Most Baptists say that they believe in the preservation of the saints, often calling it “Eternal Security.” It is a wonderful and glorious doctrine – which is absolutely true. It glorifies the Saviour, and it blesses and warms the heart of the Christian – especially that Christian who has come under conviction because he has once again sinned against his Lord. Unfortunately, many well-meaning people, including pastors and preachers, mistakenly call “Eternal Security” the “Perseverance of the Saints.” These are clearly and definitely two separate Bible doctrines. Without a doubt they are intimately connected, and it is probably a mistake to ever teach one without teaching the other at the same time, but they approach a wonderful subject from different directions, and that can be confusing. Whether or not I am successful in relieving that confusion remains to be seen.
Let’s return to Romans 8:28-30 for a moment – “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” This verse alone assures us of eternal security, even if there was never another word on the subject. Let’s say that you are saved, you are among those who love God and you are one of the “called according to His purpose.” But there comes something which causes you to doubt Him and which quenches your love for the Lord. What if you lose your salvation and go to Hell? It could not possibly be said of you that all things have worked together for your good. The loss of your salvation would prove this verse to be wrong – a lie – uninspired of God. Is that possible? No it is not! Paul goes on to say how that all things work together for good for the elect’s sake – the chosen. “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.” In other words, Paul sets this before us in such a way that everything from God’s eternal foreknowledge to the ultimate glorification of the saint is ordered and guaranteed of God.
Not only do all circumstances work for us, but God’s purpose and power work for us as well. Turn to John 10:27 – “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. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” Who is it Lord, who will never perish? How can we identify this group which you say will never perish? “It is MY sheep. MY sheep shall never perish.” Why Lord? How can that be? “Because I give unto them eternal life.” And because “my Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” The Arminian comes along and says, “Yes, that is true, but those sheep can jump out of the Lord’s hand.” Oh, is that so? Show me some chapter in the Word of God which says that. Give me a single verse. “Well there is Acts 27:31 – ‘Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.'” Excellent verse, but it has nothing to do with salvation from sin, only salvation from drowning for a very small and select group of people.
Look at John 17:6-11 and the Lord Jesus’ prayer for us – Father, “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.” These are the words of Christ for every one of His saints, not just apostles or the very first disciples. “Father, ‘keep though thy power’ these believers, these children of the family of God.” Is there anyone here who is willing to say that the Father did NOT answer positively, any of the prayers of His own beloved Son? Jesus said, “I know that you always hear me, and always grant my prayers.” For this prayer not be answered, then the Lord Jesus was either confused, deceived, or deceptive. Impossible on every count.
As I have said, I could take you to dozens of scriptures which teach God’s preservation of the saints, but this is not really the theme of my message, so we’ll let these three suffice for one night. And yet before moving on, consider the logic, or the illogic of the saint who is eventually lost. If a person could be saved and then lost again, it would be quite obviously the result of sin. Therefore, his remaining a child of God would be the result of abstaining from sin. This would make all the scriptures which say that salvation is all of grace, to be in error. If a true Christian could ever be lost, then salvation could not really be of grace. It would mean that you and I have to do something to remain saved, or to turn that around, it would demand that we not do some other things. Ultimately if someone lived his life, died and gained admittance into Heaven, he could say, “I did it.” No matter how he said those simple words, there would be some degree of boasting in them – “I did it.”
In Romans 3 Paul dealt with this specific subject. “By the deeds of law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.” There will not be a single soul in Heaven with anything in which he can boast when it comes to salvation.
Let’s say that we have two brothers, one who is a saint of God and another who is not. Everything that is spiritually different between them is rooted in grace and grace alone. Everything that makes a difference as to whether one person goes to Heaven and another to Hell must be of grace. But one of those brothers repented of his sin, while the other loves his sin and has continued in it. Absolutely true. Had that one not repented, he would have, like everyone else, eternally perished. And we’ll take that one step farther, “he that believeth on Christ is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already.” One of these brothers put his faith in Christ to save him, but the other didn’t. Can’t one of those men take credit for his repentance and faith? Not when the Bible says that these two things are gifts of God – gifts of grace. Neither faith nor repentance are things that sinners can perform on their own. The dead man cannot sing and dance, and neither can the spiritually dead repent or believe. The scriptures say that these things come from God’s grace.
Is the Christian different from the lost man? Yes, he is. But why is he different? Because God has make him so. Ephesians 2:8 – “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves.” That faith is not of yourselves. “It is the give of God; Not of works, let any man should boast.” There we have that inability to boast once again. The next verse in Ephesians takes us into the second half of our message. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Right now, the point that I’m trying to make is that salvation is all of God. But that wouldn’t be true if you must do certain things – any thing – to earn salvation. And it wouldn’t be true if you had to do anything to keep or maintain salvation. The Christian is a child of God today, and he will be one of the Lord’s own people for ever. This is the doctrine of the preservation of the saints.
“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, to God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.”
The preservation of the saint is God’s keeping of someone’s soul today and throughout eternity and through all adversity. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” As I say, we could spend the next hour reading and quoting scriptures which guarantee our salvation. But we might also spend the rest of the evening looking at verses which teach that the Christian will continue in his love and faith toward the Lord, living in holiness and obedience. The perseverance of the saint refers to his on-going faithfulness toward the One who saved him.
Let’s say that you were saved in 1989 and for the last twenty years you have been faithful to the Lord’s church. You have attended church twice every Sunday for a thousand weekends. Not only that, but you have also assembled with God’s people on Wednesday, because you felt a need for the fellowship, and you needed a spiritual shot in the arm in the middle of the week. The only time that you missed any of those services was when you were really, really sick. You persevered in your attendance even when relatives visited, you were on vacation, and when your heart was for some reason grieved. This is not necessarily the perseverance to which I am referring, even though it might be a symptom of it. This perseverance is more all encompassing than mere church attendance, as good as that might be.
In John 8 the Lord Jesus took the occasion of the woman taken in adultery to preach salvation from sin. “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” From here there was some verbal sparing with the Pharisees. “Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. As he spake these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
The perseverance of the saints can be illustrated in several ways. For example, if you are one of those professing Christians who can either take the Word of God or leave it, then you are not one of the Lord’s saints. Only “if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.” If you are a person who can to hear a dozen undeniable scriptures, but who cannot be convinced that they say what they obviously say, you are not one of the Lord’s saints. If you cannot be “stablished according to Paul’s gospel,” then you are not a child of God. If for some reason or other, with one excuse or another excuse, you refuse to serve the Lord, then you are not a true Christian.
Have you ever noticed, or did you notice earlier tonight that Ephesians 2:8-9 denies and then affirms works? “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” And yet, despite the absence of works in our salvation, God expects works to flow out of our salvation. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” I think that it is safe to say that what God ordains, God guarantees. Everyone of those people to whom He graciously grants repentance and faith, will serve the Lord in good works – he ordains it – He guarantees it.
Our memory verse from last week was II Timothy 2:19 – I hope that you all know that verse. “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his.” What is meant by the words, “The Lord knoweth them that are his”? This takes us back to the Lord Jesus’ words about “knowing and saving his sheep.” He gives unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. But II Timothy 2:19 goes on. “The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” This departure from iniquity is not an option for any of the Lord’s sheep. And in a sense it is not a necessity either, rather it is a reality. It is as sure as it is necessary.
And why is it sure? Because the Lord has “power to stablish you according to my gospel.” Because, “Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.” Ephesians 1:3-6 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” If you are a child of God, then the fact is, the Lord has CHOSEN you to be holy. That doesn’t mean – eventually holy – it means today, now, tomorrow and forever. We need to understand, that if, and because, God purposes, and preserves, we persevere. Perseverance is the effect, and God’s preserving grace is the unfrustratable cause. In other words, it is the preservation of God that causes us to persevere – to continue in the Lord. It is the grace of God that causes us to persevere. “Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel. To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.”
Am I saying that the true Christian will be sinlessly perfect? No! There has never been one of those people, outside of the Lord Jesus himself. But this perseverance means that like David, like Abraham, and like Paul, all of the Lord’s chosen saints will be stablished in the things of the Lord. Perseverance is one of the Bible’s great doctrines, but it’s not just a piece of theological verbiage. It is a reality. And if it’s not a reality in you, then you need to re-examine your profession of faith in Christ. God’s saints will all persevere in the things of God, because God is preserving them in Himself.