Pastor Babij’s continues his Doctrines of Grace series with today’s teaching on the Perseverance/Preservation of the Saints. Pastor Babij explains how this doctrine is the Scriptural conclusion of the chain of salvation that begins with the total depravity of man and ends with God’s power keeping the saints heaven-bound. Pastor shows from the Bible that while believers can backslide, at some point God brings them to repentance and restores them to full fellowship with Him. Meanwhile, Christians are continually responsible to obey God and display the fruit of salvation in their lives.
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okay this morning I am continue on continuing to press on in looking at this great truth of the doctrines of grace and I just want to remind everyone that this coming week Saturday November 4th 1 p.m. all are welcome to attend the marriage ceremony of Esteban Soto and Melinda mother here in the sanctuary refreshments will be provided after in the fellowship hall and that’s going to be this week and so continue to pray for that and if you would would like to attend you’re welcome to do that let’s pray as we go forward this morning Lord this morning as we look at your word we thank you for the awesome privilege of having it in our hand and having it it not only in written form but all kinds of forms today in in all the devices that we have and I just pray Lord that our minds would be not only thinking about the Word of God on Sunday but it would be thinking about it on Monday through Friday and Saturday and then until next week so Lord transform us in our mind with the Word of God and I pray Lord that these truths that I’ve been laying out would be important for us to chew upon so they would become part of us and that we would learn to trust in your sovereignty completely in the matter of everything especially salvation and Lord I prayed this morning you would just open thy word to us as we look at these passages and convict us and inform us by the Word of God of what you accomplished in our salvation and I pray this in Christ’s name Amen I heard a commentator asked one time a well-respected theologian actually he asked what is the primary thing the world needs today and the theologian said the primary thing the world needs today more than anything else is to learn about God well then the commentator asked another question what is the primary thing the church needs today and that theologian said the primary thing the church needs today more than anything else is to learn more about God see that’s what we need the most and the Word of God provides us that information if we are giving ourselves to the Word of God and to the hearing study meditation of the Word of God so we’ve been examining the grandest most joy producing doctrines in all of Scripture the great BB Warfield once said that Calvinism by which he simply meant the system of theology that joyfully embraces the rich comforting God exalting self amazing Christ honoring biblical message of the sovereignty of God in salvation and in all things could be summed up in three words God saves sinners he saves sinners that’s what he came to do that’s what he planned to do before the foundation of the world so this morning we are going to be looking at the perseverance or the preservation of the Saints they have been looked at in both ways as we’ve been looking at the list so far the radical corruption I’m looking at the the root pep one unconditional election particular Redemption effectual calling and then the preservation and on the opéra opposite side of that would be the perseverance of the saints now perseverance defined is really the doctrine which says that those who are the elect because they have been the object of God’s eternal degree of election and because they have been the object of Christ’s atonement shall continue in the way of salvation as the same power of God that save them will also keep and sanctify them until the final salvation the phrase the perseverance of the saints actually is lifted from two verses in the book of Revelation revelation 14 verse 12 says there is a there is the perseverance of the saints and then in that passage of Scripture it says who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus now what is able to help us or enable us to keep the commandments of God of the word of God and our faith in Jesus Christ that doesn’t just happen because we have the ability to do that it happens because God is working on us and in us the phrase really gives the strong impression that God’s saving purpose cannot be frustrated by anyone that none of Christ’s true sheep will ever be lost that nothing can go wrong in regard to our salvation because the Saints are guarded by the power of God now saying that I must say this that those who are Christ’s sheep or considered to be the elect may for a time fall into sin even radical sin like such as Peters denial of Christ but God restores them of course by fatherly discipline he restores them to fellowship with himself and with the body of believers and then assures them again of their eternal salvation because one thing that’s going to rob you of your eternal outlook of salvation is your own sin sin causes us to doubt even our position as believers so this salvation involves the work of the Trinity all who are chosen by God the Father in eternity past and redeemed by Christ the Son and given faith by the Holy Spirit are eternally saved they are kept in faith by the power of the Almighty God and thus preserved or persevere to the end they persevere in faith because he preserves them so those two things put together and last time when I was looking at Romans chapter 8 and verse number 30 we saw the chain of events here this is a the very fact that these whom he justified those he also glorified and this is an unbroken chain in Scripture this is the plan of God it cannot be changed by anyone from God for knowing us to God predestinated us to God actually calling us and then after calling us justifies us in Christ and then will ultimately glorify us so perseverance has to do with God keeping us and persevering with us until we are in glory with him until we drop off these bodies and go into glory and we stand in his presence now the if you remembered your past science classes when you learned about the law of inertia this law teaches that objects at rest tend to stay at rest until acted upon by an outside force and objects that are in motion tend to stay in motion until acted upon by an outside force so by way of illustration before conversion before you came to Christ you were in a sense at rest in other words dead in your sin dead to God and then the gospel came the power of God and unto salvation and that power moved you it quickened you and made you alive from the dead and then it sets you in motion on the narrow path of eternal life of eternal salvation of eternal redemption so in the natural world God not only created the universe but he also upholds it if he should withdraw his power for even a second the universe would go crashing back into non-existence God creates and sustains the universe the same way is true of our spiritual life God not only recreated us but he keeps us alive spiritually every single moment if he should withdraw his holy spirit from us for even a single moment we too would instantly crash back into our natural depraved natures so I would like to consider this morning again these doctrines of grace and interpret this particular one of that of being the perseverance of the saints and I’m going to look at it in in three ways I’m gonna look at the profession level and then the heart level and then the living level first of all just looking at it from the profession level at the professional level things may seem the same for most people the responses of faith may look the same for those who really believe and those who profess falsely we all know someone who at one time was convicted of sin who earnestly sought relief from the burden of their conscience and who eventually believed the gospel and put their faith in Christ their profession seemed bright they came to church they came to prayer times they lifted up their voice in songs and they worshiped with the Saints together and yet some of them are no longer amongst us they faded out they went back to their old lifestyle they have no desire for the things of God anymore or they went back to some dead religious system that just is based on works we all know somebody like that who professed Christ and now they’re not don’t even care they got pulled back into the world back into their old lifestyle back into their old way of doing things and they have no desire for the things of God any anymore however the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints does not rule out backsliding of a believer the doctrine says that a true believer will not remain in that place endlessly though if that person does that person better put a big question mark beside their profession of faith so many of God’s Saints have backslidden but none have ever a pasta sized none have ever departed completely from the faith and the reason why is because God persevered and preserves them he keeps what he has saved now some people who have fallen into sin but not the grace of genuine salvation are people like David in the Old Testament where David fell but his fall was not total he fell in committing adultery and then fell in actually being cohort and murdering the wife of the woman you burning the husband of the wife of the purr of the woman that he had adultery with a right but we see in Scripture that once David understood and was confronted with his sin and God had mercy on him not to kill him because the penalty in the Old Testament for both of those adultery and murder were death God had mercy on him and this is what he said in Psalm 51 do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain me with your willing spirit so David knew even then with his grievous sin that because of God’s mercy and God’s ability to sustain him David went on to be the man who was after God’s own heart the rest of his life and so God rescued him and neither were Peters fall in faith complete where the Lord even said to Peter but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail and once you have turned again meaning that repented strengthen your brothers so even Peter fell but was rescued and then there are other passages of scripture that tell us that there’s not really any proof that these people actually were believers and fell into sin I would like you to turn to one of those passages in first Timothy chapter 1 and verse 18 through 20 actually is listed there three two particular people there Alexander is one and high many as’ is that the other they didn’t really have any real grace more than Judas according to this passage even though God stepped in and did something about it where it says in first Peter excuse me first Timothy that I say first Peter 1st Timothy chapter 1 verse 18 it says this this command I trot and trust you Timothy my son in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you that by them you fight the good fight keeping faith and a good conscience which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith among these are my many as’ and Alexander whom I have handed over to Satan so that they will be taught not to blaspheme so here there’s really no evidence that these men were had the gift of grace and returned to the Lord it doesn’t mention that they did so this these sinful Falls of the Saints are not recorded in Scripture for our imitation of course they are recorded for our warning we are warned to take heed to ourselves when it’s concerning sin we are warned to watch against temptation we are warned to stand up in spiritual warfare and we are warned to resist temptation when it does come remember temptation is not sin sin is when you give in to the temptation when you bite right so you can be tempted you’re going you’re going to be tempted every day of your life in some way or another but that’s not the sin the sin is when you kind of play with it and then you start thinking about it and then it starts looking good to you and then you finally take it and then you fall into sin so these examples are given to us so we don’t fall into sin so on the professing level some people may look like they’re believers but really they are not believers it’s just like the parable the so so words people heard the word of God they responded even with joy to the Word of God and yet at the end because the trials and tribulations because of the cares of the world they fell away and then Titus tells us that someone can be a professing unbeliever and yet there it proved their unbelief is proof by how they live their life where it says in Titus chapter 1 verse 15 – the pure all things are pure but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure but both their mind and their conscience are defiled they profess to know God but by their deeds they deny him being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed and of course there is the the repentance that leads on to salvation and there’s a repentance that’s just a worldly repentance that produces only death so we’ve seen in the book of Hebrews the dimensions of enlightenment where people can be introduced to the Word of God and they could have all the knowledge they need to come to Christ and they don’t come to Christ right and so if they don’t come to Christ there’s no other sacrifice for sin they end up trampling under their feet the very truth that could save them and there are people like that and of course Jesus warned those who cast out demons and did miraculous works and when Jesus examined them he said to them in Matthew 7 I never knew you depart from me you who do iniquity so it is not in the initial profession but in the under pining truth which is the continuing preservation of God for his Saints now here are some Old Testament passages that I like you to turn to just to these scriptures come under this particular truth Psalm chapter 37 verse number 28 let’s look at that a couple in Psalm and then one in the New Testament a couple in the New Testament and then we’ll look more directly at John chapter 10 but look at Psalm 37 verse number 28 and it says this of course these new Old and New Testament passages teach that God preserves his pea in some 37:28 it says for the Lord loves justice and does not forsake his godly ones they are preserved forever but the descendants of the wicked will be cut off so that particular passage of Scripture you can see there that God does not forsake notice the godly ones not just anyone a particular group of people that he has his attention on and of course those are people that are preserved forever but who are they preserved by they are preserved by the Lord all right and then again in Psalm look over to Psalm 121 verse number three and then verse number seven and eight Psalm 121 verse number three again these pastors scriptures just under girding this particular truth that God preserves his people it says in verse number three of Psalm 121 he will not allow your foot to slip he who keeps you will not slumber aren’t you glad God doesn’t fall asleep at the wheel he doesn’t he doesn’t slumber concerning us and then look over verse seven and eight of that same passage it says the Lord verse seven will protect you from all evil he will keep your soul the Lord will guard your the Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever so this is the assurance that we are getting in the Word of God that God is for his people he is ready to support his people to undergird his people and to cause them to continue on in their belief and in their faith and then of course in the New Testament their second Timothy chapter 4 verse number 18 first Timothy chapter 4 in verse number 18 and the it says there the Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom to him be glory forever and ever so that this passage of Scripture if you notice in it it says that God does the rescuing and then he will bring me safely to my to his heavenly kingdom so God and His plan of salvation has in his mind that when he saves somebody he they will continue in their salvation till the day they die right into in entering into the heavenly kingdom so see these truths when we understand them they bolster our faith they give us confidence that our salvation is something that we don’t keep ourselves save God keeps us safe but we cooperate with God once we’re believers to put into practice the means of grace that God’s given us the preaching of the word of God the study of the word of God prayer the fellowship of believers all those things are put in place for us to have our faith strengthened and so right in that passage of Scripture we see that he brings us right into his heavenly kingdom and then first Thessalonians chapter 5 in verse number 23 and 24 first Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23 and 24 it says now may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ so again we see that passage of Scripture is something where the Lord is preserving his people and he’s preserving them right until the end until we see him so God’s faithfulness began our salvation by calling us his faithfulness guarantees the ultimate completion of our salvation and of course there’s other passages of scripture that I’m not mentioning I’ll probably get to it when I look in first Peter but it says this in first Peter chapter verse 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time so that those scriptures really give us the sense that the Lord is involved from beginning to the end and even on a daily basis in our life to complete the work that he started so what God begins he finishes Philippians 1:6 says for I am confident of this very thing he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus so what Christians confidence resides not in himself but in God God can guarantee a believers preservation and he does that because the god supplies to us security for the Saints because the question may come up and it does come up how can you be sure that you’ll never perish how can you be sure that when you die you’ll go into the presence of God well God has given us certain points of security I want you to take your Bibles now and turn to John chapter 10 and while you’re turning there I mentioned this passage already but I want to read it again in Hebrews 9:12 it tells us that not through the blood of goats and calves but through his own blood he entered the holy place once for all having obtained eternal Redemption and then it tells us thus securing and eternal redemption for us so for the Saints theirs are are actually several points of security from John chapter 10 and they are very simple there’s nothing real complex about them but they are something that gives us great security in our faith when we begin to think about them and understand them and plot applied them to ourselves and the first point of security is this that our eternal security our security is eternal in John chapter 10 and verse number 28 he says at the end of the verse he says and he says there actually the beginning of verse and I will give eternal life to them so in other words in this gift the this the nature of this gift that he gives to them the shepherd gives to them is that he gives to them saving faith now that this means that their life is forever and you know you heard the statement you know once saved always saved and people throw that around sometimes but they throw it around sometimes with the thought that oh god saves me but then I can do whatever I want after I become a believer and that what I do somehow has nothing to do with my profession of faith right and so if that theory is correct or was true and a born-again believer couldn’t lose his faith and become lost then the last thing he could say is that the believer has eternal life so if somebody makes a profession and along the line they believe that they could lose their salvation then I could never tell them from the Word of God that listen when you’re a true believer do every turn of life just like first John 5:13 says these things I’ve written unto you that you to those who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life so in Scripture God wants us to know with great assurance that we have eternal life and so this the nature of this gift has been given by the Shepherd to the sheep but also there’s a this gift has a promise to it and the promised really brings us to the second point of security and that is this that in the first one is that he gives us eternal life to them but the second point would be that security is guaranteed it says in verse number 28 and they will never perish so the seats the Saints are really God’s property they are sealed and will be guarded right down to the day of redemption and the Holy Spirit of course is the guarantee that they will not be lost that is the guarantee that we have and how do we know that because in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse number 13 and then Ephesians chapter 4 and verse number 30 it tells us that it says in verse 13 of Ephesians 1 in him you also after listening to the message of truth the gospel of your salvation having also believed you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit and then of course in Ephesians 4 30 do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed until the day of redemption of course that seal is the seal of ownership that once you become a believer God owns you and he puts his seal upon you and that seal will remain because the only one who could break that seal is God and he’s not going to break it because he’s the one who secured it and so there’s the security we have as believers and then of course there is a the passage of Scripture again as they will never perish that’s the promise that goes along with that second one and then there is a third one and here’s the nature of a United commitment of the Godhead in our salvation and what I’m calling this one is that the third point of security is multiplied and what do I mean by that look at verse number 28 what it says he says I will give them I will give you eternal life to them and they will never perish and no one we’ll snatch them out of my hand that’s Jesus speaking there right so no one can snatch us out of the hand of Jesus we already learned that were sealed by the Spirit of God and then notice in verse number 29 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 so in other words we have a multiple multiple points of security in the Godhead because actually a triple security the father no one could snatch us out of the father’s hand then no one could snatch us out of the son’s hand and no one could break the seal that the Spirit of God put upon us once we became believers so you see that this doctrine of the perseverance of the Saints is everywhere in Scripture it’s it’s everywhere and it’s for our it’s for our confidence so if God has his hand on you who can possibly snatch you from it no one could do it no one could snap you from it and and part of what Paul says in Romans chapter eight he says who will separate us from the love of Christ will tribulation do it no or distress no persecution no famine no that can’t do it nakedness no peril no sword know for I am here it is convinced that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor things present or things to come nor powers nor height nor death nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord so here it is at that profession level God gives us a and a points of security to know that we are genuine believers and that God has his hand on us and no one could mess with that not even demons could mess with that demons have no power over you or me when it comes to our salvation oh yes they contempt you they can torment you they have many influences against believers because you have the image of Christ stamped on you now but they cannot rob you of anything that God gave you unless you give it to them and believe it if you do they’ll take it and they’ll wreak havoc in your life but God doesn’t want us he wants us to stand strong against the the deceptions and the traps of Satan so we would stand strong not in our own power but in the power of the Lord so at the heart level as we move on is that the useful nature of this doctrine is found in the consistent perseverance of the saints why will the true believer continue in the faith and not turn back into the a life of habitual sin why won’t they do it now it’s it’s never because you become perfect you’ll never become perfect but the direction of your life is that you are heading towards heaven but while you’re heading there God’s making you holy he’s making you godly more than you were before and as you do that you you’re beginning to think as God wants you to think you’re beginning to understand that this the Christian life is not it’s an impossible life without the power of God all right so we also know that God’s worked in us where it tells us in Philippians again work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure so the Saints will be identified in in Scripture by really four distinct facts and we’ll will stay right there in John chapter 10 so who are those who persevere it’s the Saints and none other they’re the only ones who persevere and how can you reckon nice the Saints that these are Christ’s sheep well the very fact that we are shape right and so the points of these are the passages that the four distinct this things of Christ’s sheep is Christ’s sheep have saving faith in verse number 26 of John chapter 10 it says very clearly but you do not believe because you are not my sheep now of course I’m using that in Reverse they were commanded by God to repent and believe but in but they did not repent and believe but we do know that those sheep who did repent and believe were sheep that had saving faith that the Holy Spirit enabled the heart of a believer to come to Christ for salvation and eternal life and when that person comes to Christ by the Holy Spirit sweet drawing as I mentioned last time the sinner comes to Christ with full consent without even realizing that there was a secret influence that had been exercised in their heart when they actually trusted Christ as their Lord and Savior so the sheep have saving faith what does that mean it means that the Sheep come to the place where they forsake all human means of salvation everything that they were trusting in is cast on a garbage pile if they were trusting in their good works it’s cast on the garbage pile if they were trusting in the religious system or their church it’s cast on the garbage pile if they were trusting in their own philosophy of life it’s cast on the garbage pile see they realized that there’s all those three things have no nutritional spiritual value for saving the soul or making one right with God even Paul understood in the Word of God that he was trusting in things that would damned his soul that he was heat Paul was of the right race he was about he was with the right rank he was from the right birth he was in the right religious system and yet he desired to keep the law and he realized none of those things could save him all those things and especially the law could bring him to Christ but even the law could not save him so in other words he had to make an exchange he had an exchange all the things he was trusting in to trust in Jesus Christ alone even Matthew chapter 16 26 says this it says for what will a man profit if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul or what will the man give in exchange for his soul there’s really nothing you can give in exchange for your soul and the only exchange you can possibly make is leave aside all the things are trusting in and trust in Christ alone so that’s what saving faith is and saving faith also includes that at that point in your life you are turning from those things you’re turning from your sinful life you’re turning from your unbelief you’re turning from that and why is that is because you are turning to the Shepherd that can save you and that laid down his life for you if you’re still there in John chapter 10 if you notice in verse number nine it says I am the door if anyone enters through me he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture and then verse 11 I am The Good Shepherd the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the Sheep so you realize that listen the doorway to heaven is right through Christ that’s the doorway to heaven and now you understand that you know that sea sheep have saving faith they had the knowledge it takes that’s been given by God to know how to be made right with God they know they know that this is the door the door is Christ he’s the shepherd we have to go through that door why he’s the one who laid down my life his life for my life so I can be saved and then we press on through that door and they’re also saving faith really you come to the place where you are committed it to Christ as the Lord he’s now your master the biblical that biblical faith demands and produces costly and radical changes in one’s life in essence you have a supreme commitment to Christ no one else not additions not not more than him but just him you believe God’s Gospel message you repent of your sin you transfer your trust to Jesus Christ and by a simple transfer of that trust in what in Christ alone is is someone save is his sheep saved so when that call comes to the Sheep a second distinctive becomes very evident in the life of a sheep and remember sheep are very dumb animals they have to be led by a shepherd they cannot fend for themselves a wolf can fend for themselves even though wolves go in packs sheep cannot fend for themselves they have no sharp teeth they have no claws they can’t run fast they don’t really they’re not really that smart they can’t even fight off an animal when an animal comes against them that’s why sheep need Shepherds because the Shepherd protects the flock the Shepherd’s are the Shepherd’s are the ones who watch out for the flock and of course there’s no one greater than Jesus Christ as our Shepherd and he will always lead us beside still waters and green pastures he will always comfort our soul and lead us all the way to the end into his kingdom that’s what he’s going to do so the second thing that sheep have is that is that they hear his voice look at John chapter 10 verse 16 it says and I have other sheep which are not of this fold I must bring them also and they will hear my voice and they will become one flock and one Shepherd of course the other flock are Gentiles the Jews and the Gentiles alright so he’s calling people even today he’s still calling people into that flock but if you notice real simple with wooded sheep do how do you know they’re sheep they listen alright now let me explain that because in verse number twenty seven it says the same thing my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me so that we hear the voice of God before we didn’t hear before we were stiff necked hard of hearing dead we couldn’t hear God’s voice may we may be we thought we did and we interpret it in our own way but to hear Christ’s voice means more then being familiar with his words as they are recorded in Scripture more than believing that they are his words the Lord is requiring more than simply listening respectfully and believing what he says what it means is that his sheeps submit to them they submit unreservedly to his authority as a master remember Christ is our master sin used to be our master but is a cruel master crisis of good master and so we submit to him as the master and his sheep also respond promptly to the orders we don’t give excuses every time the Lord wants us to do something if the Lord says to do it you know what we’re doing as sheep that’s what I want to do that’s what I’m gonna do that’s what I’m planning to do why because God said to do it see they listened to his voice so in other words listening means to obey Him Jesus says if you love me you’re what obey me I don’t know why that concept is so hard for people but it is difficult for people you love Christ well why don’t you do what he says in the word of God why don’t you just do it maybe it’s because you don’t really love Christ maybe you love something else and that’s and you know what the bottom line is this you do what you love you do what you love I do what I love but I tell you what in a sheep’s heart they want to listen to his voice to the point where their obedience is their love for him see that’s what their obedience is it’s not an obedience where you you have to do this and if you don’t do this that’s not the obedience God wants he doesn’t want any unwilling spirits he wants sheep that follow him right that that listen to his voice they’re in tuned with the Word of God when the Word of God has spoken man they are ready they are ready to take it all in and then they are ready to take it in and evaluate their own life and how are they doing with the Lord and then they want to follow that’s what they want to do they want to follow a good passage of Scripture turn to proverbs chapter eight proverbs of course is a keen book on God’s wisdom but in this passage of Scripture it has to do with the very fact of someone listening this case a son listening to the voice of his father now come on dad’s do your sons always listen to your voice mom’s does your daughters always listen to your voice they may say they do yes mom yes dad I’m gonna do it and then what they do they don’t do it right didn’t I tell you that didn’t I tell you that like how come you not listening so they heard the words but they did not define them as doing them the witness says in this passage proverbs 8 verse 32 it says no therefore it says now therefore o sons listen to me 4 blessed are they who keep my ways verse 33 heed instruction and be wise and do not neglect it verse 34 blessed is the man who listens to me watching daily at my gates waiting at my doorsteps now what is that a picture of a doorpost what is that a picture it’s a picture of somebody who’s following the wisdom teacher around waiting for him to speak and when he speaks he’s not letting any word fall down to the ground he wants to listen because he knows this person has the words that I need for this life and not only that this person has the words that I need to persevere in the faith because even though perseverance is our part preservation is in the sense God’s part all right we both cooperate together so that’s what you and I are so we he we’re we have saving faith have been given to us as a gift we hear now our ears are open they hear the voice of our great Shepherd Jesus Christ and then back to verse number 27 there’s the next thing that we see there and this stuff it’s really the third point of distinction between others and the Sheep is that the Christ sheep are known by him look at verse number 227 again it says my sheep hear my voice and I know them see that this is the bottom line there it’s you know what really matters is not that you know God but that he knows you see that that’s now of course it goes both ways right but it starts with God knowing you and if God knows you everything changes if you know God everything changes in your life see your you’re known by God knows who am i I’m a speck I’m a little grain of sand um you know in the in the vast beaches of the world but God knows me he knows my name you know when you’re reading through the Old Testament and you’re reading through all those lineages you know this forget this forget this forget this and you say I think I want to skip over this don’t skip over it cuz then I taught it sooner you reading all that just remember this God knows your name then he knows those people he knows who belongs to who he knows what family they’re in see God knows you and that of course should change you if you know that God knows you in verse number 15 of John chapter 10 it says this even as the father knows me I know the father and I laid down my life for the Sheep so here a union and a communion with Jesus Christ with the Shepherd becomes deeper than any other union that we could ever have God loves us first then we love him and we’re continuing every single day to love him our and I and I would say to people this listen you know what’s gonna really keep you from sin loving Christ that’s what’s gonna keep you from sin because when I I don’t wanna I don’t want to sin against a person it says in Scripture God demonstrated his own love toward us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us and then in Romans 8:28 that famous passage of Scripture we know that God causes all things to work together for the good – what to those who love God and to those who are called according to his purpose do you think God doesn’t know if you love him or not but I tell you what if you’re not obeying him you have to question whether you love him and how far you’ve grown in your love for him if you are if you’re a true believer alright we have to question am I really loving God alright so saying all that brings me to the next distinctive of sheep and this is it in verse 27 of John chapter 10 the sheep follow him they follow me it says in verse 27 my sheep hear my voice I know them and they follow me they follow me and I give them I give life eternal life to them and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand and of course no one will snatch them out of the Father’s hand so the Christ sheep have a heart inclination to love God and to show it by their obedience that’s the bottom line they show it by their obedience and as soon as sheep hear the voice of their true Shepherd they follow or in other words they obey Him they are not bent on following the flesh they are not bent on the solicitations of Satan they are not bent on the ways of the world no they are bent on following Christ whatever it takes and you hear people say that the Christian life is hard and I just mentioned the Christian life is not hard it’s impossible but it is something that we can actually live because God is giving us the power to live it and what is he’s doing he’s it says in Scripture that he he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we may die to sin and live to righteousness so he’s given us a power in Scripture and then it says there for we were continually straying like sheep but now you have returned to the Shepherd and guardian of your souls so here it is there’s that guardianship the shepherding of your soul that comes from God to us which gives us great assurance that God has his hands on us and rescues us all the time from bad situations doesn’t he he rescues us from the way that we wanted to go guys – no you’re not going that way you’re going this way and whatever it takes to get you there I’m gonna and that’s when God disciplines us and he puts a lot of things in our life all kinds of things in our life to get our attention to get us back on the road that we are persevering and cooperating with the Holy Spirit of God so only those who hear and our known of Christ and who follow him shall never perish only those who bear these distinctive marks can lay claim to eternal security if you are Christ’s sheep what evidence do you show nowadays if some someone applies for a passport they they require like six points of identification you need a birth certificate driver’s license marriage license military discharge papers you know current phone number and all that kind of stuff and you have to prove who you are and who you say you are so the burden of proof is put on you as a believer the burden of proof is really put on the Lord and us that we are to have fruits of repentance in our life so God’s Saints are distinguished from all other people not only by what they what what really would would he has done for them but also by what he has worked in them the Saints are endowed with a new life a spiritual life a supernatural principle of life a new nature which affects their whole soul that’s why Paul says in Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17 second Corinthians therefore if anyone is in Christ he’s what a new creation a new creature old things passed away behold all things become new now that’s that’s an important shift of stance and change in sphere because the Apostle is really viewing all people as either in Adam or in Christ a believer moves from one place to another in other words all who are in Christ at least in this passage are new creation and all who are in Adam or remain in Adam are still linked with the old things the old things being the old Adamic nature the old corruption old habits olds the old sinful being which is enslaved to sin but those who are associated with Christ are in Christ and find themselves in a new position in a new sphere in a new place all things truly have passed away but all things have become new and even though there’s still dangers in the Christian life of the flesh of the world of Satan old things have passed away and all things have become new so what does the doctrine of perseverance of the saints teach us what does it teach us if a man if a person is totally depraved depraved I guess I said this ain’t it wrong and can do cannot do anything to help himself spiritually and if God is absolutely sovereign in the matter of election choosing the elect on the basis of his will and his will alone and if Christ death was for the elect guaranteeing their salvation and if God calls the elect irresistibly then it follows that God will assure the final salvation of these elect that is they will persevere to the final end right into glory that’s what will happen to them and that probably is the greatest foundational security that we could ever have in our Christian life is that our salvation is not kept by us but kept by God while we cooperate with the growth process that’s what it what the Word of God teaches so there’s two passages that I kind of want to leave you with this morning and the first one I mentioned last week but again I want to highlight it again it said Jude a bondservant of Jesus Christ and brother of James to those who are called beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ and then another Pat two passages scriptures in Jude notice what this says it says now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy to the only God and Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory and majesty and minion and authority before all time and now and forever amen that’s the whole passage but there is you want to have great joy then these particular truths will cause you to maintain your great joy and to be able to answer the questions with some level of confidence are you one of Christ sheep do you know him do you love him do you obey Him do you desire more than anything else to follow Christ and do you sense that the old things of your life have passed away and since you’ve become a believer new things have come and that you don’t want to look back to your old life you want to look forward to where God’s taking you if you could answer those questions with confidence then you should be confident today that God has a hand on you and that no one will snatch you from his from your secure position because of what he has done in other words salvation is of God alone exclamation mark for that one right let’s pray thank you Lord for the truths that you give us in Scripture and I pray Lord that you would take these and I pray Lord you would cause them to be reminders in our mind in our heart that Lord when trouble comes in our life and when were a little confused and Lord we don’t see clearly at that point I pray that our heart and mind would continually go back to a truth like this knowing that even though my faith seems to be faltering you have your hand on me and you’re not going to give up on one of your sheep you’re going to Shepherd them you’re going to watch over them and you’re going to protect them and cause them to be secure in their faith as they put all their trust upon you Lord so thank you Lord for this truth and I pray Lord that we would not forget it but it would remind us every day of the great work you’ve done on our behalf and I pray this in Christ’s name Amen