Eternal Security

Okay, take out your Bibles and turn with me tonight to two passages.

We're gonna go back to Romans 8, which is the focus of tonight, but I also want you to hold your place in Acts chapter 8.

So go to Romans, maybe put you a slip of paper or something, fold the page.

I don't know how you mark your Bible if you have a ribbon.

Mark Romans 8 and then very, very briefly we're gonna discuss Acts 8.

So go over to Acts chapter 8.

While we're doing this, if there's anyone who has a, who needs a handout, if you were not here last week or maybe you just forgot to bring back the one that I gave you last week, I made some handouts.

Is there anyone who mind handing those out? Brother, would you come and...

Either or, it's good.

If you don't have one, we got them right here.

Like I said, it's the same one from last week.

So if you have the one from last week, you won't need the one tonight.

And you can turn to verse 9 and we're gonna read verses 9 to 24.

Acts 8, verses 9 to 24.

This is a very familiar scenario, very familiar story.

If you're, especially if you are a person who has done any study of the book of Acts, you would be very familiar with the story of Simon the Magician.

Well, that's the story we're gonna read to start tonight.

It says, but there was a man named Simon who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great.

They all paid attention to him from the least to the greatest, saying, this man is the power of God that is called great.

And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic.

But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

Even Simon himself believed and after being baptized, he continued with Philip.

And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them.

But they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

Verse 18, now when Simon saw the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, give me this power also so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.

But Peter said to him, may your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money.

You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.

Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that if possible the intent of your heart may be forgiven you, for I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.

And Simon answered, pray for me to the Lord that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.

Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord they returned to Jerusalem preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

And so we will end our reading there for now and then we'll go back in a moment back to Romans 8.

So why did I start with this tonight? Well if you'll remember and maybe you have a good enough memory to remember that last week we began to look at the subject of whether or not you could lose your salvation.

And throughout that discussion last week I made an argument from Acts chapter 8 that the golden chain of redemption which is in Acts 8 which says for whom he foreknew he also predestined, whom he predestined he called, whom he called he justified, whom he justified he glorified, we call that the golden chain of redemption.

I said the golden chain of redemption is an unbreakable chain.

Therefore whoever is foreknown of God is predestined by God and whoever is predestined by God is called by God.

And whoever is called by God is justified by God and whoever is justified by God in the economy of God is glorified because God sees it as if it's an already done deal even though we're still in the body we're not yet physically glorified yet God can speak of it in the past tense because to him the future is as certain as the past.

God knows all things which will be and so God says that if he predestined us, he calls us, he justifies us, he glorifies us and it is a unbreakable chain and if you don't remember last week I said we ought to be able to defend what we believe and one of the things many of us do believe is that you can't lose your salvation.

How do we defend it? Well I go to Romans chapter 8 and I say here's the chain of redemption, the golden chain, the unbreakable chain and if the chain is unbreakable then I know that if God predestined me, God is gonna save me and therefore my salvation is not insecure my salvation is secure in him.

However we do have passages in scripture that cause us to go hmm, cause us to take a step back and say what's happening here? What is the situation that's happening in this verse and I think Acts chapter 8 is a good example of one of those things that make us go hmm, they make us go well what does this mean? Because if we look again at Acts chapter 8 what we see is we see a man who the Bible says believed and it's really not a ambiguous statement it's very clear if you look at verse 12 it says when they believed Philip as he was preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ they were baptized both men and women even Simon himself believed and after being baptized he continued with Philip so right there we have a statement of someone who the Bible says believed this man his name is Simon and yet later in this same passage he is condemned by the Apostle Peter in no uncertain terms and some people have said and I've actually heard the argument well he's saved he's just not living up to the standards of his salvation or well he's saved but he's just not living in light of his testimony well he's saved but he's just not living in the light of the true gospel he's saved but I always hear that he's saved but here's the story of Simon that the Bible doesn't tell us you see at the end of this all we get the last thing we hear from Simon is his plea to Peter pray for me that these things won't happen to me because Peter just condemned him to hell and he said pray that's not going to happen to me but the part the Bible doesn't tell us is what history does tell us history tells us that Simon a man who the Bible clearly says was a man who liked notoriety he was a man who liked to be thought of as something very important notice that at the beginning it said they called him this man has the power of God that is called great they called him the powerful one you ever heard of like a magician back when I was a teenager I was a magician and I worked as a magician and I remember all the names of the magicians there was there was the great and the outstanding and the amazing that was the names of the way that the magicians would call themselves but all those guys knew they were just illusionists but this man he was putting on a show that made people think that he had the power of God that he himself was divine that he had the power of God that is called great and he liked it he liked that notoriety and in comes Philip a man who truly did have a power from God he had the power of the Word of God and when he preached the Word of God old Simon saw it and he liked it and so he began to follow Philip and then along comes Peter and Peter has a power that's even greater than Philip's because Peter is an apostle and he is doing the works of the apostle the New Testament talks about the works of an apostle they are great works and when he comes in he lays his hands on these people and they receive the Holy Spirit and old Simon gets excited looky looky just imagine if I could do that I mean I've been pulling rabbits out of hats for years now I'm pretty sure he didn't do that but you understand that's the analogy he'd been doing magic tricks for a long time and by the way did you know that magic tricks have been around since the time when men drew on cave walls there are cave wall drawings of the cups and the balls you ever see that where a guy will take a cup and put it on a ball under a cup and make it disappear there are cave wall drawings of cups and balls that's the oldest magic trick in the world I'd look back at the story of Moses remember when Moses came in he had his staff and it turned into a serpent and it said that the charlatans the false they were able to copy what he did I don't think they truly copied it but I think they were good enough magicians they were good enough foolers that they were able to fool people into thinking they could do the same things that he could do now maybe they did have some kind of demonic dark black magic maybe they did I don't know I can't prove that but I do know this there's been a lot of tricks going on for a long time and Simon saw something in Peter that was real he saw something in Peter that was not a trick he knew that wasn't fake what he'd been doing cups and balls and pulling rabbits out of hats and all those things making you know making his thumb come off and all that stuff that had been that had been all tricks but now here was somebody with something real and he wanted it and he was willing to pay money for it that's when Peter condemned him how dare you think you can buy and you might not think much of that I think boy Peter sure was harsh with this man we don't get the whole thing we don't know everything that was said we know very little the Bible gives us the scenario but we don't know every part of this conversation but I will say this there was enough about Simon that made Peter realize this man is not the genuine article there was enough about this man to make Peter say this guy is a false convert and that's my point tonight because a lot of people say here's Simon here's somebody who was a believer and the Baptists who want to hold to once saved always saved to the point of completely abandoning any idea of apostasy they'll say yeah he was saved and he kept on being saved well here's the story Simon went on to become one of the leaders in the Gnostic movement one of the earliest and most dangerous heretical groups in the church so no Simon was not a believer yeah what is it was wicked yes absolutely absolutely but I'm just saying the story the story goes on and it shows us what happened as a result of this what I'm saying I guess is when you see the words pray for me in verse 24 that's not genuine repentance some people see that and say oh that's genuine repentance no it based on based on the history we know it's not but you're right verse 22 certainly says his heart was full of wickedness and so we see this in him so the Baptist would say well he was truly saved and he never lost it I don't think that that's true and other ones would say he was truly saved and he lost his salvation I don't think that's true either but you have to go back up to verse 12 and you have to ask you the question why would verse 13 why would it say he believed can an unbeliever believe or let me back up that's that's that's foolish that was a foolish way to ask that let me ask it a different way can a natural man believe the gospel without being born again of the spirit who said somebody say yes okay this gets down to the tax the brass tacks of what it means to believe right the the natural man can in one respect hear the truth and accept that it is the truth but that does not necessarily mean that they have believed in the biblical definition of belief and how to define that is is not super easy but it does demonstrate itself in how the life has changed if a person says I believe and their life is not changed as a result to that belief then James would tell us then that is a definition of false faith or what James uses the word dead faith he would say if a person says I believe but that faith does not change their life then that faith is not genuine that's the that's the term that James would use and I think that that's what we see in Simon we see somebody whose faith was not genuine so so right there is just it's a testimony to a simple fact there are people who come into the church even today who will at the hearing of the preaching and here's how it often goes you want to go to hell no I don't want to go to hell well believe in Jesus if that's what it takes not to go to hell I believe in Jesus and they say I believe but there is no genuineness to their faith their faith is words only their faith is false they're trying to pick up a get out of hell free card they're trying to get their ticket to heaven stamped I've seen it I've been to I was part of judgment house for a couple years I played the devil in the judgment house they wanted somebody big and ugly to play the devil so there I was and I remember this is kind of this is before I became reformed when I remember even before I was reformed being very off put by how the event would end if you don't know what judgment house is they lead people in through a scenario of situations and people end up dying somehow one year's a car crash one year was a plane crash and some people die and in that group of people everybody has to face judgment some people go to judgment and go to heaven some people go to judgment and go to hell and it's always based on whether or not they believe in Jesus and the hell scene is hot it's dark it's smoky and the guy who plays the devil is usually very obnoxious because he just rawr I'm the devil you know and they try to literally excuse the expression but they literally try to scare the hell out of people because that's what it is you're trying to scare people out of hell and then they take them to heaven the heaven room is nice and pretty and they got a guy dressed up like Jesus and the year I did it they even put angel wings on you they put angel wings on you so that when you walked up to Jesus you was already a cherub you were an angel in heaven and you walked up there but then they would take you to a little room and they'd ask you to pray a prayer after having just literally punched you in the emotional kidneys for like forty five minutes now they're gonna take you to a room and say now do you wanna go to hell like those people went to hell or do you wanna go to heaven like those people went to heaven and everybody wants to go to heaven at that moment that's a good way of putting it and I would say yes now am I gonna say nobody's ever been saved by that kind of thing I'm not I'm not gonna say there's never been anybody who was shocked into the realization that yeah there is a judgment coming and we need to we need to get ready yes I so I don't wanna say it's never been affected but I do know this that kind of thing has the propensity of creating false converts because what it's doing is it is not calling to repentance and it's not saying that we ought to hate sin for the sake of sins evilness there it's saying that we ought to repent from sin because we want to avoid the condemnation that sin brings and you know there there's a there's a very real sense in which that can create false converts and and that's all that that's my only reason for wanting to go to Acts 8 tonight before we got to Romans 8 and I spent a little more time on it than I wanted to but when we look at Acts 8 we see an example of what I would say is a false convert somebody who said I believe who was even willing to be baptized but whose life afterwards not only was in the text demonstrated that his heart was evil but he goes on to demonstrate an evil intention continually throughout his life even to the point of becoming why do you think he became a leader in the Gnostic movement because that gave him that name and notoriety that he had wanted for so long he was a man who desired to have fame and boy there's not much more famous than a heretic people love heretics I mean just turn on your television that's all that's on there people want to hear yes they have itching ears people don't want to hear the truth people want to there's a there's a little there's a little picture online and many of you've seen it where it's got its preaching what you want to hear preaching the truth and the in the in the place where to preach what you want to hear there's lines out the door preaching the truth the guy sitting there twiddling his thumbs because the line is not there to hear the truth well it's offensive it absolutely is so having looked at this let's now turn our attention to to Romans 8 as I said if you had your place held because last week we looked at the golden chain and I said this week we were going to see the results of the golden chain and I said I wanted you to think about how one translated into the other because in the golden chain which is Romans chapter 8 verses 28 to 30 we have the golden chain Romans 8 28 to 30 then after that we have this this great statement and it's a building statement so we can call it a crescendo statement of the results of the golden chain the golden chain is whom he knew he predestined whom he predestined he called whom he called he justified whom he justified he glorified and that's number one on your handout that is salvation is secure why because it's it's chained up simple as you want to say so number one salvation is secure and we see the security in verses 29 and 30 we see our salvation is secure verse 31 we begin to see why it is secure verse 31 we see that God is on our side look with me at verse 31 what shall we say to these things what are these things what's he talking about when he says what shall we say to these things what are these things the golden chain that's right that's the direct immediate context what shall we say to these things what are these things the fact that we know that if we're in Christ we've been glorified we've been called justified glorified what shall we say to these things if God is for us who can be against us now that word if is a little tricky in the Greek because the word if oftentimes can equally be translated sense and I think that that's the better understanding even though that's not the translation here because it's not introducing a question if I say if like if I said Brian if you're a good husband you'll bring your home you bring your wife home some ice cream if you're a good husband but if I said since you're a good husband you'll bring your wife home some ice cream didn't that change it now you know you have to so the word if and since in the Greek there's sort of an interchangeability in this word and so I prefer to think of this as since because it's not introducing a question if I said if you're a good husband I'm introducing a question if I say since you're a good husband I'm not introducing a question I'm making a statement since you are and therefore I think I really do think it should be since God is for us who can be against us how do I why do I say since well because of what he just said he said we've been predestined we've been called we've been justified we've been glorified God has done five things for us that's the golden chain he's done them on our behalf that those verbs that he has done he's foreknown he's predestined he is called he's justified he's glorified therefore since he is for us he must be because he did all that stuff for us who then can be against us that doesn't say there won't be people who try to be against us keep that in mind if you are in Christ the world will be against you at some point and in some way the world will be against you but this is not saying that they can't be against us it's saying they can't be against us successfully since God is for us who can be against us successfully right you say well Christians get killed separate my head from my body you just hasten my participation in glory you cannot win that has been the great testimony of martyrs in Christian history whatever you do you can't win not said with pride but said with confidence take my head from my shoulders you can't win burn me on the pyre you can't win draw me and quarter me you can't win God is for me you can be against me but you cannot succeed when William Tyndale was being burned at the stake for translating the Bible into English his last words that we were able to record in his dying breath as the smoke overcame him and he died in that fire his last words were God open the King of England's eyes and less than a hundred years later the King of England authorized the translation of the Bible into English in 1611 you can't succeed against God's person God's people the wicked will not succeed we see a lot of wickedness in our world right now and sometimes it feels like we're being pushed back into a corner and sometimes it feels like we're gonna lose but we're not gonna lose we're not gonna lose we may have to move we may have to shift our way of doing things we may have to fight a battle but we're not gonna lose because God is for us yes now that was William that was John Wycliffe John Wycliffe is the first to translate the Bible into English but he translated the Bible into English from Latin William Tyndale was the first to translate the Bible into English from the original languages of Greek and Hebrew so that's what distinguished between Tyndale who was in the 16th century and Wycliffe who was in the 14th century yes no yeah and the great and you see they tried to burn Wycliffe's translation in the 14th century it's still available today yes sir oh he had his hand up since God is for us who can be against us yes and that's the way it would either way it would still be coming out as a statement yeah and it is it's building on the next whether we're saying if God before us who can be against us or since God is for us who can be against us both statements are pointing to the who can be against us God is for us my only point in pointing out the if and the since is we shouldn't read the if as a question mark we shouldn't read that as if a maybe because if you're God's elect he is for you that's the key if you are God's he is for you we forget that sometimes I think as reformed people we start to get a very stoic view of God we start to get somewhat of a well God is creator God is sovereign God is ruler God God is also father and one of the things I tell you and I don't mean to embarrass him I know he's here tonight so I don't want to embarrass him too bad but I knew something growing up I always knew my daddy was for me he always wanted to see me succeed he always wanted to see the best in me and get the best out of me my dad was for me there was never a doubt personally and that's the thought of this verse again love you daddy but that it asked but that's true never had to wonder if my daddy was for me now we didn't always get along we always agree but he never had my he never had a bad intention even if we disagree understand that's what God God is for me therefore I know no one's gonna be able to succeed against me think about that in view of salvation can't take it away nobody can come steal it from me I'm in my father's hand my father I'm in Christ's hand Christ in the father's hand and no one can snatch me out of their hand that is comfort right there that's joy that's comfort that there's nothing that can succeed now we're only to chapter 2 only part 2 let me get through the rest because there's four more the next one is what Christ has done to secure us so we go to what God has secured us in the golden chain God is on our side verse 31 and Christ has secured us and you have this in your notes I guess I don't have to write it but in verse 32 we see he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he not also with him graciously give us all things you see God loved us the elect the people of God he loved us so much that he was not willing to spare his son but instead of sparing his son he gave his son and by the way it says he gave him up for us all this is referring to the elect here how do we know that because he's about to say who will bring a charge against God's elect the very word elect is in the next verse so who is the us it's the context is God's elect whom he has chosen whom he foreknew whom he predestined whom he called whom he justified whom he glorified nothing can succeed against you and here's the proof God sent his son to secure all of this for you if God loved you enough to send Jesus how will he not also give you everything that is promised in him that's what it's basically saying God gave him up for us all do you think God's gonna give you the gift of Christ and then not all give you all the rest of the gifts that come with Christ you see the point somebody says well I had Jesus and now I've lost him seriously God's gonna give you the son and save you and then he's gonna hold back the rest that don't fly number five no person can bring a charge that will stand against you this is a this verses 33 and 34 is huge there is no charges that will stand no charges that will stand look what it says who shall bring any charge against God's elect let me stop right there are God's elect perfect not even a little can we have charges laid at our feet yes we can will those charges stand no they will not is what he says who will bring a charge against God's elect it is God who justifies not you that's that's important you don't justify yourself and you're not justified by what you do it is God who justifies and then he goes on to say Christ Jesus is the one who died why would he say that because that's how you justified that's how God justified you Christ died and Christ took the punishment you deserve Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that who was raised who is at the right hand of God who indeed is interceding for us not only did he die for us but he lives for us the Bible says he ever makes intercession for us he lives to make intercession for us now so not only did he die but right now if the devil stood up and he said to me Keith Foskey you're a sinner I would say yes and I'm glad because Jesus died for sinners he can't bring a charge that will stick because it's already been paid for that's like a fine that you've already had paid and somebody keeps throwing it up to you well you know you had that million dollar fine it's been paid you can't throw a fine in my face that's already been paid for you keep accumulating new fines no no that ain't the way it works when Jesus died on the cross and he said would he die for future sins he better have because all of my sins were future from the moment he died on the cross and he is indeed interceding for us number six there's seven I thought there was six there's seven number six is important because six not only can no charges be laid at our feet are we at five? oh there is six you know what it is I'm using my computer and it's got me all messed up I'm sorry number five no circumstances can separate us from the love of Christ so not only no charges but no circumstances because this is the one this is the one people often it's 35 to 37 this is the one people often go to they say well yeah nobody else can make you lose your salvation but you can nobody else can separate you from the love of God but you can I tell you what if there was any way that God was gonna convince me that that's not the truth it'd be these passages because not only did he just tell me that who shall bring any charge against me no one why because Christ died for me Christ is interceding for me so not only did he die once but he's constantly interceding for me now what does Christ do what does Christ have to do to intercede for me here's my blood you're good I mean I know it sounds a little simple but that's it it's not as if he has to make a case the case is closed the devil brings up my sin as Christ says here's my blood blood paid for sin you're done that's the intercession that's it and somebody says well what about what about in life what if this or that look what verse 35 says who shall separate us from the love of Christ notice the shift it's gone from God justifying us to Christ loving us why did Christ die for you because he loves you just think about that for a moment the reason Christ went to the cross to satisfy the wrath of the Father because he loved you and he loved you and no one can separate you from that love and he goes on to say shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword by the way all those are things that the first century church was dealing with they were dealing with persecution they were dealing with famine they were dealing with the sword they were dealing with all of those things and then he quotes an Old Testament passage which seems kinda oddly thrown in listen to this as it is written for your sake we are being killed all the day long we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered you say well why is that even brought up because that's the response of some people we're just getting killed all over Christian churches are being burned in China right now Christians are being persecuted and killed being sent to prison churches are being knocked down we're like sheep to be slaughtered and what does he say in verse 37 no in all these things you are more than conquerors through him who loved us even in persecution we're the winners why back up to verse 31 God is for us you say how can God be for us if your church is being torn down because your faith is not limited to that building how can God be for us if your body is being thrown in prison because you're not limited to this world how can your how can God be for us if the if the system around us that allows us to worship freely may one day fall around us how can God be for us because our faith is not in the system our faith is in the Savior therefore we are more than conquerors you can't beat me because I'm on the winning team and the game's over the game has been won all we're waiting for is the coach to come down out of his box so that we can throw Gatorade on him and cheer all the way into glory because it's already won you get the analogy right we're just waiting on Christ to return and what's he going to do when he returns he's going to put all of his enemies under his feet he's going to turn all the kingdoms of the world over to God that way God will be all in all and at that moment eternity will begin and it's all going to be behind us all that all these failures that we thought were failures we will see was within the plan of God because we have never once been out of his hand if we are his finally number six no enemy can rob us of what Christ has provided for us look at look at this no enemy can rob us he says I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor powers rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord people say well I think I can lose my salvation because I can separate myself from the love of God you can't read I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present could he be any more specific he's literally listing everything he's literally listing all possibilities and you say well I'm not in the list notice verse 39 nor height nor depth nor anything else sorry to yell in the microphone but you understand the anything else was in case you could come up with a something that's what everybody who believes that you can lose your salvation they want to come up with some way anything else in all creation nothing else in all creation and separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord is it any wonder why this passage has given such hope and confidence to believers down to the ages and stands today as one of the most precious precious passages for those who are going through times of despair this is it when people come to me and they're in despair I try to take them here because what is it you're facing is it death death can't separate you from the love of God is it famine is it is it loss of income is it loss of livelihood that can't separate you from the love of God is it is it some insurmountable obstacle in your life that you can't see joy on the other side of that can't separate you from the love of God either yes sir I think the the point that's being made nor angels nor rulers is the are you asking why he would include angels as something that would separate us I think in that because he's he's it's a it's a parallelism between angels and rulers I think he's the same thing there's nothing powerful enough to separate you not that an angel would even though there are fallen angels I don't think even think that's the point here unless rulers could maybe fall into the subject of fallen angels because they're they're called principalities and powers in in other passages but the point here is there's nothing powerful enough to separate you from the love of God not even an angel in heaven there's nothing that has the power because nothing can undo what God has done nothing can up in the purpose of God if we if we above all Christians who've trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ who've been born again by the Holy Spirit who are seeing the work of God in our life should above all have the confidence that our salvation is secure not in us but in him do we do we have to fight battles of doubt sometimes yes where do you go when you doubt? Reader's Digest? Google? YouTube? No, where do we go when we doubt? The Word of God.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word that's not just for salvation but when our faith struggles when our faith is tested when our faith is tried where do we go to find comfort? Our Father who has given us 66 letters explaining his love and work that has been done for us this is his love letter to us it tells us of his love for us don't ever let your reformed pedigree cause you in some way to miss out on how much God loves you because if you are his his love for you is unbreakable.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven I thank you for your word I hope Lord that tonight we have been encouraged by it but only Lord if your Holy Spirit has been among us and been the teacher will that be the truth Lord in the hours and days and weeks to come may we may we truly invest our minds and hearts into what your text here says to us and reminds us every day that if we are in Christ then God is for us and if God is for us then no one can successfully be against us.

Christ said I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail.

Lord thank you for that promise in Jesus name.

Amen.