Well, it is the Lord's day and the Lord has reordered our day for us. We're expecting to baptize this morning as Clint mentioned, but We'll have our membership testimonies and baptisms this evening. That allowed us to sing another song. That allowed, well, you'll see if that allows me or you may not know. There were some things I trimmed out of my sermon that I'll now not have to worry about that on. So the Lord just reordered and reworked our day for us. We will be in Romans 8 this morning. You can go ahead and turn there. We'll get there in a minute. Our topic will be perseverance of the saints. Also, you could call this preservation of the saints. This is the final point in the TULIP acronym, which as you know, is a summary of the doctrines of grace, also known as the five points of Calvinism. But if you've been with us throughout this doctrinal series, you know I've replaced the TULIP with RUPEP. So total depravity has become radical corruption. Unconditional election stayed the same. Limited atonement became particular redemption. Irresistible grace became efficacious grace. And then we get to stay the same on the P, maybe more of a double P. Perseverance of the saints or preservation of the saints, either way, the P stays the same. So these doctrines, I mentioned this weeks ago, have been upheld through history. I also pointed out how when the Southern Baptist Convention was formed in 1845, the majority of churches in the convention were overwhelmingly Calvinistic. Even the first seminary that was established, the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, was established as a Calvinistic seminary. But over the course of time, Southern Baptist churches adopted, and I introduced you to this word weeks ago, they adopted a Calminian approach, which is a blend of Calvinism and Arminianism. So the basic position of Southern Baptist churches became something like this. Our condition is bad, but we aren't radically corrupted. Therefore, man can make a move toward God, Another position that has been adopted, God elects on the basis of foreseen faith. Christ died on the cross for everyone, making salvation possible for all. And someone who makes a decision for Christ will be saved in the end, even if they walk away from Christ, never to return to him again. And so these beliefs led to preaching in Southern Baptist churches that is akin to selling fire insurance. As long as you make a decision for Christ, you will escape the eternal flames of hell, they would preach. Therefore many who were compelled to walk down an aisle, make a decision for Christ, subsequently lived however they wanted to and their lives proclaim something like this. I got my fire insurance, now I can do whatever I wanna do and I'll be saved in the end. The emphasis of this type of preaching was on your decision. And it was this one-time decision to buy eternal fire insurance that settled the matter. And while many would say it's a good idea to live a godly life, it wasn't a necessary, consequent condition of grace. by necessary consequent condition of grace. What I mean here is that God, the one who God saves, the one whom God pours his regenerative grace upon, will necessarily be transformed, will grow in godliness, and will practice true holiness. Godliness is not optional for the believer. Obedience is not optional for the believer. To say, I believe in Jesus for salvation, yet I will live however I want is a denial of Christ as Savior. 1 John 1.6, if we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. Titus 1.16, they profess to know God yet deny Him by their works. Jesus did not come to earth merely to save us from the eternal flames of hell. Thank God he did. But Jesus came to save us from the stranglehold of sin. Came to save us from our sin because it's our sin that separates us from the blessed presence of God. It's our sin that must be forgiven and wiped clean. Therefore the Father sent the Son to live and to die in our place. And the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit to apply the work of Christ to our lives. but it's not just a past work that is being applied to our lives. It's an ongoing work of transformation. We were not predestined, called, and justified by grace through faith to live lives of ungodliness. As we see in Romans 8, really in verses 28 through 30, God elects, God calls, God justifies so that we'd be conformed to the image of Christ. And scripture makes it clear that this transformative work will not be complete in this life, but it will begin in this life. And it will come to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1.6, Paul writes, I'm sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. There is no room for a godless, unbelieving Christianity. But the reality is, there are those who profess Christ, yet really never belong to Christ. There are false professors. There are those who only think that they are insured. I mean, you know, We have examples in the Bible, Judas. Now, I don't know what his mindset was, but there's Judas. There's Demas. He was one who was a colleague of Paul, but then deserted him because he fell in love with this present world. There are some who will confess with their mouths that Jesus is Lord, yet they will depart from the faith never to return again. Why? Because they were never of the faith. 1 John 2.19, they went out from us. but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might be plain that they all are not of us." So there are false professors, those who look the part, who have a false security that they belong. And in preaching in many churches, and even today, continues to feed that, continues to feed that false security that you did this one time, you're good. And so while there are false professors, while there are those who have a false security, while these warnings are found in the scriptures, this is not reason for us to doubt or to live in fear. This is reason for us to trust in the Lord. Because we learn from scripture, as Clint just read to us, Christ will not lose any whom the father gave him. No one will snatch the elect out of his hands. No one will take them from Christ's hands and no one will take them from the father either. He will keep us and guard us until that day. He will keep us in the faith because he is faithful. We will persevere. We will make it to the end because He preserves us. There's not one individual who belongs to heaven who will be cast into hell. There's not one individual who belongs to heaven who will not persevere to the end. So I've titled this sermon, Perseverance by Preservation. The reason I gave it this title is because we must persevere. There's no room for Christless, unbelieving Christianity. To be a Christian is to believe in Christ, to follow Him, to be of the faith. To be a Christian is not, yeah, I did that one time many years ago, and then I know I live a godless lifestyle, but I'll be good in the end, God will just forgive me. That's not the Christian life. So we must persevere, but while we must persevere, the only reason we persevere is because of God's preservation. As Hermann Bavink writes, we should regard the perseverance of the saints as a preservation of God before it can become a human perseverance. Because our perseverance is a work of God, which from beginning to end is affected by God himself. So we will persevere in grace because God preserves us in his grace. And that's what we'll see here in Romans 8, 31 through 39. Let's go ahead and read this passage and then I will pray our pastoral prayer. So Romans 8, picking up in verse 31. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress? or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I'm sure that neither death nor life nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. This is the word of the Lord. What a beautiful, beautiful passage and beautiful reminder this is. Let us pray. Oh, Heavenly Father, We come to you through the Son and by your Spirit. And the only reason we can come to you is because of your everlasting love. You have loved us with such amazing love, with a love that endures, an everlasting love, a steadfast love, and you've redeemed us They're the only begotten Son. And now you gather us unto yourself. And one day we will gather before your throne with all the saints, but today we gather in local churches with the saints in this region, in this place. And one local church that I lift up this morning that I lift up to you is Grace Life Baptist Church. I pray for them, I pray for Joel Mosier as he pastors this flock of yours. I pray that you will give them wisdom, discernment as they prepare to send out one of their elders and plant a church. I pray for your work among them. I pray that you will stir up the hearts of members who want to go and be a part of this work and that they will go. So God, I pray for that church and I thank you for Joel. Thank you for his heart for you, for your people, and his heart for the lost. Oh, I pray that you will stir up our hearts to love you, to love your people, and to have a heart for the lost. Give us a burden for souls. Give us a burning desire to take the gospel to our lost neighbors, knowing that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. And I pray that your gospel will affect all of our hearts this morning. We'll soften the hard heart, lead the lost to you, pray that your spirit will work among the lost here, drawing them to yourself, drawing them to Christ through whom we come to you, oh Father. And I pray that your gospel will motivate us all to persevere in the faith. Oh, be with us in a special way this morning, I pray. And I pray this in no other name, but in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. So growing up, and I know some of you know this, but growing up, I was an avid basketball fan. My favorite team was and still is the Houston Rockets. I say that with a little more pride these days. If you know, you know. But in 1995, the Houston Rockets, they pulled off one of the most impressive comebacks in NBA history. They had won the championship the year prior, but they really struggled in this 94, 95 season, ups and downs. And they were on the brink of elimination. They were down three to one, three games to one in a best of seven series against the Phoenix Suns. But they wouldn't give up. And they subsequently, or seemingly, pulled off the improbable, at least in terms of sports. And they won that series. Well, after one of the games that Houston came back, they were down. They came back. One of the players for the Phoenix Suns, his name is Kevin Johnson, he said this about the Rockets. Those guys are like cockroaches. Interesting statement. You keep trying to step on them, but they always scurry away and come back. They have the heart of a champion. So the Rockets, like cockroaches, they persisted. They endured. They came back not only to win that series, but the NBA Finals that year. And after winning the NBA championship for two years in a row, for their second year in a row, their coach, Rudy Tomjanovich famously said, don't underestimate the heart of a champion. So the 95 Houston Rockets, they're an example of perseverance, an example of persistence, an example of endurance in the face of the improbable. They went through a rocky season, through ups, downs, yet they battled to the end because they had the will, and the strength to do so. In some ways, this is similar to the believer's perseverance. The believer will endure to the end. We will make it. The believer will continue in the faith to the end. The believer will make it and overcome, even though the believer will face adversity and opposition. But here's the difference. The believer will not make it because the strength lies within us. The believer will not make it because we're able to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and overcome. The believer overcomes and makes it to the end because Christ goes before us and he fights our battles. The believer makes it to the end because Christ is with us and because we belong to him. Like the 95 Houston Rockets, we will experience ups and downs. We will experience adversity. But unlike them, we do not look to our own strength. We do not look within and draw upon what we find within. And besides... their strength was limited. The next year, they don't even make it back to the Western Conference Finals. I mean, they're just like anyone else, that we are limited at best. And so enough basketball talk, but I hope you know and hope you realize and understand that even the best, the strongest among us are limited at best. All of us are limited and we're greatly limited. If we rely upon our own strength to persevere, who will persevere? If you rely upon your own strength to make it to the end, who will make it? You know the answer, no one. But sadly, we often live this way. We often rely upon our own strength. It's too easy for us to treat Christ as nothing more than an instrument for change. or an instrument for personal improvement. We come to Him, He transforms us, and now we set off on the road to do the work by ourselves, on our own. I can do it, I can make it. Yeah, I needed to be changed, but now we set off to make it to the end on our own volition and our own strength. But here's the problem. We won't make it to the end unless God preserves us and keeps us to the end. The Senate of Dort, remember that's the response to the Armenians. The Senate of Dort recognized this and said, because of the remnants of indwelling sin and because of the temptations of the world and Satan, those who have been converted could not remain standing in this grace if left to their own resources. The battle's too tough. If we're left to ourselves, we don't have the strength to overcome. And this article from Dort goes on to say, but God is faithful. mercifully strengthening them in the grace once conferred on them and powerfully preserving them in it to the end. We're reminded all throughout scripture that God is faithful, he's merciful, he will strengthen us and he will preserve us till the end. And that's what we see here in Romans 8. In verse 37, we read that we are more than conquerors. You might say we're more than champions. What that verse is saying is that we will prevail completely. But as this passage will make clear, the emphasis of the passage is that the only reason we prevail is because God is for us and because God loves us in Christ. So to help us understand the passage, I've broken it up into two sections. I've divided it into two sections here. In verses 31 to 34, we'll see that God is for us. And we'll look at that, how this is fleshed out in this passage. And then in verses 35 to 39, we're reminded that nothing, absolutely nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So picking up in verse 31, Paul in this section has a lot of questions. Many of the questions aren't answered, it's just an implied answer. So verse 31, what then shall we say to these things? Well, what are the things Paul's referring to? Well, at the very least, he's going back to the preceding verses, we'll key on that a little bit, but he's pointing to God's sovereign work in history to redeem a people for himself. And because God is sovereignly working in history to redeem his people, the answer to the next question is obvious. End of verse 31, if God is for us, who can be against us? What's the answer? No one, absolutely no one. So in the ultimate sense, I know there's adversity, yes, there's adversity in this life, there's opposition in this life, but Paul's saying in an ultimate sense, Who can be against you? God is for you. Who can bring a charge against God's elect? No one. This is one of those questions. If God is for us, who can be against us? The answer is so obvious, it doesn't even need to be said. He's for us. No one can be against us. And it's not though that God is just for us, rooting for us, encouraging us to overcome on the sidelines saying, keep going, keep going. Yes, there is encouragement, but that's not merely what God is doing. As we see here in verses 32 to 34, God is actively working for us. He is actively working on our behalf. Verse 32, he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. This connects us back to verse three of chapter eight, which in the middle of the verse, by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. So instead of sparing his life in the flesh, instead of sparing him, instead of sending his son and sparing his life in the flesh, He condemned sin in the flesh. How'd he do that? By giving his own life. By Christ laying down his own life, he condemned sin in the flesh. He condemned that which stands against us, namely sin, and therefore death. If we're going back into Romans 5, we would see that. And because Christ has done this, because God has sinned his son, because the son gave himself for us, Paul asks another question at the end of verse 32. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? So if he didn't even spare his own son, but he gave him up, surely, He will give us all things. Once again, the question doesn't need to be answered because it's just assumed. If He did this for us, He will give us all that we need, all things. Well, what are the all things here? What does He mean here? Is this a reference to every single thing that's ever been created? No, that's not what we have here. At the very least though, if you look at the immediate context, this refers to everything pertaining to salvation. Verses 28 through 29. We see here, those who are called at the end of verse 28. In verse 29, those who are called are predestined. And predestined to what? To be conformed to the image of his son. And those who are predestined, verse 30, are those who are called and those who were called, he justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. So think about it. Those who are called by God, the elect of God, those who are efficaciously called. are those whom God has chosen before the foundation of the world. And those who are chosen before the foundation of the world are chosen to be conformed to the image of his son. And those who are chosen to be conformed to the image of his son are those who have been justified. Those who have been righteously righteous. The unrighteous who have been considered righteous, whose sins have been forgiven. And those whose sins have been forgiven and who have been imputed with the righteousness of Christ are those who will be glorified. those who will be made new. So this covers the whole work of salvation from beginning to end. God's election, God's effectual calling, God's act of forgiving sins, imputing righteousness to us, and God's transformative work in which he conforms us to the image of Christ, which will come to culmination, which will culminate in glory. So as we come back to verse 32, The implied answer here to the question, if he did this, he will surely do this. So if he gave his own son, how will he not also give us all things? The answer is that God will give us all things necessary to bring our salvation to pass. He will not leave us to ourselves. He will not allow us to fall away from him. If he loses one of the elect, what's that say about Christ's saving word? It's insufficient. But as one pastor notes, should they be in the elect fall into condemnation, then his blood would have been shed for them in vain. We know that's not true. That's why Paul asked the questions that he does in verses 33 and 34. Verse 33, who shall bring any charge against God's elect? Once again, the implied answer is no one. Why? Verse 33, because it's God who justifies. To bring a charge against God's elect would ultimately be to bring a charge against God. Because if you're charging God's elect, whom God has justified, you're actually bringing a charge against God and no one stands above God that can bring forth such a charge. God is free to do what he wants, but yet as we see in Romans teaches us, God is just and he's the justifier. He has justified us in such a way that is just. He doesn't unjustly justify, there's no injustice in God, but as we are reminded here, who can bring this charge against God's elect? No one, because it's God who justifies. And then verse 34, who is to condemn? Once again, the implied answer is no one. Because Christ died. I mean, that's why Romans 8, 1 is such a beautiful verse. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. We've been exonerated. There's no condemnation. So who can condemn? Who can condemn? Who is to condemn? Who's to condemn those in Christ Jesus? No one. Because Christ died. As we see here in this verse, he's been raised up. He's now at the right hand of God and notice what is he doing there? He is interceding for us. He's at the Father's right hand interceding for the elect. To intercede is to intervene on behalf of another. To make an appeal, to make a request on behalf of another. And no one, can bring a charge against God's elect because Christ is our advocate. He is our intercessor and his intercession is sufficient and it's necessary. One of my favorite stories in the gospels is found in Luke 22. In that story, in that narrative, in that event, Jesus tells Peter that Satan has demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat. But Jesus says right after that, but I've prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you've turned again, strengthen your brothers. But Peter, who placed so much confidence in the flesh, what did he say? Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death. Peter was so convinced that he could stand against the schemes of the devil, essentially saying, thanks for your prayers, but I'm able. I will go with you even to death. Someone, I think it was James Montgomery Boyce, I read multiple people talk about this, and I think they quoted him. that before this event, before this happened, Peter wrote the hymn saying, I am able. But what did he learn? What does he learn? You know the story. He falls. He denies Christ three times. The one that said, I am able to go with you to prison and to death. What's he do whenever people come up and say, hey, you were with that man. He says, I have no idea who that is. He denies him. And so what does he learn later on? What happens? Well, the Lord restores him. The Lord brings him back. And the only reason the Lord brings him back, think about it, is because he prayed for him. He interceded on his behalf. He says that when you fall, I will restore you. You will go and strengthen your brothers. Peter returned after he fell because Christ prayed for him. because Christ interceded on his behalf. And think about that. Verse 34, Christ is interceding for us. It's the same one who prayed that Peter would come back, that Peter, yes, the devil would have him for a moment, but he would return and come back. It's that same one who intercedes for us. Christ is interceding for us and this intercession is necessary. Francis Turretin said, we have need of a most efficacious advocate to plead our cause before God, against the charges and accusations of the devil, to stop his mouth and to wash away the guilt of the crimes laid to our charge. And the advocate that we have is Christ Jesus, our Lord, who is interceding on our behalf. So coming back to the question from verse 31, if God is for us, Who can be against us? No one. No one can ultimately be against us because God is for us. But as we see here, God is not just a cheerleader standing on the side, rooting us on. God is one who actively works for us. He did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us. He supplies us with all we need to persevere in His grace. He declares us righteous and Christ Jesus is Himself interceding on our behalf. Just think about it. Since the very God who made the heavens and the earth is for us, who can be against us? The very God who created all that is, He's for us. He's for the elect. Therefore, who can be against us? No one. There are no charges that the devil can bring our way. The condemnation has turned into commendation because Jesus Christ is our advocate before the Father in heaven. So in this passage, we not only learn that God is for us, We also learn in the second half here that there is absolutely nothing that will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And in this section, in the second section, in verses 35 through 39, we're reminded that we will suffer. There are challenges, there are temptations, there are obstacles that threaten our perseverance, but God will not let us go. because there is nothing that will separate us from the love of Christ Jesus our Lord. Look at verse 35, reads, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? So this could also be what, so it could be who or what shall separate us from the love of Christ? And this overarching question, this is the overarching question of the section, who or what shall separate us from his love? And then this list is followed by, Obstacles that threaten to separate us. A list of threats to our security. I mean, just look here, these are real threats. Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword, shall these things separate us from the love of Christ? Real threats that not only hinder our physical wellbeing, but may bring about our death. But will any of these cause us to fall away from the grace of God? And before answering this question, Paul quotes from Psalm 44. In verse 36, he writes, for your sake, we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. You can go read Psalm 44, see the context there. But what he is using this verse to do is to reinforce the reality of persecution. to reinforce the reality of suffering along with the possibility of death. Not every Christian will face death because he is a Christian. Some will, but every Christian will face suffering of some kind. We will suffer. We do suffer because we live in a fallen world. We suffer because we belong to a master who came to earth as a suffering servant. And since no one is above his master, we will most certainly suffer. But this suffering, no matter its form, will not separate us from the love of Christ, even if it leads to death. That's why verse 37 begins with the word no. It's really, it's added here, but as an implied no, and it goes back to the question, who or what shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall these things, shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, verse 37. No, in fact, in all these things, we are what? We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. So notice here, we are more than conquerors through Him. This preposition through is significant. It signifies the source of our strength, signifies the source of our perseverance. Our ability to overcome, our ability to persevere is not found in us, but it comes through Him who loved us and gave Himself up for us. And it's through Him that we overcome. Not merely because He's on the side cheering us along. Not merely because He's our coach guiding us and instructing us. We overcome because we're united to Him. And therefore, we conquer because He conquered. We overcome because He overcame. We prevail because He prevailed. Now I want you to just see, think about this, ponder this for a second. It doesn't say we barely make it. It doesn't say in all these things, we just limp to the finish line. What's it say? In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. We're more than conquerors. We don't merely limp to the finish line. Now it might feel like that sometimes, but we are more than conquerors. Martin Lloyd-Jones points out the Christian is not a man who manages somehow or another just to obtain an interest in entrance into heaven. He is more than a conqueror. He not merely stands up to these trials, he demolishes them. Christians overcome. Yes, we get beat down. We're like Peter. I mean, there's times in God's providence that he hands us over to remind us of what's in us. But Christians overcome. In the end, we overcome, we prevail. We're more than conquerors. We're not just those who limp in. We're more than conquerors. Why? Because we're united to Christ. And he has gone before us. And he fights our battles on our behalf. If this has happened in the past, remember He gave His own Son, a past event, will He not surely give us all things now? He has done what we could not do and He continues to work in us because we are united to Him in His death, burial, and resurrection. We're united to Him in His life, not just in His death, His life, His life of righteousness, the transformative work that is ours now through the Spirit comes to us because we belong to Him. and we now are more than conquerors. So we just, as a family, listen to C.S. Lewis' book, The Horse and His Boy. I know last week I used a C.S. Lewis quote that was negative, this week I'll use a positive one. But in this story, The Horse and His Boy, there's a boy named Shasta. If you know the story, Shasta's a poor boy, he knows very little about this world. Well, he ends up, through a matter of events, is set free from enslavement, so to speak. and he goes on a quest to Narnia. And while on this quest, he's faced with trials. He's faced with obstacles that threaten his journey. But as he learns later on in the book, Aslan, who is the portrait of Christ, he was really with him the whole way. He didn't realize this until he was near the end of his journey, but Aslan was there. He was guiding him. protecting him and even bringing upon him necessary suffering and trials to preserve him till the end. The reason that Shasta overcame was because of the one who was fighting his battles. Now this didn't make Shasta passive or robotic. He was responsible. It was his journey to make, but the reason he persevered, the reason he made it to the end of the journey was because of the one who preserved him. And that's the truth for us in Christ. The reason we are more than conquerors is because of the one who loves us and has fought the battle on our behalf and continues to fight the battle on our behalf. And as we learn and we're reminded here, nothing will separate us from his great love for us. In verses 38 and 39, Paul returns to these threats I believe that there are no less than 17 threats mentioned in 35 to 39, but in 38 and 39, he returns to these threats, these things that threaten to separate us from his love. And he writes with such great assurance, verse 38, he says, for I am sure. He's didn't express doubt and uncertainty. He says, I'm sure, I'm convinced, I'm persuaded. I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. He's persuaded that there is absolutely nothing. This list, if we were to go through it in more depth, you would see death to life, everything. I mean, you see, that's the whole idea. There's absolutely nothing in all of creation that will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Now you might be asking the question, who's the us? Who is the us? So there's nothing that will separate us. Well, who's the us? Back up in verse 28. The us, this is where it's defined. We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose. The us are those who've been called by God. Those who've been predestined by God. Those who love God. That's the elect, that's the us. And it's this us, the people of God. that can have great confidence that absolutely nothing, even that which threatens our life or even takes our life, nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Although these challenges that stand before us are great, some of these challenges are life-threatening, but these challenges should not cause us to fear because the one who is with us is greater than this world and its threats. In fact, the one who is with us created the world, he rules over and governs the world, and he even brings these trials and sufferings upon us that we will continue to the end. And as we think about this, as we think about this passage here, as we've walked through it, I want you to Notice that Paul only refers to our activity one time. It's an indicative statement that we are more than conquerors. And although our activities mentioned only one time, that doesn't make it insignificant, doesn't diminish the importance or significance of our perseverance. Our activity is important. The Christian will overcome. The Christian will prevail. The Christian will continue in the end, in the faith to the end, even though that faith will sometimes waver, but the Christian nonetheless will prevail and will persevere to the end. And while the Christian will prevail, while we are more than conquerors, we must remember that even our ability to prevail, it's not found in us, it's found in God and His preserving grace. That's why God's action, his activity is magnified in this passage. It's emphasized in this passage. While we must persevere, it's God who preserves us. And he preserves us because he is for us. And he is actively working on our behalf and we can be sure that he will continue, he will keep working on our behalf because there's absolutely nothing in all of creation that will separate us from his love. we can be sure that He who began a good work in us will complete that work because there's absolutely nothing that will stand in His way to hinder that work. Our ability to persevere is not dependent upon us. Our ability to persevere is dependent upon the strength of our Savior. One who overcame death. Think about His strength. It's through Him that all of creation was made and He overcomes death. That's the one whose strength we depend on. We're absolutely dependent upon God to see us through. That's why the Christian life is lived by faith. Faith in God because apart from His preserving work, not one of us would make it to the end. We would all fall away. we would all give up. The Christian road is hard. Every one of us would give up. I was reading an allegory by Benjamin Keech the other day, and in this allegory, he talks about this new Christian who the battle just to be converted, the battle for his soul was great, but then once he became a convert, the battle continued. And you're reading it and I was thinking, if it wasn't for the work of God, the preserving work of God, I think we would all say, I'm out. Peace out to this. Y'all can have this. This is too hard. Why would I want to endure this? What am I enduring for? But it's because of the preserving work of God in us that we keep going. He not only calls us, but He keeps us. And He puts before us the joy, the joy that's to be had, the joy that's to be had now and the joy that will be had in the future when we are with Him and we press on to the end. Because He is with us and He is working in us. So we would all fall away if not for the preserving work of God, but thanks be to God that He calls us and He keeps us. Now we do not believe, as some do, that salvation can be lost. We agree with Pastor Jeffrey Riddle who writes, if you are truly saved, you cannot become unsaved. God himself keeps you saved. And we do not believe like the Armenians who understood perseverance as a condition that must be fulfilled by our free will in order to be justified. Our perseverance in the faith does not earn our salvation. We're not saved by our perseverance. That's what the Arminians believed. That's what they believed. We understand scripture to teach that we persevere because we have been saved. We don't persevere in order to be saved. Therefore we reject a legal perseverance, a perseverance that earns us something before God. And while we reject legal perseverance, It doesn't negate our responsibility to persevere to the end. God's preservation of the saints does not negate our responsibility to persevere. God's sovereignty, our responsibility, those things often in our minds seem cloudy, they are, but we still have a responsibility. But God's preservation merely ensures that we will persevere to the end. God's preservation does not negate our works, doesn't negate our activity. In the words of Hermann Bavink, God does not, in a false sense, make us passive, but arouses us and causes us to walk in the good works prepared for us. In doing this, he makes use of the word as his means. He never ceases admonishing us to persevere to the end, to remain in Christ, in his word and his love, to watch and be sober, to preserve the faith and to remain faithful unto death. So God's preservation by no means negates our responsibility to persevere. And neither does it nullify the commands and the warnings found all throughout scripture. We need to remember God uses means to achieve his purposes. There's the primary means, primary cause, and then the secondary causes. God uses means to fulfill his purposes. His purpose, salvation, redemption, perseverance. But in that, to fulfill that, God uses means. And some of these means that he uses, the primary means he uses to preserve us is the word of God that's preached. the ordinances, that we observe baptism, Lord's Supper, prayer and praise that's offered up to God and discipline, church discipline. So I say that, that one of God's primary means to preserve us is the local church. That's where we're preaching. Prayer and praise offered up, ordinance is observed, discipline is exercised. So don't neglect or under emphasize the importance of the church, because the church is one of God's means to preserve his people in his grace. Now we have a responsibility to one another, to encourage one another to stay the course. To keep going, that's one of God's means in this perseverance. And while there are times when it's necessary, it is necessary at times for us to rebuke and admonish one another in the church. Let's say while there are times that that's necessary, let us not forget that it's the kindness of God that leads you to repentance. So let us be kind, patient, and gracious to one another. For as we learn from Titus chapter two, it is the grace of God that trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions. It's the grace of God that trains us to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. And it's the gracious work of God that spurs us on to be zealous for good works. And while we're called to stir one another up to love and good works, Let's remember that even the good we do comes from the Lord. We're called in Galatians 6, 9 to not grow weary in doing good. We're called to persevere in doing good, but let us never forget that our ability to persevere in doing good doesn't come from us. It comes from the Lord. who prepared good works for us. He prepared the good works for us that we might walk in them. We are His workmanship. And the good we do arises entirely from the Spirit of Christ in us. So this doctrine, the doctrine of perseverance, when understood in light of God's preservation, in light of His preserving grace, This should draw us closer and closer unto the Lord, to lean more and more upon Him, and it ought to lead us to say and give all glory and praise and honor to Him. The doctrine of God's preservation causes us to say, look at what He has done, instead of look at me and what I have done. You know, this is one major difference between the believer and the false professor. The believer boasts in the work of Christ, says, look at what he has done and look at all that he is doing. The false professor seeks to justify himself and says, look at all the work that I have done. Look at how I have served the Lord. Lord, I did all this in your name, look. But what does Jesus say to such a one? Depart from me, I never knew you. So if you are the one who seeks to justify yourself by pointing out your work, by pointing to your work for the Lord, if that's you, there's hope. There's hope in Christ Jesus. There's forgiveness in Christ Jesus because he gave himself for sinners. And He calls sinners unto Himself. And He calls sinners to come to Him and to rest in His work. And for all who come to Him through faith, you will be saved. And you will be kept until the end. And just know that if you are in Christ, there is absolutely nothing that will separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. He will keep us. He will hold us fast to the end. No one or nothing will snatch us from His hands. Therefore, we look to Him. We rely upon Him and His work. We don't rely upon our work. Yes, there are times where we can look at what we've done and marvel that the Lord's doing that work in us, but we look to Him and His work because you're not going to stand before the Lord and say, look, Lord, look at all I've done for you. You're gonna stand before the Lord because of His work on your behalf. And for those who are trusting in Him, you will endure. You will be more than a conqueror through Him who loved you. And so you will not just limp across that finish line, you will come in victorious in Christ. We are victors, we are champions in Christ, and may we live like that today, remembering that we are not a defeated group, not living proud of ourselves, but boasting in Christ as those who have been made alive in Him, not those who have been made dead. but those who are alive in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Remember, we are more than conquerors. He has made us alive. We who were dead are alive. That's what Calvinism ultimately is reminding us, these five points, these doctrines of grace reminding you were dead. A dead man can't do anything. The analogy, you're in the grave, someone throws you a rope, what are you gonna do? Nothing, you're dead. But because of God, he's raised you up, he's brought us to life, and he brings us to the end, he preserves us. The doctrines of grace, who are they about? They're about God. And fortunately, we get to be partakers, we get to be shares in His grace. He preserves us so that one day we will boast and be in the presence of God before His throne, saying salvation belongs to the Lord. All glory and honor belongs to the Lord. That is the one we look to. That's why we consider these doctrines and we're reminded time and time again that it's about Him. This is His world, He has every right to do as He wills, and He has chosen to redeem sinners such as you and me. Praise Him. Let's pray. Oh, Heavenly Father, we come before You in no other name but in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord. And we're reminded of the great grace that you've bestowed upon us. And it's all to your praise, all to your glory. And I pray that you would keep us to the end. We need you. We are so desperate for you. Hold us fast. Keep us holding on to you. Not looking to ourselves, but looking to you. And I pray that you would do a mighty work in us. I pray that we would enjoy the works that you have prepared beforehand for us to walk in. Because we are your workmanship. I pray that our lives would be conformed to the image of Christ. All to the glory of your name. I pray that we would enjoy you all the more, that we would be those who flee from every sinful desire, every temptation, because there is no joy to be found in that which leads to death. There's joy in your name. There's joy in you. will help us to walk in the joy of your salvation. For some of us, we need to be restored to that joy. And for others who are strangers of that joy, I pray that you would work in their hearts this very day. Lead them to Christ. Lead them to yourself through Christ. Help us all to see His glory. I pray this in no other name but in His name.