PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS
NOVEMBER 27, 2005
(Col 1:21-23 NKJV) “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled {22} in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight; {23} if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.”
SIMILAR “IF” PASSAGES
(John 8:30-32 NKJV) “As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. {31} Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. {32} "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
(Heb 3:6 NKJV) “…but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.”
(Heb 3:14 NKJV) “For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end”
(Luke 8:13-15 NKJV) "But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. {14} "Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. {15} "But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.”
WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE WHO FALL AWAY?
(1 John 2:19 NKJV) “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 they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”
(Mat 7:22-23 NKJV) "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' {23} "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
(2 Tim 2:18-19 NKJV) “who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some. {19} Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity."
GOD’S SOVEREIGNLY WILL FINISH THE WORK
(Phil 1:6 NKJV) “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”
(1 Th 5:23-24 NKJV) “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. {24} He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”
(John 6:37-40 NKJV) "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means 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} "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. {40} "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."
(2 Th 3:3 NKJV) “But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.”
(Heb 7:25 NKJV) “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
(Heb 12:2 NKJV) “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
(Heb 10:10-14 NKJV) “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. {11} And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. {12} But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, {13} from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. {14} For by one offering Hehas perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”
(Rom 8:29-31 NKJV) “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. {30} Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. {31} What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
(Rom 8:33-39 NKJV) “Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. {34} Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. {35} Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? {36} As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." {37} Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. {38} For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, {39} nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
(Luke 22:31-32 NKJV) And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. {32} "But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren."
WHAT ABOUT OUR FREE WILL TO WALK AWAYOR JUMP OUT OF HIS HAND?
(Phil 2:13 NKJV) “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
(Jer 32:40-41 NKJV) “'And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. {41} 'Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.'”
(Heb 13:20-21 NKJV) “Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, {21} make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
(Jude 1:24 NKJV) “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy”
(1 Pet 1:4-5 NKJV) “to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, {5} who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
THE HOLY SPIRIT INDWELLS THE NEW CREATION
(2 Cor 5:17 NKJV) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
(John 14:16-17 NKJV) "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever; {17} "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
(Ezek 11:19-20 NKJV) "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, {20} "that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.”
(Rom 8:9 NKJV) “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”
(1 John 2:27 NKJV) “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”
SEALED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
(2 Cor 1:21-22 NKJV) “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, {22} who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”
(Eph 1:13-14 NKJV) “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, {14} who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”
(Eph 4:30 NKJV) “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
“ETERNAL” LIFE
(John 10:28-29 NKJV) "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone 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 My Father's hand.”
(Heb 9:12-15 NKJV) “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. {13} For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, {14} how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? {15} And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
© 2006 Reverence Bible Church
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