Perseverance Of The Saints Part 1
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul utilises a classic method of argument in his letters. By argument i don’t mean in a contentious way by rather giving support or evidence for his ideas. That method involves presenting his idea then bringing up the objections to his idea and answering them. He will often ask the question as the objector and then give his answer as if he is having a conversation with himself. Or he ask rhetorical questions which are questions that require no answer because the answer is obvious or absurd but they emphasise his point. We find five of these kinds of questions in the last 9 verses of Romans 8.
He ask these questions to answer objections to and support his fantastic statement in verse 28-30. Namely that God has a plan for His elect that He has had since the beginning of time. That He foreknew and predestined that they would be made into the image of Christ. That He accomplishes this plan by calling, justifying, and glorifying all those who He foreknew and predestined and that because of this divine plan all things work together towards this purpose (and thus for the good) in the lives of His elect.
Thats a big statement. We’ve been camped out here in these verses for several weeks now and I think we could spend more time and we would still not grasp the magnitude of that statement.
A statement like this is bound to leave people with questions. The statement Paul has made put salvation entirely in God’s hands. Who is it that foreknew? Who is it that predestined? Who is it the called? Who justified? who glorified? God! So the question is God does it then who is it that can undo it? The answer no one!
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.
26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
30 I and My Father are one.”
A strong Protestant doctrine known as eternal security or loosely and I believe poorly referred to as “once saved always saved” or properly called the perseverance of the saints. The reason I say it’s poorly called once saved always saved is because it implies that there is a point when you are once saved and after that point of no return it doesn’t matter what you do or how you live you will always be saved. the problem with this is that if we look as what Paul just taught us in vs 28-30 what is that point? When God foreknew me, when He predestined me, called me, justified me or is it when He glorifies me? when am I once saved?
Generally it would be said that a person is saved when they respond to the call of God. But how do you define what it is to answer the call of God? To believe? to believe in what.
Too often it has been to simply believe in some facts about Jesus. Millions have been encouraged to come forward at an alter call told they must say a prayer asking Jesus to come into their heart and as long as they believe that Jesus died for their sins then they are once save and they will always be saved.
There is little or no talk of sin or repentance because we don’t want to scare away a potential convert.
I also believe that this terminology “once saved always saved” encourages or at the very least condones a carnal lifestyle for the Christian. It’s the ticket to heaven concept. Once you’ve got your ticket to heaven then you can just do what ever you like and it doesn’t matter because you got your ticket and you can’t lose it.
But is this the gospel? Is this what Christ taught? or the Apostles?
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
Jesus mentions three things that identify if you are His sheep.
1. They hear his voice Thats the answer of the call that Paul spoke of.
2. Jesus knows them. Thats the foreknowledge that Paul spoke of.
3. They follow Jesus. Jesus’ sheep follow Him. In fact, the voice that His sheep hear is the call to follow Him.
Some teach that to believe in Jesus or to be a Christian and to be a disciple i.e. to follow Christ are two different things In other words they would say that not everyone who is a Christian is a disciple.
17 Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
18 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.
19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ”
20 And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”
21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
What a fascinating insight into evangelism the way Jesus did it.
Without going to deep into this passage...
Jesus told the young ruler take up your cross and follow me. The answer that Jesus gave to “what must I do to be saved?” was be my disciple. Genuine faith is obedient faith
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
I say all of this because it’s important that if we are to look consider the perseverance of the saints that we understand who are the saints. We believe that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. But what is true faith?
23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.
24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men,
25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
What is genuine faith?
Genuine faith if repentant faith. Jesus began His ministry preach repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repentance mean that we understand that we are sinners and we turn from our way of sin to God’s way of righteousness which is justification by faith.
Genuine faith is obedient faith. As we have seen, to answer the call of God is to follow Him, to become a disciple and to serve Christ with our life.
Genuine faith is persevering faith. That is it is faith that holds fast to the teaching of Christ. If it is not lasting faith then it is not genuine faith. Does this mean that my salvation is dependant on my ability to keep believing? What if I become weak in faith? What if I can no longer muster up enough faith? True faith is not of yourself, it is the gift of God.
So some my say “well you’re just teaching salvation by works”. No I’m just saying that true salvation does work, always, every time, and forever.
So with that introduction...
Last week we examined the first question. If God is for us who can be against us?
To which the answer is of course no one. Who can overcome God? Who can defeat God? No one is able to overpower God so if God is for me, if God is my shield, If God is my defender who can ever successfully come against me?
The natural question after this would be “well maybe no one is greater than God and no one can over power God but if God is against you? If God is truly against you then you truly have no hope but
Will God Ever be Against His Elect?
Will God Ever be Against His Elect?
In other words, is it at all possible under any circumstances for God to change His position of being for me to being against me?
To answer this Paul argues from the greater to the lesser. If God has done this unbelievable thing for us already then how will He not also do the lesser smaller thing.
32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
He uses a similar argument in Ch 5 to say the same truth.
6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
So what Paul is saying is that there is now circumstance where God would justify someone through the blood of Jesus Christ and not save them from the wrath to come. If God did not spare His own Son then what good thing would He withhold from us?
Will Any Bring a Charge Against Us?
Will Any Bring a Charge Against Us?
This is the next objection that Paul answers. Maybe God have forgiven your sins but what about others who have not forgiven you. You may have wronged them. Maybe they will lay a charge against you.
33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
We know that Satan does accuse us before God.
10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.
There are those who will bring charges against you but the question here is will any of them stick.
How about God? Would God accuse you?
Paul’s answer.
33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
Will Any Condemn Us?
Will Any Condemn Us?
This question takes us back to the beginning of Rom 8
34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
If we go back to the beginning of the Ch we see why Paul said that there is no condemnation in the first place.
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.