The Certainty of Salvation
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The Certainty of Salvation
The Certainty of Salvation
Romans 5:1-2
1 Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have also obtained access through Him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
1 Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have also obtained access through Him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Can you lose your salvation?
The answer is no, absolutely not.
But Why?
We need to understand why we cannot lose our salvation. And the first thing we need to consider is what we mean by “our” salvation. If “our salvation” refers to what has been appropriated through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, then certainly the answer is no. If we mean by “our salvation” what we have accomplished, then it’s not salvation because everything that Paul has been saying from 3:21 to the end of chapter 4 was to explain salvation. A person is saved only by
8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—
8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:
So, salvation is never from our works. It is solely the work of Christ and it comes to us through faith and we so are justified by faith. And Paul argued in chapter 4 that salvation unequivocally comes only on the basis of God’s grace working through man’s faith. And he also establishes that faith has always been the only way to salvation. And that was his purpose in talking about Abraham.
And now he takes up one of the most exhilarating subjects in all of scripture and that is the certainty of salvation.
How then is this great salvation maintained?
We’re only going to introduce the subject tonight. Paul spends 4 massive chapters to prove the certainty of your salvation.
I want you to notice how the Apostle begins chapter 5.
He begins, “Therefore...” because he’s introducing a new section, but more than that he is looking to draw our attention to something that brings great comfort and that is how we know that salvation by grace through salvation alone is certain.
This is how you study Scripture. Look for these therefores.
He is introducing a new section. But this is more than just starting a new section. He wants to really draw our attention something comforting and exhilarating.
He has finished up his great statement of the doctrine of Justification by Faith alone. He’s dealt with all the objections and he now ends chapter 4 with:
Romans 4:23-
23 Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, 24 but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Now he’s going to show us that in light of what he has been saying there is a certain inevitable deductions and conclusion to be drawn.
What are his deductions and conclusions?
To get to his conclusions, I think the best approach is to first consider his teaching in general. And so before we get into the details verse by verse. Let’s make a general analysis of chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8. Because these 4 chapters make up this new section.
I. Wrong Conclusions
I. Wrong Conclusions
First, I want to give you a commonly accepted analysis of these chapters that I think are quite wrong and misunderstand the argument of Paul.
Chapter 5:1-11 make up the results of justification by faith.
Verse 12 then begins the great question of sanctification and this goes on through chapter 8:13.
Then until the end of chapter 8, he considers other results and consequences of the doctrine of justification. leading up to our final glorification and triumph over temptations and trials.
So, to simplify this position that chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 are about sanctification, they would outline the book of Romans like this:
Chapters 1-4 — Justification
Chapters 5-8 — Sanctification
Chapters 9-11 — The Problem of the Jews
Chapters 12-16 — Practical Instructions and Exhortations
II. The Certainty of Salvation
II. The Certainty of Salvation
“What the Apostle looks to point out in great detail and clarity is the absolute character, the fullness and finality of the salvation which comes to us as the result of Justification by Faith Alone.” ~ Dr. Martyn D. Lloyd-Jones
Having real set out the doctrine of justification by faith alone, he now wants to show us that if we really believe on Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead — You remember
25 He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
If we really believe on Him — God, then our salvation is absolute, complete, and final — and there is nothing that can rob us of it.
And Paul immediately states this in the first two verses.
Romans 5:1-2
1 Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have also obtained access through Him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
1 Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have also obtained access through Him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Therefore — Since we have been declared righteous by faith — We have PEACE with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now that is the great statement and then he rushes right to the ultimate and final end of salvation in verse 2— the glory of God.
So, this is what he is anxious to teach for the next 4 chapters.
If your faith is anything except wholly and solely by faith in what Jesus Christ did through His coming, life, teaching, death, resurrection, and ascension — if your faith is anything of yourself, and not only on Jesus Christ — then you are not justified; you do not have peace with God; you are dead in your sins; and you will not end up in the glory of God.
III. Nothing can shake us out of this salvation.
III. Nothing can shake us out of this salvation.
Verses 3, 4, and 5 Paul shows that the greatest tribulations cannot rob us of this position.
Verses 6-11, he shows us why this salvation is so unshakably certain. And that’s because it’s all of God. It’s based on God’s character, God’s love, God’s action, God’s love toward us even when we were yet sinners!
Romans 5:10
10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life!
10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life!
If God has done that, which is the greatest thing of all — “while we were enemies” — then He cannot fail to do the lesser things necessary to secure our salvation, our deliverance from sin in every shape and form, and bring us to our final glorification.
Verses 12-21, Paul is not dealing primarily with sanctification, but still the same subject of the certainty of the final salvation, and the guarantee of it is this — and this is his great argument:
IV. It is our union with Christ.
IV. It is our union with Christ.
Your union with Christ is the greatest proof of your final salvation.
Now proof that Paul is talking about the certainty of salvation and not sanctification is this issue of Adam.
Why does the Apostle bring up Adam?
We’ll get into this more in detail later, but it is to demonstrate our being in Christ is what makes the certain our salvation and Paul’s argument is that just like we were in Adam and are sinners — we are in Christ and righteous.
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned.
Romans 5:12
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned.
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned.
Romans 5:17
17 Since by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
17 Since by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Chapters 6 and 7 — are parenthetical to his argument. As we’ll see, Paul takes up two major objections. But then he gets right back to the Certainty of Salvation in chapter 8.
And it’s in chapter 8 that Paul really lays it out in the clearest terms the absolute certainty and finality of our salvation.
Romans 8:1
1 Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus,
1 Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus,
:
There is Therefore again and then the emphasis of “in Christ.”
And look at and
1 Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have also obtained access through Him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
30 And those He predestined, He also called; and those He called, He also justified; and those He justified, He also glorified.
From justification to glorification — and notice, there is no mention of sanctification.
Why? Does Paul not teach sanctification?
No, he does, just not here. And we have to go with what the text says.
That is the general point of chapters 5-8 — the Absolute Certainty of our Salvation in Christ Jesus.
V. Peace with God
V. Peace with God
The Apostle is going to give us 6 aspects of the Certainty of Salvation in . And we won’t begin to cover them tonight, but I do want to draw your attention to the first one tonight.
Notice first
— “We have peace with God...”
What does it mean to have peace with God?
Peace is not subjective but objective. Peace with God is not a feeling but a fact based upon the work of Christ. You notice that he adds: “through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
What does Paul mean by “Peace?”
What’s the opposite of “Peace?”
War!
Most unsaved people do not think of themselves as enemies of God. They don’t have conscious feelings of hatred for Him and they are not actively opposing His work or contradicting His Word. They, at worst, consider themselves to be “neutral” about God. But there is no such neutrality and it’s because God is at war with them!
Not only are unbelievers enemies of God — but God is the enemy of all unbelievers, to the degree that He is angry with them every day.
11 God is a righteous judge and a God who shows His wrath every day.
And He condemns them to an eternal hell. Now, we’re going to build this argument the next time as we look at each of these aspects of the Certainty of Salvation.
This is what makes the work of Christ all essential.