Eternal Security

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Satan, of course, is not interested in promoting atheism. Satan is far more interested in promoting false ideas about God. It is very difficult for Satan to sell anybody on the idea of atheism. There is something within the soul of man that innately rebels against that idea. But it is very easy to give people a totally false picture about God. If people have a false view of God's nature, then Satan can exploit them, and he can keep them in a lost condition. So, Satan makes false gods who have demonic power behind them, and he makes these gods exciting, because he permits the demons to make demonstrations of great supernatural power. That is the world of the occult. That's what is very attractive about it. All of the cults are based upon a false idea about God, which then results in all the other errors about salvation.

It is only in the God of the Bible that there is the incarnation of deity to provide eternal life as a gift. Hinduism, as we have seen, has its avatars. An avatar is one of the Hindu gods who periodically enters the human race by taking on human form, and then rejects that human form in time, and returns to his godhood. Islam and Judaism reject the whole idea of an incarnate deity. Therefore, they reject Jesus Christ as Savior.

Cults

So, without the incarnation of God, in the person of Jesus Christ, the Bible says that there can be no salvation for sinful man. So, you have a totally different view of the god of the cults; the god of Satan's super mind; and, the God of the Bible that is the result of God's thinking. Sin demands an infinite payment for its violation of the holiness of God. Only God can make that kind of an infinite payment. Therefore, a God-man was necessary to pay for the penalty of death for the sins of the world. A God-man was needed – one who had the capacity of deity to be perfect, and one who had the capacity as humanity to die. All the religious systems of Satan reject the God-man Jesus Christ as the means to eternal life. That's your clue to the fact that they are of satanic origin. They don't always reject Jesus Christ openly. As a matter of fact, as in the case of Mormonism, they seemingly exalt Him. But in what they teach about Him, they have, in fact, rejected the God of the Bible – the God-man upon whom the Bible structures all salvation.

Cult leaders themselves often claim to be mediators between God and the sinner. It is not unusual for the cult leaders to take that position. Jim Jones of the Peoples Temple, for example, certainly did that. A host of others do that. In 1 Timothy 2:5, we read, "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." So, the Bible says, "No, there is no other human being who can mediate between you and God. Only the God-man Jesus Christ can do that." Cult leaders eventually have no hesitancy, when they present themselves as mediators between God and the sinner, to also assume the role of deity, and to call themselves actually "the Christ." Periodically, the world is informed that one of these great mediator Christs has arrived.

A few weeks ago, there were major newspapers around the country (the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and other papers) that had full page ads, which are very expensive. These ads announced that the Christ has arrived; that He is here; that He has moved from India to London; and, that, in a few weeks, He would reveal Himself by mental telepathy to all the human race. They were great news conferences held which announced the presence of this man, and that he had arrived. Maitreya was his name. I'm sorry to say that the time has passed, and his arrival has been very disappointing. I was looking forward to it, but nothing happened. The day came and the day went, and another Christ has bitten the dust. But there were millions of human beings who swallowed that gobbledygook and believed it, and were waiting for it. One of the interesting things was that one of the groups that got most agitated over that idea (that the Christ was immediately at hand) was the charismatic group. I thought that spoke a great deal about them: about their lack of information; about their lack of being in touch with the Word of God; and, that they could not immediately spot that as a fraud. Instead, they were very nervous and uneasy because the Christ was at hand.

Mormonism

Anybody who knows anything at all about the Bible realizes that that's the same old hack that Satan is promoting, and that this kind of a prophet can very quickly be tested as to whether he is false or true, on the basis of what he teaches, and comparing that to Scripture. However, the keynote speaker at this celebration of President Kimball's birthday was Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale is a religious leader of considerable standing in the United States. He's a great favorite of Billy Graham. He has often been with Graham on the platform in Graham's campaigns. In your Dallas Morning News, I think I know for sure, there's a column called "Positive Thinking." If you look in your paper today, you'll find Norman Vincent Peale telling you how to be a positive thinker, and thereby, as we touched on last time, how to use that subtle little idea that anything you believe in, you can achieve. That is the subtle little idea that your mind, when activated in a proper way, can move God to do things.

Norman Vincent Peale said of President Kimball that he was a great man of God; a prophet of the Lord Jesus Christ; and, a true and valid possessor of spiritual power. Here's the head of one of the most subtle, deceptive cults in the world, Mormonism. Every Mormon, unless he is false to his own church belief, will spend eternity in the lake of fire. Make no mistake about it. He cannot be saved on the basis of the Mormon doctrine of salvation. Yet, Norman Vincent Peale stands up and says that this man is a prophet of the Lord Jesus Christ, and a true and valid possessor of spiritual power. President Kimball, as a member of the Mormon church, and as leader of the Mormon church, teaches that Jesus is the spirit brother of Satan, and that His incarnation body was begotten when God the Father, who is an exalted man, had sex with the virgin Mary. God the Father has many goddesses as wives, through whom he begat Jesus, and Satan, and Adam, and others. The Father God of Jesus has a father and mother god who, in turn, have a father and mother god, and so on, in an endless hierarchy of men who became gods. The death of Jesus did not pay for our sins, but only for Adam's sin, giving us the opportunity to earn, by our good deeds and temple ceremonies, eternal life, which in Mormonism is godhood, and is called exaltation.

So, the Mormon says that when Jesus Christ died, all He died for was the sin of Adam, and that removed your guilt of Adam. Now, by your good works, if you can make it, and if you apply yourself, you will come to exaltation and to eternal life. Yet, Norman Vincent Peale says that this is a man who speaks for God. What are we dealing with today in the religious world, in the United States, when we can have men like Norman Vincent Peale, who are held in the highest esteem, who can speak such enormous deception? Only the Christian's training in doctrine will spot it, and realize what is happening. What a tragedy that millions of religious people, including church members, are deceived about the new birth, and are doomed to hell.

Stupid Christians

I picked up the Donahue program again this week. I looked in to see what was going on, and they had two people, a man and a woman, who had written a book called Holy Terror. This book attacks the movement of the biblical fundamentalists in our country today in political circles – the movement to restore American society to biblical standards. As I listened to these two people, it was obvious that they were either ignorant or they were deliberate deceivers. They grossly misrepresented what groups like the Moral Majority are all about. But it was, again, very clear that there was a resentment against the authority of the Bible being imposed upon human beings.

Eventually, the discussion centered upon the resentment of the phrase "born-again," which Jesus used in John 3:3, where He said to Nicodemus, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again (born from above) he cannot see the Kingdom of God." There was immediately this discussion. One lady got up and said, "What does it mean to be born again? I don't really know what that means." Well, Donahue is the last one to ask – the good Catholic that he is. That's something that he doesn't know anything about. That's for sure. There was a lot of resentment that only the born-again crowd goes to heaven.

One woman got up and said, "'Born again' means that you live right. I have always been born again. I have always lived right." That was a rather unique and novel interpretation. I hadn't heard that one before about what "born again" meant. So it was no problem to her. She had always been born again.

Then, eventually, somebody brought up the Jews, and they had a Jewish caller. He was very resentful that he couldn't make it into heaven if he wasn't born again, because, in John 14:6, Jesus said, "I am the way the truth and the life, and no man comes unto the Father but by Me." There was a Christian lady who stood up, who obviously was born again. In fact, she knew enough of the right answers that, eventually, they gave her a microphone of her own, so that she could stand and keep responding to what the people in the audience were asking. And that was rather unique – that someone in the audience becomes part of the staff there with the microphone. And she did pretty good in centering the fact that this was not her idea. This is what the Bible says. She did quote what Jesus said about being born again (being born from above).

Eventually, they pressed her: "Well, how do you do it?" And at that point came again, that enormous, great tragedy that exists within the Christian community. In her response at this critical point, she said, "You have to invite Jesus Christ into your heart." At that point, who knew how in the world to invite Jesus Christ into your heart? Do you unbutton your shirt and say, "Here it is, Lord, come on in?" Or whatever it is you have to unbutton to get Him in. How do you do that? That is a totally meaningless remark that you cannot relate to.

The Gospel Message

With one blow, she could have removed this idea of being born again from how you act. That's what people think about being born again. Since we had a president who was born again, who acted in some very dubious judgments, they got some bad ideas of what "born again" means. But it was tragic to see this lady who knew so much; who was in such a position of witness; who had her own microphone in hand; and, who could have moved right in and nailed this thing down – that being born again is contingent upon believing something, and that something is what God has said that He has provided in His Son. Everybody could have understood that immediately. They could have understood what it meant to believe a message, or to reject it. But to invite Jesus into your heart – that they could not come to grips with.

This cute, updated, jet-set language of Campus Crusade, and these other groups that have come up with this confusion, has been one of the subtleties that, again, shows us that Satan is everything that the Bible says he is. He's smart; he's clever; he's a deceiver; and, he's a liar. He makes suckers out of Christians all the time.

But watching that program did one thing for me. It reinforced whatever lagging spirits I may have had, and whatever lagging resolve I may have had, to fight back against the attacks that systematically surface against the Berean ministry – that teaching people doctrine is not enough. There is something more that people need. And that subtle deception of Satan has killed Christian churches everywhere. It is only the doctrinal teaching churches that are ones that are doing the job for the Lord Jesus Christ, because they are the ones that are in line with the scriptural order and the scriptural responsibility. It is because churches aren't doing that, that a lady could have an opportunity like that, and then blow it at that critical point.

In Jude 24, we have proclaimed what the true and living God will do for those who believe the gospel message about Jesus Christ, and who trust Him for salvation. Here is what this God does, and here is what we should understand. Jude 24 says, "To Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His God with exceeding joy." "To Him" refers to God the Father. God the Father is the author of the plan of salvation. The Son executes the plan. God the Holy Spirit supplies the power for us to believe it: "To him that is able." The word "that is able" looks like this in the Greek Bible: "dunamai." "Dunamai" is a word that connotes the ability to do something. It is in the present tense, which means that God the Father always has this ability because he's omnipotent and immutable. It's active, which means that the ability and the action that is done here comes from the Father Himself. He is not dependent on a man or some outside element. We don't make God successful by something we do. He is sovereign in His choices and in His execution. It is in the participle mood, which indicates that it's a real ability.

Furthermore, in the Greek language, this is in a case called the dative of advantage, which means that it's to our advantage that God has this kind of total ability. The ability that He has is "to keep." The word looks like this in the Greek: "phulasso." "Phulasso" means to guard or to protect something or someone. This is in the aorist tense in the Greek language, which means that it's a once for all protection under the Father's care. You will be protected. It is active. God Himself does the guarding or protecting. We have nothing to do with it. It is not where God passively does it, but He actively does it.

Furthermore, it is infinitive in mood. When we have the infinitive, that tells us that this word is telling us that this is God's purpose. So, we are told in these two words that God has the capacity to preserve us from something. What is that preservation from? It is from "aptaistos." "Aptaistos" means "stumbling," or "falling." This is the word in the Greek language which is used of a sure-footed horse, or of a good man who does not fall into error, because he is stable. In this letter of Jude, we have envisioned where apostasy is going to take Christians, and the appeals of apostasy. That is the issue that we face today – the appeals of apostasy that cause Christians to stumble. So, can a believer be true to the Word in the midst of sophisticated apostasy such as we face today?

This word "falling," that He preserves us from, can be in terms of salvation, or it can be in terms of spirituality. It applies to both. God is fully capable of keeping us from stumbling, either from stumbling in terms of our salvation, or in terms of our spirituality. What Jude says is that the Father has the ability to protect us from both. The Bible, of course, is filled with examples of people who did fall in terms of their walk with God.

Let's look at the first example concerning keeping us from falling in terms of our spirituality. 1 Peter 2:24 deals with that: "Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live under righteousness, by whose stripes you are healed." The Father protects us from stumbling in our salvation. "Who Himself" is Jesus Christ: "In Himself, He bore our sins." The word "bore" is "anaphero." "Anaphero" means "to carry." It is in the aorist tense again, which means "once and for all" He has carried our sins. All of our sins are paid for. It is active. He is the one who did the bearing and the suffering of pain. Man had no part in it at all. It is very important to notice that. It's indicative – a statement of fact. His death for sin was real. It's a historical event. And He did it in His own body. He did it personally, in time and space, on the cross. That's an essential element.

As you know, Adam went negative toward God's Word, so he acquired a sin nature. When he acquired a sin nature, he died spiritually. Since then, everyone born into the human race is born with a sin nature. Therefore, they are born spiritually dead, and thus, they are separated from God, and there is no way that you can make your way back. The Bible says that if you want to come into heaven, then you must pay the price for your sins. What's the price for sin? Spiritual death. How can you die spiritually when you're already dead? You can't do it. Therefore, human beings are in a totally impossible position. You cannot pay for your sins because you can't die spiritually. You're already spiritually dead.

So, Jesus Christ was born spiritually alive, because He bypassed the human father. So, the sin nature, which is carried in the genetic structure of the father's sperm, has been eliminated, and Jesus Christ was born just with the human mother, and thus without a sin nature, and thus restored to the position of Adam. He was born spiritually alive, and therefore, He could take our sins to the cross. He could bear our sins. He could pay the price of spiritual death. That's what we are reading in 1 Peter 2:24.

Also, we may add Titus 3:5, which reiterates the same idea: "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit." It was by His mercy that He saved us – not by something that we deserved and earned. Instead, it was out of His grace in action for our need. So, His mercy came to our aid. The Lord Jesus Christ was spiritually alive. He was able to sacrifice His spiritual life. He paid the wages of sin as our substitute.

So, the unsaved man's human good works are of no value. He can never make it into heaven by them. God's way of salvation is grace. It's a gift in which the sinner can have no part. So, to be born again means to be made spiritually alive entirely by something that God himself has done. Ephesians 2:8-9 say, "For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast." Works are in no way involved in human salvation. The book of Romans reiterates that same concept. Contrary to what the Mormon Church says – that you can work your way by living a good life into an exalted state of deity, Romans 4:4-8 says, "Now to him that works is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of death. But to him that doesn't work, but believes on Him that justify the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also described the blessedness of a man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works, saying, 'Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sins.'" David said, "What a relief it is to know that God gives salvation. He doesn't require us to earn it."

Then the clincher is in Romans 11:6, that says, "And if by grace, then it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace; otherwise work is no more work." If you follow all those Scriptures through, you will see that the Bible says that you can be saved on the basis of grace alone, and only grace. If you interject a human effort of any kind, you have neutralized the ground of grace, and you have entered the ground of works. That's why anybody who says, "I believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior, and I must have water baptism as a part of that act of faith," has immediately interjected a human work element, and therefore, has neutralized the ground of grace, and cannot be saved.

Don't tell me that the devil isn't smart. He's got a whole denomination that tells people that, who sincerely believe they're going to heaven, and every one of them will scream in holy terror when their eyes open on the other side, after they have died physically, and they realize that they're in the place of Hades, and they wonder what happened to them, while their names are still remembered on the church roll that they left. We are dealing with serious deception. It is only the God-man, Jesus Christ, who, by grace, has made it possible for us to escape the torments of hell. He has done that on the basis of our believing the message that God has given us of the gospel concerning this provision, and on nothing else.

However, because God saves only on the principle of grace, it does have one enormously valuable consequence, and that is that that salvation is secure. The Father is propitiated. His righteousness and justice have been satisfied. Therefore, there's nothing more that has to be taken care of. There's nothing more that we have to do. Those who think that they can be saved by their works are never sure that they've done enough. They're always uneasy. But because God has done it, we may say with a certainty, "We're in." 1 John 2:2 declares this when it says, "He is the propitiation (or the satisfaction) for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." Jesus Christ satisfied the justice of God for the whole world. The Father is now free to love us in grace without violating His own holiness. Salvation is based entirely on the character of God, and only the impudent pride of man suggests that we can lose our salvation, or even earn it. And I mean impudent pride.

It is a good point of Christian witnessing, when somebody suggests to you that they could lose their salvation, that you warn them that the odds are very great, if they think they can lose their salvation, that they don't have salvation. They have never been born again. If they think they can lose it, they have never been born again, because in all likelihood, that remark indicates that they have based their salvation on something that they are able to do; some kind of living that they are able to rise to; or, some kind of good works that they are able to perform. And it's quite a shock when you point that out to people, but it would be a matter of Christian kindness to warn them that that is not a little thing. It's not as many Christians say: "Well, you think you can't lose it, but you're going to find out you are wrong." They're going to find out a great deal more. If they think they can be lost, it's because the ground of their salvation is not something that Christ has done for them. It's something that they have involved themselves in that Christ has done.

At the point of salvation, we enter a circle of eternal fellowship, and in that circle we are forever secure by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a circle from which we cannot move. We can lose temporal fellowship. 1 John 1:9 says that confession of sin restores that. No matter how spiritually weak a Christian may be, once he's born into the family of God, it's irreversible. There is no way for us to get right back out of it.

So, don't seek to live some good life in order to keep your salvation. That isn't the way. Don't be preoccupied that if you keep all the moral rules, you will then secure salvation. Hell is going to be full of moral people. This is what's so tragic and so pathetic about the invitations that are given in churches that call for people to come down and re-dedicate their lives; to come for altar calls; to pray through; or, to reaffirm. These are old man-made gimmicks of a preacher who doesn't want to study, and who is just too lazy a character to get out and dig into the Word of God so that he can come up with something of substance that the people of God can feed upon and grow upon. Instead, he gives them these little cute kicks of something that they can do in a service, and then they can go home and feel that they have done something.

I heard one of the religious preachers (and a pretty good one who is sound in the faith) on television this morning for a few minutes. He ended up giving a tremendous challenge. He was calling people to get in there; to be dedicated to the Lord; to apply themselves to the Lord's will; to get out there; and, to grab the banner. Then he offered them a little booklet at the end by which they could get it all done. I thought, "Here's the sadness. He has given the people a challenge which they can't execute. You come into the Christian life as a zero. You can slide along as a zero. Suddenly, you wake up and say, "My God, I don't know anything about the Bible. I can't cope with anything when it comes to meeting the issues of life. I don't know how to make a move. I have great decisions I'm making relative to my life. Do I have any biblical grounds for doing it? No." So, you say, "Man, I've got to get into the Word. I've got to start getting principles."

I tell you right now, it'll take you two years before you even begin to scratch the surface. That's what's so sad about people who suddenly realize that they're at a point in their lives where they're trying to make long-term decisions, and they're not equipped to do it. They're going to go to the Bible and say, "Oh, Lord, give me a verse to guide me." And in the emotionally oriented churches, people are given that crud – that they can go ahead and look around, and that they can find a verse.

It's just like the old gal, I told you before, who was looking for that guidance from the Lord for her day. Her method was to close your eyes; open the Bible; point to a verse; and, read it. She did it one morning, and she said, "Lord, please give me the guidance for the day." She opened the Bible; she pointed to a verse; and, it said, "Judas went out and hanged himself." She thought about this for a moment, and said, "Lord, I must have missed your message here. I want you to give me the guidance for the day that I need. So, she closed her eyes; she opened the Bible; she pointed to another verse; and, it said, "Go thou and do likewise." So, that pretty well set up her guidance from the Lord by her little cute devices and trickeries, and all the little things that the preachers will come up with.

Nothing is going to make it for you, except your learning the Word of God and being a student who feeds on it on a daily basis. And you can read all the little books of inspiration and challenge, and even people who have great spiritual heritage at some point can have somebody come into their lives and sucker them away from it. And it's not until later down the line that the consequences are born, and they realize how much they have sacrificed, and what a price they paid. The Word of God says that once you're in the family of God, no matter how weak a Christian you are, or how much you may fail the Lord, He's never going to deny you. You're still His child.

Eternal Security

There are many evidences in the Bible that establish eternal security.

1. The Positional Evidence

   The first evidence is the positional evidence. We'll just hit this as we go along. Romans 8:1 says this: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." The position in Christ is secured at the point of salvation, when God the Holy Spirit baptizes you into Christ. Your position in Christ (your union with Christ) establishes the fact that you can never be lost again. Incidentally, if you have not already done so, if you have a translation that includes the last part of that verse (Romans 8:1): "Who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit," cross that out with a pencil. It doesn't belong in there. It's not in the Greek text, and it's not true.

2. The Logical Evidence

   The second evidence is logical. There's a logical evidence. This is based, for example, on Romans 5:9-10: "Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." And Paul is using this "much more," saying, "Here's a logical progression: If God would take you into His family when you were His enemy, now that you are His child and justified by His blood, you may much more be assured that you are going to be saved by His life, and that you're going to be kept secure in the family of God."

3. The Hand Evidence

   Then there is the hand evidence. In John 10:28, we have this taught: "And I give unto them (Jesus said) eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand." The reason you cannot be lost again is because you are held in God's hand, and God will never let you go.

4. The Experiential Evidence

   There is the experiential evidence. We have this taught in 2 Timothy 2:12-13: "If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we believe not, yet He abides faithful. He cannot deny Himself." What these verses are saying is that though a Christian may that he no longer believes, God, because he is immutable, remains faithful to His promise of salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit indwell the Christian, and Christ cannot deny Himself in that believer. 2 Timothy 2:12 deals with rewards. If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us." That has to do with rewards. Verse 13 has to do with salvation: "If we believe not (we say, 'I don't believe in Christ anymore, and I don't trust Him as Savior anymore'), yet He abides faithful. He cannot deny Himself." The Christian may denounce Him, but the Lord will remain faithful to him. That's the experience evidence.

5. The Family Evidence

   Then there is the family evidence that you cannot again be lost. We have this declared in Galatians 3:26: "For you are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus." You're in the family of God by faith. If you're in God's family, you cannot be removed from God's family. No matter how disappointing your children may be; no matter how foolish and rebellious they may become; and, no matter how much of a sadness they may bring into your life, they're still your children. You cannot break the family relationship.

6. The Inheritance Evidence

   Then there is the evidence of inheritance that declares that you cannot be lost again. 1 Peter 1:4-5 tell us this: "To an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto the salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. We are heirs of God with an assured inheritance of eternal life. This is based upon the omnipotence of God who is able to keep us.

7. The Body Evidence

   Then there is the body evidence. That's one we are more acquainted with, in 1 Corinthians 12:13: "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Greeks, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." Jesus Christ, as the head of the body, can never say to any other member of the body that He does not need him.

   1 Corinthians 12:21 illustrates that in the human body: "The eye cannot say into the hand, 'I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.'" All members of the body are necessary, and to remove one of the members would be to make it incomplete. So, the fact that the body has to be complete, and that you're part of it, indicates that you cannot be lost again.

8. The Sovereignty of God

   Then there is the sovereignty of God in 2 Peter 3:9: "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but He is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." There is the sovereignty of God such that He's not willing that any should perish. He is omnipotent, and therefore, He gives opportunity for believing. Those who have believed, He will not permit them to perish. That is against His will.

9. The Greek Tense Evidence

   Then there is the Greek tense. The Greek tenses tell us quite a bit. As you know, we have a Greek tense called the "aorist," which is illustrated by a dot. It's a point. It tells us that something takes place as a whole. We have this illustrated in the famous Acts 16:31, which says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." "And you shall be saved" is a once-for-all: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." It's a point action. It's not anything which is up for renegotiation.

   Then there is the perfect tense. In the Greek tense, this tells us that something starts here at a point in the past, and then it continues on to the present, and continues on, in effect, forever. Ephesians 2:8-9, that we've already read, tells us exactly that. We are saved by grace, and not through works. It is a gift of God. The tense that is used is perfect tense. We have been saved in the past, and we continue on to the present, and forever.

10. The Sealing Evidence

    Another evidence is the sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 1:22: "Who has also sealed us, and given the earnest (the down payment) of the Spirit in our hearts." God the Holy Spirit, who indwells us, is the guarantee for the protection of our safe delivery into heaven. We are sealed. The seal makes it certain where we're going.

11. God's Essence

    Then there is the matter of God's essence. That is evidence that we are eternally secure. In Romans 8:35, we have this declared: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" "The love of Christ" summarizes all that God is in His essence: "Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" Then verses 38-39: "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 creation shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." God will never go back on His own character. The character of God demands that He preserve us in our salvation.

12. The Marriage Evidence

    Then there is the marriage evidence in Revelation 17:7-9. You have a believer related to Jesus Christ in a marriage context: "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come. And His wife has made herself ready." The Lamb is Jesus Christ, and the wife is the church: "And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousnesses (the divine good works) of the saints. He said unto me, 'Write: Blessed are they who are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb,' and He said unto me, 'These are the true sayings of God.'" The marriage supper of the Lamb is going to be executed during the millennium. The whole millennium is a celebration of the marriage of the church and Jesus Christ. Marriage is a permanent relationship. So, the analogy here to salvation is obvious, such that our relationship to Jesus Christ is permanent.

13. Christ's Work on the Cross

    Then there is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Hebrews 10:14 describes the nature of that work to us: "For by one offering, He has perfected forever them that are sanctified." So, when you deny eternal security of the believer, you are also denying that the work of Jesus Christ was finished. That's why the Roman Catholics are consistent. Roman Catholics say, "You can't be sure you're going to heaven. You do not have eternal security. You must come back weekly (and more frequently) to perform the bloodless sacrifice of the mass – to sacrifice Jesus Christ for your sins again." That is not so. Hebrews 10:14 says, "For by one offering, He has perfected forever them that are sanctified" (them that are set aside to salvation). If you treat the offering of Jesus Christ as one that can be repeated, then you have reduced it to the level of the offering of the bulls and the goats. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ, however, abides in what it has done.

14. The New Creation

    Then we have one more evidence. There is the evidence of the new creation. Colossians 2:10: "And you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principalities and power." Get on the Donahue program, and stand up and say, "I'm spiritually complete." Get on the Donahue program, and say, "I'm absolutely perfect with God." You'll make a big hit. I'll guarantee you. They'll give you a microphone in a hurry. They're going to want to hear more about that. They're going to want to tear you to shreds. But the Word of God says, "You are complete in Him" – nothing more. Your grubby little sinner hands don't have to come through to make something better or to improve it in order to help you to make it with God.

We ought to close by looking at Jude 24 once more, to notice what the rest of the verse says, for it says, "He is going to keep us from falling, and He is going to present you faultless." The word "present" means that He is going to cause you "to stand." That is God's purpose. He's going to present you, and cause you to stand "faultless." That means "blameless." That means without any blemish whatsoever – perfect, as Ephesians 5:26-27 describes. "Before the presence of His glory;" that is, in His presence of glory. It means "in heaven:" "With exceeding joy" – joy without limitation.

Now that's a fantastic promise. This God has the full capacity to keep you from falling, and to present you absolutely perfect – faultless, in the very presence of heaven itself, and in the presence of His glory. You will be there with exceeding great joy.

If you look to Eastern mysticism, the goal of Eastern mysticism is to come to bliss consciousness. By that, they mean to find yourself detached from your conscious mind, and to move out into other worlds in space, and be communicating with the spirit gods of the Hindu pantheon out there. And those gods are demon gods who are speaking to you. But our God says, "No matter how bad you are, you're going to make it." Once you're in the family of God, for a variety of reasons, it is evident that He will preserve you. What He will preserve you for is this fantastic destiny of standing blameless in His heaven with Him. And you're going to be glad to be there.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1982

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