Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm so glad you could join us. Over the past few weeks, I've
been preaching a series of messages that are meant to accompany a
new book that we here at Eager Avenue Grace Church and Reign
of Grace Media Ministries are offering to you free of charge.
The title of the book is What is a Christian? A Biblical Study
of the One True Faith. And what this is meant to be,
I've been stressing in each message, is an exercise of what we call
self-examination, where the Bible tells us, commands us in 2 Corinthians
chapter 13 and verse five, to examine ourselves whether we
be in the faith, the Christian faith. Do you claim to be a Christian? Do I claim to be a Christian?
If we do, then we need to put that claim that profession to
the test of the Bible. Can I put my claim to the biblical
test, measure it by the Word of God, and am I willing to accept
what God's Word says? If I claim to be a Christian
and my claim doesn't line up with God's Word, then it's a
false claim. I'm deceiving myself. I don't
want to end up like those false professors in Matthew 7, where
they said, Lord, Lord, haven't we preached in your name, cast
out demons, and done many wonderful works? Only to hear the Lord
say, depart from me, you that work it. I never knew you, you
that work iniquity. I don't want to hear that. I
want to have assurance of salvation. And that's what this is about.
So I urge you, if you order the book, and I encourage you if
you order this DVD or CD series, as I said, we offer them free
of charge, I urge you to use them as tools to guide you through
a study of the Bible. There's no replacement for the
Bible. No human book can ever even compare
to the Bible. This is God's Word. So understand
that. Now this is the last message
in this series. This is the 16th message in this
DVD CD series. And it lines up with the last
chapter of the book which states that Christians, true Christians,
persevere unto the end. They continue in the faith. They
will not lose salvation. And of course what we're talking
about there is the gospel and the biblical truth of the eternal
security of the saved. And here in this last message,
I want to give you several biblical reasons that true Christians
are secure in salvation and cannot lose salvation. Several biblical
reasons now. Now, you may come back with some
reasons that you have heard. You know, a lot of people say,
well, if I'm saved, if one, you know, they use the term once
saved, always saved. Always saved. Somebody says,
well, if we're saved always, it doesn't matter how we live
or what we do. That is not what the doctrine, the truth, the
gospel of eternal security teaches. The gospel teaches this, that
salvation is not only what Christ has done for us in His work as
the representative surety substitute of his people, but it's also
what Christ does within his people in the power of grace. So let
me give you these biblical reasons that true Christians are secure
in salvation. Here's reason number one. True
Christians cannot lose salvation because of the glory of God and
the preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know what's on
the line in the salvation of God's chosen people? It's not
your reputation. It's not my reputation. It's
God's reputation. God's honor. God's glory. It's the preeminence of Jesus
Christ. You see, the whole foundation
of the salvation of a sinner and even the security of the
salvation of sinners, the whole foundation is the honor, the
glory of God in Christ. Over in the book of Colossians
chapter 2 and verse 9, the Apostle Paul writes, for in Him, now
the Him there is the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of His people,
the Lord of glory, the God-man, who saves sinners. What kind
of people does God save? Sinners, who cannot save themselves. Those who were ruined by the
fall in Adam, who were born dead in trespasses and sins, and have
no hope to save themselves, no power to save themselves, no
will or goodness to save themselves, nothing to recommend them unto
God. So how does he save them? By grace through Christ. For
in him, Colossians 2.9, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. Now what that teaches is this.
In the person of Jesus Christ, God in human flesh dwells all
the fullness of the Godhead body. The Godhead is the Father, the
Son, and the Spirit. The fullness of the honor, the
fullness of nature, the fullness of glory dwells in Jesus Christ. The Bible speaks of Christ as
being the tabernacle of God. John 1.14, it talks about the
Word who is Christ, the Son of God, was made flesh. That's His
humanity. He's God and man in one person.
The Word was made flesh and dwelt, the Word literally is tabernacled
among us. John 1.14. So the glory of God in the salvation
of his people is engaged in the person of Christ. And then Colossians
2.10 says this, it says, and ye are complete in him which
is the head of all principality and power. Now as God absolutely
considered Jesus Christ was always the head of all principality
and power. But as God-man, as the substitute, the surety of
His people, as the savior of His people, as their mediator,
He has an earned place as the head of all principality and
power, made both Lord and Christ, based upon His obedience unto
death for His people, and it's in Him, based on His blood and
righteousness, that they're complete. And so here's my point. Do you
realize that if God could lose any one of His redeemed, His
chosen, redeemed, regenerated people, He would lose His honor,
His glory, His reputation would be shot and He won't have it.
How do I know I'm secure in Christ? Because the glory of God preserves
me. The glory of God, the preeminence
of Christ. I could no more lose my salvation
than Christ could be thrown off of His throne. That's why I'm
saying it's His glory. It is God's glory not only to
save His people, but to keep them saved. And so they are complete
in Christ. There is no partial salvation
in the kingdom of God. When God saves a sinner, He doesn't
save that sinner partially, conditioned on that sinner doing that certain
thing. It's a complete salvation. I'm
completely saved, I'm completely forgiven, I'm completely justified,
I'm completely sanctified, and I will be completely glorified.
It's all based upon a complete righteousness, the righteousness
of God in Christ freely imputed to me. And that's reason number
one. Well, here's reason number two.
true Christians cannot lose salvation because God is always faithful
to his promises and all the promises of God are sure in the Lord Jesus
Christ now this is directly related to number one in fact really
it's just another way of stating number one but God is a faithful
God God never promised to save anyone part of the way or incompletely. He never promised any sinner
that he would save that sinner if that sinner would do his part.
No, sir. God's promise of salvation is
the promise of all of salvation beginning, middle, to the end,
to its culmination in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And listen
to this. In 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and
verse 19, listen to this. It says, for the Son of God,
Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and
Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in Him was yea. In other words, it was not an
uncertain thing, but a certain thing. Verse 20, how could it
be certain? How could it be assured? How
could it be secure? Verse 20, for all the promises of God in
Him, in Jesus Christ, are yea certain, and in Him, Amen. Done. So be it. Unto the glory
of God by us. And then look at verse 21 of
2 Corinthians 1. Now He which establisheth us,
establishes us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God. You see, You can't establish
yourself in the kingdom of heaven. I cannot establish myself. It's
God who establishes me, firmly implants me, and verse 22, who
hath also sealed us. You see that? Sealed us and given
the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. Sealed unto the day
of glorification. over in the book of Hebrews chapter
10, verse 21. It speaks of the boldness that
sinners have in coming to God through Christ by his blood.
And it says in verse 21, having an high priest over the house
of God, that high priest is Jesus Christ, let us draw near with
a true heart, a sincere heart, a penitent heart, a new heart,
a cleansed heart, in full assurance of faith, in full assurance of
looking to Christ. Having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience, the evil conscience there is a condemned,
guilty, legal conscience. and our bodies washed with pure
water, that's the blood of Christ that washes away my sins. And
look at verse 23, let us hold fast the profession of our faith
without wavering. Well, what is the profession
of our faith? The true Christian now, that Christ is my hope,
Christ is my security. And it says, for he is faithful,
that promise. God cannot change, God cannot
lie. He's faithful. He said, I am
the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob, sinners saved by grace, are not consumed. God is always faithful to His
promise. Now, we don't always remain faithful
in the sense of all we... We don't have perfect faith.
True Christians believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But the spirit,
the nature of unbelief is still there and we have to fight it.
And there are times we stray, but God won't let us go because
He chose His people. He saved them by His grace. Here's
reason number three. Here's reason, biblical reasons
that Christians cannot lose their salvation. Reason number three,
true Christians cannot lose salvation because the grace and power of
God through the Lord Jesus Christ is the grace and power of their
preservation under glory. In other words, the grace that
saves me is the same that keeps me saved. You see, salvation
is not beginning with grace and then ending up with my works
or grace plus my works. In the book of Philippians chapter
one, the apostle Paul in verse six told the Philippian believers,
he said, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath
begun a good work in you will perform it, will complete it
until the day of Jesus Christ. That's the day that Christ comes
back. Whatever God starts, whatever God begins, he finishes. Salvation is not God beginning
it, and you finishing it. That's not the gospel. That is
a false gospel. That's a humanistic gospel, my
friend, and it's false. You understand that? It's not,
you know, that's why people go around and they'll say, well,
God helps those who help themselves. You know, that's not in the Bible.
If that were the case, we'd all be lost. Back over in the book
of Hebrews chapter 13, The writer of Hebrews in verse 20 makes
this statement. He says, now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep. Remember what the shepherd of
the sheep does. He saved, he died for the sheep, he saves
the sheep, he keeps the sheep. Through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, verse 21, make you perfect, that is complete, in
every good work to do his will, working in you that which is
well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory
forever and ever, amen. You see, the eternal security
of salvation lies in the abilities of the Lord Jesus Christ and
in Him alone. And that's why Paul said to Timothy,
as I quoted earlier in 2 Timothy 1, when he's talking about how
he was suffering all of those trials and persecutions, he said,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel. He said, for I know whom I have
believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. And then in Hebrews
7, 24, we read, but this man, Jesus Christ, because he continueth
ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost, completely, that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Jude 24, now unto him
that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only
wise God and our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and forever, amen. Here's reason number four. True
Christians cannot lose salvation because of the nature and terms
of the everlasting covenant of grace of which Jesus Christ is
surety. Who is the surety of your salvation? You claim to be saved. You claim
to be a Christian. I claim to be saved. I claim
to be a Christian. Well, who is surety of my salvation?
Jesus Christ is the surety of my salvation. He's the assurance
of my salvation. Now, if salvation or if any part
of it is conditioned on you, Whatever part is conditioned
on you, that's the surety of your, you're the surety of your
salvation, not Christ. In his high priestly prayer,
Christ prayed in John 17 one, these words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, father, the hours come, glorify
thy son that thy son also may glorify thee. Verse two, as thou
has given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou has given him. He says, and this is life
eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. He said, I've glorified
thee on the earth, I've finished the work which you gave me to
do, and now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self,
with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. He's
the surety of my salvation. Back over in the Old Testament,
Jeremiah spoke of this in prophecy. Jeremiah 32 and verse 40, when
the Lord was talking about the new covenant in Christ and salvation
by Christ, He said, I'll make an everlasting covenant with
them that I will not turn away from them to do them good, but
I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from
me. That's what the Bible says. Here's
reason number five. True Christians cannot lose their
salvation because they cannot be charged with their sins. They're
charged with the righteousness of God Himself. Now, I mentioned
this before when I quoted this verse, but Romans 8 and verse
33 says, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It's God that justifies. I'm not guilty. In Christ, I'm
not guilty. In Christ, I'm righteous. Verse
34, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. That's why David said, blessed
is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no guile. What was David talking
about? Romans chapter four and verse
six tells us, even as David also described the blessedness of
the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.
You see that? A true believer, a true Christian
is a sinner saved by grace to whom God does not charge sin
unto condemnation. And here's reason number six
now. Biblical reasons. True Christians cannot lose their
salvation because the righteousness by which they are justified is
the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, which is the very
righteousness of God. You see, my salvation does not
stand upon my righteousness, my works, or even my will. Before God saved me, I didn't
have a will toward Him. He changed my will. I've heard
people argue about the irresistible, invincible calling of the Spirit,
saying, well, are you trying to say that God brings sinners
who don't want to come and who he drags them kicking and screaming
against their will? No. God changes their will, and
how does he do that? By the power of the Spirit through
the preaching of the gospel. Paul wrote in Romans 1 16, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. And what does God show them in
the gospel? Verse 17, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live
by faith. Do you see that? I cannot lose salvation if I'm
a true Christian because I stand before God not in my own works,
not in my own righteousness, but in the righteousness of God,
not the righteousness of man. Well, what is the righteousness
of God? It is the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ, which He worked out and established in His obedience
unto death for my sins. He died, He was buried, He arose
again the third day for my justification. Here's reason number seven. True
believers cannot lose salvation because the Lord Jesus Christ
is their mediator, their advocate, and their intercessor. In the
book of Romans chapter 8 and verse 34, When he talks about
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect, it's God
that justifies. In verse 34, listen to this.
He says, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yea rather. Now Christ died, but he's not
in the grave. That tomb is empty. People try
to find that tomb. Leave it alone. It doesn't mean
anything. He's not in that tomb. We serve a risen Savior. It's
Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again. What does
that mean? That his death overcame sin and
brought in righteousness and it says that is risen again who
is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession
for us. Hebrews 7.25 says, wherefore
He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them.
Over in 1 John chapter two and verse one, John writes, my little
children, these things write I unto you that you sin not.
And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus
Christ, the righteous. He's the propitiation for our
sins and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.
The whole world there, meaning God's people all over the world,
not all without exception. Christ ever lives pleading the
merits of His blood, His righteousness for His people, and they cannot
be condemned. Here's reason number eight. True
Christians cannot lose salvation because of the continual indwelling
presence and power of God the Holy Spirit. I mentioned this
in earlier in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 where it talks about in verse
20, all the promises of God in him in Christ are yea and in
him amen unto the glory of God by us. In verse 21, now he which
establisheth with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God who
hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit. in
our hearts. True Christians, they can sometimes
quench the Holy Spirit. They can sometimes grieve the
Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit will never
leave. He said, I'll never leave you or forsake you. That's what
he said. And as long as the Holy Spirit
indwells us, we will never totally, completely turn our eyes away
from Christ unto apostasy and damnation. We're not of them
that draw back unto perdition. Well, here's reason number nine.
This is the last one. True Christians cannot lose their
salvation because God the Holy Spirit in the new birth has given
them a new heart and a new spirit. I mentioned this again, back
in 1 John 2, verse 18, John writes, little children, it's the last
time, the last days. As you've heard that antichrist
shall come, even now are there many antichrists, that spirit
prevails, whereby we know it is the last time. In verse 19,
they went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had
been of us, they would have no doubt have continued with us,
but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were
not all of us. And then in verse, 20 but you
have an unction an anointing from the holy one and you know
all things this was prophesied in the old testament that during
the days of the new covenant it would not be like israel the
nation under the old covenant which were a rebellious people
who continually rejected and disbelieved and fell into idolatry. Under the new covenant, he said,
they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest.
He said, I'm gonna give them a new heart, a new spirit. I will cause them to walk in
my statutes. I will plant that law, print
that law on their heart. And my friend, that's why we
can never lose salvation. Now again, we who are Christians,
we're sinners. We struggle. We fail all the
time. We go through trials and we fail
miserably. But see, our salvation and our
preservation and our glorification is not conditioned on us and
how we do. It's conditioned on Christ and
He has made it so by His grace and His power and His will that
we who are true Christians would never totally fall away, turn
away, apostatize from Christ. The Holy Spirit indwells us,
He's given us a new heart, He continually testifies with our
spirit and brings us back in repentance and godly sorrow over
sin. And our life is a continual struggle.
He'll never leave us, He'll never forsake us, and He'll make it
so that we never leave or forsake Him. And that's why, those are
biblical reasons, why Christians cannot lose their salvation. This concludes this series that's
meant to accompany the book, What is a Christian? A Biblical
Study of the One True Faith. I urge you to order them. They're
free of charge and I hope you'll join us next week for another
message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, Write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us
by phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.