Thank you all so much. I love
that song. I love it when they sing it.
It's such a blessing to me. If you would, this evening, go
to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 32. going to Jeremiah chapter 32
for our starting point. In the message this evening,
I have a two-fold purpose with
this message, in presenting this message, which is, Are Believers
Saved Forever? That's the subject I want to
deal with, are believers saved forever? And I do have a two-fold
purpose. Number one, I want to give from
the Word of God some needed encouragement to believers who are weak and
who maybe struggle with assurance. I'm thankful that there are men
in the Scriptures who were very confident of their relationship
with God. David said, Lord, the Lord is
my shepherd. I'm thankful for that assurance
that God gave him. And many other words in the Scriptures
of men who were very confident of their safety in Christ Jesus. But all along the way, there
have been many people of God who have a struggle with this. I love the writings of John Newton. We, of course, sing his song,
Amazing Grace. What an excellent hymn that is. But actually, Brother Newton,
he struggled with this. The same man who wrote Amazing
Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, he also
wrote this, "'Tis a point I long to know, oft it gives me anxious
thought." Do I love the Lord or not? Am I His or am I not? He struggled
with that. I've got a suspicion that He's
not the only one either. Some of the other people of God
have some difficulty and you wonder, am I saved forever? I'll tell you what, if God saved
you, you are. Because Scripture says salvation
is of the Lord. And what He has begun, He will
finish. So I do want to encourage believers
who have a little difficulty struggling with assurance, Where can I find assurance, preacher? Only from the Word of God. There is no real evidence that
you can give to anybody, especially to yourself, that you belong
to God, except you know whether you believe Him or not. And that's
an invisible thing. I know others see the fruit that
we bear, and they see us love the brethren, some indication
we care about the things of God by our attendance in the house
of worship. But only you, only you know in
your heart if you believe this One who the Scripture says is
altogether lovely. That's all. And any assurance
that you've got has got to come from the Word of God that says,
He that hath the Son hath life. So I want to help you if you're
I'd be having a difficult time struggling with that. But there's
a second reason that I want to address this subject, our believers
saved forever, is because among many people in religion, there's
always been a controversy that has raged, and it is over this. Our believers saved forever. Or is it possible that the salvation
of God once given can be lost? I actually think that's not a
good way to maybe even set forth the error of many people. I think a better way of saying
this would be, can a believer, can one saved by grace, is it
possible for them to leave salvation, not lose it, but leave it? Is it possible to leave the Son
of God? Is it possible to leave the gospel
of His grace by which you profess that you have been saved? And
I'll tell you what, of course, this sort of goes along with
what I preached last Sunday night, but I'd read something came,
I get all kinds of religious stuff, most of it's junk in the
mail, and a good bit of it is email, and it's deleted real
quick. But I got something in, and it
was about this preacher who's in Pentecostalism, and I don't
know why I stopped to read it. Usually I don't stop to read
those things, but here's what caught my eye. He said, it is
very possible for a believer to leave our God and forsake
the gospel. And he said this, He said, I even believe that
when we get to heaven, I believe it's gonna be possible to leave
our God in heaven and God's gonna kick you out of heaven. Well,
that is absolutely foolishness. But here's what he based it on. He said, Adam and Eve, in a garden
of perfection, in a perfect environment, they did indeed leave the Lord,
and they left the garden. I would say this, they did leave
the Lord, but he kicked them out of the garden. They didn't
go on their own. And he said, therefore, I believe
there are people who go to heaven, who of their own volition will
leave the Lord, and therefore, heaven will not be their home
any longer. And I actually, I finally did
delete that email. But I got to thinking about that.
This is such a twisted religious environment
that we're in, that there's so much junk, there's so much error,
especially on this subject of salvation, that I felt very compelled
to just deal with this. What about this subject? Are
believers saved forever? Or will we, is it possible for
us to leave this glorious gospel and forsake it and turn our backs
on God and go our own way? This man in this email, he said,
now among the Calvinists, he said, now they believe in once
saved, always saved because they believe God does the saving.
and God does the keeping. Well, I'm not particularly fond
of the word Calvinists, because I'm not a follower of John Calvin,
who, it's a good possibility, if he'd had his way, he'd have
had people who believed in immersion burned at the stake. So I'm not,
and I don't believe in sprinkling babies and things like that.
So I'm certainly, I don't want to be labeled with Calvin himself,
though much of what he believed, I do believe. Even though he did believe Samaria.
But I do believe that if God saves you, you're safe forever. Now, how can you undo what God
has done? And then he went on to say, however,
if you believe, as he said, as the Bible states, and he's way
off base on this, he said, if you believe that salvation is
ultimately by man's free will, then you willed to get into the
kingdom of God, and by your will, you can get out of the kingdom
of God. Well, the only thing I would
say is he's consistent. He's consistent in his error,
in his error. But his premise is all wrong. We've got to go back to the foundation
of this. Salvation is of the Lord. That's what the scripture says.
The psalmist said, but the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord.
Jonah said salvation is of the Lord. So, our believers saved
forever. Let's just go right to the heart
of the issue. Let me give you several reasons
why I can say with absolute assurance, believers are safe forever. If
you're a believer, you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
your only hope of glory. You have no confidence in the
flesh, have no confidence in your works, you see that you're
still evil within you. You see that in your flesh dwells
no good thing. And you believe if saved, you're
saved by grace. Since you're saved, you're saved
by grace and grace alone. Well, I'll tell you, you're saved
forever, and I'll give you several reasons. Number one, because
the covenant of grace can never be nullified. Now, read with me here in Jeremiah
32, and I'll be brief on these, but I want to give them to you.
The covenant of grace cannot be nullified. In other words,
this covenant of grace cannot be made invalid. Jeremiah 32. God says in verse
38, they shall be my people. I will be their God. Jeremiah
32, 39, and I will give them one heart and one way that they
may fear me forever for the good of them and of their children
after them. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them. When He made it with Christ Jesus,
He made it with all of His them, all of His people. because we
were in Christ Jesus. That covenant that was made with
the Savior, the Son of God, we were in Him. It was made with
us. Watch it. I will make an everlasting
covenant with them. Now what is obvious is this everlasting
covenant made with us. Here's what's obvious. We weren't
there. We weren't there in person, but
we were there in our representative. We weren't there individually,
as it were, in reality, physically, but we were there in our shirt,
in our representative, in our Savior. We were there. We were
one with Him. So God said, I will make an everlasting
covenant with them, and I will not turn away from them to do
them good. Now that's what God said. He
won't do. I'm not going to turn away from
them. And watch this. But I will put My fear in their
hearts, and they shall not depart from Me. I'm not gonna leave
them, and I'm not gonna let them leave me. That's good assurance,
isn't it? See, this is salvation based
only upon the Lord. Oh, how I love the everlasting
covenant of grace. Now, if I understand the Scriptures
correctly, and I do on this, here are the two major covenants,
the covenant of works, made with Adam, later kind of reinforced
or repeated with Israel at Mount Sinai. The covenant of works,
which consists basically of this. This do and live, disobey and
die. Well, that's a covenant we can't
keep. There's nobody can keep it. That's impossible. because perfection with us is
out of the question. We drink iniquity like water. We're full of sin. In my flesh,
this is what an inspired apostle said, in my flesh dwelleth no
good thing. Now, covenant of works, Not interested
in that. If you want to be under bondage,
you go ahead and have at it. But I promise you this, you'll
perish in your sins. Thy work alone, O God. Not my works, thy work. Not my
merit, but thy mercy. That's what we need, the grace
of God in Christ Jesus. The covenant of works is a covenant
that is impossible to give salvation to anybody. Because the responsibility
for keeping that covenant is upon God and man. Now on God's part, He'll keep
His part. I'm sure of that. There's no
question about that. But we can't keep the covenant. We can't keep God's law. So,
we're thankful that there's a new covenant, newly revealed, but
it's actually the oldest covenant there is. It's the everlasting
covenant of grace. in which the Lord says like in
Genesis chapter 17. He said this to Abraham, I will
establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after
thee and their generation for an everlasting covenant to be
a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. He said to thy seed,
not seeds, but seed as in one, Christ Jesus. This is the covenant
I'm interested in, a legal binding agreement between the Godhead,
wherein God purposed salvation, God promised salvation, and God
Himself He pledged to come down here and do everything that's
necessary to satisfy a holy God. And the Spirit of God said, I'll
quicken these people. I'll teach them the gospel. I'll
abide with them forever. That's the covenant of grace.
There are many lesser covenants in the Bible. The Abrahamic covenant. The Davidic covenant. The covenant
with Noah. But all of those are like bits
and pieces of the covenant of grace. The everlasting covenant. And that can never be nullified
because it's a covenant God made. You see, my salvation, your salvation,
it did not originate with us, it originated with God. And He
who began it will finish it to the day of Jesus Christ. Isn't
that good news? That it's not dependent upon
us? Well, I hope I hold out to the end. Well, I wouldn't have
any confidence in yourself if I was you. I tell you, there's enough sin
in each one of us. Let's just put it this way, there's
enough sin in this preacher to make another devil if God was
pleased to do it. What kind of man are you? I'm
a man just like you. Oh, we have evil within us. There is a portion of us, My
flesh has no use for the things of God. It's not getting better. That's the reason people say,
well, I believe in progressive sanctification. I'm getting better
and better. I don't know anything about that. And the Bible doesn't know anything
about that. Because really, our growth in
grace, according to 2 Peter 3, our growth in grace is a growth
in the knowledge of the fact how much we need grace. And the
more light God gives us, the worse we look to ourselves. Don't you find that to be true?
Surely I'm not by myself. Because you're just like I am
and I'm just like you are. And if you think you're growing
in personal holiness, you're deceived. And you're under legal bondage. And I hope God does something
about that deception before you leave this world. You see, it is true, without
holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Our Lord Jesus, He's our
holiness. How righteous have you got to
be to be accepted in God's sight? Got to be as righteous as God
is. Well, I don't think I can produce
that, Jim. You can't. Where am I going to get this
righteousness that God demands? My righteousness is seated at
the right hand of God. He's the Lord my righteousness
and His righteousness is imputed to everybody who believes Him.
Do you believe Him? It's imputed to you. Not because
you believe, but because He purposed for that righteousness to come
to you and it will become a realization to you through faith. I tell
you, the covenant of grace, it can't be nullified. This is a legal binding agreement,
fully dependent upon God. That's why we read in Hebrews
13, now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our
Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood
of the everlasting covenant. That's a legal and binding agreement. And it totally concerns what
God will do. What God has promised to do.
And it's not dependent upon us. If your salvation to any degree
is dependent upon you, better turn that salvation in, because
it's not going to do you any good. That which is dependent
upon you will fail. I promise you, it will fail. Only that which is built upon
Jesus Christ and His righteousness alone or stand the test of time. I'll tell you something else.
Are believers saved forever? The covenant of grace shows that
they are. Number two, are believers saved forever? Yes, because the
blood of Christ could not have been shed in vain. Turn to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. The death of the Savior was not
a shot in the dark. It's not that He died hoping
and wishing and wanting sinners to make His blood effectual to
the putting away of their sins. That death's not in any way dependent
upon you. It's not even offered to you.
Have you received the bloodshed if Christ offers it to you? That's not true. Never was offered
to you. The blood of the Passover, back
in Exodus chapter 12, was it offered to anybody? Was it offered
to Pharaoh? No. Was it offered to the Egyptians? No. Was it offered to the Israelite
family who lived next door? No. Where'd you put the blood?
Outside on the doorpost and over the top of the door. Why'd you
do that? Because God said, when I see
the blood, that blood's for God. The blood's for God. Look here
in Hebrews 5. Hebrews 5. Verse 25 says, Husbands,
love your wives as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself
for it. Ephesians 5 verse 26, that He
might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the
Word. And He might present it to Himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should
be holy and without blemish. I tell you, the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ, it wasn't in vain. Understand this, and you folks
do, you who've been listening to me, and before that listening
to Bill, before that listening to Henry, and listening to Alan, This matter of salvation, it
is a matter of grace, and it is also a matter of justice. Isn't that right? It's justice
and grace working together. There will be no salvation for
anybody until God's perfect justice demands are met. Death for sin. Death for sin. The Savior came
and laid down His life. He died. See, there's the law
of God that has to be satisfied. You don't hear this in modern-day
preaching. They don't know anything about
the justice of God. They don't care anything about
the justice of God. You want to miss hell? Just believe on Jesus. Exercise
your free will and let him come into your heart. You won't have
to go to hell when you die. Well, what about the justice
of God? Well, they don't know anything
about that. I'll tell you, that's a big matter.
God's justice is offended law. Somebody's gonna have to do something
about that. You can walk every aisle of every
church in Boyd County, Kentucky. It ain't gonna do you any good.
That's not what puts sins away. And I would ask you this. Those
that are watching by way of the Internet ask the same question.
Did the death of Jesus, the Savior Jesus, who is the Christ, did
His death actually put sin away? Well, the Bible says he's dead. It says in Hebrews 9, he appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Does that mean what
it says? Well, did he really put away
sin? Well, yeah, he put it away if
you'll believe it, but that's not what it says. He put somebody's
sins away. back behind God's back in the
depths of the deepest sea. He puts somebody's sins away
to such a degree that God remembers them no more. That's called an
effectual redemption. That's a particular redemption.
It's a successful redemption. His blood's not shed in vain.
See, that's the reason I know believers are saved forever.
Because Christ died for our sins. Twice payment God won't demand. First in my bleeding, sure at
His hand, and then again at mine. Can't be. Can't be. Tell you something else. Thirdly,
the seal of the Spirit of God can't be broken. Turn back a page or two to Ephesians
chapter one, look at verse 13. in whom ye also trusted, after
that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise." Sealed by the Spirit. Preserved. You see, the seal of the covenant
of grace is the Spirit of God. He's sealed. The seal is not circumcision. The seal is not baptism. The seal isn't your faith. The
Spirit of God is the seal. He's the one who preserves us.
You know why believers won't spoil? You know why believers
won't go bad? because of who the seal is. It's
the Spirit of God. And He hasn't merely sealed us.
He is the seal. The seal is not something we
do for ourselves. It's not something anybody else
can do for us. The one who does the saving does
the sealing. And then I'll tell you something
else, number four, the power of God can't be defeated. You
don't have to turn to this, but it says in 1 Peter 1, we're kept
by the power of God through faith. You know who keeps us believing?
The Lord does. But who gave us faith to begin
with? Did that originate with you? Did you just muster up faith?
Does everybody have a little faith in them? All that's gotta
happen is a little wind come along and blow that little tiny
flame up and then, poof, all of a sudden you got faith. No.
All men don't have faith. Faith's the gift of God. Who
gives the gift of believing? God does. Who keeps that gift? Who keeps you believing? Jim,
I'm afraid my faith is so weak, I don't know if I'll keep on
believing or not. If it's God-given faith, you'll
keep believing. He'll see to it. He'll see to
it. He said, I won't leave them,
and he's gonna make sure we don't leave him. We're his children. were kept by the power of God. The Savior said, all that the
Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. I came down from heaven not to
do my will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the
will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me
I should lose nothing, not a one, but raise it up in the last day. And I'll tell you something else.
I'll tell you something else. The promise of Christ can't be
broken. He said, I give to my sheep eternal
life. I preached on that last Sunday
night. Do I believe in once in Christ,
always in Christ? I most certainly do. Because
I have been in Christ, and if you're in Christ, you've always
been in Christ. See, here's where people make
a mistake. They think when they believe
the Lord Jesus Christ, they're suddenly put in Christ. They're suddenly joined to Him.
No, the reason, the reason you believe is because you joined
to Him in everlasting covenant grace and love. That's the reason. Paul said, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Tell
you, He who justified you will keep you justified forever. What does it mean to be justified?
needs to be righteous. How long have I been justified
before God? Ever since Christ Jesus became
my head and my surety and my Savior, and that's been from
old eternity. I mean, that never had a beginning. And here's another thing, the
love of God shall never cease. But if I sin, God won't love
me anymore, will He? Oh my, you sin more than you
have any idea you sin. But the scripture says that God
commendeth His love toward us and that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. I'll tell you what, if God manifested
His love to you by sending His Son even when you were a sinful,
wretched creature, He's not going to abandon that love and reverse
that love. His love will never cease. Having
loved His own, He loved them to the end. And I'll tell you, the unchangeableness
of God won't allow His chosen ones to perish. I'm the Lord,
I change not. That's why you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. And we're sons of Jacob. The
only reason we're not consumed. It's not because we don't change.
Man, we change with the wind. It's because He doesn't change.
He purposed from old eternity to be our God and He purposed
us to be His people. Nothing's going to change that. Not all the opposition of the
forces of hell can change that. And I'll give you this. I'll
tell you why we're not going to perish. I'll tell you why
believers will be saved to the end. Because the prayer request
of Christ Jesus cannot go unanswered. He said in John 16, He said,
I come to Thee, Holy Father, keep Thine own that Thou hast
given Me. Keep them safe. That's what He
prayed. He prayed for you. He prayed
for you. You're a child of God, you believe,
He prayed for you. Father, Holy Father, keep them. I tell you, His prayer requests
are always answered. Always answered. Oh, we're safe. We're safe forever. and His will can't be disappointed. Let me give you one other passage.
I want you to turn to Jude. Look at this. And I'll give you
this point in closing. The will of Christ cannot be
disappointed. Jude, the last two verses. 24, now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling. You're not able to keep yourself
from falling, but he's able. He said, all power is given unto
me in heaven and in earth. Lord, can you keep me? Oh, your faith is weak. But you have weak faith in an
Almighty Savior. And He's able to keep you from
falling. Oh, the ability of our Lord. And able to present you faultless
before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. For the only
wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and ever. Amen. So, are believers saved forever? Well, I hope I have laid out
a pretty good case from the Word of God that we're absolutely
saved forever. and be thankful like I am. I'm so thankful that this matter
of my salvation has never been, is not now, and never will be
dependent upon me. I have a glorious Savior. He
chose me. He redeemed me. He called me. He keeps me. He preserves me. And He'll perfect that which
concerns me. I cast everything on Him. He's
able. He's able. Well, let's sing the
closing song, shall we? We'll go back to the black folder. Go to page 16.