Eternal Security PDF Print E-mail
I.    What Question are you asking? 
I have now been preaching the gospel for 11 weeks now.  This is the 12th.      I don’t know how you have found this series; but for me, it has been wonderful.  It has been wonderful to meditate week after week on the glory of the gospel, the good news that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son; that whoever believes in him will not perish but will have everlasting life;  And that this life, this eternal life with God, can begin right now.  I’ve loved meditating on the gospel; I’ve loved sharing the gospel; and I loved last Week’s baptism, with the sun shining on the water, a miracle in and of itself.  God’s children telling their stories of being rescued from the kingdom of darkness and brought into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.  Then to have the inestimable privilege of immersing them into the water, watching them die with Christ to the old life and rise to live a whole new life, alive to God.

Honestly, for a pastor, it doesn’t get any better than that.  But early on in this series, a member of the congregation came up to me.  He said, I hope you plan to preach on eternal security.  That’s a real concern, for some of us.  We need to know whether the Bible teaches that you can lose your salvation, or whether it teaches that once you’re saved, once you have been born again from above, you’re always saved.  So on this 12th and final week of my series on the glory of the gospel, I have decided to answer this man’s question.

But as I turned my attention to the question of our eternal security, I found myself wondering, What question was he really asking?  Was he asking me about the eternal security of someone he knows?  Does he have a friend or a family member who once professed faith in Christ; But no longer lives according to the teachings of Christ, or maybe even denies Jesus Christ altogether?

Because I have family and friends like that.  My Uncle Norm, who died last year, after a terrible bout with cancer.  He was 61.  As a boy my Uncle Norm believed in Jesus, as his mother and father and his three sisters (including my mother) believed in Jesus.  But when he went away to college, the first in his family to go to college, he stopped believing.  He stopped following; he stopped practicing the Christian faith.  For years, we prayed for Uncle Norm.  For years, we shared our faith with Uncle Norm and tried to live with integrity and authenticity before him.  My Uncle Norm loved us and we loved him but on his death bed, with his two surviving sisters daily by his side, one of them my mother, he said, There will be no death bed conversion and there was not.  So, what is the state of my uncle’s soul?  Is he once saved, always saved?  Was he never born again from above or, did he once have the Spirit of God within him, but the Spirit left him because he rejected Jesus, in whom he once believed?

So, was the person who came up to me that Sunday morning asking about the security of his Uncle or was he, perhaps, asking about himself?  Maybe he was saying to me, in a veiled way, I am struggling here.  I’m wavering in my faith. I find myself doubting whether all this Christianity stuff is true.  It all used to be so easy.  When I was young, life was just so simple and clear but now, I honestly don’t know; I don’t know.

Can a person lose his or her salvation?  Can I lose my grip on God?  If I lose my grip on God will God let me go?  Am I eternally insecure?  And which question might you be asking?  Are you wondering about the eternal security or insecurity of someone you love or are you concerned about yourself or is it both?

II.    Two Kinds of Biblical Texts
Well, whatever the question, and I will try to address both, there are two kinds of biblical texts that you have to come to grips with, what I call, texts of security and texts of warning.  The classic text of security is Philippians 1:6. Paul writing to the church in Philippi, about his confidence in their future.  He says, Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  Paul says, just a bit earlier, I always remember you and pray for you with joy, because I was there when you first believed, when the Spirit of God entered you life.  So I am confident that what God began in your life through the power of His Spirit He will bring to perfect conclusion when Jesus Christ comes again. 

Why?  Why is Paul so confident?  Is he confident because of the faith and the strength of the Philippian believers?  That it is somehow so strong that it could never falter?  No.  According to this passage, Paul is confident because of the strength and the faithfulness of God.  I am confident that He who began the work in you will complete it.  You can see this same confidence in Paul’s letter to the Romans, in chapter 8.      Verse 30, for eg.  Having just expressed his confidence (in vs. 28) that everything in a believer’s life will work together for good, will help that believer become like Jesus Christ (vs. 29), Paul then locates his confidence in the sovereign power of God.  Follow along as I read. Vs. 30.  Those God predestined (that is, chose beforehand), he also called (called to come to Christ, to believe in Him).  Those he called, he also justified (or declared right with God; forgave their sins); those he justified, he also glorified (raised them to eternal life with God). 

Some biblical interpreters have called this God’s Golden Chain of Salvation.  It begins in the sovereign choice of God and ends with the resurrection from the dead.  Not one link is missing; there is no break or possibility of a break, in the chain because the chain is forged by God and held in His hands.  All who are chosen, all, are called; and all who are called, all, are justified; and all who are justified are gloried.  Not one of them is lost.  Because of the power of their faith?  No.  Because of the power of God.

That is why Paul can say in Romans chapter 8, verses 38 and 39, I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers in heaven or on earth, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  This is not just the confidence of Paul. 

This is also the confidence of Jesus Christ himself.  Expressed most clearly in John chapter six, the passage I preached on two weeks ago, about Jesus as the bread of life. In that sermon I skipped over a portion of what Jesus said to the crowd that day because I knew I would come to it today.  John chapter 6, beginning in verse 35.   I am the bread of Life, Jesus declared.  He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.  But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.  All that the Father gives to me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.  For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent me; and this is the will of him who sent me:  that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.  Notice also, verse 44:  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up (the one who comes to me) on the last day.

Did you hear what Jesus said?  He offers himself as the bread of life that has come to give life to the world.  He boldly declares that anyone who comes to him in faith will live forevermore.  But some people in the audience do not believe. They do not believe that Jesus comes from heaven.  They do not believe that He is the bread of life.  They do not believe He can give them eternal life and raise them up on the last day.  You would expect Jesus to say, that’s the problem, people.  You lack faith.  It is because you do not come to me in faith that you will not be raised.

But that is not what Jesus says.  What he says is that only those who are drawn to me by the Father in heaven can come to me.  More than that, he says, everyone, all, that the Father gives to me will come to me; and everyone who comes to me I will raise up on the last day.  God’s will is that I shall not lose any of the all that the Father has given to me.  This sounds a lot like Paul in Romans chapter 8 or should I say, Paul sounds like Jesus in John 6.  Our salvation begins in the sovereign will and power of God.  Everyone whom the Father gives to the son and draws to the son will come to the son in believing faith; and everyone who comes in faith will be raised to eternal life.  The Father and Son will not lose a single one. 

That sounds like eternal security to me.  That sounds like once saved, always saved.  It sounds like our security rests in the power of God to call us and justify us and hold onto us until the day he raises us from the dead to live forevermore.  What it sounds like, it is.  It is true.  We are eternally secure in the hand of God but it is also true that there are, in Scripture, texts of warning.

Texts like Matthew 24, verse 13.  Once again, Jesus talking; and he is speaking about the end times, when the followers of Jesus will be persecuted and put to death in the Great Tribulation.  Jesus says, and I quote, Because of the increase of wickedness the love of most grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.  Jesus says the same thing in Revelation chapters two and three, in the letters he dictates to the Seven Churches.  To the church of Ephesus he says, to him who overcomes I will give the right to eat from the tree of life.  To the church in Smyrna he writes, He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death (that is, the lake of fire).  To the church in Pergamum:  He who overcomes I will give the hidden manna.  To the church in Thyatira:  He who overcomes and does my will to the end, to him I will give authority over the nations.  To the church in Sardis:  He who overcomes will be dressed in white…I will not blot out his name from the book of life.   To the church of Laodicea:  To him who overcomes I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.  It is to him who overcomes the trials and tribulations of the world that the Son will give the blessings of eternal life.  He who endures to the end will be saved.

Then there is the text in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 26, where the author warns, if we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.  What do you do with texts like these?  Biblical texts that warn us, quite clearly and quite emphatically, that continuing in sin or failing to endure through trials and tribulations put us in danger of divine judgment and of the loss of our eternal salvation?
   
How do you reconcile these texts of warning with the earlier texts of security?  Maybe you don’t.  Maybe you can’t.  Maybe there is in these passages an unresolved paradox, a mystery that is resolved only in the mind of God.  A paradox between divine sovereignty and human responsibility.  For clearly our salvation rests in the sovereign power of God to call us and draw us, to open our eye and to raise us up on the last day.  Our salvation depends on the power of God to keep us in his grip.  But still, I am responsible, you are responsible, each of us is responsible to continue in faith.  Only he, only she, who endures to the end, will be raised by Jesus on the last day.

I cannot explain to you or to myself how the sovereign will of God and the responsible choice of man work together.  Their convergence, and they must converge, is hidden behind the veil.  It is like two railroad tracks traveling off into the distance.  I can see that they come together; I just can’t see how.  So when someone asks me about eternal security, in the end of the day, I do what Jesus once did.  I tell a story.

III.    Jesus Told a Story
It is the story of a farmer who went out to sow his seeds.  Some of the seeds fell on the path; others fell in shallow, rocky soil; still others in a soil that was infested with weeds; but some, finally, fell in good rich soil and bore much fruit.  As we all know, it is by their fruits that we shall know them.  Now, this story Jesus tells is really a story about the soils, because it is the soil that determines the outcome.  The soil is a picture, a metaphor, for the human soul.  When Jesus tells the story he doesn’t even raise the issue of divine sovereignty and human responsibility.  He doesn’t explain what God does and what man does to make the soil what it is.  He just tells the story, and then invites you and me, to think about where we might fit into the story.

Because the different soils, or should I say, the different souls, respond to the seed of the gospel in different ways; and the different ways reveal who we are and I dare say, where we are going.  Is my Uncle eternally secure?  Am I eternally secure?  Well, which kind of soil are we?  What kind of soul are you?  Are you like the ground on the path between the garden plots?
   
That’s where Jesus begins.  He says there are some hearts that are as hard as a hard packed dirt road.  There could be a lot of reasons for that, but Jesus doesn’t go into them.  These hardened souls could be too busy to give the word of God the time of day or they could be so caught up in the sins of this world that their conscience is seared or they could be so influenced by the ideas all around them that God’s word doesn’t make any sense or maybe Satan has blinded their eyes.  But whatever the reason, the good news of the Gospel falls on hard ground.  The evil one, like a bird from the air, swoops down and snatches it away.  Doesn’t even penetrate.

Then on the opposite end of the scale of response, there is the rich & fertile soil.  The ground that has been turned over and prepared, it is soft, not hard, moist, and not dry.  It is open to the heavens above to receive the sun and rain, God’s light and life.  That soil, Jesus says, is good.  So it receives the seed; the seed sprouts and grows and grows until it produces much fruit, sometimes thirty, sometimes sixty, sometimes a hundred fold.  That is the soil, the soul, which endures to the end and bears the fruit of the Spirit, and is saved, both now and in the life everlasting.  But in between those two soils, those obviously saved and unsaved souls, there is a middle ground or what seems to be middle ground. 

There is what Jesus calls shallow and rocky soil.  What he had in mind was a thin layer of dirt with rocks underneath.  On the surface, to the human eye, that soil looked just as rich and just as fertile as the soil that produced the fruit.  At first, it seemed to be just as promising because the seeds germinated and sprouted and began to rise from the ground but then the sun came out, the hot, Middle Eastern sun.  One by one the little seedlings began to wither and die; until they were no more.  Jesus says, this soil is the man who hears the word of God and receives it with joy but he lasts only a short time; when trouble or persecution come he quickly falls away.  Why?  Because he has no root in himself.  That soil is my uncle and people like my uncle.  They receive the word of God with joy.  They believe and grow; they are, for a season, indistinguishable from the rest of the crop but the trials and tribulations of this life reveal that there is no root in their soul, no deep faith, no real and abiding faith; what theologians would call, saving faith.  Once saved, always saved.  Yes.  But those who are truly saved, those who genuinely believe, will endure to the end and bear fruit.

Oh, there is one more soil.  This one is a bit more difficult to interpret.  Because Jesus does not say the plant in this soil had no real roots.  No.  He simply said that some of the seeds fell in soil where there were weeds.  As the seed of God’s word began to grow, and the young plants began to rise, the weeds also multiplied.  They became so thick that they eventually choked out the good seed.  The worries of this life and the deceitfulness of riches, Jesus said, made the plants unfruitful.  There are two interpretations regarding the eternal security of this weedy soil.  One interpretation claims that these plants were unfruitful, but not dead.  So the people represented by this soil are saved in the end though judged for their failure to bear fruit.  I must say, that is a possible interpretation.
   
But I, for one, would not want to base my hope of heaven on it.  I would not want to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and try to explain that kind of life to Jesus.  Oh, I, I, I know your words were true.   I, I just didn’t…obey.  I was deceived by the world around me; I was distracted by all my worrying.  I was so busy being a good worldling.  I hope Jesus doesn’t quote the words of Hebrews chapter 6, verse 8.  The land that produces thorns and thistles is in danger of being cursed.  In the end it will be burned.
       
IV.    Which Soil are you?
So let me ask the question that must be asked:  Which soil are you?  Is your heart hardened to the word of God?  Do the enemies of God snatch the seed out of your soul before it ever germinates?
Then repent and receive the words of Jesus.  Are you, perhaps, the shallow, rocky soil?  Oh, you hear God’s word and it sounds good to you.  You even respond with what looks and feels like faith.  But you do not truly take it to heart.  There is no root of saving faith down deep in your soul, the kind of faith that will endure the trials and tribulations of life.      You are a fair-weather friend of God.  As long as the weather is fair, you have faith.  Lots of faith.  But when the storms come, your so-called faith is revealed for what it is.  Listen to me!  Listen to the words of Jesus!  He who endures to the end shall be saved.  Not because your salvation depends on your works.  You are saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ and his work on the cross.  But real faith, true faith holds on and lasts.  So repent and turn.

Maybe you are one of those whose faith is being choked out by the cares of this world and by the deceitfulness of riches.  Ask yourself:  Is the soil of my heart fertile ground for the deceptions of the world?  Don’t count on a decision you once made as a child.  Don’t count on the fact that you attend this church or that you profess the beliefs of this church.  True faith, saving faith, dies to the old way of life and rises to live a new life, alive to God.  True faith experiences the testimony of the Spirit in the heart.  If you are, praise God, the good soil, don’t pat yourself on the back.  You have nothing you have not received from above.  Who makes the soil, anyway?  Who sends the sun and the rain?      Who sows the seed and produces the fruit?  Who became a man and died on the cross in your place?  Who rose from the dead and sent His Holy Spirit into your soil so that you could bear much fruit?  It is Jesus who sows; it is the Father who draws.      It is the Spirit who bears the fruit of righteousness in our lives.

What about your Uncle or your son or daughter who no longer believes, who is not bearing fruit?
Don’t be deceived.  Don’t medicate your pain over his or her unbelief with the drug of eternal security.  Yes.  I am convinced that ‘once saved, always saved.’  I am convinced that He who began a good work in you, He who sends His Spirit, into our hearts, causing us to be born again from above, will complete what he began on the day that Christ comes again.  I am convinced that neither life nor death, neither angels nor demons, neither present nor future, nor any powers in heaven or on earth, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  I am convinced that all who truly believe will always believe, and they will endure to the end because God will finish His good work. 

But--but only those who endure to the end will be saved.  Because those who do not endure, those whose faith is burned up in the trials of this life or choked out by the temptations of this world are not truly born again.  They are not children of God, destined for life eternal.  I John chapter 2, verse 19.  I end with this; because it is one of the clearest statements on eternal security in the whole Bible; and it cuts both ways.  They went out from us, John writes, referring to people who once professed faith in Christ but have now left the church and rejected that faith.  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.  But their going showed that none of them belonged to us.  I trust better things for you and for me.