Can a Christian Lose His Salvation?

Well, let me have you guys turn in your Bibles to Galatians 5. For our time of study in the word, this morning, Galatians chapter 5. last week, I, I made a tentative promise, to you that we would cover a certain topic and we're actually going to, cover that topic, today. And the title of the message this morning is, can a Christian lose his salvation?

Can a Christian lose his salvation? about 5 years ago, I was leaving the office downstairs on a Wednesday evening, probably around 9 o'clock. It was dark out, and I ran into someone in the parking lot, so I'd been carrying my computer bag with my laptop in it and my Bible to the car, but when I ran into this person, I set my laptop computer in the computer bag on the trunk of my car, and I set my Bible on the top of my computer bag, and I engaged in a brief conversation with this individual.

When I was done with that conversation, I bid him farewell, and then I promptly got in my car.

And began to drive away oblivious to the fact that my computer was on the trunk of my car and my Bible was there and I drove out of the parking lot and went up to the light there at Linden Street in Iowa. I turned right on Iowa. I drove down Iowa Avenue and got to university, turned left on University and then took University to the on-ramp of the 60 freeway. And I got on the on-ramp, and as I always do, I began to pick up speed and I got onto the 60 freeway going 55-60 miles an hour and I had been on the freeway for about 1 mile.

Before a thought occurred to me, and that was, did I remember to bring some paperwork with me that I had been working on, and I would have stuck it in my Bible. So while I'm driving, I reached behind me where I would have normally put my Bible and my computer and as I feel around on the seat behind me, there's nothing there. Instantly I know, I remember what had happened and I was seized with panic and regret and just, just chastising myself for my stupidity and it was dark out, so I couldn't see whether anything was still on the trunk.

It felt ridiculous to even look because certainly nothing would be there.

So I pull off the freeway up close to Century. And get in the emergency lane, pull off as far as I can. I get out of my car and come around to the back of my car, and to my great surprise and relief, my computer was still sitting on the back of my car. My Bible, however, was gone, and so I came back to the church.

I retraced my steps and I ended up finding my Bible on Iowa right in front of the student housing there. It was open to Isaiah 33 and A car had run over it right on that, that page, but I was able to retrieve it and straighten out the pages. It is this Bible. I've been using it ever since, and I was very grateful that night to have not lost my computer and to have not lost my Bible.

My computer was completely undamaged by the adventure, but my Bible was, but it was not utterly lost. I have lost many things in my life, as you may have due to absentmindedness, stupidity, lack of conscientiousness. I spend a good amount of my time to this day looking for things that I have misplaced or or lost due to absentmindedness. There have been times in my life where, due to a lack of appropriate conscientiousness, I have allowed something of mine to be stolen.

One time a car to be stolen. I had not locked the doors of the car. It was at church. And it got stolen from church because I had not locked it, and I've had stuff at times stolen out of my vehicle for due to my lack of conscientiousness in locking my car.

I've learned some things along the way, but I am sure that even from now until the day I die, I'm going to lose many more things. One thing I don't ever want to lose. Is my salvation. I can lose whatever else, but I don't want to lose my salvation, and I am absentminded enough and careless enough at times to actually consider that a serious question.

for me, a guy who is prone to lose many things, if I came into a service and the topic was, can a Christian lose his salvation, I am instantly hooked. I'm very interested in what that speaker has to say. I'm very interested in what God has to say on this subject of can a believer lose his salvation. And so we're going to address that today.

And I hope this is a question that is relevant to you. And of importance to you. We were prompted to ask this question last week as we came to Galatians 5 verse 2 and following, where Paul delivered a warning. He's speaking to obviously Christian people who were in sight of the true gospel, but they were right on the edge.

They were moving away from the gospel and about to embrace a false gospel. They were about to apostasize from the true gospel to a false gospel. And Paul says in verse 2, I say to you that if you receive circumcision in order to be saved, because that was a part of the other gospel that they were about to buy into, if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit. To you, and I testify again to everyone who received circumcision that he is under obligation to keep the whole law.

You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace. Now, when you honestly look at the warning there, Paul says, If you step away from the true gospel and embrace this false gospel, then basically Christ is of no saving benefit to you. You sever yourself from Christ. You've fallen from grace.

You're obviously seeking to be justified by the law. You've embraced a different gospel, and basically you're lost. Now when you look at a passage like that at face value, it raises the logical question, does a passage like this indicate that a believer can lose his salvation? So we're going to answer that question today, and I'm going to answer it by giving you three truths that serve as an answer to the question, but these truths also will set us up to really answer this question in a resounding way by the end of the message.

Now, before we get into those truths, I have 4 requests that I would like to make of you. Number 1, listen carefully. All right. I am completely willing to be held accountable for what I do say in this message, but I don't want to be held to account for something that I did not say but which you think I said because you weren't listening carefully.

Listen carefully. If you're not, you may not hear something that is said, which would be unfortunate, or you may hear something that was not said because you weren't listening carefully. I also want to encourage you guys to listen to this message the entire way through. There may be a point in this message that you really don't like.

And it, it, it just makes you feel very uncomfortable, maybe even a little upset inside. And you may even begin to worry like, oh, where is Milton heading with this? I don't like this. And then you end up tuning me out.

Just listen to the message the whole way through. Trust me, we're going to end up in a very happy place. OK?. For a third request is on this subject and any other subject, never be content with being merely biblical, but always seek to be thoroughly biblical.

There are some people who their doctrine of eternal security is John 10, no one can snatch them out of my hand. That's all I need to know. Lord, don't say anything more about this subject. That's my doctrine.

And yes, they're being biblical, but are they listening to everything God says on this subject? So don't be content to be merely biblical to just have a proof text or two, but seek to be thoroughly biblical. I, growing up, I was taught the doctrine of eternal security, and they, I was always pointed to passages that just very strongly affirmed that. But then there were problem passages, passages that you winced when you came to, and whenever teachers would teach on it, they would just say, Well, we know this can't mean this because John 10 says this, and they never would really honestly linger over some of these other problem passages.

and what I felt frustrated by, as a late teen when I was sitting in a, in a theology class and we were going through the book of Hebrews, for example, was like, man, I wish I had an understanding of this subject to where there were no problem passages, to where Whatever theology I had on this subject, every passage just affirmed that. And so I knew that even though I'm being taught biblical doctrine, I don't think my understanding of it is thoroughly biblical. And so I've been on that journey ever since.

And by the way, I'm not done.

I don't speak to you this morning as someone who's arrived. As I study the scripture one verse at a time, every time I come to a verse, it's like, God, show me what you want to show me through the text of Scripture, and I'll try to listen through the help of your Spirit and let the chips fall where they may. And if it enriches something I've already believed, then great. If it shatters something I've believed all along, then that's fine.

I don't care. I just want to follow what you say to me through your word. So I want to give you guys that encouragement. And then the fourth request is to encourage you guys to get comfortable with the idea that there are antinomies in biblical theology.

Antinomies in biblical theology. Now that's a big word there. You might say, what are antinomies? Isn't that something you call terminex for?

Actually, no. and antinomy is when two biblical truths are equally affirmed in scripture, but they seem incompatible with one another on the surface. And we actually find antinomies everywhere. And, and those seeming contradictions don't mean, well, the Bible must not be true.

What it proves is the Bible must have come from God, whose mind is bigger than our mind. An antinomy occurs when two truths are equally affirmed in Scripture, but on the surface those truths don't seem very compatible with one another. For example, when it comes to the person of Christ, the Bible affirms that Jesus was 100% God, right? The Bible also affirms that he was 100% man.

Now, are those truths logically compatible with one another? No. In fact, there were Christians in the early centuries that really struggled to understand this and various heresies developed. Some said, well, he was 50% God and 50% man wrapped up in one person.

Some said he was fully God, but he was not really man. He just appeared to be a man. He was a phantom. Others said no, he wasn't God, but he was fully man.

And others said, no, he was God and man. That's what the Bible teaches. But he was 50% God and 50% man. There was a part of him that was divine, and there was a part of him that was not divine, but was human.

You see, they made every logical mistake in the book, until they finally just came to terms with that and said, what, Jesus is the bankruptcy of human logic. And we're going to embrace these truths in Scripture. He was 100% God, 100% man, and though in our finite pea-sized human brains that's hard to wrap our minds around, we will affirm these because they're taught in Scripture. We find this in a bunch of other areas, and I want you to know that on this subject that we're looking at today, there is an antinomy.

So I am. Bring an antinomy alert to you guys. Truth number 1. I'm going to give you 3 truths.

Truth number 1 and truth number 2, create an antinomy. All right. They seem logically incompatible with one another, but truth number 3 will give us perspective on that and provide some degree of resolution to that tension that might seem to exist between truth number 1. And 2.

All right. So can a Christian lose his salvation? Let's look at 3 truths that set us up to answer this question, I think quite well. Truth number 1 that I want us to look at this morning is that all true believers On saved will be preserved by God and salvation forever.

Guys, I really believe that an honest reading of Scripture, makes this very clear. This is an evident truth that is in Scripture. And that is that all true believers in Christ, once they are saved, they will be preserved by God in salvation forever. You say, Well, where would you find this taught?

There's a bunch of passages. We don't have time to look at all of them, but here are some. First Peter 1:35. Peter says God has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled.

will not fade away reserved in heaven for you. Guys, look at the grammar of this passage. Peter is saying, God caused us to be born again. Go back to your conversion date.

God caused us to be born again. Why? To obtain an inheritance that is where? In heaven.

Yes, God saved us so we can enjoy salvation blessings now. But Peter is saying that God caused us to be born again on our conversion day so that we would obtain this heavenly inheritance. And he says this inheritance is safe. It is imperishable, undefiled, it will never fade away, and it's being reserved in heaven for you.

In other words, no one's going to steal this. No one's going to take it away. You're not going to get to heaven and say, Hey, where's my inheritance? And the Lord is like, Oh my goodness, somebody took it.

It's not here. I'm sorry. that's not going to happen. You're also not going to get to heaven, and your inheritance is like wasted away through time, and it's rusted and corrupted.

And, and you're like, so this is my inheritance, Lord, and he's like, yeah, but you should have seen it 2000 years ago. It was really impressive then, when I had first Peter written, No, this inheritance that is in heaven is being reserved by God, protected, guarded by God. It's Perishable, undefiled, it's guaranteed we're going to get it. The whole reason God saved you is so that you would obtain that in heaven.

Now you might logically say, OK, God saved me so that I would obtain that. That is safe, but am I safe? Am I actually going to make it from conversion to that heavenly inheritance? Well, Peter figures you would ask that.

So look at what he says. Look at the end of verse 4, reserved in heaven for you. In other words, you who are born again. who are continuously protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

God caused you to be born again, so that you would obtain this heavenly inheritance that is safe. Being kept by God and by the way, you from the day you were born again to the day you arrive at that, you are being continually protected by the power of God itself for this salvation that is ready to be revealed to you. This is a clear affirmation of the fact that all true believers, once saved, will be preserved by God in salvation forever. Another affirmation of this is in John 10.

If you ask Jesus, if you interviewed him and said, Tell me about the Salvation of your sheep, and is it eternal or is it temporary? Could it be lost? This is what Jesus would say My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me and I give eternal life to them. one of the things I did this week, that statement, I give eternal life to them.

I just said that to myself over and over again. Think about it, guys. Say that to yourself. I give eternal life to them.

My sheep hear my voice, they basically believe in me, and I give to them eternal life. eternal life, I give to them eternal life. Now how can he give to us eternal life that doesn't last forever? How can he give us eternal life that only lasted for 2 years before we lost it?

If we lost it, it's not eternal life. It's just a life for 2 years. I give them eternal life. And so that what he means.

He says, I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish. That's what it means. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand.

All right, guys. You are this pencil, all right, and this is the hand of Jesus. Jesus has you in His grasp, and he says that I give eternal life to everyone that's in my hand, basically. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

He then says, My Father is greater than all, and no one will snatch them out of His hand either. You are in a double divine clutch. All right, to be in the hand of Jesus is enough. But to be both in the grasp of Jesus, and the Father who is greater than all, there is no one more powerful than God.

And it is in his grasp that you are, and nobody can ever pluck you out. of His hand. Jesus is very committed to the eternal salvation of all those who come to Him. why?

Because that's the will of His Father. In John 6, Jesus says in verse 38, I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. You say, Well, what is God's will? Verse 39, this is the will of Him who sent me that of all that He has given me, I lose nothing but raise it up on the last day.

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I myself will raise him up on the last day. That is the will of the Father. And Jesus says, I'm here to do His will. And I will make his will happen.

Now that's Jesus speaking. He's the one who has us in his grip. And he's like, You will never perish. I give eternal life to you.

No one can pluck you out of my hand. I'm doing the will of my Father and not allowing anyone to pluck you out of my hand. But that, that's what Jesus would say if you were to interview him. But if you were to interview someone who was in that grip, What would they say?

Well, Paul, who was in the grip of Jesus, interviewed it, or he says this by way of describing his experience and the experience of all believers. He says, who will? Now imagine Paul in the grip of Jesus and in the grip of God the Father. Saying, who will separate us from the love of Christ?

Will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? His basic answer is a resounding no. For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principality. nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Paul is convinced, absolutely convinced of that. Hey, guys, let me, let me, let me tell you something. The devil does not believe in eternal security. He does not believe in the eternal preservation of the saints.

The day you were saved, the devil was not like, Oh well, I lost that person for eternity. No, every day the devil principalities and powers are fighting to destroy your salvation. But God won't let them. And Paul says, none of these principalities and powers can separate us.

They're trying, but none of them can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ. You say, what, Milton, that's an impressive list there, but one of the things that's missing from that list is me. Yeah, angels, principalities, life, death, all these things cannot separate me, but could I separate myself from the love of Christ? It would sure be comforting if I were in that list somewhere.

Well, actually, you are. and let me just ask you a couple of questions to show you this. Are you a created thing? Anyone not a created thing?

OK. are you living at the present time? If you are a created thing living at the present time, you're on this list. There's absolutely nothing.

In heaven and earth, not even you that can ever separate you from the love of Christ. you think about the Peter. Peter tried to separate himself from the love of Christ. Remember when he said to Jesus, Lord, depart from me.

I'm a sinful man. Just go away. Did Jesus go away? No.

And Peter ended up denying Christ three times on the night that Jesus was arrested, and even on the 3rd time he swore an oath and basically said, May God damn me to hell forever if I'm lying when I say I don't know that man. Did Jesus give up on Peter? No. Jesus ignored the oath.

And after his resurrection made a personal appearance to Peter and no doubt granted him his love and his forgiveness. And I can imagine Peter, when Jesus appeared to him saying the same thing, Lord, depart from me. I am a sinful man. You don't want anything to do with me.

And Jesus said, no doubt, yes, I do, and I will never leave you. So nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ. One more passage, Romans 8:29 to 30. Paul says those whom God foreknew before the foundation of the earth, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, and those whom he predestined, these he also called, that's effectually called.

And these whom he called, he justified, and these whom he justified, he glorified. So anyone God justifies, he glorifies. And so when you look at these passages along with a number of others, you see it clearly affirmed in Scripture that all true believers in Christ, once saved, will be preserved by God in salvation forever. However, having said that, there is a second truth that we're going to look at this morning that is also found in Scripture.

And that is that only those believers who persevere in their faith in Christ to the end will be saved. Only those believers who persevere in their faith in Christ will be saved. Now, does that seem on the surface to contradict what we've just said? Logically, we might observe that that does seem a little incompatible with what we have just looked at.

But again, I want to remind you that truth number 3 will show the connection of these to one another, and that they're really not incompatible at all. But we do need to just look honestly at the fact that the Bible does teach that only those believers who persevere in their faith in Christ will be saved. You'll notice I use the word persevere sometimes in speaking of the doctrine of eternal security. Some speak of it as the preservation of the saints, and some refer to it as the perseverance of the saints.

I believe it's both. And speaking of the perseverance of the saints, listen to what Charles Ryre says. Perseverance emphasizes that the believer cannot fully or totally fall away from grace, but will persevere to the end. And be eternally saved.

And he goes on to say whether you call it preservation of the saints or perseverance of the saints, they're basically two different labels of the same doctrine. You're just looking at two sides of the same coin. Only those believers who persevere in their faith in Christ will be saved. Now where do we find this?

On the pages of the New Testament. Well, one of the places is, there's a handful of times in the New Testament, where we have some if statements, just that little word if, I if. is stuck into some passages that might seem a little surprising to us, but we need to look honestly at them and allow them to have their full weight. For example, in Colossians 1, Paul says he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond.

Approach if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast and not moved away from the hope of the gospel. What he's saying is that Christ has saved you with the goal that he will ultimately one day present you before Him and before the Father, holy and blameless before God if indeed you continue in the faith. Firmly established, not moved away from the true gospel. In Hebrews 3:6, the writer of Hebrews says, that Christ was faithful as a son over his house, whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.

The implication is, if you don't hold fast your confidence in the boast of your hope firm until the end. You are not the dwelling place of Jesus, but you are the dwelling place of Jesus if indeed you hold fast to this confidence in the boast of your hope firm and to the end. A few verses later, in verse 12, the writer of Hebrews in chapter 3 says to the Christians, Take care, brethren. Who's he talking to?

Christians, take care, brethren. Lest there should be in any one of you, an evil, unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm. Until the end.

So these if statements seem to, they, they create an impression of conditionality that eternal salvation ultimately will belong to us if we continue in the faith, if we persevere. In faith, in addition to these conditional statements, there are outright warning passages in the New Testament that can really freak a person out if you allow them to carry their full weight and not run from them and just blind your eyes to them and go running off to John 10. and some of these warnings, one of them is in Galatians 5.

I read that at the beginning of the message.

If you guys walk out of the true gospel, you embrace this false gospel that requires circumcision. Christ is of no benefit to you. You're seeking to be justified by the law. No one will be saved that way.

You've severed yourself from Christ, you've fallen from grace. In other words, if you take this step, you're lost. That's the threat. Hebrews 10.

I'm gonna read to you a lengthy excerpt of Hebrews 10. John MacArthur says, this is by far the most serious and sobering, the most serious warning in all of Scripture. And this warning is given to God's people. I believe honestly, now, some commentators work their way around this, but I, I think when you honestly look at the text, it's, it's very evident that he's speaking to believers in this passage.

And let's just begin reading in verse 23. Let us He's including himself in this. Let us hold fast our confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us believers consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Clearly he's speaking to Believers having delivered these challenges, he then explains why it's important to heed them. He then says in the very next verse, for if we, including me, he says, if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, now in the context, understand that the readers of this letter were in a similar situation that the Galatians were in. They had been They had been saved out of Judaism, had embraced the true gospel, were putting their trust in Christ and in Him alone for their salvation.

They were persecuted for that.

There were also influences that were just pressing in upon them to where now these believers were moving away from the center of the gospel. And right now as they're reading this letter, they're standing right on the edge of a cliff. They are about to step outside of the true gospel and go back to this false gospel of Judaism. And the writer of Hebrews throughout this book, this letter is challenging them not to do that and to keep their eyes on Christ.

And so he says, when he says if we go on sinning willfully, what he's talking about is, is if you willfully, apostasize from the true gospel, and go to this false gospel. If you apostasize from this gospel of salvation by faith in Christ and embrace this other lifestyle and gospel of works, and you, you, you sin willfully, after receiving the knowledge of the truth, which is the gospel. Look at what he says. There no longer remains a sacrifice.

For sense. They're in a circle called the gospel. There's another circle, and that's the false gospel that they're looking at and being tempted to go back to. The writer of Hebrews literally is saying, if you step outside of this circle and come into this circle, there's no sacrifice for sins.

There no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but here's what does remain verse 27, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. In other words, if you step out of this circle, and you go into this one, if you reject the true gospel after being exposed to the knowledge of the truth and embracing it, and you go away from it and embrace a false gospel, there's no sacrifice for sins that you've committed, and the only thing that awaits you is the fury of the fire of God's wrath.

You're lost, he says. If you do this verse 28, anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

How much severe punishment do you think he will deserve, who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and is regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the Spirit of grace? The writer of Hebrews is saying, if you apostasize, think about what you're saying about the blood of Christ, to step from this circle into this circle, you are trampling on the blood of Jesus Christ. You are insulting him. You're insulting Jesus and the Spirit of grace that testifies to you of the glory of Jesus.

You're basically saying this is not good enough. His blood is not good enough. This way of salvation through him is not good enough. I will walk away from him, and I will go back to this.

He says there's very severe punishment that awaits someone who would regard as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he had experienced sanctification or salvation. Verse 30, for we know him who said, vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

You say, well, Milton, maybe he's not really talking to believers here. Maybe they're pre-Christians that were almost Christians, and they're thinking about going back. There are some people that would say that actually, to get around this difficulty, but let's keep reading. But remember, he says, the former days.

When after being enlightened you endured a great conflict of sufferings partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated, for you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property. Are these Christian people? they've suffered for believing in Christ. They've lost even their property.

And if there's any doubt lingering, look at what he says, you accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one. There's no way around that. He's clearly talking. To believers, he goes on, therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward, for you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

For yet in a very little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay. And then he quotes from the Old Testament, where God says, but my righteous one shall live by faith. And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. And then the writer of Hebrews says, but we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

In addition to Hebrews 10, we have Hebrews 6. Where the writer of Hebrews says, therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about Christ, let us press on to maturity, and this we will do if God permits. And why will we do this? Why will we pursue maturity rather than going back?

He goes on to say this here's why we will do this Press on the maturity rather than apostasizing, he says, for The case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the age to come and then to have fallen away or apostasized, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance since they again crucified to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

What he's saying to the readers in Hebrews 10 and Hebrews 6 is if you guys step outside of the true gospel and you give yourself to this false gospel, You are eternally lost. And you won't even be able to come back. people who would say that a Christian can lose their salvation and they want to base that on Hebrews 6.

fair enough, but you then have to say once a Christian loses his salvation, he can never regain it again. That's what the writer of Hebrews is affirming here. So these Christians are about to open the back door of their Christian life and they're about to walk out, and the writer of Hebrews is standing there and says, by the way, if you go through that door, You're lost. And you won't be able to come back.

And the only thing that will await you is the fury of the fire that will consume the adversaries, and outside that door there is no sacrifice. That will cover your sins. So truth number 1 is that all believers once saved will be eternally preserved by God and salvation forever. Truth number 2, only those believers who persevere in their faith in Christ will be saved.

Truth number 3, this is the happy place. By the way, you say, how are these truths compatible? Here's how they're compatible. Truth number 3, God makes it happen that all true Christians will persevere in faith and thus be saved forever.

God will make it happen. That all true Christians will persevere in faith and thus be saved forever. Now you say, Well, if that's true, then why the warnings? Why these threatening warnings in Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 10 and Galatians 5?

Don't you get it, guys? The warnings are one of the instruments that God uses to protect His people from ever renouncing their faith and shrinking back to destruction. God in His grace, it is a grace that God puts this extensive warning label on the back door of our Christian life, to where when a Christian is about to open that door, and shrink back to destruction, he reads that God puts that there and gives these warnings. And a true Christian will read those warnings and say, OK, OK, I'm not going to touch that door.

And I'm not going to go through that door. And one of the reasons he doesn't touch that door is because God is gracious enough to warn him in very strong terms about what will happen if he goes through that door. In fact, what's interesting is in the three big warning passages, threatening passages that we've looked at in Galatians 5, Hebrews 6, Hebrews 10, notice. What the writer says on the other side of these warnings in Hebrews 6, after this warning, if you, if you apostasize, you won't be able to be renewed to repentance.

Then look at what he says. But beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you and things that accompany salvation, even though we are speaking in this way. I'm saying this to you. I'm giving you this warning as a grace so that you don't take this step.

But even as I give you this warning, inspired by the Spirit of God, as I say this, I am convinced that you're not going to do this. But what you will do is things you will make decisions that are consistent with salvation. Even though we're having to speak this way right now. Hebrews 10, after the lengthy threatening passage that we read, the writer of Hebrews at the end of it all says, but we, we true Christians are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

In Galatians 5, Paul says, if you're circumcised in order to be saved, Then you've severed yourself from Christ, you've fallen from grace. Christ is of no saving benefit to you. After giving that threatening warning in Galatians 5, Paul says in 5:10, I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will adopt no other view than the gospel that I'm giving to you in this letter. Really listen to Paul as he says that.

I Have confidence in you. In the Lord that you will ultimately adopt no other view than the true gospel. Even though I've spoken the way that I've spoken, if you do this, you're lost. Even as I speak that way, I am confident in the Lord.

That he's not going to allow you to adopt any other view, other than the true gospel that I am presenting. To you In 1 Peter 1 verses 3 through 5, look carefully at what he says. Again, God has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are continuously protected. By the power of God through faith.

You want to say those together. It's not by the power of God, and then also through your faith. No, it's by the power of God through faith, for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. There's two prepositional phrases there.

We are protected by the power of God through faith. For this salvation ready to be revealed at the last time. In other words, we're protected by the power of God that exercises itself in maintaining and cultivating within us this ongoing faith, so that we will experience this salvation. Wayne Gruden says we might give the sense of this verse by saying that God is continually using his power to guard his people by means of their faith, a statement that seems to imply that God's power, in fact, energizes and continually sustains individual personal faith.

See, the way that God works in our life is through His power. He protects, He nurtures, he develops, he cultivates within us this ongoing faith from the beginning, the day of our conversion all the way to the end, so that he can accomplish the whole reason he saved us. He caused us to be born again so that we would get that. In heaven, the heavenly inheritance.

So God takes it upon Himself to Exercise this power to produce in us this undying faith. That doesn't mean our faith is never weak. We have in the New Testament people that were weak in faith. That does not mean that there's never unbelief that is in us.

In the New Testament, there are Christians who fail to believe the truth and in God the way that they should, but we can say that God will see to it that in the lives of those who are truly His, their faith will never die out. It may reach points where it's as small as a mustard seed, but it will never ever die out. How does God nurture this persevering faith in us? Well, he uses very various means.

He uses his spirit, right?, in Galatians 5:22, 1 of the fruits of the Spirit is faith. The New American Standard translates it faithfulness, which is OK, but at the bottom of that is also faith. That's the Greek word for faith. He gives us a spirit, and as long as the Spirit is within us, the Spirit is going to be producing faith in us.

God also uses his people. He uses the church. The church is a factory consisting of people that, that nourish faith inside of us. In First Thessalonians 3:10, Paul says to the Thessalonians, I am anxious to see you face to face so that I might complete what's lacking in your faith.

All right. In other words, Paul is saying, I want to be with you in person so that I can be used of God to supply or complete anything that's lacking in your faith. God wants to use me to cultivate and nourish within you this faith in Him, this persevering faith in Him. God also uses His word to cultivate a persevering faith in us.

Romans 10:17, Faith comes by hearing and hearing by what? By the Word of God or the word of Christ. And as we read his word, there's many things that stimulate this faith inside of us. the truths of His word, the encouragements of His word, the commands of his word, the rebukes and the corrections of His word, the promises in His word.

Oh, do they nurture ongoing faith in us, but also guys, occasionally. In the New Testament there are also warnings. In His word that God uses to maintain and cultivate within us ongoing true faith in the truth of the gospel, so that we will not apostasize and embrace a false gospel. God sees to this.

When God begins something, he finishes what he started. That is why Paul, or let's say the Holy Spirit speaking through Paul, can look at the Philippians and say, I am confident of this very thing that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ. us guys, sometimes we like to do projects and sometimes we're really motivated at the beginning and then we encounter an obstacle or two or we don't have the right part or the right tool or There's a golf tournament on TV that really requires being watched or whatever it may be, but sometimes we're good at starting projects and then we get discouraged and we don't finish what we started.

God always finishes what he starts, and when He justifies a person and begins a good work in them, He will perform that.

He will perfect that all the way until the day. Of Jesus Christ. Paul is confident of this. The Spirit speaking through Paul is absolutely confident that God will see us through to the end.

Now, the logical question that raises is, OK, Milton, that all sounds biblical enough, but what do we make of people who have been in the church, and Orthodox in their theology, who apostasize away from the faith? Do such people lose their salvation? How do we make sense of, of that? What about those who abandon their faith in Christ?

Well, John, the apostle has already replied to that question. John looks at those who apostasize, and he says in 1 John 2:19, yes, they went out from us, but they were not really of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained. With us.

Guys, do you get what he's saying there? If they had been of us, if they were truly saved, then they would have remained with us. But as it is, they went out so that it would be shown that they are not of us, so that it would be manifested that they were never really of us in the first place. So coming back to the question we started with, can a Christian lose his salvation?

Can Milton, can I lose my salvation in a heartbeat? Yes, I would lose my salvation in an instant if it were left up to me and my own devices. But will I ever lose my salvation? Absolutely not, because Christ won't let me.

He won't let me. And what, guys, that's where our focus needs to be. Can I lose my salvation? The whole focus of that question is on me.

But the better question is, can Christ lose our salvation? Let's ask it about him. Can he lose this salvation that he has given to us? And the answer to that is absolutely not.

Jesus himself says, this is the will of Him who sent me that of all that He has given me, I lose nothing. And in 1 Peter 1:5, or verse 4, we learned that God is reserving and protecting not only us, but also this salvation that is awaiting us in heaven. Another way to ask this question, that puts the focus where it belongs is can Christ ever lose one of his saved ones? Can Christ ever lose one of his sheep?

And Christ says, I give eternal life to them. And they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. Is that good enough for you?

I love the picture that you see on the screen because it's Christ clutching one of his lambs. And he's got a look on his face that says, Don't touch my sheep. You're not getting my sheep. You see that?

You see that look just, and I just, I'm staring at that picture. It's like, oh, the security of being in the hand of Jesus in the in the clutch of Jesus. And what is, what, what, what is on his face every day is the devil's attacking and trying to, because again he doesn't believe in eternal security and the devil's trying to strip away our salvation and cause us to apostasize to perdition, and Christ is actively involved in all of that, and he's got his grip on us and he's making sure that the right people come into our lives.

And that the right passages are coming in front of us that might encourage us and nurture our faith and give us promises.

and also occasionally the warnings, if you do this, here's what's going to happen. God will see to it, Christ will see to it that no one ever snatches those who belong to him out of his hand. Now guys, I am sure that this topic could be better preached by someone other than me. And certain things that have been said could have perhaps been said better.

Please understand I am still on a journey also, but understand that at the bottom of, of my whole motive today is to just be faithful to everything that's said. In scripture. If I want to be fully biblical, I want to listen to John 10. But I also want to listen to the same God who spoke John 10 when he speaks elsewhere.

And then to listen to God as He synthesizes all that He has revealed. And says all those that are truly saved, I will preserve them in salvation forever. The same God also says only those who persevere in faith will ultimately be saved. And then we say, Lord, we're confused.

These seem incompatible, and God says they're not to me. Because I will see to it. That all those who are truly mine will persevere in faith to the end and be saved. Guys, you want assurance of your salvation?

Don't stare at yourself all day long and examine the depths of your being. Am I truly saved or not? what, you're going to find a lot of good stuff, but you're going to find just as much garbage that will cause you to doubt. Look to Jesus and believe in Him every single day, and you will have all the assurance that you need.

Keep your eyes on Him. John, the apostle says in First John 5:13, these things I have written to you who are continuously believing in Jesus at the present time, that you may know that you have eternal life. Keep your eyes on him. I would also encourage you to, when you see evidences of God's grace in your life, maybe you're like, wow, I really love God more than I did a year ago.

I love his word. I love reading his word. I, I love his people and whoa, I just turned away from a lust image, lustful image, and I wouldn't have done that before. And whoa, that's so not me.

And whenever you see an evidence of grace, of God's grace in your life, cherish that, rejoice in it. And can I give you this encouragement as we close? Help your brothers and sisters when you see evidences of grace in their life, point that out to them. A lot of times we don't see what God is doing in us as well as other believers can see them.

And so when you're with your brothers and sisters, if there's something in them that you see as evidence of God's saving grace in their life, tell them what you see and encourage them. In their walk with the Lord. But keep your eyes on Jesus. He is the author and the finisher of our faith.

He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the beginning and the end. He is the one who started this work in us, and He will perfect it all the way to the day of Jesus Christ. And as we look to Him and believe in Him, We can know that we have eternal life.

Let me ask you to bow your heads. It is so awesome to be loved today by God and to be loved with the love that we know will be with us tomorrow. And the next day and through all of eternity, the God who saves us says, I will never, ever leave you or forsake you. I will never abandon you.

No one will ever snatch you out of my hand. Let us who have believed in Jesus rejoice in this security. But at the same time, let us be in God's word. Let us be assembling together.

Let us be hanging out with our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Let's be nurturing this persevering faith in each other. Let's be used of God as instruments to cultivate and nurture this ongoing faith. In each other Contributing to the assurance.

In the experience of others who know the Lord. If you're here today and you are not looking to Jesus for your salvation, I'm so happy you're here because that problem can get fixed right now where you're seated. All God wants you to do is acknowledge and understand your bankruptcy, your utter inability to save yourself. And he wants you to humble yourself and say, God, I can't do it.

I can never be good enough or righteous enough to save myself. But I see in Jesus, a perfect one, a perfectly righteous one. And that is the righteousness I need. And I believe And him.

Just look to Jesus, confess that to Him. The Bible says, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be. Saved. Lord, we thank you for your word.

I think of what Peter says in 2 Peter, that the apostle Paul wrote things that were hard to understand. There are things in your word that are hard for our finite minds to grasp. But help us to be good listeners to you. Help us to listen to you as you speak in every text, even if it seems to threaten some precious doctrine.

May we value your voice over some doctrinal belief that we may be holding to, and may we realize that every text we study, we submit our doctrine. To you and say, God, enrich us, expand our understanding, either shatter this doctrine I've always believed or enrich it one, but help me to listen to you. With honesty and integrity of heart. We thank You, Lord, that you are committed to our eternal security.

That you have your grip on us, and no one will be able to remove us from that grip. What love is this, Lord? We gave you many reasons before we were saved to never save us in the first place. Since we have been saved, we've given you a million reasons to change your mind.

And you never have. What love is this? We cherish this love, we celebrate it, and we thank you for the shepherd you are. As you shepherd us from the day of our conversion on Through the length of eternity.

We thank you, Lord, for all these things and give ourselves to you in Jesus' name. And all God's people said, Amen.