Participants:
Series Code: AVGC
Program Code: AVGC210010S
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00:02 Music...
00:03 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn and we welcome you once again 00:07 to Guarding Grace. 00:09 This is Seminar Number 2. 00:11 I hope you got to see Number 1, 00:12 we expanded our definition of grace... 00:14 we looked at the Covenants of God 00:17 and we realized that the Ten Commandments are still part 00:22 of our... and a critical part of our lives. 00:26 When we think about grace, we looked at our last Seminar 00:32 at God's three greatest gifts of grace... 00:35 Jesus... the Holy Spirit... and the Word... 00:38 and you understand those gifts... 00:39 you understand the effects. 00:41 Grace rescues us from sin and death. 00:45 Grace renews a right Spirit within us 00:48 and grace restores us to moral purity. 00:52 Today, we're going to consider three questions. 00:56 First: Are God's Covenant Promises conditional? 01:00 Secondly: What happens if we are faithless? 01:04 And then, Third: Can we have assurance of salvation? 01:08 Let's pray, "Heavenly Father, we come before you 01:11 in the name of Jesus Christ... the name above all names... 01:15 we praise You O Lord, 01:16 we love you and we want to know Your Word, 01:20 so, I ask today as we study Your Word... 01:24 reveal to us Your truths 01:27 in a way that we've never seen before, 01:29 let the Holy Spirit be our Teacher, 01:32 in Jesus' name, amen. " 01:33 So, first question: Are God's promises conditional? 01:39 You can be assured that God's love is unconditional. 01:45 You can also be assured that God's promises are conditioned 01:50 upon obedience. 01:51 God asks that we walk in love and loyalty to Him 01:55 and if we love Him, we will submit to His will 02:00 our obedience will be motivated by love 02:04 and empowered by the Holy Spirit. 02:07 To stay in covenant relationship with the Lord, 02:11 we are obligated to keep His conditions. 02:16 God keeps covenant with those who keep covenant with Him. 02:20 Deuteronomy 7:9 says, 02:22 "Therefore, know that the Lord your God, He is God, 02:26 the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy 02:29 for a thousand generations 02:31 with those who love Him and keep His commandments. " 02:36 In Nehemiah 1:5, Nehemiah is praying and he says, 02:40 "O great and awesome God, 02:43 You who keep covenant and mercy with those who love You 02:50 and observe Your commandments... " 02:52 and Daniel 9:4 echoes almost the very words of Nehemiah. 02:57 What does this Old Testament have to do with us today? 03:02 Let me tell you something, 03:03 God says, "I am the Lord, I change not... " 03:06 The Bible says... Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, 03:10 and forever. 03:12 So, what we see is that the spiritual principles 03:16 outlined in the Old Testament are echoed in the New Testament. 03:21 Let me give you a couple of examples. 03:23 Ezekiel 33:18 through 20, 03:26 Ezekiel 33:18 to 20... 03:29 God says, "When the righteous turns from his righteousness 03:33 and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it. 03:36 But when the wicked turns from his wickedness 03:39 and does what is lawful and right, 03:40 he shall live because of it. 03:43 I will judge every one of you according to his own ways. " 03:48 Jesus echoes this principle in John 15:6, 03:51 he says, "If anyone does not abide in Me... " 03:55 remain in Him... 03:57 "he is cast out as a branch and withered; 04:00 and they gather them and throw them into the fire, 04:03 and they are burned. " 04:05 Then Paul in Romans 11:21 through 23 04:11 echoes this again, 04:13 he says, "If God did not spare the natural branches... " 04:16 he's talking of Israel the biological seed of Abraham, 04:21 "He may not spare you either. " 04:24 Spiritual seed of Abraham... 04:26 "Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: 04:31 on those who fell... " 04:33 those who broke covenant with Him 04:35 "severity... but toward you, goodness, 04:38 if... " this is Paul's word... 04:41 "if" that's the biggest two-letter word 04:43 in the whole language... 04:45 "if you continue in His goodness. 04:48 Otherwise you also will be cut off. 04:51 And they also, if they do not continue in disbelief, 04:55 will be grafted in, 04:56 for God is able to graft them in again. " 04:58 God's message is consistent throughout Scripture. 05:02 Exodus 32:33, "The Lord said to Moses, 05:07 'Whoever has sinned against Me, 05:09 I will blot his name out of the book. '" 05:11 He's speaking of the Book of life... 05:14 the registry of the redeemed. 05:16 Then Jesus echoes the same principle in the New Testament 05:20 in Revelation 3:5... He's saying it in the negative 05:25 but He says, "He who overcomes 05:28 shall be clothed in white garments, 05:33 and I will not blot out his name... " 05:37 I will not blot out the name of the overcomers 05:41 from the Book of Life; 05:42 "but I will confess his name before My Father 05:44 and before His angels. " 05:46 Is it possible to enter into Covenant relationship with God, 05:51 be saved by grace... accept His gift of salvation 05:56 and then, carelessly toss it away? 06:01 Walk away from it? Leave it in the dirt? 06:07 Apathy is a dangerous heart condition. 06:10 So, our second question then... 06:13 what happens if we're faithless? 06:15 Let me tell you, God never violates our free will. 06:19 He offers the gift of salvation, it's up to us to receive it 06:24 but it's also our choice to remain in Christ. 06:30 We can change our mind in the direction of our life. 06:33 We've seen people who have apostatized. 06:36 The Bible is full of examples of religious unfaithfulness... 06:40 sinning against the Lord... intentional rebellion... 06:43 falling away and backsliding. 06:45 In his first letter to the Corinthians, 06:48 the Apostle Paul gives a brief history of the wanderings 06:52 of the nation of Israel... God's elect people 06:57 and Paul tells of their transgression 06:59 and how they finally exhausted the Lord's patience 07:04 and Paul explained that God's judgment 07:08 against this wilderness generation 07:11 is a warning to Christians. 07:15 He concluded in 1st Corinthians 10:12, 07:18 it says, "Therefore let him who thinks he stands 07:23 take heed lest he fall. " 07:27 That's a warning we need to remember. 07:29 Do we think we stand? 07:31 Let's take heed before... lest we fall. 07:35 In 2nd Peter, here's another warning. 07:40 The Apostle issues a strong alert 07:44 against the potential danger of falling away from the Lord. 07:48 He warns that the seduction of false teachers 07:52 who speak with great swelling words of emptiness 07:56 and corrupt good morals 07:57 and you know what their allure is... these false teachers? 08:01 How they attract people to them... 08:03 they have lofty expressions of liberty from God's restrictions. 08:10 They teach people... Peter says to walk after the flesh 08:15 and they delude Christians 08:19 who one time adhered to the truth 08:22 turning them aside, he says, 08:25 "from the way of righteousness and the holy Commandment. " 08:28 Then he concludes... in chapter 2 verse 20, 08:32 this is 2nd Peter 2 we'll read verse 20 through 22. 08:37 "For if, after they escaped the pollutions of the world 08:42 through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 08:44 they are again entangled in them and overcome, 08:48 the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 08:52 For it would have been better for them not to have known 08:55 the way of righteousness, than having known it, 08:59 to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them. 09:03 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: 09:07 'A dog returns to his own vomit,' 09:11 and, 'a sow, having been washed, 09:14 to her wallowing in the mire. '" 09:17 Hooo... Peter goes on in chapter 3... 09:20 2nd Peter 3:16 and 18... 09:24 here he's talking about Paul's writings 09:26 and he says, "Yeah, some of them are kind of hard to understand" 09:29 but he says, "untaught and unstable people 09:33 twist them to their own destruction 09:36 as they also do the rest of the Scriptures... 09:40 you, therefore, beloved... " 09:43 he's talking to Christians, 09:45 "beware, lest you fall from your own steadfastness, 09:51 being led away with the error of the wicked. " 09:55 Oh, we have to beware... we need to check everything 10:00 according to Scripture. 10:01 He says, "Grow in grace and the knowledge 10:05 of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 10:08 Oh... beware. 10:11 Now, let's consider some of the warnings in Hebrews. 10:15 Hebrews 3:12 says, "Beware brethren, 10:19 lest there be any of you with an evil heart of unbelief 10:25 in departing from the living God. " 10:30 What's happening here... the author of Hebrews 10:35 is concerned about the possibility 10:38 of us detouring from God's narrow path of life... 10:42 walking away from the source of grace, 10:45 if we draw back from following the footsteps of Jesus, 10:50 we depart from the Father. 10:53 Now, the Author in verse... in chapter 10... 10:56 Hebrews 10:28 and 31 says, 11:00 "Anyone who has rejected Moses' law 11:03 dies without mercy on the testimony 11:06 of two or three witnesses. 11:07 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, 11:11 will he be thought worthy 11:13 who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, 11:16 counted the blood of the covenant... " 11:19 the ever... the blood of the everlasting covenant... 11:23 the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world 11:26 "who has counted the blood of the covenant 11:29 by which he was sanctified a common thing, 11:32 and insulted the Spirit... the Holy Spirit of grace. " 11:40 Christ's blood ratified the new covenant. 11:44 Only His blood can cleanse us from sin 11:47 and if we turn away from His sacrifice, 11:51 there's nothing... 11:52 no other alternative for sacrifice for sin 11:57 but now, listen to this, 11:59 Hebrews 10 continues in verse 36, 12:03 he's talking about drawing back from living by faith, 12:08 listen to what he says, Hebrews 10:36, 12:12 "You have need of endurance, 12:15 so that after you have done the will of God... 12:20 after you have done the will of God... 12:23 you will receive the promise... " 12:26 and here is the promise... 12:27 he's going to quote what God says... and this is it... 12:31 this is what God said, 12:33 "For yet a little while, 12:35 And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. 12:38 Now the just shall live by faith; 12:40 but if anyone draws back, 12:44 My soul has no pleasure in him. " 12:48 Woooo... we must remain in Christ. 12:51 We must not draw away from Him. 12:55 We've got to follow in Christ's footsteps... 12:59 follow... obeying God's holy Commandments... 13:02 remember what we talked about yesterday... 13:05 we even obey by grace... 13:08 it is God... the Holy Spirit working in us 13:11 to will and to do His good pleasure. 13:14 We cannot sin willfully 13:17 or we are breaking covenant with God. 13:20 Now, let's consider 2nd Timothy... 13:24 oooh... this one's a good one. 13:26 Paul's writing to 2nd Timothy. 13:28 Let me just read through it first... then we'll unpack it. 13:31 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verses 11 through 13, 13:35 Paul says, "This is a faithful saying: 13:39 if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. 13:43 If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. 13:47 If we deny Him, He will also denies us. 13:52 If we are faithless, He remains faithful 13:56 because He cannot deny Himself. " 13:58 Now, let's unpack that. 14:00 If we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. 14:05 This is referring to the doctrine 14:08 of substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. 14:13 He nailed that old sin nature to the cross 14:15 and we have to die to self, 14:18 he said, "Pick up your cross daily. " 14:21 We have to die to self and die to sin. 14:24 We accept Him as our Savior. 14:29 Being born again... 14:30 being regenerated by the Holy Spirit, 14:34 we are alive to God in this re-created life. 14:38 Then he says in verse 12, 2nd Timothy 2:12, 14:41 "If we endure... we shall also reign with Him. " 14:45 Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 24:13? 14:48 "He who endures to the end... shall be saved. " 14:54 This is not a sprint... 14:56 the Christian walk's not a sprint... it's a marathon. 15:00 We have to endure... 15:02 We already read Hebrews 10:36, 15:05 it says that we have needed endurance 15:08 so that after we've done the will of God... 15:12 the revealed will of God... 15:15 we will receive the promise. 15:19 So, we've got this promise of reigning with Christ 15:25 in this life and in the next 15:27 but now he says, "If we deny Him, 15:31 He will also deny us. " 15:32 Did you know that "Deny Him" here in the Greek 15:37 the verb is in the future tense. 15:39 If we shall deny Him... 15:42 "Denying Christ" does not demand a verbal rejection. 15:49 Habitual disregard of God's commandments and deliberate sin 15:57 is a denial of Christ. 16:00 If we reject His authority and refuse to abide in Him... 16:06 to remain in Him, 16:08 with the power of His grace, 16:10 we are consequently disowning Him. 16:14 Paul identifies people of this mindset saying, 16:19 "They profess to know God 16:21 but in their works, they deny Him. " 16:25 He calls them "disobedient" this is Titus 1:16... 16:30 he calls them disobedient and disqualified. 16:34 Let me tell you something. 16:35 The two greatest heresies in Christianity are 16:40 that we can save ourself by works... 16:44 that's what all pagan religions teach... 16:49 that's what all cults teach 16:51 that you can save yourself by works. 16:53 We saw yesterday... 16:54 there's nothing we can do to save ourself 16:58 but another great heresy in Christianity 17:01 is that grace is a license to sin. 17:05 We saw yesterday, 17:07 there could not be anything further from the truth. 17:10 Jude 1:3 through 5... Jude reads this, 17:14 he says... or writes this... 17:17 "Contend earnestly for the faith 17:19 which was once for all delivered to the saints. 17:22 For certain men have crept in unnoticed... ungodly men... 17:28 who turn the grace of God into lewdness... 17:34 unbridled lust... 17:37 and they deny the only Lord God, 17:43 and our Lord Jesus Christ. " 17:45 Remember Jesus said that if we deny Him... He'll deny us. 17:49 I guarantee you, 17:51 this is something that we have to remember: 17:54 Grace does not give us a license to sin 17:57 but then he goes on and He says, 18:00 "I want to remind you that the Lord... 18:01 having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, 18:05 afterward... He destroyed those who did not believe. " 18:10 I heard of a church where someone came and preached 18:14 on the topic of grace 18:17 and afterward, a man walked out and said, 18:20 "Hallelujah, I'm set free, 18:22 I can bring my pornography out of the closet... 18:26 I am saved by grace. " 18:28 That is turning the grace of our Lord God into lewdness... 18:32 into unbridled lust... 18:34 that's denying the Lord. 18:38 Jesus said in Matthew 10:33, 18:40 "Whoever denies Me before men, 18:43 him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. " 18:47 Now, this isn't a temporary lapse 18:49 like Peter when he said something 18:51 and then repented right away, 18:53 he's talking about falling away... 18:57 about an apostasy and there is the fearful reality 19:03 if we turn away from Christ, 19:05 He'll deny us before the Father. 19:07 Then 2nd Timothy 2:13 says, 19:10 "If we are faithless, He remains faithful; 19:16 He cannot deny Himself. " 19:18 You know, some people take comfort in this Scripture... 19:22 it's not a word of comfort... it is a word of warning. 19:25 If we are faithless, He remains faithful... 19:29 He cannot deny Himself. 19:31 God is faithful to His promises. 19:34 He is faithful to His warnings of punishment. 19:39 He cannot act contrary to His nature. 19:44 He is a God of mercy... 19:46 His compassions are new every morning 19:48 but He is a God of justice. 19:52 If we don't believe in God's power to save us from sin... 19:58 if we are unfaithful to Him... 20:01 He cannot help but remain faithful 20:04 to His righteous character and His sure Word. 20:08 His promises are trustworthy. 20:11 He will faithfully deliver everyone 20:15 who walks and lives by His divine grace 20:19 but He will be equally faithful 20:22 to his promises of punishment for the wicked. 20:25 Did you know God anguishes 20:28 over every person who breaks covenant with Him. 20:33 It deeply saddens Him. 20:36 The loss of relationship is something that... 20:40 you were created for a relationship with God 20:44 but He cannot deny His Word. 20:48 Christ promises in John 10:20, 20:52 "no one can snatch us 20:54 from our heavenly Father's protective hand. " 20:57 Paul said in Romans 8:35 through 39, 21:02 he says that absolutely nothing 21:06 can separate us from the love of God. 21:09 Peter says in 1st Peter 1:5, 21:13 "through our faith in the provision of His grace, 21:17 we are kept by the power of... by His power for salvation" 21:24 but even so, grace does not eliminate free will. 21:29 God will never violate your free will. 21:34 To do that would be to violate the principle of love. 21:38 It is possible to have a form of godliness 21:42 and deny its power. 21:44 It is possible to cast off Christ's yoke 21:48 and walk away breaking covenant with Him 21:52 and breaking the heart of our loving God. 21:56 It is possible to grieve... to resist... 22:00 even to quench the Holy Spirit. 22:04 Jesus said in Matthew 7:21 through 23, 22:09 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' 22:12 shall enter the kingdom of heaven, 22:13 but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22:16 Many will say to Me in that day, 22:19 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your Name, 22:24 cast out demons in Your name, 22:26 and done many wonders in Your name?' 22:30 And then I will declare to them, 22:34 'I never knew you; 22:35 depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" 22:39 Oh... oh can you imagine hearing that? 22:42 Thinking you're walking in a Christian life 22:44 and then Jesus says to you at the end... 22:46 instead of "Well done, thou good and faithful servant" 22:49 "Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. " 22:54 What is lawlessness? 22:55 1st John 3:4 says, "Whoever commits sin 22:59 commits lawlessness... sin is lawlessness... " 23:02 and what is the penalty for sin? 23:04 The second death. 23:06 You know, some people act 23:08 as if God never wrote the Ten Commandments. 23:11 They ignore God's law. 23:14 We proved yesterday 23:18 that the Ten Commandments are not the Old Covenant, 23:21 they were the heart of the Old Covenant 23:23 and they are the heart of the New Covenant. 23:26 Do we think we stand? 23:28 Let us take heed that we don't fall. 23:32 To abuse the covenant love relationship of grace 23:38 by disobedience is to break covenant with God. 23:44 Let me repeat that, 23:45 "To abuse the covenant love relationship 23:49 between us and God by disobedience 23:52 is to break covenant with God... " 23:55 and we know God only keeps covenant 23:58 with those who keep covenant with Him. 24:00 We must be watchful... 24:03 we must guard our relationship with the Lord of grace. 24:08 We must pray for grace for God's divine assistance. 24:13 Yes it takes some effort, but it's a Spirit-empowered effort. 24:17 You know, Paul said in Philippians 2:12, 24:20 "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling... " 24:23 I used to... 24:24 my knees would knock trying to work out my own salvation... 24:28 I didn't understand grace 24:29 but I didn't see the next Scripture either, 24:32 I don't think they should have been divided... 24:35 he says, "work out your own salvation 24:37 with fear and trembling... " but not in your own strength 24:40 "for it is God who works in you to will and to do 24:46 His good pleasure. " 24:47 Every morning I pray, "Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit. " 24:51 I actually pray that more often than once a day 24:55 but I'm praying that God... by the power of the Holy Spirit 25:00 will empower me to obey. 25:03 Obedience is by grace. 25:05 Let us stand in grace... grow in grace 25:09 and find our strength in grace. 25:11 Now, our third question: 25:13 Can we have assurance of salvation? 25:16 Absolutely... 25:18 absolutely you can have assurance of salvation. 25:22 As long as we are living in union with Christ Jesus, 25:28 you can take comfort 25:31 because abiding in Him... 25:33 you have absolute assurance of salvation. 25:37 Let me read 1st John 5:11 through 13, 25:41 boy, some people don't underline their Bible... I do... 25:45 this one's underlined... 1st John 5:11 through 13 says, 25:49 "This is the testimony: 25:51 that God has given us eternal life, 25:55 and this life is in His Son. " 25:58 Who has it? Listen, verse 12, 26:01 1st John 5 verse 12, 26:04 "He who has the Son of God has life; 26:08 he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. " 26:11 How simple is that? 26:13 Do you have Jesus? 26:15 Are you abiding in Him? 26:17 Are you walking in His footsteps? 26:19 He says, "These things I have written to you 26:21 who believe in the name of the Son of God, 26:23 that you may know that you have eternal life, 26:25 and that you may continue 26:27 to believe in the name of the Son of God. " 26:32 What does he mean by "believing in the Son of God?" 26:36 It's not mental assent. 26:39 Even the demons believe and shudder... 26:42 to believe in Jesus... 26:46 believing in Jesus is to be living in Jesus. 26:53 If you have the Son... you have assurance of salvation. 26:57 Listen to what Ellen G. White wrote in: The Faith I live By. 27:01 This is from page 100, 27:03 "It is not God's will that you should be distrustful 27:07 and torture your soul 27:08 with the fear that God would not accept you 27:11 because you are sinful and unworthy. " 27:14 You can say, "I know I'm a sinner... 27:17 that is the reason I need a Savior. 27:20 I have no merit or goodness whereby I may claim salvation 27:27 but I present before God the all-atoning blood 27:31 of the spotless Lamb of God, 27:34 which taketh away the sin of the world. 27:38 This is my only plea. " 27:42 That's Ellen G. White, The Faith I Live By, page 100. 27:47 Let this be our pledge and our affirmation. 27:53 Hebrews 10:39 says, 27:56 "But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, 27:59 but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. " 28:01 As long as we walk by faith, 28:05 no trial can take us from God's protective hand. 28:09 As long as we love the truth and abide in the truth, 28:14 we're not going to seek teachings 28:17 that please our itching ear 28:19 or twist Scripture to our own destruction. 28:22 As long as we walk in the light of God's Word 28:26 with a heart that is renewed by the quickening grace of Christ, 28:30 imputed and imparted righteousness 28:35 asking to be filled daily with the Holy Spirit, 28:39 we will remain faithful to our Lord 28:43 and He will remain faithful to us. 28:46 By His grace we can be overcomers 28:50 and not blot it out of the Book of Life 28:53 if we guard grace... trust and obey. |
Revised 2021-08-11