Living Righteous in a Hostile World: Our Security in Christ

Let me begin with verse 18.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit.

By whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison. Now we dealt with that controversial passage, confusing in many ways, passage some weeks ago.

Now we're about to look at another one here, but verse 20. Who formerly were disobedient when once the divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which the few, a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water.

There is also an antitype. An antitype which now saves us. Baptism. Not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer or pledge of a good conscience toward God.

Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him.

Now I'm going to bring these two verses, these last two verses, verses 21 and 22 together, to make two more points or highlight two additional things that we're to remember when we find ourselves being persecuted for our faith.

Suffering for Christ. I'm going to bring these two together and then kind of use them as the beginning point to deal with what I believe is Peter's point here.

With all the controversy about the passages, specifically verse 21, and with all of the confusion maybe in our understanding and interpreting these passages, the real key here, real point Peter's making, is that if you are a born-again believer, you are secure in Christ.

And not anything can violate that. Not anything. Not anything can damage it. Not anything can come upon you that ought to cause you to even entertain the thought that maybe you're not secure.

Be it suffering of whatever kind it might be, whatever way it might manifest itself, or persecution, or anything. Not anything, as Paul said in another place, can separate you from the love of Christ, which is in Christ Jesus.

Love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Security. That's the idea here. And before I get into that subject, and we're going to be looking at a number of places in the Bible that speak to this, let me just at least tell you what Peter's saying here, and kind of put aside some of the controversy.

Peter is not saying here, as some have supposed, that the water baptism has anything to do with your salvation, in the sense that that water baptism saves you.

He's not talking here about that doctrine that is held by others, called baptismal regeneration. That somehow you're not saved until you're baptized.

And if you're not baptized, you're not saved. You're lost. That's not what Peter's saying. But you say, Pastor, it seems to be pretty clear, baptism saves us.

Isn't that what he said? No, he didn't. There are two things I want you to notice real quickly, and we'll just kind of deal with this, and then go on with what Peter's point is.

Security. The first one is this word, antitype. Antitype. That is key to understanding what he's saying here. There is also, he says there in verse 21, an antitype, which now saves us.

And then, that long slash, baptism. Baptism. With the assumption that many have that baptism is what saves us.

But the word antitype is the important thing. It is in the Greek, antitupos. That's where we get antitype. It just really kind of comes over to us on into the English, right directly from the Greek text.

The antitype. And the antitype is an old word, and originally referred to the mark or impression made on an anvil when the blacksmith would hit it with his hammer.

The impression that was made. And so the impression itself is not the hammer, it is the impression made. It's the antitype of the hammer. That's a very common usage of the word back in the day.

Alright. And of course, over the years, it has come to mean something more. It certainly still carries the idea of an impression or a marking.

A seal would be a prime example of antitype in the sense in which Peter uses the word. A seal. In fact, I believe it means that.

And that's why in a moment we're going to kind of launch out into the Word of God and deal with this word seal as it relates to our salvation. Our security. You know, a seal that has an impression.

You know, you go and have a document notarized and the notary will take that little seal that she or he has, press it down on that paper and it makes an imprint, doesn't it?

And that's a seal. That's a sign of authority and so forth. Alright, so, the baptism then is not the antitype, it's the ark that's the antitype.

Because he says here, but also, is also an antitype. Referring back to verse 20. Noah and the ark and the flood.

Peter says it's an antitype. It's an impression. It is a, it is something that represents a great truth, a wonderful truth.

And then he links that with baptism. So, in effect, Peter is taking an Old Testament antitype Noah and the ark and the flood. And he is connecting it with a New Testament symbol.

Which is baptism. And the baptism does not wash away the sin. He's not saying that. In fact, he's very emphatic about saying that it does not do that.

That the baptism itself does not have any power. And so that's the second thing you need to note in the text. And that is the parentheses that comes next. In parentheses, most translations bring this out.

It's very clear in the Greek text. There's now parentheses. Not the removal of the filth of the flesh. And so the baptism is a symbol, but it's not something that directly removes sin or the filth of the flesh.

It's not something that is necessary for salvation in that sense. Not the removal of the filth of the flesh. But then what does he say? The answer of a good conscience toward God.

I inserted a moment ago, and I think it probably appears in some versions that you may be looking at right, some of you might be looking at right now, I inserted the word pledge. That's a better word here.

The pledge. The pledge of what? A good conscience toward God. Isn't that what happens when someone stands in the baptistry and the preacher is about to baptize that person?

That person is there, and I try to bring this out every time my baptism is there, saying, I identify with Christ. I am a born again believer. I have, and they could say, I have a good conscience toward God.

I've been saved. And this baptism, this thing I'm about to do, is a pledge of that. It's not the getting saved itself.

It's a pledge. That I have entered into a covenant with God through Christ. And this baptism symbolizes that. It's a pledge of that.

So those are the two things you need to note from the text that lets you know, on the one hand, that Peter is not talking about baptism saving us in the sense that it has a saving power in it, in and of itself.

But to understand that it is a symbol. Peter goes all the way back to the Old Testament. Say, here's an antitype of it.

An impression of it. A foreshadowing, a precursor of it. That Noah and his family were saved by the flood.

Through the flood. And we cross over into the New Testament. The baptism is also a symbol of that. So then, what is Peter's larger point?

It is, again, our security. Our security in Christ. We refer to it by a number of names.

Perseverance. Perseverance of the saints. We know it by that terminology. Or, eternal security.

That's probably the more typical way that we as Baptists refer to it. Once saved, always saved is another way of expressing it. And you've heard that expression before.

But those are just terms used to define or identify a certain doctrine that we hold to be true.

And it's based upon Scripture. And I think that's Peter's point here. This security. And remember again, he's speaking to believers who are, many of them, bewildered by the persecution they're enduring.

many of them are wondering, why is this happening to me? Does God not love me anymore? And not only persecution, but all points of suffering.

Listen, it's difficult to live in this life. Even as believers. And Peter wants us to understand that this is not a sign that you're outside of God's grace.

This is not a sign that God has somehow forsaken you. You are secure. And even if this persecution or suffering or difficulty or problem you face, even if it brings you even to the end of life here, you are secure in me.

This ultimate security. And so, again, Peter goes back to the Old Testament antitype, Noah and the ark and the flood.

And he attaches that to a New Testament symbol, the baptism, all of those things to convey to us that our real security is in Christ.

It's in Christ. By the resurrection or through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he says in verse 21. And you're secured. And then I tie to that verse 22 because Peter ties it to this.

Not only this security, but we are secure because of the sovereignty of God. And that's what verse 22 is all about. Gone to heaven, into heaven, and is at the right hand of God, and all are in subjection to Him.

And he lists some of them angels and powers, authorities and powers having been made subject to Him, His sovereignty.

We are secure because He's sovereign. All right, now, now that you know that the idea here is security, then let's talk about that.

Because you see, the ark did not save Noah and his family any more than baptism saves you. You say, wait a minute, saved them from the flood, yeah, but then they lived after the flood and sinned and their real salvation, true salvation, was in Christ, by grace.

Baptism doesn't save you. Your real salvation is in Christ, in Him. And you are secure in Him if you have been born again.

All right, so, when we talk about security, we're referring to the spiritual reality that every believer is sealed by the Holy Spirit.

In fact, we could think of it in these terms, every born again believer is signed, sealed, and delivered by that expression. You understand what that means, don't you?

In fact, let me just have you look at a couple of passages, a few passages, and if you don't have time to get to it quick enough, the first one is in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 21.

You can jot these down, but if you can, turn to it. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 21. Paul says, Now, He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God who also has done what?

Sealed us. Sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. A pledge.

Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 13. Ephesians 1 13.

In Him, in Christ, you also trusted after you heard the word of truth. What's that? The gospel. Of your salvation.

In whom, that is in Christ also, having believed, you were sealed. Sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

A few chapters over there in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 30. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God God, by whom you were sealed.

Sealed for what? The day of redemption. Or the King James brings out the preposition unto, all the way to, the day of redemption.

That is the day Christ comes. In the end of time, we're sealed sealed. All the way. Those are wonderful passages.

Let me give you one more. 2nd Timothy verse 2 and verse 19. 2nd Timothy 2 19.

Nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal. I love this. The Lord knows those who are His and let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

Aren't you glad that He knows you? The Lord knows those who are His. We have that seal.

That seal. See, this is real security. That's what Paul means in all these passages. of course, were written by the Apostle Paul. In perfect continuity with and agreement with what Peter is telling us in 1 Peter chapter 3 18-22 when he goes back to Noah and the ark and the flood and connects it with our baptism.

It's in perfect agreement. What Paul and Peter are talking about, Paul's talking about a seal. He uses the word seal. He's talking about security. The security of the believer. See, remember, Paul was a lawyer.

Not in the sense of lawyers today. But in his day, he was a lawyer. Legal expert of the Word of God. And so, for Paul, a seal was a legal term.

That's what we're to understand from all of these passages I read a moment ago. The seal here is a legal term. Like on a college diploma, you have the seal. It's a legal thing that's affixed to the diploma to say that this is authenticated.

It's real. It means something. Or your marriage certificate, those of you who are married here, that seal of the state in which you were married. A passport, if you have a passport.

There's the seal of our government and the full strength of our government is behind that seal. See, it's a legal term. And so, this is what we ought to conclude.

According to the Bible, these passages I read a moment ago certainly tell us very clearly that what a seal is to a legal document, the Holy Spirit is to the believer.

The born-again believer. In fact, it means even more because its strength is much greater. And so, let's just understand a few things about the seal and our security.

What does it mean? Well, in the first place, it means that there's a transaction here. A seal affixed to a document means that a transaction has been completed.

It's taken place here. And with that, I'd like to give you an Old Testament example of it. A very clear example in Jeremiah chapter 32 and verse 8. Jeremiah 32, verse 8.

Let me just go ahead and read it. Then Hanamel, my uncle's son, came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the Lord. And he said to me, he's speaking to Jeremiah, please buy my field that is in Anathol.

And we don't have time to get into the story and the context of the story. That's not important here. Let me go ahead and read it that is in Anathol, which is in the country of Benjamin, for the right of inheritance is yours and the redemption yours.

Buy it for yourself, this field. Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. He knew that because God had already told him this was going to happen. So, Jeremiah said, I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle, who was in Anathol, and weighed out to him the money, 17 shekels of silver, and I signed the deed, and sealed it, took witnesses, and weighed the money on the scales.

Now, there's an Old Testament story of exactly what we're talking about here, though what I'm talking about is a spiritual thing, not a physical thing like in the buying of purchasing of property or anything like that.

But this transaction there in Jeremiah, we would call today signed, sealed, and delivered. Now, we haven't gotten to the delivered part, we'll get back to that here in just a minute, but it's right here in the text.

Signed, sealed, and delivered. And it means that a contract was agreed upon, it was first that, and then it means a consideration was paid, that has to be there as well for it to be valid, and then it means thirdly that the contents of the contract was been promised, has been delivered.

Signed, sealed, and delivered. And that is exactly what happens, or what happened, for many of you, when you were saved. You were saved.

First, there was a contract agreed upon within the Godhead. And this contract, from God's viewpoint, we take it from His viewpoint, the contract includes this, that all sin, it stipulates that all sin must be put away.

That's God's viewpoint in this contract that is agreed upon. All sin must be put away. God says, before I can receive a sinner into my presence, all sin must be dealt with, must be taken care of, in the way that I prescribe.

That's God's viewpoint. And He says in the Bible that without the shedding of blood, there is no dealing with sin. That's God's viewpoint. Or really the word is no remission of sin.

No forgiveness of sin. Alright, so from God's viewpoint, that's the part of the contract. From man's viewpoint, from what we see, man must repent of sin.

We must repent. Repent of sin, repent of rebellion, repent of violations of God's commandments, God's word.

We must repent of self, self-rule, self-reliance, self-worship. It could go on and on with the self. We must repent and then what?

Have faith, place faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, here's the point. There are no other terms, none, no other that God will agree upon.

This is the contract. God will deal in no other terms than remission of sin by blood and repentance and faith.

Now, that's putting it as about as simple as can be. There it is. There's the contract agreed upon. And then second, there must be the consideration paid. Right? Every contract has to have the agreement and then the payment.

There must be a payment for it. Now, what does God require that we pay? Here's the wonderful thing. In this transaction, we don't pay anything.

We don't pay anything. Why? Why? Because Jesus paid it all. He paid it all.

And all to Him we owe, don't we? See? The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6, 19, and you are not your own. Why?

For you are bought with a price. And then Peter tells us, and we looked at this passage many months ago, Peter tells us about this price.

1 Peter 1, 18, and 19. He says, You were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ as the lamb without blemish and without spot.

See? They're the terms of the contract and the consideration that is to be paid. And then third, the contents have to be delivered.

And this is the great part. Because you see, we're not waiting to be saved. We're not waiting for this to happen to us someday out there somewhere out yonder.

If you have put your faith in Christ, been born again, you're saved right now. Saved now.

That is, the contents have been delivered. I'm saved right now. And this is what it means to be sealed with the Holy Spirit.

Again, and I read this passage a moment ago, Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 13, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Sealed. That is the very moment, the very minute that you believed, that you put your faith in Christ.

that meant at that very moment, that meant the terms had been met and the price was paid and the contents delivered, signed, sealed, and delivered.

That's security. Real security. And so, you know, I'm not hoping to be saved someday. I'm saved. Right now.

Right this very minute. it is a finished work. It is completed. And I'm not working for my salvation as some think you need to do.

I'm working from it. I'm not living for the possibility of salvation out there someday. I'm living as a result of it.

And from it. Now, the Bible says I am to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. That's very clear in Scripture. But I'm not working for that salvation.

As one man put it, I can't work it out until God works it in. And He worked it in at the cross at Calvary.

And so, you know, there are those, I think, probably are bonafide, born-again believers, but just not understanding this point of doctrine. There are those who are saying, you know, I wish I knew that I was saved.

I wish I could know that. And you can know that. And should know that. You say, I know I'm saved, if you're a born-again believer. You say, Brother Don, you know, that sounds kind of prideful.

Sounds like you've got a lot of confidence in yourself. It's your misunderstanding. I don't have any confidence in me. None whatsoever. My confidence is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, by the way, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.

Will be. Not hope to be someday. But will be. The moment you believe. Alright, so, our salvation means real security.

And the transaction is complete. Second thing that you need to notice is that it also means ownership. It does mean that.

And that is indicative of a contract, isn't it? When it's signed, sealed, and delivered, it means ownership for somebody. And in the case of our salvation, that ownership is God.

He owns you. And me. That's not a bad thing. That's a good thing. I go back to that passage in Jeremiah, and verse 11, so I took the purchase deed, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom and that which was open.

That is, they had a public document that others could read, and the copy of it was sealed for preservation. and he said, I gave the purchase deed to Baruch, the son of Neriah, the son of Mahiah, in the presence of Hanamel, my uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the purchase deed before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison.

Then I charged Baruch before them saying, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, take these deeds, both this purchase deed which is sealed, and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel that they may last many days.

Now, what's the idea here? Well, this is part of a legal transaction, a contractual agreement here.

And what he's talking about here is that the property, this is what Jeremiah is saying, this property is now mine. It's mine, and I want it to go on record that it belongs to me, and it will always belong to me.

And so, in the spiritual sense, when we cross over to the spiritual and to our salvation, it means that when the Holy Spirit seals you, it is his way of saying that you don't belong to yourself anymore.

You belong to God. You are not your own because you've been bought with a price. Isn't that what we read there in 2 Timothy 2, verse 19, where God said that he knows, the Lord knows them that are his.

His. See, that's ownership. That's ownership. You're not your own. You belong to Christ because you've been bought with a price. And that's not a bad thing. It may seem bad to many Americans because our way of thinking is we need to belong to ourselves and rule our own destiny and call our own shots and so forth.

Be self-made. But when it comes to our salvation, it's a great wondrous thing to belong to God because then, you see, He takes care of us.

We belong to Him. Alright, so then, the seal, what does it mean? It means the transaction has been completed. It means that there's ownership here and then one other. it means real security.

Not the kind of security that we might experience here that may or may not really be there. A lot of things that we think are secure and have thought were secure in life have proven not to be as secure as we thought.

Like maybe some of that stock you had. invested in. Or maybe that annuity or that 401k or whatever it might be.

A lot of other things as well. Even our own government sometimes. But this is real security. See, the seal, if a seal is affixed to a document, then that means that there is a certain amount of authority behind it, right?

it would mean nothing. There must be authority behind it. See, remember the seal is just an imprint. It's just a symbol.

It's an antitype. It's like, it's not the hammer, it's the anvil where the imprint has been left. But it represents the full authority of the hammer. And so the seal in and of itself is just a piece of paper or some plastic or some other kind of material.

In fact, back in the day, years ago, it was usually wax. In fact, if we had time, we could go look at some of that.

In Esther, in Esther, we have the king Ahasuerus signing or filling out a paper that would protect Esther and the Jews.

And to place his authority on it, the Bible says that he took his ring, his signet ring. You've seen this, done movies. They pour a little hot wax there and then take that ring and press it upon that wax and it becomes a seal.

Now, that's exactly what Peter is saying that the ark was a pledge, a seal, the imprint of God to prove a certain spiritual reality.

That's what the baptism is in that sense. But kings would do that and they would press their ring down on there and it would signify their authority and that what has been done here, what has been said here, will be done.

Will be done. That is, it has my authority behind it. And nobody can break this seal. That's the idea behind the signet ring and the seal. You know, there are kings and then there is the king of kings.

And a king is just a man and he might be an egomaniac and he might say that you cannot break my seal and then somebody can come along and break it. But what about heaven's seal?

The full authority, the ultimate perfect authority of God is behind it. Nobody can break it. Nobody can break that seal.

Ephesians 4.30 And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. That means all the way to glory.

Now folks, a seal is no stronger, again, no stronger than the authority behind the seal. Alright? But again, let me ask you, what about heaven's seal?

See, that's why I believe in the eternal security of the believer. I'm just going to give you several reasons why I believe that. You might want to jot these down and the passages that go along with it.

There's six of them. I worry about the time. We'll move through these pretty quickly. Number one, we're secure in our salvation because of our position.

Our position. That is, where am I? Spiritually speaking. as a born-again believer, I am in Christ.

I'm in Him. That's what the Bible says. In fact, you can find it in a number of places, but in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17, Paul said, therefore, if any man or anyone be in Christ, he is a new creature.

Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And so, you're looking up here at this guy behind the pulpit, and I can tell you that this guy right up here is standing inside the Lord Jesus Christ.

I'm inside Him. I'm in Him. I'm a part. In fact, the Bible conveys this truth in this way as well. I'm a part of the body of Christ.

So, I heard a little story about a little boy who said, you know, the Lord holds me by His hands. And some critics said, well, what if you slipped through one of the fingers?

And He said, I can't do that because I'm one of the fingers. And that's what we can say. We're in Christ. See, our security is not in heaven.

That's what a lot of people believe. They think, well, one of these days I'm going to get to heaven and the door is going to shut behind me and then I can be at ease and say, whew, I made it. But our security is not in heaven.

heaven. The angels fell from heaven. Our security, your security is in Christ.

And getting back to the connection that Peter made here in 1 Peter 3, and that is the connection with Noah and the ark. Here is the perfect antitype of this.

Of us being in Christ. You see, and I think I've told it this way before, but God did not come to Noah and say, Noah, the world of man is hopeless.

They've all sinned and I'm going to destroy every man, woman, and child and all the creatures. I'm going to do that with a flood. And Noah, I want you to build an ark for you and your wife and your boys and their wives.

I want you to build this ark and this is exactly how I want you to build it. And then, Noah, when you're done building the ark, I want you to get a ladder and get up there on the outside and put some pegs on the outside of the ark that you can hold on to.

And then when the rain starts to fall, Noah, and the flood waters start to come up, I want you to get your wife and your sons, Ham, Shaman, Jephtheth, and their wives, and you'll get up there and hold on to those pegs.

And if you can hold on until the flood waters go down, then you'll be saved. That's not how the story goes, is it? You know, I'd hate to think that my security was in any degree up to me.

Do you think Noah and his family would have made it? It rained for 40 days and 40 nights, and it's a little difficult to know just how many months after that the waters finally came down and the land appeared.

I don't think they would have made it. and if my salvation is in any degree dependent upon me, not only does that have something very dramatic to say about the grace of God, but it also speaks volumes to the reality that I could make it.

I could make it. And I prove that every single day of my life, as do you. see. So, Noah, God said to Noah, come into the ark.

That's a literal translation. Come. He didn't say go, he said come. Come into the ark. That meant that God was already in the ark.

In fact, we know from scripture the ark itself represents the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He said come. I'm not stretching it to suggest to you that that meant that if the ark had gone down, then God would have gone down.

That's the antitype. What about my salvation? If I go down, if I lose my salvation, if I go down, that means Christ went down because I'm in him. I'm in him.

Now, God didn't go down. The ark didn't go down. Christ will never fail. And I'm in him.

Position. Second, possession. I better move a little quicker. Possession. Christ is in me. I don't suppose to be able to explain this, but the Bible says very clearly in John chapter 14 verse 20 that Christ is in us.

In fact, there Jesus said, He said, at that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

Isn't that amazing? Think about that. Jesus is in God the Father. We are in Jesus, and Jesus is in us. He's in us.

By natural birth, we become a part of God's creation, but by the second birth, our born-again experience, God becomes a part of us. God literally lives in us.

He lives in us. Peter said, Christ is in us. That's the hope of glory. That's real security. Let me move on to number three. Promise.

There's position and possession, and thirdly, promise. John chapter 5 and verse 24. Listen to this.

Jesus is speaking, Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has, has, if I'd had you turn to it, I'd have you underline that, has eternal life or everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation or judgment, but, and here's the word again, has passed from death into life.

Is that significant? Now, folks, even a rudimentary knowledge of grammar tells you that's present tense. Has. not will have, not hope to have, not one day will have, but has.

Has eternal life. That's in the present tense. That is, you have it the very moment you believe. And not will have it, but have it.

That's the promise of God. And if, by the way, you could have it, have eternal life and then lose it, how could it be eternal life.

Whatever it is, is not eternal. I mean, if you could have it for ten years, let's just say, ten years, that's a long time. If you could have this eternal life and then, for whatever reason, lose it, then you had ten year life, but you didn't have eternal life.

You understand? This is pretty important to get this straight in our minds. You get eternal life the very moment you believe. Because there are those who say, no, no, no, wait a minute, pastor, let me set you straight.

You get eternal life when you die, right? No. You get it the very moment you believe. That's what Jesus said, has eternal life.

1 John 5, 13, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have, there's present tense again, have eternal life.

I have it right now. And I can never lose it. It will never ever end. If it could end, it would never be eternal life. Position, possession, promise.

Number four, power. Power. John 17, 10, not 17, John 10, verse 27.

Listen to this. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them, anybody know what?

Eternal life. and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone 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 my Father are one.

It really is a two-handed grip of your soul. security. That's real security. That's the power of God.

There is no power on earth or in heaven that can take you out of the hand of God. Not even your own power. The Bible says in Romans 8, 38, neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Can you think of any power at all that is able to take you out of the hand of God? Can you think of one? Someone might say, well, the devil, how about him?

Well, if the devil could, he would. And if he would, could, and didn't with you, then you get to heaven by his grace. anything in the Bible that teaches that.

Then one more. No, two more. I know we're getting close here. Number five, purpose. So you just jot these down and share these with those who think you can lose your salvation.

Purpose. See, God didn't save you on a whim or save you because he didn't have anything better to do. God saved you for purpose.

That is really true. God has a wonderful plan for your life and it's a plan that goes way beyond this life. God has a purpose. And according to Paul in Philippians chapter 1 6, he who has begun a good work in you, that's salvation, will complete it.

He will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. He will complete it. He's not going to fail in it. Even if at times it seems like he's failing with you.

It may be an indication of something else more serious. Well, God started, he will finish. There are a lot of things I've started in my life I've never finished. I have a hard time sometimes finishing things I start.

I know that's not true of any of you. But what God starts, he finishes. And then one more. Prayer. Specifically, the prayers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You remember the story of Lazarus, and I'm sure you do. It's a favorite one. In the 11th chapter of John, we read about Jesus there at the graveside and he's praying.

Praying to the fathers. A very simple prayer. And really, the gist of it is, Jesus says, he's speaking to the father, he says, I know that you always hear me.

That's quite a statement. I tell you dear people, I confess to you that because of sin, God does not always hear my prayers. He doesn't hear us either.

In fact, it's the only promise in the Bible that God would not hear your prayers, and it's because when you regard sin in your heart. He said, I will not hear you. But with Jesus, there's no sin in his life.

God always heard his prayers. Always. And answered them. That's the idea. Now, wouldn't it be wonderful if Jesus prayed for you?

Wouldn't it be great if Jesus was praying for you right now? well, he is. In John 17, that high priestly prayer that's recorded for us there by John, the Bible says in John 17 11 that he prayed, Jesus prayed for his disciples.

And you can go and read that sometime. It's a wonderful prayer, and what he prays for them is wonderful. And we might be tempted at that point if we don't read further, to say, well, you know, he's praying for his disciples.

I wish I had been one of his disciples. But when you get on down to verse 20, John chapter 11, 17 rather, he says, not only do I pray for these that you've given me, but I'm praying for all those who will believe because of their word.

Do we have their word? It's right here, recorded in scripture. It's the gospel. gospel. Given to them, written down for us. You read it, you read it, I read it.

God, grace, did a work of salvation in my heart, and so I believed. And so Jesus is praying for me because I believed what they wrote.

Jesus is praying for you right now. And God always hears his prayers. He's not going to fail at all.

His prayers are not going to go unheard and unanswered. He's praying for us. See, we talk a lot about the finished work of the cross. Praise God for that.

But there is an unfinished work. And it's Jesus, and the Bible says he lives to make intercession for us.

That's real security. Now, doesn't it make you feel a lot better? That is, if you're a born-again believer, that you have been signed, sealed, and delivered.

The transaction is complete. You're owned by God. He's yours. He has to take care of you. and there is security forever.

All because, all because the Lord's seal is put upon you. Is that seal on you?

That is, have you been saved? See, really, there are only two kinds of people here today. There are those who are God's children.

God's born-again children through repentance and faith. Those who are signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit of promise.

That may be the majority of you here today. But there may also be those who are lost. Lost without Christ. And I'm going to say to you, this is not just something you ought to think about.

This is something you must do today. the Bible commands it. Repent. Repent. And put your faith in God's only provision for salvation.

Only way of forgiveness for your sin. Only provision of salvation and that is Jesus Christ crucified and raised from the dead. Put your faith in Him.

Repent and believe. of salvation and the people of who of!! of who of who of who of who