God's Investments Will Never Fail

We read the Word of God from two of Paul's letters today, Ephesians 1, verses 11-14, and then some selected verses from Romans chapter 8. Ephesians 1, verse 11, speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted after ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also when ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. Romans chapter 8, verses 14-17. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. Verses 22 and 23.

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, and not only they, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body. And that adoption could happen today. 1929, they called it Black Tuesday, and many people listening to my voice remember it.

On that particular day, some sixteen and a half million shares were traded on Wall Street, and the result was a crash. And the newspapers began to list the names of people who had been wiped out, and they also began to list the names of people who were wiping themselves out by committing suicide. And shortly before the crash occurred, some of the experts were saying, conditions are fundamentally sound.

Prosperity is just around the corner. And just around the corner came the crash. We've been reading in Ephesians that you and I, as God's children, are a part of his inheritance.

Not only do we have our inheritance in him, but we are his inheritance in Christ. And this raises the interesting question, if Wall Street could experience a crash and investments be lost, is it possible this can happen to God's inheritance? God has invested so much in us. Oh, how much he has invested in us.

Is this investment going to last? Is God going to lose it? The verses we read from Ephesians seem to indicate that God's investments are not going to fail. In fact, the Apostle Paul gives to us in verses 13 and 14 of Ephesians 1, four marvelous guarantees that assure us that God's investments are not going to fail. What I'm saying in one simple sentence is, if once you have truly been born again, that investment is not going to be lost.

Let's take these four guarantees and see why it is that you and I, as God's investments, cannot fail. Guarantee number one, the Son of God. Notice verse 13, in whom ye also trusted.

In fact, in this first chapter of Ephesians, the entire emphasis is on Jesus Christ. At least eight times he is named. At least eleven times you'll find the phrase, in Christ, or in him.

In this first chapter of Ephesians, Paul is saying what we have done is in connection with Jesus Christ. A person is saved through faith in Jesus Christ, and all of our blessings are in him. Back in chapter 1, verse 3, God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ.

Verse 4, chosen in Christ, holy and without blame before him, adopted by Jesus Christ, accepted in the Beloved, redeemed through his blood, forgiven by his grace, having made known through him the mystery of his will. Verse 11, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance. Everything we have as Christians is because of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is the first guarantee that the investment is not going to be lost.

A person is saved only through faith in Christ. You're not saved by faith in faith. I meet many people who are constantly examining their faith.

Now, Paul does say, examine yourselves, see whether or not you are in the faith. But there are some people who are constantly having an autopsy on their faith, and they think they are saved because of their faith in their faith. And my friend, you aren't saved by faith in faith, you're saved by faith in Christ.

Some people think they're saved by faith in their works. I had a letter just this past week from a radio listener who said that he's going to do the very best he can to obey the Ten Commandments and keep the Sermon on the Mount. I wish him well.

It's possible to think that we have achieved because of our works, but Paul says, no, we aren't saved through faith in our works, our confirmation, our baptism, our good deeds. No, we're saved through faith in Christ. Some people think they're saved through faith in their feelings.

How often people have said to me, Pastor, I just don't feel saved. And I usually respond by saying, how does it feel to feel saved? How did Paul and Silas feel when they were in that prison at night? They'd been beaten, they had their feet in the stocks, they had been humiliated. How'd they feel? How do you feel? How did Stephen feel when they were throwing stones at him? We're not saved by faith in faith, and we're not saved by faith in works, and we're not saved by faith in feelings, and we're not even saved by faith in doctrines.

You say, Pastor, you're bordering on heresy. No, I'm not. I know people who can justification by faith, sanctification through the Holy Spirit.

They understand adoption, they understand the doctrines of the Bible, and they think that by believing in a doctrine, they have believed in a person. I go to the doctor, and he examines me, and he says, well, Pastor, here's what you need, and so he hands me a prescription. I can't read it, but I have faith that the pharmacist can read it.

And so I go home, and I say to my wife, isn't it marvelous? I'm going to get well. I have a prescription. Well, she said, let me take it.

No, I want to look at this prescription a little longer. By the way, don't we have a frame that fits this prescription? We could hang this up on the marvelous prescription. You see, I believe in the prescription, but it doesn't do me any good until I turn it into the inside.

And I have to take what the prescription says and apply it to my own life. And you say, I believe the doctrines of the Bible. I believe there's a heaven and there's a hell.

I believe that God is the Savior and the Judge. Fine. But have you ever reached out and put your faith in Jesus Christ? That's the beautiful thing about salvation.

It's not simply by understanding a doctrine or experiencing a feeling or doing some kind of a work or trying to generate some kind of faith. All that's required is just to reach out and you've got Jesus Christ. Put your faith in him.

Remember that woman who worked her way through the crowd, and she came down and said, if I can only but touch the hem of his garment. Her faith was a superstitious faith. Her faith was a very weak faith.

But we aren't saved by faith in faith. We're saved by our faith laying hold of Jesus Christ. And the weakest faith can lay hold of Jesus.

You see, the value of faith is in the object, not the subject. Faith will bring to you only what the object can give you. That means the weakest faith can reach out and lay hold of Jesus Christ and get all of Jesus Christ.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say, by strong faith are we saved. If a little woman could reach out and get a hold of the hem of his garment and he saved her, so can you. You see, Jesus Christ is able to save, and Jesus Christ is willing to save.

I know that he's able to save because he saved me. And I read in the Word of God that he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Now, we usually translate that verse like this, wherefore he is able also to save from the uttermost.

No matter how low and how despicable you may be, he is able to save you. That's not what the verse says. That's true, but that's not what the verse says.

The verse says, wherefore he is able also to save to the uttermost. He is able to save eternally. He is able to save you and keep you.

Why? Because he ever lives. The next time Jesus dies, I've lost my salvation, but he's not going to die. He ever lives by the power of an endless life.

And Paul says to you and me, don't worry about a crash. Don't worry about the spiritual stock market going down. Don't worry about God losing his investments.

Guarantee number one, the Son of God. You didn't trust yourself to be saved. You trusted him.

You didn't trust your faith or your feelings or your understanding of Bible doctrine. You trusted him. And because you've trusted him, you cannot be lost, for he is able to save to the uttermost.

That's why the Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to Timothy, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. I think it was Michael Faraday who was dying and someone said to him, sir, what are your speculations? He said, I have no speculations for I know whom I have believed. Now, do you have this faith in the Son of God? If you do, I guarantee your investment and God's investment will not fail.

But Paul goes on to give us a second guarantee, not only the Son of God, but the word of God, in whom ye also trusted after ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Those two little words, your salvation, are at the heart of this verse. What's Paul concerned about? Your salvation.

What am I concerned about? Your salvation. I'm glad that salvation is a personal thing. And Paul says, guarantee number two, that the investment is not going to fail, the word of God.

Now, I say this dogmatically, a person cannot be saved apart from the word of God. Because all we know about God is in the word. And all we know about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is God, is in the word.

And all we know about salvation is in the word. And the word of God is the guarantee that our investment and his investment is not going to fail. You see, it's the word of God that brings you the gospel.

How do we know that Christ died for our sins? The know that he will accept any sinner who comes to him by faith? The Bible tells us. How do we know that he'll save you? The Bible tells us. The gospel of your salvation.

The only good news in this world is the good news of the gospel. A young boy came to my front door some years ago and knocked on the door selling newspapers. It was a weekly newspaper to mail to your home.

And he said to me, but sir, all the news in this newspaper is good. That explained why it was such a small newspaper that he was peddling. The good news of the gospel is that nobody has to stay the way he is.

God can change you. Now, nobody else has this message. No scientist can say to you, I can make a better person out of you through science.

History records that, unfortunately, science has turned some people into worse people. Education can't say this. Philosophy can't say it.

Agnosticism can't say it. But the Christian can say it. We have good news for you that nobody has to stay the way he is.

Jesus Christ can change you. And this comes through the word of God. Now, what does the word of God do? The word of God brings you the message of salvation.

And then the word of God gives you the faith to believe it. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. It's a miracle.

When I take my New Testament and I head for some hospital somewhere or somebody comes in to see me in my study and we open the word of God, what do we find out? That there's power in this book. For the word of God is living and powerful. Back before anything existed except God, God spoke.

And when God spoke, things came into being that never had been there before. That's what the word of God does to you. As you get into the word of God, the Spirit of God takes the word of God and clinches the argument and puts salvation down within your heart.

Now, my friend, how do we know that once we have trusted the gospel of our salvation, we believed on Jesus Christ, that this is going to last forever because of the guarantee of the word of God? For example, Jesus says something like this, My sheep, that's Christians, hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. The Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

Now, if we had no other verses but those two verses from John chapter 10, we'd know that a believer is secure forever. Or how about 1 John? These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. How about Philippians chapter 1 verse 6? Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

How about John 5 24? Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life. How about Romans 8 verse 1? There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Now we could go on and on, we'll not do it.

I'm just simply saying to you that if you have trusted Christ as your Savior, you have the guarantee of the Son of God, and you have the guarantee of the Word of God, that God's investment is not going to fail. You see, God doesn't lie. John writes in that first letter and says, if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.

And this is the witness, this is the record that God has given to us eternal life. And this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life.

He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. There's a third guarantee that Paul gives to us, and I enjoy this one. The guarantee of the Son of God, in whom ye also trusted.

The guarantee of the Word of God, after ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Thirdly, the guarantee of the Spirit of God. Notice now, in whom also when ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest, the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession.

The Spirit of God. Now, you'll notice that the Holy Spirit of God comes to you when you believe. The word after in our authorized translation is an awkward translation, because the verb there literally is having believed, or when you believe.

Paul is not suggesting here that you trust Christ as your Savior, then at some point after that the Holy Spirit comes to your life. No. Now, if he were saying that, he'd be contradicting what he wrote in Romans 8, verse 9, when he said that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his.

How do we know that the investment that God has made in us is not going to fail? How do we know that once a person has believed in Jesus Christ unto eternal life, he's never going to be lost because of the guarantee of the Spirit of God? First of all, he is the Spirit of promise. Notice that. Not the Spirit of probation.

There are many people who have the idea that the Holy Spirit of God comes to your life when you're saved, and he stays there until you do something wrong. And then if you do something wrong, away he goes. This is not true.

He's the Spirit of promise. Promise means there's always a future. The Holy Spirit didn't come to frighten me.

The Holy Spirit came to assist me. And the Holy Spirit never says to me, oh, if you're not a good boy, I'll leave you. He does say, grieve not the Holy Spirit.

He does say, quench not the Holy Spirit. But Jesus said, the Father is going to send the Spirit of truth who will abide with you forever. In fact, several times he says this.

The Holy Spirit of God is the Spirit of promise. That means when you receive the Holy Spirit at conversion, all of God's promises become yours. And one of his promises is, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.

Now, he's also called the seal, in whom when he believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. We still use seals today. Whenever I perform a wedding here at the Moody Church or anywhere in Cook County, I fill out the certificate and I mail this to the clerk, the county clerk down at the courthouse.

And he receives this through the mail and he puts a seal upon it. And that seal upon that certificate is the official mark that this now has been officially recorded. Every once in a while a bride and groom will say, well, pastor, would you take this certificate and take it to your office and put it through the Xerox machine and give us a copy? And I said, I'd be happy to do that, except for one thing.

It doesn't have the seal on it. Only the county clerk can apply the seal on that certificate. And that means it's officially recorded.

Now, when you were saved, something was officially recorded. When you trusted Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit came into your life and he sealed you and your name was written down in the Lamb's book of life. The disciples came to Jesus one day and said, Lord, guess what's been happening? We've been casting out demons.

And very quietly Jesus said to them, don't rejoice because the demons are subject to you. Rather rejoice that your names are written down in heaven. And that little Greek verb written down means it has been written down.

It stands written down and it always will be written down. The Holy Spirit has no eraser. Sealed.

That means that the transaction is completed. Sealed. That means that the transaction's been recorded.

Sealed. That means you are identified. Back in Paul's day, they always put the seal to identify things.

How do you identify a Christian? Does he have the Holy Spirit? Paul came to Ephesus one day and found 12 men who claimed to be Christians. He said, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They said, we haven't even heard the Holy Spirit was given. He said, uh-uh, you're not saved.

And he led them to faith in Christ and they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. You see, when you were saved, the Holy Spirit sealed you. That means the transaction is completed.

It means the transaction is recorded forever. It means you can now be identified as one of God's children. God's spirit bears witness that you belong to him.

Of course, it means ownership. The city of Ephesus, to which Paul was writing this letter, was a great mercantile city. You could go down to the ports and they used to ship down to the harbor great barges filled with lumber and even just ship the lumber down in the water.

And the merchants would go down to buy the lumber. And here's a would say, I'll take this batch of lumber here. And he'd take his seal and apply that seal to the lumber.

Nobody touched that. That means he's purchased it. And one of these days he's going to come back and get it.

That's what Paul's talking about. When you were saved, the Holy Spirit sealed you. God said, he belongs to me.

Doesn't belong to Satan. Doesn't even belong to himself. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? You're not your own.

You're bought with a price. Now he says, I have sealed you by my spirit. One of these days I'm going to come back and get you.

We are sealed until the day of redemption. In Romans 8, Paul said, we're groaning. And the older I get, the more I groan.

We're groaning, waiting for that day of redemption. What day of redemption? The day when this body is going to be like the Lord Christ. And so we are sealed.

Now do you think that the Holy Spirit of God would seal something that's not going to last? Do you think God would put his seal on a transaction that's going to fail? The Son of God and the Word of God and the Spirit of God are guarantees that the investment is not going to fail. He not only calls the Holy Spirit the spirit of promise, the spirit who has sealed us, but he calls him the earnest of our inheritance. That means the down payment.

In fact, if you went over to Greece today and you use the word in verse 14 that's translated earnest, if you walked in and said, I want an earnest, and you use the Greek word, you know what they give you? An engagement ring. That is the word used in modern Greek for engagement ring. What's an engagement ring? A down payment.

You put the engagement ring on the finger and say, you belong to me. I'll come and get you one of these days and we'll get married. You see, when I was saved, I got engaged to Jesus Christ.

The wedding hasn't taken place yet. It will. I look forward to that wedding because everybody will be there on time.

How do I know I'm going to be at the wedding? God gave me an engagement ring. What is the engagement ring? A Holy Spirit. Now the word back in Paul's day meant a down payment in kind.

If I owe you a thousand dollars and give you a hundred dollars, I owe you another nine hundred. The hundred is the down payment. The Holy Spirit of God is God's down payment.

He said, look, I can't give all of heaven to you now, but I'll give you the first fruits of it. I'll give you the beginning of it. Here's the Holy Spirit.

As long as the Holy Spirit lives in you, you are sealed and you have the down payment. Don't worry, I'll come back and I'll finish it. You belong to me.

Which leads us to our fourth guarantee. How do we know that God's investments are not going to fail? Well, we've trusted the Son of God. We have the word of God and sealed by the Spirit of God.

The fourth guarantee is down in verse 14, the glory of God. Why did God do all of this? Well, back in verse 6, to the praise of the glory of his grace. Verse 12, that we should be to the praise of his glory.

Verse 14, unto the praise of his glory. You know why God saved you? To the praise of his glory. You know why God's building his church? For the praise of his glory.

Now listen closely to what I say. If one of God's children ever loses his salvation, God loses more than he does. God's reputation is at stake in his church.

He saved us to the praise of his glory. And throughout all eternity, the task of his church is going to be the praise of the glory of his grace. And the angels will say, oh, we know all about his wisdom.

We saw him make the world. We know all about his power. We saw him judge the enemy.

We know all about his holiness, because we hear, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. But you know, say the angels, we don't know much about his grace. Tell us about his grace, his favor to undeserving people, what he's done for sinners.

And all eternity, you and I are going to have the privilege of praising the glorious grace of God. And Paul is saying to us in this verse, here's the guarantee that God's investment's not going to fail. The glory of God.

You see, God cannot afford to let us fail. God cannot afford to lose one of his children. He'd lose his glory.

I am God's love gift to his son. Jesus Christ is God's love gift to me. And there's a relationship here that involves his eternal glory.

Why did Jesus die? For the glory of God. Why did God save you? For the glory of God. Why is he building his church? For the glory of God.

Why are we living for Christ? For the glory of God. What shall we do all eternity? Bring glory to God. And the glory of God is God's guarantee that we're not going to be lost.

He says, look, as weak as you may think you are, I need you to be a part of my glory. So God's investments are not going to fail. We have the guarantee of the Son of God and the Word of God and the Spirit of God and the glory of God.

Since they are not going to fail, let me ask you a couple of questions in closing. Number one, are you a part of God's investment? If you're not, everything about you is going to fail. The world is passing away and the lusts thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

The tragic thing about rejecting Jesus Christ is a wasted life and then a wasted eternity. That's tragic. When a person could be radiating the glory of God throughout all eternity, here he is in darkness, away from the face of God.

My friend, are you a part of God's investment? You say, well, I'm trusting my good works. They'll fail. I'm trusting my religion.

It will fail. But if you trust Jesus Christ, it'll never fail. Are you one of God's investments? Now, if you're not, you'd better come and become one by trusting our Savior.

A second question I would ask, you say, I am one of God's investments. I know I'm saved. All right.

Are you investing your life in that which is going to last? Oh, the Christians who waste their time and waste their money and waste their energy in things that just aren't going to last. Mr. Moody's life verse, he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. And how we do need people today who will say, Pastor, I want to invest my life in that which is going to last forever.

Was it not Jim Elliott who said so beautifully, he is no fool to give what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. And it was Jesus who said, he that saves his life shall lose it. But he that loses his life for my sake and the gospel's is going to save it.

Are you investing your life, your time, your energy, your talent, your money in that which is going to last? God's investments are not going to fail. God knows what he's doing. Alas, some people don't know what they're doing.

And I say to you today on the authority of the word of God, give your life to Christ. Trust him as your savior. Turn all you have over to him.

And you'll be a part of that investment that lasts forever and eternally brings glory to God. Our Father, we pray that the spirit of God will apply the word of God now to our hearts. There are those who need to come and be saved.

There are those who need to come and be restored to Christian fellowship. We pray in Jesus' name, apply the word to our hearts now. We give thanks for the blessed assurance we have.

We don't have to worry or fret. Oh God, I pray that your investment in us will prove to bring great glory to your name. For Jesus' sake, amen.