Please see the other sermons in the series to give the overall picture. If God uses these sermons in your life, why not leave a rating? Study guides and handouts for this series are available on request.
VII. Rest in God’s Sustaining Grace
NOTE: THIS POINT PREACHED 11/29/2009
• Limited review.
• I will do a wrap-up at some service soon.
A. God is The Sustainer of Our Salvation
1. Kept in the Hand of God (From Evil Men) (John 10:28)
John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
2. Kept by the Power of God (To an Incorruptible Inheritance) (1 Peter 1:3-5)
1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
3. Kept in the Love of God (In all Dangers) (Romans 8:31-39)
Romans 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. 34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Transition: “More than conquerors”
B. God is The Sustainer of Our Sanctification
• As we have just seen, many verses teach the security of the believer.
• But there is much more to sustaining grace than just allowing you to arrive home tattered and bruised!
• Amen! God will keep your soul, yes!
• But He will also help you keep your testimony!
THE SEVEN-FOLD ASSURANCE OF GOD’S SUSTAINING GRACE!
He sustains me by …
1. By Creating Me for Good Works (Eph. 2:8-10; Philip. 3:12)
Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Philippians 3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12 (AMP) Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own.
2. By Living and Working Within Me (Heb. 13:5,20; Gal. 2:20; Philip 2:13)
Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Hebrews 13:20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
[By Becoming My Life] Galatians 2:20 [NOTE: Do not dwell since I will be preaching on this verse in a small series] I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
3. By Praying for Me (John 17:15,17; Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25)
John 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Romans 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Hebrews 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
4. By Guiding Me (Ps. 23:3; 119:105; John 12:46; 15:13)
Psalm 23:3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
John 12:46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
• Note above: Father, Son, Spirit guide us!
5. By Equipping Me for Good Works (2 Cor. 9:8; 2 Peter 1:3; John 15:4-5)
2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
2 Peter 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
John 15:4-5 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
• My task then, is to utilize that which I have already been given! I must abide in Him!
6. By Holding Me Up (Ps. 91:11-12; 119:117; 94:16-19; 138:3; Jude 1:24)
Psalm 91:11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Psalm 119:117 Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.
Psalm 94:16-19 Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? 17 Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. 18 When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up. 19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.
Psalm 138:3 In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.
Jude 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling [Lit., stumbling], and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
7. By Leading Me to Victory (1 Cor. 1:8; 2 Cor. 2:14; Philip. 1:6; 2 Tim. 1:12)
1 Corinthians 1:8 Who shall also confirm [Gk, establish] you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
2 Timothy 1:12 For the which cause I also 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.
CONCLUSION:
QUOTE: Trust God to keep you in all the Future.—The old version used to tell us that He was able to keep us from falling. The new version, giving a closer rendering of the Greek, tells us that He is able to guard us from stumbling. So He can. So He will. But we must trust Him. Moment by moment we must look into His face, and say, "Hold Thou _ me up, and I shall be safe; keep me as the apple of Thine eye; hide me under the shadow of Thy wings." He will never fail thee. He will never fail thee nor forsake thee. He will give His angels charge to keep thee in all thy ways. He will cover thee with his feathers, and under His wing thou shalt trust.
But you say, I fail to look at the moment of temptation. Then do this. Ask the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to bring all things to our remembrance, that He would remind you ' to look off to Jesus, when you are in danger. Entrust yourself each morning into His hands. Look to Him to keep you looking. Trust in Him to keep you trusting. Do not look at your difficulties or weaknesses. Do not keep thinking that you will some day fall again. Go through life, whispering, saying, singing, a thousand times a day, Jesus saves me now.
ILLUS: Don’t think about a bright pink elephant with a big purple bow tie!
A friend once told me that she had been kept from backsliding thus :—She always took time at night to consider quietly in the presence of God, where she had lost ground during the day, and if she felt that she had done so, she never slept until she had asked to be forgiven and restored. 'Tis a good expedient, dear reader, for thee and me. (F.B. Meyer, Secrets of Christian Living)
ILLUS: Because He Stands I Will Never Perish
F. B. Meyer wrote about two Germans who wanted to climb the Matterhorn. They hired three guides and began their ascent at the steepest and most slippery part. The men roped themselves together in this order: guide, traveler, guide, traveler, guide. They had gone only a little way up the side when the last man lost his footing. He was held up temporarily by the other four, because each had a toehold in the niches they had cut in the ice. But then the next man slipped, and he pulled down the two above him. The only one to stand firm was the first guide, who had driven a spike deep into the ice. Because he held his ground, all the men beneath him regained their footing. F. B. Meyer concluded his story by drawing a spiritual application. He said, “I am like one of those men who slipped, but thank God, I am bound in a living partnership to Christ. And because He stands, I will never perish.” Our Daily Bread
CONCLUSION TO SERIES
VERSES TO BE USED
Isaiah 55:6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Ezekiel 18:21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
2 Corinthians 7:9-10 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
Jeremiah 24:5-7 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. 6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. 7 And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
