 Who exactly can be saved? Who can make it to heaven? Can a Muslim go to heaven? Can a Catholic go to heaven? Can a Buddhist? Can an atheist go to heaven? Here's something even more controversial. Can a Calvinist go to heaven? Can an Armenian go to heaven? Can a Provisionist go to heaven? Can a Dispensations go to heaven? Who can go to heaven? When we talk about salvation and we think about who Jesus died for and who can be saved, we need to understand one thing. It's not what we know, but who we know. In other words, we're not saved because we understand fully the gospel, we understand fully Jesus, we understand fully what's being done. No, the fact of the matter is we don't know all great deal when we become actual believers in Christ. As a matter of fact, most of what we know we know after. And that being stated, a lot of what needs to be known we may never know until after we've gone and left this earth. Sometimes people just don't get the full understanding of the Bible and of God. Obviously, we want to know as much as possible, but there are some kids who simply just don't know a lot. So are we saying that kids have to know a lot in order to become Christians? Because that's the case, the six-year-old that you have, the eight-year-old, he doesn't send a chance. She didn't have a shot at all at becoming a believer because she doesn't know what all to believe. The fact of the matter is sometimes we put extra stipulations on what it means to be a Christian. Here's one, do you have to believe in the Trinity in order to be saved? It's not a trick question, but I want you to think about it. Do you have to believe in the Trinity in order to be saved? Well, the truth of the matter is no, not really and yes, at the same time, meaning many people cannot or do not understand the Trinity, the full complexity of who God is. The fact of the matter is there's not a scholar on the planet that can fully explain adequately who God is, how he exists, why he even does what he does. And so to expect a new believer to also understand that is asking a bit much now, that does not mean that you can make it in or you can become an actual Christian if you don't believe that Jesus is God. No, I think there's a difference because there's some people that reject the term Trinity and will say that I don't believe in the Trinity and they don't fully understand what they're saying. In other words, they might say so, but they may in their own admission state that I do believe that Jesus is God. I do believe the Holy Spirit is God, but I don't believe in the Trinity. Okay, there's some confusion there, but still, that person is an actual believer if they place their faith in Christ. What does the Bible say is required for salvation? John says, Jesus says, for God to love the world that he gave his only begotten Son, the only one of his kind, in order that those who are believing in him, all that believing him, the believing ones in him should not perish but have eternal life, meaning what's required, believing in him. If you believe in him, now does that mean you believe everything about him or that you know everything about him in order to believe? No, that's not the case. You haven't met the person that knows everything there is to know about him. Now he has revealed what he wants us to know. That part we don't get around. He has revealed exactly what he wants us to know. And ultimately, it's up to us to grow in the knowledge of the Lord. Now, if I'm upset, I'll say it again. We're not saved based on what we know, but we're saved based on who we know, that being Jesus. Jesus made a statement in Matthew 7, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. What is he going to say? Many will declare to me in that day, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? Have we not cast out demons in your name? Which, by the way, gets abused a lot today. Have we not done many other wonderful things in your name? What does Jesus say? I never knew you. And so again, it's based on who we know, not what we know, but after finding, after knowing him, what we know draws us closer to the one who we know. This is why Paul says to grow in the grace and the knowledge of it. We want to learn as much as we can about it. And so there are some people that may deny something verbally, but intellectually, they're not really sure what it is they believe or what they don't believe, what they're against. We have this battle over and over again that Calvinists can't be saved, or Armenians can't be saved, or this group is a heresy, or that teaching is a heresy. Not fully understand that there are people in these groups who don't fully understand why they're in those groups. There are people who are in the Jehovah's Witness camp. There are people who are in the Mormon camp. There are people who simply don't know they placed their faith in Christ and don't know what Jehovah's Witnesses believe, or don't know fully what Mormon believe. But we know for a fact that when a person places their faith in Christ, what happens? The Holy Spirit comes in, takes up residence. That person is now a child of God, and the Spirit is the one that's primarily responsible for growing this person. Now this person does have to yield, and so in that the person is going to come to an understanding that you know what, where I am is not the right place to be. Which is why it's good for us to keep preaching, keep teaching, keep offering sound doctrine for those that are really truly hungry for the Lord and hungry for the Word and want to know more about Him. They'll find teachers, they'll have people, those that are genuine. They will find teachers, they will find people to help them to understand this even more so. Have you noticed how many people come hungry looking for the Word? I've noticed that people who come in in a humble fashion looking for the Word asking questions want to know this, want to know that, and they go back and forth wrestling, but they genuinely want to know because they have a humble heart and a desire, a hungry desire to learn more about God. So what should we do? Give it to them. Rather than tearing people down because they don't know when they're genuinely trying to know. I'm not talking about the intentional wolf, the person that is out there destroying people for his own gain, the person that's twisting scriptures. If I want to talk about it, I'm talking about the person who is legitimately trying to understand and to grow. You would be surprised the number of people that I've encountered even on this channel and even throughout life who initially had a hostility towards maybe sound doctrine, but because the Spirit was in them working and they wanted to know, they end up growing. They succumb to the power of the Spirit and their eyes were open, their understanding was made better, their ears were unclogged, and they began to see the beauty of the Word of God, not being beholden to a particular doctrine or denomination or theology now. Again, doctrine is important, vitally important. Sound doctrine is vitally important. Paul says, teach what comports with sound doctrine. So that's important, but it's also important that we recognize how a person is saved. And again, Paul states this clearly in Romans 10 9 says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus as Lord, in other words, he has to be the Lord in your life. You have to know that he is Lord, which means he is God. And believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead. You will be saved from what the heart, a person believes, resulting in righteousness. So that belief is what results in them being treated as right and right standing before God. And with the mouth confesses, resulting in salvation for the scripture says whoever believes in him, the one believing in him will not be disappointed for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all abounding and riches for all who call upon him. So if you call upon him, you shall be saved for whoever calls upon the name of the Lord. Again, because Jesus is the Lord, the Lord is God, that person will be saved. So while I think it's important that we make sure that we stay vigilant in preaching sound doctrine, let's also offer some grace to people who may not know what we know, because I can promise you at some point in time, you'll be confronted with someone who knows more than you. And let's remember to be charitable in our love towards them and our understanding in our patience with people who may not know what they should know. Because that was us as well. As a matter of fact, that's us right now. So anyone, and I mean anyone who places their faith in Christ, naming him as Lord, I mean, he is God, that he died for their sins. That's the reason why Jesus went to the cross, not for the sake of us having the best argument, not for the sake of us knowing the most know for the sake of us knowing him and him knowing us and having his relationship and growing in him. And so where the person is confused about this doctrine of that doctrine, we need to get away from that. The fighting over how well you know it again. It is a fight. It is a struggle for us to know sound doctrine, but that's secondary compared to salvation. Doctrine doesn't save you, but doctrine doesn't grow you. So it is important, but knowing him first and foremost is the most important thing, because who you know is what saves you. What you know about who you know grows you in your salvation. Amen.