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So we'll be reading Genesis 19,
verses one through 29, and then along with that also just one
verse from 2 Timothy. Hear now the word of our God. These two angels that come here
had just met with Abraham, and Abraham had pleaded with them
not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of his nephew and
relative there, Lot, who lived there. So we read in Genesis
19 in verse one, now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening,
and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them,
he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward
the ground. And he said, here now, my lords,
please turn in to your servants' house and spend the night and
wash your feet. Then you may rise early and go on your way.
And they said, no, but we will spend the night in the open square.
But he insisted strongly So they turned unto him and entered his
house. He made them a feast and baked them leavened bread, and
they ate. Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the
men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter
surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said
to him, where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them
out to us, that we may know them carnally. So Lot went out to
them through the doorway, shut the door behind him and said,
please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly. See now, I have
two daughters who have not known a man. Please let me bring them
out to you. You may do to them as you wish.
Only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they've
come under the shadow of my roof. And they said, stand back. And
then they said, this one came in to sojourn and he keeps acting
as a judge. Now we will deal worse with you
than with them. So they pressed hard against
the man Lot and came near to break down the door. But the
men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with
them and shut the door. And they struck the men who were
at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great,
so that they became weary trying to find the door. Then the men
said to Lot, have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons,
your daughters, whomever you have in this city, take them
out of this place, for we will destroy this place, because the
outcry against them has grown great before the face of the
Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it." So Lot went out
and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters,
and said, get up, get out of this place, for the Lord will
destroy this city. But to his sons-in-law, he seemed
to be joking. When the morning dawned, the
angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, Arise, take your wife and your
two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment
of the city. And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand,
his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord
being merciful to him. And they brought him out and
set him outside the city. So it came to pass When they had
brought them outside, then he said, escape for your life. Do
not look behind you, nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape
to the mountains, lest you be destroyed. Then Lot said to them,
please no, my lords. Indeed, now your servants found
favor in your sight. You've increased your mercy,
which you've shown me, by saving my life. But I cannot escape
to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. Ceto,
this city is near enough to flee to. It's a little one. Please,
let me escape there. Is it not a little one? And my
soul shall live.' And he said to him, see, I have favored you
concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this
city for which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there. For I cannot
do anything until you arrive there. Therefore, the name of
the city was called Zohar. The sun had risen upon the earth
when Lot entered Zohar. Then the Lord rained brimstone
and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of the heavens.
So he overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants
of the cities and what grew on the ground. But his wife looked
back behind him and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham went early in the
morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. Then
he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the
plain. And he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land, which
went up like the smoke of a furnace. And it came to pass, when God
destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham and
sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew
the cities in which Lot had dwelt. And then in the New Testament,
we turn 2 Timothy 2, verse 19. 2 Timothy 2, verse 19, Timothy
had just gotten done describing the problem of some of the teachers
in that church, some of the false teachers. And people were wondering
if they were also unbelievers because they listened to these
former elders and teachers. And verse 19, the apostle tells
them, Nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stands. Having
this seal, the Lord knows those who are his. And let everyone
who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Amen, my
God. Add his blessing to the reading
of his gospel today. Let's pray. Father, we need your
grace as we look at your scriptures, old and new, teaching us this
reality of the nature of your relationship to humans, of the
nature of our relationship with you. Oh, Father, help us to know,
to learn better how to live in relationship with you and how
to understand and properly interpret what is going on in the scripture
as well as in the world around us and in our own lives. In Jesus'
name we pray, amen. Well, congregation, there's a
sermon outline in the bulletin to follow along. Brothers and sisters, amid all
the trials of our lives, we often comfort one another with the
truth that God can do anything. He is almighty. He has a plan,
and he will take care of us no matter what. But sometimes there are Bible
passages that comfort us in a different way. They do not comfort us with
the things that God can do, but they actually comfort us with
the things that God cannot do. We come across some scriptures
today that do that very thing. When we look at this Bible teaching
of the perseverance of the saints, of his people, we understand
that part of that includes how we are preserved And when God's
people, whether it's in the Old Testament or the New Testament
or down through history, even today, when, as the theme says
in our sermon outline, when God's people, when his saints fall
into sin, God cannot allow them to totally fall from faith and
grace. When the saints fall into sin,
God cannot allow them to totally fall from faith and grace. We see that happening in Genesis
19. We see the doctrine described
and defended in 2 Timothy, and we'll look at several other scriptures
as well. And so first we're gonna look
at what is it that God does to preserve his saints, and then
secondly, why he preserves his saints. What does God do to preserve
his saints? First thing we want to look at.
We confessed a number of these truths a minute ago when we read
Article 7 of the Canons of Dorothy, the fifth point there on the
perseverance of the saints. It started, and I put some of
those words in bold to help us out, these falls, these falls
into sin that last several weeks ago, we looked at this reality
that Christians can fall into serious sins. And when that happens,
God preserves us in them. And the rest of that Article
7 there is really one scripture verse, one scripture paraphrase
after another. You can look those up, you can
search them at home or I'll refer to some of those along the way.
They're all examples of ways that God renews us when we backslide
or slide back into sin. We're gonna walk through a few
of these examples. God does renew us when we fall
into very serious sins, but as we've said before, it's important
for us to always remind ourselves of this fact. Romans 6 tells
us this as well, that the fact that God renews us and forgives
us for our sin is not an excuse that a Christian uses to say,
okay, well, I can just go sin anyway and then I'll get more
grace from God. Romans 6 verse 2 says, God forbid, if you ever
think that, that's the proof of an unbeliever. How can we
who died to sin in Christ go and live any longer in it? So the comfort we receive that
God will preserve us is not an excuse to keep on sinning. But what does God do to preserve
his saints when they fall into sin? Well, one thing he does is he
preserves our regeneration, our new birth. That's one example
of a thing that he preserves us from. You can look at 1 Peter
1, verse 23. You can turn there in the scriptures,
or you can look at the bottom of the handout, because it's
quoted there, on the very bottom of our handout, because it is
the scripture that answers the error that is still taught today,
that's listed here as error eight, There are people who say that
since people who say they're Christians sometimes fall into
serious sins, then that means they've lost their salvation
and they have to get saved all over again. And this happens
many times in a person's life. You could be a Christian today,
be an unbeliever tomorrow, and then be a Christian on Thursday,
and then be an unbeliever later that day or the next day, and
go on and on. Hundreds of times in some people's life, it could
happen. This is taught and believed by
many. Well, is that what the Bible says? If that were to be true, well,
how would you ever know where you were in that process. How
would you ever know for sure whether you were saved? And if
you were sure, how is it that you know that you're sure? Are
you gonna be basing your assurance, your confidence that I'm safe
today, I wasn't yesterday, but I'm safe today, because, well,
you're doing a better job today. You're gonna be looking at how
many good works you've been doing, how sad you've been about your
sin, how many times you've prayed. You're gonna be looking at things
that you have done or I have done. You'll be measuring that
to get confidence that I know if I'm a Christian today. But
our confidence is in Christ Jesus alone. Because it is in Christ,
it's a rock-solid confidence that we have. In order for us
ever to really truly believe, 1 Peter says it happens because
God's Word is implanted into your soul like a seed that it
describes is a, you've been born again by a seed that's not corruptible,
that doesn't perish, but it's incorruptible. A seed that will never perish.
Maybe you've had trouble keeping plants alive in the garden or
in your house. But if the seed is still strong
and healthy down there, even though there might be a time
where it looks like it's withering, or this time of year we see a
lot of trees that look dead and bare, but the seed, the roots,
are still alive deep down. And in time, with the right amount
of sun and water, we will see them blossom again. And so while it is true that
Christians go through seasons where we might fall into sin,
that does not mean we're that day not a Christian at all. We might not be behaving like
a Christian, but we've not lost our salvation because the only
way we get saved with true faith is, the Bible says, with a faith
that is a seed that cannot be lost, that cannot perish. That
is what the Bible teaches us there in 1 Peter. is one way
God preserves us, by saving us in such a way that you're absolutely
saved. Another way God preserves us
is by preserving our repentance. He preserves our repentance.
In Acts chapter 5, in Acts 5, Peter is preaching. He's preaching
that Jesus is the Messiah who would come. I think this is by
5 verse 30 or 31, somewhere in there. And he says, the Messiah
Christ would come to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of
sins. Well, the repentance he's talking
about there isn't the first repentance when somebody says, I've just
learned who Jesus is. and I've been a fool all my life
long, I put my faith and trust in the Lord Jesus. No, the repentance
that he's giving is giving to people who had just crucified
Jesus. They'd grown up in the faith,
they'd been members of God's covenant, faithful church goers,
but they had not believed in who the true Messiah was. They
had slidden back in their faith. And the true believers among
that congregation God's elect were given repentance by God,
who began a good work in them and is faithful to complete it
until the return of Christ, as Philippians 1 verse 6 declares.
So when you and I are able to repent, not just at the beginning,
but all our life long, we daily repent, turn from sin and back
towards God, that is a gift that God is preserving us with. Another way God preserves you
and me is that we seek forgiveness. When we are preserved by God,
even in our sin, we're going to seek forgiveness. That's how
you know if a person says, I didn't do anything wrong, and never
seeks forgiveness, and they fall into serious sin, well, that's
the sign of someone who never did have true faith. Think of King David, who fell
into serious sin. God preserved him by sending
him church discipline. He sent his prophet, Nathan,
to confront him with the word of God. And David humbled himself. He saw that God was preserving
his soul and he sought forgiveness. He wrote Psalm 51. And he says,
have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kindness, according
to the multitude of your tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions,
wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin, For I
acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is always before me."
When God is preserving us, we are asking him for forgiveness
and seeking his mercy. Another thing that happens in
your life and mine when God is preserving us is that we experience
the favor and smile of God. We experience the favor of God. Towards the end of Article 7
we said we, after we've got this forgiveness from the blood of
the mediator, we again experience the favor of a reconciled God
and through faith adore his mercies. That should really surprise us.
That's what's amazing about amazing grace. When a Christian falls
into serious sin and Jesus has to leave all the other 99 sheep
to run after that one, We know this isn't the first
time He rescued us. Surely, God has every right to
lecture us, to show us how terribly wicked and ungrateful you have
been. And He does have plenty of stern
words and rebuke for us, and He shows us clear steps we need
to change in His word of repentance to avoid falling in this way
in the future When he does that, he always does it from a place
of grace and love. Psalm 30 puts it this way, another
psalm King David wrote of praying for forgiveness and the blessing
of forgiveness. He talks about when he was in sin and under
the, not the smile of God, but the frown of God because he was
living in sin for a season. And he says in Psalm 30 verse
five, but God's anger is for a moment. His favor is for life. Weeping may endure for a night,
but joy comes in the morning. Weeping may endure for a night,
but joy comes in the morning. Really, all of Psalm 30 is really
behind the scenes of most of these things we confessed in
ways God preserves us. So how can you and I respond
when we learn this fact, that God preserves me, that he preserves
me, not just through the valley of the shadow of death, but through
the valley of the shadow of my sin? That's what the Bible's telling
us today. God does not only preserve me through the valley of the
shadow of death, But what's more often the case,
right? Not death and tragedy and super
sickness and all those things that we all face, but far more
often, he also is preserving us through the valley of the
shadow of our sin and the spiritual death and reality that we're
in danger of. He preserves us so that we can
turn and we do turn to him for mercy and forgiveness. Psalm
30 describes the response we should give. Psalm 30 verse 4
says, sing praise to the Lord, you saints of his. give thanks
at the remembrance of His holy name. That psalm says God is
angry. God is angry with His people when they sin, but His
anger when it's towards His people is not the anger that sends them
to hell, it's the anger that drives them to repentance and
forgiveness and sends us to Christ. It's an anger that's for a moment,
but a favor that's for life. It's an anger that brings weeping
for the night, but joy comes in the morning. And so the end
of the psalm ends with this joyful worship says you've turned my
mourning into dancing you've put off my sackcloth and clothed
me with gladness so that my glory may sing praise to you and not
be silent oh lord my god i'll give thanks to you forever so dear congregation look again
if you would at the article 7 that we confessed each of these examples
How God preserves Christians when they fall into sin is true,
not just for Christians in general, for you. Examine your heart today
to see if any of these are there, and plead with God to bring them
back in more fullness if they're like a seed in the wintertime. Way deep down it's there, but
on the outward, it seems like it's practically dead. the plant
of your life. Do you adore God's mercies? Do you desire to diligently work
out your salvation with fear and trembling? Do you seek forgiveness
through the blood of the mediator? Do you have a godly sorrow for
your sins? If you're God's child, those
things are evidence that God is preserving you today. As we
read in 2 Timothy 2, verse 19, There's the perfect blend of
God's absolute eternal election and his sovereign plan and our
human responsibility. We don't have to pick and choose.
God holds them together in the same verse. 2 Timothy 2, verse
19. The solid foundation of God stands. It doesn't change. It doesn't
change his mind. God doesn't elect you one day
and unelect you the next day. If He has to leave the 99 to
go grab you as you're sliding off the edge of the cliff, He
does. The Lord knows those who are His. He knows who belongs
to Him. And let everyone who names the name of Christ depart
from iniquity. God knows who are His. He saved
them, and that doesn't change. And those whom He saved depart,
turn away from sin. And when we fall into sin, the
Lord knows who are His, and He pulls us back, and we start fighting
against that sin again. God, that's some of the ways
that God preserves us. But why? That's the second thing
we want to look at, why? Why does God preserve his saints? What do we look at from the scriptures
today, Old and New Testaments, and some of the things that you
might even know and think in your own experience, why is it
that God would preserve me? Will you notice, and we should
know this also from our own experience, when we started to recite Article
8, we said, well, here's one reason he doesn't, this isn't
the right reason, he doesn't preserve me because in consequence
of my own merits, because I deserve it, or because I'm strong. Sadly, many people teach that.
They teach basically, this was the Armenian teaching is still
around today. I came across a document that
was written shortly after this document and by the Armenians
and it's their response to this. And almost every line is a direct
quotation of all of these little errors that are interacted with. I didn't get the point at all,
sadly. But you see, error two reminds
us of this problem. It is not like God gives every
Christian, y'all start off with the same thing. You've got a
spiritual gas tank that's full. And now that's enough spiritual
power for you to fight against sin all your life. And your job
is to use that the rest of your lives. And you're never gonna
run out, you're never gonna fail as long as you stay connected. But of course, that still puts
you and me in the driver's seat. Why would somebody think, as
humans, we have to be in the driver's seat? Well, the basic
description there in error two, the motivation, the assumption
behind so much of the false teaching about God's plan but man's responsibility,
is that no matter what, you have to preserve the freedom of the
human will, my own personal freedom and ability to choose or reject
God. As one Reformed Christian said
when he was in a conversation with a Christian friend who was
arguing with him basically about this point, and he said, no,
no, no, I have my own free will to take that spiritual energy
that God's given me and I have to make use of it. And if I don't,
and I won't be saved, but if I do, I will be saved. And you
said, congratulations, you've just become the author of your
salvation. Because you say, even though
people will say, oh no, I'm saved by Jesus, I'm saved by grace,
but then if you go on to say, I stay saved by my use of that
grace, and you fall into sin, and we
all fall into various sins, well then what do you do with that
problem? And if you do end up getting
saved, why is it? It's because of your use of the,
how much is in the gas tank. It's because of your cooperation.
That's exactly what is taught. It's up to us, up to our cooperation,
but that's exactly what is rejected in the Bible. God is a jealous
God, the Bible is playing. He will not share his glory with
another. The scripture quoted here at
the end of this paragraph two here is 1 Corinthians 1, verse
eight, that says God, not our free will, it's God who confirms
us to the end. God's the one who saves us and
God's the one who keeps us saved all the way to the end. Salvation
is a gift of God from beginning to end. Or you can think of the
illustration of Genesis that we read. That entire story. There's a lot in there. A lot
we can talk about what's going on, the homosexuality and all
the unbelief and ungodliness and Sodom and Gomorrah. But look
at who Lot is and how he was preserved. God preserved Lot. God showed great patience even
when he was preserving Lot. Did you notice that along the
way? Maybe some details of the story
you didn't quite remember. Lot is such a selfish, ungrateful
servant that he whines about having to run to the mountains
to escape. I mean, God's gonna destroy this
whole city, but he said he's not gonna destroy you. Isn't
that good enough, Lot? No, I don't wanna go there, I
wanna go there. But God is merciful even in that.
Lot's daughters married unbelievers. But why wouldn't they? Lot set
that up and planned that unknowingly because of his sin years earlier.
When he wanted to leave Abraham and they could choose anywhere
to live, he chose to live close to this particular very large
civilization in Sodom and Gomorrah, which was known for being a very
ungodly place. Well, who were his little girls
going to grow up to find to marry in such a place? The kind of
guys they ended up marrying, of course. And now Lot does name the name
of Christ. He does depart from iniquity
eventually, but his family is very weak and immature spiritually,
facing the consequences of his past sins, even if they may be
saved. And he himself is very compromised. He's so afraid of
the unbelievers banging at the door that instead of letting
them homosexually rape his houseguests, that's what they wanted to do.
He says, no, no, no, here, take my two daughters instead. But
why is that the next step? Why is that the appropriate answer
to that problem? And then Lot goes in to his sons-in-law
and pleads with them, obey this message from the Lord. We've
got to leave. And they laugh at him. They think
he's joking. They know Lot is no man of conviction. They're not going to believe
some doom and gloom prophecy from some strangers. The biblical history of Sodom
and Gomorrah and Lot's family. is proven also by what Jesus
taught in the parable of the sower and the seed. So you see,
Lot was saved, could not be by his own strength, even in the
process of being saved, he was very weak. It is God who had
to save him and confirm him to the end. And we see that also
with Jesus describing how we come to faith in Matthew 13,
in the parable of the sower and the seeds. The other error listed
on our handout, error number seven, says that the faith of any two
people on any given Sunday in a pew is no different on that
day, even if years later, Joe proves to be a Christian, and
Sally proves to run away from God, run away from the church,
and where life demonstrates that she never had true faith. But
on that day, back then, when they were both sitting in the
pew next to each other, the Arminian teaching would say, no, they
were both Christians. There was no false, no pretend
faith, no hypocrisy. They were both genuinely, actually
Christians on that day. But that is rejected by Jesus.
He says when he throws the seed out on the ground, there's four
different types of soil. And only one of them is described
of true believers, where the seed goes down and bears fruit,
takes root and bears fruit, various types of fruit, but it's true
believer. All the other three are people who have a fading
enthusiasm for Jesus. Some, it fades right away. Others,
it fades when the pleasures of this world come or the trials
of life come. But all three of those soils
are described as people who had never believed in the Lord Jesus
Christ truly. And so, as 1 John 2, verse 19
says, they went out from us because they truly were never one of
us. We see that in the case of Lot,
don't we? Lot's sons-in-law. They lived in the household of
a believer, though he was definitely a sinner, Lot. But they lived
in his house, but they rejected the word of God. You see, in
the case of Lot's own wife, Lot's wife. She started the journey
with Lot. So she appeared to be better
than her sons-in-law. She started to obey, but she
longed for the fine things and the pleasures of this world,
and she was not willing to let them go. I want to go back. I
don't want to serve God, even in the city, much less the mountain.
So she turned back. They were specifically commanded
not to. She turned back immediately. God judges her. She's turned
into a pillar of salt. And by her sin, we notice she's
not being preserved by God. She's not have true faith, even
though Lot did. She rebelled and she was lost.
God did not preserve her, but left her to her own strength. She willingly traded the grace
of God for the freedom of this world. which is really a slavery,
to sin, to the things and experiences of this world, and she died. Jesus said in Luke 17, remember
Lot's wife, Luke 17, verse 32. He makes it plain, she was not
a believer. Remember Lot's wife, he goes on to say, she sought
to save her life, but she lost it. But if you lose your life
for the sake of the gospel, it will be preserved. And so what
is it that could possibly save you or me? Why is it that God
could possibly keep us saved? It cannot be because of our own
merits or strengths to use the gas in the gas tank, if you will,
as we confess. With respect to ourselves, when
you think of how far we can fall from grace, will we turn back? Will we turn back someday? Will
we perish in our backsliding? As concerned to our own ability,
it's not only possible that we would fall, but it is undoubtedly
going to happen that we will go to hell. But then it goes on to say, with
respect to God, it is utterly impossible. See the gospel truth
there. In the sermon outline, I said,
why is it that God preserves the saints? And then I have their
hint, think the Trinity. The Trinity is behind the rest
of the answer there in Article 8. It refers to God being the
Father, refers to the Son, Christ, and to the work of the Holy Spirit.
It's interesting. One of the hardest to explain
Bible doctrines, most mysterious, who God is as one being, three
persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit,
is also one of the most relevant and practical and encouraging
to us. It's all proof of why God cannot fail to preserve us. We saw it back in Genesis, even. We maybe didn't notice it at
first, but look at it again in Genesis 19. In Genesis 19, verse 16, it says,
Lot is lingering, very different from Abraham, who gets up early
in the morning to obey God, Lot is, He knows this is the day
I'm supposed to leave, but he's lingering. And so the angels
have to grab him by the hand and his wife and his daughters
and take him out of town. Literally drag them out of the
house. And it says the Lord is being merciful to him there in
Genesis 19 verse 16. The word mercy used there is
the word to describe God's covenant promise. It's mercy that depends
upon a sacrifice, the blood of the lamb, the Lord Jesus who
would be offered on the mercy seat in the tabernacle in the
temple and ultimately in heaven above for us. That mercy is applied
to the hearts of God's people through the Holy Spirit, moving
the saints to trust in God's promises. We see that same mercy,
that same triune God in the end of the story. In verse 29, at
the end of it all, it says, God has destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah,
but he remembered his covenant to Abraham, and that's why he
saved Lot. Not because Lot was so good, but because of his covenant
to Abraham. What was that one about? Galatians 3 tells us it
was about Jesus. Jesus would come as a great,
great, great grandson of Abraham. and he would be the seed and
him, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. How do you
get among those people who are blessed? How do you become in
the family of Jesus through the Holy Spirit of adoption? And
so we see the Trinity at work. Why does God preserve his saints
even when we fall into serious sins? Whether it's David or Lot
or prodigal sons and daughters throughout history, If God left
you and me to our own strength to persevere, we would undoubtedly
fail. But with God, it is utterly impossible. He's already chosen us as his
elect from eternity past, as Ephesians 1, verse three tells
us. And God doesn't change his mind. He doesn't unelect his
people. He casts his vote and he sticks
with his choice. Imagine that. Even Lot, even
you, even me. He does that because He's chosen
us, not just in generic, but He's chosen us in Christ Jesus. And so we have received all the
obedience Jesus did. Our sins have been fully paid
for on the cross of Jesus. If that's the way He chose us,
now if He would lose us, then that means something was incomplete
in Jesus' blood on the cross. Something was incomplete in Jesus'
obedience that is given to you. But Jesus said, it is finished.
It is almost finished. and the Holy Spirit has sealed
us, God cannot obliterate the unfailing power and love he has
shown to us. And so you may have never thought
you'd ever hear a sermon about what God cannot do. You certainly
may never have thought it would be a good thing to learn what
God can't do. But it is a gospel fact and a
glorious and comforting truth. What is it that God cannot do?
He cannot fail. He cannot fail to preserve his
saints. He cannot fail to preserve those
he's planned to save and those he's actually saved through Jesus's
blood and those he's sealed with the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
If God failed to preserve us, he would fail us and he would
fail to be himself the true God. And so, dear congregation, praise
God for being God and for being our God and the preserver of
our souls. Amen. Let's stand and pray. Father, how we thank and praise
you for who you are. What a joy it is to be the recipient
of this unending grace which it is so impossible for it to
ever be removed from us and though we often go through seasons where
it feels like you are far from us help us to realize oh lord
you are near to draw near to you with loving your mercy seeking
your forgiveness departing from iniquity give us that strength
oh lord and help us to trust in you even better We pray as
Jesus taught us, saying, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the
kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. Please be
seated.
Perseverance of the Saints: What God Cannot Do
Series TULIP
Perseverance of the Saints: What God Cannot Do
Theme:
When the saints fall into sin, God cannot allow them to totally fall from faith and grace
- What God Does to preserve His saints
- Why God preserves His saints (HINT: think the Trinity)
| Sermon ID | 21020128581 |
| Duration | 40:55 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | 2 Timothy 2:19; Genesis 19 |
| Language | English |
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