June 15

June 15, 2008

Never Lost Again
a sermon on 2 Timothy 1.8-14
by David C. Mauldin
Westminster Presbyterian Church, Mobile, Alabama
Three friends who had recently graduated from college were sharing a somber dinner. Earlier that day they had attended the funeral of a fourth friend who had grown up with them. They had attended the same high school, and back then they had all been close. All but two had gone to different colleges, and they had kind of lost touch, but they saw one another during summers and holidays. None of the three had seen Kari in more than a year. Kari was the girl whose funeral they attended. In high school, she was a good kid. She was involved in youth group, never got into trouble. When she went to college she fell in with the wrong crowd. After a couple of years, she dropped out to pursue other interests. Those interests being guys and drugs. As her life started to spiral downwards, her friends had tried to help her. But she persisted. She left home. Her parents would not know where she was for long stretches. She got arrested once, and her parents tried to help her then, but she didn‟t want help. Now her friends were gathered to remember her. Word had it she died of an overdose, whether accidental or intentional no one knew.
Sitting at the table, Emily, one of the friends, began to cry. She covered her face with her hands and wept. The other two, Drew and Tony, tried to console her. “The worst part is,” whispered Emily, “I fear for her soul. She was so far from God. I know she did some awful things, and she never confessed them. I could handle her death if I didn‟t think she‟s in hell, but I know she must be, and I can‟t stand it.”
“You can‟t know that,” answered Drew. “You don‟t know the state of her heart. Maybe she still had faith. Maybe she was sorry on some level. We can‟t be sure she‟s in heaven, but we can hope. I mean, at least it is possible, right? It‟s her faith that matters, and we are not in a position to know that. Only God does. So we can at least hope for the best.”
“I can do more than hope,” Tony cut in. “I can know. I am certain she is in heaven. Drew, she went to church with you. You know how she was. She trusted Christ. Her faith was sincere. Remember how she used to help with Vacation Bible School and that mission trip we went on? Back then she had such a confident, lively faith. She was in Christ, and you know what the Bible says. Once you are in Christ, nothing can separate you from him. „There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,‟ right? The
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Bible says that. Sure, she messed up her life. It‟s awful. But we don‟t have to fear for her soul. Christ died for her and she is in his hands, and that settles it.”
“I hope you are right,” sighed Emily. Drew reflected, “Me too.”
So what do you think? I have tried to put a human face on the question of eternal security, because it always has a human face. It is a question that matters to all of us, both for those we love and for ourselves. How do I know? How can I be certain that when I die I will escape punishment and receive eternal life? Can I know? What do I have to do? Once I am a Christian—I believe in Christ and trust him as my Savior—is my destiny settled once and for all? Or is there still the danger that I might fall away?
Theologians like to give bumper sticker answers to this question. Some say, “Once saved, always saved.” I like the sound of that, but I don‟t trust it entirely, because it seems to hint that if you once believe in Christ, and you pray a sinner‟s prayer asking for forgiveness and eternal life, that you are absolutely set and nothing you do after that matters one little bit. Faith bears fruit. We know that. If there is no fruit, we have to wonder about the faith. Others say, “You are never eternally secure until you are securely in eternity.” That makes the Christian life seem like a game we used to play at camp. You put an egg on a spoon and you have to run to the finish line without dropping the egg and breaking it. Can that really be the life God wants for us, always vigilant and fearful lest his blessing slip through our fingers?
Ok, then, forget the theologians, at least for a while. What does the Bible say? That‟s what matters. Doesn‟t scripture answer this question? Yes, it does. But you have to be careful to get the right answer. You cannot take one or two verses and hold them up and say, “Here it is.” You have to look at the whole thing. And when we turn to scripture, we find two themes we have to make sense of in order to answer the question of eternal security. One of these themes is the faithfulness of God. The other is warning against apostasy. Apostasy means renouncing your faith. You are a Christian; you believe in Christ. Then you change your mind, and you say, “No, I don‟t want Jesus anymore. I‟m going to believe this instead.”
Here‟s my plan: First, I want to survey a few passages that characterize each theme. Then I will examine our scripture reading, which has elements of both. Finally I will take a crack at giving a Biblical answer to the question of eternal security.
One of the most relevant passages on the question of eternal security is Romans 8. In my opening story, one of the characters quoted the first verse: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” At the end of that chapter we find this:
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If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God‟s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I don‟t know how that could be any stronger or more definite. When you become a Christian, when God‟s grace seizes you, and on your part you respond in faith, then you are what Paul calls “in Christ.” Nothing can separate you from him. You are in his hands, and he is not going to let go. Nothing that happens to you in life, no matter how tragic, means that God has turned against you. He never will.
Another passage that asserts God‟s faithfulness is John 10.27-28. Jesus says: “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.” Jesus reigns at the right hand of the Father in heaven. Who or what could ever tear you out of his hand?
Francis Schaeffer, in the Bible study we use on Wednesday evenings, points to three verses that ought to make us feel secure in Christ. Hebrews 7.25 says, “Christ is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” Schaeffer notes that we could only be lost if Christ, our high priest, failed us. And that‟s not going to happen. Schaeffer also points to Ephesians 1, where it says God “chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.” We could only be lost if God changed his mind about something he decided before creation, and that‟s not going to happen either. In Ephesians 4.30 the Holy Spirit is called a seal with which we were marked for the day of redemption. Only if the Spirit failed us too could we be lost.
Considering these, along with all the passages that speak of God‟s faithfulness, the question seems settled. Once you are in Christ, you can never be lost because God is not going to fail. Before we settle on this, however, we need to pay attention to the warnings against falling away. There are many in scripture, especially the New Testament. I will highlight just a few.
In 1 Corinthians 9.27, Paul talks about how diligent he is spiritually, lest having preached to others, he should find himself disqualified. He goes on to talk about the wilderness generation under Moses. They were led out of Egypt. They passed through
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the water and ate spiritual food. But God was not pleased with them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.
In 1Timothy 1.18-20, Paul mentions some people who had “made shipwreck of their faith,” as he put it. In 2 Corinthians 6.1, he warns against receiving the grace of God in vain. And in Galatians 5.19-21, he describes the works of the flesh and warns that those who do them will not inherit the kingdom of God.
You can see how theologians end up on all sides of this question. On one hand, our destiny appears definitely and finally settled as soon as we are in Christ. And yet we are given warnings not to fall away, and these we must take seriously.
John Calvin thought he had a solution. He said basically that everyone who is truly in Christ is eternally secure, but there are some who only appear to believe in Christ. Calvin pointed to 1 John 2.19, “They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us.” He said apparent Christians will fall away, but if they do, that‟s all they ever were, apparent Christians—fakes. Calvin‟s heart was in the right place. He wanted to be faithful to scripture, and he wanted to make Christians feel secure. He always pointed to grace as the most important thing. Yet I wonder whether he didn‟t produce more anxiety than he relieved. Christians began to wonder, “How do I know my faith is genuine? What if I am one of those apparent Christians?” And they didn‟t have any more security than before. To his credit, Calvin always said, if you have concerns about your salvation, the place to look is not inside yourself—at your own heart or your faith or whatever—the place to look is the cross. What Jesus did for you is sufficient.
Now I want to consider our scripture reading, two points in particular. In this letter Paul encourages Timothy to pay the price for his Christian witness. Paul is in prison for preaching Christ. Timothy is under a lot of pressure to lay low. Christianity did not make you popular back then. It was a one way ticket out of the social circles that mattered. Paul reminds Timothy that God‟s opinion is what counts and of all that God had done for him. Then he basically says, “Follow my example.” Talking about what God has done, Paul claims “God saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace.” This is a clue for us. The question of eternal security comes down, in the end, to what matters in our salvation. What saves us? How do we get right with God in the first place?
In the little story at the beginning of the sermon, Emily seems to think that what matters is how we live. If you do not dot your I‟s and cross your T‟s, you have reason to be concerned. She is not entirely out of line. After all, faith bears fruit. Faith is the empty hand that receives God‟s grace. We are saved by grace, through faith. And while faith is more of a gift God gives us than some good deed we do to please God, when you really have faith in Christ, it makes a difference in how you live. Faith bears fruit.
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Nevertheless, we are saved for good works, not by them. Good deeds are the result of your relationship with Christ, not the cause of it. So Emily is wrong to think her friend‟s eternal destiny is decided by her lifestyle.
Another friend, Drew, thinks that what matters is your faith. If you have faith, you are OK. If you don‟t, you are not. He doesn‟t know what happened to his friend because he does not know her heart. He has a couple of good points. We never know another person‟s heart, except as it is revealed in their actions. And, faith is important. But, the grace of God is primary. If faith is the only thing, then my salvation depends on me. How much faith do I have? How strong is it? If Drew were right, I would only be as secure as my own conviction.
I think Tony is the most right of the three. What matters most is what Christ has done for me. My faith may be weak or strong, just so long as it is in him. Paul talks about salvation and calling as things God does. He does them because he wants to, not because he is impressed by our holy lives or our faith. Faith receives grace. Faith bears fruit. But grace is primary.
My favorite part of this passage is a little controversial. Down in verse 12, Paul is holding himself up as an example for Timothy to follow. Paul claims to be unashamed, despite being in prison, despite what people think about him. Why? “Because,” he writes, “I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him.” “That” day mans the day of resurrection, the day of judgment, the day God sets things right and makes all things new. Paul has confidence in God. God is able to protect Paul‟s soul, his destiny.
You may have noticed our pew Bible reads a bit differently in this verse. Some translations say God is able to guard what “he has entrusted to me”—meaning what God entrusted to Paul. Others say God is able to guard what “I have entrusted to him”—meaning what Paul has entrusted to God. The Greek Paul wrote could be read either way. The main reason for thinking God entrusted Paul with something is verse 14 where Paul tells Timothy to “guard the good treasure entrusted to you,” by which he means the gospel. But back in verse 12, God is doing the guarding. That‟s why I read it the way I do. Paul has put his life, his soul, his destiny in God‟s hands. He has every confidence that God will take care of him. God will not fail him. Paul is secure. That‟s why he is not worried about what other people do to him or say about him or think of him.
Time to wrap things up. Where does our look at scripture leave us? Is your eternal destiny settled the moment you are in Christ? Or do Christians need to be careful lest they fall from grace and be lost? We saw two themes in scripture that stand in tension. The grace and faithfulness of God on one hand, and the warnings against apostasy on the other. How can we make sense of these?
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I believe we ought to take the warnings seriously. It is possible to turn your back on Jesus Christ and abandon him. You can renounce Christ and your faith in him. But, you have to do this intentionally. It does not happen through careless living or spiritual laziness or whatever—not by accident. You would have to want to do it. Maybe Calvin is right that no one who really knows Jesus would ever want to do this. But those warnings are there for a reason. Don‟t let go of Christ.
At the same time, you can be absolutely sure that he will never let go of you. What matters is the grace of God. You are saved by Jesus Christ. What matters is his death for you on the cross. You add nothing to that. And this is wonderful news that sets our souls free. You do not have to worry about eternity. Christ has taken care of that. Tony got it right, “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.”
God wants you to have peace and joy. That‟s what the Christian life is about. How can you have peace or joy if you are constantly worried about whether you get to heaven or not? The Christian life is not about insecurity. You know God. You know he is faithful. You know his promises are good. Your future is as secure as God is trustworthy.
Also, without this security, the Christian life would be all about me. My attention and energy would be devoted to making sure I got into heaven. If that takes faith or good works or lifestyle or whatever, that‟s where my focus would be. My life would be an obstacle course, the goal of which would be to get into heaven. But … if Christ has already taken care of that, then I don‟t have to worry about myself. He worries about me. It‟s up to him to get me in, not up to me. And this frees me. Now I don‟t have to worry about myself, I can worry about others. I am set free to care for them—to love.
Earlier I poked fun at theologians for easy answers, but I like how one of them, Donald Bloesch, sums this question up: “Faith gives certainty because it unites us with Christ, who remains true to his own. If we have faith, we know that we are saved because Christ‟s promises never deceive and his Spirit is all-victorious” [Jesus Christ, p. 187].
How do you know? How can you be certain of your eternal destiny? Simple: Did Christ die on the cross for you? If you say yes, then you have faith. You are in Christ. And he will never let you go. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, trust in him, and be at peace. Amen.
rev_mauldin@yahoo.com

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