Alright, I'd like for you to
open your Bibles with me to 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1. For the past
several weeks, I've been talking about the subject of salvation. Salvation. What is salvation? What is it to be saved? I believe
that if I were to ask for a show of hands, I'm not a show of hands
of how many of you, how many of us can honestly say from our
heart of hearts that I know I'm saved. I don't know how I wonder
how many hands would go up. Probably not many because I think
most people think, well, that's kind of proud. to say that i
don't you know i really don't believe it's pride if if we know
what salvation is and if we know what the scripture says and of
course if that salvation is all by the grace of god in christ
i believe we're not not only can we have assurance of salvation
i believe god commands his people to have it if you don't believe
me read hebrews chapter six you go home and do that sometime
i won't go into that this morning but i'll talk a little bit about
it But you might ask this question, how many of us think we're saved?
And if we say we know we're saved or we think we're saved, upon
what reasons could we give to say, well, this is why I think
that or this is why I know that? You know, the scripture also
says, be ready to give a reason for the hope that you have. If I'd ask this question, how
many of you don't know you're saved? Might be a lot of hands
go up. I don't know. And if I'd even
go this far, say, how many of you know you're not saved? Why
do you think that? My point is this. The reason
I've been preaching these messages is this. How can we have any
assurance of salvation or any thoughts of salvation for ourselves
if we don't understand salvation? and what the word of God says.
So I've been preaching a series of messages on that. Each one
stands on their own. So if you haven't heard the ones
before, don't get worried. I'm not gonna, hopefully I won't
lose you today in that. But what I've done is looked
at the whole realm of salvation, what I call the realms of salvation.
I call it a realm because in the Bible, salvation is the nature
of a kingdom. Jesus Christ, the Savior, is
the King of Kings. And those who are saved are subjects
of the King. So I call this the four realms
of salvation. And a few weeks back, I preached
on the first one, the eternal realm of salvation. Here in 2nd
Timothy 1, I've been using this kind of as a base text of scripture
for the whole series. Because it says in just a few
verses, it covers all four realms. But look at verse 8 of 2nd Timothy
1. He says, Be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, that's the gospel, nor
of me his prisoner. Now Paul wrote this while he
was in prison. There's a section of the epistles
called the prison epistles. And the first and second Timothy
are prison epistles. Paul was in jail. Why was he
in jail? He was in jail because he preached
the gospel. He preached Christ, salvation by God's free and sovereign
grace in Christ. Philippians is one of those prison
epistles, for example. But he says, but be thou a partaker. That word partaker means fellowship
or a sharer. Share with me, Paul is saying,
of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.
Now look, he says, who hath saved us? Talking about salvation,
saved us. God, salvation is of the Lord.
And called us, that's really what I'm going to be talking
about this morning, this calling. Called us with an holy calling,
a special calling. That's a separate calling, separate
from all other callings. It's an invincible call. not
according to our works, so that salvation by works has to be
excluded in this thing now. If salvation is by the works
of the will of man in any way, shape, form, or fashion, and
you agree at any time, you've just excluded biblical salvation
and trying to concoct your own. For by grace are you saved, through
faith, that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should. But works do have a place. salvation but they are neither
the cause nor the ground of salvation they're the fruit they're the
fruit of salvation but he says here but according to his own
purpose and grace now here's the eternal realm of salvation
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began
that's the everlasting that's covenant language God is a covenant
God everlasting covenant of grace before the world began God chose
a people and gave them to his son the Lord Jesus Christ and
Conditioned all of their salvation every bit of it upon him and
him alone and That's the eternal realm Scripture and I think it's
Revelation 13 says that their names were written in the Lamb's
Book of Life before the slain before the foundation of the
world and And we could go to other scriptures, but I've already
dealt with that. But he says here, it's according to his own
purpose and grace. What is God's purpose? Well,
God's purpose is to glorify himself in the salvation of sinners by
Jesus Christ. So whatever salvation is, it's
got to glorify God. If it brings any glory to me,
it's not scriptural. It's not real. It's just a sham
salvation. And that's why Paul wrote, God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross, the death of Christ. But you see here, the second
round, now that's the eternal. The second round that I dealt
with is the legal realm, the legal realm. What do you mean
legal? Well, look at verse 10. And he says, this is all given
us in Christ Jesus. It was all conditioned on Christ
Jesus. What were the conditions? The
law had to be kept and justice had to be satisfied. That's the
conditions of salvation. Righteousness had to be established.
Christ had to come and die because the wages of sin is death. And
it says in verse 10, but is now made manifest by the appearing
of our Savior, Jesus Christ. All right, it's made known by
His appearing, that's His first coming, of our Savior, Jesus
Christ, who hath abolished death. Now, how did He abolish death?
How did Christ abolish death? He died. You say, well, how's
that the abolishment of death? He didn't stay dead. He was buried,
but he arose the third day. What does that mean? That means
justice was satisfied. He was made sin. That's what,
in your prayer, you mentioned that, you know, how Christ took
our place as our substitute. That's what Isaiah 53 is all
about. The suffering substitute, the
lamb. The Passover lamb. Remember the
Passover? But God said what? When I see
the blood, I will what? Passover you. What does that
blood mean? That's his death. That was a
prophecy and a type of the appearing of Jesus Christ to abolish death
through his own death. The death of death and the death
of Christ. And he was made sin. Our sins were imputed, charged,
accounted to him. And he died under the just wrath
of God upon him in the place of his people. He was bruised
for our iniquities, scripture said. The chastisement of our
peace was laid upon him. And that's what, that whole thing,
that's the ground of salvation right there. The cross of Christ. Our whole, listen, our whole
salvation is grounded upon the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And the summary term of that in the preaching of the gospel,
according to the book of Romans is the term, the righteousness
of God. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel,
Romans 116 said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it,
to the Jew first and the Greek also, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. What is that righteousness of
God? Christ is the end of the law, the fulfillment of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believe. I have no righteousness,
but him. That's the legal realm of salvation.
I stand before God in my savior. I'm cleared of all guilt. I'm
telling you now, this is amazing grace, isn't it? I'm cleared
of all my guilt. I'm a sinner now. And if God
were to give me right now what I deserve and what I've earned,
it would be eternal damnation. But He doesn't give me what I
earn and what I've deserved. He gave that to Christ in my
place. That's substitution. Propitiation. Remember that term, propitiation?
What is it used four times in the New Testament? Three times?
And in other forms too. But it talks about how Christ
paid my debt and turned away the wrath of God from me because
he took the wrath of God. And that's the legal realm of
salvation. And I always add, because of modern day heresies
that have come about, that's not a fake, that's not a fiction,
that's real, it's my friend. When God poured his wrath down
upon his son, he was not pretending. Christ really suffered, He really
bled, He really died, He died, He was buried and He arose the
third day for our justification. Now I've been talking about the
third realm which is the spiritual realm of salvation and what I
mean by that is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. Now this is
what most people today When they talk about salvation, this is
where they go. For example, you'll hear questions
like this. When were you saved? Well, I
hear people say all the time, well, so-and-so finally got saved. I was over at some hospital. I don't remember
where I was. Senior moment. Maybe an emergency room I think
we were waiting on somebody and there was there was a family
up there and somebody was a preacher up there and they were having
a revival in their church and He wasn't able to go because
it was his wife that was in the hospital there And he was talking
on the phone and he's wondering how the service went and one
of his questions was how many got saved? How many got saved
and that this one of the things that kind of clicked in my mind?
Well, you know, what does what does that mean to most people?
I don't know what it meant to him, you know, but I'm just saying
I overheard the conversation because he was on the phone,
he's right there beside me. And how many got saved tonight? And
that's the way most people think about it. You know, a lot of
people today, when you talk about their salvation, a lot of them
go back to what? Well, I accepted Jesus as my
personal savior when I was 12, I walked the aisle, got baptized,
joined the church, you know. And that's the way they think
of salvation, the spiritual realm. Well, is that what the Bible
teaches? That's what I'm concerned with. I want you to think about
that. How can I know if I don't understand
salvation? Now, in this spiritual realm
of salvation, what I'm talking about is the application of salvation,
that eternal plan and purpose of God before the foundation
of the world, The application of what God purposed before time,
the application of what Christ purchased in time to my person,
to me, so that I can know. Don't you want to know that?
I do. Sometime between now and death,
don't you want to know and understand that? To me, that's the most
important thing of all. I believe it is. And it's the
fruit of salvation. See, that eternal realm, God's
purpose and plan, you see, that's the origin of it. That's where
it all began. And we have to talk like that because we're
creatures of time, but really, really, it's eternal. And then
what Christ did 2,000 years ago on Calvary, that's the purchase
of it, that's the ground of it. Well, what about the fruit of
it, the application of it? Well, this takes place when Christ
sends forth God the Holy Spirit. to apply that salvation to us
in time. And that's this realm of salvation.
It's the fruit and effect of Christ's work on the cross. Now
let me say this at the outset. This spiritual realm of salvation
is not a work that makes us righteous before God. That's what Christ
did 2,000 years ago. That's his work. The Holy Spirit
comes in and brings us under the preaching of the gospel and
reveals to us what Christ accomplished on that cross. It's a work that
brings us to see and to submit to Christ as our only righteousness
before God. That's what this gospel being
the power of God and the salvation. Think about this, you know, the
Bible teaches that God chose a people, the elect. I know a
lot of people deny that and reject it and don't like to hear it
today, but that's what the Bible teaches. And if I'm going to
claim to be a teacher or preacher of the Bible, I'm going to preach
it. Well, here's the question I'm going to be dealing with.
How do I know if I've been chosen? How do I know if I'm one of the
elect? The Bible teaches that God justified his people in Christ. and sent Christ to redeem me.
How can I know that I'm justified before God? That my sins were
washed away at Calvary. We say, what can wash away my
sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Now, how can I know that my sins were washed away on Calvary?
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood. And how can
I know that? How can I know that I was redeemed? He paid the purchase
price for me. Somebody said, well, he paid
it for everybody. No, he didn't. No, he didn't. And you just have
to put it into effect. Listen, if you put it into effect,
that makes you the surety of your salvation and you're in
trouble. I want to tell you something.
If I'm the surety of my salvation, here's a sure thing. It's going
to fail. It's already failed. And the only way you can say
it won't fail is if you think more highly of yourself than you ought.
Read the scriptures. How do I know? We talk about
adoption. That's part of the legal realm
of salvation. We're adopted into his family.
How can I know I'm adopted into his family? Well, last week I
started giving you these four acts of God. Four acts of God
in the spiritual realm of salvation. These are all the work of God.
It's not, listen, none of these are the product of man's free
will or goodness or wisdom because man by nature has none. We're
dead in trespasses and sins. We fell and had them, didn't
we? And we're dead in trespasses and sins. But let me give you
these four acts and I'm going to elaborate on the last two
a little more because I started that last week. But the first
act. that God performs in the application
of it to our person. Now listen, I'll say this now.
If you're a child of God, God's had his hand of providence on
you all along, even before you knew it. Isn't that right? That's
exactly right. Listen, God has a purpose here
for his people. But in the application of this
by the Holy Spirit, the first act that God performs is an act
of providence. You know what providence is?
That's God's government. God controlling. God working
all things after the counsel of his own will. And what it
is, is he's going to bring his people under the preaching of
the gospel. The preaching of the gospel.
Now turn to Romans chapter 10. Now, I already quoted Romans
1.16. What does that say? You turn to Romans 10. It says, For I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it, the gospel, is the power
of God unto salvation. Now, my question to you is, is
there anything else that is made by the Holy Spirit, the power
of God unto salvation? Well, if there is, the Scripture
doesn't say it. I've heard people say they were
saved when they saw a vision or they were saved when they
had a dream or they were saved when they turned over a new leaf,
whatever that means to them. Now, here's what I'm telling
you. If that's what you think your salvation is, the scripture
will not back you up. Now, salvation is hearing the
word. Now look at verse 12 or verse
13 of Romans 10. It says, for whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now you know
what that means, calling upon the name of the Lord, anybody.
God's never turned away to anyone who called upon his name. What
is it to call upon his name? Well, listen, verse 14, how then
shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? You call
on him by faith. Where are we going to get that?
Well, you just mustered up inside yourself somewhere. No. No. It's a gift of God. Doesn't Scripture
say that? It's the gift of God, faith is.
We don't have that by nature. God didn't save you because you're
less obstinate and less rebellious and better than other people
who won't believe. No, sir. It's a gift of God. It's a gift
of His grace. He says, and how shall they believe
in Him of whom they've not what? Heard. And how shall they hear
without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. But they've not all obeyed the
gospel. Everyone who hears it doesn't obey it now. Isaiah saith,
Lord, who hath believed our report? You know, that's the beginning
of Isaiah 53 there. Who's believed our doctrine,
our report? It's kind of disheartening in a way because from our viewpoint,
it's like here he commissioned Isaiah to go out and preach and
then he says nobody's going to hear you. Did the same thing
to Jeremiah. Jeremiah preaching to a nation
going down the tubes. It's what I feel like sometimes.
It's whatever a true preacher feels like. But look at verse
17. So then faith, the faith that
causes a sinner, to call upon the name of the Lord to come
to Christ. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. Now, it's not faith that's worked
out under the preaching of a lie or a false gospel. It's under
the preaching of Christ and Him crucified. That's the act of
providence. Christ said, the truth shall
set you free. The truth shall set you free.
A lie doesn't set you free. A lie keeps you in bondage. The
truth. Over here in 2 Timothy 1, this
is what our text says. He says that this whole salvation
is the product of a calling. Calling under the preaching of
the gospel. That's how Christ calls his sheep.
He said in John 10, he said, my sheep hear my voice. Alright? They hear my voice. That's the
preaching of the gospel. And that's what Paul said in
verse 10. It's now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior
Jesus Christ who hath abolished death, and listen, and hath brought
life and immortality to light, that's illumination, revelation
and illumination, through the gospel. Through the gospel. Brother Ron read it over here,
James chapter 1, verse 18. of his own will, begat he us
with the word of truth. That's begat, that's the new
birth. We'll talk about that in just a second. How does he
begat us? Beget us by the power of the
Holy Spirit with the word of truth, the preaching of Christ,
not a false Christ, not the preaching of a false gospel of salvation
by works. No sir. He says that we should
be kind of the first fruits of his creatures and then he talks
about the engrafted word there in verse 21. You know what the
engrafted word is? That's the word sealed, written
upon the heart by the Holy Spirit. Receive the engrafted word which
is able to what? Save your souls. Now people say,
well, you know, everybody's got a different interpretation of
the scripture. Yeah, they do. So what's the answer? You better
find the right one. You say, well, it's easier said
than done. Well, you're not going to find it by psychological methods. You're not going to find it by
messages that just make you feel good. You're not going to find
it by the reasons and the wisdom of men. You've got to get into
this book, the Scriptures. Paul said the Scriptures are
able to make thee wise unto what? Salvation. Who is Jesus Christ? Now, I'll give you some extreme
examples of what I'm talking about. Here's a denomination.
The denomination says we're Christian. We believe salvation by grace.
And you ask Him, who is Jesus Christ? Well, He's a great man,
a good man, the best of men. Well, is He God? No, no, He's
not God. What does this book say? Jesus Christ is God in human
flesh. In fact, any time in the Bible
that you see Jesus, the name Jesus, in line with the terms
of salvation, It's always revealing that He is both God and man in
one person. If He's not God, He cannot save
us. And if He's not perfect man,
He cannot save us. He must be both. Matthew 1.21,
His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people
from their sins. Two verses down in verse 23 it
says, His name shall be called what? Anybody know? Immanuel. What does Immanuel mean? God
with us. So anybody who denies his deity
or his humanity, that's not the word of life. And then the power
of his finished work. Did he just come here to make
you savable? Is that what the scripture says?
I don't read that here. Did he just come to make salvation
a possibility if you better people would do what you're supposed
to do? No. He came to secure the salvation,
ensure the salvation of his people. He said this in John 6, 37. He
said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. He said, This is the
will of Him that sent me, that of all which He hath given me
I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. And I hear these preachers talking
about, Did Jesus die in vain for you? My friend, He didn't
die in vain for anybody. There is no vanity with God.
If you want to talk about vanity, talk about us. Man at his best
state is altogether what? Vanity, but not with God. You say, well, where does that
leave me? It leaves you a sinner in need of God's grace. You run
to Christ as fast as you can. And that doesn't mean running
down this aisle. It means in the heart, doesn't it? With the
heart, man believeth under righteousness. So God first brings his people
under the preaching of the gospel. The second act in this application
is spiritual birth. Under the preaching of the gospel,
turn to John chapter one. Under the preaching of the gospel,
God's people are born again from above. It's a new birth. Listen to this. John 1 verse
11, talking about the coming of Christ into the world. It
says, He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. Now you know what that means.
Verse 12, But as many as received Him. Now His own received Him
not, but as many as received Him. So there's those who received
Him not, and there's those who received Him. What's the difference?
Well, those who received him were better folks, better people.
Is that what the Bible teaches? Well, you know better than that.
You know that's not what the Bible teaches. You know what
it is, a lot of times it's not so much confusion over what the
Bible says, it's confusion over what we want it to say. You know the Bible doesn't teach
that those who received Him did so because their wills were less
obstinate or less rebellious. No, you know that. You know the Bible teaches that
if left to ourselves, none of us would receive Him. Isn't that
right? Isn't that what this book teaches? None good, no not one. None that seek after God, no
not one. But there are people who do believe
Him, receive Him, accept Him. Well, what does the Bible say
about it? Well, look at it. It says, but as many as received
Him, verse 12, to them gave He power. Now that word power there
doesn't mean ability. It means a right. It's the word
right. To them gave He right. to become
the sons of God. Literally, that means to be called
the sons of God. In other words, am I a son of
God? Am I a child of God? What right do I have to call
myself a child of God? I'm a sinner. If God gave me
what I deserved and what I've earned, I'd be damnation. So what right do I, a Jacob,
a son of Jacob, have to call myself a child of God? Well it
says, even to them that believe on His name. What is His name?
That's what identifies and distinguishes Him from counterfeits. Tells
me who He is and what He did and why He did it and where He
is now. His glory. Now look at verse 13. What made
the difference? Look at it. Look at verse 13.
Which were born. Not of blood. Wasn't of physical
birth or physical heritage. Nor of the will of the flesh. That's talking about the works
of man there. Nor the will of the flesh. It
wasn't by my works. It wasn't because I did more
good works than somebody else or tried to. Nor of the will
of man. That's what men call free will
today. No, it wasn't by the will of
man. You weren't born again because you accept. You know, people
today say, well, you accept him and then you're born again or
you believe in him. No. No, it's not of the will of man. He says,
but of God. This was the work of God. This
is a holy calling. Paul told Timothy. It's a calling
by the Spirit of God, an act of regeneration. Look over at
John 3, just a few pages. That's what Christ is talking
about here in John chapter 3. It says in verse 3, Jesus answered
and said unto him, he's talking to Nicodemus here. He says, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, or born
from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That word see
there means to understand it savingly. And it says in verse
4, Nicodemus saith unto him, how can a man be born when he
is old? Can he enter into the second time into his mother's
womb and be born? Well now obviously this man didn't
understand what Christ was speaking of. He knew he was old. How can you be born again? Well,
Christ said, you got to be born from above. Verse five, Jesus
answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born
of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. I believe that water there is a symbol of the word
of God, born of the word of God and of the spirit. It's the spirit
of God making the word of God, the power of God unto salvation.
And then he says in verse six, that which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel
not that I said unto you, you must be born again. The wind
bloweth where it listeth. Thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth.
So is every one that is born of the spirit. What he's saying
there is this. The only way you know the reality
of the new birth is by its evidences. Its evidences. Well, what are
its evidences? Well, let me give you these words.
You know, a lot of people, they get in, they try to analyze and
theologize the work of the spirit within, and they always get in
trouble. Some people really get doctrinal about it, and they
really try to divide people over it. It's not worth it. We can't
explain it or understand it, but there are scriptural words
that we can use to describe it. Let me give you some of them.
Here's one. Resurrection. It's a resurrection
from the dead. We looked at that last week in
Ephesians chapter 1. The same power that raised Christ
from the dead, the power of the Spirit is the same power of the
Spirit that raises a spiritually dead sinner from spiritual death
unto spiritual life. That's what the new birth is.
It's a resurrection from the dead. Here's another word, regeneration. Or quickening, you might say.
And you hath he quickened. That's the giving of life. Regeneration. You see, that comes from Christ.
The first Adam was made a living soul, but the last Adam, Christ,
was made a quickening spirit. The spirit comes forth from Christ
and gives life. It's a regeneration. Another
way of putting it is a revelation. Paul said, when it pleased the
Lord to reveal his son in me. Christ is revealed to us in the
preaching of the gospel and in us by the Holy Spirit when he
imprints that word upon our hearts. It's a revelation. For God who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 4, 6. Here's another
one. I want you to turn to this scripture.
Turn back to 2 Thessalonians that I read. In the opening of this. It's
a calling. That's another word for it. We
read that in 2 Timothy 1. This holy calling. Look at 2
Thessalonians 2. Somebody says, well how can I
know if I'm elect? Well look here. 2 Thessalonians
2. Remember verse 13 there. You
know, he'd just been talking about those who refuse to receive
the love of the truth. But he says in verse 13, but
we're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the spirit. That's being set
apart by the spirit and belief of the truth. What truth? Whereunto
he called you by our gospel. to the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a calling by the gospel,
not by a lie. We talked about that. It's a
calling. Over in the book of 2 Peter chapter 1, let me just
read this to you. 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 10. It says, wherefore the rather
brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you
shall never fall. And you notice the word order
there? It doesn't say give diligence to make your election sure. The
Pharisees, they thought they made their election sure, but
it was based on pride. We're Abraham's seed. We're circumcised. We keep the law of Moses. Well,
that's not a mark of being one of God's elect. It's the calling. What is the calling? It's the
calling of grace. It's the calling of the Holy
Spirit by the preaching of the gospel of Christ. Who am I looking
to for salvation? Who am I resting in for salvation?
What is my hope of salvation? Where is my righteousness? Is
it in me or in you or in my works? If it is, it's not the calling
of election. You see what I'm saying? My hope
is in Christ. That's the elect of God. I have
no other place to go. No other Savior. No other forgiveness
but His blood. No other righteousness but His
righteousness. No other life but Him. He's it
all. And that's what it is. It's a
calling. It's a conviction. John called that an unction from
on high. In other words, when the Holy
Spirit calls you by the preaching of the gospel in the new birth,
He convinces you of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
He convinces you that your only hope is in Christ and you cannot
be unconvinced. That's how convinced you'll be.
You cannot be unconvinced. You may get off on a tangent
sometime, but he won't let you go. It's called a new heart. That's another word for it. A
new heart. Ezekiel 36 talks about that. He gives you a new heart. That
new heart is a circumcised heart. It's called a circumcised heart.
The cutting away the filth of the flesh. A new spirit. It's called a conversion. That's
when you're brought to faith in Christ and repentance. It's
called a liberation. Set you free. All of those things.
That's the new birth. Here's the third act. It's an
act of preservation. This application, this spiritual
realm of salvation, it's an act of providence, it's an act of
spiritual birth, it's an act of preservation. Look at Jude
24. Turn over to the book of Jude. 24. And here's what I mean by
preservation. God who saved us will not let
us go. Look at Jude 24. He says, Do
you know why a believer can't lose his salvation? Because God
won't let him go. That's it. God won't let him
go. And let me tell you something.
There's two things you need to understand about this preaching
that says you can be saved one day and lost the next. First
of all, if you can lose it, you will. You already have. Mark
it down. Secondly, if you could lose it,
you could never get it back again. That's what the Bible teaches.
You can't lose it. God said, he who begun the good
work in you will perfect it until the day. That's Philippians chapter
one, I believe. God preserves his people. Christ
said, no one shall pluck them out of my father's hand, talking
about his sheep. It's an act of preservation.
We're preserved by the grace and power of God. We're preserved
by Christ's continual intercession for us. He's able to save to
the uttermost them that come unto the Father by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for. You know, Christ continually
pleads the merits of his blood and righteousness on our behalf.
We're preserved by the Holy Spirit's continual indwelling presence
in us. He'll never leave you. That's
what scripture says in John 14. We're preserved by the life of
Christ within us. Not only do we have the Holy
Spirit's presence, but we have life within, spiritual life within
us. And that spiritual life can never
die. It's an act of preservation.
And then lastly, it's an act of perseverance. Now I want you
to turn to 1 John chapter 2. Let me deal with this and then
I'll close. It's an act of perseverance. Because of God's power and grace
in our preservation, His people will persevere in the faith.
They will continue. And what does that mean? Does
that mean they'll stop sinning? No. No. No, we're sinners. And in this life we'll be nothing
but sinners saved by grace. We'll never measure up in our
character and conduct. Measure up to righteousness and
holiness. Our desire is to be like Christ. But David said,
I'll be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. You know what
he's talking about there? Death. We won't be perfectly conformed
to Christ in every way until we go to be with the Lord and
we're glorified. That's the glorified realm. That's
the next one. That's the glorified realm of salvation. But right
here on this earth, we're in a warfare with ourselves, flesh
and spirit. We're in a warfare with the world
and the devil. But we, and we'll do a lot of
things, we'll mess up and there'll be a lot of people who'll look
at me and look at you. There'll be people who'll look
at me and say, I can't believe you're a preacher. And I look at myself and I say,
I can't believe I am either. There'll be people who'll look
at you and say, you call yourself a Christian? And they have no idea what it
is to be saved or what it means. It's just some kind of a myth,
religious myth, that they learned in their youth. But I'll tell
you one thing a Christian will never do. He'll never leave Christ
completely. Look at 1 John 2, verse 18. Little
children, it is the last time. Verse 18. Little children, it
is the last time. And as you've heard that Antichrist
shall come, even now are there many Antichrists, the spirit
of Antichrist. Whereby we know that it is the
last time. Now look at verse 19. They went out from us. These
are people who claim to be Christian at one time. But they were not
of us. They left and they were not of
us. They weren't truly saved. 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. Those
who leave the gospel of Christ, I'm not talking about just leaving
a geographical location, I'm talking about leaving the gospel,
never knew the gospel. Those who leave Christ, never
knew Christ. Those who leave that salvation
were never truly saved. Look at verse 20. But you have
an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. Jump
across the page to verse nine. Now I know what I'm about to
say about this verse is not traditional and conventional, but we've been
studying this in our Sunday school classes, and I hope if you haven't
been attending, now get those lessons. Look at the context
of this. He says in verse 9 of 1 John
3, whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. Now we know he's
not talking about that believers born of God are not sinners because
he'd already said that in 1 John 1. If we say we have no sin,
we make God a liar. We deceive ourselves. We're sinners
saved by the grace of God. But what does he mean, do not
commit sin? He's talking about they don't leave Christ. That's
the issue here. That's the context. I don't have
time to read it all. But he says, for his seed, that
is Christ's offspring. That word seed is offspring,
children. That's what he's talking about.
His children remaineth in him. They remain in Christ. If you're
truly his child, you remain in Christ. And he cannot sin because
he's born of God. And he says, in this the children
of God are manifest and the children of the devil. You see, anybody
who leaves it, what does that show? They never were children
of God. They're child of the devil. But his seed remain in
him. It's an act of perseverance.
It's an act of providence. It's an act of new birth. Listen,
it's an act of preservation and it's an act of perseverance. Think about it, that's what the
scripture teaches. All right, let's close with hymn number
518, Over the Sunset Mountains. Hymn number 518.