Title: An Easter Message
Bible Book: Hebrews 4 : 3-4
Author: Jesse M. Hendley
Subject: Easter; Resurrection; Eternal Security
Objective:
Introduction
I received a letter from a man who wrote, "There is no such thing as Eternal Security." Well, the Bible doesn't teach that. With all due respect to the man's belief (he can believe that if he wants to) I have never been able to understand why anybody would want to go against the teaching of the Bible. The Word of God teaches that God's people are secure in the Lord Jesus Christ. If a man wants to believe otherwise, that is his business. But, friends, there is a COVENANT in the Bible and in my heart between God and me, which guarantees me as a believer in Christ that I shall never be condemned to hell.
One reason some people believe that a person can be condemned is that they confuse the judgment of the believer for his works with the judgment of the unbeliever for his sins. In 1 Corinthians 4:3, the Apostle Paul says, "With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment; yea, I judge not my own self." He is saying that he is not even capable of judging himself and is not concerned about men's judgment of him. Who is the Judge of the believer? Who is the One Who examines a believer? Verse 4: "He that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come."
Christians will be examined by Christ when He comes, and He is going to do two things. He is going to "bring to light the hidden things of darkness," and He will "make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God."
Here Paul is referring to himself and Apollos and also to the believers. He says EVERY MAN. He uses the plural: "The Lord will make manifest the counsels of the HEARTS," all the hearts of the believers. This is not a judgment for sin; that was settled at the cross. This is an examination of believers by the Lord Jesus to determine the reward for their work, not to determine their salvation. The Greek word for judgment means "to question, to examine, to investigate." Christ is going to investigate our lives, examine our lives as Christians, to determine THE REWARD. How could the Savior, Who went to the cross and died for my sins CONDEMN me, when He Himself has already taken all the condemnation? He has already been punished in my place; why should He want to punish me? The very reason He came was to give everlasting life to whosoever would believe in Him. So the idea that a believer may someday be lost is against the whole teaching of the Bible.
When Jesus comes He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness. Literally, "the hidden things of THE darkness." This word is used again and again of the devil and his demons and spiritual wickedness in heavenly places that seek to turn me away from the Truth. Paul, "We wrestle against the rulers of THE DARKNESS of this world." "But God has delivered us from the darkness."
There is reserved for the devil and his demons and unsaved people "the blackness of darkness forever."
"He will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." Christ has complete knowledge of the facts and full insight into our motives. The "counsels" of the hearts means "the thoughts, purposes, motives, plans, resolutions, decisions taking place in the inner throne room of our being where speech and action originate." The Lord is going to reveal in that day that very thing, the hidden motives back of our speech and actions.
Referring to himself and Apollos and believers, Paul says, "Every man shall have his due praise from God." Literally, "The praise due to him from God." He speaks only of praise. He doesn't speak of divine condemnation; he speaks of divine commendation! This will be Christ COMMENDING His people! The object is not to condemn but to praise those who have served the Lord. There will be no loss of salvation, but there can be loss of honor and of reward if the believer has not served the Lord faithfully and well.
Last night I was with a group of Christian friends and someone commended a certain person for being "so dedicated to the Lord." Already THEY are commending the life of that Christian! Well, one day Paul and Apollos and the Corinthian believers and you and I will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ and He is going over our lives individually. This will not be to determine our salvation; He has already settled that on the cross. Of that matter He said, "It is finished," for He put away our sins by the Sacrifice of Himself. No, this examination will be regarding our life WORK. It will be serious. There will be eternal gain or eternal loss. I repeat, one reason people believe a Christian can be lost is that they confuse this examination by Christ with the salvation of the soul, and they are two distinctly separate things.
The Bible teaches that no born-again person can be condemned to hell. Notice, I said born again, a real Christian, a person who has the Life of God in his heart, has believed on Christ, is indwelt by the Spirit, is made a partaker of the Divine Nature, has received eternal life from Christ.
The Bible speaks of eternal life as a PRESENT POSSESSION. Eternal life has already begun in the believer. It began when we trusted Christ. Now, eternal life would not be ETERNAL if it were only temporary. Since it is ETERNAL life, the believer CANNOT be lost.
Romans 8:34 gives FOUR reasons why a child of God can never be lost.
(1) It is Christ that died,
(2) is risen again,
(3) is at the right hand of God, and (4) ever lives to make intercessions for us.
Why did God write such a comforting passage? Because He wants us to enjoy our salvation, to know we are secure in Christ, to know that we are already as good as in heaven (as though we had already been there ten million years), BECAUSE we have been born of the Spirit of God and are now children of GOD. God knew we would always be distressed and disturbed about our sins, would doubt whether we were saved or not, and that the devil would be seeking to upset us about our salvation and hinder our usefulness for Christ. For a person who is always questioning his salvation can't be very greatly used of God to win other souls to Christ. If I don't know I'm saved, how can I lead others to know they are saved? If I do not know the way, how can I guide somebody else there? God says, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so." Let them SAY they are redeemed. But how can I say so if I don't know so? How can I say it if I also have to say that I MIGHT miss heaven after all?
Paul raises a question here. "Who is he that condemneth?" obviously implying the answer, "No one." GOD HIMSELF does not condemn a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ! He never has and He never will. If God Himself will not, why pay attention to a little man who says a believer can be lost?
These four wonderful things about Christ strengthen our faith and comfort our hearts! God has written them in His Word so that we will LOVE Him, rejoice in Him, walk with Him, enjoy our salvation and have the assurance that we are saved and on our way to heaven. Heaven is a definite Destination. I anticipate it! I'm on my way! I rejoice in anticipation of beholding the Glory of God!
Upon these four tremendous foundations you can firmly build the house of your eternal security.
I. CHRIST HAS DIED
"Christ has died." For whom? Not for Himself. He died for sinners. He died for the whole world and every sinner that believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. What did He accomplish when He died? He made full payment to God for my sins against Him. He took my penalty. He took the death I deserved. He took my punishment in my place. He took my guilt and condemnation upon Himself. God should have struck me, but to spare me He struck His own Son. In the words of the great prophet Isaiah, in that enormous 53rd chapter of Isaiah, "The Lord HATH LAID UPON HIM the iniquity of us all." That tremendous truth is borne out in the New Testament: "He put away sin by the Sacrifice of Himself." "Because the Lamb of God which taketh away the world's sin," the sin of every human being who has ever lived or ever will live in this world. But His Sacrifice is no good to us until we put our trust in Christ and receive Him into our hearts. The promise is good only to the individual who trusts Him and receives Him, who at the foot of the cross looks up and sees Him dying as his Substitute. I can say, "My blasphemies? They are gone. My lusts? He died for them. My ungodliness? My resistance of the Holy Spirit? My ignoring of the Word of God? He died for them." Jesus DIED---think of it---for MY SINS. God accounts His death as OUR death when we believe in Him with all our hearts, make full committal of our souls to Him, trust Him with a heartfelt faith that clings to Jesus and JESUS ALONE! When we BELIEVE IN HIM, we are saved for eternity.
"Christ died"---for ALL the sins, of ALL men, of ALL the world, for ALL time, and for ALL eternity. Don't you minimize what Christ did on that cross! His death SATISFIED GOD. His death was SUFFICIENT for our sins. That is the plain teaching of the Word of God. "Who can condemn me?" cries Paul. "CHRIST HAS DIED." That cancels the condemnation! "Who can condemn me, right now?" Paul was still living in this world. Paul was the greatest Christian perhaps that has ever lived, but he knew he was not a perfect man. Yet he dared to throw out this challenge: "Who can condemn me?" He pointed to his Substitute: CHRIST HAS DIED. "Therefore there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1.) That is the first comfort---Christ has died. Praise God!
II. CHRIST IS RISEN
The second comfort is, "Christ is risen." Christ is ALIVE TODAY. He isn't dead! He came out of that tomb and every believer shall live because HE lives. He AROSE from the dead! The Greek word for resurrection means "to stand up out of the grave." Comfort Number Two: The Empty Tomb! Christ came OUT of that tomb.
What does the Resurrection of Jesus mean to me? What has the Resurrection of Christ to do with a believer's salvation and justification? It meant that His Sacrifice was accepted by God. It signified that God was pleased with Him. The power of God raised Him from the dead. God was pleased with Christ's work. What was His work? "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." God sent Him into the world to do it. He came with that express purpose. He accomplished His mission, and God put His Stamp of Approval on it by raising Him from the dead!
Beloved friend, Christ is not dead. He is alive at God's right hand and God has accepted every believer IN HIM. He has enveloped us IN CHRIST! Oh, Christian, you cannot be condemned because CHRIST has been accepted by the Father and therefore YOU are accepted by the Father, YOU are welcomed into His arms, YOU are received in heaven. God was PLEASED with the work Christ did. God was satisfied with His Payment-in-Full for our sins. God no longer sees us stumbling around, unredeemed, on this earth. God VALIDATED Christ's work, fully acknowledged His work of REDEMPTION, raised Him from the dead and sees US in Him (as Paul writes to the Ephesians) "seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." That is what His Resurrection means to us.
III. AT GOD'S RIGHT HAND
Comfort Number Three - "Christ is at God's Right Hand". What does that mean? It means the place of honor, of relationship, of sonship. "He sat down at the Right Hand of the majesty in heaven." Mission Accomplished! The SIN of every believer is settled forever! The Bible says that He sat down. The job was done. When you work you are active, you stand up, you move. When your work is over you sit down and rest. His job was over. This was the place of honor, of acceptance, of sonship, of relationship, of blessing. It signified, "All that I have is Yours."
The Bible says in Romans, "We shall be saved by His life." Not only by His death but by His life. Before I was ever born, He saw the life I would live, and He undertook to come down and save me from my sins through His death, His burial, His resurrection, and His ascension. Christ has undertaken to save me and He cannot fail. He died for me, and He LIVES for me, and I am as secure as though I were already at God's right hand because of CHRIST! I am accepted IN HIM. I am honored IN HIM. I am blessed IN HIM. I have the place of favor IN HIM.
Let me ask you: "How can you condemn a person who is already seated next to Almighty God? How can you condemn someone who sits next to the King? How can you condemn someone whom the Judge of all the earth has exonerated and accepted and welcomed to His side?" That is where I sit today, for every believer is seated already in the heavenly places, IN CHRIST JESUS.
IV. MAKES INTERCESSION
The Fourth Comfort - "Christ also maketh intercession for us." Someone may ask "What about our failures and sins after we have believed on Jesus?" This is it: "He lives to make intercession for us." He keeps us saved by His constant intercession. This is the answer to the sin question of the believer AFTER he is saved. The Apostle Paul throws out this tremendous challenge to the whole world of men and demons: "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?" Who can charge anything against the believer in Christ? Who can condemn any child of God when GOD says there is now NO condemnation against him? CHRIST took his condemnation! What more can He say, than to you He HAS said, to you who for refuge to JESUS have fled?
Conclusion
Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? I ask you: Have you? The other day in a hospital I was going up in an elevator and a man with a big truckload of things wanted to get on. There was already a truck on the elevator so he said to the girl running the elevator, "I'll wait for you to come back," and he drew back. But she insisted, "You can get on. Come on." So we made room for him. When he got on he said, "If I get near Heaven, I hope they will come back for me." I HOPE THEY WILL COME BACK FOR ME. I said to him, "If you will trust Jesus as your Saviour you can be dead sure you will make it to heaven because JESUS CHRIST IS THE WAY." Now this man was thinking about somebody coming and taking him to heaven, like this elevator girl taking him up in the building. He didn't want to be left. He wanted someone to come and get him so he could go up. This man didn't mention "Jesus" but I told him it was JESUS Who would take care of him. It was quick; I don't know whether he got it or not. It was just a passing word. But, I couldn't help but say, "If you will trust Jesus HE WILL COME FOR YOU and take you to heaven." Oh, beloved, this man (like so many others) wants to go to heaven.
So do I. How can you be sure? TRUST JESUS. Call on Jesus. Claim Jesus. Love Jesus. Commit your life to Jesus. Depend on JESUS, and JESUS ALONE. It was all for YOU, His death and resurrection and ascension. Trust Him! Hand your soul over to Him. He waits to save you! He will not fail--- He CANNOT fail. Trust Him; then pick up your Bible and LIVE FOR HIM till you see Him face to face. Will you do it?
