The precious doctrine of eternal security is vital in the believer's walk. Jude encourages the believer with these precious words:
"To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you...Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." (v 1-2, 24-25)
As with anything in life, the guarantee seems to be of much importance. When we purchase a new car, TV, or home, we want to know what the guarantee is; without it, it's just not worth the investment. And although I hate to compare salvation to the purchase of a new car, there is some insight we can gain from the picture painted- when we are called to Christ, He commands us to deny ourselves, to give up our lives, and to live solely for Him, without a guarantee, it would be hopeless. You see, if we are somehow responsible for keeping ourselves in the love of Christ, if we could somehow loose our salvation, it would be a scary walk of faith. Almost as if we were walking on egg shells. You see if we could lose our salvation, we simply would. Our total depravity would demand that. But if you are truly of Him, if you are truly saved through the work of Christ, if you have come to Christ through repentance and faith, you can't loose your salvation because you didn't do it! You love Him because He FIRST loved you!
But what about those who were at one time walking in the faith and now have gone astray? John answers that question in 1 John 2:19- "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; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us."
Listen to what John MacArthur has to say on the issue, "And I'll tell you this. If the Lord can't hold on to me, what hope is there? If salvation isn't God's work, then I'm not going to get there. Do you understand that? If it's not His work and He doesn't hold me, and He doesn't keep me, and He doesn't preserve me, I won't make it. If God doesn't save me, I can't save myself. If He doesn't sanctify me, I can't sanctify myself. And if He doesn't glorify me, I can't glorify myself. If He doesn't keep me, I can't keep myself. I'm not good enough to save myself and I'm certainly not good enough to keep myself. I will never be worthy of salvation. I wasn't in the past, I'm not now."
Although you are being sanctified, and renewed daily, and are sinning less and less, you are never sin-less this side of heaven, and therefore you are never the one meriting God's favor in the work of salvation...EVER! His sacrifice is continually paying the price. We continue to violate God's Law. We continue to be, to one degree or another, idolatrous. We continue to be wicked. And believe me, the list is sufficient to condemn us all. How could we ever keep our own salvation? The thought is absolutely ridiculous.
Because the work is solely of God, and because HE is the one keeping us in the faith, there is no way to lose that precious salvation, rather, you are kept forever. Remember Romans 8, Nothing can separate us from the love of God. No one can ever condemn us. No one can ever lay any charge to God's elect. Nothing can ever happen that doesn't turn out to our good because whomever the Lord chose, He called, justified, glorified. "Rest, dear Christian, and join the celebration of verse 25. "To the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time...that's past...now...that's present...and forever...that's the future...amen, so let it be." All credit goes to the only God. There's only one. The only God who is our Savior. The only God who is our Savior through Jesus Christ. The only God who is our Savior through Jesus Christ who is our Lord. To Him be all glory, majesty, dominion and authority. None left for anyone else including us. We are there because He kept us. He preserved us and He presented us." (John MacArthur)
What's the point if there is no guarantee? The value of salvation is in the guarantee, you are kept forever, BY HIM! Let me close and encourage you with a word from Spurgeon: "And when I heard it said that the Lord would keep His people right to the end, when I heard it said that Christ said, 'My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand.' When I heard that said, I must confess...says Spurgeon...that the doctrine of the final preservation of the saints was the bait that my soul could not resist. It was sort of life insurance, an insurance of my character, an insurance of my soul, an insurance of my eternal destiny. I knew I couldn't keep myself but if Christ promised to keep me, then I would be safe forever and I longed and I prayed to find Christ because I knew that if I found Him, He would not give me a temporary salvation as some preach. But eternal life which could never be lost, the living and incorruptible seed which lives and abides forever for no one and nothing could ever separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Contend for the Faith
"Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." (Jude 3-4)
The book of Jude has been one of great encouragement and yet strict warning for me. As I have studied the book and gained more and more insight into its meaning and importance, I have found myself plumbing the depths of weighty matters.
Jude is a concise book written to warn and call those in the faith to contend for that very faith, although originally intended to encourage about our common salvation, We are challenged to be alert, to be quick to recognize, and to discern frightening realities within our own churches as the audience of Jude's letter was too. Apostasy was very real, and easily overlooked. It had become a 'Truth War', as John MacArthur likes to refer to it. There has been in infiltration in the church of people who turn the grace of God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. And although apostasy was nothing new, Jesus himself discussed it in the Gospels with the parable of the seeds, it was a burden on the heart of Jude, and a threat to all believers.
In order to really understand what Jude is getting at, one must understand what he means when he speaks of apostasy. Apostates were not those people who had never heard the truth and lived their day to day life in sin. John MacArthur explains it well, "When you talk specifically about an apostate, you're talking about someone who has received the light but not the life, the seed but not the fruit, the perhaps the written Word but not the living Word. It is a willful and deliberate rejection of the truth after the truth has been heard." What is frightening about these people is that they get into Christianity, they get into the church, and they hide themselves, often unnoticed. Apostle Paul tells the people in Acts 20:28, "Be on guard for yourselves and all the flock." You've got to be on guard. Why? "Because after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock." And here's the danger. "From among your own selves men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them and therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I didn't cease to admonish each one with tears."
But how do they defend themselves from this dangerous enemy? How do we? Well he says, "I commend you to God and the Word of His grace which is able to build you up." The only way one is going to be able to discern an apostate is if they are in the Word, and know it. "Apostates go away from the truth, they don't necessarily go away from the church. Apostasy has plagued the church not only in individual situations, but in massive ways. Roman Catholicism is an apostate form of Christianity. Liberalism is an apostate form of Christianity. Neo-orthodoxy is an apostate form of Christianity. And every cult and ism and chism that's come along in the name of Christianity that deviates from the true gospel is an apostate form. Every preacher who doesn't preach the truth is an apostate preacher."
Jude loved the people whom he wrote to, calling them beloved, and because he loved them so, he was willing to tell them the truth. A much needed warning, a great exhortation, and a compelling for each one and us today. So, because of the danger of apostasy, Jude says, "I have to write...I have to write." The question is will we obey? Will we take heed? Will we do the hardwork of diligently studying the Word of God and become experts in the truth so we might contend for our faith!
The book of Jude has been one of great encouragement and yet strict warning for me. As I have studied the book and gained more and more insight into its meaning and importance, I have found myself plumbing the depths of weighty matters.
Jude is a concise book written to warn and call those in the faith to contend for that very faith, although originally intended to encourage about our common salvation, We are challenged to be alert, to be quick to recognize, and to discern frightening realities within our own churches as the audience of Jude's letter was too. Apostasy was very real, and easily overlooked. It had become a 'Truth War', as John MacArthur likes to refer to it. There has been in infiltration in the church of people who turn the grace of God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. And although apostasy was nothing new, Jesus himself discussed it in the Gospels with the parable of the seeds, it was a burden on the heart of Jude, and a threat to all believers.
In order to really understand what Jude is getting at, one must understand what he means when he speaks of apostasy. Apostates were not those people who had never heard the truth and lived their day to day life in sin. John MacArthur explains it well, "When you talk specifically about an apostate, you're talking about someone who has received the light but not the life, the seed but not the fruit, the perhaps the written Word but not the living Word. It is a willful and deliberate rejection of the truth after the truth has been heard." What is frightening about these people is that they get into Christianity, they get into the church, and they hide themselves, often unnoticed. Apostle Paul tells the people in Acts 20:28, "Be on guard for yourselves and all the flock." You've got to be on guard. Why? "Because after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock." And here's the danger. "From among your own selves men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them and therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I didn't cease to admonish each one with tears."
But how do they defend themselves from this dangerous enemy? How do we? Well he says, "I commend you to God and the Word of His grace which is able to build you up." The only way one is going to be able to discern an apostate is if they are in the Word, and know it. "Apostates go away from the truth, they don't necessarily go away from the church. Apostasy has plagued the church not only in individual situations, but in massive ways. Roman Catholicism is an apostate form of Christianity. Liberalism is an apostate form of Christianity. Neo-orthodoxy is an apostate form of Christianity. And every cult and ism and chism that's come along in the name of Christianity that deviates from the true gospel is an apostate form. Every preacher who doesn't preach the truth is an apostate preacher."
Jude loved the people whom he wrote to, calling them beloved, and because he loved them so, he was willing to tell them the truth. A much needed warning, a great exhortation, and a compelling for each one and us today. So, because of the danger of apostasy, Jude says, "I have to write...I have to write." The question is will we obey? Will we take heed? Will we do the hardwork of diligently studying the Word of God and become experts in the truth so we might contend for our faith!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
