They Shall Never Perish

Q: What does the Bible say about perseverance?

The Bible teaches that true believers will never perish and shall always remain in Christ. The doctrine of perseverance, as outlined in Scripture, asserts that every true believer, once justified and united with Christ, will never lose their salvation. Passages such as John 10:28 affirm that Christ's sheep, who hear His voice, will never perish and cannot be plucked from His hand. This does not imply that believers will not sin or face challenges, but rather that they will never completely depart from Christ. Their perseverance is assured through God's grace and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, as seen in Romans 8:35-39, which states that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.

Q: How do we know perseverance is true?

Perseverance is substantiated by God's unchanging nature and His promises in Scripture. The truth of perseverance is anchored in the faithfulness and unchanging character of God. As stated in Malachi 3:6, 'I am the Lord, I change not,' which assures the believer's security in Christ. Additionally, Romans 8:29-30 outlines the unbreakable chain of redemption where those whom God foreknew are predestined, called, justified, and ultimately glorified without losing any along the way. This theological framework showcases that the assurance of salvation does not rely on our faithfulness alone but on God's covenant faithfulness and His perfect plan of redemption, which guarantees that His chosen will persevere.

Q: Why is perseverance important for Christians?

Perseverance is vital as it ensures the gospel remains good news and secures the believer's hope. Perseverance is important for several reasons. First, it validates the gospel's message, affirming that the good news is genuinely good; if believers could lose their salvation, the message becomes hopeless rather than redemptive. Second, it highlights the efficacy of Christ's atoning work, confirming that His sacrifice on the cross secures eternal life for those who believe. Third, it provides great comfort to believers striving against sin in a world fraught with challenges. Knowing that they are kept by the power of God gives them strength and assurance in their journey of faith.

Q: Why do people reject the doctrine of perseverance?

People often reject perseverance due to ignorance of biblical teaching and a misunderstanding of saving faith. Many individuals reject the doctrine of perseverance because they lack a mature understanding of Scripture and the coherence of God's plan of salvation. For some, the concept is too strong or complex, as they may be accustomed to 'milk' rather than 'meat' of God's Word (Hebrews 5:12). Others fail to recognize that saving faith encompasses a deep and transformative relationship with Christ, rather than a mere intellectual agreement or outward expression of faith. Misunderstanding of these essential doctrines leads to confusion about what it means to genuinely belong to Christ and results in the belief that one can lose their salvation, when, in fact, genuine believers are eternally secure.

I'm going to read the text again,
John the tenth chapter, verse twenty-seven and twenty-eight. John ten, twenty-seven, My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of My hand. Now I have four divisions
in this message tonight, and I want to get right to the
heart of the message. I ask four questions. First of
all, what is the doctrine of perseverance? What is it? What
are we talking about? They shall never perish. The
second question that I shall deal with is what does the Bible
say about it? What does God's word say about
perseverance? And then the third question that
I'm going to deal with is why do people reject this doctrine?
Why do people, no question, many do, well why do they reject it? They have a reason. Let's see
if we can find out what it is. And then the fourth question
will be this, why is perseverance so very, very important? What are those who reject it,
what are they missing? Why is it so important that it
demands so much scripture? Well now the first question is
this, and I want you to listen carefully because it's of the
utmost importance that we make clear what we mean by perseverance. and the security of the redeemed.
I'm talking about the perseverance of the saints which is the security
of the believer or the saints. Half of the abuse and criticism
that has been heaped on this doctrine has arisen because men
don't understand it. They don't know what we're talking
about. Now like election, people, many find fault with election,
and I think half of the reason is that they don't understand
it. They don't know what we're saying. And it's much this way
with perseverance. It's fought by people who have
erected a phantom, and they're just beating the air. They're
not dealing with the issue at all. They're beating, as Roth
used to say, a straw man that really doesn't exist except in
their own imagination. What do we mean by they shall
never perish? What did Christ mean here when
he said, My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me, and I give
them eternal life, and they shall never perish? But what I mean
is this. The Bible teaches that true believers,
those who have been regenerated and born again of the Holy Spirit,
shall continue in the faith of Jesus Christ to the end of their
lives. and they shall never perish.
They shall never be lost. True believers will never be
lost. Once in Christ, they shall always
be in Christ. Once made a child of God, they
shall always be a child of God. Once endued with the Spirit of
grace, they shall always be endued with the Spirit of grace. Once
justified and pardoned of their sins, they shall never lose that
pardon. Once joined to Christ in a living,
vital union, that union shall never be broken. In a word, we're
saying this. Every person who is justified,
who is washed in the blood of Christ, who is redeemed by the
grace of God, will be found in Christ conformed to his image
in that great day. Now, the ungodly have no part
in this. The unbeliever has no part in
this. This does not belong to that
vast multitude of people who have no interest in Christ and
in his gospel. We're not talking about them.
The Bible says, except they repent, they shall perish. We're not
talking about the unbelievers and the ungodly and the wicked.
Nor are we talking about hypocrites. We're not talking about them
at all. We're not talking about false professors. They have no
part in this. It does not belong to those whose
religion consists in talk and words. Christ said of them, they
call me Lord with their lips, but their hearts are far from
me. We're not talking about those people. They have no part in
this. We're not talking about those who have the ritual of
religion in the form of godliness and the custom of ceremonialism. We're not talking about them
at all. They're not in Christ and therefore they're not secure
in Christ. Perseverance is the privilege
of the redeemed. To the sheep of Christ who hear
his voice and follow him, he says they'll never perish. To
those who have received him and been born from above, he says
they'll never perish. To those who are of a broken
heart and a contrite spirit, he says they shall never perish.
To the elect of God, Paul said, to whom the gospel came not in
word only but in power and in the Holy Spirit, he says they'll
never perish. To those who by his grace have
passed from death unto life and who love the brethren, He says
they'll never perish. To the fruit-bearing branches,
to those who know whom they have believed, to those who can say,
though he slay me, yet will I trust him, to those who can say the
Lord is my shepherd, to those, he says, they shall never perish. I'm not saying they'll never
fall into sin. I didn't say that. The Bible
doesn't teach that. The believer may sadly and shamefully
and to his own deep and bitter sorrow fall into sin. Noah fell into drunkenness. Abraham
twice, the friend of God, on two occasions denied that he
had a wife. Lot actually took up his abode
in Sodom and sat as an official in the city gates. Jacob deceived
his own father. Jacob have I loved, God said,
but Jacob, beloved of God, deceived his own father. Moses spoke so
harshly and unadvisedly with his mouth that God killed him.
David behaved in every respect shamefully before God. Solomon
allowed his wives to practice idolatry. Peter denied his Lord
not once, not twice, but three times, and the last time with
an oath. Then he went out and wept bitterly.
Paul and Barnabas argued so sharply and divided so sharply that they
traveled different roads and couldn't even minister together. I'm not saying that the true
believer will never sin. I'm not saying that he will not
shamefully and sadly into his own deep and bitter sorrow fail himself and God. But I'm
saying this, true believers shall never totally, finally, and completely
depart from Christ. They shall always rise from their
fall. They shall always renew their
walk with God. They may lose the comfort of
grace for a season, but they'll never lose the being of grace.
Like trees in the wintertime, there are no leaves and no fruit
to be seen. But I'll guarantee you the life
is in the root. And in just a few weeks, the
leaves and the fruit will once again appear. I do not say that
the believer will never sin. I'm saying that he'll never depart
from Christ. And I do not say that the believer
will have no doubts and fears about his own personal condition
and his interest in Christ. Actually, all of us, if we are
honest, and we're not believers if we're not honest, actually
all of us see so much weakness in our own hearts and we find
Our practice falls so far short of our desire that we're strongly
tempted many times to doubt our own interest in Christ. To be safe is one thing, to feel
safe is another thing. I don't believe there is a single
person in this building tonight who is a child of God who hasn't,
at times because of inward weakness and inward sin and inward failure
doubted that you were saved. David knew that he had been anointed
king. He knew it beyond a shadow of
a doubt. David knew he was going to be
king. He knew that Samuel had anointed him. He knew that God
had chosen him. But on more than one occasion
he said, I shall one day perish by the
hand of Saul. He said that many times, didn't
he? And yet he knew he was going to be king. I'm not saying that the child
of God will never sin. He'll weep over his sins, he'll
bitterly denounce himself, he will not justify himself, he
will rise from his fall and renew his fellowship with God. I'm
not saying that the child of God will have no doubts and no
fears, he'll have plenty of them. He can say with John Newton,
I'm not what I expect to be. I'm not what I ought to be. I'm
not what I want to be. But I thank God I'm not what
I used to be. And then perseverance does not
free the believer from watching and praying and using every means
available through the gospel to walk with God. When the Apostle
Paul was on that ship with the sailors and the storm arose and
the ship was about to sink God had spoken to Paul that night
and said, now the ship is going to sink, but not one life shall
be lost, but abide in the ship. So Paul stood out there on the
deck of that ship the next morning and he said, the angel of the
Lord, whose I am and whom I serve, stood by me this night and said,
Paul, the ship will sink, but not one life will be lost. Well,
some of the men went over to the edge and were going to jump
over the side, and Paul said, now wait. You'll not be safe
unless you stay in the ship. You've got to stay in the ship.
So all of them stayed in the ship and it went up on the rocks
and they all got off. And every believer knows that
he's not going to continue in Christ whether he believes or
not. He's not going to continue in Christ whether he prays or
not. He's not going to continue in Christ whether he loves the
Bible or not. He's not going to continue in
Christ whether he seeks the Lord or not. He knows that these are
the means of the gospel, and he loves them, and he's going
to continue in them. It's not, I'm going to be saved
whether I stay in the ship or not. It says, I'm going to be
saved because I'm going to stay in the ship. So what are we talking
about in perseverance? We're saying that every redeemed,
blood-washed, born-again, regenerated, true child of God is going to
be just like Christ. Well, what does the Bible say
about this? Now, I don't need to remind you
that the Bible is the only test of any doctrine. And as I read
these verses, I want you to look carefully at what the Scripture
says, and note this, that our security and our perseverance
and our safety is not because of our works, but because of
Christ's sacrifice. And it's not because of our goodness,
it's because of His grace. Now let's turn first of all to
John chapter 5. In the fifth chapter of John,
verse 24. John 5, 24. Verily, verily, I
say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting life. and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." Now turn to
John 6, verse 37. John 6, 37. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all
which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day." Now our text in John 10, John 10 verse 28. John 10, 28, and I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand." Now Romans chapter 8, the 8th chapter of
Romans, beginning with verse 35, Romans 8, who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long,
we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For
I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Now
the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter 1, verse
6. Philippians 1, verse 6. Philippians 1, 6. Being confident
of this very thing, that He, which hath begun a good work
in you, will perform it. And that word, if you look in
your center reference there, is finish. It, until the day
of Jesus Christ. Now turn to the book of 1 John,
chapter 1. 1 John. 1 John. Chapter 2 it is, 1 John 2, verse
19. They went out from us, but they
were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would no doubt
have continued with us. But they went out that they might
be made manifest that they were not all of us. Now the book of
Jude, Jude verse 24. Jude, that's the last book next
to Revelation. Jude, verse 24, Now 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 ever. Amen. Brethren, the attributes
of God revealed in the scripture. You know what the attributes
of God, that's the character of God. God is holy, God is omnipresent,
God is omniscient, God is omnipotent, God is love, God is mercy. These are the attributes of God.
God is immutable, unchangeable, and these attributes of God reveal
to us that the saints will persevere. God says in Malachi 3 verse 6,
I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. I am the Lord, I change not.
Brethren, if one of God's elect can finally perish, what's going
to become of the counsel of God, the purpose of God, the plan
of God from all eternity? Romans, chapter 8. Turn there
with me just a moment. Romans, the 8th chapter. Listen
to God speaking here through the Apostle Paul. In Romans,
chapter 8, verse 29. Now listen to this. What's going
to happen to this purpose, this counsel, this plan, if one of
God's sheep can fall? Now listen. 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,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified."
That is, unless one of them falls away. That's not what it says. It just says, whom he, that five
golden links in that chain of redemption, whom he foreknew,
he predestinated, whom he predestinated, he called, whom he called, he
justified, whom he justified, he glorified. That's it. His
purpose shall stand. I am the Lord, I don't change,
he said. I declare the end from the beginning
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
my counsel shall stand. It's not going to be broken.
I'll do all my good pleasure. God worketh all things according
to the counsel of his own will. Now if one of those people can
fall away, whom he hath written in the book of life, then what
happens to God's attributes and God's character? Turn over two
pages to Romans 11. Listen to this, Romans 11, 29.
Is salvation a gift? Is salvation a calling? No, it
is the gift of God's eternal life. We are the call of Christ.
Look at Romans 11, 29. For the gifts and calling of
God are without repentance, without change. When God gives Christ,
it never changes. When God calls a sinner, it never
changes. I'll tell you something else.
The offices of Christ, what kind of head is Jesus Christ if he
loses some of the body? What kind of shepherd is Jesus
Christ if he loses some of the sheep? What kind of priest is
Jesus Christ if one of the names is missing from his breastplate?
What kind of physician is Jesus Christ if his patients die? What
kind of husband is Jesus Christ if he can't save his wife? And
I'll tell you something else. Not one single example can be
found in this Bible anywhere of one of God's elect perishing.
Not one. We read about Balaam He wasn't
one of God's own. We read about Judas, son of perdition
from the beginning. We read about Lot's wife. We
read about Ananias and Sapphira. We read about Simon Magus. But
we're told of these people's hypocrisy. We're told that their
heart was not right with God. Not one of them. We're told that
in the Scripture. These people never knew Him.
Demas, Paul said, had forsaken me, having loved this present
world. He didn't love Christ. He loved
the world. But men like Moses, Abraham, David, Solomon, Peter, Paul. They all had struggles and trials
and mountaintop and valley experiences and up and down, but none of
them ever perished. They all died in the faith. They
all renewed their walk with God continually. Yes, Peter sat there
at the fire and denied he knew the Lord, Watch the next verse. He went out and wept bitterly.
People could judge him according to their own estimation by his
outward behavior, but they couldn't see his heart. And God looks
not on the outward countenance, God looks on the heart. And there
are a lot of people walking what we call the straight and narrow
whose hearts are not right with God. And there are a lot of people
who have fallen and struggling and fumbling through life that
their hearts are right with God. There's a lot of outward religion
that God says, I'll spew you out of my mouth. But only God
knows the heart, and thank God He looks on the heart, and thank
God He judges by the heart. Thank God He doesn't judge us
by our outward conduct all the time, or He'd send all of us
to hell. But nowhere in this Bible, nowhere
from Genesis to Revelation, Do you find one example of one of
God's own ever being deserted? David said, I am old, I have
been young, I have never seen the people of God forsaken, ever. Christ said, Lo, I am with you
always to the end of the earth. I'll never leave you, I'll never
forsake you. That's what he said. All right,
now here's a... I'm going to get a little mean
here now. But I'm going to tell the truth. Why do people reject
this doctrine? This is the third question. Why
do they reject it? The first reason is this. No
question about it. They reject it because it's too
strong for them. Too strong. Too much meat. There
are a lot of church people who are not mature enough in Christ
to bear strong meat. Their constitution is so feeble,
their spiritual digestion is so weak that Paul says, I couldn't
feed you with meat, I had to feed you with milk. Don't talk
to them, don't talk to them anything that has any depth to it, they
can't take it. Don't talk to them about covenant
relationship. Don't talk to them about imputed
guilt. Don't talk to them about imputed
righteousness. Don't talk to them about a sexual
substitution. Don't talk to them about divine
election. Don't talk to them about these
things. They're nothing but little bitty babies that you have to
rub their heads and pat them on the cheek and give them a
sugar tit and let them sit off in the corner and suck their
thumbs. They can't take it. They can't take the strong meat
of God's Word. It takes a mature Christian to
take strong meat. And that's one reason they reject
the doctrine of perseverance. They reject it just like they
reject the fall, just like they reject election, just like they
reject God's predestinating purposes when it's right there in the
Scripture, just like they reject effectual substitution, just
like they reject imputed righteousness, just like they reject all the
rest of it. It's too strong for them. They can't take it. The meat's
too strong. They've been on a milk diet so
long they don't even have a stomach. Some of them, it's too late to
give them meat. It'd kill them. They couldn't take it. The second
reason why people reject this doctrine, to be honest with you
now, is they're totally ignorant of the whole system of Christianity. They're totally ignorant of the
whole system of redemption, of the whole way of salvation. They
don't know anything in the world about what happened in the garden.
They think Adam was wounded. They don't know that he was killed.
They think he lost his sight in one eye. He can peep just
a little and see just as little. They don't know that he went
blind. They think he was slightly wounded. They think he was lame
on one leg. They know nothing about the total
corruption and depravity of the human race. They know nothing
of original sin. And if you don't know anything
about what happened in the garden, you don't know what happened
on the cross, nor why it happened. And a man who does not know what
it is to be justified certainly doesn't know what it is to persevere.
They know little of the everlasting covenant of grace. They know
nothing of God's covenant working through all of the Bible. God
made a covenant with Adam, a covenant with Noah, a covenant with Abraham,
a covenant with David, a covenant with Isaac, a covenant with Jesus
Christ. They know nothing of the surety
of the everlasting covenant. They know little of justification.
You ask them, how can God be just and justify the ungodly?
They don't know. They're just believing on Jesus. They know little of the office
work of Christ, his prophetic office, his priestly office,
his office of king. They know nothing about these
things. When God refuses to allow God to elect a people, he also
refuses to allow God to keep his people. When a man refuses
to allow God to choose his bride, he refuses to allow God to keep
his bride which he has chosen. When a man cannot tell you what
it means to be justified, he certainly cannot tell you what
it means to persevere. They don't know anything about
regeneration. The average church member thinks the sinner regenerates
himself. He's sitting there and the preacher
says something that appeals to him and he gets up and makes
a decision. That's not the way life comes.
Life comes from God. Life comes, as the scripture
says, by the power of the Holy Spirit. There's a quickening,
there's a wakening, there's life from the dead, there's a soul
risen from the grave. And I'll tell you another reason
why men reject this doctrine of perseverance. Number one,
they can't take strong meat. And secondly, they reject it
because they don't even understand the whole system of grace. the
whole system of regeneration, the whole system of redemption.
They don't know what happened in eternity. Consequently, they
don't know what's going to happen in eternity future. They don't
know what happened in the garden, so they don't know what happened
on the cross. And if they don't know what happened on the cross,
they don't know what's going to happen out yonder. And the third reason
is they have an incorrect view of saving faith. They don't know
what saving faith is. Let me give you an example. They see a man impressed with
the preaching of the gospel, a friend or a member of the family. They see him, he sits and he
listens. He's impressed and they know it. And they see him join
the church. He comes down the aisle, shakes
the preacher's hand. He says, I'm saved. He's baptized. They watch him run the race for
a little while. And they call him a believer. They call him a Christian. And
then after a few months or years, he falls away. This goes on three-fourths of
the people that walk the aisle finally fall away. Take any church
in this city. I don't care what church it is.
During the last five years, if they've had 300 additions, they've
had 400 subtractions. And when this happens and that
person falls away and quits coming to church, how can they account
for it? They called him a Christian. They pronounced him saved. They
said he was saved. Now he's out in the world. What
can they say? The only thing they can say,
he lost his salvation. Brother, he never had it. He
never was a believer. That's what they don't understand.
That that man is like the stony ground hero. Christ said, he
received the word with joy. And he sprang up, but it wasn't
long until, because he had no roots, he fell over. A man gives up his drinking,
gives up his swearing, gives up his gambling, comes and joins
a church, starts living a clean life. His wife and everybody
says, Oh, my husband's been saved, isn't that wonderful? So glad
we all hug each other and rejoice down at the front of the church.
He's been saved. He goes back. What happened?
Well, they say he lost his salvation. No, that's not what happened.
He never had any. John said, they went out from
us that it might be manifest. They weren't ever of us. If they
had been of us, they would no doubt, John said, have continued.
People don't know what saving faith is. Saving faith is to
be a new creature in Christ, not in the church, not in the
doctrine, in Christ. Saving faith is to put your hand
to the plow and burn your bridges behind you and your life committed
to Jesus Christ. When he becomes your life, when
he becomes your heart, when he becomes Your thoughts, when he
becomes your desire, when he becomes your goal, when he's
everything and everybody else is in subjection to him. Ninety percent of the professors
of religion do not have saving faith. And that's the reason
people reject the doctrine of perseverance. They say, well,
this man, he was a Christian and he left. According to this word, he wasn't
a Christian, not if he left Christ. A Christian can't leave Christ.
Christ is our life. Christ is my head. Christ is
all and in all. He's Lord of all. A natural man
can't quit breathing and live. Now, the last statement. Why
is this perseverance so important? Why is it so important? Go back to point number three
on this thing, what is saving faith. Brethren, I love this church, but my salvation
is not in this church, it's in Christ. And you who come to this
church and worship here, it's not here, it's in Christ, isn't
it? And you love each other and you love the doctrines of grace
And you love the gospel as it's preached, but salvation's in
a person. It's not in a decision. It's
not in an experience. It's not in an ordinance. It's
in a Christ. That's where it is. And we grow
in grace and in the knowledge of Him. And if something doesn't
grow, it doesn't live. Now, why is perseverance so important? Now, listen to three reasons,
and I close. Number one, perseverance is important because it, with
many other things, makes the gospel to be good news. The word gospel means good news.
The grand characteristic of the gospel is it's good news. The
angel said to the shepherds, we bring you glad tidings of
great joy. It's good news that God loves
sinners like me and you. It's good news that Christ came
down here into this world and was made in the likeness of sinful
flesh for our salvation. It's good news that he died on
the cross for my sins. It's good news that the Holy
Spirit called me to repentance and faith. It's good news that
I'm justified. It's good news that my name's
in the book of life. It's good news that I have a
home in glory. It's good news that I'm a child
of God. But hold it. What happens to the good news
if that message adds before it closes? In spite of all this,
you still might be lost." Uh-oh, no good news now, is it? Once
admit that a child of God who believed on Christ, who looked to the cross, who
was washed in the blood, once admit that that person could
still be lost, and there's no good news at all. No good news
there. No sirree, that is not good news. That's hopeless news. And I wouldn't
be the bearer of it. I wouldn't dare hold out a piece
of steak to a starving man and yank it back from him. That's
as low down as you can get. And God's not in that business. No sir, all the way through it
says, I came to preach good news to the lost, the gospel to the
poor. Yeah, God might give you all
of this, and you might be saved, and you might believe on Christ,
and your name might be written in the last book of life, but
it all might be scratched at the end, and God will send you
to hell. That's not good news. If that's true, the gospel, I
boldly declare, is not good news. And then secondly, perseverance
is important because it makes the work of Christ what it really
is, certain and secure. What does the Bible say? He cannot
fail. What does the Bible say? All
that my Father giveth me shall come to me. What does the scripture
say? He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied what Christ did on the cross. was sufficient
to redeem everyone who believes it. And you talk about one of
his sheep for whom he died perishing, and you put a black mark on his
substitutionary work that eternity itself cannot erase. And the
devils in hell would last throughout eternity at a Savior who could
not save, at a Redeemer who could not redeem. at a surety that could not pay
his bill. No sir. And then the third thing
that makes perseverance important is this. It sure does give a
lot of comfort to the honest believer. Now the way to glory
is not an easy road. We have within us a heart that
is weak and deceitful. We have within us a heart that's
cold when it ought to be warm, sinful when it ought to be holy,
but we know this, He is greater than our hearts. Secondly, we're surrounded by
a world that does not love our Lord. We're related to people who do
not know our Savior. We have to work every day with
people who put every stumbling block they can in our way But
our Lord said, Lo, I'm with you always, and my grace is sufficient,
and greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world.
And then on top of all that, there are the cares of life,
and the cares of children, and the cares of business, and the
cares of debts and money, and the cares of sickness and sorrow,
and the cares of trial and temptation, Who can wonder that a believer
gets depressed when he wants so much more than he is, and
he wants to do so much more than he can do, and he wants to be
so much more than he can be? It's a marvel of grace that he
can ever sing. But the best antidote against
fear and doubt is the precious promise of our Lord, which says
in Job 17.9, The righteous shall hold his
way, and he that hath clean hands shall get stronger and stronger.
Job 17, 9. The righteous also shall hold
his way. Yes, he will. He shall hold his
way. And he that hath clean hands,
not because he washed them in the pool of self-righteousness
or bathed them with the soap of self-justification, or washed
them at the pool of good works, but he washed them at Calvary
in the fountain filled with blood. And he that hath clean hands
shall grow stronger and stronger every day. Our Father, we thank
Thee, thank Thee, O how grateful we are unto Thee for the gift
of Thy love, the gift of Thy grace, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank Thee that Thou hast
not left us to ourselves, to our sinfulness and our weakness
and our ignorance. Man's wisdom is foolishness with
Thee. Thou hast not left us in that
foolishness, but Thou hast revealed to us divine wisdom and the divine
word of the living God. Thou hast shown us all things
revealed in Christ, fulfilled in Christ. All things are ours
in Christ. We have an inheritance, eternal,
undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved for us, because it's
already been paid for. Christ paid it all. Sin left
a crimson stain, but he washed it white as snow. And it's reserved,
awaiting our coming. Strengthen us in the faith of
Christ. Let us be a help to one another. For Christ's sake we
pray. Amen.

They Shall Never Perish

What does the Bible say about perseverance?

How do we know perseverance is true?

Why is perseverance important for Christians?

Why do people reject the doctrine of perseverance?

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They Shall Never Perish

What does the Bible say about perseverance?

How do we know perseverance is true?

Why is perseverance important for Christians?

Why do people reject the doctrine of perseverance?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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