TRUTH of ASSURANCE

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TRUTH of ASSURANCE
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Lesson 3 Assurance of Eternal Security
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Introduction

• While the believer may gain assurance of his
  salvation and know that he has been saved, the
  question may arise concerning the permanence of
  his salvation.
• Once genuinely saved by trusting in the merit of
  Christs death on the cross for sin, can the
  believer lose his salvation?
• Is there anything we can do to lose our
  salvation?

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Introduction

• The answer is NO! Why?
• Because Scripture clearly affirms the fact we are
  protected by the power of God through faith.
• Faith brings us into a grace relationship with
  God as a gift of God through the merit of His
  beloved Son.
• We are saved by His record, not ours.

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Introduction

• 1 Peter 15
• who are protected by the power of God through
  faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the
  last time.

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Introduction

• Ephesians 16
• to the praise of the glory of His grace, which
  He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

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Introduction

• Ephesians 28-9
• For by grace you have been saved through faith
  and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
  God not as a result of works, that no one should
  boast.

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• The following
• seven approaches
• set forth the case for the believers eternal
  security, buckled up for safety because of the
  power of God and the overwhelming sufficiency of
  the person and work of Christ.

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1. The Trinity Approach

• The first argument for the eternal security of
  the believer stems from seeing how all three
  persons of the trinity work in concert to make
  and keep us secure in Christ.

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From the Standpoint of the Son

• Christ Died as Our Redeemer and Substitute
• Romans 51,8 Therefore having been justified by
  faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
  Jesus Christ, But God demonstrates His own love
  toward us, in that while we were yet sinners,
  Christ died for us.

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From the Standpoint of the Son

• Christ Is Risen and Sits at Gods Right Hand
• Hebrews 725 Hence, also, He is able to save
  forever those who draw near to God through Him,
  since He always lives to make intercession for
  them.

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From the Standpoint of the Father

• Through the protection of our heavenly Father,
  whose holiness has been perfectly satisfied by
  the death of His Son, we are kept by

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His Sovereign Purpose

• Salvation depends upon God to bring it to pass,
  not us.
• Nothing, not even our sin, can frustrate the
  eternal and sovereign purpose of God who
  determined to save us by grace through faith in
  His Son.
• Since Gods holiness has been satisfied by the
  death of Christ, He can be just and the justifier
  of those who receive His Son by faith.

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Ephesians 13-6

• Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
  Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual
  blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just
  as He chose us in Him before the foundation of
  the world, that we should be holy and blameless
  before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption
  as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself,
  according to the kind intention of His will, to
  the praise of the glory of His grace, which He
  freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

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His Love for the Son

• We are kept for the sake of the Son and His
  perfect work for our sin.
• Believers are in the Beloved, the place where
  Gods love abides, and nothing whatsoever can
  separate us from the love of God (Eph 13-6
  above).

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Romans 839

• nor height, nor depth, nor any other created
  thing, shall be able to separate us from the love
  of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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His Work of Discipline

• The Fathers work of discipline proves we are
  still sons even when we sin.
• He does not disown us He disciplines us.

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Hebrews 125-9

• and you have forgotten the exhortation which is
  addressed to you as sons, My son, do not regard
  lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint
  when you are reproved by Him For those whom the
  Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every
  son whom He receives. It is for discipline that
  you endure God deals with you as with sons for
  what son is there whom his father does not
  discipline? But if you are without discipline, of
  which all have become partakers, then you are
  illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore,
  we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we
  respected them shall we not much rather be
  subject to the Father of spirits, and live?

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His Sovereign Power

• Nothing or no one is greater than the Father
  which means nothing or no one can defeat Gods
  purpose to save us or remove us from His love and
  care (cf. Rom. 831-39).

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2 Corinthians 517-19

• Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new
  creature the old things passed away behold, new
  things have come. Now all these things are from
  God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ,
  and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,
  namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the
  world to Himself, not counting their trespasses
  against them, and He has committed to us the word
  of reconciliation.

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From the Standpoint of the Holy Spirit

• His Work of Spirit Baptism
• 1 Corinthians 1212-13 For even as the body is
  one and yet has many members, and all the members
  of the body, though they are many, are one body,
  so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were
  all baptized into one body, whether Jews or
  Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all
  made to drink of one Spirit.

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His Work in Regeneration

• Regeneration refers to the impartation of
  spiritual and eternal life which makes us new
  creatures in Christ.
• This can never change.
• First, it is based on the work of the Son, not
  our works.
• And second, as physical birth makes one a child
  of his parents forever, so spiritual birth does
  the same.

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His Work of Indwelling

• This refers to the gift of the Holy Spirit to
  indwell the believer which was promised by our
  Lord as a permanent indwelling.
• The Spirit is given forever and given without
  conditions other than faith in Christ.

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John 1416

• And I will ask the Father, and He will give you
  another Helper, that He may be with you forever

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The Holy Spirit as a Seal

• This is a description of the Holy Spirit from the
  standpoint of what He is to the believer through
  His indwelling.
• A seal in ancient times was a sign and proof of
• a completed transaction, i.e., our salvation,
• of ownership, we belong to God, and
• of security since only an authorized person could
  break the seal. In this case it is God and He has
  promised not to do so.

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2. The Positional Approach

• Spirit baptism joins the believer into union with
  Christ.
• This becomes the new spiritual position of the
  believer.
• Phrases such as in Christ, in the beloved,
  and with Christ, used over and over again in
  Pauls epistles, refer to this concept.
• This calls attention to the fact the Bible
  emphasizes we are saved and accepted through our
  position in or union with Christ.

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3. The Logical Approach

• Simply stated, if God did so much for us while we
  were sinners, completely alienated and enemies of
  God before salvation, how much more will He not
  do for us now that we have been reconciled and
  stand related to Him as His children who have
  been justified, declared righteous in Christ?

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Romans 58-10

• But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in
  that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
  us. Much more then, having now been justified by
  His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of
  God through Him. For if while we were enemies, we
  were reconciled to God through the death of His
  Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall
  be saved by His life.

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4. Gods Hand Approach

• A specific and wonderful promise from the Lord is
  that no one (and this must include Satan or
  ourselves) can remove us from either the hand of
  the Son or the Father.
• Scripture tells us we are in Gods hand, which is
  a place of perfect security because He is greater
  than all.

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John 1028-29

• and I give eternal life to them, and they shall
  never perish and no one shall 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 Fathers hand.

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5. The Tense Approach

• The use of the perfect tense in a number of New
  Testament passages would further point to the
  believers security.
• The meaning of the perfect tense in Greek
  combined with the context and the analogy of
  Scripture forms another argument for the security
  of the believer.

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5. The Tense Approach

• The perfect tense refers to action or an event
  which, completed in the past, has results
  existing in the present time (i.e., in relation
  to the time of the speaker).
• It looks at the present state of affairs.
• The following passages that use the perfect tense
  stress the saved state of the believer who has
  trusted in the Savior.

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John 524

• Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My
  word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal
  life, and does not come into judgment, but has
  passed out of death into life.

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Romans 52

• through whom also we have obtained our
  introduction by faith into this grace in which we
  stand and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

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6. The Grace Approach

• The New Testament plainly states we are saved by
  grace through faith in the person and work of
  Christ, and that salvation is not of human works
  or works of righteousness which we have done.
• If, however, having put our trust in the person
  and work of Christ, we can lose our salvation by
  what we do or do not do, then in the final
  analysis, we are saved by works

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6. The Grace Approach

• Ephesians 28-9 For by grace you have been saved
  through faith and that not of yourselves, it is
  the gift of God 9 not as a result of works, that
  no one should boast.
• Titus 35 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds
  which we have done in righteousness, but
  according to His mercy, by the washing of
  regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,

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7. What Sin Approach

• This approach asks the question, What sin causes
  a person to lose his salvation?
• Sin, any sin falls short of the perfect holiness
  of God.
• Every person, regardless of his maturity or
  relationship with the Lord, is far from perfect
  by Gods standard.
• We all have something in our lives which falls
  short of Gods glory, i.e., some sin though it
  may be unknown.

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• The Consequences of Carnality(Living with Known
  Sin in the Life)

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Loss of fellowship with the Lord plus loss of the
control of the Holy Spirit and His fruit in the
life

• Sin grieves and quenches the Spirit (Eph. 430 1
  Thess. 519).
• Sin affects our prayer life (Ps. 6618),
• our witness (Acts 18),
• Bible study (1 Cor. 210-16 Eph. 316f), i.e.,
  all the ministries of the Holy Spirit in
  believers lives.
• The Holy Spirits ministry is turned from
  enabling to convicting, etc.

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Misery, loss of joy, because we are controlled by
the sinful nature.

• Psalm 323-4 When I kept silent about my sin, my
  body wasted away Through my groaning all day
  long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon
  me My vitality was drained away as with the
  fever heat of summer.

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Dissipation or wastefulness of our spiritual,
mental, and physical resources.

• Ephesians 518 And do not get drunk with wine,
  for that is dissipation, but be filled with the
  Spirit,

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Production of the works of the flesh with their
awful consequences.

• Galatians 519-21 Now the deeds of the flesh are
  evident, which are immorality, impurity,
  sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife,
  jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes,
  dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness,
  carousing, and things like these, of which I
  forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that
  those who practice such things shall not inherit
  the kingdom of God.

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Divine discipline, the heavy hand of God on our
lives to turn us around.

• 1 Corinthians 1129-32 For he who eats and
  drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if
  he does not judge the body rightly. For this
  reason many among you are weak and sick, and a
  number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly,
  we should not be judged. But when we are judged,
  we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we
  may not be condemned along with the world.

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Broken relationships and pain to those around us,
especially to our families.

• Galatians 515 But if you bite and devour one
  another, take care lest you be consumed by one
  another.
• Hebrews 1215 See to it that no one comes short
  of the grace of God that no root of bitterness
  springing up causes trouble, and by it many be
  defiled

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Loss of our testimony in the world and dishonor
to the Lord.

• 1 Peter 415-16 By no means let any of you suffer
  as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a
  troublesome meddler but if anyone suffers as a
  Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that
  name let him glorify God.

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Loss of rewards.

• 1 Corinthians 312-15 Now if any man builds upon
  the foundation with gold, silver, precious
  stones, wood, hay, straw, each mans work will
  become evident for the day will show it, because
  it is to be revealed with fire and the fire
  itself will test the quality of each mans work.
  If any mans work which he has built upon it
  remains, he shall receive a reward. If any mans
  work is burned up, he shall suffer loss but he
  himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire.

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• Consequences of Continued and Open Rebellion

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Consequences of Continued and Open Rebellion

• Continuation in sin may require the church to
  take action even to the point of excommunication
  (1 Cor. 5).
• Matthew 1817 And if he refuses to listen to
  them, tell it to the church and if he refuses to
  listen even to the church, let him be to you as a
  Gentile and a tax-gatherer.

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REV. JIM BAKKER

• 1964 Ordained by Pentacostal Assemblies of God.
• 1964 Begins working with Pat Robertson and his
  Christian Broadcasting Network.
• 1974 Creates PTL (Praise The Lord) TV show.
• March 19, 1987 Resigns post at PTL due to sex
  scandal involving Jessica Hahn.

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REV. JIM BAKKER

• December 5, 1988 Charged with illegally
  diverting millions from PTL for his own personal
  use.
• October 1989 Convicted on 24 counts of fraud and
  conspiracy, and sentenced to 45 years.
• January 1995 Released from incarceration.
• 2003 Begins new tv show "The Jim Bakker Show"
  with new wife Lori.

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REV. JIMMY SWAGGART

• Jimmy Lee Swaggart (born March 15, 1935 in
  Ferriday, Louisiana) is a Pentecostal preacher
  and pioneer of televangelism who reached the
  height of his popularity in the 1980s.
• He called Jim Bakker, fellow televangelist, the
  cancer of the body of Christ.

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REV. JIMMY SWAGGART

• In 1988 Swaggart resigned from his ministry after
  pictures were taken of him with prostitute Debra
  Murphree.
• He issued a lengthy on-air apology for his
  actions.
• In 1991 he faced controversy again when it was
  alleged that he was stopped by police in a car
  with prostitute Rosemary Garcia.

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REV. TED HAGGARD

• Founded New Life Church in 1980s with 14,000
  members.
• President of NAE (National Association of
  Evangelicals) with 45,000 churches and 30 Million
  members.
• On Nov. 3, 2006, Ted Haggard confessed to sexual
  immorality in a letter read from the pulpit of
  the megachurch he founded.

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REV. TED HAGGARD

• Ted Haggard had a gay relationship with Mike
  Jones (male prostitute) for three years.
• Ironically, Ted Haggard had openly condemned
  homosexuality.
• The fact is I am guilty of sexual immorality.
  And I take responsibility for the entire problem.
  I am a deceiver and a liar. Theres a part of my
  life that is so repulsive and dark that I have
  been warring against it for all of my adult
  life, he said.

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Divine discipline to the point of physical death.

• 1 Corinthians 1130 For this reason many among
  you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.
• 1 John 516 If anyone sees his brother committing
  a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God
  will for him give life to those who commit sin
  not leading to death. There is a sin leading to
  death I do not say that he should make request
  for this.

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• It is our hope that this study on the eternal
  security of the believer has been a help. The
  goal of understanding our security is an
  assurance that motivates to godly living, never
  careless living or taking the Lord for granted.
  Remember, God is our heavenly Father who, in love
  will discipline His children to draw them back to
  himself.

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• LET US PRAY!