The second Corinthians. Chapter
one. I have entitled this message. Why. Is a believer secure. Why. Is a believer. Secure. When God saves a sinner from
his sins in this life. That individual
does not stop being a sinner. Paul the Apostle, writing under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said regarding himself, this
is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the
chief. He did not say, I used to be
the chief of sinners. Paul, the man that God's hand
was on in such an unusual way, said regarding himself, I am
present tense, the chief of sinners. Paul would have looked at me,
and he would have looked at you, and he would have said, I'm worse
than you are. And he would have meant it. Look
at Paul's testimony concerning himself in Romans chapter 7.
Would you turn with me there? Paul says in verse 14, of Romans
chapter 7, for we know that the law, God's ten commandments,
all that God says is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin
a slave to sin. And Paul's not talking about
the way he used to be. He's talking about his present
experience. Go on reading. For that which I do, I allow
not For what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that
do I. Now if then I do that which I
would not, I consent unto the law that is good. Now then it
is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that is,
in my flesh, dwelleth no good Do you know that? And he goes on to say, for to
will is present with me. I desire to be without sin. To will is present with me. I desire to do his will only. I would be perfectly conformed
to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. I would, to will. It's
present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. Notice he doesn't say I mess
up sometimes and I make mistakes and I'm not always perfect, but
he says I just flat out don't find it. For the good that I
would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that which I would
not, it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me,
I find in a law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, against the law of my mind in
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my
members. Oh, I love his honesty here.
I'm so thankful for this. Nobody else would talk this way.
Not to somebody else they wouldn't. Nobody else would talk this way.
I wouldn't. You wouldn't. But he does. And aren't you thankful
for his honest testimony concerning what was really going on in his
heart? Every believer knows exactly
what he's saying. He said in verse 24, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord, so then with the mind I serve, myself serve the law
of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Now because of their
present sinfulness, a believer can fall And the believer can
fall grievously. David, the man after God's own
heart, committed adultery, tried to cover it up. When that didn't
work, he committed premeditated, cold-blooded murder. Somebody says, can a true believer
do something like that? They shouldn't. But don't say,
can they? You ought to know yourself enough
to know that, yes, you could, apart from the grace of God.
You could. A believer can make wretched
decisions that ruin their life. Look at Lot. He pitched his tent
towards Sodom. He shouldn't have done that,
but he did. And look where it got him. And we know a lot, according
to the testimony of God, the Holy Spirit was a righteous man. Look at the way King Solomon
died. If you read the history of King Solomon, he's the man
who was the wisest man to ever live. And yet I had someone call
me just a couple of weeks ago trying to argue with me that
he couldn't possibly be saved. If you read his death and If
you didn't understand the gospel, I can understand why you think
that. I mean, he died worshiping, the scripture says, other gods.
You know, I was thinking about this. You look in the accounts
of the New Testament. Paul, Paul's my hero, as far
as men go. Paul the apostle. But you know,
in Acts chapter 21, he became so tired of the conflict that
he took the vow of a Nazarite. and was getting ready to offer
up a blood sacrifice. That was part of the vow. This
is after the Lord had been risen from the dead. He knew better
than that. And he was going to do it. And the Lord had him arrested
seven days when the seven days was almost ended. When he would
have offered up that blood sacrifice, the Lord had him arrested to
prevent him from doing it. Aren't you thankful for the way
the Lord restrains sin? What about Peter? In Galatians
chapter 2, we read of him compromising the gospel, being, buckling in
with fear from pressure from the Jewish believers coming down
from Jerusalem. And he moved tables, and Paul
publicly reprimanded him for compromising the gospel. Now,
it's sad to say that there is nothing that an unbeliever will
do that a believer cannot also do. Except this, the sin against
the Holy Spirit. A believer, sad to say, can do
anything that an unbeliever can do. And if you question this,
I question whether you know yourself very well. Because if you knew
yourself, you know that all the Lord's got to do is remove his
hand from you. And there's nothing you won't
stoop to. You believe that? It's so. Now, a believer, a blood-bought,
spirit-born child of God can get himself in an awful state. And the scriptures point this
out. Experience points this out. But a believer is eternally secure. Christ said, I give unto my sheep
eternal life. Not temporary life, but eternal
life. And they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand, my father which gave in me is greater than all,
and no man can pluck them out of my father's hands. Now that
is a fact. Fry sheep can never perish. Now
I realize that this truth has been abused. I realize that. You know, most Baptists are what
you'd call... I always make it my determination
never to use the word Calvinism, but I've got to use it here.
So forgive me. Most bad news or what you call
half-point Calvinists. Half-point Calvinists. They believe
in once saved, always saved. And they don't believe in perseverance. They believe this corrupt view
of once saved, always saved. They think if you make a decision,
you'll never be lost. And therefore, they look to some
kind of decision they made, and they look for assurance in that.
And that's false. That's false. And I realize people
will look at the eternal security of the believer and they'll think,
well, that means I can live in a way that there's no consequences
to it. Now, understand this. There is
consequence to my sin and your sin in this life. Always. You know, when David committed
that horrible sin, the scripture says the thing David did displeased
the Lord. And the sword never departed
from his house after that. He pretty much, I mean, his life
was pretty rough after that. Now, here's what's glorious about
this. Now, his life was awful. All the trials that came into
his life, they were terrible. But understand this. When David
was committing that horrible sin, He was just as secure as he was
when he was writing the Psalms. And when he was battling Goliath. Because his security was not
in what he did. His security was in where he
was in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is our security. So David was eternally secure. Now, why? Why is a believer eternally
secure? I mean, you look at the mess
that believers do get themselves in. We have so many examples
in the Scripture. Look at the messes you've got
yourself in. Look at the messes you've seen others get in. And
you know that apart from the grace of God, you do worse. You
can't look down your nose at them. Now, why is it when believers
are so weak and so filled with sin? Why is it that we can say
a believer is eternally secure? Well, in second Corinthians chapter
one, back to our text, Paul says in verse 20. For all the promises
of God in him. Are you? and in him, amen, unto
the glory of God by us." They're all certain, and they're all
sure. Now, I've been talking about
David. You remember David's last words.
He said, though my house be not so with God, yet hath he made
with me an everlasting covenant. Ordered in all things. And what? Sure. And this is all my salvation. It's not 99% of it. It's all
of it. And it's all my desire, though
he make it not to grow. All the promises of God in him
Are you a and a man sure and certain not conditioned upon
you doing something they're all you and they're all a man salvation
is in Christ all the promises of God in him. Salvation to Christ
now. What's that mean? Why there's
so many examples of it in Scripture, but I think one of the most beautiful
examples of salvation being in Christ the Baptist. When I'm
baptized, when someone's baptized and they confess Christ and believers
baptism, here's what they're saying. Here is my hope. My hope is that when he lived,
I lived because I was in him. Remember there in Hebrews chapter
7 when it's talking about Levi paying tithes and Abraham before
Levi was even born? It says when Abraham paid tithes,
Levi paid those tithes. When Christ obeyed the law, I
obeyed the law because I was in Him, like a woman with a child
in her belly. Where she goes, that child goes.
When He kept the law, I kept the law. When He died, I died. When He was raised from the dead,
I was raised from the dead because I was in Him. What He did, I
did. All of God's salvation is in,
through, and by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you're in Christ,
you're saved. You can't get any more saved
than you are in the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 John 3, verse 5 says,
He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. And that means right now present
tense. If I'm in him, I have no sin. Now you just said believers are
still sinners. I know I said that you can mess up your mind
with if you want, but still in him is no sin. Are you a sinner? Yeah. Do you have any sin? No. That's mysterious isn't it? That's
the gospel. How secure were you when you
were in that ark? Remember that ark? pitched within and without
a pitch. There are eight people in there.
How secure were you when you were in that ark? You were 100% secure. What about
the house with the blood over the door? I love to think about
the Passover because you think if you would have been in one
of those houses with the blood over the door, would you be in one
of those people who didn't have any doubt that everything was
going to be okay or would you worry? I know myself. I'd be one of
the people who think, I'd be thinking about something that
I did, or something that I am, and I'd
think, he may get me anyway. He may get me anyway. And I bet
there were some people that were in those houses with the blood
over the door, that there were people, other people, thinking
about it, and they were thinking, there ain't no way they're going to get through
this. I mean, but all that being said, if you were in the house
with the blood over the door, were you secure? Absolutely. And that one who
doubted wasn't any less secure within the one who had strong
faith. And that one who had strong faith
who had no doubt wasn't any more secure than the one who had the
weak faith. Why is that? Because God said,
when I see the blood. That's the one thing he was looking
for. He didn't say, when you see it. He said, when I see the
blood, I will pass over you. You think of the vine and the
branch. The Lord said, I am the vine, you are the branches. Now
you think about what's inside of the vine. Those fibers inside
of the vine that go off into the branch. There's no connecting
point, is there? The same fibers that are in the
vine go in the branch and there's no point where they don't begin
at a mysterious, but that's union with Christ. I've always been
in him. Now we're in him by this, but
we're in him consciously by faith. And here's what being in him
does turn to first Corinthians chapter one. You know, I read. Same scriptures
so often. And I wonder if anybody gets
tired of it. Why don't you use some other scriptures? I don't.
So I'm about to please myself right now. And I hope you're
pleased, too. But I never get tired of these. This is glorious.
Look here in I Corinthians chapter 1, verse 30. But of him are you
in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption, that according as it's written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now, you know how
God sees me? So wise that he can have fellowship
with me. Because Christ is my wisdom. He is my righteousness, so that
God embraces me as righteous in my person because Jesus Christ
is my righteousness. Jesus Christ is my holiness.
He's my sanctification. Jesus Christ is my redemption
or my full deliverance in Christ. I'm fit for fellowship with God. I'm fit to be in heaven right
now. But what about that thing you're
talking about? It's been put away. It's gone. In Him is no sin. But what if a believer sins in
a grievous way? It's sad when they do. And may
God keep me from sin. John said these things right
I unto you that you sin not. Oh, make it your goal and objective
to never sin again. But what happens when a believer
sins? They're still eternally secure. Great was the sin of
David. We've already talked about that
and what sorrow brought into his life. But He was secure. Because God made an everlasting
covenant with him. You see, this covenant was made
before David was ever born. Before David had committed any
sins. You know, I love that scripture.
For the children being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, but the purpose of God according to the election
of my sin. There's one wise old lady that said, I'm so thankful
since before he was ever born, because if he'd waited until
I was born, he could have never loved me. I understand that. David's security was before he
was ever born. Now go back to 2 Corinthians
chapter 1. All the promises of God in him
are yea, and in him, amen unto the glory of God by us now. He which establishes us with
you in Christ and have anointed us is God. It is God that has established
us and made us secure or confirmed us in Christ. God put us there. How? I don't know. I don't know
how to answer that question. How do you get in Christ? God's
got to put you there. I know that. The only way for me to
be in Christ is if God places me in Christ. Of Him are you
in Christ Jesus? I can't get any other. Well,
give me some kind of formula on how to get in Christ. I can't
do that. We're totally dependent upon the sovereign will of God. And so we say, Lord, put me in
Christ. I say with Paul, oh, that I may
win Christ and be found in him. That's my only aspiration. That's
all I want. I don't want to be found any
other way except in the Lord Jesus Christ. No other way. Now,
the only way you can get in Christ is if God puts you in there.
And the only thing to do is say, Lord, may I be found in Him. He which establishes us with
you in Christ hath anointed us. That word establishes, made secure.
Made secure. Made stable. Now, all of our
stability is in Christ. Now, don't you know you're not
stable? Don't you know that about yourself? Don't you know that
you're a powder keg and it's you can. Our stability, our establishment
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, not only has he established
us, look in verse 21, now he which makes us stable. With you
in Christ. And next, he says, and hath anointed
us. Is God not only has he established
us in Christ, he has anointed us. Turn to first John, chapter
two. Now, this verse of scripture is a
favorite verse of scripture that preachers like to use when someone
leaves the church. And like if somebody here gets
sore at me and leaves. I hope you don't. But it's happened. It's happened. And preachers
like to use this. They went out from us, but they
were not others for it. They've been others. They would
no doubt continued with us and what they're doing that using
it, you know, to. But that being said, let's look at this verse
of Scripture. They went out from us. But they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us, that they went out,
that they might be manifest, that they were not all of us.
But you have an unction, an unction. That word is anointing. Now, this is true of every believer.
You have an unction or an anointing from the Holy One, and you know
all things. Now you're looking at somebody
right now who knows all things. Now that's an easy one to figure
out. Is Christ all? If you believe on Christ, you
know all things. You know all you need to know. You know all God requires. You have an unction from the
Holy One, and you know all things. You understand. You understand. God's taught you. You understand
that the Lord Jesus Christ is all in salvation. You really
believe that from the depths of your heart. You know all things. He says in verse 21, I've not
written unto you because you know not the truth, but because
you know it. and that no liar is of the truth. Look at verse
26. These things have I written unto
you concerning them that seduce you, but the anointing which
you've received of him abideth in you and you need not that
any man teach you God your teacher, but as the same anointing teaches
you of all things and is truth and is no lie and even it has
taught you you shall abide in him. Now here's what happens
when God anoints somebody. Here's what happens in our experience.
My desire is that I might abide in the Lord Jesus Christ and
not be found anywhere else. Now if you if that's the desire
of your heart. You've been anointed by God.
You've been given this divine unction. That's his teaching.
You simply want to be found in Christ. You don't want to be
seen anywhere else. Now, that's the anointing or the unction
that every believer has. Now, next in our text, turn back
to 2 Corinthians 1. How is a believer secure? Well,
here's how. All the promises of God in him are yea and amen.
Now, he would establish himself with you and have anointed us
as God, verse 22, who have also sealed us. Who has also sealed us. Now, seal is a sign of something
being authentic, isn't it? For instance, that scripture
in 2 Timothy 2.19, the foundation of the Lord standeth sure, having
this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. A seal is a mark of ownership.
It's an emblem of destination and preservation. Have you ever
canned? And when you can something, what happens when that can pops
and seals? It's preserved. Preserve it ceiling
is preserving is being preserved so you cannot fall away from
these in Chapter one. These in Chapter one. Now understand
this if you could fall away. You would fall away. No question
about that is if you can. You will. But the fact of the
matter is, a believer can't because all the promises of God in him
are yea and amen, because he's been given the seal of the Spirit. Now look here in Ephesians chapter
1, verse 12. That we should be to the praise
of his glory who first trusted in Christ In whom you also trusted
after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation, in whom also after that you believed you were sealed
with the Holy Spirit of promise. Now, what does that mean? Well,
think about this in verse 12, that we should be to the praise
of His glory who first trusted in Christ. Who was the first
one to trust Christ? God the Father. Now what do I mean by that? Well
notice Paul says we should be to the praise of his Lord who
first trusted in Christ and whom that you also trusted after you
heard the word of truth. He wasn't saying we were the
first ones to trust and then you did later on. No, Abel trusted
the Lord Jesus Christ 4,000 years before Paul did. God the Father
was the first one to trust Christ. In what way? Well, I believe
the most beautiful example of that is there in Genesis 43. Remember where Judas said he
would be a surety for Benjamin? Now, if you go into the previous
chapter, Reuben said he would be a surety for Benjamin. And
Jacob knew it. He said, I will trust him with
you. I won't trust him with you, but
when Jacob said, I'll be surety for him, I'll let everything
be on me. Jacob entrusted Benjamin to the
great surety Judah. And God the Father entrusted
the salvation of his people to the Lord Jesus Christ. He trusted
Christ to save me. He looked 100% to Christ. And
you know what? We do too, don't we? We do too. We look, the father looks only
to Christ, all that God requires of me he looks to his son for,
we look to Christ the same way the father did. In whom you also
trusted after that you heard the word of truth, not error
but truth. The gospel of your salvation
in whom also after that you believed or literally can read having
believed you were sealed. This is not something that took
place after faith. It's something that took place
with having believed You were sealed. You were preserved. God the Holy Spirit entered your
heart. And God the Holy Spirit is in
you right now. The reason you believe is because
of God the Spirit. That's the new man in you. And
the reason you can't fall away is he can't fall away. He's God
the Holy Spirit. You've been sealed. with that
holy spirit of promise. Now, back to our text in 2 Corinthians
1. That's how a believer is eternally secure. And next, it says in verse 22,
he sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts. Now, the earnest is the pledge.
You've given earnest money before. It's the pledge. It's the down
payment. Because I have the Holy Spirit, I cannot fall away. Now, I can grieve God the Holy
Spirit. You can only grieve someone that loves you. And I can grieve
him by my conduct, by my sin, by my unbelief. The Scripture
even says we can quench him, we can quench his influences.
And every one of us have done it. But you can't lose it. Isn't that wonderful? You can't
lose him. The gifts and callings of God
are without repentance. Now. I see that this is the teaching
of Scripture. How can I know if the Lord has
done this great thing for me. I see that all the promises of
God and Christ are yay and amen. I see that God, He's sealed believers
with the Holy Spirit. I see this is the teaching of
the scripture, but give me something where I can know that God, the
Holy Spirit, has sealed me, has preserved me. That's what I want. I've got to have that. I've got
to know. I don't want this just to be
Academic and theory and tea. I want to know the truth regarding
myself. Let's go on reading He says in verse 23 moreover. I
called God for a record upon my soul, but to spare you I came
not as yet into Corinth not that we have dominion over your faith,
but are helpers of your joy for by faith You stand Now what is
the evidence? That I have the Holy Spirit Do
you believe the gospel? Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is everything and makes you perfect before God and you need nothing
else? Do you believe that He's all in salvation? Do you look
to Him the way the Father did? The Father looked to Him completely
for everything in salvation. Do you look to Him the way the
Father did? You look to Him completely? If you do, you have the sealing
and the earnest of God the Holy Spirit. I talked about believer sealing. Oh, for grace To conduct myself in my mind,
the way I treat you, in my life, in a way that will glorify and
honor Him. I don't want to sin. But how thankful I am for the
eternal security of every child of God. Let's close by looking
at Romans 8. You know, when I was reading
this, when I was thinking about this, even preparing this passage
of Scripture, and there's a lot of ways I could prove salvation
is by grace. I go to the Bible, you know,
to me at the time, this thought entered my mind. I'm proof that
salvation is by grace. Because if it isn't all grace,
it's over for me. I'm proof. Look at Romans 8. Verse 28. Here's the security of the believer. to them who are called according
to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, remember
this about foreknowledge, it's not what he foreknew, it's whom
he foreknew. Whom he did foreknow, them also
did he 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, whom he called,
them he also justified, whom he justified, them he also glorified."
Now, how secure is that? I'm already glorified in the
Lord Jesus Christ. I'm already in heaven, glorified
in Him. Well, 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's God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Can he stop loving us? shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or peril, or sword. As it's written, for thy sake
we're killed all the day long. We're as counted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we're more than conquerors
through him that loved us. For I am persuaded. I'm convinced. that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, and just in case I've
left out anything, nor any other creature, including me, shall
be able to separate us. from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. That is how a believer is secure. Let's pray.