This We Teach: Salvation (Part 3)

So this morning we're going to finish up our statement on salvation.

! And there are two very rich theological words, two more, that we need to cover this!

And they are sanctification and security, in the sense of, of course, the security of the believer, secure in our salvation.

So sanctification and security. To get us started, I've had you turn to this passage in Titus, although I would also say that this morning, as soon as we start reading this, you might notice, will notice, I'm sure, that's a little bit different than how it appears in your copy of Scripture, because this is from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

The Holman Christian Standard Bible, if you don't know this, is published by the Southern Baptist Convention's publishing house, Holman. It is a version that was developed not too many years ago, kind of in answer to the NIV's decision to produce a gender-inclusive version of the Bible.

But I've chosen this version for a particular reason, and I think you'll notice here in just a moment. But here's how Paul wrote, really addressed, kind of in his salutation for the letter.

Paul, of course, that's the Apostle Paul, and then he said a slave of God. That's why I've chosen the Holman Christian Standard Bible version, because it really is the only, what we would call, modern version, even different from the older versions, like King James, that actually translates the Greek word doulos as it should be translated.

Slave, slave, not servant. More than that, servant is a much softer word, but slave.

Paul said, I'm a slave of God. But not only a slave of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ, and we know that, don't we? Apostle in the sense of the official sense, the technical sense.

He was an apostle in the sense of an office within the church, especially chosen by God to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. So he says, I'm these two things.

I'm a slave of God. I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ. And then this is what I want you to really see in the passage, for two things. We could say these are two primary purposes for which God called Paul to be an apostle.

And it is these same two purposes that we're a part of, actually. And the first one is for the faith of God's elect, God's chosen.

That is an evangelistic purpose, to bring those who are God's chosen to faith in Jesus Christ.

That doesn't mean that Paul knew who the chosen were, okay. This is our evangelistic purpose, to proclaim the gospel, to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ. And he had a second purpose, and this is what connects with our subject this morning.

That is for the knowledge of the truth that leads to what? Godliness. That's sanctification.

Now, I know the word sanctification doesn't appear there. That's what it is. To grow in the knowledge, to learn the knowledge of the truth, the word of God.

And that knowledge would lead us to godliness. And not just once and for all, but an ongoing, progressive, moving toward godliness.

It comes through obedience to the word, as we shall see as we look at the statement. So this is sanctification. This is sanctification. Now, what does that word mean?

Well, in the dictionary, as we were to consider just a dictionary definition, the word sanctify means to set apart. To set apart.

Or, to connect it in a more theological sense, to declare something holy. Consecrated. Sacred.

So, to set apart. But we need, of course, more than just a basic definition of the word. Because, as I've already said, the word sanctification is a rich theological word that we need to be familiar with and understand.

And to see the implications of it in our own lives as believers. Very, very important word of faith. Of the faith. Sanctification. Sanctification. So, let's look at it then according to our statement.

What we teach about sanctification. And here is the first part of the statement. We teach that every believer is sanctified unto God by justification.

Now, we studied justification last week. I'm not going to go back into that and define that. But we are sanctified unto God. Set apart unto God.

Set apart, really, from sin. Unto God, or to God, or for God. We are sanctified unto God by justification. Now, here at the very beginning, we need to understand something, I believe.

That there are really, I think we could say, three phases to sanctification. Three phases to it. And if I were to, you know, kind of name them, I would use these terms.

There is past done to us. There is sanctification in the sense of past. It's done.

Done to us. Done for us. And then there is sanctification in the sense of present. Ongoing. So, remember it in these terms.

Past done to us and for us. Present in the sense of ongoing. It's an ongoing thing.

So, it's a process. And we'll get to that as we look at the statement. And then the third one would be future. Future completed. Completed.

Completed. Completed. And not this side of heaven, but when we get to heaven. And the other, of course, rich theological word that really defines this aspect.

The kind of final completed aspect of sanctification is glorification. Glorification. So, past done. Present.

Present. Ongoing. Future. Completed. One day will be completed. All right. So, in the first place, there is the sense in which our sanctification is a past event.

It's something that is done to us. Really, I think, better understood, done for us. And that is the part that we're saying.

That's what we're saying here in the first part of our statement. So, look at it again. We teach that every believer is sanctified unto God by justification and is therefore declared to be holy.

Holy. Declared to be. We can't be holy on our own because we're not holy in and of ourselves. But we are, by God, declared to be holy.

Holy. Not one day holy, but we are holy in the mind of God, in the sight of God. It's our standing before Him.

And so, we are declared to be holy and, therefore, identified as a saint. I know we have a problem with that word saint because we're kind of influenced by other teachings on the word saint and beliefs about saint.

I'm not talking about saint in the Roman Catholic sense or use of the word, okay? You know where they canonize some dead Christian and call that dead Christian?

A saint. So, they can pray to the saint. I'm not wanting to get too much into this, but this is contrary to the teachings of Scripture. But that's saint in the sense of the Roman Catholic sense.

I know we'll forget a number of years ago of sitting in a Sunday school class. In fact, I was teaching the Sunday school class. And we were talking. I don't know how we got on the subject, but we were talking about losing things.

You know, just losing something around the house, can't find it. And so, you know, several were participating in the conversation and they were sharing some of their experiences.

And one of the ladies, young ladies in the Sunday school class who was not a member of the church, she said, well, and she just blurted this out. She said, well, when we lose something in our house, we get together and we pray.

That sounded pretty good. And she said, we pray to St. Andrew, who will help us find lost things. You talk about a jaw-dropping experience there in a Sunday school class in a Southern Baptist church.

We're not talking about saint in any sense of the word saint as it's used by Roman Catholics. And so, we're talking about saint in the sense of being set apart.

Set apart from sin and set apart to God, for God. And so, we are saints. And here's a passage of Scripture, 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13.

That we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification.

Through sanctification by the Spirit. That's the Holy Spirit. And belief in the truth. So, through setting apart this act of God who sets us apart for Himself.

That's wonderful, wonderful truth when we really grab hold of that. So, this is sanctification in the sense of past. Done.

Done to us. Done for us. It's in terms of our standing before God. And it's a wonderful, marvelous thing. So, let's go on with our statement.

This sanctification is positional and instantaneous. So, it's not something that is progressive. In fact, that's what our statement says.

To make a distinction here. It should not be confused with progressive sanctification. We'll get to that here in just a moment. That's that other aspect of sanctification that is present, ongoing.

All right. So, what we're talking about here is a positional thing. A position God places us in by His grace. At the moment that we are saved by justification, He sets us apart for Himself.

It's done. It's passed. Of course, it certainly has ongoing implications, doesn't it? And it's a wonderful thing.

And so, this positional sanctification has to do with the believer's standing. Standing and not his or her present walk or condition.

Now, there is, of course, again, a sense of sanctification in relation to our walk with the Lord. And our spiritual condition before the Lord.

We'll get to that here in just a minute. But we're starting at the beginning here. Sanctification has passed and it's done for us. Here's a passage. Acts chapter 20, verse 32. I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who, what?

Are sanctified. Those who are. Are already is the idea there. So, it's a past event in the mind of God. It's a standing before Him.

1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 2. To those who are sanctified. Are. Sanctified in Christ Jesus. Called to be saints.

Be the set-apart ones. Not one day will be, but be, are, right now. Saints of the Lord. That's sanctification in the past, done to us, done for us sense of the word.

But, of course, as I've already said, there is another phase of sanctification. Present. Ongoing. And this is that part of sanctification, as we shall see, that we participate in.

And it's very important to know that. This, you know, this, this, this part of our sanctification, that, this part of being set apart for God is not something we just let go and let God do.

Now, it very much is the work of God in our lives. No doubt about that. We could not do this on our own. But it is something we participate in.

Actively. And daily participate in. And so, according to our statement, we teach that there is also, by the work of the Holy Spirit, a progressive sanctification. Justification by which the state, now, now pay attention to this, by which the state of the believer is brought closer to the standing the believer positionally enjoys through justification.

Now, what in the world is all that? I mean, that's kind of complicated, kind of a long sentence. And we don't do well with long sentences, most of us, all of us, really, in our generation. We like little sound bites, you know, little snippets and things.

And this is kind of long. So what is this about? It's just simply this. We have a standing before God. By justification, we're sanctified.

We're set apart unto God. For God, to God, that's a standing that's done. It's accomplished by God. It's instantaneous.

It's not progressive. This is the work of God, not anything of ourselves. It is God doing it. So we have a standing before Him. And so in this aspect of sanctification, we are now starting a process that's going to bring us more and more and more in line with that standing.

The standing that we already enjoy. The standing is becoming a reality, is the idea here. Now, think about it.

And you need to hearken back to last week. Hopefully you were here. But what is the believer's standing before God? We're righteous.

Justified. Remember what we talked about last week? We have to have this standing or there's no hope. No hope for salvation. Our standing is justified.

We're justified in Christ. God sees us as though we had never sinned. God sees us as though we had always perfectly obeyed Him.

Marvelous, isn't it? That's our standing. Right? Romans 8. There is therefore now no condemnation. None. None. No condemnation to whom?

To us. That is to those who are in Christ Jesus. And so this is the marvelous thing about sanctification. It's passed and it's done.

It's done to us. It's instantaneous. And then from there on we begin to become more and more like the standing that we are in.

Our lives become more and more connected to and in agreement with the standing that God places, has placed us in. Our standing becomes a reality. Now how?

How is this progressive sanctification, that's what we're talking about here, how is this accomplished in our lives? Well, it's accomplished through what?

Through obedience. Obedience to what? To the Word of God. And not just initially and one time and you're done, you're there, you don't have to worry about it anymore.

It's an ongoing thing. Every single day. In fact, every moment of our lives. Obeying the Word of God. And so through obedience to the Word of God, that's our participation in sanctification.

The empowering of the Holy Spirit. And through the, by the empowering of the Holy Spirit, the believer is what?

Able to live a life or enable to live a life of increasing holiness. In conformity with the will of God. Because this is the will of God for us, that we become more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now that's a huge statement. And it's true. This is progressive sanctification. Through obedience to the Word of God every single day.

That's our participation. And by the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Because we can't do this on our own. And the minute we try to do it on our own, it's counterproductive. Because it's work of the flesh.

And that doesn't bring sanctification. It doesn't bring holiness. In fact, God rejects it. So, empowered by the Holy Spirit, the believer is enabled to live the life of increasing holiness.

In conformity to the will of God. To become more and more like our Lord Jesus Christ. John 17, 17. Sanctify them by your truth.

Just in case you don't understand. Your Word is truth, he says. The Word of God. That's the process of sanctification. Obedience to the Word of God.

And we must obey the Word of God. In sanctification. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 3 and 5. For this is the will of God. What? Your sanctification. That you should abstain from sexual immorality.

You must do that. Every day. It's not easy in this world of moral decay that's all around us. Not easy with the temptations of our world today.

So, you must abstain from sexual immorality. That's sexual immorality of every kind. And you should... And that each of you should know how to possess his vessel.

That's kind of an old English term. I mean, possess your body. Your life. Things you do. You think. And places you go. And everything about your life. You should know how to possess it.

Your own vessel in sanctification. That is consistent with you being set apart for God. That is, we ought to live our lives as though we are set apart for God.

That changes everything, doesn't it? Through sanctification and honor. Not in passion. Passion of lust.

The passion of lust. That is, not being ruled every day by the natural sinful cravings of your flesh. That exists in every single one of us.

Like the Gentiles who do not know God. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely.

This is really kind of bringing in the whole scope of the various phases of sanctification. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And really that's more focused on that third aspect. Future. Completed. Which is glorification.

So you see, there is a sense in which sanctification is passed. It's done to us and done for us through justification. God sanctifies us as he sets us apart from sin.

Sets us apart for himself. And then from there on, throughout our lives, sanctification is a present ongoing work, ongoing process.

That is, you and I participate with God each day in our sanctification. In our sanctification. And one day it will be completed.

Not this side of heaven though, as some would teach. But when we get to heaven. And our sanctification is complete. In fact, so complete it is now termed by scripture as glorification.

Glorification. All right. So let's go on. In this respect, we teach that every saved person is involved in a daily conflict.

I mean, this is a natural conclusion to what we've just said. And not just a natural conclusion to what has been said, but it is our experience every day.

It is, right? Your experience every day. This daily conflict. And what is this conflict? The new creation in Christ doing battle against the flesh.

Every single day of our lives. The good news is adequate provision.

Adequate provision is made for victory. That's good news. Something we should never forget. Adequate provision is made for victory.

Not only victory in the sense of a progression of victory. That is, daily victory. An ongoing victory. But one day ultimate victory. Over sin.

How? Through the empowering or the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Galatians chapter 5. It's a very key verse for us to know. But I say, walk by the Spirit.

Walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. Spirit is the Holy Spirit. Walk by the Holy Spirit. Walk in control. Being controlled by the Holy Spirit.

Walk always yielding to the power and control of God in your life. Walk by the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh or desire of the flesh.

For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit. Against the Spirit. And the Spirit against the flesh.

So it's a battle, isn't it? For these are in opposition. They're contrary to one another. So that you may not do the things that you please.

That is, we always fall short of it, don't we? Don't you? Come on. Be honest. Don't you fall short of it?

We never completely succeed when it comes to victory over the flesh.

Not in this life. Just as soon as we think we have arrived, man, it just raises its ugly head in our lives, you know.

We never completely succeed. We continue to sin. Paul knew all about this struggle. You can read Romans 7 and get Paul's personal testimony on the subject.

He said, In me, that is in my flesh, no good thing dwells. Things I should do, I don't do. Things I should not do, I do. I mean, who's going to deliver me from this body of death?

Paul said. It was a constant, daily struggle. Now, his struggles were probably different than ours. Ours are different than his. Mine are different than yours. Yours, mine. But we all have this struggle.

It's daily. And who's going to deliver us from this body of death that is always there? Well, Paul went on to say, thanks be to God. Gives us the victory.

It's only that way. But we have that struggle. It's ongoing. Every single day of our lives. Paul knew all about it.

So let's move forward in our study. Sanctification. The struggle. As Paul testified, and as each one of us could testify, the struggle nevertheless stays with the believer.

All through this earthly life. Well, that struggle's not going to end until you go to glory, okay? Until you die or Jesus comes first.

I'm hoping for the second one. All throughout earthly lives. And it's never completely ended until when? Death. And so all claims to the eradication of sin in this life are unscriptural.

There are those who claim that we can reach a point where sin is eradicated in this life. There are those who teach an entire sanctification that a believer can experience, may experience, in this life.

It's not scriptural. It's not true. Eradication of sin is not possible. Not in this life. 1 John chapter 1 verse 8.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. In verse 10 of that same chapter in 1 John, if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar.

That is, we make God a liar and his word is not in us. So, at any point in life, if you ever come to the place where you think you can now say that I have not sinned or have no sin in me, then you're a liar.

You're deceived, self-deceived. And worse than that, we make God a liar. But the Holy Spirit, again, does provide for victory.

Victory over sin. I love this passage in James. James chapter 4 verses 6 through 10. God resists the proud.

Stiff arms them, if you understand that visual term. Pushes away those who are proud. But he does what? He gives grace to the humble.

Therefore, submit to God. Submit. Keep on submitting to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Draw near to God. Constantly. Draw near to God. Every day draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners.

And purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up.

Now let's wrap this up on sanctification. And then we'll move to the last term in our document. We teach that separation from sin is part of progressive sanctification.

And it's clearly called for throughout the Old Testament, Old and New Testaments. And that the scriptures clearly indicate that in the last days apostasy and worldliness shall increase.

I would really love to camp out there here this morning, but we just don't have time. We know this, don't we? Apostasy and worldliness shall increase, ever increasing, as we get closer to the end.

And we just look around. It's all around us. In our culture and in our world. We can see it clearly. Further, we teach that out of deep gratitude...

I just want you to think about each part of this statement, this part of it. Out of deep gratitude for the undeserved grace of God granted to us, and because our glorious God is so worthy of our total consecration unto Him, our total separation, devotion to Him.

All saved... That's us here. Hope, every one of you. Because of this, all saved should live in such a manner as to demonstrate our adoring love for God.

Demonstrated every day. We demonstrate it by the things we do and things we don't do. Our consecration unto Him, our devotion to Him. Not just our worship on Sunday, but how we live every day throughout the week.

We should live in such a manner as to demonstrate our adoring love to God, and so as not to bring reproach upon our Lord and Savior. We should fear that.

That we would do anything. Speak anything. That would bring reproach to the name of our Lord and Savior, who by His grace saved us.

We also teach that separation from all religious apostasy and worldly and sinful practices is commanded to us by God.

It's not just something that would be good if we did it. Maybe we'd be happier if we did. But we're commanded by God. To separate ourselves.

Come out from among them, the Word of God says. Separate ourselves from all religious apostasy. And worldly and sinful practices. Romans chapter 12, verse 2.

We know it almost by heart. Do not be conformed to this world. We ought to repeat that over and over. Be not conformed to this world.

There's all sorts of temptation to do that. Everywhere we turn. Every day of our lives, there is that temptation, that allurement. To be conformed to this world.

But rather what? Be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove, be a living proof of what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

That's what our lives ought to be indicative of. Proving, always proving, the perfect, the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Moving on, we teach that believers should be separated.

We should be separated unto our Lord Jesus Christ. We are in our standing, set apart, separated unto the Lord. But in, and as we participate with God in this, as we live throughout our lives, through this progressive sanctification, we are separating ourselves from the world, from sin, and unto the Lord Jesus Christ.

And affirm that the Christian life is a life of obedient righteousness. See, there's always this kind of two-fold sense.

We are righteous in God's sight, as righteous as Christ. That's our standing, our position before God. There'd be no hope apart from that.

And it's the grace of God that He would put us in Christ in that sense. So there is that standing of righteousness, but there is also that living of righteousness, and choosing righteousness, and growing in righteousness.

This is sanctification. And it reflects the teaching of the Beatitudes. I'm not going to read those this morning. Matthew 5, you can find those.

A perfect, complete description, not only of Christ, perfect description of Christ, but by extension, a description of every one of us who named the name of Christ.

And a continued pursuit of holiness. And it is a pursuit every single day. And so this is what we teach about sanctification.

Now quickly this morning, what we teach about security. Security. Security.

We're talking about security. Security. Security. Security. Security of the believer. So what do we teach about that? Well, we teach that all the redeemed, once regenerated by the Spirit of God.

That is, those are saved. Truly born again. What about them? They're kept by God's power. Not by our own power.

Not anything that we could do. Certainly not our meritorious works of righteousness. We're kept by the power of God. Kept what? Kept saved. Kept His.

And are thus secure in Christ for how long? Forever.

How long is that? Who could define it? Forever. And even if there is an end to forever, we'd still belong to God. Okay.

Just philosophically speaking. There is no end to forever. No end to eternity. So let me give you the rest of the statement, and then we'll come back to this part of it, and I want to tell you why I believe in the eternal security of the believer.

Here's the statement, the conclusion of it. We teach that it is the privilege of the believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God's Word.

That's why a lot of believers don't have the assurance that is theirs, because they're not into God's Word. which, however, clearly, now get this, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty, our freedom in Christ, as an occasion, an excuse, a reason for sinful living and carnality.

Galatians chapter 5, verse 13, for you, brethren, have been called to liberty, and we have freedom. Only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, opportunity for sin.

In another place, a cloak for unrighteousness. But through love, serve one another. It's like the guy who's talking to his friend. His friend happened to be a Baptist.

He said, oh, you Baptists, I know you. You believe once saved, always saved. And his friend said, yes, I do believe that. He said, well, that means you can just sin all you want to, right?

That's what a lot of people think that we believe, by the way. But his friend came back and said, well, that's right, I can sin all I want to. I don't want to. You see?

Now, let me close this morning with nine reasons. Don't get concerned. I'm watching the clock. Nine reasons that I believe in the eternal security of the true believer.

And we can go through these very quickly. Here they are. They all begin with P. All right? Who knew that would happen? Here's the first one. Protection.

The protection of God. John chapter 10, verse 27. Listen to this. In John chapter 10, it's a marvelous passage. I'd love to read the entire chapter, but listen to this.

My sheep hear my voice. He's talking about those who are the saved, the redeemed, the elect of God. My sheep.

Are you one of his sheep? If you're saved, you are. He said, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them. And they follow me. And I give them eternal life.

They shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. You can picture yourself in the hand of the Lord Jesus. He keeps us there.

And no one can snatch them out of my hand, he said. He doesn't just stop there. It goes on with this very visual truth.

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. So you can kind of picture that, can't you? Kind of the double grip of God on us.

Placed in Christ. Christ in God. Double hold. Man, that's real protection. That's real security. Second, perseverance.

I mentioned this idea of the perseverance of the saints. You know, stating our security in those terms. But really it's the perseverance of the Lord.

It's not my perseverance. Because if left to me, I wouldn't make it. I'd give up on it. Aren't you tempted sometimes? Just give up on it?

Thank God my perseverance isn't dependent upon me. I know some of our staunch Calvinists out there can only think of their theology in terms of the tulip, you know.

And the P is perseverance of the saints. But that's the wrong way to think of it. It's the perseverance of the Lord. And the best passage would be Philippians chapter 1 verse 6.

Being confident of this very thing. That he who has begun a good work in you will complete it. He's not going to fail. I start a lot of things I never complete.

In fact, I start things and if I can't get it done in one day, I don't want any part of it. So I end up killing myself trying to get that one thing done in that day. I've left a lot of unfinished things.

But God never, never leaves his work unfinished. He will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. It's the perseverance of the Lord.

Number three, predestination. Predestination. I know that a lot of people don't like that word. Pro-horizo in the Greek.

We get our word horizon. God has predetermined our horizons. Those he has chosen in eternity past. And Romans chapter 8, 28 says, We know that all things work together for good to those who love God.

One of the most memorized verses of Scripture and yet many times most misapplied. All things work together for good to those who love God.

To those who are the call according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined, predetermined.

Predetermined, predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. That's a perfect description of salvation. Salvation in the completed sense.

We've been preordained. To be conformed to the image of his son. That he might be, Jesus might be, the firstborn among many brethren.

And sister. Okay. Sisters. Predestination. Number four, position. Our position that God places us in.

2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17. If anyone is in Christ. That's our position. That is the idea. Those who are in Christ.

All those who are in Christ. Been placed in Christ. That's your standing before God. You're a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

We're in Christ. Probably the perfect illustration in the Old Testament is Noah's Ark. The Ark. The Ark. And the flood that goes along with that story.

I've heard the story told this way just by illustration. You know, God said to Noah, said, I'm going to send my judgment upon this world to judge all sinners.

So I want you to build an ark to protect you and your boys and your wife and your boys and their wives. And so build this ark just exactly the way I tell you. And then I want you to, when you get the ark part of it done, I want you to go up there on the side of it and put some wooden pegs out there.

And then when the rain starts to fall and floods start coming up, then I want you and your wife and your boys and their wives to get up there and hold on to those pegs. All throughout the flood.

And if you can just hold on throughout the flood, you'll be saved. Is that how the story goes? Certainly not. And yet, that could describe the theology of many people today.

Hold on. Hold on. You know, and you'll be saved in the end if you just hold on. And no, God said after the ark was built, he said to Noah and his boys and family, come into the ark.

You know what that means? In a sense, God was already in there. He didn't say, go in, come in. I mean, if the ark went down, Noah and his family went down in the flood, God would have gone down.

I mean, just logically speaking. Because they're in the ark. The ark is a picture of Christ. And so, you just, the implication of that in our salvation, if you go down, Christ goes down.

Jesus goes down. Because we're in him. Well, we can't go down. Because Jesus can't go down. That's our position in Christ. That's why I believe in eternal security.

Number five, possession. Christ is in us. Colossians chapter 1 verse 27. To the saints.

To the saints. He's talking about the saints. God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of his mystery among the Gentiles. That's just a long way of saying God's redemption, his salvation.

Which, what? Is Christ in you. The hope of glory. Your hope of glory is not in you. Oh, it's not you.

It's what's in you. It's Christ in you. The hope of glory. Number six, very quickly. The present tense. The hope of eternal life. John chapter 5 verse 24.

He who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life. Not will get. Not hope to have.

Has it. Has everlasting life. Has eternal life. Shall not come into condemnation. Shall never come into judgment. He but has passed from death into life.

Eternal life is our experience right now. If you're a believer. It's not something you're going to get one day. Our security, by the way, is not in heaven.

The idea that someday, you know, you're going to get to heaven and get through that gate, you know, and close the door behind you and you're going to say, I made it. I'm finally saved.

I've made it. Your eternal security is not in heaven. The angels, the demons, the devil himself fell from heaven.

Our security is in Christ. And it's not one day I'm going to have eternal life. I have it right now. And I can never lose it.

Number seven, prayer. Prayer of Jesus Christ. The prayers of Christ. John 17. The high priestly prayers of the Lord Jesus.

He first prayed for his disciples. And then he prayed for us. He said, keep them. Keep them from the evil one. So I'm glad he prayed for his disciples.

What about us? Well, in John 17, 20. I do not pray for these alone. But also for those who will believe in me through their word. That's every single one of us.

Number eight, the power of God. The power of God. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God.

Couldn't be any clearer than that. Kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, at the last time, the last day.

The power of God. Then one more. The permanence. Permanence of our salvation. John 3.16. You know that one, don't you?

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever, or if you memorize it in the King James, whosoever.

Whoever, whosoever believes in him should, what? Not perish. Never perish. But have everlasting life.

Eternal life. John chapter 10 verse 28. I give them eternal life. Eternal life. And they shall never perish.

Those are absolute words. Never. Not may never, but never perish. Not ever perish. Everlasting life.

And never perish. I mean, this is the permanence of our salvation. Let me ask you something. How long is eternal life? How long is it? I mean, if you're thinking like some people think, what if you have eternal life and then five years later you lose it?

Well, whatever you had, it wasn't eternal, was it? Logically speaking. Well, maybe you could make it ten years. Maybe 25.

Maybe 50. Maybe you have eternal life for 50 years and then you lose it for whatever reason. Sin, some deep, terrible sin. Or you refuse your salvation or something.

Something like that. You had it 50 years and then you lost it. Well, it wasn't eternal life. Whatever you had wasn't real. It wasn't true. Because the Word of God says, I give them eternal life.

And they shall never perish. Never.