Saved
By Grace XI – Persevering Grace: Grace That Never Ends
Introduction – Often called ‘the
perseverance of the saints’, once again, misunderstanding abounds. Paul argued vehemently against the idea that
once you were saved by grace you would complete your salvation by your own
perseverance. True saints will
persevere, but the efficacious power comes from the persevering grace of God
upon those saints, not their own gumption.
We are “…confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a
good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” –
Phil 1:6.
In the modern church, the
emphasis of the gospel is upon ‘your decision’ that you must make
to be saved. It is no wonder that many
would then understand that you can go back on your decision and
lose your salvation. But this is
not what the scriptures teach.
Grace That Saves to the End
(Rom
God’s Work, Not
Mine (John
“Eternal life” – Either
what you have received is temporal or eternal.
If it is temporal, it could (and will) come to an end. Jesus is as clear as day – it is eternal.
“And they shall never perish”
– If one could lose his salvation, he could perish.
“No one can snatch them out
of My hand” – We ask the wrong questions. Rather than asking if I could lose my
salvation, we should ask if God can lose us.
We cannot lose our salvation because it is not our salvation to
lose. You were bought with a price (1
Cor
“My Father….is greater than
all…” God is omnipotent. He is greater than all external temptations
and all inward corruptions which war against our souls.
This Work is
Sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13-14) – A seal was used to
guarantee the sealed item’s authenticity, to indicate that it belonged to
someone, and to protect it. This seal is
also described as a pledge, an earnest payment.
Anyone who had received this seal and later went to hell would take the
Holy Spirit with him.
How Powerful is
the Power of God? (1 Pet 1:4-5) – There is a promise that
if we have been saved, we are guarded in that salvation by God Himself. Our perseverance is based upon God’s
preservation, protection, and power.
Falling Away Passages – Some argue that the
following passages teach that you can lose your salvation. Let’s consider.
“it is
impossible…if they fall away” (Heb 6:4-6) – There
is an effectual call of the Holy Spirit.
But the Spirit works upon creation in many ways. It is possible to partake of the Holy Spirit
in a way that does not lead to regeneration.
In the context of Hebrews, the author is warning about a foundation
being laid about Christ but not pressing on in faith to know Christ. This is more evident in the warnings in
Chapter 10:26-31. There was a day that a
man could offer up sacrifices in the temple in faith, but that day is now gone
for the perfect sacrifice, the Antitype, has come and been offered. To turn back is to reveal that you do not
have that faith in Christ’s sacrifice.
Therefore, these are not passages about those who are regenerate losing
their salvation.
“denying the
sovereign Lord who bought them” (2 Peter 2) – Peter
is describing false teachers. But false
teachers do not announce themselves as ‘false teachers’. They declare themselves to be true believers,
redeemed by Christ. Their warped
teaching eventually reveals the fact that they are denying the very ‘Lord who
bought them’. They are not proclaiming
the Christ of the scriptures. They are
proclaiming another Christ, another gospel.
At the end of the chapter we see clearly that their true nature never
changed. They were not princes that
turned back into frogs, but clean pigs that returned to the mire they loved.
“if God did not
spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either”
(Rom 11:20-21) – This does not teach that someone can lose their
salvation. Those natural branches were
unbelieving Israel. They were connected
to God as His people, but they were not His people. We are warned that the same condition can
occur in the church today. John tells
us, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had
been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that
they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.” (1 John 2:19)
A Benediction of Perseverance
(1 Pet 5:10-11) – In a benediction, God, by means of His minister, places His
name upon His people as they leave His place of worship and go out to their
callings. Having heard the Word with
faith, having renewed our covenant with Him, having feasted at His table, we are
sent into the world with a grace that, in the midst of whatever sufferings,
will “perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle” us. And so, we receive this benediction with our
‘Amen’ –an ‘amen’ acknowledging all that this series has declared: God’s ultimate,
exhaustive, and good sovereignty over this coming week, and the next, and the
next. Nothing will separate you from the
love of God all the way to your final glorification.
Why Do We Need
a Benediction as We Go?
– Because
“in this world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33); you will suffer
a little while as the saints Peter was writing to did. But be of good cheer, Jesus has overcome the
world, and the Rock of Ages will see to it that you overcome as well – by grace
through faith – all the way to the end.