You can turn in your Bibles to the book of Jude. We're going to read just verse 1 and verse 2 of the book of Jude. We read the entire book this morning. Not that it wouldn't be a good thing to read it all again, but we'll just read verses 1 and 2 to set something of a launching pad whereby we can explore the Bible as it speaks to the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.
Scripture Reading: Jude 1–2
Jude 1, 1 and 2, once again, the word of the living and true God. Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ. Mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you. Amen.
Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, we rejoice in the holy scriptures and what can be simply contained in a matter of verses. We thank you for what you reveal to us in your holy scriptures concerning the comprehensiveness of your salvation. And we rejoice in the reality of the perseverance of the saints, knowing that it comes not from our own power, but from the power of the living and true God. And we pray that you would help us now as we examine the scriptures and as we find and see the blessed doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.
We pray that you would help us to rejoice and help us to live and conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of your gospel. And we pray in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Introduction
Well, we read two portions of scripture this morning. Uh, the book of Philippians, we read chapter one and we read the epistle to Jude or of Jude to his particular audience and We read two texts in there. Well, in fact, three, because we read verse one and verse two this morning. But in Philippians 1.7, we read that Paul is confident of this very thing, that the one who began a good work in the Philippian Christians would continue that work unto the day of Christ.
That is a text that speaks to the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. We read, remember, Jude 1, 24, and spent a little bit of time on, now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling. Well, Jude begins his epistle with the doctrine of perseverance brought out in verse 1 to those who are called sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ. Jude 1.1 is a testament to a very concise and brief testament to the comprehensiveness, the perfect, inviolable comprehensiveness of salvation that we have in and by the Lord Jesus Christ.
What do we mean by inviolable? We simply mean that it cannot be violated. impenetrable. The system of salvation by the triune God through Jesus Christ, the Lord, is inviolable. It cannot be broken.
And we have the comprehensiveness of it set forth simply here in the identification of the audience to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ. Spurgeon would say in a famous sermon, I cannot comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation. After having once believed in Jesus, such a gospel I abhor. What is the gospel that Spurgeon did not abhor, but rather praised God for?
But it was the gospel that sets forth a God who from midst to last, throughout, and from the beginning, saves to the uttermost by Jesus Christ, the blessed Savior. And one of those aspects of this gospel of salvation is preservation in Jesus Christ. And so from this launching pad, let's explore the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, because this is the stuff of soul comfort. We're going to look at four things this evening.
Breaking away from the Reformed tradition of a three-point sermon, we'll look at four points this evening. In our Protestant freedom, we can have as many points as we want, as long as we don't try the patience of the saints. Four points this evening then. The
Four Points Introduced
first is the doctrine of perseverance in the perfect plan of God. The second is the doctrine of perseverance in the perfect promise of God. The third is the doctrine of perseverance in the perfect performance of God. And then fourthly, the doctrine of perseverance in the perfect power of God.
Perseverance in God's Perfect Plan
So first off, the doctrine of perseverance in the perfect plan of God, the divine design in the plan of God before the foundation of the world was to save and preserve a multitude of particular sinners by Jesus Christ, the Savior. We should know one text very well that speaks to this, Ephesians 1.4. And we don't repeat this text in order to just be repetitive, but because it is one of those gems in the Bible mind that speaks to the glorious salvation by our triune God. Remember what Ephesians 1.4 says, backing up to verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. should know that text, but where else do we find this particular doctrine?
Romans 8 and the Golden Chain
Another address of Holy Scripture that we ought to know is Romans 8, 29 to 30. And you can turn there because if what we have in the identification of Jude's audience is a skeletal framework, that is a concise testament to the comprehensiveness of salvation by the triune God, then in Romans 8.30 we most certainly have one as well. But the words that precede Romans 8.30 speak to this as well. Again, the doctrine of perseverance in the perfect plan of God.
Notice in Romans 8 at verse 28, And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called, whom he called, these he also justified, and whom he justified, these he also glorified." Our confession of faith, and we looked at that this morning with regards to the Lord's Supper, Our confession of faith identifies this biblical truth that our faith is increased and strengthened by the spirit of Christ working upon our hearts by the ministry of the word. So when a preacher of the Gospel, for example, says, read your Bible, it is to direct you to the Bible generally, and these blessed truths specifically that are given forth to us here.
Whom He foreknew, these He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called. Whom He called, these He also justified. Whom He justified, these He also glorified.
The perfect plan of God was such that He predestined a multitude of sinners, particular sinners, to be saved by the perfect work of the triune God. And in due time, these are called, justified, and glorified. Rightly called, the golden chain, of salvation, this framework testifying just like Jude 1 to the comprehensiveness of salvation by the triune God.
Christ's Own Testimony in John 6
Did the Lord Christ speak to this? Did the Lord Jesus Christ in his earthly ministry speak to the doctrine of perseverance in the perfect plan of God, He most certainly did. Remember what Jesus said among the many other things that He says in John 6. But He says this with regards to this point at John 6.39, This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given to Me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day.
That is the stuff of soul comfort for the Christian, isn't it? This is the will of the Father who sent me, that of all He has given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day. You see, Jesus isn't speaking to some possibility where those who have actually been given to Him by the Father can ultimately be torn away from his grasp, but rather he is speaking with regards to this most certain truth, that there is salvific harmony between the persons of the blessed triune God. There is no disjunction in triune harmony.
The father wills to save, the son saves all those whom the father wills to save, And the spirit in due time comes to apply that perfect salvation. It is beautiful. The Lord Christ most certainly spoke to the doctrine of perseverance in the perfect plan of God when he spoke those words.
Perseverance in God's Perfect Promise
Secondly, the doctrine of perseverance in the perfect promise of God, the doctrine of perseverance in the perfect promise of God, the divine promise. of the everlasting covenant in the Old Testament contained within it the certainty that those covenant members would not perish, but have everlasting life. Now, it was most certainly true that in the old covenant, those who were members of the covenant of grace, those who were believers, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, saints in the Old Testament, remember this, that from Adam to the last breathing human being, salvation has always been and will always be by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, it was by grace through faith in a coming Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This side of that coming, it is by grace through faith in a Redeemer having come. We look back upon the finished work of Jesus in the old covenant. They looked forward to the finished work of Jesus. So in the old covenant, there were those who were members of the new covenant that is proleptically in the past, before it came.
But this is the point, the divine promise of the everlasting covenant contained within it. the certainty that those covenant members would not perish, but have everlasting life.
Jeremiah and the New Covenant
Turn to Jeremiah with me, the book of Jeremiah. And specifically, Jeremiah 31. We see this, what we just said, in the announced characteristics of the new covenant given to us in the old. What we simply mean is this, that in the old covenant, in the Old Testament, The prophets announced that there would be this perfection of salvation in the New Covenant reality.
Notice first off in the announced characteristics of the New Covenant. Jeremiah 31, beginning at verse 31. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Notice the first characteristic.
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. So the first characteristic of this announced new covenant is that it cannot be broken. It is substantially different from that old covenant because this covenant cannot be broken. 33, but this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
The second characteristic of the new covenant reality, all members will have the law written upon their hearts redemptively. It is the case that every human being, every man and woman, boy and girl, have the law written on their hearts creatively, that is by virtue of creation. When we're as we are, created in the image of God, man has the law of God written upon his heart. He knows when he violates God's law that he has violated the statutes of a divine magistrate and is deserving of judgment.
But this writing upon the heart has in view a redemptive writing of the law of God upon the hearts of people, of his elect, of Christians. He goes on to say, And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. You see, in the new covenant reality, we don't have to evangelize fellow saints because they have already been evangelized and they have already come to believe in the King of Kings and in the Lord of Lords.
There is no need to bring the word of God in order to affect the salvation of a new covenant member, because a new covenant member is one by virtue of their regeneration, having been born again. and brought from deadness to life in Christ Jesus. And then lastly, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin. I will remember no more. You see, if it was sin that could cast us out of the kingdom of God, having already been brought in by grace, then what good is this new covenant characteristic?
Because it would be a lie from the courtroom of heaven. For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin, I will remember no more. We have the announced promise, but perhaps more even to the point of this language of not falling away, though that is impenetrable text, we have Jeremiah 32, 40. But notice before we get to verse 40, look how Jeremiah builds to this in Jeremiah 32, 36.
Now, therefore, says the Lord. Now, therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel concerning this city of which you say it shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword. by the famine and by the pestilence. Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in my anger, in my fury, and in great wrath. I will bring them back to this place and I will cause them to dwell safely.
They shall be my people and I will be their God. Then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever. for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from doing them good, but I will put my heart, I will put my fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from me. You see that blessed announcement of this coming everlasting covenant.
We see the reality brought forth by Jeremiah here, that the Lord God will put His fear into their hearts so that they will not depart from Him.
Gabriel's Announcement and John 6
We see this reality as we move now to the new covenant scriptures, to the New Testament. We see this announced by the angel Gabriel, don't we? We're still on this point, the doctrine of perseverance in the perfect promise of God. God, by the announcing angel Gabriel, comes to Joseph and he announces something peculiar and specific concerning the babe that would be born of Mary.
He says, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. The clarity of the scriptures is absolutely clear. There's a tautology for you. The clarity of the scriptures at the point of the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, you just cannot get past it if you are an opposer of this doctrine.
You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. And Christ himself speaks to this reality, of course, when he says all that the father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me, I will by no means cast out. We have the perfect plan of God bearing out perseverance.
We have the perfect promise of God speaking to perseverance.
Perseverance in God's Perfect Performance
And thirdly, we have the doctrine of perseverance in the perfect performance of God. The doctrine of perseverance in the perfect performance of God, the historical execution of the promised redemption ensures perseverance because of the perfection of that redeeming work. You see, this plan of redemption is or that redemption is planned by God in eternity past to use a sort of a contradictory statement, eternity We can't really comprehend eternity, so we put it in time somewhere, before time. But before the creation of the world, God the Father purposed, He planned. to save a particular multitude of sinners by the sacrifice of Jesus.
As He delivers revelation to His people, He promises that He will do so. And that in time and in history, that the execution of that plan is brought to bear by God. What does the Bible say about this?
Hebrews on the Perfection of Redemption
Well, let's review some texts in the book of Hebrews. Because on this notion, The historical execution of the promised redemption ensures perseverance because of the perfection of that redeeming work. The book of Hebrews speaks time and again to that blessed reality, and right at the outset it does so. God, who at various times, verse 1 of chapter 1, and in various ways, spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." You see, that speaks to the blessed reality of the execution of that perfect work of redemption, when He had by Himself purged our sins.
This language again has to do with a thorough cleansing a thorough cleansing. The word is used by the Baptist in the gospel accounts when he says that this coming Lord Christ will thoroughly cleanse or thoroughly purge his threshing floor. Jesus Christ comes in accordance with the plan, in accordance with the promise, and he executes perfectly the purging of our sins, the thorough cleansing of our iniquities. Hebrews 7, Hebrews 7 beginning in verse 20.
We're not exhausting the Hebrews' witness, but we are spending some time in some of what Hebrews gives us. Hebrews 7 at verse 20, And inasmuch as he, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, was not made priest without an oath, for they have become priests without an oath, but he with an oath, by him who said to him, The Lord has sworn and will not relent. You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. By so much more, Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.
Also, there were many priests because they were prevented by death from continuing. But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore, He is also able to save, to the uttermost, those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. You see, the opponents of the perseverance of the saints come to texts like this, and they crumble under the weight of the clarity of such texts.
To come away from this and to say one who has been saved by the grace of God can ultimately and finally fall away from grace is to do violence and to do damage to the finished and ongoing work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is an offense to that perfect work. Notice the language here in verse 22. By so much more, Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.
This language of surety has to do with the legal financial realm. You see, in finance, there is a creditor and a debtor. And there is one who serves as an advocate between the two to bring about reconciliation. That's sort of a thing.
Here, Jesus Christ, or Jesus Christ in the scriptures, is set forth as a surety. His messianic work is one of surety ship. This is what John Gill says with regards to this. Interestingly, this is with him speaking on Jude 1, 24, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.
Gil says this, to himself in this present state of things as washed in his blood and justified by his righteousness. and hereafter in the millennium state, and in the ultimate glory, and also to His Father. And this He died to do, and in some sense did at His death, even in the body of His flesh, through death, and now as the representative of His people in heaven, and will at the last day, when He will deliver them up complete and perfect, all which is in consequence of His suretyship engagements. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ is tasked with this task of being a surety ship, a surety of a better covenant. And so He comes, and He affects that, and He does that task perfectly.
He executes historically the promised redemption, and brings about the efficacy and perfection of that redeeming work. Notice Hebrews 9, 11-15. Hebrews 9, 11-15. We read these wonderful words, but Christ came as high priest of the good things to come with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is not of this creation.
Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood he entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. You see, the blessed and inviolable confines of Hebrews 9, 11 to 15, Jesus Christ has affected, has obtained, has perfected eternal redemption.
You know, we read Isaiah 66 this evening, and One of the things that the prophet is dealing with there when he's talking about the sacrifices being an abomination to him, it's not God himself ordained the sacrificial system. So some opponents of Christianity have pressed the issue and said, well, you see, God is inconsistent, or your Bible is. Because in Leviticus, he ordains and gives the nation of Israel the The ceremonial system of things the sacrificial system of things but then in the prophets he calls those things an abomination Well two things first off they were it was an abomination before him because they were doing it with emptiness and wickedness of heart they were not they were doing it and they were they were bringing a the blind and the lame to the temple, to the tabernacle. They were bringing stolen offerings and offering them up to God, and the priests themselves were thieves and wicked men.
There is also a reality as we come to the new covenant though, where those sacrifices are an abomination because the once for all sacrifice has come to effect perfect redemption. All of those old covenant sacrifices were but types and shadows of the true sacrifice to come, the one who truly can take away sins and obtain eternal redemption. This is an interesting thing then, isn't it? It would have been a righteous thing for the Israelites, the day of atonement before Christ's redemption, to bring sacrifices in the temple and offer them up to God.
But the day of atonement following Christ's redemption at Calvary, Christ's atonement at Calvary, those selfsame sacrifices were an abomination in His sight. Why? Because the once for all Lamb of God had come. The once for all sacrifice to come.
And the argument of the book of Hebrews is why would you go back? Why would you go back to those things that can never take away sin but were only signposts, were only things that directed you to the coming and glorious Messiah, the real Lamb of God? Why would you depart, remain steadfast because this one has come once for all to affect the salvation of sinners? And finally Hebrews 10, Hebrews 10 at verse 11, and every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins but this man. after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.
For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us, for after He had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds I will write them. Then He adds, their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.
You see, Christ has affected it perfectly. He comes and He historically executes the work that the Father had sent Him to do. What about those words from the lips of our Savior Himself? We're still on the doctrine of perseverance in the perfect performance of God.
Remember those seven sayings of the Lord Jesus Christ from the cross that one that Spurgeon said was rendered and left for his people is actually one word in the Greek to tell us that it is finished. Blessed words from the lips of our Savior from the cross. The Father is pouring out His wrath upon the Son. As He's pouring out His wrath on that propitiation for sins, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ has the spiritual wherewithal to cry out, it is finished. You've heard it before and you'll probably hear it at least 700 times before you die. unless that's soon, but you get to enter into glory. But this should oft be repeated because it speaks to the weight of those words, especially with our topic tonight. It is finished, to telestai in the Greek, it means the debt has been paid.
That one word in whatever forms have been found on receipts and legal documents and economical transactions, The debt has been paid, nothing required, no longer anything in need to satisfy this debt. Jesus Christ leaves words for his saints. Remember, they would be in despair. They had all scattered, in fact, save for John and Mary before the cross.
They would all be scattered, they would all be in despair, and yet word would come back to those who were not there, for fear had scattered, and they would hear that the lips of the Savior spoke those blessed words, it is finished, to give comfort to His people, knowing that what He promised would actually come to bear. It is finished, the redemption of my people, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Perseverance in God's Perfect Power
Lastly then, We have the doctrine of perseverance in the perfect power of God, the doctrine of perseverance in the perfect power of God, the application of salvation to those for whom Christ died and the abiding power of the sustaining God toward the same guarantees perseverance to the end. You see, so Christ comes in the fullness of the times and he executes historically the work that his father sent him to do in accordance with the plan, in accordance with the promise. And then towards his saints in his appointed and accepted time, God applies the benefits of the redeeming work of Christ. and He abides with them unto the very end. We're all well familiar with Ephesians 1, 3 to 14, aren't we?
We spoke about that at the beginning. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he goes on to speak concerning the loving predestination of the Father, the perfect redemption of Jesus Christ by the shedding of His blood and the sealing and the guaranteeing of the Holy Spirit. But what about that more concise version, if you will, that we find in 1 Peter 1, 3-5? 1 Peter 1, 3-5, in fact there Peter begins with the same language.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last day. You see, the art, the doxologies that we have in our Bibles are absolutely rich with theology. It wasn't just that the apostles were sitting there, you know, in some sort of contained tower with their gray beards, dryly contemplating and writing things down. They rejoiced in the Savior who with their own eyes, they beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
And they could speak by the revelation of the Spirit concerning the richness of salvation. And in that doxology, does not Peter mount term and term and phrase upon phrase to magnify this truth that the Lord Jesus Christ is able to keep us from stumbling? Just think about what I just read to you in 1 Peter 1, 3 to 5. Look at the amplification and the multiplication and the adding up of phrases and terms. 1 Peter 3. 1, beginning in verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Notice, now to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away. If you thought that this was just a threefold amplification of this blessed truth that Jesus Christ truly does save to the uttermost, he adds a fourfold and a fifth fold amplification reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Kept by the power of God.
Our triune God saves to the uttermost all those who come nigh by the blood of Christ. So we have the doctrine of perseverance in the perfect plan of God, the doctrine of perseverance in the perfect promise of God, in the perfect performance of God, and then in the perfect power of God.
Application
Now, just a few closing observations and we'll pray. First off, this is to be, to the Christian, the stuff of soul comfort. What do we mean by that? When we are tried, when we are afflicted, when we doubt as Christians, when we have those seasons that our confession speaks of, where the rains and the clouds come and we see that we are at something of a distance from the countenance and the glory and the blessing of God, what is to be the boon to our Christian walk, but is a return unto the stuff of 1 Peter 1, 3-5.
We don't look inwardly, as A.N. Martin would once say, at the inner motions of the Spirit upon our own souls, in our own holiness, in our own walk with Christ. but rather we look to the finished work of the perfect Savior and the keeping power of the triune God. Spurgeon writes this with regards to soul comfort. I do not know how some people who believe that a Christian can fall away from grace manage to be happy.
It has to be true. That is true. Well, that we don't understand how they could be because there is no true happiness. I do not know how some people who believe that a Christian can fall from grace manage to be happy.
It must be a very commendable thing in them to be able to get through a day without despair. If I did not believe the doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints, I think I should be of all men the most miserable, because I should lack any ground of comfort. I could not say whatever state of heart I came into, that I should be like a wellspring of water whose stream fails not. I should rather have to take up the comparison of an intermittent spring that might stop on a sudden, or a reservoir which I had no reason to expect would always be full.
I believe the happiest of Christians and truest of Christians are those who never dare to doubt God, but who trust his word simply as it stands and believe it. And we come to the scriptures and we read what it says, and we are to believe that, that Jesus Christ really is able to save to the uttermost. That He does, just like the Father, hold us in the inviolable grip of His sovereign and majestic hand. And no one and nothing, including ourselves, can snatch us from that blessed divine grip.
This is the stuff of soul comfort. And it is to be soul stirring. That is, verse 25 follows verse 24 in the book of Jude. To Him be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever.
You see, these truths stir the soul. When Peter wrote this, he no doubt, or we have reason to suppose, that he wrote it with great joy, with a smile and a burning in his heart. You see, when we come across these doctrines in the Scriptures, it is as if we are to be those post-experience-with-Christ Emmaus Road disciples. That is, were our hearts not burning when we read the blessed text, when it spoke of Christ who preserves and Christ who keeps.
You see, because we can so often, it is our propensity to look with eyes upon our own souls and see how we are doing in the kingdom. Self-examination is good. It is a thing the scriptures bring out. But far be it from any of us to hitch our caboose to the train of our own holiness at the point of preservation and assurance.
We hitch our caboose to the inviolable train and the train that cannot be derailed of the glorious gospel of the saving Christ who saves to the uttermost with divine power. When we stumble, when we fall as Christians, when we have those times where we are struggling spiritually, we don't look to the inner emotions of our sanctified heart and our failings, but rather we look to Him alone who saves to the uttermost. We look to Father, Son and Holy Ghost. We look to the one who keeps us by his power unto that great day.
And this is to be lastly and finally the stuff of soul motivation. What does that mean? Soul motivation. I just used soul three times there.
But this is real soul motivation. What motivates us to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ? But it is this stuff of blessed theology. You see, it isn't the other way around.
Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ so that you can keep yourself in the love of God, in his grace. But rather it is because the triune God, from first to last, midst and throughout, has saved you without a helper, unto the praise of His glorious name and grace, therefore live for His glory, so that those who cast their eyes upon you will have no reason to bring reproach upon the gospel, and no reason to blaspheme the Word of the living and true God. Use the stuff of perfect salvation from first to last to motivate you as you carry out your life in this lower world, growing in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the Savior. And once again, kids, adults, young and old, if you do not know this Savior savingly, if you come here and you know yourself to be outside of Christ Jesus in unbelief, know that Christ is such a Savior. such a supreme and efficacious and sufficient surety for your salvation.
He came into this world, sinners to save, and that reality, when Gabriel announced to Joseph that you will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins, that is most certainly true. And the Bible says that if you believe in him, you will have everlasting life. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we rejoice in the scriptures and what we read concerning your preserving power. And we rejoice in the fact that you do keep us by your power, through faith, for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last day. We thank you that you have saved us by your grace, through the redemption of Jesus Christ, that this was your plan, that it was promised, that it was affected perfectly in history, and that it was applied by the Holy Spirit. And we do pray that you'd cause us to have great comfort in this lower world as we march forward to that great and final day.
And we pray, Lord God, that you would cause us to sing your praises because of these blessed truths. And, Lord God, that it would motivate us in this lower world to live for your glory's sake. And we just pray that you'd go with us now, help us to rejoice in your name, to live for your glory, and to have many an opportunity to tell others of the riches and the excellencies of Jesus Christ, our saving King. And it's in his name that we pray.
Amen.