Gateway Church's Podcast
Saved Completely
Guest speaker Pastor Clark Whitten digs deep into the miracle of salvation, revealing how you can securely know that you’re truly, completely saved.
So we're going to talk about the title of the message is saved completely that comes from Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25 where it says of Jesus, "Hence also. He is able to save forever or completely." Another translation of that word could be completely. He is able to save completely or forever those who draw near to God through Him since He ever lives to make intercession for them. So we're going to talk about this whole issue of security. And it's my opinion that Christians in general, I'm not talking about specific people or anything like that, but Christians in general because of the gospel that's been preached with leavening of the law in it since the the Reformation, since the Protestant Reformation took place, has caused and has resulted in many, many Christians having two situations going on. Number one of having an insufficient understanding of this miracle of salvation and all that it means. And secondly, with an ongoing at least low-grade doubt about whether or not they really know Jesus and when the end does come, am I really going to go to heaven? Am I going to be with God? Is there any sense of security that I can have? That's what we want to talk about today. So I'm going to go quickly. I'm going to go fast. We're going to cover a lot of ground and I just want to provoke your thoughts. That's really all I'm here to do. How many of you are native Texans? Most of you, I'm one of those, a native Texan. And how many of you native Texans know where uncertain Texas is? Any of you know where uncertain is? It's over in East Texas on the border of Louisiana, not far from Cadillac, over northeast Texas. And the reason I know where uncertain Texas is, when I was young, well, I used to haul whiskey through their back roads and this, well, that's a story for a different time, but that's how I know where uncertain it. And I always thought even when I was a kid, I would think seeing that it's okay that I used to haul whiskey, right? I mean, that was in the past. I'm not doing it anymore, okay? I always thought it must be difficult living in uncertain. I mean, you walk up to somebody, where are you from? Where you live, uncertain? It can't be easy living in uncertain. And that is a destructive and debilitating lie that the enemy is perpetrated upon Christians. As I said before, we have an insufficient or a low view of this miracle of salvation. Let me just take a moment to tell you what really happened to me or to you, if you know Jesus. What really happened to you when you were saved, when this incredible God-like, God-produced, miraculous, almost indescribable and almost, almost unbelievable event happened in your life. Now, here's what happened. I saw the gospel. Someone talked to me or that revelation came about Jesus. Somebody presented Jesus to me and I responded. I believed and I received. I believed and I received. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Receive him to them are the ones that he gave the power to become sons of God, even to those who believe on his name. So you believe you received Jesus instantaneously, miraculously, unbelievably almost instantaneously. This is what happened in your life. All of a sudden you became instantaneously a new creation in Christ Jesus. Old things passed away. Second, this is 5/17. Old things passed away and all things, everything, all things became you. You became a new creation, a brand new God recreated you into his image again, restored you into the image of God. Old things passed away. What a miracle that is, right? Isn't that pretty awesome? But he didn't just stop there. He went ahead and he cleansed you of all of your sin, past sins, present sins, future sins. Though your sins and my sins were as scarlet as I said, they shall be white as snow, though they appear like crimson. They shall be white as the purest wool that exists. Sin is no longer attached to you. Sin is not laid to your account. You stand there before God in union with God, sinless. And if you aren't that way, you cannot be in union with God. He created something brand new, you. But he didn't stop there. He not going to cleanse you of your sins. He imputed or imparted and imputed his own righteousness into you. You became, therefore, the righteousness of God in Christ. That means you became just as righteous or in right standing with God as Jesus himself is in right standing with God. You are accepted before God in the beloved. You're as righteous as he is righteous. Now that's a state of being and you cannot cross back and forth from unrighteousness into righteousness. That is impossible. It does not exist. It's impossible to do. Once you become righteous, you're righteous. You are in right standing with God because he performed it. You didn't. I often wonder why anyone who believes that they could do nothing to procure the salvation that they have could do something in order to secure it. You cannot secure it any more than you could get it to start with. It's all of him. He left nothing to chant, but he didn't stop there, folks. He also sent the Spirit of God. This is amazing. He sent his own Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. He sent him to come to live in your mortal body. Your body became the temple of the Holy Spirit, the residence of God on earth and we as a group, became the body of Christ in whom he lives. We as a group became the living stones in which the temple of the living God exists on earth. The Spirit came to dwell in your mortal body, quickening you. As his presence exists in you, the Bible says that he witnesses the Spirit of God witnesses to our Spirit that we are what? We are children of God. The Spirit witnesses to our own Spirit that we are children of God. But also the Spirit came as a earnest payment or down payment, the word says, he came as an earnest payment or a down payment, a pledge from God. Now what a pledge that is. God sent his own Holy Spirit to be a pledge of things, a guarantee of things already accomplished and the performance of every promise that God has ever made concerning you for the future. Hot dog. But he didn't stop there. He didn't stop there. I'm telling you he's got every contingency covered as far as you're concerned because he knows you and he knows your propensity to blow it and mine. He didn't stop there. Jesus, as we read just a moment ago, Jesus became my high priest and your high priest. Now again, I don't have time to explain all that, but I'd love to, but I just don't have time, but he became our high priest, which means that 24/7, 365 for eternity, Jesus is interceding, not just praying, but interceding before God for you. He ever lives to make intercession for you. But he didn't stop there. Last, but certainly not least. Jesus through his shed blood, he fulfilled the law. He fell to the full requirements of the law, filled it to the full. He did not come to abolish the law. He came to fulfill it and he did fulfill it. He never sinned. He fulfilled every requirement of the law. He filled it to the full. And in the filling the law to the full, he turned from it and established a new covenant based upon better promises. For me, this is an irrevocable covenant, an unchangeable covenant, and a mutable covenant. It will not ever have to change or will never be changed and that covenant exists between God and his son, Jesus, and I just get in on it. It's irrevocable. It's a perfect covenant. I want to tell people all the time, stop messing with the covenant. It's perfect like it is. In case you're messing with the covenant, you probably aren't, but just in case you are, stop. Quit it. I'm saved completely and so are you. And when you got saved friend, something really, really God-like happened. Okay, I'm going to just give you these seven points. We're going to run through them really. I don't have time or energy today to go through them in depth, but I want to provoke your thoughts and you can just write them down and you can come back and visit them later. But these are seven things that show you that your salvation is finished. It's done. Complete. Number one, the promise of the scriptures. And I could list you many of them. I just want to pick out a couple of just the promise of the scriptures. If you look, you'll see in the Word. Number one, Romans chapter 8, Romans 8 is my favorite chapter in the Bible. I mean, I just love it. It starts out with no condemnation. It ends with no separation. And there's a bunch of good stuff all in between here. Who can lay a charge against God's elect? God's the one who justifies that kind of stuff. All right. If the in portion of that chapter, he says this. Paul says this. He said, I'm convinced. I'm convinced that nothing, whether death and their life and their principalities and their powers or things present or things to come. And he gives us a whole list of stuff regardless of really anything you might could think of that might could separate you from the love of God. He says, I am convinced that nothing can nothing, nothing. That means nothing, nothing can separate us me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Nothing can separate you from the love of God, which isn't Christ Jesus. Now, will you take that at face value, please, for the rest of your life? Will you take that at face value for the rest of your life? And just believe that he meant what he said. And it's true. Nothing, nothing, nothing can separate you from the love. See, you thought what you did separated you from the love of God, didn't you? You thought what you thought separated you from the love of God, didn't you? Even temporarily, but it did not. It did not. How do I know that? I know that because nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Nothing. You say, well, I got it. I don't care what you got. Nothing can separate you from the love of God. That's what he said. Now, listen to this one in John chapter 10, and this is in context, okay? You have to read it in context to get the full impact of it. But in John chapter 10 verse 27 through 29, Jesus makes this statement and he's really talking to in the context is with the Pharisees and he's saying, this is not true of you, but it's true of them. This is not so for you, but it is so for them. For them, for them, this is so for you, it's not so. I want you to understand that. And this is what he said. He says, fellas, my sheep hear my voice. My sheep hear my voice. True Christians hear his voice. Those who have really been born again, hear his voice. My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. In other words, they're mine. They're union with me. My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. Now, listen to what he says about this, and I give eternal life to them. And we're going to talk about that in a minute, but the nature of eternal life. And I give eternal life to them. Now, listen to what he says, and they shall never what? Parish. They shall never perish. The ones who know me shall never perish. Parish means to die, to cease to exist. And that Greek word is Thanatos. It means separation from God. No one shall spiritually die that knows me. No one shall ever perish or spiritually die or cease to exist or be separated from me forever. They shall never perish. And then he says, and no one can snatch them out of my hand. I don't care how big you are. You cannot snatch them out of my hand. And then it's like he appeals to a higher power. In case you don't believe him, he appeals to a higher authority or a higher power. And he says, my father appealing to his father now, my father who gave them to me is greater than all. And no one can snatch them out of my father's hand. I and the father are one. Now, folks, you're as safe and secure as, listen, you're as safe and secure as the hands of God can make you. And believe me, his hands are really big, really big. The same God who with a breath spoke the universe into existence holds you in his hand. You don't hold him, he holds you. The promise of the scriptures. Secondly, the perfection of the sacrifice. This is simply said, Hebrews 10 14, far by one offering, he is perfected for all time. For by one offering, he is perfected for all time, those who are sanctified. That's a whole different subject, but you are sanctified if you know Jesus. That's not waiting to happen. That's already happened. For by one offering, he's perfected for all time, those who are sanctified. And everybody needs to be another offering given because Jesus made the perfect offering for sin. He was the sacrifice, the sacrificial lamb for sin. And it was a perfect offering. He had a perfect life. He lived perfectly. That's why he is able to say forever. And here's a couple of questions. Does someone lose their salvation when they sin? No. Does a Christian, a true Christian, lose his salvation when he sins? And I always want to say how big a sin? And how many? And how long? And you know, who's the judge of that? I'm telling you, legalism is insane. It's nonsense when you see it correctly. It's nonsense. Grace makes sense. Grace really makes a lot of sense. It means grace really means it's really all of God and not of me. Legalism says part of God, part of me. Part God, part me. Now, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't trust the best 15 minutes I've ever lived to secure my salvation. Would you? I wouldn't trust the best 15 minutes you ever lived to secure my salvation either. First John 2-1 says this. He said, "I write these things to you, my little children, that you might not sin. I want you to sin. I'm not for sin. I write these things to you, my little children, that you might not sin. But I want you to know that if you do, we have an advocate with the Father, Christ Jesus, the righteous one. Don't you understand? That's why he is our high priest forever, because he knew you were going to blow it. And I was going to blow it." Romans 4-8 says, "Blessed is the man who sins the Lord does not take into account." And if God ever did take into account a single sin that you ever did, you'd have no hope. Number 2-3, the perseverance of the Spirit. Just real quickly, the perseverance of the Spirit. The whole idea here is there's this old Protestant doctrine that goes along about the perseverance of the saints, meaning you hold on to God. Hang on for dear life and you'll make it to heaven. I know you got saved, but you got to protect it, so hang on, hang on. It's a perseverance, and even the Holy Spirit came to empower you so you could persevere and keep the salvation you have secure. There's no such thing as perseverance, or the saints really. You're not persevering. And what that means is, have you attained the spot where you are perfect, living perfectly in the natural? Are you living perfectly? What about this side? Are any of y'all living perfectly? No. You didn't live this morning perfectly, probably. You probably hadn't lived perfectly since the service started. Maybe, I don't know. That's what it means. We don't persevere. The Spirit perseveres. Philippians 1-6 says, "For I'm confident of this very thing that the one who began a good work in you is able to perfect it or continue it or finish it until a day of Jesus Christ." He's the one that perfects us. There's no perseverance of the saints. There's perseverance of the Spirit. Number four, position of the saints. The position of the saints is what secures, the portion of what secures your salvation. Okay, everybody in this room, and actually everybody outside this room, wherever they are, are in one of two positions, positionally. You're either in Adam or you're in Christ, in Adam or in Christ. Everybody is. You're either in Adam or in Christ. That means you're either you know Jesus or you don't. You either spirit your life or you're spiritually dead. 1-0-2. You're in Adam or you're in Christ. The Scripture says, "In Adam, all what? In Adam, all die." I mean Robert teaches the Bible here, doesn't he? I'm really kidding. That's just a gig on Robert because I know he's going to watch this. "In Adam, all die. In Christ, all are made alive." So, positionally, you're either in Adam or you're in Christ. The position of the saints is that we are in Christ. That passage of 2 Corinthians 5 says, "If any person, any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation." Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new. If you're in Christ, you become a new creation. In Christ, in Christ, in Christ. Ephesians 1 is filled with this terminology. Like 16 times in the first section of Ephesians 1, it refers to being in Christ, in whom, in whom, in the beloved, those kinds of that terminology used about us being in Christ. He's in us, but we're in Him. Positionally, in the Old Testament, there is a type of Jesus that's amazing. It speaks of Christ. All of it's about Him. It really is. In types and shadows, prophetically, it's about Jesus. He said that. I didn't. And it really is. One of those types is just startling almost. And that type is the ark that Noah built. Do you remember that? Noah built an ark. God said, "I'm going to...the earth is filled with evil. I'm going to wipe it up. I'm going to send a flood, destroy the world." But Noah found favor or grace in the eyes of God. First time you see grace appear in the Word, in Genesis, chapter 6. Now listen. God commissioned Noah to build this ark, gave him the blueprints for it and told him how to build it. And so, for 100 years, he worked on it. He started when he was about 500 years old and finished when he was about 600 years old. Anyway, the time came. God says, "Noah, get ready. Take your family, all your family, into the ark, animals, all that stuff." Now, here's an interesting thing that...now, this ark is a type of Jesus. The waters are judgment coming to judge sin. The ark is a place of safety, a place of security against judgment. Now, interesting is about this. One of the interesting is God told Noah. He said, "Noah, I want you to pitch it or put pitch on it on the inside and on the outside of the ark." When he built it, it's made out of wood, obviously, and there were little cracks and things like that. And God told him, "This tarlach substance, put it on the inside and on the outside, so the water does not come in. It does not penetrate the ark." This is so amazing. The Hebrew word for pitch, translated pitch, is the Hebrew word kapar. And over 70 times, almost every time in the Old Testament, kapar is translated atonement. Isn't that amazing? Atonement through the blood of Jesus, the toning work of Jesus is what protects us from judgment. No judgment water can ever touch me. Anyway, back to the subject. Time has come. Floods coming, gather your family, and it says that no one, all his family, went in the ark, the animals and all that, went in the ark, and this is what it says about him. It says about it. When they got inside, God closed the door. It says that. God closed the door. Adam didn't close the door. No external force closed the door. God closed the door. And the indication is that he sealed it, which translates in New Testament terms, the Holy Spirit came to seal our salvation. He sealed us. We're sealed. Adam didn't shut it. God did. God shut Adam up in that ark where the judgment could not penetrate. Now listen, let me tell you that story from the typical Protestant reform position. God told Adam Bill ark, Adam Bill's ark, flood's about to come. And God says, okay, before you get through here, I want you to put some really strong pegs on the outside of the ark and put enough for you and all your family members. And when the flood gets here, I want you to grab on to one of those pegs on the outside of the ark. And I want you to hang on for dear life. It's going to be a rough ride. And I want you to understand, to motivate you a little bit, to hang on really hard, because the ride is going to be rough. And if you fall off, if you don't hang on, you're going to die. He built the ark and put him on the outside? Were their human efforts secure their safety? No. Listen to me. Noah fell down lots of times, I'm sure, in the ark, but he never fell out of the ark. He couldn't fall out of the ark, even if he had wanted to fall out of the ark because he couldn't get out of the ark. And he never wanted to get out of the ark because he's not insane. In Christ. Number five, the present tense of salvation. The present tense of salvation. John 5, 21st John 5, 24, "Truly to read I say to you, he who hears my words and believes in him who sent me has eternal life, has eternal life." Not will have, but does have, has eternal life, present tense of salvation. "And does not come into judgment. He has eternal life, and he does not, nor will he ever come into judgment, but is passed out of death into life." And what I'm saying to you here is eternal life is the only kind of life that exists, spiritual life. Before you knew Jesus, you were dead, dead, and your trespasses and sins is what the word says, you were dead. You had no spiritual life. Eternal life is the only kind of life that exists because life exists in God. God is eternal. Therefore, all God life is eternal life, meaning everlasting life, never ending life, forever life. That's what life is. It is forever. Spiritual life is forever. It never ends. That's the nature of it. John 11, 26 says, "Everyone who lives and believes in me shall, listen, everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die." Jesus said, "Shout, never die, never die." Die means to be separated from God spiritually. "You shall never die if you live and believe in him." If you're born again, you shall never die. Let me ask you this. If I got saved, let's say, and I entered into eternal life for 10 years, and then I did something to blow it, and God took it away from me, in that 10 years did I have eternal life? No? I had 10 years of life. I had 10 years of eternal life. There's no such thing. Eternal life is eternal. You have it now. You're as saved now as you're going to be in heaven. You're as secure as you're ever going to be there. Security doesn't come from a place. It comes from him. A lot of people think, you know, I'm going to, I get saved, and I'm going to try hard, and I'm going to do my best to keep my nose clean, and I'm not against you keeping your nose clean, but I'm going to try hard. I'm going to work hard. Try to do my best in all of this, and just hope, hope, hope, maybe somehow, some way, maybe when the end does come, maybe God will look at me and have mercy on me, and think I'm good enough, and maybe I'll make it to heaven. But when, if I do, when I get there, the pearly gates of heaven are going to slam shut behind me, and I can finally go, whoo, I made it. Now I'm secure. That's not true. Your security doesn't come in heaven. If I remember right, there's an angel that fell from heaven, right? See, your security doesn't come from a place. Then come from heaven. Your security comes from him. You're in him, and he's never going to die. Number six, the prayers of the Savior. We already mentioned this, Hebrew 725. He ever lives to make intercession for us, not just praying for us, but interceding for us. He's an advocate for us. 24/7, 365 for eternity. All right. Let me give you a statement, just this worthy of writing down, and you can just meditate on it later. Listen to this. Your security, your salvation and the security of your salvation is not based upon the quality of your commitment to him. Your salvation and the security of it is not based upon the quality of your commitment to him. It's based upon the quality of his commitment to you. Adam and Eve's security was based upon their obedience. My security is based upon Christ's obedience. I just said a lot of good stuff there. The last one, the power of sovereignty, 1 Peter 1, 3 through 5, amazing passage of Scripture. Verse 3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who 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, to attain an inheritance, which is imperishable, imperishable, an inheritance which is imperishable and defiled will not fade away reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power or kept," the King James says, "kept who are protected or kept by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time." You have this undefiled treasure, inheritance waiting for you who are protected by the power of God. You are protected by the power of God. That's what he's saying. You are protected by the power of God until that is manifested. God's really powerful, folks. Whatever God sets out to do, God does. Whatever thought God has, he performs. He can do anything that he wants to do. God is powerful, right? You are protected by that same creative, unbelievable, indescribable power. When God sets out to do something with his power, he does it. When he wants to protect you, which he does, he will. You're protected by the power of God. Now, what I want you to know, folks, is that you, if you know Jesus and I, because I do know him, am saved completely forever, and that is not wishful thinking. It is the truth. Stand to your feet. Don't you ever, don't you ever doubt, please, please, please, please, please, don't you ever doubt one moment of the power and the efficiency and efficacy of what Jesus did for you. It was complete, total, finish, done, and nothing is left to you. Getting saved with a good deal. It's a good deal. And if you're here this morning, you've never been born again. I invite you in just a moment to come forward and just let us pray with you. Let us help you. Let us lead you into understanding of Jesus and believing. Okay, please do that. You can walk out of here with eternal life today. You can walk and the quality is not just everlasting. It's qualitative life. You can be born again. You can become a new creation. You can come to a place where you're sensing your lawless deeds. God will remember no more where he, you'll be a blessed man who sends, Lord does not take into account, who be cleansed of his sins and has the righteousness of Christ imputed to you. It will radically impact you and change you forever. You can become a new creation. And those of you who do know him, it's going to enhance your testimony of him and your walk with him to believe what he says about you. Don't doubt. Don't doubt. You say, I don't know if I did, I'm doing good enough. Do you have doubt that he's doing good enough? It's not you, it's him. Now let me ask you this, just hearing something like that make you just want to run out and sin all over Dallas. No, it makes me love him. Doesn't it? Lord, bless these dear ones and the ones they love. I pray you'll fill them with your presence. I pray, Lord, that the ones here today that don't know you might receive, might come to receive and believe the glorious gospel of this incredible man, Jesus. And those who already know, I pray that they'll walk from this building today with a sense of your presence and a sense of security and a sense of awe about the finished work of Christ that they might not have fully had when they walked in. Meet them today. I pray, Lord, in Jesus' name, Amen.