The Gospel of Grace and Security
Chapter 8 Verse 28 through 39
What is the security of the believer?
1) First, we must understand that God the Father is the Author of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ.
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2Co 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
2Co 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
2) It is God who "justifies" each believer by Jesus Christ.
Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
Rom 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Rom 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Rom 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Rom 3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
3) This assurance of salvation is the greatest gift that has ever been conceived!
Php 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
The day of Jesus Christ is the day Christ returns to get His Church. He will meet His Church in the clouds.
Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Joh 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Joh 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
Joh 10:30 I and my Father are one.
Becoming a Christian with eternal security is not a fairy tale!
The death of Jesus Christ was not a game God was playing, but a serious thing He has done for us!
Becoming a Sanctified Christian is a life-long struggle to resist temptations and flee from ungodly activities.
How do I know that I have eternal security? Because my God cannot and does not lie!
Heb 6:17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
Heb 6:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
Heb 6:19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
Heb 6:20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
When God raised His Son Christ Jesus from His death, He gave us the basis of our "faith" in His truth!
Without this "faith" there is no eternal security for anyone!
1Co 15:12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
1Co 15:13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
1Co 15:14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
1Co 15:15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
1Co 15:16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
1Co 15:17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
1Co 15:18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
1Co 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
1Co 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
1Co 15:21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Everything that has happened since the time of Creation, are things that have worked for the good of all those who love God.
More about this eternal security in our lesson today.
Remember no one comes to God on their own. No one comes to God without them first being called by God the Holy Spirit.
*****Rom 8:28 And we know that "all things" work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Those who love God and are called by Him will definitely be freed from the bondage of sin, and the corruptions of this life, and will be ushered into glory.
Nothing shall prevent the plan of God from being fulfilled in each believer!
No part of the plan of God will fail!
God works out all the details of salvation for those who love Him!
"All things" goes far beyond just the things of this world!
Remember God has made a New Heaven and a New Jerusalem.
Since this is true, then we have to know that God has it in His power to control all things or to allow all things that have happened in this world and all these things have been for the believer.
We may not totally understand these things right now, but when we have that "faith", we can know all these things are true.
Daily, moment by moment, God is arranging all things for the good of the believer and we must understand these things as we see life unfold around us.
Anything that happens in this world happens because God has allowed it to happen!
God is not the cause of terrible things!
We already know that God does not cause terrible things, but He does allow some terrible things to happen and to continue if they serve His purpose.
For all those who do not love God, why then do they expect God to look after them?
They should point the blame at the true cause and in most cases, these causes come from bad government and wicked men influenced by Satan.
These are the ones who live in a fantasy world and not the believer, who know the truth!
God will not force His care upon anyone!
God has a purpose for each and every believer!
God wants the love that freely flows from the heart of each of us who love Him to be seen by the world.
2Th 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
2Th 2:14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God places His Spirit inside each believer to bring them to holiness!
1Th 4:7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
This is that process of "sanctification".
God delivers all those who are positioned in Christ Jesus!
God has His own purpose, which is to deliver each believer, it is His will!
*****Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
What is omniscience? We sometimes forget God is intellectually omniscient.
He knows the ending and the beginning of everything at the same time!
He knows all those who will accept His gift of salvation and those who will not, yet He offers His free gifts to every living soul.
It is choices God offers after He explains His truth.
Act 15:18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
If you understand this verse as it is written, you will see that these who choose the "faith" in the Lord Jesus Christ are those who have been predestined.
Those seeking to be like Jesus are the ones Born Again into the family of God!
God does not choose some to go Heaven and then the remainder to go to Hell!
God gives this choice to us!
If you end up in Hell it is because of the choices you have made the main choice being to ignore the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Does He know, sure He does!
He also knows if I am able to go to work tomorrow or not or my plans a month away.
God knows the things we go through moment by moment, day by day, year by year.
The Bible is not only a love letter from God, but it is a book that teaches us about the choices we make and if they are good choices or bad choices and what happens when we make bad choices.
We must understand that no matter how much we struggle, no matter how great the opposition we face, no matter how great the suffering, God is going to complete His purpose for each believer, each child of God!
God has ordained that His Son Jesus is to have many adopted brothers and sisters, and this is the method He has chosen.
If you truly the Lord Jesus Christ, then you will be welcomed into the family of God. This is what He has predestined!
You cannot be rejected for you sins of the past or the sins of the future.
That word "conformed" means to be like Christ. That title Christian means to be like Jesus Christ.
That word "Image" means likeness. We could attempt to work to be more like Jesus, but we do not have the ability to be perfect as He is!
This then is a gift of God when we are glorified!
2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1Jn 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Our Holy God has given each of us that believe Him these assurances that we will one day be alive in the image of His dear Son Jesus the true Messiah!
2Ti 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
Since God knows all these things then we can be sure that if you love the Lord Jesus Christ you will be part of this calling.
No one who has put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will be left out!
*****Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Predestination includes individual salvation.
Predestination includes our status as the adopted children of God.
Predestination includes our eventual perfection.
Predestination includes our ultimate glorification.
Predestination secures our eternal inheritance.
Predestination is the will of God for each believer!
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Predestination is a promise from God for those who have accepted the work of Jesus Christ for their salvation!
It is not a question of if God will do all these things.
It is God's purpose for those who love Him and His Son and who are filled with His Holy Spirit!
This is why it is called the "Grace" of God!
Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Tit 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Tit 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
God calls us to Christ and when we respond and come to Christ, then we are "justified".
This calling must be answered which this is the time we have a choice. Not everyone answers the call of God!
We know that this is the work of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit knows if He will be accepted or not.
Gen_6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man,
Those who answer God's calling will begin that road called sanctification as a child of God and God in His patience will bring His child through this life pursuing the image of Jesus Christ.
Php 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
God will never forget about His adopted children.
*****Rom 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32 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?
Rom 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
God will never be against those who are His adopted children!
So, when God is for us, it does not really matter who is against us!
The only thing they can do is the thing we want and that is to join our Heavenly Father in His house!
He is expecting us at any time because He lives in eternity!
We cannot make God loves us more and we cannot make God love us any less, because He has that perfect love!
Gal 1:3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
Gal 1:4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
Gal 1:5 To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Since God gave His Son Jesus for us why would we ever think He will not provide our needs!
He is bound by His own oaths to take care of His adopted children.
This provision includes spiritual, eternal, and material things in this life.
These material things are the necessities of this life that we need to survive, and these things are freely given.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
God has already "justified" each of His adopted children, so He does not hold sin against any of us!
Only God can judge us in this manner!
Heb 13:6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
No one can separate us from the love of God.
*****Rom 8:34 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 also maketh intercession for us.
If there were anyone who had the power to condemn us for our sin it would be the Lord Jesus Christ who died for that sin.
Once Christ died for us and rose from that death, He became our Savior and Saviors do not condemn!
Our penalty for all sin we have and will commit in our lifetime has been paid by our Savior!
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Our faith is not just based upon His death.
Our faith is based upon His resurrection.
Our faith is based upon His return to take His church home.
Our faith is based upon His one-thousand-year rule of this earth.
Our faith is based upon His Second Coming.
Our faith is based upon His intercession for us today and every day until He takes us home!
Our old life is passed away and we have begun living our new life once we have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, though He is much more than our Savior!
He sits at the right hand of God defending His brothers and sisters.
Eph 1:19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, "but also in that which is to come": (There is a New World coming and we will still be in the family of God with these promises)
Eph 1:22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
It is the Lord Jesus Christ who rules and reigns over all this universe. Some would say cosmos.
1Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
No one can take His love from us!
No one can make these promises to fail!
*****Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
As Christians God has not raised us to be sheep to be slaughtered, He has made us to be Conquerors of this wicked world!
How can our nation, which was once known as a Christian nation, turn their back on such a loving God?
How can a world headed for destruction turn their back on such a loving God?
How can so-called believers turn their back on God knowing all the promises He has made to us?
The world is in distress, but I am not, and neither are most Christians.
The distresses of this life are readily seen including this Covid plague but as a Christian I am not distressed over it.
The Church realizes we are the enemy of the world because we stand against sin.
To be abused, or mocked, even ridiculed for my beliefs does not harm me.
As we go through these things, we need to remember these words of God the Holy Spirit.
I know persecution is much worse in other places, than it is here in the U.S. but we all must cling to these promises of God.
Remember a great many missionaries depend on the Churches of America for support!
If we do our part, I know the Lord will do His part!
No matter our circumstances or the severity of our situation Christ will carry us through it.
2Ti 4:18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
These are not just words we read.
These are the promises from a loving God!
Even when we reach that time called "old" Christ Jesus does not forget us.
Isa 46:4 And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.
*****Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is no power in this universe that can separate us from the love of God!
Death is only our first step to Heaven’s doorway!
If God allows our death to come, then He is ready for us to come home!
Joh 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Nothing in this life can separate us from the love of God.
There is no angel, no power, no heavenly, no spiritual creature, no being from another dimension can keep us from the love of God.
There is nothing that is present and nothing in the future can keep us from the love of God.
There is no height, nor depth, nothing from outer space, or the depths of earth can separate us from the love of God.
Even if there is something that comes about that we cannot know about, even this cannot overcome the love that God has for us and the completion of His will for us.
Jehovah God and His Messiah and His Holy Spirit are all powerful and they all live within me!
1Jn 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
1Jn 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
Amen
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