PART FIVE
DOCTRINE OF PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS
Now in this final chapter we shall consider the Perseverance of the Saints. Remember that this was just a response to the five questions that was fired by the Arminians as far as the teachings that were taught by the reformers. And so the Canons of Dort actually was responding to all these disagreements that the followers of Jacob Arminius had about the teachings that the reformers had made very clear to do with them going back to the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostles.
And so the Reformation was just like the going back to the normative that they saw in the scriptures and so one thing that they invented that was very important was what we call the regulative principle; that scripture should govern everything, should govern worship. So one thing that was happening with the Church of Rome it put the church above the word but initially and normatively it is the word to be above the church. The church does not decide what should be done but scriptures tell us what should be done.
I want us to begin by defining what perseverance simply means because defining our terms is always very important for us to fully understand the subject at hand and what we are dealing with. So when we talk about the perseverance of the saints, it simply means persistence under discouragement and contrary pressure. Therefore the perseverance of the saints is the assertion that believers persevere in faith and obedience despite everything. The other important thing is that much of the time we hear people talking about the perseverance of the Saints, the intention is to make it very clear that those who are truly in Christ will never fall away since it is God who preserves and keeps them. But you see that doesn’t really come out very well unless we begin by actually knowing what leads to the perseverance. The main thing that anchors all of that we do call the perseverance of the Saints is the preservation of the Saints, the fact that it is God who keeps safe all his elect and they can never fall away because he preserves them and he does keep them.
Therefore believers are able to persevere because the Lord Jesus Christ through the Spirit persists in preserving them, they don’t persevere in their own ability. Remember this work is started by God, it is sustained by God and it is God that will see it to its full accomplishment. So whatever that is started by God, it is sustained by God until the final day of it all. Our Lord Jesus Christ through the Spirit persists continually in preserving them so without him we cannot persevere. And so the elect are not only redeemed by Christ and renewed by the Spirit but are also kept in faith by the almighty power of God and that is actually very much well demonstrated by what we do see in
To an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1Peter 1:4-5)
All those that are spiritually united to Christ through regeneration are eternally secure in him because we have seen it is him that keeps them by his mighty power and nothing can separate those men, women and children from the eternal and unchangeable love of God that we shall later see Paul celebrating in Romans chapter 8 and they have been predestined to eternal glory and therefore they are assured of heaven. So the reality to this is that each and every person that has been predestined, he/she was predestined to eternal glory or to eternal life and that individual is assured of Heaven. Remember we are not speaking of any other group but we are speaking of the elect of God.
So going back to the golden chain of redemption in Romans chapter 8:30, you basically see that there is not any person that is among the elect of God, that was atoned for in the sacrifice of Christ and was called by the Spirit of God that will lose his salvation or that will lose his inheritance that God has for him in heaven.
And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:30)
The action verb has nothing to do with man; the action verb is all about God and what he does. It is him who predestines, it is him who calls, it is him who justifies, and it is him who glorifies.
Jesus himself actually being the Good Shepherd one thing we know is that he cannot lose but actually keeps all of they that were given to him. I would basically say these are not new verses, these are verses that are very common to many people but the only difference is that many fail to understand and to see the truth that is actually embedded behind these verses. Take an example it says in John chapter 6:37-40
All that the Father gives me will come to me, [speaking of the elect of God indicating; they that were given unto him are they alone that will come to him again on the other hand they that were never given to him will never come to him] and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. [As the Good Shepherd he says all they that were given to him he will never cast out]
For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. [Jesus was under the promise of his father to keep every person that was given unto him and the thing he says that he was very obedient unto fulfilling the will of him that sent him]
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, [as a Good Shepherd he would not lose any that was entrusted unto him by the father] but raise it up on the last day. [it’s what we started with that those that were truly given unto him will never fall away since it is God who preserves and keeps them] For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:37-40)
In other words these verses are teaching what we call the eternal security of the believer, whoever was given to Christ can never lose his salvation because God himself preserves that individual, God himself keeps that individual.
In John10:28-29 we see the reality that is to do with what the father does with all of they that he gave to his son;
So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
My sheep [speaking of the elect that he has also referred to as his flock] hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. [what actually distinguishes between the flock of Christ and the non flock of Christ is that the sheep of the Lord or the flock of Christ hear his voice and he knows them and they follow him but the none flock the non elect they hear not his voice he doesn’t know them and they never follow him that even when the gospel is preached they never respond to the claims of Christ]
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, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:24-30)
These truths are very important onto the subject that we are establishing that; none of the elect of the Lord will fall away since it is God himself that actually preserves and keeps them.
Jesus Christ in his priestly prayer in John 17 before his passion he asked that those whom the father had given him would be preserved to glory;
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. [it’s very difficult to say that one believes in unconditional election but one does not believe in eternal security or in the limited atonement. These are just linked to one another; they are not at odds at each other or against one another. So who are they that receive eternal life? It’s they that the father had given to the son and its they that the son actually sacrificed himself for “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. [It’s what we call the perseverance of the saints; that all that were given to the son they will never be lost they persevere under discouragement under intense pressure, they persevere in faith and obedience but we know why they persevere and we know how they persevere is because the Lord Jesus Christ continues through the spirit to preserve them] (John 17:1-6)
I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. (John 17:9)
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, [speaking of the elect, the flock, speaking of those and to whom he extends his special call] may be with me where I am, [we know after the resurrection Jesus ascended and when he ascended he actually sat on the right hand so where he is in heaven is where he wants his flock to be with him] to see my glory [at this time Christ has already been glorified having all rule, dominion and power over everything so he is the great Sovereign ruler of this universe] that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:24)
The father answered the prayer of the Son remember the will of the father is never different from the will of the Son and is never different from the will of the Spirit, one God in three persons with one will. The father does not have a separate will from that of the son neither does the son have a separate will from the Spirit nor does the Spirit have a separate will from the Father. This work of Salvation is a Divine act that involved the three persons of the Godhead and so it is made very sure to you and I that the father indeed answered the prayer of his Son and we know very well that the Son lives on making intercession for those that were given to him;
Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that, who was raised who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (Romans 8:34)
Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)
Quoting from J.I Parker a British Theologian
“Paul sees the Sovereign plan of God for salvation of his elect as a unitary whole” Parker was actually considering Romans 8:29-30
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. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:29-30)
Parker went on to say “on this basis Paul builds the triumphant last part of his speech of Romans chapter 8: 31-39”
What then shall we say to these things? 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 with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that, who was raised who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the daylong; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39)
So this is the point dear ones you see Paul celebrating the present and the future security of the Saints in the almighty love of God
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)
Who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1Corinthians 1:8-9
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (1Thessalonians 5:23-24)
And that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. (2Thessalonians3:2)
Which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. (2Timothy 1:12)
And so the Westminster confession also declares that they whom God has accepted in his beloved are effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit can neither totally nor finally fall from the State of Grace but shall certainly persevere therein to the end and be eternally saved that is chapter 17 of the Westminster Confession.
We need to pay attention to some of the things that the regenerate that have been saved through persevering in faith and a Christian Living to the very end the Bible says;
But Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. (Hebrews 3:6)
And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, (Hebrews 6:11)
Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (Hebrews 10:35-39)
It should also be made very clear there are many people that have made false professions that indeed if it was a false profession that they are born again those are the people that the scriptures warn us about in;
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 7:21)
And of course we know also those in the parable of the Sower in Mark chapter 4 those that we see that stand for a little time and then they are wasted away, they are many today in church but the truth is that those who show themselves to be regenerate by pursuing heart Holiness, true neighbour love as they pass through this world are entitled to believe themselves secure in Christ persevering in faith and patience.
And sometimes also we need to make it very clear that the reality is a true believer might actually abandon the faith for some time and fall into gross sin or serious sin as far as his character is concerned doing violence to his own new nature and make himself deeply miserable but eventually he will seek and find restoration to righteousness.
True believers that even when they actually abandon the faith for some time what is a reality is that they always do come back, they turn away from their sin and hold to Christ so their action of abandoning the faith for sometime is indeed actually liken to some sort of madness. But when they do come back they will desire to please God who saved them and as they continue to sit under sound teaching and they understand that it is God who has pledged to keep them forever. Their love for the Lord continues to increase; they love God and the things of God.
So it is very true there are people who think that there is no eternal security today, you can be born again and then you can forfeit your salvation however we need to make it very clear that even Christians, true believers still sin that’s what we see in first John chapter 1, but those believers they don’t remain in that sin, they turn away.
Peter betrayed the Lord but he repented. David himself, he repented of his sin, he didn’t remain in his disobedience when his sin was made known unto him, but he repented. And it’s also true of us today that a true believer will fall short in one or the other in his character but because the seed of God remains in him that person will not continue in what we call habitual lifestyle because he is not interested in quenching the Spirit by remaining in habitual sin by not opening himself to scriptures, to prayer and to serving the body of Christ he will return back by God’s grace.