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Location:
6425 Jefferson Rd. For
directions, click here.
Jerry
Varnado,
pastor November
17, 2002 For
most of history, the world has
been full of sin and temptation.
But it seems as though, in recent
years, evil has multiplied. Frankly,
we live a slippery world -- and
maybe you've wondered about your
spiritual security in such an
environment. Even if you're a
child of God, a person who has
professed faith in Jesus Christ,
suppose you trip up? What
happens? Are
you still saved, or have you --
as the theologians say -- "fallen
from grace?" Have you lost your
salvation? I
was talking with a Baptist friend
about this issue one day, and I
asked her what she thought
Methodists believe about this.
She told me, "Methodists believed
you could be saved one day and
not the next." The
image was sort of like flopping
around like a fish out of water.
If you flopped this side up you
were saved, if you flopped that
side up you were unsaved. And
Methodists, she said, just hope
that on the day they die, they're
flopped on the saved
side! Well,
my friends, I am pleased to say
that my Baptist friend was
misinformed! That is not what we
believe -- and today I want to
set the record straight. I want
you to know what our doctrine is
on this point, and I believe it's
a doctrine squarely rooted in the
Scriptures. First,
let me deal the text that has
formed the basis of many people's
understanding of "falling from
grace." Turn to Hebrews 6,
starting at verse 4: What
this passage is saying? What
isn't saying? Well, one thing we
need to know to interpret this
passage is what the term "fall
away" means. For
help on this point, I want to
call upon two sermons by John
Wesley, the founder of the
Methodist movement. One is
called, "Discourse Three Upon Our
Lord's Sermon on the Mount," and
the other is titled, "A Call to
Backsliders." In
the first sermon, Mr. Wesley
describes "falling away" as "an
absolute, total apostasy." He
notes that a believer may fall,
and not fall away. He may
backslide without being
apostate. In
the second sermon, Mr. Wesley
appeals to history to help us
understand what apostasy is.
Here's a quote: "Whenever the
Jews prevailed on a Christian to
apostatize, they required him to
declare, in express terms, and
that in the public assembly, that
Jesus of Nazareth deceived the
people; and that he had suffered
no more punishment than his
crimes justly
deserved." Now,
this is quite a different thing
than succumbing to temptation.
Neither is a good thing, but
apostasy is in a different
category than being tripped up by
sin. Apostasy is a willful and
intentional refuting and
rejection of the
Christ. Now,
the Hebrews 6 text also says that
the person who falls away cannot
"be brought back to repentance."
What does that
mean? Well,
let's answer this question first:
What is repentance?
Repentance is when a person turns
from his or her sin and turns
toward God. Repentance is
something we
do. It
think the writer to the Hebrews
is saying is that a person who
has "fallen away" has put himself
in an impossible situation from
the human perspective. His heart
is hardened toward God. How can
he turn back? Even
so, I don't think this passage is
saying that God's love and mercy
toward that person has changed.
And while it is impossible from a
human perspective for that person
to turn back, "with God
all things are
possible." Let's
look at what Jesus said on the
subject of the security of the
believer. First, go to Revelation
3:5. Jesus is speaking There
is seems to be inference here
that Jesus could
blot someone's name out of the
book of life, but look carefully
at the wording! He's not making a
threat, but giving an assurance!
"I will never blot out the name
of the one who
overcomes." Also,
go John 6, starting at verse
35: "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. For my Father's will
is that everyone who looks to
the Son and believes in him
shall have eternal life, and I
will raise him up at the last
day." And
go over a few pages to John
10:25-30. "My
Father, who has given them to
me, is greater than all; no
one can snatch them out of my
Father's hand. I and the
Father are one." I
don't how you feel but that
comforts me! It tells me the
devil cannot snatch us away from
Jesus! The Good Shepherd is
taking care of the sheep,
guarding the flock! I don't have
to worry about making a mistake,
slipping up and losing what Jesus
has given me at cost of his own
life! Look
at what about Paul had to say in
2 Corinthians 1:21-22: God
asserts ownership of his people;
bought with price. How many of
you think God will take care of
those who belong to
Him? Ephesians
1:11-14 is about the same
thing: And
you also were included in
Christ when you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your
salvation. Having believed,
you were marked in him with a
seal, the promised Holy
Spirit, who is a deposit
guaranteeing our inheritance
until the redemption of those
who are God's possession -- to
the praise of his glory.
Also
look at 2 Timothy 1:12. Paul is
suffering in prison for
proclaiming Christ, and He is
writing to Timothy, his son in
the faith: The
"last day" is the day of
judgment. With Paul, we can be
confident that if If we've given
our lives to God, He will guard
them when the time of judgment
comes. I
want to be clear, however, that
we can't claim to know God and
then live however we
please. Turn
to 1 Corinthians 5, starting at
verse 1. There's been trouble in
the church at Corinth. One of the
believers is apparently involved
in a sexual relationship with his
stepmother. And Paul issues a
stern response: Even
though I am not physically
present, I am with you in
spirit. And I have already
passed judgment on the one who
did this, just as if I were
present. When you are
assembled in the name of our
Lord Jesus and I am with you
in spirit, and the power of
our Lord Jesus is present,
hand this man over to Satan,
so that the sinful nature may
be destroyed and his spirit
saved on the day of the
Lord. Paul
is making it clear that God
doesn't leave room for us to
presume upon His grace. As
Christians, you and I can't live
our lives just any way we
please.
God,
out of His love for us, will find
a way to bring His truth to bear
upon our sin. Jesus says, in
Revelation 3:19, "Those whom I
love I rebuke and
discipline." Also
remember what John writes 1 John
2:3-4: I
believe John is confident that
God will produce the fruit of
Holy Spirit in those who have
truly surrendered themselves to
Him. One
of the great promises of the Old
Testament is about this very
thing. It's found in Ezekiel 36.
God says, starting in verse
26: Obedience
is not the way to
salvation. It is the
evidence of
salvation. A
key New Testament passage about
this is James 2:14-19: But
someone will say, "You have
faith; I have deeds."
Show
me your faith without deeds,
and I will show you my faith
by what I do. You believe that
there is one God. Good! Even
the demons believe that -- and
shudder. It
is for sure that the evidence of
true conversion is a changed
life. We when a person is truly
saved, his or her our outlook on
life changes, behavior changes,
the way he or she relates to
others changes. But
look carefully at what James is
saying. The deeds won't save us,
but if we are truly saved, God
will motivate us to good
works. Let's
get back to the main point. Is
there is such a thing as "eternal
security"? The answer is,
"Yes." When
one has in earnest given his or
her life to Jesus, God takes
responsibility for that person's
eternal destiny. God's plan and
purpose is to perfect that person
in the faith and to hold him or
her for Kingdom of
God. Did
you know that the only time Jesus
talked about having ownership of
anything of this world was to
claim those whom God had given
him? He says very forthrightly
that belong to him. "No one can
snatch them away," he says, and
"I will raise them up on the last
day. God
not only wants you saved, He
wants us to know you are saved
and to be secure in your
salvation. Here
are the words of the Apostle John
in 1 John 5:13: God
also wants the devil to know that
you know you are saved and secure
in Christ. God also wants your
family and friends to know,
otherwise how will they live in
hope when you die? Our loved ones
need to know we're saved so they
will have the hope of everlasting
life in the face of
death. Now,
with all that I've said today as
context, let me go back and read
again the passage from Hebrews
6: Friend,
unless you have committed
apostasy by denying Christ and
calling him a liar and a
deceiver, you're not in danger of
falling away. It
is possible for us to fall, to
trip up and be ensnared by sin?
Sure it is. But listen to these
words from the book of Jude about
how God can keep us from sin, and
make us fit for His
kingdom. If
you have put your faith and hope
in Jesus Christ, God is committed
to your eternal security. Thanks
be to God!
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Sundays
at 10:30 a.m.
(Hwy. 129) in Athens,
Georgia.
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A
GATEWAY SERMON
Sure
footing in a slippery world
Gateway
Church,
Athens GA
More and more things are out
there that can trip us up. There
are more temptations around us --
and they're more subtle and
dangerous. In short, the snare of
evil, in many ways, seems harder
to avoid.
'Falling away'It
is impossible for those who
have once been enlightened,
who have tasted the heavenly
gift, who have shared in the
Holy Spirit, who have tasted
the goodness of the word of
God and the powers of the
coming age, if they fall away,
to be brought back to
repentance, because to their
loss they are crucifying the
Son of God all over again and
subjecting him to public
disgrace.
Standing
firm in Christ"He
who overcomes will, like them,
be dressed in white. I will
never blot out his name from
the book of life, but will
acknowledge his name before my
Father and his angels."
Then
Jesus declared, "I am the
bread of life. 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 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.
Jesus
answered, "I did tell you, but
you do not believe. The
miracles I do in my Father's
name speak for me, but you do
not believe because you are
not my sheep. My sheep listen
to my voice; I know them, and
they follow me. I give them
eternal life, and they shall
never perish; no one can
snatch them out of my
hand.
Now
it is God who makes both us
and you stand firm in Christ.
He anointed us, set his seal
of ownership on us, and put
his Spirit in our hearts as a
deposit, guaranteeing what is
to come.
In
him we were also chosen,
having been predestined
according to the plan of him
who works out everything in
conformity with the purpose of
his will, in order that we,
who were the first to hope in
Christ, might be for the
praise of his glory.
That
is why I am suffering as I am.
Yet I am not ashamed, because
I know whom I have believed,
and am convinced that he is
able to guard what I have
entrusted to him for that
day.
Don't
presume on God's
graceIt
is actually reported that
there is sexual immorality
among you, and of a kind that
does not occur even among
pagans: A man has his father's
wife. And you are proud!
Shouldn't you rather have been
filled with grief and have put
out of your fellowship the man
who did this?
We
know that we have come to know
him if we obey his commands.
The man who says, "I know
him," but does not do what he
commands is a liar, and the
truth is not in him.
"I
will give you a new heart and
put a new spirit in you; I
will remove from you your
heart of stone and give you a
heart of flesh. And I will put
my Spirit in you and move you
to follow my decrees and be
careful to keep my
laws."
What
good is it, my brothers, if a
man claims to have faith but
has no deeds? Can such faith
save him? Suppose a brother or
sister is without clothes and
daily food. If one of you says
to him, "Go, I wish you well;
keep warm and well fed," but
does nothing about his
physical needs, what good is
it? In the same way, faith by
itself, if it is not
accompanied by action, is
dead.
Secure in
Christ
Knowing that you
know"I
write these things to you who
believe in the name of the Son
of God so that you may
know that you
have eternal life."
He is ableIt
is impossible for those who
have once been enlightened,
who have tasted the heavenly
gift, who have shared in the
Holy Spirit, who have tasted
the goodness of the word of
God and the powers of the
coming age, if they fall away,
to be brought back to
repentance, because to their
loss they are crucifying the
Son of God all over again and
subjecting him to public
disgrace.
To
him who is able to keep
you from falling and
to present you before his
glorious presence without
fault and with great joy -- to
the only God our Savior be
glory, majesty, power and
authority, through Jesus
Christ our Lord, before all
ages, now and forevermore!
Amen.
An
audio tape of this sermon is
available
free of charge (U.S. requests
only).
Request
a tape by calling
or writing the Gateway Church
office.
Please specify tape number
021117a: Sure Footing In a
Slippery World.
©
2002 Gerald R.
Varnado