ES018 Eternal Security Sermon
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1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 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.
“Once saved always saved.”
Is this the right kind of question? I know that there are many who take issue that we wonder if it is possible to lose one’s salvation at all. But pastorally I have met those who are shaken in their faith and have become fearful - this often arises when they have done something that is wrong or they read a piece of Scripture that seems to them to suggest that it is possible to lose their salvation. If we are on the side of once saved, always saved then this does not give us license to live however we like - we are called upon to persevere, to endure, to make it to the end - I have spoken of the severity of God’s judgement when it comes to what we have done for Christ since we were saved - but at no point has our salvation itself been put at risk. But what we do now has an eternal bearing on what our responsibilities will be in Heaven.
So, today I want to ask whether we can be sure we are always saved and I want to encourage you to have such assurance. It is, though, an age old question. Calvin and Arminius argued about the question of eternal security. So how is it that I come so firmly on the side of once saved always saved. My friends I want to give us confidence in our Lord and His Word. There are about 90 verses that declare that our salvation is secure. And where we find verses that seem to contradict this view, on closer inspection have nothing to do with salvation but our works and consequential reward.
Let me ask this first: Is salvation something earned by us? Or is salvation a work God has done for us? Let us look at the Scriptures:
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
If it was man’s work we could fail. But as it is God’s work it is impossible to fail.
So let us look at 4 sections from the Word of God that show that Salvation is permanent and not temporary along with a few verses at the end to round it off:
First thing to note is that God is omniscient
First thing to note is that God is omniscient
o that means He is all-knowing. He knows everything. He knows the past, present and future. God is not the foolish man who started to build a house and didn’t have enough money to finish it off.
o God knew that we would receive Jesus as our saviour and therefore God, the Father, predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son.
In fact, when we became Christians at least 30 things happened to us; Here are some of them:
We were reconciled to God (2 Cor 5.18),
we were freed from the law (Rom 8:1-2),
we were glorified (Rom 8.17, 30),
we were forgiven (Eph 4.32),
we were accepted in the beloved (Eph 1.6),
we were made part of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12.13),
we were adopted into the family of God (Eph 1.5),
we are seated in the Heavenlies with Christ,
we are crucified, buried, raised and freed from sin in Christ.
Each and every one of these would need to be reversed if we could lose our salvation: We are no longer reconciled to God, we are back under the law, we have been unglorified, we are unforgiven, we are rejected, we have been amputated from the body of Christ, we have become orphans, we have been thrown out of Heaven. These things make a mockery of gift of salvation because with that salvation we have been placed IN CHRIST and have been given all other things. We should look in our Bibles for what we are in Christ – this is our Position – unchangeable.
On top of that if God knew that there was a chance that we could lose our salvation and God loves us then why did we live long enough for that to happen – why didn’t God just take us at the moment we were saved?
The second thing to note is that Salvation is a gift
The second thing to note is that Salvation is a gift
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
(The gift of God is not going to make you sorry afterwards. Irrevocable. Unchangeable. See Israel today.) God does not change His mind. Nothing caught God by surprise – He knew what we were going to be like – God is all-knowing.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
The third thing to note is the work of the Trinity in their various persons
The third thing to note is the work of the Trinity in their various persons
The Father was involved:
The Father was involved:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
The Son was involved:
The Son was involved:
ILLUSTRATION: American Judge & son
ILLUSTRATION: American Judge & son
1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.
You don’t have to sin. Parakletos. One that comes alongside. Defence lawyer. To confront the Father face to face. Jesus speaks on our behalf. I have died for that sin on the cross. Lamb that was slain (Rev 5). Jesus is both Lawyer & Judge! If God be for us who can be against us. If we can lose our salvation it means that Jesus has lost a case even though he was the defence lawyer and judge. But your know whenever we stand before the Judge it is speculated that Jesus doesn’t say anything but simply holds up his hands. There’s something about those hands that always wins. Jesus is going to see the fruit of His soul and be satisfied.
[This is why knowing that we are going to be saved for eternity is not a licence to sin as we would not want Jesus to keep defending us – the most miserable people on earth are those who are out of fellowship with God. God disciplines those He loves like a Father does his son at in no place in Scripture are we threatened with loss of salvation.]
Father and Son involved together:
Father and Son involved together:
37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
(Good shepherd doesn’t lose sheep)
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
Are we bigger than God? Holds the universe in His palm. We have the biggest daddy of them all!
ILLUSTRATION: There were two brethren who differed on the question of the believer's safety in Christ. They were discussing the question, and one said to the other: "I'll tell you, a child of God is safe only so long as he stays in the lifeboat. He may jump out, and if he jumps out he is lost." To this the other replied, saying: "You remind me of an incident in my own life. I took my little son out with me in a boat. I realised, as he did not, the danger of his falling or even jumping into the water. So I sat with him all the time, and all the time I held him fast, so he could neither fall out nor jump out of the boat." "But," said the first speaker, "he could have wriggled out of his coat and got away in spite of you." "Oh," said the other, "you misunderstood me if you supposed I was holding his coat; I was holding him."
Holy Spirit was involved:
Holy Spirit was involved:
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
A seal:
Transaction is done – sealed unto day of salvation
Ownership – the seal on it proves it is yours
Complete security –
8 You yourselves write a decree concerning the Jews, as you please, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for whatever is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring no one can revoke.”
Same as in Daniel and the lion’s den
· Earnest – engagement ring – in the ancient world you needed a bill of divorce and God does not believe in divorce. A downpayment. First part of our inheritance: 1 Pe 1.4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.
5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
(Parakletos too)
23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,
The fourth things is our Kindred relationship
The fourth things is our Kindred relationship
o God is our Heavenly Father
o Gal 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus
o We can deny our Father but he is still our Father
24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
Know – not have and then lose.
Isn’t it in the nature of eternal that it never ends – and since it started the day we became Christians then it will never end.
God has unilaterally resolved the sin question: the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world – therefore there is nothing in the future that can keep the foreknown, predestined, called, justified and glorified child of God from getting to the place God has prepared for them.
ILLUSTRATION
Wall Street is wonderfully well looked after by detectives. Money in all forms is plentiful there, and the aim of the police is to prevent those huge and paralysing thefts which are the work of a moment, and are seldom traced. Many years ago, twenty men from the Detective Bureau, selected for one particular qualification—their knowledge of thieves and their ways—were the guardians of Wall Street. These men had made a study of the faces of the most important thieves of the world. As soon as one of those noted criminals appeared in Wall Street he was sure to be recognised by one or more of the twenty. Even though he may not have committed a crime for which he had not been punished, his very presence in the precinct where money and valuable securities were the only commodities at hand, was a suspicious circumstance, and he was quickly driven outside the sacred limits. The dead line on the north was Fulton Street, and on the west, Broadway. The thief had to stay behind the dead line. So our God has His "dead line," beyond which even the malignity of Satan cannot go. "Thus far and no further." He will permit him to assail, but the precious treasure of our soul shall never be robbed from us. He "will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able" (1 Co 10:13). "I have prayed for thee" (Lk 22:32). None shall "pluck them out of My hand" (Jn 10:28,29). These keep the great foot pad of the universe at bay, and secure our absolute safety in our Lord.
We have already answered the question: Is Salvation God’s work or ours? Of course it is God’s. This being the case doing good works, going to Church, even praying is not the way to salvation. Only putting our trust in Jesus will save us. Jesus says He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. We can give mental assent to Jesus but not be saved. The only way is to completely give your life to Him and trust Him, and Him only to carry you to Heaven.
As Christians we have a blessed hope – whether we live to see Jesus coming again or we die we will go to be with the Lord. Everything else will get destroyed with fervent heat – we should be living lives to glorify God in gratefulness of all that He has done for us. It is only when we forget that we live lives as though He doesn’t exist.
Benediction
Benediction
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
25 To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.
Bibliography
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