Spiritual Security

Introduction

As human beings, we like being secure. You would rather be a part of a secure business than an insecure one. You would likely prefer to be financially secure than financially insecure. Most would prefer to live in a nation that has secured its borders than one who has to live in constant fear of being invaded and destroyed by a neighboring country. Security is a natural thing to desire as humans. By definition, security isn’t a bad thing either! In order to achieve financial security, you have to work hard at your job and manage your finances well. It’s a good thing to be a hard worker and it’s a good thing to be a good steward. As the Bible says, we are called to build our house on the solid rock rather than the sinking sand. There is security whenever we do this.

Our security, as Christians, isn’t social security or financial security. Our security is spiritual security! Just because we have spiritual security, do we have a license to coast through our lives and be slothful rather than focused? Absolutely not. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to be “all-in” in our relationship with God. This will undoubtedly require hard work as we grow to be more like Christ. The blessing for us is that we know that our hope and faith is secured not in ourselves but in our Savior who paid it all!

Spurgeon, in a devotional, put it like this, “Sustained by such a doctrine (eternal security) we can enjoy security even on earth; not that high and glorious security which renders us free from every slip, but that holy security which arises from the sure promise of Jesus that none who believe in him shall ever perish, but shall be with him where he is.”

Do you have hope that your eternal destination is secured? Maybe you’re a little bit uncertain of this reality this evening. If that is you, I pray that you would be encouraged as we dive into our text this evening and are reminded of the faithfulness of our Heavenly Father.

1 Thessalonians 5:23–28 CSB

23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will do it. 25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us also. 26 Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss. 27 I charge you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brothers and sisters. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

The Reason for Spiritual Security (23-24)

As people who are searching for security, we look to many things in order to satisfy this vacancy. Forbes did a study as to what people desire but can’t attain and at the top of the list was happiness. Why does it seem like people can’t attain happiness? For one, they don’t know themselves and two because they keep looking in the wrong places. Many people think that they will finally have peace and happiness whenever they get the new job, the new raise, the new degree or that they will be happy whenever they get married or have a family of their own. Friends, even the best of things will not bring about lifelong satisfaction for our souls. We can’t look around ourselves in order to have lasting security. Where must we look? We must look to Scripture and see what it tells us about our Heavenly Father.

Romans 8:31–32 CSB

31 What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything?

What does Paul say about our Heavenly Father in our text? He opens up by saying that our God is the God of peace. Doesn’t our world talk a whole lot about peace? Everyone seems to want peace these days. We want peace with these people, we want to be at peace with this nation, and we don’t want to upset this group either. We want peace! How many of you are familiar with the song, “I heard the Bells on Christmas Day?” This is a beloved song that Lindsey and I really like as it reminds us of the truth God is not dead nor does He sleep. There is a line in the song that says this, “Peace on earth, goodwill to men.” Many people believe that this is the end of things as well, God brings about peace to all men. Is that what the Bible shares with us? Not entirely. Look with me in Luke 2

Luke 2:14 NASB95

14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

God is the God of peace and those who with whom He is pleased, those who are Christians, should be known as people of peace as well!

What does the God of peace do to those with whom He is pleased? What does God do to those who are Christians? He sanctifies us completely.

We’ve talked about sanctification in the past and it’s incredibly important in the life of the Christian as we grow to be more like Jesus Christ. Why does sanctification matter so much? 1 Peter 1:16 shares with us that we are to be holy as God is holy. We are supposed to be changed as we spend time in prayer and study Scripture. I love what Mark Howell says about this term and its importance, “While sanctification is the work of God, believers must still assume an active role in this process by obeying God’s Word, following God’s will, and surrendering to God’s Spirit.” We will touch on this more in verse 24, but we see that He sanctifies us completely in verse 23. How many of you have ever started a job and then you’re called away due to something else and you have to come back later and complete the job? Now sometimes this is helpful in order for us to relax and clear our minds if we’re frustrated, but often times it’s a little hard to start something, stop, and complete it later. Aren’t you thankful that we have the assurance that we will be sanctified completely? This is what we see in the text as we will be kept sound and blameless at the coming of Jesus Christ. We’re not kept partly or conditionally, we are kept fully and blamelessly!

What is the source of our sanctification and confidence? Verse 24 answers this by noting that He who calls you is faithful. In the Greek, the verb for calls you is kaleo and it is a present active verb, meaning that God is working our sanctification out right now. Just as Paul notes in Romans 8 that God calls us and opens up our eyes, we also see that this same God is faithful to see this work through. Have you ever been burned by someone in the past? Maybe you trusted in them in your time of need and they were no where to be seen. They were not faithful! You don’t have to worry about God burning you. You don’t have to worry about Him not being faithful because, by His nature, He is faithful. He is the covenant-keeping God and we have the hope that whenever He calls us, He keeps us. Whenever He saves us, He doesn’t abandon us, He walks with us every step of the way.

Philippians 1:6 CSB

6 I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Whenever you are born again and you repent of your sins and place your faith in Jesus Christ, you are not only forgiven of your sins but you are adopted into God’s family! This happens in an instant. Consider the person who wins the lottery and watches the news at 6pm and looks at the mega-millions numbers and finds out in that moment that they have won hundreds of millions of dollars - we would say that their life changed in an instant! To the athlete in the Olympics who wins the 100m dash, their life changes in the span of 9-10 seconds and they receive the title as the fastest person in the world for the next 4 years. Whenever you receive the Gospel message and you move from death to life as Romans 6 and Ephesians 2 talk about, you are a new creation and you receive the greatest news of all. Greater than the title of being the fastest person alive. Greater than receiving 500 million dollars. Greater than attaining happiness or any material thing out there. You receive salvation and it happens immediately. Your status has changed.

Sanctification is also progressive. Have you ever heard someone say to stay true to who you are and to not change for others? The advice is solid whenever you consider negative influences. You don’t want someone to lower their standards to try and “fit in” with another person or group. However, have you ever had a friend bring about a positive change in you? I certainly have! I’ve had friends challenge me to be more genuine and to grow in my faith. I thank the Lord for such friends who want me to be a better person. Aren’t you thankful that God doesn’t let us stay where we are? Aren’t you thankful that He not only is faithful, but that we can have assurance beyond the shadow of a doubt that He will finish this work of sanctification?

Our ultimate reason for having spiritual security isn’t found in our actions, knowledge, or works. Rather, it is founded in the nature of our God. We have security because our Savior is interceding on our behalf and His blood still speaks! God can be trusted because He keeps His promises and He helps His children. He will keep us.

The Application of Spiritual Security (25-27)

Because we have this confidence of being spiritually secure due to the nature of God and His keeping us, how should this news impact the way that we live our lives? The temptation facing the Thessalonians was to be lazy as they awaited Christ’s second coming. Sadly, this same temptation exists in our world today. We’ve talked about the saying, “Once saved, always saved” many times and this saying is pretty common. Many people have heard this statement and they’ve taken it and ran with it. We have to qualify it a little bit, though. Some people think that they are saved due to praying a prayer, being baptized in water, or something along those lines. We know that being saved is not a work that we do but it is a reality that we experience as we place our faith in Jesus Christ, repent of our sins, and die to our self. Whenever this happens, whenever we are justified, and declared righteous thanks to Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross, there is cause to celebrate! What happens after that celebration, though? For many people, they are on this spiritual high, this mountaintop experience, and eventually they come crashing down to earth. Temptations creeps in and for many, they backslide some because they are not grounded and they don’t have the spiritual leaders in their life helping to disciple them.

Whenever we come crashing down. Whenever we’ve been saved for years and years, what is the temptation? To take things for granted and become lazy. To become lukewarm. Should this be our response as people who have been born again and set free from the power of sin and death? Absolutely not! We have spiritual security, not social security. We don’t have a license to sit and collect a check! Think about this for a moment, one of the biggest lies that Satan tells us is that once we pray the prayer or once we walk down the aisle, we’re fine. When we sit on our blessed assurance, we’re not applying our spiritual security properly.

What does Paul share with us in the coming verses? He shares with us some practical things that we should do: As people who are eternally secure, we must pray, encourage, and grow.

In verse 25 we see that Paul implores the church to pray for “us.” Who is the “us” mentioned in this verse? Likely himself and the other apostles. Whenever we began our study of 1 Thessalonians, we saw this

1 Thessalonians 1:2 CSB

2 We always thank God for all of you, making mention of you constantly in our prayers.

Paul notes that he and his associates always thank God for this church and they prayed for them. Therefore, Paul asks them to pray for him. In church life, it is a tremendous blessing to know that someone else is praying for you and whatever situation you find yourself in. Again, prayer is powerful. Paul lifted up this church in prayer because he knew that they were facing persecution and other issues. He prayed that they would grow in spiritual maturity and stay strong despite persecution. Paul himself is facing some serious challenges during his missionary journeys and he asks for prayer as well. A praying church is a dangerous church! As believers who have eternal security, we must understand the power of prayer and utilize it as we life one another up before our heavenly Father!

The next thing we see is in verse 26 as we must encourage one another. Paul says to greet one another with a holy kiss and there are several questions as to what this looked like but one thing is for sure, they weren’t germaphobes! Have you ever been involved in a worship service or heard of a worship service that is very legalistic and cold? Where people sit in the same spot, sing the same songs, go through the same routine week after week, and put on their best fake smile for one hour in order to go through the motions? This happens on a weekly basis around the world in many church buildings, sadly! This is not what Paul has in mind in verse 26. Paul has the opposite in mind! He see’s a church that not only encourages one another but one who is happy to see one another! Certainly things look differently today as a holy kiss isn’t the best thing to do to someone else, but whenever you come to church, do you smile at others? Are you happy to be here? Are you excited to worship the risen Lord? We all should be! We should encourage one another and, as members of the body of Christ, there should be a closeness in the local church as we are a family! Who are you encouraging today?

Third, we should grow. Paul concludes in verse 27 by saying to read this letter to all the brothers and sisters. Is it important to share what the Bible says with others? It certainly is

Romans 10:14 CSB

14 How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher?

It is vitally important for us to share what the Bible says with others. Paul has urgency as he shares this final command with them. This command carries with it a stern warning as Paul charges them by the Lord to do this. How would they go about this? Many of Paul’s letters were circular letters. While a letter was written for a specific church in a specific region, the local church shared the letter with others and in some instances, they made some copies. If they didn’t have a copy, though, they would be forced to simply read the letter aloud. Paul wants other Christians to grow as a result of God’s Word. He wants them to be more like Christ. He wants them to not become calloused or lazy in their walk. He wants them to share the good news. He wants them to be informed of Jesus’ second coming. As a result, he wants people to grow and for others to learn.

We should desire that people at Morgan Baptist Church grow in their understanding of Scripture. We should desire to see lost people come to know Christ as Lord and Savior. We should desire that the Bible is taught and preached and that the songs that are sung honor Christ for what He has done! A growing church is a healthy church. We must not think that we’ve ever arrived at the point that we no longer need to grow. There is always room to grow to be more like Christ and there is always more that we can do to fulfill Acts 1:8 and Matthew 28:18-20.

At the conclusion of Paul’s letters, he often has an epistolary conclusion in which he doesn’t simply wish a farewell, instead he prays that they would have the grace of Jesus Christ with them - this is what we find in Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Colossians, and here in 1 Thessalonians as well.

Conclusion

Whenever you become a child of God, you are saved and nothing can change that reality. John 6 shares this truth with us

John 6:37 CSB

37 Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out.

Once you are born again, you can’t be un-born again! This is great news, but it also means that your life is no longer just about you. Your life is about something bigger than yourself. God has begun a work in you and He will continue to work in you - this might not sound fun because sometimes whenever God works and chisels away things, it can be painful! But, we know that God will bring to completion this work that He began in us.

What is our call to action? Other than praying, encouraging others, and helping other grow, we should also grow in our walk with the Lord. We should also give one another grace as we realize that just as God is working on us, He is also working on everyone else in our congregation and beyond! Whenever we realize this, whenever we realize that God is at work in the lives of His people, we understand the need to extend grace and give thanks in everything that comes our way.

Romans 8:39 ESV

39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.