Our Father, bless us with the presence
of Your Son, by Your Spirit, and take these things concerning Your grace and show
them to us once again and confirm our hearts and minds and the
truth of them. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Now we're continuing
our series on the fundamentals of the grace of God. And today
will be the final lesson in presenting these doctrines. But I'm thinking
I might take another week or two or however long it takes
and deal with what we might call problem scriptures. And by that
I mean the scriptures that people bring up to contradict the things
that we have been teaching. Because it's one thing when you
learn some doctrine, some truth from the scriptures, you know,
and you have your few verses to back it up and then you go
out and you're talking to someone else and they go, yeah, but it
says, and then you're confronted with something. that you've not
heard before that seems to contradict everything you've been saying.
And we'll find out what those scriptures are really saying
and why they do not present any problem to the doctrine of God's
grace and salvation. So we have spoken of the need
of grace, which is our sin. We've spoken of the will of God
being the beginning of grace. We've spoken of the substitutionary
death of Christ being the mechanism or method of grace. We've spoken
of the Spirit's call being the application of grace or the beginning
of grace within our own experience. And now we're on the perfection
of grace or the assurance success of grace. Why is it that everyone,
that has been saved by the grace of God, that has experienced
a work of grace in this life, how can they be assured that
that beginning experience will result in their being perfected
with Christ? Because not all who profess to
be believers in grace believe that everyone who is truly made
spiritually alive, not everyone who's born again will certainly
be saved. They believe that there is a
way to be in a state of saving grace and then fall out of it.
Now, we don't believe that, but there
are ways to present that doctrine that exalt the grace of God And
then there are ways to present that doctrine that don't exalt
the grace of God. In the religion or the form of
Christianity in which I was raised, they wouldn't talk about the
assurance of grace being in the continued work of God. They
just, they say things like, well, once saved, always saved. Well,
one of the things we've learned in this series on the grace of
God is salvation is not a single time event. It is a process that
began before the world began. And God has performed various
parts of it. And we may not experience any
of that salvation. We do not experience any of that
salvation until God's appointed time in our lives. But they,
you know, they're presenting it as though it's your choice. And if you, you know, they'll
say things like God's a gentleman and he would never go where he's
not wanted, and he wouldn't force his will. They say that kind
of stuff. But then if they're ever able to manipulate you enough
to get you to make a profession of Christ, they'll turn around
and say, but you know, once you're saved, you can't be lost. And,
you know, I never said this to them because I never thought
of it while I was still among them, but I'd say, well, if God was
a gentleman and wouldn't force His will on you before you made
your decision, how come all at once He's going to lock you up
in the house and not let you out, even if you want to go out? That's
not the doctrine of the persevering, successful grace of God. All
whom God calls by His Spirit shall in time to come be made like Christ because all
of this has been a work of God, God's works never fail, and God
never quits working. Now this part of the fundamentals
of the grace of God that we're dealing with right now is sometimes
called the perseverance of the saints. And what they're basically
saying is, is anyone who is a true believer will continue, he will
persevere in the faith. Well, that's true. But to me,
that's not the doctrine of grace. That's the result of the doctrine
of grace. I prefer to call this doctrine
the perseverance of God. And we see that all of this work
is a work of God, for it says in verse 13, for it's God who
works in you. This is Philippians 2 verse 13.
For it is God who works in you to will and to act according
to his good purpose. Now God has a purpose. He's not looking or waiting to
see what's going to happen. He's already purposed what's
going to happen. And in the book of Ephesians,
it says that he works all things according to the counsel of his
own will, according to the counsel of his own purpose. He has arranged
everything so that it will bring to pass his purpose. Part of that is to work in his
people so that they actually will actually choose what He's
already purposed for them to do, and He works in them to actually
carry out their choice to do it. You know, I've heard people
say, well, we're not saved by our choice, we're saved by God's
choice. I know what they mean, but actually both of them are
involved. It's not as though it's dependent on our choice.
It begins with God's choice, but that guarantees our choice. We do will. We will what God
has willed for us. He works in us to do that and
to take action upon that and to actually come to Him. Now, looking then over at chapter
1 and verse 6, being confident of this, that,
excuse me, that he who began a good work in you will carry
it on to completion till the day of Christ. Now this work
that God begins in us, which is called the new birth, is continued
by God. He continues to work in us to
will and to do according to his good pleasure, according to his
purpose. Now, The fact that it says he
continues to work, it tells us that it takes more than what
was done at the new birth in order to bring us to glory. Now his continued work in us
is not a matter of making the flesh better. Nor is it even
a matter of making the spirit, the newborn spirit, better. It's a matter of sustaining the
life that He created in us. You see, our will is determined
by the kind of life we have in us. Remember the Lord Jesus said,
I've come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.
He didn't say, I came to give them more life. According to
him, they don't have life. That kind of life we got from
Adam will never result in eternal life. When we preach
the gospel, we're not appealing to the old man to become a new
man. When we preach the gospel, we
are telling a message And then in prayer, we appeal to God to
make some new men and women. And from that new nature created
within them, they hear the gospel and respond to it. God's grace,
in terms of eternal salvation, God's grace is not working in
our bodies to will and do of His good pleasure. It says He
works in us, in the Spirit, giving it life and then sustain that
life. And because he sustains that
life, how does that life express itself? It expresses itself in
faith, it expresses itself in love to God, it expresses itself
in submission to God. And that in turn works within
our conscience to direct the way we act in this world. Now, So it requires the continued
effort of God to secure us because our perseverance is dependent
on His. It's God that does this work,
it's an inward work, and it causes us to do those things which make
us endure to the end. Paul says in verse three of Philippians,
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all
of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in
the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of
this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on
to completion till the day of Christ. Now, we are here given
the assurance that the work that God began in us will not fail. This is not a work where God,
you know, like if you're teaching your kids how to ride a bike,
you know, you get them on the bike and then you run behind
them and you're pushing them, you know, and then when you think
they've got it, you let go and they go off riding on their own.
That's not what the new birth is. It's not just him getting
us started. The new birth is just the beginning
of a work that God continues until he brings it to perfection
on the day of Christ. It is not written that God will
keep on working until the day of Christ. If that's all that
were said, it might be possible that he would not get done in
time. We might think, I am so far gone,
and it seems as though the progress is so slow. Even if he worked
in me every moment between now and the day of Christ, he might
not get finished. Well, remember, this is a doctrine
of preservation. He sustains our life. But Paul
did not write that God will simply keep working. He wrote, God will
perfect this until the day of Christ. That is, and you remember perfect,
we think of it meaning flawless, and indeed that could be applied
here, but the main point of this word is completion. Our Lord Jesus Christ suffered
to completion. It is finished. And this is from
the same word that our Lord used when he said it is finished.
The Spirit of God worked unto completion of giving us life. And he will continue to work
in us until this work is complete. This work of transforming us
from being dead sinners, body, soul, and spirit, taking us from
that until we are like Christ in every aspect of our being. He will perfect it and complete
it. Now, having this promise, it gives us assurance that, or
what is it that gives us assurance that these things will actually
come to pass. Two things, the power of God
and the faithfulness of God. Now we, last week we noted that
several times the Bible says things like, he that endures
to the end shall be saved. And I look at where I am and I can't find a way for me
to endure to the end, can you? When I was younger, I thought
I could. You know, yeah, I'm a believer. Nothing will ever
distract me. Nothing will ever knock me off
the course. And God kind of said, well, watch
this. And he sends things our way that demonstrate to us our
weakness. We had no ability to get on the
way. We've got no ability in ourselves to stay on the way. for even a moment to stop in
this work of sustaining us, we would at that moment completely
and utterly fall. If our perfect father, Adam,
or at least we could call him our innocent, sinless father,
Adam, if he could fall being in that condition, how in the
world do you think you and I wouldn't fall? We can't endure. I read about
the martyrs in times past and the things that they endured,
and I think, boy, if stuff like that ever—I don't know that I
could endure that. As we see more and more hatred
towards the gospel being ginned up in our nation, I keep thinking,
what if the time comes when they actually make threats against
me? Yet if I don't abandon the gospel, I'll lose this, that,
or even my life. Would I be able to do that? No. But he is. God is able. He has power, and
when the power is needed, the power will be provided. His grace
is sufficient. His grace is made perfect. in
our weakness. He keeps us knowledgeable of
our weakness so that we will not be so tempted to venture
out on our own. We do that, you know. We let
our fleshly way of thinking take over him. I got this, you know.
Okay, I'm going to read my Bible every day. I'm going to become
the most spiritual Christian that ever walked the face of
the earth. No, he won't. Oh, I've got to get nearer to
God. I hear people say that. I even saw a fellow, he was advertising,
he's a minister, and he was advertising that he can get you closer to
God. Really? I can't get me closer to God.
How's this guy going to do it? Of course, I'm reminded of the
words of that hymn writer, near, so near to God, nearer I cannot
be. For in the person of his Son,
I'm as near as he." Imagine that. People say, well,
we want to work to get nearer to God. I am already seated in
the heavenly places with Christ. How much closer to God can I
get? Now, if they mean by that that I have a more, if this is
a way to put it, sensible experience of the nearness of God, There
are means to that, but the use of the means does not necessarily
guarantee it. There are people who are very
devoted scripture readers and very devoted in their prayers
and very devoted in their labors of love and their works of faith. They do all these things and
they've got their ups and downs just like everybody else. We are not going to be able to
get this done. It's not in our power. It wasn't
in our power to start it, it wasn't in our power to carry
it on, and it won't be in our power to make it perfect. But
God can do it. If he had the power to give us
life when we had no life, he certainly has the power to sustain
life once he has given it. I said there are two things there
are actually three there is the power of God. With God all things are
possible said the Lord Jesus Christ. Now if we are going to
say that this enduring to the end is dependent in any way upon
natural strength well it's not possible with man. That's what
the Lord said it's not possible with man. But with God all things
are possible. He can even get folks like you
and me all the way there. Secondly, the will of God. Now,
if my experience of grace is the result of my will, then if
my will fails, so will the grace that came by it. All right. Now that's at least those that
believe that we receive the grace of God by an act of our own will.
At least they're consistent when they go on to say, but if in
another time we reject that grace, you know, by an act of our will,
we decide we don't want it anymore, then we lose it. But if you didn't
receive God's grace by an act of your will, by whose will was
it? Well, it was his will. And his
will doesn't change. You say, oh, so often I feel
the temptation to depart. Sure, because the flesh never
wanted to be involved in this and it still doesn't. And the sad thing is, is this
world is the natural place for our flesh and this is where we
live. So our flesh is getting constant reinforcement by the
world around us. And we've got to interact with
this world. We've got to go to our jobs. We've got to interact
with the people of this world. We need some of the things that
are in this world. And therefore, we cannot just
set ourselves apart from it, that we might devote ourselves
entirely to thinking about the world to come. And so we are
people in a sense of two wills. And we feel within us this struggle,
this constant combat. And we think, I don't know if
I can keep this up. One of these days, the flesh is going to win
once for all. Well, it won't. Why? Because it is God's will that
all his people be saved. And that will will not change.
and he will do whatever it takes to get it done. All right, so it's the power
of God that gets it done. It's the will of God, the will
that never changes. I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. And then it's the faithfulness
of God. One reason I believe that we
have such a hard time believing or trusting in the faithfulness
of God is that we're not faithful. See, we always cast God in our
image. That's what the flesh does. It
can't know God any other way than that. It's a fight. a warfare within us to view God
as he declares himself to be. Faithful is he who will promise
and also do it. That's what the scripture says.
He is faithful. There is nothing that can dissuade
God from a work that he is purposed to do. And you say, but yeah, but I
don't know what God's purpose to do. All right, the next step is,
there is nothing that can prevent God from fulfilling something
he has promised to do. Now, I delight in the purpose
of God, but I also realize this, there is no way I can be certain
what the purpose of God is. And that's why I say we don't
respond to the purposes of God. We'll always fulfill them. What we deal with is his promise. Because we know what his promises
are. The Lord Jesus said this, my
sheep hear my voice. They follow me. Now notice this,
it's not saying, you know, There's no ifs here. He says, they do
hear my voice. They do follow me. And I do give
to them eternal life. They shall not perish. Neither
shall any pluck them out of my hand. My father, who is greater
than me, he holds them and none is able to pluck them out of
his hand. Say, well, yeah, but I might
jump out. The same hand that keeps the enemies away from you
keeps you from jumping out. Keeps your flesh from being able
to win the day and cause you to abandon your hope in Christ. It is written, all that the Father
gives to me will come to me. There's God's purpose. And we
glorify God for his purpose. But once again, we don't know
who God has given to Christ. So the Lord went on to say, and
he that comes to me, I will never under any circumstances cast
out. He goes on to say that all that
had been given to him, he doesn't lose any of them, that it is
the will of his father, that of all that he, all that the
father has given to the son, the son will lose none of them,
but raise them up in the last day. And the Spirit of God has been
sent as the Spirit of Christ to begin a work in us and to
powerfully, willfully, and faithfully continue that work until it is
perfect and complete in every way. Until we are not only without
sin, in our legal record, we are without sin in our nature. Not only will we be, even in
this flesh, we'll no longer be subject to all those things that
fell upon man because of sin. As we've noted before, so much
of the description of the eternal condition of believers is tied
up in this, what there won't be. No death, no crying, no pain,
no suffering. Why? No sin. You know, when a person dies,
well, what did he die of? You could always say this, well,
he died of sin, because he did. Well, what did he do? Well, nothing
specific. It's just by one man's sin, by
one man's transgression, sin into the world and death by sin. So whatever a man dies of, whatever,
whether it's some kind of so-called accident or an act of war, or
he gets sick or just get old, whatever, it's sin that made
it happen. When God is done with us, we
will have no connection to sin whatever. And since there is
no sin, there will be none of the consequences of sin. Romans chapter eight, I believe
it is, yeah, it begins with, There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. And it ends with, none shall
be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ. And one commentator pointed out,
said this chapter begins with no condemnation and ends with
no separation. I like that kind of no, don't
you? That's a positive no. How much
condemnation? None. How much separation? None. Why? God has willed it. God has the power to carry it
out. And he has the faithfulness to his promises to do it. And
that's why grace is always successful. Never once in the entire operation,
from its very beginning to its very end, Never is grace put
into the hands of men to do what they want to do with it. It is
always expressed in the will, power, and faithfulness of God. And therefore, it cannot fail.