one28 PodcastThe Biblical Burdens of Calvinism (Pt 5)
Perseverance of the Saints
Selected Scriptures
April 4, 2007
one28 Sunday worship
We examine the last petal in TULIP this morning. This fifth and final point is not only very important, it is very personal. The perseverance of the saints, also referred to as the security of salvation, is regularly debated and discredited if not flat-out denied.
One of the reasons “security” of salvation troubles us is because we’ve all known family members or friends who said they were Christians and, to different degrees, even lived like Christians who later walked away from Christ. We not only grieve that they turned away, we feel like it is insensitive or arrogant to question the reality of their salvation. In order to be thoughtful and sympathetic some are tempted to conclude that they must have really had, then lost, their salvation.
Of course that’s not the only complication, because we also know people who say they are saved, yet live like the worst of pagans and claim “once saved, always saved” as excuse for their behavior. They say they believe in Jesus, they asked Him into their hearts, and therefore they can’t do anything to lose their salvation. On one hand we know that a person isn’t saved by what they do, but on the other hand we know that believers are dead to sin so they shouldn’t live in it any longer. We’re called judgmental if we question their salvation, but we appear to justify their behavior if we don’t question. Some are tempted to just deny “once saved, always saved” rather than allow others to use it as an excuse for their sin.
But perhaps the biggest problem is the one closest to home, namely our own experience of doubts, fears, and sin. Perseverance of the saints sounds good, but what if we don’t persevere? What if we walk away? Our faith seems real, what if it isn’t? We wonder if we’ll keep believing when sometimes doubt seems so deep and dark. We question our salvation because we’ve sinned…again. Security of salvation is nice for other people, but we are too aware of our weakness, inconsistencies, and remaining depravity to think we’re secure.
So our observations, our experience, and our added awareness of biblical and church history brings little surprise when men make shipwreck of the faith. But there are biblical answers to each of these problems AND there is great confidence of sure salvation available to believers.
The Fifth Biblical Burden
of Calvinism: The Perseverance of the Saints
The Perseverance of the Saints is not only the final puzzle piece to Calvinism, it is one of the most thrilling truths in all of God’s Word. I remember a few years ago at a Shepherds’ Conference when Dr. MacArthur posed the question, “What is the best part about salvation?” His answer was the security of salvation. The reason he gave was that even though each part of our salvation is breathtaking, if salvation isn’t guaranteed to last, what good is that?
The reason he asked and answered the way he did was related to his study of Jude and the spiritual battle for the truth. Most of us would be too scared to even join the army, let alone engage in battle, if we thought there was the slightest possibility of losing our faith and our salvation. We know our weakness all too well. But if our salvation is guaranteed by God Himself then let’s fight!
Our confidence level is always associated with the object of our attention. For example, hope and confidence buoy up to the surface when our eyes are fixed on God (Look Only to Christ) but they nosedive like nobody’s business when our eyes get stuck on ourselves. This is one of the reasons why Calvinism is so good for us, since it reminds us that God saves sinners. Salvation is His work from first to last. The Father chose us in eternity past, based not on us but according to the purpose of His will (unconditional election). Christ came and made atonement for His sheep and He secured our forgiveness (limited atonement). The Spirit gave us new life, gifted us with repentance and faith, and enabled us to hear and follow the Shepherd (irresistible grace).
Every part, all along is God-centered. The only thing we bring to the table is our depravity, which is not helpful and the more we bring the worse we look. So God saves sinners. He planned salvation, purchased salvation, and applied salvation. And don’t think for a moment that He doesn’t guarantee salvation.
The Arminian says all who believe and are truly saved can lose their salvation. Sinners can lose their salvation by failing to keep up their faith, by falling into a state of serious sin, etc. This is consistent with their system because it emphasizes man’s ability and responsibility. It also seems to fit with some passages that make salvation sound conditional, contingent on man sustaining his faith.
The Calvinist says all who are chosen by God, redeemed by Christ, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit are assured eternal salvation. They are kept in faith by the power of Almighty God and therefore continue to persevere in faith. This is consistent with their system because it emphasizes God’s initiative and sovereignty. I’d like us to consider three God-centered parts of His guarantee from Scripture: His Plan, His Power, and His Promise.
1. His PLAN to Finish What He Started
God’s blueprint includes everything necessary to finish salvation, not just to start it. Just like there was nothing we could do to earn our salvation, so there is nothing we can do (in and of ourselves) to keep our salvation. It is entirely His program and production.
The guarantee of our glorification in Romans 8:28-39 is the culmination of Paul’s teaching on the three foremost features of salvation (justification 3:21-5:21, sanctification 6:1-8:17, and glorification 8:18-39).
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Salvation isn’t done until we are conformed to the image of His Son, and we won’t be fully conformed until heaven. Some transformation is presently taking place in sanctification, but our transformation isn’t complete until glorification. His plan includes justification all the way through glorification. Our glorification, that is, our being made perfectly righteous, is guaranteed, and in God’s mind is just as “finished” as our justification (notice the past tense of glorified). That’s precisely why Paul has such confidence in the rest of the chapter.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
“Perseverance” doesn’t mean saints won’t die, it means we won’t stop believing even when we’re faced with dying. It doesn’t mean there won’t be lost battles, it means victory in the war has already been achieved. Absolutely nothing can separate us from His love, which reminds us that His love for us is what keeps us, not our love for Him.
Jesus also talks about eternal security as the will of God in John 6, especially in verses 37-40.
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
All along the plan was to secure the successful, complete salvation of all those chosen by the Father. Jesus will not lose any of His sheep.
So how will He make this happen?
2. His POWER to Help Us Persevere
Not only is it His plan to bring our salvation to completion, His power ensures it. The certainty of salvation is in direct proportion to His ability. Not only that, there is a connection between His laying down His life for the sheep and Him keeping them safe. He is invested in our redemption and won’t give us up.
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 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.
No one will snatch the sheep out of the Shepherd’s hands. Security is the reality. Even more so, no one is able to snatch believers out of the Father’s hand. Insecurity is an impossibility. The sovereign God with supreme power who created the universe exercises that power to keep us. If there was any inability on God’s part there would be uncertainty on ours. But His limitless ability should lead to our total confidence.
Another person who learned much about God’s power to keep His people was Peter, who wrote his first letter after three denials of Christ.
1 Peter 1:3 According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Our eternal inheritance is prepared and kept for us, and we are not going to miss out because God’s power is guarding us.
And notice an additional, little, vital insight in these verses: that we are guarded by God’s power through faith. Faith is the instrument of God’s work in us; it is the channel of God’s power. Those who get God’s power see it as they keep believing. And this is why we talk about perseverance of the saints as opposed to “once saved, always saved.” Is that a true statement? Of course. But no one can use that to lay claim to salvation though they’ve abandoned faith. True salvation is recognized as faith perseveres, and faith perseveres because God maintains it.
This isn’t to say that faith is never weak or never doubts. Peter, with all of his failures, is a perfect example of ups and downs. Remaining sin is real and it will really eat at our obedience and take bites out of our assurance. But true faith is tenacious. It may struggle but it will stay. The overall picture of a truly saved person will be a life of God-strengthened faith that produces visible obedience and that endures.
3. His PROMISE of Eternal Life
And that is why we celebrate His promise of salvation as revealed in verses like John 3:16: whoever believes will have eternal life.
It probably could go without saying, but let’s not overlook the obvious that eternal life is a lame promise without security. Short-term and maybe endless life is not the promise. It is everlasting, never-ending, God-guaranteed eternal life. Those who get eternal life believe, and those who keep eternal life believe because God enabled them to believe in the first place and God keeps them believing after that!
His promise is born out of His plan and is as sure as He is God. We know whom we have believed, and we are convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to us (2 Timothy 1:12).
Let’s also not forget that God has given every believe a down payment on eternal life: the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 1:13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
The Spirit enables faith and fortifies faith and seals faith until our final salvation is revealed.
That does mean that once you are truly saved you are always saved. That also means that those who walk away from the faith were never truly saved.
1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
Those who don’t continue don’t have God’s power. They don’t have God’s power because they don’t have God-given faith. But if your faith is the size of a mustard seed, and if faith keeps keeping your head above water, then you can have great confidence to fight the fight of faith, because God is keeping you save and secure for His sake.
Conclusion
The saints will persevere, because He planned their perseverance, He purchased everything necessary for their perseverance, He guaranteed their perseverance with His Spirit, and we can be sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). His preservation causes our perseverance.
Jude 24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Some Suggested Small Group Questions
- Why is it important if we can or cannot lose our salvation?
- Can a person live any kind of life and still be saved?
- How much can a person sin and still be saved?
- What parts do the Persons of the Trinity play in our perseverance? Father? Spirit? Does Jesus have anything to do with our perseverance? (Look up Hebrews 7:25 for at least part of the answer.)
- Could perseverance of the saints stand alone or does it require points 2-4 (unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace) as well?
- Is it possible to have assurance of salvation? If yes, how? Do you have assurance of your eternal salvation?
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