The Bible Baptist Church located
at 2015 Beulah Road in Madisonville, Kentucky would like to invite
you to listen to a message of the sovereign grace of God in
the Lord Jesus Christ by their pastor David Edmondson. The believer's only hope of salvation
is entirely in, by, and through the person and the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no redemption or hope
of it apart from Him. Any attempt by a sinner to add
anything to the finished work of Christ is to look and trust
in yourself to earn and merit salvation. What did Jonah mean
when he said salvation is of the Lord? He meant that salvation
was of the Lord. And do you know what follows
that statement by Jonah in the scriptures? A period. A period
at the end of a sentence means that no discussion is necessary. Nothing needs to be added. Salvation
is of the Lord, period. And in the verses before us this
morning, in Hebrews chapter 10, the apostle gives a great reminder. As we live with our sin in our
daily lives, we are confronted every day with our inability
to do anything to give ourselves life. We are saved by grace through
faith. That grace and that faith is
not of ourselves. Both are the gift of God. It's
not by works. If it was, we would boast. If
it was by a work of righteousness that we do, we would most certainly
glory in ourselves. Believing and trusting as Christ
is not simply difficult. No, believing and trusting in
Christ is impossible in the flesh. But God's elect are given faith
and though they will struggle until they die, by God's mercy
and grace, they'll die in faith. True believers will never quit.
They will never stop believing. And it's God who gets the glory
and credit for that. All of it. In verse 35 of Hebrews
chapter 10, the apostle brings to our remembrance something
very important. We're reminded to cast not away,
therefore, our confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.
Now let me ask you, dear listener, do you have confidence in your
salvation? If you know that salvation is
of the Lord Jesus Christ, you should have great confidence.
You see, the true believer will never cast away their confidence
because their confidence is not in themselves, but in Jesus Christ
who keeps them. And the very one that keeps us
is our great reward. John wrote, He that hath the
Son hath life, that being everlasting life, that being eternal life. And John said in 1 John 5, verse
11, And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life is in His Son. John 17, 3. And this is eternal life, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent. But how can one who has no ability
to save or keep themselves endure to the end? What confidence can
we have that we're saved? Well, I'm glad that you asked.
John chapter 13 verse 1 tells us that Christ having loved his
own, which were in the world, he loved them until the end.
Christ loving his people to the end is what keeps his people
to the end. And again, we see that salvation
is of the Lord. We cast not away our confidence
because our confidence is in Jesus Christ. Hebrews 3.6 says,
but Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we? If we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope firm until the end, now Christ
is not a servant as Moses was. He is the son. He's the master. He's the heir of all things.
Whose house are we? We're Christ's house. Believers
are living stones built up into a spiritual house in whom Christ
dwells by faith and over whom he reigns. And we hold fast this
confidence. We rejoice in this blessed hope
until the end. That's what true faith is. Paul
told the church at Colossae that Christ will present us holy,
unblameable, and unreprovable in God's sight if we continue
in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel, which we've heard and which was preached
to us, Colossians 1.23. Now that word if does not make
our salvation dependent on us. Many say that's the case. That
word if is not dependent on us if we hold fast our faith. What it means is that Christ
keeps us to the end. That word if is dependent on
him keeping us until the end. the Lord preserving us and causing
us to persevere in the faith. It's not our faith that saves
us, it's the faith of Christ. That's what Paul wrote to the
church at Galatia. He said, knowing that a man is
not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of
Jesus Christ. Galatians 2.16. You see, it's
the faith of Christ that justifies us. His faithfulness to us is
what saves us, not our faithfulness to Him. Oh, I hear men talk about
their great faith. Our faith is weak at best, friends. It's His faith. It's His faithfulness
to us that saves us. Paul said in Philippians 3, 9,
to be found in Him, found in Christ, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law. but that which is through the
faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Oh,
it was his faithfulness to me. It was him taking my sin upon
himself and giving me his perfect righteousness, his faithfulness
to do what God sent him to do, to save his people from their
sin. That's what saves this sinner.
Back to Hebrews 10, verse 37, we read, For yet a little while,
and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Oh, what
great hope and comfort that gives the child of God. But yet, for
a little while, we must continue to tarry, because our complete
deliverance from sin and this body of death and the suffering
of that sin that that sin has brought will soon be over. It'll be then that we will receive
our sinless, glorified bodies, because when we see Him, when
we see the Lord Jesus, we shall be like Him, for we shall see
Him as He is, 1 John 3, 2. And in verse 38, now the just,
those made just by Christ, shall live by faith. But if any man
draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him." Now, being
raised in a freewill Baptist church, I often heard debates
and arguments over the doctrine of eternal security. Once saved,
always saved. Once grace, always grace. And
that's what I want to talk to you about this morning. Sadly,
this is a very controversial doctrine. But it's not simply
a doctrine. It's not simply a teaching. It's
the truth of Scripture. To say that someone can be lost
for whom Christ has died and shed his blood for is actually
a blasphemous statement when you think about it. Now let me
ask you, and I want you to seriously consider this question. Can a
man, once saved, be lost? Can one whom Christ died for,
one whom Christ shed his blood for, draw back? Can a born-again
sinner draw back unto perdition? Can they fall under condemnation
and eternal judgment? That's what the word perdition
means. Well, I think the Apostle John answered that question as
clearly as it's ever been answered. And by the way, the answer is
no, absolutely not. A man cannot be lost once saved. Not if the sovereign Lord of
heaven and earth saves you, you cannot fall back, draw back,
or slide back. First John chapter two, verse
19, John wrote, they went out from us, but they were not of
us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out. that
they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. Now those who draw back into
perdition never had true God-given faith. They never were saved. A true believer may fall away
for a little while, but they will not stay in that fallen
state because God won't let them. It's God that keeps us to the
end. We're kept by the power of God. And to say that a man
can be lost once he's been saved is to say that God is a failure
and that Christ is a failure. Now, there are three main reasons
why men and women believe that they can fall away and be lost
once they're saved. The first reason is they don't
know the scriptures. the average individual, a man
on the street, a man in the pew. And sadly, most men in the pulpit
do not know the scriptures. The second reason men and women
think such things is they don't know anything about the sovereignty
and the power of God. Scripture asks, is anything too
hard for the Lord? God can do anything. God can
do everything. And until you see that God is
almighty, that God is sovereign, he does what he wills in the
army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and
none can stay his hand, and none can say unto him, what doest
thou? God is God. We call him God Almighty, but
we don't think he's too almighty, do we? God has mercy on whom
he'll have mercy, and on whom he'll have mercy, he has mercy
and compassion, and none can be plucked from his hand. No
man can pluck the sinner from God's sovereign hand. The third
thing is this. Most people don't know what salvation
really is. Listen to John 5, verse 24. Our Lord there said, Verily,
verily, truly, truly, he that heareth my voice, and believeth
on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death into life. Now that's not
what I say. That's what the Lord Jesus himself
said. He or she that hears the gospel,
he or she that believes the gospel has everlasting life. Right now
they have it. They shall not come into condemnation. They cannot fall back, slide
back, run back. No, they cannot come into condemnation. They already have passed from
death into life. In John chapter 10, the Lord
said, my sheep hear my voice, I know them, they follow me,
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Never perish. Paul said nothing
can separate us from the love of God, neither death nor life,
tribulation or persecution, distress or peril, nothing. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? What are you going
to charge one whom God has washed clean by his own blood? What
are you going to charge him with? It's God that justifies. If God
justifies a sinner, they're justified. If God forgives a sinner, they're
forgiven. Paul asked, who's he that condemneth?
How are you going to condemn one whom Christ has died for
and put their sin away? You're not. It's Christ that
died, yea, rather than that is risen. Paul said in Romans chapter
eight, verse one, there is therefore now, right now, no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. There is no judgment or condemnation
to those that are in Christ, to those whom Christ has died
for, for those whom Christ shed his blood for. That's what God
says. The scriptures also say, he that
hath begun a good work in you shall perfect it, shall perform
it, and shall complete it in the day of Jesus Christ. In Ecclesiastes,
it says what God has done, nothing can be put to it, and nothing
can be taken away from it. Now is a man eternally secure? Well, it all depends on who saved
him. If the Pope saved him, he's not.
If the preacher saved him, he's not. If he saved himself, he's
most definitely not. But if God saved him, he is.
It's God that justifies. It's Christ who died. He is eternally
and forever saved, the man who puts his trust in Christ. You
see, the power of God is our security, not our own power.
We have no power. now unto him who is able, he's
able to keep you from falling, and to present you holy, unblameable,
unreprovable, and glorified in his presence. God is able, that's
what the scriptures teach, he's able to save to the uttermost
them who come to God by him. In Romans chapter 4 verse 21,
Paul said, being fully persuaded that what he, that being God,
had promised, he was able also to perform. God is able to save. God is willing to save all who
are in Christ. Now, our salvation is not resting
in our power, but in God's power. The wages of sin's not paid by
us, but by Christ, and he paid it in full. Most people don't
know what salvation is. Salvation is not a mental acceptance
of religious facts. Salvation is not believing doctrine.
Salvation is not joining the church. Salvation is a new birth. Salvation is a heart experience. Salvation is receiving a new
nature from God. Second Corinthians 517, if any
man be in Christ, he's a new creature, old things are passed
away. All of his sin is put away. And
behold, all things are become new. And people say, repent and
believe, but repentance is not something that we did 20 years
ago, right before we got baptized and had our name put on the church
row. No, the child of God is still repenting. Repentance is
not a one-time sorrow. Repentance is a broken heart
and a contrite spirit. I have repented, I am repenting,
and I will repent. And faith, faith is not an isolated
decision. It's not a one-time thing. I
must believe Christ today, I must believe Him tomorrow. I'll never
forget when my grandmother died. She was not a church-going person.
I never heard her talk about God. I never heard her mention
the name of Christ. I loved her. But the issue is,
did God love her? When she died, the preacher talked
about a decision she made 50 years prior. when she walked
down an aisle and said a sinner's prayer and joined the church. Now, true faith is a state of
grace. Faith is a commitment to Christ.
Believers keep coming to Christ, and it's not a one-time thing.
Believers keep believing on Christ. The scriptures say, to whom coming.
By God's grace, I'm still coming. By God's mercy, I'm still repenting. By God's love and mercy, I'm
still believing. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 24 says,
to those who are being saved, Christ is the power and the wisdom
of God. The grace of God is not a weak
offer or an invitation. It's not a plea with the sinner.
The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Salvation to
who? Everyone that believes. Now,
as a young religious man, I sung softly and tenderly for years,
but it's not true. Jesus Christ is not softly and
tenderly and standing on the portals of heaven, waiting and
watching and pleading with sinners to come home. No, he's not. If Christ died for me, he's sitting
on the throne of God, pleading my case and my cause as my eternal
advocate with the Father, but he's not pleading with me. Satan
has desired to sift me as wheat, but Christ has prayed that my
faith fail me not." That's what he told Peter. And Satan sifted
Peter, but Peter's faith in the end did not fail. It did not
stop. God is able to save to the uttermost.
Do we really believe that? He's able to save to the uttermost
those that come to God by Him, seeing that He ever liveth to
make intercession for those that He died for, Hebrews 7, 25. And
it's called preservation. Some call it perseverance. But
we persevere to the end because God has preserved us. Perseverance
is not apart from faith. Perseverance is in and by and
through faith in Christ. Now let me show you that. In
1 Peter 1, verse 5, Peter, speaking of God's chosen believing people,
says, who are kept by the power of God. Now that's preservation. God saves, God keeps. Now watch the next two words.
Through faith. And that's perseverance. It's
that God-given faith that causes me to persevere. In Jeremiah,
chapter 32, verse 40, this was such a blessing to me, I know
it'll be to you, but there in Jeremiah 32, 40, God says, and
I will make an everlasting covenant. How long of a covenant? An everlasting
one. I'll make an everlasting covenant
with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good.
Now that's preservation. God says, I will not turn away
from them. I won't desert them. Our Lord
Jesus said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. I'll never
let you fall. I'll never let you fail. That's
preservation. And again, verse 40, I'll make
an everlasting covenant with them and I'll not turn away from
them to do them good. Now watch, but I will put my
fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me. And that is perseverance. Our Lord says, I'm never going
to leave them and they are never going to leave me. Our Lord said
in John chapter 10, I know my sheep, they follow me. I laid
down my life for the sheep. Another shepherd they will not
follow. That's preservation. I know my sheep, I give them
eternal life and they will never perish. God's preserving his
sheep. They follow me. Another shepherd
they will not follow, another voice they will not listen to,
and that's perseverance. God will keep his sheep, and
his sheep will never ever quit. God will save his sheep. Now
listen to this. Our Lord said this, all that
my father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power and the beauty of thy holiness. And the
reason folks don't believe in the teaching of eternal security
is because they haven't been told the truth about God. They
don't know what salvation really is. Now salvation begins with
God. It doesn't begin with the sinner.
It begins with God. He chose us. We didn't choose
him. I know that's contrary to probably
what you've heard all your life, but our Lord in John 15, 16 said
this, you have not chosen me, but I've chosen you and ordained
you that you should go forth and bring forth fruit and that
your fruit should remain that whatsoever you shall ask of the
Father in my name, he may give it to you. Christ chose us. Christ ordained us. That's why
we bring forth fruit. That's why our fruit remains
forever kept. Paul said, God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation. So it began with God. He chose
us. We didn't choose him. He loved
us. The scriptures plainly state,
John said, herein is love, not that we love God. Did you hear
that? Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and gave himself for us. We love
him because he first loved us, and that's where it starts. It
starts with God. God purposed it, God provided
it, God chose us, God loved us, God quickened us. You hath he
quickened, you hath he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and
sin. The Son quickeneth whom he will.
When we were ungodly, Christ died for us. When we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. It all starts with God. Whom he foreknew, he predestinated
to be conformed to the image of his Son. Whom he predestinated,
he called. Whom He called, He justified. Whom He justified, He glorified. Now, it sounds to me like salvation
is of the Lord. In John 1, verse 11, we're told,
as many as received Him, Christ, to them gave He the power, the
right, the privilege to become sons of God, even to them which
believe on His name. Now there's no period there,
just a semicolon. The next verse continues that
thought. Which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but born
of God. What James said, of his own will
beget he us through the word of truth. We're born again, not
of corruptible seed, but incorruptible seed by the word of God, which
liveth and abideth forever. Isn't that such good news? He
gave us repentance. It's the goodness of God that
leadeth thee to repentance. He gave us faith, for by grace
are you saved through faith. And that's not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. Paul said we are his workmanship,
we're not our own. He hath made us and not we ourselves,
wrote the psalmist. God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give us the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
How did this matter of salvation and faith in Christ get all turned
around? What makes men and women think
that they save and keep themselves? Paul said, it was God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace. It was
God who was pleased to reveal His Son in me. And it's God that
will keep us. It begins with God and it ends
with God. He's Alpha and Omega. He's the
beginning and the end. He's the first and the last.
And he that hath begun a good work in you shall perfect it. He shall perform it in the day
of Jesus Christ. Who began this work in you? It
begins with God. He chose us. He loved us. He
called us. He quickened us. He justified
us. He redeemed us. We're accepted
in the beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ. He keeps us. He'll raise
our bow bodies. That's security. That's preservation. That's confidence, and that's
a good foundation. Now, I tell you, when men will
stop arguing about eternal security, and that's when they come to
see who does the saving. Friends, we did the sinning,
but God does the saving. Is that what you believe? Our
text says, now the just shall live by faith, but if any man
draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we're
not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe
to the saving of the soul. We're not those who fall back
or backslide and become lost. No, we're kept by the power of
God. We're kept by His sovereign hand. None can pluck us from His hand.
That's the best news this sinner ever heard. Is that not the best
news you ever heard? Oh, that God may enable you To
this day, trust and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved
us and gave himself for us. Amen. You have been listening
to a message by David Edmondson, the pastor of Bible Baptist Church
in Madisonville, Kentucky. If you would like a copy of this
message, or to hear other messages of God's free, sovereign grace
in Christ, you can write to our mailing address at P.O. Box 652
Madisonville, Kentucky 42431. or log on to our website at FreeGraceRadio.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, we meet at 2015 Beulah Road, Madisonville, Kentucky,
and our service times are Sunday morning Bible study at 10 o'clock
a.m., worship services begin at 11 o'clock a.m., Wednesday
evening services at 7 o'clock p.m. Please tune in again next
Sunday morning at 10 o'clock AM for another message of God's
free and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.