Bible Guarantee

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Hello, my name is Paul, and I am the voiceover for a ministry provided to you by Jim Pugh at God is Government called Your Daily Bread, taken from Christ's teaching of the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6, verse 11. This is a daily devotion ministry focused not only on uplifting scripture, but scripture that will grow your spiritual connection with Christ. We hope that you receive these devotions to uplift you, encourage you, but most importantly, advance your knowledge base of the Holy Scriptures. Today's focused discussion will be Bible guarantee. Now let me show you this as we go backwards in this Bible to John chapter six. John chapter six, and I just want to make this point, and then I'll let you go, and we'll get to the sword next time. But in John chapter six, a very, very important passage in verse thirty seven, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Now what the Lord says is, if you come to him, he will in no wise cast you out. In no wise means under no circumstances. There are no circumstances in existence in the universe whereby Christ would cast out somebody who came to him. That's what he's saying. You come to him, under no circumstance, under no condition, in no case, in no wise would he cast you out. Why? Because the only ones who come are the ones the Father gives, you see. And if God gives you to Christ, then you have the decree of God to eternal salvation, and you have the response of Christ to eternal salvation, and there is no way to lose. The Father, then, just to give you an illustration of what he's saying, is the Father is like rewarding the Son. The Son has done well in going to the cross and accomplishing redemption. So the Father gives him gifts, and the gifts are very lovely, they are the souls of men. You and I who know Christ are gifts from the Father to the Son, tokens of the Father's love. And the Father loves the Son so much he gives these kinds of gifts. And conversely, the Son loves the Father so much that he holds tightly to such precious gifts. All that the Father gives shall come, and when they come, under no circumstance would I turn them away. Why? It isn't because of you. It isn't because of you at all. You're not even the picture here. It's because the Son loves the Father too much to ever lose anybody that was a love gift from the Father to the Son. You see? It's all wrapped up in the Trinity, folks. Now look at the next verse 38. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. This was the Father's plan all along, he was saying. The whole plan of the Father was to redeem some people, give them to the Son, and have the Son keep them. That's the whole plan. And this is the Father's will who have sent me. What is his will? That of all that he hath given me, I should lose none, but should raise him up again at the last day. How many does Jesus lose? None. None, none. There is no loss between the decree of the Father, the gift to the Son, and the resurrection of the last day. So that you have justification, sanctification, glorification, past, present, future, without loss. And so does the Bible teach that God has a counsel that cannot be changed, a calling that cannot be revoked, an inheritance that cannot be defiled, a foundation that cannot be broken, a seal that cannot be shaken, a life that cannot perish. Now go over to John 10 for a moment, verse 27. Now here there are seven strands in the rope that bind us eternally to Christ. Seven great reasons why you maintain salvation, seven great truths. Number one, verse 27. My sheep, my sheep. Stop right there. Whose sheep are you? You're Christ's sheep. Now listen, if you are Christ's sheep, it is his duty as shepherd to care for you and protect you. If he loses you, that is in effect a slur against his own ability as a shepherd. You get that? If you are his sheep, and the shepherd is to care for the sheep, then for someone to be lost reflects upon the character and quality of the shepherd. There's a second strand that binds us to Christ. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. Listen, they follow Christ, his sheep do, no exceptions. They will not listen to strangers, they listen only to him. True Christians, then, are kept by the power of the great shepherd, that's strand number one. Secondly, they will follow. That's what he says, they will follow. They may stumble in sin, but they'll be there. Thirdly, I give, verse 28, unto them eternal life. Now eternal life lasts how long? Forever. It is eternal life. To speak of it as ending is a contradiction in terms. Eternal life is eternal, so we are bound by the character of the shepherd. We are bound by the character of the sheep as they follow. We are bound by the very definition of the gift of eternal life, it is forever. Further, it is a gift. I give unto them eternal life. You didn't do anything to earn it, you can't do anything to keep it. It's a gift. Fifthly, another strand that binds us to Christ is he says, They shall never perish. If one Christian ever did, then Christ didn't tell the truth. If Christ didn't tell the truth, throw away your Bible. Forget Christianity, it's all wrong. Further it says, No man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. There is no power in the universe stronger than God, and if God wants to hold on, then that's the way it's going to be. Nobody can take us out of the Father's hand. And further, he adds, verse 29, My Father who gave them to me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. Notice in verse 28 he says my hand. In verse 29, my father's hand. Double protection. Now what I'm trying to show you in these two passages in John is simply that Jesus himself, by his own words, confirms the fact that a past salvation includes a future one as well. That eternal life is just that. They never perish, they never fail, he never loses any of them. That's the way Jesus spoke of it. No wonder when you come to Romans 8 and verse 38, the Apostle Paul says, 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. Paul is saying, There is nothing in the universe now or in the future that could ever separate a believer from Christ. He begun it, will perform, that's the present, until the day of Jesus Christ. That's the future. All three elements of salvation bound up in the same verse. Now I want to close our study this evening by having you look at the book of Jude, the next to the last book in the New Testament. And I want to share with you just two verses here that are tremendously powerful verses. Let me just say this by way of a general look at the Book of Jude. The Book of Jude is written to deal with apostasy, or a departure from the faith. It is primarily concerned with the vile character of false prophets and false teachers. It talks about, in verse 4, certain people creeping in, who are basically ordained to condemnation, ungodly men, who turned the grace of God into lasciviousness. It talks about filthy dreamers in verse 8. It talks about the prophets who prophesy for greed in verse 11, the scabs, they're called scabs. In verse 12, wells without water, clouds without water, rather, trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of the sea, wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever, murmurers, complainers, and just horrible, sensual, ungodly, lusting beings. These are the apostates. And here's a little group of Christians, as it were, sort of in the midst of an apostate age, not unlike us today. In fact, I'm just right now working on a book on how to survive in the days of apostasy, and it's based on Jude. But the concept here is that right in the midst of vile, evil, false teaching, the corruption of the church, the rotting of the foundations, as it were, there's a little group of believers who might be saying to themselves, Man, you know we're liable to get swept up in this whole deal. What's going to happen to us? They see everything going down the drain, like in our society. Liberalism, neo-orthodoxy, and all the garbage that's coming along in the name of Christianity seems to be selling us right down the river. And we say, Well, what about us? Are we going to fall by the wayside in this deal? And so, at the beginning of Jude, verse 1, at the end of Jude, verses 24 and 25, Jude reiterates the fact that we don't have to fear. No matter how bad the day gets, no matter how vile the world around us, we're okay. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are set apart by God the Father and kept in Jesus Christ, better to translate it, kept by Jesus Christ in the dative case. He says, in the midst of all the rot around you, you will be set apart by God and kept by Jesus Christ. Tereo is the Greek verb. It means to watch, to guard, to keep, and to preserve. It's even been used outside the Bible to speak of something being guaranteed. When you were saved, you were given a guilt-edged guarantee. The Bible talks about the fact that we've been given the earnest of the Spirit. And the earnest, it means engagement ring, down payment, guarantee. When you were saved, God gave you the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that someday you'd be glorified in the presence of God, even in the toughest times. You know, Jesus prayed, Father, I pray that you will keep them which I have given you, that you'll keep them from the evil one, John 17, 11 and 15. And Jesus' prayer will be answered. The Father will keep the believer. And that's what he's saying here. You are not only sanctified, you are kept by Jesus Christ. That's the helmet of salvation. You don't need to listen to Satan's doubts. Oh, you better make sure you're really a Christian to start with. If you're shaky on that ground, you can't have any confidence. If you don't have any confidence, number one, you may not be a Christian at all. But number two, you may be a Christian who's being severely buffeted by Satan, and you better get back on the helmet of salvation. Go to verse 24 of Jude, and here it is, the same thing again, only at greater length. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, isn't that great? The word able is dunamena, dynamite, power. He is powerful enough to keep you from falling. It isn't just that Christ doesn't want you to fall, it's that he's able to prevent it, you see. He's able to prevent it, and he's able to present you a momos, without a spot, without a blemish, faultless. And by the way, a momos is used in 1 Peter 1 18 and 19 to refer to Christ. He is able to keep you from stumbling, keep you from falling, and present you as pure as Christ is pure, someday in the presence of God the Father. That's the keeping power of Christ. Tremendous security, tremendous. And the word here, talking about keep you, is not tero, the same word as the earlier one of watch, guard, keep, but it's fulaso, which means to secure in the midst of an attack. So no matter what all the hosts of hell throw against you, Christ is powerful enough to keep you from falling, and present you amamos, as spotless as Jesus Christ, in the presence of God. No wonder the psalmists said surely, confidently, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. He knew it. And ultimately, I will dwell where? In the house of the Lord forever. See, he knew that the salvation God gave you was a past, present, future salvation. Surely, he said, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and ultimately I'll dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 23, Paul says, in a glorious benediction, The very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and your whole spirit and soul and body preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I love this. Faithful is he that called you who also will do it. What a great thing. Paul says this great benediction, preserved blameless, and faithful is he who called you, who will do it. No, we do not accept the blows of doubt that Satan casts against us. Our armor is the confidence that salvation is future, as well as present and past, and Christ holds us in the power of his own hand. Hebrews 6 16 through 19. And so it is that confidence that makes us defend ourselves against Satan's blows. Beloved, when he comes with discouragement, when he comes with doubt, be assured there's a glory day coming, there's a victory day coming. Fight the good fight, have confidence in the salvation God gave you, and know that you'll be there for that crowning day. In the wonderful hymn, The Church's One Foundation, the writer says, Mid toil and tribulation and tumult of her wars, she waits the consummation of peace forevermore, till with the vision glorious her longing eyes are blessed, and the great church victorious becomes the church at rest. Some day there's coming a rest. Not now, we're in the battle. We got to fight the battle. The rest comes later, when the victory has been ours. Another hymn, and you know it well, says, Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the strife will not be long. This day the noise of battle, but next the victor's song. To him that overcometh the crown of life shall be, he with the king of glory shall reign eternally. And I end with the words of John Bunyan. Hobgoblin, nor foul fiend, can daunt his spirit. He knows he at the end shall life inherit. Then fancies fly away, he'll fear not what men say, he'll labour night and day to be a soldier. Dear John Bunyan was thrown in the Bedford jail, and it was there that he determined that he'd fight and never grow weary. He wouldn't feel the blows of discouragement and doubt, and in that time in the jails, he looked to the day he'd be with Jesus Christ. In the worst of circumstances, he produced the greatest thing he ever did in his life Pilgrim's Progress. Don't give up, don't let Satan victimize you with discouragement and doubt, because you're going to win in the end. Keep the helmet on now. Thank you for joining us in this exploration of Bible Guarantee. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world. To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way.