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Perseverance and Preservation By Albert N. Martin

getting into the subject that is before us this morning,
I would like to just say a word for the benefit of some of you
who perhaps for the first time have attended this conference or a conference of this nature,
and you've heard the word Calvinism again and again,
and maybe it's the first time that you've been in a situation where you've heard it and you're
perhaps tempted to think of 1 Corinthians chapter 3 where Paul says,
while all of you sayeth, one sayeth, I'm Paul, I'm Paulus, are ye not carnal
in this particular respect, and walk as men?
And I think perhaps it would be helpful if I pointed out, no one else has done it,
I think we all assume this, that when we use that term,
we are in no way identifying ourselves with a particular party.
This is just a convenient handle, a verbal handle so to speak,
by which we take hold of a whole expression of biblical truth.
Now we could give a much longer definition and say historic and reformed expression of Christianity,
that gets kind of awkward when you have a lot of other things to say.
So that term is simply used as a convenient identifier of that particular perspective of divine truth,
and I trust in no way that you will leave this conference saying,
well all they are is a bunch of worshippers of some man with a long beard who lived in Geneva.
Because that is not true, and many of us I'm sure in our own pulpits preach weeks,
and never once mention the term I can attest,
and some of the folk in the church are here to bear witness to this,
that I don't think I've ever used that in the time allotted to me to expound the scriptures.
It's a term that is a red flag to many people, and in certain circles it's just not wise to use it,
but certainly in expounding the scriptures there is a continual reference to those aspects of truth
which come under that particular verbal symbol.
So I hope that perhaps will clear away some incipient objections and dissatisfaction
that may reside in the minds of some of you.
Now the theme of our study this morning is preservation and perseverance.
To introduce that theme I will read the introductory paragraph in John Murray's book,
Redemption Accomplished and Applied, in which he's dealing with the subject of perseverance.
Experience, observation, biblical history, and certain scripture passages would appear to provide
very strong arguments against the doctrine which has been called the perseverance of the saints.
Is not the biblical record, as well as the history of the church,
strewn with examples of those who have made shipwreck of the faith?
And do we not read that it is impossible for those who were once enlightened
and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost
and have tasted the word of God and the powers of the world to come
if they fall away to renew them again unto repentance? Hebrews 6, 4-6.
Did not our Lord himself say, I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away.
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered.
John chapter 15. Yes, faced with the facts of history and with scripture passages like these just quoted,
it must be said that the interpretation of scripture on this question is not a task for the indolent.
What does apostasy mean? What does the scripture mean by falling away?
And so this will not be a task for indolent minds this morning.
I'm glad I have this hour and not the hour that John Riesinger has when dopeyitis sets in
with all that food on your stomach and the warmer afternoon air.
And so, John, though the law of love should mean that I've reversed my time with you,
I'm afraid I've acted selfishly in retaining this time this morning.
Now, in order to think our way through this biblical theme,
I want us to consider under two general groupings some very explicit statements of the word of God.
First of all, I want us to look at some passages of scripture which teach that all,
without exception, all who are savingly joined to Christ are kept and preserved for his eternal kingdom.
Now, we want to look at those verses which set forth that particular proposition.
All who are savingly joined to Christ are kept and preserved for his eternal kingdom.
Now, there is so much biblical data on this particular subject that one must be selective and not exhausted.
And so I have chosen what is the pivotal passage from a theological standpoint
and couched in theological terminology.
And then I wanted to look at the pivotal passage from what we might call a more practical
or analogical description of this same principle.
The first passage I'm sure some of you have even thought of, the very mention of it, is Romans chapter 8 verses 29 and 30.
This is the most concise, definitive theological statement in the scripture concerning the principle
that all who are savingly joined to Christ are kept and preserved for his eternal kingdom.
Romans 8 verses 29 and 30.
Perhaps we could just back up to verse 28.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.
And then he identifies those people who love God as those who are the called,
and the word called there in all the richness of its biblical connotation,
not just as summons to the blessings of the gospel,
but the mighty work of God by which he actually brings men into possession of all the blessings of the gospel.
Nothing less than that does justice to the use of the biblical term called.
And so these people who love God are those who have been powerfully brought into the possession of gospel privileges according to his purpose.
And then having mentioned this matter of the saved being a people who've been called and their calling according to purpose,
then launches in to this beautiful, some have called the golden chain, as it were, of God's redemptive intents toward his own.
For whom he did foreknow.
And again the biblical word with biblical meaning.
We have no right to put our own meaning on it, simply pre-science to know beforehand.
It has a much richer connotation.
We can't go into that.
You do a word study on it if you haven't.
It'll be a most rewarding thing.
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he also called.
And whom he called, then he also justified.
And whom he justified, then he also glorified.
You see there is no breakdown in the purpose of God ranging from foreknowledge and predestination to the glorification of men.
And there is no breakdown in those who are the objects of these mighty works of God.
For whom he did predestinate, those are the ones whom he calls.
Whom he calls, he justifies.
And whom he justifies, without exception, he also glorifies.
And it is so certain that the apostle can put the ultimate calling and glorification of all the elect of God in the past tense as something already accomplished.
And this is what caused him to break out in that wonderful expression of praise.
What shall we say then to these things if God be for us?
For us from what point in time?
Well, for us in eternity when he set his love upon us.
When he purposed to make us his own and ultimately to make us like his son.
For us in our calling.
For us in our justification.
For us in our glorification.
What shall we say then to these things if God be for us with a purpose that encompasses and embraces eternity?
Who is he that can be against us?
And so this statement here is a wonderful setting forth of that principle that all who are savingly joined to Christ are kept and preserved for his eternal kingdom.
Now, there is an equally clear statement, not couched in theological language, but in the language of analogy or metaphor.
And that passage is John chapter 10.
And remember we are not being exhaustive, but simply trying to take the two pivotal passages.
John chapter 10.
Under the extended figure of the Lord Jesus as a shepherd and his people as sheep, we have these verses familiar to many of us I'm sure.
John chapter 10 and verses 27 to 28.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one.
And so you have the picture here of the shepherd who loves his sheep, and who as the great shepherd equal to the father as touching his deity,
I and my father are one, in the scheme and outworking of redemption less than the father or subject to the father as touching his humanity as expressed in the old creed.
Here we have our Lord saying that there are a people designated as his sheep whom he holds, and nothing, no one, shall be able to pluck them out of his hand.
So just as surely as there is this very clear statement couched in theological terminology in Romans 8,
so we have in John 10 an equally clear and equally emphatic statement couched in this extended metaphor of the principle that all who are savingly joined to Christ are kept and preserved for his eternal kingdom.
Now we could bring in other verses, let me just mention them without seeking to give any exposition of them.
Philippians 1 in verse 6, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will carry it on until the day of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1, 5, He hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead,
and then he goes on to say we are kept by the power of God unto an inheritance ready to be revealed in the last time,
and that inheritance is incorruptible and it fadeth not away.
Jude chapter, Jude verse 24, Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless.
Now what comfort is it if all it's talking about is some ability that God has in himself that does not have reference to the exertion of that ability in actually keeping me?
It's no comfort to know that God has an ability which may or may not be exercised toward me,
but to know that he's able, and not only able but that he's purposed to keep me, this brings great comfort to the child of God.
And then John 5, 24, 2 Timothy 1, 12, well we could multiply verses but we will not do so.
Now I want to answer the question that flows out of this.
Why is it that those whom he calls, he justifies, in whom he justifies, all without exception shall be glorified?
Why is it that our Lord says his sheep will never perish?
May I suggest three reasons for this preservation of the saints of God?
First of all, there is the immutability, the changelessness of the purpose of God.
For you remember Paul introduces the subject there in Romans when he speaks of being called according to purpose, according to his purpose,
and this then launches him, as it were, it becomes the catalyst to spring forth this great statement of truth because we are called according to purpose.
Therefore, the issue of that purpose is certain for it's the immutable purpose of God.
Our Lord states this in John chapter 6 in categorical statements verses 38 through 40.
John 6 verses 38 to 40.
We're answering the question, why is it that all who are savingly joined to Christ are kept and preserved?
And the first part of the answer is because of the immutability of the purpose of God.
John 6 verses 38 to 40.
For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
Well, pray tell, what is that will? Well, he's going to tell us.
And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
Words cannot be arranged in any form to state more implicitly, explicitly, this truth that all who are joined to Christ are kept and will be preserved for his everlasting kingdom.
This is the Father's will, that of all that he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it again at the last day.
Now frankly, this disturbs me, for in most evangelical circles, people want to embrace the doctrine, they use I think a very weak term, the security of the believer.
They want to delight that once you're in, you can't get out.
You might live like a son of the devil, and you might kick God in Christ in the shins, as it were, and repudiate everything, but if you're in, you can do nothing to get out.
Now you see, if you want to go the next step and be consistent in biblical, you have to ask the question, well, what makes it so certain that if I'm in, I can't get out?
Well, this brings us back to how do you get in?
You see, these people want to, they object to the fact that you're in because God purposed to get you in, but having gotten yourself in by the exercise of this thing called free will and human choice,
then they want to declare, well, after I got myself in, I want God to ratify my decision in this and make it an immutable decision, so that nothing I do will ever get me out again.
No, if you are willing to reject the biblical doctrine that the only reason anyone is in is because God purposed to get him in, you've got no grounds to take comfort in any so-called security of the believer.
That which makes the security of the believer certain is the immutability of the purpose of God which got him in. That's calling and having called purposes to keep him in.
That's the ultimate glorification of his people.
And then secondly, you have as a reason for this preserving of the people of God the efficacy of the intercession of Christ.
In the 17th chapter of John verses 12, 15, and 24, we read the following.
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name, that those that thou hast given me I have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled.
He was never amongst that number, said in another place that he knew from the beginning who it was that should betray him.
So of those that were given to him, none of them is lost, although the son of perdition is lost.
But he does not stand amongst that number who were given to him to whom eternal life was imparted.
Now notice verse 15, I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil or the evil one, speaking of evil in general or more particularly of the evil one, Satan himself.
Now verse 24, Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.
Our Lord Jesus is the great high priest of his people, who carries on in heaven his redemptive work.
And I use that term advisedly. We err when we think of the redemptive work of Christ as limited to the work of oblation, the offering up of sacrifice.
For just as surely as the work of the priest in the old economy was not done simply when the sacrifice was offered up, but was inseparably joined to his work of going into the presence of God in that holiest of all and there offering up the blood upon the mercy seat before this living God.
So the Lord Jesus in the discharge of his priestly ministry not only has the work of oblation, but the work of intercession, both of which are inseparable in the salvation of God's people.
You can't separate them. The work of intercession and oblation are inseparably joined, and so that which makes the preservation of God's people certain is that all those for whom he offered himself up a sacrifice to God,
for those he now in the presence of the Father, pleads for the full outworking, impractical experience of all that he purchased by his blood, which contains, as we found in these words that we read, their present process of sanctification, keep them from evil, and then their ultimate glorification,
I will that they be with me, that they may behold my glory. And so just as surely as the purpose of God is immutable and that purpose has decreed the preservation of his own, so the intercession of Christ is efficacious in securing the perseverance and preservation of God's own.
You have a beautiful illustration of this in the experience of our Lord with Peter recorded in Luke 22 verses 31 and 32. Luke 22 verses 31 and 32.
And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired you to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.
Now notice, it doesn't say, and if thou art converted, but when thou art converted or turned again, strengthen thy breath.
Peter, I am praying for you and I want you to know something, that my prayers on your behalf will prevail.
You say, oh, what kind of license would that give? Well, I don't know what kind of license some people would want to take it for.
The scripture says the unstable and the ignorant will always rest, that means put on a rack and stretch out of shape the scriptures to their own destruction.
If a man's determined to damn himself, he'll always be able to weave a rope out of scripture and do it.
But I'm not going to hold back any of the strands of divine truth simply because some people weave a noose and hang themselves with it. We're not going to do that.
And so our Lord says to Peter, Satan's desired you to sift you, but I prayed and when thou art turned again, strengthen thy breath.
You see, there was an efficacy in the intercession of Christ on behalf of his own.
And then the third reason why those who are joined to Christ are preserved is related to the indwelling of the Spirit of God.
In Ephesians 1 verses 13 and 14, we have this very clear statement of the apostle, Ephesians 1 verses 13 and 14.
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest, the down payment, the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession,
the full redemption which will involve the total man, even his body, unto the praise of his glory.
So that the present indwelling of the Holy Spirit is pledge of the future and complete expression of God's redemptive purpose in his creatures.
So does the Spirit dwell in me? This is pledge that the full outworking of redemption will be realized in me as a child of God.
Ephesians 4, 30, a similar reference, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Now as often happens after I've worked on the subject and sweat over it, I turn to the old confession to see what it has to say.
And lo and behold, when I turn to the confession on this matter of perseverance, what did I find? Let me quote.
This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will, but one, upon the immutability of the decree of election flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father, the immutability of his purpose.
Secondly, upon the efficacy and merit and intercession of Jesus Christ. Same wording.
And in honesty I tell you, I didn't find it here. Worked it out from the scripture and got my confirmation here.
The abiding of the Spirit and of the seed of God within them and the nature of the covenant of grace from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof.
Why is it true that all who are savingly joined to Christ are kept and preserved for his eternal kingdom?
Is it because they have the stuff to deliver and, as it were, roll up their sleeves with sufficient energy and determination to hold on and hang out? No.
Is it because, quote, their decision was really a sincere one? I hear so many people say, well, that fella didn't pan out. His decision wasn't sincere. If only he'd put a little more oomph into his decision, maybe he'd hold out.
No. The immutability of God's purpose, the efficacy of the intercession of Christ, the indwelling of the Spirit.
In other words, you have the interworking of the triune God committed to the preserving of all the saints of God.
Now, let me mention a word of caution. You'll notice in my introductory statement of the principle, I said all who are savingly joined to Christ are kept and preserved.
I did not say all who make up an indication of faith. The Bible clearly reveals many make a profession of faith who never are savingly joined to Christ.
Acts chapter 8 talks of a man who believed and was baptized and continued with Philip the evangelist.
A little while later, Peter had to say, I perceive that thy heart is not right with God, thou art in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity. Pray to the Lord, if therefore the fault of thine heart may be forgiven thee.
James chapter 2 verse 19 says the demons also believe and tremble.
This precious truth that I've sought to bring into focus is not to be given out as the possession of all those who raise a hand or walk an aisle or weep or make any other kind of outward expression that we identify with a profession of faith.
Nor is it the portion of all who give some initial and temporary evidences of a work of grace.
Matthew 13, the parable of the sower, Hebrews chapter 6, Hebrews chapter 10 speak of those people who come into many things that on the surface look like the fruits of grace but who've never had the root of grace in them.
And all the great harm that's been done when people have some initial evidences of spiritual life to teach them the doctrine of the preservation of God's people without its balancing corollary truth that we'll look at in a moment.
Who when the evidences of life subside and it's obvious that they are nothing but stony ground hearers go on in their delusion clinging to some doctrine of eternal security that was given to them in the flush of some kind of a surface response to the gospel.
Listen to the penetrating analysis of this principle by Professor Murray in this same chapter from which I quoted at the outset.
The scripture itself therefore leads us to the conclusion that it's possible to have very uplifting, ennobling, reforming and exhilarating experience of the power and truth of the gospel.
To come into such close contact with the supernatural forces that are operative in God's kingdom of grace that these forces produce effects in us to which human observation are hardly distinguishable from those produced by God's regenerating and sanctifying grace.
And yet, be not partakers of Christ and heirs of eternal life, a doctrine of perseverance that fails to take account of such a possibility and of its actuality in certain cases is a distorted one and ministers to a laxity which is quite contrary to the entrance of perseverance.
Indeed, it is not the doctrine of perseverance at all.
I chose my words carefully. This principle applies to those who are savingly joined to Christ. They and they alone are kept and preserved for his kingdom.
Now I hurry on to the second grouping of scriptural truths which can be summarized under this statement.
Only those who persevere in faith, holiness and obedience have grounds to believe that they are destined for that eternal kingdom.
In other words, having looked at the scriptures that teach the preservation of the people of God, we're now going to look at those that teach the perseverance of the people of God.
What does it mean to persevere?
Well, to give a layman's definition, I think it means to continue in a given action or course in spite of difficulty and opposition.
If you happened to have the privilege of laying in bed till 10 o'clock this morning and you were telling me about it, you would not say,
Brother Martin, I persevered in bed till 10 o'clock this morning.
You see, that is not a course of action that is encompassed with difficulty and opposition, you see.
But had you been out doing a little hiking up over the mountain where Annie's cabin is and were in pretty bad shape leading the normal sedentary life of the preacher,
why, you might say to me, with the sweat pouring off your brow and your tongue hanging out and wheezing like a 30-year-old horse, you might say to me,
Brother, I persevered up to the top of the hill.
Well, you see, you're using the word persevere in the right sense now because the word perseverance has the very connotation of pressing on in a given course of action in spite of difficulty and opposition.
Professor Murray defines the concept in this way,
Perseverance means the engagement of our persons in the most intense and concentrated devotion to those means which God has ordained for the achievement of his saving purpose.
It is an engagement of our persons in the most intense and concentrated devotion to those means which God has ordained for the achievement of his saving purpose.
Do you want an extended definition of what it means to persevere? Read Pilgrim's Progress.
That's perseverance personified. That's it.
For the man's face set to the kingdom, set for the celestial city of thousand difficulties encompassing, but he presses on with the engagement of his whole being.
That's perseverance.
Now, where do we find this principle set forth in the scriptures?
Well, to try again to classify all of the data, let me do so in a two-fold way.
Consider some of the words of our Lord himself and then some of the words of the inspired apostles.
I am not in any way inferring that the words that are direct quotes of Christ have any more authority than the words of Paul.
Not at all. But in order to just classify them, I've arbitrarily chosen that distinction.
Several passages then of our Lord himself.
In John chapter 8, now what are we trying to prove?
Trying to prove that only those who persevere in faith, holiness, and obedience have grounds to believe they're being kept for the kingdom.
We're looking at the words of our Lord which prove that statement.
John 8 verses 31 and 32, or back up to verse 30.
And as he spake these words, many believed on him. There were some actings of faith.
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if, encircle it, star it, underline it, put asterisks around it,
if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.
Study the passage in its context and you'll notice a little bit later he's saying to these believers, ye are of your father the devil.
He's saying to the same group, believers still children of the devil, that's a good sermon title for you, but that's it.
For he says to these people, the proof of the reality of your attachment to me is continuance in obedience and confidence in my word.
Then in chapter, same chapter verse 51 before we move on to chapter 15 for a moment.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
That's a strong passage. I thought if you just believe you'll never see death, now he says if you keep.
What have you got, hopeless contradiction? Not at all.
You've got a wonderful synthesis of truth that those who believe will keep and only those who are keeping have any grounds to claim that they are believing.
And here our Lord sets it forth in this passage.
Now John chapter 15, John chapter 15, we quoted some of these in the introductory remarks from Professor Murray's book, verses 5 and 6.
And oh, it's been pathetic to see someone who espouses the common antinomian doctrine of eternal security that states,
once saved, always saved, no matter what you do.
It puts two things together that God doesn't put together.
I've watched some of them try to handle an Arminian objector who brought forth this passage.
If anything would bring you into the historic Christian doctrine of the perseverance of the saints,
it would be to watch someone who holds a shallow antinomian security position trying to defend his position from John 15.
It's pathetic because our Lord states in terms that cannot be misunderstood in verses 5 and 6,
I am divine, ye are the branches, he that abideth in me, present tense, and I in him.
The same bringeth forth much fruitful, without me ye can do nothing.
If a man abide not in me, if he does not remain in vital attachment to me, in faith, in love, obedience,
he's cast forth as a branch, he's withered, men gather them, cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
You cannot make these words mean anything less than this. It's abide or burned.
And then the last words of Christ in the book of the Revelation, to the churches anyway,
directly in chapters 2 and 3, seven times you have this word, to him that overcometh will I.
And then he describes the blessings that come only to the overcomers.
So we have in these words of our Lord, and then many others, sometime go through the book of John
and take all those believed passages and notice how many of them are in the present tense.
He that heareth my word and believeth hath, not those who heard and believed.
Faith is not the fit of a moment, but it's the disposition implanted by the Spirit
that becomes the abiding principle of relationship to God in Christ.
He that heareth my word and believeth, present tense, even John 3 16, God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth, present tense,
not whosoever nodded his head to the cross in the dim, murky past, has everything fixed up for eternity?
He that believeth on the Son, the initial actings of faith, become the disposition of faith,
leading to a life of faith, for the gospel sets forth the righteousness of God from faith unto faith, Romans 1 and verse 17.
But that's another whole area to examine on your own.
Now briefly the words of the apostles relative to this subject.
Listen to the words of Paul when he says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 1 and 2,
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you,
which also ye have received in wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved.
If you keep in memory what I have preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain,
you see the continuance in faith proves the genuineness of the inception of faith.
The continuance in faith proves the genuineness, demonstrates the genuineness of the inception of faith.
And he says if there's no continuance, that initial faith was vain, it was a puff of nothing, empty, delusive faith.
Notice the same apostles speaking in Colossians chapter 1 and verse 23.
Colossians chapter 1 and verse 23.
Now perhaps we should back up to verse 21.
And you who were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind and wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death,
to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight, if, if, not irrespective of,
but if this is vitally joined into the whole matter of being presented holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight,
if ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel.
Then you have those sobering words in Hebrews 3, 13, and 14.
We are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.
Jude 21, keep yourselves in the love of God.
Hebrews 5, 9, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all that are obeying him.
Matthew 7, 21, not everyone who says, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven,
but he that is doing the will of my Father which is in heaven.
And on we could go quoting many other passages.
Now let me say very clearly that these passages from our Lord and from his apostles
are not speaking of a perfection of obedience or of faith or of holiness,
but speaking of a purposeful relationship to him in trust and in subjection,
a genuine though not perfect adherence to him.
And we must not make these passages say anything less than that which they say,
that those who persevere, who press on in spite of difficulties, in spite of defeats,
in spite of all the discouragements that would mount up against them,
only those who persevere in faith, holiness, and obedience have grounds to believe
that they are destined for that eternal kingdom.
As Mr. Murray has said, we should not ever say salvation is certain if we've once believed,
but our perseverance in holiness is certain if we have truly believed.
You got it? Now that's not playing with words.
We do not say salvation is certain if you've once believed.
Rather we assert perseverance in holiness is certain if we have truly believed.
So you have these two biblical concepts of the preservation of God's people
according to the immutability of his purpose, the efficacy of the intercession of his Son,
and the indwelling and work of the Holy Spirit.
You have taught with equal clarity the necessity of the saints of God
persevering in faith, holiness, and obedience.
And now briefly before moving on to the practical use of this biblical doctrine
and the practical outworkings of its abuse,
will you try to think with me for a moment of the beautiful relationship of these two things.
God preserves. The Christian perseveres.
Now if you've been brought to see how you get into the faith,
you should have no problem understanding how you stay in the faith.
When we come to the Lord Jesus, we come.
When you repented, you repented.
God didn't repent for you. You repented.
It was your sins that had to be repented of.
It was your rebellion that had to be forsaken.
You believed. God did not believe for you.
You embraced the Lord Jesus.
You, as the shorter catechism said, came most willingly and freely
embracing Christ as he was offered in the gospel.
This was your activity, but
that activity was the result of the mighty work of God in the effectual call
by which he enlightened your mind to understand the truth of the gospel,
by which he subdued your will,
and in the hidden springs of your being, outside of the realm of your consciousness,
the Holy Spirit operated and moved in that mysterious way,
lightened unto the moving of the wind, and life was implanted,
and the first consciousness of that life was you turned, you received, you embraced.
I like to think of it in terms of Lazarus. This came to me a couple of weeks ago.
There he is lying in his tomb, there in thee all the stark naked reality of death,
and the voice of Christ penetrates the regions of death,
and with that voice there came an attendant power,
and the first thing Lazarus was conscious of was sitting up and taking some steps,
and I like to reckon that or liken that to the effectual call of God.
In the hidden operations of the Spirit, the sinners quicken to life,
and the first step is repentance, and the next one is faith,
but Lazarus took those steps, the Lord didn't take them forth,
but he never would have taken them if the voice that quickens the dead had not penetrated the regions of death,
and if we come to see that in terms of the inception of spiritual life,
we should have no problem seeing that principle in its continuance.
Who perseveres? You do. All these verses say you abide, you continue, you press on.
You must pluck out right eyes and cut off right hands, or you'll perish, said our Lord.
He's not going to cut them off for you. He's not going to pluck them out for you.
You must do it, but my persevering is but the visible expression of the hidden operations of the Spirit,
of God's preserving grace, so that his preserving comes to light in my what? Persevering.
Chapter and verse? Oh, they're put together beautifully in Philippians 2, 12, and 13.
So then, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but much more in my absence,
work out your salvation with fear and trembling. You do it. You do it!
Has God purposed to make you holy? Then roll up your sleeves and determine by the grace of God to be a holy man,
for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
His working in does not cancel my working out, but my working out would be futile without his working in.
And you have them joined together beautifully in Philippians 2, verses 12 and 13.
So, how can I know that I'm one of those for holy praise?
Father, keep in thine own name those whom thou hast given me.
Keep them from evil as I see myself enabled by the grace of God more and more to subdue my lust and more and more to go on in holiness.
May I recognize that that ability to persevere is but the fruit of the immutable purpose and the efficacious intercession
and the fruit of the mighty working of the indwelling spirit, so that his preserving comes to light in my persevering.
Well, so much for the relationship of the two.
I'm going to move in the time remaining to consider the practical use and implications of this teaching.
To stand back and admire the beauty of it is one thing.
To see its relationship to our own lives and ministries is quite another.
And I've been unable to be a theoretical student of theology.
For the simple reason that I've had to hammer these things out in the context of facing people week in and week out and wondering,
well, Lord, what's that going to mean to old Paul the fireman sitting out there?
What's that going to say to him?
What's it going to say to Paul number two, the student?
What's it going to say to George?
And what's it going to say to Mr. and Mrs. so-and-so?
What difference does it make?
I mean, this is all right and well to talk about these distinctions, preservation, perseverance, but really in the long run it all comes out the same, doesn't it?
No, it doesn't.
Let me state in the first place the practical implication if we teach and believe in the necessity of perseverance,
but we don't teach and believe, I should switch that, we don't believe and teach the glorious doctrine of preservation.
What happens if you tell people you must persevere?
And you better tell them that because that's scripture.
You can't preach the word without setting forth the necessity of perseverance.
Now, if you just teach perseverance and not preservation, what will happen?
Well, certain things will happen vertically, certain things horizontally.
There are certain consequences of that in the Godhead or with reference to the Godhead.
You are in essence denying the immutability of God's purpose.
If you tell people now you must persevere, but the issue is not certain,
and God is not exerting any mighty force to make sure of the certainty of the issue,
what you have done, if not overtly, you have covertly denied the immutability of the purpose of God.
How in the world can you create a worshiping people who have to bow down before a God who can't accomplish his designs?
How can you create a worshiping people?
And I say you, I mean you as the instrument under God.
Isn't that one of your goals as a pastor?
That you shall be an instrument under God to see formed together a people who in their corporate gatherings
lift up voice and heart and worship in spirit and in truth.
How can you worship at the footstool of a God whose purposes can be frustrated?
Second thing, if you teach the necessity of perseverance without its corollary and preservation,
you deny the efficacy of the intercession of Christ.
Such a Savior is no source of comfort.
Peter, Satan's desired you, I prayed for you, but the issue is still uncertain.
We'll have to fold our hands and see how it turns out.
Small comfort, that gives the child of God.
But to know that there is a prevalence in the intercession of Christ, to make this very practical,
are there not times when you've been in a frame as a Christian, a very carnal frame of mind,
where you perhaps had little appetite for the Scriptures, where the cry of the world
or the corruption rising out of your own remains of sinfulness have been such
that everything within you has, as it were, been drawing you headlong into a course of destruction,
and at that moment even all within you wanted it, and somehow you were arrested.
God providentially brought a person into your path or a circumstance or a flash of truth.
Whence all of this?
I pray that thou shalt keep them from the evil one.
And oh, how blessed for the child of God to know there is an efficacy in the intercession of Christ.
But to teach perseverance without preservation denies that.
It denies the ability of God's power to keep by the indwelling Holy Spirit,
and then it has two results on a vertical level in human experience.
It robs the saints of the ground of their hope.
You see, a true Christian is a man who, among other things, is greatly disturbed
about the remaining sin within and the terrible sin without
and the great enemy of his soul, the devil.
A Christian, among other things, is a man who's vitally concerned about his house devil,
Rutherford calls the remains of corruption, house devil, the devil that is in the world,
this godless world system and that embodiment of all evil who goes about as a roaring lion.
Now, the cards are stacked against you, child of God.
There's a wicked devil trying to devour you.
There's a wicked world trying to squeeze you into its mold.
That's a good paraphrase of Romans 12, too.
Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold.
A devil devouring, a world squeezing,
and then within this artesian well of pollution that can sprue up at any moment at the slightest provocation.
What chance is there that you're ever going to make it?
Persevere in faith and holiness and obedience.
When you stand up and take the bat, the umpire's already said, strike three, you're out.
And it's bad enough to come to the plate substituting for a batter.
Maybe he got a tummy ache or something and the count's 0 and 2 and you've got to come up in his place,
and you know one pitch anywhere in the area of that plate and you've got to go after it.
Come up to the plate and have the umpire say three strikes already.
Well, there it is, the world, the flesh, and the devil.
What hope do you have and do I have that with these cards stacked against us we shall press through?
Our hope is that one who has drawn me has purposed that I shall land safe in the celestial city.
So that makes me face the world, the flesh and my own corruption, the devil and my own corruption
and say in spite of all these things that would oppose me, my father has willed that I shall be holy.
I shall be holy. He has willed that I endure to the end. I shall endure.
This gives the saint the ground of his confidence in prayer,
the ground of his confidence in working out his salvation with fear and trembling.
But if you deny this, you not only rob the saint of the ground of his confidence,
you rob him of the focus of his gratitude.
As you look back, how long have you been a professing Christian?
Excuse me, Walt, I want to get this.
How long have you been what you believe in sober judgment to be an object of God's grace?
As you look back and you see others who perhaps came to the Christian profession when you did,
others who perhaps were flourishing and fair professors,
the man in the cage in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.
When they asked him who are you, he says, I am now what I once was not.
And then he goes on to say, I was once a fair and flourishing professor,
both in mine eyes and in the eyes of others.
Do you know people like that, with whom you once prayed fervently, witnessed to others with them?
And they've fallen by the way, and here you are, wonder of wonders preserved.
Now, where do you lay the thanks for that?
You lift one hand up to heaven and say, thank you, Lord, and one around here and say, boy, you sure held out.
Now, if you know anything of your own heart, you've got both hands up and your heart bowed,
and you say, oh God, hitherto by thy grace I've come.
Amazing grace, not only that saved a wretch like me, but through many dangers,
toils, and snares, I have already come. Tis grace, that's it, tis grace shall safely lead me home.
The work which is goodness begun, the arm of his strength will complete,
his promise is yea and amen, and never was forfeited yet.
Things future, nor things that are now, nor all things below or above,
can make him his purpose forgo, or sever my soul from his love.
Would you rob your people of that ground of confidence and that focus of gratitude? Don't do it.
So you must not only teach perseverance, but you've got to teach them with equal clarity.
God's preserving his own. Now let's turn the tables.
What happens when you teach the preservation of the saints,
but do not teach and preach with equal authority and clarity the nature and necessity of perseverance?
When you give the impression that men are preserved regardless of their conduct
and regardless of their experience, well, you do certain terrible things again vertically
and then some horizontally. Vertically, you deny the very goal of God's electing love.
What is the goal of his electing love? Well, let the Scripture tell us, Ephesians 1 and verse 4,
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should sit around in glory in the fact that he chose us. No.
He chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him.
He predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his Son.
Now just get all the pictures of Solomon's head of Christ and the rest out of your mind.
Conformity to Christ is not conformity to those characteristics that are expressed in the soft, effeminate pictures of Christ.
Conformity to Christ is moral likeness to Christ, loving what he loves, hating what he hates,
choosing what he has revealed to be his will. That's conformity to Christ.
Feeling as he feels about truth. Feeling as he feels about error.
Reverend, I have no sympathy with this professed loving attachment to truth
that isn't measured with equally deep conviction of hatred against error.
Thou hast loved righteousness and hast been neutral toward evil. No, and hated in the good day.
David said, I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right.
Therefore, I hate every false way.
And don't tell me you esteem all his precepts concerning all things to be right if you don't hate every false way.
Now you may not see all his precepts as clearly as we will in that day.
We see through a glass darkly, yes, but what you see of them you love.
And what stands in opposition to that truth you hate.
Now I know it's a problem to know what is actually a false way. I know all of that, brethren.
But let us not allow the problems of the outworking of that principle to blind us to the validity of it.
That's like Mr. Christ loving what he loves, hating what he hates.
Now what's the goal of his electing love? To make us like Christ.
And when you tell people God's preserving you and don't teach them that the only evidence they have
they're being preserved is persevering in holiness and obedience,
you as, in a very real sense, are turning aside to a devious course the whole eternal flow of God's redemptive purpose.
It's to make us holy.
You deny the goal of purchasing love. You not only deny the goal of electing love, but of purchasing love.
Why did he die? Well, listen again to the scripture, Titus 2 and verse 14.
Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to himself a people, his distinct possession, zealous of what?
Good works.
He gave himself for us to make us zealous of good works.
When you tell people they're preserved, regardless of whether works follow, you're not only denying the goal of electing love, but of purchasing love.
You're denying the power of the Spirit and applying redemption.
For God says in that wonderful gospel promise in Jeremiah 32 and verse 40, God says,
I'll put my fear in their hearts and cause them to love me and cause them to walk in my ways.
When the Spirit applies the redemption of Christ with power, he always does it in a way that turns the rebel sinner into an obedient subject and makes him to walk in the ways of God.
Ephesians 2, 10, we're his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works.
Those are the terrible results if you teach preservation without the necessity and nature of perseverance.
Those are the results vertically. Now what are the results horizontally?
And brethren, I've gone on for an hour, but I trust you'll listen carefully because this to me is the crucial issue in your church.
If you do not teach the nature and necessity of perseverance while you're declaring the truth of preservation,
here are two of the tragic results that are going to come to pass in your own life and in your own congregation.
Number one, you will be an instrument to confirm men in a delusive, damning, false hope.
For before they made their decision, when they sinned, at least the conscience pricked them.
They knew enough of the scripture that the scripture taught that a man who goes in a course of disobedience and willful rejection of Christ will perish.
Now they've made a decision, and they've been told since you've made your decision nothing can undecision you.
Since you've got yourself in the door, God's come and put a lock on it, and nothing can get you out.
And then time proves they had nothing but a decision, no hunger for God, no pursuit of holiness.
And what do they do? Now that they can go on in the same course they were in before, the difference is now they can do it without any fear of damnation.
Oh, you say that's just a hypothetical case. No, it isn't, brethren. Your church is probably filled with people like that.
I meet them all over the country. I'm not giving theoretical theology, dear ones.
I'm giving you that which has been rung out of a bleeding heart.
That people's sin is wielding as carnal as the devil.
Well, I've accepted Jesus, and I believe what Jesus always says.
Where'd they learn that? They learned it from some preacher who taught preservation without perseverance.
God grant that none of us shall have their blood in our hands in that awful day.
You'll not only confirm men in a delusive, damning false hope, but listen, you will cooperate with the devil in the general work of self-deception.
There is no more warning in the word of God. Let me state it a different way.
The word of God warns more about, as far as I can see, two great errors than anything else, false doctrine and false hope.
The word of God speaks with scathing terms, old and new testaments, about false doctrine.
And it warns again and again against the terrible danger of a false hope.
Be not deceived. Let no man deceive you. Let no man deceive himself.
Again and again, the scripture warns, 1 Corinthians 6, 9.
Be not deceived. Neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor idolaters, nor effeminate have any inheritance in the kingdom of God.
Be not deceived. They that sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.
Ephesians 5, Let no man deceive you with vain words. Because of these things comes the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
Galatians 5, verse 21, I tell you now, as I told you before, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
O brethren, let us be faithful to the whole counsel of God's truth, lest we confirm men in a delusive, damning false hope and cooperate with the devil in the work of self-deception.
I would like to close this morning by turning to a passage that, in a very beautiful way, has all these things hung together in a few verses.
Will you turn, please, to Hebrews 10. I'm sorry to have had to cover so much ground so hastily, but I felt that getting an overall perspective was necessary.
There are problems that have not been dealt with. What about the Christian overcome by the flesh in a given area? What about the sin unto death?
I realize there are problems, but please again, don't allow the detailed outworking of these principles to be held in abeyance.
Don't allow the embrace of the principles to be held in abeyance until you get all the details worked out.
Are the principles clear? Then embrace them from the heart, and then ask God in His own way and time, and then there's good literature available to see the outworking.
But now this passage in Hebrews 10. Notice what you have all tied together. Hebrews 10, verse 19.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh,
and having a great high priest, or having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Notice the context then of the next few verses. Here, he says to them, here are your possessions. You have boldness to enter by the living way.
You now have a high priest over the house of God who's carrying on his redemptive work on your behalf. He's your surety. He's the great minister of the true tabernacle,
there forever pleading the merits of his blood, and by his intercession securing your salvation. Brethren, come boldly with a true heart, full assurance of faith.
Come in the confidence that all your sins are blotted out for Christ's sake. Now, verse 23. Here comes the exhortation to perseverance.
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. An exhortation to persevere. The next part of the verse, for he is faithful that promised a promise of his preserving.
Persevere, for God is preserving. Now, verses 24 and 25, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another.
He says, now here are the means to help you persevere. Persevere, for God's preserving. Now, what is perseverance? It's the engagement of our persons in all the means in our disposal, the definition of Mr. Murray.
And then he concludes it with a sobering warning. For, verse 26, if we sin willfully. He says, any of you fellows tempted to think this is optional, I've got news for you.
It's a matter of life and death. There's the exhortation. Persevere, the promise of his preserving, the means by which we persevere, mutual exhortation, provoking one another, public assembly, the word, the ordinances, and all that's involved.
And if you don't, beware, beware. And so all of those basic elements are beautifully tied together in this portion of the word of God.
If I had time, I'd like to carry out the theme and show its relationship to the doctrine of assurance. But may I encourage you at this juncture, can I just mention this, Walt?
If you haven't purchased Mr. Murray's book, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, as you can see, I've worn mine out. It's got masking tape on the binding.
I sold a bunch of these last week at InterVarsity Leadership Conference. I carry this with me all over the place.
In the chapter on perseverance, I just read and reread to just get this thing soaked into my soul and try to get the biblical principles straight.
So I trust that you'll purchase this, study carefully the whole book, but the chapter on repentance and faith and perseverance are unusually helpful, not only to elucidate the truth for your own understanding, but to use it as I have this morning in communicating the truth to others.