The Preservation of the Saints – Part 1
Romans 8:28-39 (Romans 5:1-8)
August 20, 2017
As you know we are in the middle of our study called “500 Years of Reformation” in which we are remembering those precious doctrines that were rescued for us during that Great Reformation.
The 5 Solas that immerged are:
Sola Scriptura – Scripture Alone
Sola Gratia – Grace Alone
Sola Fide – Faith Alone
Solus Christus – Christ Alone
Soli Deo Gloria – The Glory of God Alone
And we are currently in that second one.
We have been talking about what it means to be saved “By Grace Alone”
And in that study we have been walking through those Doctrines of Grace.
Also referred to as Calvinism.
And just to make sure everyone maintains a comprehensive view here, you know there are 5 of those doctrines.
THE DOCTRINE OF ABSOLUTE INABILITY (Total Depravity)
Which is that doctrine that reminds us that at the fall Adam ruined us all.
Because of him sin entered the world and death came through sin.
Humanity is spiritually dead and therefore cannot do anything to effect salvation.
If man is to saved it will be a monergistic effort (the work of one).
And of course Ephesians 2 really bears that out as we see the work of grace to take sinners who are dead in spirit and raise them to life and salvation.
THE DOCTRINE OF SOVEREIGN ELECTION (Unconditional Election)
Which reminds us that the only reason any man is saved is because God chose for some to be saved.
We call this election, and it saturates Scripture.
Namely that God foreordains, predestines, elects, even chooses who will be saved.
If election did not occur, then no man would be saved because no man chooses God. God had to do it.
THE DOCTRINE GOD’S EFFECTIVE CALL (Irresistible Grace)
Which says that all who are chosen will in fact come to Christ.
It is not that God saves men against their will but that those whom God has chosen, He first changes their will and their desires so that they also desire to come.
It is what is seen in Jeremiah’s “New Covenant” where God writes His Law on our hearts and causes us to walk in His commands.
THE DOCTRINE OF FULL ATONEMENT (Limited Atonement)
Which is the means by which God redeems those whom He has chosen.
That on the cross we have Christ fully atoning for all the sin of all the elect for all time.
There was nothing potential about what Christ did.
He said “It is finished” for on the cross He paid in full the penalty for all the sin of the elect. He propitiated God’s wrath fully on them so that there is now no longer any condemnation.
So, thus far we have learned that no man would be saved apart from grace.
However through grace, God chose to save unworthy sinners, caused them to cry out to Him and fully atoned for them through the death of His Son.
Tonight we begin to look at the 5th and final doctrine of grace which is:
THE DOCTRINE OF THE PRESERVATION OF THE SAINTS (Perseverance of the Saints)
And this is the one everyone loves.
Hands down (at least among Baptists) this doctrine is the least controversial.
But honestly this is the area where Baptists are most confused.
All Baptists seem to agree that salvation is forever.
They agree on the security of the believer, or what some refer to as “Once Saved, Always Saved”.
Baptist agree on that, yet there are only a few who believe in sovereign election.
And here is why that is strange.
THE SECURITY OF THE BELIEVER IS ONLY BECAUSE OF ELECTION.
Again I remind you of our two options.
Monergism – “the work of one”
Synergism – “a cooperative work”
And it is quite humorous to me to recognize that while most Baptists want to be synergists in regard to being saved, they all quickly become monergists in regard to staying saved.
And if you are going to believe in the security of the believer
You have to be a monergist.
WHY?
Because we all recognize that we still fail….a lot.
And if maintaining my salvation is up to me and God,
Then I’m in trouble because I am not keeping up my end of the deal.
Every believer, if they are honest, MUST RECOGNIZE that if salvation is a synergistic effort (cooperative effort)
Then salvation cannot possibly be considered secure.
At least in this way our Armenian friends are consistent.
Take the Church of Christ for a moment.
They are going to argue for synergism all the way.
To be saved, you must repent, believe and be baptized.
To stay saved, you must keep the sacraments, the fellowship and persevere in faith.
Now, we don’t agree, but you can at least see that they are consistent.
That is why I say that Baptists are confused.
We want to be synergists in regard to being saved and maintain our precious ideas of “free will”, but when it comes to staying saved we all want to be totally absolved of any responsibility and cry “security of the believer”.
And perhaps you understand then why other denominations have taken such issue with us on this point.
They see the inconsistency.
The fact of the matter is, there is only one way that all believers could ever be secure in their salvation and that is if God has sovereignly chosen to make them secure regardless of who they are and what they do.
And this is what I want to show you.
The basic premise tonight is this:
SECURITY IS REAL BECAUSE ELECTION IS REAL
Salvation is only secure because God made the decision to save sinners who would not and could save themselves, nor keep themselves saved.
And just like we find election everywhere,
We also find this SECURITY ALL OVER THE PAGES OF SCRIPTURE.
Let me give you a few
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
Look at that verse for a moment.
The promise could not be clearer.
“whoever believes in Him shall not perish”
Jesus didn’t say “most who believe won’t perish”
Jesus didn’t say “whoever believes and keeps obeying won’t perish”
Jesus just unequivocally stated that the salvation He came to provide for believers is an eternal salvation.
All who believe “shall not perish, but have everlasting life”
Not temporary life
Not momentary life
But “everlasting life”
In fact, every time you read the word “eternal life” in Scripture it ought to reinforce to you the reality that salvation is in fact eternal.
John 6:37-40 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
Certainly we examined this passage in regard to election, but notice what clearly comes with it.
“This is the will of Him who sent Me that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing”
And again:
“everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I myself will raise him up on the last day.”
Do you see the security there?
There are not clauses mentioned there.
There are no contingencies.
Not “most who behold the Son” but “everyone” who does.
“and I myself WILL raise him up”
He will “lose nothing”
It is security all the way.
Everyone of the elect will be saved forever.
John 10:27-29 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
It’s unmistakable.
“I give eternal life to them”
“they will NEVER perish”
“no one will snatch them out”
You see it don’t you?
Again, there is nothing temporary or contingent about those statements.
Jesus is simply declaring the will of the sovereign God regarding the salvation of the elect and how that will will be carried out perfectly.
All those whom God willed to saved will be saved eternally.
Listen to the High Priestly prayer of Jesus:
John 17:6-12 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. “Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.”
There again you see the inseparable link between election and security.
Jesus is referring to those “whom You gave Me”
And on their behalf Jesus prays “Holy Father, keep them in Your name”
And let me tell you something about the prayer life of Jesus.
Jesus doesn’t pray prayers that don’t get answered.
This is the night before Jesus dies, but you don’t find Him pleading with the disciples, “Oh please, please, please, just stay with Me! Please don’t quit, please don’t stop!”
You don’t find Him threatening them, “Look, if you don’t stand with Me tonight, if you blow it, you’re gonna be cut off so fast…!”
None of that.
Jesus doesn’t place the burden of their security on them,
He takes it to the Father and prays, “keep them”.
Security is the Father’s prerogative.
Beyond that, Jesus expected the failure of the disciples, did He not?
Matthew 26:31-32 “Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK SHALL BE SCATTERED.’ “But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”
Probably the most telling was what Jesus had to say to Peter:
Luke 22:31-32 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
Jesus knew they were going to fail, but there was no threatening or begging.
Jesus took those pleas to the Father.
And in that, Jesus trusted that the Father would restore them all.
He knew where the security rested.
Jesus understood that just as salvation was the prerogative of God,
So is security.
THEY ARE BOTH A MONERGISTIC EFFORT.
And that is good because God is most certainly capable of keeping the elect saved.
Philippians 1:6 “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Jude 24 “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,”
God does, He secures.
He is the One who is able to “keep you from stumbling”
Listen to Peter on the subject:
1 Peter 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
Did you catch what Peter said there about us?
It was heavy on election and security.
God “has caused us to be born again”
God has given us “an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away”
And this inheritance is “reserved in heaven for you”
And we are “protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation”
I mean, that is God doing it all.
Ephesians 1:13-14 “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation — having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”
There Paul says we “were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise”
Not just saved, but “sealed”.
We are secured.
Paul actually says that God gave us the Holy Spirit which is “a pledge of our inheritance”. That is to say, He is the down payment, the deposit, the guarantee that we are going to receive the inheritance.
It just becomes obvious that God has willed to save the elect forever.
And if you’re curious how this works,
Then again it all stems back to that perfect atonement of Christ.
When He died, He did not just pay for our sins up until salvation and then just leave us alone, He bore all our sins; even the ones we’ve yet to commit.
And it is on the basis of that atonement
That Christ now intercedes for all believers thus securing them.
Listen to the writer of Hebrews.
Hebrews 7:23-25 “The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
He doesn’t just save initially, He saves forever.
And I hope you see that.
This salvation which is rooted in God’s sovereign election
Is also secure for the very same reason.
We weren’t saved because we chose God and we don’t stay saved because we choose to.
It is all rooted in the sovereign choice of God to save us.
Incidentally, if you’ve ever wondered,
This is why we are SO INTERESTED IN GOD’S PLANS FOR ISRAEL.
Maybe as a Gentile you’ve wondered why it matters so much that we believe that God is not finished with Israel.
The reason is because Israel was also chosen.
And if Israel, after being chosen, can then be discarded, then what does that say about the security of our election?
That is why we love Romans 11 where God promises to graft Israel back in again and to save them.
It reinforces to us that when God makes a decision to choose someone, nothing can undo that.
Romans 11:25-29 “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery — so that you will not be wise in your own estimation — that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.” From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
What a great statement:
“for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
That is security right there.
What God has decreed to occur, will most certainly occur.
I just want you to see that.
As a Baptist, if you’ve grown up your whole life believing in the security of the believer you need to know that the only reason that is possible is if all those other doctrines are too.
If any part of salvation is up to the free will of man, then it is all up to the free will of man and man is sunk.
It’s the old “weakest link in the chain” mentality.
If the chain has 100 links, but 1 in the middle is weak, then that is all it takes to break the chain.
It’s funny that Baptists seem to realize that in regard to security, but sort of turn a blind eye to it in regard to election.
The reality is, man’s free will is not a part of that chain, it is all up to the sovereign prerogative of God and therefore it is strong.
For one thing I am certain of.
If I could lose my salvation, I would.
• I sin too much…
• I trust too little…
• I’m far too fickle…
• I am too easily tempted…
• I am overcome with far too much weakness…
Now certainly those are things that I hate about myself, and even things that I strive to see changed and things that I can see God changing in me, but any of those is enough to cause me to lose the salvation I hope for.
That is reality.
But I rejoice, just as you do, in the understanding that my salvation and the security of it rests beyond me.
And that is what we want to begin looking at tonight.
And since, after that introduction, it is obvious that we are not going to get through the entire Romans 8 passage tonight, I actually want to back up a little and give you even more depth here.
Now, just to make sure we make the point of the link between election and security, I will go ahead and read the verse that links them together more than any other.
That is Romans 8:29-30
“For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
As we have said before, there is absolutely no hint in that passage regarding anyone who only makes it through part of the list.
It does not say that “those whom He foreknew, most of them He predestined, and those whom He predestined, some of them He called, and those whom He called, part of them He justified, and those whom He justified a portion of them He glorified.”
No, there is a seamless certainty that runs from foreknowledge all the way to glory.
In fact, by reading those passages what becomes clear to us that when God chose us, He chose us first and foremost for glory.
He chose us primarily “to be conformed to the image of His Son”
The whole reason God chose us was to glorify us.
The means through which God causes that to happen
Is through election and justification and sanctification.
So it is actually more accurate to say that God chose us for glory and that selection is what made salvation necessary.
God does not stop on us half-way and Romans 8 makes that clear.
However, because we aren’t on any type of real time crunch here, and we can stay on this topic as long as we want, I think it will be beneficial if we actually back up a little.
I think you might find some benefit if I can give you a “zoomed out” view of the book of Romans to understand just how foundational this idea is to Paul.
Now to do that, let me give you a superfast outline of the book, and it actually might shock you when I give it to you.
Let me give it to you in themes or doctrines.
The first major doctrine of the book of Romans is THE DEPRAVITY OF MAN.
Paul sets out to prove how lost man actually is, and this task takes him a little over 2 chapters.
He really hits it hard beginning in chapter 1:20 and he stays on it until chapter 3:18.
He covers the depravity of the carnal pagan in chapter 1
He covers the depravity of the religious person in chapter 2
And then he sort of just lumps all of humanity together in chapter 3 with that ever famous sweeping statement of Old Testament passages.
Romans 3:10-18 “as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.” “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”; “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”; “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.” “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”
And really, that is the low point of the book.
If you read through Romans at that point you should be squirming on the floor begging for God’s forgiveness.
That is the point.
And then Paul introduces his next major theme/doctrine which is THE ACTUAL ATONEMENT OF CHRIST
And this he covers in Romans 3:19-26
It is a short but rich and powerful section where Paul reveals that Christ propitiated God’s wrath on all those who believe.
He tells us of the cross and redemption and how God is both just and the justifier.
It is the first ray of hope after crushing us under our sin.
And then Paul turns to his third major theme/doctrine which is where he explains how we become partakers in this atonement, and so Paul gives us THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH
And this is Romans 3:27-4:25
And here Paul uses David a little and Abraham a lot to reveal to us that man is justified by faith alone (we’ll get there in more depth eventually).
Sinful man can be justified in the sight of God when they place their faith in the substitutionary atonement of Christ.
So, at that point you’ve made it through 4 chapters of Romans and Paul reveals that we are lost and how to be saved.
In chapter 5 he begins his next major theme/doctrine.
It is THE DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL SECURITY and it is a doctrine that Paul addresses for the next 7 chapters!
Does that surprise you?
Paul devotes 7 chapters of this 16 chapter book to security.
• Chapter 5 reveals security
• Chapter 6 fights off arguments against security
• Chapter 7 explains security apart from the Law
• Chapter 8 reveals assurance of security and why we trust it
And then chapter 9-11 are the illustration of security as Paul shows us the nation of Israel and how despite what they are, God will not forsake His choice of them.
And it ends with that passage we read a moment ago that “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable”
It is all about security.
I want to look at these 7 chapters.
Now, obviously we are not going to dwell there as though we were doing a book study, you can go online and listen to those sermons on Romans if you like.
Instead, I’m going to scrape the tops of the mountain peaks until we can land on the text I want to study a little more which is Romans 8:28-39
But I think it will do us good to see what a giant them security is in the Scriptures and ultimately how that security rests upon the sovereign will of God.
So let’s start the journey quickly.
TURN TO: ROMANS 5
Romans 5 is where Paul first introduces security, and it is unmistakable, as he quickly gives us reason after reason that we are secure.
Let me just give them to you quickly.
1) WE HAVE PEACE WITH GOD
(1) “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This is the effect of propitiation.
There is no more war.
When man is lost, Scripture says that he is God’s enemy, but Christ brings peace.
• He propitiated God’s wrath
• He satisfied God’s justice
• He atoned for sin
And now God has no longer a desire to be angry at us.
He has been appeased.
Hence the famous statements like Romans 8:1
Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
There is no longer a reason for God to ever cast us away since Jesus has made peace on our behalf.
2) WE STAND IN GRACE
(2) “through whom [Christ] also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand;”
We don’t stand in effort
We don’t stand in works
It is not as though God has reluctantly let us in and now is watching our every move to see whether or not He wants to kick us out.
It is grace that let us in when we didn’t deserve it and grace that allows us to stay while we still don’t.
We stand in grace.
3) WE REJOICE IN HOPE
(2) “and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”
Now here, “hope” is not a verb, it is a noun.
It is not something we do, it is something we have.
We have been promised “the glory of God”.
That is to say we have been promised a full and complete salvation and this hope that we have bears constant testimony to our security.
Namely because there is only one place this hope could have come from.
God gave it to us.
4) TRIBULATIONS STRENGTHEN INSTEAD OF SEPARATE
(3-5) “And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
This is a daily proof that reinforces our security.
When the world suffers they get angry at God.
When we suffer we draw near to God.
WHY?
Is it because we are more noble than they? NO
It is because God has poured out a supernatural love for Him into our hearts that causes us to run to Him when all others run away.
For this reason trials don’t wreck our faith, they strengthen it.
Just as we saw with Job, there was no measure of torment that could cause him to “curse God to His face”
We don’t fear turning away from God
Because our attraction to God is not of ourselves anyway.
Remember that “Effectual Call or Irresistible Grace” we talked about.
That love for God that we have came from God and it is therefore beyond us.
Even if given the opportunity, true believers don’t turn away because God has put it in their hearts not to. (And we’ll see that more later)
5) WE ARE ATONED FOR BY CHRIST WHILE ENEMIES
(6-8) “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
This is another theme we will return to later, but the simple point is so clear.
God chose us at our lowest and redeemed us at our worst through Christ.
People who fear that
God will somehow remove their salvation now
Have never fully contemplated
What they were when God first chose them.
Let’s be honest, are you more righteous now than you were when you were lost?
Me too.
And yet God chose us then.
It is a strange thing to me
• That so many believers have such a tough time believing that God could love them
• While unbelievers seem to be convinced that God loves them.
Both suffer that deception because they are ignorant of the truth.
God chose you when you were absolutely deplorable,
That is the real miracle.
Keeping you now, is far less far-fetched than that.
Yes you fail and yes you make mistakes, but the God who loved you at your worst, will most certainly not forsake you now.
We were atoned for by Christ while enemies.
And there is more, that we will get back to next time, but I hope we are starting to build a foundation in your heart as to why salvation is secure.
