Well, I think we've got most people now. Jeremiah, would you mind opening us in prayer? Alright, well we are Getting close to winding down this section in this series Today we're going to be talking about the perseverance of the Saints so just real quick review in our study of soteriology here Starting with the doctrine of man, and man being in the state that he's in, we begin with the discussion of the absolute inability of man, or the depravity of man. And the fact that left to his own devices, man will not seek God, man will not follow God, man will not obey God. All of the elements of salvation are commands. And so we don't want to obey God. We don't want to be friends with God. We don't seek God. We would rather run from Him being in control. So that leads us to what needs to take place after that, and that was the fact that God selected us, or elected us. He set apart a group of people. Now, bearing in mind that before the foundations of the world, God created this people, this race of human beings, knowing that they would reject Him, but He did so for the glory of the Trinity and the Godhead. And he had a plan. And so he elected a remnant of people for which his son then would come and die. And Jesus Christ, God the Son, God-man here on earth, came and atoned for the sins of that select group of people, that bride that had been given to him. But there still needed to be The miracle that took place, and that was what we just spent the last couple weeks talking about, the miracle of us being changed, that irresistible grace, that effectual or effective call where he calls his own, his own recognize his voice, they hear him and they follow him. And now we're getting to the point where we're putting some emphasis on man. And that's important to do. A lot of people, you know, I've used the term Calvinist. Some people use the term Reformed Theology. There's different ways of talking about these doctrines. But some people, when they argue about them, would say that anybody who believes this thinks that man has no responsibility. Man is just a robot. Man is just acted upon. So Paul even addressed that in Romans 9 because he's going to say, well, you're going to ask me why does he find fault? He's just doing what he's designed to do. And that is clearly not the case. And that's where we're really bringing this to a head then with this doctrine called the perseverance of the saints. We see the word endurance used a lot in the scripture as well that goes along with this. And so really we're looking at the necessity of that endurance. It's important to understand that perseverance of the saints and eternal security are not the same thing. Eternal security deals with our security in God. It's a work that he does, but perseverance is our responsibility. We must endure until the end. Jude 24 and 25, you've heard this before, I'm pretty sure. Maybe within the last 20 minutes. But it says, now to Him. There's a bunch of words and phrases that come after that. In verse 25 though, I want to skip those for a minute because they're describing Him. But it says, now to Him be glory and majesty and dominion and authority. surrounding this doctrine of salvation is geared towards that point. The glory all belongs to God. There is no glory for mankind in salvation. There is absolutely nothing that you can pat yourself on the back for. There's nothing that you have done in the area of salvation that could be attributed to your works. Nothing that you have merit for. to Him be glory and majesty and dominion and authority before all time and now and forever. Now, those phrases that describe Him are important now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling. And that's going to be an important phrase as we go through this because we need somebody to keep us from stumbling. If the Holy Spirit did not act upon your life, if God did not cause you or benefit you or help you to live a righteous life. How long would it take you when you get up in the morning to stumble? Not very long. Exactly. So the one who is able to keep you from stumbling is the one that deserves the glory. He's the one who is able to make you stand in the presence of his glory blameless. So as we talk about this, today in particular, we're going to be talking more about human responsibility, but even in this we're going to see that this is ultimately going to point back to God. Now before we get started, I want to read a few About three sections from different statements of faith that discuss this doctrine of perseverance. Statements of faith that we would embrace here, similar to ours. Not that these are to replace scripture, but again, the whole idea of a statement of faith is to put succinctly what it is we believe the scriptures teach. But the New Hampshire Confession says this of the Perseverance of the Saints, We believe that such only are real believers as endure until the end, that their persevering attachment to Christ is the grand mark which distinguishes them from superficial professors, that a special providence watches over their welfare and they are kept by the power of God through faith into salvation. very succinct ways of putting this together. We're going to touch on all those aspects as we go through this. The Westminster Confession is a little more elaborate. In discussing the perseverance of the saints, it says this, They whom God has accepted in his beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved. This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father, upon the efficacy of the merit and the intercession of Jesus Christ, the abiding of the Spirit and of the seed of God within them, and the nature of the covenant of grace, from all which arises also the certainty and infallibility thereof. Nevertheless, They may, through the temptation of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins, and for a time continue therein, whereby they incur God's displeasure and grieve His Holy Spirit, come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts, have their hearts hardened and their consciences wounded, hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves. The idea here is that a true believer will sin, but it'll be for a season. His faith will endure. He will persevere to the end in his love for Christ. One more, let me read you the section on this from John Piper's church. We believe that the sanctification which comes by the Spirit through faith is imperfect and incomplete in this life. Now that word imperfect does not mean that it is sinful or unholy, it just means that we're not fully sanctified as we are going to be. You've heard it said we have been sanctified when we were born again, we are being sanctified, and then ultimately we will be sanctified. set apart. So that's what they're saying there with those words. Although slavery to sin is broken and sinful desires are progressively weakened by the power of a superior satisfaction in the glory of Christ, yet there remain remnants of corruption in every heart that give rise to irreconcilable war and call for vigilance in the lifelong fight of faith. That's why we have and celebrate communion. That's why we take a time before communion to examine ourselves. We still have this sin nature within us. We're not slaves to it any longer, but we still battle it. It goes on to say, they will persevere in the faith and never surrender to the enemy of their souls. This perseverance is the promise of the new covenant obtained by the blood of Christ and worked in us by God himself, yet not so as to diminish, but only to empower and encourage our vigilance so that we may say in the end, I have fought the good fight, but it was not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Bottom line is we must persevere in the faith if we are to finally be saved. But that doesn't mean that salvation is determined at the end of our days. I know all of you have similar stories. I knew a gentleman who was very active in the church years ago. The church I belong to. Outspoken. evangelized people. Eventually, his life was shattered and he got to the point where he didn't even believe God was real. Now, if he was a believer, he would persevere to the end. Everything we've talked about, the losing of your salvation or the walking away from your salvation is not an option. If we could lose our salvation, then God is a failure. We've talked about that a little bit. If we could walk away from it, it's not eternal life if we have it today and not tomorrow. So, with that not being an option, the only option, Hebrews talks a lot about that. We're going to spend some time in Hebrews today. Apostates are those who walked close to the edge, who heard the word, But the seed never took root, never went deep. And so, perseverance is a vital doctrine when it comes to salvation. Let me read you this quote by John Piper. A lot of people solve this issue of assurance and security by just avoiding the texts that sound threatening to professing believers. We should study those threatening texts and be sobered by the requirements of perseverance before we look at the gift and assurance of perseverance. A whole lot of people want to say, oh, I'm secure. I'm safe. No man can pluck me out of my father's hand. And then they want to go live like the devil. Well, that's exactly what Peter's talking about when he says to make your calling and election sure. It's not to make it sure with God. God knows who he elected. And he doesn't need you to convince him. When he says make your calling and election sure, it's to check yourself. If your sin doesn't grieve you, you should be concerned. If you don't have a desire to do right, you should be concerned. Paul said, oh wretched man that I am, the things I want to do, I don't do them. Things I shouldn't do, I do them anyway. But he was tormented. Let me give you a much different example than Paul, because Paul had some works that, you know, if we were going to go down that route, we could say he could hang his head on. What about Lot? In the Old Testament, what's one good thing you read about Lot? But not in the Old Testament. If we just had the Old Testament, what do we know about Lot? He's a scumbucket, isn't he? But we get to the New Testament, and he's called righteous. And Ron touched on it. That's why. While Lot didn't live the life he should have, He was still grieved by it. It gripped him. He wanted to do... He'd lived out that wretched man that I am statement that Paul made. And so, I like what Piper's saying here. We'll talk about eternal security, but we've got an eternal accountability before that happens. And so we're going to look at some of these verses, and then we're going to spend the majority of our time in the lengthy passage in Hebrews. But let's look at some of these. If you want to turn to them, you can. Some of these are probably very well worth underlining, or at least phrases, but 1 Corinthians 15, verses 1 and 2. I'm going to take you back, which I hope you know, which you didn't comment on. For those that may be a little uncomfortable with the statement that was prepared from Westminster Confession, the 1689 Second Lutheran Baptist Confession of Faith, in that particular paragraph in this chapter, is identical. You know Larry and I have had a lot of conversations about this and I've mentioned it briefly in passing in here, but You would do yourself well to review some of those old well-established statements of faith You know, it's a secular statement, but it's true in Christianity as well those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it and a lot of the We could go as far as saying false religions or we could say perverted denominations that have come out in the last century or two have been because we got away from what the Bible said and what had been long established tradition. in the Word of God. Not the tradition in and of itself is right. We're getting to the point now where we've got some long-established traditions in false doctrine. Arminianism has gained such a foothold in our country and throughout the world that most of Christianity is a man-centered perversion at best and false doctrine at worst. So yeah, I'd encourage you to read some of those. And again, they're only valuable if they're consistent with the word of God. But sometimes hearing what it was that was taught for centuries by the pastors and teachers and evangelists that God blessed the church with could be a valuable exercise. 1 Corinthians 15.1-2 Then I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, and which also you stand. We touched on this passage last week. 1 Corinthians 15 is one of the most succinct passages in the Scripture where the Gospel is laid out. It's flat out a Gospel presentation that Paul gives them. And he's reminding this group of people of this Gospel message. Why is it peculiar that Paul would be reminding the Corinthian church of the Gospel? because their lives weren't reflective of a church of God. The Corinthian church had some issues. There was too much of the world in their worship. There was too much of their old way of doing things. There was too much me and not enough God. There was too much selfishness, bitterness. There was sin that was being glossed over. There was a lack of discipline. And so before Paul leaves his first letter, he goes back to the basics and just lays it out for him again, because they weren't living lives that were reflecting children of God. So he's making known to them, and then verse 2, this gospel, by which also you are saved. The gospel is the power of God, the salvation, but if you underline in your Bibles, I'd underline that next word, if. So you are saved by this gospel if, and look what he says after that, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you unless you believed in vain. Now, what he's not saying there is that there were potentially some of them who had become born-again believers who had faith in God and it was a waste of time and they lost it, but There are different types of belief. Remember faith, the core of the word faith, if you look at the Greek word, is belief. But there's a lot of people who believe in Christ. Probably the most notorious being in all of humanity who believes in Christ is Satan himself. James talks about the demons, and he puts demonic faith on a higher level than dead faith. And Paul is really what I believe making reference here to that dead faith. There's a mental acceptance of Christ and his teachings bringing some profit. But there was the potential that some of them just gave that mental acceptance but didn't bow their knee and didn't have faith or that deeper level of belief. Dynamic faith versus demonic faith or dead faith. But that's a sobering passage. The gospel by which you are saved if you hold fast to the word which I preach to you. The alternative is if you don't hold fast to the word, you're not saved by it. Colossians 1, 21 through 23. Paul is telling this to the Church of Colossae, "...and you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body and flesh by his death." Again, it's consistent with everything we've talked about. You were an enemy. You didn't just not care about God, you were hostile towards God. You didn't want to have fellowship with God. And in that state, while you were doing evil deeds of rebellion and enmity with Him, He reconciled you by His body and flesh by His death in order to present you holy and blameless above reproach before Him, and look at verse 23, if indeed you continue in the faith. stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister." If you don't on occasion question yourself, then there's something to be alarmed about. I won't go so far as to say everybody should at some point in time wonder whether they're a believer. But Peter says, make your calling and election sure. He's saying that because if you sin, especially if you've got a sin that you struggle with that's repeated, you should be so grieved by it that you wonder, how could a child of God do this? And so we need to be sobered by these. 2 Timothy 2, verses 11 through 13. Four times in Paul's pastoral epistles, he said this to Titus and Timothy. He said, it's a trustworthy statement. Now, it's sort of like when Christ said, verily, verily, or truly, truly. It wasn't Christ saying, now you can pay attention. The other stuff may have been right, may have not. But this is true. He was basically putting emphasis on it. But Paul did that as well. It wasn't that the rest of his statements weren't trustworthy, but he wanted Timothy to pay careful attention here. Timothy, this is something you can take to the bank. This is something that can affect your ministry. This is something that is very trustworthy. Look what he says. For if we died with him, we will also live with him. In verse 12 in particular, if we endure, we will also reign with him. Look at the contrast, so if we deny him, he will deny us. If we're faithless, he remains faithful, he cannot deny himself. We must endure if we want those benefits. And then Mark 13, 13, you will be hated by all because of my name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. You'll be hated by all because of my name, but the one who endures till the end, he will be saved." The obedience of holiness that comes from faith is necessary for you to be finally saved. It's vital. It's passages like these that would refute those who would say, if you believe in election, or you believe in in a limited atonement or an actual atonement, if you believe in an irresistible call or irresistible grace, then you're saying man has no responsibility, man can go live like the devil, it's all been determined, it's far from the truth. There is a culpability that man shares A couple more, Hebrews 12, 14, Pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. You have to pursue that sanctification. There's an accountability on your part to do it. It is not simply something that happens to you, although it is something that happens to you. Romans 8.13, For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die. But if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. If you're not putting to death those deeds, if you're not struggling against sin and battling against it, if your soul is not vexed by your sin, you need to question things. Galatians 5 verses 19 through 21. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you. I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, but I know that some of you have been guilty of some of those things on that list. if we're honest with ourselves, more of them than we'd like to admit. But look at the last phrase here. He forewarned them that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. It's not saying if you've done this, you're out of the kingdom. What he's saying is if this is how your life is marked, if this is a continual habit, then you're outside of the kingdom. A person who has been redeemed has been and is being changed. And so these shouldn't mark the life of a believer. John 8, 31, so Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed him, if you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine. and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. He didn't say it, but we can imply it here from what he said. If you continue in my word, you're truly my disciples. If you don't continue in my word, then you're not. He's not saying everybody is his disciple. He's marking who his disciples are. Now, the danger we've got though, those are sobering texts, and they should be, they're meant to be, but the danger is to take verses like that and turn them into supposed proof texts for a workspace religion. Nothing about that has anything to do with us keeping ourselves, of us having merit with our salvation, of us getting to the end of our days and standing before the Lord and Him saying, okay, you've done good, you can come in now. That's not at all what we read. It's not at all consistent with Scripture. Let me read you one other passage here. John 2, 23 verses 25. Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs that He was doing. Listen to that again. They believed in His name. We would use a phrase like that to be synonymous with salvation, wouldn't we? We use that phrase all the time. Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. Verse 24, But Jesus on His part did not entrust Himself to them, because He knew all people, and needed no one to bear witness about man, for He Himself knew what was in man. This is not an issue of works, it's an issue of the heart. John MacArthur said this, you live out your view of God. You live out your view of God. So when we read the passages that we've just read in the context of Scripture, what we're going to see, what we have seen, is that These deeds don't represent the cause of our salvation, but rather the proof of our salvation. So, again, in all of this, we're dealing with the culpability of man, the responsibility of man. When the Bible gives you a command and tells you to do something, or gives you a command and tells you not to do something, it means it. And it's your responsibility to obey that command. But that obedience still won't earn you favor with God and won't earn you or merit you salvation. Salvation is still the gift. But if you're struggling, you need to do what Peter said, make your calling and election sure. We should daily be making our calling and election sure. So let me read you some other verses that go along with this to help further this idea that we're really pointing towards the heart. Again, these deeds that are talking about this endurance, this perseverance, is not what earns us salvation, it's what proves that we are. 1 Corinthians 6 verses 9 and 10. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." Read the next verse. Do you have it there with you? I don't have it. And that's the question that I'm getting to here. Is Paul saying that there will never be a person who was drunk who's in heaven? No. Is he saying there'll never be a person who was a drunkard, which is the word that's used here? Repetitive drunkenness. No. Will there never be a person who was covetous in heaven? That's not what he's saying. Will there never be a person who at one point in time was a homosexual as grievous a sin as that is Now there is nobody who can out sin God's mercy Saul was not such a good dude. He was walking around trying to put people in prison and have a murdered for following the way And yet God saved him out of that so What's he saying here? He's talking about the hard attitude It doesn't matter if you were these things. We were all those things. But what are you? Have you been changed? Ephesians 5, verses 3-5, But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. And there must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty that no immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." Again, we're given a list there that if we are honest with ourselves, some of those things we've participated in. Some of those things may have even marked our lives for a while. Some of those things we may struggle with to this day. But what's the heart? Has there been a change? 1 John 3, 14. We know that we have passed out of death and into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. He still remains in death. We were dead. We were at enmity with God. We were separated from God. And I like this passage, we know that we have passed out of death into life. This is one of those verses that goes along well with the proof text of the idea against losing your salvation. Again, the idea of a Christian not being able to walk away from salvation or lose their salvation should be pretty evident just by the phrase eternal life. I mentioned it earlier. means never ending. It's not going to stop. If you can walk away from it tomorrow, then what kind of life was that? So the only way you can believe that you can lose your salvation is if you believe that eternal life starts at a point in the future. Maybe when we die. But according to John, according to what Christ taught, We are alive right now. We've already passed out of death and into life. He's not talking about people who have physically died and moved on. He's talking about people who are walking the earth with Him at that point in time, and we can apply that today. They've passed out of death and into life because they love the brethren. That's the mark that's upon them. It's the proof text. of that. First John 420, if someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he's a liar. For the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. Does that mean that anyone who's ever had a dispute with another Christian can't go to heaven? No. But if your life is not one that's marked by a desire to help your brethren, bear the burdens of your brethren, care for your brethren, rebuke your brethren when necessary, then you need to check yourself. So turn to Hebrews chapter 10, if you will. I said we're going to read a lengthy passage. We're going to spend the rest of our time in this, just kind of working through this. We're going to see a lot of these things touched on. We're going to start in verse 10. We'll be in chapter 12 before we're finished, but let's just start reading. For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year. We need to be reminded of our sins because we need to be grieved in our spirit like Lot was. We need to look at ourselves as wretched like Paul did. We need to check and make sure, am I truly an elect, born again, and child of God like Peter told us to? So the sacrificial system was a reminder, it was a school teacher. It was a mirror that reflected what they really were. Verse 4, For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me. and burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come to do your will." I'd underline that phrase if you do underline. Why did Christ come? He came for obedience. Obedience is better than sacrifice. It's a proof. It's a mark. I've come to do your will, O God, as it was written of me in the scroll of the book. When He said above, you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings, and burnt offerings and sin offerings, these are offered according to the law. But then He added, behold, I have come to do your will. He does away with the first, or the law, in order to establish the second. Verse 10, and by that will, God's will, the will that Christ came to obey, to fulfill, by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool at his feet. Verse 14 tells us why he was able to sit down. Every other earthly priest just keeps doing it. Every year they had to keep offering the sacrifices, and they'd do it again, and they'd do it again. Christ did it, and he sat down. Never to do it again, verse 14, for by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. It's completed. Our sins are atoned for as far as our merit or standing in the kingdom is concerned. But that doesn't mean that we can go keep filling up that bucket because It says, His offering has perfected us, but He's defined us as those who are being sanctified. We're being changed. We're being conformed or pressed into that image of Christ. If there's no good works that are evident, then there's probably not salvation. So the being sanctified ones are perfected or completed. Verse 15, And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us, thankfully. For after saying, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord, I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds." That takes away any merit from us for doing good works, because apart from that, we were running from His law. But He put it on our hearts. He wrote them on our minds. Jump down to verse 22. Because of all this, let us then draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. A phrase, assurance of faith, is significant. Why can we have assurance? Because with one sacrifice, He perfected forever those who are being sanctified. So when you're making your calling and election, sure, you're confirming that there is sanctification. You're repenting from your sins. You're being grieved. The lost have no desire to make their calling and election sure. Let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed pure with water." Hard to approach or draw near to God with a clean conscience when you're living a life of sin, isn't it? Verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope, that persevere, endure, it's a tight grip on, don't let go for anything. Doesn't matter what temptations come your way, He'll make a way of escape. But hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. And why is that? Because He who promised is faithful. Again, the glory is back to Him. Jump down to verse 26. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. If Christ's sacrifice is not one that is going to be applied to your life, you're out of luck. There's no other way. There's no other means. Verse 26, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. That's all you can hope for. Let me read you this statement from John MacArthur. The apostate is beyond salvation because he has rejected the only sacrifice that can cleanse him from sin and bring him into God's presence. To turn away from that sacrifice leaves him with no saving alternative. Jump down to verse 35. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance. You've got to persevere. It's necessary. Why? So that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. You need to endure, and you need endurance given to you. God's will will be accomplished, but you want to be on the side of that will where he says, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Verse 37, for yet a little while the coming one will come and will not delay, but my righteous one shall live by faith. And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But verse 39, if you haven't underlined anything, this is a powerful verse. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed. If you're a child of God, you won't shrink back. You're not going to be destroyed. You are going to persevere. You are going to endure. We're not of those. All those things that we need to fear, if we are His children, we don't have to worry about. We're not of those, but we're of those who have faith and preserve their souls. We persevere. What is faith? He tells us in chapter one of verse 11, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. I've used the analogy before, you've heard it, it's belief that changes behavior. That word hoped is, misunderstood. When we use hope in the English language, it's kind of like a wish. Maybe it'll come. Maybe I'll get it. It's not that. It's something we can have assurance for. It's not a wish. It's a longing for. It's a future prize to be obtained. Conviction means the idea of standing firm and resolute in it. I know what I believe. We need to be convicted in our belief about the Word of God. But belief that changes behavior, I've used the analogy of the podium. You've heard it before. Do I believe that this would hold me if I stood on it? Yes. Faith would have me jump up here and show you, and I don't have that much faith. So no, not going to do it. But that's the idea of faith. Faith steps out when you can't see the next step because you know the outcome is secure. Faith makes you jump out of the boat and walk on water because your Lord has beckoned you. Faith lets you believe in heaven as if it's as real as the earth that you walk on today. It's assurance. It's conviction. In verse 39 he's saying, we're not like those who shrink back. We're not like those who are wishy-washy in our beliefs about God. We're of those who have faith, and that preserves our souls. Verse 2, for by it the people of old receive their condemnation. The reason it's so important for us to know our faith is granted from God, is the security of that. If your faith is rooted in your own power, is it going to be long-lasting? Probably not. But if your faith is given to you by a God who plans to accomplish His good pleasure, He's going to give you a persevering faith, an eternal faith. It's granted to us. Jump down to chapter 12. Excuse me. Chapter 12, starting verse 1. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. If you're going to run a marathon, what are you going to put on your shoulders? little as possible, right? I don't know how many of you watch marathons, because that's quite a long race, but you've probably seen highlights of people running, snippets here and there. They're wearing as little clothes as they can to be decent. Sometimes they'll go past that, but you're not seeing them with backpacks and ankle weights, are you? And that's what he's saying here. Why do you let these weights hang about you? If you're going to endure, you need to be free from those sins, free from those weights that hold you down. You've got to run with endurance the race that is set before us. How do you do that? Look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. The one who granted you the faith is going to complete the faith. who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." The great hall of faith chapter, as we refer to it in Hebrews, is not about man's exploits. It's about a gracious, merciful, sovereign God and the people that He had granted faith to them. Verse 3, Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted. When you begin to feel your perseverance waning, or your endurance waning, look to Christ. Look what He endured. Verse 4, In your struggle against sin, you have not resisted to the point of shedding your blood. He did. But you've got more. Verse 5, And have you forgotten the exhortation that addressed you as sons? My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son to whom He receives. Why? Look at verse 7. This is important. It is for discipline that you endure. Again, endurance, perseverance is absolutely necessary for you to receive the prize at the end. But he's going to give you the endurance, cause you to endure. The discipline that we receive that we don't like is what helps us get to the end. It reminds us. That's why chastisement, while it's not easy to endure at the beginning, is a reprieve. We know He cares, we know He loves us, we know He is not giving up on us. Look at these next few verses, it elaborates on that. Verse 7, it is for discipline that you endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Back in that time period, it was very common for Roman men, especially noblemen, to have illegitimate children. We didn't have all of the preventative measures that we have today, but promiscuity was rampant in that day and age. And they would have concubines and sex slaves and different things. And in many cases, they supported them financially. But they didn't have any relationship with them. They didn't give them any discipline. They didn't love them because they weren't in the proper family. That was just a byproduct of some decisions they made. So if you're without discipline, then you're just illegitimate. The fact that we are rebuked, the fact that our hearts are pricked, is God's disciplining us, pushing us to endure. Verse 9, furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time, as seemed best to them. But he disciplines us for our good, so that we may share his holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful, yet to those who have been trained by it afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Therefore strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble and make straight paths for your feet so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Verse 14, pursue peace with all men and the sanctification, without which no one will see the Lord. Sanctification, the action verb there, pursue, is a command, and it's a command to us. God is going to sanctify us, but it's our responsibility to pursue that sanctification. Without it, again, he says, no one will see the Lord. Verse 15, see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God. Romans 3.23, all have sinned and fall short of the grace. The idea there is running a life close to Christianity, but not ultimately living a life of faith. We're to encourage those around us. That no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. That there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears." I'll read you one other quote here, John MacArthur. Esau desired God's blessings, but he didn't want God. He regretted what he had done, but he didn't repent. Esau is an example of those who willfully sin against God and are given no second chance because of their exposure to truth and their advanced state of hardness. Esau was an example of the godless person. So we'll stop there in Hebrews, but as we read that, hopefully you noticed that tension that still exists between the culpability of man and the accountability of man and the sovereignty of God. God being sovereign does not absolve us of responsibility. Salvation being secure because of the work of the cross does not mean that we can live our lives flippantly. Next time together, Lord willing, we'll talk more about the security side of things. But as we said earlier, there is a difference between eternal security and perseverance of the saints. And if you do not persevere until the end, you are not a child of God. So we're commanded to do these things, but we can still give all the praise and glory because without him we can do nothing. So we'll stop there for now and see how far we can get next week in trying to wrap things up. Anybody have any comments or questions? You sent so many praise beings, priests, you were baptized, you were baptized to death. So it's not like you're baptized to say you're a Christian. It's more that you're relating to Him, suffering, dying. which is that process, which is that sanctification. Because everybody here can attest that I'm not from here. And stretch of being the righteous and sanctifying process. But you just have, like you said as well, the mind, the heart, which you want to continue to be born to. So that's. Right. You know, there's an old children's song many of you probably heard, He's Still Working On Me. And I think it's a very fitting song for not the idea that we're just in such rough shape, it's taken him a while, but it's the working, that disciplining of us that is that proof that we need. As I said earlier, you need to feel guilty about your sin. And there needs to be times when you are very grieved by your sin and questioning, you know, how could I be doing this? What did I do? What walls did I let down or guards did I let down that allowed me to get to the point where I could do this? Because how could a child of God do these things? And then, that's where that discipline's a comfort. I mentioned in the past, the book of James is my favorite book of the Bible. It's because of this that is the main reason for that. I couldn't get out of chapter one without feeling guilty. Because James is a very practical book. It's just do this, do this, don't do this, don't do this. And it's like, man, I'm ridiculous. But it was that rebuke, that chastising that was comforting. I would go to it in times of struggle and still do. When I'm dealing with sin, But to a lost person, I don't think it would make any sense, if you're feeling guilty about something, to go to a letter or a book or something like the Bible that's going to make you feel more guilty. But that guilt, it's a comfort. It lets us know, hey, He is still working on me. And so, pray for perseverance for all of us. Anyone else? I was thinking that there were recordings of this class and if I understood correctly, where are they? These are just on Sermon Audio. So on the website, we keep the morning service. But if you go to Sermon Audio, we've got everything. And they're broken out. In these, I think they're all lumped under what we teach. It's a series of things. And there is an app for your phone, those of you who are past the flip phone stage. I'd like to go back to a flip phone. I'd like to go back to before cell phones. Just eliminate them. All right.