SS -Perseverance of The Saints

"The perseverance of the saints means that all those who are truly born again will be kept by God’s power and will persevere as Christians until the end of their lives, and that only those who persevere until the end have been truly born again." (Systematic Theology, p. 788)

“Invented by calvin”

TULIP

P is perseverance

Prefer preservation

Different that “once saved always saved” or eternal security

Augustine of hippo 354-430 AD

Wrote a book called a treatise on the gift of perseverance

“the perseverance by which we persevere in Christ even to the end is the gift of God”

Point of significant disagreement

Biblical Grounding

Jesus turn to jn 6

John 6:35–40 “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.””

John 6:44–45 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—”

John 10:25–29 “Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”

No one includes the one in the hand

Jesus will not fail to do the fathers will

Sealed by spirit

Ephesians 1:13–14 “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 of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

Guarantee means pledge, first payment, pledge to pay

Philippians 1:6 “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.”

1 Peter 1:3–5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Through faith is the means by which god guards it

Romans 8:29–30 “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

all those who are born again will persevere until the end

AND

only those who persevere until the end have been truly born again

If you have it (faith) you wont lose it and if you lose it you never had it

Professions vs posession

Mark 7:6 “And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;”

John 8:31–32 “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.””

Colossians 1:22–23 “he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

Proof, not power

Hebrews 3:12–14 “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”

So what about those who fall away

1 Timothy 4:1 “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,”

Matthew 24:10–13 “And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

Hebrews 3:12 “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.”

Parable of the sower Matt 13

Rocky ground - Persecution & tribulation

thorns - cares of the world and deceitfulness

They weren’t truly born again

John - Who saw Judas leave

1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”

Being around the body doesn't mean you are a part of the body

Those who “looked” like christians and were “in the church”

Matthew 7:21–23 ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

They trusted in their works. They were not genuine believers

NEVER knew them

Refutations

PRESCRIPTIVE vs DESCRIPTIVE

Arguments for

Vine and branches

John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

John’s message is you need obedience to be saved?

1 Corinthians 15:2 “and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.”

1 Corinthians 6:9–10 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

Finish the vs

1 Corinthians 6:11–12 “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.”

Galatians 5:4 “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.”

Those seeking to be saved by the law, not grace

John 17:12 “While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

Son of destruction = not saved

John 6:64 “But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)”

John 13:10–11 “Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.””

John 6:70–71 “Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.”

Trent horns response to 1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”

First John 2:19. My opponent (James white) said, "Well, you know, they're they're apostate. The apostates were false Christians. They went out from us. They weren't really of us."

This passage doesn't say anything. It doesn't say everyone who ever leaves the faith was not a true Christian. Not at all. In fact, it doesn't say they were never of us. It just says they were not of us. John was talking about a specific group of heretics, the docatists, who denied Jesus had a real physical body. And so when they left, their heresy was discovered. They may not have started as heretics, just as most people who leave the church are faithful Christians, but then they fall away…”

John 6:37 “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”

“Jesus does not say ‘ every person the gather gave me will always come to me”

John 6:38–39 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”

Trent response

Will of desire, not will of decree

ex

God desires no one sins but that still happens

1 Timothy 2:4 “who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

C.K Barrett

“Paul’s converison, his baptism, his call to apostleship, his service to the Gospel, do not guarantee his eternal salvation