Sealed by the Spirit, Saved by Grace

Welcome to the Preaching 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.

Well, a very pleasant good day to one and all.

I'm Brother James, and I greet you one more time in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

He is the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

We welcome you to this simulcast of the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast, seen now on YouTube and sermon audio and who knows where.

We just send these things out and hope that God will bless them.

Thank you for tuning in today on your radio.

We've been doing this since 1981, and we thank God for his provision, his blessing, and for this open door to reach from our hearts to yours and minister to you from the pages of the Holy Bible, the Word of God.

We're going to start a series of studies, messages today on a doctrine that should not be controversial at all.

The doctrine of eternal security.

When I say eternal security, I have to back up just a little bit because I know those two words cause many, many religious people and many, many professing Christians concern, alarm, distress.

And here's why.

Most people, inside and outside of church, most people who profess to be Christians or who do not profess to be Christians, most people believe in their heart of hearts that they earn salvation by their works.

Even those Christian denominations, many of them, who would teach that we are saved by grace through faith, and that is a gift of God, then subsequently teach that having been given eternal life as a gift of God, the gift really wasn't eternal life, it was temporary life as long as you're a good boy or a good girl.

The objection to the doctrine of eternal security is a simple one.

If I believed that a person who was once saved were to always be saved, what were to keep them from sinning?

My question to you is if Jesus Christ shed his blood and saved your soul by his marvelous grace, why is it that you want to spend time in sinning?

And the only reason you wouldn't sin is if your soul was at stake.

I believe those that love the Lord serve the Lord, and those that love the Lord live for the Lord, and they don't need threatenings and they don't need to be dangled over hell, but but we're we're way ahead of ourselves.

What we're going to do, as always, is look to the pages of the Holy Bible and see what the Word of God says about the future destination of a man, a woman, a boy, a girl who has believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and been saved according to God's word by the grace of Almighty God.

This is what the Bible teaches.

Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and was buried.

And the third day Jesus rose from the dead, according to the scriptures.

That is the gospel.

And the Bible says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him of the dead, thou shalt be saved.

For this is Ephesians, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Titus 3 and verse 5, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.

So biblical Christianity, unlike sacramental Christianity, unlike ritualistic Christianity, unlike denominational Christianity, biblical Christianity believes that Jesus Christ did what was required in order for God the Father to forgive a sinner, and that if a sinner will put his, her faith, and trust in the salvation offered by God through Jesus Christ, that God will give to that sinner, God will give to that believer eternal, everlasting life.

Now, that's what we believe.

What we're discussing on this series of programs is whether or not that salvation endures all the ups and the downs and the ins and the outs and the testings and the trials and the successes and the failures which follow in the life of the Christian.

In other words, having been saved entirely by the grace of God, are you kept entirely by the grace of God?

Or must you maintain your salvation by your good works?

That's the question we're going to answer from 23, 24, 25, or more.

Clear, not obscure.

Clear, not confusing, clear passages of scripture from the pages of God's holy Bible.

Let's start with these.

Romans chapter 8 and verse number 38.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 8 and verse number 38, the Bible says, For I'm persuaded.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

I'm persuaded.

The Apostle Paul was persuaded.

The Holy Spirit enabled the Apostle Paul to be persuaded.

He has enabled me to be persuaded.

I want you to be able to say, 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.

Now we can be certain that the Apostle Paul was thoroughly familiar with the Old Testament scriptures.

He studied them at the feet of Gamaliel, a respected, well-known, maybe the top teacher of the law in Paul's day.

This is before his conversion, when as Saul of Tarsus, he sat at the feet of Gamaliel and learned the Old Testament scriptures.

He preached from those same scriptures after he met the risen Christ on the Damascus Road.

The Holy Spirit gave him the duty of recording a large portion of the truth dispensed by God for the churches, much of which gives great clarity to the law, to the Psalms, to the prophets, and to the Gospels.

After searching the words given by God to man, the Christian has more factual information about death and more true revelation regarding life than anyone alive.

With that information in hand, we may be absolutely certain, listen now, we may be absolutely certain that nothing on either side of the grave can separate us from the love of God.

That's what we read in Ephesians chapter, in Romans chapter 8, verses 38 and 39.

Romans 8:38

Now, now to quote, to quote the late Dr.

Olivery Green, beloved, beloved friend in Radio Land, I don't want you to object to what I'm going to teach before you give me a chance to teach it.

I don't want you to refuse to hear the word of God for fear it might run contrary to what you've been taught in your denominational church or your sacramental church.

Would you give me the opportunity to show you from the Bible that death cannot separate the Christian from the love of God?

That nothing that happens in life can separate the Christian from the love of God, that angels, loyal or fallen, cannot separate the Christian from the love of God.

Principalities and powers, those on earth and those in the heavens influencing those on earth, cannot separate the believer, the Christian, from the love of God.

Not one thing happening in this present hour, things present, nor all the things happening in any future hour can separate us from the love of God.

Travel higher, still higher, all the way from earth to the throne of God, and nothing encountered in the heights can separate the Christian from the love of God.

Go downward, downward, into the very heart of the earth, and nothing encountered along that entire journey can separate the child of God from God's love.

No created being, including Satan, no created being, including you right now, who are listening to this promise read.

No other creature can separate the Christian from the love of God.

Now, of angels, the Bible has little to say.

Of the principalities and powers, it speaks even less.

What we are permitted to know informs us that there are created beings in this universe who are superior to man in many ways.

Some of them are fallen and evil, and they mean us great harm.

Some of them are ministers and servants of the Lord and assist us in limited ways.

They are mentioned here that we might be assured that no entity between the earth on which we stand and the throne of God before which we shall one day stand.

There's no entity in all of that time and space that can separate us from the love of God.

Now it's a good thing our minds are not capable of thinking in or focusing upon all the things happening round about us at any given moment.

A goodly portion of them are anything but beneficial.

In fact, the majority of them are probably quite harmful.

It's unwise and unhealthy to focus our attention on the uncertain days ahead.

Thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

You don't know what's out there, and neither do I.

Jesus told us that each day would carry with it sufficient evils and bid us to leave our tomorrows with him, whatever woes may beset us in the present hour, whatever unhappy events may be lurking in our future, you may know, I may know, if we have trusted Christ as Savior, of an absolute certainty that nothing from this moment until the moment when time shall be no more, nothing can separate us from the Savior's love.

Now, perhaps height takes in the realms above our planet, or perhaps height takes in the top-ranking, most powerful men or entities upon the earth.

Perhaps death takes in the creatures, real or imagined, lurking in the ocean depths, or the hordes of hell, including devils, Abad and Apolly, and Beelzebub, and all the rest.

Or perhaps death takes in the lowest ranking persons on the social ladder.

Whomever or whatever is intended by that phrase, we are given assurance that the love of the Lord, the love that he has for us, reaches higher and stretches deeper than any force that would attempt to sever us from him.

I'm persuaded of that.

Are you persuaded of that?

Why why would you read such wonderful verses as Romans 8, verses 38 and 39 and raise an objection instead of raising praise?

Romans 8:38

Why would you read those verses and say, Well, I just think why would you ask God to step down in favor of your thoughts?

Well, my preacher says, okay, who is your final authority?

Your preacher or your Bible?

Your priest or your Bible?

Your church or your Bible?

I'm persuaded that the promises of God are true, and therefore, when I read a promise of God, I am persuaded of the truth of that promise.

It's a very, it's a very liberating thing to believe the Bible is the Word of God and to trust it with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.

The writer says, Holy Spirit has him put these words down for you for me.

For I'm persuaded that neither death God made us to love life, to cling to life.

Most people, under most circumstances, will do all in their power to keep death from their door.

You know that's true.

You you know it's true.

But the resurrection triumph of Jesus Christ has set us free from the fear of death and the crippling effect such dread has upon the lives of unbelievers.

Listen to these words.

For as much then, this is this from the Bible, for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Those words are from Hebrews chapter number two.

Satan, the devil, had the power to make every man live in fear of death.

He would even the devil would even present God in such a way as to make men afraid of God, afraid to die because they were going to have to face God.

And then Jesus Christ came and paid for every sin of every sinner in offering, sacrificial offering to God, his holy, righteous, sinless soul, bearing our sins in his body on the tree.

For mine.

God the Father accepted that sacrifice.

So my sins, your sins, have been paid for in full to the satisfaction of the God I'd sinned against, the God you had sinned against.

Trusted what Jesus did for me for my salvation.

And as a result of that, the Lord not only saved my soul, he not only gave me eternal life, but he delivered me from any need to be afraid of death.

I don't want to die.

You don't want to die.

I enjoy life as a saved person.

I enjoy life.

But I am not afraid to step out into eternity because I'm not afraid of what might happen.

I know exactly what's going to happen.

I will be, the Bible says, absent from the body and present with the Lord.

We know that as death approaches, God loves us.

We know that when death lays hold upon us, Jesus loves us.

And we know that just as death puts its hands upon us, we are snatched away and ushered into the presence of our Savior.

So death cannot separate us from the love of God.

In uh Romans 14, 8, the Bible says, uh, Romans 14 and verse 8, whether we, let me make sure I get it uh right here, whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord.

Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.

While I'm alive, I belong to the Lord.

When I die, I belong to the Lord.

After I have died, I belong to the Lord.

I will never belong to the devil.

I will never belong to death.

I am I am saved.

I have eternal life.

What a blessing.

In Song of Solomon, chapter 8, and verse 6.

Song of Solomon 8 · chapter mention

Song of Solomon 8 and verse 6, uh his love for us is constant through the mightiest changes, and death certainly is the mightiest of all changes.

He's the I am, he's faithful and unchanging.

We are sealed with a love.

This is where I was going.

Song of Solomon 8, 6.

His love is as strong as death.

How about that?

I have a wonderful wife, and I I love my wife, and when when I have faced death, really, truly, face death.

It's right there in front of my face.

It is a very real possibility.

I'm telling you, my number one reason for not wanting to die is the love that I have for my wife.

That love is not strong enough.

I will someday, I will be separated from her or she will be separated from me no matter how much we love each other.

I love my children.

I love my church family, I love my brothers and sisters in Christ.

No matter how much I love them, death will sever that bond.

But my relationship to Jesus Christ, his love for me is such that even death will not terminate, even death will not hinder the ongoing reality of that relationship.

I will right right this moment, the love of Jesus Christ has given me life.

And if my body, as Hebrews chapter four says, if my carcass falls in this wilderness, I'll be with the Lord before my body hits the ground.

Unbreakable bond.

Even death is not strong enough to sever that relationship.

Death is called in the Bible the last enemy.

It severs all other relationships, but it can't put an end to this one.

You ought to think about that.

Sin had the power to separate the sons of Adam from their God.

Isaiah 59, 2.

Your sins have separated between you and your God.

The finished work of Jesus Christ removes that sin and announces there will be no future separation.

What a blessing.

In Jeremiah 31, Jeremiah chapter 31, is that correct?

Jeremiah 31 · chapter mention

Let me check my note here.

Jeremiah 31 and verse 3, the Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, watch this.

I have loved thee with an everlasting love.

Therefore, loving kindness have I drawn thee.

In fact, death will bring us closer to Christ than we have ever been before.

How about that?

A writer named Horton, he calls it an enemy converted into a friend when speaking about death.

There's an account given of the death of Robert Bruce of Kinaird.

I'm giving that the American pronunciation, not the Scots pronunciation.

He's the most interesting character, but the account of his death is beautiful in its simplicity.

Let me read it to you.

That morning before the Lord called him to his rest, he came to breakfast at his table.

After he had eaten, as his use was, a single egg, he said to his daughter, I think I'm yet hungry.

You may bring me another egg.

And instantly fell silent.

And after having mused a little, he said, Hold, daughter, hold.

My master calleth me.

And with these words, his sight failed him.

He called for the Bible.

But finding he was not able to read, he said, Cast me up the eighth chapter of Romans, verses 28 to 39, much of which he repeated, particularly, I am persuaded that neither death nor life should be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus my Lord.

And he caused his finger to be put on those verses in his Bible, which was done.

Now said he, Is my finger upon them?

They told him it was.

Then he said, God be with you, my children.

I have breakfasted with you and shall sup with my Lord Jesus this night.

And straightway he gave up the ghost without one groan or shiver.

You know what that man was?

He wasn't just saved, he was persuaded that death, when it came, would not, could not separate him from the love of God.

One writer said, death separates men from the world, from their worldly habitations and substance.

It separates the soul from the body, it separates one friend from another.

In process of time, it may take off all thoughts and affections for departed friends, but it is not able to separate from the love of God.

It is so far from it that it actually ushers the soul into the fullest enjoyment of God's great love.

You don't have to be afraid of what is going to happen to you when you die if you have received Jesus Christ as your Savior.

What a sad thing.

Ministers, priests, preachers, popes, evangelists, rabbis, they're like philosophers and historians and atheists and infidels into the future and say, I don't know what it holds, and I'm afraid.

The Bible-believing Christian looks into the future.

And we don't see death, we don't see graves, we don't see darkness, we don't see terror.

We see the loving arms of our Lord Jesus Christ, who stretched out those arms on a cross to die to pay for all our sins, reaching to welcome us into his presence.

I'm persuaded that God's gift to me was eternal life.

If you're saved, I want you to be persuaded that God's gift to you is eternal life.

And if you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, would you please today, because this might be the only day you have before death comes and knocks on your door, would you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior so that God can save you by his grace?

And you can live and die and live forever in the full persuasion that nothing shall separate you from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Thank you for listening today, watching today.

This is the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast.

Our mailing address, if you still do business that way, 872 Glenwood Road, Deland, Florida, 32720.

USA.

Our web address, jameswnox.org, and we would be very, very happy not only to hear from you by mail or online, but in the comments section if you're watching this as a video presentation.

We really, really hope you'll be with us next time for the preaching of the cross radio broadcast.

Until then, I'm Brother James.

May the Lord richly bless you, and good day.

Join us every weekday for another episode of the Preaching of the Cross Radio Podcast.

For hundreds of hours of in-depth expository Bible teaching, please visit our YouTube channel, James W.

Knox Sermons, our sermon audio page, Bible Baptistoland, or our website, Bible BaptistTaland.com.

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