Perseverance in the New Testament

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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May 2, 2021

00:00: Well, if you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to take your text and open it to Philippians chapter 2.
00:07: You'll remember that we started today, today being our Bible conference, we started today by looking at Philippians chapter 1.
00:14: That was our text, sort of our theme for the conference that God, who began the good work in us, will complete it in the day of Jesus Christ.
00:25: Well, now we're going to turn our attention to Philippians chapter 2 and look at verses 12 and 13.
00:35: And before we read, I just have a few preliminary statements I want to make.
00:40: When the elders gathered to discuss this year's Bible conference, we talked about what we thought would be good for the body.
00:47: What are, you know, we get together, we pray, we think, we talk.
00:52: What would be good for us to consider? And we always want this to be twofold.
01:00: We want it to be doctrinal, but we also want it to be practical.
01:06: And so we want it to be heavily laden with truth, but we also want it to be something that is meaty that you can take from here and apply to your life.
01:18: And it didn't take us long to settle on the doctrine of perseverance because really over the last year, the church has faced some of the most difficult times in recent memory.
01:30: At least I know, and when I say the church, I mean the church as a whole, but even our little church has faced some of the most difficult times just in this last year.
01:41: Just about a year ago, churches were forced to shut down because of the pandemic, and some of them have not opened up yet.
01:50: We still get visitors here who come and say, well, my church just isn't open yet.
02:00: And even still, some that are open are only opening to a fraction of capacity.
02:04: I was told just this last week about a guy who has to get on a list.
02:11: They're only taking 20% of their seating.
02:16: So if you don't make the list, you can't come to church.
02:18: If you don't make that 20% sign-on list.
02:23: And that's here.
02:25: You know, you go out to California, you know, the Soviet Republic of California, and you might run into it a little harder when you get out there.
02:32: You go out there and you see churches like John MacArthur's church that have been threatened with legal action for gathering.
02:42: In Nevada, churches were forced to remain closed while casinos were allowed to stay open.
02:49: People could be gathered around blackjack tables, but not around prayer tables.
02:55: In Canada, one church which refused the restriction saw its pastor jailed.
03:00: The church doors have been chained.
03:03: They've been forced to go underground as a body to be able to meet together.
03:08: So this is definitely a time when perseverance is pertinent, right? It's a time when the subject of perseverance should be on our minds because as we go further and further into this, it's just going to become more and more necessary that we stand for truth even in the midst of a difficult and unyielding world.
03:31: So as I say, perseverance is not just doctrinal, it's practical.
03:36: How do we persevere when freedom is at stake? How do we persevere when lives are at stake? So that's what I want to talk about today.
03:49: I want to talk about really the practical outworking of perseverance.
03:56: And that is not in any way to indicate that the previous two men have not spoken to practical issues.
04:01: They have.
04:01: And I'm very grateful to preach alongside these men as I always am.
04:05: And hearing about the life of Jeremiah, that's very practical to hear about a man who did it.
04:12: And to see that picture of his life.
04:14: And Brother Andy, so funny, chose a text that I often reference in funerals.
04:19: You know, I set my eyes to the hills.
04:21: From where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord who made heavens and earth.
04:25: When I preach funerals where the person died either by accident or...
04:30: Nobody dies by accident, but I mean from a car accident or something or maybe even suicides, I often cite that passage because people are just looking somewhere.
04:39: You know, I set my eyes to the hill.
04:41: Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord.
04:42: That's where you need to be looking.
04:44: That's why I use that passage.
04:46: So those are encouraging, practical, meaty things.
04:52: And so I'm really just piggybacking onto that.
04:53: And I teased Andy over lunch.
04:55: I said, man, the whole time you were preaching, I was checking off the things I can't say because you already said them.
05:00: I was like, he had my notes.
05:03: I was like, well, I can't say that now because he already did it.
05:05: And that's not the case.
05:06: But it is funny how much there's going to be some overlap here.
05:10: And if you want to outline for today, I have a two-point outline.
05:13: It's very simple.
05:13: The doctrine of perseverance and the practice of perseverance.
05:17: And since Brother Andy did spend a lot of time explaining the doctrine, I'm going to focus more on the second half on the practice of perseverance.
05:24: But I am still going to speak to a few issues that I think need to be mentioned on the doctrine.
05:30: So with that in mind, let's read Philippians 2, 12 and 13.
05:34: And then we will begin our sermon.
05:42: Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
06:02: For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
06:13: Father, as I preach your word, I pray that you keep me from error.
06:18: For Lord, I am a fallible man.
06:20: And you know this, Lord, that if it was not for your Holy Spirit, I couldn't preach a sentence with any power.
06:28: So Lord, I pray for your Spirit's power.
06:30: I pray for your Spirit's correction.
06:32: I pray for your Spirit's keeping me chained to the post of Scripture.
06:38: And I pray, Lord, that your Spirit would go out and open hearts to believe.
06:42: In Jesus' name, amen.
06:53: Most of you know that I attended a Baptist seminary.
07:00: And one of the things that Baptist churches are known for is the doctrine of once saved, always saved, as Brother Andy already mentioned.
07:11: And that phrase has caused no end of debate and attack.
07:16: How can anyone believe something so terrible? It's often the way it comes across.
07:23: It just causes all manner of sin.
07:26: And as Brother Andy mentioned, it can.
07:30: It really can.
07:32: So many Baptists have gotten away from once saved, always saved.
07:36: And for the sake of simplicity, we're just going to call that OSAS.
07:42: Okay, that's the once saved, always saved.
07:44: And a lot of Baptists have moved away from that term.
07:47: And they've begun to use the term eternal what? Security.
07:57: I want to say eternal security.
08:00: And I do think that that is a little better as far as if you're going to name it something, if you're going to call it something.
08:07: I think it uses a language that's a little less flippant.
08:12: Once saved, always saved sort of sounds a little, you know, like it's not a big deal.
08:17: Eternal security, that's a big deal, right? When you think about security, you want your security to be good security, right? Nobody wants a lock that's put together with chewing gum.
08:26: You want a solid lock, you know? And if it's eternal, it's a solid lock, right? So the term eternal security certainly sounds better than once saved, always saved.
08:33: And so this is the term that is often used.
08:36: But the term that's gone out of vogue, meaning it's gone out of popular use, is the term we're using today, which is the perseverance of the saints.
08:47: Perseverance of the saints is our focus.
08:51: And what's interesting about this is, have you ever asked the question in your mind, why do Baptists believe it? Why is this so associated with Baptists? Why is this not associated with the Methodist Church? Why is this not associated with the Presbyterians? Because they believe in perseverance.
09:09: Methodists don't, but Presbyterians do.
09:11: Why is once saved, always saved associated so much with the Baptists? Well, it takes a little bit of history.
09:18: You see, when the Baptists came to be, and there are some who believe Baptists always have been, there are what's called landmark Baptists or trail of blood Baptists that believe the Baptists go all the way back to John the Baptist, and that's not exactly a historical argument that I'm willing to accept.
09:37: But the Baptists as we think of Baptists began in the 17th century.
09:47: The first Baptist confession of faith was written in London, England in 1644.
09:54: How do we know that as a church? We recently adopted that as our confession of faith, right? It was the London Baptist Confession, and it's called the first London because it's the first Baptist confession.
10:11: Interestingly enough, before that confession, there were two different streams of Baptists.
10:19: There were the general Baptists, and there were the particular Baptists.
10:31: I used to have my board on this side.
10:32: Putting it over here has really thrown off my game a little, so I apologize.
10:38: But why did they call themselves the general and the particular Baptists? It had to do with the atonement.
10:44: The general Baptists believed that the atonement of Christ was meant to pay the penalty for the sins of everyone in a general sense.
10:52: So they were called general Baptists.
10:55: The particular Baptist said, Oh, no, no.
10:58: Taking a page from the Reformed teaching that the death of Christ was meant to pay not for all people indiscriminately, but was meant to pay for the sins of the elect only, began to teach particular atonement.
11:17: So when we see general and particular, what it's talking about is general atonement and particular atonement.
11:24: So particular atonement gave birth to what was called the particular Baptists, and this stream of Baptist theology became the prominent stream.
11:34: This one was the most common Baptist teaching up until the early 1900s.
11:42: In fact, the general Baptists became almost extinct.
11:46: Thank you.
11:49: That's the second bottle I got.
11:53: Y'all can tell my throat is a little scratchy, so thank you.
12:00: In fact, does anybody know who the general Baptists are, who might be described as general Baptists today? Usually called the free will Baptists.
12:09: If you've ever heard of the free will Baptists, that would be along the line of the general Baptists, right? But the southern Baptists, in fact, the first, anybody know the first Baptist confession in America? Philadelphia Confession? What was the Philadelphia Confession? It was a redrafting of the 1689, the second London Confession was redrafted as the Philadelphia Confession, which was itself thoroughly Calvinistic.
12:34: So we have Calvinistic Baptists, particular Baptists, who held to the five doctrines of grace.
12:42: Total depravity, man is completely in sin and dead in his sin.
12:48: Unconditional election, because he's dead in sin, God chooses to save as an act of his own will.
12:54: Limited atonement, he chooses whom he will save and he sends Christ to die for them.
13:00: Irresistible grace, he grants them the gift of regeneration and he gives them life and he draws them to himself.
13:06: That's the first four.
13:07: That's the four doctrines of grace.
13:09: And the last doctrine is the perseverance of the saints.
13:12: Because God has chosen, because Christ has died, because the spirit has regenerated, the person will persevere.
13:21: Because of all the work that God did, they're going to make it.
13:30: Then comes the 20th century.
13:32: Rise of Crusades, influence of men like Charles Finney, and we begin to see the reduction of doctrines that were foundational in Baptist history, such as total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, and irresistible grace.
13:49: But the one they didn't want to let go was the perseverance of the saints, because they liked that one.
13:56: They liked the idea that you couldn't lose your salvation.
14:01: They didn't like that God chose.
14:03: They didn't like that you were depraved.
14:04: They didn't like that it was limited atonement, but they liked the fifth one.
14:09: It's like a five-petal flower.
14:14: They picked the first four petals, but boy, that fifth petal was just so pretty.
14:22: So the perseverance of the saints stays, and it becomes the teaching that is most common among the Southern Baptists particularly, the doctrine of once saved, always saved.
14:39: Why did it become once saved, always saved? Because it no longer makes sense to say perseverance of the saints, because perseverance of the saints depends on the other four.
14:49: Perseverance of the saints depends on God doing the work and bringing us to a point where we will persevere.
14:55: But as Brother Andy so eloquently said, once saved, always saved is more like, I'm going to get my ticket punched, like the preacher I heard the one time who said very eloquently, just accept Jesus.
15:06: Even if you don't like Him, you've still got Him.
15:10: That level of ticket-punched theology has become so deadly.
15:20: I mean, how many times have you been to a funeral where the person had no love for Christ, no desire for the Word, no life of holiness, nothing in their life that would indicate that they were a believer, and somebody was willing to stand in the pulpit and preach this person's with Jesus.
15:33: Why? Because they learned a Bible verse when they were six years old.
15:37: They raised their hand, they came forward, and they shook a pastor's hand, and he signed a card, and he got them wet.
15:43: You've all heard it, right? That's the doctrine of once saved, always saved.
15:48: And that's really the distinction, as Brother Andy said.
15:50: The distinction is this has no need to persevere.
15:56: That's the big difference, right? Once saved, always saved is a punching of a ticket, not a persevering of a saint.
16:03: And so, perseverance of the saints is distinctly different, and it has, the problem is they all have the same history.
16:14: This is really a perversion of the real doctrine.
16:20: That's how the doctrine gets perverted.
16:22: That's why when somebody comes here and they say, do you believe in once saved, always saved? I say, what do you mean? What do you mean when you ask me that? Because either they're Baptists, and they're coming out of a Baptist church, and they want to affirm that we believe people can't lose their salvation, or they're coming from another church that has been taught how bad once saved, always saved, and they don't want to hear that.
16:43: So, it really is important that when somebody asks, do you believe once saved, always saved, that you make a distinction.
16:50: What do you mean by that? And here's the thing I did.
16:53: Brother Andy and I have been really enjoying preaching through the confession.
16:58: And so, what I did is I went and looked up in the confession what it says about this.
17:03: I printed it in my notes.
17:04: I want to read it to you.
17:06: It says, and this is article 22 and 23 of the First London Confession.
17:11: If you've got your book, feel free.
17:14: It won't be on the board because I didn't put it on the board.
17:17: But here's the thing you got to remember about the confession.
17:20: The confession, the 52 articles often build on the next one.
17:25: So, like it'll say something, and then the next one will say something about what came before.
17:30: The one that comes before, article 23 is on perseverance.
17:35: Article 22 is on faith.
17:37: And listen to what it says.
17:38: Listen to what article 22 says.
17:40: Faith is the gift of God.
17:44: Wrought in the hearts of the elect by the Spirit of God, by which faith they come to know and believe the truth of the scriptures and the excellencies of them above all other writings and all things in the world, as they hold forth the glory of God and His attributes, the excellency of Christ and His nature and offices, and the power and the fullness of the Spirit in His workings and operations, and so are enabled to cast their souls upon this truth thus believed.
18:08: See what it says in chapter 22 of the confession? We believe because God has enabled us to believe.
18:15: We believe because God has empowered us by the Spirit to believe.
18:20: And see, that's the point of perseverance.
18:22: It begins, it is maintained, and it ends with God's Spirit within us.
18:30: It's the power of the Holy Spirit working within us.
18:35: And it begins with the first step, and that's faith.
18:38: Faith is a gift of God.
18:40: If you believe faith is what you brought to the table, then you have not yet understood the work of God in regeneration.
18:48: If there's nothing else you need to understand about Reformed Theology, it is this.
18:53: Reformed Theology is based on one simple premise.
18:56: You don't believe to get born again, you are born again so that you may believe.
19:01: Faith is a product of regeneration, not the cause.
19:06: So, now we look at article 23.
19:10: All those that have this precious faith wrought in them by the Spirit...
19:15: Notice it's looking back to the previous part of the confession.
19:19: ...can never, finally, nor totally fall away.
19:24: It goes on to say, "...seeing the gifts of God are without repentance, so that He still begets and nourishes in them faith, repentance, love, joy, hope, and all the graces of the Spirit unto immortality.
19:37: And though many storms and floods arise and beat against them, yet they shall never be able to take them off that foundation and rock which by faith they are fastened upon.
19:53: Notwithstanding, through unbelief and the temptations of sin, the sensible sight of this light and love be clouded and overwhelmed for a time, yet God is still the same.
20:02: And they shall be sure to be kept by the power of God unto salvation, where they shall enjoy their purchased possession, they being engraved upon the palms of His hands, and their names having been written in the book of life from all eternity." That's beautiful.
20:22: That's what it's saying.
20:23: It says, yeah, there may come times where the floods and the storms of this world may rock you, but they're never going to take you off the rock because you have been fastened to the rock by Christ.
20:37: That's the point.
20:39: And that's beautiful.
20:40: I mean, really, just say amen and pray because that's it.
20:45: I ain't gonna because that's the confession.
20:50: I want to look at Scripture too.
20:52: Obviously, the confession is beautifully written, but somebody might stand up and say, but that's man's words.
20:58: I want to hear God's words.
20:59: And you'd be right to say that.
21:03: So what does God's words say? Well, I want to show you just a few passages.
21:10: I want to start with our theme verse.
21:13: We're going to end up at my verse.
21:15: The verse that I'm preaching.
21:16: But before we get there, I want to sort of take you on a little tour.
21:20: Go back in, you're in Philippians 2.
21:22: Go back to Philippians 1 and look at verse 6.
21:30: This is the Apostle Paul.
21:31: He says, And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
21:41: Okay, let's just stop for a moment and consider a few things.
21:45: There are some people who would say this doesn't have anything to do with salvation.
21:49: They would say that this has to do with the church.
21:54: What Paul is saying here is that Christ is the one who raised up the church.
21:59: He raised up the church in Philippi for a purpose.
22:02: And he who raised up the church for that purpose will complete the purpose for which he raised up that church.
22:08: Is that a legitimate possibility within the text? Well, I'll let you be the judge.
22:16: But here's the point I want to make from this text.
22:19: Even if you say this is not a salvific text, I tend to think that it is a salvific text.
22:25: But even if you could prove, by virtue of language and context, if you could prove that this isn't talking about individual salvation, but rather this is talking about the church being raised up, and God who raised up the church will complete it.
22:40: Here's what it teaches us.
22:42: What God starts, He finishes.
22:46: That's what it teaches us.
22:48: So whether you want to argue that it's really not about an individual, it's about the church, let's just take it down to brass tacks.
22:54: Did God start the work of salvation in you? Well, praise God.
23:00: I'm glad you can affirm yes.
23:02: Not everybody can, right? But I'll say this.
23:06: If He started the work, He will finish it.
23:09: That's the point.
23:11: So even if the direct context isn't about salvation, which I think it could be, but the point I'm saying is it's about the nature of God.
23:21: I heard a pastor this week as I was preparing for this message.
23:24: He said, God doesn't have any unfinished symphonies.
23:31: You guys know what the I-4 eyesore is? If you go down I-4, between 95 and Orlando, there is a monstrosity of a building that began in the year 2000 to be built.
23:50: And it was built for 10 years.
23:52: The guy who was building it was trying to build it without taking any loans.
23:57: So he was doing fundraising to raise the money to build this building.
24:01: And he got about halfway done and he ran out of money.
24:05: So it sat for many years without any windows, without any, it just basically was concrete pillars and you could see through it.
24:14: You could see, you know, it was just basically a big concrete.
24:17: And when I say it was a monstrosity, it was kind of a neat looking building.
24:19: It kind of looks like Phineas and Ferb.
24:21: Never mind.
24:21: It looks like a cartoon.
24:23: And it's this big building on I-4 and they call it the I-4 eyesore.
24:28: Because it just doesn't seem like it's ever going to get done.
24:30: In 2018, they started redoing it.
24:34: And now it might be somewhat near done, but it still ain't done.
24:37: 20 years and the building ain't done.
24:40: Why? Because God wasn't doing it.
24:44: God doesn't leave things undone.
24:47: God doesn't have an I-4 eyesore.
24:49: What God begins, God completes.
24:52: That's what Philippians 1, 6 reminds us of.
24:57: He who began the good work, where? In you.
25:00: Will complete it.
25:02: When? In the day of the Lord Jesus.
25:04: He's going to complete it in you.
25:05: He's not going to fail to do what he plans to do with you.
25:13: So perseverance starts with who? Him.
25:16: He will not fail, as Andy said, because he cannot fail.
25:22: Now turn to Ephesians 1.
25:24: Since we're in the little letters of Paul here, turn back one letter to Ephesians 1.
25:37: Look at verse 13 and 14.
25:45: It says, In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee.
26:03: And if you notice, if you have an ESV, there's a subscript there that looks down.
26:06: It says down payment.
26:07: He is the down payment or the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.
26:13: Do you know why Paul uses that phrase guarantee or down payment? Because what he is saying is he is saying this, when you were saved, when you believed, the Holy Spirit made his home in you.
26:26: He lives within you.
26:28: And his presence in you is God's promise that he's not going to give up on you.
26:34: It's his promise that he's not going to fail.
26:37: And the reason, if you think of a down payment, and maybe this isn't the best way to, I think this is a good example, but all analogies break down, so if you want to come to me later and say I don't think it's a great analogy, I think this analogy holds as far as it goes.
26:50: If I purchase a vehicle and I put a down payment down on that vehicle, what that down payment is saying is I'm going to keep up, and I'm going to pay it off.
26:59: That's why they don't want to give loans without down payments, because if you don't give anything at the beginning, you haven't got no skin in the game.
27:05: You heard that phrase? So they say they want something down, because that down payment is the promise that you're going to keep paying.
27:12: The down payment is the promise that you're not going to give up on this, but you're going to see it through, because you don't want to lose that down payment.
27:20: As I said, the analogy breaks down a little, but consider the picture Paul is giving us.
27:24: He's saying God gave you the Spirit as the down payment, as the guarantee that he is going to see it through, that he is going to do this.
27:37: I just can't get over that, that that's what the Spirit within me is.
27:41: It's the promise of God.
27:47: And turn over to chapter 4.
27:50: Notice what it says in chapter 4, verse 30.
27:53: Same book, Ephesians.
27:58: It says, And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed.
28:03: Notice this is the same word sealed that we saw in chapter 1.
28:06: It says we were sealed by the Spirit, and it says we're sealed here for what? For the day of redemption.
28:14: We weren't sealed until we mess up.
28:17: We weren't sealed until we couldn't handle it anymore.
28:20: We were sealed for the day of redemption.
28:23: These are the great promises of Scripture, that God is the one who's doing the work in us.
28:30: He sealed us by the power of his Spirit.
28:35: Now, with that being said, now go back and look at Philippians chapter 4.
28:40: I'm sorry, chapter 2.
28:45: Because when we go back to Philippians, we go back to chapter 2.
28:50: What do we see? Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation.
29:04: Now, a lot of people stop right there.
29:07: And they say, oh, woe is me.
29:10: I have to make this on my own.
29:14: I'm the one who has to accomplish my salvation.
29:19: And I believe there are people who believe that.
29:22: I believe there are people who think that salvation is ultimately up to them.
29:28: There are people who look at salvation as transactional.
29:34: What do I mean by transactional? I do, God does.
29:39: I accomplish, God responds.
29:42: Praises go up, blessings come down, right? That's the transactional approach.
29:48: And the idea is this.
29:51: I've got to work to accomplish my salvation.
29:57: That is not what the text says.
30:01: Paul does not say, work for your salvation with fear and trembling.
30:07: He says, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
30:12: And then in the very next verse, to make sure that no one would ever come along and think that what that means is that you accomplish it on your own, he says this, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do.
30:33: Do you know what the word will means? Want.
30:37: The only reason, let me say this to you, the only reason you want to do what God wants you to do is because He's working in you.
30:46: The only reason we want to do God's good pleasure is because He's working within us.
30:53: And the only way we can do what God wants us to do is because He's working in us.
30:59: It is God who works in you both to will and to do.
31:13: I want to have you think about this for a minute.
31:23: Think about all that God does to bring us to salvation.
31:33: There's something called the Ordo Salutis.
31:36: The Ordo Salutis is simply the Latin phrase for the order of salvation.
31:41: And the Ordo Salutis, depending on how you lay it out, typically begins with God foreknowing you, predestining you, electing you.
31:55: Actually, election would precede predestination.
31:57: So foreknowing, electing, predestining.
32:02: And then moving to the regeneration, justification, sanctification, glorification.
32:11: If I'm missing one, good theology students, forgive me, I don't have this in my notes.
32:14: I'm just walking through.
32:16: The idea of Ordo Salutis, the point is how much of that did you contribute to? None.
32:22: That's the thing.
32:23: It's God who works within you both to will and to do.
32:31: Am I saying you have no responsibility? No.
32:34: Brother Andy, we're going to get there.
32:35: Because I know Brother Andy was right when he says there's sovereignty and there's responsibility.
32:39: And my only point in this is to simply remind you that in perseverance there is preservation because God is doing more than you are.
32:50: Infinitely more than you ever could.
32:52: And everything you do do is because He is working in you to do it.
32:57: That's the beauty.
32:59: So who are you trusting today? Him or yourself? If you are going to persevere, you have got to learn to trust Him.
33:12: Because the longer you trust in yourself, the more defeated you will be.
33:18: And the more you try to trust in yourself, the less comfort you will have in your salvation.
33:25: You have to learn to trust Him.
33:31: Does this make sense? Now I did want to reference the fact that people who don't believe in perseverance of the saints typically point to the passages that we would call the warning passages.
33:51: Brother Mike, a few months ago in Sunday school class taught a really good lesson on the warning passages in Hebrews.
33:58: So if you want to dig deep into those, I would encourage you to start by going to Sermon Audio, looking up his lesson that he did in Sunday school on the warning passages.
34:08: But just for a moment I want to sort of mention this.
34:11: Because people will say, well how can you believe that a person can't be lost? How can you believe that a person can't lose their salvation? Hebrews clearly says that a person can fall away.
34:24: Or 2 Peter clearly says that a person can fall away.
34:28: Or Jesus clearly said a person can fall away.
34:32: This is the argument you usually get.
34:33: And what they are referring to typically are the warning passages.
34:38: And there are warning passages, aren't there? There are passages that tell us to persevere.
34:45: And what is always the danger of not persevering? Condemnation.
34:51: Brother Andy said it.
34:52: He who perseveres to the end shall be saved.
34:55: Right? What happens if you stop half way? You didn't persevere.
35:06: And here is the distinction.
35:08: Some people believe that the person who stops half way was saved and then got lost again.
35:19: And that is where we would say no.
35:21: Because if you have abandoned the faith you were never saved.
35:28: That's it.
35:29: But the warning passages still apply to you.
35:34: Because part of the way God preserves us is by warning us against abandoning Him.
35:43: You might say, how can it apply? I am not going to fall away.
35:47: The warning passages still apply to you.
35:52: Because I will tell you this.
35:53: You may tell me you believe in Jesus.
35:55: But if tomorrow, if you abandon Him, you are not saved.
35:59: It's just that simple.
36:02: What does 1 John 2,19 say? They went out from us because they were not of us.
36:08: For had they been of us they would have remained with us.
36:12: But they went out to demonstrate that they are not of us.
36:20: What is apostasy? It is abandoning the faith you proclaimed and Paul warns against that.
36:31: He says, don't turn back.
36:34: He who puts his hand, Jesus, He who puts his hand to the plow and does what? And looks back is not worthy of the kingdom.
36:41: Move forward.
36:42: Press on.
36:43: Look forward.
36:44: That's the point.
36:47: I go back to what I said five minutes ago.
36:49: It's God working in you to do that.
36:51: But understand the warnings are still there.
36:53: I read this.
36:54: You might not know who this is.
36:56: It's Tom.
36:58: Oh, goodness, I lost his name now.
37:00: The guy from Southern.
37:01: Tom Schreiner.
37:04: In his lesson on the warning passages he talks about Acts 27.
37:09: Now, Andy mentioned the ship.
37:11: You mentioned the passage about Paul telling him don't get off the ship.
37:16: But you know what happened before that? There was actually a promise because in verse 21 through 26 of Acts 27 Paul tells him no one in this boat is going to be lost.
37:32: And then later he says if you get off the boat, you're going to die.
37:37: You say, well, how can he give him a warning? He's already given him a promise.
37:42: It's not a contradiction.
37:44: It's the truth.
37:46: And I was thinking about this while Andy was preaching and this may be a bad analogy but I'm going to say it anyway.
37:50: I was thinking about this.
37:51: I was like, how can I make this analogy really stick? And I got to thinking if I'm driving down the car if I'm driving down the road with my kids and they're in the back seat and I turn to them and I say do not open that door and step out because you will die.
38:05: Is that true? But who's really going to keep them from opening that door? Me.
38:12: And that may be a bad analogy but I'm the one who's going to save them if they try to open that door.
38:20: But the warning is still true.
38:22: You open that door, you step out you're going to die.
38:25: But who is the one that's really going to be there to make sure that door stays closed? I don't know if that's a great analogy.
38:31: It just came to me while Brother Andy was preaching and I'm thinking God is the one who's working in us.
38:36: He's the one who's working through us to will and to do His good purpose.
38:41: But He still warns us don't open the door.
38:44: Don't turn back.
38:47: Don't even look back.
38:49: Think of Lot's wife.
38:51: Remember Lot's wife? Don't even look back.
38:58: Move forward.
39:00: I said I wasn't going to spend so much time on the doctrine.
39:02: That was literally most of the message time and I did the doctrine.
39:05: Can I now do the practical? Can I spend the last few minutes on the two things? Here's two practical things that go along with that doctrinal lesson.
39:14: Two practical things that go along with that doctrinal lesson.
39:19: Two things every believer should have as a part of his or her life if he wants to grow in grace because perseverance is about growth.
39:27: Perseverance is about growing in grace.
39:29: The Bible commands us to grow in grace.
39:30: 2 Peter 3.18 says, Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
39:35: We must grow in grace.
39:36: So what are the two things that are necessary for growth? And ultimately I would say ultimately are going to lead to perseverance.
39:45: Number one, consistent private fellowship with God and number two, consistent public fellowship with God's people.
39:53: So I'll say it again.
39:54: One, consistent private fellowship with God.
39:58: Number two, consistent public fellowship with God's people.
40:08: Let's look at the first one just for a moment.
40:09: Private fellowship with God.
40:13: In Mark chapter 1, Jesus has all these people coming to Him and they are just not letting up.
40:20: I mean, if you had sick children and you knew a guy that was healing, wouldn't you be in line? You understand, right? People are just not letting up.
40:30: So one morning, Jesus gets up.
40:31: It says in Mark 1.35, it says, And rising early in the morning, while it was still dark, He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed.
40:45: Our Lord Jesus Christ took time away from the world to be in private prayer with His Father.
40:57: And if the principle of the lesser to the greater or the greater to the lesser applies, this is how that would apply in that situation.
41:05: If Jesus, who is infinitely greater than I, needed to take time away to be with God, how much more do I, who is infinitely less than Him, need to take time to be with God? Jesus didn't say, If you pray, go into your closet.
41:25: He said, When you pray, go into your closet.
41:30: I honestly think that one of the greatest problems that we have today is that believers have stopped referring to their quiet time.
41:41: They have stopped referring to their time with God.
41:46: The first thing we do when we wake up in the morning is not hit our knees and thank God for the day, but we open up Facebook to see if we got likes while we were asleep.
41:57: Or we look on YouTube to see what happened in the latest political news.
42:03: Or we turn our television on to see what's going on in the world.
42:11: Private fellowship with God is the fuel by which we press on.
42:25: Billy Graham had, you know, there's a lot that could be said about Billy Graham.
42:34: Methodologically, I have issues with some of the things, the huge crusades and mass things, but one thing he said that I really took to heart and I think it was helpful.
42:44: He said a lot of things that were good, but one thing specifically, he was asked to speak at a convocation for a graduation of pastors who was graduating.
42:53: You can see this online if you want to look it up.
42:55: Billy Graham preaches at, I think it was Southern Seminary.
42:58: And he was giving the statement.
43:01: And he said this.
43:02: He said to the group, he said, you all are, you all look at me as a successful evangelist.
43:10: He said I would have no success in ministry at all if I had not had my time alone with God.
43:21: Now you might say, well I ain't looking at being an evangelistic success.
43:24: Let me just bring it down to the smallest thing.
43:27: We will have no success in anything that is worthy of God's purposes if we are not concerned with our time with him.
43:38: And what that looks like is different.
43:39: I'm not telling everybody in here to go buy you an edition of Our Daily Bread, which is more like Our Daily Crumb anyway.
43:47: It's not exactly the best thing in the world.
43:48: But whatever you do, do you have time with God? Private fellowship with God.
44:03: And again, it's God who works within us to will and to do.
44:06: He's going to be the one who is with us and doing it with us.
44:10: But that's number one.
44:12: The second thing is public.
44:15: And like I said, this could be a whole other sermon.
44:17: This could take the rest of the time.
44:21: We need one another.
44:25: We need one another.
44:26: There is no such thing as lone wolf Christianity.
44:28: The Bible makes it very clear that we need one another.
44:32: Hebrews 10, 24, Let us consider how to stir one another up to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as the day is drawing near.
44:43: What does that passage say? People always focus on not forsaking the assembly because that's what that passage says in King James.
44:49: But it's more than that.
44:50: It says the reason why we don't forsake the assembly is because we need to be stirred up to love and good works.
44:58: We come to church to be discipled in the word of God, to be challenged in love and good works.
45:08: And you say, well, there's people at church I don't like.
45:09: That's the point! Because you've got to learn to love them anyway.
45:22: I want to say this.
45:23: You show me a person who is growing weak and cold in their faith and I'll show you a person who has no private devotional life and is not active in a local church.
45:36: You do not stay hot by moving away from the fire.
45:44: And I want to add something.
45:45: And this is for everybody who is visiting us online today.
45:48: This is for you.
45:49: Facebook is not a church.
45:52: I wrote this paragraph.
45:54: Please listen.
45:56: If your spiritual life is being lived out digitally instead of in community and your sermons are coming to you from a celebrity who you will never know instead of a pastor who loves you and knows your name and your fellowship is being worked out in comment boxes rather than in church pews, your soul needs more and your church needs more.
46:24: If some folks put half as much effort into engaging each other at church as they do trying to get likes on Facebook, they wouldn't imagine the depth and power of the relationships they would create.
46:38: Facebook is not a church.
46:42: We need to be together.
46:47: Someone might hear this message and be confused.
46:49: So let me clarify if I have made any confusing statements.
46:53: On the one hand, I have said it is God who is preserving us and on the other hand, I say it is us who persevere.
47:00: And while that may seem irreconcilable, I assure you it is not because the Apostle Paul does call us to work out our salvation, but he also tells us that God is working in us both to will and to do.
47:12: You need to work out what God is working in.
47:15: I'll say it again.
47:17: You need to work out what God is working in.
47:22: And understand this, God never fails to accomplish what he sets out to do.
47:29: So on the days where things are tough, on the days when you're tired and hurting, on the days when you don't want to open your Bible, on the days that you don't want to talk to God, understand this, he's still working on you and he still loves you.
47:45: Sometimes we just have to do it and we'll be happier that we did.
47:52: That's why it's called discipleship.
47:55: You know what other word has the same root? Discipline.
48:00: God is working in us and we must work out what God is working in.
48:08: Let's pray.
48:10: Father, I thank you for your word.
48:12: I thank you for the truth.
48:14: I thank you that you've promised us that you will sustain us to the end guiltless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.
48:20: As Brother Andy read to us earlier, Lord, that is such a wonderful promise.
48:24: Lord, may we be confident today in what that promise tells us.
48:30: In Jesus' name, Amen.
48:35: Alright, my turn to answer questions if there are any.
48:38: Do this.
48:52: Oh, you have a question.
48:53: My wife has a question.
48:55: Yeah.
48:57: Hold on.
49:03: Okay, Jennifer.
49:05: There's a question.
49:06: Go.
49:07: Okay.
49:10: I was thinking recently I saw in the news one of the Desiring God writers has said he's no longer a Christian and different people lately have come on.
49:20: I mean high profile.
49:23: Sorry, your children are wanting to ask questions.
49:25: Have said that they are not Christians anymore.
49:28: But reading in Hebrews chapter 6 where it talks about that they have tasted the goodness of the word of God and then have fallen away.
49:37: How do you...
49:39: Can those people be restored? Hebrews 6 is interesting because it actually says it is impossible for this person to be restored under repentance.
49:51: And so I'm not sure that I would always apply that in every case because we have to be careful to not say that someone is beyond reach because from our perspective we don't know.
50:05: But it does seem to indicate that there are some people who have been turned over to a debased mind.
50:09: They've been judicially hardened and the best example of that I would know of is probably Dan Barker.
50:16: You know I've talked about Dan many times.
50:18: Dan is the head of one of the largest atheist associations in America.
50:22: He used to be an evangelist.
50:24: He was a preacher.
50:26: And he is now the head of one of the largest atheist associations in the world.
50:30: And I say here is a man who when he comes against the gospel he comes hard because he hates it.
50:36: And I would say if I've ever seen somebody that I would point to and say that guy is judicially hardened that God has hardened his heart that's about as close as I've ever seen.
50:46: But as far as are you asking then in a sense can someone be without hope? I think so.
50:55: But I don't know that we would know that.
50:58: Brother how would you answer that? Would you say that a person can be without hope? Yeah.
51:03: Yeah that's what I'm saying.
51:04: I would agree.
51:06: Yeah it's just that we don't know though.
51:27: Yeah.
51:29: Yeah.
51:30: We're talking about Hebrews 6.
51:31: Mike is our resident Hebrew scholar.
51:33: So not Hebrew scholar but scholar of the book of Hebrews.
51:37: He spent more time with it I think Brother Andy and I have.
51:40: So a lot of times I'll if I'm studying it or looking into it I'll ask Brother Mike how he what he thinks.
51:45: All right anyone else? Who do you think wrote Hebrews? Was it maybe Paul and then Luke transcribed it? I don't know who wrote Hebrews.
52:08: Even the early church doesn't know who wrote Hebrews.
52:11: There's different opinions on that.
52:15: I don't believe Paul did based on Chapter 2 because Chapter 2 says that we received this information second hand.
52:21: Paul would never say that.
52:23: In Galatians he specifically says opposite.
52:25: He says I received this directly from Christ.
52:27: So I don't think Paul wrote Hebrews.
52:29: But there's a there is a position that Hebrews was sermons that Paul preached or a sermon that Paul preached that Luke wrote or basically penned the sermon because the theology is purely Pauline but the writing is not Pauline and I think Chapter 2 again points to that.
52:50: So I think what you said is possible that Luke wrote it.
52:53: There's also arguments that Apollos wrote it.
52:55: There's arguments that Barnabas wrote it.
52:58: So there's just some going back to the early church there's a lot of arguments.
53:02: Here's an interesting historical side note though.
53:05: The first group of books that was ever collated together and sent out to the churches is what's known as the Pauline Corpus or the writings of Paul.
53:14: That was before the Gospels.
53:15: That was before Acts.
53:16: That was before any of that was ever put together and sent out to the churches.
53:19: The first group of the earliest collection of books that was collected and sent out to the churches was the Pauline Corpus and it included the book of Hebrews.
53:28: That doesn't mean he wrote it but that means whoever collected it thought he did because it put it along with it.
53:34: So it's certainly a Pauline theology but not Pauline writing in my opinion.
53:39: So answer is a fancy way of saying I don't know.
53:47: Who do you think wrote it? Hand him that microphone.
53:54: I'm just kidding.
53:55: He said God and he's not wrong.
54:00: Anyone else? Did we hit the high points of the doctrine? Did we clarify what we were trying to do today to help everyone understand? You have a question.
54:19: Give him the microphone because I want to record this.
54:23: Whatever is about to come.
54:27: Perseverance Can you hear me? Perseverance seems very synergistic in nature.
54:36: Would you agree? No, obvious.
54:40: Y'all can bury me at the stake if you'd like.
54:42: No, I want to clarify something because what you just asked is actually pretty important.
54:47: The question is the question of monergism versus synergism.
54:52: Monergism is the idea that all the work is done by one person and we believe salvation is monergistic.
54:58: Salvation is all done by God.
55:01: Mono being one.
55:02: Ergos is the Greek word for energy or strength or work.
55:06: And so monergos or monergism means God did all the work.
55:10: So when we think of salvation it's monergistic.
55:15: Sanctification is the work of conforming us to Christ.
55:18: And there is a debate in the reformed community as to whether or not that synergistic.
55:23: I certainly think some of the language used such as perseverance lends itself to synergy that we are working as God gives us the ability to work.
55:33: And even R.C.
55:33: Sproul made the point that he believed that sanctification is synergistic while justification is monergistic.
55:43: I still believe it's a work of God but he's working in us to do his desires.
55:50: And we are commanded to be obedient.
55:54: And in that obedience I think there's a certain sense in which we are working along with that.
55:59: So would I say completely synergistic? No, but I think is there some synergy happening? Possibly.
56:07: That's right.
56:08: We can't.
56:15: Yeah.
56:23: Yeah, that's right.
56:24: Because God is still the one.
56:25: God is still causing us to be able to do it.
56:28: He's the source.
56:30: And so I think I would never say pure synergy because the synergistic view that God does half and I do half is much too dangerous because that's the way some people look at salvation.
56:44: And as many of you probably heard God did his part now you got to do your part.
56:48: You ever heard somebody say that? I've heard evangelists say God did 99% now you got to do your one.
56:55: If that's what you believe understand that one is what saved you.
56:58: That's dangerous.
57:00: But that but that but in that we're talking about salvation.
57:02: Yeah.
57:03: So yeah, as far as synergistic I think when we're talking about sanctification, it's a little it's a little broader and we do have we participate.
57:13: We are active in growth.
57:15: This is why this is why I can honestly tell you we are called to do things.
57:21: We're called to read.
57:21: We're called to study.
57:22: We're called to, you know, study to show thyself approved unto God.
57:25: You know, this is we're called to do.
57:27: It's not as if you know, if you go home today and for the next six months, you don't read your Bible.
57:33: You don't come to church.
57:34: You're going to be like that piece of coal that's burning in the fire that comes out of the fire and sits outside and grows cold and black because you need that to grow.
57:43: Did that go too far? Did that kind of go? Okay.
57:46: All right.
57:47: Anyone else? You guys are so fortunate because we're 30 minutes early.
57:57: You guys have a good time.
58:00: All right.
58:01: Well, if there is no more questions, then we will close.
58:06: I want to again thank Brother Andy who I think is not feeling well.
58:12: I feel bad for him.
58:14: Praying for you, brother.
58:16: You said you weren't feeling well earlier.
58:18: So we're praying for you.
58:19: Brother Mike, thank you.
58:20: Thank you both for continuing to serve our church and serve it well.
58:26: And again, if you come up with a question later, send us an email.
58:29: We'd love to talk about it.
58:30: And yes, sir.
58:37: Yes.
58:58: That would be my fault because I did the screens for today.
59:02: So nobody can blame Nate.
59:04: That was completely me.
59:05: But yes, perseverance in the New Testament was my job.
59:09: And yes, that's right.
59:20: This is all a test.
59:23: You know, you know, I didn't really get to get I didn't really get to the some of the most beautiful passages on perseverance or preservation are in the words of Christ.
59:34: When Christ tells us that he knows his sheep.
59:39: And he's not going to lose even one of us.
59:42: That he will not lose one for whom he died.
59:46: So with that in mind, let's pray and thank him.
59:52: It's a miracle.
59:54: Thank you, Nate.
59:56: Yes, brother Gary.
01:00:02: Please, please do.
01:00:03: And let me say this.
01:00:04: You and Cindy.
01:00:06: Thank you so much.
01:00:07: The food was was delicious.
01:00:09: And as always, your service to the church is greatly appreciated.
01:00:12: And we love you both.
01:00:14: Father, thank you for everything that you have given to us.
01:00:18: Most of all, Lord Jesus Christ.
01:00:21: Father, help us to remember that he has promised us that he has begun a good work in us and he will complete it.
01:00:29: Father, help us to rest on that promise.
01:00:32: In his name we pray.
01:00:34: Amen.
01:00:36: God bless you.
01:00:37: Have a great rest of the day.
01:00:39: Yes, sir.
01:00:40: Appreciate it.
01:00:41: Thank you all for coming.
01:00:42: Thank you.