Is There An Expiration Date On Eternal Life?

Is There an Expiration Date on Eternal Life?

(Doctrinal Sermon on Perseverance of the Saints)

March 2, 2014 Chester’s FBC, Chester, IL Dr. Mike Fogerson, Speaker

Introduction:

A Christians have two experiences that lie ahead for them.

1 The first is physical death/the end of this earthly road; the second is the life hereafter (Eternity beyond this life & world.)

a We know we’ll survive death and be blessed throughout eternity.

b We know that it is the grace of God that enables us stay true to the Lord as we endure trials/temptations until we die.

c His grace keeps us faithful to Him until the end of life.

2 Will a Christian who has genuinely been reborn, made new, justified, adopted by God as sons/daughters, joint heirs with Jesus always be a Christian? Can you stop being ‘saved?’ Being a Christian?

a It’s one of the most important questions we can ask from the standpoint of practical Christian living.

aa If there is no guarantee that your salvation is permanent, believers can endure a great deal of anxiety/insecurity that will detract them from the major tasks of the Christian life.

bb In other words, it’s hard to share the Good News of Eternal Life in Jesus if you’re not confident in your own eternal life.

b On the other hand, if our salvation is absolutely secure (irregardless of what we do, how we behave) we run the risk, if we’re not careful, of libertinism.

aa I’m saved so I now I can live life running wide-open, unrestrained, immoral life and it doesn’t matter. I’m saved!

bb We call that “cheap grace.”

c Understanding what Scripture teaches about the security of believer is worth the time & effort necessary.

B

A

1 Sometime in the late fall of 1969 in Patoka, Illinois an unmarried woman and a married man shared a bed together and conceived a child out of wedlock; and in August on 1970 the product of that illicit affair was born in Centralia & today the product of that affair stands before you in this pulpit.

a That story may not be similar to yours, but we are conceived in similar manner.

aa A man & a woman/seed fertilized an egg and you are undeniable proof that fertilization occurred.

bb They both had a part in you being here today.

b Everyone who has ever been born was born in similar fashion.

2 Our story of salvation (rebirth) plays out in a similar fashion—anyone who has ever been saved got saved the same way.

a Ephesians 1:3-4 (NASB) 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 would be holy and blameless before Him. In love

aa God the Father (before He hung the first star in the sky) chose you to be born again.

bb You being chosen/elected/predestined/saved was not based on anything you did because you weren’t even on the scene when the Father chose you!

cc He chose you and me based on nothing more than His grace & love (Rom. 11.33-36) —I don’t understand it, can’t explain it but I can rejoice in it!

Romans 11:33-36 (NASB) 33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 34 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? 35 Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

dd The Father’s love is not the only factor in our being saved.

b 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 (NASB) 13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. 14 It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

aa The Father who chose you before the foundation of the world but the Holy Spirit convicts sinners (like us) of our sin and brings them to place their faith in Jesus Christ.

bb It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to convict of us our sin & convinces us to place our faith in Jesus to save us from our sins.

c Hebrews 2:10-11 (NASB) 10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,