Born Again, Not Borrowed Grace

Welcome to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Podcast, featuring the radio ministry of Pastor James W.

Knox of the Bible Baptist Church of Delant, Florida.

Our prayer is that these half-hour Bible study programs will bring the lost to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and enable the saved to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Savior.

Now here's your host, Pastor James W.

Knox.

Don't get caught in the Internet.

This is program number three in a series of messages on the eternal security of the saved, regenerated, born-again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, the actual title is The Eternal Security of the Believer, but everybody believes something.

And the only person who is eternally secure is the person who has eternal life.

And the only way to get eternal life is by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of your soul.

I've done that.

I hope you've done that.

If you have done that, we want to clear up for you from the pages of the Holy Bible all the false teaching that surrounds this topic.

Let me sum it up for you this way.

Most religious people will not enter heaven when they die, because their religion teaches, and therefore they believe, that salvation is an earned reward given to people who have done a sufficient amount of good works.

Now, different religions will divine those different works or those good works differently, but all of them will tell you if you do a certain number of sacraments a certain number of times, or if you keep a certain number of commandments a certain number of times, that you can earn eternal life.

Not so, not so.

The Bible says, For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves.

It is a gift of God, not of works, lest in a mention boast.

That's Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9.

Ephesians 2:8

And Titus 3 and verse 5, the Bible says, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.

So salvation in your Bible is not something that God owes man, but it's something that God graciously gives to man.

There's another group of religions, and they teach, strangely enough, that if you are not saved, if you've never been born again, if you will trust Jesus Christ as your Savior, believe that he died, was buried, rose again, trust him as your Savior.

He will forgive your sins and save your soul and give you everlasting life, only to find out later, he didn't really give you everlasting life.

Now listen, you didn't get saved by your good works, but now you have to stay saved by your good works.

And if your works aren't good enough to have saved you in the first place, well, now they're not good enough to keep you saved in the second place.

And so all of these religions, and many of them profess to be Christian religions, all of them teach that you are the savior, that ultimately the bottom line is that you save yourself by your good works.

The Bible doesn't teach that, and because the Bible doesn't teach that, we don't believe that.

If you could save yourself by your good works, Jesus Christ died in vain.

The whole idea of God becoming flesh and born of a virgin and living without sin and burying your sin, my sin, and his body on the tree, dying there, suffering the wrath of God in your place, in my place, all of that is completely vain.

It's folly, it's unnecessary, if ultimately salvation is by works, and of course it's not.

So we began last time a discussion of Romans 8, verse 38 and 39, where the Bible says to those who have been saved, who have trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior, for I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, 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.

Romans 8:38

Now, you read quite a list of things there.

We discussed last time or the time before.

We have discussed that death cannot separate us from the love of God, life cannot separate us from the love of God, angels and principalities cannot separate us from the love of God, and things present cannot separate us from the love of God.

There's another word in the verse shall be able to separate us from the love of God.

If angels tried to separate me from Jesus Christ, they lack the ability to do so.

If anything that occurs in life, if life was an entity, if death was an entity and they sought independent of each other, or they they combined forces and life and death decided, let's get together and tear him away or lure him away from Jesus Christ.

The Bible says they lack the ability to do so.

None of these powers, none of these forces, none of these ideas, all that's that's embodied in the idea of things present and things to come, they're not able to separate the believer from his savior.

The phrase that we come to today is things to come.

Some poor souls gaze into an invisible, unknown future and see only trouble and woe.

Life has to be very difficult for people whose minds and emotions work that way.

Such persons live in constant fear of the next calamity.

These people do not know what awaits them, but they're convinced it'll be awful.

Such unreasonable fears can be debilitating.

Others are more emotionally stable.

If they are enjoying the vigor of youth in a well-run nation, they look into the future and they see marriage, children, a new home, vacations, comfortable retirement.

If many decades now lie between their forward view, and many decades lie behind them in their rear view, they may see doctors and medicines, inflation outpacing savings, weakness, and decline, but they're able to sort of push it to the side because today's a good day and and the sun's shining, and and let's let's be positive, enjoy, enjoy life while we have it to enjoy.

But some of what's coming is certain.

Most of what awaits us is unknown.

There's one thing about which we may have no doubt.

When we reach tomorrow, or should we make it to next year, or decades still to come.

One of these days, time will end and eternity will begin.

And if you have trusted Jesus Christ as your savior, one thing is absolutely certain about your tomorrow and your next week, and your next month, and your next year, and your eternity.

The Jesus Christ who saved you will still be your savior, and the salvation that he gave you will still be yours.

That's what the Bible says.

There is there is nothing under the heading of things to come that can separate the believer from the love of God.

How about this?

Nor height nor depth.

Now, whatever one's opinion about the size and the makeup of the universe, and there's crazy ideas now, there were crazy ideas uh 50 years ago when I got saved, but Christ has passed through all the heavens, and he has taken his seat above them all as our advocate at the Father's right hand.

Whatever one's views about the structure of the earth might be, whatever lies beneath your feet, and I know there's some wild stuff out there on the internet.

There used to be wild stuff in the paperback section of the used bookshop.

But whatever's down there, Christ has descended to its lowest parts and emerged victorious with the keys of death and hell.

We may take this uh height and this depth and look at all of it as within the bounds of Jesus Christ's conquest.

You can read that in in the book of Psalms.

If you went all the way to the very depths, all the way down to hell, the love of God could reach you there if you went to the highest height of God's universe, however high you think that is, God's love would be there.

Now, suppose we make this height and worldly achievement.

It's no sin to advance.

It's not wrong to climb the social ladder to be promoted at work, to graduate with honors.

We need not fear that success will separate us from God's love.

And what about what about the depths?

Disgrace, failure, abasement, imprisonment, reversal, loss of money, loss of health, loss of opportunity, loss of liberty and freedom.

However low you might sink, the Lord will not forsake us.

Praise God.

That's an amazing thing.

Now, David, David put his faith in God, and you say that was Old Testament, but Romans chapter number four says David's salvation is a type and a picture and a means of understanding our salvation.

So David sat upon a throne as king of the earth's superior kingdom in his day.

And when he died, when he died, his soul was saved by the grace of God, obviously not by his works.

And in Luke 16, we read about a beggar, a beggar who died on the streets with dogs licking his sores, but his soul was saved.

Now, listen, uh, a lot of preachers, TV preachers, internet preachers, radio preachers, they set God's people up for disappointment.

They promise you wealth and prosperity, and the Bible didn't promise that to a New Testament Christian, or they they promised you that you will never, never fall into the depths of despair and the depths of uh hardship and so forth.

That's not true.

That's not true.

God here is addressing saved people, and he says, you may climb the heights and you may sink to the depths.

Both are possible for those washed in the blood of the Lamb.

But, but wherever you find yourself today, tomorrow, or forever, from the moment you trusted Christ as Savior, you will never be separated from the love of God.

Thank the Lord for that.

And then, and then the phrase, nor any other creature, nor any other creature.

Um McLaren wrote, For men around us, the limits of their power to harm us are soon set.

They may shut us out from human love by calumnies, they may dig deep gulfs of alienation between us and dear ones.

They may hurt and annoy us in a thousand ways with slanderous tongues and arrows dipped in poisonous hatred, but one thing they cannot do.

They may build a wall around us and imprison us from many a joy and many a fair prospect, but they cannot put a roof on it and keep out the sweet influences from above, or hinder us from looking up to the heavens.

No creature can come between us and God.

Maybe a king, maybe a dictator, maybe an alien, maybe some spirit being from a realm unknown, maybe some force not yet detected, maybe a relative, maybe a I don't know, fill in the blank.

God who created all living beings, John 1, Colossians 1.

That's what the Bible says.

God who created all living things that dwell on the earth, in the earth, under the earth, above the earth, that's Genesis 1.

God the Creator said, As I look down upon my creation, from the moment I have saved your soul until the moment that you are with me, nothing that I have created will be able to separate you from my love.

Now, brother or sister, I'm persuaded of that.

And it's my duty as a minister of the Word of God to try and persuade you to be so persuaded.

I don't know why you would choose to be in a church where your minister tells you, God's love is in doubt, your future is in doubt, you are hanging by a thread, and you must cling to that thread and pull yourself up by your good works and hope to eventually, eventually pull yourself into God's heaven and with a sigh of relief say to God, I made it.

I wouldn't sit under that doctrine like that because I know if that's how I had to get to heaven, I wouldn't get there.

And if that's how you had to get to heaven, you know as well as I do, you wouldn't get there.

And people say, Well, preacher, I just believe that if you if you sin, you lose it.

Well, but but you sin.

And so does everyone else.

And the fact that you have redefined sin to make it something you don't do, and ignore the sins that the Bible delineates that that you commit, but you just turned a blind eye to them so you can pretend that you're you're living up to God's expectation, that won't work.

There's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

That's what God said in his word.

So I'm not trying to make heaven, I'm not trying to earn my way into heaven.

I have a home in heaven, and it's it's secure.

You know, the only proper interpretation of any word or phrase or verse in all of the Bible is one that sets forth the security of the believer.

If the word of God announces that all who have trusted Christ may have such certainty, let us lay hold upon it with all our heart and soul and strength and mind if a it's it's a false spirituality that favors living in doubt and fear when the scripture establishes confidence.

A man named Taylor wrote this.

The conclusion of this chapter, Romans 8, is the most elegant and sublime piece of writing I remember ever to have read.

It is founded on the grand and solid principles of the gospel.

It breathes the true spirit of Christian magnanimity and raises our minds far above all things created, and shows, in a bright and heavenly view, the greatness of soul and the strong consolation which the gospel inspires.

God grant that it may stand clear before our understandings and be transcribed into all our hearts.

My friend, before the Lord went to the cross, the Holy Spirit tells us, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

That's John 13, verse 1.

John 13:1

He will certainly, certainly do the same for all those who have been washed in the blood that he shed at Calvary.

Now let's back up just for a moment.

Romans 8, let's get a running start at these two verses we've been reading.

He that's this is verse 32, he that spared not his own son, that's God the Father, but delivered him up for us all, that's God the Father, giving his son to be crucified.

How shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

If now, now listen, when I was lost, when you were lost, when I was condemned, when you were condemned, when I was under damnation and you were under damnation, God gave his son to die for us on the cross.

Now that he has given to us his son to be our savior, my savior personally, your savior personally, he has told us in this verse that it is an absolute certainty that he will freely give us everything that belongs to Christianity.

Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?

What if somebody calls me a sinner?

What if somebody points out my shortcomings?

What if somebody identifies where I'm failing and coming short of God's glory?

The charges have already been filed against me.

Christ bare them on the cross, he satisfied the demands of God against those charges when he shed his blood at Calvary.

It is God that justifieth.

If you say, you don't think I'm saved, it doesn't count.

If I say, I don't think you're saved, it doesn't count.

If God declares a man righteous, if God declares a woman righteous when they trust Christ as Savior, that's the only declaration that matters.

Who is he that condemneth?

It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Should tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter, nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Now listen what you just read.

If I believed that I had to please God personally, all day, every day, in order to be saved or stay saved, what doubts would flood my soul when tribulation came my way?

Has God forsaken me?

Has God cast me off?

What have I done?

Maybe I'm lost.

How would I respond in times of distress or persecution?

When the disease came, when the dark hours came, when the mental oppression came with old age, when the physical breakdown came with the passing of time, when troubles abound in my culture, my society, my nation, and they befall me just like my neighbor.

If I wasn't persuaded of God's unfailing love, how those things could shape my faith.

Famine, nakedness, peril, sword.

All of these things have befallen Christians.

You need only read the book of Acts to see that from its very infancy the church suffered terribly in this world.

Not because people weren't saved, but because they were.

Not because God had forsaken them, but because he had not forsaken them.

My friend, I'm telling you, we're not discussing a smooth, safe, comfortable, easy life that proves God is pleased with you.

God is pleased with his son, Jesus Christ.

And if you've trusted Jesus Christ, God will accept you in the beloved.

Jesus said, I'm the way, not you.

I'm the truth, not you.

I'm the life, not you.

No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

But him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.

So the day you realize I can't get to God on my own, I have to come by Jesus Christ, that's the day you get saved.

Well, who comes along later and teaches you that now that you're saved, you have to get to God on your own?

You still can't come to the Father but by Jesus Christ.

But what do we have?

The Christ who died, the Christ who is risen again, maketh intercession for us.

So who saved me?

Jesus Christ.

Who keeps me saved?

Jesus Christ, who will keep me saved?

Jesus Christ.

Now here's what I'm asking.

Here's what I'm asking.

Are you persuaded that your religion is the way to heaven?

That persuasion is faulty.

You need to abandon it.

Are you persuaded that your church or your denomination is the way to heaven?

You need to turn that loose as rapidly as you can.

Are you persuaded that your good works ultimately will be the determining factor as to whether or not you have eternal life or eternal damnation?

If that's your persuasion, it's no wonder you live in uncertainty and fear.

You should.

But my friend, my friend, listen, the man who was given these words by the Holy Spirit, listen to the words he was given.

The man who was given these words by the Holy Spirit.

If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Have you done that?

I've done that.

For the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

I've done that.

Have you done that?

Okay, okay.

For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

That's Romans 10, verses 9, 10, 11, 13.

Romans 10:9

Now, if that's true, and it is, if you believe that, why don't you believe this?

Holy Spirit gave to the same writer in the same book these words I am persuaded.

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.

Nothing has the ability to separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

My friend, if you are a believer, you are eternally secure.

I want you to be persuaded of that.

On our next broadcast, we will begin to look at dozens.

I'm not exaggerating, dozens of biblical proofs in support of what we have learned from these three verses, and I hope you'll join us then.

The announcer will be on in just a moment to let you know when this program will be heard again over this radio station.

I don't know, but the announcer knows, and you'll know uh soon enough.

In the meantime, this is the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast.

Our mailing address is 872-Glenwood Road, Dilland, Florida 32720.

I said that rapidly.

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JamesWinox.org.

Thank you for listening.

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Until then, I'm Brother James.

May the Lord richly bless you and good day.

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Until next time and throughout eternity, may Jesus Christ be praised.