AUDIO ONLY

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Being a Christian means that God’s spirit has united or bonded the heart of a sinner with the gospel. I become a Christian when, through the work of the Holy Spirit, my heart says, “yes” to the gospel and my heart is welded to the gospel.

So becoming a Christian means we have two things. First we have the gospel – the good news. Two thousand years ago the Jesus took away the power of sin when, at his death on the cross, he absorbed God’s judgment in place of the sinner. Jesus killed sin for all who are in need of forgiveness. Jesus tore down the curtain that separates God and man – the gospel.

Second – I need to be welded to Jesus as my substitute. I need to repent of my sin, turn away from self, and embrace Jesus as my champion. That happens when God opens my eyes and grants me faith. That happens when God opens my eyes and I am compelled to trust in Jesus.

John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Present tense of “believe”– The verb tense where the writer portrays an action in process or a state of being with no assessment of the action’s completion.¹

Matthew 10:21–22 – Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, ²² and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Colossians 1:21–23a – And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²² he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith…

Hebrews 3:14 – For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

So, here’s the question this morning, “How do I know that I’ll be believing tomorrow? How do I know that I will believe to the end?”

There are two basic answers to this. The first answer – I can’t know that I’ll believe tomorrow. I can’t know that I will believe to the end. Typically this is, “Jesus did his part and now I must do my part – believe. Jesus contributes to my salvation and I contribute. Jesus’ part is flawless – he won at the cross – but my part depends on me – so I can’t know. While Jesus’ death on the cross is vital, my salvation – ultimately – depends on my ability to stay the course.” Years ago I had a friend who believed this. He told me once that he had been “in” and “out” of salvation many times. I suppose he would say he had been “born again” many times.

The second answer is that God does not simply make salvation available, God saves. God actually changes the sinners heart so that he is compelled to embrace Jesus, so that he is compelled to believe. God also then keeps those he saves to the end.

Concisely defined, the perseverance of the saints means that believers “will persevere in trusting Christ as their Savior.…Thus they will always be saved.²

For a believer to lose his salvation would demand a reversal and an undoing of all the preceding works of the Father, Son, and Spirit. The key issue in the discussion of the believer’s security concerns the issue of who does the saving. If man is responsible for securing his salvation, then he can be lost; if God secures the person’s salvation, then the person is forever secure.

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Romans 8:29–30 – For those whom [God] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

John 6:37–39 – All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me…

John 10:27–29 – My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

1 Corinthians 1:7–8 – so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6 – And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:3–5 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Jude 1 (NET) – From Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, wrapped in the love of God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.

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The eternal security of the believer by the grace of God is the completion and crowning glory of God’s plan of salvation.³

How DOES GOD KEEP US?

1. Primarily God keeps us as the Holy Spirit, through the truth of Scripture, continues to mediate the the gospel and the beauty of Jesus to the believer.
2. God keeps us through Scripture warning us of the dangers of falling away.
3. God keeps us through our ministry to each other:

Hebrews 3:12–14 – Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

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NOT ALL WHO PROFESS BELIEF ARE BORN AGAIN

Matthew 7:15–23 – “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Scripture speaks of:

False professions (Matt 7:21-23), false brothers (2 Cor. 11:15, 26; Gal. 2:4), false branches on the vine of Christ (John 15:1–2, 6), wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matt. 7:15). There was, as in Jesus’ parable, seed sown on rocky soil, which sprang up and looked healthy for a time but eventually withered away (Mark 4:5–6; 16–17).⁴

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DOXOLOGY

Jude 24 (ESV)

²⁴ Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,