This is a continuance of looking for the evidence showing that I have total security in my salvation and why you should too. The Bible teaches that we have a whole and eternal salvation. Once save, always saved!
We left off by going over the new things you have in Christ upon becoming a Christian. (Someone in Christ)
The fourth new thing you have is a new hope. You have a hope that you know will guarantee you eternal life. “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” (Romans 8:24-25) You have a hope of glory! The hope we have is because of the full and final redemption of everything. The redemption comes through the sufferings of Christ. “Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” (1 peter 1:11) You now have a hope that someday you will receive a new body. Your new body will be like Christ’s body. “We shall be like Him.” “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” (Philippians 3:20-21) It will be a body of flesh and bone. “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” (Luke 24:39) Your new body will be a recognizable body. You will sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and you will recognize them and they you. “And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 8:11) It will be a body unlimited by time, space or gravity. The Lord was able to walk through a solid door yet he had a body that could be touched, felt and a body that ate and drank. Your new body will be spiritual body, sown out of nature but raised as a spirit. “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” (1 Corinthians 15:44, 49)
The new hope is for the redemption of all things and so the creation itself will also be restored. The anxious longing of creation waits for the Glory of God and for creation to be set free. Creation had a great fall back in Genesis 3:17-18. “Cursed is the ground.” Creation fell when man sinned and creation will once again be restored. It will be restored when the sons of God come into their own. This will occur at the resurrection, during the millennium. In Titus 3:5 we see the regeneration of believers, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” Regeneration also occurs for nature. Nature itself will be converted. “And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matthew 19:28) You have a new hope of a full and final restoration of your own body and your environment.
The fifth new thing you have is a new helper in prayer. The Holy Spirit who lives in you, witnesses to you, and now is said to pray for you and me becomes your helper. “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26) The Holy Spirit indwells us and helps us to know what to pray for. It is good thing He indwells us because we need His help. The Holy Spirit looks to you to do your part but also helps you when needed. The Holy Spirit helps us with intensity through the groan of the Spirit. We have the groan of nature, the groan of the believer and now the groan of the Holy Spirit. You can see in verse 27 of Romans 8 the infallibility of our helper, “And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” The Holy Spirit, who lives within you, within your hearts, makes intercession for you and for us. The Holy Spirit is praying to the LORD Jesus Christ and then He (the LORD) to the Father, all for intercession for you and me. Isn’t that awesome! It is hard to comprehend.
In closing today I enter another piece of evidence which is powerful and may be the strongest verse in the Bible regarding eternal security. Romans 8:30, “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” And whom He justified, them he also glorified. This verse reveals God’s view of salvation. It reveals that God’s view is that He is seeing us as already glorified before it has happened!
A done deal. Once saved, always saved.
Believe and live.
“The Tubthumper’
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