The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder Lacerre Bradley, Jr. O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise! Thou the resolve by God and King, thou triumphs of his grace! This is Lacerre Bradley, Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. O'er the jubilee is sounding, all the joyful news is come! Free salvation is proclaimed, in and through God's holy Son! Now we have complete redemption, through the big and holy Lamb! Glory, honor, and salvation, Christ the Lord is come to reign! Today we bring you the second part of the message on perseverance, which is the concluding part of this series on the Tulip Doctrine.
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There you can also read the Baptist Witness. Now we go to the book of Matthew, chapter 7, reading in the 19th verse. This is part of the Sermon on the Mount. Sometimes a person will object to some of these hard sayings, and say, well I just thought Jesus was full of love and compassion.
He was, but Jesus also spoke the truth, and He was not hesitant to lay out what people needed to hear, and to give warnings as well as words of encouragement. So in Matthew, chapter 7, verse 19, it says, Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them.
Here is a place where we have to be careful. Because one of the criticisms that is lodged against those who believe in the doctrine of perseverance, is that they become very judgmental. That they are constantly looking at others trying to determine whether or not this individual is a true believer. Somebody said to me one time, well I believe God has made me a fruit inspector.
I don't know that anybody has been granted that gift. Generally there is a lot of Pharisaism involved when a person decides, I'm going to be constantly looking at individuals and making a determination whether their experience is genuine. But it is a fact that if a person is a believer there will be fruit born. The fruit of the Spirit will be displayed. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. There are going to be those who will say, I call the Lord my Lord, but they are not going to enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. There is a difference between a person making a profession, calling on the name of the Lord, and a person doing what the Lord says.
Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? There were people that were actively involved in some religious activity. They cast out devils. They prophesied in the name of the Lord.
Cast out devils and in thy name have done many wonderful works. So these are not individuals that you would have picked out and said, I don't believe they are genuine. They are people in the church. They are people who are walking with other believers that from outward appearance gave every indication they were genuine. They attended church. They read their Bibles. They may have been doctrinally sound, but Jesus says, I never knew you.
Now that is sobering, isn't it? That will cause any of us, if rightly understood, to search our hearts, try our ways. Say, Lord, help me to know what is within me.
This is not something to use as a hammer and going after somebody else and attacking them. This is something that will humble us and bring us to a place of self-examination. Then will I profess unto them I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. In the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, the same truth is illustrated. The sower went out to sow. Some of the seed fell to the wayside. The fowl of the air came and carried it away. Some fell on stony ground, sprung up quickly, but there was no root.
Soon it died. Some fell among the thorns, and while it sprung up, yet the thorns choked it out. Only a fourth part fell on the good ground, and it brought forth fruit. Now there was a difference in the degree of fruitfulness. Some brought forth thirty, some sixty, some a hundred fold. But there were those who gave some outward sign that here is going to be a valuable plant.
The seed sprung up, but because it was on the stony ground, when the sun beat down upon it, it soon withered. Read Matthew chapter 13 verse 20. But he that received the seed into the stony places, the same as he that heareth the word and anon with joy receiveth it.
Yet hath he not root in himself, but doeth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. So here's somebody that hears the message and it sounds good. They get excited about it.
I like what I heard. I'd like to feel that when I come down to die that I'm ready for death. Heaven's going to be my home.
I want that. And they join in with other believers. And they are maybe one of the most zealous people around for a time. But then persecution comes. They begin to be criticized.
They hit some rough places in the road. This isn't what I bargained for. This is not for me. And they fade away. That person is not a true believer. And so the lessons are repeated over and over in scripture. Telling us that perseverance distinguishes true believers from false professors. Now the warnings and admonitions in the scripture are used to encourage perseverance. Jesus said in John 15 verse 6, If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered.
And men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. Now what kind of an impact does that have on you? He said earlier, Abide in me and I in you.
Without me you can do nothing. Does it not emphasize the fact how desperately we need the Lord? How much we must be abiding in Him? This admonition, this warning is going to have an impact on the one who has an experience of grace. And somebody who doesn't know the Lord may be totally turned off by it. See that's too difficult.
I don't like that kind of teaching. I don't embrace that. But the person that has been born of the Spirit and is sensitive to the word of God. And they know these are the words of Jesus. Lord, I want to abide in you. Sometimes I'm faltering, sometimes my faith is weak, sometimes I stumble but I don't want it that way. Lord, I want fellowship with you. I want to abide in Christ. Then we go to the book of Hebrews.
Hebrews chapter 10, beginning with the 35th verse. Cast not away therefore your confidence which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience that after ye have done the will of God ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back under perdition but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. So the writer of this book has hope, confidence and courage that those to whom he is writing are not of those that will draw back under perdition.
The just shall live by faith but if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Now considering those references to the doctrine of perseverance, the question may then come to mind, how can I have assurance of salvation? Now there are those who will say it is presumptuous to speak of having assurance that we should only use the terminology Paul used on one occasion when he said in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. I have been among people at times who would never say I am saved.
They would often say instead of just saying I have a hope they would say I have a little hope. Now if you have hope it is not little because Jesus Christ is our hope. So yes we have hope in him but because we have that hope we can have assurance of our salvation.
1 John 5 verse 13. If God's word says that we are to have assurance then certainly that is something we ought to be vitally interested in. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. That is why this book is written that you might know that you have eternal life.
Now I will concede that when you read some of the statements that are in this book they are jarring. You read that the one who is born of God does not sin where does that put you? Wait a minute if that is how you get assurance of salvation I am in deep trouble because I know that I have sinned.
But the book has got to be looked at in its entirety. So you go back to the first chapter of the book of 1 John and here we are told in verse 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So to take the position I don't have any sin I am not a sinner I have been saved by grace so I have no sin.
No, as far as your position before the Lord you have been justified. Christ is your sanctification and you stand complete in Him but as far as your daily walk there is still sin in your life. So if you say that you have no sin you are deceiving yourself.
If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. Now it tells us then that if we sin we have a place to go.
We confess it, we confess it to the Lord and He is faithful to forgive us. Chapter 2 verse 1, My little children these things write unto you that ye sin not. And if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous. So His admonition to us is that you not sin. So when we take that in conjunction with the text when it says that those that are born of God do not sin we have to conclude that He is talking about the fact that they have reached a state of sinless perfection but that sin does not dominate them.
It's not the full course of their life. I talked to a lady one time who said that the old sinful nature had been eradicated. She had a second work of grace and she did not sin.
And yet I knew enough about her and the way she treated other people to know she was one of the meanest women I had ever met. Now she felt like she was living above sin because she set the standard. She believed that because she didn't smoke, she didn't go to the movies and she didn't drink, she didn't sin. But friends there are a lot of other sins. Sin of malice and hatred and envy and pride and on and on it can go. So we are sinners by nature and we continue to sin but we are not controlled by it.
It's not the course of our life. We sin, we are convicted, we grieve over it, we ask for forgiveness and by the grace of God we turn from it. So what are some of the evidences? The evidences that you have salvation. John chapter 3 verse 36 says, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
That's where we would start. If you don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and that's not just a matter of believing that He was a historical figure but believing He was God, He was the Son of God, He was the Savior of sinners and you are believing in Him for your salvation. If you believe in Him it is an evidence that you are one of His. He that believeth not is condemned already because He has not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. So if you are one here today that is not sure about whether you believed on Jesus or not, according to God's Word you are still in a state of condemnation. And I lift up the name of Jesus today declaring that He is the only Savior of fallen sinners.
Bring the good news to the gospel that Jesus said, Him that cometh unto me I will in not wise cast out. First Peter chapter 1 verse 5, And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue unto virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. So for evidence of grace, for assurance of our salvation, we add these things. And then in the book of First Peter chapter 1 verse 5, Who are kept by the power of God, get this, through faith unto salvation all ready to be revealed in the last time. Wayne Grudem writes the following regarding this verse, While scripture repeatedly emphasizes that those who are truly born again will persevere to the end and will certainly have eternal life in heaven with God, there are other passages that speak of the necessity of continuing in faith throughout life. They make us realize what Peter said in First Peter 1 verse 5 is true, namely that God does not guard us apart from our faith. This word that you are being kept by the power of God has connected with the meaning of the word in the original to guard. So he does not keep us or guard us apart from our faith, but only by working through our faith so that he enables us to continue to believe in him. In this way, those who continue to trust in Christ gain assurance that God is working in them and guarding them. So as you continue believing in Jesus Christ, in spite of your difficult days, in spite of your doubts and fears and your troubles, you come back and say, I must cling to him. He is the rock of ages. He is my hope. He is salvation.
It is only in him the Lord is guarding you, keeping you through the faith that he has given you. Secondly, evidence is found as you continue to believe the teaching of scripture. A person that reaches the point to say, well, I just decided seems too inconsistent to me. I see too many contradictions. I just don't believe it. I don't believe it's the word of God.
I don't believe it's the truth. That person turns aside and gives evidence that they are not a true believer. 1 John chapter 2 verse 22, Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?
He is an antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledges the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning, if that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us even eternal life.
The fact that you continue in this truth is the evidence that you have of salvation. Chapter 4 verse 6, We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error. Now, you don't hear John speak ultimately today, but you're hearing him speak through what he wrote. We're reading to you the inspired Word of God and John was the man through whom the Spirit moved. He says, The one that hears us is of God. The one that does not hear us is not of God. So if you reject the message of the Bible, you say it's not for me.
I want no part of it. You give evidence that you are not one of his. Chapter 3 reading in the ninth verse, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his sin remaineth in him that he cannot sin. In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. Chapter 5 verse 1, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Who is he that overcometh the world? But he that believeth that Jesus is the son of God. Jesus said in John 14, 15 it says, If you love me, keep my commandments. And then he said, By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you have love one to another. It says the man that hates his brother doesn't know me. You hold hatred in your heart, don't know God.
If you love others, it's an evidence that you belong to him. Quickly, answering some objections. Believing in perseverance will make you judgmental, says the critic.
But the fact is it will humble you. When Jesus said to the disciples, One of you is going to deny me. Did they all point at Judas and say we've been suspecting him?
No. Judas had conducted himself in such a way during those years that he was with the other apostles. He assumed he's right with them. Jesus knew better. Jesus knew he was the devil from the beginning but the others didn't know that.
So what did they say? They said, Lord is it I. Our proper response then is not to start pointing the accusing finger at somebody else and judging their salvation. But ask, Lord is it I? Some will say that if you believe in perseverance you believe that your efforts take you to heaven.
That's not the case. Yes, he says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling but he also says, for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. The critic says that this teaching will trouble one who is weak in the faith, but actually when understood it will comfort true believers and yet may convict a false professor.
The questions we pose at the beginning of the message we answer. Can a Christian lose his salvation? Absolutely not. We've read a number of scriptures that confirm it.
Many more could be read if time allowed. Does the doctrine of perseverance suggest that works contribute to your salvation? Absolutely not. Salvation is entirely by the grace of God. Not what we have done to what he has done for us, but perseverance is the evidence that you are being preserved and kept by his power. How can you have assurance of your salvation? You look at the evidences described in the scriptures.
What then are some of the lessons to be learned? There are some who profess to be Christians who are not. A child of God may fall into sin, into deep sin, and yet repent and be restored. God is able to keep us from falling.
How good to know that. Jude, verse 24, Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, and the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. An old hymn describes it so well. Ye pilgrims of Zion and children of God, whose spirits are filled with dismay, since ye have eternal redemption through blood, ye cannot but hold on your way. As Jesus in covenant loved and engaged, a fullness of grace to display, the powers of darkness and malice may rage, but the righteous shall hold on his way. This truth, like its author eternal, shall stand, though all things in nature decay, upheld by Jehovah's omnipotent hand, the righteous shall hold on his way. They may on the main of temptation be tossed, their sorrows may swell as the sea, but none of the ransom can ever be lost, the righteous shall hold on his way. Surrounded with sorrows, temptations and snares, this truth with delight we survey, and sing as we pass through this valley of tears, the righteous shall hold on his way. My sheep know my voice and the path that I take, they follow wherever I go. My sheep know my voice and come at my call, but a stranger's voice they do not know. Sometimes when we talk about the doctrine of perseverance, people become confused and suggest that maybe we're saying that man contributes something to his own salvation. Certainly that's not the case, for salvation is entirely by the grace of God. But there are many admonitions given in scripture for us to persevere, and God uses that to keep his people on course, so that as one continues in the right course, it is evidence that they belong to him.
I hope that you will write us, and until next week at this same time, may the Lord richly bless you all. My sheep know my voice and the path that I take, they follow wherever I go. My sheep know my voice and come at my call, but a stranger's voice they do not know. My sheep know my voice and come at my call, but a stranger's voice they do not know. They lie in the fold, they go not astray. I lie in the fold, they go not astray. They love me because I make them my joys, and love me because I make them my joys.
