Perseverance of the Saints (Part 1 of 2)

What's the Secret to Remaining True to Our Faith?

Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg continues a study called Fix Our Eyes on Jesus with an important message about the perseverance of the saints. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.

Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died more than that, who was raised to life, is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble, or hardship, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, For you see it, we face death all day long.

We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Father, we pray that you will come and speak to our lives this evening through your Word. Far beyond the voice of a mere man may we hear you speak, and in hearing your voice grant to us comfort and assurance and encouragement and grace and faith.

For these we so much need. And we look to you alone. In Jesus' name.

Amen. For some weeks now, in our study in Hebrews, I've been wanting to do something to set, as it were, the Scriptures in balance, and I've never really had the opportunity to do so. And so tonight I want to speak concerning the flip side of the coin in relationship to the issues of apostasy that have been the area of our study in Hebrews chapter 6, and then again in Hebrews chapter 10. And I want to affirm before you, and in light of Scripture, and I want you who believe to be strengthened and encouraged and equipped by it the fact and the biblical doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, or the preservation of the saints—which, in short, is this, that once you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you can never be lost.

You can never go to hell. Christ will always be your Savior. Now, it is this doctrine which runs the whole way through the Bible.

The person who sincerely puts his or her trust in the Lord Jesus Christ is said to be safe—safe in the arms of Jesus, in the words of the children's hymn—"secure and secure eternally." Now, I want to underpin this by turning you just to one or two verses of Scripture. They will be familiar verses, but I read them purposefully. First of all, in John chapter 6 and in verse 39. Jesus is speaking, and he says, And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Jesus says a similar thing in the tenth chapter of John and in verses 28 and 29, concerning his sheep, the members of his flock.

In verse 27 he says, My sheep, listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life. Which is obviously a present-tense experience.

It's not something out in a remote and possible future. I give them present-tense eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all.

No one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. And then, in the words of Peter, in 1 Peter and in chapter 1, and verse 3, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy he has given his new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade, kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. Now, let me give you what is Birkhoff's definition of the perseverance of the saints. He says, Perseverance is that continuous operation of the Holy Spirit in the believer—that continuous operation of the Holy Spirit in the believer by which the work of divine grace that is begun in the heart is continued and brought to completion.

What is this perseverance? That continuous operation of the Holy Spirit in the believer by which the work of divine grace that is begun in the heart is continued and brought to completion. Strictly speaking, the perseverance of the saints—and when they use the phrase saints, they're talking about those who have truly believed in the Lord Jesus Christ—the perseverance of the child of God is, strictly speaking, the perseverance of God. Because it is on account of the fact that God perseveres with those who are his children that those who are his children are enabled to persevere to the very end of their lives. In fact, it is often referred to as the preservation of the saints rather than the perseverance of the saints. Because as God perseveres with those he has redeemed, he preserves his children. As Jesus says, My flock, they hear my voice, I call them by name, no one can take them out of my hand.

My preserving influence over them is begun in a moment of time—is actually begun in the realm of eternity, is encountered in a moment of time, and runs all the way through into eternity future. And the preservation of the people of God emphasizes the fact that it is God who perseveres, it is God who keeps, and it is God who guards us. Now, surely—and you may want to turn to 1 Peter chapter 1—surely Peter, of all people, would have understood this. Because Peter knew what it was to make a mess of things.

Peter knew what it was to be on a fairly steady upward trend, and then all of a sudden to be coming crashing down. He knew what it was to make great affirmations of faith, and then he had known the experience of Jesus, turning to him and saying, Get behind me, Satan. So for Peter to write as he does in these opening verses to the scattered believers is a tremendous encouragement.

And he wrote out of the wealth of his own understanding of the grace of God. And he writes to let his readers know that it is according to God's mercy that they have been born anew, and they have been given new birth—verse 3—into a living hope. Into a living hope.

In other words, the child of God is someone who has been delivered from the realm of hopelessness. Without God, and without God encountered in the Lord Jesus Christ, life is extraordinarily bleak. It is an empty, hopeless existence. There are not enough things to be able to do. There are not enough occasions to be able to look forward to. It is impossible to amass enough material possessions or take enough vacations to be able to fill up the emptiness of the human soul. Hamlet, prince of Denmark, in the experience of the loss of his father, mopes and gropes his way around the palace there at Elsinore, and his uncle comes to him and said, How is it that the clouds still hang on you? And of course, Hamlet stands, as it were, in Shakespeare's play as the very epitome of a hopeless experience.

And he gives voice to it on many occasions. How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this life! What, then, is it that puts a spring in the step of a believer? What is it that lifts the chin off the chest?

What is it that fixes our gaze on somewhere else? It is this fact that according to God's mercy, we have been born again, or given you birth, into a living hope. And along with that, we have been granted an inheritance, verse 4. And the unique nature of this inheritance is described for us here. It is untouched by death, it is unstained by evil, and it is unimpaired by time.

There is no possibility of it diminishing, because it can't perish, it can't spoil, it can't fade, and it's in heaven with your name on it. And the believer has been brought to an awareness of this through the reading of the Bible and the considering of the wonder of God's goodness. And Peter says to his readers, I want you to realize that your new birth has brought you into living hope, it has granted you an inheritance, which is absolutely certain. And in the meantime, notice what he says, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

We don't have the experience of all to which our title deed assures us—that there are dimensions of what it means to know God that are yet unbeknownst to us, that one day we will see the Lord Jesus and we will be like him. And when we're tempted to say to ourselves, Oh, I wonder if I will ever make it to heaven. I wonder if I will ever be able to keep going for another day. I wonder if I'll make it to another Sunday. I wonder if I can continue on this journey.

It's such a struggle. I'm so aware of my own waywardness and my own sinfulness. I wonder if I will ever make it.

Here, loved ones, here is the assurance. You were given new birth. You didn't make yourself alive, did you?

No, you weren't physically born as a result of a decision on your part, nor were we spiritually born as a result of a decision on our part. Surely we came to the day where we acknowledged that we must decisively embrace Christ in faith, but as we've looked back down the corridor of time, we realized that long before ever we reached out our hand to grab his, we discovered that his hand had been reaching down to lay hold upon us. He gave us new birth, he promised us an inheritance, and tonight he keeps us, he shields us by his power. Now, this term is a lovely term here. Shielded by God's power. It's actually a military term. It's a term to describe the guarding which is done by soldiers in the bringing of somebody safely to their destination. It's not uncommon when you read history to discover that an individual in ancient times, making their journey from one place to another, would be guarded by a company of soldiers. The same is true in the book of Nehemiah, for example. When Nehemiah makes the journey across the Fertile Crescent from Susa back to Jerusalem, you remember one of the things that he requests is wood and letters, and one of the bonuses that he receives from Arctic Xerxes is this great company of soldiers who surround him and his friends and guard them on the journey.

A wonderful picture. It's the same picture, incidentally, when you used to see Muhammad Ali coming into the ring, and he would be all with that thing around his head, and he would have the gloves and the towels and the blankets and all the stuff, and then this great, huge man is surrounded by a group of individuals. Do you ever wonder what these folks are doing there?

I guess they got the best seat in the house, for one thing, but it always struck me as interesting. Why would he, of all people, need these folks around him? As if they could protect him when he was so strong. Well, the fact of the matter is that he did need protection.

And so they gathered around him to take him safely to his destination. That's the picture here. You're a believer tonight. You're aware of the rigors of sin in your life.

You're buffeted, and you are discouraged, perhaps. Here's the wonderful truth. God has garrisoned you, shielded you by his power, and in this the beleaguered believer finds security for our souls. Now, you'll notice that this does not take place in a vacuum, because there in verse 5 we come to the little phrase, Through faith!

Through faith! You see, it is a mistaken notion which regards our preservation as some kind of blanket guarantee, irrespective of the lives that we live. And the once-saved, always-saved notion is often trotted out by people who have no expression of continuous faith in their lives. And that's why it's so very important that we pay attention to what the Bible says—that there is no preservation without faith, and also it makes clear that it is those who have faith who persevere.

And that is exactly what he's saying. Remember back in Hebrews that it was the very absence of faith on the part of the listeners which resulted in the Word proving of knowing value to them. Remember, back in chapter 4 and in verse 2, he says, And those, they heard the Word, but it was no value to them.

Why not? Because they did not combine it with faith. They sat and listened to the Bible being preached, they read the Bible, and yet it had no value to them at all, because of an absence of faith. As if somehow or another you could simply sit in a church and have somebody read the Bible, and that would be all that was necessary. As if you would be transformed into a Christian just as a result of that. You would be as quickly transformed into a car as by sitting in a garage for the rest of your life.

It's not going to happen. We persevere through faith and never apart from faith. Now, what the New Testament is emphasizing in this is the absolute certainty of the Christian's preservation. You've been given new birth, you have an inheritance that is certain, and you are now being kept and guarded and shielded by God's power. Now turn, if you would, to Romans chapter 8.

And I want just to draw your attention to this familiar territory here. I'm not going to take a long time on it, but I do want just to underscore the fact that nothing can separate God's children from Christ's love. This is the reason for his rhetorical questions here in the middle of the chapter. Who or what, he says, shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Verse 35. Is it possible that once, having been laid hold of by the Good Shepherd, that we will then be separated from his love? That is what some people teach—that you become a Christian as a result of some decision that you make and something that you do, and since you started it, you can finish it. And so, if you determine to finish it, you just finish it. And then if you want to start it again, you just start it again. There'd be no relationship at all.

It would be absolutely dreadful. And here the Bible is saying, when the Lord Jesus comes and he wins and he woos those who are his beloved, and he draws them to himself, he saves us for all of eternity. And once we are saved, we are always saved.

You can never be lost. If you're in Christ, you can never go to hell. He will always be your Savior.

He will never, ever, ever quit on you. Now, the New Testament also makes it very, very plain that no man or woman may suppose that the love of the Lord Jesus has embraced him or her unless that man or woman has come as a sinner to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this love which God has displayed toward sinners was displayed toward sinners. If you go back a few chapters to chapter 5 and verse 8, you come to this amazing verse, God demonstrates his own love for us in this, While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. It is as a result of this amazing love demonstrated by God that we are elected and justified and glorified. And on account of this, Paul further asks the question in Romans 8 and verse 33, Who then will bring any charge against God's elect or against those whom God has chosen? After all, he says, it is God who justifies. It is God who looked at us in all of our sin and declared us righteous on account of the sacrifice of his Son. On what basis did God, in looking at us in our sin, pass his justifying sentence? Was it because we were so righteous?

No. Because we were unrighteous. Was it because we were so interested in the things of faith?

No. Because we were disinterested in the things of faith. Was it because we were so lovable just by dint of our very personalities and nature? Was it because we were so obviously religious, and God was looking for religious people, and he looked around, and he found a few sort of religious, susceptible folks who were sort of into that kind of thing, and he said, Now, this is the kind of person that I need. Was that it?

No. If we were to stand up and give our testimony, we'd go all the way across the board. God looks down, and while we were ungodly and when we were liable to death on account of our sins, he declared us righteous on the basis of the sacrifice of his Son. It is for this reason that I quote so often the phrase from the hymn, Because the sinless Savior died, my guilty soul is counted free.

For God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me. On what basis did God pass his justifying sentence? Not on the basis of righteous deeds that we had done for all of our righteousnesses, where ultimately, as the prophet says, like filthy rags, even our best stuff stinks. Even our religious endeavors are futile and worthless. So unless it was on the basis of what another had done, there was absolutely no possibility of sinful men and women ever being declared in a right standing with the holy God.

And it is exactly on that basis. He knew the worst about us, and he accepted us for Jesus' sake. And the verdict which he passed on us is final. Our future with God is guaranteed, not by our best efforts, but through his persistence. You're listening to Truth for Life and a message from Alistair Begg about the perseverance of the saints.

This final message in our series called Fix Our Eyes on Jesus will conclude tomorrow. If you'd like to hear more from Alistair's teaching in the book of Hebrews, you can download the audio files for all three volumes of this study. It's all free when you go to truthforlife.org or when you use the mobile app.

You can also purchase the teaching on CD or USB. It's available at our cost. Today, Alistair explained the extent to which God has relentlessly pursued his children. Even though we're sinners, he declares us righteous and then defends us for eternity.

These wonderful biblical themes in the book of Hebrews motivated us to select the book Created to Draw Near from Pastor Ed Welch. If you've ever felt like God's silence was a sign that he was ignoring you, you should know you're not alone. Sometimes we believe that lie. We assume that God is overlooking us or even turning away from us. But nothing could be further from the truth. Ed Welch shows us that God has wired us for connection.

Not only that, he cleared a path for us to come directly into his presence. Tomorrow is the last day you can request your copy. Created to Draw Near comes to you with our thanks. When you support Truth for Life, call 888-588-7884 or visit truthforlife.org slash donate. You can also click the book image on the Truth for Life mobile app. If you'd prefer to mail your donation, write to Truth for Life at post office box 398000 Cleveland, Ohio.

Our zip code is 44139. Let me say thank you again for your financial support. Your giving upholds our mission to teach the Bible with clarity and relevance so that unbelievers will be converted, believers will be established, and local churches will be strengthened. Alistair's message about the perseverance of the Saints continues tomorrow and it's the final message from our study in the book of Hebrews called Fix Our Eyes on Jesus. So join us again Wednesday. I'm Bob Lapine. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.