Words I’m Thankful For
John 10
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/WordsThankfulFor.html
The first reason to believe in eternal security is because Salvation is of the Lord. We looked at that last week and with an open mind, asking God to correct our position if need be. The goal for any preacher ought not to be trying to make sure he ’has always been right’ but rather to make sure ’he IS right.’ So hear me out before you pass judgment and part ways with me.
The 2nd reason to believe in eternal security is the language found in this passage:
v. 27-29
“never” “any” “no man”
These are words I’m thankful for this year!
If language means anything at all, and if our God does not have a problem w/ vocabulary, you cannot walk away from this passage w/out saying, I’m not only saved, I’m secure!
The English is clear enough, but if we were Greek, and spoke the language the Bible was originally written in, we would be even clearer. Greek is much more complex and specific than English.
In the Greek, Jn. 10:28, 29 are even clearer.
“give” =freely bestowed, impossible to earn
When God saved you, he gave you the gift of eternal life. If you have to work for something, then it’s not a gift.
Ill.—Gary’s fridge goes out/I hear about it/delivery truck brings him a new one/has all the features!/he writes thank-you note/week later, checks mail, fat letter from finance company/open it, it’s a payment book for the fridge/ Calls me: “Bro. Jerry, the payment book for the fridge was accidentally sent to my address"/I reply, it was no mistake, I made the down payment, now you make the monthly payments!
Is that a gift?
When it comes to the gift of salvation, Jesus made the down payment (earnest), and He keeps up the monthly payments!
To think otherwise is to insult the high price He paid on the cross!
Ill.—let’s turn it around now…/Gary comes into a lot of money/buys me a Rolls Royce… “Bro. Jerry, you mean a lot to me…it’s yours!”/I say, that’s beautiful, I love it, but it’s too much/No, nothing’s too much for you!/I say, "What do you want?"/Replies, "No, no catch, no strings attached!"/"May I ask, how much was it?"/$250,000/I can’t accept this!/No, it’s yours/Then I say, "just let me do something towards it"…and I reach into my pocket, and hand him a quarter! ("Thanks a lot!")
Then I run into you at the gas station, and you say, nice wheels, where did that come from? I answer, “Gary and I bought it”
What an insult to Gary! And to think there’s anything you can do to keep your salvation after God gave it to you as a gift…what an insult to our God!
Eph. 2:8 “For by grace…it is the gift of God”
Rom. 6:23 “For the wages…but the gift of God…”
“eternal”
Does God need a vocabulary lesson; did He choose the wrong word? No! In the Greek, it means, “without end, never to cease, everlasting”
The Bible does not say you will receive it when you die, but rather it says that you have it, right now! “He that believeth…hath everlasting life!” Salvation has a present tense.
Eph. 2—“we are sitting w/ God in the heavenlies” – present tense. God has no sense of time, time is a human concept. That’s why He is called the great I Am.
We’re already there in God’s mind!
It’s not 10 day life, 10 year life, or until you sin a really bad sin life, it’s everlasting life…and if doesn’t last forever, it wasn’t everlasting now, was it?
And if it doesn’t last forever, then God is a liar, or has a very weak vocabulary…and no disrespect, but I could throw these verses in the face of God if I were to lose my salvation, and have a solid case! "Why did you deceive me, I didn’t see the fine print!"
By the way, the word eternal here is the exact same Greek word used to describe our eternal God. Think about that one! Your salvation is as eternal as is God! Your salvation will cease to exist when God ceases to exist!
“never”
In the Greek it’s actually 5 words, which put together are translated never. (condensed to one word)
In Greek it means “certainly not, not at all, by no means, under no circumstances”…lose their salvation
Some say, yeah, but you can take yourself out of His hand…no, “under no circumstance” shall they perish!
Reminds you of Rom. 8, doesn’t it?
38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor 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.
“man”
It is italicized in v. 28, because the KJV translators were above all, honest. When they added a word for clarification, which was not in the original, they italicized it, to be honest.
In the Greek it reads, neither shall any pluck them out…
Any devil, demon, sin, beast, man, circumstance
“pluck” means to seize or capture. If someone is trying to take it, the question arises, “who’s guarding it?”
ill.—One time in St. Louis, I was in a downtown parking lot on a hospital visit/saw armed guard, and said, “whew”, because in downtown St. Louis, they’ll steal your paint job if you leave your car unattended long enough!
Salvation: who’s guarding it? Not me, not you.
Phil. 1
6Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it (complete, finish) until the day of Jesus Christ:
(Dad taught me to start jobs, and finish them…if I mow ½ of the lawn, do I get ½ of the money? No, you get nothing!)
II Tim. 1
12…for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that (I am able?) he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
“gave” v. 29 God commissioned Jesus to finish the job.
Jesus Christ is perfectly capable of finishing what He starts.
In Bible days, ships were not motorized/operated by power of wind/when a big ship came into harbor, it was preferred that it be daylight hours/if it came in at night, they would ask it to wait ‘til the next day, before docking in the harbor…but they didn’t want to risk it drifting out to sea overnight either…so they would put the anchor onto a smaller boat, w/ a long rope attached to the ship/they would proceed to bring the anchor on in to the harbor, and drop it there…
…so the ship is outside of the harbor, but the anchor is in the harbor already/the anchor served as a forerunner…which guaranteed that tomorrow, the ship is coming in!
Heb. 6
19Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; 20Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus…
We should be excited, because Jesus is our anchor of hope, Jesus…our forerunner…and when He left earth He ascended into heaven…he’s already there…and I’m tied to Him! (by the ropes of grace)
It’s not me holdin’ out, it’s Him holdin’ on!
"Grace"
It’s a wonderful word that is closely related to ’give’ and ’gift’. Grace is a gift God gives to the undeserving, not to those who are good enough. And grace is much misunderstood...
Many who reject eternal security cling to a tiny phrase in Galatians:
Galatians 5
1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 2...Christ shall profit you nothing...4Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
What does it mean to fall from grace? Not to lose your salvation. In this passage in context it means to miss the point of grace by trying to fulfill the law instead of walking in liberty. Christ doesn’t apply to OT law livers.
There’s only 2 possibilities for those who seem to have ’fallen’:
1. Never saved in the first place
Profession w/out possession. Anyone can walk an aisle and “say” they’re saved. Anyone can get into the baptistry then, and get wet/go to church/appear to live for God…but God knows their heart…and eventually, their true colors will show.
I Jn. 2:19
19They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
Some would say they had it and then lost it…the Bible tends to indicate they never had it!
Ill.—Judas was never saved (devil from beginning) / he was the most trusted, and so was elected treasurer
Ill.--(wheat and tares) Tares are worthless weeds…even poisonous! In the parable, the farmhands said, Lord, shall we separate the wheat from the tares? He replied, no, let them grow together (they do, right here in this room…the Bible promises that!) God will separate the tares on judgment day, if they haven’t already separated themselves. Many don’t ever get out of church…possibly because they’ve been deceived into believing they are saved! (Satan doesn’t mind you believing in eternal security if you’re not saved!)
If that rapture trumpet were to blow right now, some would be left here scratching their heads.
There’s another possibility:
2. They are saved, and God is going to deal w/ them, in His time! This is a very dangerous place to be…trying God’s patience. For while He is longsuffering and patient, your meter is running, and eventually, God will read your meter!
I Tim. 5
24Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.
To say you can lose or forfeit your salvation, walk away, backslide, and just choose to go another direction, is really a cop-out, which forgets one of the cardinal doctrines of the NT, found in
Heb. 12
6For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
God doesn’t spank the devil’s children. (examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith)
Here’s the hypothetical illustration people always want to use: “Do you mean I can get saved and then go out and kill someone, and still go to heaven?”
We don’t have to guess about that, since there’s an example in the Bible.
David. [also Moses]
Was David saved?
I Sam. 13:14
The LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people.
(talking about David)
Psalms: David refers to himself as the apple of God’s eye…then he committed adultery/murder
Confronted by Nathan the prophet w/ an illustration of someone in the kingdom who had done something very wrong, David pronounce his own judgment when he said, whoever did this shall restore four-fold.
David’s judgment was four-fold:
1. His baby died
II Sam. 12:14 (in no uncertain terms)
14Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.
This is not to say that every time a baby dies the parents are being punished for something…don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying that and the Bible doesn’t say that. But in this case, it was the reason.
And despite David’s prayers and tears/anguish…the baby died!
Sin always brings loss. And some men throw away a lifetime of work, and a great marriage, all for 1 night of pleasure.
(David was a good example of the verse: lust/sin/death
2. Son Amnon became a sexual whoremonger
picked up on his father’s immorality…to the place that he actually raped his own half-sister, Tamar.
Imagine the shame David felt/anger/guilt, to think, I have raised a whoremonger.
3. Amnon died a premature death in disgrace
When David’s other son, Absalom heard what Amnon had done, he was furious, and took vengeance into his own hands, hiring hit men to kill Amnon.
For the 2nd time now, David is visiting the cemetery.
4. Absalom rebelled, and died prematurely. His rebellion resulted in war. He died in disgrace, hung by his own hair.
David visits the cemetery again.
How many would agree that David paid dearly for his sin?
Here’s the point:
Even in all of this, David did not lose his salvation (Ps. 51:12--restore unto me the joy)
(Difference between relationship and fellowship)
2 questions:
Does God punish sin in believers?
Absolutely!
Grace is anything BUT a license to sin.
(Rom. 6:1—“shall we sin, that grace may abound?” God forbid!)
God knows your address/phone number/where you live/and it doesn’t matter if you’ve got caller id/call block, it doesn’t matter, because God is big enough to ring your bell.
“Be sure your sin will find you out”
Another question:
Does God take back the salvation He gave if we sin grievously?
No.
Pay? Oh, yes, you’ll pay and pay dearly! But, nothing could ever separate you from His grace.
It’s possible for me to do something so foolish as to lose my family/this church…but nothing can separate me from His grace!
In conclusion: if salvation COULD be lost, it has ALREADY been lost, even by the best of us.
Any time you ask someone what you have to do to lose it, they can never tell you. (Wouldn’t you think God would be clear on that?) And if adultery and murder aren’t enough, what’s worse? And who here hasn’t committed both (lust/hate)?
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