Address—Tim Ruga
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We start our meeting this afternoon by singing hymn #326.
As debtors to mercy alone.
326.
As that her two.
I'm sorry, now that will be great.
More happy, but one more secure.
The Spirit seek heartbreak to heaven.
Let's pray and God and our Father, we thank thee for this time again that we can be together over thy word and to consider what thou will say to us. We pray for blessing on the word this afternoon and let us know we recognize the need of each one of us here and we just pray that whatever.
Needs there are that thou would meet them, and that we would each be encouraged as well as we consider.
Thy goodness to us and how that each and everyone of us is nothing more than a vessel of mercy. We thank Thee so much for Thy mercy, our God, and just commit this meeting to Thee, asking Thy help in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
So what we sang in the last two verses of this hymn is what I have in my heart this afternoon to speak a little bit on the eternal security of the believer, and says in the last four verses, we to the end shall endure as sure as the earnest is given.
More happy, but not more secure, the spirits departed to heaven. And that is true.
Before I take up this subject from the word of God, I just want to explain a few things.
And we're talking about the fact that when someone believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, they have eternal life and that life is forever, a wonderful, wonderful gift from God.
And we want to look and see that in the Scripture there are those who speak pejoratively of this truth, and they say that it's the one saved, always saved doctrine. And it teaches that once you believe in Jesus Christ, then you can go on and do whatever you want, and after that it doesn't matter and you'll go to heaven anyway. And so it leads to unholy living. That's the charge against it. And that has troubled many.
And there are many Christians, I believe, who actually are troubled by.
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Wrong teaching on this. So I don't intend to take this off in a very detailed or deep way, but basically I just want to go over some of the simple truths connected with it. And maybe right at the beginning, just to emphasize a point, I want to tell something about our experience in Malawi.
Not to just tell a story, but there's a real point I want to get out here that I want you to remember.
And when I first went to Malawi, I was going around with brother Tim Roach and we were speaking to those who profess to be Christians. For the most part. There were some who didn't among them, but they said we are Christians and we would talk to them and then we'd ask them questions. And we kept finding out that many of them weren't sure if they were saved or not. And this is quite a puzzle.
And so in in asking the questions a little difficult because of the language barrier and we.
Weren't getting a good understanding of why that was and at first we thought, well, maybe they don't have Bibles.
And it's true, they didn't, most of them. So we got them Bibles and then we went back and they had Bibles then, but they were still answering the questions just as poorly as before. So we thought, well, maybe there's other things that are in the way we have been teaching this subject that I'm taking up today on eternal security. And I'm bringing this up because.
Going through the teaching of the subject won't help if there's a more fundamental problem, and in most cases there is. I'm coming to that. So we went on to other things, like one of the big things was that many of them were.
Having relationship with their ancestors that had gone and died, of course, and they were having speaking with them and so on, not knowing they were demons. So we took that up from the word of God and it seemed to be some help, but it didn't really answer the problem and we.
Kept on there. We moved there about at that time and kept learning the language and asking questions.
And to my embarrassment, I found out what the real problem was in almost every case. And it might be a problem here today. That's why I wanted to mention at the beginning of this meeting.
Those who could not understand the things that we're talking about.
And we're struggling so much with this thought that you.
Can know that you have eternal life and have it forever.
We're actually not even believers. Almost everyone of them weren't even believers. They were trusting to good works of some sort, many of them just to the law, others to trying to do good, others to coming to the Lord's Supper and taking it so they could get life. That teaching was widespread.
And so in one way, there were.
Other others which was trying to confess all their sins. Another common thing.
But in one way or another, they were working so that they could merit salvation, be good enough so that they could meet God one day.
And when we understood that, then of course everything went out the window except for the gospel. And thank the Lord, many of them were saved, others had been already. And.
It really helped to get clear on that, and then they started to learn all these other truths.
I want to make that point because if you're not clear on the gospel itself.
You're always going to struggle with this. I mean, if there's nothing else works, you need to.
Actually come to faith in Jesus Christ. And it became something that they actually started repeating a lot there, chikulu pili la boss, which means faith alone. And they understood it. And then the ones who were saved started preaching that very clearly and definitely. And it was a help to others. But I just wanted to start there. And that said, I do recognize there are many who struggle.
With this.
Truth of eternal security, and I think there's quite a few.
Who are actually saved to struggle with it and so I want to take it up from that standpoint today and.
I'm going to start with just some of the verses for and then some of the verses that are used against this teaching.
And then I want to go on to something more important at the end of the meeting that I really want to emphasize for especially the young who are here. So let's just start with a verse that already has been mentioned at this conference, and for good reason. John, chapter 10.
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John 10.
Verse 27. We'll start there.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.
I think his brother Wally Dear mentioned this last night in the Gospel and I enjoyed how he put it. He was speaking about other passages that relate to this, like in Luke chapter 15, the beginning of that chapter, the Lord is seen. There is the shepherd who goes out and finds the lost sheep, and he put him on his shoulder, right? And you said the sheep wasn't keeping himself there, but he was being held there by the shepherd, and he brought him home rejoicing.
Beautiful, terrible that the Lord used, and that relates to what we have here.
And I think if I remember what else you said, that to say that that shepherd would let go of that sheep is actually an insult to the shepherd. I appreciate you saying that. I believe that's true, and I don't want to offend somebody who's struggling with this.
But.
If this is the work of God to keep a believer, which I believe the scriptures are going to clearly show as we look at them.
Then you need to be very careful what you're doing as to your beliefs in the subject.
Believe our brother while he was right in what he said, So what it says here is my sheep, hear my voice.
And I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. That word never perish is, I understand, a very, very strong word. Never. It's never, never perish. It means it's not going to happen. And he shows that those sheep are in his hand, and then they're also in the Father's hand.
Now the question is.
What happens to those sheep?
Like, can they get out of the hand? And we're going to come back to that. But first of all, I just want to say it's my sheep hear my voice. And there are those who say, yeah, that's true. But you can stop listening to the shepherd's voice. And, you know, this has nothing to do with whether you go on trying to continue hearing the shepherd's voice. It really is what our brother Wally was saying last night. This is the shepherd's work. He's the one who keeps that sheet.
That's the teaching here and I really want to, I want to go on and look at.
The next verse, we're just going to have to pass through these fairly quickly.
And it's probably my favorite verse on this subject and very related to this one. So this goes back a few chapters in John chapter 5.
And verse.
24.
Says, verily, verily I say unto you.
He that heareth my word, remember my sheep, hear my voice. He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but His past, from or out of death into life.
Very definite thing. How does one get life? They hear the shepherd's voice. They hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he goes on to make that very clear in the next verse. He says in verse 25, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.
And so you see, here are ones who are dead and they can't even hear. We're coming to that as well.
And what I want to get to before we're done today is that this truth is actually tied, woven together with many other brothers said there's only one truth, so we shouldn't say truth. Sorry, please let me say truth. It helps a little bit. Many other doctrines, teachings, truths in the word of God.
And they all go together. That's why the brother made that point, right? It's the truth. And if you take one of them out, it spoils the rest.
And so you can't. And that's why it is one truth, but.
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Please for bear with me.
And so we'll look at that a little bit more. But you see these ones even came to be sheep by the fact that they heard the shepherd's voice when they were dead. And that's when the shepherd's voice is heard. It doesn't mean that we don't go on hearing it. We do. But that's what brings in that condition that makes that one a sheep. And it says here the hour is coming. And now is he's not talking about resurrection here.
This is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. He's talking about those who are spiritually dead.
Hearing his voice and getting life, you go on just a little bit further, you find resurrection and it's very similar words.
And let's look at that now in verse 28, marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear His voice, and shall come forth. They that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. Now this is certainly not teaching good works. And you need to take every scripture in context. You go over no further than the next chapter and you find that they were asking.
Jesus OK, well then what are the works of God that we should do them? He says this is the work, one work of God that you believe on him whom we ascent. Scripture is very clear about this point that those who do good, it means one thing they had faith no other way to do good before God and the others are going to be raised to.
The resurrection of damnation, All the others. There's not a third class here, but my point in reading this is.
He's talking about a final state. He's not talking about something where you can go in and out of. They're going to be raised up and it's not like they're going to go back into dead and be raised and go back and dead and be raised again. He's talking about a final state of condition and things in verse 28 and 29. And so is he in verse 25. When the dead hear the voice of the Son of God and they live, that is a final condition. And I submit to you, you'll always find it that way in Scripture.
There is no thought that people go back into a state of being dead again spiritually and coming alive again. You have to look for that in verses that actually don't say it. And we'll look at a few of them in just a few minutes.
He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent Me, hath everlasting light. What is it if you lose it again after a short time? Is it everlasting?
Absolutely not that. Wouldn't that be conditional life? But the Lord said everlasting life.
And he means it.
And then he underscores it twice here. And shall not come into condemnation. It won't happen. They will not come into condemnation. But is passed out of death into life. That condition of death is over. They've passed now into life and they're alive. Wonderful truth. You get a hold of it.
It is the most wonderful thing to enjoy before God.
Let's go on to another verse, Romans chapter 6.
Brother Bruce is questioning whether this is a gospel verse.
I think you are questioning whether it's only a gospel verse. I hope it is. I love it that way. Romans 623.
And justice, the end of it. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
All well known verses and that's why we teach them to the children when they're young. So helpful, so important to know these verses and get established in them and what they actually mean. But here is speaking about eternal life as a gift from God.
I used to ask them in Malawi, I said.
If I would give you a gift.
Is it yours? They said yes.
And I said, OK, So what if I came and took it and took it back from you? And then they all kind of look funny. OK, so they didn't want to say what they were thinking, but when they admitted what they were thinking, they say, well, you'd be a thief.
And.
Not only that, you'd be a liar because you said it was a gift and it wasn't a gift.
And so then I'd ask the next obvious question, and a good one for us to think about here today. Is God a thief or a liar?
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No, he's not. Of course not.
And God cannot lie tells us in Titus chapter one, God who cannot lie.
Promised the eternal life before the world began. This very thing we're talking about is a promise that God who cannot lie made.
And He makes it as a gift and He does not go back on that. If you turn over just a little bit to Romans 11, because in verse 19 says the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, it means He doesn't change his mind.
And this when God gives a gift, it is a gift, and you have it, it's yours. It belongs to you.
Very important. Let's go on. Look at another verse, Romans chapter 8.
And.
Verse. Well, we'll start with the verse that we had yesterday, verse 30.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate them he also called, and whom he called them he also justified.
Whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Verse 31.
What shall we then say to these things? If God before us, who can be against us?
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God to justify it. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. He rather that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation or distress?
Or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for this slaughter, and they are in all these things. We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
Now this verse.
For high and persuaded.
That neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
He covered everything there.
There's nothing that can separate us in the love of God, not even ourselves, and he put us so strongly that we might know it.
Somebody once said, So I was reading that, well, there's one thing that isn't mentioned here that would separate you from the love of God.
The person asked what is that? He said, well, sin.
You can go and sin and separate yourself in the love of God.
And the person pointed out, no, that's not true.
It says here nor things present. You go back just a little bit here in Romans Chapter 7 and.
He says here.
Find the place here, verse 20.
One, I mean, we'll just refer to this one verse. I find then a law that when I would do good, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
And so he's talking about something that's present, something present there that's in them. And when he gets to chapter 8, he says, no, there's nothing present that can suffer. Separate me from the love of God, not sin, not evil. Nothing can separate you and me who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God. That love goes on forever. And so important that we simply take what God has written and what God has said.
And we enjoy it. Let's go on to another one, Philippians.
Philippians chapter one.
And verse 6.
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work, and you will perform it.
Day of Jesus Christ, who is the one who's done a good work in the believer?
Remember the verse in John chapter 3. Except the man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
But those who are born of water and the spirit, those are the ones who do enter in.
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The Lord is teaching about being born there, being born again.
And it's that water of the Word of God. I won't take the time to prove that, but the Spirit is the Spirit of God. And the Spirit of God takes the Word of God and begins life in a person. And that person then trust in Christ. And that work that the Spirit of God began in them, it says here that he completes it until the day of Jesus Christ.
That is the day when the Lord Jesus Christ has his own around him, and that's the of the future when there's no longer any trials or temptations that are down here with us.
All the way until we get home. That work of the Spirit of God will go on in our lives and He will complete it until we get home there.
These are powerful things.
And I hope you're seeing how many different ways that the Word of God brings them out. We're just going to go through a very few of them here.
I'm sure other brothers could get up and bring this out from so many other standpoints, but let's just go on to just a few more, maybe just one more. And then I want to get on to some of the verses against this first Peter chapter one.
First Peter one and verse.
Ah.
Let me see where I should just start. We're at verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a living hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance.
Incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you, you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
In John chapter 10 we read that the Lord Jesus has us in his hand. Every believer is there, and then the Father's hand is around that. And here we see we're kept by the power of God. This is written by one who failed the Lord so terribly.
And that is hard to even imagine for many people to deny the Lord Jesus Christ himself with cursing and swearing.
That's what Peter did.
And he learned this lesson. He was safe all along there. And he says, no, you're simply kept by the power of God. Peter thought he could keep himself. And those who take up the wrong side of this doctrine think if they get home to heaven, it's only because they're going to have kept themselves. And Peter says, no, that's not true. Your cat, by the power of God.
Now I just want to stop and go over some of the other verses.
And we'll look at just a few of them, many of the verses on both sides, but let's go to Matthew chapter.
7.
And verse 21 Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
But he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven.
Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name have done many wonderful works? Then I will profess unto them, I never knew you depart from me, ye that work inequity. And so the thought is that here were ones who were going out and seeming to do the will of the Father in heaven, but somehow they weren't, and and they had done many things in the name of the Lord.
Clearly they had been believers at one time of their life and were even serving the Lord as believers. And here in the end the Lord says, depart from me. And so it shows that one can be saved and then lost again.
But when you read this carefully, you see that that's not what it's saying at all. In fact, it can't mean that. First of all he says the one that will enter in will be the one that does is the will of his Father in heaven. And the Lord said, I think it's in John five that this is the will of the Father that you believe on him and he ascend that.
Is the will of His Father in heaven? It isn't a matter of just trying to do everything right.
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And doing enough things that would be suitable to the Christian life so that you'll end up in heaven. And that's nothing more than works and absolutely condemned by the Scriptures. Romans chapter 4 verse five says not to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted as righteousness. That's the only thing that God looks for.
Not anything that we can do, even as believers. He's not looking for that. He wants to see good works in our lives, there's no question. But when it comes to salvation, that can have nothing to do with it.
Where vessels of mercy. I'm not going to turn to that, but we sang it.
Vessels of mercy alone, that's found in Romans Chapter 9, and that chapter takes it up very strongly. But that's all that he has, those who are recipients of his mercy, and that comes by faith in Jesus Christ and by faith in him alone.
It says here.
Verse 23 I'll profess unto them.
I never.
Knew you remember that.
Remember what it said in John chapter 10?
He said My sheep hear my voice, and I know them.
Is it possible that the shepherd knows a sheep and that would turn around later and say I never knew you?
Now God doesn't lie.
The Lord knows a sheep. He can't say I never knew you. These were those who were never sheep at all. It's all they were. They were professors. They made a profession and they went on and they did things. Judas is one of these. He did these things that are written here, and yet he was lost. And there's others too.
Important that we read the whole context of these verses and understand what they're saying. Let's go on to Matthew 24.
See another verse that's often used.
Matthew 24 and verse 13.
And that he that challenge your unto the end, the same shall be saved. We actually sang that one too, didn't we?
We shall endure to the end.
And I think the hymn writer put in that in there because that's so often used as a challenge to this truth of eternal security. He says, no, no, no believers are going to endure to the end. But in fact, when you look at this verse, is it even talking about salvation?
Of the soul, whether one goes to heaven or not. No, it's not.
Like I said, it's so important that we look at the context and know what it's talking about. If you go down just a little bit in the chapter, it says verse 21. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened. There should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened.
That makes it clear.
It's talking about a time of tribulation and the need to be saved through it. And it says those who endure all the way to the end of it, they're going to be saved to go into a state of blessing that comes after that tribulation here on the earth. It doesn't say about the ones who don't make it through. They will be martyrs who are going to go into a different state of blessing in heaven. But the Lord is taking up the earthly side of things here, and I'm not going to say more about that.
We spend more than one meeting on just that subject.
My point is we need to go and look and see what the verse is actually talking about. This is a very common verse used against this subject of eternal security and it says nothing about that subject. Let's go on 2nd Corinthians 13.
2nd Corinthians 13.
And verse five, examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith.
Now, why would he say, examine yourself to see if you're in the faith if you could possibly not be in the faith?
At least that's what people would use this verse for.
To try to say well look you could be lost again you need to check and see am I currently saved or not.
What is my current state?
But that's not what it's talking about. And again, it's just ripping one phrase right out of context to take it that way. So we're going to go back just a little bit and see what is actually being said here. If we go to the beginning of verse three, we get the beginning of the actual sentence that this is founded says, since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, now we get a parenthesis that goes all the way.
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Down to the verse that we.
We're reading verse five. Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. So now I'm going to just read it that way and I think you're going to hear what it's saying. Since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me. Examine yourselves whether you be in in the faith.
They were saying, is Paul? Is Christ really speaking in Paul?
Anything. Just think about it. Corinthians, Are you believers? Did you actually trust in Jesus Christ?
And the answer? Yes, they were. They had trusted in him. Well, how did you come to trust in him? They had heard it through Paul.
That's the point he's making. And so how can you question that? Christ is speaking, Inmate, I brought the gospel to you. You believe that gospel and now you're saved because of it. Just think a little bit of what you are, that you're an actual Christian, and you must know then that I'm bringing the truth of God to you. That's the force of the argument here. And to rip one phrase out of it and try to make it into something else is what is classically done.
In turn, in terms of changing the truth into error.
So important that we take this up in context. Let's go on just to a few more Hebrews chapter 6. We just had this in Dorothy in our reading.
Hebrew 6 and verse.
Verse 4.
And we're going to start on this.
On the 4th word, fifth word of that verse. For those who are once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away.
Now obviously I just ripped that out of the middle of this sentence, but that is actually how these verses are often used.
You have to rip it out that badly to use them that way.
And the statement is that here were those who look at them, they they had tasted of the heavenly gift, who made partakers of the Holy Ghost and.
They fell away.
Doesn't that indicate that someone can be an actual believer and and then?
No longer. But if you look at the whole thing, in fact, let's read only the part that we skip.
Verse 4.
The 1St 4 words and then we'll go to verse 6.
It is impossible, if they shall follow away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
If you read it that way, you get the actual sense of what's being said here. These are those who made profession and they were partakers of all these things. The taste is not the same as drinking. Even on the cross. The Lord Jesus, when he tasted that vinegar mingled with gall, he would not drink. It says there's a difference in these things, and these one spoken up here had gone very far. Like Judas again.
This one who had gone very far.
And he had taken in very much of that which was right and good and outward was part of it. And yet what did he do? He turned his back on it. And he said as these ones here, it's, it's as if the Son of God didn't even have to come. There was no need for him to die on the cross. And these ones in context again, were Jews who would go back to the synagogue. This is the epistle of the Hebrews.
And say this is what I need here.
The law and those other things and they say under the law.
He was nothing more than an impostor. He deserved to be crucified, and they crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh.
Terrible thing to do and it really speaks of an apostate, one who is never saved.
And turned their back on the things that they once knew and said.
I won't accept that.
But I want you to notice something else. For those who hold to these verses and say they teach that somebody can be lost. Again, if that's really what you believe, then you must also recognize that they also teach that they you only have one chance then to be saved.
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Because it says it's impossible to renew them again to repentance. Only one chance if you're safe according to these verses, and then you fall away.
Don't even think about coming back as the Word of God says is impossible. If on the other hand.
It's speaking about what Hebrew speaks about all the way through. At least five times an apostate, one who once professed and turned their back on Christianity but was never a true believer.
Then we understand it consistent with Scripture, and that indeed is what it's talking about here. The true believer can never do what is described here.
Now we could go on and talk about other verses, but at this point I just want to stop.
And So what are we doing here?
If I don't do go and talk about other verses, what am I doing?
Explaining right what it is that the verse is actually saying. And basically what I'm doing is what brethren do over and over again in our reading meetings. So we take up the Word of God and we come to all these truths found in context, found in order, and we take them up and we explain them. And so I want to say young people.
You're not in the habit of going to your assembly reading meeting. Go.
You need to hear the whole truth of God in context, in this order.
And I want to say something else about that.
We don't often maybe hear somebody stand up and speak about eternal security.
And there's actually a really good reason for that too.
Actually, a lot of brothers are. Bruce was yesterday while he was last night.
They maybe don't take it up as a subject very often, but how many times, even right here have brothers gotten up and spoken to us about our place in Christ?
And some other truth that this truth that I'm talking about today.
It's just simply a part of and it's a higher truth, something that once we get ahold of it and enjoy it, it actually almost renders this entire subject irrelevant.
So important that we go on, and if we don't ever progress before this, we don't even know if we're saved. We're never going to start understanding those other things that God really wants us to know. And so our brethren time and time again, standing right here in other places, have rightly brought before us those other things. And when believers get established in them, they don't even think about this. That's why most of us don't even think to come back to this subject.
To your confronted with it as we were in Africa.
But I do recognize it's important and I hope someone can be helped.
So let's talk a little bit about some of those other things.
One of them is the sovereignty of God.
How do you reconcile this issue of eternal or conditional security of a believer with the sovereignty of God? And the Scriptures clearly teach the sovereignty of God. Ephesians one chapter 4 says that He has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless beforehand.
And love, that's a sovereign choice of God that He made before this world ever was.
That you and I should be his own.
Acts 13, verse 38. It says as many as were chosen.
For eternal life believed God had chosen them.
They heard the gospel they believed others heard, and they refused it.
Let's turn over to John, chapter one, this is.
Very related to what we're talking about here.
John, Chapter one.
And verse 11 Says, He came unto his own, and his own received them not, but as many as received him.
To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
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Which were born.
Not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man.
But of God.
What a tremendous truth to get hold of.
Are you a Christian?
It's because you are born of God.
Does anybody here remember when they were born?
Anybody have anything to do with them? The fact that they were born into this world?
Of course not. You didn't. And you had nothing to do with the second time you were born either. If you're a Christian, If you're born again.
It was of God, it was not of you, it was solely of Him.
And it says here they were not born of blood. It wasn't because their parents were Christians. There's no line that can make one that it was so in Israel and made them a Jew. But it can't be when it comes to being in the family of God. It's not a blood. It's God's choice, it says, nor of the will of the flesh. That means not of your own will.
And that is a crucial statement when it comes to this subject.
It wasn't your will when you became a Christian.
And therefore it can't be your will to get saved again that.
That's what you believe.
It's only of God.
This is nor the will of man. Somebody else can't decide for you either.
I just bring that up. There's many more things on this subject as well. Take up the sovereignty of God. And when you understand the sovereignty of God, that they thought that you could be lost again is utterly incompatible with that entire subject.
When we take up these other truths and we understand them and enjoy them, and we go on even beyond this subject that we're talking about here today.
Let's go on to positional truth, which is so often spoken about here.
So many places we could lock off in Ephesians one is used, but let's just go for sake of time here. Only have 10 minutes left. We'll go to Colossians chapter 3.
Colossians 3 and verse one.
Says, If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Set your affection on things above, not in things of the earth.
Now get this.
For ye are dead and your life.
His hid with Christ and God.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Think about what that's saying. Talk about positional truth. And you believed in Jesus Christ. God took you, and he hid your life right in himself, and you're there.
Risen already with Christ, where he is at the right hand of God.
That's the position that God has put the believer in, and it's wonderful.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you appear with Him in glory. When it comes to physical truth, there is simply no uncertainty, and no doubt it's never expressed that way. Simple facts of what God has done, stated and laid out so that you and I as believers can enjoy them.
Mr. Ironside tells the story of a man. I believe it was on this very passage.
He was struggling with the issue we're talking about today, not certain if he was even himself safe, but he knew that he had trusted in Christ. And when he saw what was written here, he said, well, glory to God, whoever heard of a man drowning with his head that far above water.
Now it might be a little quaint to state it that way, but it's true. And that's why it's put here for us to read it and understand it and enjoy it. That God has put us in a place that nothing can touch. That's what we had in Romans 8. We're completely outside of anything that can separate us from the love of Christ.
And when you understand that, it really brings you to where I want to get to at the very end. But I'm I'm going to skip through a few things as their time is almost gone.
We'll come to that at the very end. I want to go on to the charge that is made against this truth.
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If it is like that.
And all you do is believe in Jesus Christ.
And then you can do whatever you want and you're going to go to heaven in the end.
Then why won't people just go out and live an unholy life? Because they're guaranteed It's just fire insurance, that's all it is.
And the answer is no.
First of all.
That's not what a true believer does, OK? And there's so many other truths we could have talked about the natures of the believer, and I'm actually going to stop for a minute and just say something about that.
When you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're not the same person anymore. 2nd Corinthians 521 Says if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.
Old things are passed away. Behold all things are come become new.
You're fundamentally changed as fundamentally as is possible. You were dead like we had in John 5. Now you're alive and you have a whole new life, a new creation that says here.
2nd Corinthians 5.
Galatians 2 speaks of the same thing. Paul says I am crucified with Christ and nevertheless I live since I died. When he died, I was crucified with him, but I live. And yet it's not me, but Christ lives in me. And there's the key to it. When you trust in Jesus Christ, you get this whole new life and it's his life. And because you have that life and because you have that spirit of God.
Whole other subject, isn't it the indwelling spirit? And we touched on that in Philippians 1/6.
And he's the earnest and he's the seal to make sure we get home to heaven. You take up that whole line of things and you cannot question whether you have eternal security.
But we have the holiest spirit and we have that new life, and that makes us fundamentally changed.
So that we don't have a desire to go out and do whatever sin we want to. Does that mean a Christian won't sin? No, it doesn't mean that we can't fall.
Not fall is to lose our salvation, but a Christian can fall and we know that.
To our sorrow, we know that.
And that brings us to a whole other line of truth that we have touched on here as well. What were we born into? The family of God?
When you're born into the family of God, who's your father?
Is it not God the Father?
And does he kick his children out just because?
Then if you fathers do that, shame on you.
That's not what God does and justice in the few minutes we have left. Before I get to my last point, I just want to look very quickly at Hebrews chapter 12.
Just two passages on this to give them to you. Hebrews 12 and this really begins verse five. You have forgotten.
I like that because we often forget.
In our family we have a father who loves us and cares for us and will not let us go whatever way we want to.
And he speaks then about the chasing of the Lord. He just says, don't faint when you're a rebuke of Him. The end of verse five. Whom the Lord loveth, He's chasing it, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you endorse chastening, God dealing with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth? Not as a Christian. You can't just go off and do whatever you want. The Father will not allow it.
But if you be without chastisement, we're of all that all means all.
The children of God are partakers then are you ******** and not sons? That's what the scripture teaches.
Plead a little more time to go over to 1St Corinthians 11. We would find there that says if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world, And that chastening even went so far as to some of them were taken away in death.
The teaching is that we have a Father who deals with us as children and his family, and if we don't live the way He wants, He's trying to correct us and bring us back. And if we don't listen, it could even mean that we're not fit to stay here on the earth any longer. But then he takes us home to heaven. Why? Because we're good enough? No, because of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the only way anyone ever gets there simply is a vessel of mercy now in our last.
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Two or three minutes here.
I want to say why I think this is so important.
Satan has held many people in doubt and uncertainty as to this subject, and the reason why is because if you're a believer, he knows he's already lost you.
But he wants to make you doubt and fear.
Because he does not want you to enjoy the love of God.
And the Word of God says perfect love casts out fear. When you come to understand the love of God and what He has done to bring you into all these things, and you start to take up with His love and all these truths we've been talking about, then you come into an enjoyment of relationship and communion with Him, which is what God desires, is something else He desires that Satan wants perhaps more than anything else to rob him of right now while Christians are still here in this world.
And that is the Lord said in John 4, the Father seeketh.
Worshippers seek as such to worship Him.
If you're in doubt and fear, maybe you can worship, but your worship is not going to be the kind of worship that God is looking for. He wants those before him, as he says, holy and blameless before him, in love, without that uncertainty, without that fear that perhaps they're not his at all. How can you worship God if you don't even know He's your God?
And say, well, those times when I'm saved, I do it, yes. And Satan would like to rob you and give you doubts. And really, I believe that's a big part of what that helmet of salvation is all about in Ephesians chapter 6.
It's important to have it on to know.
What our salvation is and to have it there from the Word of God itself as a helmet so that when Satan tries to disturb our thoughts and rob us of the love of God and rob God of our worship, that that helmet is in place and he can't do it. It's mentioned specifically there in connection with that spiritual warfare that goes on.
Against Satan in those heavenly places. So again, I want to encourage.
To take up the word of God in context, take up with all these truths, learn to see in them what they're saying when you hear the challenges against it. There's a great many other verses used against this truth as well as many verses showing that is so you can identify what they are and you can simply understand what God is saying and enjoy that relationship with him and be a worshiper before him till the Lord Jesus comes. Well, let's just.
Prayer, our God and our Father.
We thank thee so much for the Lord Jesus Christ and that work that He did on Calvary's cross. So perfect, so completely accepted.
But they we thank Thee that we have been found righteous in Him, that now we are there not only as vessels of mercy, but now as sons before they to enjoy that relationship. We pray that we all would take up with this.
More and more in our lives, until that day when the Lord Jesus comes and takes us home, we thank thee.
That then we won't only know these things in part, but we'll enjoy them even yet in a fuller way. We pray for any who struggle with this subject. We pray that that would open their eyes and hearts and bring them into that glorious liberty that we have known so many of us the enjoyment of it. And so we pray and thank Thee once more for this time to have Thy word before us. We commit this.
Time to thee giving thanks in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.