Eternal Security

OK, take out your Bibles and turn with me tonight to two passages. We're going to 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 going to discuss Acts 8. So go over to Acts chapter 8. While we're doing this, if there's anyone 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, OK, 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 going to read verses 9 to 24. Acts 8, verses 9 to 24. This is a very familiar scenario, very familiar story, 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 going to 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 Acts, or 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 predestines us, he calls us, he justifies us, he glorifies us. And it is an 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 is 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 going to 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 an 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, 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 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 is 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. Do you ever see that where a guy will take a cup and put 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 look back at the story of Moses. Remember when Moses came in and 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 had been doing, cups and balls and pulling rabbits out of hats and all those things, making his thumb come off and all that stuff, 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. And that's when Peter condemned him. How dare you think you can buy? And you might not think much of that.

You might 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. He is. 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 gall.

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 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. OK, 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 is changed. If a person says, I believe. And their life is not changed as a result of 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 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 of 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 was kind of this was 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. And 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, I'm the devil, you know, and they try to literally, excuse the expression, 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 they, 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, 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 45 minutes, now they're going to take you to a room and say, now do you want to go to hell like those people went to hell or do you want to 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. Um, and I would say yes. Now am I going to say nobody's ever been saved by that kind of thing? I'm not. I'm not going to 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 want to say it's never been effective, 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 sin's evilness.

It's saying that we ought to repent from sin because we want to avoid the condemnation that sin brings. And, um, you know, there, there's a, there's a very real sense in which that can create false converts.

And that's all, that's my only reason for wanting to go to Acts eight tonight before we got to Romans eight. And I spent a little more time on it than I wanted to, but when we look at acts eight, 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 have seen it where it's got, it's just preaching what you want to hear, preaching the truth.

And the, in the, in the place where they're preaching what you want to hear, there's lines out the door, preaching the truth, the guy's sitting there twiddling his thumbs, because the line is not there to hear the truth.

The, 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 have your, 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, and it's, it's a, it's a building statement.

So we could 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 called, whom he justified, he glorified.

And then 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, uh, yeah, okay, I wrote it right. 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, 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, 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, uh, uh, 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'll bring your wife home some ice cream. If you're a good husband. But if I said, since you're a good home 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 even 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. And 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 opened the king of England's eyes.

And less than 100 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 going to lose, but we're not going to lose.

We're not going to 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 going to lose because God is for us. Yes. Now, 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 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 be for 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 in the sense 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 and 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's true. Never had to wonder if my daddy was for me. Now we didn't always get along. We didn't always agree. But he never had my, he never had a bad intention. Even if we disagreed. You understand?

And that's with God. God is for me. Therefore, I know no one's going to 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, or 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. There's nothing that can succeed. Now we're only to chapter, only part two. 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, 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? 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 going to give you the gift of Christ and then not 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 going to give you the son and save you and then he's going to hold back the rest? That don't fly. Number five, no person can bring a charge that will stand against you. 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. That's what he says. Who will bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Not you. 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're 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, he said, well, did 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 were 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, 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, 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 going to 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 have to do to intercede for me? Here's my blood.

You're good. I mean, I know this 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. 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 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 is 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 of 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 kind of 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 are 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?