Guest Speaker - Evangelist Scott Grande: EternalSecurity - Part 3
February 2, 2012
OUTLINE:
Eternal Security
Any passages that question eternal security do not directly speak to loss of eternal salvation. They are somewhat vague, and clearly not related to loss of salvation when the context is examined.
Eternal Security
The Family of God Rationale : Believers are sons of God. (Gal 3:26, 4:7, Rom 8:16-17)
The Body of Christ Rationale
In the Royal Family of God, Jesus Christ is called the Head, Eph 1:22, 4:15; Col 1:8, and every believer is a member, or part, of His body. 1Co 12:14-27
The A Fortiori Rationale
A fortiori logic states that if God can do something that is extremely difficult (such as saving us), it only makes sense that He can do something much easier like keeping us saved!
The Essence of God Rationale
We have eternal security due to the perfectly faithful attributes of God.
Jude 1:24-25
Jude 1:24-25
Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forevermore.
The Essence of God Rationale
God has the power to preserve this relationship, which He alone began.
Perfect Integrity (R+ and J+)
God is just, and all that He does for the human race goes through His justice first. And from His justice, He has declared us righteous.
Perfect Integrity (R+ and J+)
For you to ever lose your salvation would mean that the justice of God made a wrong judicial decision.
Perfect Integrity (R+ and J+)
God has given this R+ (Perfect Righteousness) to us freely as a “down payment,” or a guarantee of our eternal security.
Faithfulness
The believer’s eternal security also depends on the faithfulness of God.
Lam 3:21-23
1 Cor 1:9
“God is faithful, through whom you have been called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
1Th 5:24
Faithful is He who calls you, who will also do [provide] it.
Psalm 37:24
“Though he falls [the believer’s failure], he shall not be completely cast down, because the Lord is the one who sustains him with His hands.”
Sovereignty
In 2 Peter 3:9, God expresses His sovereignty in a marvelous way: “He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to a change of mind [about Jesus Christ].”
Love
The love of God is also closely related to eternal security. All love that comes from the integrity of God is perfect love. Rom 8:35-39
Eternal life
Understanding that the eternal life of God has no end, also reveals the principle of eternal security.
Joh 6:47
“Truly, truly, I say unto you, he who believes in Me has eternal life.”
1Jo 5:11-12
And the witness is this, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.
Eternal life
Eternal life, by its very nature, can never be terminated; therefore if the believer is given eternal life, then he is completely secure.
Omnipresence
God is everywhere present. He is not limited by space or time; He invented both of them, and He transcends them.
Omnipresence
The omnipresence of God is essential to the fulfillment of many of His promises, such as Matthew 28:20b, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Heb 13:5
Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never, no never, desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.”
1Sa 12:22a
“For the Lord will not abandon His people on account of His great name.”
Omniscience
There was never a time in all of eternity past when God did not know everything about you, including every thought you would ever have, every motive that would be formed from those thoughts, every decision you would make from thought (or lack of thought), and every action that would result.
2Pe 3:8b
“With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
Omnipotence
The unlimited power of God reveals that nothing and no one else can overtake God’s promise to save us.
1Pe 1:5
“[We] are guarded by the power of God through faith for a deliverance, ready to be revealed in the last time.”
Isa 43:13
“Even from eternity, I am He, and there is no one who can deliver out of My hand. I act, and who can reverse it?”
Phi 1:6
“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Veracity
The term “veracity” means that God is absolute truth. The veracity of God is behind all His promises, including eternal security.
Num 23:19
“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”
Joh 10:28
“And I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.”
1Jo 2:25
“And this is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.”
Immutability
God is immutable; His character, nature, and attributes can never and will never change.
Immutability
Heb 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
Mal 3:6 “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore, you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”
Immutability
Psa 89:33-34 “But I will not break off my lovingkindness from him, nor deal falsely in My faithfulness. My covenant I will not violate, nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.”
Positional Truth Rationale
Throughout the Pauline epistles, the believer is said to be “in Christ.” This is also known as positional sanctification. Rom 8:38-39
Positional Truth Rationale
“in Christ Jesus,” is a technical term used for our union with Christ through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
2Co 5:21
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Our Position “in Christ”…
- sharing the election of Christ, Eph 1:4 and Isa 42:1
- sharing the heirship of Christ, Eph 1:4
- sharing the destiny of Christ, Eph 1:5
- being accepted in Christ forever, Eph 1:6
Our Position “in Christ”…
- being sanctified in Christ, 1 Cor 1:2,30
- sharing in Christ’s Sonship as the Son of God, Gal 3:26
- sharing in Christ’s kingship, 2 Pe 1:11.
- being seated in heavenly places, Eph 2:6.
Eph 2:6
“And [God the Father] raised us up with Him [the Lord Jesus Christ], and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
The ‘New Creature’ Rationale
Under positional truth, every believer is made a brand new creature (not an old creature given a second chance), but a brand new spiritual species! 2Cor 5:17
The ‘New Creature’ Rationale
2Co 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone [the Church-age believer] is in Christ [and he is], he is a new creature [or spiritual species]; the old things [position in Adam and spiritual death] passed away [or lost their power]; behold, new things have come.”
The ‘New Creature’ Rationale
The new spiritual species is forever protected from liability at the last judgment, and can never lose its salvation, Rom 8:1.
Rom 8:1
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Eph 4:24
“and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”
The ‘New Creature’ Rationale
God has put something in us that was never there before, a brand new nature that cannot sin, 1 Jo 3:9, and is imperishable, 1Pe 1:23.
1Pe 1:23
“For you have been born again, not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding Word of God.”
The ‘New Creature’ Rationale
That’s why the scriptures say we will “never perish” (Joh 3:16, 10:28, 1Pe 1:4), because we have an “imperishable” seed!
The “Sealing” Rationale
The sealing work of God the Holy Spirit introduces yet another rationale for eternal security.
The “Sealing” Rationale
Sealing was a sign of business transactions or contracts in the ancient world; therefore, in the spiritual realm, the sealing of the Spirit is God’s final stamp of approval!
The “Sealing” Rationale
The work for salvation is totally finished, John 17:4, 19:30.
The “Sealing” Rationale
God the Holy Spirit indwells us and seals us in Christ forever, because God the Father has signed a contract with us, and He will never renege on it.
Mal 3:6 “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”
The “Sealing” Rationale
1Sa 15:29 “Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”
The “Sealing” Rationale
2Ti 2:19 “Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the
Lord abstain from evil.”
The “Sealing” Rationale
Anything on which God places His seal belongs to God forever.
The “Sealing” Rationale
John 14:16; “‘And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth,”
Eternal Security
Since we are commanded by God to rest, and not to worry, and not to fear; then He must provide for us eternal security, or His commands would be impossible for us.