You Can Be Sure | Part 1

Can you lose your salvation by your free will?

Listen to Adrian Rogers. Don't you know if he could, he would? And if he hasn't, hasn't he been nice to you? And now you're going to heaven by the goodness of the devil. Isn't that a strange doctrine? Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring the dynamic biblical teaching of Adrian Rogers. Salvation from start to finish is of the Lord. It is only by the grace of God that we can be sure of our salvation. Adrian Rogers said, you can be a shouting Christian and not a doubting Christian.

You can be an exclamation point rather than a question mark with your head bent over. There are five foundational facts on which our faith rests. If you have your Bible, turn to Romans chapter eight. We'll begin in verse 28 as Adrian Rogers reveals how you can be sure. Have you ever been in the department store and seen a little boy? He'll probably be seven, eight years of age.

It won't be a little girl, probably a little boy. And he'll be facing the down escalator and he wants to see if he can run up the down escalator. Have you ever seen a child do that, a boy do that?

If you're a boy, you've probably tried it. To go up the down escalator and is always coming down faster than he can go up and he makes a little progress and then he goes backward, makes a little more, and finally he ends up at the bottom. Now that down escalator, that's the old nature. That's against us, that downward pull. But you see, listen, when you're trying to save yourself, run the race, you're always losing because your nature is going down faster than your good intentions are going up.

Do you understand that? You cannot be saved by self-effort. To try to be saved by self-effort is going up the down escalator when you're a little guy and you just can't make it. Thank God for the grace of God and that's what we're talking about and you'll be finding Romans chapter 8 and in just a moment we're going to look in verse 28. Now what I want to talk to you today about is assurance.

The title of the message, You Can Be Sure. Now too many of us have a maybe so, hope so, think so salvation and you'll never, never be a victorious Christian. You will never, ever have victory. You will never, ever have meaningful service until first of all you have the rock-ribbed assurance of your salvation. Too many Christians are like question marks with their head all bent over when they ought to be like exclamation points. Too many Christians are doubting Christians when they ought to be shouting Christians.

Too many Christians are saying, well maybe I'm saved, I hope I'm saved, when they ought to be saying, praise God, I know I'm saved, I'm heaven-born and I'm heaven-bound. Now look in verse 28 and notice how verse 28 begins and that's the theme of what we're talking about here. And we know. And we know. Now here's some things that Paul is not making a surmising about. This is not conjecture. This is not theory. Paul says, I want to tell you what we know.

I want to tell you how we can be absolutely sure. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God who are the call according to his purpose for, and this verse just builds on verse 28, for whom he did foreknow, that is whom God did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he, that is God's son, might be the first born among many brethren. That is, he might be the older brother to a great big family. And moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

Now I want to give you five foundation stones that you can stand on and together they make a wonderful foundation for your assurance. These words, now they may sound technical and they may sound too theological, but don't check me out. Look at them right now, beginning in verse 29, underscore the word foreknow, for whom he did foreknow. He did also predestinate, underscore the word predestinate, to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the first born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, underscore the word called. And whom he called, them he also justified, underscore the word justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Now you have it. You have five words. And it's upon these five words that we're going to think about the basis of our assurance today. And when you see these things, oh, the love that drew salvation's name. Oh, the grace that brought it down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God did spend at Calvary.

Now let's look at these five words right now. And the very first of these tells us what we can be sure of. Friend, you can be sure of God's foreknowledge of your salvation.

Look at it in verse 29. For whom he did foreknow. Now, this word foreknowledge is the Greek word proginosko.

I knew you were waiting a long time to hear that. And I know you're imminently blessed after you've heard that, proginosko. But what it just simply means is to know ahead of time, a proginosko. Our English word prognosis comes from this word. It means to look out into the future and know what is going to happen.

God foreknows everything. Now we use the word today, prognosis. A doctor will examine you and he will tell you what your state of health is going to be. We call that a prognosis. I heard about a man who went to the doctor and the doctor said, I've got some very bad news for you. You've got a year to live. And then he handed the man a bill for $5,000.

The man said, I can't pay that bill. The doctor said, I'll give you another year. Now sometimes the doctor's prognosis is not always very accurate because the doctor's prognosis is based upon his training and it is an educated guess. God never guesses at anything. God knows the future. God sees the future, the present and the past, all is one.

We don't understand that because we're humans and we're limited by time and space. God is not. God is above time and space. So God knows everything. God can't learn anything. God can't forget anything. God is never surprised. And God saw you accepting Jesus Christ before you ever accepted him. And before this world was swung into space, God saw you getting saved. Now you see, God already knows everything's going to happen.

Now the reason that's difficult for us to understand is because we're humans and we think in finite terms. It's like a little boy watching a parade through a knothole. He sees the floats as they go past and only what comes through the knothole of his perspective. Now suppose somebody were to see that little guy watching the parade through the knothole and they pick him up and take him to the top of a 10 story building and say, son, you can see better from there. And there the little guy sees the parade making up down here. He sees the parade dispersing down here and he sees everything in between.

He has a different advantage. Now that's a very poor illustration because he can still only see so far. God can see all the way and God sees all the time. But see, God sees from eternity.

We live in time. So what takes place to us sequentially in time is known the beginning to the end and the Bible says known unto the Lord are all his works from the beginning of the age. God just knows it all. And so God foreknew. God saw you getting saved. God saw a boy down in West Palm Beach, Florida.

He's kind of a mean kid, skipping school, cheating in class, taking God's name in vain, getting in fights. He wasn't a very nice little boy. But God saw that boy hearing the gospel, repenting of his sin, trusting Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord. And God saw that boy doing that before the world was ever formed.

That boy's name was Adrian. Now God saw that. God saw me getting saved. Now, you see, God doesn't learn anything.

You can't teach God anything because God already knows everything. And you know, there's some people who wonder whether or not they are the elect. Well, does God just simply choose some people to be saved and other people not to be saved?

No. Who are the elect? Well, listen to 1 Peter 1, verse 2. The Bible says there that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God.

Let me just help you for a moment. The elect are the whosoever wills. The elect are the whosoever wills. When a person receives Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior, he is the elect. Now, a part of our problem is that we think if God already knows who's going to be saved, then it is settled and that we don't have any choice about the matter. No, God knows the choice that we're going to make, but it is still our choice.

Here's where the problem comes. We try to put God in a box. And you can't put God in a box. Who has known the mind of the Lord?

Who has been his counselor? Do you think that you can understand things as God can understand things? And so here's a box. And we say, well, God foreknows everything, and therefore we don't have any choice. Well, if you try to put God in that box, man's free will, man's choice will jump out of that box. Well, then, on the other hand, if you put God in a box and you say, well, God doesn't have anything to do with it, God can't know it ahead of time, and God doesn't have any electing progress, it's all what man does, then the sovereignty of God will jump out of that box.

You just can't put God in a box. And Jesus said in John chapter 6, all that the Father hath given me shall come to me, and him that cometh unto me I'll in no wise cast out. Friend, you can be sure that everybody that God knows is going to be saved will be saved, and they're going to come to Jesus, and Jesus will not refuse him but receive him. Now, you say, pastor, you know, I really don't understand that. Well, I'm glad to know there's some things about God that you can't understand and I can't understand. God is good. But I want to tell you this, friend, God knows the future before the future ever happens, and God foresaw you getting saved, and you know that he already knows that ahead of time. Now, to foreknow does not mean to cause to happen. Some people think that if God foreknows it, then God makes it happen. No, no, no, no.

Let me ask you a question. See if you disagree with this. Everything that's going to happen eventually will. You disagree with that?

You can't disagree with that. Everything that is going to happen eventually will. I don't care whether it is rape or praise or murder or mayhem or a picnic or my scratching my ear. Everything that's going to happen eventually will. Now, when it happens, does that take God by surprise? Of course not. Does that mean that because God foreknew that there's going to be blasphemy or a rape that God caused it?

Of course not. Everything that's going to happen eventually will, and God can't learn anything. God knows everything.

Agreed? But God gave you a choice, and God gave you a will, and God knows simply what choice you are going to make. Now, the astronomers know when Halley's Common is going to appear again. I don't, but they do. Now, do you think because they know when Halley's Common is going to appear that they cause it to appear?

Of course not. You see, foreknowledge just simply means that, foreknowledge. Whom God foreknew. God knows. You can be sure that God, ahead of time, saw your salvation.

Now, that's a great comfort that you're not an accident, an incident. God knows ahead of time. That's the reason Jesus said, all that the Father hath given me will come to me.

Of course they will because everything that's going to happen eventually will. Now, here's the second thing I want you to see. Not only can you be sure of God's foreknowledge of your salvation, but you can be sure of your predestination to be like Jesus. Now, look at the scripture again.

Look at it. For whom he did foreknow, he did also predestinate. You know what some people think? They think that God predestines some people to go to hell, and God predestines some people to go to heaven.

No. He doesn't say anything here about hell or heaven. It says that when God foreknows somebody, he predestines them to be like Jesus. It's not looking backward to your salvation.

It's looking forward to your glorification. When God saw that kid in West Palm Beach giving his heart to Jesus Christ, God said, that one's going to be like Jesus. I have settled it. I have predetermined it.

It is done. He will be like Jesus Christ. That's God's eternal purpose. That's Romans 828. All things are working together for good, not to make you happy or holy or rich or wealthy or wise, but to make you like Jesus. You see, God's purpose is that Jesus might be the first born among many brethren, and you are predestined to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, some people think that some people are predestined to hell, and some people are predestined to heaven. Well, let me show you, friend, that God doesn't predestine anybody to hell. God doesn't want anybody to go to hell. God, listen to me, God wants everybody saved. God wants everybody saved. Let me give you some scripture. 2 Timothy 2, verses 3 and 4. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved. Now, some would say all of the elect, but it doesn't say that.

It just says all. Let me give you another scripture. 2 Peter 3, verse 9.

The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. You remember there in Matthew 23, about verse 37, Jesus is coming down off the Mount of Olives, about to go up to Jerusalem there on that Palm Sunday, and that crowd is saying, Hail him! Hail him!

Hosanna! But he knows that in just a few days there'll be bloody Calvary and that same group that's saying, Hail him! will be saying, Nail him!

And Jesus is weeping, convulsing, great salty tears, and he's saying, Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that stonest the prophets that are sent unto thee. How oft would I have gathered thee, even as a hen doth her chicks beneath her wing? But ye would not. I would have, but ye wouldn't. Now, folks, I want to submit to you that if he had said, I would have, but ye couldn't, that whole thing would have been a great charade. I mean, why those tears?

Why is Jesus weeping? What is all of that about when he said, I would have, but ye would not? If they couldn't be. I mean, if it was all settled, if some were predestined to heaven and some were predestined to hell, one preacher said, If God predestined me to go to hell, I want to go to hell, because anything that does what God made it to do is happy.

I'd be happier in hell than I would be in heaven if God made me to go to hell. I'll give you something to think about, won't it? No. No, do you think that God, Almighty God, fashioned a creature and said, I'm making this one to fling him into hell?

No. The Lord is not willing that any should perish. Nobody's predestined to go to hell, but I'll tell you one thing, when you receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you're predestined to be like Jesus.

That's what it says. Whom he did for know them did he also predestinate to be conformed to the image of God's Son. Now, you can be sure, therefore, that one day you're going to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. And by the way, this is a great verse.

If this was the only verse in the Bible that proved eternal security, it'd be enough. I mean, listen, do you know what predestined means? That means it's done. It's settled. I mean, Almighty God by his omniscience foreknew and by his omnipotence predestined.

Now, watch it. Do you think that what has been settled in heaven can be annulled in time or on earth or by humans or by hell? Some people get the idea, well, you know, you got saved by your free will, you could get lost by your free will.

No. Man, I could have my leg amputated by my free will, but I couldn't have it put back on by my free will. Well, you say, but the devil could take you out of God's hands. Oh, he could?

You think that? And you're still in God's hands? Well, why hadn't he taken you out? If he could. Don't you know if he could, he would?

And if he hasn't, hasn't he been nice to you? And now you're going to heaven by the goodness of the devil. Isn't that a strange doctrine? I mean, you think about it. No, he can't do it. That's why he hadn't done it.

He can't do it. No, God says when you receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord, you are predestined to be like Jesus. That's wonderful news. Now, you can be sure, you can be sure of God's foreknowledge of your salvation. You can be sure of your predestination to be just like the Lord Jesus Christ.

I'll tell you what else you can be sure of. You can be sure that God has called you to salvation. You know, some people get the idea that God calls some and God doesn't call other people.

No, I want to tell you. Look in this passage of scripture. The Bible says, for whom he did foreknow, them he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he, God's Son, might be the firstborn among many brethren. Now, verse 30, more over whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified. Now, what is the calling? How does God call you to be saved? Well, God calls you to be saved through the gospel. It's the preaching of the gospel that is God's call.

Let me give you a scripture to put it down, II Thessalonians 2, verses 13 and 14. But we are bound to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. You say, I thought I chose him. No, you only chose him because he chose you. God hath chosen you to salvation.

How did he do it? Watch it. Through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. The Holy Spirit brought you under conviction and you believe the truth. Those who are the chosen are those who believe the truth.

Now, listen to it. How did you get to hear the truth? Whereunto he called you by our gospel. Paul said the way you were called is when I preached the gospel. Now, I'm preaching the gospel today, and God is calling you to salvation. And it's such a wonderful calling, because you see, it's not just a preacher preaching.

It's the sanctification of the Spirit. I can't open blind eyes. A man needs more than light to see. He needs sight. I can preach the light, but God has to give the sight. He needs more than words to be saved.

He needs hearing. And God can make the blind to see and the deaf to hear. And salvation is a miracle that God works. When the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached, then that is God calling people. Now, some people have a doctrine that they call irresistible grace. That is, God only chooses some to be saved, and then when God calls an individual, they can't help but come.

Oh, yes, they can help but come. Stephen said, when he preached that message to those just before they stoned him, he said, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart, you do always resist the Holy Ghost, as did your fathers. See, the Holy Spirit can be resisted. That's the reason the Bible says today, if you'll hear his voice, don't harden your heart.

God will be calling you today in this message. But you can say no to him, or you can say yes to him, and God is not going to override your will. You have the dubious privilege of saying no to him. Now, he doesn't want you to say no. He wants you to say yes, but if you don't want him, he's not going to force himself upon you. Listen to me, forced love is a contradiction in terms. If you don't choose to love God, it's not love at all. And coming up on Monday, we'll hear part two of this important message.

Invite a friend to join us then as well. But today, if you have questions about who Jesus is, about what he means to you, how you can be sure, go to our Discover Jesus page at lwf.org slash radio. You'll find resources there and materials that will answer questions you may have about your faith. Again, go to lwf.org slash radio and click Discover Jesus at the top of the page. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message in its entirety, you can call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD.

Ask for the title, You Can Be Sure. This message is also part of the insightful series Foundations for Our Faith, Volume Two. For that complete collection, all 27 powerful messages, call 1-877-LOVEGOD or go online to order at lwf.org slash radio. Or you can write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. If you'd like to start receiving daily devotions and links to the program, sign up for our daily heartbeat emails at lwf.org slash radio. And remember to join us Monday for the insightful conclusion of You Can Be Sure, right here on Love Worth Finding. A listener wrote not long ago with this heartfelt message. He said, Thank you, Dr. Rogers, for all the wonderful messages of encouragement while I was passing through the most difficult time of life. Be assured that one day we will meet on that beautiful heavenly shore.

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