We are protected by a hope that cannot die and we are protected by a power that cannot fail. God's power is limitless. God's power is sovereign. God's power is supreme. God's power can never, ever fail. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.
I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Question. Can a believer ever forfeit his or her salvation, say, by denying Jesus? What about the unpardonable sin Jesus talks about in Matthew chapter 12?
Is it possible for a Christian to commit that sin? And the bottom line, should you ever worry about losing your salvation? John MacArthur is tackling that question in his study, God Won't Let You Go. Even if you don't struggle with doubting your salvation, there may be someone in your life who does. So follow along closely today and God might use you to encourage someone else. And now here's John. I want you to turn to 1 Peter chapter 1.
We just sort of introduced that last time and I want to work our way through it. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verses 3 through 9. Now this marvelous epistle begins with the doctrine of election in verse 1, we are chosen. It then moves to the sanctifying work of the Spirit, obedience to Christ, being sprinkled with His blood. And so it is clearly an epistle directed at the elect, those who have been sanctified by the Spirit through justification unto glorification. And he comes into verse 3 and starts to unfold the blessing of this salvation which began in eternity past with election and was realized in time through the sanctifying work of the Spirit in our lives that produced submission to the lordship of Christ. Look at that word protected for a minute in verse 5.
It's a strong word, fruruminus, fruruminus, a military term. It indicates being guarded by soldiers, present tense, constantly under guard by a powerful protective force. Those who belong to God are perpetually guarded from all enemies until the war is over and the victory is complete, protected...back to verse 5...by the power of God through faith for a salvation to be revealed. We often say, well I was saved twenty years ago, I was saved two years ago, I was saved three months ago.
That's true. It would be just as true to say I am nearer to my salvation than I've ever been. It is true I was saved from the penalty of sin in the past when I believed and the righteousness of Christ was imputed to me and my sin imputed to him. I have been saved. It is also true to say I am being saved. I was saved from the penalty of sin. I am being saved currently from the power of sin which no longer has dominion over me, but there is an element of my salvation that hasn't taken place yet and so I am nearer to my salvation than I've ever been, I will be saved from the very presence of sin. The salvation that the Lord determined before the foundation of the world to give me is not complete until that last element is fulfilled.
And He doesn't start saving people and then stop. Paul says, I'm confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will...what?...complete it. We have been and are being protected for a salvation yet to be revealed. I don't know how much stronger you could say it than that, protected by...what?...by the power of God, by what means through faith for that salvation that is our final glory.
Let me just kind of take apart this passage for you and I won't give you a lot of detail, I want you to understand it because it's so wonderful. I'm going to show you six ways we are protected. Six ways that we are protected. Number one, we're protected through a living hope.
Six ways we know we're protected. One is a living hope, verse 3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we have been born again. We have been regenerated. We have been given new life. It is the life of God.
It is eternal life which is not a duration of life, but a kind of life. It is the life of God in us. We have been regenerated into this new life. And in this new life, we experience as a part of that life a living hope. Everything in our new life is supernaturally and spiritually alive. Our joy is a living joy, our peace is a living peace and our hope is a living hope.
What does that mean? It's the opposite of one that dies, that can't die. We do not have a hope that dies, but a hope that lives. In verse 13 of this same chapter, gird your minds for action, keep sober in your spirit. Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Stop worrying about whether you're going to survive the suffering. Stop worrying about whether you can stand before the tribunal of men and maintain your faith and your testimony for Jesus Christ in that hour. Stop fearing that and start fixing your hope on the grace that it will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Live in hope. This is a hope that cannot die because this is a life that cannot die. From 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 16...2 verse 16, now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God the Father who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace comfort and strengthen your hearts. When you live in this world, you're not supposed to live with fear, anxiety, panic, worry that the devil's going to take your salvation, or somehow you're going to lose it.
God doesn't want you to live that way. He loves you and He's given you eternal comfort and good hope by grace. So comfort and strengthen your hearts with that. In Romans chapter 5, the opening few verses of that chapter celebrate this hope. We have been justified by faith.
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom also we've obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand. We now stand in grace and grace covers all our sins. And He says, we rejoice in hope. And verse 5 He says, hope does not disappoint. The Lord didn't give you a hope that can die, He gave you a living hope. Colossians 1 verse 3, Paul says, we give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.
We give thanks to God for you because you have an eternal hope, a hope that always lives and never dies. Titus chapter 1, so wonderful. Verse 1, Paul, a bondservant of God, an Apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, listen to this, in the hope of eternal life which God who cannot lie promised. And the next phrase, before time began, before you ever lived, before there was ever a creation, God promised eternal life and He cannot lie. In Titus chapter 2 and verse 13, we are looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Folks, we are protected by that living hope. In contrast to human hopes that fade and die, this hope cannot fade, cannot die, cannot disappoint. Hebrews 6 19 says, this hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both steadfast and sure. Our hope can't die because our faith can't fail.
Now notice again back to what Peter says. Verse 3, we have a living hope secured through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. All our eternal life is secured by His conquering death. But notice verse 4, to obtain, and this is our hope, an inheritance, imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. I just love the fact that the writer will not just make one statement, but wants to make four for those doubters out there. It would be enough to say, you have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance, okay?
If I'm going to receive an inheritance, that's enough for me. But he adds, which is imperishable in case you wonder. And if you're still wondering, undefiled. And if you're still wondering, it won't fade away. And if you're still wondering, it's reserved there for you.
I mean, you run out of butt, butt, butt, butts. We are guaranteed an inheritance, imperishable, aph-thartos, not liable to corruption, not liable to pass away. And the word can be not able to be plundered by an enemy.
No one can snatch them out of my hand. It's that John 10 passage. Or that's that Romans 8 passage, who could bring a charge against God's elect that would stick?
It's God that's already justified us. Our inheritance can't be plundered. It can't be stolen by any enemy, by Satan, demons. It is eternal, it is indestructible, it is protected by God. And then he adds the word undefiled, amantas, unstained, not subject to defect, not capable of failure. And then he adds, amarantas, will not fade away, can't diminish.
In every way he can say it, he says it. On one of the islands of Greece, some years ago, workmen were making excavations in an ancient subterranean tomb area. They came upon a really magnificent marble sarcophagus which is where they put dead bodies in ancient times.
An inscription in Greek, according to the historian, informed the workmen that here was interred the body of Carasco, the golden-haired only daughter of Saphyrus, king of Milo. When the lid was removed and the gleam of the lights shone within, a sight was disclosed that thrilled the spectators with wonder and awe. There lay in this sealed sarcophagus, now unsealed, the embalmed princess dressed in gorgeous robes and adorned with antique-shaped jewels.
It was reported that she had long, luxuriant hair, tied together by a golden circlet, forming a flowing frame for her face and sides. After a sleep of nearly three thousand years, she looked as fresh and fair as if she had been buried only a few days earlier. But the writer says, while the enraptured spectators gazed with bated breath at the exquisite sight, fresh air entered the sarcophagus. All at once the lovely vision collapsed and crumbled into ashes. Nothing remained in the cold marble tomb but a handful of ashes mingled with jewels. This is how it is with earthly beauty and earthly joy. It all crumbles away, but not our heavenly inheritance. Everything in this life is subject to corruption. Everything in this life is subject to decay.
It is subject to fading. But our salvation is incorruptible, undefiled, unfading. Why? Because it is not a part of this world, it is not human. And he says that.
Go back. It is reserved in heaven for you and because it's there, it's not corruptible. It's beyond corruption.
It's outside of the capability of corruption. It's reserved in heaven for you and in heaven there is no corruption, right? And that verb, it is reserved, perfect passive participle from tereo, to keep or to guard. Perfect passive means it has been and continues to be protected there in the safest place in the universe, heaven. And you remember the words of Jesus, lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and thieves break through and steal, but lay up your treasure in heaven where moth and rust does not corrupt and thieves do not break through and steal. The safest place in the universe is heaven, right? That's where your eternal inheritance is reserved.
And it is protected there to be revealed at the last time. Look at verse 5, for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. A salvation that's ready, et toimos, means at hand, present, prepared.
Second Corinthians 10 16 is translated that which has been accomplished, it's already done. When Jesus said in John 14, I go to prepare a place for you, what was He saying? And I hope you'll show up or I'll have to rent it out to somebody else. If He's going to prepare a place for you, He says, I'll come again and I'll get you. And there won't be anybody else in your place but you because I'm preparing it for you. We are protected until the salvation yet to be revealed in the last time when we come face to face with the Lord, either through death or His coming, to receive the inheritance that now at this moment already is at hand in its place, already prepared, waiting our arrival.
And there aren't going to be a lot of vacant rooms in the Father's house because the folks for whom they were prepared didn't show up. Protected is a military term and the verb tense speaks of continuous action, always being protected...always being protected. And protected through faith, underline that.
That's the key. That's why we talk about the perseverance of the saints because if you're truly saved, you have a faith that lasts. It takes you back to 1 John 2, 19, they went out from us because they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would have continued with us.
They went out from us that it might be made manifest, they were not all of us. The point is this, you say, well what about the person who believes for a while and goes away? That was human faith, that wasn't the gift of faith from God. They never were genuinely saved.
If they were genuinely saved, if they genuinely came to Christ, if they genuinely repented and believed, if they genuinely were given that gift of saving faith, if they truly and honestly opened their heart to that gift from the Lord, that gift would be there to the end. Our continued faith in Jesus Christ is the instrument by which God protects us. So, as you look at this idea of protection, we are protected by means of a living hope? Or we experience that protection, the reality of that protection through our living hope? And secondly, as we pointed out in verse 5, we are protected by God's own power.
We are protected by a hope that cannot die and we are protected by a power that cannot fail...a power that cannot fail. God's power is limitless, God's power is sovereign, God's power is supreme, God's power can never ever fail. You could go through Scripture after Scripture, I won't take the time to do that, but the Bible is pretty clear about the power of God. But if you're wondering about the power of God, you might just remember that He created the universe, that sort of would be enough to cover the discussion. And if you're still wondering, He created the universe out of nothing. And if you still wonder how much power He has, He created the universe by speaking it into existence. And if you're still wondering, He created the universe by speaking it into existence in full maturity. And if you're still wondering, He spoke it into existence in full maturity in six days. And He could have done it in six milliseconds, but He established a pattern of life for us with the idea of a week.
This is our great and powerful God and not only did He create the universe, but He upholds the universe, He sustains the universe, He keeps it together. When Einstein comes to the end of his life and says, after all my studies and all my discoveries, he said in effect, he said not in exact words, I die disillusioned and incomplete because I never could find what is the power that holds it all together. It's fine to understand the atom. It's fine to understand what the components of the atom do.
It's fine to get down to the most minutest elements of existence of matter and energy. But in the end, He couldn't discover what it was and because of that, there was great disillusionment. What it is, is simply the power of God...the power of God. And it is that same power that keeps us and the means He uses to keep us is by giving us a faith that does not die. And if there was a time when you believed and now you don't, if there was a time when you had interest in Christ and now you don't, if you are indifferent to the Lord at all, if you don't have a hunger and thirst for Him, if you don't have a desire for His Word, if you don't love Him and long to serve Him, if you don't want to know Him, if you don't have a sustained trust and confidence in Him, if you don't live your life in the hope of eternal glory, then whatever you may or may not have done in the past, you're not a Christian.
You're not a Christian because Christians live by faith, an enduring sustained faith. It's not apart from our wills, it's in perfect harmony with our wills. We remain steadfast but not passive. We are active in persevering. We are pursuing Christ with all our might. We are pursuing obedience. We are longing for it, desiring it. We hate sin, we love righteousness.
We are active in this process of persevering, that's why we can call it persevering. It is a kind of faith that captures our minds and captures our souls and makes them enamored with Christ and in love with His Word and in love with His Law and desiring to serve Him. All our being, everything in us reaches out to honor Christ and we live in a kind of state of grief because we do what we don't want to do and don't do what we ought to do and we find ourselves in Romans 7, sick of our own remaining sin. So Peter says, you are worried about whether your faith will endure these terrible, severe tests.
Don't worry, don't worry. As Jesus said, when they take you before the synagogue and before the authorities and the kings, don't be anxious. The Holy Spirit will show you what you should say and you'll say what you should say and you'll stand and give your testimony to Jesus Christ in the worst possible situation because that's the gift of faith that you've been given by God, sustained by the Holy Spirit.
That's John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. The title of his current study here on Grace to You, God Won't Let You Go. Well, we're only three days into this study and maybe you find yourself challenged by some of the terminology. John has been talking about the perseverance of believers and the doctrine of election and sanctification and these words are not necessarily everyday language and the subjects are not necessarily easy ones. Of course, John, just because a passage may take extra effort to understand, that's okay because after all, the Bible is a book that we are called to study diligently, right?
Yeah, and I actually think that the harder you work, the sweeter the reward. I mean, certainly from my standpoint, there are some things that are obvious. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
That's pretty obvious. But when you start digging into the nature of God's love in the Bible, when you start digging into what the giving of his son meant in the Bible, it just expands and explodes the divine truth and it's inexhaustible, absolutely inexhaustible. And that is one of the goals of producing the MacArthur Study Bible, now available in the Legacy Standard version. We want you to understand the Bible with depth and clarity. There are 25,000 footnotes at the bottom of the pages of this Bible. Each page will bring you to a deeper understanding of the meaning of the text, which is the whole point.
If you don't understand the meaning of the Bible, you don't have the message. As you use the study notes, you'll see how scriptures over and over actually interpret themselves. So the MacArthur Study Bible can start you on your way to becoming a capable student of scripture who knows how to navigate God's Word on your own.
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