The Hymn of Security, Part 1 B

If he, under no duress from anyone but by his own free choice based upon his own overwhelming love, chose to give his son as a sacrifice and not spare his son to redeem us, Paul says, how in the world could you ever imagine that he would not do something less to hold on to us? Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. There was a time when you could find many lenders offering no-money-down mortgages. The house you wanted may have been free at the beginning, but soon after you had to pay, and pay a lot, to keep it. Sadly, a good many people hold a similar view of salvation, thinking that God makes salvation absolutely free in the beginning, but then you have to keep doing good works in order to keep your salvation. It's as though the free gift of eternal life really isn't free at all.

So what encouragement would you have for someone you know who may have that mindset? Today on Grace to You, John MacArthur returns to Romans chapter 8 for answers, continuing his timely study, Guaranteed for Eternity. And with today's lesson, here's John. Any classical presentation or argumentation of theology must anticipate its objections. For example, very often when you read a theology or you read a commentary, you will find that the writer will present his view and then he will present the opposing views, anticipate what they are and rebut them. Now that's just classical technique in presenting an airtight argument, and that is exactly what Paul does in the final verses of Romans 8.

He anticipates the objections that could come and answers them all. Now I want you to notice verse 32, He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. Will He not also with Him give us the rest if He would do that to save us?

Won't He do whatever it takes less than that to keep us? And would you notice verse 32 again? He spared not...and this is a beautiful thing...His own Son, idios in the Greek. Not just His Son, but His own Son.

Why put that in there? Because it emphasizes the peculiar, intimate, private possession in which the Father held the Son. His own Son, as if to say His own private possession that He didn't have to give to anybody. I mean, He didn't hold back the giving of someone He didn't have to give. It wasn't required by any other higher power. Nobody told God that He had to give Christ, but He did. And listen, if He under no duress from anyone, but by His own free choice based upon His own overwhelming love, chose to give His Son as a sacrifice and not spare His Son to redeem us, Paul says, how in the world could you ever imagine that He would not do something less to hold on to us? You understand?

Inconceivable. An understanding of the cross then, beloved, is the foundation of an understanding of security. You understand the cross, you understand the redemptive work of Christ on the cross, you understand the giving of the Father, and you will understand security. He delivered Him up. He delivered Him up. 2 Corinthians 5 says, He that is God made Him that is Christ to be sin for us.

You get that? Why did He do that for us? Because He what? Because He loved us. Why did He love us?

Don't ask me that. Only He knows that. Galatians 3, 13 says, Christ was made a curse for us, for us.

And the point is simple. Galatians 1, 4, who gave Himself for our sins. If He would give Himself for us, if the Father would give Him for us, if He would deliver Him over to the devil to be killed for us, will He not do less than that to keep us saved? That's absolutely apparent.

There's no argument against that kind of thinking. And it says in verse 32, He did it for us all, for us all. Can I be so bold in this particular text to say that the prepositions that appear here or the form that appears here for us all does not just stop with the idea for our benefit, but carries the implication also of in our place so that you see for us all, although you can't really see it in the Greek grammar, it's inherent in the act of Christ that for us all means in our place and there is vicarious death there.

You say, who's the us? Well the us must be the same us in verse 31, if God be for us. And the us of verse 31 must be the us of verse 28, all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose, the ones He foreknew, predestinated, called, justified and glorified.

So the us is the us of those who believe, the redeemed. He delivered Him for us, for all believers, for all believers. And how shall He not also give us all things? All things there at the end of the verse means all spiritual blessing. Ephesians 1, 3, He's blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. People miss that verse.

That's a great verse on security, too. Because if when you become a Christian you were blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, then you've got everything there is to get, right? And one of the things there is to get is eternal glory. And so if you've got eternal glory, you've got it all, folks. If the Father didn't spare the Son but gave Him up to save us, will He not also give us everything else?

Tremendous, tremendous thought...tremendous thought. By the way, can I just draw another little footnote that I think is very fascinating in this verse? The end of verse 32, it says, How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Now that verb is very interesting and I was kind of challenged in my mind because I looked at that verb and I began to look it up and chase it around the New Testament, karidzimai. The verb is used frequently in the New Testament to translate this, forgive freely.

Now here it says, freely give. But in other places in the New Testament it is translated to freely forgive. Now look back at the verse with that in mind.

It's a marvelous thought. He that spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely forgive us all things? Now if in fact that's the emphasis and the proper emphasis, then what it's saying is that no matter what sin we might commit, He'll what? You'll forgive it. So we could never be taken out of our salvation because we can never have any sin which God holds against us.

Now somebody else comes along and says, I have another objection. What about Satan? You sure Satan can't go to God and convince Him that we ought not to be believers any longer? Can't we be condemned by our sins? Can't the accuser go to God and accuse us? Look at verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? You mean somebody's going to do that?

Sure they are. But the point here is who can successfully do that? And if we fall into sins, doesn't someone come before the throne of God to accuse us? Well the answer is yes. Verse 34, who is He that condemneth? Assumes again that some people are going to go before God and condemn us.

Really the question at the beginning of 33 and 34 are just worded...it's the same question worded two ways. The point here is who can successfully condemn us? Who can successfully lay a charge against us that can remove our salvation? Now who is it that is the accuser?

Who would do this? Who has access to God's presence to do this? Satan does. In Revelation chapter 12 it says, the accuser of our brethren is cast down who accused them before our God day and night. You know, you say, what's Satan doing? You say, oh he's running around the world doing it. No, Satan spends a lot of his time up in heaven bugging God about us.

That's right, day and night. Satan is the accuser. Can he successfully accuse? Can he successfully come before God and accuse us so that God will reject the salvation He has given us? There's an illustration of this in Zechariah chapter 3, he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and the prophet in his vision sees Satan standing at his right hand to resist him? In other words, Satan is against this man and the Lord said to Satan, the Lord rebuke you, oh Satan.

Even the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Well I love that. I mean, here's the guy there and Satan's really laying on him and God says, nothing doing, Satan.

This is one of mine, a brand I plucked out of the fire. I rescued him. And the truth of the matter was, he stood there in filthy garments but even in his filthy garments he was under the protection of God.

Tremendous thought. So verse 33 says, who's going to lay a charge to God's elect? Verse 34 says, who's going to condemn?

And here comes the answer in verse 33. Shall God the justified...or justifies...God, literally it says God the one justifying. Shall God...I mean, is God going to condemn one that He just pronounced righteous?

It's impossible. God alone condemns and He alone justifies but He can't condemn and justify at the same time. He can't condemn and justify the same person. And the point is this, if God, the highest source of truth in the universe, the highest court there is, pronounces a person righteous, then the same God can't pronounce the same person damned. And if God has already said He's righteous when we were in sin, then sin isn't going to be a problem.

We didn't get in there by our goodness, we don't stay in there by our goodness, and we can't get out by a lack of goodness. Listen, if we could get unsaved by a lack of goodness, we could never get saved to start with. But the point is this, if God declares us just, then the same God who declares us just cannot be a God who condemns us.

And so we are always being accused. I know the devil is always up there saying that they shouldn't get what you're giving them to God, but the highest judge has already rendered his verdict and once the high court of all heaven and all eternity renders the verdict just, just, just, righteous, righteous, righteous, then no accusation can make God change that verdict. God wrote the law, God enforces the law, God interprets the law, God knows it was satisfied in Jesus Christ and God knows who He redeems and brings to Himself and declares to be just, He imputes to them the righteousness of Jesus Christ and once that is done there can be therefore no...what?...condemnation. Once God justifies, that settles it. And who are these who are absolved? Verse 33, God's elect...God's elect, those chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, those by His foreknowledge, from verse 29, predestined, called and justified.

And there's that key again, beloved. Our security is tied up in God's electing purpose. Those who stand at the bar, says Marcus Lone, are not some outlaws, they are God's elect. And you can't go to God's bar and accuse His elect successfully.

Our safety then again is found in our election. It is found in the fact that before the world began, we were chosen in Him. That is why in John chapter 10, that very hopeful and familiar text, My Father who gave them to Me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand.

What a thought. No one can take that believer out of the Father's hand, no one. There is safety in the Father's hand. And we're not in there because of our goodness, but because of His electing purpose, because of His predetermination to love us and we stay on that same basis. In Luke 18, 7, And shall not God avenge His own elect who cry day and night unto Him? Isn't God going to make sure He takes care of His own chosen ones?

That's the source of our safety. You say, well all right, God can't take us out and the devil can't take us out because he'd have to convince God that we should be condemned and the same God who justified us can't condemn us and by the way, he's not going to hear from Satan anything he didn't already know anyway. Well maybe Christ could do it.

Maybe Christ could come along and He could stop pleading for us and He could no longer ask the Father anything in our behalf and then we'd be out. And so verse 34 says, Who is He that condemns? Christ? Christ who died? Who is risen again? Who is at the right hand of God? Who makes intercession for us?

You've got to be kidding. God can't justify and condemn us at the same time. Christ can't redeem us and condemn us at the same time and Christ can't intercede for us and condemn us at the same time. Christ isn't going to condemn us, He died for us.

You think He wants to undo His death, undo the meaning of His redemptive work? John 3 16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life for God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned but He that believes not is condemned already because He's not believed. He that believeth on Him is not condemned.

That's what He says. And Romans 8 34 here just restates that truth. God isn't going to turn against us. After all, He chose us. After all, He gave us the greatest gift. Will He not give us lesser ones to keep us saved? And no person can come to God and accuse us, not even Satan himself, successfully. And no matter what they may try, if God is for us who can be against us. And now finally in this part of the argument, even Christ, He's not going to come against us.

There's a fourfold protection, and we'll close with this in verse 34, a fourfold protection. First, Christ died. Christ died. Beloved, the point is that when Christ died, He received the penalty for our sin, right? He received the penalty for our sin. If He already paid the penalty for our sin, He already bore the condemnation for us, then there's nothing to condemn us for. If He, in fact, condemned a believer to hell, He would be saying that what He did on the cross was inadequate, right? His death is the only condemnation we'll ever know.

Think of that. The death of Christ is the only condemnation a believer will ever know. And then secondly, the second of the fourfold protection. Yea, or what is more would be a better way to translate that. What is more that is risen again? If all it said was Christ died, we might say, well, maybe He tried His best.

He tried His best to take our condemnation but it didn't work. But when it says He's risen again, oh, it showed that He accomplished it. Christ's death blotted out our sins and this is affirmed by His resurrection.

You remember Romans 4.25? He was delivered for our offenses and raised for our justification. He wasn't just delivered to death for our offenses, He was raised for our justification.

That's the corollary. His death paid the price for our sins and His resurrection proved that the price was paid, you see. The resurrection was the verification. When God raised Jesus from the dead, He demonstrated that Christ had offered satisfaction, that the sacrifice pleased Him, that sufficient atonement has been made by His death.

And then the third of the fourfold protection, who is even at the right hand of God. That basically is an echo of Psalm 110 where it says, the Lord has said to my Lord, sit thou at My right hand. What does that mean? That means that the Father took the Son into glory and He sat Him at His right hand and that's the seat of exaltation.

That's the seat of honor. You say, well what does that mean? That means that the Father was satisfied with what the Son did, right? So Jesus died paying our penalty, suffering our condemnation.

He rose showing that indeed it was successful. He is exalted to the right hand of God showing that the Father says it is a satisfactory offering. No other offering needs to be made. And that is why Hebrews 1 says that when He had made sacrifice for our sins, He sat down. No priest ever sat down, never. There wasn't even a seat to sit on in the tabernacle because the work was never done, but Jesus sat down. The exaltation to the Father's right hand and the place of honor and the place of majesty is the Father saying, I am well pleased. I am well pleased.

And so we are secure, beloved. Some objector might come and say, well Christ might remove you. You've sinned so many times and you've done this so many times and you've failed the Lord so many times, Christ will remove you.

Are you kidding? The Christ who died for that sin, whose work was so perfect that He was exalted to the right hand of God, the Father, for having perfected our salvation in that act, that Christ is going to condemn us when He Himself has accomplished the paying of that condemnation? That's so impossible...impossible. And then there is a fourth who also makes intercession for us.

That's the high point. It's not what He did, it's what He did and what He continues to do. He keeps on interceding for us. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah said it would be so, the last part of that 53rd chapter says He made...the last phrase of Isaiah 53, He made intercession for the transgressors. He keeps on interceding for us. He keeps on interceding for us. We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, says 1 John 2, 1.

And Hebrews, that thrilling, marvelous, wondrous look at the priesthood of Jesus Christ in Hebrews 7, 24, it says He has an unchangeable priesthood. He is able also to save them to the uttermost. In other words, He saves us all the way to the uttermost, all the way to glory.

How? Seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them. And whenever we sin, He pleads our case, He intercedes on our behalf, He comes to our defense. So on the one hand you have Satan and all his accusation, on the other hand you have the lawyer for the defense, the Lord Jesus Christ who speaks to the Father and the Father always responds to the intercession of the Son. For like the Spirit, the Son always prays according to the will of the Father. In 1142 Jesus said, over the grave of Lazarus when praying to God He said, And I know, Father, that You always hear Me.

You always hear Me. Oh, we are secured. We are secured by the first priestly act of Christ, His death on the cross, and by every other priestly work of intercession every time we sin and He intercedes on our behalf. That's the first half of this great section.

And let me just sum it up in a few words. What do we say to these things, that we're eternally secure? Oh, somebody's going to come along and say, No, you're not. Boy, if you fall into sin over here, you're going to find it, you're going to lose it. God will let you go. Christ will let you go. Satan will get up there and He'll accuse you and God will turn you loose. And Paul's answer to that is, That is absolutely absurd. Shall God...shall God be intimidated by someone else?

If He's for you, who successfully can be against you? Shall God let you go when He gave the greatest gift to redeem you? Will He not give a lesser one to keep you? Shall Christ, who died for you and paid the price for your sin, undo His own work, a work for which He was raised from the dead, exalted to the right hand of God? Shall He cease to intercede for you while He's alive when He already died to redeem you? And so the objection that some persons might cause you to lose your salvation is absurd. In the remaining passage, the objection is, Well, there might be circumstances that would cause you to give up your salvation. And this is always the old Arminian argument.

Well, nobody can do it, but you can do it yourself. And that's what he'll answer in our next study. That's John MacArthur looking at the lasting peace you have when you know that your salvation can't be taken away. It's part of John's current study on grace to you, titled Guaranteed for Eternity.

Well, it's no surprise that when people contact grace to you with questions, the questions we get frequently concern salvation, the doctrine of salvation, soteriology. So with that said, John, let me have you listen to this question from our Q&A line, and then you can respond. Hi, John.

My name is Colin. I'm from Pennsylvania. I came across one of your videos on the thing the title was saved or self-deceived. And I was just curious. I didn't get all the way through it. Honestly, I kind of got scared. I was just wondering why I asked myself if I was truly saved or if I was self-deceived.

The video, after watching half of it, made me ask that. And then I prayed for assurance. And then the next morning being today, I don't feel as worried.

I was just curious as to should I be alerted and worried as to why I asked myself that question. Thank you for all that you do, and God bless. Yeah, Colin, you should be alerted to that question, because the Apostle Paul said that we need to examine ourselves to see if we'd be in the faith. So how do you know that you're saved? You don't go back to some time when you prayed a prayer.

You don't go back to some time when you raised your hand or when you went forward or when you had an emotional experience. To be sure you're saved, you really ask one question. What are my heart desires?

What are my heart desires? Because here are the things that would mark true salvation. Love is the first one, love for the Lord, that you love the Lord to some degree. He has your affection. He has your worship. You not only love the Lord, you love the Word of God. You have a desire to read the Word of God, to know the Word of God. You love the Church.

You want to be with God's people. That's evidence that you are truly transformed. The second, I think, is humility. There's a sense in which you recognize your sinfulness. You're honest about your weakness because you came penitently to salvation. You confessed your sins. You know you're a sinner. And John says if we are the ones confessing our sins, he is faithfully forgiving us our sins. So the humility of recognizing your sin and confessing that sin is a mark of true salvation. And the third mark is obedience. In other words, your heart's desire is to obey. But Paul says, look, I don't do what I want to do. I do what I don't want to do.

There's a wretchedness still hanging on. But my desires are right. And that's the thing that marks obedience. It's not that you always obey as you should, but that's your desire. So do you love the Lord and the things of the Lord? Do you recognize your own sin and confess it?

And do you desire to obey him? If your heart is in that direction, that's evidence of the new creation. That's right. Thank you, John. That is helpful. And friend, if you're someone who lacks assurance of salvation, John's book Saved Without a Doubt can help. It provides biblical wisdom for breaking the cycle of spiritual doubt, and it shows you how you can have genuine assurance.

To order your copy, get in touch today. Our number is 800-55-GRACE or visit our website, gty.org. Saved Without a Doubt is not only for people wrestling with the question, am I saved? It's also a training tool for mature Christians. It can help you clearly teach others what Scripture says about the assurance of salvation.

To pick up a copy, it costs $10.50. Call us at 800-55-GRACE or go to gty.org. Also a reminder about the Grace to You Q&A line.

If you have a question about the Bible or Christian living or really any theological subject, I encourage you to call our Q&A line and record your question, and you might hear John answer it on a future broadcast. The Q&A number is 661-295-6288. Once again, that's 661-295-6288.

You'll find that number also at our website, gty.org. Now for John MacArthur and the entire Grace to You staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for making this broadcast part of your day, and join us tomorrow when John looks at the powerful kindness God shows His children and the truths that will equip you to withstand Satan's attacks. John is continuing his series, Guaranteed for Eternity, with another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time, on Grace to You.