Eternal Security in Christ

Dismissed for children's church at this time. So follow my wife right out this side door over here. So, amen. If you would take your Bibles, turn to John chapter 10. John chapter 10.

There we go. John chapter 10, and we'll read verses 27 through 29 to introduce the message this morning. John ten twenty seven through 29. Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

My father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. Let's pray together. Lord, thank you for your word today. Thank you for paying the penalty for our sin on the cross of Calvary. Thank you for the invitation to come to you in faith that we might be forgiven of all of our sins, that we might be saved from them and given eternal life in Jesus Christ.

Lord, we pray if there's one here today that is yet to receive the Lord Jesus as savior and Lord of their life, I pray that they would receive you today by faith. And I pray that we who have would be encouraged today from the word of God that you will never let us go. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I've titled this on my paper, Why I Believe in Eternal Security in Christ, because not every preacher today agrees on that subject.

Though I think the scripture's pretty clear, we'll take a little while today to look at those scriptures and see why this indeed is the teaching of scripture. Many of you were raised in denominations which taught otherwise. I know many of you. Matter of fact, I think the majority of people sitting in the pews today were not raised in Baptist churches. Many of you started out in other churches or at some point in time went to denomination or were raised in one that that taught a bit differently on the subject.

Some teach that you can only secure your home in heaven through a lifetime of following the rules. Doing certain works prescribed by the church. And then maybe if your good works outweigh the bad, you will squeak into heaven. Though you might have to spend a little time in purgatory first, which by the way isn't in the bible. That is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Though there are millions who go to churches that teach that today, sadly. Some teach that certain sins will condemn you to hell while others are forgiven. Thus, you must be absolved even after conversion of these by confessing them to a priest or doing some other good work, penance, they call it, in order to be forgiven of certain sins. There's venial and what's the other term? Venial sins and Venial.

That's one. Yeah. And what's the other? Menial? Okay.

So that's what some churches teach. Is that is that scriptural? The answer is no. Sin is sin is sin and Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world. Don't see any reason to divide those into different categories, some that he paid the penalty for and others that, well, sadly, his penalty wasn't enough.

You'll have to carry that yourself. Some teach that if you're not faithful enough in going to church or keeping your sin confessed, you might not make it into heaven in the end. You best not slip up. You may need to be saved again and again and again. Okay?

Again, not scriptural. You can only be born again once. You can't be born again again and again and again. You can only be saved and absolved from all your sins one time. Though some people aren't sure of when they got saved and they may have prayed and asked God to save them more than one occasion, in actuality, they were really only saved what?

Once. Yeah. Some teach that should you turn back to a life of sin, you can fall from grace and be lost forever despite having been born again and received the spirit of promise. Or if you deny Christ, you have lost the faith and therefore salvation and are in danger of hellfire, which, by the way, you might be in danger of hellfire. If indeed you have turned to a life of sin and denied the Lord Jesus Christ, that would tend to indicate that may be indeed the case.

But not because you lost your salvation, but because you never what? You never had it. Okay? Because God doesn't lose that which he acquires. And once he has you, according to the passage we just read, he has you.

But there are some that profess Christ but do not possess Christ. In Matthew ten thirty three, it says, but whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my father which is in heaven. So if you deny Christ as your savior and as the Messiah, then you're not getting into where? You're not getting into heaven. Did you lose your salvation?

No. You never what? You never had your salvation in the first place. John explains this in first John two nineteen. He writes, they went out from us, but they were not of us.

For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. So John says, yes, some have left the church and by leaving the church, he's not saying left Missouri Avenue Baptist Church, but have left the church of Jesus Christ, have left the faith and that doesn't indicate that they were born again and lost it. It indicates, as John tells us here, that they really never what? They nearly never had it.

They really were not totally of us or they would not have departed from the faith. Now, again, not a particular local church. If you decide to leave our church and go to another one, that's not a sign that you have lost the faith. Okay? If you go to a church that's doesn't teach the word of God, well, then that's that's a problem.

But if you leave the faith, well, then that's a big problem. It indicates as John puts here, he explains, yes, we're seeing this happen. Why? They were never really of us. They were going through the what?

Through the motions. And sadly, that happens a lot. So let's take a few minute and a few minutes and look at several passages on the security of the believer in Jesus Christ because there's not one proof text or two proof text or three proof text. There's text on text on text on text on text that indicate that if you are indeed actually born again through faith in Christ, that that is a done deal. So let's start with this question.

How is one saved? How is one born again? How is one redeemed and justified from your sins? Well, the Bible clearly explains. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever, what, believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Okay? God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned. He that believeth believeth not in him is already condemned because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. So if you reject Christ, then you continue on the broad way that leads to what?

Destruction where you already are. But if you choose to put your faith in Jesus Christ, get on the narrow way in Christ that leads to life, then you have eternal life and you will not come into eternal destruction because you will not perish because you have everlasting life. Continuing on, Romans ten nine, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be what? Say, thou shalt be saved. If you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, believe in your heart that he died on the cross for your sins and rose again from the dead, is seated at the right hand of the father where he is inviting you to come to him by faith, and that he keeps his promises, you will be what?

Saved. You are saved if indeed you have believed. Put your faith in him. In Acts sixteen thirty one, the Philippian jailer came before Paul And he asked him, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And Paul says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

Ephesians two eight and nine, Paul writes, for by grace, That's God's mercy and gracious giving nature, whereby he sent his son to take your place on the cross. For by grace are you saved through what? Or by faith. Believing. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God not of what?

Not of works, lest any man should boast. Salvation is a gift. How do you get the gift of salvation? Justification, redemption in Christ Jesus, being born again. You do it by putting your faith and trust in who?

Jesus Christ. It's not salvation is not about a formula. Do a, b, c, d. We have things that, you know, help to explain it, but salvation is in a person. That person is Jesus who gave his life for you and rose again.

And if you will put your faith and trust in him, he will give you a gift, the gift of salvation, eternal life in him. Not a matter of works, matter of what? Faith. Okay? By faith, not by works.

Based upon the finished work of who? Jesus Christ on the not your work, but his work. Not your sinlessness, but his sins. Not your sacrifice, but his side. Not your faithfulness, but his faithfulness.

Not your power but his power. Kinda I I could continue on on that mantra over and over again, but you get the point. Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, Titus three five. We're not saved by good works. We're not kept by good works.

Not ours anyway, but via the finished work of Christ on the cross for us. We're not saved by keeping the law of Moses. Paul makes that clear. Galatians two sixteen, no one is saved through keeping the law of Moses. Not saved by keeping the 10 commandments.

The fact is, you won't, you can't, you never will. You won't even get close without Jesus. You're just not going to measure up. For all have sinned and come fallen short of the glory of God. Baptism is not going to save you.

Taking communion, Lord's supper is not going to save you. Other church sacraments that the church has invented, prescribed in some churches to go to heaven, they're not going to save you. Whether it be the works of Moses, the works of law, the works of the church, the only work that saves you is the work of who? Jesus Christ that you receive by faith. Paul warns the Galatians that should anyone come to them adding to the gospel works that you must do or laws that you must keep to acquire or hold on to salvation, let them be accursed.

Let them be accursed. In other words, don't listen to them. Okay? They're not telling you the truth. He said, do you start out in the spirit and now are we completed in the works of the flesh?

The answer is what? No. When you trusted Christ, the spirit came and regenerated you. Having started in the spirit, you're going to finish by the spirit in faith, not by the works of the law. That's how one is saved.

Now, does God accept and empower his children to do good works? Of course, he does. But those aren't the means of salvation. They're not the cause of salvation. They are the results of salvation.

So make sure not to get the cart before the what? For the horse. It doesn't work that way. You gotta get the cart after the horse. The means of salvation is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and his gift we receive by faith.

And then the results of that are changed life in Jesus Christ. You're not saved by works. You're saved by faith. What are you saved from? Good question.

I often ask that people when somebody comes forward, especially a child, and the child comes forward and says, I want to be saved. One of the first questions I asked them is, what do you want to be saved from? Because sometimes little children, they want to be saved from danger. You know? They want to be saved from a particular situation or a particular sin, but but, you know, they they don't quite yet grasp that they're sinners in need of a savior and they need to be saved from sin and and hell.

So I asked that question, what is it you need to be saved saved from? Well, the Bible tells us we need to be saved from sin. It's not just something we do, it's something we we are. Okay? The dog is not a dog because the dog barks.

Seals bark too. The dog barks because he's a what? He's a dog. That's why he barks. We sin because we're what?

Sinners. And you're not going to fix that. But Jesus can. Jesus can cleanse you, forgive you, and begin to transform you day by day. You can fix it, he can.

He came to save us from our sins. This is what it says here in this verse. She shall bring forth a son, thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. Romans six twenty three, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's not just talking about physical death or this body is going to die.

Sadly, I got word last night that my father-in-law went home to be with the Lord. So we mean he went home to be with the Lord. We're gonna go up in a few days to Ohio, we're gonna look at his body in a casket, and it's dead. No life. It's lifeless.

But he's not dead. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord for the child of God, which of which he had a clear testimony. So when Paul writes this, he's not just speaking of that your body is one day going to be a life lifeless in in a casket or or in a grave, but he's talking about eternal death. You can have eternal death or eternal life. Which would you choose?

Eternal death in hell or eternal life in heaven? The wages of sin is death and hell. The gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Why did Christ come to save us from sin and the penalty of sin, which is which is hell or the lake of fire as it's called? In Romans five eighty nine, but God commendeth his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Doesn't say we might be saved. It says we what? Shall be saved. If Jesus Christ came and died on the cross to save you from your sins and you accepted his offer of salvation and then you still died and suffered in hell for your sins, then something isn't what?

Something doesn't make sense because that's why he saved you. You're not saved, period, if you're not saved from the penalty of your sin in hell. That is by necessarily included in the definition of salvation. That's why he died for you. That's why he saved you.

Romans three John three thirty six, he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. What are you saved from? You're saved from the eternal bondage of sin and its just penalty in hell. Revelation chapter 20, we won't take time to go there this morning, but it talks of the judgment called the great white throne judgment.

Those who appear before that judgment will be judged not based upon the works of Jesus, but on their own works because they rejected Jesus. And it says, and those whose names were not found written in the book of life were cast into the what? The lake of fire. So you wanna have your name written where? In the book of life.

What do you think that's a reference to? Well, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. The two are one and the same. You have everlasting life, your name's written in the what? Book of life.

If your name's written in the book of life, you have everlasting life. K? You can't have one and not the other. Alright? If you're saved, your name's written there.

And you won't be judged based upon your works, but on the work of who? Jesus Christ. I'm secure in him. Not in me. Not in me.

I still fall short. I still fail. One day, praise the Lord, I get a new body. I'll get rid of this old flesh. It won't trip me up anymore.

But for now, I battle with it. Praise God. I have victory in Jesus Christ, and the more I grow closer to him, the more I get victory over the flesh. But one day, it'll be gone forever. Romans eight one puts it this way or let's see what I got.

Yeah. Romans eight one puts it this way, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who not who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. There is therefore now what? No condemnation. Now in Christ, there is what?

No condemnation. K? Jesus puts it this way in John five twenty four, verily verily I say to you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath, what? Everlasting life and shall not come unto condemnation, but is passed from death into life. Will not come under condemnation if you do a, b, and c.

No. If you've received Christ, you will not come into what? Condemnation. The wrath of God no longer abides on you because God took it out on his son on the cross and you accepted Christ's offer of salvation. His righteousness has been imputed to your account.

You are in Christ Jesus. That's how God sees you in light of eternal judgment and you will never, what, come into condemnation. You will never perish. See, here I have this credit card, which I think I need to get a new one because this thing is in very bad shape. But but you see this, say, oh, that's a credit card or something like that.

K? Now I'm gonna stick this in my wallet. Am I holding that credit card in my hand? Yes. Do you see it?

You see my what? My wallet. The credit card is in my what? You are in who? Christ.

God sees you through the blood of who? Through the blood and the cleansing of Jesus Christ. Yes. You're still have your sin issues, but God sees you in Christ. And one day when you get to heaven, you're gonna be just like him.

Praise the Lord. You are no longer under condemnation. You have passed from death into life in Christ Jesus. It is a done deal. What does God give you in return?

He saves you from the penalty of sin and eternal death and hell, and he gives to you in its place everlasting life. Back to John ten twenty seven and twenty eight. My sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me.

I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. When when do you receive the gift of eternal life? When you're born again.

Right? When you're saved. When you're born again through faith in Jesus Christ, you receive the gift of eternal life. That gift is what kind of gift? Well, it's an eternal gift.

If it's an eternal gift, that means that it's yours for how long? That's yours forever. It's not yours for next week or until this or until that. It's it's yours until you reach the shores of heaven and you're just like Jesus Christ without sin or the effects of sin anymore. And you'll never perish because the gift is eternal, and you get that gift when you get saved.

John first John five, and that here puts it this way. He that hath the son hath, what? Life. He that hath not the son of God hath not life. These things that I've written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know I like that word know.

That you may what? Know that you have life until you mess up, until you back out, or until you whatever goes no. It says that you may know that you have what? Eternal life and that you may believe or continue believing in the name of that you may be encouraged. All you need is faith.

All you need is Jesus. If you have Jesus, you have what? Life. You don't have Jesus, you don't have you don't have life. It is that simple.

Should we choose by faith to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as savior, as I mentioned before, whose work guarantees us acceptance? His work or our work? His work. What good work could you add to the work of Christ to make you more saved? We're saved longer.

The answer to that is there there is nothing you can do to add to the work of Christ. Either he died for all your sins or he died for none of them. There is no in between that you have to pay for some and he had to pay for others. No. He paid for Bible says he paid for for all of our sins.

That's right, not just a few. Second Corinthians five twenty one says, for he that is God the father hath made him Jesus to be sin for us who knew no sin that we in turn might be made the righteousness of God in him. In first Peter three eighteen, for Christ also hath one suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickened or made alive again by the spirit. Whose work, who's, who paid the price? Jesus did.

You don't have to pay the price if you accept the price he paid in your behalf. If you're still trying to get to heaven by paying the price yourself or by doing good works to try to earn your way to heaven, you are in error. That is not the gospel. Jesus Christ paid it all. We sing a song entitled that.

Jesus, what? Paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left the crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.

Hebrews ten twenty five says this, wherefore he is able to save them to the what? Uttermost, every wit, every bit that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them. To the uttermost, not one little shy of one little bit. He paid it all. He saves us all together who come to him by faith.

And he keeps us by his power. We don't keep us. He keeps us. Now, as Jesus put it here in in John chapter 10, I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish, neither shall any man, what?

Pluck them out of my hand. So when you come to Christ and trust him, you are placing your life in his what? In his hand. You are not being kept by your power anymore. You're being kept by whose power?

By his power. You're in his hand and nothing's going to rip you out of his hand nor the hand of his father. In first Peter one three through five, one of my favorite passages of scripture, it says, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively or living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the what? Power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

There's place reserved in heaven has my name on it. I'm going there someday, but not because I'm such a good person, because I'm not. It's because I have a good savior. And he purchased that place for me and he put my name thereon and I'm being kept by his power and not mine. Even when I am not faithful, he is, praise the Lord, and because his he's faithful, because he keeps his promises, because he was sinless and he took my place and rose again, I'm assured that one day I'm rising again too.

I'm gonna get a new body. I'm gonna get a new home. It's a done deal in Jesus Christ. By God's power believers kept until the day we stand before him complete in heaven and receive our inheritance in Christ. Few more scripture passages say, well, that's just one passage.

Okay. We'll look at a couple more. First Thessalonians five twenty three and twenty four, and the very God of peace sanctify you, what? Holy, completely. And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Faithful is he that calleth who also will what? Do it. Is he talking about the Thessalonians doing it? Who's doing it? God's doing it.

You entrust your life to God. God keeps his promises. What he says he'll do, he'll do. Second Timothy one twelve, Paul writes, for the which cause I suffer these things, nevertheless, I am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Paul said, I go into these cities, I get beaten, I get persecuted, I get run out of town, and what do I do? I pick myself off the ground, I go to the next city, and I keep preaching Jesus. Why? Because I know that I know that I know that when I entrusted my soul to Jesus Christ, I am secure in him and there is nothing that's gonna take that away and so I'm just gonna get up and go to the next city and tell another group of people about Jesus Christ. My reward is sure in Jesus because he's got me.

He tells the Philippians in Philippians one six, being confident this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. In other words, Paul says, I'm persuaded. I know that God is gonna finish what he started with you and with me. Praise God he will. He's not gonna fail me.

I'll fail me. I'll fail me over and over again, but my savior never will. We have another song in our hymn books entitled Jesus never fails. Jesus never fail. Heaven and earth may pass away, but Jesus never fails.

Another hymn in our hymn book that that's taken from first Timothy one twelve. I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. What? That day? The day of judgment.

God has that taken care of. Do you trust him? Have you gotten in the wheelbarrow? Remember that illustration? I, Oddly enough, missionary we had a couple weeks ago used the same I've never heard anybody use that illustration but me.

But when you get in in the wheelbarrow in case you're new, I'll take just a moment to explain the illustration. Okay? Man walked across Niagara Falls on tightrope. He got to the other side. He had a wheelbarrow over there.

And he asked the people, do you think I can get back across Niagara Falls? Can I can I push this wheelbarrow back across the tightrope and get across the other side? And several of them said, yeah. Sure you can. He pointed to one man.

He said, sir, would you come here? And he said, sir, do you believe I can do this? He said, yeah. Okay. Great.

Get in the wheelbarrow. K. That's faith. That is faith. In regards to eternity and salvation, eternal life, that is faith in Jesus Christ.

Trust him. Get in the wheelbarrow. How are you in the wheelbarrow? Are you trusting him? Are you trying to be half in and half out and going, well, I don't quite trust him.

I gotta help him. I'm gonna hang off the wheelbarrow and grab ahold of the thing underneath to make sure that if he begins to dump me, I can grab on. That's not salvation. Salvation is trusting who? Trusting Jesus.

That's that's what's it's trusting Jesus. Are you in the wheelbarrow? If so, you are secure in Christ. You are secure in Christ. He's not gonna let you fail, not fail eternity.

He's got you. You're securing him if you're in the wheelbarrow. Don't worry about that which he has already taken care of. Instead, focus your attention on what you're going to do today and tomorrow in his service. What good works he has laid before you that you can do in gratitude and to bring glory to the one who has you.

That's what we should be asking because he has us. Let's pray. Dearly father, thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you for Jesus Christ, our savior. Thank you for all that you have done for us that we could not do, cannot do for ourselves.

Thank you that though sometimes we can't trust ourselves, Lord, we can trust you, and no man no one can separate us from your love or pluck us out of your hand. If God before us, who can be against us, Lord? You have declared us righteous in Jesus Christ. Who can bring an accusation? No one.

Because you've paid for it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Thank you, Lord, for the precious promises of your word.

Lord, if there's someone here today that is unsure in what they're trusting, I pray they'd come and we'd be able to look into your word and they would get that settled today. And I pray, Lord, for your children that if our peace has been robbed because of doubts that have crept in, because we have failed so many times or other things have happened in life and the devil keeps poking us and saying, oh, well, you're not gonna make it, that we would be reminded that you have us. And, Lord, that if there's one that's not sure if they have ever truly received you as savior, I pray, Lord, that they'd come and and settle that today, that they might know that they have eternal life because we can. Thank you, Lord, for what you did for us that we could not do for ourselves. Thank you for eternal life that you've given to us.

May we use the days that you have given us here in this place to bring glory to your name as we trust and rest in you. In Jesus' name, do pray. Amen.