Ron Dunn Podcast - The Truth About Eternal Security

Episode Date: March 8, 2023

Ron Dunn continues his sermon series "To Tell The Truth"

How would you open your Bibles tonight to 1 Peter chapter 1, and I'm going to read verses 3, 4, and 5. No, I tell you what, let's begin with verse 1 and read down through the 5th verse. Those other verses are so good, we don't want to leave them out. 1 Peter chapter 1, we'll begin reading with the first verse and read through verse 5, and tonight is point 6, the truth about eternal security. The believer, the Christian, of all the other things that are true about him, this one thing is true, that while he is in the world, he is secure, and God has guaranteed his salvation. In 1 Peter chapter 1, we'll begin reading with the first verse and read through verse 5. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus,

Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. God does all things well, and God's work always bears with it a twofold mark, a twofold mark. One, God's work is always perfect. God's work is always perfect. Peter says that salvation in a sense is this, we have been begotten again.

It is being born again. And God's mark is always perfect. There are no abnormal births in the family of God. Every person is born into the family of God, and God has given him all that is necessary for his spiritual life. It is perfect. When Jesus was dying on the cross, he cried out with a loud voice, it is finished. That's the mark. Everything Jesus does, he does it right.

He does it perfectly. There is a psalm that says that God is able to do. God is able to do and to do it right. God is able to do and to do it right. His mark is one of perfection. But there is another mark that characterizes God's work, not only perfection, but completion, completion. God never, never leaves anything unfinished. You will never backtrack on God and find the path littered with unfinished projects. The Bible says that God did not rest until creation was finished. Jesus Christ did not sit down on the right hand of the majesty on high

until he had by himself purged us from our sins. Philippians chapter 1 and verse 6, Paul says, writing to that church at Philippi, being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will complete it, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. God never starts anything that He cannot finish. And God always brings to completion everything He starts. And the same is true and more so with this matter of salvation. Now, since the beginning of my ministry, I have encountered numerous people who have found it difficult to believe in

the security of the believer. The way human nature is and the way human life is, we are unaccustomed to anything that lasts forever, especially good things. And life to us is so fragile. Joy is so fragile. Riches are so fleeting. Life is so uncertain. Death is so certain. Youth fades into old age. Health dissipates into sickness. And nobody can stop the calendar from rolling and rolling and rolling. And it almost is incomprehensible to the mind of man

who lives with things that decay and corrupt and pass away for him to come to say that there is about this salvation an eternal security. And there is no possibility of my failure causing me to lose that salvation. I really think that I have never been able to persuade someone who believed in falling from grace that you couldn't do it. It just seems so, so beyond anything that you mean to tell me that even if I sin and even if I fail,

even in my weakness, do you mean to tell me that once I'm saved, I'm always saved, that there is never any possibility of my losing my salvation? And I have to answer, yes, absolutely yes.

One of the passages that I mentioned to you this morning, one of my favorite in John chapter 6, and I have to answer, yes, absolutely yes. One of the passages that I mentioned to you this morning, one of my favorite in John chapter 6, and I have to say it again, where Jesus says that all that the Father hath given to me will come unto me, and I will raise him up at the last day. I think that's beautiful the way Jesus said that. Why didn't he say all that the Father gives to me

will come unto me, and I'll accept them? Now, he says that later on. Why didn't he say all that the Father gives to me will come unto me and I'll accept them? Now he says that later on. Why didn't he say all that the Father gives to me will come unto me and I'll save them? He could have said that and that would have been true. And he did say it later on. But here he says, and I shall raise them up at the last day. Jesus just said, listen, what the Father starts, I'll finish. And everyone that the Father gives to me, none of them, none of them will be lost.

In the Revelation it says that a great multitude were sealed and 144,000 were also sealed. And then comes the great tribulation. And on the other side of that, you see the number of those that were sealed. Exactly 144,000. Not a one of them lost. Not a one of them lost. Not a one of them lost.

And the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 1 that we have received the earnest of the Spirit. We are sealed under the redemption of the purchased possession. And Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 30, it says, grieve not the Spirit, whereby you are sealed. When? Until you sin?

No, until the day of redemption, the redemption of the body when Jesus comes and consummates that which he started through faith in himself. Now, as I mentioned this morning, in this passage of 1 Peter. You have Peter touching on practically every major truth in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's jam-packed with spiritual treasure. And one of the most beautiful things in this passage is its dominant note of security. You see, the people to whom Peter was writing

were going through intense persecution at this time. And if you would just take the people to whom Peter was writing were going through intense persecution at this time. And if you would just take the time to read this epistle, you would see this leaping at you almost from every paragraph, that here were a people who were suffering intense, intense persecution, such as you and I have never known. They were dying literally by the thousands for their faith in Jesus Christ. And Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes to comfort and to encourage and to assure these believers. You know, as I was studying this, there's one thing that struck me as remarkable. Peter gets around to talking about the suffering, but that's not what he starts with. Have you ever met somebody and you say, how you doing?

And they tell you? I had a man in the church that I used to pastor. I stopped asking him how he was because he always told me. And you know, he was never doing well. He was all, I'm surprised that he was on his feet. He was always doing badly. And the first word that ever came from his mouth was one of complaint and moaning and groaning.

Now, you would think that perhaps in this situation where these believers were being slaughtered and their lives were hanging in the balance, that Peter would start by saying, Oh, we're suffering. Oh, we're suffering. He doesn't start with suffering. He starts with singing, because in verse 3, that's what that is. That's a doxology. He says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he starts with. He's not taken up and overwhelmed by the suffering that he's going through. He's

overwhelmed and taken up with the blessedness of the God who has saved them. But then he gets on and talks about the suffering. And he wants to assure these believers that no matter what they go through, no matter how much tribulation, no matter how aggravating the trial, no matter how dark it comes in their lives, God's salvation is secure and they can rest in that fact. Now, the security of the believer. The security of the believer is based on several things.

First of all, it is based on the grounds or the basis of our salvation. I believe in the security of the believer because of why God saved us in the first place. And we have to ask, why did God save us? What is the basis of our salvation? Because, you see, if the basis of our salvation is something found within us, then we can lose our salvation by something found within us, then we can lose our salvation by something that is found in us. But if the basis of our salvation, if the motive,

if the reason that God saved us has absolutely nothing to do with us, then you see, there is our security. Now the basis of our salvation is twofold as revealed in this passage. Number one, our salvation is based upon the foreknowledge of God. Why did God save us? Because the Bible says in that second verse that we are elected according to the foreknowledge of God. Say, did everybody understand clearly

about foreknowledge and predestination this morning? A man came up to me after the service. He said, I thought you were going to explain predestination and election, and you didn't do it. And I said, you're right. I didn't do it. And I didn't intend to do it because I can't do it. But I want you to know something. Whether you understand it or not, comprehend it or not, is beside the point. It is the truth of God, and it is the basis of your salvation. You'll notice that in this passage there are two accordings. Now, I'm assuming that those of you that are reading from the King James Version, you'll see this, and it may be also translated this way in the other version. There are two prepositions in this passage that mean according,

and these prepositions indicate that this was the determining factor in God's action. What dominated God in saving us? What was it that caused God, motivated God to save us in the first place? In verse 2, we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God. According to the foreknowledge of God. And as we saw earlier, our salvation began even before the foundation of the world. You see, salvation is an eternal

decision. It is an eternal choice. Our salvation was made secure in the dark councils of eternity. For ordination and election is like the root of a tree. You don't see it. It's hidden. But it is the source of the life of that tree. You don't see election. You don't notice predestination. But it is the root of our salvation. It is the life of our salvation.

And salvation, friend, is not a time-space happening. It is an eternal choice. It is an eternal choice. Now listen very carefully. That which God has done and declared and decreed in eternity cannot be nullified in time. Time is not the master of eternity. And God secured our salvation

even before we ever came along, before we ever did anything good, or even before we did anything bad. God secured our salvation. It is all of grace. It is all of grace. There's a little verse over in Romans chapter 8 that I shared with you this morning.

It's Romans chapter 8 and the 30th verse. And it says, Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, now get this,

them he also will glorify. That's not what it says, is it? You think Paul made a mistake, slip of the pen, something wrong with his typewriter? He doesn't say, them he will also glorify. He says, them he also glorified, past tense. It's already done. That's an amazing verse. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then we also call past tense. And whom he called, then we also justified past tense.

And whom he justified, then we also glorified past tense. Listen, did you know tonight that while you sit here in MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church, 1974, that you're already glorified? Already glorified. Now, in time and space, you're not glorified, already glorified.

Now, in time and space you're not, but in eternity you are. You're already glorified. You see, God is speaking of the future in the past tense. Have you ever noticed how God writes future prophecy in the past tense? He writes it as history. Isaiah 53 is written as history. You read it, but it's a prophecy. It's written as history, but it's a prophecy. Revelation is a prophecy, but it's written as history. You read it, but it's a prophecy. It's written as history, but it's a prophecy.

Revelation is a prophecy, but it's written as history. Have you ever noticed that? Do you know why it is? Because once it has happened, once it is history, nothing can change it. Nothing can change it. We might have the idea that as long as it's prophecy, as long as it has not yet happened, we could do something to change it. But once it has happened, once it is history, it cannot be changed.

And so certain, so certain is the death of Jesus that the prophet Isaiah writes it as though it's already happened. He writes it in past tense. So certain, so assured is our glorification that God writes it as past tense. You see, there is no past and future with God. He is the eternal now. Everything is present with God. Let me try to illustrate it like this.

Let's suppose that I'm standing on top of a large building, and I'm watching you, and you've been down here, let's say in the 1,000 block of this street, and you're going up here to the 3,000 block of this street. And I've been watching you all along, and I watched you when you started, and you're right under me now, and I know where you're going. Now at the moment you're there, I look. I can see where you've been.

I can see where you're going. I can see your past. I can see your present. I can see your future. But it's all present with me. Right now, at this moment, in the split twinkling of an eye, I can see your past. I can see your future. But it's all present tense with me. That's the way God sees. God doesn't have any past. God doesn't have any future. Right now, as God looks at us, it's all present tense as far as He's concerned. And God sees our past, and God sees our future, but it's all now as far as God is concerned.

And He says that those that He called, He justified, and those that He justified, He already glorified. It has already been done. And our salvation, the basis of it, is the foreknowledge of God. The second basis of our salvation is according to the mercy of God. Now, you'll find this in verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope

by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. There's the second according. According to his foreknowledge, according to his abundant mercy. I did a little checking up on that word abundant. Do you know the word abundant is always used for numbers? It doesn't mean that God's mercy is huge. It means that He has many, many mercies. Many, many mercies. God's mercies are numberless. Numberless. And God has saved us according to His many mercies. I needed mercy yesterday, and God gave me one. I needed a

mercy today, and God gave me one. God needed a mercy today, and God gave me one. God has innumerable mercies, and it's according to His mercies, not our merit, that He saves us. The word mercy simply means God's benevolent activity on us. It means that God takes pity on those who are in distress. And God has begotten us again. God has saved us according to His mercy, not according to our merit. Now listen, that which is a gift of mercy

cannot be taken back because of merit or then it is no longer a gift of mercy. If you say that God saves us according to His mercy but then we lose our salvation because of our sin, then salvation was never according to His mercy in the first place. It nullifies grace. A gift that is given in mercy cannot be withdrawn because of merit. And mercy simply means that God recognizes our weakness,

our failure, our distress, and that doesn't bother Him. He goes ahead and does it anyway. And you know that's what love is. It's so easy to love somebody and help somebody and give to somebody that deserves it and merits it. But even the heathen do that. But real love, real grace, real mercy is giving to those that you know are going to despise it once they receive it.

And those who do not deserve it and will never deserve it. You see, before God ever chose us, He knew what we were going to be like. He knew you had sinned, but He chose you anyway. Isn't that something? Somebody came up to me one time and said, Well, I want to give some money to a certain so-and-so, certain individual, but I don't know if they'll use it wisely or not. I don't know what they'll do with it. They may not use it wisely, and so I don't know whether or'll use it wisely or not. I don't know what they'll do with it.

They may not use it wisely, and so I don't know whether or not to give it to them. I'm glad God didn't say that about salvation. I'm glad He didn't say, I sure would like to save that fellow, but I'm just not certain he can be worthy and live up to it. And if I just knew for certain that he could live up to it, I'd give it to him.

On the contrary, God says, as he looks down through eternity, he knows me. He says, that fellow doesn't deserve it now, and he'll never deserve it. Even after he's been preaching 20 years, he's going to sin. He's still going to be a failure in so many ways. He's still going to disobey me. And I know that, but I'm still going to save him because I love him. That's mercy. That's mercy. God is not surprised by any sin that you've ever committed. He's never been caught up short. He's never been caught off guard. God knew everything about you, but he still chose you,

even knowing all of that. The basis of our salvation demands eternal security. Secondly, the nature of our salvation demands eternal security. What happens when God saves us? You have it there in the third verse. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath regenerated us, hath begotten us again unto a living hope.

You know what salvation is? Salvation is not your turning over and you leave. It is not your promising to do better. And if that's what salvation was, then I can understand you losing it because you didn't do better. The lady asked a preacher one time, can I lose my salvation? He said, it all depends on who saved you. He said, if you save yourself, then you'll have to keep yourself saved. But if God saved you, he'll keep you saved. Now, I want you to notice who does the begetting here.

God has begotten us again. It's an act of God. God does it. It's his responsibility. It's his responsibility. I have no part in it. God does it all. It is a new birth,

and the word begotten or regenerated means the impartation of a new nature, the implantation of a divine life. And that's what's happened in salvation. God has imparted to me His very nature, His very life. Salvation is not a surface experience. It is an in-law change of nature.

You're different. Your nature has changed. Your nature has changed. And you just can't change your nature. You've been born again. By the way, that word is in the Aorist tense, and you could translate that correctly. He has begotten us once and for all.

Well, that's important. Nicodemus asked a good question. Jesus said to him, you must be born again. Nicodemus said, what do you mean? You mean, can a man enter into his mother's womb a second time and be born? You see, Nicodemus thought Jesus was talking about physical birth. He had a good question. And the answer, of course, is no.

You can only have one physical birth. You can only have one physical birth. You can only have one physical birth. I want you to know you can only have one spiritual birth. I have never met anybody who believed in losing their salvation who at the same time did not also believe you could be saved over again. But I want to read you a verse of Scripture. And I do not pretend to understand all that this passage means,

but I do understand one thing. In Hebrews chapter 6, let me read verse 4. He says, For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,

and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, now get this, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. If it were possible for a man to fall away,

and I've heard that explained so many ways. Well, here is a fellow who is just under conviction. Listen, it says they've tasted of the heavenly gift. And it says they become partakers of the Holy Ghost. That word partaker means fellowship, communion with the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost hasn't just convicted them. They have been partakers of the Holy Ghost. That word partaker means fellowship, communion with the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost hasn't just convicted them. They have been partakers of the Holy Ghost.

And they have tasted of what? Of the powers of the world to come. They've had it. They've been saved. God says, If they shall fall away, it is impossible to renew them again under repentance. Why?

Seeing they would crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh. I mentioned some time ago that you can be saved as many times as Jesus died. And Jesus died only once and that's the only number of times you can be saved.

It is impossible to renew them again. He says they have been begotten once and for all. In Romans chapter 5 it says, Therefore being justified by faith, justified is in the aorist tense Romans chapter 5, it says, therefore being justified by faith, justified is in the aorist tense, and this is what it says, therefore being justified once and for all.

We have peace with God. It's a definite one-time act. It is the impartation of a new nature, a new nature, and something happens when a man gets a new nature. Now I want to read you a disturbing verse of Scripture in 1 John chapter 3, and then I will attempt to explain its meaning. 1 John chapter 3, verses 5 and 8. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Now verse 8.

He that commiteth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Now the ninth verse. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed, God's seed, remaineth, abideth permanently in him. Now, get this. First of all, he says he doesn't sin. Now, he says this is something else.

He cannot, he cannot sin because he is born of God. Boy, that used to give me no little trouble. It's really a contradiction because in 1 John chapter 1, John says that we've all sinned, and if we said that we don't sin, we call God a liar and we deceive ourselves. And over here he says if you do sin, you're not saved. Whosoever is born of God doth not sin. For God's seed, God's nature, this impartation of the new life remaineth in him and he cannot sin.

It is a spiritual impossibility for him to whine because his seed remaineth in him. For he is born of God. Now, somebody has said, man, if I believed like you believe, you could never lose your salvation. I'd go out here and sin all I wanted to. I asked that fellow, you mean you aren't now sinning all you want to? You mean that you would like to sin more than you do now? I don't know, but a true believer,

I think, is doing about all the sinning he wants to do and like to cut down a little bit. Tell you something, if the only thing that's keeping you from sinning more and more is a fear of losing your salvation, good chance you don't have any. Old E.L. Moody used to say, he said, you know, I get drunk all I want to. He said, I curse all I want to. He said, every time I want to get drunk, I get drunk. He said, the only thing is, I just don't want to. Bud Robinson, Nazarene evangelist, spoke of the lift.

He used to preach. He said, when God saved me, he didn't fix me up so I couldn't sin. He fixed me up so I couldn't enjoy it. And that's the truth. There is a possibility of sin, but there's a new nature. Now, what does he mean, he that is born of God cannot sin because his seed remaineth in him? The difference, of course, is in the Greek tenses of the verbs. It is a present tense verb, and it literally means he that goes on sinning is not born

of God. Now, in 1 John chapter 2, in the second verse, he said, If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. There he is. He's talking to Christians.

He said, Listen, you're going to sin. But there he uses an aorist tense, which he means when a Christian sins once in a while. You see, in the life of the believer, sin is an exception. In the life of a lost man,

sin is the rule. It's the habit of his life. And is an exception. In the life of a lost man, sin is the rule. It's the habit of his life. And what John is saying in chapter 3 literally is this, that whosoever is born of God does not continue in sin as he once did, for his seed remaineth in him. As a matter of fact, he cannot go on sinning as the habit of his life because he's born of God. It is a spiritual impossibility.

And I tell you something, if a man walks down the aisle of a church and says he takes Jesus as Lord and Savior and is baptized and he goes out and continues to live as he has always lived, that man is not saved. There is a change wrought in the nature. There is something changed in the nature of a man, in the inner life of a man. The fountain of a man's existence is changed.

He cannot continue to live as he once did. He's been born again. He's been born again. And, of course, what we fail to realize is that no man is born full grown. He's born a baby. And a baby will fail. A baby will stumble. A baby will disobey.

He will have growing pains. And you and I as Christians are born as babes. And we're going to fail and stumble and have growing pains and sin and disobey. But God doesn't kick us out no more than you kicked out that little baby the first time he fell and stumbled and disobeyed you. You realized he was a baby and immature, and he had to grow up before he learned what he ought to do. The nature of salvation demands eternal security. All right, now, the last thing is this.

The goal of our salvation demands eternal security. What has God saved us to? He has saved us to three things in this passage. And you know, there's a beautiful symmetry here. First of all, he mentions the goal to which God has saved us, and then he mentions the corresponding guarantee. It's just perfect. First of all, what God has saved us to,

and then God's guarantee that we'll reach that goal. All right, first of all, he has saved us to a living hope, it says in verse 3. He hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now, folks, hope in the Bible doesn't mean I hope so or maybe so or perhaps. The word hope, let's translate it like this, assured expectation. As a matter of fact, Romans says that we are saved in hope. And hope has about it no perhaps or no maybe.

When we say something about hope, we mean that there's a possibility it won't come off. We hope that it will. I hope that I can go here, and I hope that this will happen, but we have no assurance. That's not the word in the New Testament. It means confident expectation. It means something that is assured in the future, but you don't have it right now, but it's assured. And the believer has been saved to a living assurance of the future. He has nothing to fear from the future.

I don't care how much I have failed, and I have failed a great deal. I don't care how much I have disobeyed God and disappointed God, and I have done it a great deal, but not to his surprise, I still tonight have that living hope, that assured certainty, that confident expectation that one day I will stand before him robed in his righteousness, spotless and pure before the throne of God. That is my hope. Now the guarantee is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Did you notice this? He said he has begotten us again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Upon what is my

hope based? My ability to please God? My ability not to sin? That's not what my hope is based on. Listen, that wouldn't be hope. My hope is based on what? The resurrection of Jesus Christ. Did Jesus rise from the dead? Did He?

Sure He did. Then you have confident hope. My hope is not based on anything I did, but on what Jesus did. And when Jesus was raised from that grave, he was saying, you never have to fear anything now from the future. You never have to be afraid of the future because I'm alive. Hebrews 7.25 says that he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. Why is he able to save them to the uttermost? And that word uttermost means to all the end, to the very end. When we step across on the other side, he is able to save us to that very end.

Why? Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us. The only way I can lose my salvation tonight is if Jesus Christ loses his life. My salvation is just as good as his life, and he is able to save me to the uttermost. Why? Because he ever liveth to make intercession for me. All right? Goal number two, he has saved us to an inheritance. Look at verse four. To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. That's the second thing God saved me to.

A lot of things he saved me from, but I want to get on to what he saved me to. He saved me to hope and he saved me to an inheritance. An inheritance. Say, watch it now. The inheritance is not heaven. The inheritance is not heaven. The inheritance is not heaven. You see, it says that we have been begotten again to an inheritance

reserved in heaven for us. Heaven is the safety deposit box where God is keeping us. It's in heaven, far removed from any earthly accident or sin. The inheritance is not heaven. It's something in heaven, far removed from any earthly accident or sin. The inheritance is not heaven. It's something in heaven. You want to take a guess as to what it is? It's the Lord. I was reading earlier over there in Numbers chapter 18, verse 20.

God comes to Aaron, you know, Aaron the priest, the high priest. And the Lord spake to Aaron, you know, Aaron the priest, the high priest, and the Lord spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them. I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel. Over in Ezekiel chapter 44, God is talking about the tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe. And when the people of Israel, of course, crossed over into the land of Canaan,

all of the tribes were given plots of land. This tribe would live here and this tribe would live here. But he said, now wait, don't give the tribe of Levi any inheritance in the land. He says, and it shall be unto them an inheritance. I am their inheritance, and ye shall give them no possession in Israel. I am their possession. You say, well, that was Levi's.

Oh, yes, and that's what you are. You didn't know that, did you? But the Bible says that you are a priest, and God has made out of you and me a kingdom of priests. And he says to the tribe of Levi, to the priestly people, he says, they'll have no inheritance in the land because I am their inheritance. You know why they didn't get anything? Because they had everything.

And he said, I don't want them tied to this earth. I don't want them fastening down to this earth. He said, I'm their inheritance. And God has promised, God has saved us for himself. I don't know I'm fastening down to this earth. He said, I'm their inheritance. And God has promised, God has saved us for himself. He's my inheritance. And I want you to know something, brother. No lawyer's going to cheat me out of that inheritance.

You know why? Here's the guarantee. This is beautiful to me. You may not be enjoying this, but I am. Every promise has a guarantee. God just covers all bases. He doesn't leave anything to chance. He says that we have been begotten to this inheritance. It's incorruptible. It's undefiled, and it fades not away. Now look at that next word, reserved in heaven for you. Reserved in heaven for you. The word reserve means to keep by watching it.

Laid by in store, and God has his eye on it. And it's a perfect, present participle. Dr. J.P. McBeth told me several years ago, he said, anytime you see a participle in the New Testament, he said, that's an eternal tense because it reaches back into eternity and reaches into eternity future. God, in eternity past, before you and I were saved, He reserved an inheritance for you.

And you know what He's doing? He's guarding it. He's reserving it for us. When you get there, it'll be there. And you know how He's guarding it? He hasn't just placed it away somewhere and locked the door on it. He's guarding it by keeping his eye on it. I tell you, God is just saying,

Son, don't you worry about your inheritance. Don't you worry about the end of your faith. Don't you worry about the end of your salvation. I've got my eye on it, and I'm watching it. Make certain nothing ever happens to it. Make certain nothing ever happens to it. All right, third goal, third thing we're saved to, we're saved to final salvation.

Verse 5, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. You say, I thought they were already saved. Oh, they were, but salvation is bigger than just the initial act. Salvation reaches into that future, the redemption of the body, all things changed into his likeness, perfect, holy, robed in his righteousness, ultimate, final, and full salvation.

Now notice, he says that you are kept for this. That is the goal. That's the promise. And it's ready to be revealed. It's ready. It's just waiting for God's signal just to unveil salvation. I really tried to think on that. Salvation, ready to be revealed. Lord, I thought salvation had already been revealed. God said, Son, you hadn't seen anything yet. Salvation is so great, so much bigger than you have any idea it is. He said, I'm going to reveal it someday, and you're just going to see what it means to be saved. Did you know we don't have a smidgen of an idea

what it means to be saved? We just don't. Now, we think we do, but I'll tell you something. When finally on that day, when that salvation is revealed, unveiled, and God lets it sit in all of its glory, you're just going to be completely stupefied the fact that you didn't know how much was in it. No wonder the Bible says there'll be weeping and wailing

and gnashing of teeth when they're shut out. No wonder Peter goes on to say that the angels desire to look into this salvation. It's going to be revealed. Now, that's the goal, that's the promise. Now look at the guarantee. He says that we are kept by the power of God through faith until when? Until salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Let me take just a moment to describe what that word kept means. It's a strong military word that means to build a garrison around. And the King James reads, who are kept by the power of God. It's really the Greek is who are kept in the power of God. And as I said earlier, it's a picture of a fort, and we're inside that fort. And the walls that surround us are what? Are the power of God, the power of God. We are kept by what? By my faithfulness, by the power of God. The power of God. We are kept by what? By my faithfulness,

by the power of God. We are kept by my sinlessness, by the power of God. What is it that keeps me tonight? My preaching, my service, it's the power of God. The omnipotence of God circles me. I checked out a verse that I had almost forgotten about. Listen, in Psalm 125, the first two verses, They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. Now, listen to this second verse.

As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth even forever. Amen. I'll say it if nobody else will. I'm sorry you all have gone to sleep. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth and forever.

God surrounds me. God just surrounds me. And every day I walk, I walk in the circle of the Lord. And tomorrow when I meet temptation, there's going to be a wall surrounds me. And every day I walk, I walk in the circle of the Lord. And tomorrow when I meet temptation, there's going to be a wall around me. It's the wall of God's omnipotence. Just ring me in. Encircle me.

Protection. Protection. Now notice what he says, that we are kept by the power of God through faith. How about that? You're kept the same way you're saved. Isn't that amazing? How are you saved? Through faith. You about that? You're kept the same way you're saved. Isn't that amazing? How are you saved?

Through faith. You just simply trusted him. How do you stay saved? Through faith. You just simply trust him. Now, in closing, let me mention something here. Eternal security is a two-way proposition. Notice he says we've been saved to an inheritance in heaven

and it's reserved for us. And he, it says in verse 5, are being kept and reserved for it. Did you see that? Two ways. Two-way protection. You're in good hands in the Almighty. God has an inheritance in heaven.

He says, I'm keeping you for it, and I'm keeping it for you. You see, I might call up out here at a fancy restaurant and say, I'm going to be there about 8.30 tonight. Would you reserve a table for me? And so they said, yes, sir, we'll be glad to reserve a table for you.

And they'll put a little thing on it that says reserve. I get in my car and I start driving down the freeway and I have a blowout and I lose control and I crash and I'm killed. There's my reservation, but I never show up for it. Just because I have a reservation is no guarantee I'll show up for it. But God says, listen, you have a reservation. It's guaranteed. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. Thank you. and scanned pages from a study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.