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False Security for Eternal Life

Pastor Mike will be speaking on False Security for Eternal Life. He will be in John 8:37

Thou believe us that there is one God, thou do us well. The devils also believe and tremble. James lived in a time very much like ours, that there are many who profess to believe, but their faith was not real.

They claimed to be descendants of Abraham, but their faith never transformed their life. Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders, and I am so glad that you have tuned in today, and this is hope worth having.

We’re glad that you could be a part of our program today, and I hope today that you’ll be blessed and encouraged in the word of God. We’re going to be in John chapter 8, verse 37, and we’re going to be studying the false security for eternal life.

There are many who think they’re okay with God, and they think there’s nothing wrong with them. Maybe they grew up in the church. Maybe their family was actively involved and leading in the church, and they think, well, man, that’s good enough for me.

Well, friends, the truth is each of us needs to examine ourselves to see if we’re in the faith and make sure that we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus himself said, there will be many in that day that will say to me, Lord, Lord, have we not done these wonderful things in your name?

And I will say to them, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. And that is the way it is, friends. If God does not know you, then you will not have eternal life, and he will only know you if you repent and believe.

So let’s get into the study of the scriptures and learn about that false security that so many people have. And if you have your Bible, I want you to join me in John 8 verse 37 through 47 is our text.

And John 8 verse 37 through 47. I want to talk to you about the false security for eternal life. And as we come to our text, it’s important that we keep everything in context, that we understand to which Jesus is speaking and to what Jesus is speaking.

And if you remember that he is in this dialogue with the people, the Jewish people, he’s in this dialogue with religious leaders, and they are doing everything that they can to discredit him, to try to deny that he is the true Messiah that has been prophesied, to make sure that those who in general in the community and the public would not believe in Christ.

And so Jesus Christ is really bringing about these great and strong statements about who he is. But when we come to verse 37, Jesus addresses and confronts. belief systems that the Jewish people had, systems that they believed in their mind and heart that would lead them to eternal life.

The Jewish people valued their connection to Abraham, and they often bragged and touted it before others. They based their security that they would have eternal life on their relationship and lineage and heritage to Abraham.

And to understand that we must realize and understand what the scriptures teach us that God entered into a covenant with Abraham. In that covenant there were certain promises that were applicable to the descendants of Abraham.

That covenant contained the promise of redemption through Christ, meaning a Messiah, and He was the seed, this Messiah, Jesus Himself, in whom all nations of the earth were to be blessed. The Jewish people came to believe that this promise of redemption was made to them as a nation, and that it was conditioned on their lineage in that nation, and all the Jews believed that their descent from Abraham and the fact that they went through the religious ceremony of circumcision and adhered to the law made them saved.

Saved to eternal life, saved from the judgment of God upon their life, and therefore, that if they just simply would build their hopes on their heritage. they would have eternal life unfortunately they misunderstood they misunderstood the promise and therefore they developed false hopes of heaven and they believed that they were secure and that they were okay and that there was nothing necessary more for them to have eternal life and so Jesus confronts this and he begins to show them that the things that they are building their eternal life on are crumbling before them and nothing more but sand sifting through their hands and that it would not guarantee that they would have eternal life with God the Father the people had built their hopes and security on first their physical heritage I want you to note that in verse 37 of the text.

The Bible says, Jesus himself speaking, I know that you are of Abraham’s seed, but you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my father, and you do that which you have seen with your father.

Jesus is showing them that though they be physically of the heritage of Abraham, they are not spiritually of the heritage of Abraham. Though they are descendants of Abraham, they are not spiritual descendants of Abraham, and there was a striking distinction.

For Jesus says in verse 37 that they were seeking to kill him. They were seeking to kill him because Jesus was counter -cultural, and Jesus stood up to what the religious elite believed in and stood for, and he was willing to show them that true faith in Christ, true faith in the Messiah was essential for salvation.

And so he says in verse 38, I speak that which I’ve seen with my father, and you do that which you have seen with your father. He’ll come back later, and he’ll elaborate on that statement. But note this, the apostle picks up on this same theme in Romans chapter 4 in verse 16 in which he says, therefore it is of faith that it might be grace to the end, the promise might be sure to all the seed, referring to the seed of Abraham,

not to that only which is of the law, but to that which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. And what we have to recognize this morning is that your physical family heritage does not guarantee you any eternal life in this world and the world to come.

That no one is born a Christian. There are many who are of the false premise that I’m born in America, I’m a Christian, no friends. That is so far from God. Many brag that their parents were godly and were very faithful and active and involved in the church and therefore somehow that the works of their parents and the faith of their parents covers them as they stand before God.

Absolutely not. For God has no grandchildren and you must come to Jesus personally and you must come to God alone in your own heart and make a decision for the Lord Jesus Christ. Many times parents are frustrated because their children are not following Christ.

and they feel some sense of guilt but I remind every mother and father your only responsibility is to raise your children right to raise them in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord to raise them in the path of godliness and righteousness and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ but even all of that does not guarantee that your children will love Jesus us and we believe that every person must respond to god on their own that every child must make their own decision that just because they’re of this lineage or that heritage or that name that family does not mean that they are a born again christian the second thing that Jesus points out and helps them understand that their spiritual heritage does not bring eternal life for them look at verse 39 they answered and said unto him abraham is our father jesus said unto them if you were abraham’s children you would do the works of abraham but now you seek to kill me a man that has told you the truth which i have heard of god this did not abraham verse 41 you do the deeds of your father now back up to verse 38 he says again you do that which you have seen with your father verse 41 you do the deeds of your father then said they to him we be not born of fornication we have one father even god god so again abraham is held up we’re of the children of abraham jesus said if you were the children of abraham you would do the works of abraham and that you You would be receptive to me as the Messiah.

You would be inviting of me as the Messiah, and you would trust in me as the Messiah and the Savior. Why would he say that? Because again, go back to verse 39. He says, if you were Abraham children, you would do the works, but now you seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth, which I have heard of God.

Hey, Jesus is saying that I’m sent from God. I’m speaking for God. I’m sharing you the truth of God. Remember, he’s already taught them that the truth would set them what? Free. We learned that last week, the freedom of truth, he’s already shared with them that the freedom of truth is found in a relationship with Jesus Christ and abiding in the word of God, and that as the word of God transforms our life,

it changes us into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. But Jesus says an amazing statement to them. He repeats it to them. Verse 41, you are doing the deeds of your father. It’s that old adage that says like father, like son.

And a true son inevitably reflects the characteristics of their father. And here they are trying to earn favor before God. And they’re trying to say, look, we’re from the lineage and we’re from the spiritual heritage of Abraham.

But God is saying to them that if you were truly the spiritual children of Abraham, then you would do the works of Abraham. And what are those works? Listen to what Paul says in Galatians 3, seven. Know you therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of who?

Abraham. Abraham. They which are of faith. Abraham was not a perfect man and he had many flaws. But the Bible characterizes him as a man of faith. In Hebrews chapter 11, we are reminded that the consummation of his life is that he was a man of faith.

Did he stumble? Did he struggle? Did he have setbacks in his life? Were there times that he miserably failed God? Absolutely. But the totality of his life was a life and a man who truly trusted in the Messiah.

The difference between Abraham and those who believe today is only one thing is that Abraham looked forward to the Messiah. He looked forward to the cross. He looked forward for a savior. And today you and I look back to the Savior, back to the cross and back to the Messiah, knowing and recognizing that Jesus Christ is that true Messiah.

And so Paul says, of Abraham, they are those who have faith. They have faith in the true Messiah. What matters most this morning to every person is that you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul was a man who could brag about his religious heritage.

He could brag about his spiritual accomplishments, but he considered it all nothing but dung or nothing but waste before God. For he recognized that his righteousness was not in his religion. It was not in the label of his church, but rather it was in a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

And for each of us this morning, our security must not be put. into the church it must not be put into a personality but it must be put is solely and squarely in our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and what he has accomplished for us at the cross and through the resurrection of Jesus Christ Paul or Paul would go on to say in Philippians 3 verse 9 and be found in him referring to Christ be found in Christ not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in Christ the righteousness from God that depends on faith what you and I must recognize this morning is that there is nothing that you and I can do to attain the perfect righteousness that would gain us entrance into heaven there is no perfection in your life that you could achieve that somehow is going to merit you the worth that you should be a child of God therefore because I am flawed because I am sinful because I am selfish that as I live out my life even the best of my falls extremely short of the perfection of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ came to this earth and he came what you got to get is that he came not only to die on a cross but he came to fulfill the law he came to do what we could not do he came to live a righteous sinless life he was perfect in every aspect of his life and he fulfilled every aspect of the law down to the minute details even as a little baby he was brought to the priest And he was offered as a dedication unto God,

which was required by the law. And the Bible teaches us that John the Baptist declared that he was the Lamb of God. And you’re thinking in terms of his crucifixion, but here’s what I want you to know, long before the crucifixion of Christ, there had to be the perfection of Christ.

And that the Lamb had to be without spot, and it had to be without blemish. Jesus came and he lived a sinless life on this earth. A perfect life, he lived the life that you and I could not live. He was righteous, he was perfect in every way.

And therefore, my friends, when Christ went to the cross, not only was he. the most qualified he was the Lamb of God without spot without blemish who hung on that cross and he took on our punishment our penalty for our sins that we had committed and therefore my friends when Christ suffered on the cross he took the wrath of God from heaven and he bore our sins the Bible says and as he took and paid the penalty for our sin the Father was pleased for the holiness of God was paid for how is it that we know that the Father was pleased through the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the resurrection of Christ Jesus through the power of the Spirit of God was raised to life and in that the Father had expressed through the resurrection of Christ that he was pleased with the Son who had offered himself as a sacrifice for those who would believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for those who would put their faith and trust in Christ now when you and I believe now when we have faith in Christ get this his life is my life his crucifixion is my crucifixion and his resurrection is my resurrection and his ascension is my ascension what is it that waits for all believers is that we will ascend into heaven and that we as well will live in perfect sweet fellowship with the Father the Son and the Spirit throughout all eternity what you got to get is this that By faith,

the righteousness of Christ is transferred to you. By faith, the perfection of his sinless life is transferred to you. Now do not run out of here saying, I’m perfect. I got it all together. No, my friends, you’re not perfect.

You’re still living in the flesh. But when God looks at you, it’s just as if you’d never sinned. For he does not look at you, but he looks at his son, Jesus Christ, and you are robed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ this morning.

And therefore, we sing that nothing to the cross do I come to the cross with nothing, and I only cling to the righteousness of my savior. And when we stand before God, we do not brag about what we’ve achieved.

We do not brag about our family name. We do not brag about what our parents have accomplished. Do not even brag that we’ve been members of the open door church for years upon years, but rather we humbly brag about Jesus Christ because He was sinless, because He was perfect.

And through faith, all this is transferred to those who believe. Now what is faith? Jesus said, if you truly were the descendants of Abraham, if you truly were the spiritual children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham.

What is faith? It is simply this. The works of Abraham are faith and obedience to God. Now listen to Hebrews 11 .8. By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should hereafter receive for an inheritance, obey, and he went out not knowing whether he went.

What I’m saying to you is this, is that faith, true faith always leads to obedience to God. Abraham was told by God, leave your family. Leave everything. And I want you to go to a place I’ll show you later.

I’ll tell you later about it. There isn’t a one of us that’s like that, amen. We wouldn’t be willing to do that. Not in our flesh, we wouldn’t. We want details. We want every T crossed and every I dotted.

We want a checklist and we wanna know that everything is exactly as it should be. But God said to Abraham, Abraham, get up and leave. It’s all in Genesis 11 and Genesis 12. It’s all there. And Abraham did what?

He got up and left. He believed in his heart. He trusted God, he didn’t know the future, he didn’t know how things would unfold, but he believed and he obeyed. His faith led to obedience in his life.

And so here’s the point is that true faith is living in submission to what God has commanded me. It is living in submission to what God has commanded to me. And so it is that faith is something that results in action in my life.

James 2 .18, a man may say, thou has faith and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works. We are not of those who believe that you work your way to heaven, but we are of those who believe that true faith in Christ leads to obedience.

faithful works for Jesus Christ. What is the difference? It really rests in your heart and your motivation. If you are working in order to achieve salvation, if you are working in order that you might be approved of God and that you might be welcomed into eternal life, if you are working for the true motivation that God would forgive you of your sins, then friends, you’ll split hell wide open.

But if you are working out of gratitude to God, because he already did all the work on the cross and through the resurrection, if you are working because you’re created under good works and you wanna bring glory to God and you wanna do your best to reach others for God and you are doing everything you can to be a light in this world, then my friends, your faith has led to true godly works that give evidence that your faith is real.

And unfortunately, there are many who are putting their blind trust in works, in religion, in religious traditions, in ceremonies, hoping that somehow it will bring about eternal life for them. And I’m here to say to you, my friends, that Jesus shatters those concepts in this text.

And he says that you must have faith like Abraham. You must have a faith that transforms you and changes your life to have a desire to live obediently to God. Let’s go to James chapter two. Let’s just back up real quickly in our Bible.

In James chapter two, I want you to go there and I want you to follow along with me and I want you to see what God is saying in the book of James to each of us. In James 2, verse 21, and I think this is important in understanding what is faith, because I think there’s a misnomer out there among evangelicals, among those who believe in Christ.

And so we need to take the Scriptures in its entirety, and we build our theology on the entirety of the Scriptures rather than just one verse or one chapter. James 2, verse 21, Was not Abraham our father justified by works?

When he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith brought his works, meaning his faith brought about his works? And by works was faith made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith.

Abraham believed God and it was imputed, transferred, if you will, unto him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God. You see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only.

James is not teaching us that we’re saved by faith. I mean by works, excuse me, but rather just the opposite. He is saying that you are saved by a faith that works. You’re saved by a faith that is so authentic and so real with God that it leads you to want to live for God, obey God and follow God that that is a true faith.

Why would James say that back up to chapter or verse 19 of chapter 2? This is why James says it. Thou believe us that there is one God, thou do us well. The devils also believe and tremble. James lived in a time very much like ours that there are many who profess to believe but their faith was not real.

They claim to be descendants of Abraham but their faith never transformed their life. No one is born a Christian. People think well I’m born in America so therefore I’m a Christian. That’s not true friends.

You got to have a relationship with Jesus. Nobody gets to heaven because of their parents. Nobody gets to heaven because of somebody else that they know is religious. Everyone has to deal with God on a one -on -one basis and God has no grandchildren.

He only has children and the only way that you can believe in Christ is to know Him as your Lord and Savior and have eternity. life in Him. Some people are trying to earn their way to heaven. Well, that’s not gonna work either.

You have to trust in the work of Christ on the cross. So I hope today that you have done that and if you have a false security and you realize it and it’s now your time to turn your life over fully to Him.

I pray that God will continue to change your heart and help you to see that you are a new creation in God. We encourage you to check out our website and make sure that you go to our Facebook. We’re on Facebook, Hope Worth Having, Hope Worth Having dot com on our website and all these features are great opportunities.

We try to help give you opportunities to learn how you can grow in your faith. So if you’re a newfound Christian, then dig into the Bible, check out these resources, these platforms, and I know that they will be a blessing to you.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having. Thanks for watching!

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