It's such a beautiful Sunday
morning. Lord, we're so thankful for this
beautiful weather you've given us. We thank you for the gathering
of the brethren here this morning. We're grateful for the promise
of the Holy Spirit to be where we are when two or three are
gathered. Father, we're also grateful for the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf. We thank you that you've given
us salvation in and through him. We thank you for the blood that
has cleansed us of sin, that has brought in forgiveness and
reconciliation to God. We thank you, Father, for the
Holy Spirit who has given us life and who convicts us of sin,
who draws us to Christ, who teaches us of Christ. And, Father, we
ask at this moment that He might do that very thing, that He might
teach us, grow us in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. May we see the glory and the greatness and the
exaltation of our King. Lord, may we be enabled by your
spirit today to worship in spirit and in truth and to lift up this
worship and to exalt Christ this morning. Lord, I pray that you
would help me to preach, that you would keep me from error.
I pray that you give these brethren that are here understanding as
your word is being broken this morning and shared. And Lord, I just thank you again
for all that you have done. I pray for all the churches that
you have around this world, Lord, and your people that they might
be fed this morning by God's word, and that you will be honored
above all things. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, brethren, I'm going to
have to ask you to forgive me. Last week I mentioned that I
was going to finish up the part about talking about the resurrection
of Jesus. And I told you I was going to
deal with some questions about some seemingly contradictions
in some of the passages of scripture about Jesus's death and his resurrection. And that was my intention today. But as I was studying a couple
of verses on some of these contradictory, seemingly contradictory verses,
I started looking at some of the words in the Greek and it
kind of took me on a rabbit trail and some stuff that I hadn't
really seen or looked at before. And I really would like to do
a little more thorough study on it before I say or preach
on it and stuff just so that I make sure that I'm not speaking
out of my own traditional thoughts or my own understanding, but
that I can definitely find that the Word of God backs what I
have seen in some of these scriptures. So I wanted to just kind of maybe
put that on hold maybe until next week and give me another
week to look at a couple of the verses that I was going to look
at because it's kind of some interesting things. So anyway,
if you don't mind, I'm going to put that off until maybe next
week. We will get back into Galatians
eventually, just taking a little bit of a break from that. This
morning, I just kind of felt compelled since I was going to
put that resurrection message on hold. I kind of felt compelled
to speak about a wonderful teaching doctrine in scripture. You know, as people that believe
in sovereign grace, we're often called Calvinists, which we don't
believe we're Calvinists. We don't hold to what Calvin
says. I mean, that's irregardless of
anything. We believe what the Bible says.
What God has taught, he's taught from the very beginning. Calvin
didn't bring anything into existence or find some new way of looking
at things or whatever. Nor are we in the line of Calvinistic
beliefs as far as, you know, church and baptism and things
like that. So we don't use those terms. We try to just speak biblically
around here and we throw out some of those terms. However,
because we believe the doctrines of grace, people will often say,
oh, well, you're those people that believe in Calvinism or
that you believe in TULIP and all that kind of stuff. And everybody
knows what we're talking about when we say TULIP, right? You
know, that's an acronym. And each letter of the word TULIP
stands for something. The T stands for total depravity. The U stands for unlimited election,
unconditional election. The L stands for limited atonement,
the I stands for irresistible grace, and the P stands for perseverance
of the saints. Again, we usually don't use a
lot of those acronyms and all those things to talk about stuff,
but the Bible does speak on every bit of those things, and we've
taught on those throughout the years. But today I would like
to look at the P part of that acronym. Perseverance, preservation. And the reason for that is because
oftentimes we as the children of God need to be encouraged
because as we've been seeing in Galatians, whenever we're
looking at the law of God and we're looking into the word of
God and we're seeing righteousness as it's demonstrated, holiness
and righteousness as it's demonstrated by God's law, we find how far
short we fall. And as we've been expressly in
Galatians looking at, is the fact that we can't gain any righteousness
or perform any righteousness before God in our flesh. And
that any hopes of a righteousness or a right standing or a right
relationship before God by any works or any righteousness of
ourself, it's always going to fail. There's always sin going
to be with us and we cannot keep that law. And the law requires
you to keep it perfectly. If you can't keep it perfectly,
you are completely and totally guilty of everything that the
law says, or that the law has told you to do. You're guilty
of breaking that. And in understanding that, knowing
that, whenever the child of grace and their eyes and their understanding
has been opened by the Lord to see themselves as sinners, to
see themselves as lawbreakers, to know themselves as being unrighteous
and unworthy servants, sometimes in our mind we can begin to doubt,
we can begin to get fearful, we can begin to feel like we
just want to give up. And to some people, they think
that we can even turn from the faith and lose our salvation. And the Bible does talk about
people who have turned from the faith. Even in our passages in
Galatians, we've seen that Paul had even made a statement, he
said, that you who believe that you can keep the law, you have
fallen from grace. But does the Bible teach that
a Christian, a true child of God, can fall away from grace? Can they actually be turned away
from the faith? Can they actually lose their
salvation? Well, the answer is no. We may
have times of failure. We may fall into seasons of sin. We may fall into seasons of indifference,
where we just, you know, I don't care. You know, I just, I don't
care. But the Holy Spirit of God that
is in us will always bring this conviction back to us. It will
always draw us back to God. And sometimes the Lord does in
His chastening. love for us. He will allow us
to see seasons of sin in our life. He will allow us to go
in directions of doubt and fear to some degree so that we might
turn and look to Him. And so the doctrine of perseverance
or preservation is very needful to be taught in the churches
of Christ because it gives us and expresses the hope that we
have in Christ that although we continue to fail, although
we continue to miss the mark, although we continue to battle
in this sinful flesh, that we are being preserved until Christ
comes and this body flesh is put away and a new body is given
to us. And so we need to hear that hope
that Yes, you may desire to be holy, you may desire to do the
works of God, you may desire to do all these things, but at
the times when you fail, don't think that God has given up on
you. Don't think God is turning away from you, that you have
lost your relationship with the Lord, that He is still loving
you and He is preserving you until the day of His return. So I wanted to look at some verses
throughout Scripture. We're gonna be looking at a bunch
of verses, Get your turning fingers ready in your Bible. But let's
start in Jude. The epistle of Jude. And let's look at the first verse
there. We're going to see here, just in passing
in the introduction of this letter, a very profound piece of doctrine. Jude, the first verse, it says,
Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them
that are sanctified by God the Father. Notice that word sanctified
is past tense. Brethren, the children of grace
are already sanctified. They're sanctified. OK. We are sanctified by God the
Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is our sanctification. And so, there isn't anything
that we can do to sanctify ourselves or make ourselves more holy,
as some people look at that word to mean. That word means to be
set apart. Okay? That word means set apart. God
has elected us, chosen us, and set us apart from the rest of
mankind to be His people. We were elect before the foundation
of the world. We were chosen in Christ Jesus
before the foundation of the world, as we'll see in Ephesians
in a minute. We were blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus before the foundation
of the world. So we were set apart for God's
use as his people even before the world began. That was being
sanctified. And it was in Christ Jesus that
we were sanctified. Being in Him, we were sanctified.
So that sanctification isn't a progressive building of your
holiness in the flesh, year by year by year by all your doing
good and all this stuff that you do. To be sanctified means
to be elected of God and chosen to be His people, the vessels
of honor. Okay? It says, to them that are
sanctified by God the Father, and here it is, and preserved
in Christ Jesus and called. We are preserved in Christ Jesus. The reason that we are preserved
is because we are in Christ Jesus. So the reason that we can never
lose our salvation is because our salvation began before the
foundation of the world. It didn't have nothing to do
with anything that any of us did. It didn't have anything
to do with the work that you did, a decision that you made,
a choice that you expressed. It had nothing to do with any
of that. Salvation was already determined before the foundation
of the world by God. Those people were chosen in Christ
Jesus and they were preserved in him, meaning that all those
that were put into Christ Jesus is going to be preserved in Christ
Jesus. That means from the time that
they come into existence and until the time that they die,
they will be preserved as God's children, even before you understand
your own salvation. Even before I became aware that
the Lord had saved me, and died for me, and reconciled me to
God, and forgave my sins, and chosen me before I ever even
knew that, the Lord was preserving me. He formed me, as we just
sang, He formed me in the womb, and He is going to carry me to
the tomb. He formed me, and He is keeping me and preserving
me until I die, or until He comes again. So salvation, not only
in the eternal past aspect, we are preserved in Christ Jesus,
but in the present we're preserved in Christ Jesus because we are
in Him, because His Spirit is in us, and He will keep us, and
we'll see this here as we go further. But I wanted to start
here in Jude because it shows that we were sanctified, which
speaks of the eternal election of God. And we are preserved
in Christ Jesus because of our union in Him. We call it eternal,
vital union. We have been eternally, vitally
united with Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world.
That, in and of itself, brethren, is why we cannot lose our salvation. It's because it was fixed from
the beginning. And it will stay that way clear
until eternity future. whatever that will be for us. And it will always be. That's
why the Bible says that He has loved us with an everlasting
love. That's why it says that no one
can lay any charge to God's elect because it is Christ who is justified. There is nothing that can separate
us from the love of God. Nothing. And so preservation,
or whenever the Bible talks about us being persevering in the faith,
it is because we are being preserved by Jesus Christ. But we see here
that we are preserved in Christ Jesus. Nothing can escape us. As a matter of fact, Jesus said
Himself, He said that I am in the Father and the Father is
in me and then you, you know, that I am in the Father's hands
and you are in my hands and no one can pluck you out. No one
can take you out of my hands. Okay, well, that's how secure
we are. That's how secure we are. But let's look throughout
the Scriptures and let's see some places that encourage us
of this very fact of God's preserving His people. Let's start in Psalms
chapter 34, if you will. Psalms chapter 34. And let's look at verse 7. Psalms
34 and verse 7. Psalms 34 and verse 7. Of course, remember, all the
things that's written in the Old Testament are written for
our understanding of Christ and also through allegory, through
metaphor, through type and foreshadow, our relationship to Christ as
his people. And here we see it says, the
angel of the Lord encampeth around about them that fear him. Now
remember, the only ones that fear the Lord are those who are
the Lord's people, right? The Bible says that those who
are outside of Christ have no fear of God in them. But yet
those who are Christ, who have been born from above, They fear
the Lord. And that word fear means reverence.
It doesn't mean I'm scared that somebody's going to hurt me.
It's reverence. It means reverence. The angel
of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth
them. Now, we can discuss this, you
know, for quite a while, go through a lot of scriptures. But brethren,
I believe in the Old Testament, when it talks about the angel
of the Lord, I believe that it's speaking of Christ. The angel
of the Lord is Christ. He's the messenger of God. In
the Old Testament, we find many examples of the angel of the
Lord doing this and doing that and it's referenced to Christ. But that's for another day and
another teaching. But we see here, irregardless
whether it's that or whether it's the angel of the Lord being
sent to do this from the Lord, The fact remains that they will
be delivered. There is no chance that the people
of God who has been sanctified and preserved before the foundation
of the world, there is no way that they are not going to be
delivered. They will be delivered. This is a parallel verse almost
to John chapter 6 that we'll be looking at here in just a
few minutes. that says, all that the Father giveth me shall come
to me. Okay? And we'll look at that
when we get to it. Look at Psalms chapter 48 while
we're here. Psalms 48. And look with me at
verse 14. Scripture says, for this God
is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even unto
death. Who's the one who guides the
child of grace? It's the Lord. How long is He
going to do it? Until death. The Lord is going
to guide us. He's never going to leave us.
He's never going to forsake us. He's never going to turn away
from us whenever you do bad. And by the way, how much bad
do you do before He turns away? As soon as you do bad? Is it
five bads? We used to, in school, we used
to have a chart, and I think the kids, they have a deal at
work that they have a chart, and they get these little stars
beside their name when they do things good. In school, when
I was in school, we had a chart, and we got a star when we did
something good, and then we got something called a demerit. If
we did something bad, you don't hardly hear that term anymore,
but a demerit. If you do something good, you get a merit. If you
do something bad, you get a demerit, which is a taking away of a merit,
right? So you get a star taken away. So it's always this vision
of, if I do good, I get rewarded. If I do bad, I don't get rewarded.
And even I might get some stuff taken away. And so I got to keep
my good going so that I stay right with God. Well, here we
see it says, For God is our God forever and ever. He will be
our guide even till death. He's not going to leave us or
forsake us when we do bad, no matter how bad it's going to
be. He doesn't take away or demerit us at any point. Does He chasten
us? Absolutely, He chastens us. But
what does the Bible say about chastening? Those whom He loves,
He chastens, right? So the act of chastening the
child of grace is an act of love. not an act of anger, not an act
of hatred, not an act of despising. Whenever we are chastened of
the Lord, we are chastened because He loves us. And that chastening
is for learning, for our understanding, to learn more of Christ, for
our dependence upon Christ. And the Lord doesn't just chasten
us because we've done something bad. Sometimes the Lord will
chasten us Just because of his own purpose. I mean, look at
Job. Remember Job? The Lord chastened
Job severely. But Job had not done anything
as far as the Lord did that because Job did something. But what happened
in the heat of that chastisement? Job learned something about the
Lord, right? Through God's loving chastisement,
Job learned something not only about himself, but he learned
something about the Lord. And so our chastisements are
there for our learning. Sometimes the Lord, as I mentioned
earlier, sometimes the Lord leads us and directs us and allows
us to go down these paths that we will experience the sinfulness
of ourselves so that we might know and appreciate the work
that He has done on our behalf. that we might look to Him for
everything. And so here, He's our guide.
He guides us even to death. So how long will He be our guide?
Well, He's going to be our guide clear until the time we die or
He comes back. So He's not going to leave us. There's never a
time that we can lose that. So that's a promise that the Lord
has given us. Look at Psalms 125. Psalms 125. Look at verse 1. It says, They that trust in the
Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but
abideth forever. We talked about that word abideth
forever. That word abideth forever means trust forever, right? It rests in the Lord. Trusting
in Him. Waiting upon Him. knowing that
He is there all in all, right? Be still and know that I am God. So abiding isn't working, isn't
performing. Abiding is just resting in who
you are and what Christ has done. You're His child. He's your King. He's your prophet, priest. He's your Savior. He is your
righteousness. and we just abide in Him. And
so when we do that, we'll never be removed because what causes
us to shift back and forth? Well, that turmoil in our mind
that we're not doing enough good. The times that I begin to doubt
the Lord and think that I'm not saved, is the times that I keep
thinking that I have to perform a righteousness. I'm not doing
good enough before God, so God's probably not pleased with me,
and if He's not pleased with me, then I've broken fellowship
with Him, and we no longer have fellowship. But see, if we abide
in Him, we rest in Him, looking to Him as our only righteousness,
that His substitutionary life of obedience and His substitutionary
death and justice upon us, If we rest in that, abide in that,
we're not going to be removed. We're not going to be faltering
around. We're not going to be thinking
we're losing our salvation. We're going to know salvation
is of the Lord and it cannot be changed. It cannot be moved.
It abideth forever. So there again is another, while
it's a statement, but it's definitely a promise. Those that trust in
the Lord, and those are the ones who have been born again and
give it faith, shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed,
but abideth forever." Look at Psalms 138.8, if you would. Psalms
138.8. It says, "...the Lord will perfect that which concerneth
Me, Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever,
forsake not the work of thine own hands." Now that word perfect
there, and we see it also in the New Testament used of Christ
as well, but that word perfect there, it means to complete. The word there means complete.
What does that say in y'all's Spanish Bible? Does it use that
type of language? the Lord will perfect that which
concerns me. Fulfilled, complete, yeah. So see it's even translated that
way in the Spanish Bible. The word perfect there, see in
our English word that can mean something else. It can be perfect
meaning without sin. It could mean It can be never
doing anything bad or always doing the right thing. Well,
this is not what it's talking about. It says, the Lord will
perfect or complete, fulfill that which concerneth me. That
means that which the Lord has began, He's going to finish,
right? He began in eternity to choose a people for Himself to
be a people of honor, to glorify Him, to honor Him, to exalt Him,
to worship Him, and to preach His gospel. to exalt Christ,
right? The Bible tells us in Romans
that the Lord has made two vessels, a vessel of honor and a vessel
of dishonor. Those who are the vessel of honor
is to be a vessel that is for His glory, to present His glory. Well, the Lord is going to complete
that which concerneth me. What is the purpose that God
has sanctified us and set us apart? Remember that word sanctified
means set apart for God's use. Well, what is God's use? Well,
God's use is to use us as vessels of honor for Him in this life. And He's going to complete or
He's going to fulfill that which concerns me. He's going to fulfill
that in me. He's going to make sure that all that's done. What's
another verse that we know in the New Testament that says the
same thing? Work out your salvation with
fear and trembling, for it is God who worketh in you both to
will and to do His good pleasure. That's one verse. What's another
New Testament verse that says that same thing? How about, for we are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works which the Lord hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. That phrase that we should walk
in Him is not a might walk in, that we might walk in Him, that
we should. That old English word should
is different than how we understand it today. That phrase means that
God has ordained these works and Christ is carrying out these
works in us by the Spirit and they will be accomplished. Every
work that God has ordained for us to do will be accomplished
in us. So see, we have that promise.
He's going to fulfill. That word there, perfect, He's
going to fulfill or He's going to complete that which concerneth
me. Then it says, Thy mercy, O Lord,
endureth forever. See, He's not going to come against
us because of our sinfulness. Because His mercy endures forever. His mercy has been set upon us.
The Lord said that I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.
And I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Who's He speaking of there? the elect of God who have been
sanctified and preserved in Christ Jesus. Those are the ones that
He has given mercy to, that He is going to show mercy to. And
here He says, Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. That means
there's never going to be a time that the Lord is not going to
show mercy unto His children. He is not going to condemn them,
but He's going to show mercy to them. He says, forsake not
the work of thine own hands. And we know that the Lord will
never forsake the work of his own hands, that he will complete
everything that he has promised to complete, right? So there's
a promise, brethren, of your perseverance and God's preservation
of you. Look with me, if you would, at
Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter 3. Ecclesiastes chapter 3. I want to start reading at verse 10. Some comforting words, reading
this this morning, especially for anybody who sorrows over
the sinfulness and it seems like sometimes their whole life is
just, you know, just a complete mess up all the time, you know.
But something that is very encouraging here, remember Ecclesiastes was
written by Solomon And Solomon had been given wisdom above every
other person that had ever lived. He had great wisdom. The Lord
had given him great wisdom. Now, Solomon definitely had his
faults. Solomon was not perfect. He was
a very sinful man, okay? But he was one of the Lord's
elect, and Solomon was a good king. But Solomon was given wisdom,
and in that wisdom, he's seen everything that there is to see.
He experienced just about anything, being the richest king that had
ever been. He'd seen everything and had
experienced just about everything that there was to experience.
And the Holy Spirit inspired him to write some things about
what God had brought him through. Look in verse 10, he says, I
have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men
to be exercised in it. Now let's just stop there for
a minute. There is a whole group of quote-unquote Christians that
teach that God does not cause people to travail, that God wants
them to be healthy all the time, that He wants them to be wealthy,
that He wants them to have good all the time and no bad. You
know what I'm saying? Have you ever heard them preachers?
There's a lot of them, right? And most of those preachers who
Keep preaching that God wants you to be wealthy, or the ones
that's telling you, you need to send me your money, right?
If you'll send me your money, then God will bless you. He says,
I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of
men to be exercised. God causes us to travail. He exercises us in travail. He causes grief. He causes sorrow. He causes affliction for a purpose. He always has a purpose. He never
does it willy-nilly. He always has a reason for bringing
us through travail. Have you been through a trial
in your life? Have you been through hardships
in your life? Have you been through some afflictions? That's travail. And God hath given that to the
sons of men to be exercised in it. Verse 11, He hath made everything
beautiful in His time. Now, when you're going through
those afflictions, whenever you're going through those seasons and
times of hardship or through times of sin, struggling with
sin or indifference, listen, while they are evil and while
they are bad or while they are uncomfortable, the fact remains
that in God's time, in God's look on things, everything is
beautiful because He has a purpose for it. The crucifixion of Jesus
Christ was a horrible, evil thing, but it is beautiful in the eyes
of God. Remember He said that it was
with joy that He went to the cross? That it pleased the Lord
to bruise Him? Why? Because of the outcome of
what it was there for. It was for the glory of God. And all things, even our travail,
our afflictions, our our hardships that we go through that may cause
us to doubt and think we're going to lose our salvation or that
we're being displeasing to God because of these seasons in our
life or that God's punishing us because we're not doing enough
good. The Bible here says that God is bringing us through this
travail and exercising in this for a purpose that is beautiful
in the end. Now is there a New Testament
verse that coincides with this? Doesn't the Bible say that He
works all things for our good? To them who are called according
to His purpose? Even the things that are of travail. He says, He has made everything
beautiful in His time. Also, He has set the world in
their hearts so that no man can find out the work that God maketh
from the beginning to the end. See, nobody's going to figure
out why God does this, right? Have you ever thought whenever
you're going through a hardship, Lord, why are you doing this? Why am
I having to go through this? Well, we don't know the exact
reason, but we do know this reason, that He does it for our good
and for His glory. We know that. We can always put
that to everything that happens to us. It's God's will for His
glory and for our good, if we're His children. He says, He set the world in
their hearts so that no man can find out the work that God make
it from the beginning, To the end, that means God has decreed
all things from the beginning and everything is going to happen
and clear to the end. God has made it so that no man
can figure out what God is doing. Other than the fact that he's
going to glorify himself. A lot of people try to figure
out what God's doing and they're not going to tell them. I know
it because God says he's made it that way. Now look at verse
12. I know that there is no good
in them but for a man to rejoice and to do good in his life."
See, there's no good. We know that there's no good.
Paul said it. Paul's almost quoting this. He
said, I know that in me dwelleth no good thing. He said, I am
the chiefest of sinners. He said, I know that in my flesh
dwelleth no good thing. But it says here, but for a man
to rejoice and to do good in his life. And also that every
man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor. It is the gift of God. What's
this saying? It's saying, well, we enjoy the
gifts that God has given us. We're going to go through these
trials and hardships, but we continue to live our life, continue
to walk in this knowing that God has a purpose for us and
enjoy the things that God has given to us. I know some folks It's been a while since we talked
about this, but I knew a brother one time and he talked about
that for a Christian to enjoy, like this right here, this TV.
There are a lot of people that would judge me for having this
big old TV. That's evil right there. You've
got something evil in your house. Well, it's only evil if I use
it for evil, right? To sit out here on my deck and
not be studying the Bible all the time, but if I sit out here
with a cold drink out on my deck and barbecuing or going to a
movie or going fishing or something like that, having a nice, having
a car, you know, have a nice thing. They say, oh, we should
be, you know, we should be so humble and not have everything
that we have should be just as only what we absolutely just
have to have, you know. that if we have anything extra,
anything maybe even extravagant, that that's sinful. Brother, most of the gifts that
God has given us, and it says right here, that every man should
eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor. I work in a
job that allows me to buy this TV and those chairs and that
deck and those cooking utensils. Leland bought me a new barbecue
thing out there. He did that by the labor. Now
we're going to enjoy it when we cook on it. You know, God
has given us these gifts to enjoy, not to suffer from and say, Oh,
I feel guilty because I had these things. Now, I think that we
need to still be mindful with these things and think that if
we can do and help others, we can do and help others with what
the Lord has given us. and that we shouldn't boast in
what we do, but there's nothing wrong with enjoying the gifts
that God has given us. And there's definitely nothing
wrong with eating and drinking and enjoying the life that the
Lord has allowed us to have. But look at verse 14. I know
that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can
be put to it nor anything taken from it." Now let's pause there
before I go to the next phrase. I know that whatsoever God doeth,
now this is, him saying this is in context to God doing something
from, make it from the beginning to the end. The work that God
hath made from the beginning to the end. We're talking about
God's eternal decree. We started this off talking about
before the foundation of the world. sanctified and has preserved
a people in Christ Jesus. And it began in eternity before
our bodies or before even any creation was made, but especially
before we were ever born. God had began that work in eternity. But it says right here, whatsoever
God do with it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it. If
God sanctified me or set me apart for being a vessel of honor,
before the foundation of the world and preserve me in Christ
Jesus, and has that plan and everything from the beginning
to the end worked out for His will, and that He has given gifts for
us to experience and to enjoy, but He has also given us travail.
There's going to be good times, right? And there's going to be
bad times. That's what He's saying here. There's going to be times
of travail that the Lord is doing that, and there's going to be
times that things are great whenever you're going to enjoy the gifts
that God has given you. There's going to be good times and bad
times. In good times and bad times, I'll be on your side forevermore. I don't think that that was the
intent that they had whenever they sang that song, but it can
be applied to Christ, right? He is saying here that it doesn't
matter in life in the ups and the downs, that whatever God
is doing, Nothing can be put to it. Nothing can stop it. Your
sinning is not going to stop God's loving. And on the other hand, anything
that you're doing that you think is good is not being accepted
for righteousness. Okay? Whatever God does, nothing can
be put to it. nor nothing taken away from it.
I can't take away from the salvation that Christ has made for me.
I can't put nothing to it. I can't add anything to it. I
can't take nothing away. That means I can't make it any
more better. I can't make myself more holy. The Bible says I'm complete in
Him. Preserved and sanctified in Christ Jesus. I can't be more
holy than I am holy in Him. I'm complete in Him. but nothing
can be taken away. I can't lose that holiness that
Christ has made for me. I can't lose that salvation that
Christ has made for me. God has reconciled me to Himself
through Christ Jesus. I can't be unreconciled. I've
been elected. I can't be unelected. You see,
we can't lose our salvation because our salvation is of the Lord. And He preserves His people.
And we persevere. That means we continue in the
faith of Christ Jesus because He is the one who is doing it.
Nothing can be taken from it. Nothing can be put to it. And He does this so that men
should fear Him. So that we might reverence Him.
Why do we worship Him? We come and we worship Him. Why?
Because we've done such great things. We sing the hymn, He
hath done great things. He hath done great things. Not we have done great things,
but He has done great things. It's all about what Christ has
done and He's the one who is preserving us. So we cannot lose
our salvation. We cannot lose our fellowship,
our relationship, whatever term you want to put on that. We cannot
lose it because it is not on our keeping, it's on Christ. Isaiah chapter 46 H-O-A-R. See that? See that? Brother Ed's got quite a few
over there. Gray hairs. Even to our gray hairs. Okay? Few and far between too, brother? He says, and even to your old
age I'm he, and even to whore hairs, will I carry you. I have made and I will bear. Even I will carry and will deliver
you. I will carry you. Ain't that
a beautiful, beautiful thought, brother? I will carry you to the end.
You're not gonna be able to make it to the end. If it was left
to you to walk, you know that, and if anybody has one of these
in their house, Please forgive me if I don't mean to be an offense. Has anybody seen all the little
plaques of footprints in the sand where you see the two feet
walking and all of a sudden you see just one footprint and that
was me carrying you? Well, the truth be known, it's
one set of footprints the whole way. It's never two sets of footprints
and then one set of footprints. It's one set of footprints the
whole way. Christ is carrying us from eternity
to eternity. We never walk of our own. There is never anything in us
that the Lord considers for righteousness. It's all about what Christ has
done. He is the one that is carrying
us, and he has made us, and he will bear us up. He will bear
us up. We don't have to bear ourselves
up. He will bear us up, and he will deliver us. That's a promise,
right? Does God lie? Okay, well, you can trust that,
right? All right, look at Jeremiah.
I'm gonna have to start getting quicker. I got a bunch of verses
to look at. Jeremiah 32, 40. Jeremiah 32, 40 says, I will
make an everlasting covenant with them. How long of a covenant?
Everlasting. Now, is the definition of everlasting
as long as you hold out? Is the definition of everlasting
as long as you do good? As long as you're perfect? As
long as you're obedient? Is that the definition of everlasting?
How long is everlasting? Forever. Forever. Everlasting,
right? It lasts forever. Kind of like
the image of a bunny, right? I will make an everlasting covenant
with them that I will not turn away from them. Now how much clearer can you
get from that, brethren? Is the Lord going to turn away
from you? I hear people all the time say, well, if I don't keep
up this relationship with the Lord, the Lord is going to turn
away from me. He says here that He will not turn away from them
to do them good. But I will put my fear in their
hearts, or reverence, and they shall not depart from me." Can
you lose your salvation? Well, if you think so, you contradict
the Word of God. What you say is contradictory
to what God says. You're not saying what God says,
you're saying what you say. You're saying what you say. God
says that it can't be taken away, it can't be lost. You will not
depart from Him. Does that mean that we can't
sin? No, it doesn't mean that. It doesn't mean that sometimes
we might become indifferent. That doesn't mean that. It doesn't
mean that our hearts might wax cold for a little while. But
brethren, it means that we will not turn away from Him and depart
the faith, never to return. He will bring us back. Matter
of fact, that tune that we sang that one song to was to the tune
of Revive Us Again, the very fact of that song, Revive Us
Again. even davidson talked about that
reviving me terry and i will be turned you know there are
times that we need to be turned whenever he went into the season
with that she would what happened not only did he lost after that
she would and that was turned into adultery with that she would
but then that adultery turned into uh... uh... uh... plotting and planning uh... and
falsely uh... doing that this workings with
your right Was it Uriah? I may have lost the name. Anyway,
Uriah? Okay, yeah, I thought it was.
For some reason, as soon as I said it, I was like, maybe not. But
Uriah, and then his ultimate death, sending him to his death.
We've seen that whole entire thing, and then trying to cover
it up, and then what happened? Whenever the Lord came through
the prophet and convicted him, what was it? He was sorrowful
for that. He couldn't continue to go away.
He couldn't go away. The Lord kept him. Look if you
would with me at Ezekiel chapter 11. Ezekiel chapter 11 and we're
going to look at verse 19. Does it say different in the
Spanish Bible? Chapter 11. Ezekiel 11. I want to look at
verse 19. He says, I will give them one heart
and I will put a new spirit within you. A new spirit. He doesn't
work your old spirit and make something better out of it. He
puts a completely, totally different new spirit there, right? And
I will put a new spirit within you and I will take the stony
heart out of their flesh and I will give them a heart of flesh
that they may walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances, and do
them, and they shall be My people, and I will be their God." So
here is a promise that God is going to work in us to will and
to do His good pleasure, right? He's going to keep doing that.
But look who's the one that's doing it. It's the Lord. I will.
I will. I will. I will. It's not you
will. If you will, try to. It's He will, He will do these
things in us. All right, let's jump to the
New Testament before we run out of time. John chapter four. John chapter four, and look with
me at verse 14. Now again, remember when Jesus
taught a lot of times, a lot of times He used, He used pictures
and allegories and metaphors and things like that in his teaching.
Verse 14 says, But whosoever drinketh of the water that I
shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life. Now this is whenever he was talking
with the woman that's married, right? And the woman was coming
and drawing the well. Jesus was sitting at the well.
He was thirsty. The woman was coming to the well to get water
because they had run out of water at their house and they needed
water and they was thirsty. And every day they would have
to make the trip to the well to get water. Every time we had
to go get water. We had to get water. We grew
up down here in Neosho. Whenever I was little, we didn't
have indoor plumbing. We had an outhouse out back.
and we didn't have indoor plumbing. We had a well outside and there
was a hand pump that was out there. Whenever we needed water,
we went in, got water out of the hand pump, brought it back
in. And just the labor of going back
and forth and back and forth to get the water. We continued
to get thirsty. We continued to get thirsty.
We continued to get thirsty. We were never satisfied. Well, Jesus here is using the
illusion of water here in a well, saying that whoever drinketh
of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. Meaning that we're not going
to find, we're going to be satisfied. Our thirst will be quenched.
We've been thirsting for righteousness, right? Before we were given faith,
our thirst for righteousness was to get it by our own works. And we had to keep going back
and forth and back and forth and back and forth, but never
being satisfied. Why? Because we never could keep
the law. We never could keep the law.
We were always never settled. But whenever the Lord showed
us that righteousness is in Christ Jesus alone, whenever he give
us to learn and to rest in Christ's righteousness, now we are no
longer thirsty. We are satisfied. Our thirst
has been quenched. Christ has quenched that. Matter
of fact, he says that it's even as like if a spring or a well
was inside of us that continually was there. That would be like
carrying around a water, what are they, the water coolers? Did you get a drink out of that
one? A water fountain. What good am I thinking of that?
It's like carrying around a little water fountain. It's like carrying
around a little water fountain everywhere you go, just getting
a drink anytime you want to get a drink. Okay? You're never going
to be thirsty. Why? Because I've got water going
through my mouth. I'm not going to be thirsty.
Well, Jesus is saying He's like that for righteousness. To the
child of grace, He's the one who satisfies them. We're satisfied
in Christ Jesus. He's all that we need. My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' love and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus'
name. We rest in Him. We find our completeness in Him.
Everything is about Jesus Christ, and He quenches our thirst and
desire for anything else outside of Him. I no longer am trying
to look to Mike Smith for keeping the things to be pleasing to
God. I rest in Christ Jesus. My thirst has been quenched.
I have found the water of life. I have found that fountain that
wells up inside over and over and over and over again that
reminds me that salvation is not in what I do, but what Christ
has done for me. So He gives that to us. And that
will keep us looking to Christ, right? John chapter 5, verse
24. Just a couple pages over or a page over. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, he that heareth my word, who's the ones that
hear his word? His sheep, right? His sheep. Who are the ones who
believe his word? All that who have been ordained shall believe, right? Acts 13, 48. And all those who
are ordained to eternal life believe. His sheep hear His voice. His sheep are the ones that hear
Him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word
and believeth on him that sent me hath, that word hath is past
tense, already, in possession everlasting life. So the ones
who hear and believe already had everlasting life. Now that's
totally opposite of what you hear in modern day preaching
today. They say it's just the opposite. That if you believe
If you hear his word and believe on him, then he will give you
everlasting life. But this is just the opposite
of what Jesus said. Jesus is completely opposite
of most modern day preachers. They are preaching opposite.
You see, that's why we don't acknowledge Arminian churches
as gospel churches is because they're preaching a gospel opposite
of Jesus' gospel. That's why we don't accept their
baptisms. That's why we don't do ecumenical work with them.
That's why we don't do, because there is two different gospels
there. One gospel is saying it is because of something you've
done you get everlasting life. The other one is because you've
been given everlasting life, this is what happens. Two different
gospels. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life, and what, look in here, and shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed from death unto life. shall not, shall not, shall
not, shall not, shall not come into condemnation. Therefore
there is now no condemnation to those who are sanctified and
preserved in Christ Jesus. The actual verse says there is
therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,
but that means they are sanctified and preserved in Christ Jesus,
right? That's why there's no condemnation. There's no condemnation
because they are in Him. He is their substitute. He is
their head. He is their advocate. He is their representative. There's
only one mediator between God and man, and that's the man,
Jesus Christ. He is the mediator for us. Everything
that Christ did, He did on behalf of us as a substitutionary work. His life, His death, it's all
ours. We are complete in Him. And He
says right here, there's no condemnation. Why? Because we've passed from
death unto life. John chapter 6. John chapter
6 verse 37. John chapter 6 verse 37. Very familiar verses for us.
It says, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Now
I've told you all this in the past. There's a phrase or there's
a word that We're often called, people that believe like we do,
me personally, I've been called this. They're called hardshells. Oh, you're one of those hardshell
Baptists. You ever heard that term, brother? You're an old
hardshell Baptist. Well, where did that come from?
Well, people that believe that whenever the word of God says
shall, it doesn't mean maybe. We believe it says they shall. There's no way it's gonna, And
so those who believed in that were distinguished between the
Fullerite Baptists back in the 1800s. The Fullerite Baptists
believed that God loved everybody and that Jesus died for everybody,
but only the elect would receive that salvation. But they had
to go out and preach the gospel to them, otherwise they would
die and go to hell and never hearing the gospel. Therefore,
There were people that they need to get out and reach and that's
where the modern missionary Movement came and it was in an attempt
to save souls So they wouldn't die and go to hell Well right
here the Bible says in the old Christians the old Baptist all
believe that all that the father giveth me shall come to me There
is no way that they're going to be lost not one of them is
going to be lost because of an attempt or a lack of Attempt
by somebody else they will come to me And him that cometh to
me, I will in no wise cast out." That's a promise. If you have
come to Christ Jesus, that means you've been brought to Christ
Jesus, by the way, by Christ Jesus. If you come to Christ
Jesus, because no man comes to the Father but by Him, the Father
draws, the Son calls, the Son through His Spirit brings you
to Him, right? All that comes to Him he will
in no wise cast out. Can you lose your salvation?
Well, the only way you can is if he cast you out. And he said
right here, he will not cast out all that the father had given
him. For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the
will of him that sent me. And this is the father's will,
which has sent me. Okay. We're talking about God's
will here. Everything that God wills is going to take place.
We just read a while ago, all of God's works, are going to
take place and nothing can be taken from it or put to it? The
beginning to the end? There's another verse of Scripture
that says no one but God are all His works, the end from the beginning?
Okay? It says, this is the Father's
will which is sent me, that all, not some, not a few, but all
which He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up at the last day. That means everyone that has
been sanctified, that first verse we looked at, sanctified and
preserved in Christ Jesus in eternity past, what does he say? He's going to raise them up to
the last day. So whether it was from Adam until whoever, at the
end, they're going to be preserved in Christ Jesus. And they're
going to be raised up because they've been given to Christ.
And He has done the will of the Father in coming to be a sacrifice
for them, to redeem them for them. He says, and this is the will
of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth
on Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the
last day. So there is a promise that He
will raise them up. He's going to preserve them.
Look at verse 47. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me hath, again, past tense, everlasting
life. And in verse 51, he says, I am
the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eateth
this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread which I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. So
Jesus has promised here to give faith to His people and that
they will live on that faith. That water, that bread that He's
talking about, it's talking about faith in what He has done. Those
metaphors are being used to speak of the faith that God has given
us to look to Christ alone for all that we need. Look with me in chapter 10 of
John. John chapter 10 and verse 28. It says, and I give unto them, well,
let's back up, verse 25. Jesus answered them, I told you
and ye believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But ye believed not, here it
is, because ye are not of my sheep. Again, sidetrack here. That's just the opposite of what
we hear in modern Evangelicalism today. Evangelicalism today says
if you believe you will become one of his sheep. He will bring
you in as one of his sheep. But this is just saying the opposite.
He says the reason that you don't believe is because you're not
already my sheep. That's why Jesus said he that
believeth on me hath already everlasting life. They're already
having life. That's why they believe on me.
They believe on me because they are already my sheep. My sheep
hear my voice. They have hearing. See, brethren,
it's all about Christ and what he's done. And it's his sovereign
salvation, not this man's works, free will, choice, decisionism,
salvation. He says, my sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life. He gives unto them eternal life.
And they shall never perish. Never perish. Never perish. Can you lose your salvation?
Yes, preacher, I think you can if you do enough sinning. Well,
Jesus right here said they shall never perish. They shall never
perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." Now,
if you lose your salvation, you can only do it because you have
been greater than Christ. You have overpowered Christ and
taken yourself out of His hand and the Father's, right? Alright,
look with me if you would, John chapter 17. I think all y'all
probably know where I'm going with this one. John chapter 17,
verse 24. over just a little bit this morning,
brother, so hang in there with me. John chapter 17, look at
verse 24. Father, I will, this is Jesus'
prayer, right? Father, I will that they also
whom thou hast given me. That kind of seems to be a theme
through Jesus' teaching, right? The election. Those that the
Father has given me. Those who were sanctified and
preserved before the foundation of the world in Christ Jesus.
Does the Bible teach election? Absolutely it does. Does it teach
personal election? Yes, it does. Does it teach individual
election? Yes, it does. Does it teach unconditional
election? Absolutely it does. The boys
having done nothing good or bad that the purpose of God according
to election might stand, one was said he would serve the other,
right? Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me
be with me where I am." That was the will of God. The will
of God was that they that was given to Him by God would be
with Him. For He is, that they may behold
My glory which Thou hast given Me. For Thou lovest Me before
the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world
hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee, and these have known
that Thou hast sent Me. And I have declared unto them
Thy Name, and will declare that the love wherewith Thou hast
loved me may be in them and I in them." Brethren, that's a promise
that Christ has willed that we be with Him and see His glory. Romans chapter 4 and verse 8,
I won't dwell long on this one, but just as a show of some of
the blessing that God has given upon us as a promise, It said,
Blessed is the man, Romans 4, 8, blessed is the man to whom
the Lord will not impute sin. Those who have been sanctified
and preserved in Christ Jesus does not have sin imputed to
them, but the righteousness of Christ. Before you were even born, the
righteousness of Christ was already imputed to you. You were blessed
because God didn't impute your sins to you. He imputed them
to Christ and imputed His righteousness to you. So there's never been
a time in my life, even before my conversion, even before I
became aware of my salvation, I had already been imputed the
righteousness of Christ in my account. I didn't know it, but
the gospel brought that life and that immortality and all
that righteousness and justification and sanctification and glorification
and all the things involved in the blessings of God, brought
it to life in the gospel. It told me what Christ had done
for me and gave to me. And so that is a blessing. And
in that blessing, if God has imputed, has not imputed sin
into me, then that means I can't lose my salvation. Because my
sin was imputed to Christ and not me, and I have His righteousness
in its stead. And I'm righteous as He is righteous. And so I cannot perish because
I don't have sin imputed to me. Romans chapter 6 and verse 23
says, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The gift of God is
eternal life. How much life? Half-life? No, not half-life. Part-life? No, we have eternal life. Can
we lose our salvation? Well, if so, it's not eternal
life that we got. Romans 8, 17. It says, And if children, then
heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ Jesus, if so
be that we suffer with him, that we may also be also glorified
together. Now, Brother, I want to stop
here for just a minute of exposition of this verse. That word suffer
there is not talking about sufferings in this lifetime like we were
talking about travail earlier. This right here is talking about
our union with Christ and His death. And if children, then
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we
suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. It's
speaking of we died in Christ Jesus, our death in Him. If we
died in Him, then we are joint heirs with Jesus. Our union,
it speaks of our union with Christ Jesus. So if we be in Christ
Jesus, again, going back to the very beginning, sanctified and
preserved in Christ Jesus, our union with Christ, if we have
been united with Christ before the foundation of the world,
then it says right here that we were in Him when He suffered,
and if we were in Him when He suffered, then all the promises
of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus for us, right? That's a promise to you, brethren.
Romans 8, 28. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. To them who are, and
I want you to notice this, and I'm curious to see what the Spanish
Bible says here. The word thee there, to them
who are thee called. That word thee there is a definite
article, thee. Meaning a specific group of people.
Now some other translations, some modern translations say
to those who are called. It drops the THE out. But in
the Greek, the definite article THE is there. So that means it's
a specific group of people he's talking about here. We know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to His purpose. That's a group
of people. There is a people who are called
according to His purpose. What does that mean, preacher?
Those who are sanctified and preserved in Christ Jesus and
what was it? And called. They are the call. What is the calling? Well, we
know some people and we often talk about that the Holy Spirit
calls us in conversion and we have that inward call or that
irresistible call of the Holy Spirit. But whenever we talk
about calling here and when we talk about calling in 2 Timothy
chapter 1 and verse 9, we're talking about the call of election.
The call of God to sanctify His people and to call them His own. The called. Those who are the
called. The called ones. The called out
ones. The ones who have been called
out as a people for His own. Those are what we're talking
about. All things work together for them. For whom He did foreknow. That's the people that we're
talking about. The ones that He foreknew and He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of His Son that He might be the
firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. Now that call there is what we're
talking about, that He predestinated them, but there is a point in
where He calls them to Himself, converts them, gives them understanding,
and He brings them into the knowledge of the gospel. To them He did predestinate,
to them He also called, to them He called, to them He also justified. And to them whom He justified,
them He also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is He that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who maketh intercession for us. Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword? As it is written, For thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, in all things we are more than conquerors through
him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither
death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus." Can you lose your salvation
brother? If you think so, you are in direct contradiction to
God's order. In Romans chapter 11, 29 it says,
for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. In Romans 14, 4 He says, Who art thou that judgeth
another man's servant to his own master he standeth to follow?
Yea, he shall be holden up, for God is able to make him. 2 Corinthians 2.14 says, Now thanks be unto God,
which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and make manifest
the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. It's God who
causes us to always triumph in Christ. See 2 Corinthians 4, verses 8
and 9. Paul writes, we are troubled
on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in
despair. Persecuted. but not forsaken,
cast down but not destroyed, always bearing about us a body,
the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might
be made manifest in our body. Brethren, although we might experience
a lot of travail, we will not be overcome. Our salvation cannot
be lost. Look while you're there in chapter
4 verse 14. Knowing that he which raised
up the Lord Jesus Christ shall, there's that word shall again,
raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you. Second Corinthians chapter nine
and verse eight. It says, and God is able to make
all grace abound toward you that ye always having all sufficiency
and all things may abound to every good work. That's not a
promise for you to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and
you do it, but that's a promise that God will do that. He will
make sure that you have all sufficiency and that He will do that work
in you. Ephesians 1.14. It says, which
is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession under the praise of His glory. Speaking of the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit is given to us as an earnest. That word
earnest means like a down payment or a promise. He's given us His
Spirit as a promise that we will receive the inheritance. And
He's given us that earnest of our inheritance until the redemption
of the purchased possession. Ephesians 4.13 says, "...and
grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed until
the day of redemption." The Holy Spirit. That's that sealing that
talks about of the Holy Spirit. That sealing is a preserving. The Holy Spirit is preserving
us until the day of redemption. Whenever you ladies cook food
for your family, At the end of the night, there's some leftovers.
What do you do? You get out a Tupperware bowl.
You put it in there, put the lid down on it. Or you put it
in a Ziploc bag and zip it up. What are you doing? You're sealing
it up to keep it fresh, right? To keep it from going bad. You're
sealing it. You're preserving it. That's
what the Holy Spirit has been giving to us. That's what the
sealing of the Holy Spirit is. The Holy Spirit seals us and
preserves us until the day of redemption. Can you lose your
salvation? Well, only if you can overcome
the Holy Spirit who has sealed you and unseal yourself. Philippians 1.6, being confident
of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you
will perform it. Who will perform it? He that
has begun a good work will perform it. It's not about your performance,
it's about Him performing in you. Him working, not you working. Your works will never be accepted,
but His in you. Those spiritual works inside
of you, they'll definitely be done. Be confident in this very
thing, that He hasn't begun a good work in you. You will perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 2.9. And I'm going
fast, brethren. If you can't keep up, just maybe
write them down and look at them later. 2 Timothy 2.19, Nevertheless,
the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
his, and let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord depart from
iniquity. God knows us, and we have this
seal. It stands sure. God knows who
we are. God isn't out there thinking,
well, are they Christian? I don't know, they kind of look
like it, I don't know. No, no, God knows everyone that
are His. And they have been sealed. 2 Timothy 4, 18 says this, And
the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve
me unto His heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. Again, who is the one who
is preserving? God, it's not you doing it on
your own, it's God. Hebrews 7.25, Wherefore he is
able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God
by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
Christ is always living or is living to always make intercession
on our behalf. When Satan accuses the brethren,
what's happening? Christ is interceding before
God, saying, My blood has cleansed them from all sin. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 13.
It says, These things have I written
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that
ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe
on the name of the Son of God. We have eternal life. We believe
on the name of Jesus Christ, we have ever, I mean, we've already
read verses that almost say the exact same things several times
already. Now, here we are in wrapping this up. We started
at the very beginning of our study this morning in eternity
past, right? Preserved in Christ Jesus. And I made the claim, sanctified
and preserved in Christ Jesus, and I made the claim that that
speaks of God's choosing, God's electing Vessels of Honor and
Vessels of Dishonor. Now I'm going to talk a couple
of theological things here and you guys can go back and gnaw
on this or do your Facebook debates all that you want to do or whatever
you want to do. But there is a thing out there,
a debate among sovereign grace believers that is, is there such
thing as double election or double predestination? Did God elect
some for salvation and also actively elect others not to have salvation? There are those like me, and
we are called, here's the big 50 cent word, superlapsarians.
We believe that God has ordained both people and elected. He's
chosen to elect and He's chosen to reprobate. He elected some,
He has reprobated others, before he ever created anything, before
Adam ever fell. There are others who believe
that God did that after Adam, by free choice, fell, by his
sinfulness. They're called infralapsarians,
if you're interested in the big 50 cent word. The ones who believe
that, they believe that God has elected some out of Adam's fallen
race and just passively passes over the others, leaving them
in their sin, but he never did actively reprobate them. Well,
brethren, there is so much scripture that is against that. And I'm
going to show you right here that what I said in the beginning,
that God has, before the foundation of the world, chosen, preserved,
and sanctified and preserved those in Christ Jesus, that at
that same time, there were the rest of mankind that he actively
chose not to do that with. Therefore, double predestination
or double election, whatever you want to call it. Look with me, if you would, at
Revelations chapter 3, verse 5. Revelation chapter 3, verse
5. Now, without going into a bunch
of context here, we know that the ones who overcome are the
ones who are overcome because of Christ, right? The Holy Spirit
is the one that causes us to overcome. So the overcomers aren't
the ones who, in their own will and desire and work, overcome. They have been made to overcome,
right? They've overcome by the blood
of the Lamb. They've overcome by the Holy Spirit who causes
them to overcome. He that overcometh the same shall
be clothed in white raiment." Now that doesn't mean that's
a condition. If you overcome, you will be clothed in white
raiment. That's a statement of fact. Those
who are clothed in white raiment are the ones who are overcomers.
The ones who are overcomers are the ones who have been clothed
in white raiment. It's just a statement of fact,
brethren. It's not a conditional statement. That if you will overcome,
you'll get a white raiment. God's going to give it to you.
as a reward for you overcoming. No, God's the one who causes
you to overcome, and it's His white raiment that has been put
on you, the righteousness of Christ, right? He that overcometh,
the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not
blot His name out of the book of life, but I will confess His
name before my Father and before His angels. Now, there are some
that say, there you go, there you can lose your salvation,
because why would He say, I will not blot His name out of the
book of life. Now, what does God mean whenever
He says, I will not blot His name out of the book of life?
It's a promise. Absolutely. Again, it's a statement
of fact. Now here's the reason why He
said that. He is writing to the church in
Sardis, here in Revelation. And this church in Sardis, the
reason he used this term, as a matter of fact, in every one
of the letters to these seven churches, he uses language that
they identify with something personable about that particular
church. Here in Sardis, in their city,
the city of Sardis, they were very particular about their citizens
and their citizens being upstanding citizens. And if you did anything
to throw dishonor on the citizens and the citizenship of Sardis,
they would blot you out of their role as a citizen and kick you
out of their city. If you did anything to embarrass
to bring shame, to bring, you know, to break the law in Sardis
to the point that they would judge you no longer a citizen.
They would blot your name out of the city rolls and they would
kick you out and you would no longer be a citizen of Sardis.
So Jesus, whenever he wrote the letter to the church of Sardis,
he used that mentality that they knew already about, about being
kicked out for not performing well. He used that to tell them,
listen, in Sardis they may blot you out of the book of citizenship
if you can't do nothing good, but my promise is this to you,
that he that overcometh shall be clothed in white raiment and
you are overcomers if you are in Christ Jesus. And you will
not be blotted out of the book of life. when you sin, because
you've been clothed with white raiment. But I will confess his
name before my father and before his angels. Jesus himself, again,
there's his advocacy, his intercession for us. He is advocating on our
behalf. Yes, those people may have been
sinners, but I have clothed them in white raiment, and by my blood
they have overcome. And they will not be blotted
out. Whenever it comes to that, God is not going to blot them
out. Their names are written forever. So that is not saying that there
is a chance that somebody's name could be blotted out. And I'm
going to explain why here in just a second here. Let's look
at Revelation chapter 13. We want to find something else
about this book of life. Revelation 13, eight. all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship Him whose names are not written in the Book of
Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." So here we see something about
this Book of Life. He says there were people whose
names are not written. And it's written in the Book
of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
So the names were written in this book of life from the foundation
of the world. And this book belongs to the
Lamb slain. It's His book. That book is all
the ones that the Father has given Him. That book has the
names of all those who are sanctified and preserved in Christ Jesus
written in it. But look what it says here. It says whose names
are not written. That means that there are names
known to God and he actively did not write them in that book
to be the ones who would be the recipients of union with Christ, inheritors of the promise, receivers
of that salvation. Now you tell me that there's
not double election? You tell me that God didn't actively reprobate
these people, right here he says he did not intentionally, he
did not write their names down. At the same time, he did write
others' names down. So all of the names of mankind
that he would create from beginning to end are known unto God. And
being known unto God, he elected, sanctified, and preserved some
in Christ Jesus, and he wrote those names down in a book. The
rest of those he did not write their names down in the book
because he never intended to bring them to salvation. He intended them to be vessels
of dishonor, as Romans tells us. But let's
go a little further and look at Revelation chapter 17. We
see it again. The Bible says in the mouth of
two or three witnesses, the thing is established. the beast that
thou sawest was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless
pit and go into perdition and they that dwell on the earth
shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life
from the foundation of the world when they behold the beast that
was and is not and yet is." So here again we're told that there
were names not written in the book of life from the foundation
of the world. It wasn't after Adam sinned,
it was before Adam sinned. God's election was before the
fall. And He elected people who would
not have sin imputed to them. He elected people that would
have sin imputed to them. Those who would have Christ's
righteousness, those who would not have Christ's righteousness.
Those who would be vessels of honor, those who would be vessels
of dishonor. Now look at Revelation chapter
20. verses 12 through 15. It says,
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and
the books were opened. And another book was opened,
which is the book of life. Side track. Why is it called
the book of life? Because it's the book of everyone
that was appointed to have eternal life. All those who were ordained to
eternal life believed, right? The Book of Life is a book of
those who were ordained to receive eternal life by Christ Jesus.
Therefore, those whose names are not written in the Book of
Life was not ordained to receive eternal life. That's double election,
double predestination, whatever you want to call it. God actively
chose these and not these. He didn't just say, I want to
do it for these, and these people here are going to do themselves
in. No, he actively chose that these
people would become that very thing for which he made them. The pot doesn't make itself.
The potter makes the pot, right? I'm speaking of a vessel pot,
not a pot, OK? And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another
book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the books according
to their works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them, and they were judged, every man, according to their
works. and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This
is the second death and whosoever was not found written in the
book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Okay? So everyone whose name was not
written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. That
had nothing to do with whether they were good or bad. It was
according to God's election. And if you look in Romans chapter
9, he speaks of both positive and negative election. The boys
having done neither good nor bad, so it wasn't based upon
their performance. Nobody is ever chosen for heaven
or chosen for hell, for salvation or for reprobation, for condemnation. They're never chosen based upon
their performance. What is their being chosen based
upon? the purpose of God's will, His
good pleasure. He chose one and not the other. Why? Because it was His purpose
in the election. His purpose was election. From
the foundation of the world, God's purpose was electing a
group of people for glorifying Himself through redemption. And
there was a group of people that He elected for reformation to
glorify Himself in judgment and justice. Look at Revelation 21-27, this
is the last verse. He says, And there shall in no
wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever
worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life. The only ones that are going
to enter in are the ones whose names are written in the Lamb's
Book of Life. And we learn that those names
were written before the foundation of the world. Now preacher, why
did you say all that at the end of this thing? Well again, I
began with the notion that our preservation, your perseverance,
is by God. It's as strong as Christ's salvation
for you. Your continuance in the faith
is just as much promise as the very salvation that God said
he would give you in justifying you. If you believe, hey, I can't
be unjustified, then that means you can't be, you can't lose
your salvation. But if you believe that you can
lose your salvation, you've gone against every bit of teaching
of scripture and that God's works from the very beginning are nothing. The reason I ended here is to
show you that to be sanctified and preserved in Christ Jesus
from the foundation of the world is because we have been written
in the Lamb's Book of Life and no man can block us out of the
Lamb's Book of Life and that we will preserve to the end because
it is Him that will continue to keep us and not we ourselves,
right? Alright, does anybody have any
questions or any comments? There was a lot of verses there. I'm sure I still missed a few.
But anybody got any questions or comments or any other verses?
Yeah, June 24th. Oh yeah, yes. You want me to
read it? Yeah. Okay. Now unto Him that
is able to keep you from falling. Wow! Unto Him who is able. You're not able, but He is able.
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. Unto Him. It's kind of a contradictory
sounding term because we know that we're at fault, right? But
he says he presents us faultless. Does that mean that in this lifetime
he makes us so good that we quit sinning? So that he can present
us faultless? No. How does he present us faultless? Well, those verses that we read,
because he's clothed us in white raiment. He's put on us a vesture
of white that he provided. It didn't come out of our closet,
it came out of His closet. And it's His righteousness that
He gives us. So the only reason we stand faultless
before God is because we've been imputed with the righteousness
of Christ. We stand in His righteousness. Again, that's the sanctifying
and preserving in Christ Jesus from the foundation of the world,
not being imputed those sins, but being imputed the righteousness
of God our whole entire life. Did you just think of that? Before
you ever come to know yourself to be saved, you were already
righteous in Christ Jesus. Even all the horrible things
that we do, we were righteous in Christ Jesus before Him. It truly is a gospel of grace. It truly is a gospel of Christ,
brethren. And I pray that that's encouragement
to you. That these promises to keep us
and preserve us is a promise that He's going to keep. Not
that we have to keep, He's gonna keep it. We'll definitely be
the recipients of His work in us to keep us until the very
end. And hopefully that encourages
you in the faith. And I know sometimes whenever
I'm sitting and I read verses like this and everything, it
really just makes me feel bad about how, man, I've done bad
and dishonored God, but yet He still loves me. He still is working
in me. He is still keeping me and that
I can't lose that love or be separated from that love. What
a joyous thing to think about, brother. And hopefully that will
be a motivation in your heart to continue to look unto Him
and look to His righteousness alone for your salvation and
not looking at yourself. Anybody else got anything? Another
verse? Alright, let's go to the Lord.
Father, we thank you for another day that you've given us. We
thank you for another look into God's Word and what a joy it
is to see these beautiful promises that you've given us. Father, we know that all things
as it pertains to life and death, salvation, everything is by your
hand. That you have decreed all things
as we sang this morning. You are bringing all things to
their predestinated end. And Lord, we just look to you
as our God and thank you that you have revealed these things
unto us. We know that we do not deserve
it. It's not by anything in us that deserves it or anything
that we have done to merit it. Lord, we know that the only reason
that we know these things is because you have chosen to reveal
them to us. And it humbles us to know that.
So Lord, we pray that you would help keep us from boasting in
our flesh, but even from boasting in our election and predestination,
that we know that it is only by your mercy and grace that
you have had compassion upon whom you will, that you've given
mercy to whom you will. And so Lord, we're like no other
person, but because of Christ, we differ. And that's the only
reason. So Father, I pray that you'd
be with these brethren as they leave here today, that you might
keep them, that you might encourage them, that you might edify them
by the word of God, that you might bring them into opportunities
to speak the gospel to other people this week of yours that
might need to hear the gospel, or may you enable them during
that. And we just, Lord, we just lift
you up. and honor you for all that you have done for us. And
until you bring us together again, Father, we just ask your blessings.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.