Three-Fold Basis

Opening Prayer and Sermon Series Context

0:01 This sermon was preached on Sunday evening, January 16th, 1983, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:13 Now let us once again seek the face of God in prayer.

0:22 Truly, O Lord, there are no greater gifts we could ask from your hand than those that we have expressed in the language of this hymn. Will you not come and open our eyes, dispel the darkness from our minds, the darkness that is innately there because of our native sin, our original sin, the darkness that is there because so often our eyes have been dazzled by the tinsel of this world. O God, move upon our spiritual eyes. Take away the slowness.

1:02 Take away the slowness from our hearts. We do acknowledge, O God, the Holy Spirit, that you alone can sanctify us, that you alone can purge away the dominion and the inclination and power and stain of sin within us. And we cry to you that you will come and do in us all of the things that we have asked for in the singing of this hymn. And we would be bold to plead that you will.

1:33 Come as a convincing and convicting spirit. Come as the spirit whose delightful ministry it is to take of the things of Christ and to reveal them to men. O Lord, we ask as we open your word that we may be conscious of having dealings with you, the living and the true God, that we may see beyond the mere words on the page, though they be your very words, and that we may hear your words. And that we may hear more than the opening up of those words in a manner that convinces our minds.

2:11 O God, the Holy Ghost, come amongst us that the word may come to us not in word only, but also in power and in your own presence and ministry and with much conviction. O our God, we would be bold to ask this because we know without it our meeting will have been in vain. O God, we would be bold to ask this because we know without it our meeting will have been in vain. Hear then our cry and answer the plea of our hearts through Jesus Christ our Lord.

2:44 Amen. Now our meditation in the word of God this evening will be precisely what it would have been had we met this morning. It was in this area that I had made the most thorough preparation, and there were no compelling reasons to divert from my purpose to, seek to take one more step in bringing to a conclusion the series of studies in which we've been engaged for a number of months,

3:18 in which we have been dealing with certain major aspects of the very basic biblical doctrine often called the doctrine of the perseverance and the preservation of the people of God. Now that doctrine simply stated is this, that all of God's truths, that all of God's true people, not all who make a profession, not all who name the name of Christ, but all of God's true people most assuredly shall,

3:51 but they most certainly must continue in the way of faith, holiness, and obedience to the end of their days if they would enter heaven at last. The teaching of the Bible is abundantly clear. The teaching of the Bible is abundantly clear. That there is not only a narrow gate through which we must enter, but a narrow way upon which we must walk if we would enter life at last.

4:22 And in the opening up of some of the major dimensions of this biblical doctrine we considered for several Lord's days the necessity of this perseverance, this continuance in the way of faith, holiness, and obedience. And then for even more Lord's Days, we considered those means by which we are enabled to persevere, those spiritual disciplines, some of them deposited in the life and ministry of the church, some of them of a more individual or private nature,

4:57 which under the blessing of God and by the direction of God are instrumental in keeping us in the way of faith, holiness, and obedience. And now we are seeking to round out and complete this series of studies by examining together the great subject of the certainty of the perseverance and the preservation of God's people. Having moved from seeing the necessary, the necessity of this perseverance, the means of perseverance, we are now concerned with establishing the certainty of the perseverance and preservation of God's people.

The Threefold Basis of Certainty Introduced

5:40 And what we did last Lord's Day was simply to examine four key texts in the Old Testament and approximately the same number in the New under the general heading of explicit assertions of the perseverance and preservation of God's people.

5:57 And what we did last Lord's Day was simply to examine four key texts in the Old Testament and approximately the same number in the New under the general heading of explicit assertions of the perseverance and preservation of God's people. And now what I wish to do tonight is to direct your attention to what I am calling the threefold basis of this certainty of the preservation and perseverance of the saints.

6:42 The threefold basis of this certainty of the preservation and perseverance of the people of God. And I trust you see something of the order and progression and development, in the way we've handled the subject, having convinced your consciences, I trust, from the Scriptures that you must continue in this way if you would attain to life, having set before you the means by which you will be enabled to continue, the great question that inevitably presses in upon us is this, will it all come to naught?

7:24 Will it all come to nothing? Or can I be assured amidst the smoke and the dust and at times the blood and the agony of the conflict in the way of perseverance, can I have the gleam in my eye of one who is utterly and absolutely certain on substantial grounds that I'm going to make it to the end? That's the great question. And I submitted to you, last week, that there are explicit assertions which do indeed buttress the answer in the

8:02 affirmative. Yes, we to the end shall endure as sure as the earnest is given. But now the question comes, what is the basis of that certainty? Are we simply to take the naked statements, these assertions that we considered last week? Well, in a sense, I hope the answer

8:25 to that question is yes. The answer of every truly godly heart is, well, if that's all God revealed about it, that would be enough. If God has said whom he justified, them he also glorified, then that would be enough upon which to rest the weight of our souls in the midst of the conflict. But God has given us more than that. And he has, as it were, shown us in his word the

8:52 very foundation upon which he asserts. In that very word, that all of his people shall persevere unto the end. And that basis, though manifold, can be reduced fundamentally to three basic categories of truth, categories of truth which relate directly to the great mystery of the Godhead, the one in three and the three in one. The God who is one God, but the God who is God as one. And that's

9:24 the key to thecellus, the one God who is one God, but the God who is God as one God. The one God who is one God, but the God who is God as one God. And that's the key to the as Father, the God who is God as Son, the God who is God as the Holy Spirit. And now, as time permits then, trace out with me the threefold basis of the certainty of the perseverance and preservation of the people of God. And the first aspect of that basis is what I am calling

Basis 1: The Unchangeable Purpose of God the Father

9:49 the unchangeable purpose of God the Father. And then we shall move on to consider the unfailing purchase and intercession of God the Son. And finally, we'll consider the unremovable indwelling and presence of God the Holy Spirit. First of all then, the unchangeable purpose of God the Father. That the salvation of sinners in

10:19 Jesus Christ is but the unfolding of the purpose of the Father was part and parcel of the self-consciousness of our Savior. Let me repeat that, because unless you get hold of that truth as we'll see it unfolded in one particular passage, and this is but a specimen passage, your enjoyment of the salvation of God in Christ will be greatly limited. The salvation of sinners in Jesus Christ is but the unfolding of the purpose of the Father. And this is but a specimen of God the Father.

11:05 If you would please turn, please, to John's Gospel, Chapter 6. John's Gospel, Chapter 6. In this chapter, so rich with so much teaching, filled with texts that are often memorized by many of God's people i begin the reading with verse 37 our lord is speaking and says all that which the father giveth me shall come unto me and him that comes to me i will in no wise cast out for

11:45 i am come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me and this is the will of him that sent me that of all that which he has given me i should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day for this is the will of my father that everyone that beholds the son and believes on him should have eternal life and i will raise him at the last moment

12:24 now note first of all in verse 37 that our lord establishes an inseparable connection between the sinners coming to christ and his being given by the father to christ you notice that connection all that which the father giveth me shall come to me so there is a giving to christ and there is a coming to christ the giving is the activity of the father the coming is the activity

13:03 of the sinner do you see that connection in your own bibles with your own eyes do you see it all that which the father giveth shall come the father gives some to christ these come to christ and the text warrants us to say that the sinners come because they are given and the sinners coming reveals the fact that he has been given there is but one way to know that i've been given by the father to christ and that's to come to christ but having come to christ i am to understand that i

13:41 have come because i was given now that's simple straightforward plain in the text you see it you now men can call that whatever they want but that's the word of jesus all that which the father giveth shall come and him that comes i will in no wise cast out so we see first of all a connection between the sinners coming and the father's giving then furthermore the last part of the verse tells us that having come we will never be cast off by christ

14:20 all who come are kept by the one to whom they come and you have that construction in the original the ume construction what we would call in english a double negative which is set before us for added emphasis him that comes unto me he will not he will not be cast out now why is this so why should it be so that all of those given come to christ all that which the father giveth shall come to christ come and all who come are kept without exception well you'll notice verse eight begins with the word

14:59 four four four the latter part of verse 37 is true four and that word four could equally uh with an equally valid translation be rendered because because i am come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me and this is the will of him that sent me and then furthermore verse verse 40 for this is the will of my father three times in these brief verses we have something with

15:40 reference to the will of god the father twice he is referred to as the one who sent christ for this is the will of him that sent me and this is the will of the one who sent christ sent me and then the one who sent him is identified in verse 40 as the father so what do we learn from that well we learn this much jesus is able to say him that comes to me i will in no wise cast out because his reception of the sinner has an inseparable relationship with the unchangeable

16:20 immutable will of the father when our lord begins to buttress with reasons why it is that all who come to him will never be cast out three times he points us to the will of the one who sent him the will of his own holy father and so when i assert in your presence that the bible does indeed teach that that all who are truly in christ will certainly persevere and will be preserved without exception

16:58 the first basis of that clear assertion is this unchangeable purpose of god the father for this is the will of him that sent me that of all that he hath given me i should lose nothing but raise him at the last now this leads us inevitably to another question if it is the will of the father that secures our preservation and our perseverance is that will a capricious will

17:41 is it a will that was turned toward us with this saving purpose in time or does that purpose have its roots in the very heart of god from eternity and the bible itself i answers that question turn please to ephesians chapter one ephesians chapter one paul begins in chapter one in verse three this great hymn of praise to the triumph god for salvation in christ and notice the object of this praise verse three

18:22 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. Now verse 3 establishes, as does John 6, 37, an inseparable relationship between the saving blessings coming to sinners in Christ and the purpose and will and activity of the Father. Blessed be the Father for spiritual blessings in Christ.

19:00 As the apostle takes pen in hand to give vent to this tremendous understanding, this penetrating insight to the salvation of God in Christ, he cannot think of the saving activity of Christ apart from the will and purpose, and activity of the Father. Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with blessings in Christ. And then he goes on to start, at least in verse 4, to delineate some of those blessings which are more particularly the activity of the Father. And notice the first one, verse 4.

19:45 Even as He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before Him. Now ask three simple questions when you look at verse 4. Question number one, what did He do? For which He is to be praised as the God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

20:16 What did He do? Well, the text says, He chose us in Him, He picked us out in Him. That's what God did. God made a selection of sinners.

20:29 God set His love upon a specific number of individual sinners. He chose them in Christ. That's what He did. Now second question, when did He do it?

20:42 And the text says, before the foundation of the world. That is, before time as we now know it. Before Genesis 1-1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

20:58 He established the foundations of the earth. Well, before time as we know it, God chose individual, particular sinners. Well, that's what the church at Ephesus is comprised of, to whom Paul is writing. God the Father is to be blessed as the God who picked out, who exercised, to divine, sovereign, and gracious selectivity among sinners who were not yet even born.

21:30 And what He did was to choose them to salvation in Christ. When He did it? Before the foundation of the world. Now notice the third question in its answer.

21:41 With what end in view? Look at the text. What end did He have in view? When He chose them, that's what He did.

21:48 When? Before the foundation of the world. To what end? That we should be holy and without blemish before Him.

22:01 Now this little phrase, that we should be holy and without blemish before Him, what does it envision? Does it envision that holiness which comes on the threshold when anyone is converted? If so, it would not be conclusive with respect to whether or not having once tasted of that condition, one would continue in it. But according to chapter 5, in which the same construction is found in verse 27, this condition of being holy and without blemish awaits the consummation or the completion of redemption.

22:42 We'll look at this passage subsequently in another connection, but for now, allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture. Verse 27, that He might, present the church to Himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. That's the identical phraseology. And notice that this condition of being holy and without blemish is joined to the presentation of the church to Himself.

23:16 Now when does that occur? That occurs at the consummation. That occurs when there, when there will be the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, when the Lord Himself shall return from heaven with a shout, and all of His elect from the four corners of the earth, the dead elect resurrected, their resurrected bodies joined to their glorified spirits, saints who are alive unto His coming, transform body and spirit in an instant, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. And so the end envisioned in election, according to chapter 1, in verse 4, is that we should come to the state of perfection.

23:58 We were chosen in order that we should be holy and without blemish before Him in His very presence. And so election has as its goal not bringing a certain number to taste for a time, a year, ten, twenty, thirty, forty years, to experience, the entrance through the gate and some reality of communion with Christ and conformity to Christ on the narrow way, only to drift on, to fall into the ditch of apostasy. That is not the teaching of the passage. Blessed be the God and Father who chose us in Christ, that's what He did,

24:44 when He did it, before the foundation of the world, with what end in view? With a view to presenting us to Himself, holy and without blemish. And it is that purpose of God the Father, unchangeable in its nature, that forms the very bedrock of the confidence of the child of God, I, to the end, shall endure. None shall be glorified but those who persevere.

25:20 None who persevere will be glorified. None who persevere, but those who persevere, but those who persevere, that are preserved? And what basis do I have to believe I shall be preserved and in my being preserved shall persevere? It is nothing less than the unchangeable purpose of God the Father that it should be so even for me. Now, child of God, amidst all the burning

25:46 conviction, amidst all of the increasing sense of the necessity that you must persevere, amidst all of the arduous, prayerful, conscious use of the means of your perseverance, you ought to have as constant fuel for your faith this confidence that underneath are the everlasting arms of God. And upholding the arms of omnipotence that uphold you is an eternal, immutable decree

26:25 of Jehovah who cannot change. Now, for people to say that doctrine is totally unrelated to practice manifest either their ignorance of doctrine or their ignorance of how it ought to be used. One cannot gaze upon these statements in John 6 and Ephesians 1, and not see the direct relationship between the glorious doctrine of the immutable purposes of God expressed in election and the intimate connection with the doctrine of the perseverance and

Basis 2: The Unfailing Purchase and Intercession of God the Son

27:02 preservation of the saints. And so we can, as God's people sing with top lady, I shall to the end endure. Why? Because it is the unchangeable purpose of God the Father that it should be so even for me. But then the second aspect of this threefold basis of our confidence of the

27:28 perseverance and preservation of the saints is what I am calling the unfailing purchase and intercession of God the Son. The unfailing purchase and intercession of God the Son. As surely as salvation must be, in Jesus Christ is but the unfolding of the purposes of the Father, so it is as clearly revealed that salvation in Christ comes to us based upon his work as the great high priest of

28:07 his people. If you have any question, at your leisure, read Hebrews 5, 4, 5, 7, and 8 in particular. This truth is taught in many passages of the word of God, but one simply cannot read Hebrews 4, particularly the latter part, Hebrews 5, Hebrews 7, Hebrews 8, without coming to the conviction that if I have salvation in Christ, I have it in Christ because as a savior he functions as a great high priest. Now what were the two great activities of a priest? Well, I submit that

28:43 the answer of the question is that the answer of the question is that the answer of the question is that the answer of the question is that the answer of the question is that the answer of the Bible is it was a work of oblation or sacrifice and a work of intercession or presentation of the virtue of that sacrifice in the presence of God. You will notice in Romans chapter 8 and verse 34 that with respect to the work of Christ on which our salvation rests, the apostle brings into this intimate conjunction his work of oblation and his work of salvation. He has the work of oblation or sacrifice and his work of intercession. Notice the language of Romans 8 and verse 33.

29:23 Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? God's election makes our salvation certain but not apart from the work of Christ. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?

29:45 It is Christ. It is Christ Jesus that died, yea rather that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us. Now you see that bringing together of the work of Christ in dying for us and now continually making intercession for us. The dying is a once for all act. He died.

30:16 The intercession is a continuing, a perpetual activity. Who maketh, present tense, who is continually making intercession for us. Now I've said that the basis of our confidence that we shall persevere and be preserved is the unfailingness of this purchase, this sacrifice, and of this intercession of God. god the son now what end did christ have in view when he died for his people now turn again to the

30:55 ephesians 5 passage and we'll consider it in more detail when our lord jesus went to the cross to lay down his life for his sheep what end did he have in view what was the great purpose of his heart well in this passage in which the apostle is exhorting husbands to their duty with respect to their wives is some of the richest teaching on the nature and the ends of the death of christ ephesians 5 25 husbands love your wives even as christ also loved the church and gave himself

31:40 up for it that he gave himself up for the church that in order that what follows is a statement of purpose in the giving up of himself he did not have some vague undefined notion that in some way or another had something to do with helping people called sinners he had a specific delineated goal in view here it is he gave himself up for it that he up for it that he up for it that he might sanctify it, that is, that He might make it holy, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the Word,

32:25 that He might present the church to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. And here the purpose in the death of Christ is clearly stated in these two fundamental categories, the sanctification of the church and the presentation of that perfected church. Do you see it? That He might sanctify it, that He might present it to Himself.

33:03 Present it to Himself in what state? Negatively, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Positively, that it should be holy and without blemish. So that when our Lord died upon the cross, He had no lesser end in view than the actual sanctification of all of His people and the actual presentation of all of His people to Himself in this perfected state.

33:34 Now that's what He had upon His heart when He went to the cross to die.

33:40 Your Bible tells you as my Bible tells me in Isaiah 53, verses 10 and 11,

33:48 that with respect to the sufferings of the servant of Jehovah, He will not be frustrated. He will not fail to realize in His own, may I say it reverently, in His own space-time experience as the mediator. He will not fail to realize the thing for which He died. Because we read in verse 10 of Isaiah 53, it pleased the Lord, to bruise Him.

34:19 He hath put Him to grief. When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, His church, His people. He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied.

34:45 He shall see of the travail, of His soul and shall be satisfied. In other words, all of the spiritual travail surrounding the events of Gethsemane, Golgotha, the shrouded heavens, the dereliction, the being plunged into the darkness and pangs of hell itself, all of the mysterious agony of the cross, all of that,

35:18 He shall see it. He shall be satisfied. All that He had upon His heart, when He entered voluntarily into that agony, into that baptism of forsakenness, He will come out the other side fully satisfied. Now let me use an analogy.

35:39 A man and a woman prayerfully commit to God the stewardship, the awesome stewardship of being able to bear children. And God, in answer to their prayers, causes life, in the womb of that praying couple. And they conceive that child with a specific end in view. They don't have notions that they will conceive the most beautiful woman in the world, nor the most handsome man.

36:12 Their prayer is, Lord, may it please you to give life in the womb, that we may raise a godly seed. That this boy or girl, having come to full term, will be born a healthy child, and that we may be so blessed by your word and spirit, as to mold and shape and discipline this life, and that you will so bless our efforts, that we will be able to bequeath to another generation, a godly man, a godly woman, taking his or her place, whatever that place may be. They have no carnal ambitions, no carnal notions. Now they may have some sanctified longings,

36:56 that they pour out in secret, in secret to God. They may have some longings, that God would be pleased, from their union, to give to another generation, heralds of his word, wives who would stand beside the servants of Christ. Those sanctified longings, that are poured out in the secrecy of one's dealings with God, are perfectly legitimate. But they don't have any carnal ambitions for their children.

37:27 No carnal longings, that they may try to manipulate and steer their children, to become what they, in their own unfulfilled frustrations, never became. And if there's any parent like that tonight, may God have mercy on your soul, if you fit that description. Trying to manipulate and mold your children, to fulfill all of your own unfulfilled frustrations, and carnal ambitions, and turn out on society, wrecked, twisted, corrupt people. God have mercy on you.

38:05 If you could not find your heart going out, and saying, Pastor Martin, when did you sneak in the bedroom, and hear my wife and me praying, about God giving us children, and why we wanted children. If your heart could not answer to that, as a parent, you've got some dealings with God. You've got some dealings with God to do, my friend. But here's such a couple, motivated by Godly ambition, and they go through all the excitement of the period of gestation, the time of birth comes, and the announcements go out, and then as has happened several times in our own history as a congregation, after a few days,

38:49 some cases a few hours, the little one dies. That mother, that father, the mother more particularly, she never envisioned just coming to the waddling stage that we thought about a few weeks ago in conjunction with the birth of our Savior, and going through birth pangs, simply to stand weeping by a grave after a few days. The travail of her soul has been frustrated. The travail of all of those months, and all of those Godly dreams and ambitions, and it's perfectly proper that such a couple,

39:33 even if God blesses them with 15 children, should carry a weeping, sore in their hearts to their graves. There is nothing rebellious or unspiritual that they should carry in their hearts something of the pain of unrealized, unfulfilled, unsatisfied travail. Most of you don't know this. I'm one of 10 children, but my mother bore 11.

40:05 And though little Jonathan died at 13 days, and my mother is 70 years of age, that wound has never ceased to bleed through all these days. And all the 40 grandchildren can't fill that special place that Jonathan would have had in her heart. Now there's been submission to the will of God, there's no bitterness, there's no carnal questioning, but you see there was unsatisfied travail. My Bible says, he shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.

40:43 He went into all of that, into all of that agony of Gethsemane, all of the travail of Golgotha, all of the mysteries that surround those events and those circumstances, not to be a disappointed Savior, but to be satisfied. Like the parent who sees his children come to maturity of years, walking with God, living beneath the eye of God, taking their place in the will of God. And that parent can sit from his rocking chair with all of his arthritis and his glasses thick as Coke bottles

41:27 and his hearing on, and he can smile, she can smile and be satisfied. They see with their eyes the fruit of the travail of their soul in parenting. May God give that joy to many of us. But whether we ever have it or to what extent we have it, our Savior must have it.

41:53 It is the pledge of His Father. It is the pledge of His Father. And if I am a child of God, I've been incorporated into the Father's own pledges to His Son. What amazing grace.

42:11 What a sure and certain salvation. Because He died with no lesser goal in view than the sanctification of His church and the presentation of that church to Himself without spot or wrinkle. And if I am His child, I'm in that church and I shall be presented faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. And if you think your joy is going to be great, I've got news for you.

42:50 The Redeemer's joy will be greater. He suffered the travail. He suffered the agony of abandonment. And whatever travail we know upon the narrow road that leads to life is but a little faint shadow of the travail He bore to bring us home at last into His presence.

43:15 But what about His intercession? For I said there is the unfailing purchase and intercession of God the Son. What does His intercession envision? What does it secure?

43:28 Well, if you'll turn to Hebrews 7.25, the answer from Scripture is abundantly clear.

43:37 The intercession of our Lord, though we cannot ascertain from Scripture the precise nature of that function, we do know what it envisions and what it will secure. Hebrews 7 and verse 25. Wherefore also, speaking of the livingness of Jesus, wherefore also He is able to save to the uttermost. You'll notice in the marginal reading of the 1901, He is able to save completely them that draw near unto God

44:21 through Him, seeing, He ever lives to make intercession for them. Now you see the conjunction between salvation to the uttermost or completely and the ever living to make intercession for them. Completed salvation and continuous intercession are brought into this close conjunction. Just as we saw with the will of the Father and the salvation of God in Christ, Christ brings them together in His own words, here the writer to Hebrews brings together the intercession of Jesus

45:06 and the completed salvation of His people. And it is nothing less than the perfected salvation of His own that forms, may I use the term reverently, the burden of His intercession. And for a specimen of what it may be like, and that's all we can say, we turn to John 17, which may well form at least the pattern, the framework, the spirit of His continuous high priestly activity in the presence of the Father. For while here on earth He prays as though the work

45:51 of sacrifice and oblation are already accomplished in the opening verses, later on in the chapter we know that they are not accomplished from another thing that our Lord states in the prayer, but there is that mingling. It's as though He's passed through the agony and all of the shame and the humiliation of the cross and pulling back the veil, as it were, and giving us a preview of what His activity will be in the glory as the intercessor of His people. For He speaks in the opening words, verse 4, as one who has accomplished the work that was given Him to do. Well, He had not yet accomplished the greatest work.

46:33 In actual reality, He had not yet laid down His life. And yet He speaks as though that work were done. And so it is right for us to assume that our Lord is giving us here at least a specimen, a pattern, something of the substance and framework and climate of His high priestly activity. This is the high priestly work of intercession.

46:56 And now I direct your attention especially to these verses. Verse 11, I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to you, Holy Father, keep them in your name whom you have given me, that they may be one even as we are. While I was with them, I kept them in thy name which thou hast given me, and I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. Here the burden of His prayer is that those left in the world would be kept by the Father.

47:36 Verse 15, I pray not that you should take them from the world, but that you should keep them from the evil, or from the evil one. And then verses 20 and 21, neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word, that they may all be one as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they may be in us, that the world may believe that thou didst send me. Here is His prayer that there will be a union between the people of God and their Savior that in some way is analogous to the union that exists between Christ and His Father

48:21 and whatever that union is, surely indissolubility is one of its irreducible elements. And then verse 24, which forms in a sense the pinnacle, the apex of the prayer, Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world. I desire that those whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they be preserved from whatever point they now find themselves

49:05 through all of the opposition of Satan, through all of the battering and pressure of the world, in spite of all the remaining corruption in their own hearts. Father, I desire, I will, that those whom you have given me be preserved until they behold my face in what the old writers called the beatific vision. In the language of 1 John, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Now I ask you, does the Father hear and answer the pleadings of His Son, pleadings that are based upon and grow out of the sacrifice

49:48 once for all made upon Calvary, intercessions that are precipitated by the agony, by the forsakenness of the cross? If our Lord could say in the days of His flesh, Father, I know that you hear me always, what ground do we have to believe that that condition has changed, now that He is in the immediate presence, the right hand of God the Father, making intercession for us? Dear child of God, add this to your basis of confidence, as surely as Christ died,

50:33 as surely as He lives to intercede, you shall. May I be bold enough to say, you must persevere and be preserved, or the purchase would fail of its end, and the intercession would fail of its issue, and the thought is tantamount to blasphemy. Even to think that the purchase of the Son of God should fail of its end, and the intercession should fail of its issue, I say is tantamount to blasphemy. And so as surely as Christ died

Basis 3: The Unremovable Indwelling and Presence of God the Holy Spirit

51:18 to sanctify and present you, spotless before His glory, as surely as He prays that you will be with Him to behold His glory, you may be confident, dear child of God, that you will be preserved, and that you shall persevere. And then finally, and more briefly, there is this third dimension of the basis of our confidence that we shall be preserved and persevere, and it's what I'm calling the unremovable indwelling and presence of God the Holy Spirit. The unremovable indwelling

52:00 and presence of God the Holy Spirit. Now it is an indisputable fact that God the Holy Spirit takes up His dwelling in everyone who truly believes. Galatians 3, verses 13 and 14, Romans 8 and verse 9, and 1 Corinthians 6, 19, and three or four other texts explicitly and many others implicitly assert that in every believer the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, takes up His own personal dwelling. What, know ye not that your bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit?

52:45 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is not. He is none of His. Now when the Spirit is given, He is given in many dimensions of His ministry, in many facets of His activity, and therefore His presence is designated under many categories of biblical thought. But the one to which I direct your attention tonight is the concept that He is given as the seal of God's ownership.

53:16 Ephesians 1 and verse 13. What is the indisputable mark that God has taken one of His redeemed ones to Himself, has quickened them by His grace, has given them a new heart, has justified them in union with His Son? What is the one indisputable mark of the divine ownership? Well, it's not any denominational tag, it's not any ritual, it's not any external form or pattern of behavior.

53:52 It's that God Himself places His Holy Spirit as the seal of His ownership within the heart of that believing sinner. And so we read in Ephesians 1 and verse 13, In whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom having also believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is in earnest a down payment of our inheritance unto the redemption of God's own possession, unto the praise of His glory. So it is the indwelling of the Spirit

54:36 that is the seal of God's ownership, the indisputable attestation that God has made us His own in grace. Now the great question is, is this, once God has sealed us as His own, will He or anyone else or any other power ever break that seal? Having once come to indwell us, will He ever be removed? That's the question.

55:05 If it is possible to enter upon the way and yet not to persevere and not to be preserved to the end, then the answer must be yes, the divine seal can be broken. It can be removed. But if we turn over to Ephesians 4.30, we find that the apostle says in language that cannot be misunderstood that this will never, never occur.

55:34 In a context in which he is exhorting the people of God to practical holiness, particularly in interpersonal relationships, our dealings with one another, to buttress His exhortations, he says in verse 30, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God in whom you were sealed unto the day of redemption. He says it is possible using human language to reflect dimensions of the heart of God, even God the Spirit who indwells us. He uses the word grieve.

56:19 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit. God is not a passionless God. God grieves. Now there is nothing of carnal or human disappointment in His grief, but He grieves.

56:32 God grieves. And all our sanctified and holy grief is but a reflection of His grief. He grieves. And this text says do not grieve Him.

56:44 He is grieved. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit the Holy One who indwells us, to make us holy, to perfect in us the moral likeness of Christ, when we wantonly or willfully indulge in speech and attitudes that are so contrary to His holiness, He is grieved. The same way some of you are grieved when you are in the midst of unholy and ungodly people. And there is something that grinds against your spirit and even with all your imperfections and all your remaining sin and all your consciousness of so many areas that are yet unlike Christ.

57:21 You feel grief because you are in a context that is the very antithesis of all that you are and want to be as a man or woman of God. And the Holy Spirit feels something akin to that, augmented many times over. He indwells you. He indwells me.

57:39 And when in the chambers of our minds we allow thoughts to be flashed upon the walls, unclean thoughts and unholy attitudes, and we do not flee immediately to Christ for cleansing and try to God for overcoming power, we tolerate these things. He is grieved. And Paul says, Do not grieve Him. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit.

58:02 For a grieved spirit becomes, in terms of his powerful manifest workings, a withdrawn spirit. But notice, he never becomes withdrawn as to his seal, as to his presence. Notice, in whom you are sealed into or unto the day of redemption. The seal has reference to the day of redemption.

58:29 Well, I thought I was already redeemed. What is this day of redemption that is yet to come? Well, Romans 8 is the great commentary upon that. Paul says we are saved in hope.

58:40 And what do we hope for? What do we confidently wait for? We wait for the redemption that is, we wait for the full manifestation of our redemption, namely the redemption of the body. This corruption must put on incorruption.

58:58 And we have been sealed. We have been marked as God's own unto that day when God will complete in us at the consummation the work that He has begun in us in the day of our conversion. And so the idea that one will not truly persevere who has truly partaken of grace is utterly foreign to the thought of this passage. Furthermore, His indwelling is the pledge of our preservation.

59:37 And according to 1 John 3, 9 it is the very dynamic of our perseverance. The very indwelling is the pledge of our preservation. God has marked us as His own unto the day of redemption. This is an inviolable mark.

59:55 We are sealed as His own having once sent His Spirit into our hearts. He will never remove Him. The divine indwelling of the Spirit is the pledge of our preservation. But according to 1 John 3, 9 it is the very dynamic of our perseverance.

60:13 Look at 1 John 3, 9. 1 John 3 and verse 9. And here you will see the preservation and the perseverance coming together so beautifully. 1 John 3, 9 Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin because his seed abideth in him.

60:37 And he cannot sin because he is begotten of God. 1 John 4 and verse 18 We know that whosoever is begotten of God sinneth not. But he that was begotten of God keeps himself and the evil one toucheth him not. Now without going into a detailed exegesis of what it means he sins not obviously it doesn't mean that he never commits a sin.

61:04 That would contradict everything John has already taught us in the earlier part of his epistle. But it is saying that certain sins and certainly the course of sin that is inconsistent with a state of grace is impossible for one in whom the divine seed resides. Do you see that? He that is born of God cannot sin. Why?

61:30 Because his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin. He is begotten of God. There is a dynamic in the direction of holiness that God himself has implanted. And it is that very dynamic the personal indwelling of the Spirit which is nurtured in answer to the prayers of Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father based upon the work of redemption done once for all upon the cross in fulfillment of that which God the Father purposed in eternity.

62:06 And so the activity of the Triune God comes to bear upon nothing less than keeping the likes of you and me in the way unto the end until we see him and are made like him. Do you see now how the three things come together? The threefold cord of the activity of our Triune God committed to your salvation and to mine. The one undivided God in three persons committed to the preservation and perseverance of his people.

Qualification: Against Antinomianism

62:47 Now as I bring our meditation to a close let me first of all bring this very fundamental word of qualification. We have visitors amongst us tonight and we do welcome you as Pastor Nichols earlier did. So I amen that welcome on behalf of the elders and deacons and the entire congregation. But don't go out of this place saying oh that's one of those churches that preaches once saved always saved no matter what you do.

63:19 If you abominate that teaching please share your deep abhorrence of it. The idea once saved always saved no matter what you do is a hellish doctrine that will take everyone who believes it and lives by it to the place from which it came. We are not teaching that the Bible says once saved always saved no matter what you do. We are teaching that if once one is truly saved he will always be saved and the fact that he is saved is manifested by what he does.

63:59 By their fruits you shall know them without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Let everyone who names the name of Christ continually depart from iniquity for without the city are the dogs and the whoremongers and the adulterers and the idolaters and you live in the willful course of any violation of God's law and go to your grave in that state and you have no grounds to believe you'll wake up anywhere but in hell. If you sit here tonight sucking comfort from what has been opened up you are arresting the scriptures to your own destruction.

64:43 My friend unless you get sick enough of your sins to vomit them out for that's what repentance is it's spiritual vomiting. Come to the place where you're prepared to vomit out yourself of your sins and not merely glance to Christ as though you can have a once for all fix by a little look at Christ and then go your way and to fix your gaze upon him as your only hope of salvation and to keep it there as the end and goal and pattern of your life until looking upon him by degrees you are transformed into the very likeness of the object of your faith and love. That's true saving faith.

Pastoral Application: Comfort for Struggling Believers

65:28 And what we're saying the Bible teaches is if you've ever known that and you've got into the way you're going to make it to the end. And there are some of you who desperately need at this point in our study not any further reminders that you must persevere. You're convinced of that. And it's that very conviction that is taking the wind out of you.

65:54 You say how in the world can I do it? The cards are stacked against me. I see such stirrings of sin in my own heart and such outcroppings of sin at times in my thoughts and words and to my shame even in my deeds. How can I ever make it?

66:12 I see that I must. But for every step forward I seem at times to take too backward. For every new sight of Christ I get six new looks at the depths of the sin of my own heart. What hope is there for me?

66:29 Oh, child of God, this is your hope. Your hope rests upon the unchangeable purpose of the Father. Why do you have this conflict? Because God determined to make you holy.

66:43 And that struggle with sin was something you knew nothing about in days gone by. That very struggle is one of the manifestations that God has indeed begun to make you a holy person. And it is His unchangeable purpose, having chosen you in Christ, that one day you should stand before Him holy and without blemish. Can you credit God's word as true for you?

67:12 See, some of you got amazing faith for everybody else. But it's crediting God's promise for yourself that's your trouble. If I were to stand here tonight with someone who in his external bearing was the living expression of debauchery, bleary eyes, the lines of sin upon his faith, wrenching, reeking of alcohol, bent over with the burden of a guilty, accusing conscience, and I were to say, is there anyone here who believes that man is too wretched for Jesus Christ to save? I don't think there'd be a person who sat under the ministry here longer than a month that would dare to say, no, no, he's beyond the power of Christ.

67:56 And what would you do to me as a preacher if I looked at him and said, sir, I'm afraid you're too far gone. You've just sinned too many years. You've just hardened your conscience. I think some of you get right up out of your seat and push me out of this pulpit and say, miserable preacher, what are you telling that poor sinner?

68:13 Don't you know that Jesus Christ came to save sinners, even the chief of sinners? And you would take me to task, and rightly so. But what happens when we turn those very promises upon you? You do to yourself what you don't like me to do to this poor wretched sinner standing up here and telling him he's too far gone.

68:37 You see, you're very good at appropriating the promises for others, having great faith for the promises to others. But you must learn to take them to yourself. You must learn to go to John 6 and Ephesians 1 and on your face before God say, oh, Father, I have reason to believe from your word that the only reason I've ever come to your Son is that you gave me to him. My coming was not the fruit of my ingenuity.

69:04 It was not ultimately even the fruit of earnest pleading and fervent preaching and the prayers of mom and dad and loved ones. Your word says that only those who were given by you come, and I've come to your Son. And Lord, the only reason I've come is because you gave him to me. And then read on and say, Lord, I do believe that having come, he will not cast me out because it's in the very nature of his work to do only your will.

69:33 And your will is that of everyone who comes to him, he'd raise them with glory at the last day. Lord, I dare to believe that for me. You need to take the promise to yourself. You need to go to Ephesians 1 and say, oh, wonder of wonders, Holy Father, you chose me in him that I should be holy and without blemish.

69:59 And if that's your immutable purpose, though at this point, I cannot conceive how this creature will ever be holy and without blemish. The measure of my expectation is not what I see, but what you've purposed. Oh, living, sovereign, almighty God of grace. Do you ever pray that way?

70:21 If not, begin to do it. And then turn intelligently to the intention of the death of Christ. Turn to Ephesians 5. Turn to John 17.

70:32 The end envisioned is a procession. Turn to the great passages dealing with the indwelling of the Spirit. And child of God, these things are given. Not that you might tuck them, as it were, in your pocket.

70:48 Fold them up, put them in your pocket, and say, well, if I ever need them, I'll pull them out and look at them. God's revealed these things that they might be the very basis of your prayers and your pleading. Prayers and pleading that are confident and expectant because they are the answer of faith to the revelation of the will of God in His own Holy Word. That's how we're kept.

Concluding Exhortation and Prayer

71:13 That's how we're preserved. And I trust there is not a Christian sitting here tonight who has any doubt as to the great question, will the people of God persevere and be preserved? The explicit assertions of the Old and the New Testament are they shall. And now we've seen tonight the threefold basis of that certainty.

71:41 The immutable purpose of the Father, the efficacious purchase and intercession of the Son, and then the unremovable donation, the gift, the indwelling and presence of God the Holy Spirit. My dear friend outside of Christ, wouldn't you like to have such a hope for time and eternity? Whatever else you have, if you don't have this, you're of all people to be pitied. Because before long the worms are going to eat that body of yours.

72:16 A few tears will be shed over your grave and some people will look at a picture on the dresser with longing, fond memories of the one who's gone. But that won't be the end of you. The day of judgment is coming and as death leaves you, judgment will find you and as judgment finds you, reality will keep you. Oh, don't face those grim realities out of Christ.

72:42 Get into Christ. Take the shortest route to Christ. That's the route of immediate repentance and faith as he is set before you and offered to you freely in the Gospel. Let us pray.

73:06 Our Father, what thanks can we bring to you tonight that you have given to us so rich an inheritance in Jesus Christ. We thank you for the largeness of your own heart towards needy sinners that you would have thought of us long before we had any existence in time. We marvel, we marvel at your wisdom in devising a way whereby we could be justly pardoned, justly and freely accepted. We thank you for the gracious gift of the Holy Spirit given as the unbreakable seal of your ownership

73:51 and the very dynamic and power by which we are enabled to persevere. Oh, surely, Lord, you have opened your heart to us. Your gifts are lavish. Your hand is not only full but has been opened and extended to us.

74:09 And we pray tonight for men and women, boys and girls who are yet strangers to that salvation of which we have spoken tonight, some who perhaps have deceived themselves because of some past decision. Oh, God, strip away their false confidence. Bring them naked and broken to the foot of the cross. Take every trembling, fearful saint and fill his or her heart with courage and confidence, not in himself but in your faithfulness and in the certainty of your promises to your Son.

74:47 Oh, God, seal this word and may it bear holy fruit in each of our lives now and even unto the day of consummation. We pray that you would take us in safety to our homes. Give us grace not to tempt you in the manner in which we drive. Help us to be cautious and careful.

75:09 But we know, Lord, that all of our caution and care will avail nothing lest you preserve not only our going out but our coming in. Be pleased to do that for your people and may your blessing rest upon us all through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.