Well, as we have been in the
past few weeks looking into the word of God concerning evidences
of the new birth, Christ said in John chapter three, you must
be born again or you cannot see the kingdom of heaven. You cannot
enter the kingdom of heaven. And then he instructed us as
he spoke to that man named Nicodemus, The new birth can only be known
by its evidences. It's not known by our feelings.
Sometimes we feel good, sometimes we feel bad. It's not known by
even experiences. I remember one time when I was
a child, I saw a cloud or something. That's not the new birth. It's known by its evidences,
and I've been dealing with biblical evidences of the new birth. I
first dealt with the The issue of life, that's what the new
birth is. God giving spiritual life to those who are by nature
spiritually dead. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. And that's where we have to start,
understanding who we are by nature as we are naturally born. We're
not born saved, we're not born spiritual. We're born of the
flesh, that which is flesh fosters the flesh. That which is of the
spirit comes from the spirit. And so having fallen in Adam
into sin and death, into that state of sin and death, we're
born spiritually dead. That's the absence of spiritual
life. We have physical life. We even have consciences even
then. We know somewhat the difference
between right and wrong as we're instructed and taught. But we
don't have a spiritual conscience, a cleansed conscience, because
the conscience can only be cleansed, the scripture says, by the blood
of Christ. And that is a realization that
Christ, through his blood, has taken all my sins away. Past,
present, future. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth
us from all sin. And you know, sin is our problem
now. We can talk about the world and all the problems we have
and where they stem from, but if we take it down to the nth
degree, the problem is a three-letter word, S-I-N. Our problem's not
the COVID. That's an offshoot of it. It's
sin. And so what do we save from when
we're saved by the grace of God? We're saved from sin. You say,
well, I've been saved from death. Well, death is the consequence
of sin. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. We're saved from hell. Well,
hell is the abode of those who die in their sins, die without
a hope, die without Christ. And so we must be given spiritual
life. And how does that come? It comes
by the Spirit of God through the Word of God. And the first
evidence of spiritual life, the first evidence that I've been
quickened, made alive, born again, is the revealed knowledge of
God from his word that brings me to faith in Christ. Secondly, repentance of dead
works and idolatry, even my best. You know, natural man knows he
needs to repent of the bad things he does. But only by the Spirit
of God are we brought to see we need to repent of even the
things that we think are good. One old preacher of the past
said we have to repent of our sin, of our sins, and of our
own righteousness. Remember when Christ spoke parables
to the Pharisees, he often spoke to those who judged themselves
to be righteous and others who were sinners. But they weren't
righteous at all. They sought righteousness by
works of the law. And no sinner is justified by
works of the law. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourselves. Faith doesn't come because you
were a better person than the rest of them who decided not
to believe. Faith is the gift of God to the people whom he
chose before the foundation of the world and gave to Christ.
That's not yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest
any man should boast. Repentance is the gift of God.
The third evidence that we dealt with of new birth was a new motive. By his grace, establishing his
grace within the hearts of his people, that's the new heart
that he's given, he establishes within us the motive of grace
and gratitude of love. We serve God. because of all
the unearned, undeserved gifts that he's given us in salvation.
We're not trying to earn, we're not working trying to earn our
way into God's favor. We work for him, we serve him
out of newness of the spirit, thanking him for saving our souls
by his grace. And then fourthly, the love of
the brethren in the faith. We fellowship with God's people
under the truth. Not under the preaching of a
lie, but under the truth. And then here's the last, and
it's a big one. I mean, it's a great big one.
Because it really describes the whole Christian life. And it's
called perseverance in the faith. perseverance in the faith. And
what does this evidence of the new birth teach us? It teaches
us this, all who are truly saved by the grace of God, all who
are truly born again by the Spirit, will, by God's grace again, and
by God's power, persevere unto final glory. That's perseverance. Continuance. They can never be
lost again. Those who think they can, do
not know the grace of God. They don't know it. Those who
are truly saved, who are truly born again, cannot fall away
un-condemnation and eternal damnation. They cannot. Now they can slip,
they can slide, they can do a lot of things. I remember hearing
an old preacher ask another preacher, I was listening to their conversation,
and the old preacher asked the other preacher, he said, what
is it that a believer, a true believer, cannot do? And the
old guy answered, he said, well, if you read the Bible, A true
believer can do just about anything an unbeliever can do except fall
away under perdition, under condemnation. And that's because God won't
allow it. It's not because we're such good
people now. It's not because we're getting
better and better and better. It's not because we're getting
holier and holier and holier. It's because God will not let
us go. You say, well, that sounds like
once saved, always saved to me. Well, that's what it is. But
you know, there's a lot of people who claim to leave once saved,
always saved. They really don't understand
what it means. They believe that once they're saved, they're always
saved because they'll just be better people. Well, I hope they
are better people. I hope we're all better people.
But that's not why we're always saved. The scripture talks about enduring
to the end. That's perseverance of the faith.
Enduring to the end unto final glory. This perseverance in the
faith that begins with a sinner being brought to the truth of
the gospel of how God saves sinners by his grace based upon the glorious
person and the finished work of Christ, his blood, his righteousness
alone, imputed to us and received by God-given faith. That's how
it begins. This perseverance is evidence
that we're one of God's chosen people. The Bible teaches that
God chose the people before the foundation of the world, gave
them to Christ. Put all the responsibility of their salvation upon Him as
their surety. Sent Him to die on the cross
for them, not for all without exception, but for His sheep. And that He sends His Spirit
to give them life. How do I know that I'm in that
number? This gives evidence that we're justified in Christ. What
does it mean to be justified? It means that I'm forgiven. On what ground? Well, I got down
on my knees and prayed three hours last night. Is that what
makes me, no. There's not a, listen. We cannot
do enough to earn or deserve forgiveness. Man at his best
state. I'm forgiven. of all my sins,
on what ground? The blood of Jesus Christ, period. His righteousness alone. And
to be justified means that I'm declared righteous in God's sight,
not by works of righteousness which I've done, try to do, will
do, promise to do, no, but by His righteousness charged to
my account. Am I one of the redeemed? Let
the redeemed of the Lord say so. Now what's the scripture
say? Well, am I one of the redeemed? That's what this perseverance
evidences. And obviously, according to the
message today, from the word of God, it's evidence that I've
been born again by the Spirit. Now, this puts in perspective
a lot of what I call the if passages of scripture. If. In fact, I got a message I preached
several years ago and the title of it is if. But we go to a passage like Colossians
chapter one verse 23 for example. And it says this, it's talking
about salvation for sinners. And it talks about that all this
applies to a person It applies to you and me, and it says in
Colossians 1.23, if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled,
and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you
have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under
heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister, if you continue.
Now, many people go to passages like that and say, see there,
it's conditioned on you. It only applies to you if you
do this. If you do that and if you don't
do this and do that, then it doesn't apply to you. That's
not what it's saying. You see an if. It's either a conditional if
or it's an evidential if. In other words, it's an if that
only shows evidence of something that has already taken place.
Well, this is an evidential if. And somebody asked me, he said,
well, how do you know the difference? What covenant are you under? Are you under a covenant of works?
Now, if you're under a covenant of works, the if is conditional.
You either do or you die. But what about a covenant of
grace? It's not do and die under the
covenant of grace. It's live and do. And how you know this is about
the covenant of grace in Colossians 1.23? If you continue in the
faith. What is the faith? What is my
faith? It's not how much faith I have
or how much faith you have. It's in whom is your faith. My faith is in Christ. The value
of the faith that God has given me is determined not by what
I do, but what the object of my faith has done, and that's
Christ. I rest on Christ. He says it,
and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. What's the
hope of the gospel? The hope of the gospel is the
certain assurance of salvation, which goes all the way to glory,
conditioned on Christ. That's the hope of the gospel.
He fulfilled all. I'm blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. In him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and I'm complete in him. You see, it's all about being
in him. That's what Paul wrote in Philippians 3, that I may
know him and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith or
the faithfulness of Christ. Salvation is not conditioned
on my faith. I do have faith. God gave me
faith and I believe, but my faith is not perfect. My faith is not
my righteousness. His faith is perfect. His faithfulness
is my righteousness. You see the difference? Somebody
said, well, you're just splitting hairs. Well, we'll change the
name of the church, Jim. We'll call it Hair Splitter Baptist
Church or whatever. That'll be all right. No, we
won't. That's a hair that needs to be split. The power and the force of perseverance
is the sovereign power, grace, and faithfulness of God in Christ.
Christ said it in John 10, 27, and so, my sheep hear my voice,
I know them, they follow me. He said, they shall never perish. He said, no one can pluck them
out of my Father's hand. It's his hand. You know what
his hand is? It's his power. It's his grace. It's his mercy
in Christ. You see, the power and force
of perseverance is not our power and not our force. It's God's
power and God's force. His mercy endureth forever. It never stops. I love this passage. This is Lamentations. Let me
just read this to you. This is Lamentations chapter
three and verse 22. And this is Jeremiah the prophet.
He says this, and this applies to every true believer. It is
of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. Think about it. Wait a minute,
I had a good day. I hope you did. Hope you have
a better one today. But at the end of the day, it's
of the Lord's mercies that you were not consumed. Because, You
had a good day. No, because his compassions fail
not. And verse 23 says, they are new
every morning. That means there's not a day
that I can go above this level right here. It's of the Lord's
mercies that I'm not consumed. Right here standing behind this
pulpit, preaching the gospel, reading the scriptures, praying
with you, singing hymns of praise with you, it's still today, right
now, it's of the Lord's mercies that I'm not consumed. Great
is thy faithfulness. Great is God's faithfulness.
That's it. Philippians 1.6, Paul writes
about confidence. Being confident of this very
thing, that I'm gonna do better tomorrow, no. This very thing
that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ. That's it, isn't it? And that passage I read in the
opening, Verse 12 of chapter two, Philippians 2.12, wherefore
my beloved as you've always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but
now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling. You know that work out your own
salvation, you know what he's talking about? He's talking about perseverance. I'm gonna work hard. But for what reason? And then
how is it possible? Verse 13, it's God. which worketh
in you, both to do his will and to do of his good pleasure. This
is of God, it's not of us. In the book of Jude, verse 24, now
unto him that is able to keep you from falling. I'm not able
to keep myself from falling. You're not able to keep yourself
from, unto him that is able to keep us from falling. and to
present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding
joy to the only wise God our savior be glory and majesty,
dominion and power both now and forever, amen. And included in this is the means
of perseverance which is the work of Christ within us by his
spirit giving us life in the new birth. Look at first John
chapter three. Brother Timothy said, we're gonna
look at this and mainly verse nine. This is a verse that's
difficult to understand because most people take it out of its
context. But listen to what he says, whosoever
is born of God, now that's the new birth. That's what we're
talking about, evidence of the new birth. If you're born of
God, you do not commit sin. Think about it. Aren't we still sinners saved
by grace? Absolutely. Well, what does he
say? We don't commit sin. Well, a
lot of commentators say, well, we don't practice sin. Well, now let's think about that
a minute. Practice sin. Some say, well, he's talking
about in the terms of human morality and human immorality. Well, first
of all, That is not John's subject here. Read the context. He's
not talking about people who claim to be Christian who are
going out here acting immorally. Now, the Bible does deal with
that in other places. If you want some pointers on
that, read 1 Corinthians. 1 and 2 Corinthians is one of
them. There are people who claim to
be Christian and they just live lives without any measure of
a filter and then claim, well, we're saved by grace. Well, how
do we deal with such people? Well, there's other scriptures
that talk about that, but that's not what John's subject is here.
That's not his subject here. So that's not what he's talking
about. And then the practice of sin, well, what is sin? If
you relegate the word sin just to apply to the openly immoral,
you're not thinking biblically. The word sin here, when he says,
whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, it's the same
word that Paul used, the same Greek word that Paul used for
sin in Romans 3.23, for we have all sinned and come short of
the glory of God. Now what does that word sin mean?
It means we missed the mark. We don't measure up. I'm telling you, if I could cry
an ocean of tears for my sins, if I could pray every moment
until the Lord takes me home, if I could preach, if I could
give money to charity, if I could do all of that, I would still
miss the mark of perfect righteousness. One of the main issues of perseverance
in the faith is stated in one of my favorite verses. It's Psalm
130 in verse three. Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, who would stand? What does that mean? It means
if God were to judge me based upon my best, I would not be
able to stand in His side. I would not measure. Do we ever
measure up in our deeds? In our works? Even as motivated
by the Spirit, do we measure up? No. No, we don't. But he says here,
whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. What's he talking
about? Well, he's talking about falling away unto perdition. Look over at 1 John 2 and verse
18. Here's his subject now. Here's
what he's talking about. Here's the context of what he's
saying. He says in verse 18 of chapter two, he says, little
children, it's the last time. And as you've heard that antichrist
shall come, even now are there many antichrist? whereby we know
that it's the last time. And look at verse 19. Now this
is his subject. They went out from us. They left. They left the gospel. They left the people of God.
They turned against what they formerly professed to believe.
He says, they were not of us. For, look at verse 19. For if
they had been of us, They would no doubt have continued with
us if they had been truly saved, truly born again, truly in the
fellowship of faith. They would have what? They would
have persevered. They would have continued with
us. But they went out, they apostatized that they might be made manifest
that they were not all of us. Now he's not just talking about
somebody who didn't come to church for a while. If you can come
to church, if you can come to worship, that's where you ought
to be, no doubt about that. But he's talking about people
who claim to be Christian, who claim to believe the right doctrine
for a while. But then they turn totally against
it. As one scripture says, and called
Christ accursed. They apostatized, they fell away,
turned against. In my lifetime, I've known two
people who've done that. I mean, I know some people who've
drifted. A lot of people have drifted here or there. But I
know one man who claimed to believe exactly what I preached from
this pulpit from the word of God, and now he claims to be
an atheist. He never was saved. He didn't
lose his salvation. He didn't lose what God had given
him. He only had a mere profession.
And it was manifested when he went out. But look at verse 20
of 1 John 2. But you have an unction, that's
an anointing, from the Holy One, from Christ. You know all things. You who persevere, that's what
he's talking about. Who continue, who don't apostatize
from the faith. You've been born again. And my
friend, that's what he's talking about over here. Look back up,
he says, look at verse nine again of chapter three. Whosoever is
born of God does not commit sin. In other words, he can't leave
Christ. You can't, if you're born again by the Spirit, You
cannot leave Christ and his people in this gospel. You can't. It says, for his seed remaineth
in him. Who's his seed? That's his children.
That's God's children. Listen, chosen from the foundation
of the world, justified by the righteousness of Christ, redeemed
by the blood of Christ, and made alive by the Spirit of God. That's
his seed. That's his children, his offspring,
the offspring of Christ. And his seed remaineth in him. You can't leave him. You'll continue
in him. And he cannot sin. He cannot
come short. Why? Because we have a righteousness
that answers the demands of God's law and justice. Oh, I fall short
every day in my own character and conduct. But in Christ, I
cannot fall short because he's born of God. The indwelling of
the spirit, the new spirit he's put within me. And when it says
his seed remain in him, look back up at verse five. This supports
the context that I'm telling you about. It says, he talked
about sin is transgression of the law. In other words, in a
sense now, Anything we do that doesn't measure up to the perfection
of the law that can only be found in Christ is sin in God's sight.
That's why even our good works must be presented to God as washed
in the blood. Did you know that? Peter spoke
of that in 1 Peter 2 when he talked about acceptable sacrifices,
meaning our praise and our prayers and our worship. Why does God
accept my praise and my prayer and my worship? Because I have
a great high priest in the heavens who's making intercession for
me, pleading for me. So in verse five he says, and
you know that Christ was manifested to take away our sins. How did
he take him away? By his death on the cross. He
paid the debt. He satisfied justice, and in
him is no sin. Now, in Christ personally, there was
no sin. There's no doubt about that.
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5.21, he was made sin. And there
are people today who say, well, that means he was made corrupted
or made to be a sinner. That's heresy. Christ is the
spotless Lamb of God who shed incorruptible blood in the stead
of His people, the payment for sins. And in Him is no sin. But what this verse is talking
about is, listen to it again, verse five of 1 John 3, you know
that He was manifested to take away our sins and in Him, that
is, as we stand before God in Christ, no sin. No sin is charged. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Romans 8, 33. It's
God that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died. Yea, rather, is risen again and
seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession
for us. Our right and our title and our
acceptance and our qualification to be in the fellowship of faith,
the fellowship of God, is totally, purely, 100% the merits of the
obedience unto death of Jesus Christ. As I stand before, I'm a sinner,
saved by the grace of God, but as I stand before God in Him
legally, I'm justified, there's no sin charged in my camp. That's
evidence because I've been born a God. and I can't leave him. I'm like Peter, Lord, to whom
shall we go? You have the words of life. That's
it. And that's his seed. The foundation
of perseverance is the righteousness of Christ imputed and received
by God-given faith. The Bible says in Hebrews 7.25,
wherefore Christ is able to save them to the uttermost. that cometh
unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession.
If Christ was not, if he didn't die for me and make intercession
for me presently, I'd be lost. Listen to Hebrews 12 in verse
one. Listen to this one. Here's what perseverance is all
about. In verse one of Hebrews 12. Wherefore, seeing we also
are compassed or surrounded about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily
beset us, Now what is that sin? It's not just some particular
sin that you might have that I don't have or I haven't. No,
it's unbelief, doubt. That's what he's talking about.
The context is Hebrews 11, the hall of faith. Faith being the
substance and evidence of things. The sin that so easily besets
me and you is unbelief. We have a battle within, don't
we? The person who says they don't
is lying to themselves. So what are we to do? He says,
let us run with patience, endurance, perseverance, the race that is
set before us. How are we to run it? Look at
verse two, looking unto Jesus, the author, the beginner, the
creator, and the finisher, the completer of our faith. Who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. That's how we're
to persevere. Always knowing, Lord, if thou,
Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, I wouldn't stand. But my hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frank, but wholly lean on Jesus'
name. And that gives us the nature
and substance of perseverance. It's a life lived in the grace
and power of God. It's not in our own power. It's
a life lived continually by the grace of God, looking unto Christ,
living and walking by faith in him, continually knowing and
confessing our sinfulness, our weakness. Lord, it is by your
grace that I am what I am. If I get through the day, if
I get through the next minute, it's by his grace. It's a life
continually struggling in the warfare of the flesh and the
spirit. That's perseverance, did you know that? Continually. The flesh, which is remaining
sin within us. Sinful thoughts, sinful things,
sinful ideas, sinful motivations, sinful goals. Don't you have
to fight them every day? Yes you do, if you've been born
again. Feed not the flesh, not to be
saved, but because you already are by the grace of God. Continually seeking to live as
one who's been graciously blessed of God in Christ as his disciple. I'm a follower of Christ. Seeking
to obey and honor and glorify him. Seeking to promote the gospel for the salvation of sinners
and the good of brethren for the glory of God. Seeking to
be conformed to Christ and not to the world, not even, and that
means it's religion too. Don't be conformed to the world,
persevere. You say, well, I don't want to
be conformed to the immorality of the world, neither do I, but
I also, I don't want to be conformed to the false religions of this
world. That's even more deadly, did
you know that? Oh, for his grace. To keep us
faithful. Because that's exactly what it
takes it. His grace, alright.