Well, good morning and welcome
to our continuing study in the gospel of Luke chapter four.
And we've been for many, many weeks now, we've been looking
at verse 31 and 32 of chapter four, where Jesus had
basically been thrown out of Nazareth and he came down to
Capernaum, a city of Galilee and taught them on the Sabbath
days. And they were astonished at his
doctrine for his word was with power. And today we'll be looking
at our, we've been studying these astonishing doctrines. And today
will be the last one we look at specifically in this series. And next time, Lord willing,
we'll move on through the next section of Luke chapter four,
beginning in verse 33. But for today, We've been looking
at these astonishing doctrines that Christ taught. And we noted
that he had taught it when he came to the synagogue and he
stood up for the read and they brought him the role of Isaiah. And he read from that and pointed
out that this day is a scripture fulfilled in your ears. As always,
he started it Moses and the prophets and all the Old Testament there
and expounded to them the things concerning himself. So this astonishing
doctrine we've looked at that the sovereign right and ability
of God Almighty to purpose to do something, to determine to
do it from eternity and to effectually accomplish that which he has
determined according to the pleasure of his goodwill and to save a
people whom he loved eternally. who did not regard Him, and that
every one of whom of these He loved and gave to the Son to
redeem, He would call to Himself by the gospel of the death, burial,
and resurrection of His Son." And we closed out last week's
lesson from John 6, 37, all that the Father giveth me shall come
to me, that effectual calling, that effectual, irresistible
grace. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. So in today's lesson, we're going
to be focusing, the first part of that verse there had to do
with irresistible grace. And the second part has to do
with eternal nature of it. I will in no wise cast out. And
this doctrine generally called the persa Perseverance of the
Saints, but I think it would be more properly called the perseverance
of God on behalf of the Saints because we find as we found through
all the Doctrines that we've been looking at that we are merely
recipients of them of the grace of them and God is the Activator
of them. He is the the initiator of he's
the author and finisher of our faith. He is Alpha and Omega
the beginning in the end and so we've been looking at the
doctrines of Christ which are no doubt seemed astonishing to
those who he's teaching at the synagogue in Capernaum in Galilee. And he taught them with truth
and with power and authority that he, and we looked at that
he taught them on the Sabbath days. He was in fact the true
Sabbath and those who entered into his rest have ceased from
their own works as it notes in Hebrews chapter four. That that
man was ruined by the fall and at enmity with God that that
very that doctrine there the total depravity of man is the
ruin of man by the fall is is kind of the linchpin of the doctrines
of grace. Once a person comes to that understanding,
once they've been regenerated, people don't have any problem
understanding that, oh man, I was ruined by the fall, I'm a sinner.
There's no doubt in my mind that I'm a sinner and I'm just all
merely saved by grace. And it is only those that have
a works-oriented philosophy that say, well, I wasn't quite ruined.
I was only merely wounded and I'm still able to work out my
own salvation. So despite this, this fall that
put man at enmity with God, despite this, out of all of mankind that
hated Him, that didn't understand, that did not seek Him, out of
all them God loved a people sovereignly loved a people and chose them
in Christ from eternity and gave them to his son to redeem in
the covenant of grace. He wasn't under any obligation
to take that tact with any of them, seeing as how all didn't. want anything to do with Him,
yet He did. He loved them, and He gave His
Son for them. His Son died for the church,
for the sheep, for the elect, for sinners. While we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us, the scripture says. That atonement
that is applied, not universally, but to the church, to the sheep. And that God causes this people
whom he gave to the Son to redeem to come to Christ, drawing them
by his gospel. And apart from that, none can
come or will come. No one can come to me except
the Father which sent me, draw him, as we looked last week.
And so as we've looked at these astonishing doctrines, all rooted
in eternal love and free grace, we come to the doctrine that
naturally results from all the other activities which God has
sovereignly exercised toward his sheep. And it's called the
perseverance of the saints. And as we noted earlier, they're
just merely recipients of all this. And so it might more rightly
be called the perseverance of God toward the saints. It is
There's a doctrine that's almost universally held to, although
it's strictly rooted in the doctrines which we have previously examined,
and of which most of them are universally rejected. And as
Nicodemus said, how can these things be? How can you love this
doctrine, which is based on those doctrines, and yet hate those
doctrines which lead to this doctrine? We shouldn't even call
them doctrine. We just call them truths of God. In these times of uncertainty
and turmoil we have in these constants which are in Christ
and which change not and are as a famous hymn writer Priscilla
Owens penned with her famous hymn, The Anchor That Keeps Our
Souls. It's that anchor that keeps us,
not we ourselves. It's the anchor which is Christ.
Keeps our souls steadfast and sure. While the billows roll
fastened on the rock which cannot move that rock of Christ and
grounded firm and deep in in his Eternal love. I think the words of the actual
words are grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love, but it's
the it's the same thing Grounded firm and deep in his eternal
love. He's I've loved you with an everlasting love therefore
with loving kindness have I drawn If you love this hymn Then you
must love the doctrines which emphatically state that the grace
which God has extended to the people he has loved from eternity
applies. Look to the hymns you sing. Do
they honor God or do they emphasize a false teaching of free willism
and man's ability to approach God based on his own works? Or
in this case, I claim to be saved, but I must do a lot of works
in order to keep that. It's based on my works again,
not God's sovereignty. So the hymns you sing, pay attention
to the words that are in them. Don't just sing them from rote. because they have a catchy tune
or something. Look at the words and see if they merit singing
and if they praise God or honor man. In this life, we are in
the world and the world is full of those billowing seas, these
baffling winds. They're winds that blow from
every which way and they're not steady. They come from this way
for a while. They come from that way for a
while. And you're always having to be steered contrary to them,
to make headway. And it's God at the tiller that
accomplishes that. The storms of life, the raging
tempest, all those things that were declared in that hymn. In the end, and always, we persevere
because we are kept by the power of God, it says. The Spirit keeps
our eyes focused on the bright harbor of the Lord Jesus Christ. The very word perseverance is
found in the Bible in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 18 where the
apostle gives counsel by the Spirit to the church. as Robert
Hawker put it in his commentary, to go forth in the strength of
the Lord and follow up all in prayer. And as he gives this
counsel in Ephesians chapter 6, starting in verse 13, that
We take on all these armors that are, all these things that are
supplied to us by God. We don't supply our own armor
and any of that. It's all given to us. So in verse
13, wherefore take on to you, take unto you the whole armor
of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and
having done all to stand. Stand, therefore, having your
loins girt about with the truth, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness, which is Christ, and the truth of the gospel.
Stand in that, and don't be swayed by freewill doctrine and man-centered
traditions. Your feet shop with the preparation
of the gospel of peace. That's peace with God that is
accomplished by the death of Christ on the cross. It's not
world peace, it's peace with God with whom you were at enmity,
and now you are not. Above all, taking the shield
of faith. the total reliance on Christ for salvation, wherewith
ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."
If all of your faith, everything relies on what Christ did for
you, then you're able to stand. If it all depends on what you
did, then that is destined to fail, and there's no security
in that, eternal or otherwise. And take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And
finally in verse 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication
in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints. So perseverance is really, it's
a Latin term, which gives the idea of continuance, fixed and
constant, and which very nicely expresses the doctrine found
throughout the Bible. In Webster's 1828 dictionary,
he defines the spiritual application of perseverance as continuance
in a state of grace to a state of glory. Continuance in there,
and it's God that causes that. to happen, not we ourselves. The Apostle Paul summed up these
truths so eloquently in his epistle to the Romans in chapter 8. And
he begins that chapter with the wonderful words based on all
the things in chapter 7 that deal with failure to try to keep
the law. You know, the law is a killer.
I tried to keep the law, but it killed me. And he said, I
couldn't do it. And it was only by grace that
he was saved. And so he starts verse 7. 1 of
chapter 8, saying, Therefore there is now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. No condemnation. Not now. Not ever. And he goes on to expostulate
on that a little bit here in the end of the chapter where
he closes, beginning in verse 28, with which is fondly called
by my friend, the golden chain of redemption. all describing
the glorious account of the activities of God in behalf of his people.
And we find, just as we find in Ezekiel, I will do this. I will, I will, I will, I will,
I will, I will. And then you shall look at yourself
and you will know that total depravity is true. But you will
also know that I have paid for that. I have saved you out of
it. I've cleansed you from all of that. So again in chapter
8 of Romans 8 28 beginning in verse 28 these more of the eye
wills of God. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God to them who are the
called according to his purpose. And many times we we when things
are going well that's a good verse to tattoo up on the wall
there and say well everything's working for good but when things
go bad It takes total reliance on Christ for salvation to look
at it and say, somehow this is for the furtherance of the gospel,
and that's how we have to look at it. He's working all things
for good, like Joseph being sold into slavery and thrown in a
pit, and maybe they're going to kill him. They meant it for
evil, but God meant it for good, to save much people alive. And
we see many accounts like that in the Scriptures. It says in
verse 29, for whom he did foreknow. That's people, that's persons,
not things. Many conflate that with, oh,
he foreknew who would believe. But it doesn't say what they
would do, it says whom. for whom he did foreknow he also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, more
than that, if that wasn't good enough, if that wasn't just the
most wonderful thing in the world, a blessing, a gift to people
that were at enmity with him, that he loved anyway, Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. He called them by his gospel. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What shall we say then to these
things? What possible argument could there be against these
things that would emphasize man's ability and man's centered teaching? It's God that did all these things. Of God before us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son.
I don't know if we can really wrap our arms around how much
God loves us, but he loved us enough that he sent his own son
to die in our place. to pay the penalty for our sin.
He spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. That's the church, us all. How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. It's
he that does it, not we ourselves. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea rather is risen again who is even at
the right hand of God who maketh intercession for us. who shall
separate us from the love of God. No one can condemn us. No one can even charge us. Every day on the news, people
are leveling charges against other people all the time, most
of them not based in anything, just innuendo and anger. But who will lay anything to
the charge of God's likeness? None. Who is he that condemneth?
None. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, nakedness, or peril, or sword, all these
physical things that we experience in this world, things that many
are experiencing right now, accidents, and injuries, and
illnesses, and work-related things. As it is written, for thy sake
we're killed all the day long. We're accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. But in all these things, nay, in all these things,
we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. And we take
the long view there that we're in the world and these things
impact us and affect us, but they're not going to have the
final victory over us because we have the final victory in
Christ through Him that loved us. For I'm persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor any height, nor
depth, nor any other creature Nothing shall be able to separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ our Lord. So these
are 12 verses which incontrovertibly describe eternal security and
the basis for it is in Christ. If you have Christ, there's no
condemnation. If you don't have Christ, then
it's not so good. No condemnation to those in Christ,
not ever. None can lay any charge to God's
elect. None can separate us from the
love of God in Christ. None can condemn us because Christ
died for us and is risen again. If God is for us, then no one
or no thing, as it is listed there, can successfully be against
us. Our God is with us, secure eternally. All based on foreknowledge of
those whom he has loved from eternity. predestinating them
to be conformed to the image of his son, calling them by the
gospel, justifying through the death of his son on the cross
in their place, glorifying them in his son as emblems of free
grace. Now, if those things have occurred
truly in a person and they've been born again, they've been
regenerated, then nothing, it says nothing can separate them
ever from the love of God in Christ. Nothing can do that. Not themselves. If they have
the feeling that they can do that, then they have an issue.
They have a problem they need to get with God about. All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. He's not going to reject a single
one that the Father gave him. In John chapter 10 verse 28,
I give unto them eternal life. And they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." Eternal life
by its very definition is not temporary and not conditional.
You either have eternal life or you have not eternal life. And the Bible is pretty clear
about that. If you have not the Son, you
have not life. If you have the Son, you have
life. And John 10, 29, My father which
gave me them is greater than all, and
no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." So
we're secure in the hands of the Lord. No man can pluck them
out of my hand. No man can pluck them out of
my Father's hand. So we're doubly wrapped up there. And he says, all of their names
are engraved on the palms of my hand. And he has them in his
hand, just as sure as those names. And no one can pluck them out. All this security is attributable
only to grace in Christ and not based in our merit or works.
In 1 Peter 1, We read 1 Peter 1, starting in
verse 1, reading through verse 5. Peter, an apostle of Jesus
Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia, he calls them elect, or chosen, according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. That's on the part of Christ,
not on us doing anything. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again. We didn't have anything to do
with being begotten. He has begotten us. My pastor was mentioning this
morning that he was talking to someone and he was talking to
them about in the creation in Genesis that God formed man out
of the dust of the earth and he was laying there on the ground
and he formed it. And what made the difference
in it? It was just laying there, it
had no life, but then he says, the Spirit of God came and breathed
into its nostrils the breath of life, and it became a living
soul. So according to His abundant mercy, He hath begotten us again
unto a lively hope, our hope is in Christ, by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible,
can't be corrupted, can't be cut away, undefiled, that fadeth
not away, doesn't fade away, can't be destroyed, lost, reserved
in heaven for you, something reserved for you, it's there,
it's secure, who are kept by the power of God through faith,
through total reliance on Christ for salvation, kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. And so those are a few New Testament
scriptures that we looked at. Maybe we'll take a quick survey
through some Old Testament scriptures that all of these are based on. And likely it would have been
when Christ was teaching in the synagogue, and they brought Him
a role to read by divine determination. They brought Him a role. Perhaps
it was from 1 Samuel 2, verse 9, where it says, He will keep
the feet of His saints. And the wicked shall be silent
in darkness, for by strength shall no man prevail." It's kept
by the power of God. It's not by their own strength.
They're not going to prevail based on their own merits, their
own works, their own strength. Psalm. Bring out a roll of the
Psalms. Chapter 37, verse 23 and 24. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord, and he delighteth. in his way, though he fall, he
shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with
his hand." Now the Bible is pretty full of stories, especially in
David's case, in the psalm where David was a man. He had some
problems, but he was not utterly cast down because the Lord loved
him from eternity, and his son died for his sins, and he was
eternally secure even though he had problems with sin as we all
do. Verse 28 of chapter 37, For the
Lord loveth judgment, forsaketh not his saints, they are preserved
forever, but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off." So
there's so much for universal atonement and the preservation
of the saints. the ones that the Lord loved
and who has exercised judgment by making his son take their
penalty in their place. He forsakes not his saints, they
are preserved forever. That's pretty specific. But,
on the other hand, the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.
The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell therein forever.
The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh
of judgment, judgment that they escaped by the sacrificial nature
of the death of Christ. They weren't penalized in that case. He took their punishment in His
place. Finally, in verse 31 of chapter 37, the law of His God
is in His heart. Just like it says in Ezekiel,
I'll put my law in their heart. I'll put the love in their heart,
a new heart. None of his steps shall slide.
Then we go to Psalm 125 verse 1. They that trust in the Lord
shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth
forever. As the mountains are round about
Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth
even forever. Eternal security could not be
much plainer than that. Isaiah 54, 17 says, no weapon
that is formed against thee shall prosper. In every tongue that shall rise
against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage
of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of
me, saith the Lord. So that's not to say a physical
weapon won't maybe have its way with us, but nothing spiritual,
nothing eternal, nothing consequential from that spiritual nature can
prosper against us. And we always come forward saying,
I'm just a sinner saved by grace. I'm kept by the power of God,
not by my own works or merit. I know I'm a sinner and I sin
more than sometimes I can't believe that. Oh, I just did that. How
did I do that? Why did I do that? And we have
the old nature that we combat all the time. The spiritual part
of us wrestles against the physical part of us. So Paul said, you
cannot do the things you would. But that doesn't have any bearing
on our eternal relationship with God, because that is based on
what Christ did and not what we do, not our behavior. So all
is based in the grace of sovereign, eternal, electing love. And that
will conclude our study in this little series on astonishing
doctrines. Doctrines that they would have
said, well, we believe in works for salvation, we keep the law,
we do this, we do that. And so these doctrines all based
in Christ would have truly been astonishing. And next time we
get together, Lord willing, we'll be looking in verse 33 of chapter
4, and God deals with a man that had a spirit of an unclean devil.
And he's called, Jesus is called the Holy One of God. So we'll
be looking at that next time, Lord willing. So may He bless
in this lesson, and thank you for your attention, and as always,
be free.