Let me give you a couple of warnings before I get started today. We had an awesome, awesome service last service, but let me just say this. Stick with me through the whole talk. Typically, you can hear a message and doze off for a little bit. And catch five minutes here and think, ‘Ooh! That was good!’ Because that’s the way I think. It’s just ADD, just grab whatever you can, and go. But this is one of those messages where you have to track with me the whole way because it will be very easy for you to grab something in the beginning and just have your mind go nuts. And just run off with it. This is what he said. No, listen to what I say all the way through. Ok, I know. I’ll make it quick so that you can stay focused. I don’t focus well. I’m not even focused right now. So it’s just- this is going to be hard. It was a great, great service, and there are just a lot of really important truths. But here’s the reason why it may be difficult. It may sound different from what you were taught and that’s a scary thing to say. And that’s why I want you to observe the Scriptures and look at the Scriptures I’m bringing up. Evaluate for yourself if what I’m bringing up isn’t true because I know there will be some arguments with this, but I ask you to make them Biblical arguments. Show me Scripture that will contradict anything I’m saying because I’m telling you some of this is going to be new to you, new ground to you. And as I studied it I realized I’m not strong enough on some of this as I ought to be, and you need to know I take this morning very seriously. I’ve prayed a lot for this morning. I have fasted for this service, and said, ‘God, we have to get this. We have to understand this, but don’t let any words come out of my mouth that are untrue. Make this Biblical. Make this clear and help the people stick with me through this whole thing because it’s important stuff.’ So would you stand with me as we read the Word of God?
You understand why we stand? It’s just we want to do this every so often just to remind you of the reverence for God’s Word. Someone was telling me last service they sat in front of some sixteen year old girl, and she’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so tired. I don’t want to stand. It’s just like this’- but you understand why we do this? I know you’re tired. You don’t want to stand, but there’s a reverence I want us to have for the Word of God. I want to remind you that these are not just a person’s opinion. We didn’t come in a room to just get someone’s opinion on something. We just want to see it in black and white what did God say. And this is what we studied last week. Remember, we didn’t get through the whole passage, but this is the part we got through.
Second Peter Chapter 1 verses 5-8. “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleaned from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. For in this way, there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” [2 Peter 1:5-8 ESV]
Father, help us to understand this. God, unpack this for us. Help us to just in our minds, in our hearts, just to consume this. And God, guide me now. I don’t want to say anything that is untrue. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen
How did you do this week with this, making every effort? Remember, it says make every effort toward pursuing those character qualities. Think back during your week. Was it something you were passionate about? Was it something you were really seeking and making every effort because you wanted those qualities so badly? Because as I studied this, one of my concerns the deeper I got into this is how we make things so optional. And I need to come up with a better word by tonight, but optional is the best word I can think of. If as Christians, everything is just kind of optional. Do we need to pursue what we said last week? Well, yes, not really, I’d probably go to heaven without doing those things. When I read the Bible, I’m thinking I don’t think it’s nearly as optional as we think it is. For example, following Jesus, we can say that that’s optional. Right? I mean it’s your choice. Either you follow Him or you don’t. Right? Either you believe that He died on that Cross for you, and He rose again. You choose to follow Him or you don’t. It’s everyone’s option. But is it really optional? Because if you don’t follow Him, you spend eternity in hell, but it’s your choice. You know what I mean? It’s like it’s this- I know it’s a choice, but I couldn’t put it out of- I was thinking all week. What is the word? How do I explain that? But we’re so casual about this, and then when it comes to these character qualities like I said last week. You know the Bible commands us make every effort towards this. And you’re saying, ‘Ok, maybe if I have time for it.’ We’re so casual about these things, and I’m thinking, ‘Gosh, the more I read this, I don’t think it’s that simple.’ I don’t think we can just simply dismiss- I understand the freedom we have in Christ. But you’ll see as we study this passage. Is it really that optional? Yeah, you know if you do these things, you won’t live an unfruitful life, but let’s look at the passion. Let’s look at verse 9.
Verse 9, I’ll put it on the screen. It says, “For whoever lacks these qualities.” Ok, the qualities we’re talking about, the steadfastness, the love, the brotherly affection. “Whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.” I love this word nearsighted. “Whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted.” I never noticed that that word was in the Bible. I never really thought about it, but the more I studied, the more I just loved it. You know what it means to be nearsighted? It means you can see something right here, but you can’t see it, anything beyond that. It’s so funny. I’m at that age now where you’ll notice me every once in a while go like this. It takes me a second to get it at that right spot, but that idea. I was laughing, and I thought that is so lame. What are they doing up there? Now I’m, there it is, falling apart. How crazy, but I’m not getting glasses yet. I’m holding out. It’s this idea of nearsighted though. I love that description because you can see something that’s right in front of your face, but you can’t see something that’s ten feet ahead. All you can see is right here, and when you think about it, He says whoever lacks those qualities we talked about, He says you’re nearsighted. You’re so nearsighted you’re blind. Ok, now nearsighted, isn’t this the cause of most of our sin? Nearsightedness, because all you can see is right here. There’s something tempting you, and it’s right in your face. Right? And you just think, ‘Oh man, if I do this right now.’ All you see is right now this moment, and you know it would bring you pleasure. You think, ‘Man, if I take this pill right now, I know how good it would feel, and that’s all I can see right now. If I just smoke this, if I drink this, if I go on this Web site, I know it’s going to bring me just pleasure immediately. If I jump into this relationship that’s right there in my face, it will bring me pleasure.’ And you’re not thinking, ‘But what am I going to feel right afterwards? And what will my wife feel the next day? And what will my kids feel for the rest of their lives? And what will I regret for all of eternity?’ But you don’t see that. You just see right now. You’re so nearsighted that you’re blind. You don’t understand. You look and you can’t see heaven. You can’t see this idea of forever. The fact that this could be my last message; this could be my last breath. Every breath, that’s a gift from God, and I don’t know when it’s going to be over. And the moment that’s over, then comes eternity. Eternity forever. Forever, but you don’t see that. You just see, ‘Oh, but this next breath, I really want to enjoy it.’ You don’t see it. One of our pastors years ago said if we could just dangle people over hell for fifteen seconds. You can imagine the change if we could just see eternity. Can you imagine the way the Bible describes it of utter darkness? Have you ever been to a place that’s just pitch black and then this fire, and this constant- He says people wishing that they could die, but they can’t? And this weeping and gnashing of teeth and absolute darkness forever. You can’t see that. All you see is right now, and you can’t see heaven. You can’t see what I was talking about last week. Where God says, ‘Look, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived, what God has prepared for those that love Him. He says you don’t even get how good it’s going to be. No one has ever seen, no one’s ever heard about it, no one’s really gotten it in their head how great it’s going to be. Those who love God, you are so set. It’s going to be so good, so, so, so, so good. But you can’t see that. You don’t see the future. You don’t see how good it could be, how bad it could be. All you see is I just know for the next thirty seconds this would bring me so much pleasure. And He says, ‘You know what? You’re so nearsighted, you’re blind.’ That’s what they do with advertising. Right? They just get you to feel that moment. You imagine driving off the lot in this, and you don’t see the next twelve years of payments. You know? And the regret you’re going to feel, and all the other things that you could have done because right now it’s going to feel good to drive off the lot. So you do it, and you regret it for years. Right? It’s that same idea. Maybe right now some of you are so nearsighted. You’re just looking at something that’s bringing you pleasure, and you’re not going to stop it. And you can’t even see what’s ahead and the potential of eternity. And you’ll forsake this relationship with God and whatever else because it’s all you can see.
It says having forgotten. “So nearsighted he’s blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.” He says, ‘Did you forget what happened to you? Do you remember when you didn’t know God, and you were just stuck in all that junk and nothing that fulfilled you? It just wasn’t there. Did you forget that you were cleansed?’ But the idea of being cleansed from your sins- So often in church, we’ll talk about how you’re forgiven; you’re cleansed from the penalty of your sin. You’re saved from the penalty of your sin. You don’t have to go to hell now. That’s not what the Scriptures teach. The Bible teaches yes, you’re saved, you’re forgiven of that, but it says that you’re saved from the sin itself. In other words, you don’t have to go back to that. You have a new power now. You’ve overcome those things. In fact, those who are believers are overcomers. You aren’t stuck in that because you’re a new person now. And that’s why you have this new heart that says, ‘Deliver me from evil. Lead me not into temptation. I don’t want that. I don’t see this thing. This thing is right in front of my face. I don’t want it, God. I want you more. I’m seeing the future. My eyes have been opened. Lead me not into this thing that’s right here. Deliver me from that. I want to run from that.’ But some of you, you’re so nearsighted that you’re blind. And that’s a scary word, blind, because where in Scripture do you see that word being used for a believer? What I read in the Scripture’s is the natural man who cannot see the spiritual things. They’re blinded to it, but then, the believer, God opens their eyes and let’s them see this whole world, and you accept these spiritual truths.
If you have your Bibles, 2 Peter verses 2:20-22. You can turn the next page in your Bible, too, if you want, but it says this- because I think this describes it well. Listen to this. “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.” [2 Peter 2:20 ESV]
Ok wait, wait. Stop, stop, stop. Stop right here, ok. Stick with me. Remember the last passage when we talked about being blind. Now you’re thinking, ‘Wait, but you’re saying if they’re blind, then they’re not saved. Are you questioning their salvation?’ And I’m thinking, ‘Ok, well, look at what He says in the next chapter.’ He’s saying those who somehow have escaped the defilements of the world, and then they’re entangled in them, and overcome. The last state has become worse for them than the first. What does that mean to you? Well, let’s read on.
“For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: ‘The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.’” [2 Peter 2:21-22 ESV]
It’s an interesting passage, isn’t it? First, He’s talking about being blind, and now He’s saying wait a second. So those people who kind of got it, they understood what Jesus did for them, but then it says then they go back to where they were, and they’re overcome and entangled in that sin, that mess again. He says they’re actually in worse shape than before they ever heard. Ok, I know this strikes against some of you who have said, ‘Wait, but I thought once I became a believer, I could do whatever I wanted to do. Don’t I have that freedom in Christ?’ Yeah, but the Bible says if you go back to this though, then you never really got it. In fact, it would have been better if you would never have heard because now you have heard. You knew the truth, and you decided to go back. He says you’re in worse shape than before you first heard. He says, in fact, it would have been even better if you’d never known the way of righteousness. See, some of you know the truth, and you’ve gone back to the old ways. And it describes you. He says this is what happens. You’re like a dog that returns to its vomit. Did you forget you were cleansed? Did you forget all this stuff? You remember when you threw up. And you’re thinking, ‘Wow! That’s disgusting!’ And you walked away, and you started to follow Christ. And then as you see the truth of Christ, and as you look at your vomit, you think, ‘I’m going to go back and lick that up.’ He says that’s what you’re doing. And He says that’s worse than if you never heard. Like you never got it. These are scary passages to me. Aren’t they? It just creates this weird thing where the Bible is clear. We like to give people assurance of their salvation. Right? If someone’s doubting their salvation, we want to be quick to say, ‘Oh, no, no, no I know you’re saved because blah, blah, blah, blah.’ I don’t know that that’s our job. When I look at the Scriptures, it’s saying look at the fruit of your life. Let’s go to the next verse. This will make it clear, verse 10, hopefully.
“Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.” [2 Peter1:10 ESV]
Have you ever thought of this idea, therefore, brothers? Because you don’t want to be the spiritually blind, nearsighted person, He says therefore be all the more diligent. And again, this word carries with it a sense of urgency. Remember last week, “make every effort”? Now it’s saying, “be all the more diligent.” Go after this, and this is a command. “Make your calling and election sure.” Make sure of your salvation, but it doesn’t say make sure by looking back at a decision that you made. The way that you make sure of your calling and election is by practicing these qualities. See? Have you ever thought of this idea that we are called to be all the more diligent to make our- you understand we talked about this, someone’s calling and election. Election means you were chosen. We were chosen by God. Right? We wouldn’t be here unless we were chosen by Him. We’re called by Him, but He says make sure you really were. And the way you are sure is not by looking back at some decision you made. It’s by practicing these qualities. And thinking, ‘Wow! Look how the Holy Spirit’s changing me.’ Doesn’t everyone in this room want to be 100% sure that they’re going to heaven? Right? Who doesn’t want that? We want it. Now many people in the room, many of you believe that once you truly decide to follow Jesus, you can’t loose your salvation. You believe that a believer is secure. I do, too. But some of us who believe that doctrine, some of you are not sure whether you’re really saved. Let me help you with this because the security of a believer, the thought that if I’m really saved, that God saved me. If He called me, He’ll justify me. He’ll glorify me. He’ll take me through that whole process, and you’ll look at that and say, ‘No, that’s a truth.’ And that is a truth. There’s a security in being a believer. That He who began a good work in you, He’ll finish it. He’ll bring it to completion. So you can be secure in that. There’s a truth. See, the security of a believer is an objective truth, but the assurance of your salvation is subjective. Does that make sense? You see, this doctrine of assurance, the doctrine of security of a believer is just a true fact, but for you to be assured of your salvation, that’s something that’s subjective. That’s something where you have to be diligent to make your calling and election sure to get that assurance for yourself. If you’re not living a godly life, you’re not close to Jesus, you’re not following Him, you’re going to lie in bed at night and wonder if you were ever really born again. That’s just going to happen. That’s the result of that type of lifestyle. As you lie there and think, ‘Was I ever changed, was the Holy Spirit in me?’ Because the Bible says the Holy Spirit is the seal of our salvation. Right? But if you never experience the power of the Holy Spirit, how do you know that you have Him? Now some of you, your mind’s jumping to the verses you know about eternal security. Right? And the first one that jumps to your mind is 1 John 5:13, and 1 John 5:13, that’s a great verse. Let’s turn to it. First John 5:13 says this. Listen. Most of you have this memorized because you were taught this is how you can be secure. God doesn’t want you insecure. He wants you to know that you’re saved. Look.
1 John 5:13 says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.” [ESV]
Right? Because does God want us insecure? I don’t know if I have eternal life. I don’t know if I have eternal life. No, I mean according to this verse. This is the verse we quote. Right? Look. He says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God.” Why? Why did John write these things? “So that you may know.” So you can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life. Great, great, great, great verse, but let’s look at this verse in context. What does he say? Because he says I wrote these things, I wrote these things here in 1 John so that you may know that you have eternal life. Well, what are these things that he wrote? Let’s look at the book of 1 John. First John, chapter 1, let’s kind of go through it. What did he write? First John, chapter 1, verse 6, what does he say? He says, “If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie, and we don’t practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” [1 John 1:6-10 ESV]
Chapter 2, verse 4, listen closely. ‘Whoever says, “I know him’ but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way that He walked.” [1 John 2:4-6 ESV] Verse 9, “Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light...” [1 John 2:9-10a ESV] Verse 15, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:15 ESV]
Chapter 3, verse 6, listen to this. “No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen Him or known Him.” [1 John 3:6 ESV] Verse 8, “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” 1 John 3:8-10 ESV] Verse 15, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” [1 John 3:15 ESV] Verse 17, “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” [1 John 3:17 ESV]
Chapter 4, verse 7, “Beloved, lets love one another, because love is of God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” [1 John 4:7-8 ESV] Verse 13, “By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He’s given us of His Spirit.” [1 John 4:13 ESV] Verse 20, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he’s a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” [1 John 4:20 ESV]
Chapter 5, verse 4, “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world...” [1 John 5:4a ESV] So then you get to verse 13 where it says do you understand why I wrote all these things? So you can know whether or not you have eternal life. So you can look at your life, and say, ‘Man, that’s totally me. I can’t keep sinning. Every time I sin, I feel like crud. I just have to change. I can’t go on in that pattern. That shows me the Holy Spirit’s in me. These people I would normally hate, I love them. I have that love. I don’t hate my brother. I have this bond no matter who they are. I hold on to that. That shows me that I’m really saved.’ Do you see all these things? And he says if you’re just saying that you know God, but you don’t obey His commands, He says you’re a liar. But you say, ‘Wait a second. I’m obeying His commands. Look at who I used to be, and look at me now. Of course, I’m a believer.’ But you don’t understand the assurance. That’s because you say, ‘Wow, I can look at these things and know that I’m a believer. Because I’m living to these things,’ and that’s why he says be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure because if you practice these things, you’ll never fall. You pursue these things, and that’s the assurance. Now absolutely, if you’ve been saved, you’ll start seeing these things in your life.
When I bought my current house, in the front yard, there was this little twig that was just kind of sticking up out of the ground. So I asked, “What’s that?” And she said, “Oh, it’s an orange tree.” I’ve lived there a few years now. That thing shot up beautifully, all kinds of oranges on it. I said, ‘Oh, it is an orange tree.’ That’s what the Scripture’s saying. It’s saying you’ll see the fruit of it. You can come up to me, and say, ‘Hey I’m a believer. I’m a follower of Jesus Christ,’ and I’ll say, ‘All right, maybe.’ But then you start seeing all these qualities, and you see all the changes. And you say, ‘Wow, you really are. You go to bed at night, and you look at all the qualities, and think, ‘I’m a new person. I experienced the Holy Spirit today. This was great.’ And that’s where our assurance comes from. See how it’s subjective? It’s an objective truth, but for you to get that assurance- and again understand the reason why I fasted and prayed for this weekend, knowing what I was going to talk about was I definitely don’t want anyone in this room, I don’t want those of you who are believers to walk out and say, ‘I’m not a believer.’ You see, I don’t want that to happen. At the same time, I don’t want those of you who aren’t true followers of Jesus to walk out believing that you are. And that’s why I prayed. I said, ‘God, no one can give a message that’s going to be that perfect and that precise and get to everyone’s heart. That’s something You’re going to have to do…’ because the Bible says there are going to be people who are shocked at the end. I don’t believe that there’ll be many that will be shocked that they get to go to heaven. But the Bible says that there’ll be a lot of people that are surprised. Matthew 7 says, they’re going to say to Me on that last day, ‘Lord, Lord what are you talking about? I did this, I did this, I did this.’ And He’s going to say, ‘Depart from me; I never knew you.’ That scares me, but they thought. He says when the Son of man returns, Matthew 25, he says He’s just going to separate everyone, and He’s going to say to the left, ‘I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me anything to drink.’ And those people are going to be surprised. They’ll say, ‘What are you talking about, Jesus? I never saw you.’ And Jesus will answer, ‘Whatever you didn’t do for the least of these you didn’t do for Me.’ Just like He says there in 1 John when you have the goods, and you don’t care for people who are in need. He says, “How could the love of God be in you?” But they’re surprised. And I don’t want that, and that’s why I prayed. I said, ‘God, I don’t want this, and I don’t want this. I just want truth.’ Some of these verses that I was taught when I was young, I wasn’t taught them in context. Did you ever see that in 1 John 5? Did you ever think about taking anything in context with the book, and how over and over He says, ‘Well, this is how you know’? This is how you know. This is how you know. This is how you know. I wrote this so you would know. I thought, ‘Well, that makes sense.’ You know? Rather than just taking that one verse out, and saying, ‘Oh, God wants us all to be secure,’ because let’s face it, we’ve used that verse to make people feel secure because I don’t like when people feel insecure, but I’m not the one to fix that. And we want to change that, and sometimes, we’ll even try to make someone secure that we have our doubts about. And I’m just realizing that’s not my job. This is something you’ll get if you diligently make your calling and election sure. You pursue these qualities like crazy, and you know what? You will be sure. You’ll see it happening in your life, and you go to bed at night, and think, ‘I’m good. Things are cool.’ That is an amazing thing with God. I can see the future. I can see. I’m not nearsighted. You think, ‘Wait, I don’t see the future. Maybe I’m not saved.’ No, that’s not what I’m talking about. You know what I’m talking about, but it’s as if I never- If you practice these qualities, you’ll never fall. No one wants to fall. Right? Because the word for fall means it’s a completed action. You’re just down there. You’re not coming back up. You just fell. It’s kind of like that seed, the soil. Remember the parable of the soils, and there were different soils. The hard path, which would be like a sidewalk, and you throw seed on there. Some of you, you’re like the sidewalk. I could say whatever, and you’re just not listening. But then he says there’s this other type that’s called the rocky soil, and it’s not really soil. It’s like these rocks with a little bit of top dirt thrown on there. The root never gets in. So something springs up, but the Bible says that the moment that the trials come, it’s gone. It wilts. It’s over with. That’s why 1 Peter 1:7 talks about the tested genuineness of your faith. There is a tested genuineness where if it’s really rooted in good soil, the trials will come, and you’ll be steadfast. You’ll hold it up, but some of you, the only reason why you’re still here is because you haven’t really been tested. And the moment life starts getting too difficult, you’re going to walk away from God, and you will see that you were never that good soil. See, we want to make those people feel secure, and I’m looking Biblically, and saying, ‘No, that’s part of the deal. We are going to feel- if you’re not following Jesus, you will feel insecure.’
Now understand something. And I know a lot of you already do understand this, but I just want to make sure we all get it. The Bible teaches something that we call the perseverance of the saints, that those of us who truly believe, we’re going to believe until the end. Ok, so a true believer’s going to make it to the end with his faith intact. He’s going to grow closer to God. That doesn’t mean we won’t have little slips here and there, but you know we’re going to make it to the end. Let me show you some verses. First Corinthians 15:1-2 says, “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, and which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you-- unless you believed in vain.” [1 Corinthians 15:1-2 ESV]
Next verse, Hebrews 3:6, “…And we are His house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting and our hope.” [Hebrews 3:6 ESV] Hebrews 3:14, “We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” [Hebrews 3:14 ESV]
Colossians, “He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard…” [Colossians 1:22-23a ESV]
Matthew 24, “and because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” [Matthew 24:13 ESV]
Mark 13, “And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” [Mark 13:13 ESV] You see this in Scripture. It’s easy for those of us who believed, ‘You’re secure, and you’re going to make it to the end. And God’s going to start a work in you, and He’s going to finish that work. He called you. He’s going to justify you. He’s going to sanctify you. He’s going to glorify you. It’s all done. You’re going to stand until the end.’ So if you don’t stand until the end, what does that tell you? He says at the end understand it’s going to get hard. The trials are going to come. He says, lawlessness, lawlessness will increase. Do you see that at all in our world? Where people are saying, ‘Well, He can’t tell me what’s right for me. And He can’t tell me I can’t do that. Don’t give me this law stuff. He can’t command me,’ and He says in the end people are going to start hating you for the stance that you take. People say, ‘Wait, you believe that; you’re one of those. You actually believe that that’s morally wrong.’ He says, but the person, as people hate you more and more, He says the one who makes it to the end is coming in. He’s saved. See, it’s the same things the Scriptures are teaching here.
Let me say something at this point. And again, here this whole thing may be you’ve never heard a pastor say this to you. There are times when I, Francis Chan, doubt my salvation. And there have been times in my life when I’ve even doubted the existence of God. Now I can look back at those times, and I may have them in the future, but every time I have those doubts about my salvation and even the existence of God at times, it is always when I have not been strong in my prayer life because when I am praying, and I’m reading the Word of God, and I’m pursuing what He wants, the way He answers my prayers it is so blatantly obvious. And this is not just this crutch that I’m trying to make up. No, this is reality. During those times when I am tight with God, and I am walking with Him, I am praying like crazy, you can’t tell me that God doesn’t exist. I would look at you like you’re crazy, like you’re mom doesn’t exist. What are you talking about? You know what I mean? Gosh, no, it’s like you made it up, you made her up. It’s just- this is it. There is no way. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt. I am His. He is mine. The Spirit’s crying out, ‘Abba, Father.’ We are just so tight, and there is no doubt. And the answered prayer, everything else where I just think, ‘I know, I know. Thank you, John. I know that I’m saved. I know I have eternal life.’ Then I’ll stray a little bit, and I won’t be so close to God. And I won’t be praying, and I’m not pursuing diligently and working hard toward making sure my election is sure or I really am saved. And those doubts start creeping in. See, you know what I’m talking about. See, you understand. It’s this thing. Where He says, don’t do that. He says diligently pursue these things, and you won’t fall. Go after it.
And then He finally, He says in verse 11, I’ll close with this. He says, “For in this way, there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For in this way,”-I love this- “For in this way, there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the kingdom.” [2 Peter 1:11 ESV] It’s talking about when you die, and coming into the presence of God, and entering what we call the Kingdom of Heaven, however that looks. This eternal Kingdom that there would be an abundant or a rich entrance. Ok, I’ve never really thought about this a whole lot, but I was thinking about it this week. Have you ever thought about the reception you’re going to get when you get to heaven because the Bible teaches we don’t just all go in the same way? We’re all saved by His grace, absolutely. But 1 Corinthians talks about depending on what you did on this Earth and how you lived your life, some of everything you did could be burned up. It’s going to be shown to be wood, hay, and stubble. And it talks about you yourself would be saved, but as though through the fire. It’s almost like you went through the fire, and you came out, and you have nothing left. You’re sitting there, everything’s just- you smell like smoke, and you have nothing to show for your life. And it’s like, ‘Oh, hi guys,’ versus the person who really did things for the sake of the Lord, for His glory, for His majesty. You’ve suffered, and everything else, and you put up with it, and you stayed firm until the end, and you were just going after it. He says you pursue these qualities, and you won’t live an unfruitful life where everything is burnt up. In fact, you’re going to pull it off. You’re not going to fall. You’ll get to the end, and you’ll have a rich entrance into the Kingdom. And I’m willing to bet, I would bet my house on this, that many of you have never even thought about this because you’re so insecure about your own salvation that you would be happy just to get in at this point. And that’s all you think about. You don’t think about this entrance. It’s like ‘Kathleen’s here! Yay!’ It’s not like this. ‘You know what she did when she was down there the other day?’ It’s not like this whole- you’re not even thinking about that. You’re just thinking, ‘I don’t even know if I’m one of those that are in. I don’t see the fruit in my life. I’m stuck in this, this, this.’ And you’re stuck in that insecurity, and I’m not here this morning to tell you, ‘Oh, no, no, don’t worry about that, you’re good. You’re good. You’re good,’ because that never works anyways. No one else can assure you of your salvation. Even if I did sit down and show you all these verses, still you’d go to bed at night or any time you would open up the Word of God, you would think, ‘Oh, that’s not me. Oh, that’s not me either. That’s not me,’ and you’re just thinking, ‘Wow! I wonder if the change ever happened?’ Look, that’s the way it’s designed. If you’re not living for Him, you don’t see the fruit. You are going to question. And God doesn’t want us to live that way. That’s why He just says go after it. And if you go after it, you’re never going to fall. You’ll stand until the end because that’s what My saints do. He says besides I’m doing this work in you. I’m the one. Just know Me, stay close to Me, and I’ll give you all of these things. Remember, He is the one that’s given it to us. He granted us by His divine power everything that pertains to life and godliness. And this is an amazing passage. And He says diligently pursue those things. You pursue those things. You won’t fall. You pursue those things. You won’t be so insecure. Your election, your calling, you’ll be sure of it, and not only that, but when the end comes, there’s going to be this rich reception for you. And you think, ‘That’s awesome.’ So let’s follow the Word of God. I just love it. I love it. I love the Word of God.
I struggled as I thought through all this stuff. I thought how do you end something like this. And I really don’t know because I’d love for you all to walk away secure, but that’s not something that I can make happen. It really is whether you are diligent to make your election and calling sure so that you can live with peace, you can live with grace. And you can just know like John says that you have eternal life. I’m going to have the worship team come up, and we’re just going to close with a song. And during this time, I don’t know what it is in your life that you have to do. Maybe there are just some things in your life that you’ve just been- the Word came alive. Like ‘Wow, I am nearsighted because all I see right now is not what God wants for me. I’m going to diligently pursue those other things so I quit feeling this insecurity of wondering who I am. I’m going to pursue these and put to death the deeds of the flesh so then I can look back and think, of course, I’m saved. Look at all that stuff I just walked away from. Look at me. I’m a new person. My baptism was real. I really did die to my old self, and I decide to walk again in this newness of life.’ But some of you today, maybe you’ve never made that decision to follow Jesus, never really meant it. You look at your life, and you think, ‘I don’t see any of that. I don’t see that. I’m like the dog that went back to its vomit. I’m still stuck in this, and the Bible says I’m in a worse shape than I was when I first started. That’s not what God wants for you. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done at this point. Ok, you’ve got to understand this. Don’t listen to my message, and think, ‘Ok, I better get myself together so that I can be a Christian. I better get myself together so that I can get baptized.’ No, it’s the exact opposite. You become a Christian, and you let the Holy Spirit come into you so that you can become this person. That baptism was the first step of saying, ‘Ok, that’s what I want. I don’t want that. I want to be saved from that. I want to escape that so give me the power to do so. And I will publicly get in front of everyone. Look, my decision is real. This is embarrassing. I don’t like to get in front of crowds, but I’m going to do it. I don’t care. You know what? This is so important to me, and I’ll show everyone I died to my old self. I’m going to follow Jesus. I want His Holy Spirit in me, and I want to start living the way He wants me to. And I want to live a life where every night when my head hits the pillow, I think, I know who I believe, and I know that He has saved me. And I know that I’m His child, and my spirit’s crying out, Abba, Father.’ Don’t leave here with that insecurity. If you have it, be diligent to make this week different.
