Did a lot faster than your mom did. Was that right when I just said that? If your mom's watching that, I'm gonna get in trouble. I'll get in trouble. For those who just are tuning in, my wife normally runs the camera over there, but she's not here today. Well, I had a busy week at work this week, and to be honest, I really hadn't did a whole lot of thinking about this morning until this morning. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes the Lord starts putting things on my mind early in the week, and I get to look into things, and sometimes it's whatever the Lord gives me this morning or whatever, but I got to thinking about some things this morning, I had read an article yesterday evening when we was here in the house, and it kind of got me thinking about some things. Me and a brother had a conversation yesterday on the phone. He called me, and we were talking about a few things, and one of the verses we was talking about together was about Romans 8.1, there's therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And that word now, I always heard that meaning that Paul give the now, meaning that now that Christ has come or now that the cross is behind us, there is therefore now no condemnation of those in Christ Jesus. But there was no condemnation of those who were in Christ Jesus before that too. So the condemnation to those who were before the cross, that condemnation was not counted to them because of them being in Christ Jesus. The particular of that verse is therefore there is now, and everyone wants to say now, big word, but there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus is the key there. And as long as his people has been in him, there is no condemnation, as long as he has stood as our advocate. Well, anyway, that was kind of what we were discussing yesterday. And after we got off the phone, it just kind of really got to thinking about things about being in Christ Jesus. I know we've talked a lot about that here. It kind of seems to be a subject that we harbor on a lot here. Part of the doctrine that we hold to is the foundation of all things, being given to Christ, the election of God, being given to Christ, and being in Him, being His spiritual seed that is in Him. As the type in Adam, we were in Him. before anything, before we was ever brought out and manifested and manifested the life of Adam, we were in Christ Jesus. So before we were ever brought forth in that spiritual man and show forth the life of Christ Jesus, we still were in Him. And as He has stood from the foundation of the world, the Lamb slain, He has stood as that for His people. So as long as we've been in Him, the lamb slain has stood for us. Well, that got me to kind of rejoicing in a few things because I got to thinking about a lot of things as far as it pertains to this life. And how just like Larry was sharing before we came on camera, but we don't mind me sharing what he said. But we go through dark times when when we feel like either we don't we feel like you know, I'm tired of all of everything that's around me all the situation that I'm in, I don't want to be a part of it. Or it may just be doubt with what your spiritual life is. There seems to be a spiritual dullness in our mind and in our heart towards the Lord, and we kind of wonder, why am I in this position? We may feel that God is distant. Why is God not listening? Why is God not hearing me? Why is God not answering prayers? Why is God bringing me through all this stuff? We go through these times and I believe that it's truly given to us of the Lord. I believe that's his purpose in bringing us through these chastisements. A lot of times we think chastisement is because we've necessarily done something bad and he's rewarding us with chastisement. But that's not necessarily true. The Lord brings us through chastisement to prove us and to teach us and to grow us and to mature us in the faith. And so we go through these times, and a lot of times there tends to be some doubt on our part. There may even be people on the outside that looks at us during those times, and they say, well, I thought that guy was a Christian. How come he's doing this? Or how come he's doing that? Or why is he going through this? Or how could he be doubting that? How could he say that? How could he think that? Why would he be that way? So we look at these things. I go back to that verse, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And that phrase, being in Christ Jesus, there are so many promises in God's Word. Matter of fact, the Bible even is very clear that the promises of God are yea and amen, where? In Christ Jesus. The promises of God, all the promises of God to His people, All, everything that He has done on their behalf, everything that He promises to give them, to be for them, to help them, to sustain them, to whatever, all those promises are fulfilled and worked out and done and kept by Christ Jesus. It's Him. It's Him alone. And I got to thinking about perseverance. I got to thinking about preservation. that in these times or these seasons, just read in Psalms 77 Psalm, these times and seasons where we go through and we don't have that song in the night anymore, all of a sudden we begin to wonder and doubt God and wonder where He's at and has He forgot to be gracious? We have the promises of God that he will keep us and sustain us and preserve us and to finish what he has started. So I thought we might look today a little bit about God's preserving his people and people's perseverance. And I know we've talked about this. There's nothing new under the sun. Eventually, the more you come to church and the more you preach, The more you want to say the same things over and over again and everything, but sometimes I think it's good for us to hear these things to remind us of the precious promises of God and what he's done for us. Whenever we think of the phrase, once saved, always saved, what's the first thing that kind of comes to your mind whenever you hear that? Once saved, always saved. Does anybody here believe that? I believe that. Is that phrase probably the best phrase to use? I don't know. It's been used for a long time. And there is a lot of controversy behind that. I used to have a lot of Pentecostals and Charismatics that used to tell me that that's a doctrine of the devil. They said that once they've dealt with that devilish doctrine, once they've dealt, we're safe. And I had a Pentecostal holiness guy used to work with me at a job that I was at one time. And we actually had a lot of good conversations at lunch, even though we came from very different perspectives. And now I was still an Armenian at that time, but we came from different perspectives and we had a lot of good conversations around the lunch table. But he kept going on about, you know, once saved, always saved. He said, if you believe that, you can just believe you can live however you want to live. and you're still gonna go to heaven. I said, well, you assume that the people who are saved wanna sin, that they wanna continue in sinning and everything. I said, you know, that ain't the case. You're saying that just because someone is saved and we believe that they're always saved, that the person says, well, we just gonna go out and live like hell. And I've never heard any, even in the Armenian churches, I've never heard anyone preach that. Live like you want. Go out and live like you want. It don't matter. You're always going to be saved. Really, the only people that I've ever heard that even comes close to that doctrine are the conditional time salvationists who believe that there are going to be people that's going to show up in heaven that never heard of their salvation on here on earth and never believed on Christ Jesus. And they're going to show up in heaven because they're eternally elect. That is the only thing that's come close to saying you can live however you want. It don't matter. And you're still going to show up in heaven. But I digress on that. But we had this conversation about once saved, always saved. And usually whenever people hear that, they hear the fact that, oh, so you can just live any way you want. But see, that's not the main issue. The main issue in once saved, always saved is the once saved. See, if you're saved, salvation and the preservation of that salvation, or the perseverance in that salvation, all hinges on the once saved. We have been saved once. Once saved, if you've truly been saved of Christ Jesus, then that salvation cannot be lost because it is an eternal salvation. It is a secure salvation. It isn't a conditional salvation, and so therefore, Anything that might happen in your lifetime is not gonna destroy that salvation. Now, one of the promises that God makes, and now we don't necessarily, as a matter of fact, I hadn't used the term once saved, I'll be saving, I don't know how many years. I do like the term perseverance or preservation of God. And whenever I say perseverance, a lot of times people, especially Calvinists, they thought that's the P in tulip. is perseverance of the saints. But perseverance of the saints is the other side of the coin of the preservation of Christ. We are preserved in Christ Jesus. We are kept in Christ Jesus. And that's what causes us to persevere. Now see, the Calvinists, they talk out of both sides of their mouth. They say that Everything is by sovereign grace and everything is done by God and everything is predestinated by him. But then on the other side of the mouth, they say, but only those who preserve, who continue to the end, those are the ones who will be saved. And I used to love John Piper. He was my favorite preacher. And he used to say that all the time. He used to always bring that up as a warning to Christians that you need to continue to persevere because if you don't persevere, then you can't lose that salvation. You'll lose that salvation. That you never had that salvation if you don't persevere. So we have to persevere to be saved. Well, brethren, it isn't a condition that is to be kept by us. It is a statement of fact of a work that is being done in us. We are being preserved by Christ. We are persevering in the faith because of that preservation of Christ. The preservation of Christ is the active work that is causing the perseverance of the saints. If you get that backwards, you have it, man's doing the work and man should get the glory. But if you have that in the right perspective, the way the Bible teaches us, then you have perseverance and preservation, as the Bible has declared, is the work of God and Him alone. And again, all of salvation, whether it's the legal aspect of salvation or whether it's the experiential aspects of salvation, all of that, whether it's legal or experiential, are all part of the eternal salvation. We don't split up salvation into two-time salvation and internal time salvation and the conditional time salvation and everything that happens in our experience is something that is conditioned upon what we have to do and is kept by us and is maintained by us. No, brethren, listen. I do believe that there is a legal part of salvation. I believe that there is an experiential part of salvation. With that, I do agree with the conditionalist primitive Baptist. But where I part ways is saying that there are two different salvations. It's one salvation being manifested from the eternal salvation, the conditional time salvation or the experiential salvation, let me put it that way. The experiential salvation, what we experience in this body of clay, this fleshly man, this salvation that we experience is the manifesting of the completed work that was done before the foundation of the world. It is the manifesting or the of the salvation, that which was already planned out, that which was already accomplished, that which was already done, that which was according to the substance which was in heaven, that is what's being shown in this lifetime, this habitation. And that's all this habitation is. is the manifesting and bringing forth of that eternal salvation of Jehovah. And that's what it is. And so the preservation and the perseverance that God is doing in the lives of His people is part of that eternal salvation. The coming to Him, the believing on Him, the repentance, the faith, the growing in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, all the things that we have in the experience of salvation, is part of that eternal salvation. It's the outworking of God's work in us, showing forth His salvation. It's His salvation. Salvation is of the Lord, whether it be in heaven or whether it be on earth. And so, it's all about Christ. If you look in Psalms 138, I want to begin reading. I've got several verses here that we'll go to as the Lord leads here, and if we have time for all of them. And I pray the Lord gives you comfort in this, as it comforts me, thinking about it this morning. For those listening, if you're like us, a lot of the conversations we have around here, off camera and everything, There's nothing special about us. We're not holier than thou. We experience the everyday problems of life just like everybody else does. I gashed my arm open, bled down my arm this week, got injured, had to humble myself and let a lady technician at a vet clinic get me all fixed up because I was bleeding all over the floor. To be honest, I was, in my head, was cussing because of everything that was happening. Because I was late for another appointment that I had to get to. I just had to suck out about 10 pounds of hair when I opened up this x-ray table. I almost, I couldn't get to the equipment because all the hair that had matted up in there from 2015 until this week. Had to clean all that out and I was already pressed for time. Had to pull everything out. Cables weren't long enough to get it out good enough to work on and a big guy like me in a room about as big as here and had to lay on the floor, which was nasty, and my legs hanging out the door of the room that I was working in and the other room. Yeah, I was cussing and was mad about my situation with it. We're just like everybody else. We need to be preserved because at the slightest bit of irritation, we go the other way. The slightest bit of discomfort, we forget God. The slightest bit of irritation at all, we forget that God is sovereign, that God has predestined all things, and that He has ordained all things after the counsel of His own will, and that He has done all things and works all things for the good of His people. We forget those things. That's who Adam is. That's who you are. That's who I am. That's who we are in this flesh. That's why we need to hear these things, because if it wasn't for this work of God in our lives, you would be me cussing the situation whenever the slightest bit of irritation happens. In Psalms 138 and verse 8, the Bible says this. It says, If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there And if I make my bed, I'm sorry, I'm at 139. That's a good verse, by the way. You might want to read those verses, too. Psalms 138, in verse eight, it says, the Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the works of thy own hands. Listen, brethren, I can already tell you right now, the Lord will not forsake the work of his own hands. He doesn't do a work out of chaos. He doesn't do a work willy-nilly. He doesn't do a work for no reason. Every work that God puts his hands to do is a work that God has done on purpose, in purpose, from his purpose. every work that God is bringing forth. And it says, knowing unto God is all His works, the end from the beginning. He has done all these things. He has chosen all these things. He knows all these things. Why? Because He has purposed them. And if He has purposed them, He is bringing forth that purpose. And in bringing forth that purpose, He does everything on purpose. And it says here that He will perfect that which concerneth Me. He's going to bring forth the perfection. He's going to make me what He wants me to be. He's bringing me forth in the fashion He wants me to be brought forth. He's bringing me forth in the experiences that He wants me to experience. He is bringing me forth in the measure of faith at the right time that He gives me the measure of faith. He brings me forth and allows me to see the hardness of my heart at the right time when He wants me to see the hardness of my heart. He brings forth all these things, gives me the habitation that He has put me in as long as He has put me in, and the experiences within that habitation, those are the things that He gives to me. He will perfect those things, meaning that He will do everything precisely to His wise decree, according to His wise providence, and He will bring those forth. And listen, they shall be accomplished, because He said everything that He has purposed, He shall accomplish those. Why? Because He will do it. He will do it. He's not leaving it up to chance. We're not fatalists. We don't believe in chaos. We don't believe in whatever will be will be in the fact that however it works out by chance. That's not what we believe. We believe that everything is minutely to the very finest cell and organism, ion, whatever you want to break it down to as electron. Everything is ordered by God. And he said, the Lord will perfect that which concerns me. He says, Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Aren't you glad about that? Whenever Mike Smith, this week, was cussing to himself about the situation that he was in, the mercy of the Lord endured forever. His mercy didn't stop and reverse because Mike got mad. His mercy did not end with Mike's sin. His mercy endures forever. If God's mercy to His people, now we've got to remember this is speaking to God's people. It's not speaking to everybody in general. It's speaking to His people. If God's mercy endures forever towards His children, then how in the world could we ever be lost? How could we ever be outside of the salvation of Jehovah? If His mercy endures towards His people forever, then that mercy will be shown and be reflected upon His people in every situation. Though we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And if Christ died for us, then we have been justified. If we have been justified, therefore there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And if there's no condemnation, who shall lay any charge to God's elect? His mercy endures forever. He granted mercy upon sinners who are still sinners, who still sin, but yet the mercy of God endures forever because He forsakes not the works of His own hand. Look, if you would, at Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3, look with me if you would, at verse 14. He says, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Now, I'm just going to stop before I read the rest of the text. It shall be forever. Whatever God doeth, Now remember, known unto God are all His works. Whatever God does. Was salvation the work of God? kick around in our mind as it pertains to, you know, sometimes we say a lot of these things and we say a lot of theological words and we have theological positions, but a lot of times we don't stop to think of the simplest implications that arise out of these theological things. Is salvation the work of God? I don't think anybody would ever say no. Salvation is not the work of God. because it clearly says salvation is of the Lord. It's a work of God. Well, here we see that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Salvation is forever. It's not partial. It's not limited. It's not conditional. It's forever. Whatever He does is forever. But notice this, brethren, when it goes on, it says, nothing can be put to it nor anything taken from it. Now our minds immediately goes to salvation and I think that here is probably the main focus. But just think about anything that God's hands has been involved in, in the work of God. Nothing can be put to it. Nothing can be taken from it. God's purpose for Mike Smith to experience the little episode in the x-ray room Nothing can be put to it, and nothing can be taken from it. I couldn't have done anything to change the situation, and I can't do anything to take anything away from that situation. I couldn't have made it better, and I surely couldn't have made it worse. The fact that I already was mad at myself, mad at God, mad at the world, mad at the x-ray machine, mad at everything around me, was proof of my depravity. Nothing can be put to it or anything taken away from it, but when we look at things as it pertains to salvation, listen, there's nothing that can be put to salvation to make it any more salvation. And praise the Lord, there's nothing that can be taken from it. Why? Because He has done it. His hands have done the work, and that work, He says, shall be forever. So nothing can be taken from us. So those who say that they can lose their salvation by something that they do, they're mistaken because God said His hand is the one who has done it. And if His hand has done it, it is forever. His mercy will endure through whatever situation you go through that you think you're going to lose your salvation in. Did I have sometimes doubt that I am saved whenever I act like that? Absolutely I do. But the promises of God again are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. See, it isn't about how I feel about those things, although I do feel those things. And the Lord has given me to feel those things. And I believe that that is also indicative of a child of grace who is sorrowful over their sin and broken and humiliated in their sin and knows that they can't get out of that, that lot that this sinful man is always going to produce, that sinful activity. But yet the inward man is always renewed every day. and is always told and reassured because the Spirit of God testifies that we are the children of God. The Spirit of God comes along and gives hope to the child of God that we are His and that we are being preserved in Him and that we are being matured as God's enduring mercy continues to walk us through these things of life. And He says, nothing can be put to it, nothing can be taken from it. And it says, and God doeth it that men should fear before Him. That word fear, we've talked about it a lot of times here. That word fear isn't to be scared, but to have reverence before God. God has done this that we might have reverence before Him. That we might, as the children of grace, bow before and submission and acknowledgement of our dependency upon Him. We depend upon Him. If God had not been my salvation, if Christ had not been my perfection, That episode in the x-ray room, I would have been surely dead. I would deserve the very depths of hell because of my attitude on that. Because of the way that I did not trust in God. Because I didn't look at Him. Because I did not acknowledge His providence. Because I did not acknowledge His wisdom in bringing me through whatever it was He was bringing me through. Because of that, I dishonored God. I discredited God. Thought that He was not wise. and therefore not able to perform that which he has purposed. My way should have been the way that God purposed. It would have been better, Lord, that I would have been able to get in here and get out in the five minutes that I thought I was going to be instead of the two hours that I was there. My way would have been a lot better not getting cut up, bled all over, embarrassed in front of a whole staff, my rear end hanging out while I'm trying to work on some stuff. would have been a lot better, God. You see, I would have already been lost. And that very act, just that day, would have been enough to cast me into hell. Not to mention all the rest of the day. And the rest of my life. And all this before me. That's why I say, brethren, this morning, it just hit me. His mercy endureth forever. Nothing can be put to it. Nothing can be taken away from it. And what God doeth, He doeseth that men should fear before Him. Look over, if you would, at Isaiah chapter 46. Verse 4 says, And even to your old age, and boy, that's becoming more It's becoming more personal. I am He. Even to your old age, I am He. What's God telling us there? Again, here's one of those theological things that we read over and we don't take the simplistic contemplation of the implication of the sentence. Even to your old age, I am He. I don't change. I am God. I never change. I don't, yesterday, today, forever, I'm God. I don't ever change. My purpose don't ever change. My will does not ever change. My work does not ever change. Even to your old age, I'm the same. You can count on me. I'm not going to be this way one day, that way another day. Oh, by the way, kind of like you. I'm not like man. Even more getting personal to me, more and more. Even to your whore hairs will I carry you. Aren't you glad, brother? I'm starting to see some gray hairs coming out. That's what whore hairs mean, Mark. You getting gray hairs yet? A little bit? Yeah, I am too. Even to your old age I am he. And even to whore hairs, Will I carry you? I have made and I will bear. Even I will carry and I will deliver you. I know it doesn't say I and I and will deliver you. It's implied I but he's gonna carry us. You know, we see those little placards and those little signs, and almost everybody's grandma has had one hanging up in their house at some point, footprints. You know, I saw these footprints walking along, you know, and everything. And all of a sudden, there was just one set of footprints instead of two. And I said, what happened there? And he said, that's what I was carrying. We kind of think about that. It's a little bit sometimes cheesy, but if you think about it, that's what this is talking about. The Lord's gonna carry us. The problem is, is there's always just one set of footprints. There's never two sets of footprints. We're never walking side by side and as God is my co-pilot. God is always the pilot. God is always the one carrying us from start to finish. He's carrying us. I used to love a song at the Isaacs. I don't know if any of y'all know who the Isaacs are. that they used to sing a song called, Carry Me. And boy, I tell you what, that just gets me all welled up every time I hear it. And it talks about being in a place where God has left you in this stuff and stuff, and how he carries us through. And it is a beautiful, beautiful song. You got something written in your phone book there? I seen you flipping over it. If you got something, let me know and we can share it. But he says here that he will carry us. He will bear us up. See, there's nowhere here saying that you have to do this. There's no conditional aspect to this. This is the promise of God. What God begins, He promises He will finish, brethren. Look if you would with me at Romans chapter 11. I'm gonna start reading in verse 27. It says, for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes, but as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father's sakes. For the gifts of the calling of God are without repentance. What God has gifted and called his people, whether they be of Jews or whether they be of Gentiles. Here, I believe he's speaking about the Jews. whether it be of Jews or whether it be of Gentiles, if they are the elect of God, His gifts, He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. He has given us these gifts in heavenly places before the foundation of the world. These callings, these gifts are without repentance. If salvation is the gift of God, For by grace are you saved through faith in that, not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. Salvation is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. If salvation is a gift of God, it says here, the gifts and the calling of God without repentance. How can you lose your salvation? Whether it be legal or whether it be experiential, how? Can you lose what God has promised to not repent of? He's not going to turn back on them. He's not going to recall your salvation. And those who preach and teach that we can lose our salvation or apostatize from true salvation, they're saying that God revokes what He has given and has promised to not revoke. How can you uncrucify the Lord of Glory? How can you put back the blood that He has shed? How can you take away the atonement that has already been made? How can you take away the fact that He has died and has been buried and risen and has ascended unto the throne of His Father and is now ruling and reigning? How can you take all of that back? Because the Bible says there is now no more sacrifice for sin. That He has once for all made that sacrifice. For all time. For all men. Meaning all men of every nation, tribe, and tongue. And all of His people. How can that be revoked? The gifts and the calling of God are without repentance. He tells us over in Philippians chapter 1, if you'll turn over there. Philippians chapter 1, look if you would at verse 6. It says, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it. Didn't God in the Old Testament promise that He would perform it? He would do it? He says, I will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He's going to continue to keep His people. He's going to perform it. That work that He has begun in you, He's going to continue in you until the day of Jesus Christ. Until the day comes, when the Lord comes, or whether I go to be with you, either one, He's going to continue that work. Now that's His promise, brethren. That's not a condition that you've got to keep until the day of Jesus Christ. That's a promise that He will perform it in you. Now how can I lose my salvation or how can I cease to persevere in the faith if God is the one who is performing it until the day of Jesus Christ? You're telling me that God can't do His job. You're telling me the Holy Spirit has no life or no work within the child of grace. You're telling me that the Holy Spirit of God is ceasing to do its work of preservation, that Jesus Christ is no longer keeping His flock, that He's losing His flock again, that God cannot do what God has promised to do. That's what you're saying whenever you say that we will not persevere, that there is a possibility of a child of grace not preserving their way till the end. When John Piper says there is apostasy that can happen if somebody does not persevere to the end, that means they never were the child of grace. That doesn't mean a child of grace has lost their way, has apostatized, has not persevered and therefore salvation cannot be to them. Christ died in vain if that was true. Christ died, did not do his job of atonement, did not do his job of sanctification, did not do the job of salvation and the Holy Spirit of God that was sent back to keep those people and to preserve them and to attest to them that they were the children of God, that has ceased to be. It can't happen. God's promises cannot be taken back and He can't do that. He says right here, as clear as day, being confident of this very thing. But how many Christians out there are not confident that God is keeping what He has said He's going to do? That the good work that he has begun is up to a point, but if you do so much sinning, then God's work has to stop, and he just quits. That's it. I've washed my hands of it. That's what you're saying whenever you say that. There's not once saved, always saved, if you want to use that language. That's what you're saying if there is not perseverance of the saints or preservation of the saints. You're saying that God does not continue that work that he has promised to perform. 2 Timothy chapter 4. It says in the Lord, verse 18. It says in the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work. How has He done that? Did He give you a list of commandments for you to keep? Now, how has He delivered me from every evil work? Well, for one, He sent His Son to die for my sins. Second of all, He has caused me to be born from above with a spiritual seed that cannot sin. Therefore, the man that I really am, not the man that is seen on the outside, but the inward man of the heart, The other army of the Shulamite, if you would, that man cannot sin. He cannot do it. He is perfect and created in true righteousness and holiness. Holiness and true righteousness. So he has taken away and delivered me from every evil word. He has also done that by keeping the law on my behalf and crediting it to my account. He has walked perfectly before God for me, so every evil work is no longer what God sees on my behalf. He sees every obedient work that Christ has ever done and kept the law completely, fulfilling everything written in the Law and the Prophets to Him And He's kept that. Therefore, every evil work is no longer the writing in our ledger. It is obedience, perfection. But it says, the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. So we are going to be preserved by Christ Jesus. Now if God's the one doing the preserving, who, may I ask, do you think has the power, has the authority, or the ability to un-preserve us? The Bible says, The Bible says that there isn't nothing that can happen in heaven, nothing that can happen in earth. Nobody, anywhere, no height, no depth, nor anything can separate us from the love of God. There isn't anything that can separate us from the love of God. The Bible says that we are in the hand of Christ Jesus, who's also in the hand of God. One and the same hand, but it's just a metaphor saying that we are secure in Him. Nothing is going to pluck us out of His hand. To remove us in the salvation, whether it's legal or whether it's experiential, to remove us from salvation, one must remove us from being in Christ Jesus. And I have not read anywhere in all of Scripture at any point, and I'm ignorant of a lot of things in Scripture, so there may be something there, and I'll be glad to entertain the correction if there be something there. any place in scripture that talks about one who has been in Christ that is taken out of Christ. Whether it be by God himself or whether it be by man taking himself out of Christ. I've not read any place that talks about being able to be taken out of Christ. We have been born in Christ. Matter of fact, the Bible says that like begets like. Listen, I can no more be taken out of Christ than I can be taken out of Wayne Smith, my father. I cannot remove from me. I've told you guys the story before. I didn't know my real dad until I was a senior in high school. Never met him. Never was around him. Didn't ever see him, meet him, anything in the flesh. Maybe when I was a little baby and passing. But I did not grow up around my dad, Wayne, at all. But all through my whole entire life growing up, my mom, my grandma, My aunts, my uncles, they told me. They knew my dad. And they told me certain things I would say. That right there was Wayne Smith. That sounded just like Wayne Smith. They told me that I look like Wayne Smith. Whenever I walk, I guess me and my dad walked the same way. We got the same back, the same arms, how we walk at the side. That's Wayne Smith. Listen, I can no more take Wayne Smith out of myself At all. It's impossible. Why? Because I'm the seed of Wayne Smith. I have received the life of Wayne Smith. It wasn't a choice that I made. I was in Wayne Smith before I ever was manifested to this world. Because I was in him in seed substance. The life of Wayne Smith flowed through Wayne Smith And it came to Michael Smith at the time of my birth. And brethren, like begets like. And whenever we are told that we are the seed of Christ, the spiritual children of Christ Jesus, that He is our spiritual Father and we are His spiritual children, like begets like. And it cannot be any different. And listen, there is no way that you can take that spiritual life out of the child of the Spirit. There's no way. So there's no way that we can cease to persevere and be preserved because we are the spiritual children of our Father. And we can't be separated from who He is and what He is in us. As I am of Wayne Smith and my characteristics and demeanor is given to me in my, we call it DNA, so is that we are in the Spirit. We can't help but be who we are in the Spirit. And who we are in the Spirit, the Bible says, is without sin, in perfect righteousness, in perfect holiness, as He is. Now I just take the Bible's word for that and not my own. Because my own life, my own thoughts, my own feelings, Tell me, I am not His a lot of times. Why? Because this outward man perishes and this outward man is the flesh that cannot please God and it continues to obey the law of sin. But praise God, His mercy again endures forever. His mercy endures forever. He says, I have actually a lot more, I guess maybe I'll do some more of this, Lord willing, next week. I've got a few more thoughts, but it says in verse 18, it says, and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom. And here it is again, we started with it being his glory and we ended it with it being his glory. To whom be glory forever and ever. Why is it that salvation, whether it be of the legal nature or whether it be of the experiential nature, is never conditioned upon us. It is because it takes it out of the hand of man, so that no man may boast, so that God receives all the glory. If salvation from eternal beginning to eternal ending, and everything in between, if salvation is of the Lord, then it surely can't be of man. And if it is not of man, then man cannot boast. And if man cannot boast, there's only one who can boast, and that's the Lord. And the Lord says, I will not share my glory with another. Your salvation and no wise is ever gonna be attributed to anything that you do. But praise the Lord, it is of Him, and it will be kept by Him. All right, maybe if the Lord allows me to continue on some more thoughts on that next week with more on this preservation and perseverance. Anybody got any things you'd like to add or any questions or comments or corrections? We thank you for your enduring mercy. We thank you for your everlasting righteousness. We thank you for your forever love that you have given to your people. We thank you, Father, for the work of Christ on our behalf, that though this outer man sins, though this outer man has done all things unpleasing to you, You have redeemed this fleshly man and have adopted him until the day of redemption. You have given us hope in Christ Jesus. You have given us promises that are yea and amen in yourself. And that you have told us that all things that are to be done are going to be done by you. And that you will keep us, that you will preserve us, that you will keep us till the end. You will perform these things. You will work these things in us. You will work these things through us, and in the end, everything will be for your glory. And Father, we're here today to worship and to glorify you, to praise you for the glorious work of salvation that is yours and yours alone. Lord, may we ever be kept mindful of these things. May you help us in our infirmities when our mind ceases to think on these things, or to hope in these things, or to even glory in these things. and remind us time and time again. And even as we experience these hardships of life and these times throughout the week that we forget, Lord, we pray that you would bring us back, as the 77th Psalm said, may you bring us back to think on you, to think of what you have done for us. And may that song in the night be restored in our heart that you have given us salvation and that it is a beautiful and blessed thing We love you and we thank you for all that you've done for us and it's in your son's name that we pray, amen.