Security in Christ

[0:00] As followers of Christ, we have been, by grace, granted great privileges.

[0:19] ! In our last lesson, we looked at our union with Christ. And the fact that we have access to God the Father through Him.

[0:37] And that's really what sets Christianity apart from all mere human religions. So this evening, we're going to examine what we call part two of the spiritual privileges.

[0:51] I actually designated four of those privileges that I shamefully stole from good men that I trust. Our security in Christ.

[1:06] The affection we have for Christ. Our election by Christ. And our dominion with Christ. However, when I finished the lesson, I'd only covered the first one.

[1:19] So next week, I hope to cover the other three. Now obviously, we could take any one of these topics and spend months studying it.

[1:35] Well, where did the spiritual privileges originate? Well, obviously, they originated with Christ. With His mercy extended to His children.

[1:47] And where do we learn about such privileges? Well, that is answered in the opening words of 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. And verse 6.

[1:58] We call this portion of Scripture our security in Christ. And that sixth verse says this, For it stands in Scripture, Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious.

[2:22] Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame. I also like the way the New American Standard Bible in the 1995 edition expresses this passage.

[2:38] For this is contained in Scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone. And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.

[2:53] I like both those. This is a messianic statement. It is important. So much so that the Apostle Paul quotes this verse in Romans 9, verse 33.

[3:11] And there are a number of references in both the Old and New Testament that Christ or the Messiah would be the cornerstone of a new house, a spiritual house that God was fashioning.

[3:34] One of the most important Old Testament passages is found in the book of Isaiah, chapter 28 and verse 16.

[3:48] Let me read that to you. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation.

[4:13] Whoever believes will not be in haste. That house with the foundation would be made up of followers of Christ Jesus.

[4:28] The Messiah was referred to as a special stone that the Father had laid in Zion, meaning Israel.

[4:40] And the Old Testament is often referred to as the mountain of Jerusalem. And it was prophesied that Messiah would come to that city and establish His spiritual kingdom.

[4:58] It will be established among those who will believe in Him. Christ did come to Jerusalem in Israel.

[5:11] And He would have established His spiritual kingdom. But He was rejected. After presenting Himself as the long-awaited for Messiah, that means the anointed of God, by the way, His earthly rule was postponed until a future time.

[5:40] And it is actually future even to our prophetic clock today. It hasn't happened yet. It is important to note that the Lord did establish His spiritual rule, but it was over the hearts of all those who would believe in Him, and that is true down to this day.

[6:08] And we have a name for those people that so believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We call it the church. An old story, but I like old stories, and I tell them to you guys all the time.

[6:24] I was in Thailand in a Hmong village, H-E-M-O-N-G. Hmongs have been Christians since 400 A.D. in Mongolia.

[6:35] They don't even know why. They don't know their own history. So we're in this village 2,500 feet up, which I had to walk. And the matriarch of the village was in her mid-80s, and she latched on to me because she wanted to show me the village.

[6:54] We had an interpreter, and she took me to the church and showed it to me because they had rescued some pallets.

[7:06] If you ever go through Dewey, you see huge lumber up there. They get rid of them. They stack them up. They say, take them. They're free. And they use them when they transport lumber.

[7:18] That cushions them, and then they give those pallets away. Well, this place in Thailand, they'd gotten a hold of a bunch of pallets and laid them on the floor.

[7:31] Until then, they had to sit in the dirt. Now they were sitting on wood pallets. And she couldn't be happier. It was just, she was ecstatic about that. And so I asked her, I said, through the interpreter, I said, what do you call your building?

[7:54] What do you call your church? Well, you know, I'm thinking, well, there's First Baptist, and there's First Methodist, and there's First Presbyterian, and we can go down the list.

[8:06] And she looked at me very puzzled. She said, we call it the church. And I thought to myself, that'll preach. I came home and told Dr. McBride that.

[8:20] I think he did preach on that. Is there a passage that references the establishment of the yet future rule of our Lord on earth?

[8:34] Well, yes, there is. We call that time the millennium or the millennial rule of Christ. And we read about it in the book of Revelation.

[8:52] In that great book, in Revelation chapter 20, first seven verses, and let me read these to you. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.

[9:14] And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years and threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended.

[9:42] And after that, he must be released for a little while. And then I saw thrones and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed.

[9:56] Also, I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God and those who had not worshipped the beast or its image and not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.

[10:14] They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.

[10:28] That's the unbelievers. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection.

[10:42] Over such, the second death has no power. But they will be priests of God and of Christ and they will reign with Him guess how long? For a thousand years.

[10:54] And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison. Now, a lot of you have known me for a long time.

[11:10] Probably Mike longer than anybody and Stan. So why do I do a rather dramatic reading of that passage and sort of emphasize the words a thousand years?

[11:22] I did that because there are those in the amillennial camp and those in the postmillennial camp and those in some liberal churches and those in cults and some in the occult and I'm sure there's some others I'm leaving out that say, well, the Bible never makes a reference to a thousand years for Christ to rule on the earth.

[11:47] Well, we just disprove that. six times in seven verses of inspired scripture, the Holy Spirit speaks of the thousand years that Christ Jesus is going to rule on this earth.

[12:08] And that is yet future. It has not happened yet, obviously. And by the way, millennial means a thousand. That's where we get that. Our passage in 1 Peter refers to Christ as a choice stone.

[12:28] That is a way of saying God's chosen one. The Jewish readers of Peter's work would think back to Solomon's temple and it was there that the workers prepared stones in advance and then transported them to the worksite.

[12:46] With brew prints carefully drafted, the stonemasons, and they were good at their work, were able and with great precision prepared the stones for the temple.

[13:03] Each stone was cut to a precise and predetermined size. The stones were set in place sort of like a giant puzzle. they fit perfectly.

[13:18] That reminds us of Christ. He was chosen by God the Father because He was perfect and God through Him as the foundation could build His spiritual temple made up of believers in the true Messiah.

[13:38] Jesus prepared those believers by choosing them before the foundation of the world and that means even before creation.

[13:51] So we see that Christ is a most precious choice stone. That word precious in the Greek language is rich in meaning.

[14:03] It actually has three meanings that complement each other. It means unequaled in value, costly, and irreplaceable.

[14:20] Christ is these things because He is the cornerstone and that is I think all of us know is the most important stone in the structure. We have a cornerstone up here in the far building and it was dedicated in 1953 by E.S. Hinshaw and then we dedicated this building by E.S. Hinshaw now with the Lord.

[14:48] The word translated precious cornerstone means that which is the chief cornerstone. By employing such a stone as all of the various angles of the building it will be set in place.

[15:01] the emphasis is that God's house made up of human believers will be precious unequaled in value irreplaceable and costly.

[15:17] Well how costly are these believers even down to our generation? They cost the Son of God His life on Calvary.

[15:31] That's pretty costly. Verse 6 ends with a promise and a privilege. Remember the portion of the Scripture we are studying has to do with spiritual privileges.

[15:50] The privilege is for those that believe and that word believe in the Greek language means those that have placed their trust in Christ and it says they will not be disappointed.

[16:06] That word disappointed refers to someone that has been deceived or placed their hope in someone that cannot deliver. They cannot live up to those promises and expectations that the Lord gave.

[16:23] Well we don't worry about that do we? Christ is both Lord and Savior. those who genuinely trust in Him will never know disappointment from Him.

[16:38] In fact we are forever secure in Him. I have vigorous debates with my friends that don't hold to that and I'll say look if you could lose your salvation you will.

[16:51] I can't keep mine five minutes or five seconds. I have to depend on Christ. but they will not be disappointed.

[17:07] That word disappointment refers to someone that is deceived or places their hope in someone that can't deliver, can't live up to the promises. Those who genuinely trust in Him will not know such disappointment.

[17:24] we are forever secure in Him. How is it that so many church denominations reject the very concept of eternal security?

[17:38] I have had now the great privilege of serving for 25 years on the Board of Directors of Voice of the Martyrs. I'll tell you a story that's not part of your notes this evening but I'm going to tell it anyway.

[17:54] We were in a board meeting out there and we were on a break and a bunch of us were still sitting in the room and got snacks and something to drink. One of them a good friend of mine he looks over at me and he says, well Tom you're kind of the token Baptist in the board.

[18:13] He said, and this was not a board member, this was one of the execs and he said, tell me being a Baptist do you believe in once saved always saved?

[18:27] And I said, no I really don't believe in that. My gosh, it got quiet in that room. Guy's mouth hung open, eyes got big and the guy that was talking to him, a good friend, he said, man I wasn't expecting that answer.

[18:48] I'm in shock. I thought every Baptist believed in once saved always saved. He said, what do you believe in? I said, I believe in once truly saved always saved.

[19:03] And he said, well I believe that. And another guy said, I believe that too. And before you know it, we had a revival. Everybody said, yeah, that's exactly what I believe.

[19:15] I said, then we're all in agreement, aren't we? God is building his church.

[19:25] He's still building it. He is the perfect and precise one to complete this perfect temple. Tell you something about his temple, no one is ever out of alignment.

[19:44] No one ever falls from that structure. It all fits exactly and permanently together. It really reminds me of a passage in the book of Ephesians, sometimes called the miniature Romans, written by the same man.

[20:07] Ephesians 4 verses 15 and 16, rather speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped.

[20:29] When each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. love. I want to next give you an analogy that is a beautiful portrait of our security in Christ.

[20:51] It is probably not a passage we think of when considering the eternality of our relationship with the Lord. I know I never have.

[21:02] it is all the way over in Isaiah chapter 54 and verses 4 to 5. And there the Old Testament prophet says this, Fear not for you will not be ashamed.

[21:24] Be not confounded for you will not be disgraced for you will forget the shame of your youth and the reproach of your widowhood you are remembered no more for your maker is your husband.

[21:45] That's the bride of Christ. The Lord of hosts is his name. And the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. the God of the whole earth he is called.

[22:01] I read a lot of security in that passage. This should remind us of Paul's inspired words contained in a very memorable passage of the book of Romans.

[22:16] Romans chapter 8 37 to 39 knowing all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

[22:31] For I'm sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[22:55] I have a shortened version of that I use. I pull that every now and then when I'm speaking to somebody. Nothing in death, nothing in life, and nothing in all creation can separate you from Christ.

[23:12] What else is there? Nothing in life, nothing in death, nothing in the created order. I don't know what else there is. Dr.

[23:29] MacArthur referred to this in one of his commentaries. It was in that commentary he said this, the 19th century church historian and hymnologist John Mason Neal's translation.

[23:50] And I'd never heard of him before. His translation of the words of a seventh century Latin hymn majestically and succinctly summarizes verse 6 of 1 Peter chapter 2.

[24:07] 2. Now this goes on for five stanzas. And I decided very early I wasn't going to sing this without help.

[24:22] And then I decided I only read the first stanza. But it's in the notes that I give out. And you guys should get the copy of this. Here's the first stanza. Christ is made the sure foundation.

[24:41] Christ the head and cornerstone. Chosen of the Lord and precious. Binding all the church in one.

[24:55] Holy Zion's help forever and her confidence alone. And then he goes from there and it's really a great great, I call it poetry.

[25:09] It's a great song and worth being read.