Well, dear ones, today we are going to be learning a very powerful truth, and that is that Jesus Christ is the great promise keeper who is so gracious and He's so merciful that, sorry I got some feedback there, he's so merciful that you and I can absolutely be assured that he's never going to leave us or forsake us. So today we're going to be learning two great truths in the verses we're going to be covering. Number one, we're going to learn that every believer in Jesus Christ must and will persevere in the faith all of their lives. But second, we're going to learn the reason for this is because Christ holds us. He enables us to persevere. And so the message here that we're going to be learning, I think, is the same that Paul was trying to drive forth to Timothy, and that is no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, no matter what persecution we may have to face in the future for the gospel, we are to never give up. Never give up on the great promise keeper. Why? Because he's going to enable us to persevere until that last day and bring all of our promises Now, I want to begin by talking about these verses and the structure of them that we're going to be covering. Now, I think perhaps these verses originally were a hymn or perhaps a baptismal confession in the early apostolic church. But nonetheless, you're going to see four lines that are used in this hymn, and each line is going to have two parts. It's going to have a protesis, which is the if portion. If this, then it's going to have also an apodosis, which is the implied then. In the red, I'll actually highlight these in the verses as we go, in the red it's, if we do this, then this is the outcome because of what Christ does for us. Now, Paul begins this whole section by saying it is a trustworthy statement, and I'll mention more about that in the next slide, but we can affirm from that that this is very important very important theological data for us. It's important for our theology, being a trustworthy statement. Now, let me go through the four lines. The first promise is this, in verse 11b, If we die, we will live. And I'm going to be showing that if we die, it's a positional death that we have the moment we believe. But notice, what's the promise? We're going to live with Christ forever. Notice the second one. If we endure, we will reign with Him. Third promise is if we deny Him, He will deny us. Now, I'll show you that I think that's about unbelievers, ultimately. But I want you to notice that all of the promises of what Christ will do in the apotheosis that's in blue, all the way in these first three promises are commensurate with what we have done in the red. If we die with him, we'll live with him. If we endure, we'll reign. If we deny, he'll deny. But what's shocking is when you get to the fourth line, all of a sudden the promise is much greater than our failure. If we are faithless, he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself. That's shocking. It's not commensurate. It's amazing grace. It's amazing mercy. And it's designed to shock Timothy into realizing that no matter how he perhaps has botched it in persevering in the faith, perhaps no matter how much he knuckled under to the false teachers teaching false gospels in Ephesus, because he belongs to Christ, he's to never give up. Dear ones, that's the message for you. No matter how dark the situation is that you're going to be facing, no matter how bad the persecution may become someday, no matter what your circumstances, never give up. because the great promise keeper, the Lord Jesus Christ, is going to remain faithful, and he's going to bring all of your promises, he's going to enable you to persevere, he's going to hold you in the palm of his hand. That's the message that Paul wanted Timothy, and I think by extension, all of us to know. So, let's begin By reading the entire passage, I'll read it to you and then we'll just start taking little bits of it at a time. Let's put up the whole thing. 2 Timothy 2, 11-13, Paul says, We will also live with Him. If we endure, we will also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. I want to begin by talking about what I have in the bold. Paul says, this is a trustworthy statement. Literally in the Greek, the term pistos is used here. You could render it a faithful word. The term for statement is logos. It's a faithful word. Now, why is this a faithful word or a trustworthy statement? Two reasons. Number one, because it corresponds to reality. It corresponds to the true affairs of the way the world is. And I say that because you and I are living in a postmodern generation that is claiming you can never talk about the real world using language. The world as it is. Now realize that is a self-refuting argument because they're saying the way the real world is is such that you can't talk about the real world. It's a self-refuting argument. And second, Jesus Christ made you and I as rational beings in his image who can and must know his word. In fact, Jesus said in John 12, 48, remember Bob shared this in a message when I first met him years and years ago at Northwestern. when he was refuting post-modernity. John 12, 48, never forget it. Put it up on your refrigerator. It's a great magnet verse. Jesus says, this is that which will judge you on the last day. The very words that I have spoken will be your judge. Well, how can that be the case if we can't know reality through the written language? So, no, this is a trustworthy statement because this is how God really acts. This is really the truth and the true affairs of the world. He does remain faithful even if we're faithless. Second, the reason this is a trustworthy statement is because it's from God. The Apostle Paul was a personal spokesman for the Lord Jesus Christ, and the very words he gives us are the very words of Christ, so says Jesus Christ himself. That's why it's a trustworthy statement. Now, this phrase, trustworthy statement, occurs five times in the pastoral epistles. Remember, your pastoral epistles are 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus. And every time this phrase, a trustworthy statement occurs, it is significant doctrine for the church to affirm. Let me just read you a couple of them to remind you of where we saw this same phrase earlier. 1 Timothy 1.15, Paul said this, 1 Timothy 1.15, it is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners among whom I am foremost of all. Why did Jesus Christ come into the world? Was it to give us our best life now? To give us a perfection here and now? No, to save us from our sins. to save us from our sins. Luke 19.10, that's what Jesus said, I came to seek and save that which is lost. Think about this one, 1 Timothy 4.9-10, you see the same idea. Paul said, it is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance. For it is for this we labor and strive because we fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially believers. What's the point of the trustworthy statement there? That we have salvation in Christ. And so dear ones, these trustworthy statements are very important. I think the big picture that Paul is driving here in this passage is that he wanted all Christians, including Timothy, to never give up. To endure no matter what the circumstance. Remember what situation Timothy found himself in. a young man opposed by heretics, living in a culture where the Roman Emperor was deified and would put to death those who wouldn't worship him. Paul was arrested and was going to be beheaded. His spiritual mentor. Think about what that would be like. You would be tempted to go, nope, a little bit. But Paul's message is, never give up. And as I was studying this passage, I was reminded of the words that Winston Churchill gave in 1941. It was in October. Remember, they had just survived, Britain did, the Battle of Britain, where the Nazis had launched that assault against them. And he gave a message that can be rightly titled, never give up. Listen to what he said to the boys at Haro School. It's very reminiscent of what Paul wants us to know. He said this, Churchill said, quote, never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never given except to convictions of honor and good sense, never yield to force, never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. We stood all alone a year ago, and to many countries it seemed that our account was closed. We were finished. And all this tradition of ours, our songs, our school history, this part of the history of this great country were gone, finished, and liquidated. And he went on to say, never give up. Dear ones, when you and I look at the results of the elections and Marxism on the rise, we can say it's finished. When Timothy looked out at the circumstances in his life, false teachers breathing down his neck all the time, the threat of death behind every corner if he didn't worship the emperor. And yet, Paul said, never give up. Because even when we're faithless, even when we botch it, the Lord Jesus is going to remain faithful. He's the great promise keeper who's gonna hold us tightly in his hand and bring all of the promises to bear. Okay, so with that, let's turn then to the very first promise here that we see in verse 11. We see that our position here of being in Christ is essential to know if we're going to persevere and have courage to do so. Notice what he says, 2 Timothy 2, 11. It is a trustworthy statement, for if we died with him, we will also live with him. Now, let's look at the Protestants here in red. For if we died with him, notice the past tense nature of the verb. It's an aorist active indicative. So this is something that happened in the past, and I don't want to point out the obvious, but he must not be referring to physical death. Do you know why? Because you and I wouldn't be reading it. I hate to point out the obvious, but that's what I'm here for. You and I wouldn't be hearing it if we were physically dead. So what kind of death is he referring to? I like to refer to it as a positional death. The death that came to you the moment you believed in Jesus Christ as your savior, God regarded you dead to the world, dead to the domain of darkness, and alive forevermore to the newness of life with his son. It's that kind of positional death to which he's referring. Now, let me give you an illustration of this, of what positional and what I mean by it. Do you remember the good old days? You were able to pick up a phone and you were able to make a reservation at your favorite restaurant? Hopefully we're just months away, we'll be back to that. But you would pick up the phone maybe on a Monday and say, yeah, I'd like for me and my wife, my family, whatever, I'd like reservations at this table, at this restaurant, and they would make the reservation. And you weren't there physically, but it was as good as you being there. That's the idea of positional. Now, I know some of you are gonna say, I've made reservations before and they failed to keep them. I know that happens, but Jesus Christ never will. You're with him. the moment you believed you were dead to the old world because you are with Jesus Christ. And by the way this is precisely what baptism symbolizes. Let me bring you in a little purview of history through baptism and what it symbolizes. Remember the very first baptism according to Peter and 1 Peter 3.18-21 occurred at the flood. Yes, Peter likens the flood where Noah and his family are deluged through the water as being a type of baptism. Why? Because when Noah and his righteous family were the only ones that survived, Even after the flood was over, if they wanted to go back to the old world, they could not. Why? It was washed away. All they had was the new world. There was no going back. In the same way, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10 that Israel had a type of baptism where they went through the Red Sea, they were baptized with Moses, and even if Israel wanted to go back to Egypt, they could not. Why? Because the waters closed in. drowning the Egyptian army and sealed off their retreat, Israel had to keep going towards the promised land. There was no going back. Dear ones, the moment you trusted upon Jesus Christ, there was no going back. When you were in the baptismal waters, it symbolized that very thing, that you're dead to the old world, you're in the wilderness, and you're on the way to the promised land because you're with Christ. That's what it's about. And so that's why he says, if we died with him, we will also what? We're going to live with him. And the life here that he's referring to is an eschatological life in which you're going to have a resurrection and a glorious kingdom forevermore. But that life, that eschatological life, is something that you can enjoy now. You can begin living it now. Not because you have a resurrected body now, but because you can start living in light of the fact that that is a certain reality. In fact, that's exactly what Paul says in Romans 6.4, where he's talking about baptism. I think this is really a parallel passage. Notice Paul said the same thing. Romans 6.4. He said, therefore we, that's believers, have been buried with him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. Dear ones, notice in red, notice here it says we have been buried with him through baptism. Now, baptism in and of itself does not make us dead with Christ. That happens the moment we believe. But baptism is the symbol of that. And that's why we should prefer immersion. Because the symbolism of immersion is when you go under the water, you're dead. And then when you come up, you're raised with Christ. You're dead to the old world. You can't go back to it just like Noah, just like Israel, and you're now what? Notice in blue, you're walking in the newness of life. What does it mean to walk in the newness of life? The term walk there, peripeteo, means you live it out. You get up every day and you say, I'm gonna live a little bit differently than the rest of the world. Why? By the way, a lot differently. Why? Because you know resurrection's coming. You know the promises of the great promise keeper. Brothers and sisters the promise here is that there's no going back. That we're dead with Christ and therefore we're going to live forever the moment we believe. That's a tremendous promise. Now as we continue here into verse 12 we see the need for believers not only to confess Christ but to persevere in that confession all of our days. Paul continues 2 Timothy 2 12. He says, if we endure, we will also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. Now, I want to begin with the first prothesis again, the if portion, if we endure. The term endure there comes from hupomeno. Meno is the root of the term, hupo is the prefix. Meno means to remain. To remain, or as Bob astutely taught us when he was teaching us 1 John, it means to stay put. that you don't start with Christ and then go to Buddha and well maybe try that for a while, maybe go to Muhammad later on. No, you stay put with Christ. In the hupo, meaning hyper in our language, means you really do this. You remain on steroids as it were. You stay put with Jesus Christ in both doctrine and deed. And as we will see, it's only by Christ's grace and His power that we can do that. True believers must persevere and endure in both doctrine and deed. That's who we are. Now, let me illustrate this, and I won't have you turn to it, but you can read it before you go to bed. If you turn to Mark 4, verses 13 through 20, you'll see Jesus interpret the parable of the soils. And by the way, Bob, I don't know if you remember this, Bob told us once, anytime, this is where Jesus gives you the interpretation of the parable, anytime Jesus gives you the interpretation of the parable, it's the right one. I love that, that was good insight. A little hermeneutic key for you, right? Well, in this parable, Jesus talks about four different people. And as you're gonna see, it's the one that perseveres in the faith. That's the one that really belongs. Remember, He talked about the four different soils. The first soil had the seed, which is the Word come upon it, and it was the soil sown by the road. And of course, immediately, Jesus says, this is the person where the Satan removes the Word, and they never have any faith at all. It never seems, even in appearance, that they have faith. They perish. Second soil, this is the soil where the Word was sown on it amongst the rocky ground. And it appeared for a while that they believed, but when the tribulations and afflictions of this age came, they fell away. Their faith was never genuine. They didn't persevere or endure. The third type of soil was the soil where the Word came upon it, and it was amongst the thorns and the thistles. And the problem with these people is it seemed, again, that they believed, but their love of the world and their concerns for life crowded out their faith, and they fell away. They didn't endure, nor did they persevere. But then Jesus talked about the fourth type of soil. That was where the word came upon good soil, and they did bear 60, even 100-fold of fruit. And one of the implications of this soil is that they kept enduring. Their faith didn't just begin when they were five years old and end when they were 20. It went throughout their life. They endured. They persevered. Now, for those who endure in the faith, What's the promise? We will also reign with Him. This reign is going to occur first on the earth. Jesus Christ is going to bodily reign from a re-established temple in Jerusalem, and His reign will cover the entire earth. He's coming back physically. And according to Isaiah 2, the swords will be beat into plowshares, and the spears into pruning hooks, and the nations shall no longer learn war. This rule will last for a thousand years, after which there'll be a new heavens, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem that comes down in which you and I will reign. But the entire time, you and I will be reigning with Christ. In fact, Paul himself said in 1 Corinthians 6, 2, that we'll be reigning over the nations, but also in verse 3, even the angels. Why? Because we'll be reigning with Jesus Christ. But now, let's come from that promise to the next conditional statement where he says, if we deny him, he also will deny us. Now, this is troubling to many Christians. This is something Jesus taught earlier in redemptive history as he was in his earthly ministry, Matthew 10, 33. Jesus said, but whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my father who is in heaven. Now, one thing we have to define is what does it mean by denial? As the old saying goes, denial isn't just the river in Egypt, right? No, this kind of denial, I believe, is an ultimate denial. A denial not that believers will sometimes engage in, but one that is ultimate for unbelievers. So if you're thinking of a paradigm, kind of a model in your head, think of two different men. Think of Judas and think of Peter. Isn't it true that Peter denied Jesus Christ three times? In fact, he did so at Jesus' darkest hour. Oh yes, that is true. But did Jesus allow Peter to perish? No. In fact, he reestablished him three times. Why? Because Peter belonged to Christ. But Judas denied Jesus, also in his darkest hour, And he perished, the son of perdition. Why? There was no faith that he ever had, nor was he brought to repentance. And so I want you to think about the denial that's being referred to here would be that of Judas. That there was never legitimate faith, nor a confession of Christ. And therefore, this person perishes. Let me give you an illustration of why it's so important to confess Christ. One of the reasons why we confess Christ is because with our mouth, we're revealing what we truly believe. And that's why if we never confess Christ, it's evident that we really don't believe. Remember, Peter becomes an apostle, he confessed Christ. In fact, he dies crucified upside down because he wouldn't stop confessing Christ. Think about in the more modern era, how many remember Larry King live? Remember the guy with the garlic commercials, he always has the suspenders and the glasses? Well, he used to have evangelical pastors on a time or two. I'll never forget, he had Joel Osteen on, and he asked Joel Osteen, tell me, he said, is Jesus Christ the only way to salvation? Joel Osteen punted. I wouldn't say that. For me, that's true, but maybe not for any other person out there. He wouldn't confess Christ. Now, I don't know, ultimately, maybe he has now, and maybe he'll turn in the future. But contrast that with every time John MacArthur was on. Larry King, are you telling me that there's no salvation outside of Jesus Christ? John MacArthur would say, yep. That's precisely what I'm saying. John 14, 6, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. He would get into the scriptures, and he'd show the data. He would confess Christ. Brothers and sisters, you and I have to confess Christ. And true believers will confess Christ. Why? Not because we're superstars, but because Christ, the great promise keeper, is going to be the one who enables us to do so. That's the great promise that we see in Scripture. Now, as we come to verse 13, we come to a passage that should be shocking. that despite our failings, Christ remains faithful. 2 Timothy 2.13, it says, if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. Now, one thing I want to point out here is notice the term faithless in the Protestants. Faithless comes from pastuo. Pastuo is the verb to believe, to have faith. But I would render this more than likely being unfaithful. Why? Well, because here you have apostilo, the alpha privative is assigned to it, but here Jesus is being referred to as pisto. So that's pisto, this is apostilo, just like an atheist versus a theist. Now, why am I laboring this point? Well, Jesus doesn't have faith in the sense that he has to trust in himself for the forgiveness of sins. No, the idea is that he's faithful, so therefore it must mean that we are unfaithful. That's the contrast that's being intended. Now, what does it mean then that we are unfaithful? I think the context clearly supports the idea that this is referring to a Christian who has not lived up to their Christian obligations, either because of sin or a failure to confess Christ under persecution, something like that. It's a failure like Peter the Apostle had. Now, you would naturally expect, because all of the other responses were commensurate, you would expect judgment. But you don't. You get the idea that he's faithful. Now, when it says Jesus Christ remains faithful, why? Explanatory four. It explains why he's going to be faithful. For he cannot deny himself. Jesus Christ is God. As it says in Hebrews 13, 8, Christ Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And because he's God, he cannot lie, he cannot change, he cannot go against a promise, as we see in Malachi 3, 6, I the Lord do not change. And so he is going to keep all of his promises that he's made to his people. That's the great promise that we see here. Now, one thing though that scholars do wrestle with, and I think we have to wrestle with it as well, when it says he remains faithful, faithful to do what? There's two options. He could be faithful to judge, some scholars believe that, or he could be faithful to save. I believe overwhelmingly through the data of the New Testament that it's the latter. Why? Because when the Apostle Paul uses either the faithfulness of God or the faithfulness of Christ throughout the New Testament, uniformly it is used of the salvation of God's people and not of judgment. Let me give you a couple of examples. You don't have to turn to it for the sake of time. Just jot this down. 1 Corinthians 1.9. 1 Corinthians 1.9. Listen to the faithfulness of God as Paul explains it and what it's for. 1 Corinthians 1.9, Paul says, God is faithful through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1.9 was the faithfulness of God for our damnation, our judgment, or for our salvation. It was for our salvation. Now, there's many other passages we could turn to, but for the sake of time, 2 Thessalonians 3.3. 2 Thessalonians 3.3, another one to jot down. Paul talking about the faithfulness of Christ, he said, but the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. Now, again, is that faithfulness of Christ for our judgment or for our salvation? It's for our salvation. And so clearly, I think that's what Paul has in mind here. Now, I want to bring you back. I know many of you have heard me mention this numerous times, but we always have new people. I want to bring everyone back to the promise that Jesus Christ gave at the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 15. The reason I want you to think about Genesis 15 is there the Lord made an unconditional promise to Abraham and by extension all believers. Think of it this way, the Abrahamic Covenant which occurs 400 years prior to the Mosaic Covenant is really ratified and fulfilled in the New Covenant. Okay, that's how we should think of it. So go back to Genesis 15 and recall that the Lord himself brought Abraham outside. Now who was the Lord? I think it was the pre-incarnate Christ, the second person of the Trinity. He brought him outside. the Lord of heaven and earth. And he said to Abraham, count the stars so as the stars are, so shall your seed be. Now why does he say that? The seed promise goes all the way back to Genesis 3.15, where the seed of the woman would one day come and crush the serpent's head. And we see that seed is going to come from Abraham. And in Genesis 15.6, it says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. believed and he was saved. But isn't it interesting right after that if you read the narrative Abraham says, so how do I know that I'm going to receive this? And so God is so gracious, Jesus Christ, again the pre-incarnate Christ is so gracious He says, let me show you how. Take these animals Abraham, and by the way these animals end up comprising the sacrificial system some 400 years later. He has Abraham cut these animals in two. Now why does he do that? Because he's not just making a covenant, he's cutting a covenant. Because if you lived in 1880 B.C. as Abraham did, if you wanted to settle a score or have a peace agreement or covenant with another tribe, you would cut a covenant. So let's say I'm warring with another tribe. We would take an animal, we would cut it in two, we would allow the blood to flow, and I would walk the blood path and say, if I go against the terms of the covenant, me and my tribe, may what happened to that filthy animal happen to me in sevenfold. And then the other party would do the same thing. They would walk the blood path, and they would say, if we go against the terms of the covenant, may what happened to that filthy animal happen to me Now, why is that important for Genesis 15? Because remember, after Abraham cuts the animals, he goes to sleep. And who alone walked the blood path? The Holy One of Israel. The second person of the Trinity, I believe, a Theophany. He walks the blood path saying, if I go against the terms of the covenant, if I don't live up to my promises, may what happened to this filthy animal happen to me, the Holy One of Israel, in sevenfold. That's the implication. That's why the writer of Hebrews could say in Hebrews 6, because he could swear by no one greater, he swore the oath by himself, because he alone is the promise keeper, faithful to save. That's who you serve. Now, let me talk about a couple of implications that I want to refer to before we get into the applications themselves. In light of the fact that Jesus Christ alone is the promise keeper, one thing we should take away from this is we ought to be very circumspect and very cautious about ever making an oath. So says Jesus in Matthew 5, so says James in James 5.12. In fact, turn your Bibles to James 5.12. Turn your Bibles there, please. James 5.12. James 5.12. Notice what James says here. James 5.12, he's prohibiting oath-taking. He says, but above all, my brethren, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but your yes is to be yes and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment. Why did James teach that? Why did Jesus teach that? It was very common in Jesus' day for the religious leaders of Israel to make all sorts of promises by swearing oaths. And very craftily, what they would do is they would always swear not by God's name, but by Jerusalem or by their own reliability, their head they would sometimes use, their own body. But they would never dare to use God's name because that was binding. And so the fact that they would even swear an oath and never use God's name showed that they weren't serious. And the problem is they didn't keep their word. And so the problem is, because you and I, even as believers, are often faithless, we often don't live up to the obligations and to the promises and oaths that we make. Now, I don't think James or Jesus would prohibit every oath. like the oath, for example, that you're taking really when you're married or when you're on the witness stand. Those would be exceptions that are necessary. But the idea is we shouldn't be those who say, well, I swear to God I'm going to do this. And you hear people say that a lot. Very flippant with signing God's name to promises that they're not going to keep. We're not to be that kind of people, knowing our own frailties and knowing that there's really only one true promise keeper the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you remember in the 1990s there was a movement called The Promise Keepers? It was started by a football coach, a very good football coach of Colorado, Bill McCartney. But it was a very misguided organization because, ironically, Bill McCartney and the men who followed him, they broke their promises, most of them. Why? Because that's who we are as faulty and frail human beings. You see I would have heartily endorsed promise keepers as a movement if the movement had thousands of men go to an arena and say let's teach about the true promise keeper the Lord Jesus Christ what he's what he has done and what he's going to do. But instead they extol their own virtues is extolling your virtue the gospel or is it extolling Christ the promise keeper the gospel. Dear ones Jesus Christ is the promise keeper you and I aren't. Second implication behind this is that you and I must persevere in the faith, true believers do. But the great news, as we're going to unpack even in the applications, is the power of God is going to keep you persevering. The promise keeper who lives forevermore is going to hold you in his grip so that you persevere until the last day. That's the great news. So, two applications. And again, these two points both have to be held together. Number one, we must know that true believers in Christ will persevere in the faith. They will. We're going to persevere. But number two has to be held with it. We must know Jesus Christ will preserve all those who have trusted in Him. We must persevere. It's Christ who enables it. Both are true. We have to affirm both from the Scriptures and there's no contradiction. Okay, so let's begin with number one. One of the key concepts again in this whole passage is Paul wants Timothy to persevere no matter what the circumstances. Now, what do I mean by persevere? Again, remaining in Christ in both doctrine and deed, or you could say faith and obedience. That's the idea of persevering. That you don't start with Christ one day and move on to something else later. You persevere and endure in Him. Now, there are different views in evangelicalism regarding the eternal security of the believer, because that's an issue with perseverance. Let me put up the three different options. Number one, Some evangelicals believe that believers can lose their salvation. These are typically those who are Arminian, not because they're from Armenia, as I mentioned the other week, but because they're followers of Jacob Arminius the theologian. The logic goes like this, because you have the ability to believe and salvation is of humanity, you therefore have the ability to walk away and you can lose your salvation. That's the idea. I don't believe that that's biblical. All right? Now, second option that's very common, you'll hear this phrase in evangelicalism, is once saved, always saved. And yes, that is a true statement. However, I don't like the way it's worded. And let me explain why. The way that's worded implies wrongly to some people that they can be, for example, five years old, raise their hand at a revival meeting, come to Christ, but then live another 90 years of their life for the devil, having nothing to do with Christ, and on their deathbed said, well, you know, back when I was five, I raised my hand, I must be okay, once saved, always saved. No. Yes, it's true, if you're saved, you're always going to be saved. But a better way of rendering that is believers will persevere. that a believer in Jesus Christ will never abandon him, and if we do, we're going to be re-established by the Lord. Yes, we do falter at times, but it'll be short-lived. That's the idea. All right, now let me show you where this is true from the Scriptures. Remember in Romans chapter 8, Paul was talking about the glorious promises of the future that awaited every Christian. Romans 8.25, Paul said this, he said, but if we hope for what we do not see with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it. Now, I want you to notice, first of all, the term hope. The term hope there is really synonymous with faith. In fact, one verse earlier in Romans 8, 24, Paul says, for by hope we've been saved. Okay, so you know that Paul sometimes says, by faith we've been saved. Sometimes he says here, by hope we've been saved. So why does he use hope here and not faith? Because hope is faith that is oriented towards the future promises. Not just what Christ has done, not only what He is doing, but it's oriented towards what He's going to do. And because we are those who believe that those promises are true, the idea is with perseverance we wait eagerly for the promises. Now, it's interesting to note that the term perseverance there comes from hupomone. It's the noun form that we talked about earlier. Hupo meaning hyper, mone meaning remain. That we stay put in Christ. That we don't start with him and go to Buddha or go to becoming spiritual. We don't go to the New Age. We don't go to yoga. We don't go to pantheism. We don't go to all of the trappings of this world. We remain in Christ. That's the idea. Now, what about when we fail? That's a logical question because there are times when we fail. The Apostle Peter did. What about that? Well, let me illustrate the difference between a believer and an unbeliever. Think about there being a road to salvation. And on that road to salvation, the believer is walking and we fall off into the mud puddle of sin. When we fall into the mud puddle of sin or unbelief, we can't stand it. We're convicted, we're not condemned, we're convicted, and we have to get out of that mud puddle. We get out, and we get back on the road all by God's grace. Contrast that with the unbeliever. They're walking on a different path altogether. They fall in the mud puddle, and when they're in the mud puddle of sin, they love it. There's nothing wrong with it. In fact, they get their umbrella out, and they put on the suntan lotion, and this is great. That's the difference. And that's why we see the great promise in 1 John 1 through 9 where, remember John said, if we say that we have no sin, who's the we? It's believers. If we as believers say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, the promise keeper is faithful and just. and he'll cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Brothers and sisters, one of the ways that you and I persevere is always having a short list with the Lord. It's never too early to repent and admit your wrongs and he will, he will cleanse you. And you'll keep on that path, the narrow path to glory. Okay, let's come to our second point here. And that is that the good news revealed in the scriptures is that Christ is gonna be the one who enables you to persevere. Isn't that good news? I know I need that because I goof it up notice the great promise Jesus gives John 10 27 through 29 He says my sheep hear my voice And I know them and they follow me and I give eternal life to them and they will never perish And no one will 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 the father's hand Notice, first of all, in blue, the reference to Jesus' sheep. The sheep here are Christ-elect. How do we know that? Because one verse earlier, in verse 26, Jesus rebuking the unbelieving Jews, he says, you don't believe because you're not of my sheep. Now, here he says, my sheep hear my voice. And notice the idea of hearing. The idea of hearing here isn't just that they hear words going through their eardrums that Christ says. or that the preacher who is preaching the Gospel says. But the implication is they hear with faith. Just like remember the famous Shema, Hear O Israel, Deuteronomy 6.4, it was their test of orthodoxy. Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is one. What did it mean to hear? Did it mean just hear the sounds going through your ears? Or to hear and believe that we're not polytheists like the pagan nations, but there's one God, the God of Israel. It meant the latter. It's hearing with faith. Why? Because they're the sheep. Notice he says, and I know them, they follow me, and I give eternal life. Technically, I like the phrase or the rendering everlasting life. It is life without end. Why? Because technically only God is eternal, without beginning and without end. You and I had a beginning, but we will never have an end. it's everlasting life. And notice the great promise here. In verse 28, I love this, he says, and they will never perish. Let me get a little nerdy with you. That is a negation of the subjunctive mood. Let me explain the significance of that. In the Greek language, there's different moods. Normally, when you're reading your Greek New Testament, the vast majority of it's what's called in the indicative mood. It simply means it indicates what's going on. Jesus said this. He went here. The disciples got in the boat. It's just indicative. They're doing that. There's another mood called the subjunctive mood, which has to do with probability. That is actually what's being negated here. So think of the significance. It's not just that Jesus is saying that they won't perish. He's saying there's not even a possibility of any future perishing for them. It's the strongest, most emphatic way to deny the possibility of something in the Greek language. That's how secure Christ's sheep are. Why? Are we secure because you and I are holding on by our fingernails onto the Lord Jesus Christ, hoping we can persevere? No, we hold on because He holds on to us. No one can snatch them out of His hand. Over the years, many of you have probably gotten an email from Diane DeWay, being the wife of the pastor of this congregation for those years. Many, many years, she still writes the same email. Remember how she ends it, held in his grip. That's exactly right. She's getting that from this passage. And I want you to see, dear brothers and sisters, not only are we being held in the grip of the Son, but also in the Father's hand. Why do I say that? Because Jesus himself promised as he prayed in John 17 11, Father keep them. What does that mean? The Father is going to answer that prayer and is going to hold on to us as well. The salvation and perseverance of the believer is depicted in the New Testament as a Trinitarian affair. sealed by the Spirit until the day of redemption, held firmly by the hands of the Father and the Son. You will persevere. The Lord Jesus will enable it. In fact, let's look at the great promises that we have. I love Romans 8 because there Paul reaches the crescendo and shows us, under the authority of Christ, that for believers there's nothing that will ever separate us from the love of God, from the love of Christ. Notice what he says. Romans 8, 37 through 39. He said, but in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us, for I'm convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I remember there was a man some years ago that used to be part of a congregation, and he would come up to me quite often, and I really believed that he was a true believer, but he was always concerned about losing his salvation. It was almost a weekly affair, and I would always bring up passages like this, or John 10, 27 through 29, to show him his security, and to show him that it was a good thing he was concerned about sin in his life. I didn't want to poo-poo his concerns. But what's interesting is he says, well, you know, I know that there's no angel that could ever separate me from Christ's love, but what if I choose to walk away? And I pointed to the passage that you see on the screen where it says, nor any other created thing. And I asked him, are you a created thing? And he had to affirm he was. I said, well, then you can't separate yourself. The Holy One of Israel, the Great Promise Keeper, will keep you. Why was this all important to Timothy? That the Great Promise Keeper would be faithful even if he was faithless? Because he probably blew it, like you and I have. He probably felt the same pressures that you and I do. I've seen the news. I read a little bit. I mean, leisure time. And I see Marxism on the rise in America. And I don't have to tell you that wherever Marxism has gone and flourished, Christians and the godly suffer. It happened in the Soviet Union. It happened in China. It happened in North Korea. It happened in Vietnam. It happened in Cambodia. It happened in Cuba. It's happened in Venezuela. Now maybe we'll be some shining example, but the clouds of war and darkness seem to be upon us. I think much like Timothy felt, as he felt all alone with his spiritual mentor, ready to be beheaded. The same message, brothers and sisters, applies to us. That no matter how we've botched it, no matter what we face, no matter what our circumstances, you and I are to never give up. Why? Because the Holy One of Israel, the great promise keeper, is going to hold us firm. And He's going to bring all of His promises to us. because he remains faithful, even if we're faithless. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for these promises. Lord, I do pray for my brothers and sisters that we would be the ones who persevere with all of the other saints, that we would live lives that are pleasing to you in doctrine and deed, that we wouldn't just be hearers, but also doers of the word, that you would put the gospel upon our lips, that you'd give us ample opportunity to preach your word so that others may live and find the forgiveness of sins. We do pray, Heavenly Father, that you would keep us during times of persecution that may come. We do pray for our government. We pray for wisdom of our leadership. We pray, Lord, that we may live peaceful lives being about your gospel and your kingdom. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.