Sound Doctrine: The Perseverance of Saints

Take your Bibles, if you would please, and turn to 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 1 to 11 is our text for today, and we'll be exploring the doctrine of perseverance of the saints. The perseverance of saints is the subject for today. And as we are going through this doctrinal study, I would invite you to continue to study these subjects a little bit deeper. There's only so much you can cover in one sermon, and I perhaps can whet your appetite and incur some suffering with you as we only get just what we can talk about during the sermon. So I hope that today you will dive more into the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.

Today I want to preach to you by way of trying to get a verdict. I want a verdict today. I want you to determine whether or not this is true or not. And by way of introduction, when in fact God has predestined, called, and justified a believer, do they continue in the Word? When someone is saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, do they persevere no matter what? Do they continue in the Word? Is it true that repentance is connected to perseverance? So true repentance. Is it connected to a believer's perseverance in the faith? If someone has truly been saved, if they truly have repented and placed their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ in His substitutionary death on their behalf for their sin, He's paid the price. He took on the wrath of God. Is that connected to the fact that they will remain in the faith despite persecution and hardships and even unexplainable pain and suffering and sickness? Awful things in this world. Does a true believer endure to the end? Do they remain in the faith? Do true believers endure to the end?

In verse 11 of our text you'll see that there is an entrance into the eternal kingdom. In 2 Peter chapter 1, I'll read verses 1 to 11 with you and I want you to take notice in verse 6 of the word "perseverance." So starting in verse 1, "Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received faith of the same kind." I'm placing emphasis on "received" — in the same kind — and we'll elaborate just a little bit more as I open up here. So the faith that they've received is the same kind as ours. Paul says here, or Peter says, "by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." Verse 3, "Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness." Here, life is referring to salvation and godliness is referring to obedience. It's by His divine power that He has granted to believers both life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him. A true knowledge is an intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ, not a superficial knowledge, not just a proclamation of knowing Him, a true intimate knowledge, one whom has truly been saved. This is a key word in this letter from Peter, this word "knowledge." And so "through a true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence."

Verse 4, "For by these He has granted to us." Now this is a repeated phrase. In verse 3, you see that He granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. "And now in verse 4, 'For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.'" In a lot of ways, verse 4 is simply repeating what verse 3 is stating. There is salvation and sanctification that is for the believer to continue in, and this is the doctrine of perseverance.

In verse 5, "Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence." Now here transitions to responsibility, your effort on your part, this word "applying." You are to apply all diligence in your faith supplying moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge. And in your knowledge, self-control. And in your self-control, perseverance. And in your perseverance, godliness. And in your godliness, brotherly kindness. Love, by way of encouragement. May that be our prayer list for ourselves. Pray for yourself. Go through this list right here and say, "Lord, help me to persevere in godliness, in brotherly kindness, and in love, and in self-control, and in a deeper knowledge of You." This can be your prayer list right here.

In verse 8, "For if these qualities are yours and are increasing." Pause there for just a moment. We have made a case that true human beings, when they are born, do not stay babies. They grow into children, into youth, into young adults, and into older adults. They grow. True Christians, likewise, also are born again and become children of the faith, and they grow into youth in the faith, and they become fathers in the faith. That's biblical language for showing that when you're born again, you become a child of God. And then a child of God grows spiritually and becomes a youth or an overcomer in the faith. And then they outgrow being a youth in the faith and overcoming the sin that so easily besets them to becoming a father in the faith, which is a reproducer in the faith. So, young adults, male or female, become reproducers. They become, in Great Commission language, multipliers. Great Commission people who are making disciples who can make disciples. That is the aim. That's our DNA. That's what we do. That's why we pray. That's why we evangelize. That's why we teach the Word. It's not aimless. It's aiming at making disciples. So, that is the Great Commission to obey all that God has created for us here by way of Word, and then obey that unto making disciples. And we're going to increase.

And so you see right here in verse 8, "For if these qualities are yours and they increase, increasing in sanctification, increasing in your service." Every year that goes by, your capacity needs to be increasing for godliness. It needs to be increasing in your ability to serve Him. It needs to be being stretched by trials and persecutions and opportunities to do more for Jesus. If you're the same person today as you were five years ago, you're still mired in your faith. And perhaps today would be a prod, an encouragement to do whatever you've got to do to sacrificially serve Christ. Perhaps Jesus would prune you back in some areas so that you can focus on the right things. That's His way. So we increase in our faith and we increase in our godliness and our direction towards Him. This is persevering.

Let's start again in verse 8, "For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins, therefore brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing of you." That's a good verse for an invitation at the end of a sermon. "Be sure you're saved. Respond to the call, the call of Christ to come to Me. All you are weary and heavy laden." He's telling those who are lost to come to Jesus. He wants to find you. He wants to provide for you eternal life. And so, come to Jesus. Make sure your calling and your choosing of you is sure. "For as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble." So you see how persevering in the faith gives you solid assurance and ability to stand fast.

Now in verse 11 it says, "For in this way, the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you." Praise the Lord for that.

The perseverance of the saints is the subject for today, and I'm just going to tell you up front that true Christians persevere. True Christians persevere. In verse 1 you see the word "received." It says here, "To those who have received." This word "received" is actually very interesting. It means to obtain divine allotment. If you have been saved, if Christ has saved your soul, you have received divine allotment. It also means assurance, fidelity, belief, trust, faith. If you have received this — in the Greek, it means that you have received something from the divine. He has given you, and this faith is something that is a gift to you. You didn't earn it, you didn't deserve it, it was granted to you.

Now interestingly enough, this robust faith that Paul is talking about here — that you've received by divine allotment — is the same kind. Look in the text. This is great. In verse 1 it says, "To those who have received a faith of the same kind." When you look into this, the same kind is a phrase that means equally precious, equally valuable. The same kind of faith that Peter has. Forgive me if I get Peter and Paul mixed up. I'm going back and forth into texts through all these doctrines.

The same faith that Peter has is the same valuable faith that you have. Peter is writing to persecuted saints here. Peter is writing to saints who have been scattered all abroad, if you read the first epistle here in chapter 1 verse 1. Peter is writing to saints who have — perhaps in our modern day context, put it this way — Muslims have moved into the neighborhood and bought all the houses around you. They're playing their loud horns and music and they're putting pressure on you to move out of town. They're doing things that are awful perhaps, maybe bad smells and aromas are being thrown over the fence, dead animals. They were putting pressure into persecuting you. You're a Christian and they don't like Christians anymore. Perhaps somebody had a different faith, a different religion other than Jesus Christ, and now is persecuting you just because you're a Christian and they want you out of there. These Christians in these times have been persecuted by all kinds of different means and they've been scattered abroad and pushed around and they are fleeing persecution.

And now Peter is writing to these dear saints and he is giving them encouragement. Persevere. It's all right. Houses and cars and transportation, donkeys and food — I don't know — that matters. Christ is going to provide for your needs. You stay faithful to Him. This is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. The same kind of faith that Peter has is the same kind of faith that you and I have. It's of equal value. So here this same kind of faith is the faith that we see that can and will persevere.

And so can I explain Peter's faith to you as you hear this? Let this engage your faith when you in fact are persecuted. When you are persecuted like even the Apostle Paul was — when he was afflicted and he wasn't crushed. He was perplexed but not despairing. He was persecuted but not forsaken. When he was struck down and not destroyed. He did not lose heart and neither do we. That same kind of faith that Peter and Paul and all the Christians had and still have is the same faith. The same kind of faith that we have.

And so you can look forward to the day when you are persecuted because God will give you the grace at the moment to be happy in the moment. You can be joyful and consider yourself worthy even if you're stoned, if you read the book of Acts. Even if you're martyred, if you're reading another book. Even if you're reading church history and you see burned at the stake, drowned in the rivers, stoned, disemboweled, hung. How does all of this happen? It's by the faith that God has granted you. And this is the area that I believe that we the true church really truly need to be focusing in on, because if you're not ready you'll be caught off guard. If you're not ready to die for your faith, to lose things for your faith, to lose your jobs, to lose your privileges, to lose your comforts. If mail-in voting bypasses the majority and communism takes over capitalism and Christianity becomes the enemy, does this sound familiar? Do you see it coming? The doctrine of the perseverance of the faith of the saints will help you when you understand that you have the same kind of faith of those who have gone before you and have suffered much worse than we can ever imagine.

It's interesting here that this kind of perseverance has happened and it seems to be getting closer and closer. Did you know that Jesus prays for your faith? In John chapter 17 verse 11, Jesus prayed this in His high priestly prayer. He said, "Holy Father, keep them in Your name."

Keep. This Greek verb means to preserve, to guard. Jesus is praying for His disciples' faith. And by way of interpretation and application, Jesus is praying for your faith. He is, by His prayer, by who He is, preserving and guarding your faith. You really don't have anything to worry about. You don't have to worry about this type of persecution. Don't even give it a second thought. You're good. It's almost like you have an army around you already. You're already ready. You've got to know that you're ready. And if you know, then that's like half the battle, they say. If you know this, you're good. And so be good. Be confident in God. Don't worry about China taking over. Don't worry about money disappearing and becoming all digital. Don't worry about Siri listening to you and divulging all of your secrets. Don't worry about all this stuff. Live your life in Christ and persevere through all of it.

Prepare yourself. It's almost like if you know you have a huge physical challenge coming, you're going to get ready for it, right? Who of you is going to sit on the couch knowing that you have to run a marathon? Nobody gets ready in that fashion. They start getting ready. So I'm saying today we need to exercise our faith. We need to know and do the things that are right. This is synergistic, if you want to use a technical word. When it comes to exercising your faith and the faith that has been granted to you, perseverance is like sanctification in that you are partnering with God to achieve the end result. You're partnering with God. You're working with God. There is an effort there. It's synergistic. It's both from God and you towards God, like sanctification. Salvation — monergistic. It's the one indeed He used. God does it on His own. But sanctification, you are submitting and He is sanctifying. Like perseverance here, you see in the text with me.

Look in verse 3, back to 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 3, you see it's by His divine power. I want you to see one side of synergism here. In verse 3 it says, "Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness." That's very easy to understand. Life — salvation. Godliness — sanctification. These things are granted to you by His divine power. He gives it to you. You are able then to exercise the gift that He has given to you. Look in verse 5. "Now for this very reason also, applying." You have to apply the gift that God has given you. You have to apply the means for which He has opened up to you. You've got to use it. Perhaps your father said to you what my dad said to me. God gave you a brain. Use it, son. Right? Here God is saying, "Use what I have given you. I've given you a good church. Use it. Work it. Drive in it. Strive. I've given you a good spouse perhaps. Work with your spouse. Pray, serve, study, love, worship, strive with your spouse. I've given you good children, a family. I've given you all of these things. Use these things for the glory of God. Use these things to further the ministry that God has in and through you." Just like my dad told me, God gave you a brain, son. Use it.

We have these gifts of perseverance and faith from God. We need to exercise them and apply them, especially through hardships. Especially when you need to exercise your faith. It's so strange to me, in times and years past. I hope it's not with this dear flock in the future. I don't believe it would be true. I believe what would be true of this flock is that we would remain even through persecution. I believe that I'm looking at true Christians in front of me. But in times past it has been so strange to me to see that when a dear saint goes through a trial, they disappear.

They don't exercise and utilize what the church — the people — are designed to do. The people are designed to strengthen and embolden one another. Through their encouragement, saints that are down and out and going through problems or issues or whatever, they come to church and then they feel the fellowship. They're emboldened and strengthened and they can get through another few days until perhaps Sunday or Wednesday comes again. This is amazing, walking with Christ. It's amazing in how you utilize what God has given you. These things are to be engaged with. It's synergism. It's you using what God has given you and where to employ them. It's like putting it in first gear, dropping the clutch and saying, "I'm driving. I'm going to do this." And by faith, we move forward. All of these things seem to just work out. I'm not worried about it. So strive with your spouse, with your church, with the Word of God, in the knowledge of God. Utilize your faith.

When perseverance kicks in, perseverance will produce in you a few things I'd like to analyze in John chapter 15. Turn with me if you would. John chapter 15 gives us this whole illustration of how the husbandman, or the vineyard owner — AKA God — trims his vines, okay, his branches. Jesus is the vine, we're the branches. He trims the branches and He's in control of removing the dead wood and trimming back the vines so that there is a lot more production, a lot more grapes, a lot more fruit being produced. And in this, we persevere when we are cut back or we have dead things ripped out of our life. Sometimes you lose something in your life, it's just ripped out of your life. You don't know why. Trust God. And sometimes you have really good things in your life and they get cut back — like, whoa, why did that happen? Trust God. He's in control of these things. Your life is not your own. You've been bought with a price. He owns you. Your life is to glorify Him and you don't know it all. God knows it all. He knows the future. You don't know the future. So trust God in it.

Now, as we go through and we persevere through cutbacks or prunings or things like this, we get some things out of John chapter 15 that will help you. Okay. Perseverance — what will it produce in you? Number one, it's going to produce fruit. John chapter 15 and verse 5, "I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in Me and I" — that's your part, by the way, abiding obedience — "He who abides in Me and I in him bears much fruit for apart from Me, you can do nothing." And so after you've been cut back and hard pruned by the master gardener, like grapes, you will bear grapes. Christians, when they're cut back, will get all of the nonsense out of their lives that's keeping them from producing more Christians, from bearing fruit.

When you as a true branch grafted into the true vine, Jesus Christ, have enough of this world cut out of your life to the point to where you're like, "I give, I'm all Yours, God. I'll do exactly what You want me to do. I'll forget my own pursuits. I'll forget these alternative directions. I'll quit wasting days and time and money and I will make disciples. I will bear fruit, fruit that lasts. I will produce Christians. I will evangelize and disciple. I will share the gospel and when someone receives Christ, I will nurture that soul. I will help them to know what it is to believe in Christ, to be biblically baptized, to belong to a church, to study the Bible, and then I'll help them make disciples. I'll stick with them like Jesus stuck with His disciples." How much does God have to cut away from our lives before we get what He's talking about? How much does God have to prune us before we make the main thing the main thing, which is making disciples? The Great Commission is to make disciples. How much do we have to displease God before we get it? I'm telling you today, let's persevere through the trials and then aim at doing the right things. You will produce fruit when you persevere.

Perseverance produces fruit, number one. Number two, it produces joy. True joy. Joy from God is at the end of the process, not at the beginning of the process. If it's at the beginning of the process, then you're entertaining yourselves and you are seeking things that you want to do. But if you sacrificially submit to God, then at the end of the pruning process, at the end of submitting to Him and obeying Him, it produces lasting joy. That is so much better. So far lasting. And so in verse 11, John chapter 15 in verse 11, check this out. "These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be full." Joy inexpressible, Peter said in 1 Peter 1:8. This is a joy that you can't even describe. This is a joy once you get through the trial that is beyond you being able to testify to on the phone. It is overwhelming unto being overwhelmed with God. It is a joy that is all consuming. It's a joy that is far beyond anything the world can give you.

This joy is a byproduct of perseverance. True joy in the faith is something that when a true believer gets a taste of it, they're like, "Bring on the persecution. Because I know in the end what it produces. Bring on the hardships. It's just fine. Whatever God wants to bring to our lives by way of persecution, it's okay." I was a Christian in high school. Were you? I was a Christian in high school. Man, I'm telling you what, I had a big target on my back playing football and weightlifting. It was like — you know — me and a Mormon friend of mine, he said we were the only Christians. In my mind, I thought, "I think I'm the only Christian."

I say that to say, man, a lot of unfair comments were winged at me as I walked up and down the hallways. Has that happened to you? Have things come at you that just hurt, that are just unfair? You know, consider yourself worthy. You persevere through that because as you continue to do what's right and live in the light, it will be all right, because the joy that I now live in because of my convictions then have produced a life inexpressible.

My wife loves me. My kids love me. I don't care what happens because God has preserved our home and I have security in Christ — security in my marriage, security with my children. It's amazing what God has produced in me from the convictions and through the hardships and through the perseverance. And I'm telling you, it's indescribable what happens when you persevere through the trials. You don't know why it's happening in the moment. Just say, "God, I don't understand, but I trust You." It's a good line. Write it down if you're taking notes. "God, I don't understand, but I trust You." Doesn't the Bible say to do that? Right? "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all of your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5–6. Very simple to say, very hard to do, but when we persevere through the trials, not only will you be bearing fruit at the end, but you will have inexpressible joy. And I'll leave you one more note on the joy before we move on. We've got eight points to get through.

When you produce another Christian, that joy is like bearing children of your own. When you see that a new believer matures in their faith, you are so proud. You're like a pregnant woman that's got that glory cloud. You know what I mean? You're like the woman who's got her first child and it's just so — the smile just can't be wiped away — like Valerie's daughter and Rick's daughter. It's amazing when you produce, when you bear fruit. That joy is inexpressible. Work hard at doing these things. Jesus did. Paul did.

Not only that, you can see in the text that there's answered prayer. A third benefit of persevering. Perseverance will produce for you answered prayer. John chapter 15 and verse 16 says this, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and I appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you." Whatever you ask. Sounds like a blank check, right? Kinda. If you are in God's will, then you desire His will. Whatever you ask, He will do for you. You are pursuing Him. Ask. Ask for more opportunity. Ask for the ability to make more disciples. Ask for the ability to pray with people. Ask for the ability to teach others how to study the Bible. Ask for the opportunity to invite people to church. Ask God. And as you ask, He's going to grant these types of things. Watch out. These prayers are powerful. They'll change your life. They will change the course of your life if you pray according to God's will. And when you abide in Him and He gives you these desires because you love Him and you're seeking Him, it changes how you think and how you feel and why you wake up. There's purpose. You get out of bed with ambition. It changes your life when you pray according to God's will and it produces answered prayers in you.

I don't know, like a shot of caffeine right in the veins. Answered prayers — like, "Yes! Score!" Someone trying to score a touchdown. Answered prayers are like motivation when you're going through a trial, like, "I need another answered prayer." Answered prayers are amazing. So, perseverance will produce answered prayer. In this chapter, after you get pruned, after you have the dead wood removed from your life, like is illustrated so clearly in this metaphor, you will have fruit, joy, and answered prayers.

Not only that, a genuine love. Look in verse 17, John chapter 15 and verse 17. "This I command you, that you love one another." There are those whom love in a way that is way above the love of others. You feel their love. Sometimes those who are able to truly love the brethren have gone through a lot of pain. It's true. Those who really know how to love have been through it. They know how to listen. They know how to say the right things. They know how to hug — a different way to hug. I'm like a stiff board most of the time. Hey! I'm telling you, those who have been pruned back and gone through it, they have this kind of love. The love that loves one another. It's true. So, number one fruit, number two joy, number three answered prayer, number four love.

And then, number five for me is priceless. It's preparedness. Jesus grows our faith so that we can stand firm and be prepared with a firm foundation. Preparedness. Number five, look with me in verses 18 to 20, John chapter 15 verses 18 to 20. He's preparing the disciples here. "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master." Okay? You're a slave. You've been bought by Christ. You're a slave. Okay? You have a master.

He goes on to further drive home the point by saying if they persecuted Me, your master, then they will persecute you, My slave. If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you. Knowing that prepares you. And so those who persevere in growing in their knowledge and knowing that trials are for you, not against you, you are prepared for it. Isn't that great when you're prepared for it? Most of the time when someone is taken off in life and they're derailed or whatnot, and they say, "I wasn't prepared for that."

That is their default statement. "I wish I would have known. If I'd have known it was coming, I could have withstood the blow." Here Jesus is telling — by way of application, not just the disciples, "I'm going to be crucified," but He's telling you — "You're going to be crucified." So hear what Jesus is saying. Be prepared for persecution so that you can persevere. Amen. Knowing is half the battle. You know this. Jesus is saying here, "We are Christian soldiers. Continue marching when you get hit. Be ones who persevere." This is preparedness.

Number six, resolve. Another really good word that I like. In chapter 16 verses 1 and 2, there is resolve that comes from the strength that Jesus is giving to them by way of preparing them. He's telling them, "Don't stumble. Don't lose your mind when awful things happen. Don't be thrown off. Strive through the trial." What kind of trial could literally throw you off your mental game, your spiritual game, your going to church, loving the brethren? What kind of trial could steal your joy and cause you to stop bearing fruit? What kind of trial would you face — an immense trial? And we need to be prepared with resolve to even be able to continue to march through a trial like this.

In verse 16 and following, read with me chapter 16 verses 1 and 2. "These things I have spoken to you, so that" — I love "so that" in the Bible. Here's the emphasis. "So that you may be kept" — okay, preserved — "so that you can persevere. So that you may be kept from stumbling." God does not want you to fall off your rocker, spiritually speaking. God wants you to stay on track.

Verse 2. Here's the trial that would have the potential of knocking you off of your game. "They will make you outcasts" — okay, they're going to separate you and they're going to discriminate against you. Outcasts. "From the synagogue." The synagogue was the center of all life, the determining factor of all that you are able to do and be. The synagogue was everything for Jewish people. If you were cast out from the synagogue, then you lost pretty much your life. So now they will make you outcasts from the synagogue. This is heavy language, Jesus is saying. "But an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God." Death threats. Family members perhaps being persecuted unto death. Don't forget that that's happening around the world today, folks. Christians are dying to spread the gospel today around the world. There are missionaries who are being martyred for their faith today. You know what they think about American Christians? They're like, "What are they doing? They're completely missing it. They got everything they need. They have access to the written Word. They have vehicles to drive anywhere they want. They have plenty of food. They don't have to worry about starving. They don't have to worry about getting shot. They don't have to worry about being stolen or taken or disappearing, walking down the street, getting shoved into a van gone." They don't have to worry about that. And yet...

What kind of trial could throw you off of your game? Jesus is preparing you to persevere even though we may be living in a day one day where people would think they're offering service unto God by killing you.

Is it already happening? Caliph. Muslim term. Yes, it's already happening. It's already happening. What's the fastest growing religion in the world? Islam. Which believes that it is a holy thing to kill the infidel. If you do not worship Allah — not our God, not the general term God, their definition of God, Allah — they are justified in killing you. You get on a plane and go to the wrong country, you may be face to face with that. But did you know that Islam is really rapidly taking over London and going to Canada? What goes to Canada comes south to America. I'm telling you these things are knocking at our door. And if we are prepared, then we can persevere. If we have resolve inside of us, then we can persevere.

Perhaps we can continue on and see that God would perhaps grant America repentance like Nineveh and rebound. I am hopeful, not pessimistic, but I want to be prepared, don't you? I want to be ready for the worst. I want to hope for the best and be ready for the worst.

I want to end with this in Revelation chapter 2 before we transition to taking the Lord's Supper together. Revelation chapter 2 verse 10. Those who persevere, you get a reward. You get a crown. This is so beautiful. Revelation chapter 2 verse 10. "Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison so that you will be tested and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life."

So perseverance truly distinguishes the difference between a true believer and a non-believer. 1 John 2:19 says "they went out from us because they were not of us." When true persecution starts to set in, those who flee are not of us. We must remain in the faith. Ephesians 1:13–14 reveals the glorious truth that believers are sealed. They are sealed and that seal is sealed by God. It cannot be unsealed. Ephesians 4:30, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit in whom you are sealed." And so true believers have a seal by God that is impenetrable. They cannot be unsaved ever again. They are in the faith. And John 10:28 says, "I give them eternal life and they will never perish." And so this doctrine of perseverance is a security issue as well. We are secure in Christ. You don't have to worry about losing your faith. So continue persevering.

And in Romans 8:38–39 is the question that I have for you, and my conclusory statement is this. Are you persuaded? What is your verdict? Because Romans 8:38 says this, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." The doctrine of the perseverance of saints is a wonderful doctrine and I am persuaded, as I believe you are as well, that those who are in the faith will remain in the faith no matter what happens — whether they're perplexed, whether they're persecuted, whether they're shipwrecked, whether they're stoned, whether they lose a loved one, whether their homes are taken away, whether our credit score is attached to our religion in the future and you cannot buy and sell. I don't know. I'm just saying be prepared, because the evil one is real and God is going to allow this to continue to further His gospel for His glory in His ways. It's not our ways, but He's prepared us for these things. And now it's just up to us to get ready for it and to strive in that direction.

So I ask you, what if another pandemic happens? What are you going to do? You're going to abandon the church? You're going to stay here, you're going to worship. What if, since artificial intelligence is listening and recording through all of our cell phones and Google and Facebook and Alexa and etc., what if all of what we are and do is recorded and used against us, and Christian conservatives start losing their jobs from a top-down governmental persecution on Christians? What if Christianity and what we proclaim as righteous becomes hate speech and now you are no longer eligible to work where you work today? What if they chain the doors? What if criminals are released and Christians replace their jail cells? What if children are taken because you will not allow them to think that they are a different gender than what they were biologically born as? What if Christian hate speech becomes the issue of the day and all of this starts to unravel? Will you persevere in your faith or will you abandon God? True believers stay in the faith. I rest my case and I pray that that's your verdict as well.

Let's pray together. Father, we do love You and we thank You for this wonderful doctrine. God, I pray that You would strengthen us beyond all measure. You would give us the true knowledge that surpasses all understanding. Keep us free in You, dear Jesus. You say the truth will set us free and this is the truth. The truth is the matter of truth. And if we would stay and remain in the truth we would be free in You.

And God, I pray that if anyone here has not placed their vote or their verdict in the direction for which the Scriptures say, in which I've preached today — perhaps it's foolishness to them. Perhaps they say to themselves, "This is hogwash. I don't believe an ounce of it." God, I pray by the power of Your Holy Spirit that You would grant them understanding, illuminate their mind, dear God, help them to see the truth of the Scriptures and believe it.

God, I pray that anyone here who is not saved — if they have never placed their faith and trust in You and not themselves, if they have never been truly brought to a sorrowful repentance that leads them to true salvation — God, I pray by the power of Your Holy Spirit that You would reach inside of the depths of their heart and You would bring them low and that You would convict them of sin. Help them to see that if they were to be tested on judgment day according to even just some of the Ten Commandments, that they would be found adulterers and liars and thieves, and that no adulterer and liar and thief could ever be granted admittance into heaven. Help them to see that they're in a seat of judgment, that they're condemned if they've never been saved. God, help them to see that they desperately need You, and to plead, to ask for Your atonement to be applied to them. Save their soul, we ask this in Christ's name we pray. Amen.