Turn with me to the book of Jude.
The last verse and the last book in the New Testament beside just
before you get to the book of Revelations, the book of Jude. Keep yourselves. That sounds like a strange statement,
doesn't it, for somebody who believes Sovereign grace. Keep yourselves in the love of
God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal
life. And of some, have compassion. Now listen, making a difference. Makes a difference. and others saved with fear pulling
them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by
the flame." Now, unto Him that is able to keep you. We are going in a different direction.
Unto Him that is able to keep you from falling. And to present
you, 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. One of the most difficult things
there is to preach is that salvation is altogether the work of God,
His free gift, the gift of God, His free grace upon all His elect,
predestinated unto the adoption of children, chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. ordained to eternal life,
as many as were ordained unto eternal life believe. And at
the same time, at the same time, to preach that it is equally
true that we as believers must hear, and we must learn the truth,
must be brought to repentance, persuaded of the gospel promises
of God, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and live out our days
in faith to the end. Both of those statements are
true. And both of those statements I just read to you in the book
of Jesus. Keep yourselves in the love of
God. Now unto him that's able to keep
you. That's the most difficult thing
there is to preach to a mixed congregation is these two things. Perseverance and preservation. Every man and woman that comes
to Christ will come willingly. They're going to come willingly.
Whosoever will, it says, let him take of the water of life
freely. Every man and woman that comes
to Christ comes calling. They don't just sit still and
God just puts this big bubble in your heart and it blows up
and suddenly you're a child of God. No. No. They come calling. Calling. Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's not a breach of God's sovereignty
and salvation to call on men and women to repent and believe. It's not going against the sovereign
grace of God for me to beseech you to be reconciled to God.
That's not contrary to the Gospel, and it's not contrary to the
nature of God. I remember Brother Mahan preached
a message on the absolute Lordship of Christ. The absolute Lordship
of Christ. And after the meeting, a man
met him back by the door and he said, Preacher, you didn't
say anything at all about man's responsibility to God in your
whole message. He said, I listened carefully.
He said, you didn't make mention of that one time. And Henry answered
him and said, the responsibility of man was not in my message
because it wasn't in my text. My text was the Lordship of Christ. And sometimes I stand here before
you and I declare those things. I declare to you the absolute
sovereignty of God, His absolute Lordship. Salvation is of the
Lord. And I'm not talking about man's
responsibility. Other times I stand and preach
to you the responsibility of man. And then I get the opposite
question, but I didn't hear you say anything about the sovereignty
of God. Well, the sovereignty of God
wasn't in my text. And that's why it wasn't in my
message. But it's difficult. It's the most difficult thing
in the world to preach the absolute sovereignty of God and yet the
responsibility of man. Preservation and perseverance. And there's two things that we
as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ will come to know and
bow to in our everyday trials and troubles. that Christ will
preserve the believer and finish the work he began in him. That's
just so. That's just so. Speculate all
you want to. That's the Word of God. And at
the same time that every believer will hold on his way and persevere
in the faith of God's elect, Paul said, if any man draw back,
my soul shall have no pleasure in him. He that endureth to the end,
the same shall be saved. But he also said, we're not of
them who draw back, but of them who believe to the saving of
the soul. Let me give you five reasons
this morning to talk about these two truths as they work together
for us and in us to the salvation of our soul. Five sources of
heavenly assurance to give us confidence and comfort to persevere
in these trials and persevere in the faith. There's five reasons
why the believer will hold his way. That almost seems like an
impossibility. Whenever you talk about man,
it seems like you have to put an if, doesn't it? You have to
put an if. If. And he says that. He uses
that word. That's a biblical word, that
word if. You can read about it over in
Hebrews chapter 3. Great big if right there. If. But let me give you these five
reasons why the believer will do that. Why he'll hold on his
way. Here's the first one. Because
every true believer is begotten of God. We've got a lot of fathers
in here today and mothers. Any of y'all ever had any children
that were unborn? Huh? I've had some I wanted to
take out of this world at times. I really have. But I never had
any that were unborn. Never did. They kept right on.
Kept right on. Kept right on growing. Kept right
on walking. Kept right on living. Listen to the Scripture. 1 Peter
1, verse 23, being born again, not with corruptible seed, but
incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth
forever. Forever. It doesn't abide for a little
while and then leave. It doesn't take up residence
for a few days and then disappear. when the trials come. This incorruptible
seed abideth forever. Isn't that what the Lord told
him would happen? When the Comforter came, He said, He'll take up
His abode in you. And I'll come, and I'll take
up My abode into you. I'll never leave you. I'll never
forsake you. Over in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul
said that first man is of the earth, earthy. But the second
man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they
also that are earthy. As is the heavenly, such are
they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image
of the earthly, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
He didn't say we might. He said we will. We shall. Jesus answered Nicodemus. You
remember Nicodemus made that absurd statement about the new
birth, saying, what are you talking about? Are you talking about
crawling back into your mother's womb and being born again? This was a doctor of theology,
a master of theology. That's what they called him.
Master. Master. And our Lord said, in return,
He said, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. The
believer is a man born of God. He is not going to go back. He
is not of them that go back into perdition. He has been born of
God. It's not owing to his philosophy
and his skill of understanding. It's not something owing to the
flesh. He's born of God. God has made
him meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints
in life. God gave him that ability. He gave him the right and privilege
to become sons of God. That's the only way they can
get there by that birth. Not of the flesh, not of man,
not of this world, but of God. They're born. Born. That's why He'll keep going.
He's born of God. He's born of God. Believers don't become believers
because of their own free will. They don't become sons of God
because they decide to. or because God is so desperate
He needs them to. He hath from the beginning, He
said, chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit. It's the Spirit of the living
God that sets you apart, sanctifies you, gives you life. Believers
are new creatures in Christ Jesus, and they'll continue on in their
repentance and persevere in the faith because it is God that
worketh in them. both to will and to do of His
good pleasure. So that's the first reason believers
are going to hold on their way, because they've been given a
new nature. And this nature is of a divine origin. He said, you're partakers of
the divine nature, having escaped the corruptions of the world
through lust. That's why you escape. You're
partakers of the divine nature. And then secondly, believers
will continue in the faith, because the Word of God says they will.
How do I know I'm going to continue? Because He said I will. He says
I will. Boy, I tell you, I've got my
doubts. I've got my doubts. I look at the trials and things
that confront me and the things of this world and my own weakness,
and I've got all kinds of doubts. But the Word of God doesn't have
any doubt. The Word of God says that the believer will hold on
his way. And you can take what God says
to the bank. The Word of God is our rule of
faith and practice. Somebody said one time, God said
it, I believe it, and that settles it. No sir, that ain't how it
goes. God said it, and that settles it whether you believe it or
not. That's how it goes. I quoted part of this to you
a while ago out of Hebrews 10. In verse 38, he said, the just
shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him. But, he said, we are not
of them who draw back unto perdition. We draw back, but we don't draw
back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of
the soul. My heart might be fearful and
doubting, and my experience may cry out to the contrary. My friends
may all say the very opposite. But I say this, let God be true
and every man a liar. There's times when the believer
has nothing to hang on to but the Word of God. That's all he's
got. He's got no feeling of the presence
of God. He's got nothing but the promise
of God. And that's why those trials come. That's why God withdraws His
presence at times, to expose that true faith, that faith that
is the gift of God, that believes God. That's what it does. He said, Peter, you boasted to
me. And I'm going to tell you something.
Satan has desired to shift you like wheat. But he said, I prayed
for you. What did he pray? That your faith
fail. I prayed for you. Now, I tell you, if you'd asked
Peter down by the fire, Peter would have had something a little
different to say. But in time, Peter come to understand exactly
what the Lord told him. Our great high priest prayed
in John 17, 15. He said, I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world, but thou shouldest keep
them from the evil one. That's what that means there,
the evil one. Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth. And I tell you this, it's ungodly
to cast doubt on the precious promises of God in Christ. It's ungodly. It's ungodly. Paul said Abraham was strong
in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded that what
God had promised, that's what we're talking about here. We're
talking about the Word of God. the promises of God, that that
believer who submits himself to Christ, who leans his very
soul on Christ, who comes to Christ, hopes in Christ, shut
up to Christ, he's going to continue on his way. And Abraham believed that. He
believed what God had promised. He was able also to perform.
How's he going to do it? I don't know. I don't know. I
just know that he will. And then again, Paul said, let
God be true in every man a liar. Christ said this, all that the
Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me,
I won't cast out. I'm not going to cast him out.
In John 10, verse 28, he said, I give unto them eternal life,
and they'll never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. He said to his disciples, I go
to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for
you, I'll come again and receive you unto myself, that where I
am there you may be also. You reckon the all-wise God hasn't
contemplated everything that we're going to fall into between
that time and that end time? Huh? He made provision for it. A believer will never cease to
believe, but will believe to the saving of his soul because
God said he would. And then thirdly, he'll never
draw back to perdition because of the character and work of
Christ. Let me tell you something. Redemption is not a thing hanging
in the balance. Redemption is a thing accomplished. It's already accomplished. This
is the eternal purpose of God accomplished through the personal
work of Jesus Christ and secured by His presence and glory. It's
not hanging in the balance. His people, He said, they shall
call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin.
There's not any doubt in that. As our representative, the Lord
Jesus Christ has for all His elect ushered in an everlasting
righteousness. And my salvation does not depend
on the least thing that I do. Not the least thing. My relationship
to God is not measured in the least degree by my personal works
of righteousness. The hymn writer, the old hymn
writer, listen to what he says. Near to God, nearer I cannot
be, for in the person of His Son. I am as near as He. The Lord Jesus Christ humbled
Himself, made in the likeness of sinful men, robed Himself
with their flesh and blood, and being found in fashion as a man,
He become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
And by His life's obedience and the merits of His death, God
can both be just and justify all who believe on Him. He's
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. The
good news of the Gospel is just this. There in Romans chapter
3, He said, Now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. through the faithfulness of Jesus
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. It is the finished work of Christ. This is what I'm trying to tell
you here. It is the finished work of Christ that guarantees
the salvation of our soul. Somebody said to me one time,
they said, and I'll probably get this backwards, They said
something to me like this, so you believe that certain men
and women are going to be redeemed whether they believe or not.
I said, no, I don't believe that. That's not what I believe. That's
not what I preach. I said, I preach that God has redeemed the people. And by the merits of that redemption,
God sends His Spirit, orders His providence, and sends His
preachers and gives them the gift of faith. That's what I
believe. That's what I believe. I don't
believe you're going to be saved no matter what. I just believe
that all the no matter what have already been filled in by God.
He's made provision for us. He knows what we are. And He's
made provision. He said, every high priest all
the way through the Old Testament stood daily ministering and oftentimes
offering the same sacrifices which could never take away sins.
But this man, after he offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God, expecting till his enemies
be made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. And then fourth. God will preserve
the believer and the believer will persevere in the faith because
they have in heaven a high priest who ever liveth to make intercession
for them. I read it to you while going
to Sunday school lesson over in 1 John chapter 2. He said,
if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. An advocate. In the book of Colossians, we're
told that Jesus Christ is the creator of all principalities
and powers, that they were made by him and for him, and that
by him they consist. And further, if we read a little
further, we find out that he is their head. We're completing
him, who is the head of all principalities and powers. There is no power
greater than his, and we are completing him. And then the
second thing he tells us about his intercession is that he makes
himself known unto us. I've got an intercessor in heaven
in whose hands God has given all power, power over all flesh,
to give me eternal life. And in that intercessor, in that
person of Christ, I'm given a revelation of who God is. This is God come into the flesh.
How do I know this God will be merciful to me? Because this
God came to me in the person of Christ. He came into this world. He didn't
have to appear in this world to judge this world. This world
was condemned already. He came for salvation. He appeared
here to save, not to judge. And the second thing he tells
us about this intercession is that he makes himself known unto
us, the Spirit of the living God. The same way as Christ was
sent into this world, was sent by Christ back into this world. He said, it's expedient for you
that I go away. If I don't go away, the Comforter
is not going to come. But if I go away to the Father,
I'm going to send you the Comforter. The Spirit of God, not just some
random ghostly spirit, has no aim or goal or purpose. The Spirit
of God is sent to God's elect on purpose. God's elect are sealed, Paul
said, with the Holy Spirit of promise. Those who preach the
gospel preach with the Holy Ghost, Peter said, sent down from heaven.
Those who receive it are born of the water of His Word and
of the Spirit. And those who live by faith are
led by the Spirit. And we're told that the Spirit
Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of
God. I'm going to hold on my way because
I have in heaven an intercessor who guarantees my salvation. and has made provision by ordering
his providence, all power in his hands. He orders his providence. He sends his preacher. He anoints
us with the Holy Spirit of God to receive what he sent and to
apply what Christ has done. And at the right hand of our
Father, our beloved High Priest pleads his life and death on
our behalf. This one, you reckon this one
in whom God has given preeminence in all things, you reckon he'll
get what he prays for? Huh? I think he'll get everything
he asks, don't you? He knows the will of God better
than any man. He's come and proven that, manifested
that, did and accomplished the will of God. I think he'll get what he prays
for. False professors are followed by the wayside. Pretenders will
be exposed in the fiery trials of faith. But God's people will
continue in the faith, rooted and grounded and established
in the faith because they have a high priest in heaven that's
there to see to it. See to it. He's not just the
testator who left the will of God, who manifested the will
of God, but he sits in heaven. to see that that inheritance
goes where it's supposed to go. And then lastly, every believer
will, everyone will be preserved by
God in persevering faith because God Himself has made a covenant
in their behalf and sworn by His own name to keep it. For one sinner, one who has come
who believes in Christ to perish, would totally obliterate that
covenant of God, that everlasting covenant of God. Now, I wouldn't have you to do anything
half-hearted, but it's not our name and sincerity that gives
strength to God's covenant promises. It's His. It's His. I think the
emphasis by a lot of the old writers was put on the wrong
thing. I think they put a lot of emphasis
on ours, on ourselves, and on our faith, and on our sincerity,
and on this, and on that. That's not the strength of God's
covenant. The strength of God's covenant is in His own name,
because He could swear by no greater. He swore by Himself, saying, surely in blessing I
will bless thee. And David said in Psalm 9, verse
10, he said, they that know thy name, trust thee. They trust you. God made promise, He swore by
Himself. And that name by which He swore,
He manifested in the person of Christ. Turn with me to the book of John,
and I'll wind this thing up. Romans chapter 10 said, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But you
can't call on a name you haven't believed, and you can't believe
in a name you haven't heard, and you can't hear without a
preacher, and they can't preach except they be sent. Now with that in mind, let me
show you something over here in John chapter 5, verse 37. Our Lord speaking here, He said,
And the Father Himself which hath sent Me hath borne witness
of Me. You have neither heard His voice
at any time, nor seen His shape. And you have not His Word abiding
in you. Now I read that and I thought
to myself, now wait a minute. Nobody on earth had more Scripture
in their mind and in their memory as those Pharisees to whom he
was speaking. They had his Word. They had it. He acknowledges that. He said,
you search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal
life. But what in the world is he talking about when he said,
His Word did not abide in them. Well, look at the last line of
that verse, verse 38. For whom He hath sent, him you
believe not. Christ is the message of the
Word of God. If you don't have Christ, you
don't have the Word of God. You don't have that Word That
heavenly bread, that necessary bread, you don't have that if
you don't have Christ. You've just got words. And he
said, search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have
eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. But you
won't come to me that you might have life. I receive not honor from men,
but I know you, that you have not the love of God in you. Now
watch this. I am come in my Father's name,
and you receive me not. If another come, and they have
and will, in his own name, him you will receive. He can stand
up, and he can talk to you, and you don't know him from man to
man. Boy, He can get you to bragging on your flesh, and bragging on
your works, and bragging on the church, and bragging on this
and that. Boy, you'll take Him. You'll take Him home for Sunday
dinner. But here stands the very Word
of God incarnate before them, and they wouldn't come to Him
to have life. Believers find the full sufficiency
of grace and mercy in the Father's name, which He manifested in
the person and work of Christ, and that our Savior did and is
doing at this very moment. All of those things which He
did and is doing is according to that everlasting covenant
of grace of which Christ is the mediator." In David's dying breath,
he said, this covenant that God made with him was ordered in
all things and sure. And he said, this is all my salvation
and all my desire. He didn't just know the covenant,
he knew its surety. Its surety. All the covenant
promises of God have been sworn to by His own name, accomplished
by His Son and being applied by the Holy Ghost. what great
confidence and assurance we ought to have in our God and Savior.
We ought to be able to rest in every promise. He's left no room
for doubt. It's our sins that bring us to
doubt. You can't find a reason in God
to doubt His salvation. You can't. You can't find a reason
in God to doubt His willingness to save. Not one reason. Not one reason. The only reason
you can find is in here, to doubt. Not in Him. Let's look to Him. That's where we'll find our assurance.
Somebody said, I just can't find any evidence of a new birth.
My evidence is seated at the right hand of God. That's my
evidence, right there. I was raised up with Him. Raised
up with Him. And if I was raised up with him,
he'll raise me up by a new birth. No doubt about it.