...interrupted it to protect our president. Have
you ever wondered what it would be like to go
through life with a Secret Service agent beside
you? Some of you are shaking your heads over
here. You don't think you would like that? Well,
I suppose it might be limiting in some respects,
but just suppose you had a cauldron of people
around you whose purpose was to keep you safe.
That no one would be able to come to you unless
you agreed to it and if anyone plotted against
your life You would be absolutely secure in their
care Well, actually as children of God we have
something far better than that I invite you to
open your Bibles with me to first Peter chapter
1 and verse 3 First Peter chapter 1 verse 3 is
our study this morning Praise be to the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His great
mercy He has given us new birth into a living
hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead and into an inheritance that can
never perish, spoil, or fade, kept in heaven
for you who through faith are shielded by God's
power until the coming of the salvation that
is ready to be revealed in the last time. What
we learn in our text this morning is that a genuine
child of God is preserved for his heavenly inheritance.
Believe me, that's far better than the secret
service tailing you everywhere you go. Because
they can fail. This doesn't fail. As we think
about our security as believers in Jesus Christ,
I'd like you to think with me first about the
meaning of that security. The term that is used
here is shielded, as is translated in the NIV.
Some translations put it watched over, others
kept. This term is a military term that indicates
a guard that is done by soldiers It is a garrison
It is the same word that is used in Philippians
chapter 4 verse 7 Where the Apostle says and
the peace of God which passes all understanding
Shall guard shall keep shall shield your heart
and mind through Christ Jesus God tells us that
we have a garrison about us that is protecting
and shielding us for that coming day of redemption.
Thus, I'm talking this morning in this SOS series
about the security of salvation. When we talk
about the security of the believer, we are not
saying that a believer will never sin. We are
not saying that a believer will never backslide.
The security of salvation does not mean that
a believer will never stumble and fall. It does
not mean those things. But what it does mean
is that a believer is secured in his position
as an heir of God by the power of God. A believer
is secured by God Himself as one who is an heir
with Jesus Christ. You and I are given by God
the gift of eternal life. And there is nothing
in heaven or in hell or on the earth that can
keep us or prevent us from inheriting what God
has promised to us in eternal life. The fact
is that as believers we can and do fall. But
we fall into the arms of God. Dr. W .B. Henson
was a leader of the Christian church in the early
part of this century. In fact, there's a church
in Portland named in his memory called Henson
Memorial Baptist Church. On one occasion, he
said, in a sermon that the believer is secure.
And the lady came to him after the service with
this remark, I'm very much afraid I might fall.
And he said to her, well, then why don't you
do it? She was alarmed by that response and protested
and said, where would I fall to? He said, you
would fall down into the everlasting arms of
God. And he went on to say to her, I have read
in the Bible that His everlasting arms are underneath
His children. And you know, I believe that if
you fall down upon those everlasting arms, it
is sure and certain you will never fall through
them. We are secure in the arms of God. More
secure is no one ever than the children of the
Savior. When we talk about the security of salvation,
we are saying that a genuine believer in Jesus
Christ is shielded, he is protected, he is kept
by the power of God for that salvation that has
been promised to him. And there is nothing that
can interrupt that plan and program of God. What
are the means of the believer's security? If
that's the meaning, how does God do this? What
is the means of the security of the believer
in Christ? Well, there is both a human and a
divine dimension to this. Finally and ultimately,
it depends upon God. But Peter points out to
us both a human and a divine element. in the
means of the believer's security. Notice how
he puts it in verse 5. You who through faith
are shielded by God's power. That's the human
side. Through faith, you are shielded. By God's
power, that's the divine side. The human side
is that you and I are kept by God for our salvation
through faith. The fact is that God does not
keep unbelievers. He only keeps believers. But
that may shake up somebody here who would say,
but what if I fail in my faith? I've got good
news for you. If you have trusted Jesus Christ
as your Savior, you will not fail in your faith.
You may fall, you will never fail. You may stumble,
but your faith will never catastrophically collapse.
It will not. That is the grace of God working
in your life so that you will continue to believe.
That's what I was talking about last week. And
that one of the signs of a believer is a faith
that matures, a faith that perseveres. You and
I are kept for our salvation in the future through
our faith. And that faith will never fail because
God is working in us to preserve it and us. But
then we are kept also by God's power. We are
kept by faith and through God's power. This is
the divine side. And the wonderful truth is that
each person in the Trinity has a part to play
in our being guarded by God. In this very context
we have what God the Father does. Look back in
verse 1 where Peter introduces himself as an
apostle of Jesus Christ and then gives his salutation,
his greeting. He says to God's elect Strangers
in the world scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia,
Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia who have been
chosen according to the foreknowledge of God
the Father. What is the role of God the Father
in keeping me? It is the Father's purpose. God
the Father has purposed. That one day I will
be with Jesus Christ in heaven and will inherit
with him the fullness of salvation He has chosen
me in Jesus Christ according to his foreknowledge
Now that foreknowledge means more than that God
knows something ahead of time. It means that
God purposes it in advance We have been chosen
in Jesus Christ, we who are believers, we have
been chosen in Jesus Christ according to what
God has purposed ahead of time will take place.
How do I know that I will be kept? Because God's
power is working according to the Father's purpose.
And His purpose is that one day I will be with
Christ. Let me take just a moment to turn us
back to Romans chapter 8, where we find this
same truth, beginning in this familiar 28th verse.
What was it that gave Paul such assurance about
life and its circumstances? He says, we know
that in all things, God works for the good of
those who love Him. All things. Now what gave
him such assurance to say that? He says, we who
have been called according to his purpose. For
those God foreknew, he also predestined to be
conformed to the likeness of his son that he
might be the firstborn among many brothers. And
those He predestined, He also called. And those
He called, He justified. And those He justified,
He also glorified. To be glorified refers to
that final element of our salvation, that final
point when we will be with Christ and be like
Him. Paul says God's purpose is so secure that
it is as though you were already glorified in
His presence. That being true, we know that all
things work together for our good. How do I know
that I will be kept and preserved? I know because
of God the Father's purpose for me. What about
God the Son? What part does He play? Well, it
mentions in verse 2 obedience to Jesus Christ,
the sprinkling of His blood, but In order for
me to make this message work, I had to find a
P to go along with the Father's purpose. So I'm
choosing something else, and that's the Son's
prayer. How do I know that I will be kept secure?
Because of the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Go back with me to the Gospel of John, to the
17th chapter. And notice what he prays. Father?
I want those you have given me. There's the Father's
purpose, you see. Choosing us to belong to Christ.
He says, I want those you have given me to be
with me where I am and to see my glory. The glory
you have given me because you love me before
the creation of the world. I am confident of
my security in Jesus Christ not only because
God the Father has purposed it and by His power
is going to bring about His purpose, but I am
confident because of the prayer of God the Son
who said, Father, I want all of those that you
have given to me to be with me one day in glory.
God the Father, by His power, is going to answer
the prayer of His Son. I think this point has
special meaning to Peter. You remember that Peter
failed our Lord. His faith failed. But Jesus
had said to him in advance, Satan has desired
to sift you, but he says, Peter, I have prayed
for you that your faith not fail. Now, Peter's
faith failed in the moment of test. But the answer
to Jesus' prayer came in the fact that Peter
repented of his disobedience and came back to
loving devotion to our Lord Jesus Christ. How
do I know that my faith is not going to fail
because Jesus has prayed for me? And one day
God the Father is going to answer that prayer.
What about the Holy Spirit? Well, a third P in
our P -patch. The Holy Spirit's pledge. Turn
with me to Ephesians chapter 1. And you also
were included, verse 13 of Ephesians 1. You also
were included in Christ. when you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having
believed, you were marked in Him with a seal,
the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing
our inheritance until the redemption of those
who are God's possession to the praise of His
glory. The Holy Spirit's pledge guarantees to
me that I am secure in my salvation. I have been
marked with a seal. A seal denoting ownership.
A seal denoting genuineness. You can go to Washington
DC on vacation and go to a souvenir shop. And
here you've got a beautiful little piece of ceramic
that is in the shape of the Capitol building.
And you think to yourself, boy, I want to have
this. This is something from Washington, D .C.
It's going to remind me of this vacation. And
so you plop your money down, probably too much,
and you put it in your sack and you take it to
your hotel room and you get it out and you look
at it, you admire it, and on the bottom you see,
made in Japan. Genuinely Japanese. God has put
a seal on you that says you are genuinely heavenly
made. You are genuinely born again into His family.
You belong to Him. We have the pledge of the
Holy Spirit, a deposit guaranteeing that the
full amount is going to be received in the future.
God has given to us the Holy Spirit as a down
payment of our salvation. God is not going to
lose his down payment, believe me. So what is
the means of my security? Well, the human side
is that it's my faith. I keep believing, and
I do because I'm a genuine believer. But the
greater truth is the divine side. where each
person of the Godhead is involved in powerfully
preserving me for my heavenly destiny. Isn't
that a wonderful thing for we who are the children
of God to enjoy? Finally, I want you to think
with me about the magnitude of the believer's
security, its meaning, its means, its magnitude.
He says that we are shielded by God's power until
the coming of the salvation that is ready to
be revealed in the last time. We have our salvation
now of course in one sense but there is another
sense in which its fullness has not yet been
experienced. There is yet an aspect of redemption
that we who are here have not experienced and
that is that culminating aspect when our bodies
will be changed and we will be caught up to be
with the Lord. That was what Ephesians 1 .14
says that we are guaranteed one day to experience
by the Holy Spirit's down payment. It is that
fullness of redemption that will come when our
bodies, these earthly tents in which we live,
are changed to be like Christ's. The magnitude
of the believer's security is this. It is a security
that is not limited to our lifetime. it reaches
into the future. There are people who are dead
today, who are buried, who are with the Lord,
but their bodies are buried, who are still nonetheless
guaranteed that their bodies will be raised from
the grave. The magnitude of the security of their
salvation involves a preservation that is beyond
their lifetime, which lasted for however many
years. And the same is true for you and me. If
the Lord does not come in our lifetime and we
die, the security of our salvation is not affected.
It goes beyond our lifetime to embrace things
yet in the future in the return of our Lord Jesus
Christ. This security is not limited to our lifetime.
Secondly, this security is not limited to the
good times. It's not limited to just the good
times of life. In fact, Peter is writing to people
who are suffering. That's why he talks about
the trials that they're in in the next few verses.
It's tough to be a Christian in those days. It's
tough today, too, if you're a Christian. Peter
says that the security of our salvation is not
resting upon good times. Indeed, our salvation
embraces the trials of life. In the midst of
its troubles, in the midst of its anxieties,
in the midst of its disappointments, you and
I can rejoice that our salvation is secure. Our
salvation is not limited by lifetime, it is not
limited by good times. The magnitude of it is
that it stretches into eternity. Dr. Paul Inns
writes, the eternal security of the believer
by the grace of God is the completion and crowning
glory of God's plan of salvation. Peter says
that we have been born again to a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead and into an inheritance. An inheritance
that is being guarded by God in heaven. for we
who are being guarded by God on earth." There
was a man by the name of Jack Wurm, W -U -R -M,
who in 1949 was out of a job and broke. He was
penniless and walking along a beach in San Francisco.
As he walked, he came across a bottle that had
washed up on the shore with a piece of paper
in it. And so he opened the bottle and read the
piece of paper, and it was, in fact, the last
will and testament of a woman by the name of
Daisy Singer Alexander, who was heir to the Singer
sewing machine fortune. The note read this, to
avoid confusion I leave my entire estate to the
lucky person who finds this bottle and to my
attorney Barry Cohen share and share alike. Well
the courts investigated this and they found out
that apparently 12 years earlier this woman had
written out this last will and testament placed
in the bottle and had thrown that bottle into
the Thames River in London. It had drifted around
the world until finally it came upon that beach
in San Francisco. And the discovery of Jack Worm
led him to inherit six million dollars and a
great deal of singer stock. Can you imagine that?
Here you are penniless and all of a sudden you
are heir to a fortune. And my friend, if there
isn't a better picture of salvation, I don't
know of one than that. except it's not by chance.
We who are penniless and bankrupt in our sin,
who have nothing but damnation to look forward
to, suddenly, suddenly, by the great mercy of
God, are born into His family and given an inheritance
that reaches into eternity. And God gives us
a secret service to watch over us all the days
of our lives and keeps us so that there's nothing
that can prevent us from one day being there
and inheriting with Christ all things. What a
marvelous thing. God has prepared for those who
love Him. Now, is that an inheritance that you
have? I hope it is. Have you experienced the
new birth? You say, well, I don't know if I have
or not. I don't know if I can believe. Well,
If you will to believe, you can. There's nothing
keeping you from it. You say, well, I don't know
if I'm one of the elect. Well, you can, though,
believe on Jesus Christ, and you are. It's that
simple. Nothing mysterious about that. And if
you have believed on Jesus Christ, and this morning
your heart percolates with the joy of security
that belongs to us, what does it mean? We'll
just look down the chapter a few verses to verses
13 and 14. Because there are some ramifications
of this for your life and mine. It is not merely
enough that we rejoice in this truth. There's
something that comes along with it. He says,
Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be self
-controlled. Set your hope. fully on the grace
to be given to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
As obedient children, do not conform to the evil
desires you had when you lived in ignorance,
but just as he who called you is holy, so be
holy in all you do." I see four commands given
to those of us who are secure in our salvation.
The first one is, prepare our minds for action.
There is to be a deliberate alertness in the
Christian's outlook of life. What does it mean
to gird up the loins of your mind as the King
James Version puts it? Gird up the loins is an
idiomatic expression from that early New Testament
age. oriental people when they were going about
a duty or they're going for a walk would take
their long robes and would put them inside the
belt that was around their loins to free their
legs so that they could move. It might be brought
across into the English with the idiom, pull
yourselves together. He's saying that you and
I ought to have a deliberate alertness in our
Christian outlook about life. Be vigilant. ready
for action as believers because we're secure.
Secondly, be self -controlled. There's to be
a definite control in the Christians' decisions.
Self -controlled. We're not to allow ourselves
to be presumptuous because we are secure. We're
not to forbid ourselves to become lazy in our
Christian experience because God is keeping us.
There is to be a definite control about us in
our decisions. We're to have sound judgment in
all areas of life because we are God's guarded
children. Thirdly, he says set or fix your hope
fully on the grace that's coming when Christ
returns. A Christian is to have a distant look
in his eyes. As we see things that are close
up around us, the issues of life, and the events
that take place in our world, as we look at those
things, we are to have a distant focus. We're
to be looking for the return of our Lord Jesus
Christ. We're not to set our hope on things in
this world. We're not to set our hope on retirement.
We can look forward to those days and trust that
by God's grace we may enjoy some special things
in life, but let's not set our hope on that.
We're not to set our hope on gaining that position
that we're longing for in the company. We may
be able to use that for the glory of God, but
let's not set our hope on it. We're not to set
our hope on getting married. or having children.
If God wills, those are wonderful experiences
in life. But we are to fix our hope on one thing,
and that is the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the grace that we will receive when we see
Him face to face. The change that will take place
in us. The glory that we will inherit. We are
to fix our hope on that. There's to be a distant
look in the eyes of the Christian. And then he
says, do not conform, but be holy. There's to
be a distinct difference in the Christian's walk.
The old way of life will continue to haunt us.
It will seek to bring us into conformity to its
evil desires. As long as we're in this world,
we all experience that. But he says, be holy.
Be holy. Be different. Choose to set yourself
apart from those things. Choose to live a life
that is distinctively different in the midst
of a pagan culture. And as we do that, we will
be clearly the children. of a holy God. And so
as we rejoice in the security of our salvation,
let's just push ourselves beyond the comfort
zone to understand that with that blessed comfort
comes some responsibility that God calls us to
in this world. I'd like for you to take your
hymnal with me and turn to the hymn that I alluded
to earlier. It's number 44. I'd like for us to
sing. And we're going to sing just two or three
verses of this wonderful hymn that speaks about
the inheritance that we have. And oh, today,
if you don't have the assurance in your heart
that you are born into God's family as one of
His children, there's not the security about
your life. that we've been talking about. You
can experience that today if you will choose
to trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and
Savior. Open your heart to Him in faith this
morning. And if you belong to Him, if you've
done that and you're His child, and there is
this living hope in you, and you know that this
inheritance is being reserved for you and that
God is guarding you, then let your heart swell
with these words. And let the commitment that
He calls us to and the responsible living that
accompanies security be the determination of
your heart. Let's stand together as we sing.
Hymn 44. Children of the Heavenly Father, safely
Does your life seem to be tossed back and forth
this morning in storms and trials? Listen to
verse 3. Neither life nor death shall ever From
the Lord his children sever. Unto them his grace
he showeth, And their sorrows all he knoweth.
Praise the Lord in joyful numbers, Your protector
never slumbers. At the will of your defender,
Every foeman must serve. Let me share with you
the thought of G. Alan Fleece who said, we are
not in the world bearing witness to Christ. We
are in Christ bearing witness to the world. Father,
may the joy of that position of being in Christ
be our motivation for bearing witness to the
world this week. And as we walk about the course
of our lives, your Spirit directing us, your
power defending us, May we walk as responsible,
obedient children of God with a distant look
in our eyes. Amen.