Kept by God: the Perseverance of the Saints

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Probably the most familiar hymn in the history of the church, perhaps the world's most beloved song, was written by a former slave trader by the name of John Newton. Of course, the song is "Amazing Grace". Over the last number of weeks, even months, we've been examining all the truths of salvation that he really encapsulates in the first verse of that wonderful song: "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see." Verse 3 records the truths that we will examine together tonight: "Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come. Tis' grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home."

We come tonight to the great doctrine that theologians call "The Perseverance of the Saints". Just as our salvation began in eternity past with grace - God's grace choosing you not because you would choose Him, not because of anything in you or may whatsoever, but solely because of His own sovereign love. Just as that was an act of grace and just as it was an act of God's grace in time to interrupt your life and mine, as we went on our own way pursuing our own path in antagonism to God (His enemy), and just as He moved in grace that day, and you remembered as I do as clear as if it were yesterday, that day when He interrupted, as one writer says, "Our lives of quiet desperation with himself" - that was grace. He drew us to Himself. He gave us the gifts of repentance and faith to believe. Prior to that, He'd given us a new heart, that is, a new set of disposition, a new longing to obey. And then He continued that work in the work of sanctification. All of grace - from beginning to end.

And tonight, we continue to look at the march of grace in our lives. And that grace that continually sanctifies us, that makes us more and more like Christ, also keeps us. It also holds us. As Newton said, "It's grace that has brought me safe thus far." As you sit here tonight, still committed to Jesus Christ, still a believer, still pursuing God, the only reason that's true is because of God's grace. And it's God's grace that will lead you home.

That is what we mean by the perseverance of the saints. It's a great truth. I hope your own heart is encouraged and comforted by it tonight, as we go through it together. But I think, as always, it's important for us to sort of erase the cobwebs from our minds - all of the garbage that collects that we've been taught, the little shreds of knowledge falsely (so called) we pick up along the way and begin by saying what it's not.

What is perseverance not? Well, it doesn't mean that we are always kept as believers from falling into sin. Unfortunately, the Bible is a sad record of the fact that even those who are regenerate, even those who have a new heart, we still retain the flesh, and that flesh expresses itself in sin. The great names in the history of God's work, as you trace them through the Scripture, unfortunately, are indication of this. You have Noah falling into drunkenness in Genesis 9; of Abraham lying about Sarah, his wife, in Genesis 20. You have David and his adultery and murder in 2 Samuel 11. You have, when you come to the New Testament, you have Peter, that great apostle, who would stand at Pentecost and preach till people were cut to the heart and 3000 people came to faith but denied his Lord on the night of the betrayal in John 18. You have Ananias and Sapphira who lied to the Holy Spirit and kept back part of the price of the land that they had sold. And on and on and on it goes. As we saw this morning in James, we all stumble in many ways. So, perseverance does not mean that we are always kept from falling into sin.

Nor does it mean, and this is important, that (not that the last one wasn't important. I shouldn't say it that way) all who professed Christ are secure and will persevere. It doesn't mean that all who, and the keyword here is "profess" Christ, are secure and will persevere. You see, to make a claim to be a Christian, is not the same as the reality. I can't tell you how many times I've sat in my office with people who live like pagans, who do things that even unbelievers don't do, and sit as smug and sure as if, as of anything else in life, that they are in fact believers. They rest in a false sense of what perseverance or eternal security is.

All who profess Christ are not necessarily secure and will not necessarily persevere and you don't have to read far in the New Testament to discover that. Matthew 7 - you remember those words of Christ in Matthew 7:21 (he meant 7:22). He says, "Many will say to Me [many will say to me] on that day [that is the Day of Judgement], 'Lord, Lord'" ... remember all of the works that we've done in Your name. Remember even the miraculous works we've done in Your name. None of us, really, are going to claim that, but there'll be people there who claim, "I've done miraculous works in the name of Jesus Christ." And He says, "I will say to them, 'Depart from Me; I never knew you because you work lawlessness.'" Your life is contrary to My law. Your life doesn't show that you've ever really known Me. Many professing Christians are dead certain that they are genuine believers, and they are dead wrong. So, perseverance or security does not mean that all who profess are in fact secure.

So, what does it mean? Well, let me give you a couple of historical views just so you know what various branches of the "church" have taught. Let's start with the Roman Catholic view. Roman Catholic - Roman Catholic - Roman Catholic doctrine teaches that genuine salvation can be forfeited by mortal sin. Mortal sin or the serious sins, if you will, committed with willful intent, will cause a person to forfeit the righteousness that they received at their baptism and cast them out of genuine salvation, and any hope of eternity.

Secondly, Arminian theology teaches that genuine salvation, genuine salvation can be lost by willful sin. There are a number of Protestant churches and denominations that embrace it - of course taught by John Wesley followed by the Methodists, the Nazarenes, the Pentecostals, and the Assemblies of God.

Then you have the Reformed View - what I hope you will see, after we're done tonight, as the biblical view. It teaches that God preserves those that are truly saved, in perseverance, to the end. This was held and taught most clearly after the early church by Augustine, and then later by Calvin and men like Spurgeon. Those are just a few names that dot church history of those who embrace it. Today, various churches, various denominations would embrace this view.

Now, let me give you some definitions. What does it mean? Some basic definitions, as I like to do, starting with Berkhof. Louis Berkhof writes, in his systematic theology, that perseverance is that continuous operation of the Holy Spirit in the believer, by which the work of divine grace that is begun in the heart, is continued, and ultimately brought to completion. In other words, God is going to finish what He started. If He began a work in you, He will complete it.

Wayne Grudem, in his systematic theology, says that all those who are truly born again, will be kept by God's power and will persevere as Christians until the end of their lives, and that only those who persevere until the end have been truly born again. I know this is a long definition, but I want you to see it because there's some key points in this.

This is from the Westminster Confession of Faith: "They whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit [so, in other words, genuine Christians], can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace..." Those are two very important words. You might fall into sin, but you will never totally fall from your connection to Christ nor finally, that is ultimately to your eternal damnation fall away... "but shall certainly persevere therein to the end and be eternally saved. This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will [in other words, it's not your will and the resolve of your will that accomplishes this], but upon the immutability of the decree of election [we'll talk about that a little later], flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father; upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ; the abiding of the Spirit, and of the seed of God within them; and the nature of the covenant of grace [God's promise of grace in the covenant grace]: from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof." Now, here's the "nevertheless" (you knew this was coming): "Nevertheless they [true believers] may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins; and for a time continue therein: whereby [when that happens] they incur God's displeasure, and grieve his Holy Spirit; come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts [in other words, assurance and other things]; have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded; hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves." But go back to the beginning - they can neither totally nor finally fall from a state of grace. That's what perseverance means.

Now, how does it happen? Let me remind you of this chart that we looked at some time ago, now - the ordo salutis, the logical order of salvation. The first item is election, that is, a chronological order, that is, that happened in eternity past. And it's a divine act, as you can see there, above it. Then, in time, at the moment of salvation (you see the green bar at the bottom), at the moment of salvation, a number of things happen in staccato fashion, logically. They all happened at a moment in time, in terms of time or chronology. There was the effectual calling, in which God drew us to Himself. As part of that process, He gave us new life, a new heart in regeneration. He granted us, then, the faith and repentance to believe and to repent. And, at that moment, He also set us apart to Himself and unto holiness. We became saints in the sense of set apart to Him, justified and adopted. All of those things happen at the moment of salvation - faith and repentance being our only participation in that, and that as a gift of God, given to us.

Then, throughout the rest of life - again, looking at the green bar there on the bottom, you see through the rest of life on this earth, you have both divine and human acts, working together in synergy, progressive sanctification, that is, the process of becoming more and more holy, and what we're studying tonight, perseverance. We'll look, Lord willing, in a couple of weeks at glorification which is yet in the future.

Now, what I want you to see about perseverance on this chart, is that we're calling it a divine and human act. In other words, God is at work to accomplish this and at the same time we are required to expend effort. As with all of these things, ultimately, God is the one who accomplishes it, but we do expend effort in the process of both pursuit of holiness and perseverance. It occurs throughout this life - that's the one thing I want you to see. And, secondly, it involves both a divine responsibility and a human responsibility.

Let's look at those two different levels of responsibility. First of all, what is God's role in perseverance? Well, the divine side of perseverance could better be called the "Preservation of the Saints". Bruce Demarest, in his excellent book "The Cross and Salvation" writes, "Considered from the divine side, God preserves to the end those chosen for salvation." Anthony Hoekema writes, "The spiritual security of believers depends primarily, not on their hold on God, but on God's hold of them." That's a comfort, isn't it?

Now, there are a number of passages that drive home the divine responsibility. Let's look at a few of them. Psalm 37:23 says, "The steps of a man are established by the LORD, and He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the LORD is the One who holds his hand." In other words, the fall of a believer is not final and it's not fatal; the Lord ensures that reality.

But let's turn to the New Testament where we get some of the strongest and most powerful statements. There are others, by the way, in the Old Testament but the strongest statements, and where I want to concentrate our time tonight, about God's role in preserving the saints occur in the New Testament.

Turn first to John 6. John 6:37: "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out." Now, let's stop because already this verse is absolutely packed with doctrine, with teaching about salvation. You'll notice in the first part of the verse: "all", that is everyone we could say, "that the Father gives Me..." So, it begins in eternity past with this love gift that the Father has given to Christ, a redeemed humanity, that will give Him praise and honor Him throughout eternity. And all of the ones that God has chosen to give to the Son as that love gift in eternity past, Jesus says "will come to Me". There's the effectual call. There's the call of God which we joyfully and eagerly respond to. And no one, called in this way, refuses. "All", Jesus says, "that the Father has given Me will come to Me." "And the one who comes to me" - everyone, every individual one who comes to Me. And "comes to me", here, is used as an expression throughout the gospels for coming to faith in Christ, coming to Him in faith and repentance, acknowledging Him as Lord and Savior and Master and Teacher - all of those things that He teaches in the gospels. He says all who comes to me or "the one who comes to me", rather, "I will certainly not cast out." Very strongly stated. In fact, it's a double negative. The idea is it's not going to happen. There's no way it'll ever happen that a single one who comes to me in faith and repentance, will be cast out.

Verse 38: why is this true? "For [because]" - here's His reason; here's His explanation. It's not going to happen - "[because] I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." Of course, this was the statement of Christ throughout His life. He said, I didn't come for My own purposes. I came to accomplish the Father's purposes.

Now, notice the Father's purposes. Verse 39: "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing..." Now, you got to put the passage together. Remember? In eternity past, God the Father, gave to His Son those who would ultimately resemble Him. This is election, really. We're going all the way back to eternity when God the Father says, "Here, Son, I want you to have this redeemed humanity that will forever sing Your praises." And Jesus says, "Every one of those that the Father has given Me will come to Me." There's the effectual call. "And when they come, I will certainly never cast them out. I'll never turn them away." Then He says, "Here's God's will for Me. I came to do this will. "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing but raise it up on the last day." Jesus says, "Here's God will for Me that all of those that, in eternity past He gave me, that I not lose a single one and that I raise every one of them up on the last day. That's the Father's will for Me."

Verse 40: He says it a different way. "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life..." So, here's yet another part of the will. Anyone who looks at Christ understands who He is and what He's claimed and truly believes in Him - exercises true saving faith in Him - will have eternal life. And, of course, eternal life has idea not only of duration - it certainly has duration in it unlike some who deny that - but it also has the idea of a different kind of life. "But you have it. And it's God's will that you have it, if you've believed in Me. This is what God wants. "...and (verse 40) I Myself will raise him [that person] up on the last day."

Now, you put that package together and it is a link of unbreakable chain. I shall lose none - this is God's will for Christ I shall lose none I shall raise them up at the last day everyone who looks to the sun and believes in him have eternal life and be raised up on the last day. Now, let me make a very strategic point here. If Jesus fails in any one of those, then His mission is faulty and He fails to accomplish the Father's will, which is an utter impossibility. Can't happen.

Let's go to John 10. In John 10, Jesus makes the point every bit as strongly. Verse 28 - and I love this passage. Let's begin back in verse 27. "My sheep hear My voice [they respond to Me. If they're really My sheep, they listen], and I know them, and they follow Me; [there's a message there as well] and I give eternal life to them [those who hear My voice, those whom I know, those who follow Me, I give eternal life to them], and they will never perish..."

In the Greek there's a double negative which isn't good English; we don't put two negatives together. But in Greek it's perfectly acceptable when you want to make something really emphatic. We could translate it this way (there's really no stronger way to say it in Greek): "they will certainly not perish forever". That is a legitimate translation of that double negative that occurs there in verse 28.

But Jesus keeps going. If that isn't enough, if you don't find your comfort and encouragement in that, that you will never certainly ever perish, Jesus says, "...no one [verse 28] will snatch them out of My hand." The picture is a beautiful one. Jesus says I have them in My hand, completely encapsulated, completely protected, and no one can take them out.

But it gets even better - verse 29: "My Father, who has given them to Me [there's that expression again], is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the [My] Father's hand." The picture Jesus gives is that you and I are, first of all, wrapped in the hand of Christ Himself, completely covered and protected there, and then God the Father, as it were, takes His hand and wraps it around the hand of Christ, and we are doubly secure. And I love what James Montgomery Boyce says. He says, "We are doubly secure, clutched by both the Father and the Son and if we feel insecure, we should realize that even when we are held in this manner, both the Father and the Son still have a free hand to defend us." Jesus couldn't put it any clearer. They will no, certainly not, ever perish. Jesus staked His own reputation, His own word, His own credibility, His own integrity on this promise.

Let's turn to Romans 5. In Romans 5, Paul puts it differently. I love Romans 5. Starting in verse 1, you have the results of justification; he's laid out the great doctrine of justification. And beginning in chapter 5:1, he says let me tell you the results of it, the benefits that grow out of your justification. "Therefore, having been justified by faith [here's what you've got, starting with], we have peace with God..." We stand in grace and on through the passage. But when we come to verse 8, a verse that many of us memorized as children - "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Now, Paul is going to use, in verses 9 and 10, an argument from the greater to the lesser. He says, "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." He's saying, "Listen. If when you were an enemy of God, God gave His Son to save you, to justify you, to declare you forever righteous, to make it possible for you to know Him, and God responded to you like that when you were His enemy, then what is God going to do now that you're a child? And he makes this point in verse 9: "...having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him." It's a promise. It's to promise from the pen of Paul. It's a promise from the mouth of God. If you have been justified, if you have been declared righteous in Christ, then you will be saved from the wrath of God in Him.

Romans 8, just a few pages over - favorite passage of many of us. The truth is the doctrine of perseverance could rest on this passage alone. If nowhere else in the Scripture it was recorded, there's enough evidence here for us to believe it and embrace it. Look at Romans 8:29: "For those whom He foreknew" - and we've gone through this in detail before, so I won't explain all of these words tonight. If you haven't been with us for the series on salvation, I encourage you to get the CDs or listen online. But he says, "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called [there's the effectual call]; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified..." So far, we expect everything Paul has said. But then he says, "...these whom He justified, He also [not 'will glorify' but] glorified."

Now, you all are wonderful people and I appreciate you very much. But not a single one of you looks glorified to me, and neither do I. So, what is Paul doing here? He's speaking of the reality of what God has accomplished or will accomplish in the future, is so certain, it is so absolutely bedrock-sure, that he can speak of it as if it has already happened.

Now this passage, as we've seen before, puts together a series of links and none of them can be broken. What he says is that if a believer gets on the train, if they have been predestined, if they have then been called, if they have then been justified, they will be glorified. You can't get off the train. It's absolutely certain because - go back to verse 29: "...those whom He foreknew, He also predestined [God predetermined what?] to become conformed to the image of His Son..." It's a done deal! If you're on the train, you're going to end up at the station and the station is likeness to Jesus Christ.

In the verses that follow - and we really don't have time to do a thorough study of it - but in the verses that follow, Paul asks a series of rhetorical questions. And he answers them with these magnificent promises that just flow out everywhere. It really is one of my favorite passages. But he gets down to the end of the chapter and he asks in verse 35 a rhetorical question: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" And then he lists at least 17 different things. And these things are opposites in some cases. It's a comprehensive list. It's not comprehensive, in the sense that everything possible is listed there, but it is comprehensive in that he wants you to know there is absolutely nothing in time, space, history, or eternity that can separate you from the love of God that comes to you in Jesus Christ. There're at least 17 enemies that could thwart God's purposes for you, but he says not one of them poses the slightest risk. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Well, let's move on as we continue to look at the divine responsibility. Romans 11:29: "for the gifts and the calling of God [of course in the context of His calling of Israel, the gifts and calling of God] are irrevocable." When God calls, as He does in the effectual call and if you came to trust in Christ, it's because of that effectual call, God doesn't change His mind. He doesn't back out of the deal.

1 Corinthians 1:8-9: "[God] who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." This isn't about you. This isn't about your strength. Like Hoekema said, "It's not your hold on God; it's God's hold on you."

Ephesians 1:13: "In Him [that is in Christ], you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation - having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise." So, here you have again - it's clear that you heard the truth, you heard the Gospel. You believed the gospel, and, at that moment, you were sealed in Christ with the Holy Spirit of promise. And that Spirit is given as a pledge of our inheritance.

Now, the word "pledge", as you've probably heard before, is a crucial word. It's a financial term. According to the leading Greek lexicon, which all New Testament scholars use, it means: first installment, a deposit, a down payment. It represents "a payment which obligates the contracting party to make further payments." In our culture we certainly understand this. You go to buy something, something large that you can't afford, and you're going to buy it on credit. And the person that you're buying it from insists that you do, what? That you sign a contract and, in pledge of your commitment to continue to make payments till you pay that thing off, you put it down payment on it. That is your way of saying, "I am in good faith going to follow through with this contract and I'm going to follow through with the commitment I've made." This is really amazing grace, isn't it? God gave us the Spirit and the Spirit is God's down payment on your ultimate redemption. It's the first installment. And God, by giving you the Spirit and giving you the Spirit as that down payment, is making a promise which obligates Him to make the further payments. And the further payments, of course, being our ultimate glorification. We're going to make it after all.

Philippians 1:6 - we studied this in detail when we went through the Book of Philippians. "For I am confident of this very thing [Paul says, 'Listen, I've absolutely no doubt about this'], that He [that is God] who began a good work in you [the reference here is obviously to salvation, to the work of God when He changed you, when He gave you new life, the God who began a good work in you] will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." It's all on God's character. Paul says, "I'm sure of this. There's no question in my mind. All of you Philippians..." Remember, now, he's writing to the whole church at Philippi. This was a public letter read in the church. And he's saying, "If you have come to genuine faith in Jesus Christ, if you're a saint", as he begins the letter there at the first chapter, that is, if you have been set apart unto God because you have believed, "then I'm absolutely dead confident of this: the God, who began that work in you, will bring it to completion and it's not going to stop short of the ultimate event, the day of Christ, when Christ returns."

Hebrews 7:25: "Therefore He [God] is able also to save forever [Christ, rather, is able to save forever] those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." The emphasis, here in this verse, is on the continuity, the very thing that those who reject perseverance have to deny. The writer of Hebrews is saying, "He's going to keep doing it. It never stops because He ever lives to make intercession." If you're a true believer, for you not to make it to heaven, Christ would have to take a day off of His job of interceding for you. And that's not going to happen either.

1 Peter 1:5, referring to us who are believers, Peter says, "[we] are protected by the power of God..." This Greek word "protected" can mean either to guard someone from attack or to keep someone from escaping. Now, think about that for a moment. You are protected - both from those who would want to assault you and you are protected from yourself. We are protected by the power of God. And notice, this protecting isn't just about this life. He says, "for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." In other words, I'm talking about that salvation that comes at the final judgment when God says, "You're in! You really are one of mine." You are kept by the power of God.

Now, folks, when you look at those references - and I've given you, honestly, a smattering. I had a number of others in the resources that I studied from and read this week, that I wish I could share with you. But this is the theme and tenor of Scripture. There are also arguments, by the way, and I don't have even time to go there. There are arguments from the rest of what we've learned.

Take election for example. I will just briefly explain this one. We studied divine election. We talked about what the Bible says about that reality. In eternity past, for no reason in you, God chose you to Himself and He intends to bring you to glory. Why would God undo that reality? You had nothing to do with that election. You had no contribution to it one way or the other. And God knew everything about you when He made that choice. He knew the decisions you would make. He didn't choose you on the basis of that, but He knew the decisions you would make. He knew the ways you would act. He knew the sins you would commit. He knew everything about you when He chose you. So, why would God change His mind? He doesn't. In fact, the writer of Hebrews, in Hebrews 6 says, God cannot lie and God cannot change. And, therefore, the promise He's made you is absolutely certain. So, there are other arguments we could use but, in the interest of time, we'll stop there.

Let's move on to the human responsibility. I said perseverance is both a divine role in our lives - to preserve us - and then there is a human side - we have a responsibility. Bruce Demarest writes, "From the human side, elect believers persevere in faith and love." Look at 1 Peter 5 again - I'm sorry, 1 Peter 1:5: "who are protected [kept] by the power of God" - there's the cause. We don't keep ourselves; God keeps us. But notice how that happens - "through faith". Faith is the instrument God uses. It is one of the tools, if you will, God uses to preserve us unto eternity. It's our faith. So, in other words, the Spirit of God helps us to continue believing. Our responsibility is to believe and obey. That's persevering. And, as we do, we are kept by the power of God.

John Calvin writes, "Does not the Spirit of God everywhere self-consistent nourish the very inclination to obedience that He first engendered?" You remember when you were saved. God gave you a desire to obey through the Spirit. And he says, doesn't the Holy Spirit continue that, and strengthen its constancy to perseverance? He says, "Absolutely!"

By the way, this is why I don't particularly like the popular saying: "Once saved always saved." Is that, on the face of it, true? Yeah, of course. Once you're genuinely saved, you are always saved. But what is that little saying intended to teach? It's intended to teach that once you have professed Christ, you can essentially live however you want and you're still secure. And yet nothing could be more... could be further, I should say, from the biblical teaching than that. You remember Paul in Romans 6? What does he say? Shall we sin that grace may abound? He says, "God forbid! May it never be!"

It's also why I prefer the word "perseverance" to "eternal security". Eternal security - there's nothing wrong with that expression. It's a good expression. But for so many people, it means to them that they can make a profession when they're 5 and live like the devil for 30 years and still be secure. That isn't what the Bible teaches about this doctrine at all. The same God who keeps you for eternity keeps you believing and keeps you growing in holiness. Not perfectly. None of us do. And, again, as I read to you earlier, not without periods of sin, and all of those things are true. But, nevertheless, there is a growth in holiness. The person whom God chosen eternity past, for whom He sent Christ to die, whom the Father effectually called by His Spirit unto repentance and faith, who was regenerated, and who is growing in grace, that person can never be ultimately lost and is eternally secure.

Now, briefly, and I'm not going to spend a lot of time here, but there are some passages that, those who reject what I'm teaching you tonight, bring up. Let's talk briefly about them. There're... Let me back up. I don't want to show you that yet. Different theologians class those passages, that seem to teach something else, into various categories. I have reduced the passages to - that seem to say something different - into three basic categories.

First of all, there's the category of those passages that seem to say something like this: the Christian is secure only if he perseveres in faith to the end. For example, Matthew 24:13: "But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved." John 8:31: "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine..." John 15:6: "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned." 1 Corinthians 15: "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you..." You received it. You stand in it. You're saved "if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain." Colossians 1:22: "yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach - if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard..."

Now, what's going on here? How do you reconcile these passages with what we just saw? Well both the Reformed or the Calvinistic, if you will, and the Arminian agree that those verses and the premise (at the top of the screen there - the Christian is secure only if he perseveres in faith to the end) - everybody agrees that that's true. These verses are true. That premise is true.

But they come from two different presuppositions. The Arminian says the true believer may not persevere and he might in fact be eternally lost. The person who's Reformed says the true believer will persevere. So, immediately, people respond, "Well, if they're going to persevere, why are these warnings - why are these warnings important if you're going to persevere anyway?"

Get ready because I've told you this before. You're going to hear it again and again and again, because the God who ordains the end, that is that true believers will persevere as we've already seen, He also ordains the means. One way that He ensures that true believers will persevere, is to warn them of the consequences of not persevering to the end. You say, "Okay my brain is a little muddy. Give me an illustration." I'll do that.

Let's turn to Acts 27. In a non-theological passage, I'll show you exactly what I mean. This comes... by the way, a great illustration from the pen of Charles Hodge. Now, in Acts 27 - you remember the story. They're on the ship. The ship's going to be lost. In verse 22, Paul says to everybody on board, after he tells them, "I told you so. You should have followed my advice" - he says, in verse 22: "Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship." Verse 24: "Do not be afraid, Paul [this is what God told me]; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you." God promised it. You are going to survive this wreck. Verse 34: "Therefore I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your preservation, for not a hair from the head of any of you will perish." "Paul, are you absolutely certain that these people are going to survive this shipwreck?" "Of course!" Says, "I can guarantee you it's going to happen." But notice verse 31: "Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, 'Unless these men remain in the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.'" And then it says, verse 32: "Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it fall away."

Now, what's going on here? Robert Raymond writes, quoting this example from Charles Hodge, he says, "Though Paul was assured of their salvation, he knew too that the means of their salvation was for all to remain on board the ship. Thus, he issued the warning, and it had the desired effect. They stayed on the ship and they all survived, just as was certain that they were going to do.

Now, what does this have to do with perseverance? Think of these warning passages, these passages that say, "You're only secure if you persevere in faith to the end." If we're really going to persevere, why put them in the Bible? Serves the same purpose as Paul's warning to those in the ship. It's the means God uses to keep us on the ship. Speaking of these warning passages, Boyce writes, "It is only believers who are troubled when they read these passages because they are concerned about their relationship with God and do not want to presume that all is well with their souls when it may not be."

Lloyd Jones goes on and puts it this way, "To be concerned and troubled about the state of our soul when we read passages such as these, is in and of itself evidence that we are sensitive to God's Word and to His Spirit and that we have spiritual life in us." You know what Lloyd Jones is saying? Unbelievers - they're not troubled by this. They read over and say, "I'm in! I know I'm in. I may live like all of those passages that say unbelievers live, but I'm in. I know I am." It's only true believers that read passages like that and say, "Oh God! Don't let me be one of those. Let me persevere. Let me stay on the boat." And that's the purpose these warning passages are intended to serve. It's God's means to keep us on the boat, or to use the analogy I used before, the train.

There's a second category of these sort of problem passages. And I've made it a separate category because they really fall into the previous point, but they cause so many people such a problem that I want to handle them separately, just for a moment. It's important to keep in mind the writer of Hebrews' audience. There were Jews who had attached themselves to the church but who still sat on the fence, who were still tempted to return to Judaism.

In the middle of explaining the wonderful joys of knowing Christ and all that He had accomplished in His sacrifice, there're these warning passages. The first is in Hebrews 6. Hebrews 6, notice verse 4: "For in the case of those who have once been enlightened..." Now, let me just tell you as we go through here, none of the normal New Testament words for salvation are in this passage. But these people he's talking to here, do have some incredible advantages. They've been enlightened, that is, they understand the facts of the gospel. They've tasted the heavenly gift. That's a broad description of apparent conversion. They've made partakers of the Holy Spirit, that is, they have some experience with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In what sense? Well, look at the next two: "[they] have tasted the good word of God..." No doubt, as part of the assembly, they sat in a congregation like you're sitting here tonight. They've tasted "the powers of the age to come". They had seen the signs, that is, and wonders that accompany by the words of the apostles. And the danger (verse 6) is that they will fall away. This expression is only used here in the New Testament. It means to abandon. It is only used of deliberate acts - a decision to abandon. And, in that case, the writer says, "it is impossible to renew them again to repentance". It's impossible to arrive at a state of heart in life where they can repent again. What he's saying is you got just enough that, if you ever leave, you'll never come back. It's like the immunizations that you got in school. You get just enough of the disease to keep you from getting the real thing. He says that's what you're in danger of doing. You've been hanging around the church and you've been exposed to just enough of the real thing, that if you abandon it, if you choose to leave it, then you'll never come back.

But what I want you to see in this warning passage is - look at verse 9: "But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way." He's saying, "I've just given you a really healthy warning because I'm concerned that there might be some of you who are going to return to Judaism. But, beloved, if you're really in Christ, I'm not really concerned. We're persuaded you're going to pursue things that accompany salvation."

Same thing is true over in chapter 10. In chapter 10 of Hebrews, verse 26: "For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins..." He goes on to describe this severe punishment those who will receive (verse 29): "who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified [set apart], and has insulted the Spirit of grace?" You say, "Well, weren't these people believers and lost it?" No, he says the same thing. Look down in verse 29 or 39, rather: "But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul." He says, "I've given you a warning. But that warning is not for most of you. Most of you are going to continue and embrace the truth."

There's one last passage and I got to hurry - one last category of problem passages. There are some passages that seem to imply that true Christians may desert the faith and be eternally damned. There's the parable of the soils - you remember, those who receive the gospel with joy and then fall away? In Matthew 24: "At that time many will fall away and will betray one another..." People's love will grow cold. 1 Timothy 1:19: "...some have rejected and suffered [made] shipwreck in regard to [concerning] their faith." In 1 Timothy 4:1: "...some will fall away from the faith..." 2 Timothy 4:10: "for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me..." And in 2 Peter 2: "For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome..." They're like "'A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT,' and 'A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.'"

Now, what's going on in these passages? These passages do not teach that genuine Christians can fall away from salvation. As we learned in James 2, these passages teach us that there is a kind of faith that is temporary, non-saving, dead faith and it's not true faith in Christ at all. The best way to understand it is what John says in 1 John 2:19: "They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us." That's what you read in those passages. You see the reality that people who don't remain connected to the church, connected to their faith, it's not that they lost it. John says they never had it. They went out because they didn't have it to begin with.

Well, so much else to be said but let me just briefly ask you, what do you do with this - the doctrine of perseverance? First of all, let it be a source of comfort, strength, and encouragement to you. God began a work in you. God chose you in eternity past and in time. He began the work by creating in your heart, a new heart - a heart of flesh. He took out the heart of stone. He gave you the gift of repentance and faith. He declared you righteous in Christ. He set you apart for Himself. He adopted you. He's continued His work of making you like Jesus Christ through progressive sanctification. And He will complete what He has begun. You're in! It's as good as if you're already glorified, if you are a true believer in Jesus Christ.

Number two: be diligent to continue to obey the Scripture. That's what the call of perseverance is. Stay on the train. Continue to obey. Continue to pursue Christlikeness. Continue to do what you know you ought to do.

Number three: read and heed the warnings of Scripture because those are the means God uses to keep you on the path to heaven. Those warnings remind us and call us back. They're the means God uses to keep us in the boat.

And, finally, pray for and evangelize those who profess Christ but who live year after year without signs of spiritual life, who actually walk away from the faith. "They went out from us", John says, "because they were not of us." Be concerned for them. You may have relatives and loved ones, maybe family members, that are characterized this way. Those who are genuinely Christ's will persevere unto the end.

Let's pray together.

Father we are incredibly grateful for Your Word, for the comfort and encouragement that it is to our hearts. Lord we know that we could never keep ourselves in Christ. But we thank You that You will keep us; that what You began in eternity past, as an amazing love gift offered to Your Son, each of us eventually bringing perfect praise and glory to Christ throughout eternity, that You will perfect us into His image, that You will finish the gift that You intend to give to Him. Lord thank You for this amazing reality. Help us Father to be diligent to obey, pursue You, to be in Your Word, to be in prayer, to heed the warnings that You've given us in the Scripture about persevering. Not because there's any real danger of those who really believe not persevering, but as means to that end. And Lord I pray for the person here tonight who hasn't persevered, who made a profession at some time in the past and knows deep within his or her heart that there's no life, there's no love for Christ, there's no hatred of sin. Lord I pray that tonight would be the night and they would rest in Your love and forgiveness, crying out for cleansing, turning from their sin to embrace Christ as their Lord and Savior. Thank You that You are eager to forgive those who will come. I pray that would happen even tonight. Thank You Father for this day, for all that we've learned, and all that we've been challenged in. Use these truths in our lives, throughout this week. We ask in Jesus' name, Amen!