Story about how insecure we Americans feel after 9/11
Office of Homeland Security
1. Introduce idea of Security. Freedom from risk or danger; safety. Freedom from doubt, anxiety, or fear; confidence. We also ought to understand security in terms of who trying to steal our security from us as well as how we conduct our lives in the absence of security.
Feelings vs. reality. Our enemies want us insecure. IT is the basic goal of terrorism.
Security is one of the most basic of Human Needs after Food, Shelter and Clothing.
a. Physical –
i. It is why we have police to stop those who would take our security away.
ii. It is why gold prices go up during times of uncertainty.
iii. It is why we have armies to protect our country
iv. It is why we buy safes and locks and use banks instead of mattresses.
v. It is why we purchase virus detection and firewalls for our computers.
vi. It is why we put alarms on our vehicles and homes.
vii. Is there such a thing as financial security? When can enough be enough?
viii. Is there such a thing as healthcare security? Who can guarantee our health?
ix. How about job security – Is there such a thing?
x. God is able – true security comes only from God. It is fleeting when we try to do it ourselves. But saying “yes” to God, and learning to trust in Him for all things physical can revolutionize our lives.
xi. You men may think you are the providers of your home. But God is the provider…He provided the Lamb to Abraham, He provided manna in the wilderness and streams of water in the desert. He will provide for you:
1. Mt 6:25-26 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
2. 1 Tim 6:17-18 “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant or to put their hope in wealth, which is so UNCERTAIN, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides with everything for our enjoyment.
3. Ps. 111:5 “He provides food for those who fear Him.”
4. Phil 4:19 “And my God will meet all of your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
xii. Flagg house
xiii. God alone is able – true security comes only from God. But saying “yes” to God, and learning to trust in Him for all things physical can revolutionize our lives.
b. Emotional – “Emotional security is the foundation of a fulfilling and productive life. It is the key ingredient of self-esteem and self-reliance, and the platform for academic performance, friendship, family bonds, and solid core values for children”
i. A university instructor asked her class, "What has four legs and leaves?" One of the co-eds answered, "My last two boyfriends."
ii. An offended husband was about to run away when his wife said, "Don’t go. You always leave when I need you the most."
iii. Our loved ones need the assurance that we are there for them, not just when the going is good, but through thick and thin, good times and bad
iv. Children:
1. Separation anxiety present at 8 months
2. Stranger anxiety: 4-6 months
3. As they develop feelings of security – the child feels more self-confident and more likely to explore
4. But the Child must receive positive contact
5. And he must have a minimal sense of danger - others must provide safety and security measures for child
6. I wish every one of us had inscribed on the walls of our home the words of Dorothy Law Nolte’s work, “Children Learn What They Live,” and then kept this constantly before us in our daily activities.
"If a child lives with criticism,
HE learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility,
HE learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule,
HE learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame,
HE learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance,
HE learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement,
HE learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise,
HE learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness,
HE learns justice.
If a child lives with security, HE learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval,
HE learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,
HE learns to find love in the world.
v. The security of knowing you are loved is essential to emotional health.
1. Doubt will lead to aberrant behavior – trying to win approval or love of others like a parent or a spouse.
2. Is it any wonder that God designed marriages to last – look at our vows – in sickness and in health…we need commitments of lasting love.
3. Fear of not being loved can lead to resentments, anger, fearful behavior, unforgiveness, and conditional behavior toward others..
4. Have you ever sought a parent’s love
a. Been told “if you ever do ____ I will disown you”
b. Or felt that if you ever did ____ a parent would love you less?”
vi. God is able to heal those insecure hearts that we have from the wounds of others or ourselves. God alone is able to provide true emotional security that you may not have gotten in childhood or later in life from others.
1. Mt 11:28-29 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, (emotionally worn out) and I will give you rest (relief). Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
2. The woman at the well had 6 husbands, one after another. She sought emotional security and could not find it. Then she met Jesus. He changed her life and her outlook on life.
a. She sought security in people but Jesus showed her she would find it in Him…by saying Yes to Him.
3. Jesus speaks at great length about forgiveness, about being set free from emotional captivity…He alone is able to set you free from emotional insecurity if you say YES to Him.
c. Spiritual –
i. Can I really ever know for sure that God loves me?
ii. Can I know my future after I die?
iii. Is there any security for me in the spiritual or do I have to just “hope” that it works out?
1. Some try to solve this with their efforts…balance their good works with the bad things they have done and hope it balances out in the end.
2. Others become “religious,” trying to prove to God that they are worthy of His acceptance by pleasing God through their piety.
3. Still others disregard it all together, either because of despair or a refusal to believe that a God exists.
2. Spiritual Security examined
i. The reason the bible calls our message “good news” (the gospel) is because of these very doubts and fears man has lived with for millennia.
1. Every religion in the world makes a vain attempt to reach God through our own efforts and FAILS.
ii. Remember - Insecurity breeds bad habits, strange conduct, and is not a healthy environment for personal growth, change or development.
iii. There are even some Christian churches that teach in good faith that a person cannot know for certain of his eternal destiny, or that he can lose God’s love at a moment’s indiscretion.
b. So…What you can be sure of
i. God loves you with an undying love. There is nothing so bad you could have done to be outside of His reach.
ii. We can have the security of knowing we are loved..
1. Psalm 103:12 He has removed our rebellious acts as far away from us as the east is from the west.
2. Is 43:25 "I – yes, I alone – am the one who blots out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again. “
3. Hebrews 10:17 Then he adds, "I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds”
iii. Luke 15:11 He also said: "A man had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ’Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.’ So he distributed the assets to them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living. 14 After he had spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he had nothing. 15 Then he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to eat his fill from the carob pods the pigs were eating, and no one would give him any. 17 But when he came to his senses, he said, ’How many of my father’s hired hands have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. 19 I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired hands." ’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. 21 The son said to him, ’Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 "But the father told his slaves, ’Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast, 24 because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.
iv. This story is about one who abandon’s his father’s love, reject’s his father, yet his father never stops watching, looking for him.
1. If you have turned your back on Him, you can turn to Him. He is waiting for you. There is nothing so vile or wicked that He won’t forgive you if you will turn to Him and say, “YES”.
v.
c. Can you know for certain that you will go to heaven and be with God forever when you die? This is called ETERNAL SECURITY.
i. Why you need to know you have eternal security:
1. You and I need security in order to live healthy lives. God has provided it emotionally, physically and spiritually for us. If you will say YES to Him.
2. Remember how we will live differently when we are insecure than when we are secure?
a. You may try to earn God’s love (impossible)
b. You might try to give up because of the impossible task of trying to find an elusive security
c. You will have tremendous swings in your ups and downs spiritually as you gauge your worthiness on how well you have done spiritually the past day or week.
d. You will never worship God as God because if even 1% depends upon you, you will act as if all of it does.
ii. How you can know eternal security
1. 1Jo 5:13 - I write this to you who believe in the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.
2. 1Pe 1:23 - For you have been born again. Your new life did not come from your earthly parents because the life they gave you will end in death. But this new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God
iii. What you need to do to have eternal security?
iv. - Believe on Him - SAY YES TO GOD
1. Jn 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
2. John 3:18-20 “There is no judgment awaiting those who trust him. But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God. Their judgment is based on this fact: (if you are holding back from God from saying yes) The light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. They hate the light because they want to sin in the darkness. They stay away from the light for fear their sins will be exposed and they will be punished.
a. It is the very act of coming forward and exposing their sins and darkness that would have brought them security.
3. (how crazy, for God will forgive if they will but forsake their sins and come to HIM!) wwii German POW distrusting – expecting death, found mercy. His act of surrender was not his demise as he had feared, but his life, his salvation!
4. Romans 10:9 “If you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
v. You mean, by simply believing in Christ’s work on the cross I can have a reservation in heaven? It sounds too easy!
1. We cannot earn God’s love. We cannot work to gain His love. We cannot be religious enough to gain his attention. It is a GIFT.
a. “By grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Eph 2:8)
2. It is simple…God did the work. He wants you to let Him love you and live in you.
3. IT is a GIFT: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord”
4. Your response to God’s offer is an “unconditional yes”…my life is your’s now. He paid the ultimate price to save you. He only asks that now you live for Him.
5. 1 Peter 1:8-9 “And though not seeing Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
vi. Invitation at end of service…opportunity to say yes! To surrender and find life.
d. What about losing your eternal security – might not God take it away if I fail?
“If I could fail, then I would wander under a dark cloud of fear, beneath the terrorist Satan who ceaselessly tries to undermine my security and thereby my freedom and effectiveness.” (Bob H.)
God is revealed by His perfect love
1. We learn He is loving, He is strong, He is patient, He is just and kind. (two weeks from now, the attributes of God).
ii. Is the blood of Christ only good enough if we are good enough?
1. Salvation not equal to faith plus works
2. Salvation is a work of God on our behalf, requiring only our trust in Christ, which itself is empowered by God and not the result of any virtue in us. Salvation does not require our good works in the past or the future or the present. If it did, the finished work of Christ would be insufficient,
iii. He promises to keep us (it is His work)
1. Romans 8:1 “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus
2. Romans 8:38-39 “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!”
a. NOTHING CAN SEPARATE YOU FROM THE LOVE OF GOD!
3. John 6:37-40 However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do what I want. And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them to eternal life at the last day. For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life – that I should raise them at the last day."
a. NOTHING can take you out of His hand.
b. IT is HIS will and desire for you to have Spiritual Security!
iv. The only way a person doesn’t get eternal life is to
1. Reject God – SAY NO to God.
a. He won’t force you to love Him
b. Or spend eternity with Him.
c. If you choose to spend your lifetime without Him, you cannot expect to spend eternity with Him.
2. Or be a false Christian – so test yourself.
a. A false Christian is one that believes that they became a Christian by going to church, or by doing the right things. It is only through a total reliance upon Christ that we are Christians.
b. A false Christian would be one that bears no fruit. No fruit, means there is no root. (test yourself.)
i. 2Co 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you not recognize for yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless you fail the test.”
c. HERE is the test:
i. Mt 7:17-19 In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
ii. Look at the words from your mouth and the actions of your life. They are fruit.
iii. A peach tree won’t bear lemons. It produces what is in its root. Are you in Christ? If you are getting the wrong fruit then you better check to see if you are rooted in Christ or rooted in religion.
d. Jn 15:4-5 “Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. "I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me.”
e. Test yourselves.
f. We are told that only those who persevere have faith to begin with. Perseverance is the mark of faith.
e. Objections by nay-sayers
i. There are those who say no…they are in the employ of the enemy
1. They desire to keep you dependent upon their doctrines and rule.
2. And you will be kept insecure
3. And you will never worship God as God because it depends on you.
ii. They may say, ‘It will lead from freedom to license.’
1. No- that is always the RISK of unconditional love…that it will be abused. Unconditional love is willing to be hurt for the opportunity to love you.
2. Anyone who is truly changed by unconditional love will not dare to violate that love for very long.
3. There is no more miserable creature than….
iii. What about “and I will not erase their name from the book of life” Is that not a conditional? Rev. 3:5 “In the same way, the victor will be dressed in white clothes, and I will never erase his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before My Father and before His angels.”
1. He does not say he will, he says he will not! The only condition for a Christian is to PERSEVERE. And that is the mark of a true Christian. PERSEVERANCE.
f. Although we never lose our spiritual security, we may lose the enjoyment of close communion and fellowship with our heavenly Father.
i. For example, when one of my children sins against me, it temporarily hinders our ability to be close and enjoy each other’s company. But even though all is not well between us, that child never ceases to be my child. The same is true for those of us who have trusted Christ as our Savior, whenever we sin against God and put distance between ourselves and Him, we are still His children who are secure in His love.
ii. My children may feel my displeasure, but they always are my children and they always have my love.
g. The question is NOT, "Can you lose your salvation or not?".
The question IS, "Do you have faith in Jesus Christ?".
Eternal salvation is reserved for those who possess the enduring faith in Jesus Christ.
The only unpardonable sin is to refuse this free gift. (expand)
3. To lose your reservation in heaven, you would need to:
i. ABORT yourself from the new birth.
1. I don’t see any way to be unborn. You didn’t have anything to do with your first birth, so how can you be unborn
a. If salvation can be lost, this requires a reversal of regeneration. This means the born again must become unborn again. And if they subsequently repent, then they must become born again again. Can a man also be born again again again? Where does it end? Is regeneration really so transient?
b. If salvation can be lost, "eternal life" cannot be eternal life. It could only be temporary hope for eternal life that couldn’t become eternal life until after we die. As long as we’re still here, how can we call "eternal" what can be lost? Scripture says believers currently have eternal life, not that we might eventually have eternal life. It says that the life we have is eternal, not possibly or potentially eternal (or "to be determined" by whether we manage to keep or lose it).
ii. UNSEAL your soul (return the Holy Spirit, or take Him to Hell).
1. Now how are you going to unseal your soul? You didn’t seal it, God did. Someone out there says, ’well if you do something that’s wrong, then God will unseal it." Nope, it won’t work, the verse says that the Holy Spirit’s seal is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. We’re sealed until our body’s redeemed
iii. DIVORCE yourself from the family of God
1. Jn 1:12
2. Gal 4:5
a. You say now I’ve got you! I’ve heard of a boy divorcing his parents. Wrong again, I don’t care what that boy did, he is still his father and mother’s son. My son will always be my son, we might be out of fellowship with each other
iv. UNCIRCUMCISE your heart - REATTACH your soul and flesh
1. Rom 2:28-29
2. Col 2:11-12
a. How many sins would it take to lose your salvation…one
b. You havn’t lived a sinless life and once you were saved God cut loose your soul from your body, so if you were saved then you are going to Heaven
v. AMPUTATE yourself from the body of Christ
I’m trusting in the substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you can lose your salvation then you must be trusting in something else. It is a ridiculous impossibility for a child of God to lose their salvation.
A born again child of God can not lose their spiritual security. However, he can lose his assurance, his joy, testimony, rewards, health, inheritance and his life.
DECISION TIME:
I. Have you said “YES” to God?
a. Where are you in your journey…(handout) are you far away, wondering if He is even there?
b. Or are you near, realizing you cannot do life on your own?
c. Are you ready to believe that God has a gift for you…of eternal life?
d. Say Yes to Him today by asking Him to forgive you of your attempts to do it on your own – Receive his free gift. You can do that by stepping out of your pew in a few moments when we stand and coming up here and I will lead you in a prayer that will seal this moment for eternity.
II. Have you been worried about your security – either because you have been believing the wrong things or because your life has not been right with God lately?
a. Come up here to pray with a deacon or myself.
III. Stand and slide out of your pew to meet me here….as we sing
Naysayer Notes
1. Where are the threats…check out Jude! Speaks of holy conduct, and against those who have snuck into the fellowship to lead others away. He never speaks of them as believers, but as false-believers, wolves in sheep clothing, preying on the innocent.
a. Jude 1:21 Live in such a way that God’s love can bless you as you wait for the eternal life that our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy is going to give you. (ie. No threats)b. Jude 1:24 – “Now to Him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless and with great joy,”
c. the "apparent" problem passages. Of them, 2 Peter 2:20-21 seems a real nasty one. But upon reading the entire epistle from Peter, one can see that the people in question are false teachers. Peter’s perspective, as that of Jude in Jude 19, is that these false teachers were not truly Christian. As Jude puts it, they are "wordly-minded, devoid of the Spirit." Most likely these teachers publicly professed Christ as their Lord, but their subsequent rejection verified their unchanged spiritual condition.
The few isolated verses used to pretend that a church age Christian can lose salvation are invariable either not talking about salvation, or not directed at Christians.
Mt 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, ’Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. 7:22 On that day many will say to Me, ’Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’ 7:23 Then I will announce to them, ’I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’
Mt 25:31 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ’Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you took care of Me; I was in prison and you visited Me.’ "Then the righteous will answer Him, ’Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or without clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and visit You?’ "And the King will answer them, ’I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ Then He will also say to those on the left, ’Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels! For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger and you didn’t take Me in; I was naked and you didn’t clothe Me, sick and in prison and you didn’t take care of Me.’ "Then they too will answer, ’Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help You?’ "Then He will answer them, ’I assure you: Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me either.’ "And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
John 10:27 -29 My sheep recognize my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. So no one can take them from me. there seems to be no interpretive possibility that John 10 does anything but clearly and emphatically teach true Christians can’t lose their salvation. Verse 28 in particular makes three statements which each seem unmistakable in their intent: "I give them eternal life" (what can be lost and ended cannot be eternal life); "and they shall never perish" ("shall not perish" would have been very strong; "shall never perish" leaves no room for ambiguity); "no one can snatch them out of my hand" ("no one" means no person, whether human or demonic;
