I Hope I Make It
Notes
Transcript
This week I’ve been asking God to remind us of our salvation.
The eternal security of the believer is a precious truth of scripture that is often misunderstood. So, what does it mean? Let’s start there: The Eternal security of the believer is an objective work of God ensuring when the gift of salvation has been received it cannot be lost. Apostasy is not an option.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
It is an objective work. By this I mean that eternal security is not based on or influenced by your subjective feelings or opinions. Instead it is rooted in unchangeable facts and truth that exist independent of you or me .
It is a work of God. Eternal security is something God provides. It is not something that the believer must retain through discipline and hard work. The believer does not earn or keep eternal security but rather simply receives it from God.
Once the gift of salvation has been received. Only those who have put their trust in the person and work of Jesus for salvation are kept eternally secure. Neither a profession of faith, nor the claim to be hard at work for Christ are sufficient to be kept eternally secure. God's work to secure salvation is only extended to those who trust in Jesus as Savior.
It can never be lost. Those who have trusted Jesus for salvation will never be to consigned to hell. No matter how far they may wander from the life of the Savior He will never abandon them but will certainly bring them to glory.
What had to happen for salvation to be available? …but deliver us from evil...
Creation by a God who completely loved what He created. Even though sin was chosen, He still loved.
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
So salvation was, is, entirely the work of God. Meant for our good but never meant to be earned.
What must I do to be saved?
Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
What must I do to stay saved?
What will I do because I’m saved?
Now there’s the question!
Stay - There is a fairly common belief that you can walk away from your faith in God. Even though scripture says ‘nothing can take me out of God’s hand’ people believe they are big enough to do just that. To remove themselves from God’s hand. But it says nothing. Pretty inclusive word.
I’m in love and I dont care who knows it!
Change - He is working in me so change is certain. He is patient and long-suffering regarding our ability to receive change.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
See Him -
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
A note of what eternal security is not:
Eternal security is not the same as a profession of faith and not the same as assurance. Salvation focuses on the work of the triune God. Assurance is concerned with the believers subjective sense of their security. Put another way eternal security is a true and objective fact whether or not the believer has assurance of their salvation. What is the Pythagorean theorem?
A believer, although eternally secure through the work of God, may nevertheless lack assurance of their salvation for several reasons.
They doubt the reality of their commitment. This may be the result of an inability to pinpoint a moment of conversion. Or perhaps by God's grace they have come into a new understanding of God and His word that casts prior understandings into question. Each of these may cause a truly born again believer to doubt their initial commitment to Christ. The solution is simply to confess one's doubt and its reason, and receive the forgiveness that is ours in Christ. While it is impossible to be born-again more than once, there is nothing wrong with confessing our doubt and again calling on the Lord for salvation.They doubt the correctness of the procedure. Doubts may arise when one wonders whether they needed to respond to an altar call, recite a particular prayer formula, be baptized dunking, sprinkling, or dry-cleaning, or make a public rather than private profession of faith. This results when some person or institution places unwarranted emphasis on some method of invitation. Sin has entered a believers life. A lack of assurance about ones eternal security sometimes results when sin, particularly serious sin or persistent backsliding, is allowed to take hold of a believers life. Those whose conscious are particularly sensitive may also lack assurance. While the life of a true believer will never be free from sin (James 3:2) the doctrine of eternal security is not a license to sin. A lack of a subjective sense of assurance is God's prompt to the sinning believer to confess their sin and return to the Lord.One rejects the doctrine of eternal security. If one does not believe in the doctrine they they will inevitably lack a sense of assurance at some point in their lives.
But all of these are fear producing scenarios used to make the believer ineffective.
Remember where we started today? I told you I was asking God to remind you of your salvation. Has He? If He didnt, is it possible its because you’re not? I dont ask to create fear or uncertainty. My question is similar to John’s words: I write these things so you will KNOW you have eternal live.