Eternal Security, Part 2

2 Peter 1:10
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, October 25, 2020
Copyright © 2020, P. G. Mathew
Language [Japanese]

What is the first work God does in an elect person? Regeneration. Without regeneration, we are dead—twice dead. We need regeneration. It is a monergistic work of the Holy Spirit. We cannot do anything to make ourselves regenerate. It is entirely the work of the Holy Spirit, who applies redemption to God’s elect people. Consider the following:

• Ephesians 1:4: Paul says, “For [God] chose us in [Christ] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” This is speaking about election before the creation of the world. I do not understand it, but I believe that God chose his elect people before the creation of the world.

• 2 Corinthians 5:17: Paul also declares, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” A new creation means God gives us a new heart, a new mind, a new will to do God’s will, and new emotions by which we can rejoice in sufferings also. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

• Ezekiel 36:26–27: The Lord himself says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone [rebellion] and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my [Holy] Spirit in you and move [empower, energize] you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” God will empower and energize us to obey his decrees and laws. Therefore, it is simple to understand who is regenerate. Regenerate people will obey God; they will obey God’s word; and they will obey God’s delegated authorities—parents, pastors, police, teachers, bosses, and other authorities. The eternal, infinite Holy Spirit dwells in every regenerate person to move him or her to do God’s will.

• 2 Peter 1:10: Peter writes, “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure.” How can we do this? Through continuous obedience to God. Peter continues, “For if you do these things, you will never fall.” We will not fall when we build our faith upon the rock, who is Jesus Christ.

• Romans 8:29–30: Paul says, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” Foreknowledge and predestination take place in eternity. In time, God calls us effectually, through regeneration, to repent and believe, and he justifies us. And glorification will take place in eternity future.

So I say to you: “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14).

• 1 John 3:3: But we know that when he appears [speaking about the second coming of Jesus], we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as [Christ] is pure.” We are predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, and it will take place. This is called glorification.

The elect people will be regenerated. They will love God and obey God continuously. Present obedience proves that you are an elect. Peter said to make your calling and election sure. The question is, how do we do this? By obedience: immediately, exactly, and joyfully. It is the work of the Spirit.

We spoke previously about regeneration from 1 John 2:29, 3:9, and 4:7. Today I am going to speak  from 1 John 5:1, 5:4, and 5:18. Regeneration must take place first because without regeneration we will not repent or obey Jesus. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” We are saved eternally; we are eternally secure.

1. Obedience Proves Faith (1 John 5:10)

In 1 John 5:10 we read, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well” (my translation).

Faith in Christ is proved by obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, not by sinning.  So elect people are chosen in eternity and regenerated in time. They believe in Jesus and confess Jesus is Christ the Lord. Remember what the Gentile Syro-Phoenician woman said? Already regenerated, she cried out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus commended her, saying that her faith was great (Matt. 15:21–28). The publican cried out, “Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner!” And he went home justified. He was saved—saved forever (Luke 18:13–14).  Such people love God and God’s children.

In our Bible, 1 John is only about four pages long. In this brief epistle, John uses the word “love” forty-four times in verb and noun form: We are to love God and love one another. And in this church we do that. We help those who do not have food or clothing or a place to stay. Jesus said, “Love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind,” and, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” We do that.

• John 3:3, 5: Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. . . . I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” “Water” means the word of God. In John 15:3 Jesus says, “You are clean by the word I have spoken to you.” And in Ephesians 5:26, Paul says that husbands are to cleanse their wives through the water of the word. Without knowing and doing the word of God, a husband is not competent to minister to his wife and children.

The regenerate repents. The regenerate believes. The regenerate loves. The regenerate obeys. The regenerate submits.

The faith of a regenerate person has content. What is the content? That Jesus is the Christ. That is what the Syro-Phoenician woman said: “Lord, Son of David, have mercy upon me!” She understood theology.

Theology means we must be baptized in the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:21–22). Jesus is the Christ. In Isaiah 42:1 the Lord says, “I will put my Spirit on him.” Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit, and we are also to be anointed by the Holy Spirit. In ourselves, we cannot be regenerate or do what God says. We can obey God only by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. Two times in Romans 8:11–14 we are told that the Spirit dwells in us, and he continues to live in us and guide us: “Don’t do this; do this. Kill sin and obey God.” If you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit is dwelling in you. As many as are being led by the Spirit, they are the sons and daughters of God.

Jesus fulfilled Isaiah 53. He is the Christ, the anointed One, who took our sin and made atonement for our sin on the cross, and he gave us his righteousness. It is called double transaction. And he did everything by the Holy Spirit. In Hebrews 9:14 we read, “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death.”

Jesus never sinned. He always obeyed the Father through the Spirit. He died in our place, was buried, was raised from the dead, and was seen by many. He ascended and is seated on the right hand of God. Therefore, Jesus Christ defeated the devil by his life, death, and resurrection for us. Thus, as we submit to God and resist the devil, he shall flee from us. Consider the following:

• 1 John 3:8: “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”
• Hebrews 2:14–15: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” Jesus sets us free from all fears. When we fear God, we will fear nothing else, even death.
• John 16:33: Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Faith in Christ is our victory over the world. So, yes, Peter was crucified. But before that, he made certain he was elect, as he urges us to do in 2 Peter 1:10. Then he was crucified, confessing Jesus Christ as Lord.

Nothing in all creation is able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:39). There is eternal security for you and for me. The born of God loves God and obeys his commands by the Holy Spirit, and his commands are not burdensome. The devil’s yoke of iron will kill us eternally. But consider what Jesus says:

• Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened.” Sin makes us weary and burdened. It crushes us. Try to sin, and it will never give you rest. Jesus continues, “Come to me . . . , and I will give you rest.” He is inviting all sinners to come to him. Then he says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” There is no yokeless, antinomian Christianity. Christ’s yoke alone gives us rest of eternal salvation.

2. The Regenerate Overcome the World by Faith (1 John 5:4)

In 1 John 5:4 we read, “Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” Faith in Jesus Christ is our victory. What must you do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. James writes, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

We are elect in eternity and regenerated in time. We overcome this world that is ruled by the devil (1 John 5:19) by resisting the devil in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus defeated the devil by his obedient life, death, and resurrection. Faith in Jesus is our victory.

We kill sin by obeying God, and the devil flees from us in Jesus’ name. So you can say, “I believe in Jesus. Therefore, devil, flee! I am killing sin daily and obeying Jesus Christ. “Submit to God and resist the devil, as Jesus did through the Holy Spirit, who descended on him from heaven. We read about Jesus’ resisting the devil in Matthew 4:

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’’’ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. (Matt. 4:1–11)

Jesus always obeyed his Father and disobeyed the devil. Jesus is our model and example. Thus, in Jesus’ name, we can kill sin and obey God. If God is with us by the Holy Spirit, he will lead us to victory.

God’s commands are easy, even martyrdom, for God himself is with us.

• Matthew 28:20: Jesus said, “Behold, I will be with you always, even to the end of the ages.”
• Jeremiah 30:11: The Lord said, “I am with you.” He is with us to save us and help us.

Alone, we can do nothing. But God is with us and in us by his Spirit, and he gives us power: “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you” (Acts 1:8, KJV).  The Holy Spirit energizes us to say “No” to the devil and “Yes” to Jesus Christ. So Jesus said, “Surely I am with you always, even to the end of the ages.” He is with us to help us. (PGM) Jesus also said, “If two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst” (Matt. 18:20). We do not see him with our eyes. But as we see him by faith, we will work out our salvation with fear and trembling. God is eternal and infinite. Though we do not know what eternal and infinite are, we know they are big. And once we see the eternal, infinite God by faith, we will tremble.

The Holy Spirit dwells in us to guide us, to empower us, to energize us, to live a holy life, an obedient life. So Paul says,

• Romans 8:11–14: “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are [the sons and daughters] of God.”

Those who are foreloved will be glorified. Think about these ten points from Romans 8:29–30:

1. We are foreloved in eternity.
2. We are predestined in eternity.
3. We are called effectually in time.
4. We are regenerated in time.
5. We repented in time.
6. We believed in time.
7. We are justified in time.
8. We are adopted in time.
9. We are being sanctified in time.
10. We are going to be glorified in eternity future.

Jesus overcame the world for us, and every regenerate believer in Christ will overcome the world in Jesus Christ. The born-of-God enjoys victory over the devil and the world.

3. We Are Eternally Safe in Christ (1 John 5:18)

In 1 John 5:18 we read, “We know for certain that everyone born of God does not sin [that is, does not sin continually] but the one born of God [that is, Jesus] keeps him [safe], and the evil one cannot touch him,” cannot harm him. This is eternal security! We are elect in eternity, and we are regenerate, born of God, in time. Thus, we know for certain beyond a shadow of doubt that we belong to Christ.

Truly regenerate people will not continue in sin. They may sin, but they will repent and prove their repentance by obedience. Jesus is our Savior, and he will keep us from falling away. He is “the one born of God,” John says. Professor John Murray said, “The Holy Spirit begat [Jesus], Mary conceived.”[1] So the devil cannot harm us. As we pray in the Lord’s prayer: “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.”

• John 10:10: Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Jesus came to give life to the dead. We were dead in trespasses and sins—dead toward God. He came and gave us life—fullness of life—and now we love and obey God.
• John 10:28–29: Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” God himself protects us. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit protects us every moment of our life. We enjoy eternal security.
• John 17:11–12, 15: Jesus prayed, “I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. . . . My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” Notice how many times the word “protect” is used. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit protects us. No one can snatch us out of Christ’s hand, out of the Father’s hand.

What about Jesus? He obeyed the Father continually. He never disobeyed. So we read:

• Hebrews 5:8–9: “Although he was [eternal] Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” If you are not obedient, you are not regenerate; you are not elect. You are a child of the devil.
• 1 John 2:13–14: “I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.” We expect young people to overcome the evil one by not sinning. You can overcome the evil one by the Holy Spirit.

The born-of-God person is eternally secure. The Good Shepherd keeps us safe. The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit protects us. And so John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” We are secure forever. We will never fall. The elect will be glorified.

• 1 John 5:19: “We know that we are children of God and that the whole world is under the control of the devil.”
• 2 Peter 1:10: “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things, you will never fall.”
• Matthew 7:13–14: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to [eternal] life, and only a few find it.”

Many go to destruction, to hell. Only a few go to eternal life, to heaven. May God help us to belong to the few. Then we will be eternally secure because we are saved forever.

 

[1] John Murray, Collected Works, vol. 2, Systematic Theology (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1977), 134.