ATTN: What would be the best way to prove that a couple is married if their marriage certificate is destroyed and all other records along with it? Imagine if you are a government agency and you absolutely must be convinced that this couple is married even though there is no record of it. How would you verify that they are married? You would secretly observe this couple to see if they behave like a couple when they don’t know anyone is observing. Do they go to the same house at the end of the day? Do they have kids that look like them?  Do they vacation together? Do they go on dates together? Etc.

What would be the best proof that you are saved? That you are a Christian? Following you around, see if there is evidence that you have a relationship with God and do the things that a normal follower of Christ would do. One of the critical evidences that God will look at in the end is whether you have continued in the faith. Whether you kept your faith in God to the end. Because if we didn’t, the Bible gives a very clear warning, that we were never saved to begin with. It is not that we had salvation and then lost it as we will see from the Bible in a moment, but that we never had salvation to begin with. Let me make a statement that summarizes this sermon and the rest of the time we’ll be looking at Scripture to see if this statement holds up.

If we are genuinely saved, we will continue in Christ and His church to the end. If we do not continue to the end with Christ and his church, that shows we weren’t genuinely saved.

The theological term for what I said is Perseverance of the Saints. It simply means that those who are truly saved will persevere to the end and cannot lose their salvation. Another way of saying this is: Only those who endure to the end with Christ are saved. But here’s what I wish you will do as members of As One Community church. Whenever you hear a statement or an imperative, especially in a sermon, like the one I just made about eternal security, you should always check to see if it’s biblical. Ask 3 questions: 1) Are there passages in the Bible that affirm this? 2) Are there passages that would contradict this? 3) If 1) and 2) are both present in the Bible, are there passages that would reconcile the two?

Today, I want to follow that logic of laying out the sermon and give you a lot of Scripture and here is why. This is such an important and heavy concept that I don’t want you to hear my opinion. I want you to hear it from the Bible. Because if I give you my opinion, you could think, “Well, the pastor I knew when I was growing up said something else…” Then, it’s my words against his words. I don’t want that. I want you to hear the word of God.

1. The passages that affirm our eternal security. (Eternal Security = We can never lose our salvation)

– John 10:27-28  [27] My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. [28] I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

            – Romans 8:35, “[35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

– John 6:39-40 [39] And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. [40] For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

– Romans 8:29-30  29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

             Looking at these verses, it seems that our staying saved is automatic and a done deal if you have believed in Jesus Christ. So, if you had been justified by God by believing in His Son – justified means that God declares you just and righteous because you believed in Jesus – then it’s automatic that you will become sanctified – sanctified means that you will become morally clean – and eventually you will be glorified – glorified means you will receive the reward in heaven. You don’t have to do anything once you’ve become a Christian because God will do everything. Is that what those passages are saying?

“Once saved always saved,” right? We will look at that statement. Or “God has given us a ticket to heaven?” We will also look at the statement. Both of those statements imply that staying saved is automatic. But are there passages in the Bible that seem to contradict those statements?

1. The passages that seem to contradict our eternal security.

            – John 8:31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,

            –John 15:5-6 [5] I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. [6] If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

– 1 cor 15:1 [1] Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, [2] and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

            – Matthew 10:21-22 [21] Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, [22] and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

            Have you noticed that all these are conditional statements? If… then!  If you abide in my word, if you abide in me, if you hold fast to my word, if you endure to the end, then you are my disciple, you are saved, and if you don’t, if you don’t continue in abiding in me, then you will be thrown into the fire.

What are we to make of this? Is eternal security conditional and not automatic? Many of you who grew up in an evangelical church simply assume the mantra “once saved always saved” and you never have to worry about your salvation once you have committed your life to Christ, went forward and got baptized. But we have to follow the Bible and what it says. So, there are verses that seem to affirm that our salvation is all God doing, justification at least, but our staying saved is our doing, leading to glorification. So, God saves us but we can lose it, so we better be good? Is that it? Or God saves us from our sins, now we have to clean ourselves up for the sanctification process. Is that it?

One thing at a time. Looking at these verses, we can see that it’s no longer true that our staying saved is automatic. Yes, God unconditionally saves us without our input – that’s justification to use the theological term. But our staying saved – our eternal security – doesn’t seem automatic at all. It is conditional upon our effort to stay in the faith. Conditional upon continuing with Christ. So, the statements like once saved always saved or we are given the ticket to heaven which imply automatic glorification no longer seem true!

Now, we have to ask the question, “are there passages that would reconcile these two competing ideas? The first idea being that we cannot lose our salvation because God will hold us up and the second idea being that we must endure to the end if our salvation is to be real. The first idea seems to indicate that God does all the work of keeping our salvation but the second idea seems to indicate that we do the work in keeping our salvation. There are verses that seem to affirm both ideas! So, which is it?

III. Passages that help us reconcile the two competing thoughts.

So, let’s look at passages that led us to that: Philippians 2:12-13 12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Work out your salvation in fear and trembling, lest you be counted among the lost.

1. 13 says, “It is God who works in you,” and then later on Paul commands, “Work out your salvation in fear and trembling, lest you be lost.” So, who is doing the work? God is doing the work in you. But how is He doing the work? Apart from your effort? Automatically without your involvement? No. Our effort to stay in the faith is a means God uses to keep us in the faith. Slightly differently stated: God uses our effort to stay with Christ as a means to keep us in the faith. In other words, it is not automatic that we will stay saved without any of our efforts. But our efforts are not independent of God. Our effort really is not in directly trying to do good and be good to stay saved, but to depend on God, to behold the glory of God, and be in awe of God so that our good works will naturally flow out of it.

One more verse: Colossians 1:21-23 ²¹And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²² he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, ²³ if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

“He has now reconciled you… if indeed you continue…” Again, it is not God keeping you saved independently of you. And it’s not you keeping yourself saved independently of God. It’s God keeping you in his arms using your effort to stay in faith as a means. So, this means that if we fall away and never come back to Christ, in other words, if we do not continue in the faith, then it does not mean that we had salvation and lost it, but we never had it to begin with! That means that we weren’t a good soil. We were either a rocky soil – that were excited about the word and grew up quickly only to die quickly – or a thorny soil – that by the worries of the world we could never grow. Neither soil was good soil to bear fruit. It’s not that they were good soils in the beginning and they became bad later. They were never good soils to begin with!

So, to clarify. Rather than thinking of salvation as earning a ticket to heaven, because that implies that once we have the ticket, we can do whatever we want and live however we want before the entering through the pearly gates, think of salvation as an engagement. We have engaged ourselves to Christ eventually to be married in heaven when He comes back the second time. In the meantime while on earth, we live in a loving relationship with Him, drawing closer to Him until we arrive at our wedding with Him.

“But Pastor, then how will I ever know that I’m saved?” You will know when you continue in the faith… Let me summarize the whole sermon again: If we are genuinely saved, we will continue in Christ and His church to the end. If we do not continue to the end with Christ and his church, that shows we weren’t genuinely saved. (exceptions to church? Shut-ins)

Is there an illustration of what this looks like in the Bible? Yes! Thankfully!

Luke 22:31-34 31“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” 33Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” 34Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”

This is right before Jesus is to be crucified and He is predicting that Peter will deny Him 3 times. Jesus knew this. But listen to what he says, “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.” Did it fail? Yes, temporarily, but not ultimately. He came back to the Lord. And Jesus knew that he would come back because he says next, “And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” He doesn’t say, “IF you have turned back” but “WHEN you have turned back…” But was it automatic that Peter would turn back to Jesus after denying him 3 times? No. Judas Iscariot was in the same position and he didn’t turn back which proves that he never belonged to Jesus in the first place even though he walked with Jesus for 3 years! But Peter, even after a temporary failure, when he wept bitterly and repented and turned back, Jesus accepted him right back. Jesus, after his resurrection appears before Peter on the seashore, makes him breakfast and asks him, Simon son of Jonah, do you love me?” Before, Simon would’ve answered so self-confidently, “you know I’d die for you.” But this time, a lot more humble, he simply says, “you know all things…” What’s he doing? He’s not putting his faith in his self-will, but he’s depending on Christ. He’s submitting to Christ even regarding what he would and would not do. And that showed that he truly belonged to Christ.

That is how we are kept in Christ. When we fall, and we will all fall at one time or another, we return to Christ, getting back up, humbly coming to the Lord in repentance. What is the mechanism God uses to do this? (to bring us back?) Word and Church

            Word: John 8:31-32  [31] So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, [32] and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

            Church: You will see that I have also said church. If Pastor Eldie and I are emphasizing church attendance, it’s not because we want to have a greater number for our ego or to report to someone. We don’t have to report to anyone. But it’s because we worry about your salvation. You may have been passionate at one point, but you could be a rocky soil that was never saved!

             James 5:19-20 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. => Who brings back a wanderer? A brother/sister. The church!

            1 john 2:19 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 they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

=> Who is “us” here? Again, that’s referring to the church. If someone abandons the church, the body of Christ, and never come back, then he never belonged to the body of Christ in the first place! He is lost!

This, against the American Christianity that says, “As long as my God and I are tight, we don’t need anyone else.” That’s partly true. We don’t need anyone else for justification. But if we are genuinely saved, then we will love our brothers and sisters, as imperfect as they are. And what is the institution called where our brothers and sisters dwell? The church! If we don’t love our brothers and sisters – the church – that proves that our faith wasn’t genuine.

1 john 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1. Truths summarized:
2. We are justified alone by God apart from our works.
3. Those who are truly justified (saved) will endure to the end. (will not quit believing)
4. God uses our effort to stay with Christ as a means to keep us in the faith
5. God will use the word and the church as a means to keep His children.

1. Application: Now what? What do we do with all this information?

– Work out your salvation in fear and trembling

– Keep looking to Christ through His word and church and abide in Him.

– Warn those who are falling away; encourage those who are weary, watch over your soul daily