If God starts it--He WILL finish it!

I have always heard that if you are going to teach something, you should teach what you are passionate about. I am passionate—more like adamant—about the eternal security of the believer. Or as Steve Lawson would say, "I'm not just dogmatic--I am bulldogmatic" about this subject. I am absolutely convinced that if a person is truly saved, they are saved forever. And today we’re going to see why.

Let me start with an illustration—and when I say “Let me” I'm not looking for your permission, I'm telling you in a nice way, “I'm doing this whether you like it or not.” Let me start with an illustration. Have you ever been to Bryson City, NC? It is a tourist town nestled in the Smoky Mountains. And in Bryson City there is an odd sort of tourist attraction. It’s a bit of an unintentional tourist attraction. If you take Everett Street out of the city, it eventually becomes Fontana Road. Go past Swain County High School about 6 miles, and you come to a tunnel. And on the other side of the tunnel is…wait for it…NOTHING!



Fontana Road has actually gained a more colorful nickname by the locals, many of whom call it, the Road to Nowhere. It stands as a monument to governmental efficiency. Actually, there’s a good reason they didn’t finish it. During the construction process they found rock that was highly acidic, and if they were to disturb it, the acid would cause severe environmental damage. For all you children of the '70's, I will leave off any references to "acid rock".

We have our own “Road to Nowhere” here in Knoxville, it is called the James White Parkway (named after the man who founded Knoxville, TN. Not the wonderful Christian apologist. But if I had my way...). Got started and has still not been finished, and it appears it never will be finished. The Foothills Parkway, which was originally supposed to be 72 miles long, running from Tennessee to North Carolina--how many miles are complete, anybody know? About 22.

So, my point is this: do men begin projects that they do not finish? Wives, please hold your comments about husbands until we are finished, OK? My dad was notorious for that. So many times we begin things we have every intention of finishing--but for whatever reason, those things remain unfinished.

On the other hand, if God starts something, will HE finish it? Oh, absolutely. And that is a truth we find in our text today. And that text is Philippians 1:6. No, I actually need to start at verse 3. Philippians 1:3-6 (NASB)—3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, 5 in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. 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. Of all the verses that so clearly spell out the fact that a saved person is saved forever, this is one of the clearest. When I first got saved, I was like a lot of people probably are. I thought that, “Well, yeah, you can be wicked enough to lose your salvation!” But that’s because I was looking at it in the same way as anyone else who thinks you can lose your salvation—I was only looking at salvation from the human side, not taking into account that it is not that we save ourselves, but that God saves us, sets us apart as His own, and will do everything He has to do to keep the one He has adopted. I like what John Calvin said about this verse—

“Let believers exercise themselves in constant meditation upon the favors which God confers, that they may encourage and confirm hope as to the time to come, and always ponder this in their mind: God does not forsake the work which his own hands have begun, as the Prophet bears witness, (Psalm 138:8; Isaiah 64:8) we are the work of his hands; therefore he will complete what he has begun in us. When I say that we are the work of his hands, I do not refer to mere creation, but to the calling by which we are adopted into the number of his sons.”

And in that quote, he lists two Old Testament verses to support is argument, Isaiah 64:8—But now, O LORD, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You our potter; and all of us are the work of Your hand. Psalm 138:8—The LORD will accomplish what concerns me; Your lovingkindness, O LORD, is everlasting; do not forsake the works of Your hands. So in these three verses—Philippians 1:6, Psalm 138:8 and Isaiah 64:8—we see this most beautiful picture that God has taken us mere lumps of clay, and is shaping us, molding us, making of us a vessel of mercy to show His grace, and that He will not leave that good work undone.

OK, so let’s look at our text from Philippians. Let’s start off by talking about the good work. What is the good work? Salvation. Who began the good work? God did. Otherwise, Paul would have said, You who began the good work in you… Right? But he didn’t say that. He said He who began the good work. So obviously somebody other than you began the good work in you. Somebody not named “You” began the work of salvation in you. In fact, Paul uses the word ἐνάρχομαι (enarchomai). It means “to begin”. You hear the word “arch” in there, like archangel or archetype. It comes from the same Greek word as ἀρχή (arche). John 1:1 (Greek NT)—ἐν ἀρχή (en arche) In the beginning. The word Paul uses refers to the very beginning of something. Not, “You had the idea, and God showed you the rest.” God started it. When Jesus asked His disciples “Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” and Simon Peter said “Thou art the Christ”, Christ did not say, “Good job Peter! How did you ever figure that out? You're one smart cookie” I don’t think the phrase “smart cookie” was part of the Greek or Hebrew lexicon at the time, but anyway. It was GOD who showed Simon that Jesus is the Christ. Simon didn’t have the idea in his head and God came along and said, “Yep, you got it!”

Titus 3:4-6—4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. Did God look down on creation, and say, “Hey, ya know, that Donny guy, he’s a pretty good fellow. I think I’ll save him”? No, because there is no such thing as a “good person”. We are all wretched and wicked and we all deserve Hell. If you have a problem with that, then go to your Bible and rip the entire 3rd chapter out of the book of Romans. We are, as he would tell the Ephesians, dead in trespasses and sins. And by the word “dead” he means……DEAD! But God grants new life to us, washes us, puts His Holy Spirit in us, and opens our eyes to the truth. We have an example of this action by God in Acts 16:14—A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. When we send out missionaries, mission teams, when we commission them to the work, what do we often ask in prayer? We pray God would grant His missionaries mercy; that He would protect them, but what do we pray for the people they witness to? Do we say, “Lord, I hope the people are smart enough to believe us!” or “Give us eloquent speech so we can convince them to follow us!” No, we pray that God would open their hearts to believe the gospel. Because one cannot believe the gospel, cannot confess Jesus Christ as Lord unless the Holy Spirit acts on their heart (1st Corinthians 12:3).

Next let’s look at the word confident. When we think of confidence, what do we normally think of? Someone that can walk into any situation, and they are “confident” they can get the job done. The heart surgeon, or the brain surgeon. “I am Dr. Big Man, and I am going to save your life!” That is self-confidence. And in some circumstances that can be a good thing. I want the guy cracking my chest open and holding my still-beating heart in his hands to know what he’s doing. “Gee, I hope I can get this thingy back in there!” is not something I want to hear him say. But when it comes to salvation, is self-confidence a good thing? Absolutely not!! But the person who says you can lose your salvation is indeed basing your continuing in salvation on your confidence in yourself. When you boil it all down, that person is saying, “Great! God has saved you! Now, make sure you do enough good things, and you don’t do enough bad things so you lose that salvation!” That is basically what they are saying—that God started it, but now it’s up to you to keep it going. That was the whole problem with Galatia. The Judaizers were telling the new Christians in Galatia that yes, you may have been saved by grace, but you keep yourself saved by keeping the Law of Moses.

And that is basically what these people do—they set the person up to embrace a form of legalism. If you do this many of this sin and that many of that sin, and if you don’t do this or this then you're lost again. Galatians 3:3—Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Having been saved by the washing of regeneration by God, are you now kept by obeying a list of rules and regulations that if you don’t live up to them God will disown you? Paul put no confidence in his flesh. Paul is not confident in man’s ability to keep himself. Just the opposite—he knows than man’s flesh is weak and he cannot save himself. And he certainly cannot keep himself saved. In fact, if one says that a saved person can be wicked enough to lose their salvation they are, by default, saying that one can be righteous enough to keep it. Paul’s confidence is in God and in God’s ability to keep that person. Being confident of this. Confident that God began the work, and that if He has begun the work He will perfect it.

That word perfect. That is the key to this whole verse. The Greek is ἐπιτελέω (epiteleo). The root word is τελέω (teleo). Does anybody know what the 3rd person passive indicative of that word is? How can you not know the 3rd person passive indicative of τελέω (teleo)? What’s wrong with you people? The 3rd person passive indicative of τελέω (teleo) is τετέλεσται (tetelestai). Do you know where we find the word τετέλεσται (tetelestai) in the gospels?

John 19:30 (Greek NT)—τετέλεσται (tetelestai) “It is finished.”

Did Jesus complete the work of redemption and salvation on the cross? If God begins a good work in you will He complete it? ἐπιτελέω (epiteleo). τετέλεσται (tetelestai). If you are saved, your salvation is every bit as complete as Christ’s work on the cross. He who began a good work...will complete it.

Let’s look at some other verses that say pretty much the same thing. Hebrews 10:14—and of course we can't start with verse 14, let’s start with verse 11. Hebrews 10:11-14—11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. Under the old covenant, if you sinned today, you bring an animal to the priest, he would kill it, cut it up, burn it. You sin tomorrow, does that animal you brought yesterday do you any good today? No. So what do you do? You bring another one. The priest kills it, cuts it up, burns it. You sin again the next day--you get the picture. The goat that was killed on the Day of Atonement one year—was it still good the next year? No. What did they have to do? Bring another animal. The year after that, are the two goats you brought the previous two years any good? No, you bring another one. 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for...a little while—no? One sacrifice for how long? For all time. 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God. Did the priests ever get to sit down? When you have 2 million plus people, you’ve got a whole lot of sin. And when you had a whole lot of sin you had a whole lot of animals that needed to be killed, cut up and burned. How many sacrifices did Christ offer? One When He finished that one sacrifice, how many more sacrifices did He have to make? NONE. So what did He do? He sat down. Why? Because He was done. τετέλεσται (tetelestai). 13 waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. And here we go. 14 For by one offering He has perfected......for the time being those who are sanctified. Is that what that says? No. NKJV--He has perfected forever those who are sanctified. I mentioned before that when I first got saved I did not believe in eternal security. Wasn’t gonna have it; wasn’t even gonna hear it. But after a while I started reading more, and just when I was about to the point of accepting it, I read this verse. Game over. Period, paragraph. He has perfected forever those who are sanctified. And actually, the ESV describes us as those who are being sanctified—much closer to the Greek.

Listen to the tenses. He has perfected. And by the way, the word perfected in Hebrews 10:14? Guess what Greek word that comes from? τελέω (teleo). Who has been perfected? Those who are being sanctified. Albert Barnes, who has written many very helpful things in regards to the teaching of the Scriptures, totally botches this passage to the point of making it unrecognizable in order to hold on to his Arminian theology. He says--

"They will be made perfect at some future period, and when that shall take place it will be to continue forever and ever."

This verse cannot be talking about some future, possible, “do everything you can to get there, maybe you'll get there and maybe you won’t” kind of idea. Those who are right now being sanctified have been already perfected.

Now, someone may ask, “Well, what about the one who believes for 20 years and turns his back on Christ? What do you say about that one?” I asked one of our pastors about that way back then. He said, “That person was never saved to begin with.” And I thought that was kind of a cop-out. But in reality, that’s the truth. If someone believes for a little while—goes to church and listens to Christian music and even teaches or sings in the choir—if they turn their back and walk away from Christ, that is one who went out from us but they were not of us—how do we know they were not of us? Because if they had been of us, they would have continued with us (1st John 2:19). That was a work that was not begun by God. That was a work begun by the flesh, and anytime a person seems to get saved, and seems to continue in the way for a little while, but they defect and return to their old ways, it is proof that they were never saved to begin with. God did not begin the work in them because if it was God who began that work in that person, would He complete it? Of course He would! He who began a good work...will complete it. But if the work is not completed, then it was never started by God.

“Many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord! We’ve done all these great things in Your Name!’” What will Jesus say? “I never knew you. I didn’t begin a work in you. Be gone!” Turn to 2nd Timothy 1:12—For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am...pretty sure that He might keep what I have committed to Him for a little while. No, that’s not what it says. I know whom I have believed and am persuaded—same word he uses in Philippians 1:6 as confident—I am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. What was Paul committing to Him until that Day? His eternal soul. Can we trust God with our eternal soul? If we cannot trust God with our eternal soul, then what kind of hope could we ever have? Read through all of Paul's letters. See if you ever read where Paul uses words like ‘maybe’ or ‘perhaps’ or ‘he might’ or ‘it’s possible’ or ‘for the time being’. Paul does not use wishy-washy, milquetoast, equivocating language. When Paul writes he uses words like ‘confident’ and ‘able’ and ‘He will’ and ‘I believe’ and ‘until that Day’. What kind of hope could we ever have if we can't even trust God to keep our eternal soul?

But I can lay my head on my pillow at night, knowing that I am trusting my eternal soul to a God who is not only able, but also faithful to keep that soul safe. Chris H, I love ya brother. You’re a fine pastor, I'm sure you are a good father, a decent man. But I'm gonna trust you with my eternal soul. Because you're human. And humans fail. Manfred, I'm not trusting you either. Jungle Missionary, sorry. My wife Laurie, I love you honey. But I'm not trusting you either. I'm not trusting anybody who contributes to this blog, or comments on it. I'm not trusting John MacArthur or RC Sproul or Ligon Duncan or Voddie Baucham. And in fact, out of all the 7 or so billion people on planet earth—out of all those 7 billion people, do you know who is the LAST person on earth I would trust with my eternal soul?

ME.

If it is up to me to keep my soul safe until the day of Christ—I might as well pack for an eternal marshmallow roast right now because I know me—I'm gonna screw it up!! And if it is up to me to keep myself saved I will more than surely lose it. And so will you if keeping your salvation were up to you.

But this is the good news--it's not up to us!! God does not leave our eternal salvation in our hands because we would all surely be lost! I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. And why can I trust Him with My soul? Because if He began the work, He will complete it. He did not leave it up to me to complete it. Let me show you another passage.

Ephesians 1:13-14. These are two verses in a long, long paragraph. But we’re just gonna take a look at one concept in this passage. And we are going to read it from the King James. Ephesians 1:13-14 (KJV)—13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, 14 which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. OK, did you see that word in verse 14? Your translation may say ‘pledge’. 'Guarantee' is the most common rendering. I like earnest. I like the translation ‘earnest’ because it carries a certain meaning. Much like the word ‘betrothed’ in the gospels, Mary was betrothed to Joseph, that betrothal being more than simply an engagement. An earnest was a down payment, but it was more than that. By putting down an earnest, the buyer was pledging, as solemnly as possible, that he would pay the rest of the money and finalize the transaction. Now, who is the one paying the earnest? God. How? By sealing us with the Holy Spirit. Now listen carefully and if you remember nothing else that you have read, please remember this: If God puts down the down payment, who will complete the transaction? If God gives us the Holy Spirit now, promising that He will complete the transaction, will He complete that transaction? If God put down the down payment, then how in the world can yo ever hope to come up with enough to finish paying it off? That kind of thinking is nothing short of absurd. And it has led countless Christians into lives of legalism and Law-keeping trying to do what only God can do.

So, here are some questions you need to answer:

If God begins your salvation, will He finish it? YES.
Is He able to keep your soul until the day of Christ? YES.
If He put down the down payment, will He finish the transaction? YES.
Has He perfected forever those that He has set apart? YES.
Is He able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him? YES.
Does He ever live to make intercession for us? YES.
If the Father draws a person to Christ, will Christ lift him up on the last day? YES.
Is He the Good Shepherd who will not lose even one of His sheep? YES.
If one of His sheep wanders off, will He go bring them back? YES.
Do His sheep know His voice and will they follow Him? YES.
Will His sheep follow a stranger? NO.
Can anyone snatch His sheep from His hand? NO.
Can anything separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus? NO.

So to argue that one who is truly saved can be lost again, you would have to throw out all that Scripture. You would have to cut it out of your Bible, or use your Sharpie™ as a highlighter through those passages. The person might argue, "But doesn't it say 'He who endures to the end will be saved'?" Yes. And that person will endure who has been sanctified by God, who began the good work and will complete it.

One last verse. 1st John 5:4—For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. Are you born of God? Will you overcome the world? I rest my case.

What exactly DOES Hebrews 6:4-6 mean, anyway?

When dialoging with Arminians and others who teach that a person can be "lost" after they have been truly born again, one of their pet passages is Hebrews 6:4-6--4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

Now, at face value, it does sound like the writer of Hebrews (hereafter referred to as "The Writer") is saying that a person can be saved and then fall away to the point that they cannot be saved again. But is that really what Writer is saying? No, it isn't, and we will see why.

The first thing we must do in order to study this passage properly is to get rid of the chapter and verse divisions and any paragraph formatting. While these tools help us to find where certain passages are located, they were not in the original manuscripts and can, more often than not, interfere with our understanding of Scripture. What happens, many times, is our mind sees the numbers, separates Scripture from Scripture, and we put up mental walls around the texts and chop them up into separate thoughts, rather then seeing the constant, continuous flow of thought the writer intended. We also tend to chop paragraphs apart form each other, instead of seeing that the author was writing one long paragraph (for example, Ephesians chapter 1 is actually one long paragraph, rather than a bunch of smaller ones).

That said, in order to understand what The Writer is saying in Hebrews 6:4-6, we actually need to go back and start at chapter 5, verse 12 and read through chapter 6, verse 8. So, here is Hebrews 5:12-6:8, with no breaks--

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

What is the idea that The Writer is trying to get across to the reader? Well, he starts off by saying For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. These people had been taught, over and over again, the first principles of Christ. By now, they should have had a better handle on the truth than what they actually had. But, for some reason, they were not growing in their knowledge, so the writer had to go back over it again. This is the state that many in the church find themselves today. They walk into a fancy building on Sunday morning, they sit in a nice, comfy chair, and a glorified pop-psychologist feeds them some regurgitated, ground-up mush that he calls a "sermon"--while neglecting his duty to take the people deeper into God's word.

The Writer, however makes it clear that those who do not go deeper into God's word will not grasp what true holiness is. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. How is a person going to know how to spot the heresies if they don't have a full knowledge of the truth? Ephesians 6:14--Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Notice how Paul links truth with righteousness?

He puts the two side-by-side because they are linked arm-in-arm. Think about it: when Johnny Pewsitter gets a knock on his door, and a couple of finely-dressed young men present him with "the gospel that was restored by the prophet Joseph Smith", and Johnny doesn't know how to respond to their claims because he hasn't been taught anything more than "Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life"--when Johnny hears this new "plan", he's gonna get sucked in and dragged away into error. It's like Spurgeon said--"Discernment is not so much knowing the difference between right and wrong. It's knowing the difference between right and almost right."

But The Writer isn't going to go back over those things that the Hebrews should have already learned. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. In other words, "Look, if you haven't understood the most basic things, you aren't gonna understand the deeper things of God; go back and learn them and get back to me. Repentance, the uselessness of works, the resurrection--you know these things. And if you don't, you should. But I'm moving on."

And now, we get to the heart of the discussion. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. What is the first word in this section? "FOR." What does the word "For" signify? Well, it means that Writer is using the previous thought as a springboard into his next thought. And if we read this in its full context, this is what we get: Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. So, what is The Writer saying?

What he's saying is this: if a person has heard the most basic principles of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, if they have been taught that we are not saved by works or by baptism or by anything else but the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ--and after having heard and been taught all those things, if they "fall away" or "turn away" from these things (literally, "fall beside, slip aside, deviate from the right path, turn aside, wander, fall away from the true faith") and if they deny these things--then it is impossible for that person who has once learned these things, and has rejected them, to awaken themselves to their need for repentance.

This is a person who has given final, definite proof that he will not accept the truth. The phrase translated "once enlightened" is the Greek άπαξ φωτισθέντας (hapax photisthentas), and literally means "once for all enlightened." They have heard the truth more than once, and in fact they have heard it for the last time that God will let them hear it. They have been adamantly stiff-necked toward God, and should they hear the truth 1000 more times, it will make no impression on their heart.

The Writer is not talking about a person who has been saved--he is talking about a person who was never saved to begin with. He is not talking about a person who at one time accepted these truths and is now rejecting them--he is talking about the person who never accepted the most basic truths of salvation in the first place. The one who is "falling away" heard the truth of Christ but never accepted that truth. They took in the truth of the Living Water, and it produced nothing but a barren tree, which is why he goes on to say, For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned. Here he compares the one who accepts the truth with a tree that bears good herbs that are fit for use in the kingdom of God. But the one who rejects the most basic truths of the gospel is a tree that doesn't produce anything but thorns and briers, and is only good for kindling.

"But," the Arminian will say, "what does Writer mean when he talks about those who have become partakers of the Holy Spirit? Doesn't that refer to someone who is saved?" The answer to that question is "No." For there are many who may have claimed to have been saved, but were only fooling themselves and others. Those are the ones that the apostle John says went out from us but...were not of us. For if they were of us, they would have continued with us (1st John 2:19). There were many who went out, who even performed miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, yet who were not truly regenerate. Or what else would our Lord be speaking of when he warns us that "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness'"? (Matthew 7:22-23). Or why does Paul tell us that you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him (Romans 8:9). Many there are who have had truths revealed to them by the Spirit of God, but who were never truly indwelt by Him and quickened by Him. Thus, they were 'partakers' of the Holy Spirit, but never children of God.

Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God...For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened...to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated...but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

I hope this has enlightened (no pun intended) those who think that we can lose what God has given us. Because we did nothing to save ourselves, and we can do nothing to keep ourselves saved, how could we ever do anything to lose what we have been given? 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."

Verse-by-Verse through Philippians (4:2-4:4)

Got a question for you. Which of the following does more harm to a local church congregation:

A) Being surrounded by beer joints and strip clubs?

Or

B) Having an unresolved dispute going on between two members?

We can get a bar closed down. We can go to whatever board it is and say, “There are always fights at this bar, people getting shot and stabbed.” And the board can decide to close the place down. But then what happens? Another one pops up to take its place. You see, as long as we live in this world of wickedness and sin we are always going to be surrounded by wickedness and sin. BUT, the Lord Jesus Christ commands all those who belong to Him, to be united—to be of the same mind, of one accord—one body. Romans 12:4-5—For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. We will always be surrounded by evil. That is to be expected. And evil will always try and find its way into the church and drag us away.

That’s what evil does. It creeps in, from the outside, and it drags us away. But sometimes a disagreement comes up within the church—and don’t get me wrong, we’re not always going to agree 100% all of the time with every single person—but when we start fussing with one another—when we just simply don’t like someone or what that someone is doing—and we lash out, in whatever way, at that person, who are we letting in the door? Satan! Because when we act in such a way—what is causing us to act that way? Five letters, starts with a ‘P’. Rhymes with "pride." What does God think about pride? James 4:6—God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

We’re going to see today that no matter what our quarrel is with someone, we need to let it go. Because it ain't about us. I don’t stand up here, Richard doesn’t stand up here, we don’t do this just to hear our own voice. The church does not come together and meet just to have something to do on a Sunday morning. When we come together we should have only one focus—and if we have that one focus, we should be guiding people to focus on that same focus. And that’s what we will see this morning. Your translation may be different, your mileage may vary.

Philippians 4:2-3—2 I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.

Anybody here ever heard of MRSA? Staph infection? Here’s the funny thing about MRSA. You’ve got it. The person next to you has it. I have it. We all have MRSA. It is part of the natural bacteria we all have on our skin. So if it’s one of the normal bacteria that live on our skin and we are surrounded by it, how do we get infected with it? I'm glad you asked! You get a cut. You pull a hangnail. It gets underneath the skin, and it grows. You see where I'm going with this? Pride is all around us. But if we give pride an opening—same thing’s gonna happen. We’re gonna be infected. Is it gonna be our physical body that gets infected? No. It will be our mind, our soul, our spirit. And when it happens in the church, whose body are we ultimately infecting? Christ’s!

Verse 2. I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. These were two ladies in the Philippian church. They were having a dispute that was coming between them. And what was that dispute? What do you mean it doesn’t say what the dispute was? Oh, maybe that’s the point. This is one of those times where it shows that God Himself spoke these words to Paul. Why do I say that? I'm glad you asked! There are places where the writer is addressing some issue in one particular congregation. And we could be sore tempted to simply skip over those passages. Romans 16 is a good example. “They're just salutations; they're not that important.” If God thought enough to have those words written down—do you think it might be important? Those are places you have to study. Just like those words that didn’t exist in the Greek at the time, so Paul had to stick this prefix on this word to express himself properly. And as we get to this little blurb about Euodia and Syntyche, Paul really says a whole lot—by not saying a whole lot.

Again, we don’t know the cause of the conflict here. And there’s a reason why we don’t know—what might that reason be? Yeah, it doesn’t matter! It doesn’t matter what it was about! The fact of the matter was, these two women were butting heads with each other and causing division within the body of Christ. That little MRSA organism doesn’t care what kind of opening it gets. If it sees a break in the skin—it’s in! Just like pride. Pride does not care how it gets into the members of the body of Christ—just so long as it finds it way in. Richard, what is it that Pastor Phil says all the time about church fusses? Satan would rather start ONE church fuss than open up 100 beer joints and strip clubs. And why? Because the people that go into the beer joints and strip clubs already belong to Satan.

Besides:
• How many churches have split because of a new beer joint opening up down the street?
• How many churches split because they built a new strip club on the other side of town?
• How many churches have split because somebody decided to put up a new liquor store?

Now, how many churches have split because of pride? Hebrews 12:14-15—Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled. Satan is always looking to take away members from the body of Christ. Question is, are you going to join him?

When the church is doing what it’s supposed to be doing, does that make front-page news? No. When do you see the church in the news? Now, does Satan care what kind of fuss he starts? NO! He is going to use whatever makes people puffed up. Just so long as he can stir up strife in the body of Christ—he’s happy! And that’s why we don’t know the details here. Paul is simply telling these women, “Look, whatever it is—knock it off!” Steve, stop me if you’ve heard your kids tell you this when you break up an argument: “He started it!” And you say? “I don’t care who started it—I'm gonna finish it!” Here’s an example of “letting it go” from back in the 1600’s. George Whitefield and John Wesley—two men who had some very different opinions on certain doctrines. One day someone asked, “Mr. Whitefield, do you think that we will see John Wesley in heaven?” Whitefield responded, “No, I doubt we will see Mr. Wesley in heaven. He will be so close to the throne of God that we will be fortunate to even catch a glimpse of his back.” Be of one mind in the Lord.

Verse 3. And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life. Let’s talk a little about the Book of Life. And believe me, I do not consider myself an expert by any means on this subject. I am confident in what I believe, but as with other doctrines, there are men who know a whole lot more than I do, and they could probably articulate a little better than I could. But here goes. The “Book of Life” contains the names of all those who belong to Christ—those who are living on earth now, those who have already “fallen asleep” and those who have not yet been born.

Now, just as there are names which are written in the Book of Life, there are names which are NOT written in the Book of Life. In the 13th chapter of Revelation, when the apostle John is warning us about the Beast who will rule upon the earth during the Great Tribulation, he says, Revelation 13:8—All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Those who will worship the Beast—their names have not been written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Their names are not in there. Never were. Never will be. God never wrote their names in the Book of Life. Because the Book of life ONLY contains the names of Christians. The only names in there are the names of those who followed Christ, who are following Christ, and who will follow Christ. There will never be a name in there that does not belong.

Because this is a record that was written before even the creation of the heavens and the earth. Revelation 17:8—“The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world.” And it is that Book of Life that will be the final piece of evidence that God will use to render an eternal verdict of “GUILTY” upon sinners. Revelation 20:11-15—Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it…And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books…Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. It will not matter how “good” a person was. It will not matter whether that person volunteered at a homeless shelter. It will not matter if that person sat in church their whole life. If that person does not turn away from sin; if that person does not acknowledge the fact that Jesus Christ is LORD; if that person tries to make themselves righteous by their vile human works, then on that Day when the books are opened, and the Book of Life is opened, they will be judged by their works, they will be found lacking, they will be cast into Hell for all eternity.

Question: somebody dies, and let’s say they were an unrepentant homosexual. They spent all their years going from one relationship to another. And, as so often happens, they wind up with AIDS. They spend the next five years going through all kinds of treatments, but eventually their body can't fight off the infections anymore, and they die a very slow, very painful death. All their friends gather around after the person dies, and they all comfort themselves by telling each other…what? “He’s in a better place!” Not necessarily. You see, it doesn’t matter how a person dies. All that matters is they died. If their name is not in the Book of Life—they're not going to Heaven. Revelation 21:7-8—“He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” There’s not a whole lot of wiggle room there.

A little later on in the same chapter, John sees the holy city—New Jerusalem—descending from the clouds. And he sees who enters into it—and who doesn’t. Revelation 21:24, 27—And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light…But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. A person could die the most horrific, terrifying, painful death you could ever imagine—but if their name is not in the Book of Life, they will face an eternity that will make the way they died seem almost bearable.

BUT!! You can't know how good the good news is until you know how bad the bad news is, right? IF we do turn away from sin; if we do acknowledge the fact that Jesus Christ is LORD; if we do know that there is no way/no how that we could ever make ourselves righteous by our vile human works, that our righteousness is filthy rags and that true righteousness is from God by faith (Philippians 3:9)—then on that Day, when the books are opened, and the Book of Life is opened, we will NOT be judged by our works, but we will be found sinless because our life is hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3), and because Christ has become sin for us that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him (2nd Corinthians 5:21), and we will live for all of eternity in the presence of Almighty God and the Lamb. And if our name is in the Book of Life, and IF we endure to the end, and IF we keep pressing toward the mark, and IF we keep fighting the good fight of faith, then God hasn’t put it in there using pencil—He used a big, fat, Sharpie® permanent marker! It’s painted there, chiseled in stone, and it ain't coming out! Revelation 3:5—He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

This is an assurance from Christ that those who love Him and worship Him and obey Him will always and forever have their names in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Let me give you a little background on this verse, because there are some who read that verse and say, “Well, if Christ says He will not blot out the names of those who overcome, then that must mean He will blot out the names of those who don’t overcome.” That is not what He’s saying. John 1:12-13--But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. We did not bring about our own new birth--if we are in Christ, we were born from above--not by our own will, but by the will of God. 1st John 5:4-5--For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? In other words, if a person has been truly born of God, that person WILL overcome the world. It's not a case of "If you do everything you can, you might be able to be saved"--it's a case of "If God has saved you--you WILL be saved to the uttermost." That is, if your name has been written in the Book of Life, it ain't gonna be taken out!!

In Revelation, Jesus told the apostle John to write those words to the church in a city called Sardis, another Roman colony much like Philippi. And in Roman cities—same as in any other culture at the time—they would have a roll which contained the names of all the citizens living there. And what would happen to the name of a citizen of such an area when they died? “Well, Marcus Maximus just died—take his name off the tax roll.” But when a person “falls asleep”—that is, their body ceases to function—does that person cease to exist? Now, if such a person was truly “in Christ”—if they had repented from sin, loved Christ and obeyed Christ until the very end—will their names be taken off of that roll call? Of course not!

Keep in mind the whole “citizenship” issue. We saw a couple weeks ago that Paul said in Philippians 3:20—For our citizenship is in heaven. Where are our names written? And in Heaven, our names are written in that Book of Life. If we are citizens of Heaven, and our name is written in that registry up there, and if we continue to imitate those who imitate Christ—will our names be removed from that roll? No. That is the point Christ is making. He’s saying that if our name is on that roll it ain't gonna come off!

Because it was written there before even the first spark of creation. And who wrote our name in that Book of Life? It was God Himself. Jesus reaffirms this idea in Luke 10:20--"Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." Not "will be written" or "may be written at a later date." But our names ARE written in Heaven, in the Lamb's Book of Life--never to be taken out!!

Jesus Christ is Lord.
Amen.

Perseverance of the Saints explained

And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.--John 10:4-5

Found this video over at Rhett's Rants. It is for those who believe that Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd, is able--and willing--to allow His sheep to be lost, once He has saved them.

After all, does He not say that if one of His sheep should wander off, He would go and find it and bring it back? What kind of a shepherd would allow one of His sheep to perish?

John Piper on the Five Points of Calvinism (The Perseverance of the Saints)

One of the most controversial elements--yet one of the most easily defended--of Calvinism is the doctrine of "the perseverance of the saints." It has also been given other names--"eternal security", and the one that people use most often, which does not adequately describe it--"once saved, always saved." Let me say right now, I do not use that phrase. It does not convey the fulness of this security.

When one talks about the perseverance of the saints, it doesn't mean that we say a little prayer when we're a kid, then when we grow up we just go and do whatever we want to, and live a life of drunkenness and promiscuity, and expect to stand before GOD and be declared righteous.
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Perseverance of the Saints


It follows from what was just said that the people of God WILL persevere to the end and not be lost. The foreknown are predestined, the predestined are called, the called are justified, and the justified are glorified. No one is lost from this group. To belong to this people is to be eternally secure.

But we mean more than this by the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. We mean that the saints will and must persevere in the obedience which comes from faith. Election is unconditional, but glorification is not. There are many warnings in Scripture that those who do not hold fast to Christ can be lost in the end.

The following seven theses summarize our understanding of this crucial doctrine.

Our faith must endure to the end if we are to be saved.

This means that the ministry of the word is God's instrument in the preservation of faith as well as the begetting of faith. We do not breathe easy after a person has prayed to receive Christ, as though we can be assured from our perspective that they are now beyond the reach of the evil one. There is a fight of faith to be fought. We must endure to the end in faith if we are to be saved.

l Corinthians 15:1,2, "Now I would remind you, brethren, in what terms I preached to you the gospel, which you received, in which you stand, by which you are saved, if you hold it fast--unless you believed in vain."

Colossians 1:21-23, "And you, who once were estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him, provided that you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel..."

2 Timothy 2:ll,l2, "The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we shall also live with him; if we endure, we shall also reign with him..."

Mark 13:13, "But he who endures to the end will be saved."

See also Revelation 2:7,l0,ll,l7,25,26; 3:5,ll,l2,2l.

Obedience, evidencing inner renewal from God, is necessary for final salvation.

This is not to say that God demands perfection. It is clear from Philippians 3:l2,l3 and l John 1:8-10 and Matthew 6:l2 that the New Testament does not hold out the demand that we be sinlessly perfect in order to be saved. But the New Testament does demand that we be morally changed and walk in newness of life.

Hebrews 12:14, "Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord."

Romans 8:l3, "If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."

Galatians 5:l9-2l, "Now the works of the flesh are plain: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not enter the kingdom of God." (See also Ephesians 5:5 and l Corinthians 6:l0.)

l John 2:3-6, "And by this we may be sure that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He who says, 'I know him' but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: he who says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked." (See also 1 John 3:4-10, 14; 4:20.)

John 8:3l, "Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, 'If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples.'" (See also Luke 10:28; Matthew 6:14,15; 18:35; Genesis 18:19; 22:16-17; 26:4-5; 2 Timothy 2:19.)

God's elect cannot be lost.

This is why we believe in eternal security--namely, the eternal security of the elect. the implication is that God will so work that those whom he has chosen for eternal salvation will be enabled by him to persevere in faith to the end and fulfill, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the requirements for obedience.

Romans 8:28-30, "We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his propose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified." What is evident from this passage is that those who are effectually called into the hope of salvation will indeed persevere to the end and be glorified.

John 10:26-30, "You do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall 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 my Father's hand. I and the Father are one." (See also Ephesians 1:4-5.)

There is a falling away of some believers, but if it persists, it shows that their faith was not genuine and they were not born of God.

l John 2:19, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out, that it might be made plain that they all are not of us." Similarly, the parable of the four soils as interpreted in Luke 8:9-l4 pictures people who "hear the word, receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in a time of temptation fall away."

The fact that such a thing is possible is precisely why the ministry of the Word in every local church must contain many admonitions to the church members to persevere in faith and not be entangled in those things which could possibly strangle them and result in their condemnation.

God justifies us on the first genuine act of saving faith, but in doing so he has a view to all subsequent acts of faith contained, as it were, like a seed in that first act.

What we are trying to do here is own up to the teaching of Romans 5:l, for example, that teaches that we are already justified before God. God does not wait to the end of our lives in order to declare us righteous. In fact, we would not be able to have the assurance and freedom in order to live out the radical demands of Christ unless we could be confident that because of our faith we already stand righteous before him.

Nevertheless, we must also own up to the fact that our final salvation is made contingent upon the subsequent obedience which comes from faith. The way these two truths fit together is that we are justified through our first act of faith because God sees in it (like he can see the tree in an acorn) the embryo of a life of faith. This is why those who do not lead a life of faith with its inevitable fruit of obedience simply bear witness to the fact that their first act of faith was not genuine.

The textual support for this is that Romans 4:3 cites Genesis 15:6 as the point where Abraham was justified by God. This is a reference to an act of faith early in Abraham's career. Romans 4:l9-22, however, refers to an experience of Abraham many years later (when he was 100 years old, see Genesis 21:5, l2) and says that because of the faith of this experience Abraham was reckoned righteous. In other words, it seems that the faith which justified Abraham is not merely his first act of faith but the faith which gave rise to acts of obedience later in his life. (The same thing could be shown from James 2:21-24 in its reference to a still later act in Abraham's life, namely, the offering of his son, Isaac, in Genesis 22.) The way we put together these crucial threads of biblical truth is by saying that we are indeed justified through our first act of faith but not without reference to all the subsequent acts of faith which give rise to the obedience that God demands. Faith alone is the instrument (not ground or basis) of our justification because God makes it his sole means of uniting us to Christ in whom we “become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

God works to cause his elect to persevere.

We are not left to ourselves and our assurance is very largely rooted in the sovereign love of God to perform that which he has called us to do. l Peter 1:5, "By God's power we are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." Jude 24,25, "Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing, 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."

l Thessalonians 5:23-24, "May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, and he will do it."

Philippians 1:6, "And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."

l Corinthians 1:8-9, "Jesus Christ will sustain you to the end; guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."

Therefore we should be zealous to make our calling and election sure.

2 Peter 1:10, "Therefore, brethren, be the more zealous to confirm your call and election, for if you do this you will never fall; so there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ."
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By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.