Enduring faith - The doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints

Grace to You :: Unleashing God's Truth One Verse at a Time

The Perseverance of the Saints, Part 3

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:6-9

Code: 90-272

We are continuing a study for these few weeks on the subject of the perseverance of the saints. That

is a, I think, a good biblical title to describe a doctrine that is often called the doctrine of eternal

security, or the security of the believer. The bottom line in this doctrine is that when the Lord saves

someone, that salvation is forever, never to be reversed. The Bible is clear on that basic truth and

the basic truth is that salvation by its very nature is irrevocable.

In spite of the clarity of Scripture, however, on this, there are those who have fallen under the

influence of teaching that denies it. There are many in the Christian church who are living in some

kind of fear with the possibility that they could lose their salvation. They are warned that they can by

sin or failure to believe forfeit that salvation which God has given to them. That is to say a believer

can become again an unbeliever, a new creation in Christ can become again the old. Those who are

now the children of God can become again the children of the devil. Those who are citizens of

heaven can become occupants of hell. In fact, all that is given to us in Christ can be lost and forfeit.

And inevitably those who teach that doctrine endeavor to support it in Scripture. And they bring up a

list of doctrinal passages to be used as a support for the idea that you can lose your salvation. I've

dealt with this through the years many, many times and many fronts and not the least of which is

trying to help the Russians, the Russian believers understand this doctrine because for so many

years they have been taught that it is possible to forfeit your salvation.

On one occasion, to illustrate the point, I was in Minsk in Belarus. Belarus is a very interesting

republic, once a part of the Soviet Union. It is the one most dramatically affected by Chernobyl

because the radio activity that came out of Chernobyl is in the ground and therefore in the water and

in the food supply and the whole nation is dying. It's really an incredible place to go. I've been there

on a number of occasions. On one occasion we went to an old Communist military camp for a

pastors conference, which is quite an interesting change, where Communist soldiers were trained,

pastors were being trained. I was there for a week with them, sleeping in the barracks with them in

that place and teaching them the Word of God, long, long intense all-day sessions day after day after

day. And along the way I said something about the fact that salvation was forever, was eternal and

could not be lost. And this, I think, was in the context of working our way through the book of

Romans, most particularly chapter 8. And I didn't make that as a major point, I just made some

comment about it and went on to whatever else the issue was. And that was at the end of the day

and I went off after a little bit of refreshment to the section of the barracks where I was staying and

slept and got up in the morning and went back into the hall where there was a little bit of breakfast

and then we had our meetings. And when I got back I was greeted by the person who was directing

the meeting who said to me that what I said there at the close of the evening about salvation being

forever and irrevocable caused no small stir so that 27 of the leaders stayed up all night. And they

stayed up all night and compiled a list of verses that caused them to have difficulty accepting that

teaching. And they said, "Here are the verses. Now today we want you to answer all these verses."

Fair enough, right? I mean, if it's true it ought to stand the test of Scripture. And so with the best I

could I tried to work my way through those verses and to show them how to understand those verses.

And in all fairness to you, particularly those of you who have been perhaps taught that you could lose

your salvation, you know some of those verses as well and it's important to make some kind of

reference to them. And so I want to do that. Essentially these are the verses that are very often, or

the major ones that are very often used for people to support the idea that you could lose your

salvation.

John 8:31 is one. John 8:31 says, "If you abide in My Word then are you truly disciples of Mine." And

they will say, "Well you see, if you don't stay in the Word, you would cease to be a disciple." And

then there's John 15:6, "If anyone does not abide or remain in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and

dries up and to gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned." You're going to go to

hell if you don't stay faithful. You're going to go to hell if you don't abide.

And then there's Matthew 24:13, "The one who endures to the end, he shall be saved." So it really

does depend upon your endurance. The same thing is mentioned also in Matthew 10:22. And then

there is Acts 13:43 where Paul and Barnabas were speaking to Jews and God-fearing Gentiles,

quote, "Urging them to continue in the grace of God." And so it seems as though you have to will and

commit yourself to continue in the grace of God to be saved in the end.

Other verses, Romans chapter 2...Romans chapter 2, "God...verse 6...will render to every man

according to his deeds, to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and

immortality He gives eternal life." In other words, if you don't persevere in doing good, persevere in

seeking glory, honor and immortality, you won't receive eternal life. And over in the eleventh chapter

of Romans, and there are other verses, these are just notable ones, verse 22 of Romans 11, and

here is the kindness and severity of God, "To those who fell severity, but to you, God's kindness if

you continue in His kindness, otherwise you also will be cut off."

And so, there are these warnings about abiding, remaining, enduring, continuing. Colossians chapter

1 gives a perhaps familiar one. It says, in verse 21, "Though you were formerly alienated and hostile

in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death in

order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach," talking about salvation,

you used to be evil and now He's made you holy. Verse 23, "If indeed you continue in the faith, firmly

established and steadfast and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you've heard." So

again it's this word "continue." The words are pretty much the same in all the verses, abide, remain,

continue. They all sort of trace back to a common Greek origin.

Hebrews chapter 3 adds some other input into this, and these are verses also that I was sort of forced

to discuss with our dear brothers in Russia to help them understand them. In Hebrews 3:6, "Christ

was faithful as a son over his house, whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence to the end."

And verse 14, "We have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance

firm until the end." It's about holding on. It's about enduring. It's about continuing. It's about

remaining. It's about abiding.

All of these passages are passages that have to be understood. Are they warnings to hang on to

your salvation? Are they warnings that if you...if you let go or if you drift or if you deviate, or if you fail

to endure, you're going to lose your salvation? Well if they are, then the Bible contradicts itself.

Clearly Scripture teaches salvation is forever. It also teaches that salvation is of God and you can't

save yourself either initially or in an ongoing sense. You couldn't be saved initially by your own...the

strength of your own faith and you can't hang on by the strength of your own faith. We've been

saying that.

The idea here is these are not warnings to believer to hang on with all their might lest they lose their

salvation. They are rather statements that those who endure, those who continue, those who

persevere, those who hold fast give evidence of being the ones who are saved. So that you can take

all of these verses and sort of answer them all in the same way. Jesus is saying, if you're one who

abides in My Word, then you're a real disciple. If you're one who does not abide, you're not a true

disciple. If you're one who endures, you're going to receive your final salvation. If you're one who

continues in the grace of God and continues in the hope of the gospel and continues steadfastly and

holds on, then you give evidence of having had the mighty saving work of God because you possess

the only faith that saves and that's an enduring faith.

These passages then define the nature of saving faith. They are not warnings in the sense that

believers would need to be warned to hang on. They are warnings to superficial believers, to sham

believers, to professing believers who aren't the real thing. And they are saying if your faith is real, it

will endure to the end, kept by God, protected by God.

But how does He protect us? Through faith. He gives us a faith that saves and a faith that endures

to the end. We were saved by faith and we endure by faith. It is not natural. It is supernatural. It is a

gift of God, Ephesians 2:8 and 9 says. Just as you were not saved apart from faith, a gift from God,

you cannot keep being saved until your glorification by any human faith, but rather by that same

supernatural faith that God gives you. You were commanded to believe and you did savingly. You

were commanded to obey for salvation the gospel, and you did. You are now commanded to believe

and obey for sanctification and you do. And you are commanded to persevere in obedience and faith

to the very end and you will.

What the writers are saying is this is how you identify the real believer. You're the real thing if you

persevere. And the text on which that whole interpretation really rests is 1 John 2:19, "They went out

from us but they were not really of us for if they had been of us they would have remained with us but

they went out in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us." When somebody abandons

the faith it's proof positive that it wasn't saving faith. It wasn't the supernatural faith that God gives

because it didn't remain, because it didn't abide, because it didn't continue, because it didn't hold fast,

because it didn't endure.

In 2 Timothy 2 and verse 12 we read this, "If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny

Him, He also will deny us." There are only two possibilities of people who profess Christ, the real and

the false, If we endure, we're the real and we'll reign. If we deny, He will deny us. You remember

what Jesus said? "If you confess Me before men, I'll confess you before the angels of God or before

My Father in heaven. If you deny Me before me, I'll deny you." If ever anyone denies Christ, rejects

Christ, all they manifest is that they never had the real faith because the real faith is an enduring faith,

it is the gift of supernatural faith that endures to the end.

Verse 13 then, 2 Timothy 2, "If we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot deny Himself."

And He has identified Himself with you. He has given you to share in His life. Those who endure are

the true believers. Those who do not endure are false professing believers and the true believers will

have temporary struggles with their faith.

And it's true. There are times when our faith is weak. And do we forget the words of Jesus who said

to His own devoted followers, "O you of...what?...little faith?" But never outright denial in some final

and complete sense. So it really is fitting that we turn to Peter because Peter had the real saving

faith, but he also manifest temporary weakness and even a temporary denial when confronted at the

trial of Jesus. So let's go back to our text of Peter chapter 1.

Peter is the one to whom we turn for the strong testimony of persevering in spite of faith that is weak

and being protected by God with a faith that cannot fail. Peter's faith had its weak moments. There

were those temporary denials. I might just fill in a little blank for you. Peter had that terrible

temporary lapse, you will remember, before Pentecost, before the Holy Spirit came to dwell in him.

And after the Holy Spirit is come upon you, you shall have power, Jesus said. After the coming of the

Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, you never hear anything about a denial on the part of Peter

again. He stands up before the whole population of Jerusalem and preaches Christ. But Peter

understood persevering faith. He understood lapses, but he also understood persevering faith. His

lapse was never final and it was never complete. He surely understood then the Lord's faithful love.

He understood restoration. You remember how the Lord brought him and restored him. He

understood grace. He understood the strength of the faith that the Lord had given him. If you're the

real thing, your faith will not fail completely or finally. You will to the very end trust in Christ because

you are kept.

Let's look at verse 5, 1 Peter 1:5, "Protected by the power of God through faith." That is such an

important statement. Protected by the power of God through faith. How does God keep us?

Through our faith, through our persevering, enduring, continuing faith. Now remember, Peter is

writing to Christians who are being persecuted, even martyred. And in the fact of that they were

wondering whether their faith would hold up and they were very anxious about it. Would their faith fail

if they were taken prisoner? Would their faith fail if they were facing beatings? Would their faith fail if

they were facing death?

They didn't trust in their own strength because they knew their own struggles as believers. They knew

they all lived like we do in Romans 7, not doing what they want to do and doing what they don't want

to do and battling the remaining flesh. And they wondered whether or not they would ever be able to

survive in extreme trial of persecution. Not trusting in their own faith they feared t heir faith might fail.

Peter writes this letter and notes that they're going to have some very, very trying times. Over in

chapter 2 verse 20 he talks about being harshly treated and enduring it, enduring it with patience. In

chapter 3 he talks about the harm that could befall them. In chapter 4 he talks about them suffering

as a Christian, verse 16, and not feeling ashamed, but glorifying God. I mean, it's pretty clear that

they're going to have some very difficult times. Chapter 5 verse 10, "After you have suffered for a

little while, the God of grace..." and so forth and so on. And so the letter recognizes that they're

under very serious intimidation and threat. And they're concerned as to whether their faith will

survive. And Peter says in verse 5, "You're protected, you're protected by the power of God through

faith." And what I've been saying is, it's not your faith it's the faith that comes from God that's given to

you as a gift. It's a supernatural faith.

Now we're looking at the elements or the components of this protection. And let me go back just to

what we said last time. First of all, we're protected by a living hope...protected by a living hope,

verses 3 and 4, 1 Peter 1. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to

His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus

Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, will not fade away...I

love this word...reserved in heaven for you." You had a living hope. What is that? A hope that

cannot die, that's the point. It's a hope that cannot die. It can never die. Hebrews 6:19 says, "This

hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast." And what is our hope? Our

hope is heaven, our hope is to see Christ, to receive our eternal reward, to enter in to our heavenly

home, to receive our inheritance.

This is the future for us, the future in the next life. This is an inheritance that Peter says is

imperishable. I mean, how many ways can he say it? It can't perish, it's undefiled, it can't be

corrupted, it's unfading, it can't be diminished and it's reserved and it's frankly reserved for you in

heaven. And by the way, heaven is he safest place to put anything, that's why in Hebrews 6 it says

that our great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, has Himself entered into heaven. He's entered into

heaven. This hope, as I just read, we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast

and one which enters within the veil where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us. Jesus went into

heaven and anchored there our eternal hope. This hope is anchored, secure in the safest place

which is heaven. Are you reminded of Matthew 6:19 to 21? Lay up treasure in heaven where moth

and rust does not corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal. It's the safest place. In

Revelation 21:27, "Nothing unclean ever enters there, no one who practices abomination and lying

shall ever come into it." No thieves can get there to steal your inheritance. Chapter 22 verse 14,

"Blessed are those who wash their robes that they may have the right to the tree of life and they enter

by the gates into the city. Outside of heaven are the dogs, the sorcerers, the immoral, the murderers,

the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices lying." The safest place you can put anything

because only the redeemed and the righteous are there. And what is in heaven is sealed.

Go back for a minute to Ephesians 1. Ephesians chapter 1 is this great statement made in verses 3

through 14. Verses 3 through 14, most Bible scholars say, is one sentence, which means Paul got

pretty hyper here. He never put a period anywhere here. It just keeps flowing. But it starts out,

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual

blessing in the heavenlies in Christ...every spiritual blessing...every spiritual blessing." What does it

involve? He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and

blameless before Him. Now get this, will you please? "He chose us in Him before the foundation of

the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him." Before the world ever began, before

time ever began He chose us to be there when it was all over with Him in glory. And so He's going to

get us there. He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to

the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace. He predestined us to be adopted

as sons. This was His intention. This was His will. And it's to the praise of the glory of His grace. So

He determined in eternity past that He would bring us to glory. He predestined that. And therefore

He freely bestowed this grace on us in the beloved, in Him we have redemption through His blood,

forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. And

down in to verse 11, "We have obtained an inheritance, it's an inheritance having been predestined

according to His purpose." This is about an inheritance that was predetermined before time began.

Our eternal destiny was locked up, sealed and delivered, as it were, before the world was ever

created. It was all according...verse 11...according to His purpose and He works all things after the

counsel of His will. The purpose of it was that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be the

praise of His glory. In Him you also after listening to the message of the truth, the gospel of your

salvation, having also believed...look at this...you were after you believed...what's the next

word?...sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise. Now you can call the Holy Spirit a lot of things

but when you call the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit of promise, the Holy Spirit comes as a seal to

guarantee something in the future, something unrealized as to yet. You were sealed in Him at the

moment that you believed and the Holy Spirit of promise was given to you as a pledge. That's the

Greek word arrabon, down payment, down payment. It also is a word for engagement ring, of our

inheritance. You were given the Holy Spirit as a seal at the moment you believed as God viewed the

future and the redemption of His own possession to the praise of His glory. And that phrase, "the

praise of His glory," is repeated over and over there.

So you understand then that the moment that you believed you were sealed and your inheritance is

unchangeable. That's the way God planned it in eternity past and that's His purpose, that's His will

and that 's exactly what He will do. From the moment you believed, you were sealed and the Spirit

was given to you as that seal.

Look over to chapter 4, same book, Ephesians 4 verse 30, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by

whom you were sealed for the day of final redemption. You have been given a living hope, beloved,

a living hope, the hope that cannot die, an inheritance that cannot ever change and you have been

given a down payment, a guarantee in the indwelling Holy Spirit of promise who seals you for that

day. So you are protected by the power of God through a living hope.

Secondly, we're protected by God's own power. And I just want to expand on that which is...I've

already commented on it. We just simply said last time that phrase in verse 5, "protected by the

power of God," is intended to remind us that we are protected by the greatest power there is.

"Protected by the power of God for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." We are

protected by the power of God until that salvation which is now ready, the word means prepared, at

hand, present, already accomplished, until it's finally delivered in the last time when we see Christ in

His glory. It's like Philippians 1:6, "He that begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of

Jesus Christ." The day of Jesus Christ is the same as the day of redemption, the day we see Christ

and enter into eternal glory. It's the day that John had in mind in 1 John 3:2, "Beloved now we are

children of God. It has not appeared as yet what we shall be, we know that when He appears we

shall be like Him because we'll see Him just as He is." And also in 2 Timothy, I think, we can't miss

this one, chapter 4 verse 7, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the

faith. In the future there's laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous

Judge will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all those who have loved His

appearing." We are sealed until a salvation to be revealed at the last time is ours. We are kept to that

by divine power, the very power of God Himself.

And that draws us in our minds into one other very important passage. Turn back to Romans 8.

And here in this section probably the greatest passage on the perseverance of the saints, we see just

how great the power of God is. Romans 8, look at verse 38 and 39. "For I am convinced that neither

death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 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." There isn't any power that can conquer the power of God and His love for

His own. So, that's review. We persevere through a living hope and through divine power.

Thirdly, and this is very important for us, we are protected by hope, we are protected by power, we

are protected by trials...we are protected by trails. This may seem to be sort of counter-intuitive,

against the grain of what seems reasonable at first, but I want to show you how important this is. If

you don't get anything but his, you will get the heart and soul of this wonderful truth here. Look at

verse 6, "In this you greatly rejoice."

Sure, of course we rejoice that we're protected by God's power, we're protected through a living hope.

We do rejoice in that. "We rejoice even though now for a little while if necessary, if God determines

that it's necessary, you have been distressed by various trials."

Now stop there for a moment. You greatly rejoice even though now for a little while if necessary you

have been distressed by various trials. And the trials are different for everybody because the spiritual

necessities are different for everybody. We all are at different points along the sort of the path of

spiritual development and the Lord needs to do different things in our lives, so we get tests according

to necessity that God determines for them and we rejoice in those tests. Instead of these people

looking at the possibility of being arrested, put in prison, tortured and martyred and fearing their faith

would fail, he says you ought to greatly rejoice in these distressing trials. Verse 7, here's the reason,

"That the proof of your faith being more precious than gold which is perishable even though tested by

fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

Now just take the first part of that verse. This is the proving of your faith. We are protected by trials.

God sustains our faith. Here's a way to understand it. God sustains our faith not by keeping it away

from trials, not by making sure it's never tested. God doesn't protect us, hold on to us, keep us

enduring continually, holding fast by making life easy. He does the opposite. God sustains our true

faith by putting it through hard times. He sustains our faith by means of trials. You had a trial and

you come through the trial trusting the Lord. And you say this faith is the real thing. The phrase, "you

greatly rejoice," might catch you by surprise. You know, we get it backwards and, of course, we're

not helped at all by these ridiculous prosperity preachers that are all over the place giving people

false hope and telling them lies, preaching prosperity instead of preaching suffering, trials. And so

the phrase, "you greatly rejoice in trials," may catch you a little bit by surprise. But remember, these

people are facing life-threatening persecutions, fear is a human response. And Peter says, "Yet you

greatly rejoice." Why? You rejoice because these tests prove the character of your faith. Human

faith would disappear. We know that if you go back to the parable of the soils. Some of the seed,

you remember, went into ground where there was rock underneath, remember that? Rocky ground,

and it sprung up for a little while and when persecution came, what happened? It withered and died.

It's always a test of the reality of spiritual life, always a test. Trials strengthen faith and they reveal

true faith. Look at James chapter 1, James chapter 1 verse 2 says essentially the same thing,

"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials." You know, I guess there's

something wonderful about getting to the age I'm at. People ask me, "Do you question your

salvation?" Sometimes young people ask me that, somebody even asked me that this morning, "I'm

struggling with whether I'm really a Christian or not. Do you struggle with that?" And my answer

honestly is no. When I was very young, you know, the devil would hammer me with doubts. But the

truth of the matter is I don't question the true character of my saving faith because its withstood so

many trials. Every time you go through a trial you see the nature of your faith. The trials don't help

God find out what kind of faith you have, He gave it to you. It's not that He needs information about

your faith. But they become a joy to you when you encounter various trials, verse 3, knowing the

testing of your faith produces endurance and endurance has a perfecting result.

I mean, what is more wonderful...what is a greater gift than to have the assurance of salvation?

Anything better than that? If you ever live with doubts and fears and all of that, it's wonderful to know

that you've got the real thing, it's wonderful to see its capability to survive disaster. In fact, I have

found in my life that the more severer the trial, the stronger my faith is, the more my confidence in

God rises.

Second Timothy is another text that's helpful on this. Second Timothy 1:8, Paul says, "Join me in

suffering for the gospel according to the power of God." Verse 9, "God who saved us, called us with

a holy calling, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace granted us in

Christ Jesus from all eternity." There is that doctrine of election, predestination which is foundational

to our security. But he says in verse 10, "Now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior

Christ Jesus who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for

which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. For this reason I also suffer , but I

am not ashamed." He's saying I survived amazingly. In fact, I rise to the occasion. The greater the

suffering, it seems as though the brighter the shining testimony. And now Paul can say from personal

testimony, the middle of verse 12, "I know whom I have believed."

How do you know Him? Because He's manifested Himself...He's manifested Himself in all my

suffering, in all my trials and I know whom I have believed. I know that I have believed and I am

convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. What is that day?

Redemption day, the day of Christ, the day you see Him face-to-face. I know whom I have believed, I

know that I have believed, I know He is able, that is dunatos, He is powerful to guard what I have

entrusted to Him. By the way, that's paratheke, that's deposit, what I've deposited with Him...my life,

my soul, my eternity. I know He's able to guard it. I know He can guard it through my faith because

no matter what the trial, my faith never fails. He has given me a faith that survives it all. Real faith

emerges from trials stronger than ever.

You know, back to Romans 8 again. You just can't stay away from that chapter talking about this.

But in Romans 8 Paul says in verse 35, "Who's going to separate us from the love of Christ?" Is

there anything that can happen that can cause Christ to stop loving us? Well we could flip it over,

either way in the Greek, is there anything that could happen that could cause us to stop loving Christ?

"Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword," you think he just sort of grabbed

those words out of the air? No, that's autobiographical, been there. Tribulation, daily plots against

my life. Distress, without food, without clothing, cold, in the sea, persecution constant, famine often,

nakedness as a prisoner, beaten with whips, rods, in peril of robbers and peril of my own countrymen

and peril of the Gentiles, he gives a whole list in 2 Corinthians 11. Sword, been t here, seen that

waved at me, and I'm telling you in all there we are put literally on the brink of death all day long, we

were considered sheep to be slaughtered, verse37, "But in all these things we

overwhelmingly...what?...conquer." That's where the word Nike comes from, nike,the conqueror. You

see, this kind of faith that God gives us rises in the trial, it rises.

Now I've never faced persecution. I face some pretty hostile environments. You have to put your

faith on the line in some environments. I find..I find a level of energy and a level of commitment and a

level of conviction and a level of boldness in those environments that perhaps is even greater than

others. And there is that work of the Holy Spirit so that that trial becomes for me the affirmation that

the faith, not mine, but that He's given me is the real thing.

Trials do...back to our text...produce distress for a little while. They come like fire to burn off the

dross. And that's the point. Not only do they reveal your faith, but they purify it. And what emerges,

1 Peter 1, is a faith that is more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire.

When you get your faith tested, it comes out purer, more precious. And I will tell you, with that in your

mind, you...instead of asking for God to protect you from trials, you should ask Him to make sure He

puts you through all the trials necessary to give you the confidence that your faith is real.

I love what it says in Acts 5:41, "They went on their way from the presence of the Council," you know,

the Council that called the apostles and flogged them, that's what the Sanhedrin did, "and ordered

them to speak no more in the name of Jesus." You know what their reaction was? "They went on

their way from the presence of the Council rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer

shame for His name." You know why they came out of there so happy, bleeding, bruised, battered,

embarrassed, humiliated, full of joy? Why? Because they knew they had a faith that was real. They

knew they had the real thing. And all it did was make them bolder, verse 42, I love this, "Every day in

the temple from house to house they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ." Of

course, the worst they could do to them was haul them in and do it all over again and that would

strengthen their faith more. Even Jesus Christ Himself was strengthened through suffering. It says in

1 Peter that He did not revile when He was reviled, while suffering uttered no threats, but kept

entrusting Himself to Him who righteously judges. And the writer of Hebrews says He was made

perfect through suffering.

So we're protected. We're protected because God has given us a living hope. That is to say it's a

hope built into our faith that cannot die. God has given us a faith that is energized by divine power

that cannot be assaulted, no force is its equal. And God also protects us through a faith that is tested

and tried.

There's something else here that I must mention to you in 1 Peter, number four in my little list, we are

protected by eternal purpose. We've been all around this so I don't need to belabor the point. But we

are protected by eternal purpose...by a living hope, divine power, trials and eternal purpose. Look at

verse 7. We are headed for something, at the end of verse 7, "To be found in praise and glory and

honor as the revelation of Jesus Christ." Our faith is designed to survive to the end. This is an

amazing promise. We have a faith that hopes, a faith that is unassailable, protected by divine power,

a strength of faith that is only made stronger through trial where they've proven tested faith that finds

its fulfillment in the purpose and plan of God in a union with the Lord Jesus Christ at His appearing.

At which time we receive glory, praise and honor from God. That goes right back to the reason we

were saved in the beginning, we were chosen so that we would be brought to eternal glory.

You know what the Bible teaches about this, we will be like Him, we'll have a body like unto His body.

We have a heavenly home. He's preparing a place for us. We're just passing through this world.

We're not citizens here. This momentary light affliction that we suffer is not to be compared with that

glorious weight of glory that awaits us in His presence. We cry out for the redemption of our body

because we know what God has prepared for those that love Him. You know all those verses. We

are already, as it were, heavenly citizens. Our Father is there, our home is there, our life is there.

The pledge of God is to bring us to eternal glory. And by the way, that was his pledge. Not at the

time of our hearing the gospel and believing it. That was His pledge to us in eternity past, long before

we ever or anybody ever was even created. God predetermined then that we would be brought to

eternal glory. That is to say you don't understand salvation at all if you don't understand its three

dimensions. There is the point at which you believe. There is the process by which you are kept.

And there is the final salvation in which you are glorified. And when God predetermined to save you,

He predetermined that all three would take place, not some part of them. That's why in Romans 8:18

Paul says, "I consider the sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with the glory

that's to be revealed to us." Whatever we might suffer here we rejoice because it shows us we have

a real faith and strengthens that faith and none of that suffering is to be compared with the glory that

God has predetermined for us.

So we are protected by a living hope, divine power, trials, and the promise of eternal glory. Can I just

give you one more, number five, we're protected by undying love. We are protected by undying love,

verse 8, "Though you have not seen Him you love Him." Though you have not seen Him, you love

Him. That's the bottom line. We have a love for Jesus Christ. If anybody doesn't love the Lord Jesus

Christ, 1 Corinthians 16:22, let him be accursed. It's a profound statement about the nature of true

salvation. It is characterized not only by faith in Christ, believing in Him, but loving Him. You heard

somebody in baptism say, "Just because I believed the facts I assumed I was a Christian." You can

believe the facts and not be saved, the devil believes the facts, the demons believe the facts, they

know them to be true. The issue here is loving the Lord Jesus Christ. "And you love Me if you keep

My...what?...My commandments. You love Me if you desire My glory and My honor." Though you

have not seen Him, you love Him.

If you were to define Christianity in its purest sense, you would have to use that word love. You could

talk about believing in Christ but you really wouldn't get there because so many people say they

believe in Jesus Christ. In fact, I read a foolish article today in which a man said there are three

billion Christians in the world. Well there are probably three billion people who believe in Jesus, but

I'm quite sure there aren't that many who love Him, who love Him sacrificially, who love Him totally,

who love Him obediently, who love Him worshipfully, who love Him righteously. And because we love

Him, though we do not see Him now, verse 8 says, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy

inexpressible and full of glory.

You can tell a Christian because they love Christ so much it comes out in joy. It comes out in joy. Do

you know the only religion in the world that sings is Christianity? Do you know that? A few others

chant in a minor key, sort of non-biblical rap. And you know what? True Christianity sings in a major

key. We sing. Why do we sing? We sing because we're filled with joy. About whom do we sing?

We sing about Christ. I like praise choruses, you know, but I guess 90 percent of the praise choruses

are sort of drawn out of the Old Testament. I like to sing about Jesus Christ. I don't mind singing

about the Old Testament, but I like to get to the good part and that's Christ. We love Him. What did

Jesus say to Peter in John 21 when He wanted to restore him? At the Sea of Galilee He said, "Peter

do you...what?...do you love Me?" That's the way He defined His relationship, do you love Me? And

Peter says, "I love You." He said, "Well then do what I tell you, feed My sheep." He said to him a

second time, "Do you love Me?" Peter said, "Yes, I love you." "Feed My lambs." He said to him a

third time, "Peter, do you love Me?" And the reason He asked him three times, of course, was

paralleling Peter's three denials. The Lord knew Peter knew that love was demonstrated in

obedience, and He said a third time, "Peter, do you love Me?" Peter knew he couldn't call on his

obedience, because there wasn't any. So I love what he said, he said, "Lord, You know everything,

You know I love You." Boy, I really like that. He said, "You're omniscient, You know what's in

here...You know I love You." "Feed My sheep."

And He knows if we love Him. First John 4:19 says, "We love Him because He first loved us." You

know a true human relationship requires love and trust...love and trust. So does our relationship with

Christ. That's how it's really defined. And there's no such thing as a Christian who doesn't love

Christ. In all your life long as a believer you grow in your love for Christ. You grow in your affection

for Him. That's why the Apostle Paul says, "That I may know Him." Cause the more you love

someone, the more you want to know them. Paul knew that he was loved and...back to Romans 8

again...he knew nothing could separate him from Christ's love for him, but he also knew that nothing

could separate him from his love for Christ. I mean, isn't that the idea? You can hit me with whatever

you want. You can hit me with tribulation, distress, persecution, nakedness, famine, sword, and

nothing will change my love for Christ...nothing. I love Him with a love that He gave me. Romans

5:5, "The love of Christ shed abroad in your heart," it's a gift from God just like faith. You've been

given a supernatural faith, you've been given a supernatural love which never change.

And so, it is that undying love that holds on to us. It's a component of our faith. So we are kept

through faith, verse 5, and now verse 9, finally. What is the end? Obtaining...listen to this...as the

outcome of your...what?...your faith, the salvation of your soul. That's why we say this, folks, that this

doctrine should be called the perseverance of the saints, or better yet, the perseverance of faith. You

have been given a faith that never perishes. You have been given a faith that is protected by the

power of God, a faith that has a hope that never dies, a faith sustained by a divine power that can't be

overthrown, a faith that is proven, tested, strengthened through trials, a faith that is designed for the

fulfillment of eternal glory which was promised before the world began, a faith that contains within it

an undying love for Christ. And the outcome of that faith will be the obtaining of the final salvation of

your souls. Simply, folks, there is no escape from this reality, no escape. The result of this saving

faith is your final salvation. The present salvation which you now experience is a result of this faith.

The initial salvation is a result of this faith. And the final salvation will be yours because this faith will

persevere and endure to the very end. That is the nature of this faith. It is nothing less than a

permanent gift from God.

To even consider the possibility that you could lose your salvation is a misrepresentation of God's

grace, it's a misrepresentation of the nature of faith, the gift of His love, the work of His Spirit. It's a

misrepresentation of His power and His purpose. It's a misrepresentation of His eternal decree in the

lives of His elect. And it is true, and it's probably a good place to end, if there ever is such a thing,

Philippians 1:6, as I said earlier, "I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in

you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Does that not end the argument? If He started it,

He'll what? You got it.

Lord, thank You for a wonderful time in these truths, so greatly enriching to us. Thank You for this gift

so undeserved. Thank You for the joy that comes because we know it's forever. Fill our hearts with

joy unspeakable and full of glory. Help us to greatly rejoice in the permanence of this gift of grace.

Thank You for an enduring faith, an enduring love, an enduring hope. Thank You that all of this

began before time and shall be consummated in eternity yet to come, and all of it will redound to Your

glory in Your praise which is our highest joy. We thank You for the testimonies that we heard tonight

of those whom You chose who have now come to faith and are on the path to final salvation. And,

Lord, we know, as Paul said, our salvation now, our final salvation is nearer than when we believed

and soon we know Jesus Christ will split the skies and gather us to Himself and that day, that day of

redemption, that day of Christ will be reality and that glorious eternity to which our persevering faith

takes us will be beyond anything we can ever imagine. Thank You for this grace and this salvation in

the name of Christ. Amen.

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