Perseverance of the Saints

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Sermon given by Pastor Keith Foskey Sovereign Grace Family Church www.SGFCjax.org

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We have come tonight to the fifth and final lesson in our series on the Doctrines of Grace.
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The Doctrines of Grace are also known as the Five Points of Calvinism.
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And as I was coming in tonight, Jack reminded me that the word Calvinism has not always been a positive term used.
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There have been those in the past who have sought to malign the use of that term.
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There have been those who have, by using that, tried to make it a word of derogation or derogatory term.
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And over the years, I've become more comfortable using it because I think, as I've said many times, I think it's important that we are clear about who we are.
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And I want to be clear about who I am.
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Those of you who watch it, I don't know how many of you do, but I have a daily Bible study program that I do online, and I started it several months ago, and it's called Coffee with a Calvinist.
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So I did that for a reason.
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And before that, I had a men's breakfast that I would do once a month, and it was called Coffee and Calvinism.
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So I mean, it's sort of just a term that I've tried to use, not to throw in people's faces, but so as to remove stigma, and so when people come here, they know who we are.
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And just this past week, we had four different visiting families, and all four of them were, have come here because of the teaching, because of the theology, people looking for the Word of God being preached.
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And so praise the Lord for that.
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Don't be afraid of who we are.
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So we've looked at total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace.
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And tonight, we are going to look at the P in the TULIP, and the P stands for Perseverance of the Saints, the Perseverance of the Saints.
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Several weeks ago, we spent, I think it was two or three Wednesday nights on the question, can a believer lose his or her salvation? We noted that the common term for that particular subject is often, once saved, always saved.
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I call it OSAS, O-S-A-S, once saved, always saved.
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And this is an issue which divides many within the church.
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Most people associated with the OSAS doctrine, the doctrine of once saved, always saved, are in some way, shape, or form, normally known as Baptists.
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Usually hear once saved, always saved in Baptist churches.
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But Baptists don't normally use the term once saved, always saved.
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They use the term eternal security.
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Because once saved, always saved has sort of a negative connotation.
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But the idea of security has a positive connotation.
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So they use the word eternal security because it sounds better than once saved, always saved.
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But what is often not realized is that the doctrine of once saved, always saved, or eternal security, whichever one you want to call it, the doctrine is a vestigial holdover.
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What does that mean? The doctrine of once saved, always saved comes into the Baptist church because the majority of the early Baptists were Calvinistic.
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And even though a lot of the Calvinist doctrines have fallen out of modern Baptist life, what hasn't gone away is once saved, always saved.
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Why do you think that one stayed? Because it's nice.
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We like that one.
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We don't like total depravity, oh, nobody's good and everybody's awful and nobody follows God and nobody seeks after God.
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We don't like that.
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Unconditional election, God chooses whom He wills according to the pleasure of His own will, we don't like that.
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Limited atonement, Jesus Christ died for the sake of the elect only, we don't like that.
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Irresistible grace, God is the one who has to redeem and regenerate the heart before it can be made alive and returned to follow after Christ.
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People don't like that, but then we say, but the benefit is that once you're saved, you're always saved.
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Well, we like that, so what has happened in the Baptist churches, and this is not beat up Baptist night, just so you know, I feel like our church is firmly in the tradition of the 17th century English Baptists as far as our doctrines.
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And my favorite preachers of the past are the old Baptists.
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The men who wrote the 1644 London Confession, the men who wrote the 1689 Confession, the men who came to the United States and who brought the gospel and established institutions like the Southern Baptist Convention, which was thoroughly Calvinistic when it was established.
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These are men worthy to be renowned, they're worthy to be remembered, and therefore I would count myself among them.
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I have a degree from a Baptist school, I think I can at least count myself at least partially among them.
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What's interesting about Baptist history is that within Baptist history, there were two different categories of Baptists.
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There were those that were known as the Particular Baptists, and those that were known as the General Baptists.
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The Particular Baptists were the Calvinists, and where did the name come from? Well, it come from, remember when we talked about limited atonement, what's another name for limited atonement? Particular Redemption, Christ died to save the elect particularly.
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That word Particular Baptist was the name given to those Calvinist Baptists, and the name that went with those who were not Calvinist was General Baptist.
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So if you were a Particular Baptist, you were Calvinist.
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If you were an Arminian Baptist, you were a General Baptist, and what's interesting about that is that the Particular Baptists not only were the majority, but particularly Baptists would later become known as Regular Baptists.
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You ever heard of the Regular Baptists? You never heard that? The Association of Regular Baptist Churches, that is an important thing to know because it tells us something.
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It tells us that there was a time in history where to be a Regular Baptist meant that you were a Calvinist.
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Oh, how far the apple has fallen from the tree as we look out now, and many Baptists would never consider themselves to have any Calvinistic background.
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But as I said, the reason why I'm bringing all this up is because you ask any good Baptist, especially a good Southern Baptist, do you believe in once saved, always saved? They'll say yes, why? Well, the Bible teaches it.
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Of course it does, but upon what basis, what scripture, and what system of theology would lead you to the conclusion that a man cannot be lost once he is saved? Especially if you believe in the libertarian free will that many people so demand.
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I like to ask my Baptist friends who don't believe in Calvinism, who do believe in once saved, always saved, I say, so you only had a free will to get saved, but you don't have a free will to get unsaved? You only had a free will to get redeemed, but you have no free will after you're redeemed? In a previous lesson, I set forth my case for the believer's security.
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If you were not here for those lessons, I would encourage you to go back and listen to them because there will be more.
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I will say more tonight, but I'm building on a case that I've already made.
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I do believe in the believer's security.
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I believe the Bible clearly teaches it, but tonight I want to go a step further because it's one thing to say that we are eternally secure.
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It's one thing to affirm once saved, always saved, which I would, but it is another thing to understand the concept of the perseverance of the saints.
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The perseverance of the saints is the reason why once saved, always saved is true.
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The perseverance of the saints is the reason why eternal security is true.
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You see, once saved, always saved focuses on our inability to fall, but the perseverance of the saints focuses on our willingness to persevere.
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Both of those come from God.
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I'll say it again.
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Once saved, always saved is about our inability to fall, but the perseverance of the saints is about our willingness to persevere.
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Both of those come from God, and I'm going to show you tonight what I mean.
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Because both of those realities are true.
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Is it true that I cannot lose my salvation? Yes, but why can I not lose my salvation? Because the Bible says God saved me and He is going to keep me going to the end.
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He's not going to let go of me.
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He is going, as we said last week, they will be made willing in the day of your power, they will be willing to do it.
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Yes, we will be willing, and we will continue to be willing because it will be God who is making us willing.
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It will be God who is working in us to continue to be willing.
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Alright, we've got to look at the Bible because you guys look confused.
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Let's look at a passage.
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Turn to Philippians chapter 1.
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Many of you remember this passage, but I want you to see it with fresh eyes tonight.
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Philippians chapter 1.
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Let's see, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, General Electric Power Company.
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Okay, I know where it is.
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I'm just kidding, I know where it is.
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But always remember it's General Electric Power Company, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians.
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General Electric Power Company.
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If you ever have trouble finding, because it's four small books all in a row, go to Philippians chapter 1 and look at verse 6.
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The Apostle Paul, speaking to the Philippian church, 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.
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Now what does that verse tell us? One, it tells us that the good work that is in us was started by God.
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He began the good work in us, which reminds us that salvation is not of us.
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Salvation is not something we have accomplished.
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Salvation is something God began in our heart.
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Salvation is something that we should understand is a work of God.
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Isn't this what the Old Testament tells us? Salvation is of the person, right? No, salvation is of the Lord.
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If there was one word, one phrase I could say is the heart of all of Reformed theology, it is this, salvation is of the Lord.
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He begins the good work in us and he will do what, according to Philippians? He will complete it.
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God is not like a person who begins to purchase something and he pays a down payment and then somewhere along the line he forgets to make his monthly payment and at some point it gets taken back by the bank.
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You all know what I'm talking about and I lost my word.
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What is it? Repossessed.
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Right? Maybe some of you in your lifetime have made some bad financial choices and you've had something repossessed.
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You made a promise, I'm going to pay 50 installments, 60 installments, maybe several years and you made a down payment and you began to make your monthly payments but at some point you lost your job or maybe you weren't able to get all the bills paid and you had to let something go and you said, you know what, this car, it's not new anymore, I can't pay for it anymore, I'm going to let it go back.
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That's the picture.
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God doesn't work that way.
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God begins and he finishes.
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He began the good work, he's going to complete the good work and it's him doing the work, that's the key.
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That's the key to all this.
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That he who began the good work in you will complete it.
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And when will he complete it? At the day of Jesus Christ.
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What is the day of Jesus Christ? The day of the Lord.
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This is a euphemistic phrase which is referring to the final day.
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The day when the Lord will split the eastern sky and we will have that opportunity to see him as he is and we will be face-to-face with him.
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That's the day of Jesus Christ.
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If someone says, well, he can begin it but he might at some point, I can walk away.
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You didn't start it, you certainly can't end it because it ain't you.
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You say, but wait a minute, it's the perseverance of the saints, isn't it about me? Not really.
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Because the whole idea and the whole reason why this is doing this is because of that.
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In case you're listening to this on audio, the whole reason the saints are persevering is because of God.
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The perseverance of the saints is not because they have the tenacity to persevere.
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The perseverance of the saints is because the God who regenerated them, who put the down payment down on their soul, isn't going to allow the monthly payments to become devoid and be repossessed and go back to their old life.
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God is going to maintain your salvation.
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You understand what I'm saying? The payment is made, it's already made.
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Don't push the analogy too far.
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It's not like God's making a monthly payment on you.
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My point is, understand, there's one payment made, it's the payment of the blood of Christ.
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Don't push the analogy too far.
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But the reality is, he began it, he's going to complete it.
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He can't fail.
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Understand this about your God.
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He cannot fail to do what he sets out to do.
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People say, there's nothing God can't do.
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There's a lot of things God can't do.
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God can't lie.
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God can't deny his own nature.
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And God can't fail to do what he purposes to do.
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There's no failure.
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God doesn't have contingency plans.
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He doesn't have a plan B.
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He doesn't have a backup.
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He has his plan, and his plan will come to pass.
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So, Philippians 1-6 is a great verse of comfort.
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Because it tells us, he who began the good work, will complete the work in the end, the day of Christ Jesus.
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So, Philippians 1-6.
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Now turn to Ephesians, which is one book to the left, and look at chapter 1.
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Ephesians chapter 1, verses 13 and 14.
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It says, That is in Christ.
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And do you know what the word guarantee there means? You're going to love it.
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It means down payment.
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If you have an ESV, there's a little superscript, number 4 there.
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If you look at the superscript and go down to the bottom of the page, it literally says, the other translation of the word guarantee is the word down payment.
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And what does this passage tell us? It tells us, in Christ, you, when you heard the truth and you believed in it, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit, who became the guarantee, the down payment from God, of the inheritance that you're going to get, but you haven't got yet.
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You aren't in heaven yet.
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But it's as if you already were, because God has promised it.
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It's as if it's already done.
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That's the perseverance of the saints.
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I remember one time a Jehovah Witness came to my door.
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They don't come much anymore, but they used to.
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And we got to talking about something, and he threw out that verse in Matthew.
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He who perseveres to the end shall be saved.
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I said, of course, but who is it who will persevere to the end? Who is it who will endure to the end? The elect of God.
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See, that verse shouldn't bother us, because I'm not the one who has the endurance to make it to the end.
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I'm riding on somebody else's strength.
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I'm basing everything on somebody else's righteousness.
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My whole life is not my own.
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Oh, and by the way, in Ephesians 1, 13 and 14, it says that the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our salvation.
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And then in chapter 4, verse 30, it says, Do not grieve the Holy Spirit by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
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See, the Holy Spirit, that down payment that God gave to us, as the promise of our salvation, is there, and He seals us.
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Sealed.
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Until when? Until the day of salvation.
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Until the day of the Lord.
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Until the day of redemption.
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Until the day it's all over.
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See, in the ancient world, when the king would place his seal upon something, it was sealed shut, and only the person who was legally authorized to open that seal would be able to do it.
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No one else could open that seal.
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Under the threat of penalty of death, remember when Jesus was put in the tomb, Pilate put his seal on the tomb.
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You see, the king's seal represented the king's authority.
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It represented the king's power.
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It represented the king's sovereignty.
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The Bible says when we get the Holy Spirit of God, He is the seal on us until the day of redemption.
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You see, again, several weeks ago I talked about how we can't lose our salvation, but you understand now I'm talking more about the fact that we're going to keep going.
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God has saved us, and He's not...
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He doesn't just save us and say, OK, finish up.
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No, He stays with us.
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And He's living inside of us in the person of the Holy Spirit, and He's always there.
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Sure.
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This is what makes sin so bad for believers.
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You realize when we sin, we're taking the Holy Spirit with us.
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You know, when it says, do not grieve the Holy Spirit, what do you think that means? Because He's not going to leave.
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It gives you another thought about you're never alone.
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Sunday I'm going to talk about that.
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I'm going to talk about being exposed.
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Oftentimes we think about exposure, and it's embarrassing to be exposed, but you're never hidden from God.
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Never are you covered.
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Always naked before God.
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He sees everything.
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That's why many atheistic philosophers hate God, because He can see everything.
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I'm getting into Sunday sermons, so I've got to be careful.
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But the reality is, Jean-Paul Sartre hated the idea of God, because it said it made him less than human to have one who could look upon him, and he could not look back.
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That he was the constant subject of the gaze of God, and he couldn't handle that concept of being the constant object of someone looking on him.
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But you see, as a believer, we should find comfort in that.
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What does the Bible say? If I go up into heaven, you're there.
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If I go down into hell, you're there.
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I can't escape, and that's good.
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I'm never going to be where God doesn't know where I am.
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I'm never lost.
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I might not know where I am.
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My family might not know where I am, but God will always know where I am.
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Last verse, and then I want to begin to make some other statements.
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But last verse to look at, and I do want you to turn there, is back to Philippians.
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So we've basically gone from Philippians to Ephesians, back to Philippians.
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Philippians 2, one of my favorite passages to teach on.
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And again, this is such an important passage.
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Philippians 2, 12 and 13.
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It says, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
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Now stop right there before we even read verse 13.
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A lot of people have misread that verse to mean work for your salvation.
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But that ain't what it says.
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It does not say work for your salvation, because you can't.
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The Apostle Paul says that we are justified by faith and not by works of the law.
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We don't work for our salvation.
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In fact, that is a tremendous problem in the church, because people always, if they're doing good, they feel fine.
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If they're doing bad, they don't feel fine.
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Why? Because they think somehow they're contributing to their salvation.
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It says, work out your salvation in fear and trembling.
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And then it says, For it is God who works within you, both to will and to do His good pleasure.
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What happens when you get saved? The Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you.
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What is the Holy Spirit? He becomes the guarantee, the down payment.
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He's the assurance from God.
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If God makes a down payment, He's certainly going to see it through.
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He makes the down payment.
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He comes and lives within my heart.
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That's the promise from God.
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And now He lives within me for two reasons.
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He lives within me so that I will will and do God's good pleasure.
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Read it again.
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For it is God who works in you.
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How does He work in you? By the Spirit who lives within you.
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To do what? To will and to do, or work for, is what the ESV says.
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To do and work for, to will and to work for His good pleasure.
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Think of that phrase, will and work for.
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Because this is the part that I love to point out to people.
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Because I say, it's God who gets you to do good things.
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And they say, Amen.
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And I say, it's God who gets you to even want to do good things.
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And they say, What? Because notice what it says, two things.
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It says, it's God working in you to will and to work for.
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People say, yes, I believe God is the one who gives me the power to do good things.
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No, God's the one who gives you the power to want to do good things.
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It's not just the doing of the things, it's the wanting to do of the things.
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You wouldn't even want to do the things if God wasn't working within you.
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You wouldn't want to please Him.
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You wouldn't want to follow Him.
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You wouldn't want to submit to Him.
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If it wasn't for Him being within you, why do you persevere? Because of God.
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And therefore, some people prefer not to say perseverance of the saints, but the preservation of the saints.
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Because they say, yes, I am persevering because God is preserving.
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I continue in my faith because God is at work within me.
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Strengthening me to persevere.
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He, our perseverance is because of His preservation.
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Our perseverance is because of His preservation.
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He began the good work.
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He completes the good work.
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I am His.
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That's the perseverance of the saints.
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And if you want to call it the preservation of the saints, I'll allow it.
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But either way, He who began the good work will complete it.
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Now, for just another moment or two, and I am going to try to end on time because we have an elders meeting.
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For just another couple of moments, I just want to say this.
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There are passages that people will try to use, and each week I've tried to address the passages that people will use to deny the doctrines.
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Each week I've given you the passages that I think support the doctrine, and I've looked at the passages that I think people would use to deny the doctrine.
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And when it comes to the perseverance of the saints, the doctrine of perseverance of the saints is normally attacked by people who will point out the passages that mention apostasy.
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Now, if you don't remember what apostasy is, apostasy is a very important word.
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Apostasy is abandoning the faith.
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And there are passages which refer to people abandoning the faith.
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There's a whole chapter in Acts about a man who listened to the preaching of the gospel.
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He was even baptized and later was shown to be a false convert.
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His name was Simon.
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Remember Simon the magician? So we have an entire narrative of a man who was a false convert.
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But see, that's the point.
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Calvinism, the perseverance of the saints, does not deny apostasy.
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What is denied is that they were ever regenerated.
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That is the denial.
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So, when somebody comes up and says, Well, what do you do with Hebrews 6, 4-6? I say, I believe it.
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A person can taste it? Yeah, I mean, what do you do with it? I believe it.
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People taste the heavenly gift? You know, turn there real quick.
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This is important because people will say, This is proof that somebody can lose their salvation.
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Hebrews 6, verse 4.
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Listen to what it says.
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It says, He tasted of the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm, and holding Him up to contempt.
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They'll say, See? There's a person who was saved and now he's lost.
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I say, Where in that passage does it say he was saved? They say, Well, he tasted of the heavenly gift.
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He shared in the Holy Spirit.
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He tasted of the goodness of the word of God.
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And he saw the powers of the age to come.
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I say, Yeah, that describes every person who comes into the fellowship of believers, whether believer or not.
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My children could be described like that.
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They have all tasted of the heavenly gift.
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They have all been a part of the fellowship of the saints.
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They have all seen the working out of the word of God.
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If they fall away, that will break my heart.
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But right now, I pray that they will continue and will be saved.
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My oldest daughter is a believer, but my other children, I pray they will become believers.
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But at this point, if they were to abandon the church, and say, I hate it and I don't want anything else, I think they would be within the category here.
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But I don't even necessarily think they would fall completely within the category, because notice this.
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Whoever wrote Hebrews, I don't think it was Paul.
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I sometimes get confused.
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Whoever this writer is talking about, he says it's impossible for them to be restored under repentance.
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So anybody who tells you Hebrews 6, 4-6, proves you can lose your salvation, tell them if that's true, it proves too much.
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Because I've never met a person who said that if you lose your salvation, it's impossible to get it back.
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And that's what this would be proving, if that were so.
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This is referring, I believe, to a person who has been within the church, who has demonstrated themselves as a person of faith, like Simon in Acts chapter 8, but has demonstrated themselves to be a false convert by abandoning and trampling the blood of Jesus Christ under their feet.
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I've told the story before of Dan Barker.
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Dan Barker is the head of one of the largest atheistic associations in the United States.
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He was once a preacher of the gospel.
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I think this would clearly describe Dan Barker.
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Sam Kinison, you know who Sam Kinison is? Sam Kinison was a very popular comedian.
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He was known for yelling really loud when he would make his comedy routine.
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He was in a few movies back in the 80s.
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He was a minister before he rejected Christ and the gospel for fame.
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I think he would fit Hebrews 6.
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So Calvinism does not deny the possibility that someone can look like a Christian and not be one.
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Calvinism does not deny that someone can claim to be a Christian and later prove themselves a liar.
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And I think if you just look at the passage that Jesus gives us when he talks about the four soils, that's proof enough.
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The seed fell among the pathway.
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What happened to it? It was eaten by the birds.
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It didn't even make any headway.
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Some fell among the rocky soil and it sprung up, but it did not survive because it had no root.
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The believer has the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit takes you to the end.
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The false convert does not have the Holy Spirit and he will eventually demonstrate it to be so.
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One last passage.
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I'm going to read it and pray.
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1 Corinthians 1, verses 4-9.
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This is Paul's greeting to the Corinthian church.
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Listen to what he says.
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I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ who will sustain you to the end, guiltless at the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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He will sustain you and he will sustain you to the end, guiltless at the day of Jesus Christ.
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That is the promise of the scriptures and that is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.
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Let us pray.
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Father, I thank you for your word.
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I pray that it has been preached faithfully tonight.
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And Lord, there's so much more in dealing with this doctrine and this teaching.
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I pray that we would all have our appetites wedded that we might be hungry ever more so to dive deeper into the scriptures and learn more together.
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In Jesus' name and for his sake.
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Amen.