Perseverance

Tonight we're on lesson number 11 out of 12 in the study of salvation. And the lesson that we'll be looking at tonight is on the doctrine of perseverance. Perseverance is probably one of the most poorly understood doctrines in soteriology. And when we get it wrong, it has great consequences.

For example, in the Catholic Church, they believe that there are some sins that a believer can commit that makes them fall from a state of grace. These are mortal sins that then require confession, penance, and a partaking of the Eucharist to be able to have your grace restored and you to be justified once again. How terrible it would be to live under such an understanding. It would be like a gerbil, you know, on its little wheel going around. I'd have to rent an apartment in the church just to keep current, right? You know, there'd be no hope for us with that.

But it's not just the Catholic Church. Many, what we call evangelical churches get it wrong. They will teach that you can lose your salvation. This is very prevalent in many of the charismatic type groups, such as Pentecostals and the Assembly of God. I know this firsthand. When I was a boy growing up, my dentist was a devout Christian, went to church with us. But his hygienist was an Assembly of God lady — sweet lady. But she'd always have her hand in my mouth and that metal prick on my gum, and she would start telling me how us Baptists got it wrong. And you can lose your salvation. She would start using scriptures out of context. And the more worked up she got, the more she poked me in my gum. And I just learned to close my eyes and pretend I was at Chuck E. Cheese, you know, to get it over with.

But that kind of thing can lead you in a wrong direction. Many of the more Arminian type groups, Wesleyans and the like, believe that you can lose your salvation. I mean, after all, you're the one whose belief got you into it. Your lack of belief can get you out of it, right? But Baptists — we're not free and clear either. We often get it very wrong. If you've been around Baptist churches long enough, you know it. We trumpet rightly what we would call the perseverance of the saints or the eternal security of the believer. But we trumpet it so much that we sometimes will proclaim it on someone who's not even a believer, right? We have a slogan, "Once saved, what?" Always saved. Always saved, right? And that's true if the person's really saved, right?

But a lot of times a kid will go to camp and get baptized and we're like, "Welcome, get on the Jesus bus." You know, maybe someone will go to a revival and they'll say a little prayer, you know, and you grab your little angel wings and your halo, you're on the way to heaven. A lot of times someone will join a church and they will transfer on a letter, you know, and maybe they came from, I don't know, First Baptist Walla Walla. And they're like, "Well, that's a great church." You know, you consider that signed, sealed, and delivered. You go see St. Pete as soon as you get to heaven, you know. But we don't ever question. We talk about their security, but we're not even sure if they're saved to begin with, right? So this is a doctrine that requires much study. And we'll be looking at it in depth tonight — what this doctrine is, what's the basis of the perseverance of the saints, how it intersects with our life, some pitfalls that it could lead us to if we get it wrong, and then lastly, we'll look at the warning passages and how perseverance of the saints relates to those. So let's begin with looking at Bible point number one.

Perseverance of the saints is the certitude that all who are united to Christ by faith will infallibly continue — continues the first plank — will continue in a state of grace, and will finally attain — attain as a second plank — to everlasting life. Basically, it's the idea that if you are saved, you will persevere in your faith, and your faith will become sight one day, right? You will find your place in heaven when you die because of Christ's gracious salvation bestowed upon you. This includes both God's preservation — that's the third blank — preservation,

and man's persistence — that's the fourth blank — persistence in the faith. There's two parts to what we call the perseverance of the saints. There is God's preservation of us, and there is the believer's persistence in the faith. Our salvation, of course, is from God and God alone. We call that a monergistic act. He's the one who saves us, regenerates us. Our sanctification, our walk with the Lord, though, is what we call synergistic, where we have a role to play, right? We can cooperate with the graces of God, or we can be like stubborn mules and backslide, right?

So we'll be looking at that tonight. The Holy Spirit works in believers so that they will freely persevere. To the extent that we persist in our faith, it's only because we've been regenerated, and the Holy Spirit has been placed in our heart to renew our mind, to renew our affections, to give us desires for God. He's made us a new person, so we're going to have new tendencies and new habits that we didn't have before, right?

Philippians 1:6 says, "And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in the day of Jesus Christ." Paul writes to the Philippians, he says, "I know that the good work that God has started in you, that started in your redemption — you're not going to fall away from it. He's going to complete it. He's going to bring you home to glory, right? He's going to perfect you into the very perfect image of His Son."

2 Timothy 1:12–14: "For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded, that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that day. Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and in love, which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us."

This particular passage is really important for understanding the idea of perseverance of the saints. First of all, look in verse 12: "For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded, that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until that day." First of all, we know whom we have believed. Our justification is based not in a creed, but in a person. I know whom I have believed. It's based in the perfect Savior, Jesus Christ, right? Those of us who are united to Him, we know Him. I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that day. This is God's preservation — that He's going to keep us in the faith. The same God who gave us faith, who gave us a heart of love, who gave us hope in our hearts, He's going to keep us in the faith. He's going to keep us in His love. He's going to keep us in the hope. He's going to keep us in holiness, right? Because He's the one who birthed that to begin with. And then look in verse 13.

"Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me." We've got a job to do, right? We've got to hold fast. Just as Christ is holding on to us, we hang on and we don't let go, right? Hold fast. This is in faith and love, which are in Christ Jesus, right? Because we're united to Christ, we have received faith and we've received love. The love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. And so we hold fast to that, because Christ is holding fast to us.

Flip over on the back.

Look at 1 Peter 1:3–5. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith, for salvation, ready to be revealed in that last time." You hear that? God is keeping you in His power. Can anyone overpower God? Can anyone pry you out of His hand? No. And He's going to keep you until that last day — that day either when we die and we go to heaven, we stand before the Lord, or the day when He returns and He makes all things new — whichever comes first, God will keep His people. He will not let you go. Okay?

John 6:35–40: "And Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet you do not believe.'" Look at verse 37: "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me. The one who comes to Me, I will by no means cast out." What a glorious promise. All whom the Father has given Him will come to Him, and those who come to Him — is Jesus going to turn you away? He'll say, "No, you're not good enough. I was pleased with you a year ago, I'm not pleased with you anymore. You've, you know, messed up one too many times. Out of here." No. He will never cast out those who come to Him. Verse 38: "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all whom He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day." Christ will not lose a thing, right? We lose everything. We lose our car keys. We lose our cell phone. How many times have you gone around the house? "Hey, honey, would you call my cell phone?" You know, it happens all the time. You will never be lost in the hand of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Look at Romans 11:29. This is speaking in the context of election. He says, "For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable."

Those whom God calls, those whom God chooses, God does not un-choose, right? Those whom He regenerates, He does not un-regenerate. Those whom He justifies, He does not un-justify, right?

2 Thessalonians 3:3–5: "But the Lord is faithful." Praise God He's faithful, right? Because we are not faithful. "The Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one." He's the one who will hold you fast. He'll plant you upon a rock and guard you from the evil one. "And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that both you do and will do the things which we command you." See, in verse 4, we reciprocate, right? God is the one who establishes us, holds us fast. And Paul's saying, "I've got confidence in you that you're going to hold fast to Christ." Right? You're going to be faithful too. Then look at verse 5: "Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ." Praise God for His gracious drawing, His gracious directing, and for His patience with us, right? Because we're knuckleheads, but He is patient with us.

Application number one: How is perseverance God's work, yet our responsibility? "R" is a blank. Perseverance is the work of God. He's the one who holds us. How is it still our responsibility?

Exactly right. You've been bought with a price, right? Therefore we glorify God with our bodies, right? We do it in gratitude for His great love for us.

But point number two: Perseverance of the saints is based on our indissoluble union with Christ. Indissoluble is a big ten-cent word. You don't hear it that much, but simply it means that it cannot be dissolved. Okay? My wife and I and the kids, we lived down in Jupiter for about seven or eight years. And in West Palm Beach every year, they have a big festival contest, and it's amazing to see these artisans craft these giant sand castles, the detail that's in them. And they spray it with some stuff that tries to make it weather the storm. But what happens after the first really good rain? Right? It dissolves. It goes away. But our union with Christ — it's indissoluble. So our perseverance is based upon that union. It cannot be broken down. It cannot fade away. It cannot wither. It cannot break down. Believers are indissolubly joined to Christ as they share — share is the second blank — the very same life. We are joined to the living Savior, the one who rose again from the dead. So His life has become ours, right?

Colossians 3:3–4. As the life of the Father guarantees the life of the Son, so Christ's life guarantees ours, for He abides in us. We have the living one, the one who is the firstborn from the dead, living within our hearts, right? Can we die? No. We are spiritually immortal because of Christ, right? Eternal life is both a present — that's the third blank — a present reality and a future — fourth blank — a future certainty. We often talk about eternal life as something in the future, right? When we die, we go to heaven through the pearly gates and all that, but eternal life is actually a quality of life. It's union with Christ. To know Christ is to know eternal life, right?

Look at 1 John 5:11–12: "And this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life." Not that God will give us eternal life eventually one day, but God has given us eternal life, "and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son does not have life." You're either dead in Adam or you're alive in Christ. It's the beauty of union with Christ. He shares and conveys His very life inside of us.

Flip over on the back.

Colossians 3:3–4, this is in the upper right-hand corner, reference number two. "For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory." Our union is so close with Christ that Christ is called our life. We have no life apart from Christ, right? "I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me." Our lives are intertwined with our Savior, right?

Look at Hebrews 7:16, speaking of Christ, our great High Priest who has become a priest "not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life." Christ is the firstborn from the dead, right? He is the actual ground of all being, the ground of all physical life, and He's the ground of all spiritual life as well. This word here in Hebrews 7:16, "indestructible life," literally means in Greek that it cannot be dissolved. That's where we get "indissoluble" from, right? It's Christ's indestructible life. Christ's life that cannot break down, that can never fade away, is inside of us. Flip back over to the front.

The application for number two: Can the indestructible life of Christ be destroyed?

Never. Exactly right. Nothing can come against Christ, right? It's indestructible. Not to get crass, but I know some of you watch popular movies, and they've made a bunch of movies about a superhero named Wolverine. And he can heal real quick, but what they did supposedly is they put an indestructible metal onto his body, right? Onto his bones, so he can take bullets and everything else because he's virtually indestructible, right? That's fiction. But Christ — He is indestructible and He lives within His people.

Bible point number three: In union with Christ, we persevere because of His presence. His presence — that's the first blank. We are joined to Christ and have become one spirit with Him. 1 Corinthians 6:17.

We are sealed — that's the second blank — sealed in Him. This is a quote from Ephesians 1:13: "Sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise." When we become regenerate, at the moment of our union with Christ, we are given a new heart. The Holy Spirit comes and makes His home within us. We are sealed by His Holy Spirit. We have His mark on us and His very lock — if you will, lock and key on us — in the Holy Spirit. Christ is personally and inseparably present in us through the eternal — eternal is the third blank — eternal indwelling of the Spirit. John 14:16–20.

Look at 1 Corinthians 6:17: "But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." He who is joined, he who is united to the Lord — the word "joined" there in the Greek actually means "concreted."

Have you ever messed with concrete?

You've got to get it just right. If you wait to set the post and the concrete's already a little bit firm, you're not going to get that post down in that hole, right? You put the post down in the hole first, you mix the concrete and you let it set. And once it's set, can you really get that post out of the concrete without tearing up the post or tearing up the concrete? No. We who are united to Christ are concreted to Him. We are joined to Christ so much so that the Bible says that we become one spirit with Him, because His Spirit makes His abode permanently, forever, within us.

Flip over on the back.

John 14:16–20. Jesus says, "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever." Means He comes and tabernacles with us forever. He makes His home within us forever. Not part time. He's not — I've got a lot of customers in my pool business who are what we call snowbirds. They start coming down right around now. They've been gone all summer long and they come for our wonderful winter and then they leave around March or April and they go back up north where it's a little bit cooler, right?

Our Holy Spirit who dwells within us is not a part-time visitor. He's a full-time resident, right?

He says, "He will abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also." The principle of His life, the Spirit is within us, who quickens us and makes us His. "And at that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you." This is that interpenetration. We are in Christ and Christ is in us, and His presence is mediated in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. We're in the Spirit and the Spirit resides within us. Flip back over to the front.

The application for number three: Who is able to open and loose what God seals? Seals is the blank. I reference here Revelation 5. I'm not going to read it, but if you get a chance, read that beautiful passage of the book of Revelation. John is called up into heaven and no one can open the seal or the scroll — but who is able to? Jesus. He alone is worthy. He alone is powerful, right? Think about Daniel when Daniel was thrown into the lion's den and the lion's den was sealed, and only the king could open it, right? Only King Jesus can open up our hearts, right? No one can get in and take His Holy Spirit from us.

Bible point number four: In union with Christ, we persevere because of His power. Power is the blank. We are joined to Christ, who is the Almighty. Almighty is the second blank — the Almighty God.

John 10:27–30: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one."

He's saying, "I'm one with Almighty God, right?" Flip over on the back.

Look at Revelation 1:7–8: "Behold, He" — speaking of Christ — "He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,' says the Lord, 'who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.'" Christ is the Almighty one, right? The word "Almighty" there in the book of Revelation — the word used often in that book — is the Greek word pantokrator, and it literally means the God whose finger is on everything. There's no part of you that His hand is not steadying, that His hand is not upholding, and no one could snatch you from His omnipotent Almighty hand.

Looking back on the front for number four, the application: Do you believe anything — anything is a blank — to be stronger than our God?

We know that there's no person, no one stronger than God — not the devil, not any of the highest angels you can imagine, no force in this world — but do you believe anything to be stronger than God?

Sometimes we do, right? We sometimes think, by listening to our own condemned heart, our own twisted conscience, that our sins are stronger than God, right? That I can't be delivered from this sin. This sin's hold on me is too great.

Sometimes we think that we can't get free of our guilt, right? We've done so many rotten, terrible, horrendous things that we think this guilt — I'll never be able to get past it. But that's not true, right? Nothing can separate us from the very hand of our Lord Jesus Christ. No power on earth, no power above, no power below, nothing that's seen, nothing that's unseen — nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, is what the book of Romans chapter 8 tells us.

Bible point number five: In union with Christ, we persevere because of His promises. Promises is the blank for number five. We're joined to Christ who is faithful — faithful is the second blank — and true. True is the third blank.

1 John 5:20 says, "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is" — what? — "true."

Would Christ ever make a promise that He couldn't keep? If He promises you that He will be with you forever, isn't that true? Yes. "And we are in Him who is true. In His Son Jesus Christ, this is the true God and eternal life."

Flip over on the back.

Revelation 3:14: "These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God." Look at what He says in Matthew 28, the great commission right before His ascension. It says, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

So can you fall away from Him? No. Can you be separated from Him? No. Can you be ripped from Him? No. It's because of His promise, because He is the one who's faithful and true. If you were to be ripped from Him, He would be a liar, right? And our Christ is no liar.

Application for number five: Christ is the faithful and true witness. Trust Him. Trust is the blank for number five. Trust Him. Trust His promises. Trust His assurance that, "Lo, I am with you even to the end of the age." Sometimes you think that you walk alone, right? You sometimes think that God has abandoned you. You sometimes think that it's just you walking down this lowly, dark road and God's nowhere to be found. You may soak your bed with your tears, saying, "Why aren't You listening to me?" He's there. Know that He's there. Trust Him.

Bible point number six: In union with Christ, we persevere because of His purposes. Purposes is the blank. We are joined to Christ by His grace before — before is the second blank — before time began. His eternal purposes join us to Him. Ephesians 1:4–11. We recently finished the book of Ephesians and chapter one was a doozy, right? So many wonderful promises. You didn't want to leave it.

Verse 4: "Just as He chose us in Him" — this is our union with Christ — "before the foundation of the world." And verse 11: "In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will." He has purposes that we do not know. And in time past, He has purposed that we believe in Him. The very fact that you believe in Him is proof of that, right? Because we would never come to faith apart from His saving grace.

Flip over on the back. 2 Timothy 1:9: "Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began." Right? His promises, His purposes are eternal. So we can't be separated from Christ.

The application for number six: God's purposes never — never is a blank — never fail. He does all that He pleases. Even the best of us as parents, we try to keep our promises because we value our kids and we want our kids to know — but sometimes we make a promise that, to be honest, you know, we can't keep. "I'm going to take you fishing this week," but then something happens. You know, maybe you get called into work, or maybe a loved one is sick and you have to go to their side to help a parent or a brother or a sister, right? But God — His promises, His purposes, they never fail. His purposes are certain from all eternity.

Bible point number seven: As God's preserving care is needed by all His physical creation — we talked about this when we studied part two of the doctrine of God, that God's providence, whereby He guides and directs all things according to His purposes, sustains everything that He has created — so God's preserving care is needed by all His spiritual creation.

Spiritual is the blank. It is God who maintains — maintains is the second blank — who maintains the faith, love, and holiness which He works within us. We talked about that just last week when we talked about sanctification, that it's God maintaining His grace that He imparted to us in the very beginning, right? The moment that we became Christians, and He continues to do that throughout our life until we're brought home to glory.

God who maintains the faith, love, and holiness which He works within us: we are united to Christ, who is the Good Shepherd — that's the third blank — and Great High Priest — fourth blank — to love, to save, to lead, to feed, to care, to protect, to equip, to empower, to sanctify, and to intercede for us. He has all these things for us. Every facet of your life is governed by His high priestly intercession. Everything that you can imagine — and not even imagine — is all cared for in His providence as the Good Shepherd. He leads you. He knows your weakness, He knows your temptation, He knows your frailty, and He is there leading us as a shepherd gently leads those with young.

Look at Psalm 121: "I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil. He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth and even forevermore." That's His preserving care, right, that He does for us. Part of our perseverance is God's preserving care daily as our great Shepherd and as our great High Priest.

Flip over on the back. John 10:9–11: "I am the door," Jesus says. "If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and go out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it abundantly."

The application for number seven: Christ will bring all His sheep safely into the fold. That's what a shepherd does at night when the wolves come out. He brings his sheep safely into the fold and he shuts the door. Well, Christ is a great Shepherd and He's the door, right? No one's getting through that door to rob His sheep.

Bible point number eight: While God's preservation of His saints — believers are commanded — commanded is a blank — and exhorted to persist in faith. God preserves us, but we persist. The Holy Spirit works in believers so that they freely persevere from within.

We would not have the strength or the fortitude to do so on our own, but we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, right?

While we give praise to God who is able to keep us from stumbling — Jude 24 — we are also commanded to keep ourselves — ourselves is the third blank — in the love of God. Jude 21.

God upholds us and we are to hold on to Him. That's what it means to persist. We are to continuously and fervently surrender — surrender is the fourth blank — to His divine will.

Preservation of the saints never yields to indolence or apathy. Indolence means laziness, right? Sluggishness. We can't say, "Hey, I'm in the hands of Jesus. I'm going to kick back and I'm going to drink some iced tea and lay in the shade and never seek the Lord, never open up my Bible, never seek to please Him, never seek to be a lamp in a dark world, never seek to be salt, never to be light. I'm going to live for myself." That's indolence, right? It's apathy when we don't care for lost souls who are going to hell, right? We want to share with them our glorious Savior. We want them to know the Shepherd of our soul. We want them to know our great High Priest, right?

Flip over on the back. Jude 20–25 says, "But you, beloved" — listen to what he says. He says, "You — this is what you should be doing, my beloved." He says, "Building yourselves up on your most holy faith." You are to strengthen yourselves. You are to apply yourself to what we call the common means of grace. That's the Word of God read, the Word of God preached, the Word of God prayed, the Word of God sung, right? The Word of God fellowshiped over. That's how we build up ourselves in the most holy faith. "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together," as some do, "but so much more as the day approaches," right? We come together to encourage one another, to exhort one another, to build up one another. He says, "But you, building yourselves up," he says, "praying in the Holy Spirit." Look at verse 21: "Keep yourselves in the love of God."

How can I keep myself in the love of God? Do you not have His Spirit within you? Do you not have the same resurrection power that raised Christ from the dead, that has raised you up also from the dead and is living within you? So you can keep yourself in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. That shows our vantage point. We're not looking inwardly, but we're looking outwardly to Christ, our Savior, and looking for His return. "And some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear." We can save others in that sense by being a witness, by sharing the gospel with them. This is pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. Verse 24: "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling."

Now, here's God, right, preserving us — "who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory, majesty, dominion, and power, both now and forever. Amen."

Look back over on the front. The application for number eight: Walk. Walk is a blank. Walk worthy of the calling you have received. Straight from Ephesians 4:1, right? We have been called to be Christians. We've been called to be ambassadors. We've been called out of darkness and into His marvelous light. So walk worthy of it, knowing that you've been bought with a price, right? You hold fast. Don't be indolent. Don't be apathetic. Hold fast to Christ.

Bible point number nine: Believers who were kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time — that's a quote from 1 Peter 1:5. "While we are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, we must not forget that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 1:2. So just a couple of verses before, verse 5, he says, "You're kept by the power of God." Verse 2, just a couple of verses before, he reminds us we are kept for obedience. We are kept for sanctification. We are kept for holiness, right?

The church is marked by both God's purpose — that's the third blank — purpose of salvation, and the holy — fourth blank is holy — the holy activity of believers that is worked in them by His Holy Spirit. We have two marks upon us: God's eternal election and the holiness that God has called us to walk into. That's the foundation of the church.

Preservation of the saints never yields to vice or worldliness. In other words, if you are continuing in the faith, if you're holding on to Christ, you're not going to want to yield to vice, which is all manner of wickedness, rebellion, or worldliness. Worldliness doesn't have to be necessarily sinful, but what does it do? It leads us away from God, which results in sinfulness, right? Don't love the world. Set your sight on things above, not on things that are below.

Flip over on the back. Philippians 3:12–14: "Not that I have already obtained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me." See, Christ has already laid His hand on me and is holding me fast, right? So I'm pressing on that I may lay hold of Him, right? We want to be like Christ. We want to walk like Him. We want to be in His image. We want to be holy as He is holy. Verse 13: "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do: forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead." He doesn't look behind. He doesn't look at his failures or his shortcomings. He looks ahead. Verse 14: "I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." We're pressing towards the perfect character of the Lord Jesus Christ, right?

So for Bible point number nine:

2 Timothy 2:19: "Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: 'The Lord knows those who are His.'" That's His election. That's His eternal purposes. "And, 'Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.'" It's holiness, right? We've been called to holiness. We've been called to conformity with the Son. We've been saved from our sins, not that we may indulge in them all the more, but that we may walk after Christ and know Him who is our Savior.

The application is: Abhor what is evil. Cling — cling is the blank — cling to what is good. Hold fast to what is good. Romans 12:9.

Bible point number ten: Scripture warns — that's the first blank — warns the church of not persevering in faith. Those that don't persevere were never — never is a blank — truly of the faith. 1 John 2:19. Read that when you get time. We're not going to read it tonight, but: "They went out from us." You thought they were from us until they went out from you, right?

The book of Hebrews, which we're studying on Sunday morning — I want to give some special emphasis to this here. The book of Hebrews sternly warns not to neglect so great a salvation. You'll find that in Hebrews 2:1–4.

Not to harden one's heart. You'll find that in Hebrews 3:7 all the way through Hebrews 4:13. The book of Hebrews warns not to fall away from divine influences. Hebrews 5:11 through 6:12.

The book of Hebrews warns not to profane the blood of Christ. Hebrews 10:19–39. The book of Hebrews warns not to throw away one's birthright. Hebrews 12:14–29.

Yet each of these warnings are all accompanied with assurance — assurance is the third blank — assurance of the preservation of the saints. You'll find these assurances listed here for each of these: Hebrews 2:11–13, Hebrews 3:6, Hebrews 4:10, Hebrews 4:14–16, Hebrews 6:19.

"But I am persuaded of better things concerning you," is what he says. Hebrews 10:39. Hebrews 12:22–24. We're not going to look at those tonight because of time. But let this be your meat and potatoes this week. We oftentimes are thrown the warning passages out of context and we say that sounds pretty bad. I can lose my birthright. I could lose my salvation. But when you read them in context, you always see His assurances of the perseverance of the saints, right?

Believers can backslide and fall into sin — think about David, right? Man after God's own heart, and he murdered, committed adultery, brought all kinds of havoc onto his household, tore his family apart.

Believers can backslide and fall into sin, but they can never fall away. The great Charles Spurgeon said that many a Christian will fall on the ship board, but they will never fall overboard. In other words, if you're on the ship, it's slippery. You're going to slip on that deck and fall many times, but you're never going to fall into the sea, right? You're never going to fall away from the ship. The only falling away from grace described in Scripture is a falling of the unregenerate — that's the fourth blank — from influences pointing them to Christ. It's people who have tasted the gospel. So to speak, they've even maybe been brought into the community of Christ, the fellowship of a church, and they can see Christ in you. They can see your life. They've had a taste of that, and yet they still don't surrender. They still don't repent, right?

Romans 8:37 says, "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Flip over to the front. I'm on the back.

Romans 8:29–30 says, "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son." Those whom He foreloved He predestined, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren — that Christ would have many of us who are in His image. "Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called; those whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified," which means brings into perfection — which we'll be studying next week. All right. That'll be our last lesson in soteriology: we'll study glorification, which is the end result of our perseverance.

Look back over on the front. The application for number ten: Hold on to Christ. Hold on to Christ who holds you fast. Psalm 139:10 says He holds us fast. We sing a song sometimes — "He Will Hold Me Fast," right? Hold on to Him who holds you fast.

I want to end with an anecdote from history.

Quite sad, actually. During the Reformation, the churches broke away from the Catholic faith. There was massive upheaval among churches. We had all these churches that were started, right? And the people were trying to align themselves — how are we going to do church? They had rediscovered the gospel, if you will. But it wasn't just a religious change. It was also a political change, because the Holy Roman Catholic Church ruled the nations, right? Ruled the kings at that time, and so there was also political upheaval. And in Britain there was a politician during the Reformation — his name was Oliver Cromwell — and he basically established the Commonwealth of England. He did it with force, but he did it. And on his deathbed, because he was no longer part of the Catholic Church, he called for a chaplain. He was, as many people do on their deathbed, starting to wonder — do I have Christ?

Well, he saw heaven, and he asked the chaplain, "Is there such a thing as eternal security?" The chaplain explained it to him as best as he could.

Cromwell either didn't understand it or he was cavalier about it. He says, "That is so assuring," is what Cromwell said. He says, "Because I know that at some point in my life I must have been in God's good graces. So I'm okay."

There is no perseverance apart from faith and repentance, right? We must put our trust in Christ, and when we do, He holds us and we will never let go of Him. Amen.