lost sinful people and give them life. It's to make dead people alive. It's a much different understanding.

James 2:18 says:

"But someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works."

True saving faith is turning away from sin toward God. True repentance is not some superficial confession nor saying a little prayer because you're in a bad spot.

Modern evangelism, which is sometimes called prayerism, is where you say a little prayer and you confess Jesus to come into your heart. What happens then?

See, we have an epidemic problem across the land inside so-called Christianity. Preachers hardly ever talk about sin, righteousness, and the judgment to come.

Look, it actually goes down like this: Two people come to Jesus. One is a true convert and one is a false convert. Guess what? Both had an experience, but only one is really forgiven and really soundly saved.

The Bible speaks about falsehood all around us thoroughly, extensively. It's ad nauseam throughout the New Testament. False brethren, false prophets, false teachers, and true and false conversions.

The Four Ground Conditions

Let's look again at the four ground conditions the seed fell into—the three conversions and the one true conversion.

This is hard truth for people. And that's why if you're growing a church or a ministry, you would never preach this way. Because "you guys are so special, we love you here, everybody come on in and let's just be one big happy family. Sin? Oh, let's not talk about that. Judgment? No, not today."

No, it's all around us. And when you look at this text, you can't help but see it.

Look closer.

The Hard Ground (The Path)

No one comes to God unless the Lord himself draws them. Why? Because the message—the authentic saving message—is to give up this life for the one to come. And the reasons behind doing that are spiritually discerned.

The Bible says the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. This is unmistakable.

It means that we are to proclaim and let the Spirit do the work. That's why I say don't debate—proclaim. Nobody came to authentic saving faith in Jesus because they lost an argument.

The hard path is littered with people who falsely believe that all people are generally good people. "Well, I didn't murder anyone. I'm not Hitler."

Total hard path, hard hearts about even recognizing their need for forgiveness, let alone understanding they're guilty in front of a holy God. We don't comprehend what God really is. We put him into human terms so many times.

The Rocky Ground (The Stony Ground)

Says they received the message with joy, but they have no root. Says right there in your Bible that they believed for a little while and in time of temptation fell away.

Do you see that? Believed for a little while.

They thought they were Christians. They thought they were saved. And they weren't.

Why? Because, listen now, they never actually repented of their sins. They may have confessed Jesus and even asked him into their heart, but they didn't actually repent, turn, and receive new life and find roots in the good ground that is Jesus Christ.

So the joy that they had starts to fade away. They easily give into temptations. The temptations of self-importance still dominate their daily life.

And guess what starts up and accelerates? It's the inability to process truth and error, and it continues on an ongoing basis.

Pretty much every deconstructionist I have ever heard, I always feel is a stony ground hearer. Deconstructing is the way people use philosophy and stuff to decompartmentalize and leave the faith altogether. They think they're actually doing themselves a favor. They think they're growing, but they're not. Their deception is just outrageous.

Deconstruction is their way of telling us how much smarter they are than us blockhead biblical-believing Christians.

People who deconstruct their faith are nothing more than a smug, self-promoting, stony ground hearer who is now falling away because they never fell forward in the first place.

I saw a YouTube of a deconstructionist last week who sounded very convincing to the untrained eye. Very convincing. She was slick, and what she was saying would be attractive to a lot of people.

She also said the only thing that Bible peeps could say in opposition to her leaving the faith is that she was never saved to begin with. And then she goes on to say that that can't be valid because she knew how saved she really was before she deconstructed.

She then, as she's describing how saved she really was, how she was always the first one at church, she was so into it all. In fact, every time she slept with a different guy, she was the first one to confess to receive forgiveness.

Did you catch that?

Ongoing fornicators don't have new life in Christ.

Can authentic Christians fall and yet still be saved? Yes, of course. But that is not what this person was about. She was confused from day one and she was in a false converted state from the get-go.

Why are you with Jesus? What's the point of it all? Is it because you're sinful and you've turned and you've accepted this new life in Christ?

The Thorny Ground

Very similar to the rocky ground. These folks just added Jesus to what they have going on. And as soon as it doesn't make sense, as soon as being a disciple of Jesus starts to squeeze the pleasure of their pursuit of riches—well, it's time to try something else.

They didn't come to turn from their sins and to be redeemed and find new life.

The Good Ground

People who have understood: the gospel seed that's being scattered here is about all who have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All are sinful from birth and are totally lost and without hope. There's no way for possible redemption no matter what you and I do.

And the seed gets scattered that is full of grace and mercy.

And the seed tells us that the Creator God himself descended to earth to live the perfect life, to die a sacrificial death in our place. We have punishment coming on us. Jesus steps in front and says, "I'll be their substitute. I'll take it on myself."

And then not only that—to spike the football—he rises from the dead to conquer death, hell, and the grave.

And all of this is offered to me as a solution to what? To how good my life can be now?

No. It's offered to me in my broken, contrite heart, begging God to have mercy on me, a sinner.

And then a miracle happens.

A miracle happens.

God, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, reaches down and spiritually touches a human being—a dead being—and brings it back to life. Spiritual renewal that'll last an eternity.

This creates a gratitude in the one receiving new life in such a way that a changed life going forward is inevitable.

Many times that life will not have any bells and whistles. It'll not have any great testimony. There'll not be an earth-shaking or anything. It'll just be a new life full of joy.

A changed heart now content, and eternal salvation is now ever-present in the good ground Christian.

Understanding Fruit

See, the word fruit, the concept of fruit in the scriptures—it's in play to help us understand what's going on. Fruit can be both behaviors and it can be results of efforts and so on.

In our context today, look at both good and bad fruit:

Good fruit:

• Jesus is God
• Repentance and turning from sin
• Pursuing righteousness

Bad fruit:

• Prayerism
• Just confess Jesus as Lord
• Come to Jesus to help with problems—and that leads to deception

You say, "Well, in the Bible, Paul says confess the Lord Jesus and be saved. Confess with your mouth."

He's talking about people that are staring down a Roman soldier. That was written because when the people were out working in the fields, all of a sudden they hear the horse hooves coming and here comes a little platoon. They have this little cart with them and they tell people to all come up and grab a pinch of incense and throw it on the little fire that's on the cart and say "Caesar is God."

And Paul's telling them confess that the Lord Jesus is God in that environment. That's much different than trying to turn it into little prayerism that leads to false conversions.

Are you sad about your sin? When you look at the holiness of God and you see the gospel seed being scattered in your life, do you recognize your need? And do you turn from your sin then? Or do you just add Jesus on? "I'll try this on for a while. I'll say some magic words and poof, I'm in."

Is that really what you think the Bible teaches? There's a lot of bad actors out there that'll try to tell you it is.

It is a free gift, but it's a serious gift. And we've just turned it into something cheap.

Good tree equals good fruit. Bad tree is bad fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit.

A false convert then will try to impress us with their leaves and their branches. Why? Because they lack fruit.

All across our land, our churches are filled with false converts. The Bible calls them weeds among the wheat, goats amongst the sheep, foolish bridesmaids among the wise, bad fish in with the good fish—and it's all going to be sorted out on judgment day.

The Second Harshest Verses in the Bible

Now, I've told you before that I think the harshest verses in the Bible are in Matthew 7:21-24. But you want to see quite possibly the second harshest? Quite possibly the second harshest verses in the Bible for those of us who want to live for Jesus, who want to be serious about God in our life?

It's in 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12:

"And with all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion so that they may believe what is false in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

By the way, always in the Bible they're talking about people that have a faith, that are around church. This is not the lost person down the street that's on the hard path that doesn't care less.

I tell you all of this because I want you to know you have salvation found in Jesus. I want you to know. I want you to see the deception of cheap grace and prayerism—say a little confession and you're in, no full repentance.

And what do we have? A false convert and possibly a future false teacher.

Examine Yourself

So remember one of the scriptures that I started the day with—2 Corinthians 13:5. Let's look at it again:

"Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourself or do you not realize this about yourself that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you fail to meet the test."

Do you see how important this is? Do you see how we must stay a good ground church?

And that is only possible if we stay grounded in the word.

No leaps, no pandering, no using scripture out of context to grift for personal gain, no self-exalting—because this whole deal is never about you. It's always about him. Always.

"Well, my personal salvation and my personal relationship is about me, me, me."

No. Even all of that is God preparing us to be a worthy bride for the King. It's still—even in your most awesome one-on-one time with Jesus—even in that moment, it is still all about him.

Just bask in the awesomeness of actually being saved by Jesus and how great it is to be in the same room with the one who bought and paid for our redemption.

Seven More Scriptures to Bring It Home

1 Corinthians 10:12:

"Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall."

Romans 12:3:

"For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned."

God's expectations on each of us are not the same. Some things you are required to do that I am not required to do and vice versa. Some things you're going to be led to do that I'm not going to be led to do and vice versa. It's being faithful with what we've been assigned.

Galatians 6:3-5:

"For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load."

Quit comparing yourself to others, good, bad, or otherwise. Quit comparing yourself. It's a trap.

I've said this before: on the nights when I'm grilling a steak, I really ain't thinking about what you're eating. I hope you have something good, but I'm focused on the goodness that's in front of me. And I want you to do the same.

Now, that doesn't mean we put a blinder on and ignore everybody. That's not what I'm saying. Again, you can take anything and twist it if you want to be in that delusion.

1 John 2:3-4:

"And by this we know we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. Whoever says, 'I know him' but does not keep the commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him."

Do you see it? Your value is all wrapped up in being found in Christ.

Things are vastly different for the good ground, soundly saved person.

1 John 2:15:

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

So many people misunderstand this. They take it out of context and they feel like they've got to get rid of all worldly things and just go sit as a monk and hum.

Does this actually mean that I can't like or love some things the world gives me? I mean, come on. I love my motorcycle. I love racing. I love broadcasting. I love the quiet romantic moments with my wife. Does that mean the Father's love isn't in me?

No.

The verse means, in context: the love that a believer has—don't miss this—the love that a believer has will be habitual affection and devotion to God in all things. God has first place in their life. And that's more than just a turn of phrase.

The word "world" here refers to an evil, satanic opposition to God, an opposition to his word, and an opposition to his people. This does not refer to enjoying the blessings that God might have given you in the physical world—but you don't pursue them in peril to your faith testimony.

That's why if you want one phrase to cover your whole life, it's this: contentment with godliness is great gain.

Putting Sacrifice in Perspective

We have had times of being broke. We've had times of being wealthy. And there was a time in my life where I never thought that I would drive a car to 160,000 miles. I mean, that's just—that's beneath me. Yet here we are.

And so I was thinking about being in heaven and what does it mean to sacrifice, to love Jesus, to serve him, to—as they say—bloom where you're planted, go where you're called, live for him. Contentment with godliness is great gain. What does that mean?

And so I can picture myself sitting up in heaven. And the one guy, you know, we're talking about how we all had to sacrifice for Jesus:

• One guy goes, "Yeah, I didn't confess that Caesar was Lord. I confessed Jesus was Lord, and they ran the spear right through me."
• Another one's like, "Yeah, I was boiled in oil for my faith. Thank God Jesus took me out of that before the pain got too bad. That's how I died."
• Another one's like, "Yeah, well, I went to the guillotine and they cut my head off and I was instantly in heaven with Jesus."

And I'm going to be sitting there going, "Yeah, well, I had to drive a used car. A used car, 160,000 miles."

You get what I'm saying?

When you put it into perspective of living for Jesus with abandon because you've been soundly saved, you're forgiven, and you're going to live forever—contentment with godliness is great gain.

Psalm 26:2:

"Prove me, O Lord, and try me. Test my heart and my mind."

Lamentations 3:40:

"Let us test and examine our ways and return to the Lord."

Do You Need to Return to the Lord?

Maybe you've been trying to walk with him. Maybe for years and you know something's not right.

There's nothing wrong with doubting every now and then. In the book of Jude, the one chapter of the book of Jude, it says in there, "Have mercy on those who doubt." Doubting isn't a great thing. But to have mercy, we understand. We get it if you doubt a little bit.

So what do you do? You go back to the word. You go back to talking to Jesus.

Maybe you've never been confronted as a sinner before. Just ask yourself:

• Have you ever lied even once?
• Have you ever taken anything that didn't belong to you—even if it's paper clips from work?
• Have you ever looked at somebody with such anger that you wished they were dead?

If any of those three things are real, you're a self-described lying, thieving, murderous-at-heart person.

You need Jesus. God's law is clear.

So repent today. Turn to Jesus to save you. Turn to him as your substitute.

Your Eternity Has Already Begun

And for those of us who are soundly saved, our eternity is already on. It's already on.

Every one of us when we are born, I believe God gives us a clock of so many days. I don't know your number. You don't know my number. And when that clock ticks down to zero, there ain't nothing that's going to keep you on this planet.

Then you get to step into the new promotion, to the great eternity.

I had a headache so bad this week I thought it was brain aneurysm day. I thought, "All right, this is the day. I feel like the back of my head's just going to explode." And if that would happen—I mean, feel bad for Emily, feel bad for having to find a new pastor and all that.

Don't feel bad for me. I won. I'll have it better than y'all, you know?

And that's what you can have too, if you don't have it.

The Bottom Line

Either a person is a genuine Christian marked by love and obedience to God, or one is a fake Christian in rebellion against God. And there is no wiggle room. There's no middle ground for those claiming to be Christians.

The false teachers—they usually expose their actual lost state in what they say. A false teacher will be dedicated to the world's philosophy and wisdom to an extent to override and overrule the word of God. They're revealing their love for the world and they're revealing their unsaved state.

And you say, "Chris, are we not supposed to judge?"

That's right. We let the weed and the wheat grow up together and at the harvest the Lord sorts them out. We pull in the bad fish and the good fish and the Lord will sort them out. We proclaim, we don't debate.

But there are some things where it becomes obvious. And let the Lord give you enough discernment and a spine strong enough to look at it and say, "No, that's not for me."

Many of these folks are so slick and so slippery they can even deceive some who are walking faithfully. And many times the counterfeit is so close to the original it takes a second or two to register. Hey, this person is a false teacher.

Could it be that it's a legit Christian teacher who just happens to step into false air? Sure, whatever. But the point is you can separate in your mind when you're grounded in the word.

Stay Grounded

Stay grounded in the word. No leaps, no pandering, no using scripture out of context to grift for personal gain, no self-exalting—because this whole deal is never about you. It's always about him. Always.

Even in your most awesome one-on-one time with Jesus, even in that moment, it is still all about him.

Just bask in the awesomeness of actually being saved by Jesus and how great it is to be in the same room with the one who bought and paid for our redemption.