The Eternal Security Of The Believer Series

Dr. Bradford Reaves

CrossWay Christian Fellowship

Hagerstown, MD

www.mycrossway.org

1. We have Peace with God,

2. We have Standing in Grace,

3. We have Hope of Glory,

4. We have the Fullness of God’s Love,

5. We have Certainty of Deliverance,

6. We have joy in God.

We have the promise of eternal security to Christ.

1. We Have Peace With God,

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1)

“Therefore” is the way Paul begins this section. This is a link between the truth and the foundation starting in Romans 3:21 through Romans 4:25. It is the glorious doctrine of Justification by Faith. At the base of all of this is that the unregenerate is at war with God, and God is at war with them.

And my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless. (Exodus 22:24)

They have made me jealous of what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous of those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. 22 For a fire is kindled by my anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains. (Deuteronomy 32:21–22)

And my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless. (Exodus 22:24)

If you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land that he has given you.” (Joshua 23:16)

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4)

Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us. (2 Kings 22:13)

To say the least, you are not on God’s good side. You may not be that angry with God, but God is very angry with the sinful man. The wrath of God, says Romans 1:18, is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. (Ephesians 5:6)

Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.” (Revelation 14:8)

So when God says we have peace with Him, it is not so much that we are no longer at war with Him. It means that God is no longer at war with and fighting us. He is no longer our enemy, no longer promising judgment, death, and hell. Peace with God is the restoration between God and the believer, which flows from the reconciliation accomplished in Jesus Christ.

Now remember, when Jesus died on the cross, He bore our sins in His own body, and God was propitiated. The penalty of sin was paid in full, and nothing was left to be paid. That’s why Jesus said, “It is finished.” Tetelisti. Our debt has been legally satisfied.

?and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1:20)

Peace with whom? Peace between the sinner and God - peace between the sinner and God. God no longer needs to be angry with us. God no longer needs to punish us because of our sins. All of God’s anger poured out on Jesus Christ on the Cross. This is why understanding the Tribulation Period and the Rapture is so crucial.

So that brings a deeper understanding of peace for us. Instead of being the enemies of God, we are now the sons of God.

We Have Standing in Grace

Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:2)

When you put your faith in Jesus, he opens up to you a world you never knew before, and that is the grace of God. You now live in grace. You stand engulfed in grace. The Greek for stand is histemi, to abide, to be firmly set, fixed, grounded.