January 28, 2024                      NOTES NOT EDITED
Security: A Vault, A Ring, and A Boat
1Peter 13-5 (Eph. 1:13; Mark 4:35-5:1)

 SIS: Once saved-Always Saved is an undeniable truth in the Bible teaching that once a person is truly saved, they can never again be lost.

Fear is a powerful motivator.  For example, very few people drive the speed limit our of a sense of duty or high regard for law and order.  Most of us drive the speed limit because we fear getting pulled over by the police and given a ticket.

Fear is a powerful motivator.  On a sight-seeing trip on Florida’s west coast, another couple were visiting an old mansion. In the exquisitely furnished master bedroom, we were surprised to see signs on the bedspread and curtains reading: "WASH HANDS IMMEDIATELY AFTER TOUCHING." Afterwards the wife noted: “ We admired the furnishings from a safe distance, but our curiosity was aroused, so, on leaving, I decided to ask the guard if the fabric had been treated with some harmful preserving chemical.”  The guide just grinned: "Oh, no, ma’am,” he said. "There’s nothing on ’em. We just never did have much luck with the ’Do not touch’ signs." (copied)

I think you will agree that fear is indeed a powerful motivator.  But there is one thing a devoted follower of Christ should never fear. That is, losing one’s salvation for any reason, including personal sin after we are saved.

This is the essence of the Bible’s doctrine of the “security of the believer.”  This doctrine is also referred to as the doctrine of “the perseverance of the saints.”  That which God elects to salvation, He also preserves or protects for all eternity.  This doctrine has often been over-simplified by the phrase, “once saved, always saved.”  While that phrase is technically correct, it does not fully express everything that pertains to the security of the believer. 

In regard to this doctrine, we define a believer as someone who has been truly saved as evidenced by being “sealed, or filled, with the Holy Spirit of promise.  There is no security for someone who merely has an intellectual understanding of the Bible and God, or even a deeply emotional religious experience at some time in one’s life.  Salvation does involve a degree of intellectual understanding, and a salvation experience can be very emotional, more so for some than for others.  But, a real believer has resolutely and sincerely turned away from his or her sins (repented) and acknowledged that Jesus Christ is the Lord, the Son of God, the Only Savior (confessed).  A real believer has been “transformed” as evidenced by the Spirit of God taking absolute and total control of one’s life (indwelling, sealing).

So, someone who has a religious experience but without any true repentance has no foundation for feeling eternally secure.  These people will show no true evidence of any life-transforming transaction involving the Spirit of God.  From a human perspective, we have no way to know with any certainty who is a “real” believer and who is a “pretender.”  There are often, however, clues in regard to how a person lives their lives day after day, year after year.

In the New Testament there are at least three very important metaphors or symbols to help us see the durability of true salvation:  a Vault, a Ring, and a Boat.  1Peter 1:3-5 will introduce us to the idea of eternal security.  (READ 1Peter 1:3-5)

1.  A Vault (1Peter 1:3-5)

What we just read are some of the most descriptive and picturesque teachings in the Bible regarding our salvation.

The language used by Paul to describe the “security of the believer” in this passage is some of the most colorful and rich in the entire New Testament.  One word in particular stands out as especially descriptive in its use of the perfect tense and participial form.  Translated as “kept” in the HCSB, and “reserved” in the KJV (τετηρημένην, tetērēmenēn) the original Greek meant, “watch carefully, guard; keep, hold in reserve, preserve; observe, obey, pay attention to.”  The tense of the word is the Greek perfect which referred to a past action with results that continue forever.  Further, Paul uses the participial form which refers to “on-going action.”  The emphasis is that our salvation is absolutely impossible to lose in any way for any reason.  Paul further strengthens this idea in verse five with the word, “protected” (HCSB) or “guarded” (ESV).  Once a person is truly saved that person can NEVER be lost.  We call this the doctrine of the “security of the believer.”

In verses 3-5 Peter outlines our salvation.  He lays the foundation for his description of our salvation by calling it 1) a new birth;  2) a living hope; and 3) an inheritance.  Each of these word pictures paints a picture of permanence and durability—or, as we are focusing on today, security.  A person who is “born,” cannot be unborn.  A hope that is “living” is constantly being renewed.  Paul expounds even further on the idea of an inheritance.

An inheritance describes a matter of permanent transfer.  Keep in mind that as believers we are “adopted sons and daughters” of God through Christ.  Ephesians 1:5 tells us:
In love  ⁵ He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will. 

Adoption was a very specific and well-defined transaction in the Roman world, especially in regard to laws of inheritance.  Adoption in the Roman world, especially among the richer ruling class, was quite common.  The laws for this legal change of status for an individual were very involved.  Disinheriting a child was looked upon with great disfavor, especially if the child were adopted.  In fact, studies indicate it was not possible to disinherit an adopted child as one could a natural child.

The idea of our salvation as an inheritance is to indicate a permanent change in status into a son or daughter of God.

To further establish the permanence of this transaction, Peter describes our adoption as sons or daughters of God, and therefore our promise of an inheritance, in three ways.

First, our salvation is “durable” and beyond any decay or loss.  It cannot be diminished in any way by any thing.  Peter uses three words to describe the durability of our salvation in verse 4.  He takes three common adjectives and adds an “a” or alpha to the beginning which makes the adjective a negative.  Our salvation is “not perishable, not corruptible, and not fading.”  This trinity of “nots” is given to demonstrate the absolute durability of our salvation.

Second, our salvation is “kept.”  (v4).  Peter will piggy-back off of this idea in verse 5.  The idea of being “kept”demonstrates the absolute security of our salvation by pointing out “where” our salvation is kept—“in heaven.”  In addition Peter uses a very strong form of the word meaning, “to watch over in order to protect,” by making it a participle which demonstrates on going action.  Beyond that, Peter uses a “perfect tense particple” which not only means the protection is on-going, but that it “never ends.”  That is the significance of the Greek perfect tense.

If all this were not enough, Peter adds even more to this grand painting of salvation using words as the artistic medium.  Third, Peter says that our inheritance of salvation which is durable and being watched over in heaven, is “in a vault being guarded by God, Himself.”  Verse 5 explains,

You are being protected by God’s power (HCSB), or as the ESV translates it, “by God’s power [You] are being guarded.” 

The word translated “protected” or “guarded” was often used to describe somebody in custody, that is locked up in a jail, or vault.  This is very important in showing the eternal security of a person who is saved.  Some groups, like Assemblies of God, do not hold to a doctrine of the eternal security of the believer.  There official position states that “while it is not possible to lose one’s salvation, a person can walk away from salvation” by choosing to live a sinful life after being saved.

That interpretation is not possible in light of 1Peter 1:5.  A person that is “locked up in custody” is not free to walk away.

According to verses 4-5, our salvation is kept in a vault and guarded by God, Himself.  This is the highest order of security in the universe.  Because I do not have to “fear” losing my salvation, or having God take it away, or even walking away from it of my own free will, I can focus on boldly and courageously serving God no matter what opposition or challenge I might face.

Now, write this down and refer to it often:  “once saved, serve Jesus with boldness and courage without a fear of loss in any way.”  That’s a much better way of expressing the “true,” but “theologically vague” doctrine, “once saved, always saved.”

Now, to keep anybody from arguing that 1Peter really is not describing the absolute security of the believer, let me point out two other equally powerful metaphors that show the same thing:  a Ring and a Boat.

2. A Ring (Ephesians 1:13) 

¹³ When you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed in Him, you were also sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.  ¹⁴ He is the down payment of our inheritance, for the redemption of the possession,  to the praise of His glory. 

This time, it is Paul describing the process and outcome of salvation.  He uses a level of literary prose that matches the majestic words of Peter we just examined.  Instead of painting the picture of a “vault,” Paul paints a picture of salvation as a “ring.”  Before we look at the “result” of being saved, let’s look at the process as Paul outlines it.

First, a person must hear the gospel.  By hear, I mean be exposed to the proposition of the gospel.  That could be from hearing a sermon.  It could be by reading a gospel tract.  It could be someone writing the Bridge of Life illustration on a napkin in a restaurant.  It could be by watching a gospel presentation on T.V.  It could even be in a dream, as is happening all over the Muslim world where Jesus, Himself, appears to men and women.  The key is that somehow, some way, somewhere, a person must come into contact with the gospel message.

Second, a person must believe the gospel message.  This does not mean one must simply have an intellectual understanding of the gospel—that is, that all people are sinners and only faith in Jesus Christ can save—but, one must place absolute and total trust in Jesus, turning away from one’s sins (repenting) and deciding to follow Jesus.  The Bible teaches that God promises to provide the faith we need to choose to follow Jesus.  Salvation is a matter of “grace alone,” without any contribution by the one being saved.  It is simply a response to God’s free offer of salvation—which is free because God in Christ already paid the price when Jesus died on the cross at Calvary and was raised on the third day.  After being exposed to the message of the gospel, one must surrender to the One the gospel calls the Lord and Savior. 

Third, a person must be sealed with the Holy Spirit.  Here is where the “ring” comes into the picture.  Some groups talk about the filling of the Holy Spirit (sometimes called, baptism of the Holy Spirit) as something separate from salvation.  Paul’s outline here does not allow for that interpretation.  Paul’s outline is clearly, hearing, believing, and sealing.  One package with three parts.  It is the sealing of the Holy Spirit that completes the transformation, or transaction of salvation.  In another Scripture Paul clearly states, Rom. 8:9:

^{Rom. 8:9} You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, since  the Spirit of God lives in you.  But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,  he does not belong to Him.

There is no salvation apart from God’s Holy Spirit indwelling a person.  The Holy Spirit “seals” the salvation transaction.  Paul actually uses two words related to rings.  The first word is related to the “signet” ring, such as a king would use to seal an official document.  It was his personal ring with a raised “signet” or design which the king or official would press into wax making an official mark.  This is the meaning of the phrase, “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.”  This is equivalent to a person signing their name to a contract.  This meant the contract was binding and irreversible.

The second reference a ring, or guarantee, comes when the Holy Spirit is described as, “the down payment of our inheritance.”  The ESV translates it the “guarantee.”  This refers to an initial sum which is given in anticipation of a pending “final” transaction, such as giving a “down-payment” on a house.  This essentially closes the deal while the necessary papers are drawn up and matters are finalized.  Normally, when one gives a “down payment,” that creates a binding agreement.

This word was puzzling to New Testament scholars for many years.  It was not clear what the noun, arrhabon (ἀῤῥαβών), referred to or how that related to the Holy Spirit’s participation in our salvation.  The word means “a pledge, a promise, a down payment.” They came to understand this meaning when the word was found in ancient trash pits on pieces of paper referring to marriage contracts.  It referred to a “token of engagement.”  Remember that in the New Testament, being engaged was as permanent as being married (remember the story of Joseph and Mary).  We still follow this practice today of giving a ring as a seal of the permanence of our wedding vows, though our engagements don’t have the same idea of permanence as in biblical times.

So, Peter talked about the security of our salvation using the metaphor of being locked in a vault in heaven guarded by God, Himself.  Paul talks about the security of our salvation as a “down-payment or an engagement ring.”  We also have the lesson of

3.  A Boat (Mark 4:35-5:1)

Let’s look at two verses from Mark and leave out what is in between for the time being.

³⁵ On  that day, when evening had come, He told them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the sea.”  Then, verse 5:1,
……………………..
Then  they came to the other side.

Jesus did not give His all so we could have partial salvation.  When Jesus says, “our destination is the other side,” then you can rest assured you will be landing on the “other side”—NO MATTER WHAT!

I read something recently, which I’ve seen other versions of before. The statement said, “Life is what happens while you’re planning more important things.”  So often this is true.  We plan to go to the “other side” but something comes up on the way that deters us, distracts us, delays us, or even dashes our hopes of ever getting to our destination. “Life is what happens while you’re planning more important things.”

This very thing happened to the disciples on that day spoken of in Mark 4:35.  Jesus planned to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  But, between verse 35 of chapter 4 and verse 1 of chapter five, “stuff happens!”  As was common, a violent storm came up on the Sea of Galilee as the cold air from the mountains hit the warmer air above the Sea.  These storms were treacherous and frightening.  The disciples you will remember, scolded Jesus who was sleeping soundly in the stern of the boat (rear of the boat for you land-lubbers).  The cried out,  Don’t You care that we’re going to die? (verse 38). 

Why WASN’T Jesus concerned about the boat sinking in the middle of the lake?  He wasn’t concerned because His plan was to “go to the other side,”  not go half-way and drown!  The Lord’s confidence was in His plan.

We could weather the storms a whole lot better than we do if we would:  1)  learn God’s plan as revealed in His Word; and
2) trust God’s power that when we go with God we get all the way to the other side, everytime, regardless of what circumstances my flare up.

The main lesson of this passage is to show that Jesus has absolute sovereignty over every circumstance in our life.  The God in fair weather is still God in foul weather.  Our security is not in our skill as captains of our own boat, but our security comes from trusting God to navigate us from this life to Glory.  A great gospel song says 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.

With the Lord in our boat we have absolute security knowing that we WILL reach the other side and step on the shores of glory one day!

So, Peter talked about our security a “kept in a vault and guarded by God.”  Paul talked about our security as God giving us the Holy Spirit “as a downpayment” or as an engagement ring in anticipation of that day when we, the Church, will join Him as His Bride at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.  Jesus talked about our security as a “boat” ride to the other side that cannot be hindered by difficulty or circumstances.

Life can be quite a mess at times.  God is there.  I recall a little boy’s prayer.  He began with the standard list:  “Dear God, bless Daddy and Mommy.  Bless my sister and my brother.  And, bless my doggy and me.  Oh, and God, please take care of yourself.  If anything happens to you, we’re gonna be in a big mess!”

Life happens and it can be messy.  God wants us to be secure in our salvation, even when life is at its messiest, so that we can be bold in our presentation of the gospel to the world.  “Once saved, always saved” is absolutely true, but to a large degree misses the point.  God does not give us eternal security so that we can do as we please after we are saved but so the we can do what pleases Him.  We can take new risks and attempt exciting new ministries because we do not have to fear losing anything—most of all we do not have to fear losing our salvation.  The doctrine of eternal security has a purpose—bold, risky, giant-slaying faith that fears nothing because everything is secured by God.

Once saved, our destination is set by God and our ship is guided by His Hand of Providence.  He will steer us safely into Glory.

Security is a hot topic in this presidential election cycle—if you can get the media to cover something other than scandals and wild accusations.  In every poll we have in the U.S. the people say that the #1 issue is the “Open Border” of our country. Why is that the #1 concern? Is it because we are terrible people and don’t like immigrants? I think our Statue of Liberty and the fact we are the most charitable nation on the planet proves that is not the case.

Open Boarders are a concern because of a simple fact that all people desire “SECURITY.” It is a known fact that criminals, including vicious terrorists are flooding over our borders. Without strong borders we have no security. Without security, we cannot thrive and fully enjoy life.

A few years ago, a university did a study of school age children. In the study they observed students playing at recess in a large field without a fence. It was a huge field. The children huddled in a large group in the center of the field.

In another situation, the children were in an equally huge field, but this time it had a fence. The researchers were astonished to note that the children scattered across the entire field going right up to the edge where there was a fence.

We are free’er and more fulfilled when we feel secure. This is true of our salvation. We are free’er from sin and more fulfilled in living when we realize, “Once we are saved—Always Saved!”

God and play freely in God’s FIELD OF GRACE!