[0:00] Now cue the handouts. Hopefully you got your pens. Does anybody need a pen?! I got the front row.
[0:13] Hopefully you got your pens.! The efficacious grace. The effective grace.
[0:35] Irresistible grace, that doctrine, is what propels and explains how there is perseverance of the saints. We'll get into that a little bit later.
[0:46] Here's the caveat. You get those handouts, don't read ahead. That's what Jeff tells us. Were you reading ahead? Absolutely. My wife is consistent. She's reading ahead.
[0:57] She's on it. She's on it. But try and read ahead. We're going to unpack tonight. Listen, I've got like three hours of content. I'm not going to go three hours. I'm going to go one hour. I've got one hour left.
[1:08] And we'll get through as much as we can. So we'll do that. Alright, so let's do some fill in the blank. So the first section, and Josiah, let's see. If I forget to advance, I've given Josiah permission to advance.
[1:21] Because I've got handouts to track. I've got my notes to track. Listen, this is harder than Sunday morning, right? Because we don't have handouts on Sunday morning. So you see Jeff, right, on Wednesday nights.
[1:34] He's also trying to track and keep up with where he is. And so it's a bit of a juggling match with the handouts. But hopefully they're a blessing to you because you'll have them. So, alright.
[1:45] So let me, the first section that we're going to look over is just, hey, what's the definition? What do you mean by perseverance of the saints? We have to start somewhere. And so we're just going to start with some statements about what that means.
[1:57] Now, up on the screen, you've probably also heard perseverance of the saints referred to in different ways. I'm just curious. Have any of you ever heard it referred to maybe as the security of the believer?
[2:09] Or once saved, always saved? That's a familiar one, right? Once saved, always saved. That third bullet is preservation of the saints. And watch, it spells very similarly to perseverance.
[2:23] But we're going to go over that near the end of our time, if we have time. Why is it known as preservation of the saints? I think this is something that you'll really be blessed by.
[2:35] And so I'll work hard to get to that one. But those are three of the ways that this doctrine is known as, in addition to perseverance of the saints.
[2:45] All right. So basically, this is what it means. And it's there on the board, and it's also in your notes, right? That this doctrine, it basically means that a true child of God can never fall from grace.
[2:57] And what do you mean by fall from grace? Well, that means if you're a true child of God, you cannot lose your salvation. You cannot walk away from your salvation. You don't give it away. There is nothing that you could do, if you're a true believer, to lose your eternal salvation.
[3:14] The second paragraph there, and you'll see the fill in the blanks on the slides, they're underlined and bolded. So that'll sort of cue you what to fill out on your notes.
[3:25] Another way to say it is that those who become true Christians cannot totally fall away and be lost. Right? That while they may fall into sin temporarily, they will eventually return, or they will be restored.
[3:45] So church, how does one, when you fall into sin, right? Whether you fall into it or whether you just got a disobedient hair one day, and you just decide to be disobedient, and you walk, you plunge yourself right into sin, right?
[4:00] Whatever the case may be, when you find yourself in sin, how do you return from that? How do you restore from where you are? Repent.
[4:10] Yeah, you repent. So what's that look like? Yeah, Michelle. Well, first, you feel bad about it, and then you want to, if it usually affects somebody else, then you apologize to them.
[4:23] Okay. So I'm going to repeat, for the recording, I'm going to repeat what you all say. So you said you feel bad about it, hopefully if you've got a sense of conscience, right, that it hasn't been seared.
[4:34] Then you're convicted, you feel bad about it. And then what was the next thing you said? And usually it involves somebody else, so you apologize to them, and then, of course, you apologize to God. Yeah, so apologize to the one to which you've sinned against.
[4:48] Apologize to God. Yeah. Let me refine those words. What do you mean by apologize? Let's use a biblical word. Yeah, yeah. You confess your sin to the Lord, number one, right?
[5:02] And Jeff has reminded us these past few weeks, right, what we should be grieved about more than anything else, relatively, is that we are grieving our precious Lord and Savior who died for us, who died on the cross for us, for that sin.
[5:17] So when we sin, we offend Him. We put His, what He did on the cross to some lower value. So, yeah, so we confess our sin.
[5:28] We ask forgiveness to our Lord. We ask forgiveness to someone who, if there's been someone that we've sinned against. I mean, what happens after that? So confession, forgiveness, and then that sends us back to what state?
[5:43] A state of restoration, right? You have restored that relationship. So that's what that means. So when that phrase, that they who have fallen into sin, that they will eventually return, that's just a fancy way or might be not so fancy way of just saying that we return, we get out of that state of sin by confession, forgiveness, and restoration, restoring that relationship.
[6:08] All right. So, again, when we think about perseverance of the saints, so the first statement is you can't fall from grace, right? You can't lose your salvation. You can't give your salvation away even if you sin.
[6:19] Who sins even though they're a genuine believer, right? So this should be an encouragement to us as well. All right. Next paragraph on our notes. Again, as we sort of unpack this definition of what this doctrine means, nothing can separate the true believer from the eternal and unchangeable love of God.
[6:40] All right. So now this explanation of this doctrine, we're going to pull in now the love of God into this. They have been predestined to eternal glory and are therefore assured of heaven.
[6:57] All right. Do you remember back when we talked about the you in TULIP, the unconditional election, right? That's when God in eternity passed before the foundations of the world, marked out his elect for salvation and eternal security, eternal salvation.
[7:18] All right. So this is where because of the unchanging love of God, right, that you have been assured, you have been predestined, if you are a true believer of God, to eternal glory and you can live in that assurance.
[7:31] And last paragraph before we take a pause here. All those who are spiritually united to Christ through regeneration, and we're going to unpack regeneration in the next section, but all those who are spiritually united to Christ through regeneration are eternally secure in him.
[7:53] And if we truly grasp the nature of the change, right, if we truly understand, and that's why I want to unpack in just a moment, and Jeff spoke on this, it was actually page three of the three pages of notes in your handout from last Wednesday, right?
[8:07] He taught on regeneration, right? If we truly grasp, if we truly understand what that means, it's a fancy word, but it's easy to understand what regeneration means, right?
[8:17] If we truly grasp the nature of the change which occurs in regeneration, we see that it's a sufficient guarantee that the life imparted to us shall be eternal, shall be permanent.
[8:31] We will persevere to the end as well. So that's sort of a long way of saying that one of the reasons why we are secure in our salvation is because of what happened to us when he regenerated us, the Holy Spirit.
[8:50] All right, so that covered that first section, just basically a definition, just some basic ways to describe perseverance of the saints. Let me pause just a minute.
[9:01] Again, we're going to unpack this more. We're going to look at a ton of Bible verses. But as far as our first step into this, do you have a basic working understanding of what we mean when we say perseverance of the saints, preservation of the saints, once saved, always saved?
[9:16] Any questions? Is that something new you're hearing for the first time, something different? Or maybe a little bit, are we on track? Are we on track?
[9:28] I'm just going to look for, if we're not on track, hey, it's just us. We're a small group tonight, all right? So we can pause and unpack a lot tonight together. All right.
[9:40] All right, so regeneration. All right, so let's go on to the next paragraph. So let me read this, and then I'll stop and comment a little bit.
[9:53] So when we say regeneration, right, this is where the Holy Spirit, God the Father, God the Son, right, in the process of salvation, He has regenerated us.
[10:05] So if we look at the notes, again, for those of you who have your notes from last week, I have taken some of the notes and put it in these slides here for these bullet points.
[10:15] So regeneration is a radical and a supernatural change of the inner nature, right? We were once dead in our sins. Now we're alive, right?
[10:28] Do you remember how Jeff, he'll sort of portray, he'll go, That's regeneration, right? It is giving you life.
[10:38] It's breathing life into your dead, old nature state, right? Being dead in our sin. That's what regeneration is, life. It's giving you life. So it's radical. It's a supernatural change of your inner nature, of our fallen, dead inner nature, through which the soul is made spiritually alive.
[10:59] So you regenerate, right? So just think of the word regenerate, right? I think you bring to life. You sort of regenerate. Bring something when a plant, now this analogy isn't 100% accurate, but when a plant is dead, you can regenerate it.
[11:14] Michelle comes in and loves it and gives it care, and she does whatever she does, and she brings it back to life. You're sort of regenerating it. Now it's not truly dead, right? It's just an analogy that I've thought of off the cuff, but you bring it back to life, right?
[11:28] That's all we mean by regeneration. It's bringing something back to life. God has made us spiritually alive. We were spiritually dead, and now we're spiritually alive.
[11:39] And this renewed, regenerated life, or our nature, right, brings with it three things. And this is from the notes from last week. So it brings with it, so when you are regenerated, when you go from death to life spiritually, this is how you change.
[11:55] This is how we all change. Number one, you have a renewed desire, right, so that your affections are warm toward God, right?
[12:05] In your fallen state, in your dead-to-sin state, right, you are not warm toward God. You have no interest in anything spiritual, right? You're dead. When you are regenerated, when you are given a heart of flesh, right, replacing your heart of stone, when you're—I'm trying to think of all the different ways you may have heard it.
[12:26] When your eyes are opened, right, when the scales—your eyes are opened, your ears are unplugged, your heart is made new, new life, right? These are all different ways of when we talk about regeneration, right?
[12:38] You have a renewed desire so that your affections are warm toward God. Second bullet point there in the notes is that you have renewed direction in life so that your goals—I'm saying your second person—or one's goal in life is to honor the God who saved him, right?
[12:59] So when you're truly saved, when you're truly regenerated, you've got a new desire, you've got a new direction in life, and you have renewed power through the Holy Spirit, right?
[13:11] A renewed power that enables you to overcome the temptation of sin and to live to please God. That's why in that first definition, right, when we talked about you could sin temporarily, but you're going to return from it if you're a true child of God.
[13:25] Why? Because you've got the Holy Spirit in you to overcome sin, right? There is no sin that the Lord cannot overcome, right? So you have renewed desire, you've got renewed direction, and you've got renewed power, right?
[13:40] You're a completely different person, right? The old is gone, right? The new has come, right? And this is your new life when you're regenerated. Now think about that for a minute. If you're a new person, does it make sense now why you will persevere to the end, why you won't lose your salvation, why you won't give your salvation away, why you won't walk away from God?
[14:05] How is that possible if your desire is for God, if your direction in life is for God, if you've got renewed power, right, that enables you to overcome sin and to live and please God, right?
[14:17] A new person won't permanently and forever walk away from the Lord. Again, if you're a true believer in Christ, if you have truly been regenerated, if you're a new person.
[14:31] All right? Let's keep going a little bit as we unpack this, right? So this change, this renewal of your inner nature. So think about this, right? This is in a sphere which man does not have control, right?
[14:44] This is God territory. This was something that actually, in prepping for tonight, this was something I really haven't thought of, but yet it's a logical reason why we will persevere to the end as believers, right?
[14:57] So the renewing, the changing of one's inner nature, right, it's a God thing. We don't have control over it, right? It was a monogistic act, right?
[15:07] It was God only that regenerated us, that brought us to life. No creature is at liberty to change the fundamental principle of its own nature, right?
[15:18] For that's the prerogative of God, God the creator. Therefore, right, if you went from dead to life and your inner nature changed and you now have life, then only God could then change your nature again because it's a God thing.
[15:37] It's something that has to happen from the outside in. And this, again, we're talking hypothetical. There's nothing in Scripture where God will do that, right? Once He has identified you, has set you apart, when He's elected you, He's predestined you, right, for eternal life, that is by His will.
[15:57] So what can possibly change that? Well, theoretically, only God, right? There, nothing short of yet another supernatural act of God could reverse this change and cause the new life to be lost.
[16:12] Do you remember how we've said that, you know, if it was up to me to lose my salvation, I would, right? If it was up to me to get my salvation, there's no way possible because I would always pick wrong, right, because I would be spiritually dead, right?
[16:23] That goes back to the T in tulip, right, total inability or total depravity. If it's up to me, never, never go to God. That's why it takes God from the outside, affecting that change.
[16:36] Well, the same thing is true is now that I'm saved, to keep my salvation, it's not up to me, right, because there's nothing that I did, there was nothing in my merit, in my skills, in my any value at all that I brought to the equation to be saved, right?
[16:52] It was all God's will. It was all for His purpose, for His good purposes, right? And so, theoretically, if our inner nature were to be changed again, the only force that could possibly do that would be God.
[17:10] But we don't see that in Scripture, and we don't see that in His will as well. All right, so think about that regeneration, that change of nature, it can only be done by God, right?
[17:21] And so, as you think about, well, is there anything that I can do to lose my salvation? If you're a true child of God, the answer is no. Theoretically, the only thing you could possibly, and again, this is just logic, this is more philosophical, the only way that you could ever lose your salvation is for God to come in and change your nature again.
[17:41] And that's... And then that would be like God made a mistake. Yeah. He did this once, and then He came back and did something else. Yeah. Absolutely.
[17:52] Yeah, and that's... So, Michael was saying, yeah, that would... If that hypothetically were to happen, then that would demonstrate that God made a mistake to begin with. Perhaps. Again, we're talking a little bit...
[18:03] We're going to unpack a bunch of Bible verses that make this truth clear, this doctrine clear, but I thought it was interesting that one of the authors that I was reading sort of was making this point that, okay, let's philosophically look at this for just a moment, right?
[18:18] God changed your nature from being dead to be alive. The only way your nature can change, because it's in God's hands, if He makes you dead again, right? And that's not anywhere in Scripture that He would do that.
[18:30] So, that's the only... And we're going to see the verse, right? Neither life nor death nor... You know, da-da-da-da can change. Yeah, yeah. So, only God could theoretically change that.
[18:42] So, in conclusion of this section on regeneration, right, the idea that a Christian may fall away from grace and perish, well, that idea arises from basically a wrong conception, a wrong understanding of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, right?
[19:02] That's why it's so important for us tonight. And again, there is so much to cover. I think MacArthur took three or four sermons preaching on perseverance of the saints, if you go back in his archives.
[19:13] We've got an hour here tonight, right? And there's so much to cover. And so, this was something I just thought was a little interesting. Maybe I'm geeking out a little bit being an engineer. But the logic is quite compelling to truly, if you truly understand the implications of us being regenerated, right?
[19:32] That means there is no way that we could lose our salvation. This is one of many evidences in Scripture that supports perseverance of the saints. Now, think of the other side.
[19:45] Think of the Arminian viewpoint, right? Do Arminians believe that one can lose their salvation? Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. There's Arminians. That was these five doctrines of grace, right?
[19:59] It was the counterpoint to what the Arminians presented. And so, why do you think that makes sense? Why do you think that, in their viewpoint, one could lose their salvation?
[20:13] Because what do they think it's based on? Free will. Yeah. Yeah. Their free will. That I had something to do with that. So, if I had something to do with saving myself, I could just as easily have something to do with losing it as well.
[20:27] Well, over here on the Calvinist side, on the Reformed side, right? We're saying that this is all of God. So, again, if you want to play the logic game, God's the only one that could remove, if you would, my eternal security from me.
[20:43] But He doesn't do that. He is before the foundation of the world. He has selected me. And He has regenerated me. He has changed my nature. And only He can change my nature, my inner nature.
[20:54] And that's a glorious truth. If there's anything that you take away from tonight, it's that you should be praising God 24-7 that He breathed into you new life.
[21:04] Because that comes first, right? In the sort of order of salvation, right? It's that you have to be brought to life before then you can respond in repentance and faith, right?
[21:16] That's sort of the process of salvation, right? So, you are elected before the foundation of the world, right? You are called out. You are marked, right? To be saved at some point in the future, right?
[21:27] Then Christ comes, dies on the cross. He makes it possible now for us to receive His righteousness. But we can't respond to that until we are regenerated, until we are made alive, until He gives us the faith.
[21:42] He gives us the ability to then to repent and to receive that gift from Christ, right? You have to be alive in order to do that.
[21:54] And only God makes that possible. All right. Oh, okay. That's gone too far. Okay. So, again, I feel like I'm going so fast through this.
[22:05] But you've got the notes. And again, look at the notes from last week, as well as some of these notes tonight that will sort of hopefully keep you track. Any questions?
[22:16] Anything that's not clear about that? Again, that's just one sort of one perspective of why it's impossible for a true believer to lose their salvation.
[22:27] We can be confident and assured in the perseverance of us, the saints, the saved. We are regenerated. That's the word tonight. We're regenerated.
[22:38] We're made alive. All right. Let's go to the Bible. All right. So I have, just for ease of reference, I have put the verses up on the screen.
[22:50] But if you've got your Bibles, that's also very worthy to track these verses down. We'll be in the New Testament. So if you look at your handout, we're on page two of your handout, the back side of the first page.
[23:04] And I've got five key scripture references. And I've got some questions. So this is not test time, but this is engage time. It's respond time.
[23:15] And so we can very quickly look up these five verses. I'm going to have some of you read these verses out loud. And then if you look on your handout, there's questions. Right.
[23:26] So in just a moment, I'll have someone read John 6, 35 through 40. I don't have this on the slide, but on your handout, I've got two questions for you. So if someone reads these verses, look for the answer to why did Jesus come down from heaven?
[23:42] And then what is the will of the Father? And for this one, I even gave the verse reference. This is an easy one. Right. But look, and you need to be writing those answers down on your handout.
[23:53] So this is a group activity. All right. So who wants to read John 6, 35 through 40 for us? You could read through the screen, read through your Bible. All right, Michelle.
[24:04] Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He comes to me. He who comes to me will not hunger. And he who believes in me will never thirst.
[24:15] 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 the one who comes to me, I will certainly not pass out.
[24:29] For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me, that all that he has given me, I lose nothing.
[24:45] But raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have eternal life. And I myself will raise him up on the last day.
[24:58] All right. Thank you. I think we've read these verses in the past couple of studies as well. So John 6, 35 through 40. So question for you. And this is for anybody. All right. So why did Jesus come down from heaven as reflected in verse 38?
[25:13] What was his purpose? All right. So Jesus came to earth to do the will of his Father. All right. Do the will of his Father. All right. What is the will of his Father?
[25:25] Verses 39 and 40 tell us that. Jesus, the good, perfect, second person of the Trinity. Jesus, Son of God and God.
[25:36] Right. What is the will of his Father that Jesus will perfectly obey? That he would not lose the one that the Father gave him. All right.
[25:46] Verse 39. So what is it that God the Father has given God the Son?
[26:02] Believers. Believers. The elect. Those who have been marked out in eternity past. All right. Verse 40. He echoes sort of what is the will of his Father.
[26:14] And what does verse 40 say? Everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have eternal life. Yep. Yep. Everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life.
[26:29] That's what we're talking about tonight, right? Eternal life. And I, and that last part, let's don't overlook that one. And I, Jesus is talking, I will raise him. Who's him? Those who have looked upon God the Father and believed, right?
[26:43] Or looked upon the Son. I will raise him up on the last day. What's that mean? Does that mean possibly, is there any possible way, if you're a true believer, that you can lose your salvation?
[26:56] No, because Jesus, the perfect Son of God, right, is going to perfectly obey his Father, right? And what did his Father do? He gave Jesus, the church, those who are called out, the elect, right?
[27:08] And Jesus will keep them and will raise them up on the last day. All right. So that one you could take to the bank, right? John 6, 35 through 40.
[27:20] All right. Let's look at another one. John 10. We're going to stay in John. If you go over a couple of chapters, John 10, verses 27 through 30. Can someone read that, either from your Bible or from the screen?
[27:32] And here's the question. Who is able to snatch the sheep from Jesus' hand? You already know the answer without reading, I hope. But somebody read that for me. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
[27:46] 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.
[28:00] And no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. And I and the Father are one. All right. Thank you, Michael. All right.
[28:11] So who is able to snatch the sheep? By the way, who's the sheep? The church. Right? The church. That's okay. I want to make sure we don't lose these very basic truths here.
[28:22] Right? So who is able, according to Scripture, who's able to snatch the sheep from Jesus' hand? Who? What's their name? No one. Yeah. No one. There is no name. No one.
[28:33] No one. It's pretty straightforward, isn't it? Right? Right? I give them eternal life. They will never perish. So that way of saying, ain't no way.
[28:44] I'm going to lose salvation. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them from out of my hand. That's pretty sweet, huh? Pretty sweet. All right.
[28:55] My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. Greater than all. And he repeats himself. And no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. All right.
[29:06] That was John 10. Jump over to Romans 8.1. One of my favorite verses. Some of you may be able to read this, recite this from memory. Right? So here's the question to you. Who in...
[29:17] Who... I don't know. That question may be... So who in Christ Jesus is condemned? Who... Who is in Christ Jesus is condemned?
[29:28] That's a better way to describe it. All right. Somebody read Romans 8.1. Caden, you got it? Oh, I'm sorry, dear. I think Caden was about to say... Yeah, go for it. Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
[29:45] All right. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. All right. So the question. Who in Christ Jesus is or are condemned?
[29:58] No one. Those who are in Christ Jesus. Those are the sheep. Those are the elect. The called out ones. Right? The ones that we've seen references to in other verses.
[30:09] Right? Love that verse. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. All right.
[30:20] Same chapter of Romans. We're still in chapter 8. Go forward to verses 29 and 30. And I have the verses again up here on the screen. So here's my question. So be looking for the answer.
[30:32] Now, this is an application question. Okay? And I forget. Do I have the questions on the worksheet? Yes. Oh, I do have the questions. Oh, good, good, good. All right. So I include the questions. So this is the application question. All right?
[30:42] I'm going to challenge you a little bit. It's a math question. All right. So based on these verses that we're about to read, right? If God foreknew and predestined 5 billion people to be saved.
[30:56] All right? 5 billion. You may need to get a note sheet to do the math here. Right? If God foreknew and predestined 5 billion to be saved, how many of those would eventually be glorified?
[31:09] I know it's a little math question. All right. A little math question. All right. Somebody read Romans 8, 29 and 30, please. Application question for y'all. For those for whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren.
[31:30] And these whom he predestined, he also called. And these whom he called, he also justified. And these whom he justified, he also glorified.
[31:42] All right. Another beautiful verse. I don't know. We need to be memorizing these verses. So, all right. So, for those whom he foreknew, who is that? The sheep, those who have looked upon the son, right?
[31:53] The called out ones, the elect, right? Those who have been referring to the church. 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.
[32:09] All right. Verse 30. Watch closely. Make sure you got your math right. Those whom he predestined, he also called. Those whom he called, he justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified.
[32:21] All right. That whole process. So, if we start with, what's the question? If we start with 5 billion people, just hypothetically, how many is going to make it to the very, that final step of glorification?
[32:34] Yes. Thank you. 5 billion. Right. Right. 5 billion. I'm sorry? Not one less. No. You got it. For the recording, Michelle said, not one less and not one more. Right.
[32:44] Now, listen. Just, there's nowhere in scripture that it says 5 billion. Right. That was just, that was an application question. All right. So, don't, don't, let's make it back to Jeff. Greg's teaching that, that God has numbered 5 billion.
[32:57] No, no, no. This is just to make sure you understand. Yeah. Yeah. If you look at those verses, are there any sort of caveats or any sort of conditions? No. That's the beauty of this verse.
[33:07] Right. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed. Right. Those whom he predestined, he called. He's going to justify and he's going to glorify.
[33:18] Beautiful, beautiful verse. Again, scripture that's supporting this doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. All right. One more. We're going to stay in Romans. So, Romans 8.
[33:29] One more. So, what, here's the question. And it's on your notes, right? So, as we're reading this one, and I'll read these verses. Oh, no. Derek, you're up next. So, if you wouldn't mind reading. But here's the question. I need you to identify what force in creation can separate true believers from the love of God.
[33:46] All right. So, watch closely. See if you can identify what force in creation can separate true believers from the love of God. All right, Derek. If you wouldn't mind reading for us.
[33:56] Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Who will affliction? Or turmoil? Or persecution? Or famine? Or nakedness?
[34:07] Or peril? Or sword? Just as it is written. For your sake, we are being put to death all day long. We are counted as sheep for slaughter.
[34:19] But in these things, we overwhelmingly concur. Through him who loved us. I'm sorry. Conquer.
[34:29] Conquer. Yeah. Through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor light, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[34:55] All right, Derek. Million dollar question. Who can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord? No one. Isn't that awesome? This verse is pretty comprehensive.
[35:05] Now, come on. Will some of you admit this verse is probably familiar to you? You've probably memorized it in the past. Maybe you were a child if you grew up in the church. This is a familiar verse. But does it give you goosebumps when you read this?
[35:19] Right? I love the comprehensiveness of it. Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, or depth, nor anything else in all creation.
[35:31] That will separate us from the love of God. Amen. Right? Isn't that great? Isn't that great? That is so great. That is so great. So, yeah. So, no one is going to separate us. No one, no thing.
[35:42] Yeah. No one, no thing. Right? No one is going to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. If you are in Christ Jesus, if He is your Lord, if He is your Savior, you are in Him, there is nothing that's going to separate you from His love and what He has gifted you.
[35:59] And that's eternal life with Him forever and ever. All right. So, those were just five verses. Listen, if you were to look in your book, and hopefully you were able to read this section, but if you go to page, if you go to the bottom of page 65, you're going to see one, two, three, four, five, six pages of verses to support this doctrine.
[36:27] We just didn't have time to go over all of them tonight. This book is just, I was telling Jeff, this book is almost, you can read this book, it's readable, but it's also sort of like a reference book as well.
[36:41] Great devotional book. If you want to camp out and just for a week sort of focus on Perseverance of the Saints and some of these verses we've talked about tonight, this is a great, great, great book that will point you to verses.
[36:54] You don't have to be searching or Googling, you know, for the appropriate verses there. All right. So, I will refer you to that section in our book for additional verses.
[37:07] All right. Are you wowed? Are you encouraged? Are you pumped? I'm pumped. All right. I'm watching the clock too. All right. So, let's keep going. Let's keep going. All right. So, next section is, okay, so let's, Greg, this seems too good to be true, right?
[37:20] So, can we just like, you've heard maybe some objections from some people, maybe some other churches you've been out in the past about this doctrine. So, you may have the question, hey, does this doctrine really apply to all Christians?
[37:34] Does it? And notice I have Christians in quotes, right? All right. All right. So, let me track down. All right.
[37:44] So, let's go to the next section here. So, let's talk a little bit about who we call Christians. All right. So, in your notes, you're at the bottom of the, let's see, yeah, bottom of the second page and spill over to the top of the, no.
[38:02] Yeah, bottom of the second page. So, the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints does not maintain that all who confess the Christian faith are certain of heaven.
[38:15] Well, wait a minute, Greg, hang on. You just, we just spent the last 30 minutes saying that, yeah, yeah, all Christians, no one's going to lose their salvation, right? But notice here what we're differentiating now.
[38:26] Who are we calling Christians, right? Perseverance of the saints. We're defining who are these saints that we're talking about, right? So, again, the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints does not maintain that all who confess the Christian faith are certain of heaven.
[38:42] It is saints, those who are set apart by the Spirit, who persevere to the end. It is believers, those who are given true living faith in Christ, those who have been regenerated.
[38:55] We've used that word tonight. Those are the ones who are secure and safe in Him. That is, many today, and this is hopefully not a surprise to you, you know this, but it's worth emphasizing, right?
[39:11] Many who profess to believe fall away, but they do not fall away from grace, right? For they were never in grace to begin with.
[39:22] They were never regenerated. They were never set out, identified before the foundations of the world, right? You know folks like that?
[39:34] Or do you have a sneaking suspicion that you might know someone who professes to be a Christian, but there's just no evidence? There's no fruit, at least that you can tell, you know, from outside looking in.
[39:45] No fruit, no evidence. This is what we're talking about here, right? There's plenty who confess to be Christians, but are not true believers, okay?
[39:58] And so what this doctrine, the perseverance of the saints, is saying is that it's very specific about this doctrine, who it calls the saints, right? It's what I've emphasized tonight.
[40:10] It's the ones who have called out, right? The ones who are set apart by the Spirit. The ones who have given true living faith in Christ, right? It's the sheep. It's the church. The ones who truly believe.
[40:22] Or truly believe. All right. So, Greg, well, wait a minute now.
[40:36] So, let me read this next one, right? So, true believers do fall into temptation, right? So, we don't want to swing the pendulum extreme on the other side. But wait a minute, time out. Greg, are you saying that if you commit a sin, then you're not a true believer?
[40:50] Well, you know that's not what we're saying. We covered that earlier, right? True believers do fall into temptation, and they do commit grievous sins. But these sins do not cause them to lose their salvation or separate them from Christ.
[41:08] All right. So, this section is really trying to address the question, but wait a minute, Greg, I was in a church years ago who, man, this couple, they were believers the whole time I was at that church for 10 or 20 years, and they just left the church.
[41:24] They just walked away from their faith. So, are you sure you can't walk away from eternal security if you can't walk away from your faith? And so, the answer to that is, you can't deny all the scriptures we have just read, right?
[41:39] It's like, okay, so we would consider those who may be viewed as falling away is that, well, they're not falling away from grace. They're not falling away from salvation because they were perhaps enamored with the Lord and maybe lived a good, moral, worldly life for a while, but they didn't persevere to the end, right?
[41:59] Over time, their true colors showed. And some of the evidences that we talked about earlier in those verses perhaps maybe just didn't sustain. We know the parable of the four soils, right?
[42:12] Yeah, yeah. The parable of four soils, right? There were some that grew up, but the worries and stresses of the world choked them out. Some of them fell on rocky ground. They started to grow, but then, you know, those are, that's a great parable that sort of describes, yeah, there's people who look like Christians, but given enough time, you know, their true inner nature will become apparent to us.
[42:40] All right? So, again, does this doctrine apply to all Christians? Well, it depends on how you define Christian, right? That's sort of the bottom line here. And so, this does apply if you're talking about true believers who are in Christ.
[42:53] All right? So, we have to keep that in mind as well. We live in a day when multitudes confess the name of Christian, but who are destitute of Christian knowledge, experience, and character.
[43:10] And we've looked at this verse before, right? Matthew 7. Somebody want to read? Actually, let me read that one just for the sake of time. Perhaps one of the most sobering verses in all of Scripture, right?
[43:23] When we talk about those loved ones that we know, friends we know, family we know, right? That maybe they believe they're saved, but they're really not.
[43:35] Right? Matthew 7.21. And you know what's coming, right? Sobering, sobering verses.
[44:05] Especially as a pastor, as an elder of a church, right? It's like, it is probably the greatest concern I have is that there's folks who are part of our church that are in that state, right?
[44:17] They think they're saved, but they're truly not. And so, Jeff and I ask every which way to sundown, right? Everything we can ask. You know, the fruit, you know, we'll get to actually the very end, the very last section of this.
[44:30] I've got a page that you can actually do some own self-reflection. Are you a genuine believer or not? And we'll get to that in just a moment. But you know, you know, you know there's those that confess the name of Christ, but it's hard to tell based on the fruit that's there.
[44:48] Statement for you. I'm curious if you agree or disagree. We live in a day when, in many quarters, in many contexts or many areas, the distinction between the church and the world has been wiped out.
[45:01] All right. Do you agree or disagree? I read this in one of the articles that I used to prepare for tonight. The author of the article. Basically, in the context of a lot of churches who are full of unbelievers, right?
[45:14] We live in a day when, in many quarters, the distinction between the church and the world has been wiped out. I'm just curious. This is an opinion question, right? So opinion time, right? We can take just two minutes to have a little bit of conversation.
[45:25] Agree or disagree with that statement? Anybody? Agree. Why do you agree? I agree. I kind of disagree.
[45:38] Okay. Oh, disagree. Okay. For me, because I see where, like, the distinction, rather, is even more clear in this day.
[45:49] The distinction between? The? The? The, like, the life of the church is a little bit more clear.
[46:01] Okay. Like, I can see a pattern in many denominations where, you know, as far as the Christian faith, where it's kind of looking the same.
[46:15] There's a lot of, the doctrine is looking a lot the same. But then you'll see, like, a clear distinction where, like, here, where, you know, what's being taught here is, like, separate from anything else that's taught in most places.
[46:35] Okay. All right. So, for the record, Derek was just sharing that in some churches, like ours, that there is a clear distinction between the church and the world.
[46:46] But you said, but for other churches, there is less of a distinction? Is that what you're saying? Right. Okay. Thank you. Sort of depends. Yeah. Michelle?
[46:58] I understand what you're saying, but also I'm thinking of the churches that basically act like the world because they just want to bring the world in because it's all about the numbers.
[47:11] It's all about making the money, you know, and it's entertaining and all of that. Yeah. So, Michelle, your sort of observations are, hey, there's churches out there that have other motivations, people, recognition, reputation, money, et cetera.
[47:28] And they look a lot like the world because businesses and clubs and things have those same motivations. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Any other? Agree or disagree? This side of the room.
[47:41] Any agreement or disagreement over here? I think the closing and the distinction between the church and the world has been wiped out because the church over time has accepted more and more sins into the church.
[47:53] All right. Yeah. They've got away from biblical doctors and clear biblical teaching. Yeah. Who can be pastors and who can't? Right. And what is allowed, what ain't allowed. It's got to the point where there really is no distinction in most of the American church.
[48:08] Yeah. So, Jeremy said that the church is sort of guilty of allowing more sin in. And that's been one of the keys that has, where, and that's just continued.
[48:19] And therefore, they're losing their distinction. Okay. It was interesting. It's sort of depressing, isn't it? Sort of discouraging. All right. But, you know, this statement is also an opportunity for us, right, as the church.
[48:31] That a lot of opportunity out there, right? There's a lot of folks that, whether they're lost altogether, they don't know a thing about the Bible, a thing about church. Or, yeah, we've got folks out there that think they're saved.
[48:43] How do you, wow, how do you interact with them and do it in a loving, patient way? You know, because they could get sort of offended. You know, if you try to bring truth to them and they're like, I know truth. Don't, you don't, you don't, don't preach to me.
[48:56] So it just takes great wisdom, doesn't it? But, yeah, we need to be different. Our church needs to be different. And we can't have fear of man, right? We can't be embarrassed.
[49:08] I mean, I'm talking to myself as much as just all of us, right? I just think about work context and other areas in the community, right? There's, we just, we need to be distinct for the glory of the Lord.
[49:19] So, all right. All right, next section. So, let's get to the question about, okay, now let's talk about we as true believers, right?
[49:29] So, we were talking earlier about, so the distinction. Who are the saints, right? Who are those, who are those that call themselves Christians, right? They're, those who confess versus profess, right?
[49:41] There may not be an alignment there. Some who confess they're Christians, they're not. We took that up in the previous question. Here's a new question for you, all right? So, now the context is we are believers, right?
[49:54] True believers. How do we think biblically about others and ourselves who are true believers, believers, but seem to always be battling sin? Is that you or is that, I can move on if that doesn't apply to any of us here, right?
[50:10] Does anybody, anybody can feel like they're, they're battling sin? Every day. That's right. Every day. All right. And how does this really relate to perseverance of the saints, right?
[50:24] So, wait a minute, Greg, are you saying that even in the battling of sin that my salvation is assured? Well, that's sort of what we've said, right? That verse, nor death, nor life, nor principality is there, you know, will separate us, right?
[50:39] So, wait a minute. But, Greg, you don't know the sin that I'm in, right? Right now I'm in a season of sin. Does that disqualify me from assurance of salvation? All right.
[50:51] So, here's a statement. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints does not mean that Christians do not temporarily fall the victims of sin. While even the best men backslide temporarily, they are never completely defeated.
[51:09] My brothers and sisters, please, please be encouraged by that statement. All right. While even the best men, and that's a generic, men, women. While even the best of us backslide temporarily, they are never completely defeated.
[51:22] They can't be completely defeated, right? Because you've got the Holy Spirit in you. For God, by the exercise of His grace on their hearts, prevents even the weakest saint from final apostasy.
[51:37] Basically, from final loss of salvation, right? Don't go on your feelings, especially when you're in the battle with personal sin.
[51:54] Right? Don't go based on what you feel. All right? Go based on... You handle the sin that you're dealing with based on what the Word says. Right? And be assured that you are, by definition, if you're a child of God, you are never completely defeated.
[52:08] And you will overcome that sin. And you will not lose your eternal reward in heaven. Right? And why is that true? Why is that true? Because God said it.
[52:19] Yeah. God said it. And it's by His exercise of His grace. Again, His grace is sufficient for all things as believers.
[52:29] Now, again, earlier, what did we talk about? Back on the regeneration slide, if you go back to your notes, when we were regenerated, this is sort of the balance on this, right?
[52:42] When we were regenerated, what changed about us? Our nature. And specifically, let me find... That was back on the first page, right?
[52:52] Yeah. When we were made spiritually alive, this is sort of the balance to this, right? If you're a true believer, you're not going to be satisfied living in your sin, right? It's just antithetical to your true nature, right?
[53:06] Again, temporarily, you may have a season of it. But if you're a true believer, you will not stay in that. Why? Because when you were regenerated, you've got a renewed desire, you've got a renewed direction in life, and a renewed power.
[53:19] It's just... You just can't go both ways. Let's read Romans 7, 19-25.
[53:35] Are you there, babe? Romans 7, 19-25. Would you mind reading that? This is a familiar... This is another one. I've been pulling up verses that I hope are super familiar with you, and sort of tying these back to this doctrine of perseverance of the saints.
[53:49] 19-25. Yeah. Oh, Paul. This is Paul. Paul is going to be familiar. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep doing.
[54:02] Now, if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I to do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find there to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
[54:15] For I delight in the law of God in my intervening, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind, and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
[54:30] Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So that I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
[54:44] All right. Thank you. Could those be your words? That could be my words. These could be my words. Exactly. So I've got a question for you. So do these words reflect your own experience at times?
[54:56] And the second question is, what is the answer to the question that Paul poses in verse 24? If we look at verse 24, and Mark, you just read it. Oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?
[55:09] Who will deliver me? Who will? Yeah. Read verse 25. Yep.
[55:22] Thanks be to God. He will deliver you from this body of death, from this doing what you don't want to do, doing what you, or not doing what you want to do, etc.
[55:34] When Paul writes in verse 25, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, he follows that up with, so then I myself serve the law of God. So he's sort of drawing a distinction.
[55:47] I myself, that's the new Paul, right? That's the new self, right? I myself serve the law of God with my mind, right? His mind's been renewed, new spirit.
[56:00] So I've got a part of me that's renewed that I'm going to obey the law of God. But with my flesh, right, until we're glorified, we still have that old stinking flesh that we battle sin, right?
[56:12] But here with my flesh, I serve the law of sin. It's just a reality. It's just a reality. Don't let it discourage you, but we're back to talk about what's the Christian life look like.
[56:23] Yeah, Michael. King James says, worry against the law of my mind. You just stole my thunder. That's the next slide. Hold that thought.
[56:33] Yeah. So for the recording, I'm not going to say what Michael said, because we'll get to that in just a minute. Right, right, right. So what's the answer to this question that Paul poses? God will deliver us.
[56:45] And here's the reality. With my mind, with the renewed mind, I'm going to serve the law of God. But with my flesh, I'm going to serve the law of sin. All right.
[56:55] And so therefore, here we go. As long as a believer remains in this world, what is your state, believers, brothers and sisters in Christ?
[57:07] Warfare. You are at war. We, as believers, we're at war with our sin. We should be in a war footing when it comes to that.
[57:17] Yeah. Michelle. I just keep thinking about the next two sentences that he said in that letter. Verse 8. Chapter 8, verse 1. Yes. Thank you.
[57:28] There is no condemnation that you were trying to do. So Michelle just reminded us of what we just talked about a minute ago. After Paul just crying out to the Lord and being so frustrated with this battle of sin, then he reminds himself.
[57:43] He reminds the recipients of this letter. Chapter 8, verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation. So even in the pits of the discouragement of battling sin, we need to be mindful that there is no condemnation.
[57:59] For who? For those who are in him. Who in Christ Jesus. Yeah. Yep. Amen. Hope. Hope. Hope.
[58:09] Is there some application there for us? A lot of application there for us. All right. Let's talk a little bit, though, about, and I know time's drawing near the end. Let's talk a little bit about our war footing as believers.
[58:22] Folks, listen. In this world, this is not a time to rest. We're going to rest when we go on to eternity. We're passing through. We're passing through. This is a temporary home for us as believers.
[58:35] A new heaven, a new earth awaits for us. Our glorified bodies. But we're not there yet. And so it's time to fight and to keep fighting. And so I'm just very quickly going to, we don't have time to read these verses.
[58:48] But listen, this is, now we're talking about sanctification a little bit, right? This is living a holy life. This is what holiness looks like, right? We have spiritual conflict. There is spiritual conflict that battles between the Holy Spirit that's within us and our sinful nature.
[59:04] Right? We see that in Galatians 5. In 1 Peter 2, we read that the passions of our flesh are described as waging war against the believer's soul.
[59:14] Again, there's another verse, right, that describes there's this war going on between us. Don't draw faint of heart, brothers and sisters. All right? We are at war.
[59:25] In Hebrews 12, 1 through 4, the writer there encourages believers to persevere in their fight against sin with endurance and determination.
[59:37] Colossians 3, 5 is a call to actively put to death sinful desires and behaviors. And one more, 1 Timothy 6, 12, a Christian life is portrayed as a battle, right?
[59:56] Implying effort, resistance, and endurance. Now, y'all, I mean, I'm not the oldest one in here, but I tell you, I'm getting tired.
[60:09] I tell you, with work, I've shared with you all privately, I got five years, plus or minus. Hopefully, I can retire. I'm getting tired. And I need to have a little better diet, just physically, just to have the energy to do what I want to do.
[60:25] And I just need to man up, right? That's just the bottom line. When it comes to spiritual battle, right, each of us, we need to man or woman up, right? Because we are all soldiers in this.
[60:37] We need to battle sin. Fight the good fight. Fight the good fight, absolutely. And so, Scripture encourages us. So, it warns us, right? We can rest assured. We have that assurance that glory awaits for us, right?
[60:50] The glory of heaven, of a glorified body. We will, as true believers, we can rest in the confidence there is therefore now no condemnation, right? We're going to get there, but we're not there yet.
[61:02] So, until then, fight, fight, fight. It's warfare against the sin that's within us. All right? Persevere. Perseverance of the saints. All right.
[61:14] Now, to wrap up, a couple of cool quotes here. You can impress your friends and family with quotes. So, all right. This is some quotes in the context of us battling sin.
[61:27] Right? The Christian is like a man making his way up a hill who occasionally slips back, yet always has his face set toward the summit. The unregenerate man has his face turned downwards, and he's slipping all the way down.
[61:42] Interesting quote, right? So, as believers, we're always looking up. We're going to slip. We're going to fall. But, directionally, we keep going forward. And Spurgeon, the believer like a man on shipboard, he may fall again and again on the deck, but he will never fall overboard.
[61:59] That's pretty cool. Pretty cool quote. Found those and wanted to share those with you. All right. One more. One more thing I want to do. Open up your book to Appendix B, which is page 147.
[62:11] I'm going to end tonight reading from this section because I wanted to differentiate perseverance from preservation. Perseverance from preservation.
[62:27] And I'm going to start. Y'all can follow along with me, but it's page 147. I'm going to start that first paragraph break. And, again, time doesn't allow a lot of conversation. We can maybe talk when we're done.
[62:39] But just allow me, if you would, to wrap up with this section. So, the first break in our earlier.
[62:50] That's where I'll start. So, in our earlier discussion of the perseverance of the saints, our primary emphasis was actually on the preservation of the saints.
[63:01] Now, what's he mean by that? Almost all of the biblical references cited had to do with God's activity in maintaining the security of the believer and thus with his giving them an eternal salvation.
[63:16] God keeps his true children safe through various means. They have been chosen before the foundation of the world. They've been foreordained to be the recipients of God's love.
[63:27] In time, they are justified and their sins can never be charged against them. They are kept safe through the means that God uses, such as the inner work of the Spirit, prayer, scriptural warnings, and encouragements, the fellowship of other believers, the discipline of the church, and even at times the discipline of his child by God, the wise and loving Father.
[63:52] We've talked about a lot of these means tonight. God will never allow them to stray permanently away from the love of Christ. And we read that in Romans 8.
[64:04] Through his sovereign power and plan, God brings a people together through Christ. Election, foreordination, justification, adoption, and glorification for the true child of God are wrought by God himself.
[64:18] And he alone should receive the glory for the absolute security of the believer. All right? So pause for a minute. So we're about to pivot here. So this first paragraph that I just read, it's all about how God preserves the believer.
[64:35] That's what he's focused on. We've really, tonight, when we read all those verses earlier, not the last section about battling sin, but everything else that we've talked about tonight was really about how God preserves us.
[64:49] All right? And this is what the author wants to, he wants to differentiate God's preserving work from our persevering work. All right? So next paragraph. Yet, there is in Scripture another side of this beautiful doctrine.
[65:04] Whereas we previously emphasized the preservation of the saints, we must also emphasize the perseverance of the saints in faith and holiness. Too many people have been led to think that if they have ever made a profession of faith, or ever prayed a sinner's prayer, quote-unquote, or were baptized and joined a church, they can rely on their having been once saved and always saved, quote-unquote.
[65:31] Insufficient emphasis is given to God's requirement that we must persevere to the end in a life that seeks after holiness. We are convinced that there will be many who think that heaven is certain and will realize too late that their sense of security in Christ was actually a false hope.
[65:55] While they acknowledged Christ as their Savior, their lives did not reflect a genuine relationship with Him. And consequently, they were still dead in their sins.
[66:07] There was no perseverance. No running of the race to the end. Only a mere profession made years earlier. One could almost speak of the six points of Calvinism.
[66:20] The fifth point being the preservation of the saints. And the sixth point being the perseverance of the saints. The Bible repeatedly emphasizes both sides of this wonderful doctrine.
[66:35] This is one of those doctrines that we classify as an antinomy. That is, it contains two teachings which appear contradictory to the human mind, but which in God's mind are not intention at all.
[66:49] Other examples of an antinomy are God's sovereignty and salvation, and yet man's responsibility to respond in faith. The fact that God is three, yet one.
[67:01] And the truth that Christ was fully God, but also fully human. Our minds are limited, and to us, these truths are irreconcilable. But to God, there is no problem.
[67:14] Both are true, though we cannot fathom how that can be. And the same is true with regard to preservation and perseverance.
[67:26] God preserves us beyond any doubt. Don't leave tonight. By the way, don't leave tonight. There should be no doubt. God preserves us. Yet, we have a responsibility to persevere in the faith to the end, striving after holiness.
[67:43] And if we do not hold out, we have no basis for assurance that God is preserving us. This doctrine has been well summarized in these words.
[67:54] Quote, Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone. A.N. Martin asks and answers the right question. Do I confess that I am being preserved by God's keeping power?
[68:10] Then His preserving must be coming to light in my persevering. The only proof I have that He preserves me is that by His grace, I am able to persevere.
[68:24] Let me read that last statement. Let me read that last statement. His preserving must be coming to light in my... I'm sorry. I almost got through it without messing up. Do I confess that I am being preserved by God's keeping power?
[68:39] Then God's preserving must be coming to light in my persevering. The only proof I have that He preserves me is that by His grace, I am able, I am enabled to persevere.
[68:56] With a minimum of comment, we list the following verses that emphasize the perseverance of the saints. We hope that by doing so, we will strike the proper balance between the preservation of the saints and the perseverance of the saints.
[69:13] This is not an exhaustive list, but merely a sample of New Testament teaching. And then there's one, two, three, four, five, six, six pages of verses that sort of highlight that.
[69:25] So that appendix, I saved this for last because I knew it was in this book. You all have a copy of this book. You can reread this on your own time at your own pace. But I really appreciate the balance that he explained there between God's preserving work, but our persevering work.
[69:46] And you may read in some books that the perseverance of the saints is a synergistic work. And if you read that, that's what this means.
[69:57] Without a doubt, it says God preserves us. It's His work, monogistic, right? It's Him and Him alone. But in our minds, right, it's also Scripture's clear that we are to persevere.
[70:08] And that perseverance gives us assurance, right? I mean, you know, when you're in a season of being obedient and you feel like, I mean, you're not perfect. No one's perfect all the time, right?
[70:19] But when you're in a good clip and you're going well and you are persevering and you're battling sin effectively, I would think that you have confidence and you have assurance of the future.
[70:33] But then when you're in a season of sin, you may have that just voice in the back of your mind, if you would, that just makes you sort of question and wonder about your security. And I hope this explanation of God's preserving work and then our persevering through the battle would be helpful.
[70:54] Any questions? Any questions on that? Brief questions? Clarifications? I hope I didn't leave you confused. I hope that was encouraging. Preserving, God's preserving and our persevering.
[71:07] Yeah, we're both at play. So page four, you may be leaving tonight or those who are listening to the recording may be at the point where, Greg, all of this is predicated on me being a true believer.
[71:21] I don't know that I'm a true believer. I don't know that perseverance of the saints applies to me. How can I know for sure? And so on page four, I copied and pasted straight from the MacArthur Study Bible.
[71:35] He has an excellent section. It's a one page on the character of genuine saving faith. And so take some time to look at that. You know, he gives two lists.
[71:46] The first list is evidences that neither prove nor disprove one's faith, right? That you're moral, you're intellectually smart, knowledgeable, you're involved in church, you're active in ministry, etc., etc.
[71:58] Those evidences neither prove or disprove one's faith. The second list are proofs or proofs of authentic true Christianity.
[72:09] And there's a boatload of Bible verses that support these proofs or the fruit of authentic, genuine, saving faith. And then he says there at the bottom, If list one is true of a person and list two is false, there is cause to question the validity of one's profession of faith.
[72:30] Yet, if list two is true, then the top list will also be true. It has to be true. Because if you're authentically saved via the proofs in list number two, it's going to show in the evidences in list number one as well.
[72:48] Anyhow, and then the bottom was one's conduct of a true believer, their conduct of the gospel. So if you have a MacArthur Study Bible, it's in the appendix.
[72:59] There's also a link to an article at the bottom of page four if you want more information. I have used this multiple times. I've had a MacArthur Study Bible for I don't know how long. But I've used this in just sitting down and talking with others about, hey, helping them sort of figure out if one is truly saved or not.
[73:19] This is really helpful stuff. Thank you, babe, for mentioning that. We've got a bunch of extra copies for tonight. So if you want to take a few more copies, and maybe just take one and rip it off and fold it and stick it in your Bible, that might be handy as well.
[73:34] All right. Sorry I kept you over. So, all right. We're done. Doctrines of Grace. Six weeks. We've got this done in record time. Jeff and I didn't know if we'd take all summer, if it would be a six-month study or what.
[73:49] But we've got it done in six weeks. Each of these topics we can unpack. Again, I just scratched the surface. I just hit some of the topics that I may have not hit questions that you had or other related topics.
[74:02] But hopefully these are of an encouragement and will encourage you in your walk with the Lord as we look ahead to glory. So let me pray.
[74:12] Let me pray. I'll quit talking and y'all can get eaten and talking. So, Father, thank you for tonight. Lord, thank you for these beautiful doctrines, these beautiful truths. Thank you for your word that makes it so clear.
[74:23] Father, thank you for giving us the ability to set our biases and our laundry, if you would, from previous teachings and maybe years gone by and at churches that weren't subscribed fully to the word of God.
[74:37] Lord, I don't know, Lord, each of our backgrounds here. But just thank you that you give us the opportunity to look at your word afresh and anew. Thank you for reminding us of truths that we know through your word.
[74:49] Thank you for new perspectives, biblical perspectives that you have granted us to have tonight, Lord. Father, I thank you that you preserve us. Oh, Father, thank you that it's not based on any of us, Lord, our salvation, not based on us and any merits that we might have or any good works that we might do, Lord.
[75:13] Father, humble us as we worship you and as we understand your mighty work of regeneration and for you preserving us, Lord, and help us as we persevere in the world.
[75:26] Help us to battle private sin. Help us to battle public sin. Help us to battle our thought life, our attitudes, our words, Father, in all of our aspects of life.
[75:37] Father, we are so needy for your forgiveness. So we confess those to you, Lord. Help us to confess daily our sins to you and to those who we sin against. Help us to seek forgiveness.
[75:50] Help us to seek reconciliation and restoration of relationship. Father, this is what you command us to do as your children. So may we not be faint of heart in obeying you. Father, your scripture says that we express our love to you by obeying your commands.
[76:06] So we equip us and enable us. We thank you for the Holy Spirit that does do that, Lord. So again, just help us to be on a war footing as we love others but as we fight sin, Father, and help us to be wise in doing so.
[76:19] So thank you for tonight. I thank you for my brothers and sisters here tonight. Bless the food that Dora has provided, Lord, that you have provided through Dora, and just our sweet time of fellowship together. We thank you, Lord, and we love you.
[76:31] In Jesus' name, amen.