The Believer and Security

In this sermon the speaker tackles the doctrine often called "eternal security" or "once saved, always saved," asking whether a true believer can ever lose his salvation. He begins by noting the controversy surrounding the doctrine, recounting a personal anecdote about a relative who viewed the teaching as a license to sin. He then outlines his preaching series, explaining that he will regularly address how to be saved, how to know one is saved, and the biblical basis for the believer's spiritual life. He emphasizes that salvation is a one‑time, irreversible act of God’s grace, not something earned or maintained by works, and he defines being saved as having sins forgiven, a present relationship with God, and the promise of eternal life. The sermon moves into a concise biblical exposition, focusing on Ephesians 2:8‑10, Galatians, John 3, Romans 5, 8, and John 10. The speaker stresses that grace is an unmerited gift that saves through faith in Christ’s finished work, and that good works are the result, not the cause, of salvation. He warns against adding legalistic requirements to grace, noting that falling away from grace means reverting to the law, not losing salvation. He concludes by affirming that believers are sealed by the Holy Spirit, cannot be plucked from Christ’s hand, and that the doctrine of eternal security remains firmly rooted in Scripture.

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Houston's First Baptist Church is a relevant biblical community where we gather our hearts, grow our souls and give our lives as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). This podcast provides weekly messages from Pastor Gregg Matte and others. Visit us at HoustonsFirst.org to learn more about HFBC, and visit us in person the next time you're in Houston!

It's called eternal security, or sometimes the perseverance of the saints. It has been referred to as the security of the believer. We usually refer to it as the doctrine of being once saved, always saved. But no matter what you call it, it is one of the most interesting doctrines of the Word of God. And one of the questions that we must ask, Can a man once be saved and then ever be lost? To those who believe it, it is confusing at least. It is misunderstood by many who do not. And it causes us to be hated by some. I have a relative whose son was a member of another denomination. It was a small group, and there were not many opportunities for service. He said to me privately, I really wish that, and he called his name, his son, could be a Baptist. He said, I think there would be more opportunities to preach to more persons as a Baptist preacher. But he said, I just, if it were not for that damnable Baptist doctrine. And he really hated the fact, because he believed that it was a license to sin, that we believed once saved, always saved. Somebody asked me one time, do Baptists believe in backsliding? I said, yes, just look around. We not only believe it, we practice it, I'm sorry to say. We don't necessarily mean by backsliding, not clean out of the kingdom, what some folks do when they talk about backsliding. Now, next Sunday morning, I'm going to preach on the subject, how to be saved. I need to do that periodically. I want A, B, C to go through sin with simplicity, the need and the means of salvation. Next Sunday night, I'm going to preach on how to know you are saved, and conversely, how to know if you're not saved. We have looked for four Sundays in a row now at the word of God and the believer, the part the scripture plays in our conversion and in our spiritual life. We looked two Sundays ago at the Holy Spirit and the believer, last Sunday at the new birth of the believer. Now, our spiritual life has a specific beginning, an end time, end place point when a man is born again, saved when his relationship to God starts. Now, today we raise the question, where does it end? What is the beginning of the spiritual life of the believer? It is my opinion that the Bible teaches that there is no ending. And when a man has once truly been saved, he is saved. Sometimes we tend to get the emphasis on the wrong syllable. We should not ask the question, is it once saved, always saved? The question is, once saved, always saved. Because there's an awful lot that pretend to be saved that in fact are not really saved at all. Now, a part of the question depends on, what do you mean by saved? If I buy a ticket on American Airlines to fly non -stop to San Francisco, I am paying for the purpose of a trip. My idea of a trip to San Francisco doesn't mean that they let down in Salt Lake City and I have to make it the rest of the way on my own. It means I either get there or I don't. And if I don't get there, then I might as well not have started. It doesn't matter if I get 90 % of the way. To me, to be saved means that my sins are forgiven, I have relationship with God now and eternally. And I'm going to go to heaven. My definition of the word saved means that I am going to have peace with God here and I'm going to end up in eternity. And if I have peace with God for a while and something happens to me and I don't end up in eternity with God, I don't call that being saved. I call that something else. Salvation is a panorama of experience. It is foreknowledge. It is predestination. It is the calling of God. It is justification through his blood. And it is the ultimate glorification of the believer. And if you settle for anything else except being finally conformed to the image of his son in heaven, in my mind, that is less than being saved. Now, how is a man saved? You can talk to the Methodist, the Episcopal, to the Assemblies of God. You can talk to Baptists. You can talk to Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons. You can talk to Buddhists, Islam, people of all denominations and all world religions. I want you to listen very closely to this statement. Everything that every church, religion, denomination believes about how to be saved boils down to two things is a man saved by grace or is he saved by work is he saved by being baptized by joining the church by living a good life by counting his beads by going to confession by keeping certain rules by obeying the covenant by partaking the lord's supper by having an immersion experience a boy was saved at false creek who had 11 perfect years of sunday school attendance he was a senior in college from duran oklahoma now where we do a hundred million good works because we are christians do they in any way shape or form contribute to a man's salvation now here's the kicker here's the trick some folks say a man is saved by grace but he must keep himself saved by a holy life by adding to grace if a man is truly saved eventually he is going to mature and live a holy life but it is the product the result of being saved not a part of being saved it is the evidence not the sustenance of a man's salvation does have some main doctrines we believe frankly one of them is that salvation is by the grace of god through faith in christ unto good work for the purpose of good work but totally in a part from good work as a contributing factor to the grace of god i believe that a man dare not add thereto nor take therefrom now what do you mean salvation by grace well there are many ways to express it one of the best is when you get an insurance uh premium and your note is due and you fail to pay it and it runs over a few days and the check comes a week or two late most insurance companies will have what they call a grace period they will keep it intact a little while till the bill gets there you haven't paid it has cost you nothing you haven't earned it you don't deserve it they give it freely to you grace is unmerited favor it is undeserved blessing it is not something for nothing it cost god his son it cost heaven or pharaoh's jewel it cost jesus christ his own blood on the cross grace is free but it costs god everything but it doesn't cost us grace is unmerited favor it is undeserved blessing now for the next few minutes we're going to do a real fast bible study on the matter and i want you to look with me if you will first of all in ephesians now get your bibles open we're going from john to ephesians and hebrews and all in a lot of places in the new testament and we've got to go fast ephesians about halfway in the new testament galatians ephesians philippians right in there ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 9 and 10 ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 9 and 10 listen to what the bible says go back to verse 1 if you want to you have he quickened raised up made alive who were dead in trespasses and sin you see you didn't quicken yourself you don't raise yourself up you don't save yourself a dead body cannot bring itself to life if there's any way that dead body can be raised to life it has to happen by an exterior force it has to happen because a greater power is superimposed upon it and brings it to life it has nothing innately in it to bring itself to life you show the man that can pick himself up by his bootstraps you just sit on the floor and take yourself up you clear off the floor without yourself and i'll show you how a man can save himself it can't happen you have be quickened brought to life go down to verse 8 for by grace are ye saved through being baptized through being good no through what vehicle through what instrumentality does the grace of god does the grace of god become operative in your life through faith in the finished work of what jesus did on the cross the last words that he said were it is finished i've done it all you do not spell your salvation d -o it is spelled d -o -n -e that's good news by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of god verse 9 is as important as any verse in the bible It's not straw, it's not extra, it's not irrelevant, nor is it superfluous. Not of works, lest any man should boast. Why does he say, lest any man should boast? Because the Holy Spirit didn't have anything else to have Paul tell us? No. Because a doctrine which says a man must live a certain way or do certain things to keep himself in grace, to keep on being saved, is a doctrine which tends to lead to boasting. How many good works would you have to do to be saved? How much is enough? I've done more than you. Ha ha, I'm more saved than you are. But you see, the cross is a cross. Christianity is a cross. And it crosses, cross cuts cross current to us. It crosses us out. It's all of grace. It's all of God. You say, whoopee, I can live like the devil. Hang on. Verse 10. For we are his workmanship. We're his display. We're his vessel that he's made. He created us. Why? In Christ Jesus. Not in ourselves. Not of our own efforts. Not of our own works. He created us in Christ by good works. So we could be saved. No, no. Unto good works. For the purpose of good works. That God has foreordained that we should walk in them. You say, I have been saved. Show me your holy life. Show me your good works. Show me your faithfulness. You see, the purpose of real saving grace through faith is unto the end result of good works. You're not saved by the works. You are saved to produce the works. And the Bible makes it extremely clear that there are two kinds of faith. Pseudo faith. Phony faith. False faith. It talks. It doesn't do. Then there is true faith. And real faith is faith which makes a commitment to Christ and there is such fidelity to him and relationship with him that good works evidence themselves in the life of the believer. They are the proof of the pudding. They are not a part of the salvation. Now, incidentally, look over in Galatians while we're there. This just comes to mind. Let's see if I remember where that was. I think it's in, yes, Galatians 3. Galatians 3. Now, let's see. Where does it say you're falling from grace down in there, Felix? What's first? Steve or anybody? Am I the wrong chapter? Verse 5? No. 5 -4. Steve -O comes through. Two points, Steve. All right. Galatians chapter 5, verse 4. Stand, well, let's see. Okay, let's look at it. Christ has become of no effect unto you. Whosoever of you are justified by the law, you are fallen from grace. Oh, whoopee. There's a proof text. Boy, you can lose your salvation. You can fall from grace. Now, hang on a minute. One of the most important truths about biblical interpretation is to keep it in context. The book of Galatians was not written to a bunch of drunks and skunks and rabble -rousers like 1 Corinthians was. It was written to the finest, noblest Hebrew Christians in the Bible. And boy, they didn't want to miss a thing. And you see, the rudimentary doctrines of the law had kept them, had brought them to Christ. The law, the commandments, is a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ. Now, some of these people had matured. They had come to Christ. They had gone on to the higher doctrine. They had been saved through Jesus Christ. But some of them were afraid they're going to lose their salvation. They're afraid they didn't get it right. So they would go back and get circumcised as adults. They were trying to go back under the law and add the law to grace. Paul says, hey, hold on here a minute. You're making a bad mistake. You have gone on to the PhD level of grace, which the law, the Passover, the feast, the rudimentary elements were supposed to bring you to. Now that you have graduated in grace, don't go back to the kindergarten and try to keep the law to add to your salvation. You who are doing that, he says, are fallen from grace. You are falling away from the level of grace. He doesn't say you're lost again. He is using it in a context of comparison. You see, there are six chapters in Galatians. There are hundreds of words, and from beginning to end, there's only one thing at stake. only one doctrine is discussed in Galatians, and that is that a man who lived under the obedience of the law as a Jew, who now understands salvation is by grace through faith, has graduated under that, dare not go back under the doctrine of the law again to try to add to his salvation. He's making a mistake, he's going the wrong way, he's reversing, he's going down, not up. The law, he said, was a schoolmaster, or a schoolmarm, a schoolteacher to point us, to bring us to maturity in Christ. You will recall that they had the feast of the Passover, and they observed the shedding of the blood. They weren't supposed to just keep doing that forever, it was eventually supposed to graduate them and point them to the fact that the ultimate Passover was the Lamb of God on the cross. He said, when you've seen that, when you've got to college, don't go back to kindergarten. No question about losing salvation, it is about leaving the higher doctrine of grace and going back under the judicial law. Now, I want you to turn to John chapter 3, verse 14. John chapter 3, verse 14. Well, I'm never going to get this all in today. Okay. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Jesus said, even so must the Son of Man himself be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him, what happens to the man that commits his life to Christ, trust him as his Savior, as they believe in the Lord Jesus for salvation, should not perish, but have eternal life. For God, and what does he do here? He says the same thing again. Gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Let me ask you a question. I think you can settle eternal security with John 3, verse 16. How long does everlasting life? Forever. Oh, that's a wonderful truth, isn't it? And it lasts a long, long time. Now look at verse 18. Go on. He that believeth on him is not condemned, period. But he that believeth not is condemned already. It's all in Jesus. You don't believe in Jesus as your Savior, condemned eternally. You do believe in Jesus as your Savior, you're not condemned. Now Paul says over in Romans 5, 1, just keep your finger in John and click over there to Romans. That'll be Acts and then Romans. It's just two books ahead of where you are right now. Look at Romans chapter 5. Brother Felix brought a study on this for a year in prayer meeting. We have some wonderful Bible studies on Wednesday night. Therefore, being justified, are we justified by God? By faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let's see. We'll slip down here to some other verses very quickly. Let's look at John 10, 27. John 10, 27. All right. Jesus in this great shepherd passage, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John 10, verse 27. I say the most beautiful sound in the world to me is the rustling, the rustling of leaves of a Bible. You hear it when everybody turns? Oh, that's a gorgeous sound. Just beautiful. All right. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. Now, John 10, 27. Did I say that? John 10, 27. My sheep hear my voice and they, I know them and they follow me. Now, let's stop here for just a minute. The thing I told you when we were in Israel a couple of years ago, we found that three or four shepherds would put all of their flocks together for safe keeping and to find pasture together and to cooperate together. And they all have different sounds. And when they get all these shepherds together and all these sheep in one big bundle, when one shepherd wants to take his sheep out, he doesn't know which of which. There's only one way they separate them by the shepherd's voice. And they made a sound like this. And all of us, that shepherd's sheep would follow him. Another shepherd might do a sound like this. And all his agagas would follow him. And the kakas would follow there. And you see the other man, oh, oh, oh, and they'd follow him. They all made a different sound and the sheep would, like magic, leave that group and go be with him. Jesus says, make no glad about it. My sheep know my voice. My sheep follow me. Those who don't follow me are my sheep. It's really pretty simple. He says, they follow me and I give unto them, my sheep who follow me, look in verse 28, eternal life. And they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all. And no man, no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. He says you can't pluck them out of my hand, you can't pluck them out of Father's hand, and here's why. Because I and my Father are one. Well, that's good news. Now let's look at Romans chapter 8 verse 1. Romans chapter 8 verse 1. Back to Romans. Listen to that sound. How many of you have a Bible? Hold it up. I want every Bible to be held up. Look at that. Look at that. Hundreds of Bibles. Millions of Bibles. That's beautiful. Romans chapter 8. Okay, look at verse 1. There is Romans 8 verse 1. Therefore, now, someday, if we live a good life and make it to heaven and find out and we're all surprised we made it now. No. There is now, right here, right now, no condemnation to them which are in Jesus Christ. Who are those in Jesus? People that are born again in Jesus walk not after the flesh. They walk after the Spirit. That's the mark of a believer. Now look over in 8 .33 of Romans. Go forward just a little bit, if you will. Oh, you're going to, like Steve says, you're going to love me for this. Romans 8 .33. Who is going to accuse God's elect, God's children? Who shall lay anything to their charge? You did this, you did that, so you're not safe. It is God that justifies. Who is it that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yea, rather, that rose again. Who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? You see, that's experience. Nothing in experience can do it. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nothing in all existence can do it, nor angels, nor principality, nothing in the spirit world can do it, nor power, nor things present, nor things to come, nothing in time can do it, nor height, nor depth, out there in space, if those astronauts are saved, they're just to save, not the bottom of the ocean, just to save, no height, nor depth, nothing in space can do it, nor any other creature. No created thing can do it. Do what? Be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. Praise the Lord. Ephesians chapter 4, 30, and we're going to quit, and I've just given you the introduction. Ephesians 4, verse 30, and that's the truth. All right, you got to go back. I'll keep on going forward a little bit. First and second Corinthians after Romans, now Galatians, now Ephesians 4, 30. Ephesians 4, 30. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed under the day of redemption. Underline the word sealed. Sealed by the Spirit of God unto the day of redemption. Now folks, when you're in Jesus Christ, you're in Christ, then he says, nobody can get you out of that. Then he says, as being in me, now you're in the Father. Nobody can get you out of that. And the whole thing is sealed over by the Holy Spirit. Nobody can get you out of that. It's like I put my wristwatch under a little, a little cup, and I put the cup under a pan, and I put a bushel over the pan. What are you going to have to do before you can get the wristwatch? You got to go through the bushel, then you got to get through the pan, then you got to get inside the cup. Before the devil can get my saved soul out of salvation and into hell, he's got to go through the Father, the Spirit. He's got to go through the Father, and he's got to go through the Son, and that'll never happen. You say, boy, if I believe that, I'd go out and live like the dickens. Oh, no, you wouldn't. And I'm going to tell you why next week. I'm serious. This is the introduction, and I'll preach my sermon next week. Now, I'll put off that how to be saved and how to know you're saved a couple of weeks. I just want to say, and I'll really bear down on this next week. You say, well, what about the man who says he is saved? He goes to Sunday school. He's a teacher. He does well for 10 or 15 years. He backslides, and he really turns on the Lord and turns away, and he dies in that condition. What about him? People use that as a supposedly irrefutable argument. Boy, you know, that proves it. It doesn't prove anything. The Bible has three answers, none of which are losing your salvation to that question. It's very obvious and very scriptural what happens to that man, and we'll deal with him. Let's look at what the Bible says about a hypothetical case. If a man could lose his salvation, what would have to happen, which can't happen ever again? By grace are you saved through faith. And I say again that it is the greatest reason I know to be faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ. And we'll pick it up right there next Sunday morning. Now let's bow our heads together. Father, thank you for your grace. Thank you for your keeping power. Bless our hearts, and may the grace of God be real in our lives. In Jesus' name. Now as heads are bowed, and I...