Perseverance of the Saints

The doctrine we want to examine is the perseverance of the saints. Professor John Murray says this perseverance is not of “believers” but “of the saints.” Saints are those who live a holy life. They live by repentance and the obedience of faith. Today’s evangelicals say that people do not need to repent or obey, but they can continue in their sin and yet be saved. But we are talking about perseverance of holy ones who live by repentance and faith.

The Westminster Confession of Faith defines perseverance as follows: “They, whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved” (WCF, chapter 17, section 1). Perseverance is the final letter in the acronym TULIP (a flower), which is used to describe distinctive aspects of Reformed doctrine. They are total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints.

In Ephesians 1:4 we read, “For [God] chose us in [Jesus Christ] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” The elect will live holy and blameless lives. The elect are loved by God and chosen in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless (meaning saints) in God’s sight. They are predestinated to be like Jesus Christ and they will be effectually called by the gospel preaching of men sent from God.

The elect will hear the gospel, be regenerated by the Holy Spirit, repent and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. These elect will be justified by God the Father and adopted into God’s family. The elect will be progressively sanctified and will persevere to the end, to be glorified.

Not only will the elect believe the gospel, but they will also experience the sealing of the Holy Spirit, as we read in Ephesians 1:13–14: “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” And in Romans 8:28–30 we read, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” Foreknown means foreloved, according to Professor John Murray. Those who are foreloved by God are predestinated, called, justified, and glorified.

The elect will persevere to the end. The triune God will enable his elect to persevere, as we read in the following verses:

• Revelation 2:9–10: “I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Perseverance of the saints.
• 2 Timothy 4:17–18: “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
• 2 Corinthians 12:9: “But [the Lord] said to me [Paul], ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” This is speaking of Christ’s power of the Holy Spirit.

I Non-Elect Sinners Do Not Believe the Gospel

Sinners who are not elect will not persevere. They are agents of the devil. The vast majority of the people in the world are non-elect. They live to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. They do the will of their father, the devil. They may even belong to the visible church, professing faith like Saul, Judas, Demas, and others. They are like bad trees producing bad fruits of sin. They are like the first three soils Jesus spoke about; they produce no fruit because they are unregenerate, dead in sins and trespasses. They will never enter into God’s rest of salvation. They are like the 603,548 people who died in the desert, as we read in 1 Corinthians 10:5: “Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.”

They are like the fruitless branches of John 15, which are cut off, thrown out, dried up, gathered and burned up. That means they will go to hell. They are described by Jesus in Matthew 7:21–23: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” In other words, “Go to hell, you antinomians!”

In 1 John 2:19 we read, “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” This truth has been proved again and again in churches throughout the world where the gospel is preached and where saints are found.

Peter compares such non-elect sinners who leave a godly church to dogs and swine. In 2 Peter 2:20–22 he writes, “If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: ‘A dog returns to its vomit,’ and, ‘A [pig] that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.’”

There are preachers who preach a false gospel, who demand no repentance and no obedience of faith from sinners. Paul says about them, “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve” (2 Cor. 11:13–15).

Such “believers” are not saved, as we read in several places in Hebrews.

• Hebrews 3:18: “And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?” In other words, disobedient people go to hell.
• Hebrews 4:2–3: “For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, ‘So I declared on oath in my anger, “They shall never enter my rest.”’”
• Hebrews 4:6: “It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience.”
• Hebrews 4:11: “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.” Those with true saving faith will obey Jesus Christ as Lord. The devil also believes in God and shudders, but the devil will never repent or obey God.

False believers are dead and disobedient. In Ephesians 2:1–3 we read, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”

They will experience God on the judgment day as a consuming fire, as we read in Hebrews 12:29, “Our ‘God is a consuming fire,’” for they did not fear God. In Hebrews 10:28–31 we read, “Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ and again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

These people are in the church as false brothers. Paul writes, “[This matter arose] because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves” (Gal. 2:4). In due time false brothers in the church will not persevere. They will walk away, sometimes with their whole family, proving themselves non-elect, unregenerate, unbelieving in the Lord Jesus Christ. They will not persevere to the end.

Many churches are synagogues of Satan, full of people who are children of the devil. In these churches, the gospel is not preached and the people are entertained because they like entertainment. (PGM) Such people will also “persevere” to the end, but only to enter eternal hell, as they are persevering in their sin. Of such people Jesus told, “Then [the King] will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41).

II. The Perseverance of the Saints

This church believes in the perseverance of the saints, the hagiois, the holy ones. Saints are those who live holy lives. We read about the saints in the following verses:

• Romans 1:6–7: “And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints.”
• Romans 8:27: “And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”
• Matthew 5:8: Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
• Hebrews 12:14: “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” It is a lie to say that people can practice sin and go to heaven.
• 1 John 3:2–3: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when [Jesus] appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”

From Romans 8:28–30 we learn the following:

1. God works for the good of those who love him. God works all things according to his purpose.
2. God works for the good of those he foreknew in eternity past. Foreloved means those God elected in eternity, as we read in Ephesians 1:4: “He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” In eternity, God chose a few fallen people to be holy and blameless to live with God forever in the new heaven and new earth where dwells righteousness (2 Pet. 3:13).
3. God predestinated these chosen people to be like Jesus Christ, their older brother. They are going to be glorified.
4. God called them effectually to believe in Jesus Christ through the gospel preached by God-sent ministers.
5. The Holy Spirit regenerated these dead elect sinners.
6. The regenerated elect are enabled to repent and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and live all of life by repentance and saving faith.
7. The elect are justified by God the Father.
8. The elect are adopted into the family of God.
9. The elect are being sanctified right now. This is called progressive sanctification; God works in the elect, that they may grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
10. Every elect person will be glorified when Jesus Christ comes again. So we read in Philippians 3:20–21, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” And in 1 John 3:2 we read, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

The elect will persevere to the end. The elect represent the good soil which brought forth fruit—thirty, sixty, and hundredfold. The elect represent the branches of John 15 that brought forth fruit, more fruit, and much fruit for God’s glory. We read of these elect throughout the Bible:

• John 6:37–40. Jesus said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
• John 10:28–30. Jesus also said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
• John 8:31–32. “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” Real freedom comes from the Scriptures.
• Matthew 10:22. Again, Jesus said, “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
• 1 Thessalonians 2:13. Paul writes, “And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.” The word of God is found in one book, the Bible. Elsewhere, Paul says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness that the man of God be thoroughly furnished for every good work” (2 Tim. 16–17). The Bible alone is God’s word.
• Philippians 3:13–14. Paul states, “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” We will persevere to the end.
• Philippians 1:6. Paul writes, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
• 1 Peter 1:4–5. Peter says God gave us new birth “into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”
• 1 John 2:5–6. John writes, “But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus walked.”

Consider Peter, Paul, and Stephen. Peter was crucified, Paul was beheaded, and Stephen was stoned to death. Yet they all persevered to the end. The Holy Spirit dwells in all God’s elect, giving them assurance of salvation, enabling them to persevere to the end. So we read:

• Romans 8:15–16: “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” This is the highest assurance we can have. The Holy Spirit testifies to our spirit and, thus, we have nothing to worry about; we are God’s children!
• 2 Peter 1:10: “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall.”

Those who have been foreloved by God in eternity according to God’s sovereign purpose will persevere to the end to be glorified. We can do so because God himself will enable us to persevere and receive from him:

1. A crown of life (Rev. 2:10);
2. A crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4);
3. A crown of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:8).

We can persevere to the end because we are not alone. God himself is with us to help us and carry us when life is difficult. So Paul wrote that the Lord stood at his side (2 Tim. 4:16–18). This was right before he was beheaded. But God was with him, energizing him to endure hardship. Peter was crucified, but God was with him, strengthening him. And Stephen was stoned, as we read in Acts 7: “When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’” (Acts 7:54–56). God strengthened Stephen by giving him a vision of heaven as he died. Professor J. Gresham Machen, founder of Westminster Theological Seminary, experienced something similar. As he was dying of pneumonia, God gave him a vision of heaven. He told a minister friend, “It was glorious, it was glorious.” There is a heaven, and we are going there.

In Matthew 28:20 Jesus said, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” He is our Immanuel, God-with-us. He is with us to strengthen us and comfort us by the Holy Spirit who is in us. He will never leave us nor forsake us.

Jesus himself relied on the power of the Holy Spirit. In Hebrews 9:14 we read, “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” This verse tells us how God’s Holy Spirit helped Jesus to face his highest challenge: death on the cross. He had prayed, “If possible, remove this cup from me,” but God instead enabled him through the eternal Spirit to offer himself to God.

Thank God for the Holy Spirit! He will never leave us or abandon us. He is with us, he will strengthen us, and he will bring us to heaven.

In John 14:23 Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” This is the highest joy we can have. Can you imagine the joy we will have when God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit come and make their home in our hearts? Fellowship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is described in 1 Peter 1:8–9 as joy unspeakable and full of glory. And this joy will transcend all human suffering. God is with us!

Children of God and children of the devil will persevere to the end. This is illustrated by Psalm 1. There we read, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

Friends, I am on my way to heaven, and my prayer is that all who hear this message will also go to heaven. May God help us all to persevere to the end by the power of the Holy Spirit.