Perseverance

Intro

Definition: “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.” -Wayne Grudem

Several years ago I was with a group of guys at an indoor rock climbing gym. While I enjoy rock wall climbing, it tests me in many ways because I really don’t like heights. Normally when you climb, your harness is attached to a rope that runs over a pulley that is controlled by your partner on the ground. If you slip and fall, your partner’s weight below will halt your descent. Well at this gym, they had a device in the ceiling that replaced your partner on the ground. The rope you were clipped into fed into this device, so

1. The perseverance of the saints is central to the purpose of God.

What is the purpose of God in salvation?

What His purpose is not: our wealth and happiness

is one of the most mis-used texts in all of Scripture.

it is used to defend the health and wealth claims of the prosperity gospel

Sometimes our prayers sound like Tevye’s toast from Fiddler on the Roof “Here’s to ur prosperity, our good health and happiness.”

the ultimate goal of God is not our material health, wealth and happiness

the ultimate goal of God is that we would be conformed to the image of His Son!

Nor is it our salvation

What His purpose is: conforming us into the image of Christ

the ultimate goal of God is that we would be conformed to the image of His Son—that is, our glorification

further we find that God foreknew and predestined us for that purpose (v. 29)

AND, not merely predestined, but also called, justified, and glorified! (v. 30)

note the Greek use of the aorist there—completed action

—>Therefore, for Paul the perseverance of the saints is the the underlying assumption of the gospel in light of the purposes of God.

-Note as well the certainty of Paul’s conviction on this point (v. 28)

-Not supposition, not “we think” or “we feel” or “we believe” but “we know that all things work together for good.”

Paul expresses this confidence elsewhere

Philippians 1:3–6 NKJV

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

Philippians 1:3

Application: Right thinking about the doctrine of perseverance directly impacts our understanding of the gospel.

this is no trivial matter

The architecture of theology (INSERT SALISBURY CATHEDRAL PICTURE)

You can’t add and subtract doctrines at will without compromising the structure

Salisbury facts:

-English Gothic cathedral built in 1200’s in an astonishing 38 years (no mechanized machinery)

-70,000 tons of stone

-3,000 tons of timber

-450 tons of lead

Then they decided to add a spire—the tallest in all of England

-The spire rises a towering 404’, nearly half the length of the Titanic, into the sky

-The weight of the spire is 6,500 tons of stone and timber framing

-That is equal to 950 adult elephants, or 3,500 cars, nearly a full 3/5ths as heavy as the Eiffel tower

And the spire was not an original part of the design! The Cathedral began to collapse!

That is what having mixed-matched theology does!

A wrong view of perseverance impacts our understanding of:

-election

-justification

-glorification

2. Perseverance is accomplished by the power of God not human strength.

Ocean—we are weak! (If true physically, certainly spirituall)

“Prone to wander, Lord I feel it.”

The great promise of perseverance is not physical security but of spiritual protection

it is a protection we are incapable of providing to ourselves

“If it were up to us, we should all fall away from the faith and perish.” -R.C. Sproul

“If you could lose your salvation, you would.”- John MacArthur

it is accomplished by the power of God, against whose love, no one may prevail against us.

We know that Satan would love to overthrow and destroy the faith of the saints—yet it is something he is powerless to accomplish

Legally—he seeks to accuse us, but our righteous judge vindicates us

Physically he seeks to harm us—but God spiritually preserves us

Consider Job—

James 5:11 NKJV

Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

“No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me; from life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand; Till He returns or calls me home—here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.”

Application: Rejoice in the promises and power of our God!

“A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing: For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; His craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate, On earth is not His equal.

And though this world with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us; The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him; his rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure, One little word shall fell him.”

And so Satan’s rage we can endure, we can persevere, we can run the race set before us in this hope—the Lord knows those that are His.

3. Perseverance provides assurance to the people of God.

The assurance

1 Peter 1:3–7 NKJV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,

Note:

Believers are kept by God’s power

They are kept through faith

That the genuine quality of that faith is revealed (not maintained or established) when the believer perseveres through trial.

The believer may therefore have confidence in the day of the revelation of Christ.

Application: This assurance of faith is given to those who persevere, not to those who merely make professions of faith.

To whom is the assurance given (Rom. 8:28-30):

The great promises of this text flow to those to whom the text is remarked—those who love God and are called according to His purpose—those he “foreknew” (vs. 28-29)

The great promises of this text flow to those to whom the text is remarked—those who love God and are called according to His purpose—those he “foreknew” (vs. 28-29)

Who loves God?

1 John 4:6–8 NKJV

We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1 John 4:6

1 Corinthians 8:3 NKJV

But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.

we know that we love God because He first loved us

our love for God is a product of His loving us, and His knowledge of us (salvific sense)

There are those whose make profession of faith, but are not known by God

“I never knew you.”

Matthew 7:21–23 NKJV

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Seeds that wither/choke out

Matthew 13:3–9 NKJV

Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

James 1:12 NKJV

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

Matthew 13:3

The apostles refer to those who “went out from us but are not of us.”

The apostles refer to those who “went out from us but are not of us.”

Ex: Judas, Christ says he has kept all his disciples except Judas, who he calls a “son of perdition” (Jn. 17:12)

those outside the wedding feast

Conclusion

“The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose I will not, I will not desert to his foes; that soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.”