Transcript

In the 1990’s Northwest Airlines offered some unusual round-trip passages aboard one of their planes. Fifty-nine dollars bought a “Mystery Fare” ticket that provided a one-day trip to an unknown American city.

Buyers didn’t find out where they were heading until they arrived at the airport the day of the flight. Still, the airline had plenty of takers.

In Indianapolis fifteen hundred people crowded the airline counter to buy the Mystery Fare tickets that were sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

Not surprisingly, when buyers learned their destination, not all were thrilled.

One buyer who was hoping for New Orleans but found he had a ticket for Minneapolis walked through the airport terminal yelling, “I’ve got one ticket to the Mall of America. I’ll trade it for anything.”

Mystery Fare tickets may be a fun surprise for a weekend vacation, but normally the last thing you want is a ticket to a mystery destination.

This is especially true about the eternal destinations of heaven and hell. You don’t have to go through life uncertain about where you are going and whether you will go to heaven or hell.

There is no mystery and no question about the destination for the believer in Christ. We are eternally secure in Christ the moment we trust the gospel that Christ died for our sins and rose again. Based on the authority of God’s Word, we know we are headed for heaven.

1 Thessalonians 1:5 says, “For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance…” Part of the ministry of the gospel is to give assurance to those who believe. And God’s Word gives us much assurance and teaches us that we are eternally secure in Christ.

Romans 8:33 says, “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.”

“Who will bring a charge” means “who will come forward with an accusatory charge against one who belongs to God to cause their condemnation?”

Paul’s response was: “It is God that justifieth.” The moment we trust Christ as our Savior, “we are made the righteousness of God in Him,” 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us.

It is on this basis, that we are then immediately in the court of heaven by a one-time judicial act declared by God as “Righteous!” From this point forward and for eternity, when God looks at you He sees you as righteous.

The legal decision of our justification is final. It stands eternally and cannot be reversed, because of the One who pronounced it and because of the grounds on which it is pronounced. It is pronounced by the Supreme Judge over all, and God has justified us on the grounds and basis of His Son’s perfect sacrifice for sin.

This decision stands eternally because our Justifier is the ultimate authority in the Universe—the Supreme and Universal Judge. It is thus irreversible. The One we sinned against, whose law we had violated, whose judgment we had deserved, He has justified us.

God has justified us freely by His grace, and the sentence He has passed, no power in the universe can reverse or invalidate. God declared us righteous and is for us, and He will not reverse it, and thus no one else can, because no one is greater than God.

There is no higher court before which the case can be taken. God’s court is truly THE Supreme Court! The righteous standing we have in Christ will never change. God’s decision cannot be overturned, it stands eternally, and thus, we are eternally secure.

Romans 8:38-39 reads, “For I am persuaded, that 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.”

Leading up to verses 38 and 39 of Romans 8, in verses 31-35, Paul asked a number of questions. And all of his questions in these verses demand the same answer.

In Verse 31, Paul asked: If God be for us, who can be against us? The answer is: No one!

In verse 33, Paul asked: Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? The answer: No one!

In Verse 34, the apostle asked: Who is he that condemneth? The answer: No one! And in verse 35, Paul asked: Who will separate us from the love of Christ? The answer is No one!

These are questions with easy answers because we’re on the Lord’s side, because we have declared righteous by God, because Christ fully paid for all our sins and rose again.

All this brings Paul to a settled conclusion and persuasion. Writing under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, with full apostolic authority and understanding of God’s salvation, Paul declares in Romans 8:38-39:

“For I am persuaded, that 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.”

Paul was persuaded with unwavering certainty that death in no way can separate us from the love of God.

Death is the last bridge on the journey, the final step of life into Christ’s glorious presence, not separation from Him or His love. God loves us in death.

Life will not separate us from God’s love. Nothing in life’s path, from beginning to end, through all its highs and lows, or any of the mistakes and bad decisions we make can separate us from God’s love. God loves us in life.

In the strength of his persuasion, Paul wrote that nothing in the supernatural realm, such as the hostile, demonic forces of “angels…principalities…powers,” could even threaten separation from God’s triumphant love. All the combined power and tactics of the forces of evil are absolutely powerless to separate us from God’s love.

Nothing in the course of time or eternity, “nor things present, nor things to come,” could separate us from the bond of God’s unchanging love for us.

Whatever happens today or whatever happens tomorrow, with all its uncertainties, we know that we will never be separated from the love of God.

And no distance or place we might go, “nor height, nor depth,” could create separation between us and the infinite love of God.

If we could go up to the highest heights in the heavens, or if we would go down into the deepest depths of the sea, and if we would go to any far away distant place, wherever we go in life, there is no way we could create any distance or separation from God’s love.

And lest any source of threat appear overlooked, Paul added an all-inclusive statement, “Nor any other creature [or created thing].”

With this great sweeping statement, Paul gathered all the forces of creation together, whether they be time, space, or matter, things seen or unseen, and he asserted his persuasion: NOTHING “shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Nothing has the power to do so. Even if all these were put together, in no way they can even threaten our eternal security in Christ or separate us from the love of God.

God’s love for us is triumphant, indestructible, infinite, and has power over all possible foes, so that we can never be separated from it no matter the circumstance.

God’s love is forever secured to us in Christ our Lord! Nothing could ever break the bond that binds God’s heart to His people.

So we can sing the old hymn of the faith, “Blessed Assurance” with all our heart, because this is our story, and this is our song.

2 Timothy 2:11-13 says, “It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him: if we deny Him, He also will deny us: If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself.”

Paul wrote that this “is a faithful saying,” or a statement which can be fully trusted, a saying that is trustworthy, it is a truth on which to rest your soul.

Then Paul gives that faithful saying, stating that “if we be dead with Him,” or if we have trusted that Christ died for our sins and thus have been spiritually “baptized into His death” (Rom. 6:3), then “we SHALL also live with Him.”

The moment we believed, the Holy Spirit baptized us into Christ and identified us with His death, burial, and resurrection, and as a result, we WILL live with Christ eternally.

There is no doubt or maybe expressed here by Paul regarding a believer’s salvation, we who have died with Christ, WILL live with Christ.

In what position we live and reign with Him for eternity, however, is up to each believer.

As Paul taught in verse 12, “if we suffer” for Christ, as a result of an unashamed stand for the truth, then “we shall also reign with Him,” or be rewarded with a higher reigning position in heaven with Christ for all eternity (v. 12a).

But “if we deny Him” or are ashamed of Christ and His truth, “He also will deny us,” that is, a higher reigning position in glory (v. 12b).

We still go to heaven, because “we shall also live with Him,” but believers denying Christ and being ashamed of Him does affect their eternal reigning position with Christ.

And in verse 13, Paul reassures the believer that even “if we believe not” or are faithless or unfaithful to Christ, “yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself” (v. 13).

That’s how united with Christ we are by our spiritual baptism, that for God to deny us salvation, He would have to deny or disown Himself. And that’s impossible!

Thus, we learn by this passage that God could never deny salvation to those who are “in Christ,” and that salvation is not dependent on our faithfulness, but upon His.

Ephesians 4:30 reads, “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

When a believer fails and sins, we do not lose our salvation and it does not endanger it, but we do grieve the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

When we do an unholy thing, the HOLY Spirit is grieved, because He is holy. He grieves, but He doesn’t leave, because we “are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

The day of redemption is the Rapture of the Church. We are sealed by the Spirit unto that day, when our bodies will be redeemed, changed, glorified, and we will be caught up to heaven, “and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thes. 4:17).

Believers in Christ do not need to ever fear that they have sinned too deeply, or that they may have ever done something or anything to endanger their soul.

At the moment we trust Christ, by the Spirit, we “are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Our security in Christ does not last just until we do something wrong. It lasts forever.

In Revelation 20, we learn about the devil being cast into the bottomless pit for the thousand years of Christ’s earthly reign. Verse 3 of that chapter reads that an angel will “cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a SEAL upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled.”

First, by this, you see that when God puts a seal on something, it happens, and nothing can or will change it. And God sealing us unto the day of redemption means that the believer is secure in Christ and is going to heaven.

Second, as far as the devil doing anything about our seal and us being sealed unto the day of redemption, you learn that, as he is powerless to break God’s seal on him in the bottomless pit, so he is powerless to do anything about our seal and security in Christ.

We are sealed in Christ by the Spirit and the infinite power of God. And Satan cannot do a thing to change it.

John 10:28,29 says, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”

Though found here within God’s program with Israel, the principle of security here is as true for us the Body of Christ. We, like believing Israel, are in God’s grip. Our salvation can never be lost or stolen. We will never perish.

The word “pluck” means “to snatch, pull or take by force.” No person or problem or circumstance or sin has the force or power to grab you out of the grip of Almighty God.

You probably have heard the commercial slogan, “You’re in good hands with Allstate.” When your salvation in is in the hands of Almighty God, you’re in good hands. We couldn’t possibly be in better hands.

John pointed out to believers in the kingdom program here that they were in BOTH the hand of God the Son in verse 28, and the hand of God the Father in verse 29. And this is an assuring and beautiful picture of security for the believer.

As a father, I have good memories of holding the hands of our children when they were very young. When we were crossing a street or walking through a parking lot or in a crowd, I would hold on to their hands because of the dangers around us.

It didn’t really matter if they let go of my hand because my hand was bigger and stronger and there was no way I was going to let go of theirs.

Though they sometimes tried to pull their hand from mine, my grip was glued to their hand and there was no way I was letting go.

And with God there is no way He is letting go. We are held and kept in the good hands of Almighty God, and by the strength of His grip on us our salvation is secure.

Harry Ironside once remarked that salvation is like Noah inviting an unbeliever in his day to place his trust in God’s Word and come into the ark to be saved from judgment.

But he further pointed out that some view salvation like Noah offering to put a peg on the outside of the ark, and telling them, “If you just hang on thru the storm, you’ll be saved.”

But salvation is not dependent on our holding on to God, but on our being securely held by God and being in Christ.

It is God that keeps our soul and salvation forever secure by His power and faithfulness. It’s not dependent upon us. The reason you can’t lose your salvation is because it depends on God, and not you.

And the truth is, if we could do anything to lose our salvation, ALL of us would. Eventually, we would falter and sin, lose faith, or do something to keep us out of heaven. But this is not possible because GOD keeps us secure in Christ eternally.

Titus 1:2 says, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.”

In our society today it’s promises, promises, and more promises. Governments make promises and break them. Nations make promises and break them. Advertisers make promises and break them. Politicians make promises and break them.

Preachers make promises and break them (like when we say “in closing” near the end of a sermon!). Husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, moms, dads, uncles, aunts, friends, enemies, everybody, all make promises and break them.

Unlike man, who makes promises but often breaks them, God never breaks His promises: 2 Corinthians 1:20 tells us that “For all the promises of God in Him [Christ] are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (2 Cor. 1:20).

God keeps all His promises in Christ. And under grace, He has promised eternal life as a free gift to those who trust in Christ’s finished work (Rom. 6:23). We rest in this because God “cannot lie” (Titus 1:2); it is actually “impossible for God to lie” (Heb. 6:18).

“In his book, How to Begin the Christian Life, George Sweeting suggests that doubting our salvation is like a prisoner who has been pardoned by the governor. A guard brings him the document, and there it is, signed and sealed.

Suppose you ask the man, ‘Have you been pardoned?’ He will say, ‘Yes.’ ‘Do you feel pardoned?’ we ask. ‘No, I don’t. It’s all so sudden.’ ‘But if you don’t feel pardoned how do you know you are pardoned?’ ‘Oh,’ the man replies, ‘it tells me so right here.’”

The promise of our eternal life is spelled out in a document as well. The Word of God contains this promise of God. Thus, when you don’t feel forgiven, or you don’t feel like you have eternal life, go to the Word. When you have worries, doubts, or fears, open the Bible.

These verses of assurance remain always in God’s Word. If you wake up tomorrow wondering and needing assurance, all the verses on our eternal security in Christ will still be there. And they’re not going away. They are unchangeable.

God knows our weaknesses. He knows the believer can sometimes question, doubt and wonder about things. In His mercy, He has given us His Word for strength, comfort, and to help us when we do worry or wonder about our eternal security.

And knowing that we have eternal life is NOT based on feelings, but on truth, God’s truth. Assurance of salvation comes from trusting what has been written in the Word of God. And we know our salvation is secure because God says so in His Word and He cannot lie.

And His Word tells us in Romans 5:9 that “being now justified by His blood, we SHALL be saved from wrath through Him.” And Ephesians 2:8 teaches “For by grace ARE ye saved through faith.”

There is assurance in verses like these: we WILL be saved from wrath through Christ, and by grace we ARE saved from all our sins and from hell through faith alone.

Also, Ephesians 2:6 tells us that God has “raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

From God’s point of view, our salvation is so sure and secure, He sees us, members of the Body of Christ, as already seated in heavenly places with Him right now. This is the present position for the believer.

While we temporarily remain on earth to serve Christ, one day we will occupy our seated position. We have reservations in heaven. Our place is reserved for us there. And since our life and identity is “in Christ,” as He sits in heavenly places, so do we.

Another verse of assurance is Colossians 2:13 which tells us about the moment we trusted Christ, “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you ALL trespasses.”

The moment we trusted Christ, not just some of our sins were forgiven; ALL our sins were forgiven. Our forgiveness under grace is always stated in the past tense as a finished transaction. God has already forgiven us all our sins and we will remain eternally forgiven.

And so the sin that separates us spiritually from God before we trusted Christ is removed forever when we trust Christ, and thus we are forever welcome in God’s presence.

That is why Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:12 that “In whom [Christ] we have boldness and access [to God] with confidence by the faith [or faithfulness] of Him.”

And Romans 6:23 reminds us that “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” When we trust the gospel, we do not receive an opportunity for eternal life; we receive eternal life as a gift of grace right up front.

And we are given the gift of “ETERNAL life” when we were saved. Not “ten year life,” not “until I sin life.” You can never lose eternal life because of something you do. Eternal life is not eternal if it can be lost. No failure on our part touch our eternal life, because we have been justified, or declared righteous by God, and forgiven of all our sins.

Eternal life is granted and begins at our conversion and it continues forever. We possess it right now. It is the present, eternal possession of every child of God.

Colossians 3:3-4: “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”

Reminding the believer of our identification with Christ and His death, Paul wrote “For ye are dead.” The believer has died with Christ, and yet we live, because Christ lives. By our spiritual baptism, we arose with Christ in new life.

And our life is hid with Christ in God. If our spiritual life was left with us or entrusted to our keeping, it would be lost for sure. But since our life is hid with Christ in Almighty God, it is absolutely untouchable and secure as it could possibly be.

Nothing or no one can ever reach the life He has given believers to ever take it away.

It is protected from all spiritual enemies. You simply cannot lose your life that is hid with Christ in God. What is hid in the all-wise, all-powerful, sovereign God, is utterly, infinitely and eternally safe, and can’t be taken away from us, ever.

Thus, Paul gives the believer the assurance that “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear” at the Rapture, we WILL “also appear with Him in glory.” Our hope is sure in Christ, and we are eternally secure in Him.

If you struggle with assurance of your salvation, you are not alone! Many believers have this struggle. This isn’t a sign of possibly being lost, but instead of being very human.

A lapse into sin, confusion over a passage of Scripture, or lack of faith can cause a believer to question their standing in Christ.

Satan also fights us in the spiritual battle with guilt, worry, feelings of unworthiness, causing us to focus on ourselves instead of Christ.

When these times come we must NOT follow our ever-changing and faulty feelings and emotions. We must rest in the truth of the unchangeable promises of Scripture that unequivocally tell us that we are eternally secure in Christ.

Knowing this, we can live confidently for the Lord, with His all-surpassing peace and calm, serving Him out of gratitude for our safety and security in Christ by grace.

As Psalm 46:1,2 says, “God is our refuge and strength…therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.”