Noah’s Ark & Your Salvation: A Deep Bible Study on Eternal Security

Welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a 30-minute walk through the Scriptures, teaching in-depth Bible truths that change people's lives. Now, here's your host, Les Feldick. Okay, good to have you all back again today. And as we do every week, we're just going to pick right up where we left off last week. So, if you'll turn with me to Genesis again, chapter 7. And just for a little quick review, you remember that last time we were together, we explained the ark and its tremendous size and how it was certainly capable of holding all that the Bible says it did. But I think the main thing that I tried to get across, and I hope I succeeded, was that the ark was a picture of our salvation. And you remember I pointed out that the word atonement is also the same Hebrew word pitch. And it was the pitch that sealed the ark against the waters of judgment and consequently then made the ark a place of safety for those within. And then I pointed out that the blood of Christ is what makes our salvation secure. If we're not under the blood, then we have no salvation. And so, I pointed out also that God must have been in the ark as He made the invitation then to Noah and his families as well as to all of creation to come into the ark. It was now time for judgment to fall. But God waited seven more days with the door open, and if you want to call it that, with the gangplank down, and anyone could have still come into that ark of safety. It was there for the taking, but none responded. And then we found, and this is what I want to start with then tonight, is in Genesis chapter 7. In our verse-by-verse, we left off at verse 10, but I want to skip across, at least in my Bible, across the page to verse 16. To verse 16, where it says, And they went in, they went in, male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him. And then, if you haven't underlined it in your Bible before, underline, because this is so crucial. It is so tantamount to New Testament doctrine, I think, and it's shown here again in type. And what is the word? And the Lord shut him in. Now, I pointed out in my earlier classes, back in Genesis chapter 2, that the word in our King James, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, is always a reference to Jehovah, and Jehovah in the Old Testament, with maybe two, possibly three exceptions, is always God the Son. Jehovah is Christ in His Old Testament personality. And so, when the Lord, Jehovah, God the Son, invited them into the ark, and He became, as I said before then, that gyroscope that maintained the safety of the ark throughout all the flood. And when I begin to explain the flood, if not this half hour, hopefully the next one, you're going to know what I'm talking about. That old box didn't float up on some calm ocean of water. Quite the opposite, but we'll come to that later. But what I wanted you to see, as we start out tonight, is that God shut the door. Now, remember, there's only one door in this ark. Only one. And again, this is all so typical as we come into the New Testament economy. We are told over and over, there is only one door. John uses the analogy in his Gospel in chapter 10, that it's the sheepfold door. And there's only one door into the sheepfold, and who is it? The Lord Jesus. And then Paul makes it so plain in the book of Acts, that there is no other name given among men, whereby we must be saved. And then, later on, Paul also uses that same analogy in 1 Corinthians, I think it is chapter 3, where he says there is only one foundation. There is no other foundation than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. And so this is the reason that there was only one door going into the ark. And when that door was shut, there was no possible way for entrance by anyone else. There was only one window, and it was not in the side, where it had any access to someone from the outside. It was in the top of the ark, in the roof. And there was only a band somehow under the, what we would call the eave of a building today, just under the roof line, for ventilation. And no doubt that eave of ventilation was constructed in such a way that the air could flow, but the water would not splash into it as the seas rose and so forth. But all these things, I think, are pertinent with regard to our own salvation experience. There is only one door into salvation, and there is no other way except through that one door. Once we go in that door of salvation, who seals it? God does. There is not a human latch on that door. God shuts us in. And so, with that as a backdrop, since there is so much confusion and argument, and of course I won't argue. I don't think I've had an argument with anybody in 20 years. There's no point to be made in arguing things. But yet there is so much controversy today, and I've been accused of taking the stand that I stand, and so be it. I teach as I think the Lord has opened it up to me, and I feel that's where my responsibility lies. But I'm talking a little bit about this whole concept of eternal security. Boy, it just riles some people up. And on the other hand, there are those who have beaten it into the ground. They have totally taken it out of context, and as I said, they have overdone this doctrine of eternal security. So, with this concept now then, coming from New York, my wife and I have often talked. You know, all the teachers that we ever heard and sat under, they usually take a subject, you know. They'll teach maybe for a week on the Holy Spirit, or they may teach a week on the Trinity. And I've never done that. We know that you've been with me a long time. No, we always start in Genesis and just go on through. But just like now, as we come to a certain point, you have to stop and analyze a particular doctrine. And that's the way I've always taught. And as we come through Genesis revelation, I think we hit every major subject in Scripture, all of them. So tonight, let's just take a look briefly, of course, at eternal security. Are we secure once we have entered into that arc of safety? Is the blood of Christ sufficient to take us through those times of testing and in the final judgment and so forth? So let's go to Romans first. But in the back of your mind, always remember what we're trying to get out of this is that God shut the door. And it was the pitch, the atonement, as it were, that sealed out those waters of judgment for Noah. And it's the blood of Christ that secures us from any judgment from whatever source. If you've got Romans chapter 8, I like to just start right there with verse 1. A verse that's been precious to me for many, many years. What a promise. And always remember, can God lie? Absolutely not. If we believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, and I trust you all do, then we have to rest on the fact that if God said it, that settles it. There's no room for controversy. And verse 1 says, There is, therefore, now how much? No condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. See, that's conditional. That's qualifying. That doesn't cover the whole human race. But all those members of the human race who are in Christ Jesus now, the promise of God is, we will never face condemnation. There is, therefore, now then, to them no condemnation who are in Christ Jesus. And I won't even use the rest of the verse, because just about every commentary I've ever read, and every scholar that has really looked into these things, they maintain that the last part of this verse 1 was never in the original manuscripts. Only in a few. And so they feel that somewhere along the line, someone, not inspired, added that, who walked not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, because it comes up a little later in the chapter where it's appropriate. So, just take verse 1 for that first part, and that says all we need to have. That there is, therefore, now no condemnation. You know what that means? It means what it says. There is nothing that God can bring against us in condemnation if we're in Christ Jesus. Why? For the same reason that once Noah and his family went into the ark, and the door was shut, and the ark was sealed against the waters of judgment. What could touch them? Nothing. And the same way here. All right, let's come on down through chapter 8, and go to verse 14. This whole chapter, and if some of you, I think, you know, some of you are in my class, where we're studying the book of Romans right now. And in the first seven chapters of Romans, the Holy Spirit's only mentioned once or twice. And that's what leaves Paul in such a dilemma, then, in chapter 7. Why is it, Paul says, that the things I want to do, I don't do, and the things I do do, I shouldn't do. And then it breaks out in chapter 8. What's the remedy? The Holy Spirit. And then chapter 8, within one chapter, 19 times, if I've counted correctly, 19 times the Holy Spirit is used in just one chapter. Because that's the answer for all the dilemma of chapter 7. All right, so now if you'll come on down to verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they might be, they can hope to be, no but what? They are. See, that's a present tense verb. They are what? The sons of God, or children of God. Now, let's just take a contemporary situation. Let's say a family, husband and wife, have born two or three children. But one of those children becomes a belligerent renegade. He is an embarrassment to everything the family stands for. And finally that parent says, honey, he is such an embarrassment, we don't want that kid to even partake in our inheritance. Let's just go to law and let's totally disinherit him. Let's not even recognize him as a son. And that can be done. But no matter where that son may roam, whose blood is flowing in his veins? His parents. And it's the same way here. Once we have entered into this kind of a relationship, and we have become bonafide children of God by virtue of all the acts of God that are attendant to our salvation, who can change that? It just can't be done. Oh, we may think that God should kick that person out of his family, and we may have all kinds of ideas. But listen, the Scripture stands. If that person has genuinely, now that's where I make the qualification. Those of you who have heard me teach over the years, you know that. I am a firm believer in eternal security only for those who have been genuinely saved. Yes, for that person there is no condemnation. But I'm not talking about people who have gone through maybe a set system whereby they become a church member, and automatically by rote repetition of things, well, now you're a Christian. No, I don't buy that. I don't buy people just simply walking the aisle and following whatever procedure may be given to them, and they also do it by rote description. No, that's not salvation. But for the person who has genuinely come under the power of the Holy Spirit and has genuinely believed the gospel with all his heart, I have to maintain the Scripture says there is no condemnation. They are a child of God and always will be. All right, let's read on down in the next couple of verses. Verse 15, for example, For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have, see past tense, this has been done, but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba, Father. We've come into that relationship with God that places us as a complete mature son. And then you see that is brought about even to a fuller extent in verse 16 that the spirit itself or himself beareth witness with our spirit that we, and again, what's the verb? We are. No ifs, ands, buts, or maybes about it. The spirit makes relationship with us known that we are the children of God. And then verse 17, look at the promises that follow. And then if we're an heir, if we're a child of God, we're an heir and if we're an heir of God, we're a joint heir with Jesus Christ. You know what it means to be a joint heir? Yeah, you do. Everything that's his is ours. But on the other hand, how does it work? Everything that's ours is whose? It's his. A lot of believers don't like to accept that part, but this is where it comes in at, that just as surely as everything that's God is now ours, he expects everything that's ours to be his. Now I said he expects it. He doesn't command it, he doesn't demand it, and this is the beauty of living under grace. Once in a while people say things that just make my day. And the other night as I was leaving, I heard a dear lady that I know has been a believer for years. And she said to a friend of hers, going out the door, she said, you know, it wasn't until the last two or three weeks that I've come to understand the grace of God. And oh, that just made my day, because we had been talking, of course, back in Genesis where Ishmael comes on the scene. Now here I go chasing rabbits, I'm sorry, but you'll remember that Hagar was now pregnant, and she was causing such a problem in the home that finally Sarai, and that was before the name was changed, Sarai finally said what? Abraham, get her out of here. I can't stand it. And so Abraham did. But who came on the scene and says, now you go back to Sarah's tent? God did. God did. Well, why didn't he just leave her there? Because that's where they ended up some years later. Oh, God had an eternal purpose in the whole thing, because that was going to be a living example of a New Testament truth. And so now you know the story, and we'll be there in a few months, I guess, here in this class. But anyway, some years later now, the son of promise comes on the scene, Isaac, the one that God had said in the beginning would be born. And so Isaac is now a young lad. And what's Ishmael doing to Isaac? Making life miserable for him. And now God comes into the picture, and what does he tell Abraham? Send Hagar and Ishmael out into the wilderness. Why? For Ishmael will not live under the same roof with the son of promise, Isaac. Now that sounds almost cruel, but remember, God doing all this because Paul is going to use that as an allegory in Galatians chapter 4. And what's the allegory? Oh, he says, now Abraham had two sons. The one was born of the flesh, Ishmael. The other was born of promise, Isaac. Ishmael stood for law and legalism. Isaac stood for grace. Now, to prove that you cannot let those two live under the same roof, Paul says, even as Ishmael was sent out, so also legalism has to be sent out. Because law and legalism cannot live under the same roof with the son of promise, Isaac, or grace. And so we have to come to that understanding that to live under grace, the grace of God, it's just beyond our human comprehension. And that's the only reason that I can stand here and teach that if you're once a genuine born-again child of God, you can never be cast out of God's family. Now, first thing I know, people say, well, I know people who have done such and such, and they've done such and such, even preachers, bless their hearts. But you know what my answer is? If God hasn't begun a disciplining process in their lives, I doubt, I don't care if they're a preacher or not, I doubt if they've ever been a child of God. Because the Bible makes it so clear that if we're a child of God, and if we begin to waver in our discipline, what's God going to do? The same thing you did with your kids. You begin to discipline. And then we know that the Bible also promises that if discipline doesn't work, and they get rebellious, God takes them home. He's not going to let someone stay and continue to bring reproach to his name. Now, isn't all that enough to tell us that a child of God, first by choice, you remember several weeks ago I used the illustration of the Redeemer, and I think that's probably already been on the television, how that we're bought out of the slave market, remember? And we're totally removed from anything that is tying us to the slave market. And then what would the Roman slave master do? And now he says, I've given you your freedom. You're free to go anywhere in the Roman Empire. You're a purchased citizenship. And what would that servant more than likely say? You've done so much for me. I want to stay right here and be your servant. All right, now this is exactly how salvation works. Once we've come into the grace of God and we comprehend all that God has done for us, how can we help but want to serve Him? All right, now we're in Romans chapter 8. Come on down just a little further. Come down to verse 22. Now this is another whole thought in here, but I'm going to leave that for now. We'll come up with that on another time. But here in verse 22, Paul continues, For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together unto now, and not only they, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit. We as believers, see? We as believers have the firstfruit of the Spirit. Even ourselves, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is to say, the redemption of our soul. No, that's not what it says. Redemption of our what? Body. Now if you're like myself and my wife, we've been under the preaching for years and years, and 90% of the time all we hear is the salvation of the soul, the concern of the soul. And I've come, since I've been teaching and getting into the book, that God isn't concerned just for the soul. He's concerned with the whole person. God is concerned in the salvation and the redemption of the body, soul, and spirit. All right, now in light of that then, come with me, if you will, to 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Now we're on this same concept now. Once we enter into that arc of safety, which for us, of course, is the gospel of salvation, that Christ died, His blood was shed, He was buried, we rose again, He arose again. And when we believe that with all our heart, then we enter into this arc of safety, which we call salvation. Now then, in chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians, we have Paul expressing this concept of being in the body. Instead of the arc, we're going to use the body, the body of Christ. Now in verse 12, he's going to use the illustration of the human body as a type, if I may use that word, of the body of Christ. Now the human body is made up of all our various members, isn't it? Our fingers, our toes, our legs, our hearing, our sight. These are all different organs, these are all different functions, but they all operate under one center of operation in the mind, and we're one body. But we've got all these different members. All right, now look at the analogy in verse 12. For as the body, the human body, is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. And of course, he's making reference to the body of Christ. Now verse 13. For by one Spirit, and that's capitalized, so it's the Holy Spirit, for by the one Holy Spirit are we, what's the next word? All. Not just the most spiritual believers, not just those who say they've arrived, but how many? All. For by one Spirit have we all been baptized into one body. Now stop right there. Does the Holy Spirit baptize with water? No. So this is not water baptism. Now, all you have to do is just stop and think for a moment. Almost, and I'll protect myself by using the word almost. Every Christian group will not accept membership without water baptism. Is that right? All right, now I've always got a question for all of them, and I don't care who they are. Do you firmly believe that every member in your congregation is a born-again child of God? No. Oh, now, you've got to be honest. Of course not. Of course not. We're all in memberships where there are unbelievers who have been baptized in whatever form of baptism you may use or whatever time in life you may use. There are still people coming in to every group who are totally unsaved, but they're baptized and they're memberized, but not the body of Christ. There will be no unbelievers in the body of Christ, because, you see, that's the Holy Spirit's work, that when a person becomes a child of God, the Holy Spirit immediately places them, and that's what the word baptized here means. The Holy Spirit places them into the body of Christ. Now, the reason Paul uses this analogy of the human body, some believers, their role is nothing more than a little pinky. Some may even have the role of a little toe, which most people never see. Some are going to be more visible, but every one of us, regardless of where God has placed us in the body, have a function in that body, be it small or great. Yeah, tonight we were studying Romans chapter 12, and I'm going to come back to that in just a moment, but in Romans chapter 12, it's laid out so clearly of what God expects of His children, and there are listed the gifts that really amount to something, the various gifts that every believer has at least one of. All right, so we are baptized or placed into the body of Christ by an act of the Holy Spirit who can search the hearts. The Holy Spirit will never place an unbeliever into the body of Christ. None of us can examine one close enough to screen him from the membership in our local church. We can't do it, and we're not supposed to. That's why Jesus gave the illustration back even in His earthly ministry of tares and wheat. You remember? I remember a few weeks ago, a few months ago, years ago, I was teaching on that very concept of tares and wheat, and the agronomist down at the college brought in some tares and some wheat. You couldn't tell the difference, but one would never give a grain, and the other would, and that's the same way in the church. We can't judge and say, well, now that church member is not a child of God. See, that's not our job. We can't do that, but we have to be aware that in the body of Christ, there are no false professors. Only the genuine believer is in the body of Christ, and that's the only criteria. And so I tell everybody, that's the membership you better be sure of. Don't worry about whether you're a member of the biggest church in town or the smallest or whatever. Are you a member of the body of Christ? And remember the qualifications here is for all, see? For by one spirit are we all baptized into that body. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick. Through the Bible is a partner supported ministry. If this program has been a help to your study of the scriptures and you'd like to see others enjoy the teaching, your support would be greatly appreciated. Write to us at Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Oklahoma, 74552, or call 1-800-369-7856. Remember, all programs are available in printed form, audio cassette, and videotape. Be sure to tune in next time to Through the Bible with Les Feldick.