In the book of Job chapter 17,
I want to read verse 9. The righteous also shall hold
on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger
and stronger. I think Job felt like that he
was about ready to depart this life. He said in verse 22 of
the 16th chapter, he said, When a few years are come, then I
shall go the way whence I shall not return. And then he said,
My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready
for me. In verse 11 he said, My days
are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my
heart and in verse 14 he said I have said already to corruption
thou art my father to the worm thou art my mother and my sister
so Job was one who faced with reality his end and in his concluding
remarks here we find him saying in verse 9 he says the righteous
also shall hold on his way The last thoughts of a man, a man
who has dealt with the subject of death, a man who has considered
his latter end, he says, the righteous also shall hold on
his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. Now this morning I want to speak
to you on the subject, final, perseverance. Final Perseverance
or the Doctrine of the Preservation and Perseverance of God's Saints. Now the dictionary says that
perseverance means continuance in a state of grace until it
is succeeded by a state of glory. Now, this doctrine is sometimes
called, as we mentioned, the preservation of the saints, and
the word preservation means to keep from injury or destruction,
to defend from evil, to protect, or to save. Now, we believe here
in this church that the child of God will continue in grace,
that the righteous will hold to his way because our God keeps
us, our God saves us, so that we will finally live in a state
of eternal glory. We believe this doctrine of the
final perseverance, the preservation of God's saints. Now I'm not
responsible for what other men preach in regards to this matter
that is before us today. I preach here what I believe
the Word of God to teach, so I'm alone responsible for what
I have to say on this subject. I'm responsible to God. I'm responsible
to my God to tell you what the Bible teaches. I desire to believe
what the Bible teaches and to be sincere in the expression
of the convictions of my soul. Now there are many professing
Christians who do not agree with what I believe the Bible to teach. They do not believe in the doctrine
of the final perseverance of God's saints. Many believe that
you can sin and lose your salvation, that you can be saved one day
and be lost the next, that you can receive salvation from the
Lord, but if you do not continue to live a certain kind of life,
which they describe, I remember hearing one individual say, when
asked, well what do we have to do in order to retain your salvation? And he said, well you've got
to do good works. Well, what kind of works are you talking
about? And he said, well, you just have to do good works and
you've got to give to the poor. And the question was asked, well,
how much do you have to give to the poor? And how often do
you have to give to the poor if salvation is maintained by
good works and by giving to the poor? And eventually the conclusion
was drawn that this individual didn't know the salvation of
the Bible, did not possess the salvation of the Bible, was a
lost individual. He was a preacher, but he was
a lost man, not knowing the ways of God. But there are many who
believe that you can sin and lose your salvation. Now, of
their sincerity, their love to God, and their zeal, and their
devotedness to holy things, I do not question. I do not question
that they're sincere. I give them as much credit for
sincerity as I claim for myself. Yet we differ. We differ on what
the Word of God teaches on the doctrine that is now before us. Oh my friend, we do differ. Now
you and others must examine the Word of God in connection with
what we say here today to see which one of these is taught
in the Bible. Because both views are not taught
in the Bible. They have one view or the other.
Either a man can be saved and saved eternally, either a man
can have everlasting life, or he has temporary life given to
him, and he's put on probation, and if some way or another he
fails in some way to maintain a consistent Christian walk,
that individual is lost. Now the Bible either teaches
one or the other. This question is of no small
importance. Is it possible for sincere believers,
truly regenerated people, to be finally separated from the
Lord Jesus and to lose favor with God their Father and to
be eternally shut out from the smile of the Heavenly Father
and from the home of the Heavenly Father? Is that possible? Now,
beloved, listen. This question involves issues
of the most momentous nature. and cannot be, but of great interest
to every believer. Every child of God ought to be
interested in what I'm talking about today. I think I'd go out
of my mind if I did not believe in the final preservation of
God's people. If there was a hair in my head
that didn't believe in final perseverance and preservation,
I'd pull it out and God knows I can't spare it. But I would
pull it out. If there was a toe on my foot
that didn't believe this doctrine, I'd cut it off. Because I believe
with all of my heart that the Bible is clear on this subject. Final preservation. God's people
will be kept. God's people have been given
eternal life. God's people have been given
everlasting life. That's what the Bible calls it.
And I believe that's the kind of life that we all have here
today that are trusting in, relying upon the Lord Jesus Christ. So here's where I stand. I can
do no other. Now, I read a little article
by Henry Mahan this past week, which I'd like to share with
you at this time. He said, let others waver, let
them compromise, or let them cover, but I'll preach what Spurgeon
preached, what Luther and Calvin, Augustine, Paul, the prophets,
and the apostles preached. He said they preached salvation
is of the Lord, Christ died in the stead of his people, and
as God is just, he will not He cannot punish one son of Adam's
race for whom Christ died. There is not one sin. Listen
to this now. There is not one sin. I wholly
subscribe to this or I wouldn't read it to you. I add it into
my remarks this morning on this subject. There is not one sin
in the book of God against any believer. That is a tremendous
statement. Every child of God, as they stand
in Christ, as they have their position in the Lord Jesus, there
is not one sin on the book of God against them. Our sins were
laid on Him. The law has been honored. The
justice of God has been satisfied. And inasmuch as sin condemned
Him, sin cannot condemn us. Inasmuch as sin condemned Him,
did you get it? Sin cannot condemn us. The Lord Jesus Christ hung on
Calvary's cross. The Bible says that He was put
there by God Almighty. It pleased the Father to bruise
Him. He was hung on a cross, we know,
by wicked men. But from Him was exacted the
full payment of our sins. Did He pay your sin debt? Did He die in your place? Did
He die in your room? When He was on that cross, was
you in Him when He died? Was His death a sin? Your death
a sin? If it was, my friend, then you
cannot be condemned. Now this is the hope, this is
the comfort, and this is the security of all the Lord's people. That all of our sins, our transgressions,
and our iniquities were atoned for were atoned for, get it,
before they ever were committed. That our sins were atoned for,
first of all, in the purpose and mind of God from all eternity,
Christ was the Lamb slain. And then the Lord Jesus Christ,
2,000 years ago, went to the cross, and He suffered and died,
and He paid for my sin before any of those sins were ever committed. He paid for them. Now, beloved,
I've got to believe this. This indeed is good news. And
who is it good news for? It's good news for a guilty sinner. Now, I don't know how you feel
about it. I don't know where you this morning stand in your
mind as to how great a sinner you are, whether you're guilty
or whether you're not. And I've heard people say, I've
heard preachers say, that they had never fallen into any deep
sin. Well, who's the judge? Who is
the judge of whether you've fallen into deep sin or not? Who is
the judge of how guilty you are? But I will tell you this. that
if God the Holy Spirit has ever convinced you that you are a
sinner and that you owe a debt to the justice of God that you
can't pay and you've become convinced that you're a guilty sinner before
God, these thoughts that we've expressed to you today will certainly
be a blessing to your soul. There's not a soul here among
us that knows Christ that is in the Lord Jesus, that is firmly
fixed upon that solid rock this morning, that does not know something
about the untrustworthiness of his own heart, and does not feel
that he cannot manage the world, the flesh, and the devil. He
feels that many, many times he's out of control. and that his
own nature will surely get the best of him, and surely he'll
fall by the wayside before it's all over. And he's convinced
that he's not worthy of the least of the mercies of our God. But
once God, in His eternal purpose, lays hold of a sinner, and brings
that sinner out of his sin, and unites him savingly to Christ,
and marries him to the Lord Jesus Christ, That soul is forever
saved. That soul belongs to the Lord
and cannot be separated from Jesus Christ. Now then, I say
it without any fear of being successfully contradicted, that
all those that have already died in faith, those that have already
passed from this life, Those that have already went down to
the grave and their bodies have passed through the sieve of the
worms. All of those that have changed worlds and now are on
the other side that were true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. I say to you this morning that
if they were called to Jesus in time, that they are now in
heaven. They are the children of God.
You say, well, but maybe they slipped a time or two. Well,
brother, sister, if there's anybody here that hadn't slipped a time
or two, then I'll surely, this morning, would have to give some
credence to the argument. But you see, everybody, everybody,
there's not a perfect person in this room, there ain't anybody
in this world, there's never been one perfect except our Lord
Jesus Christ. And I'm thankful to be able to
say that He is my substitute before a holy God this morning,
and He's pleading with God for me. I remember the words of old
Job here in chapter 16 and verse 21. He said, Oh, that one might
plead for a man with God as a man pleaded for his neighbor. Thank
God there is one that is pleading with God for men, and that is
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I only hold that which commends
us to God is our sin, not our righteousness, our sin. Listen
to me. Sin will never keep you out of
heaven. Your righteousness, your professed righteousness will,
but your sin never will, because Christ died for sin. He put away
sin. Christ, He can handle, listen,
He's the advocate of the sinner. There's one mediator between
the sinner man and the Holy God, that is the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a mediator, praise God. Well then, this morning, We read
in the text that the righteous will hold on his way, and the
righteous man is that one that has been made righteous. through faith in Jesus Christ,
made righteous. You know the Lord Jesus was made
sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Christ was legally constituted
sin that we might be legally constituted righteous. And so
the righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands
shall become stronger and stronger. So now listen to me, it says
that the righteous shall hold on his way. Now shall, not may,
but shall hold on his way. So what do we mean by final perseverance? I don't want to wear you, but
I'd like very much for you to be able to understand this doctrine.
It is so precious. It is so precious to me. And
I was saying earlier that if a man really is guilty, if he
ever feels himself to be guilty, this becomes most precious. It really does. If a man has
sins that he doesn't know what to do with, If he has a nature
that he's so confused over, he doesn't know what to do with
it. He doesn't know how to handle it. He'd like to be perfect,
but he's not, and he would like to do something with it. Listen,
this is a precious, precious doctrine. Well, what do we mean?
Well, we mean that those whom God has chosen, those that God
has redeemed by a Savior's death, And those that God has effectually
called, by the irresistible call of the Spirit, cannot totally,
finally fall, but shall be eternally, eternally housed with God in
heaven. Now in John chapter 6 and verse
37, it says, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Now that sounds pretty conclusive
to me. I will in no wise cast out. If a man gets to me, Jesus said,
if a man is taught of the Father to me, if a man gets to me, I
won't cast him out. Ah, he may be the weakest saint
on earth, but I won't cast him out. He may have so many failures,
he may trip and fall every day. He may just not be anything for
anybody on earth to talk about. But if he's got to me, Jesus
said, I won't cast him out. He said, I never will cast him
out. He said, I come into the world due to the Father's will,
and this is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which
He's given me, that I should lose nothing, but that I should
raise it up at the last day. My friend, that sounds like eternal
security to me. It sounds like final perseverance
to me. Jesus said, I come into the world
to do my Father's will and this is His will that everybody that
He's given me, everybody that He's given to me. that I should
lose nothing. I should lose nothing. Might I remind you that I'm talking
about an enthroned Christ? That I'm talking about, I'm talking
about God. I'm talking about God. He said,
I'm not going to cast him out. I'm going to lose nothing. And
in John chapter 10, in verses 27 through 30, and I wish somebody
had memorized these verses around here. Some of you might have
memorized them, some of you may have memorized them, but one
of these days you may be sentenced to listen to a preacher that
don't know these verses, don't even know the turn of the Bible.
You may have to listen to him, and it'd be a shame if you haven't
memorized these verses. Scripture says, My sheep hear
My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I will give
unto them, He says, and I give unto them, I give it unto them
eternal life, and they'll never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me,
He is greater than all, and no man can pluck them out of My
Father's hand." What he's saying is, no enemy, either human or
hellish, shall wrench them out of My hands, out of My Father's
covenanted, secure hands. None will wrench them out. Human or hellish, none can get
them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. That's
what he said. I and my Father are one. Neither men or demons shall be
able to defeat or overturn the purpose of divine grace concerning
these sheep. This is so important to see.
Now, listen, these words of our Lord Jesus Christ here, I think
He makes it plain, don't you? I think He makes it plain that
it is not possible, that there is no power on earth that is
able to pluck the sheep of Christ out of his hand. Once they are
safely enfolded into his hands, there is no power that can take
them out. Okay, secondly what do we mean?
We mean by this doctrine that though at times the child of
God may walk in the dark and not have a sensible sight of
God's love, still the Lord never does actually forsake his children
now in Isaiah chapter 49 and verse 14 we read these words
but Zion said the Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten
me Notice here the language Zion said, the people of God. Zion represents the Lord's living
family. And Zion said, well the Lord
has forsaken me and the Lord has forgotten me. The Lord had
not really forsaken His people, but they felt forsaken. They felt forsaken. Now there
are seasons when the child of God does walk in darkness and
the clouds are hanging very low over His head and He's not able
to look up and see the smiling face of his Savior as he is at
other times. And he feels that all hope is
gone, and he feels forsaken. But the Lord replied to Zion
here by asking this question. I want you to listen to it. He
says, Can a woman forget her suckling child, that she should
not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget. A woman may forget how startling
that is. She may forget that child that
drank milk from her breast, but yet the Lord says, yet, yet,
I will not forget thee. The Lord said, I won't forget
you. A mother may forget her suckling child, but I won't forget
you. The Lord will remember you. The
Lord will remember you. How grateful I am to God that
He's never forgotten me. He ought to cast me away. He ought to put me away a long
time ago. He had reason enough to do it,
from a human standpoint. But thanks being to God, He never
has cast me away. Behold, He says, I brave and
be upon the palms of my hands. He said, I put your name on the
palms of my hands. He said, your walls are continually
before me. I'm in your house. I see your
walls. I know all about you, and I know
about your situation, and I've known you from before eternity. I knew what you'd be, and I've
made provision for you. The Lord never forgets or forsakes
His children. Isn't that wonderful? Okay, now
David once declared, he said, I said in my haste, I am cut
off from before thine eyes, in Psalm 31 and 22. David really
felt that way. He really felt that God had cut
him off. That the Lord had just said, I'm through with you, David.
I've had enough out of you. And I'm severing the relationship. You was my son, but I'm cutting
you off now. And David said, I said it in
my haste. I oughtn't to have said it. And we often maybe have
felt that way. But David finally had to conclude
that he had spoken in haste. And the Lord had not really cut
him off. He might have withdrawn his comforts for a time. but
still the Lord was there. He was protecting David and upholding
him by his grace even when David was not sensible of his presence. And the same is true with every
child of God here in this world. Thirdly, what do we mean? Thirdly,
when we speak of final perseverance of the saints, we mean that those
sin and disobedience may lose the child of God, the child of
God may lose the joy of his salvation through sin and disobedience,
but his relationship as a son to the Father can never be severed. It can never be severed. Now
did you get what I said? Through disobedience, through
sin, a child of God can lose the joy of his salvation. But the relationship of a child
of God, a son to the father, this relationship can never be
severed. Now David prayed in Psalm 51,
he said, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. He did not pray that he might
be saved again, or that the Lord would give to him again what
he had already given to him, but he prayed that the joy of
the Lord's salvation, and it is indeed God's salvation, might
be returned to him. And his heart was broken because
of sin, and he cried unto the Lord to wash and cleanse and
to restore him the joy that he had lost. Now let me say a few
words to you this morning about the certainty of this perseverance,
the certainty of it. Now, as we consider this, I want
to say that it is certain because of the covenant and the decrees
of Almighty God. Now, anytime you begin to look
or examine a subject, and certainly as you begin to examine the subject
of God's salvation, you've got to go back into old eternity,
and you've got to see the groundwork that God laid in eternal covenant
in order to secure the salvation of his elect family. And you
gotta go back, don't you see? And we've talked to you about
election many times here in this church and told you that God
chose a people before the foundation of the world, set his love and
affection upon them, and provided for their eternal redemption. But if there are some whom he
has chosen, if they could finally be lost, that would make the
purpose and covenant of God without meaning. And if a single individual
for whom Christ died could be lost after experiencing the washing
in the blood, the regeneration that takes place for the Holy
Spirit, then the death of Christ would be meaningless. on the
behalf of that soul. If the Spirit could call a man
and then he be lost and not live with God in eternal glory, then
the calling of God would mean nothing. The calling of God would
mean absolutely nothing. But my dear friends, the covenant
we read in the book of Samuel was ordered in all things and
is sure and it will be fulfilled and the whole redeemed family
shall be at last brought into glory. Now, beloved, that's because
of the decree and covenant of God. God said it'll be this way,
and that's the way it'll be. Now, we've made reference before
many times to the 8th chapter of the book of Romans. And there
in the 8th chapter of the book of Romans, we find that the links
in God's chain of grace are bound together so they cannot be severed
one from another. Listen to the scripture. Those
that he did foreknow, listen to how these links of the chain
are together. Those whom He did foreknow, He
foreknew them in old eternity, and wrote our names down in the
Lamb's Book of Life before the world began, before the foundation
of the world was laid, Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world in the mind of God, Christ dying for
us even in God's mind before the world was ever made. Now
listen, we were in Christ, and we were chosen in Him, and God
foreknew us. He foreknew us and predetermined. He also did predestinate. He
foreknew us and he predestinated us. And those whom he did predestinate,
he did also call. And I'll tell you this, that's
more than an invitation. These people, when it talks about
he called them, they actually did arrive to Jesus Christ. They actually came to Christ.
He called them, not with the general call, but with the effectual
call of God's Holy Spirit. He called them and scripture
says He justified them. Everybody that He called They
got to Jesus and they were justified. They were given a standing before
Him just as if they'd never committed a sin. All the sin was blotted
out. They had no further guilt. They
were justified. See these links of the chain?
They're all together. Now listen, and the scripture
said then, He also glorified my soul. What could that mean?
Well, it tells us this, that in the mind of God, God glorified
His people when he chose them. In the mind of God, they were
glorified even before he called them. They were glorified, meaning
that God could see the whole picture and his people were all
glorified in his heart before he ever made a man, before Adam
was ever put in the Garden of Eden. God's people were viewed
from the Father's standpoint as glorified. That's marvelous. That's shouting ground. That's
glorious. That is glorious truth glorified. God said you're already
glorified in my mind now. How's one of them gonna fall
away? How's one of them gonna finally perish? if God said they're
glorified. Now the covenant blessings, they
reach through the great expanse of eternity, making all of the
arrangements necessary for the eternal happiness of those that
are included in the covenant of eternal grace. So there is
no place for one in the covenant to lose his standing. Everyone
that was predestinated will end up being glorified. Hallelujah. Now then, in Isaiah 46, I want
to read verse 9. It says, remember the former
things of old, for I am God and there's none else. I am God and
there's none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and
from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying
my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. Now beloved, if it was the pleasure
of God to have a people, and it was, God said, I want a family. I want a family. And it was the
pleasure of God to have a family. It was the pleasure of God, the
Bible says, to bruise his own son that he might have this elect
family redeemed. If it was the pleasure of God
to call a man by effectual grace, then it must have been, because
that's the way no man gets to Christ any other way but by the
effectual call. If the Lord will do all of His
pleasure, and He said He would, then we believe it, and certainly
He will. We can be sure. that the saints
of God shall persevere and not one of them shall be lost. The
verse goes on, calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that
executes my counsel from a far country, yea, I've spoken it,
I will also bring it to pass. I've purposed it, I will also
do it. Now beloved, I don't think the
language could be any stronger than this, that God is purposed,
God is that pledged himself to save his people eternally. The
God of Heaven said, I've spoken it. The God of Heaven said, I
will. He said, I'll also bring it to
pass. How could anyone question it?
If God said, I'll bring it to pass, how can anyone think that
a single soul that God ever loved, that Christ ever redeemed, that
the Spirit ever called, could be finally sent down, cast away
into destruction. Now then, let us at this time
say that this doctrine is certain because the promises of God,
and there are certain promises of God that I want to call to
your attention this morning that really set this forth. In Psalm
chapter 94, in verse 14, we read these words. Listen to this promise. For the Lord will not cast off
his people, Neither will he forsake his inheritance. What a marvelous
verse. Did you know that was in the
Bible? For the Lord will not cast off his people and neither
will he forsake his inheritance. That's comforting indeed. Does
it not console us in the time of trial and tribulation to realize
that the Lord will not, will not cast off his people. Now that is what God has promised
and God cannot lie. We read in Titus 1 and verse
2 in hope, in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie
promised before the world again. What kind of life? What kind
of life? Eternal life. In hope of eternal life, which
God that cannot lie promised before the world began, Titus
1 and verse 2. Now in the 125th Psalm, in verses
1 and 2, we read these words, They that trust in the Lord shall
be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. They that trust in the Lord shall
be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. As the mountains, listen to it,
as the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round
about his people from henceforth even forever. Isn't that a great
verse? As the mountains about Jerusalem
shall not be moved, The mighty mountains of grace that surround
a child of God shall not be moved. They are protected, God's people
are. They are safe by the mountains of grace which our God has placed
around them. In the book of 1 Corinthians
chapter 1 and verse 8 and 9, I want you to listen as the writer
here, the Apostle Paul, he was talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now listen to what he says. He says, who shall also
confirm you unto the end. He said, who shall confirm you
unto the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Listen further. God is faithful
by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus
Christ our Lord. Now those are tremendous verses. Did you know those were in the
Bible? I say they're found in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 in verse
8 and 9. Surely you can see that these
certain promises are there. There's not one condition in
those promises. There we read that God shall
confirm. God shall confirm. God shall
make blameless His people and God is faithful to do it. And
God will confirm us unto the end. The Lord will do it. That's
His work. Oh, if we could ever get men
and women to give up the idea that salvation is a human project,
if we could just get them to give it up, if we could get them
to give up on themselves, if we could get them to believe
that salvation is a divine project, it's God's work from the beginning
to the end, and that from the first to the very last, it's
all God's work. if we could ever get them to
believe that. Now in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 6 it says,
being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun
a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Now would God begin a work and
then fail to complete it? Well that sounds like a man to
me. I've known a lot of people start things they could not finish.
But I want to tell you what I hear. I represent a God here this morning
that when He starts a work, He finishes it. No one can add anything
to what God does. When God does a work, He finishes
that work. and he provided for the eternal
salvation of his people. Now God carries it on and God
finishes it. In the book of Peter, in 1 Peter
chapter 1 and verse 5, there's another promise concerning the
certainty of perseverance. Listen to it. Who are kept by
the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time. These are kept not by their own
strength. They are kept by the power of
God. kept by the power of God, that same power that upholds
the universe, that same power that changes the seasons of the
year, is that power which sustains and keeps a child of God. Furthermore, we see that the
certainty of perseverance is confirmed by the types and the
shadows of the scriptures. Christ is represented in the
Bible as being the head of the church. You've read it, Ephesians
chapter 5. You've read it in the scriptures
that Jesus Christ is the head of the body and the church is
the body and the church is made up of all of the elect of God,
all of the redeemed of Jesus Christ. Christ is the head of
his people and we're the members of his body now if you were to
lose a portion of your body it would no longer be complete and
so if any member of the body of Jesus Christ could be lost
then Christ would have a body that was incomplete and let me
tell you this knowing that the head is joined to the body or
the body is joined to the head the head is not going to be in
heaven and leave the body behind, any part of the body behind.
I'm telling you the type of the scriptures of Christ and His
church, Christ being the head, the church, the body, proves
eternal perseverance. His head won't be in heaven and
his body behind. No, no, no. He will not leave
us on earth. Again, God's people are pictured
in the Bible as being a spiritual building. He seeks out these
stones. He makes them living stones.
We read in the book of Peter that we are living stones in
this spiritual building, in this house, the Lord's church. and
were built up. The Lord seeks out these stones
and he makes them living stones and he puts them into the building
and at last the headstone will be brought forth with shoutings,
crying, grace, grace unto it. Now if just one little stone
was missing out of that building It would not be a complete building,
but every one of these stones, hewn out by divine grace, marked
out by His love, will be quickened, called here in time, and built
right into this house, and be secure for all eternity. We'll raise to this position
that I've stated here this morning. There's objections and you know
you can talk to people sometime until you're blue in the face.
I've talked to people that would tell me all the scriptures could
go either way on this subject. My friend, I've read to you enough
scripture this morning, quoted enough scriptures to you to prove
to you that the Bible could not go either way on this subject.
The Bible is laden and the truth points in one direction. Eternal
security of God's sheep. But somebody says, well you know
you Baptists talk about this perseverance, you Calvinists
are so sure that God's people are going to be at last in heaven.
You know your doctrine leads to an ungodly life. I'm afraid
it will lead to an ungodly life. Well my friend, listen to me.
There is nothing in this doctrine that would promote ungodliness. We don't need a doctrine to be
ungodly. Now you get that straight. Somebody
said, well, it's what you people teach that makes you like you
are. No siree. No siree. It's our own natures
that make us like we are. We don't need a doctrine to get
us or to shove us off into some sort of licentious living. We
don't need that. Our own natures will get us into
enough trouble. Won't yours get you into enough
trouble? Don't you believe that? Why, absolutely. But listen,
this doctrine promotes and would cause a man to want to serve
God and live for His glory. It is the doctrines of grace
that moves an individual to see the love of God, to see the grace
of God, to see the truth of God, and to see that God so marvelously
has provided that surely we are bound to live for His glory and
for His praise. Listen, His mercy to us, we're
so unworthy of it. We feel that. We're so unworthy
of it. And so we must seek to obey Him
and honor Him. And though we did not obtain
our salvation by our works, yet we will serve Him forever because
we love Him. And this attitude is an evidence of grace. It is. We serve him because of
his great mercy and his love toward us. And if we fall into
sin, it's because of our own nature. It's not because God's
good. It's not because God's put us on a solid rock. It's
not because we have been so bold that we have declared a truth
that is found in the Holy Scriptures that we somehow or other slipped
into some kind of life that is unbecoming to a believer. No. It's just like saying, well,
because a mother was good to her son, he became a rebel and
a rascal. Because a father was just generous
to his son, he just became an unruly rebel. Oh, my friend,
there ain't a bit of truth to that. There ain't a bit of truth
to that. I know people can spoil their children, but if they didn't
have an old nature, if they didn't have a corrupt nature, if they
wasn't born of a woman in the first place, and their daddy
was a sinner by nature, if it wasn't for that, then they probably
wouldn't have, you know, got themselves in so much trouble.
But that's the reason for it. They're all nature, born that
way. Not because their mother was good. Not because their daddy
was good. Not because God is good. No. We don't fall into sin because
God's good. We fall into sin because our
natures are corrupt. I'm just telling you the truth.
There ain't no need for anybody to say, well my daddy made me
do that. If my daddy would have been a better daddy, I wouldn't
have been what I am. Hogwarts, there ain't a better
truth to that. You say well, I I believe that your daddy.
Oh your daddy might have influenced you he might have influenced
you But you got a nature just like your daddy, and that's why
you're doing just what your daddy did You got a nature Passed on
to you It's passed on right down from Adam. You know one time
your daddy Adam in the Garden of Eden He looked up in God's
face and said, God, you go to hell. You go back to heaven.
You go somewhere. We're going to run this world
the way we want to run it. That's your daddy, Adam. That's
your daddy. That's my daddy. He told God
he's going to run this world. And he wasn't going to mind God.
He wasn't going to do what God told him to do. He was going
to do what he wanted to do. That's where you and I got ourselves
in trouble. We've been doing that ever since. Wanting to go
our own way, preferring ourselves to God. Preferring our own wisdom
to God's wisdom. We just, we just, we just are
sinners, that's what we are. Every one of us are sinners.
And God's goodness, oh hallelujah, God's goodness and mercy is what
secures me, that's not what makes me bad. That's not what makes
me bad. Have a thing to do with it. Well,
I don't know whether that helps you or not, but I don't even
know whether you think that's important to say. But I think it is. I
think it is. All right? Now then, I guess
I better hurry on here. In the book of 2 Timothy chapter
2, and the 16th verse, we read these words. But Sean profane
and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness,
and their word will eat as doth a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus
and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying
that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith
of some." Now, does that mean that these people were lost? Their faith was overthrown by
Hymenaeus and Philetus? who was preaching a false doctrine.
Does that mean that these people were lost? Some people say, now
in their objections, say, well, there's verses in the Bible,
you know, Hymenaeus and Philetus, they were false prophets and
they overthrew the faith of some of God's people. Well, I want
you to listen to what the Scripture says just a little bit further.
I tell you, they were still the children of God even though their
faith was overthrown. The Scripture says, listen to
it, nevertheless, just right there in the same chapter, nevertheless,
the foundation of God stand assure having this seal, the Lord knoweth
them that are His. And let everyone that nameth
the name of Christ depart from iniquity. The Lord knoweth them
that are His. Now that's the foundation of
God. Let the Hymenaeus and the Philetus, let them do their dirty
work. If they preach false doctrine,
they're not going to, listen to me now, this is to the praise
of God, not to the praise of anything else. God said, my foundation
stands sure. I know them that are mine. I
know who mine are. And these false prophets, they'll
go out and do their work. But listen to me, the scripture
says that it's not possible to deceive the elect. They cannot
be deceived into final damnation. They cannot be so deceived that
they will finally be cast off and perish forever. The elect
cannot be deceived. I don't mean that somebody can't
mess with them and get them all confused, but they will not be
finally deceived into eternal damnation. Now then, that means
a lot to me. If it would mean that they lost
their salvation, then a sheep would have to become a goat,
a child of God, to become a child of the devil, the covenant of
God be made void, but I'm glad to note this is all impossible,
and that the foundation of God stand assured. And the scripture
says this, if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, because
he cannot deny himself. The Lord can't deny himself.
See, this is about God. This is not about how strong
you are, about how able you are, about how trustworthy you are.
I'm talking about our God, and Him having a purpose and a work,
and doing that which He's planned and purposed to do. Well, in
the book of Samuel, chapter 12, verse 22, it says, For the Lord
will not forsake His people for His great name's sake, because
it pleased the Lord to make you His people. So remember that
the Lord is doing this work. And the love of God has purchased
our salvation, and the Spirit has called us,
and we're going to be at last safe at home in that upper and
better world. The righteous shall hold to his
way. Let me read a song that I come
across the words of here the other day. And the title of this
is, The Righteous Will Hold on His Way. Just listen to these
words and we're finished. Ye pilgrims of Zion, and chosen
of God, whose spirits are filled with dismay, since ye have eternal
redemption through blood, ye cannot but hold on your way. As Jesus in covenant love did
engage, a fullness of grace to display, the powers of darkness
and malice may rage, the righteous shall hold on his way. This truth,
like its author, eternal shall stand, though all things in nature
decay. Upheld by Jehovah's omnipotent
hand, the righteous shall hold on his way. They may on the mane
of temptation be tossed, their sorrows may swell as the sea,
but none of the ransom shall ever be lost. The righteous shall
hold on his way. Surrounded with sorrows, temptations,
and cares, this truth with delight we survey and sing as we pass
through this valley of tears. The righteous shall hold on his
way. Isn't that glorious? My friend,
I tell you what, if somebody was to give me something else
to preach and say, I'll give you a million dollars to preach
it, I wouldn't do it. So I don't know, preacher. I wouldn't do
it, I'm telling you that. This is precious. This is precious. This is precious. Father, in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we give you glory, we give you
praise, we honor you, we're sinners. We are lost apart from your faithfulness
and your ability, your power, your purpose. We are lost. Father, we look up to you. We're
dying creatures. Soon we must face you. How wonderful
to know that there's no sin charged to the account of those that
are in Christ Jesus. No sin on thy book to condemn
us to everlasting hell. The Bible says, He that believeth
on his Son hath everlasting life, shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed from death unto life. Scripture says there is
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, no judgment
awaiting those that are in the Lord Jesus Christ. We praise
you, we thank you this morning. We do ask that this message Lord,
that you would cause it to abide in every heart. Give your people
remembrance of this truth, and may there be more stability in
every one of our lives. Thank you, blessed Jesus, in
the Savior's name. Amen.