sermon
today in church a message was given that covered a multitude of verses describing the unfathomably rich relationship we have with Christ according to the doctrine of eternal security. i was reassured that my salvation is secure regardless of what happens around me, and i am incapable of giving my salvation back to God, even should there be a day when i desire to disown Him and tire of His path. (there never will be such a day as far as i'm concerned...i may be Peter, but after only 14 years of knowing Him, i have not yet come to crave such a thing)
we plowed through much Scripture, but in application to this sort of thing, romans 8:38-9 stands solid through the stripping sands of time. Rest assured that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, amen!
while some argue that they can shrug out of God's grace and push aside the salvation they've already accepted, they are naive to recognize a few important facts of God's ways - which are well-known to be higher than our own! first off, God cannot do all things. that's right: He can't go against His nature. God can't lie, He can't deceive, He can't act contrary to who He is simply because of who He is and always has been. again and again, Scripture says that He is unchanging. in fact, just today i found a verse that says, "Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; yes, they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak You will change them, and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will have no end. The children of Your servants will continue, and their descendants will be established before You." (Psalm 102:25-28) God is unchanging, and God is, essentially, bigger than us. if God cannot alter Himself, what makes us think we have any power over the power He has over us? we can't even always make animals do what we want!
once His grace has saved us, we can't just shrug it off; it's already been permanently implanted into the heart of who we are as human beings. we can change shoes, we can change locations, but we can't suddenly be genetically asian if we're white. God made us new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:16-21), and today our pastor alluded to an illustration where, let's say you had a heart attack. you manage to make it into an ER, and the surgeon finds the perfect heart needed to replace your old, broken one. the operation is a success! you thank him a million times, and years down the road, it's still thumping strong in your chest. but for some reason, you suddenly decide you don't want it anymore, so you approach your life-saving surgeon and demand that he put the old one back in your chest. he throws up his hands, claiming that he won't break the hippocratic oath, knowing that it would be a stupid move to dig up your old heart (which is loooong gone) to put it back in. in frustration, you not only hold fast to the idea that you're going to get your nasty, rotten heart back, but you decide that YOU will be the one to operate!
the same concept is applicable to God; He is the great surgeon, and once He removed your heart of stone, He tossed it. you can't get it back. all sales are final. you're stuck with the thriving, living Holy Spirit of God, and a pumping, beating heart of flesh pulsing with the blood of a spotless Lamb slain for you. this offers endless comfort to me, to know that i am secure and nothing i can do will persuade God to leave me. praise God!!! He is faithful to the end!!
we plowed through much Scripture, but in application to this sort of thing, romans 8:38-9 stands solid through the stripping sands of time. Rest assured that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, amen!
while some argue that they can shrug out of God's grace and push aside the salvation they've already accepted, they are naive to recognize a few important facts of God's ways - which are well-known to be higher than our own! first off, God cannot do all things. that's right: He can't go against His nature. God can't lie, He can't deceive, He can't act contrary to who He is simply because of who He is and always has been. again and again, Scripture says that He is unchanging. in fact, just today i found a verse that says, "Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; yes, they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak You will change them, and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will have no end. The children of Your servants will continue, and their descendants will be established before You." (Psalm 102:25-28) God is unchanging, and God is, essentially, bigger than us. if God cannot alter Himself, what makes us think we have any power over the power He has over us? we can't even always make animals do what we want!
once His grace has saved us, we can't just shrug it off; it's already been permanently implanted into the heart of who we are as human beings. we can change shoes, we can change locations, but we can't suddenly be genetically asian if we're white. God made us new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:16-21), and today our pastor alluded to an illustration where, let's say you had a heart attack. you manage to make it into an ER, and the surgeon finds the perfect heart needed to replace your old, broken one. the operation is a success! you thank him a million times, and years down the road, it's still thumping strong in your chest. but for some reason, you suddenly decide you don't want it anymore, so you approach your life-saving surgeon and demand that he put the old one back in your chest. he throws up his hands, claiming that he won't break the hippocratic oath, knowing that it would be a stupid move to dig up your old heart (which is loooong gone) to put it back in. in frustration, you not only hold fast to the idea that you're going to get your nasty, rotten heart back, but you decide that YOU will be the one to operate!
the same concept is applicable to God; He is the great surgeon, and once He removed your heart of stone, He tossed it. you can't get it back. all sales are final. you're stuck with the thriving, living Holy Spirit of God, and a pumping, beating heart of flesh pulsing with the blood of a spotless Lamb slain for you. this offers endless comfort to me, to know that i am secure and nothing i can do will persuade God to leave me. praise God!!! He is faithful to the end!!
posted by awlear at 11:17 PM
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