In the Words of Christ

Introduction: The Necessity of Perseverance for Salvation

0:01 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, April 18, 1982, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now will you listen carefully as I read two verses from the recorded Sermon of Our Lord, often called the Olivet Discourse, as found in Matthew's Gospel, the 24th chapter, and verses 12 and 13. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 24, verses 12 and 13.

0:45 And because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold. But he that endures to the end, the same shall be saved. As most of you know, if you frequent, this place as your place of worship, just prior to the recent ministry in the United Kingdom,

1:22 we completed a verse-by-verse study of Paul's very warm-hearted letter to the church at Philippi, that portion of our Bible that we call the Book of Philippians. And as I have been seeking the mind of God with respect to where to go in the morning ministry of the Word, having completed the Book of Philippians, I trust I have been constrained by the Spirit, not in any way of direct revelation, but by that combination of pastoral concerns and perspectives prayerfully evaluated

2:00 and also bounced off my fellow elders to spend the next few Lord's Day mornings concentrating in several areas of biblical concern by way, of perhaps two or three, maybe four, brief, thematic or topical series of sermons. And the first topic and therefore the first brief series that we shall take up, beginning this morning, is that which pertains to the perseverance of the saints of God, or more accurately stated, the necessity of the

2:45 the people of God continuing in truth, holiness, and obedience if they hope to attain heaven at last. I read in your hearing the words of our Lord Jesus, He that endures to the end, the same shall be saved. And what I am going to attempt to demonstrate from the word of God both this morning and next Lord's Day morning and then after demonstrating that we shall take up various concerns that flow out of it is the fact that there is no way to attain to heaven

3:30 but in the path of persevering in holiness, obedience, and righteousness. Now as we come to this subject, I want to place it in its own...

The Biblical Framework: Salvation is All of Grace, God, and Christ

3:44 biblical setting or framework. A framework which can best be expressed in terms of these three simple statements. Salvation in all of its parts is all of grace. Salvation in all of its parts is all of God.

4:05 And salvation in all of its parts is all of Christ. Salvation in all of its parts is all of God. And salvation in all of its parts is all of grace. The ultimate source or cause of our salvation is the grace of God.

4:25 When we trace our salvation back into its tap roots in eternity, we read in such passages as 2 Timothy 1-9 that it's a salvation that comes to us according to God's purpose and grace given us in Christ. Before the world began. And when that salvation is manifested in time in the work of Christ, we read in Titus 2-11 that it is the grace of God which has been manifested bringing salvation to men. And when men are actually brought into that salvation according to Ephesians 2-8

5:10 it is by grace that we are saved. And that grace excludes all human boasting. And even when we look forward to the yet to be fulfilled dimensions of salvation, Peter describes that in 1 Peter 1-13 as waiting and hoping for the grace that is to be brought to us at the appearing of Christ. And so the Bible's witness is clear.

5:41 Salvation in all of its parts is all of grace. That is, it comes to undeserving sinners out of the sheer sovereign favor and goodwill of God. Furthermore, the Bible teaches that salvation in all of its parts is all of God. That is, it is all of God as to its efficacious power.

6:11 Whenever this salvation flowing out of grace actually lays hold of a sinner, it is because God takes the initiative and accomplishes that salvation in the sinner from beginning to end. And so the teaching of the Bible is epitomized in such passages as 1 Corinthians 1-30 But of Him, that is of God, are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Romans 8-29-30 Whom He, God, foreknew, them He, God, called, whom He, God, called,

6:56 them He, God, justified, whom He, God, justified, them He, God, glorified. Salvation in all of its parts is all of God. And even in its continuous outworking, according to Philippians 2-13, it is God who works in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure. And so the Bible's testimony is clear on this point.

7:24 Salvation in all of its parts is all of grace. Salvation in all of its parts is all of God. And thirdly, salvation in all of its parts is all of Christ. All of Christ as the meritorious grounds of that salvation.

7:44 We are chosen in Christ, Ephesians 1 and verse 4. It is Christ who saves us from our sins, Matthew 1-21. It is Christ who ever lives to intercede for us, Hebrews 7 and verse 25, so that Christ and His work is indeed the meritorious ground of all of our salvation. Now I trust that as a person, as a preacher, that we as a church hold tenaciously and without equivocation to this biblical testimony to a salvation that is all of grace,

8:29 all of God, and all of Christ. But now while holding firmly to that biblical testimony and confessing it without any qualification or reservation, the same Bible which teaches that body of truth also teaches us that only those who continue in faith and holiness and obedience unto the end of their days will miss hell and attain heaven at last. The same Bible that teaches

The Sole Point: Persevere or Perish

9:13 salvation is all of grace, all of God, all of Christ, teaches that that salvation is the possession only of those who persevere unto the end. And I have, as I jokingly said to the elders last night, I have a sermon this morning with but one point, but in further consideration I feel I need to break up the twenty-seven texts and we'll consider about half of them this morning and the next half next Lord's Day morning, God willing. But I have only one point to my sermon this morning

9:56 and the point is this. I want to convince you from the Scriptures, from the Word of God, that unless you, and hear me now, young, old, in between, unless you personally, to truth and obedience to the end of your days, you're going to burn, you're going to burn, you're going to burn in hell forever. And I am as convinced as I am of my own name

10:39 that there are people sitting in this building who really believe that. Your life does not witness that you believe it. I'm convinced that unless you persevere in obedience and holiness and truth to the end of the road that you'll go to hell then you're prepared to do anything in the way of obedience, holiness, and truth.

Structure of Biblical Evidence: Words of Christ in Gospels and Revelation

11:21 Now then, let us turn to the Word of God. The way I want to divide the Biblical materials is very simple. We shall consider this morning as time permits, first of all, the words of our Lord Jesus in the Gospel records, then the words of our Lord Jesus in His letters to the seven churches, and then, God willing, next week, the words of the Lord Jesus through the apostolic writers. So you have the very simple categorization of the text.

12:02 The words of our Lord as recorded in the Gospels. The words of our Lord as He speaks to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. And the words of our Lord as given in the epistles through the apostolic writings. Now as we do, I want you, particularly you young people, I want to give you an illustration that will help you.

12:25 When I say that I'm going to try to demonstrate the absolute necessity of continuance in faith, in holiness and obedience if you're to attain to life by absolute necessity, I mean something that's just like the conviction you have that it's absolutely necessary to breathe if you're going to live. Now each one of you children and adults is absolutely convinced if you don't breathe, you don't live. Now you may not think of that. Days may pass and you may never think of it.

12:56 But you know what will make you think of it very quickly? If someone comes up behind you and clasps a firm hand over your mouth and then with another hand pinches off your nose so that every avenue of inhaling air is cut off. And then you'd see how deep is your conviction that you must breathe in order to live. If that hand and arm is like a hand and arm of steel, you will kick, scream, punch, gouge, you'll do anything to rip that hand off your mouth and away from your nose.

13:34 Why? Because you're convinced if you don't, you'll die. And the reaction of an animal an infant to an adult in the presence of someone who threatens to cut off his or her supply of oxygen is living proof that you really believe you must breathe or you'll die. And when you're convinced you must persevere or go to hell you'll start manifesting the same determination to claw that stands in the way of your being a holy man or a holy woman.

14:15 And there just ain't enough scratching and clawing and fighting in this place. Some of you are perishing quoting verses about grace while your spiritual life is being strangled away through love of sin and the world and self. And dear people, I'm dead in earnest as I address myself to this subject. Now we come to the words of our Lord.

The Words of Christ in the Gospels: Radical Holiness

14:55 We start with the words of our Lord in the Gospel records. And this is not an exhaustive treatment. And kids, exhaustive means telling everything. But it's selective, only taking some of them.

15:11 And I want you to start in the famous Sermon on the Mount as I'm trying to prove but one thing this morning that the same Bible that teaches salvation is all of grace, all of God and all of Christ teaches us that we must persevere, press on, pursue, adhere to the path of faith, holiness and obedience to the end of our days if we would be saved. The first is the testimony of our Lord in Matthew 5 and beginning with verse 27. In this section our Lord is correcting

15:53 the abuse of the teaching of the law of God by the rabbis and the religious leaders of our Lord's day. And so he says, You have heard that it was said, Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you that every one that looks on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye causes thee to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not thy whole body be cast into hell.

16:36 And if thy right hand causes thee to stumble, cut it off and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body go into hell. Now what is our Lord saying? He is saying in the face of the concrete teaching about the necessity of keeping the seventh commandment, a necessity which touches not only the actual external act of fornication or adultery, but touches the very willful patterns of thought, He is saying that we must stop short of nothing

17:20 in our determination to keep that commandment at the depth of our thought life. And if someone is about to excuse himself and say, well I just cannot help it, the pressures upon me constitutionally and in terms of my background and all the rest are such, for me not to sin with the lust of the eye, I have to pluck my eyes out. Jesus said, so be it, pluck them out, rather than go to hell with two eyes that cause you to stumble into sin. You've got to quit your sin of lusting with your eyes

18:04 at any cost or you'll go to hell. That's what Jesus is teaching. Someone says, but I just can't help it, what I touch inflames my passions and I just can't help what I touch. Jesus said far better to cut it off than to go to hell as a lawbreaker who refused to subject himself to God's standard of righteousness.

18:38 And my friends, this is not an isolated statement of our Lord. In a totally different context in Matthew 18 he repeats the same framework of exhortation. Here he's saying in verse 7, Woe unto the world because of occasions of stumbling, for it must needs be that occasions come. But woe to that man through whom the occasion comes.

19:10 Here he pronounces a woe upon those who are the occasion of causing others to sin. When I think of that and think of its application to our society, woe be to Hugh Hefner and his ilk. Woe be to the pornographers who have filled the newsstands not only of our own nation, but Steve told us right in the middle of Nairobi, Playboy magazine and all of the rest of it. Woe be to that whole crowd that has caused a whole generation to stumble into filth and into lechery.

19:53 Woe be unto those who are the occasion of stumbling. Woe be unto the designers, the designers of bathing suits that leave women half nude or three quarters nude and make it acceptable social practice and cause people to stumble. Woe be to clothing designers and producers of salacious literature and the panderers of pornography and the modern film industry. Woe, woe, woe, woe upon them all.

20:30 That's what Jesus is saying. Woe be upon Madison Avenue with its constant creation of a market for things we neither need nor are even proper to produce in the light of world need. Woe be unto Madison Avenue. Woe be unto Hollywood.

20:51 That's the Jesus of the Bible. Woe be unto those who cause occasion. Now he goes on and changes the emphasis, verse 8. And if thy hand or thy foot causes thee to stumble, you see, from the person who occasions the stumbling, he now turns to the one who actually stumbles.

21:16 And does he excuse him? No, no. And if thy hand or thy foot causes thee to stumble, even though the occasions of stumbling have been put there, granted, there is a woe upon Hugh Hefner for producing his Playboy magazine. But if thy hand or eye causes thee to stumble and you pick up his Playboy magazine, what does Jesus say to you?

21:44 You look at it. And if thy hand reaches out and picks that off the magazine shelf, he said, if thy hand or if thy foot causes thee to stumble, cut it off and cast it from thee. It is good for thee to enter into life maimed or halt rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire. And if thine eye causes thee to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from thee.

22:23 For it is good for thee to enter into life with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell. What's Jesus saying? He's saying you've got to be holy in a sinful world. Full of stumbling blocks at any cost.

22:39 And if those words don't mean that, then take my Bible away and give me something else to guide me. He gives the same emphasis in the ninth chapter of Mark and in the interest of time, I'll not demonstrate. You can look at it. It's another entirely different context.

23:01 But he uses the same language. So obviously this was a formula that Jesus often employed in his preaching. He had come all the way from heaven to do what? To bring a salvation that was all of grace and all of God and based solely upon his own work.

23:20 But he did not teach a salvation by grace that would take people to heaven irrespective of their perseverance in holiness. He came to procure a salvation by grace that will make men and women to be so determined to be holy that they'll pay any price to be men and women of God who will keep the law of God in the midst of a lawless generation. Are you such a person? Are you?

23:57 Are you? If not, my friend, where do you get any notion from the Bible that you're going to go to heaven at last? From this book? The book I've read in your hearing?

The Words of Christ in the Gospels: The Narrow Way and Doing God's Will

24:11 What savior ever said he'd take you to heaven? While you indulge your sins, we turn over just to the seventh chapter of the same gospel, Matthew's gospel. The same emphasis comes through. Our Lord, drawing his sermon to a conclusion, begins to press in upon the consciences of his hearers.

24:43 Having described the nature of his kingdom, the righteous standards of his kingdom, the great principles by which his kingdom will operate, he now then urges people to enter, verse 13, enter in by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction. Many are they that are entering there by, for narrow is the gate, now notice, and straightened, compressed, hedged up, difficult the way that leads unto life, and few are they that find it.

25:27 Our Lord brings the gate and the way into a singular and says, few are they that find it. Narrow is the gate, straightened the way which leads to life. There is no way to life but by that straightened, compressed, straight-laced way of gospel holiness. And if you want life, my friend, you've got to get there by the gate and the way of the Lord's appointment.

26:01 And in the day of judgment, there's going to be not a few who thought they could get there some other way. Look at verse 21 of the same chapter. Not everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that is actually doing the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me in that way, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name do many mighty works?

26:38 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. I never claimed any saving identity with you. Depart from me, you that work iniquity. You were never found in that now.

27:00 That narrow way of gospel holiness, that narrow way of evangelical obedience. Oh, yes, your mouth was active calling me Lord. Your mouth was busy even talking to others. And your hands were busy doing many things.

27:16 But your hearts were never changed. I never knew you. Depart from me. My friends, these are the words of Jesus.

27:27 Same Bible that says salvation's all of God, all of grace, and all of Christ. Says only those who do the will of God are going to go to heaven when they die. Now that's what my Bible says. You got the same Bible I've got?

27:42 Then if you're not doing the will of God, what makes you think you're going to heaven? Doing the will of God in the concrete. Doing the will of God in the specifics. The will of God revealed in the word of God about your personal life, your business priorities, your family life, your social life, some of you young people flirting around with unsaved boyfriends and girlfriends.

28:09 Is that the will of God? It's the will of God. Show me from this book not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. You show me from this book that it's God's will for you to get romantically involved with an unsaved man or woman, boy or girl.

28:31 Show me from this book. And if you can't then face it. You either break off that relationship cold turkey or give up all claim to being a Christian. Cut this fooling around business.

28:51 Jesus said you do my will or don't name my name. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Some of you men, you're selling your souls because of misplaced priorities with your career, your stinking rotten career that's gonna sink you into hell. Some of you it's your face, it's your body, it's your form, it's your clothing,

29:34 it's your station before others. Whatever it is where the will of God is revealed in the word of God and it impinges upon your life in the concrete. Jesus said don't call me Lord unless you're prepared to do what that name involves and that is obey me. That's what the Bible says my friends.

30:01 Don't like that? Then your argument's not with me, it's with Jesus Christ. Fathers, nurture your children. What does that mean?

30:15 Give them positive biblical direction by admonition and reproof for how long? As long as they're under your roof. You allow your children in a known course of ungodliness and you will not stand up against them. You are taking the side of the devil in the damnation of their souls.

30:37 And you show me from the word of God where that's the will of God. My Bible condemns an Eli who would not restrain his sons. He just mumbled when they did something wrong. And some of you just mumble.

30:53 That's all you do, mumble to your children. You don't have the spiritual fortitude to stand up against them and say over my dead body will you do that or this while you're under my roof? See, that's extreme. Show me from this book.

31:14 Show me from this book. You say, Pastor, you're pugnacious this morning. God knows, dear people, if it's pugnaciousness, it's the pugnaciousness of a broken heart. If a broken heart can be pugnacious, then that's the pugnacious this this morning.

31:36 You really don't believe the biblical doctrine of perseverance. You think you can go to heaven. While you knowingly, willfully defy the will of Christ as revealed in his word. And he says, not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter, but he who does the will of my Father.

The Words of Christ in the Gospels: Enduring Persecution and Bearing Fruit

31:58 Go over to Matthew chapter 10, verse 22. The words of Jesus again are clear. He's sending out the 70. Sorry, in this setting he's sending out the 12.

32:25 And he says he's sending them out in difficult circumstances. Verse 16 of Matthew 10. I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. That's dangerous business.

32:37 Wolves have fangs. Sheep are defenseless. He said, I send you forth in risky circumstances. Be therefore wise as serpents, harmless as doves.

32:51 But beware of men. They'll deliver you up to councils and in their synagogues, they'll scourge you. You know what scourging meant? Not just a spanking.

33:01 Scourging was that cruel form of punishment that could turn a man's back into a pulp of torn, bleeding flesh. He said, they're going to scourge you. Yes, and before governors and kings, you'll be brought for my sake for a testimony to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, don't be anxious how or what you'll speak.

33:22 For it shall be given you in that hour what you shall speak. It's not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaks in you. And look at this. Brother shall deliver up brother to death.

33:35 I must say this silly notion that God's covenant is always a covenant of family ties. What in the world does that theology do in the face of a passage like this? Jesus said, when you come and preach what I've told you to preach, it's going to divide families to the place where one family member will actually give up another one to death. Brother shall deliver up brother to death and the father his child and children shall rise up against parents and the hatred to godly parents will become so great they'll cause their own parents

34:20 to be put to death. I know of a situation in a sister church where a young man actually made that promise. A young man actually made that effort on his own godly father who insisted as long as he was under his roof that he come to church and he got so angry that he raised a gun and aimed it at his chest and only the father's quick reflexes pushed the gun down and it blew his knee to pieces. You see, when someone's determined to obey God that's when you'll find this kind of hatred coming forth.

34:52 And frankly, I don't care if some of you leave here this morning hating me. I really don't care because your hatred is ultimately to God whose word is coming to your ears and impinging on your conscience. Listen, in that situation sheep in the midst of wolves betrayal at the most intimate ties of human affection in all of that notice what Jesus has the temerity to say to these poor frail lumps of clay, the twelve. He says, And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake

35:34 but he that endures to the end the same shall be saved. He says, I've told you exactly what you're going to face. And if you're tempted to back off from adherence to me and to my ways because of the pressure because of the threats because of the opposition oh, my dear disciples, hear me he that endures he that clings he that perseveres he that presses on to the end shall be saved. This is a matter of salvation or damnation.

36:13 Jesus said we're not playing games. And then in the passage that I read in your hearing from Matthew 24 the same emphasis comes through whether our Lord is speaking of the situation that would obtain upon the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. or whether he's speaking more particularly of the end time.

36:39 There's such an intermingling of those two great events in this chapter which make interpretation so difficult. But this much is clear. Jesus is talking about a time when it's going to be rough to be an out-and-out Christian. False prophets are going to arise and lead many astray.

36:57 Verse 12 Iniquity will so abound that the love of many shall wax cold. The climate of iniquity will be like a chilling wind that will cool the ardor of the affection of the great majority of professing Christians. Because iniquity shall be multiplied the love of the many shall wax cold. Well, what in the world are poor, frail, vulnerable imperfectly sanctified Christians to do in such a situation?

37:30 They're to remember the words of Jesus. But in spite of the fact that many are defecting to the false prophets and many are coming under the chilling blast of a climate that seems to freeze all love and ardor in spite of all of that he that endures to the end the same shall be saved. My adherence to truth must remain intact no matter how many are running after the local false prophets. And my love and ardor to Christ must be maintained no matter how much the prevailing climate

38:14 chills the ardor of others. If the words mean anything they mean at least that. No copping out no rationalizing no excusing he that endures to the end the same shall be saved. That emphasis comes through again in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ.

38:43 The words of our Lord in the 24th chapter of Matthew later on in that whole closing paragraph from the faithful and wise servant suffice it to say as time is getting by so quickly that our Lord takes the person who's called in that passage the unfaithful servant and his portion is with the hypocrites with the wailing and the gnashing of teeth. But now if you'll turn to Luke's Gospel chapter 8 where our Lord interprets the parable of the sower our Lord is describing the various responses to the word and the only response

39:27 that is a saving response is described in these words Luke 8, 15 that in the good ground these are such as in an honest and good heart having heard the word hold it fast and bring forth fruit with and the word in the original is the same one that we have in those other passages with endurance with patience he that endureth to the end that's the word that's used bring forth fruit with endurance with steadfastness with patience with continuance

40:11 there is no real Biblical evidence that your heart has savingly embraced the word unless you're persevering in all the ways demanded by that word then Jesus said in John 8, 31 and 32 then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him if ye continue in my word if you abide in my word then are you truly my disciples and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free our Lord says that the mark of true discipleship is continuance in his word

40:54 continuance in spite of all opposition continuance in spite of all the contrary pressures continuance is of the essence of true discipleship and then in John 15 in that familiar parable of the vine and the branches a parable that's troubled many people who believe in the doctrine that we espouse in this place that once a person is truly in grace he shall never fall from grace all in whom God begins a good work he completes it and we believe that with all our heart but we also believe what Jesus said any branch in me that does not bear fruit

The Words of Christ in Revelation: Promises to the Overcomers

41:38 the Father takes it away and then he speaks of such dead fruitless branches being cast into the fire and burned in verse 6 and the whole emphasis is that unless there is fruitfulness there is no ground to claim that there is identity and living relationship with Jesus Christ now my friends these are just a few of the words of our Lord which teach us that perseverance pressing on, continuance in faith in holiness and obedience are essential to life and now very quickly turn over to Revelation chapter 2

42:20 and I leave you to study these portions in greater detail on your own but I just want to point out the common denominator of these seven letters to the seven churches chapter 1 describes the Lord Jesus in his present manifest glory and power John sees him and falls at his feet he's dead beholds him in the midst of the seven lampstands then the Lord Jesus out of his perfect knowledge of his people begins to speak to them and you have three things present in every one of these seven letters they begin with the words I know I know I know seven times

43:03 the exalted Christ who's in the midst of his church says I know and then he begins to speak what he knows of the virtues of the sins of the declensions of his people then at the end of each of these seven letters he says two other things that form the other two common denominators he says he that hath an ear to hear let him hear what the spirit says and then he gives a promise to the overcomers so the three common denominators of all the letters are these Jesus in the midst of his church says I know what you are then he gives an analysis of what every church is positively and negatively

43:48 then he says hear what the spirit is saying listen to what I'm saying and then upon that appeal he that hath an ear to hear he then gives a promise only to the overcomer now if you look at the promises the promises to the overcomers are not promises that are something extra added to salvation but they are promises of salvation itself Revelation 2.7 to him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God no sinner will eat of the tree of life in the paradise of God

44:31 unless he overcomes verse 11 he that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death what's the second death that's hell and Jesus is saying if you don't overcome the second death will overcome you that's a promise of life chapter 2 and verse 17 to him that overcometh to him will I give of the hidden manna and give him a white stone and upon the stone a new name written which no one knows save he that receives it chapter 2 and verse 26

45:16 he that overcometh and keeps my works unto the end to him will I give authority over the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of the potter are broken to shivers as I have received of my father and I will give to him the morning star the promise of reigning with Christ in his triumph over his enemies only to the overcomers chapter 3 and verse 5 he that overcometh shall be arrayed in white garments and I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life and I will confess his name before my father

46:00 and before his angels those who do not overcome will not have Christ arraying them in white garment or confessing them before the father verse 12 of the same chapter he that overcometh I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go out thence no more and I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God the new Jerusalem do you want a part in that eternal state described here under the figure of God's temple the temple of God is with men God himself be with them you want to be a part of that people then you better overcome or you won't be and then the same emphasis

46:42 falls upon the final word of promise verse 21 he that overcometh I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne as I overcame and sat down with my father in his throne my friends Jesus Christ speaks to his church and says look I know your works I know your struggles I know the temptations but listen to me overcome you must as I overcame and have come to the place of exaltation and triumph if you would share in my exaltation you must overcome with me and in union with me

Application: Shaking, Comforting, and Convincing

47:25 and in my strength but overcome you must now if we take these words seriously what should they do well as I close this morning I want to suggest they ought to do three things in this building first of all they ought to shake some of you to the very foundation of your professed Christian experience there are some of you sitting here this morning who've got no biblical grounds to have assurance now I'm not saying you are or you aren't saved but I am saying you are not overcoming you are not persevering you are not continuing in the word and yet you name the name of Christ

48:10 you ought to be shaken to the very roots of your being this morning and if God has used his word to shake you I will feel that all of the agony of preparation and preaching has been worth it some of you ought to be shaken to the roots of your being because you are not cutting off right hands you are not plucking out right eyes you are not daring to stand up against father, mother, son and daughter you are not taking first the kingdom

48:54 you are not pursuing holiness at any cost you are not overcoming and it won't do for you to sit there and piously say but oh pastor you haven't told us we can overcome only through my friend stop that pious cop out and face the reality you're pursuing the present course you're in because you want it and you've got to make a choice that course or heaven that course leads to hell because it's a course outside the path of perseverance in truth in holiness and in obedience and that's the issue that's the issue

49:38 that's the issue just that simple do you want to go to heaven bad enough to break that relationship with that man or woman boy or girl that you know is contrary to the bible or do you want that relationship and run the risk of going to hell now take your pick but do it with your own and say I count some human being and if you make that decision all some of us can do is weep for you to give up christ and heaven and his presence

50:22 and his glory and his people for some fellow mortal who is a child of the devil only sheer madness would cause you to make such a decision some of you ought to be shaken to the very foundation of your being others of you you ought to be wonderfully comforted and confirmed in your present course of action thank god that I see in this place people whose faces are set for heaven and who have said and continue to say

51:07 by the grace of god I'm gonna get there in god's way if it kills me and frankly it will kill you every day it will kill you when your flesh cries out indulge me pamper me kowtow to me and you say no my lord says that daily I must deny myself shoulder across my savior in my eyes to all witching and seducing voice of the world and I shall follow my savior

51:50 no matter what it costs now some of you for a year two three four five ten twenty years that's been your life not perfectly there are times when the world caught your ear and you turned and you looked and you not only turned and you looked but you turned aside but god mercifully brought you back through repentance and acknowledgement of your sin and this day finds you in your heart of hearts pressing on to zion saying lord jesus I count no pain too great no sacrifice too great

52:35 to obey you to honor you to serve you to follow you lord jesus you've caught my heart and the only way I'll ever turn aside is if you let it go and I know you won't so lord I trust you that having brought me safe thus far you'll bring me safely home oh how some of you ought to be encouraged this morning how is it that you've persevered with all that remaining sin in you with all that potential for evil with all the weakness that you are and that I am with all of the power of the world and the devil to turn us aside

53:18 how can some of us look back and say thirty years we've been in the way and we have to say with John Newton it was grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved tis grace has brought me what safe thus far yes through many dangers toils and snares I have already come and the proof that salvation is all of God and all of grace is that I stand today in the way of holiness and obedience and righteousness oh not perfectly no in my approaches to God

54:02 I must plead the merit of his blood this much now as I did the first day I entered the gate but the purpose and bent of my life is the purpose and bent of a heart committed and you can say with judgment day honesty you've been willing to part with the dearest human relations for Christ's sake you can say that you know you love Christ more than father, mother, brother, sister son or daughter more than life itself thank God there are some of us in this place today who can say that and could make it stick in the court of heaven in the next five minutes if we had to

54:47 can you can you could you say it and make it stick in the very court of heaven make it stick before the eyes of him who knows you could you make it stick could you or would God call in your own conscience as the prosecuting attorney and make a fool of you and show that every time the crunch is on you sacrifice Christ to your own desires your own passions your own convenience your own ambition your own ease

55:30 thank God there are some of you who could make that claim and make it stick be encouraged child of God because if God's enabled you to endure thus far He isn't going to leave His work half done and if grace has brought you safe thus far grace is going to bring you home hallelujah grace is going to bring us home and some of us who are nearer home than we were when God laid hold of us a lot nearer home we find comfort in that because the battle gets worse

56:12 the fight gets more intense and oh how wonderful to be confident not in ourselves but in the grace of God but in a confidence that is not divorced from this conviction yes I to the end shall endure as sure as the earnest is given more happy but not more secure the glorified spirits in heaven but you join to that confession of top lady I to the end shall endure this confession I to the end must endure more and don't you ever separate those two

56:57 necessity and certainty are not divorced in the divine plan don't you ever separate them because the moment you do you're leaving yourself vulnerable to those influences that will take you clean out of the path of endurance and into the path of apostasy and that's where I fear some of you are and that's why I'm preaching as plainly and bluntly and with every fiber of my soul this morning some of you are saying yes I to the end shall endure but you're not saying I to the end must endure and the proof is

57:41 what you're doing with those stumbling blocks in the way to faith, holiness and obedience and you're falling over them and some of you are living monuments of spiritual wreckage some of you ought to be shaken some of you ought to be confirmed and finally some of you ought to be convinced in no way to get to heaven without having a work of grace wrought in your heart you say Pastor Martin if to be a Christian means what you've read from the words of Jesus this morning in any way anyone can just patch himself up and do a few little nice things and make a cute little decision

Conclusion: A Call to Deal with Christ's Word Now

58:24 and everything gonna be alright no way and you've got the message that's right no way you need nothing less than a new heart you need nothing less than divine power you need nothing less than union with Christ you need nothing less than an arm of omnipotence to quicken you from spiritual death to life if you're ever to persevere to the end my dear people it has not been easy to speak this plainly this morning but I ask you in your own conscience what word of Christ have I distorted what word of Christ have I manipulated

59:09 to extract my own preconceived notion out of it I call your conscience to witness have you heard the word of Christ then that's the word you'll meet in the last day may God help you to deal with it now as you shall be forced to deal with it then let us pray our Father we have dealt with very sobering issues this morning and coming from a giddy world that laughs itself into hell

59:52 as it gazes upon its silly and often sordid television sitcoms and its filthy and pornographic literature and its lewd movies and its jungle music oh God we pray that amidst all of that you would somehow break through with the voice that wakes the dead and get to our hearts Lord get to our hearts this morning we pray get to our hearts Lord oh may your word find its way to our hearts

60:34 we pray for those who ought to be shaken to the very roots of their being shake them this morning oh God who shakes and who overturns shake the hearts of those that ought to be shaken for those who ought to be comforted oh give them comfort we think of the many who have every grounds to be comforted this morning because you've enabled them to make choices again and again contrary to the native inclination of their own flesh oh may they rejoice in the knowledge of your grace

61:14 and for those who have come to see that there is no way that they'll ever make it unless you do something in them that they cannot do for themselves may they give themselves no rest until they seek that from you which only you can give but which you delight to give to every needy sinner who comes and asks it in the way of your appointment Lord seal the word oh seal the word and may it bear holy fruit to the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen