This message is about the grace of God that keeps us in the grace of God.
It’s estimated that 215 million people have heard the gospel face to face from Billy Graham. It’s estimated that between 2 and 3 million people accepted Graham’s invitation to receive Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. I think it’s safe to accept Billy Graham as an expert in this area of outreach which we’ve been studying.
Billy Graham estimated that only about five percent of those who accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior were involved in church in any way, shape, or form five years later. He and his team followed up with those who filled out cards signifying their acceptance of Jesus and found that only about five percent were involved in a church five years later. If you care about outreach, what do you do with that statistic?
That’s what we are going to be thinking about in this last sermon on the doctrines of grace. We’re going to be thinking about what’s called the perseverance of the saints. There’s a lot of confusion on this matter. We can hopefully clarify some of it this morning. We’ll see that if it was God who began the good work, He’ll bring it to completion. That’s the claim of this sermon: if it was God who began the good work, He’ll bring it to completion. Was it God who began the good work in every one of those 2-3 million or was something else going on?
We’ll study this in two points. First: the perseverance of the saints. Second: principles to remember. First, we’ll think about the doctrine itself. Second, we’ll think about principles to remember.
First: the perseverance of the saints. Let’s review a bit. We’ve seen that the Father chooses hearts that would otherwise never choose Him. We’ve seen that Son of God died to give new hearts to us rebellious people whose hearts opposed Him. We’ve seen that the Spirit makes this change of heart happen through the gospel. We’ve seen that this is all of God. Now we see that these new hearts persevere because God keeps them persevering. “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus,” as Paul told the Philippians. God keeps new hearts moldable and receptive. That’s the perseverance of the saints.
That’s very different from the idea that someone who once expressed interest in Jesus is saved even though they aren’t now following Jesus in any measurable way today. Perseverance of the saints is all over the Bible. The idea that having once had some sort of contact with Jesus saves isn’t found anywhere in the Bible. Grace-changed hearts persevere because grace is still working in them.
Jesus told a parable about this—the parable of the soils. Some hearts stay hard as hard as roads. The seed of the gospel doesn’t enter at all. Other hearts are rocky soil. They receive the seed of the gospel liking what they hear, but when trouble comes or the word causes them trouble, they pull away from Jesus. Other hearts are soil with weeds. The weeds are the worries or the good stuff of this life that come to dominate the heart, so the heart pulls away from Jesus. It’s not too hard to map those soils on to the ninety-five percent who had no connection with the body of Christ five years after filling out that acceptance card. You want to be the good soil that keeps bearing fruit. You want the new heart.
Having once had a connection with Jesus does not save. Judas once had a connection with Jesus. That man heard more of Jesus’ teachings than me or you. He went out with the rest of the disciples on their mission trips. He almost certainly healed people in Jesus’ name. Judas also had a hard heart until the day he died. Sure, he felt bad that he was part of Jesus getting killed. He didn’t want it to go that far, but that doesn’t mean he believed Jesus was who he was. He never had living faith in Jesus, and so, of course, he didn’t persevere.
Demas once had a connection with Jesus. We saw that he was one of the workers who sent greetings to the church in Colossae. The last we hear of him is that he turned his back on it all seemingly having a heart with weeds—the worries of the world and love of the world pulled him away from Jesus. We don’t know how Demas’ story ends. God does. You’re not here to think about Demas this morning, though; you’re here to think about you. Will you be pulled away from Jesus?
Now the perseverance of the saints is not about some of us having the legs to keep running, the willpower to keep moving forward, and the spiritual stamina to last and others of us simply not having the right stuff. It’s about the God who first changed the heart to want Him more than anything continuing to keep the heart changed to want Him more than anything and other hearts remaining dead despite much activity.
If you find yourself nervous about all this talk of perseverance because you are afraid you don’t have what it takes, you are on the right track. Think about Peter. He thought he had it in him to persevere with Jesus through anything. He told Jesus, “Though [all your other disciples] fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” If you think only sustaining that sort of willpower and perfect track record will keep you saved, keep listening. Jesus told Peter that before the night was over, Peter would, three times over, deny that he knew Jesus. Peter heard what Jesus said, thought Jesus had woefully underestimated him, and then three times denied that he even knew Jesus before the night was over. That’s what Peter’s strength can do. That’s what Adam’s strength can do. That’s what the willpower within any of us can do. So, if you’re fearful that you don’t have what it takes to persevere, that’s a good sign. You know you need massive help all the way to the end. You still need grace. That’s why these are called the doctrines of grace.
This isn’t about your willpower. It’s about God’s power to keep you on your knees, repenting. If you stop repenting, you’re not persevering. If you’re not repenting, God’s not working. Think again about Peter. When that rooster crowed, Peter didn’t go on as if nothing had happened. He remembered what Jesus had said and wept bitterly. That was God at work. When Peter heard the women say that Jesus had resurrected, he didn’t just scoff and stay in his pity party. He ran to the tomb. That was God at work. When John told Peter that Jesus was waiting on shore, Peter jumped out of the boat and ran to him. He responded to Jesus’ questions, meekly and repentantly. God was still at work in Peter’s heart and so Peter repented. That’s Article 7, “God preserves in those saints when they fall the imperishable seed from which they have been born again, lest it perish or be dislodged. Secondly, by his Word and Spirit God certainly and effectively renews them to repentance so that they have a heartfelt and godly sorrow for the sins they have committed; seek and obtain, through faith and with a contrite heart, forgiveness in the blood of the Mediator; experience again the grace of a reconciled God; through faith adore God’s mercies; and from then on more eagerly work out their own salvation with fear and trembling.”
God continued to work in Peter’s heart and so Peter continued to work out his salvation. That’s Philippians 2:12-13, “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.” Now, Peter wasn’t repenting against his will. He wanted to come back to Jesus, but that’s only because God was at work. That’s how it always works. The only reason you’ve ever repented is because of God, but it really was you, by His grace, who wanted to repent. The perseverance of the saints says that God will keep that up in you until judgment day.
The Bible teaches this doctrine as a warning to those who simply presume salvation because of some past connection with Jesus. The Bible also teaches this doctrine as an incredible encouragement for those who know they need Jesus the way they need their next breath. If you know that you need your next breath, the following verses are for your encouragement—Romans 8:30, “those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.” It’s as good as done. John 6:39, “this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.” John 10:28, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.” 1 Peter 1:5, “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.” Jude 24, “To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, “May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.”
That last phrase is the key, “He will do it.” If you have a heart that longs to submit to God, you didn’t make that heart happen. It is all of God. He’ll keep it going. As Article 8 puts it, “it is not by their own merits or strength but by God’s undeserved mercy that they neither forfeit faith and grace totally nor remain in their downfalls to the end and are lost. With respect to themselves this not only easily could happen, but also undoubtedly would happen; but with respect to God, it cannot possibly happen.” It’s all grace until the end.
That’s the basics of this doctrine. Hopefully it either provokes you to self-assessment or encourages you that God will keep helping you—maybe both. Now let’s draw some principles to remember. That’s our second point. First, do your outreach for Jesus. If you do it for results, you’ll quickly grow discouraged because people respond in erratic ways to Jesus. Very decent people fall away because it never was grace that had captured their heart in the first place. Other people backslide for years as they battle within themselves and then repent.
There is no easy cause and effect in outreach. People you think are receptive will fall of the face of the earth because they don’t want to be found. People you’d given up on will show you just how surprising grace is. Jesus reached out to you. Reach out to treat others the way he treated you. Reach out not for the sake of results but for the sake of Jesus.
So, first, do it for Jesus. Second, keep growing. Growing in commandment keeping is part of persevering. For some of us, walking across the narthex and introducing ourselves to a stranger is a big win. If that’s you, let’s celebrate that win. For some of us, having a visitor over to our house for dinner even though the house is a bit of a mess is a big win. If that’s you, let’s celebrate that win. The key, though, is to keep growing in this.
Maybe you’d like to keep talking about outreach. I listed a couple of books on evangelism in the bulletin. I’d be willing to lead a short-term book discussion on one of those books if enough people tell me they’re interested. If you think this church should grow in this, the church is the people. Let’s grow in it.
First, do your outreach for Jesus; second, keep growing, and third, watch over your own soul. That was Paul’s soul-winning wisdom to Timothy; “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
If you’ve got the new heart, you are a recipient of outreach. Watch over your new heart. That’s part of God working in you to persevere so persevere. That’s Hebrews 12, “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus.” That’s 1 Corinthians 9, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” These calls to persevere are God’s ways of keeping your heart persevering. Take them seriously.
Check your heart. As Peter put it, “make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things—[meaning growing in faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love]—you will never stumble [as in stumble into hell].” Check your heart. If there’s sin that will keep you from inheriting the kingdom of God, put it to death before it puts you to death.
Check your heart. Are you willing to pay much closer attention to this word? Hebrews 2:1, says “we must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” I know that some people think we spend too long in a series working through books of the Bible. I’m trying to keep Hebrews 2:1 with you, “we must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” Some of us might think this sermon is too long. I’m trying to keep Hebrews 2:1 with you, “we must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” Hebrews goes on to give example after example of what it looks like when people don’t pay the most careful attention to what God says. I don’t want that for you or for me. That means we pay the most careful attention to what we’ve heard.
As we close, let’s see where we’ve been. Please bring up the first picture.
We’ve seen that this gospel is the power of God unto salvation in Canton, China, and—in our second picture, here in Canton, South Dakota, which I learned is named Canton because it was thought to be on the exact opposite side of the earth from Canton, China.
The same gospel is just as needed and is just as powerful in both places.
It’s the power of God unto salvation here—please bring up the third slide.
Here’s a photo of the subway map leading to Inwood, New York. Since I took that picture for work related reasons, that trip became a tax write off.
The question, though, isn’t really whether we think the gospel can do its work in Inwood, New York. The question is whether we think the gospel can do its work here. Please bring up the last slide.
It’s easy to assume God that can bring changes when you don’t know the place or the people. It’s something else entirely to believe God can bring changes among a people and place you know so well. Do you think His grace has what it takes here? Amen.