Because that is in keeping with the exuberance that Paul is feeling as he describes the greatness and goodness of God manifested in our salvation. Remember that in the Greek, these 11 verses are one sentence.

Paul’s just started to talk, and it is just flowing out of him: the goodness, the greatness, the majesty, the wonder of what God has done for us in Christ.

William Henry.

Paul says,
And that is reflected in the title, which you don’t know that you don’t have an outline.

The blessings of Ephesians 1—a secure salvation. A secure salvation.

It can only be lost if it’s based on our performance.

And this is what Paul is doing.

And this is what Paul is saying.

And everybody listening.

I’m not saying those people are saying. I’m not saying they aren’t sincere.

I am calling your attention to something here this morning.

And that is a tendency in the Christian church today to think that because a person is sincere, their error doesn’t matter.

As long as that’s what they believe, whether they’re right or wrong shouldn’t matter.

And children, we cannot walk and operate that way. I think this is an inconsistency that the church must deal with.

The impression that as long as someone is sincere.

So, as long as the Mormon is sincere, the fact that he believes in many gods doesn’t matter. It contradicts the Bible completely. But that’s what they believe. As long as the Muslim is sincere, it doesn’t matter that they’re Muslims.

Now, friends, we must recognize that sincerity, we can be sincerely wrong. The sincerity of our heart cannot be the final barometer of truth. Or we’re going to be all over the map.

Let me give you three thoughts quickly. I hope quickly. If sincerity negates error.

Now, I have to pause and make sure we’re not talking about soul-damning error. Which I believe, by the way, that if you believe in multiple gods, when the Scripture is clear, there’s only one God. That’s a soul-damning error. Okay? I don’t think this is a soul-damning error. But it is an error. That cannot be ignored because of sincerity.

If sincerity negates error, then James’ instruction about the greater accountability of teachers is null and void. Why should it matter whether the teacher is teaching correctly? As long as he’s sincere. That’s what matters.

Or what about those people, those false prophets of Matthew 7, where Jesus says,
He says, If sincerity negates error. If a person’s errors can be overlooked because they’re sincere, and none of you can criticize or judge my message. Because I’m sincere in this.

Now, hold it. You say, Pastor, you’re saying you can’t be wrong? Nope. I said, sincerity cannot be the measure of right or wrong. It must be conformity to the Word of God. And I can’t just dismiss something because a person is sincere. I must say, we all must be driven to the Word.

The issue is never the depth or degree of a person’s sincerity. But the issue is the degree of conformity to God’s Word. You cannot justify error based on the fact that so-and-so is sincere. And there are many sincere people that believe you can lose your salvation. Which brings me back to our premise. Can we lose it?

Now, I have to say to you, and I’ve defended this position in a lot of different ways over the years. And I did not always believe in it, by the way. But I see little reason to rejoice in these blessings if they all can be lost.

Paul is bubbling over with enthusiasm about God did this, this, this, this. Hallelujah! Don’t get too excited. Because you can lose it all.

Now, this is not the best illustration. I don’t know that I’m capable of really good illustrations. But here’s one I would use for those of us who have some experience with sporting events. Because how many times have we seen an event where one team is just walloping the other team? I mean, you think at halftime this game is over. And every time this team scores, the people rise to their feet. They cheer. The band plays wildly. Everybody’s excited. And then the second half comes. And they lose the game.

Which means all the celebration. They got some good exercise. They worked their lungs. They got up and down out of the chair a few times. But their celebration was wasted. Because they lost the game.

Paul doesn’t speak in it. He doesn’t say. He doesn’t say, God, we’ll give us these blessings. If we hang on long enough. He says they are ours already. And this is the fuel of the Christian life.

Not what I have to earn in my works. But what I’ve already been given by cause of Christ’s work on my behalf. They are not potential blessings that we cannot know about until we arrive in heaven. They are immediate blessings. Right in this moment. He has blessed us in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus.

I saw this. And somewhere. Where the guy said. A pastor. I can’t remember. Some noted person like Charles Spurgeon or something. He said the angels rejoice. Jesus said the angels rejoice. When one sinner repents. But there’s no point in them rejoicing if that sinner can be lost next week. It’s got to be something that stays with us to be valuable.

And not something we can lose at every whim. In turn.

This I believe is the reason Paul sums up the list with the work of the Holy Spirit. As God the Father and God the Son have not failed. And cannot fail. Will not fail. In their salvific role.

So also the third member of the triune Godhead will not fail.

I will say this here. It’s later in the outline or maybe not. Maybe next week. Yes you are absolutely correct.

Again I commend Scott for his thoughts today. I can fail. I probably will fail. God.

Now listen. You’ve got to hear it. God will not fail himself.

See it’s not just about failing me. He has made a commitment to his own glory. To rescue people from their sins. And if I lose my salvation. God. Has failed himself. And this is why it’s so important to see this.

The unfailing accomplished. The unfailing accomplishment. As we talked about last week.

And if you weren’t able to be here. Go to YouTube and watch it. Or Facebook. And try to draw out.

The unfailing accomplishing of his eternal purpose. Applies with equal strength to the Holy Spirit. It is a guarantee. Of our inheritance. A guarantee. Of our inheritance.

Now you say pastors really. Is that an unfailing guarantee. What Paul is actually talking about here. Is that what he really means. Well. We should note. That Paul repeats. The concept of the sealing of the spirit. In Ephesians 4:30. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. By whom you were sealed.

For the day of redemption. And 2 Corinthians 1:1‑22. It is God who establishes us with you in Christ.

I really want to. I really want to emphasize that. I told you last week. Ten times in these eleven verses. Paul says in Christ. In Christ. In Christ. In Christ.

And I want to try to unpack this next week. More fully. And I have to pause to say to you. This is one of those subjects.

We don’t hear about in the Christian church in America today. So you might naturally think. It’s something new. It isn’t. In Christ. Union. With Christ. In Christ. Colossians 3.

Your life is hidden with Christ. In God. I’ll pause it with you today. And I want you to ponder it. Because next week. I’ll try to unpack it further.

We think of salvation as a gift that is external to ourselves. Children’s salvation is God bringing us into himself. We are in Christ. We are his body. We are in Christ. It’s not an external thing. I can lose through negligence. God has incorporated us in Christ.

This is the beauty of biblical language. It is God who establishes us with you in Christ. Has anointed us and who has also put a seal on us. And given us his spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. It is not. It is not. The infilling sealing of the Holy Spirit. It’s not merely an incentive, an enticement or a basis of motivation. It is a guarantee.

The spirit within is a guarantee that he will complete his purpose in us. He will complete.

Some years ago when I first became a Christian I shouldn’t say some years ago back in the last century when I became a Christian there was a popular little song by a group called the Imperials.

You may have heard this phrase but it went like this. The chorus went like this.

He didn’t bring us this far to leave us. He didn’t teach us to swim to let us drown. He didn’t build his home in us to move away. He didn’t lift us up to let us down.

This is the purpose and plan of God. And he will not fail. His purpose is to rescue people biblically.

There are several nuances for a seal. The first is to authenticate as genuine. The second is to mark ownership. And the third is to make and keep secure. They seal it so no one can tamper with the context. This is God’s promise to us. We want to sing about his promises. This is one of them.

God in the giving of the spirit, in our faith we believe in Christ. God puts the spirit in us. He seals us with the spirit. In the giving of the spirit he wants us to understand his commitment.

We are not being lost. He’s not just rooting. Hang in there guys I’m for you that’s true. But he’s also in us empowering us and keeping us secure in Christ.

Now there are two objections typically. There are many more. But I want to deal with two this morning. In trying to unpack this the beauty the hope the assurance that it is not my performance. I strive to perform faithfully but it is God’s work in Christ that is the basis of my hope and when you talk about that we can’t lose salvation there are several objections and here’s one of them.

The first one. Is telling people that they can’t lose their salvation will cause them to live recklessly and not seek God. Well that’s a subjective point that cannot be demonstrated universally. What do I mean? There are hundreds of millions of Christians who believe they cannot lose their salvation who are living godly exemplary upright lives. If it were true that the belief in itself caused people to live ungodly lives then there should be no Christians living godly lives who believe that and it isn’t true.

And some of the greatest voices of our culture, our time, our Christian heritage Charles Spurgeon was a person who believed in eternal security Jonathan Edwards George Whitefield and the list goes on into our modern day and age Adrian Rogers etc. Were people who lived upstanding righteous moral lives who believe you cannot lose your salvation because it is a work of God and not my work.

Now this is also easily set aside by verse 4 I’ve told you many times he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. No person can claim even if you say you can lose your salvation no person can claim it’s okay to live recklessly because God’s purpose in saving us was to make a people who are zealous for good works. In Paul’s terms in the book of Titus this again.

He’s being an example of holiness. Is not a result of self-effort but divine empowerment through the Holy Spirit. I wrote highlighted this today again I was reading before church and when you read before church you see things and you think okay that’s a good point but he made a great point about self-effort. Self‑effort is like being on a sailboat trying to fill the sails with your own breath. You’re not going to get very far. Are you? You’re going to get discouraged you’re going to get frustrated you’re going to find yourself in despair because you’re drifting back to a place of depending on self.

We don’t depend on self; we depend on the presence of the Holy Spirit to do what we cannot do, and He empowers us. And he’ll come back to it later against this reckless endless idea that I’m—

I don’t have to live righteously as a believer. We are not accepted by righteous living, but it should be the product of true salvation. The second issue is something I need to deal with today.

That’s very. Again. Very involved and sometimes people will say that if you say I cannot lose my salvation, you’re stripping me of free will. And the reason for that is this. As we pointed out last week one of the beliefs about how you get saved is this: I’m getting ahead of myself, so the basic thought is this—

I chose to believe; I can choose to stop believing. If I choose to stop believing, I will be lost. If you say I do not have the power to make that free choice to stop believing, then you’ve taken away my free will. And this gets into a very thorny avenue and it touches on this word that is very uncomfortable for some people—

In verse 5 and 11 Predestination. So let us begin with a couple thoughts. Let’s see if we can come up with the definition to touch on Predestination. That maybe it’ll take some of the alarm away, and something all of us can agree on: first let’s begin with what the Greek word means.

Now why is that important? Because the Bible was written in Greek. You can’t come to the 21st century, grab an English definition, and say this is what it meant to those people; we have to go to what it meant to them. In the Greek, the word predestination in this text is prohorizo—before horizon—to determine beforehand.

Now here’s the definition I would offer: God has determined beforehand to save a people for the glory of His name. God has determined beforehand to save a people for the glory of His name. God—and I can’t imagine anyone who would object to that because it’s biblical. Verse 4, He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. He chose us; he determined beforehand to save a people for the glory of His name. That is just so much.

I think such a simple definition. Now yes, we go further and dig in deeper. We’re going to get into some more heavier complex things. But that should take away the alarm: God has determined beforehand. Even if you only go back by the way to Genesis 3:15. He looks at the serpent and says I’m going to put enmity between you and the seed of the woman, He will bruise your head; you’ll bruise his heel. That’s the first reference to the Messiah coming to save lost humanity. God determined beforehand to save a people for the glory of His name. And again three times in this text he talks about doing it for His glory.

To the praise of His glory, Verse 12 to the praise of His glory. Verse 14, etc. Now so we’ve given a definition that maybe it’ll take some of the edge off. Secondly we have to ask a very difficult question— I don’t know if it’s a difficult question but an honest question: how are you going to avoid the subject? It’s right there in the text. We Paul uses the word in Verse 5 and 11, and it means this concept is woven into the fabric of these blessings. In Verse 5 he says we are; we were predestined for adoption. In Verse 11 he says we’re predestined for an inheritance. How do you do away with the one without doing away with the others? It’s a challenge.

Now I would suggest this Pastor—I don’t know how it works, I don’t know how it works either. But shouldn’t we be willing to live with the mystery in light of what we’re promised rather than reject what is promised because we as human beings can never figure out the mystery? We’ll come back to that in a little bit or just a moment. Because the second question is this, and it also relates to this.

I—Can I lose my salvation based on the idea that I can stop believing? Isn’t it true Pastor That God will not force anyone to believe if salvation is based on my choice? And I have the freedom to stop trusting Christ? How can God guarantee my salvation unless He violates my free will?

Now this is one of the greatest misconceptions about Predestination. The topic of predestination—I have no choice; I’m a robot, an automaton. It’s all settled; it’s done. I play no role. I’m just a pawn on a universal chest ball, and it is a reasonable question to ask. But I have to point out a couple things here.

First the idea of predestination as we dealt with last week is that God can predetermine your free choices from His perspective. It’s guaranteed from our perspective. We are freely choosing a certain course of action. Well, that’s impossible. It is impossible for God to predetermine free choices. Let’s think about this moment. We believe in the resurrection of dead people coming back to life, specifically the entire Christian faith is based on Jesus Christ coming out of the grave alive after crucifixion and that’s impossible. We all know it’s impossible but we believe it because God can do the impossible. Amen? We believe in the virgin birth. I’m sorry anyone knows anything about the real world; the real world knows that no woman can have a child without the benefit of sexual intercourse with a man. Despite what our culture tries to tell us today, that’s impossible for a woman to have a baby who hasn’t had sex. But that’s what we believe. Isn’t it? What about Parting of the Red Sea? That the ocean divided and the wind blew all night to dry the ocean so the children of Israel could go through. It is an impossibility. We believe it. Let’s swing up to the New Testament, Jesus gets out of the boat one day and does what? He walks on water. You can’t do that; that’s impossible. We believe it.

What about Noah’s Ark? There are all kinds of difficulties with that. Global flood, all the animals on the planet getting in this little bitty boat. We believe it from one standpoint. It is impossible but we believe it. And why do we believe it? I mean, we come to prayer and we get a problem. We say we quote that verse: All things are possible with God, but when it comes to this concept no, that’s not possible. It’s not possible for God to predetermine my free choices. And yet as we saw last week that’s exactly what the entire Bible tells us. He stirred up the spirit of Cyrus to let the people go; this is what God does.

Now the second thing now with respect to that and I’m dealing, I’m trying to deal with these difficult issues surrounding free will. The problem is that when you look at the Bible it never says we have that kind of freedom—We freely choose but we do not freely choose God. And how do we get around that? The Bible based upon what the Bible says about human sin and depravity, no one will turn to God of their own volition.

Now Romans 3:23 is often used as what’s called the Romans road to salvation. But before we get to Verse 23 we read this: Verse 10–12 As it is written none is righteous. By the way just before that he makes mention of Jews and Gentiles. This is a universal none. In other words nobody, no human being does. Is righteous? No. Not one. No one understands, no one seeks for God. No one seeks for the true God. We live in a world of religions. Don’t we? Everywhere you look somebody’s got their own view about God. But Jesus when He says In John 17 He says they may know you, the one true God. Nobody seeks that God. All have turned aside together and become worthless. No one does what no one does good. Not one. That again is not more social good or civic good. Nobody is capable of the kind of good that is acceptable to God’s righteous standard. And that’s why he goes to Verse 23 and says all have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God. Our hearts are wicked, the whole purpose sending us His people out to seek the lost because they will not seek Him even when God came to seek the lost in the person of Jesus.

We are told in John 1:10–11 He was in the world and the world was made through Him. He came to His own and his own people did not receive Him. John 3:18–19 immediately following the beautiful most well-known passage in the whole universe God so loved the world we read in Verse 18 whoever believes in Him is not condemned but whoever does not believe is already condemned because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God and this is the judgment. Light came into the world and the world loved the darkness because their deeds were evil.

This is the challenge. From passages like this we rightly conclude that no one will turn to God without some measure of previous divine intervention. That is called prevenient grace. And both sides of this discussion, those who believe you can lose your salvation and those who believe you can’t lose it both believe in prevenient grace but they have a different definition.

And prevenient grace says God moves upon the heart prior to salvation so those who believe you can lose salvation as I said last week they believe God has enlightened every person in the world, given them the ability to respond to the gospel. And then He looks down through time and sees John Doe will respond to the gospel and chooses John Doe on that basis. That is prevenient grace. God has given everyone the ability to respond. I want you to know quickly two things and I’m sorry if this is overload to you today.

I had just a tough time. First I want you to know there’s still a degree of predetermination in that. When did God make the choice? If you say God looked down through time and chose to save you He made the choice and as I said last week with my failed bottle illustration I will repeat the bottle illustration today. What happens if I turn this bottle upside down? The water comes out, you all know that your foreknowledge is infallible but it will not come out unless I turn the bottle over.

God’s foreknowledge that John Doe will respond to the gospel requires John Doe to hear the gospel and that requires God orchestrating the events of the universe. To bring the gospel to John Doe there is still a degree of predetermination. By the way if you wanted to flip over there, you don’t have to do it. But Romans 10:8? If I’m not mistaken everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved but how will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? How are they to hear without someone preaching? How are they to preach unless they’re sent? Even the people God has chosen to save must be saved through the means of hearing the gospel. So there’s still predetermination in that viewpoint.

The second thing then is this other viewpoint: God illuminates those whom He has chosen and causes them to respond. He doesn’t just hope they will respond. He causes them to. Wait a minute pastor. You just violated my free will? No children this is not a violation of free will. It is God freeing the will from its bondage to sin so that we can see the truth and respond to it. Salvation is not free will choosing God but God freeing the will so it can choose God.

The most, the event that Martin Luther wrote that started the reformation was the bondage of the will. Our will is bound by sin. Come on how many of you? I mean again I’m just applauding Scott. Why do you sin? If you sit here today and say I am guilty of sinning why did you do that? Was it just an accident or did you choose to do something you shouldn’t have done? And if you are choosing things after you’re saved how much more difficult was it to make the right choice before you were saved? Prevenient grace. And this is what God’s doing.

No one has ever denied freedom of will. The focus needs to be on the corruption of the will and not the question of its freedom. Here’s something all of us can relate to we freely choose but we don’t always make the right choice, do we? Nobody in the room has some regrets because you made a decision years ago and you look back and say boy that was a boneheaded thing to do. Our free choices are not always good.

And what Martin Luther and Augustine and John Calvin argued is we always choose according to our desires. In order to make the right choice our desires must be changed. And going back to that passage in Ezekiel or Amos the other week, how can a leopard change its spots? How can an Ethiopian change its skin? How can a corrupt sinner, dead in sin and in rebellion against God suddenly decide to make a decision for God? You can’t unless God moves in the heart first.

And these texts testify that the desire we do not desire the true God. The desires must be transformed not merely substituted. Let me pause and ask you a question: when you pray for God to save someone, what are you praying for? I’m praying for God to change their heart, open their eyes, let them see what they cannot now see. That’s prevenient grace. God doesn’t wait till we see it. He opens our eyes so we can see it and in that moment of realization we turn to Him.

People say I don’t believe God violates anyone’s free will. Here is John Doe; I say to John Doe would you like to know about Jesus Christ? And he says no, I don’t want anything to do with God, I don’t want anything to do with your religion. I hate that, I hate everything about it. I don’t like Christians, I don’t like church. Don’t you ever speak to me about that again. What are you going to do? You’re either listening or you will turn around and say dear God open his eyes change his mind. There is no violation of free will. Our will is corrupt, it is blind.

This is the language Paul says in Ephesians 2: … We don’t listen to this many times but we should listen deeper. You were dead in trespasses and sins you were blind in your sins. How do blind, dead rebels choose God? He must choose them.

Now as always quickly I’ve got to finish. But again you don’t have to agree with me. Please don’t leave the room thinking this is just Pastor Shiflett’s opinion. He’s got some wild ideas. So I will read to you from this commentary on Ephesians by William Hendrickson who died in 1982.

This was written, I don’t know when he wrote it. No, I’m not saying he’s right. Infallibly copyright… This is what it means to say God has chosen us and that He causes us to believe. He simply doesn’t stand there as a spectator hoping someday we’ll believe. He causes us to believe for the glory of His name and for our eternal benefit. Hendrickson says this and this is consistent with many others. The purpose of election is found in the words that we should be holy and faultless before Him. It is worthy of special note that Paul does not say the Father elected us because He foresaw that we were going to be holy. He says in order that we should be holy, he elected us.

Election is not conditional on man’s foreseen merits or even on his foreseen faith. It is salvation’s root not its fruit. Nevertheless it remains true that man’s responsibility and self‑activity are not diminished even in the least. When the divine decree unto salvation is historically realized in the life of any individual, it does not mean… slow down pastor it does not mean… it does not mean it operates by means of external compulsion. It motivates, enables, actuates. It impels but does not compel.

The best description is probably that found in the canons of Dort from the 1600s. When God accomplishes His good pleasure in the elect or works in them true conversion, He not only provides that the gospel should be outwardly preached to them and powerfully illuminates their minds by the Holy Spirit so that they may rightly understand and discern what are the things of the Spirit of God, but He also, by the efficacy of the same regenerating Spirit, pervades the innermost recess of man, opens the closed, softens the hardened, circumcises the uncircumcised heart, infuses new qualities into the will, and makes that will which had been dead, alive, which was evil, good, and makes that will which had been, and makes it pliable, and actuates and strengthens it so that as a good tree it may be able to bring forth the fruit of good works.

Whereupon the will being now renewed is not only actuated and moved by God, but by being actuated by God itself becomes active.

Wherefore, man by himself, by virtue of that grace received, is rightly said to believe and repent. Belief and repent are a product of God opening our eyes. They are not the precursor to God opening our eyes. God must do this work in our hearts.

And when He does this work, and we’ll come back to it next week, when He does this work, He doesn’t fail. And I’ll have to stop.

Lord, thank you for your good word. Thank you for this opportunity to share these thoughts. Thank you.