Doing the Works of Your Father (08/31/2003)

This morning we're going to finish up our topic on the finished work of Christ with respect to our sonship, the fact that we are children of God.

And we've talked about several attributes of children of God.

First of all, a child of God plays no part in his own birth, just as a physical baby plays no part in his own birth.

His birth comes about because of the parents. Secondly, a child of God has been re -gened.

You find that in John chapter 3 verse 7 and 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 3.

He has been born from above, the Bible teaches, and that word born is the word we use for the word gene in our language.

So he has been re -gened with the genes of God, the genetic code of God, spiritually.

And 2 Peter 1 verse 3 says the child of God has been given the very nature of God.

It is a nature that has a propensity to do good works in the

Lord. And then thirdly, last time we began this topic, we'll finish this this morning, is that a child of God dwells in his father's house.

He dwells in the house of the father. And I want to pick it up right there and we'll continue through this study at that point.

We looked at Psalm 23 last time, turned to Psalm 23. Psalm 23 introduces this idea of dwelling in the house of the

Lord forever. In a moment, we're going to turn to Psalm chapter 27 and see that it picks up this idea of the house of the

Lord and brings it to us now in time and space while we're still alive on this earth, in this life, we are dwelling in his house.

Psalm 23, 1, I'm sorry, let's go down to Psalm 23, 5, thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.

Thou anointest my head with oil, that's symbolic of the indwelling of the

Holy Spirit. My cup runneth over, that's symbolic of the joy. And verse 3 says, he restoreth my soul, he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness.

Now, you might ask the question, why does he lead us in the paths of righteousness? And the answer is given, for his name's sake.

It is not primarily for our sake. It is primarily for his name's sake.

And so we see many of the reasons of my 1 ,000 reasons you cannot lose your salvation are listed throughout these passages.

But God leads us into righteousness for his name's sake.

That's very important to understand that God is not, cannot and will not allow his name to be damaged in any way, certainly not by any of his children.

Therefore, he leads us in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. And then verse 6, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me.

Do you note the word surely? Does that carry any connotation of maybe?

Or does it say, well, goodness and mercy will follow me unless I lose my salvation. Or does it say, goodness and mercy will follow me unless I disobey?

It doesn't say any of that. It says, surely goodness and mercy. Why is it sure to the psalmist?

Because the psalmist understands the reason why we are led in the paths of righteousness. It's for God's name's sake.

Therefore, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

Notice it doesn't say I will do acts of goodness. It says

God's goodness and mercy will be right behind me, will be right with me all the days of my life.

So where does it come from within myself or from God? His goodness and his mercy follows me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the

Lord forever. Well, we know that we will. But what about now?

Well, turn to Psalm 27 and verse four. While you're turning there,

I'm going to review a verse that we studied last Sunday morning, Ephesians 2 5. Even when we were dead in sins, he hath quickened us together with Christ.

By grace, you are saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places.

In Jesus Christ, that's present tense. That means that's something that's happening in our life, in our lives right now, as we sit here on a physical pew in a physical world.

Our hearts and minds can be just as literally seated in the heavenlies in Christ, in the real heaven at the throne of God, where the angels and the saints of old are.

But we go to Psalm 27 4 and we see that this dwelling in the house of the Lord does apply to us now.

We can see it clearly from Ephesians 2 5 and 6 that we can dwell in his house in the heavenlies now.

Spiritually, our minds can be there. Our minds can be in Christ in the heavenlies, just as Christ can be in us in bodily form here in this world and carry out

God's work in the physical. Psalm 27 4 says, one thing have

I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the

Lord all the days of my life. Now you see, the psalmist is on the earth.

He's not in heaven yet, but he says, I seek to dwell in his house while I am here.

And this is a great key to why David was so different than most from most

Old Testament saints. He knew somehow this principle in Ephesians 2 5 and 6 that was dim to most of the

Old Testament saints. It was clear to David that he could have a relationship with God in the heavenlies even while he walked on this earth and he practiced it.

And the psalms are merely songs of love that David wrote to God. And he wrote those songs while he was in the presence of God in the heavenlies, but his body was on the earth.

Think about that for a moment. And that's why David says,

I seek to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days, you could say every day of my life because he wanted to behold the beauty of the

Lord. And that is where you behold it. Not the beauty that the

Lord created. You can see some of that around us here, even after the curse, even though the world has fallen into the curse that we have a few cucklebirds and stickers and thorns on the roses.

But we do have roses. But this isn't talking about his creation.

This is talking about beholding the very beauty of the face of the

Lord. And inquire in his temple, that means the temple in the heavenlies where God is, and so David practiced beholding the face of the

Lord by faith. By transporting his heart and his mind and his spirit into the heavenlies where the

Lord is. Even in the Old Testament, he was able to practice this.

He was able, therefore, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to commune with God where God is.

The baby Christian will always ask God to come where he is. He'll say,

Lord Jesus, follow me wherever I go. And that's sweet and that's fine because the

Lord Jesus can and does do that. Not only are we seated with him in the heavenlies, he dwells with us here in our hearts.

But the more mature Christian, as he grows, ceases to ask Jesus to follow me everywhere

I go. And says, may I follow you as your apostles did. May I be where you are.

And Jesus is seated in the heavenlies. And the more mature Christian seeks, as David did in this psalm, to seek the beauty of the

Lord's face in the heavenlies right now. By faith, by prayer, by meditation, by being in the word of God.

Verse five in Psalm 27 says this. For in the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion.

In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me. He shall set me upon a rock.

And now shall mine head be lifted up above my enemies round about me. Therefore, will

I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy. I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the

Lord. Just as in Psalm 23, where he set a table before the enemies, in the presence of the enemies.

God communed with his child and gave protection and peace, even while surrounded by enemies.

This psalm concurs with that, that in this place where David is seated in the heavenlies, looking at the beauty of God's face spiritually, he realizes that while he is there, he is above his enemies, who are still planted firmly on the earth and can't get beyond that.

The enemies of God are earthy. The enemies of God are natural. They're physical.

They're earthy. They're of this world. They cannot see beyond it. Therefore, we can be above our enemies, as long as we dwell in the heavenlies with God.

You could be faced with torture. You could be faced with persecution, even unto death, and be above the very enemy that is attacking your body.

History is full of this. Fox's Book of Martyrs is full of testimonies of saints who, even at the fiery stake, were singing praises to God and witnessing to those who lit the fire.

Not only does protection from the enemy come from this, but great joy. I will sing.

I will have sacrifices of joy and sing praises to the Lord. My head is above my enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, and joy is the result.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice. Have mercy also upon me and answer me.

Another result of realizing that we can dwell in the heavenlies in Christ is answered prayer.

Because the key to answered prayer is praying in God's will, and the key to knowing God's will is staring in God's face by faith, is dwelling in the heavenlies with God in Christ, and the

Holy Spirit being able to allow you to sense the very mind and heart of God on a particular issue, and then you pray in parallel with that.

You vibrate in the same direction. You're in line with God. That type of answered prayer is a result of realizing that you can be seated in the heavenlies in Christ even now.

And in verse 8 says, When thou said, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto you and to thee,

Thy face, Lord, will I seek. Another result of realizing that we can dwell in the heavenlies in Christ is knowing

God. I don't mean knowing all about God or knowing all of God, but I mean having a personal relationship with a living personal

God, knowing God. Those who dwell in that place from time to time in this life, you know, if you are a child of God, it's only natural that you should dwell in his house, and his house is in the heavenlies, and those who dwell with him know

God. When God says to you, Seek my face, your heart responds and says,

My heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. And in verse 9,

Hide not thy face far from me, put not thy servant away in anger, thou hast been my help.

Leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. When my father and my mother forsake me, then the

Lord will take me up. When we dwell with the Lord, we have a nearness, a closeness to the only one in existence that can be trusted 100 % of the time, even more than our very parents.

God uses that as an illustration. He says, Yea, even when your parents leave you, I will not.

There's a verse in the scriptures where he says, Will your very mother forsake you?

And God says, Yea, though she may, I will not, for I have carved you in the palm of my hand.

So nearness to the only one in existence that can be trusted 100 % of the time is a result of us dwelling in the heavenlies.

So all of this speaks of us dwelling in the house of the Lord in time, while we're still here on the earth.

But what about dwelling in the house of the Lord for all eternity? Jesus gives us some word about that in John 14 in verse 1.

Let not your heart be troubled. Do you believe in God? Believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions.

If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

There is a literal heaven and a literal place where a literal physical you will dwell forever.

Not just your spirit. God is very clear in 1 Corinthians that your spirit will not just float around naked.

It will be clothed upon by a tabernacle not made with hands.

That is a heavenly body that God himself molds for you to dwell in until the rapture, at which time your physical body is then brought up and changed in the air and you're placed back in that place.

But there will never be a time when you're not with a body in physical form in a physical place.

And Jesus speaks of this place. In fact, for 2 ,000 years now, he's been preparing it. So if it took him six days to prepare what you see now, imagine what you're going to see someday.

2 ,000 years of preparation. I go to prepare a place for you.

Has your name on it. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself.

That where I am, there you may be also. He's not coming back till your place is finished.

All the finished work is done in that place. So we see then that there are several attributes to being a child of God.

First of all, a child of God plays no part in his own birth. His birth is a gift from the parents.

Our spiritual birth is a gift from God. Secondly, we are re -gene.

The child has the genes of the parents. And spiritually, we have the genes of the father.

We have the nature of God. All of these are reasons why we could not lose our salvation.

Because we cannot do that which we would not. And if we have a nature to follow

God, then we would not go away from him. It's a matter of nature.

And thirdly, a child of God dwells in the house of God. Now let's look at a fourth thing that's natural for a child of God.

It is natural for a child to do the works of his father. Jesus grew up in his adopted father's house and probably became a little carpenter when he was a young man.

And many examples of that in life. But spiritually, it is a truth that a child of God will do the works of his father.

We talked about that somewhat in Sunday school this morning. But look at John 3, verse 21.

And now we're back into John 3, which is where we get the verses for this study. We diverged a little bit and went into the

Psalms this morning. But we're going back to John 3 now. And we looked at John 3, verses 8 through 10 to give us our first point.

The fact that the child plays no part in his own birth. We looked at John 3, verse 7 to see the fact that we are re -gened.

You have to go to the Greek language to see that, but it's there. And then we went to John 3, verses 12 and 13 to talk about dwelling in the house of the

Lord. And now we're going to John 3, verse 21 to talk about doing the works of the father.

Now look at this. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God.

Now I want to give you a literal rendering of that verse in the Greek language. You look at John 3, verse 21.

I'm going to read it to you like it reads in the Greek. But he that practices the truth comes to the light that his works may be manifested that in God they have been wrought.

In God they have been wrought. The works will be there because they are wrought in God.

In other words, they are worked while we are in Christ. While we are existing in him in that unity, the works come forth and they have to come forth because we are connected to him.

Just as surely as he is the root, we will bear the fruit. Now when it says he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be manifest.

This word manifest comes from the Greek word phaneros which means shining.

Think about that. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be shining forth in this world.

Literally shining forth to the world that they are wrought in God.

The word wrought is the Greek word ergon which our English word erg comes from.

It is a measure of work and it shows very clearly that it is God that turns on the energy in our lives to cause us to do good works.

The works stem from God. They come from God and they appear in our lives having come from God.

It is found in the perfect tense by the way when it says that these good works are wrought in God.

Let me explain to you a little bit about what the perfect tense is. In the Greek it corresponds pretty well with the

English perfect tense. But it describes an action, now listen to this, which is viewed as having been completed in the past once and for all, not needing to ever be repeated.

Now when God says that these works are wrought in us in the past perfect tense, it means it's already been done.

God has already ordained that these works are going to happen in the life of a true, genuine believer.

That's why your question in Sunday school, can there be faith without works? The answer was no. Even the thief on the cross had some works, though he couldn't get down from the cross.

He did speak words that only a saved person could speak.

Only a person of faith could say, remember me when you're in paradise.

And so the works are wrought in God. It is in the perfect tense, meaning that God has set these works in motion in times past already, never to be done again.

He does not have to set it in motion again. It's done once and for all. It's a fact, it's going to happen. And it's also in the passive tense, which means it's

God that does it. It is God that does these works in us. So if one who believes you could lose your salvation, believes that you lose it because you cease to do the works of God, then he's turned himself in a circle.

Because the Bible teaches it's God that does the works of God in us. Therefore, he would have to then say,

God has cast you out because God stopped doing the works. And that defies the grammar because it's in the perfect tense, which says

God completed it in the past, once and for all, never to be done again. He can't stop it.

And the mood is the participle, which gives it this idea, the works having been by God in us, wrought by God in us, having been, and we would add the word already if we read that in English, when you put the perfect tense, the works having already been wrought of God in us before we were even born.

It was set in motion that when we would have the day of salvation in earth time, where we looked up and we knew we were saved for the first time, we said,

Lord, what would you have us to do? The word do was there. The word do is an action word.

It is a word that comes forth from the heart of faith, from that changed nature that just happened instantaneously.

And all of a sudden you were a lost man who wanted to do deeds of evil and God regened you and gave you his genes and his nature.

And you look up and you say, I want to do your things. What do I do first? What do I do next?

What do I do next? And all of that was wrought in eternity past before you were ever born. You had no choice in it.

Now, I understand we can get in the flesh and the old man can gain control of us for a season and we might do a sin, but that's not where we walk.

We walk in good works. The habitual, continual, prevalent practice of a child of God is that he does the works of his father because he's got the nature of his father.

That's what he wants to do. Isn't it true we normally do what we want to do? Well, if God changes our wanter and makes us want to do his works, is that not what we will do?

And at the same time, we do have a choice. It's just simply we choose to do what we want to do and God's made us where our heart wants to follow him.

God says, seek my face. Our heart says, thy face will I seek. It's not a matter of doing that to earn salvation or to keep it.

It's a matter of nature. Preaching at the choir here this morning, but these tapes are going to go out to some people that don't understand this yet.

And my prayer is that they will see very clearly that our heart is not to debate with them.

But our heart is that they might see the truth of the word of God as God has revealed it from God's heart.

It hurts the Lord's heart to think that there are people who call themselves

Christians who don't trust him. When he says that the steps of a good man are ordered by the

Lord, and though he may fall, yes, we may get in the flesh for a season. We shall not be utterly cast down.

That's a promise of God in the Old Testament. For the hand of the Lord upholdeth him.

The person who says he can lose his salvation does not trust that hand, the hand of the

Lord. And it hurts God's heart. The Holy Spirit can be grieved by these things. And he is grieved by the thought that a child of God, a born again one could lose his salvation.

That does not come from heaven. That is a doctrine that comes from hell. It is a doctrine of demons as the

Apostle Paul says they exist. Well, let's go to Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8.

We're talking about that a child of God will do the works of his father. Let's take a look at this famous verse.

And we're really, everybody focuses in on verses 8 and 9. But we're going to look at verse 10 this morning.

And while you're turning there, I'm going to read Philippians 2, 13.

It says, for it is God which worketh in you both to do and to will.

I should say to will and to do his good pleasure. I got off without my reading glasses this morning.

It says, for God, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do his good pleasure.

Now, what does that mean in plain English? For it is God that works in you both to make you want to do his good pleasure and to make you do his good pleasure.

You see there, you see the nature of God. This idea that he works in you both to will.

That means he works in you to cause you to want to do what he wants to do. That's your nature.

He's appealing to your new nature. He's working with that new nature causing you to want to do good works for God.

And then it says, and he causes you to do the good works of God. Now, let's look at Ephesians 2, 8.

For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God.

You play no role in it. God did it all. Jesus on the cross, when he died, did the work.

When he gave his blood, you don't have to give your blood. When he gave his blood for your salvation and presented it in the throne of heaven, it propitiated

God. That means God the father was satisfied that the sin debt was paid in full.

You add nothing to it. If you add nothing to it, then it's logical to me that you can't subtract from it enough to lose it.

You didn't do anything to get it. If you think you did something to get it, then you're not saved yet.

So you can't lose it. You can't lose what you don't have. If you think you add to your salvation, you have no salvation.

Therefore, you can't lose your salvation because you never had it. You're relying on the arm of flesh, on your own smart mind, or your own good looks, or your characteristics, or some good thing that you think you're doing to help

God keep you saved. Then yes, I would agree. You've lost your salvation because you never had it.

You really didn't lose it. You can't lose what you didn't have. Let me say this. If you have received the

Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, then you look to him and you see what he did on that cross.

And you see that when he said it is finished, he meant it. He had finished all the work required to get his saints to heaven.

So yes, it's by grace. Grace means undeserved, unearned.

It means you didn't do one bit of work, either in your mind or in your works.

You didn't do one bit of work to get it. And it's through faith. God, because of his grace, has given you the gift of faith.

It is not of yourselves. You didn't work up the faith and you can't work up the good works. It's not of yourselves.

If you can't work up the faith of the good works, then you couldn't lose that or stop doing it either.

Because it's not coming from you, it's coming from God. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

But verse 10 speaks about works in the life of a true born again one. Just like the book of James does.

Ephesians 2 10 says, for we are his workmanship. Now it's pointing to God, not us.

It's pointing to God, the source of our salvation and of the good works that come from it.

We are his workmanship. We are created in Christ Jesus to do good works, it says.

Unto good works, the very purpose of this creation, the new creation, the new nature that God gives you in 2

Peter. The very nature that he gives you, the purpose of it is unto good works.

Now listen to this. Which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Now I want to discuss that just for a moment. I don't want to just leave it there. First of all, in Ephesians 2 10, the word before ordained in the

Greek language is a word that means to prepare before, to prepare before.

These works were prepared for your life before you were born, before you were saved as far as earth time goes.

And I want you to note that where it says that we should walk in them, the word should is not in the

Greek language. It is not in the verse. Actually, there is one

Greek word there, not two, but one Greek word. Which means to walk or make progress.

So the verse says, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto or for the purpose of good works, which

God hath before prepared that we walk in them.

The word, the idea of should is not there. The idea of, well, maybe we should, but we might not, is not in this verse.

Now I will agree that the Greek word to walk or to make progress is in the subjective mood, but the subjective mood does not mean the possibility of not doing it.

It simply points to the potentiality that is born at the moment of your spiritual birth.

In other words, you could think of the verse this way, if you wanted a very literal Greek interpretation of Ephesians 2 .10.

For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus, which

God hath before ordained that we should be able to walk in them.

He has before ordained that we should be able for the first time in our life to walk in good works.

You see, before you're born into God's family, you can't do any good works. You're blind to God.

You're deaf to his word. You're dead unto God. You can't do anything good.

In the flesh dwelleth no good thing, Paul says. Anything that you do in the flesh is enmity against God, Paul says in Romans chapter eight.

You can't do anything good. And the moment you are born spiritually and you look up for the first time, you say,

Lord, what would you have me to do? The potentiality for good works was born the moment you were saved in time.

But the truth is, it goes all the way back to before time when God ordained that it would be so.

Remember, God ordained it and it's done never to be done again. Your life was formed in God, your life, your spiritual life.

There was a time when God knew you would be saved and God has seen all the spiritual works you'll do in your life.

They've all already been prepared by him before you got to them. So there is no chance for you not to do them.

Now, I'm looking at it from God's viewpoint, as the Bible does in these verses.

From the human viewpoint, obviously you can sin. You can get in the flesh and the old man may lead you down a road you're not supposed to go from the point of view of the revealed word of God.

But guess what? God even uses that to mold you into being who you're going to be the day you meet him.

And he brings you back to himself and he says, seek my face and what does your nature do?

Let's say you're off over here in the flesh and you did something wrong.

And in your heart, you weren't communing with God. And all of a sudden, God initiates this because it's impossible for you to.

And he says, seek my face. What does the Bible say your nature will do immediately?

You have a new nature. What will it do? Thy face, Lord, will I seek. And now where are you?

You're right back in fellowship with the Lord. And this is all wrought by God and in God before the foundation of the world.

Now, we've thought many times about our salvation, at least in this church, we think a lot about the fact that our salvation,

Ephesians chapter one says was ordained before the foundation of the world. But today we're seeing that the works are ordained as well.

Not just the salvation experience, but the works, the good works that we are going to do for God.

God has already seen them. God has sent them forth to be done and chosen you to do that particular work.

And you will not fail. Now you'll fail in your viewpoint when you make mistakes and sin.

But from God's viewpoint, all of that was to make you who you are to complete the work he sent you to do.

God cannot fail, nor can we cause him to fail. And if that be true, and if we were ordained in him before the foundation of the world, and he knew us with love as his own before the foundation of the world, and he has a mansion built for us already with our name on it and an inheritance for us, and we are kept by God.

And it's his hand that keeps us from falling. Then how can we lose it? It's totally nonsensical when held up against the whole word of God.

So if we say that, well, we lose it by stopping doing the works. Then I say,

God says in Ephesians 2 10 and many other verses, the works already ordained that you're going to do them. And in time, if you want to look at it from man's viewpoint,

God's given you his nature. You want to do his work. Therefore, you will always gravitate back toward it.

I don't care if you move away from it. You will be drawn back toward it as a magnet draws the metal.

God is drawing this to himself by the very nature. It's as if God is the magnet.

And the moment you got saved, he put a big plate of metal in your heart where it just sucks you right towards that magnet.

You may pull away from it for a moment and it brings you back. And that's the way

God works in our lives. Philippians 1 3 says,

I thank God upon every remembrance of you, Paul speaking to his converts, always in every prayer of mine for you, all making request with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day, from the day you got saved until now, being confident of this very thing.

Paul says, I'm confident of this very thing that he which began a work in you, who is that?

As God will perform it, who is that? Who is it performing the continual work?

That's God. Until the day of Jesus Christ wins that. That's when he comes.

So I'm going to tell you, at least you can't lose your salvation until he gets here. Now, if you want to lose it, the moment you meet him face to face, we'll see.

But you can't lose it until he gets here. I'm being facetious. You have a nature that God's given you for all eternity that never wants to be away from God.

You can't lose it now or then. But this scripture verse in Philippians 1 3 promises you, you can't lose it till you meet

Jesus. And Paul, the apostle says, I'm confident of this. He didn't say, hey, this is a doctrine

I kind of wonder about. He says, I've got this one down. You're not changing my mind on this one.

I don't think too many people change Paul's mind on anything to you. He was somewhat dogmatic on his beliefs, confident of this very thing that God will finish this.

Even as it is fit for me to think this of you. Now he's going to tell you why he thinks this of his converts.

He says, because I have you in my heart and as much as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of my grace.

He has seen God in their life. He has seen God's grace upon them.

And he's confident that God will complete the work that God himself began. First Thessalonians 5, 23, and the very

God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray, God, this was the prayer of the apostle

Paul for his converts. I pray, God, that your whole spirit, soul and body.

Now, how much of you is left if we include those three things? Your spirit, your soul, your body, what's left?

Nothing. I pray, God, that your whole spirit, your soul and your body be preserved.

What does preserved mean, ladies? You make preserves. What does that mean? You put it in that can where nothing can cause it to rot.

No unclean thing can get to it. He says, I pray your whole body, soul and spirit will be preserved blameless.

There's another word added to it. What does blameless mean? Well, isn't it blame that would cause you to lose your salvation?

If you could lose it, you would have to do something. I guess I hadn't figured out because I don't think that way. But those who believe you can lose it apparently think you could stop doing good works or do something terrible and then you would have blame on your life and therefore go to hell.

But this verse says that you will be blameless. Blameless unto the coming of the

Lord Jesus Christ. Once again, it takes you right up to his coming. You're safe up until the moment he comes.

Faithful is he that called you. Who's that? God who also will do it.

What does that mean? Who's that? God will do it.

Doesn't say God might do it and doesn't say I help him do it. It says God will.

He says, I pray that God will preserve blameless your whole soul, body and spirit.

I got it in the wrong order. But then he comes back and says. The one who called you will do it.

That's the word of God, ladies and gentlemen. So I'd like to close with this thought, though.

If you look at a couple of verses, there are others. But if you look at Colossians chapter one, verse twenty one and Hebrews chapter three, verse six.

You'll find a word if and that word if bothers some Baptists because they're afraid that our

Church of Christ friends or Pentecostal friends will say, well, there's an if there.

But my friends, you have to take the if in verse Colossians one, twenty three and Hebrews three, six, and you have to look at that word if in the light of the whole

Bible, which includes all the verses we've just looked at it. These verses don't stand alone.

They all have to be true and go together. And so look what it says in Colossians one, twenty one and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind.

By wicked works, yet now has he reconciled. So that's past tense.

He's already reconciled you to God because of the finished work of Christ on the cross in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight.

If you continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard.

Now, let me ask you this. Does that then bring in the possibility that you could lose your salvation?

That's what our friends say, and they're sincere in it. We do not condemn their sincerity.

But in the light of all the other scriptures we've looked at, I would have to ask this question if it's true that when

God saved you, he gave you his nature and he put a huge plate of metal in your life and he's the magnet.

And if you did move away, it would draw you right back to him. Then how could verse twenty three apply to you at all?

So apparently it's applying to someone else in the congregation that Paul was speaking to the day he made this statement.

Someone who claimed to be a Christian and who was in the crowd, just like in church today, we have three kinds of people.

We got saved sheep. We may have lost sheep and we have lost goats.

We have, if you want to put it in another analogy, wheat and we have tares. They look the same.

So as I speak to you as a congregation of people saying I'm a Christian, a congregation of people who claim to be

Christians, I'm aware that you claim that. But there may be saved sheep, lost sheep and lost goats in this room this morning.

So I'm going to give my message to all three of those types. And Paul did that every time he spoke.

Why is that? Because God gives a fair warning to everyone, every human that's ever been born.

He gives them the gospel and he gives them the result if you don't receive the gospel. And that's why the word if is there.

The only sense you can make out of it when you understand from all the scriptures we've looked at in this entire series, you cannot lose your salvation because you've had it from the foundation of the world from before that.

And not only that, but the good works you do come from before there and they all come from God and they are wrought by God in your life.

And Paul says he that begins a work in you, he's confident will finish it. All these other verses you can't do away with those verses.

So what do you do with this? If you understand verse 23 is spoken to those in the room who are not saved yet, who think they are.

They are not saved, but they're claiming to be a Christian. And Paul simply says to them, look, he says that Jesus has done all of this for you in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight.

That's to those of you who are saved sheep. If you continue in the faith, that's to those of you who are claiming to be saved and you're not saved yet.

Or you might even claim to be saved and you're a goat, you're never going to be saved. He's saying, well, look, you know, these things be true.

If we look out here in another five years and you're still walking with the Lord, which is a fact that is true.

That does not imply that a true born again child could ever stop walking with the Lord. What it tells is the false professor.

It says, hey, if you're real, you'll still be walking with him. Why? Because he's the magnet. And if you're real, you've been given his nature and it's drawn towards him.

If you're real, if you continue to be drawn to the faith, then

Paul says, then you have an unblameable inheritance in heaven. You're unblameable and so forth.

That is a fact. Paul has not contradicted all the hundreds of other verses we looked at.

Hadn't contradicted one of the thousand verses that I would use to prove you can't lose your salvation. But if all you took was this one little verse and you wanted to prove you could lose your salvation, then you pull it out of context and you pull it out of the whole of the

Bible and you misuse it. Or someone before you did that and you believe them, or your mama did that and told you that so you believe it.

And that's how these false doctrines arise. But the word of God is so clear.

Well, what about this last thought? You say, well, I've seen someone who came down and got saved and then lost their salvation, went right back into the bars, went back to drinking and womanizing and all that.

How do you explain that? Well, Jesus explained that 2000 years ago. So I don't have to explain that.

Luke chapter eight, verse 12. We'll just review it. Those by the wayside are they that hear then come at the devil and take the way the word out of their hearts lest they should believe and be saved.

They on the rock are they which when they hear receive the word with joy. So your eye saw someone receive the word with joy and these have no root.

Your eye can't see the root. That's faith, which attaches the person to Jesus Christ, who is the root and causes the new nature to come about.

You can't see that, but Jesus is telling us in verse 13, this person does not have the root.

And there they have no root, which for a while believe and in time of temptation, they fall away.

So Jesus teaches us very clearly. There are two kinds of belief, a kind of fleshly belief that a false professor brings up.

And you know what? That's why the if is there. Paul says, if you continue because he knows they can't. He knows they can't continue.

Jesus taught him that when he was out there three years with the Lord in the desert. Jesus taught

Paul, hey, they can't continue. The ones that have my nature will continue, but the false professors can't continue.

So Hebrews chapter 10, verse 38 and 39 shows both kinds of quote believers.

The believer who does it in the flesh for religious reasons and who does, in fact, fall away from the things of God because he never had the root.

He never was born again. And then it shows those who have Jesus and look what it says about them.

Hebrews 10, 38. Now, the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, utter annihilation, hell.

But we are of them that believe unto the saving of the soul.

And so I pray that you'll take full account of the whole word of God.

That you'll interpret every scripture in the light of the whole Bible. That you will look at what

God has said about himself. What Jesus has said about God.

What the apostle Paul has said about Jesus. And how Paul is confident that the hand of the

Lord will keep you for all eternity. And interpret all the scriptures in the light of the whole word of God.

And I think you'll rest in the comfort that the child of God will remain in the house of his father.

Let's stand and have prayer together. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for how clear it is.

We thank you for the fact that if you lead us to study.

And we study filled with the Holy Spirit. That you will put the whole together as a whole.

That you will keep us from error. You will keep us from focusing on one little verse or passage to the exclusion of the whole

Bible. And you'll keep us straight. We pray that for ourselves and for our children as they grow up in a day of many winds of doctrine.

Lord, we thank you for our salvation. We thank you that our salvation is secure.

And Lord, we pray that you would go with us into our time of fellowship. Bless the meal we're about to have together and the fellowship.