In the General Epistles, Part 2

Introduction: The Disposition for God's Word and Series Overview

0:01 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, May 30th, 1982, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, before we turn to the ministry of the Word of God, I want to read just a verse of Scripture to set the framework of our seeking the face of God for His blessing upon the preaching of His Word. Through the prophet Isaiah, God says, To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,

0:40 and that trembles, and that trembles, and that trembles at my word. God has promised to look with favor and blessing upon those who, conscious of their creaturehood and their sinful, tremble at His word. Let us ask Him to give us that disposition as we turn to the Scriptures.

1:14 Holy Father, we confess that it is not natural for us to tremble at Your word. We acknowledge that sin has so influenced our thinking, our attitudes and dispositions, that we stand arrogant, proud, and defiant before You, the God of Heaven, and we manifest that arrogance, and pride, and defiance by our careless attention to Your Word.

1:51 O Holy Father, Who will make all creatures tremble before Your word in the final day, make us to tremble now while the door of mercy is yet open, while the way of life is still set before us. Help us to listen to your word with that disposition of true humility and eagerness and by your grace with a heart of faith and of obedience. We ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Recap: Salvation is All of Grace, God, and Christ, Leading to Perseverance

2:40 Our study in the word of God this morning is the sixth in a series which we have been engaged in during which our attention has been directed to the necessity of the people of God persevering or continuing in faith and holiness and obedience to the end of their days if they would receive the crown of life at the last day. Now since there are not a few of you here this morning who have not been with us for the previous five expositions I will attempt to capture in five minutes

3:24 some four hours of opening up the scriptures. We have begun each of these studies by asserting our unreserved conviction with respect to the teaching of this book called the Bible concerning the gospel of God. The doctrine of salvation or the manner in which men are rescued from sin and its consequences. And I have asserted on the threshold of each of our previous studies that the Bible clearly teaches that salvation is all of grace.

4:03 That is, it comes to us as sinners who deserve nothing but divine wrath. Salvation does not come to us because of what we are and what we do but because of who God is and what He is determined to do out of the kindness of His own heart. Furthermore, the Bible teaches us that salvation is all of God. Jonah confessed salvation is of the Lord and every facet of God's saving work from beginning to end is indeed God's saving.

4:43 And then we confess again and again that salvation is all of Christ. That is, it is based upon and wrought in sinners on the grounds of what Christ has done in His life, in His death, and in His resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God and in His sending of the Holy Spirit. And so we confess without any embarrassment, without any equivocation, our conviction that salvation is all of grace, all of God, all of Christ. But the same Bible that teaches these glorious truths

5:26 also teaches us that this salvation causes people to turn from the way of unbelief, the way of self and sin and the devil in the world, and into the way of faith, of holiness and obedience. And having once turned them into that way, God in His saving mercy keeps His people upon that way unto the end. Not that they may not turn aside at given points along the way. Not that they may not fall and stumble into sin.

6:07 But the overall course of their lives is a course of perseverance, in faith and holiness and obedience. And so we have been examining the Scriptures with respect to the testimony they give concerning the necessity of this continuance in the way. The necessity of continuance in a life of faith, of holiness and obedience. And the way we have done it is very simple.

6:40 We looked at the teaching of our Lord, as found in the Gospel records and in His messages to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. Then we turned on to consider this teaching in the epistles of Paul. And then we considered this teaching in the letter to the Hebrews. And then last Lord's Day, we considered this teaching in the first two of the general epistles, James and Peter.

7:08 And now we conclude our study with respect to the necessity of perseverance, by considering the testimony of John in his three letters, and then the testimony of Jude. So will you turn now to the book of 1 John, while we conclude our consideration of this one simple fundamental biblical truth. Namely, the necessity of the saints persevering in faith and holiness and obedience to the end of their days, if they would enter life at the last day.

1 John 2:3-5: Obedience as the Evidence of Knowing God

7:50 And now several passages from 1 John. Then we'll look at the other two epistles of John. And then a key text from the epistle of Jude. 1 John and chapter 2.

8:08 Now as we turn to this passage, let me remind you, and for some of you, inform you. For the first time, of some of the circumstances surrounding this letter of the apostle John. False teachers were infecting the churches in the area to which John writes. And some of their false teaching had to do with the person of Christ.

8:29 They denied that he had a real human body. And when people begin to deny the reality of the humanity of Christ, if they can detach Christ from the real stuff, of real humanity, then they will begin to conceive of a kind of religion that is also detached from the realities of how a man really lives. If you have a phantom Christ, then you can have a phantom piety. If you have a Christ who has come to us in the concreteness of flesh and blood, then you will have a salvation that manifests itself in the concreteness of the flesh and blood of how we really live.

9:13 And think and act in the real world with our real hands, real eyes, real feet, and real affections and desires. And so these people who on the one hand were denying some fundamental doctrines about Christ, were denying some fundamental doctrines about his salvation. And one of them is dealt with in chapter 2, beginning with verse 3. And hereby we know that we know him, if, we keep his commandments.

9:44 Now notice John does not say, and hereby we come to know him by keeping his commandments. You do not become a Christian by starting to obey the commandments of God. You become a Christian by believing, and in that sense, obeying the command to believe. But you become a Christian by turning from your sins, acknowledging that there's nothing you are or can do to make yourself accepted with God.

10:13 And you rest the whole weight of your soul upon Jesus Christ, who he is and what he has done on behalf of sinners. And thereby you come to the knowledge of God in Christ. And so John says, hereby do we know that we know him, if we are keeping his commandments. If we have truly turned to him in repentance and faith and come to the saving knowledge of God, that knowledge, will be productive of a life of obedience.

10:46 Not perfect obedience, but the bent and drift and purpose of the heart and life is in the direction of obedience. But now we have a problem. Verse 4. He that says, I know him, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

11:09 But whoever keeps on keeping his word, it's a present tense verb, whoever goes on keeping his word, in him truly the love of God has been perfected, hereby know we that we are in him. Now you see John's witness is very clear and very simple. There were apparently those who made very loud claims and very, very confident claims that they had come to the saving knowledge of God in Jesus Christ.

11:50 But when their lifestyle was viewed objectively, it was not a lifestyle of diligent, careful, perpetual, persevering obedience to God's commandments. Oh, they could talk about their inner feelings. They could talk about their inner religious experiences. They could talk about their marvelous, mystical sights and feelings and all the rest.

12:18 But John says in the concreteness of where they actually lived out their lives, their feet were not being planted in the path marked out by God's commandments. And John says to such, if anyone says that he knows him and is not persevering, continuing in a pattern of obedience, to the commandments of God, he is a liar and the truth is not in him. It doesn't say he is backslidden and the truth has somehow been stifled in him. He does not say he has entered a period of worldliness and coldness

13:00 and the truth is somehow not being fully operative. Look at your Bibles. He that saith, I know him, and does not believe, is not a liar, and the truth is not in him. He that saith, I know him, and does not believe, is not a liar, and the truth is not in him.

13:11 He that saith, I know him, and does not believe, is not a liar, and the truth is not in him. He that saith, I know him, and does not believe, is not a liar, and the truth is not in him. He that saith, I know him, and does not believe, is not a liar, and the truth is not in him. He that saith, I know him, and does not believe, is not a liar, and the truth is not in him.

13:15 He that saith, I know him, and does not believe, is not a liar, and the truth is not in him. He that saith, I know him, and does not believe, is not a liar, and the truth is not in him. He that saith, I know him, and does not believe, is not a liar, and the truth is not in him. in him. But someone objects, I am trusting in the love of God, in Jesus Christ that covers

13:25 all my sins. John says, whoso is keeping his word, in him hath the love of God been perfected. That is, the love of God has accomplished its divine intention, not by bringing people to say they trust in the love of God and the salvation provided, while they live in a life of disobedience. But the love of God has accomplished its divine end when it has constrained men and women to live in a lifestyle dominated and marked by perseverance in obedience

14:09 to the commandments of God. So John's testimony. Is just another one in the many that we have seen that perseverance in the path of obedience to divine commandments is the indispensable mark of one who is truly within the orbit of divine love. And if you claim to be within that orbit and you are not in the pathway of perseverance in obedience, my friend,

1 John 2:18-19: Departure as Proof of Never Being Truly Saved

14:45 the word of God says you are a liar and the truth has never taken root in your being. Now then we turn to chapter 2, verses 18 and 19. Here the setting is a bit different. Little children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that Antichrist come, even now there have arisen many Antichrists.

15:19 Asέλos said Oh my late time is near. It is the last hour. Our Lord had predicted that there would be those who would be against him, who would lead people astray, who would, some of them claim to be the Christ, they would be false teachers. And John says this has actually happened in the short span of time.

15:43 From the death of Christ to the writing of this epistle. John had lived to see this truth. He'd seen Antichrist coming to save Jesus. But his god, Antichrist, had lived only to kullanism.

15:49 Wah. Every single day he Gülert House into That's not to beü God's work here. Are we heavens that is to what God is of the empty world so the great meditators side, are we with that be in faith of Christ? Lord's prophecy come to pass. And one of the amazing things is that some of these very people

15:56 who are against Christ once stood within the community of those who are for Christ. Look at verse 19. They, that is these antichrists, went out from us. At one time they sat in congregations such as this. And when whoever were the leaders of that congregation would give out the psalm

16:24 for that day, they sang it with all the gusto of all of the other members of that congregation. And when the word of God was read, they listened with all the eagerness with which others listened. And when the word of God was expounded and applied, they seemed to be those who were yielding up their hearts to the impress of the word of God upon their hearts. But John says something has happened. They went out from us. But now notice how he interprets this.

16:55 They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that they are not. All of us. You see what John is saying? As long as they were within the visible community of God's

17:26 people and their lifestyle and their confession was conformed to the lifestyle and confession of that community of those submissive to the apostolic word, John said they were among us. But when they left us and leaving us in John's language means, leaving the truth which holds us together. Leaving the pattern of life which marks our life together. He says, when they went out from us, then what they really were was manifested.

18:06 They were among us, but they were not really of us. But we didn't know that as long as they were amongst us. But when they went out from us and abandoned the truth and abandoned the life which the truth is, and abandoned the life which the truth demanded, then it became manifested that they were never really truly of us in the sense that they were never really in the way. For had they been truly in the way, John says what?

18:34 They would have continued. They would have persevered. They would have remained amongst.

18:45 And the Bible gives us classic examples of such. No one had suspicions about Judas. He was among not only the masses of disciples who followed our Lord, but he was one of the inner circle of the twelve. And there is nothing to suggest in the entire gospel record, Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, that there was anything that was detected by the disciples right up to the night of the betrayal so that when Jesus whispered, what you do, do quickly, the disciples thought our Lord was sending him out for some more food.

19:25 And when the Lord said, one of you shall betray me, they didn't all nudge one another and say, aha, aha, Judas, I bet you, Judas. They said, Lord, is it I? When they went out on their preaching tours, Judas lacked no unction in his preaching. And when they cast out demons, and he said, in the name of Jesus, demons begone, they said, no.

19:52 The demons fled at Judas' word. And when Jesus gave them authority to raise the dead, and Judas spoke over the dead, the name of Jesus, the dead were raised, there is no indication that he lacked anything of all of the powers and preaching gifts possessed by all the other apostles. But the time came when he went out from them. He went out, it says, and he hanged himself.

20:21 Now Jesus knew, it says, from the beginning who it was that should betray him. Our Lord knew the true state of his heart, but others who could only judge by profession and action did not know the state of his heart. And it's not a case that Judas lost his salvation, no. Judas never possessed salvation.

20:45 He was a devil from the beginning. All he had was a profession that was pretty convincing for three years. We think of Demas. Paul had to write in 2 Timothy chapter 4, Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present age.

21:09 In another epistle he speaks of Demas, my fellow worker, think of it, having prayer meetings with the apostle Paul, going out on preaching tours with the apostle Paul, a fellow worker, one whom Paul chose to labor with him because he manifested such degrees of apparent grace and apparent gift that Paul thought it would be in the best interest of the advancement of the gospel to make him a companion in labor. And yet he said, Demas hath forsaken. You see the principle of 1 John 2, verses 18 and 19,

21:53 the great principle of perseverance, continuance with the people of God, and the truth of the word of God and the ways of God to which they are committed. These are the evidences that professed faith is real and is genuine. And it does not matter if someone has walked with the people of God for 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 years and has been apparently among them. If he goes out from them, I'm not talking about changing churches, going out from them in the sense of leaving the truth of Christ,

22:38 leaving the historic doctrines of the word of God, leaving the ways which it demands, not a temporary lapse, not a temporary turning aside, but someone who apparently was a true and flourishing Christian for years or even decades. If they go out from the orbit of that truth and its influence upon them, and that becomes the settled pattern of the life, it shows that all those 30 years they never had anything real to start with. For if they had been of us, John says, they would have continued. Why?

2 John 9: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ

23:21 Because everyone whom God truly puts in the way stays on the way unto the end. Well then, we could move on to chapter 3, verses 9 and 10, but I want to hasten that passage there. The emphasis falls upon righteousness. But let's turn to 2 John.

23:42 How often do you ever hear verses quoted from 2 or 3 John? I was struck with that in my preparation. But it's amazing. In these two little epistles, there is a strong emphasis on perseverance in each of them.

23:59 You'd say, surely. And in my preparation, as I was reading through, speed reading through the New Testament, I said, well, probably when I come to 2 and 3 John, I won't find anything unless I really have to look hard for it. But you know, I didn't have to look hard. It was standing there, right on the surface.

24:18 Notice. 2 John, verse 9. To get the setting, we'll back up to verse 7. Many deceivers have gone forth into the world, even they that confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh.

24:36 You see that false teaching John was combating? People whose doctrinal aberration was this, Jesus Christ did not have a true humanity. Many deceivers have gone forth, even they that confess not that Jesus Christ comes in the flesh. This is the deceiver in the Antichrist.

24:55 Look to yourselves, that you lose not the things which we have wrought, but that you receive a full reward. Deceivers have gone forth. Then John marks their particular area of deception with regard to a biblical confession of the constitution of Christ person. He is truly man, as much man as though he were never God.

25:21 He is truly God, as much God as though he were never man. And he says now, in the light of this, look to yourselves, be careful. These deceivers will try to influence you beyond your guard. And then it is as if someone says, well John, there are so many things that a Christian has to be on his guard about.

25:46 So many admonitions to watch about this and to be careful about that. Is this really something to get all concerned about? John says, yes it is, and I'll tell you why. Look at the next verse, verse 9.

26:02 Whosoever goeth onward and does not continue to abide in the teaching of Christ, that is, the apostolic teaching about Christ, not Christ's teaching, but the teaching of Christ, that is, God's revealed truth about Christ, whoever goes onward, he leaves what God has said about his Son, he is true God, he is true man, the only Savior of sinners, whoever goes onward and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, hath not God. He that abides,

26:46 he who continues to remain, he who perseveres in the teaching, the same hath both the Father and the Son. That's a pretty strong text on perseverance, isn't it? And you see where the point of persevering emphasis falls? It falls upon continuance, not in subjective faith, but in the objective faith, the body of truth revealed by God through the Apostles and deposited in the Scriptures.

27:22 Why are we sticklers about this book? Because this book tells us it's a matter of heaven and hell. Whether or not you continue in the teaching of this book, what you believe does make a difference. And whoever goes onward and says, oh well, when I was younger and I had simple thoughts about heaven and hell and sin and the world to come, before I became of age and got a little more sophisticated and went to college and university and understood that there are real problems with the Bible and there are discrepancies

28:05 between modern science and the Bible and modern psychology and the Bible, before I was enlightened, when I was a child and when I was a teenager and I needed a crutch and I had no faculties of independent thought and no powers of independent judgment, all of that was fine for me then. But I've come to the place now where I can pick and choose, where my mental and psychological faculties are so developed that I can go onward beyond the teaching of Christ, beyond that body of apostolic testimony. I can begin to think what I want to think about life and death

28:50 and heaven and hell and morality and ethics and male and female roles and the family. I'm free to think what I want to think. Listen to what God says. Whoever goes onward and abides not in the teaching of Christ, the same hath not the Father and the Son.

29:10 He hath not God. And only those who continue in the teaching have the Father and the Son. You see, there can be no continuance in a saving relationship to the Father through Jesus Christ without a continuance in the revealed truth about Jesus Christ. Now, you young people, listen to me.

29:41 With all your heart and all your ears, listen to me. When people try to tempt you to think that the Bible is outdated and old-fashioned, either its doctrines or its precepts, either its objective statements about who God is and who Christ is, and what salvation is, or its personal demands of faith and of repentance and a life of holiness, when you're tempted to be bullied to put some gray question marks over what God has said, remember, dear children, if you do not abide in the teaching of Christ, you cannot be saved.

30:24 And God will send you to hell for your pride that cast off the yoke of submission to His Word. He who continues in the teaching the same hath both the Father and the Son. You see, I'm fully prepared for people to laugh down their pseudo-sophisticated noses and say, Mr. Martin, you seem like at least a reasonably intelligent man Do you really believe that God has spoken in a book?

31:05 And the very way they ask the question in the little bit of a snicker about this point in their throat is threatening, isn't it? Hmm? I mean, really. Do you really believe that with the advances we've made sociologically and in every way that the Bible's notions that men are to take the lead in their homes and women are to be lovingly submissive as men lovingly lead and children are to be taught that there is a system of morality codified and epitomized in the ten words of the Decalogue with its thou shalt's and thou shalt not and fixed moral standards

31:48 Do you really believe that? You know what my answer is? Not only do I believe it but I must continue to believe it or God will curse my pride by sending me to hell. There'll be nobody strutting up to Almighty God when he sits on his throne of judgment with a snicker in his face and the little bit of that cynical rattle in his voice.

32:24 God's word says they will cry for the rocks and the mountains to fall upon them and to hide them from the face of him that sits upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb the very ones who snickered at the idea of divine wrath the very ones who snickered at the thought of a Lamb of God who bore away the sin of the world There'll be no laughing no snickering no pseudo-intellectual sophistication None of this! in that day when they plead for rocks and mountains

33:08 to tumble upon them and to hide them from an incensed and an angry God. Oh, my dear friend don't you be one of them persevere in the teaching of Christ to the end of your days it's a matter of life and death and then lo and behold we turn down to third John and we get smacked with it again surely the little epistle of third John would not have a clear statement on perseverance ah, but it does

3 John 9-11: Perseverance in Doing Good Despite Evil Examples

33:50 notice as I begin reading in verse nine I wrote somewhat unto the church but Diotrephes Mr. Big Shot who loves to have the preeminence you see, he didn't love the work of the ministry he loved to be the big shot I wrote to him I wrote unto the church but Diotrephes who loves to have the preeminence among them received us not therefore if I come I'll bring to remembrance his works which he's doing prating against us with wicked words and not content therewith neither doth he himself receive the brethren and them that would

34:33 he forbids and casts them out of the church you see the situation this man Diotrephes had worked himself into a place of leadership and anyone who would challenge that leadership he'd either refuse his entrance even the apostle John said I couldn't be received Diotrephes wouldn't have me and anyone that was sympathetic to receiving me he then carried on unilateral acts of excommunication I communicate you, you, you and you and you you're out, you're done finis this was some character but now John says in the light of that what are you to do notice how he turns it into an exhortation for perseverance beloved do not imitate that which is evil you see the context

35:16 do not be an imitator of an ambitious headstrong man like Diotrephes do not imitate that which is evil but that which is good why he who does present tense he who is doing good is of God and he that is doing evil hath not seen God and then he uses as an example of someone who's the opposite of Diotrephes Demetrius hath the witness of all man and of the truth itself yes we also bear witness and you know that our witness is true

35:57 in the midst of this description of this evil man Diotrephes John generalizes in terms of the practice of good and the practice of evil by way of example or patterning and he says to these people don't imitate a Diotrephes don't allow yourself to be swelled with pride and arrogance and a spirit of headstrongness why because if that kind of evil marks your life you have no grounds to claim you're a child of God it is only the one who continues in doing good

36:41 even in the face of evil men and evil examples only such who continue to do good have grounds to claim that they truly know the living God now my dear friends if while apostles lived you could have such evil men rise up to set such evil examples how much more are we vulnerable with no living apostles but no matter how powerful are those who do evil no matter how arrogant and forceful they may be

Jude 20-24: The Paradox of Divine Keeping and Human Keeping

37:22 and no matter how many they can bring in their train as their followers we must pursue what is good at any cost why for apart from this we have no reason to believe we are the people of God and then our final text we turn over to the epistle of Jude the epistle of Jude our last witness we've brought forward about 30 witnesses to the necessity of perseverance now this is our final one and before we turn to it it's verse number 20 I want you to notice how Jude addresses his hearers or his readers

38:04 he describes them in the first verse of his epistle this way Jude a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James to them that are called beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ now notice the three-fold description they are called that is they are the ones whom God has effectually drawn out of darkness into marvelous light they have not merely been summoned they have been called and the word called here means nothing less than what we call or designate theologically effectual calling they have actually

38:48 dropped their arms of rebellion turned in faith and repentance to the living God they are called not only are they called they are beloved in God the Father the reason they are called is because God loved them in eternity and sent his son to die for them and therefore in time he calls them and not only are they called and beloved but they are kept for Jesus Christ they are his possession he died to have them how? to have them not half saved three-quarters saved but to have them fully saved that is he died to present them to himself faultless in the last day

39:31 conformed to his own image Romans 8 Ephesians 5 every last wrinkled spot taken from them what a wonderful thing to be part of the number who are called beloved and kept and then at the end of his epistle notice the emphasis he gives again he directs their attention to the mighty keeping power of God verse 24 now unto him that is able to guard you from stumbling and to set you before the presence of his glory without blemish and exceeding joy to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory majesty dominion

40:16 and power before all time and now and forevermore Amen you see what he does at the end of the epistle he directs them to the God who is able to keep them from stumbling to keep them from falling and turning out of the way and to keep them from stumbling until the hour when they are actually presented faultless before the throne of God so here the epistle begins with the designation of them as the ones who are called the ones who are beloved the ones who are kept who are directed to the mighty power of the God who can guard them from stumbling and present them faultless and yet in the midst of that

40:59 notice the duty he lays upon them in verse 20 having warned them about the presence of false teachers having warned them about the presence of false teachers having warned them about the terrible influence of these teachers he now says to them in verse 20 but you beloved building up yourselves on your most holy faith praying in the Holy Spirit keep yourselves in the love of God now what kind of double talk is that Jude are you getting old in singing now you told us in the beginning of the letter

41:43 we were called we were beloved we are kept and now you tell us at the end of the letter God's able to keep us from falling and God's able to present us faultless and now you say it's our duty to keep ourselves in the love of God well my friend if you don't like that that's too bad because that's God's word in other words Jude knows of no love of God that keeps any people called of God in any other way than their own self-conscious efforts to keep themselves in the love of God

42:28 you see it and if you have a notion that you are going to be kept and preserved irrespective of whether you keep yourself you have a notion spawned in hell and not born of the Bible and you say well I don't understand that well I'm sorry my friend whether you ever understand it you better do it because almighty God commands it and you see it's the person who is utterly determined to take verse 20 seriously I must keep myself in the love of God

43:12 even as my Lord kept himself in the love of his Father and he tells us how he did it in John 15 he said I keep his commandments this is the way I keep myself in my Father's love I persevere in the path of obedience though it means for me Gethsemane though it means for me rejection public shame though it will mean for me being pressed into the darkness of the abyss of Golgotha though it will mean the billows of the Father's wrath he says I keep myself in my Father's love by walking the path of obedience at any cost

43:57 Jude partaking of the spirit of his Master says to all who name the name of Christ keep yourselves in the love of God and it's when you're determined to do so that verse 1 and verse 24 become such sweet words such sweet consolations how can I keep myself in the love of God when there's the reality that we talked about this morning a world continually trying to press me into its mold my own indwelling sin trying to pull me into the path of sensuous indulgence a wicked devil going about as a roaring lion

44:41 seeking to devour me how can I keep myself in the love of God it's then you see with a heart determined to do it because you know you must that you find consolation from the great reality that in seeking to keep myself I am being kept by the one who is able to preserve me from falling and present me faultless before his presence with exceeding joy to the soul committed to perseverance in keeping himself in the love of God his consolations are drawn from God's commitments to keep him preserve him and present him

45:26 but for people who are not determined to keep themselves in the love of God and rest back and say I'll be kept by God no matter what I do they are ripening themselves for hell and I fear some of them may be sitting in this building this morning there is no one in our own generation who spoke and wrote more perceptively and with greater conviction concerning the fact that salvation is all of God all of grace and all of Christ than did the late beloved professor John Murray

46:11 one of God's greatest gifts to our generation and in what has become already a classic work on the doctrine of salvation his little book Redemption accomplished and applied professor Murray in his chapter on perseverance writes as follows the perseverance of the saints reminds us very forcefully that only those who persevere to the end are truly saints we do not attain the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus automatically automatically perseverance means

46:56 the engagement of our persons in the most intense and concentrated devotion to those means which God has ordained for the achievement of his saving purpose the scriptural doctrine of perseverance has no affinity with the quietism and antinomianism which are so prevalent in evangelical circles put in every ordinary day language the idea I'll be saved at the end no matter what I do or don't do that is antinomianism the bible doctrine is not

Application: Mercilessly Remove Impediments and Diligently Use Means of Grace

47:39 once saved always saved no matter what I do the bible doctrine is once saved always saved and what you do proves that you are saved and it's not what you did but what you're doing now as we conclude this series of studies on the necessity of perseverance I want to just bring home several lines of application then God willing next week we'll start in on the means of perseverance but let me now summarize and drive home several lines of application in closing this morning we have examined as I've already suggested

48:22 approximately 25 to 30 key texts from the gospel of Matthew through to the book of the revelation and all of these texts have spoken with one great consenting voice that it is necessary for the people of God to persevere in faith and holiness and obedience if they would be found in the way of life at the last day now granted no one can persevere this way unless he is born of God's spirit granted no one can persevere this way unless he is truly converted

49:06 granted no one can persevere this way in his own strength granted but everyone must persevere as one who is born of the spirit yes as one who has been truly converted yes as one who draws his strength from union with Christ yes it cannot be done by unconverted men it cannot be done by those who are strangers to the new birth it cannot be done in our own strength but it must be done and it's when we're convinced of that that perhaps some of us will have resolved the great question am I or am I not really a Christian

49:51 my friend you set yourself with holy determination to persevere from this moment on this moment onward in faith in holiness in obedience and as you set yourself to do so you may find yourself utterly bereft of the power and the motives and the perspectives essential to do it and that may be the very issue that will clear up the great question whether or not you're in a state of grace and it will make it evident you don't have the root of the matter in you and now you'll know where you are and you can go to Christ and say oh Lord Christ you say that I must continue to the end I can't even walk the first step

50:35 Lord Jesus do what must be done to get me into the way and then give me all I need in yourself to walk along the way until at last I arrive safely at home in your presence some of you who vacillate in one way wonder am I or am I not set out this very moment to start walking in the light of everything you know God requires you to believe and requires you to do starting with keeping this day holy and you'll soon discover if the root of the matter is not in you

51:20 you can't hack it at least you'll know where you are and cry to God for grace and for those of you who have reason to believe that God has put you into the way and with renewed conviction God has brought home to your heart these 25 to 30 key texts that you must continue in the way and as Professor Murray has said this continuance demands the engagement of your whole person in the use of all the means hear me dear child of God deal mercilessly with anything which impede your progress

52:04 anything anything however innocent it may be in itself however fair may be its form and sweet its voice if it stands between me and the path of perseverance in faith and holiness and obedience it is my mortal enemy and I must treat it accordingly let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and run with endurance perseverance the race that is set before us and then from the positive standpoint use diligently every God ordained means

52:48 to aid your progress you're in a race for life and God has put his stations along the way as a marathon race where you can be doused with water and where you can take in the nourishment and the water or whatever the marathon runner drinks to replenish the water he's lost in this race God has put stations along the way and if you're determined to make it to the end you'll use diligently every means of God's appointment to strengthen you in the way that leads to life and then finally dear child of God above all else

53:32 in the language of Hebrews 12 look off unto Jesus the author and the perfecter of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising its shame fix him in the eye of your soul allow nothing to obscure the vision of his own love to you allow nothing to dampen your ardor of devotion to him again whatever it is however innocent its appearance if it causes your love to Christ to be dampened one little iota have nothing to do with it for love to Christ maintained in its fervor and simplicity

54:17 is indeed the great fundamental issue in pressing on in the path of true perseverance he stands ready to give you all knowledge of His free fight when Christ fifteen years old has appeared manage in you and breakfast skill with your forehead you can see how blessed he is when Christ came aloud on this earth all through your life that you live upon your own your body your soul where everything yourID and your soul resided never missed Beit Elohim the interesting article we can read

55:00 Plead with Him to do in you what you cannot do for yourself. And clinging to Christ, persevering in the way until that hour when we see Him face to face, and when we look back and see how it was grace that brought us into the way, grace that preserved us upon the way, there'll be no one at the end reaching around to pat himself on the back and say, I persevered and I made it. We'll fall at the feet of our Savior and say,

55:39 Lord Jesus, you got me into the way, you kept me upon the way, and you have brought me safe at home to your presence and to you and to you alone. Be praise and honor and glory. And we will look back and see His work not bypassing ours, but as the ultimate source of ours. And we did struggle and we did fight and we did cut off right hands and pluck out right eyes and we did take off the excess baggage that would impede us in the race.

56:21 But we will gladly acknowledge that it was both grace grace that gave us the power to do good and grace that gave us the knowledge that we had to do so and the power to do so. And it was grace and grace alone that brought us home at last. John Newton had it right when he said, "'Twas grace that brought my heart to fear, grace my fears relieved." How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.

56:53 Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have all the power to do good. I have already come. "'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home. But oh, don't trifle with grace.

57:12 Don't hide behind a grace that gives you comfort in your antinomian, lawless, self-indulgent, worldly, carnal heart. You're turning the grace of God into lasciviousness and God has no more hotter places in hell for people that do that to His grace.'" The grace of God hath appeared teaching us denying ungodliness and worldly lust. We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age looking for the blessed hope

57:56 and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. And if you claim to receive the grace of God, if you claim to receive a grace that hasn't taught you to live soberly, righteously, and godly, your grace comes from some other place than the throne of God and the throne of grace.

Final Exhortation and Prayer

58:16 Oh, dear people, what more can I say? I've exhausted every faculty of mind and spirit and utterance to set it out as clearly as I can. Will you go to hell? In light of such clear, simple, unadorned, undeclaration, if so, these hands I declare in the presence of my God are clean.

58:45 They are clean of your blood.

58:59 He that endureth to the end, the same shall be.

59:23 Our Father, we confess that as we draw near to the great verities, the great realities, the awesome, awesome, issues of life and death,

59:45 that our poor, frail human minds and spirits cannot long concentrate upon these issues without feeling themselves crushed beneath the weight of them.

60:01 Oh, God, have mercy upon those who sitting here this morning are not persevering in holiness, faith, and obedience simply because they've never been born of your spirit. They've never been converted. They've never been joined to your Son. Oh, that you would draw them, draw them, draw them, even now, even this day.

60:29 And for some who may well be your children, but who are trifling, some who profess to be your children, who have given some marks of life, but who are perilously near a tragic apostasy. Oh, God, will you not awaken them? Will you not fall upon them? Will you not awaken them from the slumber and dreamland of their own folly and their own pursuit of things that can only damn their souls?

61:06 Gracious God, don't let this word fall to the ground unheeded. We plead with You. We plead with You. We plead with You.

61:14 We plead with You. you for the honor of your son for the praise of his name oh that it may be effectual in prodding your people to greater zeal in the path of persevering faith and holiness and obedience and in calling some from their sins and from the world into the fellowship of your dear son hear our cry and seal the word to our hearts to these holy ends through jesus christ our lord amen