A Question of Perseverance, Salvation & Eternal Security

Sermon Transcript

When you go to the doctor’s office and he sits you down to discuss what’s going on inside of your body, sometimes he presents you with things—facts that are hard to understand. And at other times he presents you with some facts that are just hard to accept. But because your body is a complex and amazing creation, there are facts and aspects about what’s going on in there that are just tough to comprehend, process, and others that you may fully understand, but they’re things you don’t want to embrace, no matter what the evidence is that the doctor presents you with.

Unfortunately, in our examination of the third chapter of Hebrews, we have encountered a topic—an issue—that is a good example of both. Not only is it at times on this particular theological issue, is it challenging mentally, it’s hard to grasp, but it’s also, once we start to see clarity on it, it becomes somewhat hard to accept. I mean, it may not just be hard to believe; it’s something that I don’t want to believe. And it’s hard to believe and hard to accept sometimes, and sometimes we’re repelled by it, not because there’s anything wrong with this doctrine, but instead there is something askew with the way we like to think about God.

Because we all prefer—I mean, we must admit it—that we prefer our God to be a safe and domesticated God; a God that we can predict and understand and fully comprehend. And one that, though we’d never say it, is one that’s nicely controllable. He carefully and easily, neatly, and in a tidy manner, he fits right into our thinking and kind of goes clearly along with how we see things. As the 50th Psalm says, it’s that we would wholly prefer a God that’s altogether like us, as the psalmist says. But of course, he’s not. He’s not like us.

 

As a matter of fact, the more we study the nature and character of God, the more we get to the place where we recognize that a lot of his attributes are hard to grasp. Not just mentally; they’re somewhat hard to accept. We don’t care to accept them. When you think about his transcendent power, his decision-making, his unilateral decision-making, his sovereignty—these are concepts that when we really get under the hood of all of that, it’s tough.

 

So tonight, we’re going to take another look at Hebrews chapter 3. We’ve worked our way through it, but there are some issues that have come up that will necessarily take us down a path of discovering a few of the biblical concepts that undergird the comments, particularly in verse number 6 and verse number 14. And if you haven’t already turned there, turn to Hebrews 3.

 

And if you’re wondering why we’re going to all this work—because it will be a bit of work tonight, I think—it’s because passages like Ephesians chapter 4 make it very clear that your maturity and my maturity are based on whether or not we’re willing to grasp the doctrines of Scripture. I mean, you will be, the Scripture says, driven and tossed by every wind of doctrine if you don’t know what you believe and how it all works. We can’t grasp everything, perhaps, about this topic, but we need to go as far as we can go and understand something of God’s transcendent authority in this text.

 

The topic, as you look through it again, if you’ve been with us, in Hebrews 3, is that of faithfulness—Moses’, Christ’s, and our own. Christ, faithful and worthy of more praise than Moses, and then the remainder of the text is about us being faithful, and we need to be faithful, and the call for us to be faithful.

 

But the issues raised in the provocative wording of verses 6 and 14 prompt us to question some of the facts that are related to our belonging in the family of God. Remember, the context is a motivation for us to be faithful. But if you’re not clear about the facts that undergird what it means to be related to God’s family—facts that when we explore them become somewhat hard to embrace at points—we’ll be led in the wrong direction. We might look at verse 6 and 14, and we may get to the place where it tempts us to go down the wrong road.

 

So, this chapter in general, and these two verses in particular, need to be understood against a biblical backdrop of how one is accepted into the family of God, and if or when that acceptance is ever revoked. Because this text uses its keyword—a conjunction—if, as you’ll see. Actually, let’s read them now. The central word in these two texts hinges on the word if.

 

We want to talk tonight, at least at the outset, in terms of contingency. What is our salvation contingent upon? What or who determines whether or not we’re going to be saved?

 

Look at verse number 6 again. But Christ, he’s faithful as a son over God’s house—over and against Moses. Moses was faithful; Christ is perfectly faithful. And it says, we are his house—the metaphor here. We’re a part of his family—if, there’s the key word, we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.

 

Drop down to verse 14. Rephrase, same concept, same package, same key word—exactly the same key word. Verse 14 says, we have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

 

And that brings up questions of all kinds that relate to what is this salvation thing all about? How do we get it? Can we lose it? How does this work? So these are good questions for us to grapple with, and I hope you have your Bibles. And if you met those people on the patio as you were coming in and they were going out, hopefully they warned you. We got a lot to cover tonight.

 

The contingency in verse number 6 and verse number 14—does not the contingency of our salvation seem to hang on whether or not we’re faithful? Right? A cursory look at the text, it seems to clearly read, we are his house if we hold to our courage and hope—firmly to the end. We’ve come to share in Christ, verse 14, if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

 

And if that seems like it hangs our salvation on our faithfulness, you can add these verses to it as well because they say basically the same thing. Jot them down: 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse number 2, which simply says, “By this gospel you are saved if you hold firmly to the word,” Paul says, “that I preach to you.” Or, how about Colossians chapter 1, verse 22 and 23—one sentence. It says, “But now you have been reconciled by Christ if you continue in your faith. Established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.” Okay? That seems really clear.

 

Here’s where it leads people. It leads people to the conclusion that I get to be a child of God if I finish the race faithfully. And while that may seem to be what it’s saying, as we’ll see a little bit later, that would be a misunderstanding of the assumed backdrop of how salvation works, as the writer of Hebrews addresses these people about their salvation.

 

Or to invert it—this may sound more familiar to you—if I am a child of God and I fail to be faithful, then I cease to be a child of God. Does that sound more familiar? We lose it. Okay.

 

1. Note the Real Contingency of Your Salvation

 

Number one on your outline, and we’ll go to Ephesians chapter 1 to analyze this concept. Jot this down: We need to note the real contingency of your salvation. What is the real contingency of your salvation? Is your salvation contingent upon whether or not you are faithful?

 

Well, understand, obviously, that seems to be the statement. And in what sense is that true? Well, let’s look at the backdrop, the foundation, the girders that are planted in this truth from Ephesians chapter 1. So once you jot that down—note the real contingency of your salvation—let’s look at Ephesians chapter 1, which is very helpful for us to understand in reality what the contingency of our salvation is all about.

 

Ephesians chapter 1. Let’s start in verse number 3. After Paul’s salutation, his beginning words, he now gets into the meat of this letter—which, by the way, is a circulating letter that didn’t just go to Ephesus, went all over to a number of churches in Asia Minor, probably was intended to for a lot of textual reasons.

 

But in verse number 3, he begins, and he says, “Praise be to the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ, for he chose us”—keyword—“in him before the creation of the world.” When did he choose this? Before the creation of the world. Not a trick question. “To be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he”—here’s a word, it’s a big word, scary word, theological word—what is it? “Predestined us to be adopted.” When did this happen? Before the foundation of the world. “As his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and his will.”

 

That’s what he wanted. Therefore he chose us; therefore he predestined us to be adopted. Okay.

 

There’s more in this text; we’ll look at it. But what we need to realize is that the real contingency of our salvation, according to this text, is God’s eternal choice that took place outside of time when he said, “I choose you.”

 

And the text goes on to say—let’s keep reading—that that will be to the praise of his glorious grace. Grace, what we don’t deserve, and it will envelop and include the forgiveness of our sins, which is in accordance with the riches of his grace—which, by the way, he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

 

Verse 9: “He made known to us the mystery of his will.” That’s what he wants—his decisions—“according to his good pleasure, which he”—here’s another big word—“purposed in Christ.” That was his purpose. And he purposed in Christ “to be put into effect when the times have reached their fulfillment,” which is the collecting of his kingdom all the way to the end of time, “to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.”

 

He’s collecting people in real time. That’s all a playing out of his purpose and plan of choosing individuals before the foundation of the world.

 

Verse 11: “In him”—if you didn’t get it earlier in verse 4, verse 11 says it again—“we were also chosen, having been”—here’s our word again—“predestined according to the plan of him who works out most things in conformity”—there’s a little smudge on my text. What does it say? “Everything in conformity to the purpose of his will.”

 

People ask sometimes, do you believe in predestination? I don’t know. I mean, I guess so. That’s the word here, used redundantly in Scripture to say that God predestined people to be saved. And if you didn’t catch that word, look at the words around it. He chose them according to his pleasure and will, verse 5. His will, verse 9. He purposed, verse 9. He put into effect, verse 10. In verse 11, he chose us. He predestined us according to his plan. Oh, and by the way, just like everything that works out in conforming to his will—his what he wants—“in order that we who were first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.”

 

Now it’s working out in real time, verse 13: “And you also were included in Christ.” Notice that we’re not the subject there; God is. We’re the object. “When you heard the word of truth”—now here’s my experience, the underside of the tapestry. I’m seeing it now—“you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed,” then at that point in time, look what happens: “We’re marked in him with a seal.” That’s like the king puts the seal—you’ve heard that a million times. What’s the seal? “The promised Holy Spirit.” It’s a sign from God; it’s a promise from God. Boom, you get God’s Spirit.

 

Who is, by the way, “a deposit”—now here’s some big words coming again—“guaranteeing our inheritance.” It’s not a hope-by-and-by, I hope it happens. A guarantee of our inheritance “until the redemption of those who might be, will be”—what does it say? “Are God’s possession.” Oh, “to the praise of his glory.”

 

I mean, that’s a powerful statement, which makes it very clear that your salvation and mine is contingent in the most foundational way on God’s sovereign choice.

 

Okay? Why? Look across the page—Ephesians chapter 2. The reason he must choose, plan, initiate, and adopt individuals into his family is because that’s the only way it’s going to happen. We can’t do it.

 

Why? Here’s what he says—here’s the analogy. Verse 1, chapter 2: “As for you, you were”—really drunk in your sins, sleepy, tired, lazy—what’s the word? “Dead.” That’s different than lazy. That’s different than drunk. That’s different than tired. You were “dead in your transgressions and sin in which you used to live.” Interesting—it’s an analogy. Of course you were alive biologically, but spiritually you were dead. And you “followed all the ways of the world and the kingdom of this air, the rule of the kingdom of the air, the spirit that’s now at work in those that are disobedient.”

 

“All of us lived among them at one time”—gratifying the cravings of our flesh, following its desires and thoughts—and like the rest, all we were was a big target for God’s wrath. We were by nature objects of God’s wrath.

 

So that’s what we were—dead—and what was coming—God’s wrath.

 

But, verse 4, because of our wonderful, ingenious realization of the wisdom of the gospel—help me now if that’s not right—because we finally came around and got it, because we were smart enough to eke ourselves out of that deadness—no. “Because of his great love for us, who is rich in mercy, God made us alive in Christ.”

 

You ever seen a resurrection? I’ve missed out on most of those. But there were some in the Bible, very clear. You got a guy’s body decaying in a grave, and Jesus steps on the scene and says, “Lazarus, come forth.” Remember that passage? Now, can you imagine that? You’re sitting there, this guy’s dead, and really, it starts with this statement, “He stinketh,” in the old KJV, right? Lord, he stinketh—he stinks. You can’t open that grave up. Open it—come forth.

 

Now, it wasn’t a dialogue with Lazarus. This was not a bilateral discussion. It was not an agreement. This was God, in the form of a human being, Christ, saying to Lazarus, you’re dead—come forth. That was a one-way kind of thing, and a one-way kind of decision.

 

And he says here, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, but God, verse 5, “made you alive together with Christ, even when we were dead in our transgressions—it’s by grace you’ve been saved.” You couldn’t do it. God had to do it. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in heavenly realms in Christ Jesus “in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace,” not our wisdom, “expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”

 

“It is by grace,” verse 5, “that you’ve been saved.” It’s through faith. It’s not of yourself, because by the way, you were dead to God. “It’s the gift of God.” It’s not by works that no one can boast. You can’t boast about it. If you’re in the graveyard, lying there dead, and you come out of the grave, and Martha and Mary say, well, that was really cool how you came alive again—he said, well, yeah, I know. I was working on that. No—you were dead. You couldn’t do it. God spoke it. It was his power, his choice, his decision. He made you alive.

 

See, if Christ is going to go and collect followers, he is, from his perspective, walking through the graveyard, saying to people, follow me. You know how many responses you’ll get from the graveyard? None. Unless, of course, you have the power to say, you’re alive. You’re alive. You’re alive. You’re alive. Then all of a sudden, we got some response.

 

If it’s a collaborative effort with dead people, the dead people aren’t helping much. Christ goes into the world. He says, follow me. And the only way we get a response is if God, according to verse 5, makes us alive with Christ.

 

Why did God have to plan, choose, initiate, and adopt individuals into his family? Because we couldn’t do it. We were incapable of doing it, because according to God, we were dead.

 

Note the real contingency of our salvation. We’ll get back to what we’re talking about in Hebrews 3, but we need to know clearly throughout Scripture, this is something that God does. And if God does it—it’s interesting about God—he seems to finish what he starts.

 

Do you remember that whole discussion in the book of Luke? He talks about ridiculing people who start to build a tower and they can’t finish it. And God says, don’t be like that. And I’m assuming if he’s saying, don’t be like that, he’s not like that. That’s why passages like Philippians chapter 1, verse 6 say, if God started a good work in you, guess what? He’ll complete it. But that, you know, maybe a different context.

 

So maybe we need—let’s go to the book of Romans, the systematic epistle in the New Testament about God’s salvation. Let’s start in Romans chapter 5 and see if we can’t clearly see that God has promised not only to initiate the adoption process, but God has promised to complete the process.

 

Take a look, for instance, at Romans chapter 5. This is a familiar verse. It’s one of the reasons I take you here because we often don’t read verse 9, but we should because it’s so important to verse number 8. Actually, let’s read all the way to verse 11.

 

Romans chapter 5, verse number 8: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And the metaphor, by the way, in Ephesians is we were dead. And so God reaches out through Christ and dies in the place of sinners and now makes them alive.

 

But we’re not using metaphors here. So he uses the judicial words, verse number 9: “Since we have now been”—here’s the word—“justified,” made right in God’s sight, “by his blood.” Now note this, argument from lesser to greater: “How much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath?” When’s that coming? Future—it’s not now—“through him.” Having now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him? The answer is—it’s a rhetorical question—I suppose a lot more. If we’re justified now when we were sinners, I suppose then we’ll be saved in the future from his coming wrath.

 

Verse 10: “For if when we were”—and this is exactly what he says—“if when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life?” I mean, if he’s reconciled us and he did that when we were alienated from him and dead to him, how much more is he going to make us saved in the future through his life?

 

Now this is important. Verse 11—you got to see this too: “Not only is this so,” but we can now sit back and rejoice in God through the Lord Jesus Christ through whom we now have received reconciliation.

 

And if we’ve received reconciliation—and if, by the way, to use the imagery of Ephesians chapter 1, we have the guarantee of the Holy Spirit in our lives—then we know, guaranteeing the future, that I am God’s possession. And because I’m God’s possession, if I was reconciled to him, I’m going to be saved in the future.

 

A couple chapters later, chapter 8, verse number 1. Remember this great phrase? “Therefore, there is now no condemnation.” After all this discussion about the law and about works and how is one saved, “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” In other words, you’re going to miss all of that. You’re going to miss all that judgment-day stuff of the great white throne at the end of the book of Revelation. You’re not going to have that. Why? Because Christ took the hit. Again, you have in Christ now a relationship with him that then guarantees no future condemnation.

 

Or drop down to the middle of this chapter, verse number 28. Romans 8:28. You remember this familiar verse: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who’ve been called according to his purpose.” “For those God foreknew”—now, that’s an important word in Scripture. It’s much akin to Romans chapter 11, verse number 2, and Jeremiah chapter 1, verse number 5. It’s not just that God has information before stuff happens. It’s an intentional action of God. I foreknew him. Like he says in Jeremiah, “Before you were born, I knew you.” It wasn’t like, hey, I knew you were coming. I fixed my good on you. I fixed my regard on you. I foreknew you—just like he says of Israel in Romans 11:2.

 

And those he foreknew—you know what he does to those he loves ahead of time? He predestines them. That’s the word we saw over there in Ephesians chapter 1. “To be conformed to the likeness of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” “For those he predestined, he also then,” in real time when it all works out—because the predestination took place before the creation of the world—what does he do in real time? “He calls them.” And those that he calls, guess what? They get justified. And we already learned in chapter 5, if you got justified, you’re guaranteed glorification. “He glorified.” The chain is absolute.

 

Who carries it out? Same one who planned it. The same one who adopted us. The same one who predestined us. The same one who started this at the very beginning.

 

“What shall we say to this then,” verse number 31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” I guess if he’s tied it all up and he’s done it, I guess we’re in pretty good shape.

 

Verse 32: “If he didn’t spare his own son”—which is the same logic of chapter 5—“but gave him up for us all, how will he not also along with him graciously give us all things?” It’s going to happen. “Who will bring a charge against those whom God has chosen?” It’s God who justifies. And if it’s God who justifies and he’s already decided, you’re on my team, you’re my possession, here’s the guarantee of the Holy Spirit, then what’s he going to do—turn around now and condemn us?

 

“Who is he that condemns?” Specifically, judgment has been given to Christ. But Christ, by the way, is the one who died for us. More than that, he was raised to life, and now he’s at the right hand of God interceding for us. Is he schizophrenic? Now he’s going to turn on us? No—that’s not the way it is.

 

As a matter of fact, nothing’s going to separate us from the love of Christ. Not trouble, not hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, the sword. We have a lot of hard times. He quotes the Old Testament passage: We’re like sheep considered to the slaughter. But in all these things, verse 37, we’re more than conquerors through him who loved us.

 

And I’m convinced, Paul says, there’s not life, death, angels, demons, things present, things future, powers, height, depth, anything else in all creation that’s going to be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Therefore, who or what is our salvation contingent upon? It’s God. God’s choice and God’s powerful declaration that what he starts, he will finish.

 

And just to clarify that foreknowledge—because you said, whoa, did you see that tap dance he did around the word foreknowledge? See, that’s where I’m hanging my hat. Foreknowledge. And what that means is I know that when I decided to become a Christian, that was my choice. And I chose that. Therefore, what foreknowledge must mean is that God looked ahead. He played the tape ahead. He got to the place where he saw me. Oh, there they are—Orange. He made a decision for Christ. And then he rolled the tape back before the creation of time and said, I choose you.

 

I know I’m kind of being funny, but don’t laugh. That’s believed by most people in the modern church today. And the belief is God looked ahead, saw what I would decide, and then he went back and decided to choose me.

 

Just know this: if you believe that, or know people that do, that means that almighty eternal God has made his decisions contingent on you and your decisions. Does that bother anybody a little bit?

 

The Scripture teaches just the opposite—that my decisions are contingent on his decision—and that the reason I decided to follow Christ one day in my life when I was 18 years old was because God, before the creation of the world, chose and decided that I would follow him. Therefore, he brought me to life, and I followed him. My decisions were contingent on his decisions. His decisions were not contingent on my decisions.

 

The contingency of my salvation rests on him and his eternal plan, not me and my human choices. John 1 says it’s not by human decision, it’s not my man’s will, it’s by God’s will. God chose to do so. And we choke on that. I realize that.

 

Well, I felt it. I chose. You know what? I know you chose. I realize that you chose. But you do recognize that you’re choosing.

 

And I know we want to feel like we’re like big and at the center of this thing, but you do know, don’t you, that the Creator of all things has retained the right to direct the hearts of men the way that he wants to. You realize that. He has reserved that right.

 

As a matter of fact, here’s a great proverb for you. Proverb chapter 27, verse number 1—I’m sorry, 21, verse 1. Proverbs 21:1. And this verse doesn’t mean as much as it should to us because we live in this democracy and we look around the world and see parliaments and we see the president. We think he’s all super powerful, but then we see Congress and we see senators and it’s like, whoa, whatever—checks and balances.

 

Do you know in the ancient world, if you were the king, there were no checks and balances? You realize that, right? If you wanted a big turkey dinner for dinner tonight, guess what you got? Turkey dinner. And if the guy who came to deliver to you looks funny and you didn’t like him and you wanted to execute him and create a new law—guy who serves me turkey dinner tonight gets executed—it didn’t go to the Senate. Congress didn’t worry about it. You decided that, and he’s dead. And everybody stands around and goes, yes sir, is there anything else you would like? Why? Because the ancient Near Eastern king had sovereign power. That’s what it means. He didn’t bow his will to anyone. He was sovereign in his nation.

 

And therefore, if you were going to look at someone who had free will—free choice, freedom to do whatever he wanted—you would say the king has freedom to do whatever he chooses to do. And here’s what Proverbs 21:1 says. If you’ve turned there, take a look at it; if not, just listen carefully. The Scripture says, “The king’s heart”—the most independent unilateral thinker in the world, that’s what the king was, the independent one who does whatever he wants—“the king’s heart is in the hands of Yahweh, and he directs it like a water course wherever he pleases.”

 

God is moving the heart of the most independent free thinker in the world. God is doing that. And why does he do that? Because he reserves the right to do that. And that’s what the Bible says he does.

 

How hard is a water course? I don’t know—this is another gross bathroom illustration. But you go into the bathroom and you see a little goober hanging on the side of the sink. Some kind of weird scum or something, right? Not that we have any of that in our house. But occasionally, when I’ve been elsewhere, I’ve seen the scum on the sink.

 

And so you got the water, which shoots directly from the spigot down to that little cap that hangs on the bottom of the drain—hangs on the top of the drain—and it goes straight down. And I see the little goober there over to the left. And so I’m washing my hands, and I want to go direct the little water that way. How hard is that for me? Not very hard. My seven-year-old can do it. Takes the water and goes—it’s not hard. Little tiny hands can redirect water.

 

And the Bible says the most independent, sovereign thinker on the planet is directed like God just putting a little water around the sink of a basin. No problem. And God does that.

 

Wow—maybe big-time kings, but I don’t know about every little thing and every single person on this crowded planet. Here’s a good text, just to jot down and go study sometime: Exodus chapter 20—I’m sorry, Exodus chapter 34, verse 24. Exodus 34:24.

 

The Bible required Israel to go up, leave their jobs, leave their property, and bring their families up to celebrate at three annual festivals outside of Jerusalem. And if I lived up in Galilee somewhere, or up in Dan or Naphtali, or over across the river in Manasseh, and I was going to come to Jerusalem, you know what I’m worried about? People taking over my property while I’m gone. Think about it. The nation shuts down three times a year for a week to go celebrate all these religious festivals. And so I’m leaving everything behind and walking to Jerusalem—three days travel away from where I’m at.

 

You know what I’m afraid of? What’s going to happen to my place? All I got to do is see the Assyrians going, oh, they’re going up for another—got another festival here. Fantastic. We’re going to go raid their farm. Wouldn’t you be afraid of that? I would.

 

Here’s what Scripture says in Exodus 34:24. It says, “When you go up to these festivals, no one will covet your property.” I’m thinking to myself—coveting. You know how secret coveting is? Think about that. Think about how we covet. Just no one knows what the crook’s thinking when he’s walking down looking.

 

You know what? The Bible says God’s directing all those hearts at one time. All those hearts out there—oh, don’t covet. Why? Because it’s nothing for God. And God reserves the right to direct the hearts of men.

 

And I know we like to think we’re really big independent thinkers—free thinkers, free will, we do whatever we want—and the Bible says God’s directing this stuff. And he’s working everything after the counsel of his own will, according to his plan and his good pleasure. And I know that’s a hard one to reconcile because we’ve experienced our choices, and we do make choices for which we are culpable. Those choices we’re culpable for. But ultimately, God is saying, listen, I retain the rights.

 

And I get that phrase or that concept, by the way, from Romans chapter 9, which on our Thursday night study we will eventually, Lord willing, get to in Romans chapter 9, where basically he puts it in terms of an analogy: doesn’t the potter have the right over the clay? Remember that great example? And I’m the potter, and you guys are the clay, and I can make whatever I want here. I can turn everything like a water course. No problem.

 

I looked up on the internet how many times the phrase, “all rights reserved,” shows up. Go do that search tonight. Millions of hits—all rights reserved. Then I did a search on our server at the office, and I’m thinking, well, we’re not into all that stuff. Hundreds of hits just in our office and all the files we got. All rights reserved.

 

And what we’re saying is we’ve made a little something. We have some little intellectual property over here. We made a little widget or a doodad over here, and we—all rights reserved, man—we got full rights over this.

 

You don’t think God made you and me and every other heart on the planet? Do you think he signed away his rights with some celestial lawyer somewhere? Well, got no rights over that person, because they’re free to do whatever they want. Do you see what I’m saying? God reserves all rights. It’s somewhere like in the crease of your little toe on your left foot. It says it right there: “All rights reserved.” God. Right? Because he didn’t give them up. You’re the clay; he’s the potter.

 

Romans 9:16: “It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but it depends on God’s mercy.” Talking there about God’s choice. His choice depends on his mercy. It’s up to him.

 

Where does that leave us? Well, that leaves us in a place where our decision to follow Christ and our decisions to be faithful to Christ are contingent on God’s decision. And that makes God a little bigger than the average person’s God who likes to gloss over these things and say, well, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me—because our God is too small.

 

All right, and that was just the first point. You see why they complained on the patio tonight?

 

2. Read Passages Like These With Care

 

Point number two. Therefore, back to our text—and I’m talking about Hebrews 3, verse 6 and 14—we must read passages like these with care.

 

If that’s the biblical backdrop of salvation and the contingency of salvation—that it’s contingent on God who wills it—then I want to know what in the world you’re talking about when you tell me that we are his house if we hold on to our courage and hope. I want to know what you mean when you say we’ve come to share in Christ if we hold firmly to the end the confidence we had at first.

 

And the first thing we need to do when we carefully slow down to read these passages—we need to, letter A, if you want to put it in a sub-point—we need to carefully note the tense of the verb. The tense of the verb.

 

If is this central conjunction. I realize there’s some contingency here. I got to figure out what it is. So I start with the first part of the sentence, which is going to tell me something. And I need to know the tense of the verb because that’ll tell me everything about this contingency.

 

Verse 6, middle of verse 6: “And we are his house.” That’s the verb to be. We are his house. What tense? Past, present, or future? Present.

 

It doesn’t say we will be his house if we hold on to our courage and hope of which we boast—which, by the way, is exactly how I framed it when I said here’s the misunderstanding. The misunderstanding is I get to be on God’s team—get to be, that’s future—if I finish this race faithfully. Do you see how that’s a way different statement than this? That we are his house if we hold on to our courage and hope.

 

Now, I understand the holding on to our courage and hope is future in time. But what the Scripture is saying is that you are his house if in the future we see this play itself out that way.

 

Now, I’m thinking, wow, is that the same tense of the verb later in this text or in those other two passages that I gave you? Yes. Take a look at verse 14. We have—and this isn’t just present tense, this is what we call in grammar the perfect tense. You grammarians love this stuff, right? The perfect tense.

 

And it says, “We have come to share in Christ,” completed action. We have already come to share in Christ if—contingency—we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

 

It doesn’t say we will come to share in Christ. It doesn’t say we will get to have a place in the family. It doesn’t say we earn anything by our faithfulness. It says that if we are this, then this will happen. And the if works. It’s a contingency.

 

It is the proof—the tense proves for me here—the proof of the reality of my relationship with Christ. I am his house if you watch my life play itself out this way. I have come to share in Christ—completed action—if you watch me hold my confidence firm till the end.

 

Do you see how the contingency now flips itself around? And now all of a sudden what I’m looking at is the proof of the reality—not that I get the reality if I fulfill the condition. I’m trying to avoid grammatical terms here, but do you see what I’m saying?

 

Therefore, all you can do is look throughout Scripture and say, is that a common theme in Scripture? Is the concept of proving this reality of my relationship—is it played out in the longevity of my confession of Christ? And the answer is yes, absolutely.

 

Take a look at a couple of examples. If you’re in Hebrews 3, go to Hebrews 6. Hebrews 6, verse number 11. It’s exactly what we see here throughout the Scripture—that my carrying out of my faithfulness to Christ, it proves something: the reality of something that’s already set.

 

Verse 11: “We want each of you to show the same diligence”—are you there? Hebrews 6:11—“We want each of you to show the same diligence to the very end.” And he’s just talking about being obedient, doing what’s right. Keep doing it all the way to the end of your life “in order to make your hope sure.” Do you see that? You get to be sure if you see this thing playing itself out with consistent diligence.

 

How about this one? This one’s even better—2 Peter 1—because of the juxtaposition of words, it just sums it all up in one verse.

 

2 Peter 1, verse number 10. 2 Peter 1:10: “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager”—and he’s just talking about all these virtues, doing these good things—“be all the more eager to make your calling,” which, by the way, is something in Romans chapter 8 that if it’s there, I’m going to be glorified, “and your election,” Ephesians chapter 1, if I’ve been elected, then I’m going to be resulting in the praise of God’s honor in eternity—“make it sure.”

 

“Show diligence to the end in order to make your hope sure.” And then it says in verse number 10 of 2 Peter 1, “be eager to make your calling and election sure.”

 

Now, question: make it sure to whom? Who am I making this sure to? God?

 

Jot these references down, if you would, please. 2 Timothy 2—realize that was pretty demanding. Jot this reference down right now in pen. 2 Timothy chapter 2—you’re going, yeah, you’re just realizing that now, Mike—sorry—2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 19. You don’t need to turn there, just jot it down. I’ll read it to you:

 

“Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: The Lord knows those who are his.”

 

Does God know who are his and who isn’t? Absolutely. Does he need proof? No. He knows exactly who. Why? Because he settled that from eternity past. Does he have any question who’s his? No. He knows exactly those who are his.

 

Or how about this one? John chapter 10, verse 27, 28, and 29—27 through 29, John 10. Here’s what Jesus said. He says, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they’re never going to perish and no one can snatch them out of my hand.” It’s a done deal. “My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” Secure. Set.

 

God knows. Jesus knows. The Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee, the engagement ring, if you will, the seal—he knows. God knows. Christ knows. The Spirit knows. No surprise.

 

But you know who may not be totally sure? You. Or someone next to you. They don’t know, for sure. You say the right things. You confess Christ. You know how we prove this to ourselves and other people? Be faithful. Live faithfully. Live obediently.

 

This is Paul said to Titus: you can confess him with your mouth and deny him with your actions. And we’ve got to make sure that our actions are matching our confession. That’s, by the way, one of the reasons faithfulness in Scripture is commanded to us. It’s to put our hearts at rest so that we know we are his.

 

1 John has so much to say about that. 1 John 2, verse 3 is an example: “We know we’ve come to know him.” We know it if we see ourselves obeying his commandments. If we obey his commandments—man—we know that.

 

That’s why Paul went into a city in passages like Acts 26, verse 20, and he commanded people not only to repent and turn to God, but he commanded them to do deeds that were appropriate or proving their repentance. Why? Because he wanted them to be sure. Your life has changed and you’ll see it. Prove it by what you do. God’s gotten a hold of you. He’s made dead people live, and your life will prove it.

 

Prove it to who? God? No—God knows. These passages are about proof. The if and the contingency is the revealing of reality. Your faithfulness peels back for the world—and maybe yourself, if you look in the moral mirror—the proof that you are a redeemed person. And you know, you’ve come to know him if you see this life of faithfulness and longevity.

 

But church doesn’t seem to be quite so clean on the living out of these things. That’s why, real, real fast:

 

3. Always Remember These Biblical Facts

 

Point number three on your outline. To catch this and be able to filter reality through these principles, we need to always remember, number three, these biblical facts. Always remember these biblical facts.

 

And I’ll go through them quickly. I know there’s a bunch of them here. Six things.

 

1. Lots of Non-Christians Go to Church

 

Letter A. Know this and don’t ever forget it. I’ll prove each one of these for you biblically. Ready? Here it comes.

 

Letter A: Lots of non-Christians go to church. Right? Can we all agree to that? Lots of non-Christians—don’t be so enthusiastic about the answer—but yes, they go to church.

 

Lots of non-Christians—let’s give some proof. I put the book of Hebrews, which may be a little bit of a broad reference here, but the whole book of Hebrews—that’s the concern. And all the multiple warnings is make sure you’re a real Christian. Be sure. Don’t miss it, man.

 

Okay, but you want more proof that you can put clearly in a clean little box? How about the parable of the wheat and the tares? Is that not clearly Jesus saying there’ll be a lot of people sitting next to you you think look really good—they look connected to Christ—but they’re not?

 

Okay, how about the call in these epistles like in 2 Corinthians 13, verse number 5, that Paul says to—test yourself to see if you’re really of the faith—because you know you’ve come to share in Christ if, of course, you pass the test. Why would he be telling Christians in church, reading letters from the apostle, to see if they’re really Christians? Why? Because the church is full of Christians and non-Christians.

 

How about the presence of false teachers? Clearly, in 2 Peter, the book of Jude, the pastoral epistles—1 and 2 Timothy and Titus—clearly the false teachers are not saved. They have God’s condemnation coming. They’re going to go to these places reserved for demons and God’s punishment. Well, they’re teaching in the church. They’re leading Bible studies. Hi. Are there non-Christians in the church? Yeah—absolutely.

 

And if all that’s going to be forgotten, here’s one word that sums up, and it’s absolute proof that lots of non-Christians go to church. Ready? Here’s one word: Judas. Does that help?

 

He not only went to church; he hung out with the leader of the church. He was the treasurer. You know that, right? Hi. He’s the treasurer. He’s in charge of the money at the church. And Jesus calls him a son of perdition, son of the devil, the adversary. What? Non-Christians go to church? Man, they’re on the top of the top. Judas.

 

Okay, we got to start with that. Understand—non-Christians go to church. There are non-Christians here, okay?

 

1. Lots of Non-Christians Are Changed by Church

 

Letter B. Remember this: Lots of non-Christians are changed by church.

 

Hebrews chapter 6—a good example of this. They experience the goodness of the word of God. They taste something of God’s gifts and the powers of the age to come. He illustrates it by saying the land where all this great rain falls on it. And it’s much like the parable that Jesus told of the soils. They get this good stuff and they soak it up. And you know what? Some of them are changed by it. They live better lives. Their marriages are stronger. They stop cursing and cussing. They stop kicking the dog when they come home from work. They get their lives together, man. Non-Christians do.

 

The book of Hebrews is a good example all the way through. Hebrews 6:4–9 is a specific example.

 

1. Some Non-Christians Bail Out After a While

 

Letter C. Some non-Christians bail out after a while. Some non-Christians bail out of the church after a while, and some don’t. They stay in it all the way till they die.

 

Some non-Christians bail out, and some stay in there till they die. Two passages to prove both sides of this.

 

John chapter 6—we’ve got to look at this one. This one we can’t miss. John chapter 6. Let’s look at verse—once you get done writing that—verses 60 through 69.

 

Here’s the bailout side of it. They’re church-going people. They’ve been changed. Sometimes they just go bye-bye.

 

Take a look at verse 60. Jesus has just gotten done with some very hard teaching. It was a spiritual analogy as he goes on to say—spiritual words. They stumble over his teaching and it says in verse number 60 of John 6—John 6:60—“On hearing it many of his”—now notice the phrase to describe them—“disciples”—many of the church members, many of the people in the church—they said this: “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept this?” Man, can you believe what he just said? I can’t handle that. I can’t believe he said that. You don’t believe that, do you, Fred? No, man, I don’t believe—I can’t—who could believe that? Stumbling over it.

 

Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this—apparently they weren’t doing it to his face, normally how it works in church—Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?” He says, man, if that offends you, what if I were to pull out a real offensive truth, like I’m the king of the universe? Like this, verse 62: “What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before?” How’d you like me to just turn on the jet pack and go right up to heaven, right in front of your eye right now? I think if you’re offended by that whole discussion, you’d really trip over that, because I’m the whole Daniel 9, Daniel 7 Son of Man. Man, you’d really stumble over that.

 

“The Spirit gives life, but the flesh”—man, it’s lame—“it counts for nothing. The words I’ve spoken to you—they’re spirit and they’re life.” And in the margin, if it’s not already there: 1 Corinthians 2:14. That’s the problem with people that don’t have the Spirit. They can’t discern the things of the Spirit. They stumble over them, and eventually they get offended.

 

Yet, verse 64, even though I spoke these words to you—there’s spirit in their life—“some of you,” he says, “yet there are some of you who do not believe.”

 

Now, wait a minute—you just called them your disciples. Oh, I know. They’re there. They got the disciple—hello, my name is, you know, Nathaniel or whatever—and I’m a disciple of Christ. The problem is they don’t really trust him. They don’t really believe. I mean, they would be shocked and offended if they saw him ascending to heaven. They don’t believe. They don’t believe the right stuff. They don’t trust in him.

 

For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and, by the way, the bald guy—the treasurer. It says, and you know the one who would betray him. He knew that. So not all these people are obviously true believers. They’re not true Christians, if you will.

 

He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.” There it is. There’s that offensive truth we gloss over. What’s the point? God had to initiate this. This was God’s choice.

 

So here’s the fact, verse 66: “From this time, many of his disciples”—church-going people, members of the church, if you will—“they turned their back and no longer followed him.” They bailed out.

 

And then he turns to his disciples—his core group—he says, “You want to leave too?” He asked the Twelve. And Simon Peter says, well, where are we going to go? He says, “You have the words of eternal life. We believe and we know that you are the Holy One of God.”

 

And if you shot up to heaven, we’d go, wow—of course. And when Peter said that kind of stuff elsewhere in Scripture, what did Jesus say to him? “Flesh and blood has not revealed that to you.” See, God’s at work. God enabled you to even catch that. God did that in you. Flesh—man—it’s lame, counts for nothing. Spirit, though—if you got the Spirit—Peter had the right answer here.

 

Some non-Christians bail out after a while.

 

And oh, by the way, some don’t. Matthew 7—they’ll get all the way through their life, have a Christian funeral, they’ll stand before Christ and he’ll say, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” And they’re going, Lord, Lord, wait a minute. Did you see that committee I served on, man? I was there every Sunday. And when they went to afternoons, I was there too. I was at church. And he’ll say, “Depart from me, I never knew you.”

 

What do you mean you didn’t know me? I was there every week.

 

Tracking with that? Some non-Christians bail out after a while. Oh, and by the way, some don’t. It’s important to realize these are the parameters. We can filter things through this matrix.

 

1. All Christians Endure to the End

 

Letter D. All Christians—this is done. We don’t even have to discuss this. You know this. Endure to the end. We’ve just seen that. That’s the whole point of Hebrews chapter 3, verses 6 and 14.

 

They endure to the end. All real Christians—they endure. If they hold on to the end, obviously, that proves that real Christians—every real Christian—endures to the end. Oh, some non-Christians do too, but they’re not really saved. But all real Christians endure to the end.

 

1. Bailing Out Shows They Were Never Really Christians

 

Letter E. Now, this is important. Bailing out shows that changed church-going people were never really Christians.

 

I mean, that’s where we’re left. We don’t even need to state it with a text because we can just put all these pieces together and come to this conclusion. Bailing out is a sign—a clear evidence—that shows that even though they’re changed, and they went to church, they weren’t Christians. Why? Because real Christians endure to the end.

 

Oh, but they were in my Bible study group. I realize that. Remember: lots of non-Christians go to church. But they were changed. A lot of non-Christians are changed. But they stayed with it for years. Some non-Christians never bail out. But if they do, remember this: all Christians endure to the end. Therefore, bailing out—clear sign—not saved to start with.

 

We got to look at this one. Be encouraged—it’s the last one I’ll turn you to tonight. 1 John 2, verse 18. 1 John 2:18. Anybody going with me to 1 John 2:18? All right. You’re writing, right? Are you writing? Is that the problem? Are you already there? Or are you just tired? I just want that.

 

We mentioned some form of food tonight, didn’t we? What did we say? Turkey dinner, that’s what we said. Baby. Yeah—turkey dinner. I knew I had that little moment in that sermon of thinking of food. I’m sorry. I know. I’ll get emails on that one for sure.

 

Letter E—1 John 2, verse 18. Take a look at this: “Dear children,” verse 18, “this is the last hour.” This whole period, by the way, from the ascension of Christ all the way to the second coming of Christ—this is technically in Scripture called the end times, the last hour. “And as you’ve heard, the Antichrist is coming,” and you think Nicolai Carpathia, right, or whatever, some big bad guy in the future.

 

He says, now that may be true, “but even now, many smaller little antichrists have gone out.” Now, I know that’s an ominous word—antichrist, right? But what does that mean? That means they’re really not in with Christ. They’re really against Christ. Oh, antichrist looks like he’s for Christ, looks like he’s for God, but he’s not. That’s the thing. They’re phonies.

 

Well, there’s a lot of phonies, he says, that have come. And this is how we know it’s the last hour. And you’ve seen some people blow into your church, John, saying that they were against Christ—phonies.

 

“They went out,” verse 19, “from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have”—according to passages like Hebrews 3, verses 6 and 14—“they would have remained with us, but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.”

 

Is that clear? “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us, but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” Why? Because bailing out shows that changed church-going people—and Sunday school teachers too—and even treasurers, if you will, of the inside circle of Jesus Christ—bailing out shows they were never really saved.

 

Lastly, no amens with that one, okay, please.

 

1. Interpret Your Experience in Light of Scripture

 

In conclusion, letter F: Interpret your experience in light of Scripture and not the other way around. Interpret your experience or your cousin Vinny’s experience or your grown children’s experience or your parents’ experience or your buddy’s experience or your childhood youth group friend’s experience. Interpret your experience in light of Scripture and not the other way around.

 

Because I know what this will lead to. It’ll lead to some tears. Because we’ll look at people in our lives and we’ll just call them the prodigal—just the prodigal, you know. You know, the prodigal was an illustration given by Christ to talk about salvation. It was not a story about people going away and coming back. It’s the same story as the lost coin and the lost sheep and the lost son. It’s in the same passage.

 

The idea is the bailing out means that they weren’t Christians. Therefore, when we get to the place and we watch someone apostatize from the faith and they say, I don’t believe that anymore. I’m not interested in that. I don’t like that anymore. I’m gone. And you and I both know people like that. Some that were dying to believe.

 

Well, you know, I’m into that once saved, always saved thing. So I guess they’re okay. Remember that though it’s hard, we’ve got to take our experience and filter it through the matrix of Scripture. We cannot do it the other way around. Don’t go into the Bible looking for Fred’s experience somewhere in there. You have to take Scripture and then lay Fred’s life on top of it and say, what does the Bible say about this?

 

Which may change the way you pray, may change the way you talk with that person, because we want to see them come to true repentance. We’ve created a whole arena of theology that’s just—it’s based on a misunderstanding of the perseverance or the endurance of God’s people in the faith.

 

Whether something is hard to understand or just hard to accept, knowing and accepting the truth is the good thing and right thing to do, especially when you consider the alternative. And I know concepts of sovereignty and God’s unilateral decision-making in salvation, and all of this can be tough to swallow. But we don’t have many options unless we want to rewrite the Bible in light of our best friend in college’s experience.

 

We’ve got to be submitted to the teaching of God’s Word. We should affirm that God is a sovereign God in salvation—a God whom we trust, on whom our salvation rests. And by the way, not only does your salvation rely on him, but to summarize all of chapter 3, so does our obedience and faithfulness to Christ. So let’s trust him for that this week.

 

Let’s pray.

 

God, thank you for ending our weekend with this important discussion on what it means to be in the family of God. And we pray that this might help to clarify some of the concerns and misunderstandings about how we become Christians and if ever that privilege will be revoked or how to interpret human experience.

 

God, we want to see this all clearly, and we want to see it from your word, which was not given to fit nicely into our way of thinking. It was given to correct our way of thinking. So God, we pray that we would be bold and courageous in our understanding, our acceptance, our embracing, and our proclamation of your truth—that we wouldn’t think wrongly about these topics.

 

And God, we know that if we do this, according to passages like Ephesians chapter 4, we’ll grow up into Christ who is our head. We won’t be driven and tossed around by every wind of doctrine—every deceitful or cunning theory or sermon or lecture or pamphlet or book that someone gives us. But we can be rooted and grounded in the truth.

 

And we need to be that. We need to be that now more than ever because the church seems so vulnerable to false teaching. So please, God, strengthen our understanding of you and your word as it relates to salvation in particular in our discussion tonight. We want to understand what it all means and we want to build our lives on it.

 

And God, if there’s some here that are struggling and this is new to them or it just tweaks their thinking about our free will or whatever, God, I pray they would avail themselves to those books that were thoughtfully and prayerfully put on the back of the worksheet. That may be some good reading this week. Investing a few bucks in a book that will take them back into Scripture and thinking through it systematically would be a godsend for them.

 

So God, help us all to work through these topics and give us the wherewithal and the courage and the focus that we might grow up in these doctrinal issues. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.