Before Woodrow Wilson became president of the United States, he was president of Princeton University. One day he had to endure a one hour-long interrogation by an anxious mother who wanted to be sure that Princeton was the best place to send her son. He patiently tried to answer every one of her questions, and assuage every one of her doubts, but finally, his patience came to an end. He held up his hand and looked at her and said, “Madam, we guarantee satisfaction, or you will get your son back.” There is nothing quite like a guarantee to put you at ease.
The next time you are in an airport, observe the difference between passengers who have confirmed tickets and those who are flying standby. You can always tell the difference. Those with confirmed tickets are reading newspapers, talking, napping, or maybe even waiting in line to get something to eat. But the ones on standby hang around the ticket counter like a vulture around a piece of meat – pacing, smoking, rubbing their hands, constantly inquiring as to the availability of space.
This is the back half of the bookend of last week’s message, Never Lost. We’re dealing with the question, “Can I Lost My Salvation?” This isn’t an easy question for any of us. Nor is it a question reserved for the ivory tower of intellectual enterprise only. Instead, this is an emotionally explosive question. It is a question that deals with people’s lives.
One of America’s wealthiest, Ted Turner was interviewed in 2003 about his faith: “I’ve read the Bible from cover to cover twice.” Turner spouted off a list of religious activities of his childhood to prove his knowledge of Christianity. He said that while he attended a Christian school in Chattanooga, he was required to study the Bible in class each semester for six years. He even volunteered for a Billy Graham crusade and “was born again seven times.” He said he was in the habit of praying an hour a day in his teens. What shook his devotion was the death of his younger sister.
Certainly, our faith lives in a hostile world. When navigating the road of life, God’s power directs your road safely to Him. Here is the central question for our time together: Can God keep me from losing my faith?
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:3-7)
Quickly, here are four reasons why we doubt our salvation
1. Sin
2. Satan
3. Struggle of Life
4. Suffering
1. God’s Matchless Power
“who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:5)
I am reminded of the story of the farmer who was helping one of his cows give birth, and he had the calf about half way out of that mother cow when he noticed his four-year-old son at the fence soaking in the whole event. That man thought to himself, “Great! Four years old and now I’ve got to start explaining the birds and the bees.” He started to say something and then he said, “No, I’ll just let him ask questions and I’ll answer.” After he had safely delivered the calf and put the calf down, and everything was over, the man walked over to his little boy and said, “Son, do you have any questions?” The wide-eyed boy said, “Just one, dad – how fast was that calf going when it hit that cow?”
When it comes to salvation, the vast majority of this world, and a lot of people in church, have it totally backwards. The entire doctrine of eternal security, that is, once you are saved you are always saved, is built around the words “…by God’s power are being guarded through faith…” (verse 5). That statement is the key to the door of eternal security. Our God is not only an awesome God, He is an able God. He is able to do anything. That means that God has not failed, God cannot fail, and God will not fail.
Remember that the man who is writing this letter is Peter. Peter had denied Jesus and denied his faith: “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 24-25)
When I go all the way back to the book of Genesis and I begin to make my way through both the Old and New Testament. It is here that I see evidence after evidence, and proof after proof that God is able:
- The creation of the world tells me that God is able.
- The parting of the Red Sea tells me that God is able.
- The walls of Jericho tell me that God is able.
- The killing of Goliath tells me that God is able.
- The fiery furnace and the lion’s den tells me that God is able.
- Jonah and the great fish tells me that God is able.
- The virgin birth tells me that God is able.
- The feeding of the five thousand tells me that God is able.
- The healing of the blind, deaf, mute, and lame tells me that God is able.
- But more than any of these things, or all of these things, the empty tomb tells me that God is able.
God’s power is matchless and marvelous.
2. God’s Power Guards Your Faith
“who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:5)
The Bible says our faith is guarded. There is danger on the way to salvation in heaven. Brinks Security trucks guard your money from one bank to the next. If there was no danger, there would be no need for Brinks to be present to guard anything. Because there is real danger your money can be stolen, is there a need to hire a security truck. We need ongoing protection after our conversion. Our security does not mean we are home free. There is a battle to be fought. And in this battle we need protection and help far beyond what we can supply for ourselves. Our protection comes from God. More specifically, our protection is by the power of God: “who by God’s power are being guarded through faith”
Last week we examined verse three where we saw that God causes the new birth. Now in verse five we see that God protects his children all the way to heaven. So our security doesn’t mean that there is no battle, or that we don’t have to win it, but that God will fight for us with infallible skill and omnipotent power.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10). If the Bible had said that you are saved by grace through intelligence, some of us would have been too dumb. If we were saved by grace through looks, some of us would be too ugly. If we were saved through education, some of us would be too ignorant. If we were saved by grace through money, some of us would be too poor. But all that is necessary for you to be saved is simply faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
When I talk about faith, please understand I’m not talking about an intellectual acknowledgement of something in your head. Faith is much more than that. Faith is trusting with your entire being.
A motorcycle officer was moving smoothly through a Los Angeles suburb on his way to work. As he neared an intersection a red pickup truck sped past without even slowing down for the stop sign. The officer turned on his flashing lights, radioed the station he was in pursuit of the red vehicle. As his unit pulled up behind the truck, the officer was thinking, “That fellow is just probably late for work.” Unknown to the officer, the driver of the pickup had just robbed an all-night grocery store. On the seat beside the driver was the paper bag with the money and the gun he had used. As the officer pulled up beside him, this man put his hand on the gun. The truck pulled to the side of the roadway and stopped. The officer parked his motorcycle and approached the driver’s side of the pickup. He was relaxed. He said, “Good morning sir, may I see your license.”
Those were the last words he said. The driver stuck his arm out of the truck and fired his weapon. The barrel of the gun was only two inches away from that officer. The bullet hit the officer in the center of his chest. He was knocked to the ground seven feet away. For a few moments all was quiet. Then to the horror of the gunman, the officer slowly stood to his feet. The driver couldn’t believe it. He said, “This guy must be Clark Kent.” In shock, the policeman slowly began to brush the dirt from his uniform. After two or three seconds the officer regained his wits, pulled his service revolver and fired two rounds into the side of the truck. The first round went through the open window, destroyed the windshield, the second round went through the side of the door and ripped into the driver’s left leg. The terrified robber screamed, “Don’t shoot, and threw the gun out along with the bag of money. That officer’s life had been spared because he was wearing a bulletproof vest. Vests are incredibly strong even though they are only about three-eighths of an inch thick. They are made of dozens of layers of an extremely tough fabric called Kevlar. Just a few months later another officer, Ray Hicks and his partner, went to serve a search warrant on a well-known drug dealer in the city of Inglewood, CA. As his partner knocked, Hicks yelled out, “Police!” and started to knock down the door. From inside the shabby apartment four slugs were fired through the door; one found its mark. The impact was almost exactly where the motorcycle officer had been hit only a few weeks before – squarely in the center of the chest. Later his partner recalled that Hicks simply said, “I’m hit, and slowly sank to the floor.” The coroner reported that the policeman probably lived less than a minute. The bullet had ruptured an artery; blood to the brain had been stopped instantly. Police officer Ray Hicks was 27 years old. He left a wife, three children and a bulletproof vest in the trunk of his car parked thirty feet from where he fell.
What is the point of the story? An officer can believe in vests all he wants to, but he must take his belief to the point of personal commitment where he puts that vest on and wears it at all times. What Is the Only Thing That Keeps Us from Salvation? Now think with me carefully about this for a moment. What is God protecting us from? That is, what, in the end, is the only thing that can keep us from salvation ready to be revealed in the last time? Death won't keep us from salvation. It takes us straight to heaven. So we don’t need protection from that. Suffering won’t keep us from heaven. Verses 6–7 say suffering will refine our faith. So that’s not what we need protection from. It’s true we need protection from Satan who “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) And we need protection from overwhelming temptations and “the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” 1 Peter 2:11 So we should pray, “Lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:13) But why? What’s the bottom line in the damage that these enemies can do? What is the one thing that cuts us off from heaven? The answer is unbelief.
Not trusting God. Not living "by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us" (Galatians 2:20).
So what does verse 5 mean, then, when it says we are “who by God’s power are being guarded through faith”? It means that God’s power protects us for salvation by sustaining our faith. The only thing that can keep us from heaven is forsaking our faith in Christ, and turning to other hopes, other treasures. So to protect us God prevents that. He inspires and nourishes and strengthens and builds our faith. And in doing this he secures us against the only thing that could destroy us; unbelief, lack of trust in God. This is very different from the security of the safety belt. Some people think that, because of some past experience, they have a safety belt and can leave faith behind, drop off into the chasm of sin and unbelief, and just swing low over to the promised land. There is no safety belt in this. There is one way to heaven: the way of persevering faith. And this is why verse 5 is so important. Our security is not in making heaven simply because we remember some past experience. Our security is in God’s infallible commitment to fulfill the conditions of heaven.
3. God’s Power Keeps Until the Very End
“who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:5)
There is a salvation ready to be revealed. We are saved now, but our salvation is not complete. There is an inheritance imperishable, undefiled and unfading yet to be received. There is much more grace and glory to be experienced (1:13; 4:13; 5:10). We are not yet across the chasm.
“For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. 5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.” (Jude 4-5)
Jude’s example takes us all the way back to Egypt, Moses, and Pharaoh. For many years the nation of Israel had been in bondage. Year after year after year they had launched missiles of prayer into heaven, crying out for God’s deliverance. God heard their prayer and he did deliver them, proving he could be trusted completely. God proved He could be trusted with their foes. There was no more powerful army in the world than the Egyptian army. Pharaoh had ruled Egypt with an iron hand. No one dreamed that Pharaoh would ever let them go. But the Lord sent disaster in the form of lice, hail, locusts, and frogs. He sent disease in the form of boils and pestilence. He sent darkness which covered the entire land. Finally, he sent death, taking the life of every firstborn Egyptian child. The result was, Israel was allowed to leave; sent off with a “good riddance" and their bondage was ended. Then God proved he could be trusted with their freedom. They were free, for God had declared that they were free. But Egypt still did not want to believe it. If you remember the story, Pharaoh sent his army to pursue the Israelites.
All of a sudden, Israel found themselves with the Red Sea before them and the Egyptian army behind them.
What did God do? He divided the sea, He Drowned the army, and He delivered the people. He proved that the God who sets you free is the God who keeps you free. Then God proved he could be trusted with their food. When they got hungry, God gave them Manna from heaven. When they got thirsty, God gave them water from the rock.
Why did God do all of these things? Because he wanted to prove to the nation of Israel, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that they could believe His word. That God does what he says he will do. Now remember God had brought them out of Egypt not just so they would be free, but that he might bring them into Canaan. God had told them in effect, “if you will claim the land, you will conquer the land.” But in spite of what God had done, they did not believe what God said, and Numbers 14:22-23 tells us the result: “…none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, 23 shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it” (Numbers 14:22-23). Even though God proved he could be trusted with their foes, and with their freedom, and with their food, they did not believe God could be trusted with their faith, or with their future. What happened? All of the nation, except for Joshua and Caleb, over twenty years of age, died in the wilderness. Now why does disbelief bring death?
If you think about it, disbelief questions the ability of God. It says, “Can He do what he says?” Disbelief questions the integrity of God. It says, "Does God do what he says?” Finally, disbelief questions the voracity of God. It says, “Will God do what He says He will do?” If you will think about it, you will realize that all of the nation of Israel had a similar experience. They had all experienced the parting of the Red Sea.
They all had eaten of the manna from Heaven. They all had drunk from the water from th Rock. They had all seen the same miracles. But they were not all truly saved. They had the same experience, but they didn’t have the same faith. Did you know that the Bible never tells us to look at an experience for assurance of salvation? The Bible tells us to look to the present and to the word of God. May I tell you the most important question you need to ask yourself is not: “Was I saved? But, am I saved?” An apostate is not someone who had salvation and then lost it through disbelief. An apostate is someone who never had salvation and they prove it through disbelief. The real test of trust is not talk, but present faith. These people had proven to be apostate. They turned away from the God that they claimed to know.
You may wonder what is the relationship between goodness and grace? What part do good works play in salvation because this may surprise you, but they do. But the thing to remember is this. Good works are not the root of salvation, but they are the fruit of salvation. They are not the price of salvation, but they are the proof of salvation. Good works do not produce salvation, but salvation produces good works. Works follow faith just like heat follows fire. A good root sunk into good soil will ultimately grow a tree that will bear good fruit. That’s why Jesus said, “A good tree bears good fruit.” If you have sunk the roots of your heart by faith into the soil of God’s grace, you will bear the fruit of good works. But the thing to remember is that even good works are the result of God's grace. Martin Luther said it better than anyone: “No one can be good and do good unless God's grace first makes him good; and no one becomes good by works, but good works are done by him who is good. Just so the fruits do not make the tree, but the tree bears the fruit... therefore all works, no matter how good they are and how pretty they look, are in vain if they do not flow from grace.
When God says you, He is not finished with you, He's just started with you. He's got great things for you to do. Verse 10 says, “For we are His workmanship.” The word workmanship comes from the Greek word poiema from which we get the English word poem. Now the word two thousand years ago could refer to any work of art: a stature, a song, or a painting. It literally means a work of art or a masterpiece. A child of God is God's masterpiece, His work of art. He is the poet, I am the poem. God is the painter, I am the portrait. He is the potter, I am the clay. The world once again has it backwards. It says you’ve got to work so that you can make something out of yourself. God says, “I'll make something out of you.” A person is not a Christian because he does good works. He does good works because he is a Christian.
