If you do not have one, there are some in that blue box, as Cam calls it, the blue box of happiness. And we can turn to chapter 17. A couple of weeks ago, we looked at chapter 18. I'm not suggesting here that chapter 18 should have come before chapter 17. I think the confession reflects The minds of wise men and the fact that I did 18 and 17 reflects poor planning. So it's not that I'm somehow in an implicit way arguing that there should be an inversion here. We did assurance. just as a standalone thing, but as we came out of a busy weekend, I thought we would look at chapter 17, another practical chapter, and I think it's good to read the Confession for theology, to be sure, but as well practical things, and I think I've mentioned many times that that there are modern Christian writers, or there have been writers in the history of the Church, that don't give us the insight in terms of practical religion that these confessions of faith do. They're not afraid to speak about the various challenges that God's people face. They're not afraid to address head-on the sorts of things you find in Scripture. Something like we heard on Sunday night, which if you didn't hear that message, I highly commend it to you on Psalm 88. I think Dr. Renahan handled that psalm in a beautiful way, addressing the reality that the people of God find themselves in some difficult straits. as well, making the application to our Lord Jesus according to His humanity. He underwent those sorts of things. He was, in all points like us, tempted, and yet without sin. So He understood what it was, according to our humanity, to be distant, to be in a hard place, to be in that place of great distress. So Psalm 88, among many other psalms, the book of Lamentations in the Old Testament, several places throughout the Old Testament, and then as well in the New Testament, you see that God's people at times have it tough. It's not a health, wealth, prosperity thing, we don't come to Jesus, and then everything just always goes our way. So the confession here, it's highly doctrinal in terms of the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, but it's also highly practical in the challenges that the saints face when it comes to perseverance. And we need to make sure that we understand that perseverance of the saints is never devoid of preservation by God. So this latter section, dealing with the Ordo Salutis, or the order of salvation, the emphasis is upon man's response to the grace of God. But it's man's response by the grace of God to the grace of God. So there is that element where the saint does persevere, but he's given the grace to do so by God Almighty. So when we come to this, it's not perseverance of the saints, devoid of grace, devoid of the Spirit. No, the Confession sets it in its theological context and nevertheless highlights the difficulties involved. So I want to read the chapter beginning in paragraph 1. It says, Those whom God hath accepted in the Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by His Spirit, and given the precious faith of His elect unto, can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved. seeing the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. Once he still begets and nourisheth in them faith, repentance, love, joy, hope, and all the graces of the Spirit unto immortality. And though many storms and floods arise and beat against them, yet they shall never be able to take them off that foundation and rock which by faith they are fastened upon. Notwithstanding, through unbelief and the temptations of Satan, the sensible sight of the light and love of God may for a time be clouded and obscured from them. Yet he is still the same, and they shall be sure to be kept by the power of God unto salvation, where they shall enjoy their purchased possession, they being engraven upon the palms of his hands, and their names having been written in the book of life from all eternity. 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 intercession of Jesus Christ and union with him, the oath of God, the abiding of his spirit, and the seed of God within them, and the nature of the covenant of grace, from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof. And though 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 have their graces and comforts impaired, have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded, hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves, yet, they shall renew their repentance and be preserved through faith in Christ Jesus to the end. Amen. Well, if you have your Bibles, you can turn to the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 32. I want to make sure we ground our understanding of this particular chapter in the reality that it's God who saves, it is God who preserves, and that's the foundation for our perseverance. Apart from His grace, we wouldn't persevere. One of the blessings of the covenant of grace is the grace of perseverance that he conveys to his people. So several texts just at the outset to remind us that it's God who saves and it's God who keeps the saved. So in Jeremiah 32, specifically at verse 40, God announcing the new covenant through the prophet Jeremiah says, John Newton didn't make that up. "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear." He's reflecting biblical revelation. He's reflecting the prophet Jeremiah. You can turn to the book of John, John's gospel, John chapter 10, specifically at verses 28 and 29. Just again, by way of reminder that God saves to the uttermost. He doesn't partially save, and then we sort of work it out. He saves us completely, and in this we rejoice. John 10, verse 28, And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one. you can turn to the book of Romans. The Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 8, specifically at verses 31 to 39, celebrates this reality, but we'll just pick up at verse 37. So in Romans 8, 37, he says, Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." I love that Dr. Barcelos brought that out in his preaching on Sunday, nor any other created thing. So not even you can undo the covenant of grace. Not even you can send your way out of the covenant of grace. If God has begun a good work in you, he will complete it unto the day of Christ. And that's the next text, Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1, specifically at verse 6, the apostle says, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. And then over in 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 1 and then 2 Timothy chapter 2. But notice in 2 Timothy chapter 1 at verse 12, for this reason I also suffer these things, nevertheless I am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him until that day. And then again in chapter 2 at verse 19, 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." And then one final text, not that this is all of them, but one final in terms of our study tonight, look at 1 Peter 1, specifically at verse 5. 1 Peter 1, well, verse 3. He uses a convention similar to Paul in Ephesians 1, where Paul says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This wasn't unique to Paul. It wasn't unique to Peter. You see it all throughout the Old Testament. You see it in the Psalms. You see it with Solomon dedicating the temple. Blessed be, it's a barakah, the pronouncement of blessedness upon our God. So he says, "'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.'" So again, as we come now to the perseverance of the saints, we need to understand the context. Context is preservation by God. His grace is sufficient for us. The God who justifies us freely, the God who sanctifies us, the God who brings us ultimately to glorification, has purposed and planned to make sure that we persevere. So when we look at this chapter in the Confession, it breaks down into three sections. First, the doctrine of perseverance stated in paragraph 1. Secondly, the foundation of perseverance highlighted in paragraph 2. And then thirdly, the challenges to perseverance addressed in paragraph 3. And even if there wasn't a paragraph 3, we would all have in our minds certain challenges that certainly we face. But the Confession, as I said, is a very practical document. It doesn't shy away from, and it doesn't hide from the reality that life as a believer in this present evil age is sometimes very difficult. Sometimes you're in a Psalm 88 situation. Sometimes you're in a Psalm 73 situation. Sometimes you're vexed like the Apostle Paul when he speaks to the Corinthians. So the confession is a very theological but also a very practical doctrine. Now, notice the statement of the doctrine in paragraph 1. It says, "...those whom God hath accepted in the Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by His Spirit, and given the precious faith of His elect unto, can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere thereunto the end, and be eternally saved." So the obvious connection with preceding chapters. This doesn't happen in a vacuum. Notice those whom God hath accepted in the Beloved. Affectually called. Sanctified. Things that have already been addressed in the Confession up to this point in what we call the Order of Salvation. So it's not just some haphazard fellow that God just zaps with the ability to persevere. No, they're those who are saved by the grace of God. They've been affectually called. We see reflected here, chapters 10, 11, 12, and 13, and then given the precious faith of his elect unto, chapter 14. So all of the things prior to this yields to this particular chapter in terms of the perseverance of the saints. So in other words, if what we see in the previous chapters is true, Well, then it's a no-brainer that by the grace of God they're going to persevere. If God has equipped them or affectionately called them, justified them, sanctified them, granted them the graces of faith and repentance, it is certainly the case that He's going to keep them to the very end, whatever difficulties, whatever challenges, whatever hardships they may face. If you go back to chapter 14 for just a moment, Remember that we've had that category, we've seen that category of a temporary faith or temporary believers. Notice in 14.3, this faith, although it be different in degrees and may be weak or strong, yet it is in the least degree of it different in the kind or nature of it, as is all other saving grace, from the faith and common grace of temporary believers. So when we get to chapter 17, this isn't a temporary believer, this isn't a historical faith. These are the persons that have been set aside, effectually called by God, justified freely by His grace. The ones whom God purposed to save in accordance with His decree and no others. They're the ones that persevere. The ones justified, the ones sanctified, the ones who will be glorified, they're the ones who by grace will persevere. And as well, notice the security involved here. It says that they can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end and be eternally saved. And then it goes on to say, seeing the gifts and callings of God are without repentance, whence he still begets and nourisheth in them faith, repentance, love, joy, hope, and all the graces of the spirit unto immortality. Again, the idea is pretty obvious. If God starts this work in you, he commits to saving you, he's going to save you. And if you can be lost as a genuine believer, then that reflects ultimately upon God, upon his covenant, and upon the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember in Matthew chapter 1, at the naming of the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall call His name Jesus. Why? Because He might save His people as long as His people cooperate and they make sure it's effective? No, you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins. So if a man can actually be saved and then lose his salvation, that's saying something very bad, not just about the man, but about the Lord Jesus Christ. That he was not able to conquer and to save and to bring that Son to glory. But the Bible everywhere teaches us just the opposite. So there is this great degree of security that the people of God have. That language of eternal security, it's good language. It's unfortunate. It's associated with, you know, a bad hermeneutic. But we are eternally secure. If you, you know, strip it out of its covenantal context, you throw it into a and easy believism, cheap grace are many in sort of a context, yeah, eternal security really doesn't mean a lot. But when you understand it from the vantage point of the covenant of grace in view of the triune God, which is how the confession is going to argue, the foundation of perseverance is the triune God and the covenant of grace. So rather not easy believism, but eternal security is a splendid way to think about this. It's a splendid way to reflect upon this. We are eternally secured. In fact, turn to the book of Hebrews in chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. Specifically at verse 11, but Christ came as high priest of the good things to come with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood he entered the most holy place once for all. Notice, having obtained eternal redemption. He doesn't obtain a partial redemption. He doesn't obtain just a little bit and you've got to make up the rest. I'll bring 60% and you bring 40%. He obtained eternal redemption. It could be no otherwise based on the glory of the work of the sovereign Lord Jesus on our behalf. So with reference to the confession of faith, we have this emphasis on what we have in terms of God's goodness provided to His people. And then notice, even with reference to the doctrine stated, it says after this statement that He supplies all the graces that are necessary, it notices right about in the middle the difficulties. And though many storms and floods arise and beat against them, which is a reality in the Christian life, a reality in the Old Testament, a reality in the New Testament. If you're in Hebrews 9, flip over to Hebrews 11. In Hebrews 11, specifically at verse 35, right about the middle, 35b, others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth. Who in their right mind would say, sign me up for this? It's grace that underscores the reality that God in the midst of these trials brought them through it. He saw them through it. He kept them secure even in the midst of those hardships and woes. And so though many storms and floods arise and beat against them, yet they shall never be able to take them off that foundation and rock which by faith they are fastened upon. And then notice, it's not just the various hardships in terms of life naturally, notwithstanding through unbelief, it's even pointing to us in our imperfection. So nor any other created thing. Remember that man who brought his son to the Lord Jesus to be healed, and he said, I believe, Lord, help thou mine unbelief. What a great confession of faith. I believe, Lord, help thou my unbelief. So it acknowledges that the people of God are not operating at a fever pitch of faith every moment of every day. We should be. We've got a lot of promises in the Bible to encourage us and to incite that or evoke that from us, but we're just not. And so with reference to the various things that may befall us in terms of storms and floods, there's also unbelief that we have or manifest, and then the temptations of Satan. So you see, the confession is putting the doctrine, and it's surrounding, or it's establishing the doctrine, and it's surrounding it with all the practical challenges that are involved with the doctrine. They're not shying back from it. They're not saying, oh, just persevere. It's gonna be happy and joyful, and everything's gonna be great. Then you've got not only the temptations of Satan, but then the sensible sight of the light and love of God may for a time be clouded and obscured from that. There are those seasons. We saw that. Look at chapter 18. We looked at this a couple of weeks ago. Notice, in paragraph 4, true believers may have the assurance of their salvation, diverse ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted, as by negligence in preserving of it, by falling into some special sin which woundeth the conscience and grieveth the spirit, by some sudden or vehement temptation. Notice, by God's withdrawing the light of His countenance, and suffering even such as fear Him, to walk in darkness and to have no light. That's a reality at times amongst the people of God. Read the Psalms. In fact, turn to Psalm 42. This happens to David. He doesn't give us a reason why. He doesn't say, oh, because I, you know, looked at a woman in a sinful way or because I, you know, took a few extra portions of whatever from some, you know, subject. He just tells us the reality of it. Notice in Psalm 42 at verse 1, "...as the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, where is your God?" So notice, my soul thirsts for God. Why? because he doesn't have the felt presence of God. And then he's even basically mocked. He says, my tears have been my food day and night while they continually say to me, where is your God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude. I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise, with the multitude that kept the pilgrim feast. Remember when Dr. Renahan made the statement on Sunday night about Psalm 88. The Bible gives us license to pray for things we would never pray for. We would never pray with the honesty of the psalmists. We always want to look a bit pious or a little bit holier. I'm not suggesting we bring every bad thing to the public prayer meeting, but when it comes to our private dealings with God, the Psalms give us an ability to vent that lamentation to God, to pray back His word to Him. Modern hymnody doesn't put in it these kinds of things. Who writes modern praise songs like verse 5 in Psalm 42? Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. The modern praise song or chorus is all about peppy and upbeatness. It doesn't acknowledge the hardship of it seeming to be the case that God has hidden his face from us. Notice again in Psalm 43 verse 1, Why do you cast me off? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? O send out your light and your truth, let them lead me, let them bring me to your holy hill, and to your tabernacle. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy. And on the harp I will praise you, O God my God. Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him, the help of my countenance and my God. So back to the confession, it underscores the reality that there are many storms and floods that affect the people of God. There is the unbelief of the people of God. There are the temptations of Satan, and there are those seasons and times wherein it feels like God has withdrawn His smiling face from us. Notice the end of that section. Yet, He is still the same. Whatever we face when it comes to the floods, when it comes to the storms, when it comes to our own unbelief, when it comes to the devil, when it comes to what it appears to be God turning His face or keeping His face from us, He's still the same. Is there any practicality to the doctrine of divine immutability and impassibility? Absolutely. This wasn't just some theoretical debate in Arbka about impassibility being consistent with the Scriptures. It is the stuff of our Christian comfort. If God passes from one state to another, if God loves you this much on one day and that much on another day, we're in a bad state. We need a God who's a rock. We need a God who's an anchor. We need the God of Hebrews 6. So it says, yet he is still the same, and they shall be sure to be kept by the power of God unto salvation. Again, preservation by God surrounds the doctrine of perseverance of the saints. It's not just knuckle under, suck it up, try harder, and persevere. That's not the doctrine. The doctrine is those whom God has effectually called, those whom he justified, those whom he sanctifies, those whom he's going to glorify, those are the ones that by his grace are going to persevere. They're gonna put to death the deeds of the body, not perfectly. They're gonna come to the house of God. They're gonna want to know the nearness of God as their good. And then it says, Great doctrine! It is a wonderful truth of our religion that once God has begun a good work in us, He will complete it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Then notice, secondly, the foundation of perseverance highlighted. This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will. Isn't that wonderful? Because if it were up to us, we would send our way out of a relationship with the Lord. I think it was MacArthur. If I could lose my salvation, I would lose my salvation. But by God's grace, He keeps me. Now, notice that this is a negation, and probably there are two other groups that profess faith in Christ that are in the crosshairs of this confessional statement. This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will. Listen to the Council of Trent, Session 6, Canon 23. This is Roman Catholicism. If anyone maintain that a man once justified cannot lose grace, and therefore that he who falls and sins never was truly justified, let him be accursed. So they have an understanding or a doctrine that you can be justified and lose your justification. Why? Because they collapse justification and sanctification, and they make it one unfortunate ball of woe. If it is up to us to secure our reception by God, then of course we're going to fail. But as well, Arminianism. A. A. Hodge, in his exposition of the Westminster Confession, highlights Arminianism. And this is Arminianism. God elects persons to eternal life only on condition of their voluntary reception of grace and perseverance there until death as foreseen by Him. In other words, God elects those who are going to believe, God elects those who are going to persevere by their free will. Christ died to render the salvation of all men indifferently possible, and not as the substitute of certain persons definitely. So it's a general atonement. It's there for the taking. But that's not what the Bible teaches. He will save His people from their sins. Definite atonement, or particular redemption, or limited atonement, is what the Bible teaches. And we embrace that, not because we're proud, arrogant wretches that want to make fun of Arminians, but because that's what Scripture teaches, and that's what we hang our lives on. And then thirdly, that all men have the same gracious influence of the Holy Spirit operating upon them, and that the reason why one believes and is regenerated, and that another continues reprobate, is that the former voluntarily cooperates with grace, and that the other resists it. Again, there's no effectual calling, there's no internal calling, it's all general, and so it's ultimately up to the free will of man. Now, that is absolutely contrary to scripture. You can turn to John chapter 1. John chapter 1, where we see a demolishing of the doctrine of free will as the means by which sinners are saved. Free will is true. But the issue is, where is man in the continuum with reference to free will? What Adam had before the fall, and man has after the fall, and man has in a state of grace, and man has in glory, it's all free will, but it's significantly different. Man in a state of sin only has free will to enable him to do that, which is contrary to God. Man in a state of grace has free will that he now has the ability both to do and to will according to God's good pleasure. Man in a state of glory will be confirmed so that his will will only ever be God-word. So free will is a biblical doctrine or an anthropological doctrine. There's no gun to your head when you make the decisions that you make, but you need to locate free will with where man is. The fourfold nature of man is how we approach the understanding of free will. Again, Adam, in a state of innocency, his will was significantly different it underwent some radical alteration when he passes into sin. And when we descend from him by ordinary generation, our will is ultimately enslaved by our heart that is contrary to God and His Word. So free will is true. When an Arminian says that, not when he says what he says, but we shouldn't shy away from acknowledging free will. Well, we're not going to talk about that. Or, no, there isn't free will. Yeah, there is. But we have to locate man where he is. And when we're dealing in a state of sin, man's free will is not the linchpin to his salvation. God's free grace is. God makes men willing in the day of His power, according to David in Psalm 110. But notice in John 1 at verse 12, "...but as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." And then Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. If you ever get into an argument with an Arminian, take them to Romans 9, it's a mallet. Just kind of kidding, but not really. Romans 9, 16, so then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. It couldn't be clearer. If only there was a text that told us it wasn't man's free will. Yep, it's right here, along with others. These aren't the isolated texts. But back to the confession. So after, well, Hodge makes this observation. Thus, in the personal application of redemption, the Arminian makes everything to depend upon the free will of the creature. James Durham says the doctrine of free will, quote, overturns the perseverance of the saints. For if believing depend on free will, then our perseverance depends on it. For if the man's free will change, he may fall back and break his neck in a manner at the very threshold of heaven. Whereas if it be the work of grace, as indeed it is, that brings forth faith and carries it on, then if this work of grace cannot be frustrated or restrained by the malice and hardness of any heart to which it is applied, because it cures the hardness and removes that malice. God's grace and His giving of the grace of faith is what facilitates this whole act of perseverance. So notice, paragraph 2. This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will. But, where do you think they go? God. Not you. Work harder. Read more books on spirituality. Engage in the spiritual disciplines. Be better. Be a better you. No, that's not where they go. And praise God they don't go there, because the Bible doesn't go there. The text that we read, God puts His fear in our hearts so that we may not depart from Him. God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. Christ died. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. And then you have that statement concerning the Holy Spirit, who is the seal and guarantee of our redemption. You have that in Ephesians 1, 3-14. The sovereign triune God is celebrated for salvation. So notice, "...but upon the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father." There's that word again, unchangeable, immutable. Turn back to chapter 2 for just a moment. Chapter 2. At paragraph one. In the. a studio recording that we did recently. I was with Drs. Renahan and Barcelos last Thursday, and Rich asked Jim to explain about reading the confession sideways, or reading the confession horizontally. We do that with scripture, right? We know that the God of Genesis 1-1 is the God of Matthew 9. We read horizontally or sideways. We understand the connection that obtains in the Holy Bible. Well, he, you know, Jim advances that when it comes to the confession of faith. So when we get to God in chapter 17, we're not to forget this God as he's described in chapter 2. So look at chapter 2, paragraph 1. This deals with God in himself, God's perfections, or what we might call attributes, those things that are true of God, his essential glory. It says, the Lord our God is but one only, living and true God, whose subsistence is in and of himself. That means he's not dependent upon anything outside of himself. There's no external to God that makes or validates God. He's infinite in being and perfection, whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but Himself. Again, that doctrine is very important. It shows us that there is a difference between God and us. We can learn truth from the 31,000 propositions given to us in Scripture, but in terms of understanding God's essence, it's known only or comprehended by Himself. When it says a most pure spirit, that refers to the doctrine of actus purus. In other words, God is pure act. There's no potential in God. He doesn't have an active potency wherein he can get better, and there's no passive potency where he can be acted upon to get better. He's pure act. We have potency. We can be acted upon, we can act, we can grow, we can move, we can diminish, we can increase. And then it goes on to say he's invisible without body parts or passions. Passions there is the doctrine of divine impassibility. He doesn't move from one state to another. who only hath immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, who is immutable, there's unchangeable, immense, that means he fills everything. Immense doesn't mean big, it means, I mean, I guess it does, but it means that God is everywhere present. It's kind of like omnipresence. Eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, every way infinite. Now notice the next word, most. The confession here describes these perfections with this most. Most holy. Most wise. Most free. Most absolute. Working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will for His own glory. Most loving. gracious, merciful, and I take most to apply to gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and said, the rewarder of them that diligently seek him, and withal, most just and terrible in his judgments. So we need the doctrine of divine immutability. God does not change. God cannot change. We also need this doctrine of divine impassibility. He's without passions. So again, passions suggests a movement from one state to another. But when it comes to God's love, He's most loving. That means He can't get more loving. You don't earn more of God's love. Well, I read my Bible eight times this week, God, so should you increase the love? Or the next week, I only read my Bible three times, God, I expect the love, you know, the quotient to go down. He's most loving. He can't get more loving. And so when we see this in chapter 17, reading horizontally or sideways in the confession, we need to think about that sort of thing flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father. So perseverance doesn't depend upon our own free will, but it depends upon the immutability of the decree of election. It depends upon the immutability of the decree of election that flows from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father. But then notice, upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ. The merit, I take, is a reference to his life, his death, his resurrection, what he performed when he assumed our humanity. when he performs as that mediator, as prophet, priest, and king. That's the merit. What happens when he ascends on high? He leads captivity captive, and he gives gifts to men. He is our advocate with the Father, but he always lives to make intercession for us. So when they come to ground the doctrine of perseverance, it's not your free will, but it's the father and it's the son. And then it underscores this union with him and the oath of God. And then notice the third person of the triune God, the abiding of his spirit. So it's the triune God as the foundation for what we have in terms of perseverance. If you turn to the book of Hebrews for just a moment, I alluded to this, it bears reading. And a couple of comments by Philip Edgecumbe Hughes. Notice in Hebrews chapter 6, specifically at, well, we'll pick up at verse 13. You know, sometimes you hear people say, well, you know, oaths and vows in this new covenant setting, they're not authorized. God himself swears. The Lord Jesus, before the high priest, swears. They're not made for, you know, I swear that I'm going to be home at five o'clock. But in matters of weight and importance, oaths and vows are absolutely authorized. But I digress. Notice, for when God made a promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, saying, surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you. And so after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them, an end of all dispute. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs a promise, the immutability, there's that word again, You come to God saving His people, there's an unchangeableness involved. This idea that men can be truly saved and then fall away is absolutely repugnant. It is absolutely unscriptural. It is something that we ought to abhor. It wrecks men. It affects men that are actually saved in such a way as to hold out to that, that unless you perform, you're going to fall away and you're not going to be saved. Now again, the Bible tells us we need to persevere, we need to grow, we need to do all that sort of thing, but it's not so that you may be saved. It's because you have been saved. It's a consequence. It's not the cause for our salvation. So thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs a promise, the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Now, Philip Hughes in his commentary, a very good commentary on the book of Hebrews, by the way. He's a modern commentator. He reaches back to the fathers and he does a good job, I think. I mean, probably not every jot and tittle, but a good commentary on the whole. He says that God should bind himself by an oath is a reflection, not on the divine credibility, but on the perversion of the human situation. In other words, he doesn't make an oath to prove that he's telling the truth. He makes the oath because of our condition, to even that much more amplify it for us. He says, God's oath, indeed, though in itself redundant, since His word is absolute truth, is a condescension to human frailty. So when God swears an oath, it's not because He has to vindicate Himself to the likes of us. He does that to condescend and show us His veracity, to show us what He is willing to do in terms of convincing us of His goodness. And then on verse 19, notice this anchor, this hope we have as an anchor of the soul. The metaphor of an anchor in itself effectively portrays the concept of fixity. Let's say you were in a boat and you threw out your anchor to a rock. Do you want to pull the rock to you? No, you don't want that rock to move. You want that rock to hold your anchor so that you don't move. He says, the metaphor of an anchor in itself effectively portrays the concept of fixity, for the function of an anchor is to provide security in the face of changing tides and rising storms. Human anchors cannot hold man's life secure in stresses and troubles that assail it, but the anchor of Christian hope is unfailingly sure and steadfast. And I think it's in that commentary where he says that one of the early symbols used in Christianity, certainly the fish that demonstrates the Ichthus, that Jesus, the Son of God, is the powerful redeemer of sinners, the fish. But it's the anchor. They found that in the catacombs. They found anchors all over the place. Why? Because of Hebrews 6. Why? Because God is our anchor in times of difficulty and hardship and woes and trouble. So when we look at passages like this, the concept that a genuine believer could be lost Ultimately, it impinges upon the glory and power of God. It shows that he's not able to save his people from their sins. Remember, this was an argument from Moses. When he invoked God, he says, Lord, if you let us die out in the wilderness, all these heathen are going to look at that and say, you weren't able to protect them. Well, what does God do? How dare you question me, Moses? No, He hears Moses and He secures the people. So when it comes to this idea that a true believer can be lost, that is an offense to the doctrine of Scripture. And so we've got Father, Son, Holy Spirit, but then notice how it ends, the nature of the covenant of grace, from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof. Bavinck says the covenant of grace is unalterably grounded, not in our virtues and works, but in God's mercies. Pernell says the Covenant of Grace is a rich storehouse replenished with all manner of gifts and graces, spiritual and temporal. It is as a tree of life to those that feed upon it. They shall live forever. It is a well of salvation It is a fountain of good things to satisfy every thirsty soul. It is a treasure full of goods. Here is unsearchable riches, unspeakable mercy, which can never be fathomed or emptied. All these blessings of the covenant are wrapped up in the promises of it, every promise of grace containing a blessing. That's good stuff, brethren. That's what you feed your soul upon. The reality that there is a doctrine of perseverance, that it's in the midst of all of the trials and the hardships that are mentioned there in paragraph one, but the reality, the efficacy, the effectual nature of this perseverance isn't only to our free will, It isn't owing to our performance. It isn't owing to how much we read our Bible or didn't read our Bible. It's owing to the power of the triune God as He conveys to us blessings in the covenant of grace. Well, we'll stop there and God willing we'll take up that third paragraph next week. and hopefully that will provide some more encouragement. I'll pray and then if there's any questions, we can deal with those. Our gracious God and Holy Father, we thank you for this wonderful summary statement concerning a wonderful doctrine that we find in Holy Scripture. And we give all praise and glory to You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We praise You for election. We praise You for the redemption by Christ and for the work of the Holy Spirit in applying these truths. As well, we thank You for keeping us by Your power. We thank You for keeping us even in the midst of affliction and hardship and even in our unbelief and the temptations of Satan and those times when it seems, as it were, that You've withdrawn from us. We thank You that You are unchangeable. We thank You that You are impassable. We thank You that You are most loving toward us. And God, may these things flood our hearts with comfort and encouragement, not just in the good times, but in the bad times, in the hard times, in the difficult times. May we reach into Scripture and find great, great comfort for our times of need. And we ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, any questions or comments on any of that material? Yes, sir? According to things I found from the conference, what's so encouraging is how the Confessions date back literally to the year 300. Because they're solid confessional statements, but I don't think Rome can say the same thing about all of their doctrines. That's right. And how some of them evolved because the insecurity of salvation made them Oh, absolutely. Yeah, keep people backpedaling and they'll throw money at you for salvation. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, many of their doctrines are, yeah, they're not. I'd be curious to go back in time to a time when the world was poor to see if that doctrine was involved. Yeah. What was it that induced that? I have a quote from Spurgeon. I really appreciate it if I can find it. It's about, you know, going back in church history and you're going to see your brethren. You're going to see, you know, guys that we know and love. Let's see here. I probably won't find it. But, you know, go anywhere in the history of the church, you'll see many a hoary head that confess the same truths that we do. And it's just really encouraging. And I remember hearing a guy, a pastor one time at a conference, and he said, when I was an Arminian, I didn't have an appreciation for church history. It's just, you can't, I mean, there's always been Arminians, but the bulk of the church has believed, you know, sovereign grace. Here it is, here's Spurgeon. He says, it is no novelty then that I am preaching. No new doctrine. I love to proclaim these strong old doctrines which are called by nickname Calvinism. but which are surely and verily the revealed truth of God as it is in Jesus Christ. By this truth I make a pilgrimage into the past, and as I go I see father after father, confessor after confessor, martyr after martyr, standing up to shake hands with me. Were I a Pelagian or a believer in the doctrine of free will, I should have to walk for centuries all alone. Here and there a heretic of no very honorable character might rise up and call me brother. But taking these things to be the standard of my faith, I see the land of the ancients peopled with my brethren. I behold multitudes who confess the same as I do and acknowledge that this is the religion of God's own church. I think that is just, yeah, the confessions, they tether us to the church. They tether us to the people of God. And I think it's just, yeah, I appreciated that as well when he looks back to, you know, those ancient creeds and how they were incorporated in the Reformation confessions. And, you know, for people that say, oh, yeah, that's just, It's great, it's wonderful to be able to go back and see our brothers. They might come to our church and say, you dress weird, and it's kind of odd here, but you worship the same triune God. You confess the Father unbegotten, the Son begotten by the Father, and the Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son. You preach justification by faith alone. So whatever you look like, hey, we can, and you sing Psalms, you're singing the Psalms of David. So that's always a good thing as well. But yeah, good point. Yes sir? I was just going to say the back of the Psalter is like page 912 or like 5 pages from the Canons of Dort on the Perseverance. Nice, nice. So all the positives and then all the rejections, it's like 5 pages. It's expanded over this chapter 17. Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, which, you know, in their fights in the Reformation period, they're fighting Arminianism, they're fighting Roman Catholicism, they're fighting this emphasis upon free will, so they really fought hard and fought well. And certainly, it's a scriptural doctrine. It's not that they made it up, it's there, it's in scripture. And of course, you can hear the arguments from the opposers. Well, if you teach that, then men are going to go out and sin. Yeah, they're following the devil's logic, but gospel logic isn't go and sin. You know, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? May it never be. That's the devil's logic. That's what, you know, carnal man thinks. But for the true believer, I think justification by faith alone is the biggest impetus to pursuing holiness. Again, not so that I might be saved, but I've been saved, I've been justified freely by His grace, now I want to do those things that are pleasing to the Father. Yeah, we do have free will in the state. Okay, so basically when we look at scripture, and Puritan authors, because they do this, there's a fourfold state of man. You have Adam and Innocence, and then you have the Fall, and then you have Redemption, and then you have Glory. So free will is present in each of those phases, or wherever you find yourself in that that continuum, you have free will. But in the state of righteousness that Adam was in, he had the will and the ability to do that which was pleasing to God. But he also contained within him an immutability. He was not immutable. He could choose rebellion, which he did. So then in the state of sin, which man is in, we have free will, but our will is bound by our heart. In other words, we choose things that are consistent with our depraved heart. So when we choose to sin, whatever your sin is, and I don't wanna hear it, whatever my sin is, and you don't wanna hear it, we choose that, okay, as unredeemed sinners, okay? We don't, this is, you know, the doctrine of total depravity, we're bad. But the doctrine of total inability means we cannot choose Jesus apart from God's grace. So we have a free will in that state of sin, but its direction is always contrary to God and His grace. We don't want God. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Romans 3 is a wonderful commentary. It succinctly brings lots of biblical truth to bear on that fact. And then Romans 8, 7, he says specifically, the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be. Jesus says, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draughts him. So as sinners, apart from the grace of God, we have a free will, but we need to understand that free will is not able, apart from God's grace, to merit God's favor. So then we get converted. We now have a free will, and not now, we have, but we now have the ability still to sin, as we all know, but we now have an ability to do that which is pleasing to God, enabled by Him, Philippians 2, you know, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to do according to His good pleasure. When Jesus comes to the churches in Asia Minor in Revelation 2 and 3, He condemns them for bad things, but He commends them for good things. So in this state of grace, our free will is such that we still have the ability to sin, but we also have the ability, aided by God's grace, to do that which is pleasing to God. And then in the state of glory, our free will will be confirmed to only do that which is pleasing to God. Does that make sense? So free will is a reality, but you gotta nuance it. You gotta qualify it, because when an Arminian talks about free will, he ain't talking about it the way you and I are. That's right. So if your heart's bad, then your will is going to follow. And the heart is deceitful above all things, Jeremiah 17, and it's desperately wicked. So with that kind of a situation, you cannot choose then things that are pleasing to God. So any outward act of morality, You know, do pagans never do good things? Yeah, they do, but in terms of a good work, when the Bible talks about good works or a confession talks about good works, they're things done toward men, but for the glory of God. So a heathen can do a good thing, he can mow your lawn if you fall down, or he can help you carry your groceries, but that's not a good work technically in terms of bringing glory to God. So yeah, free will is one of those concepts that's a biblical concept, it's a true thing, but much rides on where the guy is with reference to Christ. So Romans 9, 16 doesn't depend upon him who wills or him who runs, but on God who shows mercy. So man in a state of sin, apart from God's grace, is not going to go favorably to the Lord Jesus Christ. He may have a religious nature. In fact, all men do have a religious nature. Paul teaches us that in Romans 1, I think we see it on display in Acts 17. Man knows God exists. He can't escape that reality. He just, and he may even go after what he thinks is God. I mean, some pagans in the history of the world, some pagan philosophers, did really good work with, you know, what light of nature they had. And I'm not saying we can use some of that. We can plunder the pagans and use some of their concepts at times, insofar as they help us in terms of our God. I was going to add a footnote to all this. Turretin uses the word indifference to summarize the semi-plagian, plagian, and pupus school of thought. What we need to appreciate is that the average Biblicist Arminian is assuming a very, I would argue, pagan and loaded definition of free will as well. To where the doctrine of free will that was presented last November at the 2LCF9 conference in La Brada gave a very nuanced view. I thought that there was some confessional flexibility, whether you want to go with what's called a compatibilist direction or determinist direction. In other words, intro-webserian versus super-webserian considerations. And the other point I would add to, just scanning something that I put together about a year ago for Stephan, is if we were Arminians that held to indifferent free will as a perfection, it would actually completely negate immutability. Because it would imply that God has free will in a mutable way, and therefore that would ultimately undermine everything we've argued for here in terms of assurance and perseverance. Cool. So in other words, read Turretin. Or listen to Stephan. But that being said, Turretin is a much more suitable source than Confused Aramaic is. Yeah, I think there's a big issue with anthropology of the doctrine of man today, outside the church, obviously, but within the church. We need to think clearly, scripturally, on who man is relative to God, and who man is with reference to the gospel. So if we get that wrong, we're going to be Arminians or Pelagians, and that's not a good system.