We turn for the reading of God's word this evening to Romans chapter eight, and then Psalm 125. As we consider the matter of the perseverance of the saints, we're reminded of God's eternal degree and its persevering significance, or its preserving significance for the believer from Romans eight, and then we read of the same, Psalm 125. Let's stand together. Familiar words of verse 28 are followed by what has been called the golden chain of salvation. God's purposes to save that are rooted in eternity and stretch forward into the new heavens and the new earth and our final salvation and glorification. And note that unbreakable chain that the apostle sets before the church. Romans 8, 28. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. 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. Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called. Whom he called, these he also justified. And whom he justified, these he also glorified. And we turn in our Old Testament, to our Old Testament reading, Psalm 125. Song of ascents. Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people from this time forth and forever. The scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, lest the righteous reach out their hands to iniquity. Do good, O Lord, to those who are good and to those who are upright in their hearts. As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Peace be upon Israel. And this is the word of the Lord. We turn in the word this evening to Psalm 125. Psalm 125, study the great doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. That once somebody comes to Christ in faith, the promise of the gospel is that that one will make it to the end. to heaven, to glory. And I wonder if you have ever worried about whether or not you would reach that end. It's worth thinking about. There are some significant warnings in your Bible about not persevering and about falling away. Perhaps some of the most sober warnings in the Scriptures are those against falling away. You read in Hebrews 6 verse 4, that it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come." The language here is that of significant and real blessing, of being familiar with the word, the content of the gospel, and being under Spirit-empowered preaching and some level of understanding But if such fall away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame. We call that apostasy. Apostasy and falling away. Now, I just said a moment ago that the Bible teaches very clearly that those who put their trust in Jesus Christ will not fall away. You might ask, then, why the warnings? Well, the warnings are one of the things that God uses to keep you from falling away. to keep you running after Christ. The Christian life is often, well, it's a marathon. It's a long run. Some of you are distance runners. I used to be a distance runner probably about 35 or more years ago. So not much of that left. But if you run long distance, you know that that requires perseverance. You have to keep going. you have to make it to the end. I grew up in Canada, where there was snow, and I understand my son, who lives there now, sent me a picture. There was some snow today. And we grew up interested in winter sports, which I have learned in South Carolina, people are not as interested in, because there's no snow and no ice. But I still remember watching the Winter Olympics every year. And some of these endurance events were Less exciting, but also fascinating to watch, like a 30K cross-country ski race. You know how much energy and dogged determination it takes to finish that? In the cold, it's a long, arduous journey. And against the best in the world. And it is putting everything on the line in a kind of way that we don't often do. Or speed skating, there's these long races and just one little slip or fault and you're gone. You could be disqualified. These feats of endurance in athletics are good pictures of what it is to run the race that is set before us as we look to Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. The Christian life is a long, steady, Christ-ward life. And that requires perseverance. You could either be exhausted and fail to finish a race, so close and never finish, maybe just before the finish line, disqualified in a long race. And those possibilities surely cross the mind of somebody who's following Christ as we think of our own weakness and our own remaining sinfulness. Some people teach that you can, once you're in Christ, fall away and not make it. And we'll see tonight that that is not what the scriptures teach. But others inwardly fear again, because of our weakness, that we might not make it. We ask questions like this, what happens if I die sinning? Or what if I fail just before the finish line? Is there a possibility of losing what Christ has given me? Psalm 125 teaches us and reminds us of the powerful divine grace of preservation, and linked to it, the doctrine of the perseverance of God's saints. That when we begin with Christ by faith, by true and living faith, the promise of the gospel is that we will end with him. That if we have been predestined and called and justified, as Paul says in Romans 8, we just read it a moment ago, the promise of the gospel is that we'll be glorified, we'll make it all the way. That what's been given to us in Christ is an unlosable gift. And that is at the heart of this psalm. We're gonna study a few things. First, at the central truth of the psalm is this matter of perseverance, the perseverance of the saints. And we're also going to look at the fundamental principle of that preservation, which is divine protection. And then finally, we're gonna see that at the center stage of this matter of perseverance is the moral quality of a Christian's life. The measure of our pursuit of Christ and our persevering and following Him is that of a moral quality. It is that moral quality that lies at the heart of the doctrine of perseverance. And we'll see this all from the psalm. The central truth first, the doctrine of perseverance. Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, verse one, which cannot be moved but abides forever. If you strip this statement down to the barest grammatical form, there's a subject, those, and then there is a verb, are or are like Mount Zion. So there are a group of people that are like a mountain. And that's the barest form here. A comparison between this group and this significant mountain in God's purposes and history for his people. An equation of sorts. Those, or that group, is like Zion. Now let's go a little deeper. Who are those? Those who trust in the Lord. And here's a great distinction that already runs through the Old Testament, and again, Paul makes it in the New Testament, Romans 2. He who is a Jew is one who is a Jew inwardly, in the heart. That at the heart of a true follower of the Lord, Yahweh, the God of the covenant, is this matter of trust or faith. That Abraham, the father of the faithful, believed in God, and God accounted it to him for righteousness. That faith binds us to God, unites us to Christ. So those that we're talking about are those who trust in the Lord, Yahweh. I am who I am, the God of the covenant. Those who hold fast to Him, those who reach out to Him, like the woman with the issue of blood this morning, those like Jairus who pray to Him, those like the centurion who believe in Him, for salvation. You trust Him for salvation. You trust Christ. Then you are like Mount Zion. These are true Christians, not in name only, but in heart. Marked by regeneration, the heart of stone has been replaced with a heart of flesh. Now what is Mount Zion? What does it mean to be like Mount Zion? Because so far we've identified the group. Now what is this mountain? Zion is the mountain on which the temple was built. It is the mountain on which Jerusalem is built. It is, verse 2, as the mountains surround Jerusalem, Jerusalem and Zion are often used interchangeably in the scriptures, but it is a geographic feature in the land of Israel on which Jerusalem was built, and then the temple would be founded, and it is the place of God dwelling with His people. The central symbol of Jerusalem and Mount Zion is the condescending, forgiving love and covenant mercy of God dwelling with His people. The new covenant, the church. Matter of fact, in Hebrews chapter 12, we're told that when you come to Christ, Come to the heavenly Zion, Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. And these images are interchanged together. And in the Old Testament, again, this is the place of God's special presence, His covenant mercy, His place with His people. And we, in the New Covenant, are part of this. Again, Hebrews 12, the language is unmistakable there by the writer to the Hebrews that we belong to the heavenly Jerusalem, Mount Zion, and all that God has given us in that, the innumerable company of angels, the spirits of just men made perfect, and Jesus, the mediator of the New Covenant. All of these symbols come together in the New Testament. And so what we have here in seed form in Psalm 125 is Mount Zion, which in principle is God's people or His church. And what is being set before us is the permanence and the unshakable nature of this institution in history. Mount Zion. because it cannot be moved but abides forever. It has a permanent, unalterable, everlasting quality. If you were to pull this together, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the saving purposes of God, ultimately to gather a people for himself from every nation, tribe, and tongue to be in communion with him on his holy mountain, in his presence, that whole project and program, to display His glory in all the earth through the mediation of Jesus Christ by His cross and His resurrection, by the gift of the Holy Spirit. That inviolable project, that unstoppable project, that I will build my church at the gates of hell will not prevail against it. That is what is pictured by Mount Zion. And the text says, this work of God cannot be moved, but abides forever. If you pull it all together, back to the divinely inspired connection, all that the Scriptures say about the permanence, the eternal destiny, the security, the success of God's work of salvation to gather a people for himself, it not only belongs to the whole, but it also belongs to every particular believer. Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion which cannot be moved but abides forever. What is true for the whole is true for the individual believer in Jesus Christ. A permanence and eternity of life in fellowship with God is promised here. And the doctrine is the perseverance of the saints. The text teaches that the believer in Jesus Christ and the new covenant is eternally unmovable, immovable. And if we go back to Romans 8, we can say this, that rooted in the individual, eternal, electing love of God in predestination, worked out in time in the calling of individual believers by the preaching of the gospel, embraced by faith, bringing justification and sanctification, will ultimately lead to glorification. Because those whom he predestined, ultimately he will glorify. And that chain cannot be broken. And like Mount Zion, that physical mountain, a symbol of God's permanent dealings with this covenant people, which cannot be broken, shaken, severed, or torn away, so the moment a sinner trusts in Jesus Christ, all of this belongs to you by faith. Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion. The eternal decree of God's electing love is unchangeable. The Apostle Paul says something similar when he writes this letter to the church at Philippi. When he says, I thank my God for every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, making requests for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. And then here's the phrase, being confident of this very thing. that he who has begun a good work in you will be faithful to complete it in the day of Christ Jesus. That the beginning and the end are inseparable and the symbol of that security is the security and permanence and eternity of Mount Zion. Here's the theme then, the perseverance of the saints. By faith, in Jesus Christ, comes with the promise of eternal life. Now, as the Psalms are so often structured, and I often say in my preaching through Psalms, is the opening verse is the principle Now we have further explanation and then later application to the life of the believer. What is the fundamental principle behind this perseverance of the saints? The idea that when you first trust in Jesus Christ, that that trust will A true faith receives all that God has promised in Christ's internal life. Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. That this is true, and that the Christian who begins with Christ like this has the promise of never falling. He who began a good work will be faithful to bring it to completion in the day of Christ Jesus. And you began a good work in you. The fundamental principle that underlies the doctrine of the Christian's active perseverance, and I'm gonna make a distinction here, What is the perseverance of the saints? That means that you will keep running. That means the fears that you have about the possibility of not making it, of either being disqualified or too tired to make it to the end. That you will keep running in such a way as to get the prize, or you will finish that race looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. That this is true. is rooted in a deeper reality, which is divine preservation. These two things go together, divine preservation and the doctrine of perseverance. And we want to look here at the next verse in the psalm, which tells us of the fundamental reason for that verse one is true, that those who trust in the Lord will abide forever. Why is this true? Protection is illustrated in verse two, and then It is explained in verse three. Here's the question. Why is Zion, or the church, a mountain that cannot be moved but abides forever? And the answer is very simply because the Lord protects and preserves his church. Zion is the mountain on which the city of Jerusalem sits, and the Temple Mount was there, which is the spiritual pinnacle of Jerusalem. The dwelling place of God is with men. The Temple Mount was also surrounded by a ring of mountains and hills. Those mountains included, for example, some that you're familiar with, the Mount of Olives. There's another one called Ophel, another one called Rest, another called Hotvim. They are all different hills that surround the central mountain called Zion. The hill on which Jerusalem built is ringed by these other mounts or mountains. And the psalmist goes on to say, as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people from this time forth and forever. So if the believer has this promise of perseverance into eternity, the reason is that just as the mountains surround Zion, the other mountains, so the Lord surrounds his people. From this time forth and forever, God surrounds the church with his presence. And if you're gonna work back up the logic of the psalm, these are all illustrations to help you understand the doctrine of perseverance. Those who trust in the Lord will not be moved. That just as he surrounds Jerusalem, just as he encircles us on every side of his people for preservation, protection, and guidance, so he is for you. that the trusting soul is centered in the promise and reality of divine protection and power that will bring you all the way home. The extent of that protection, spatially the language here, look at this language, all around, the Lord surrounds his people. And then notice the repeated temporal language, for how long? Forever and forever, unendingly. Now here, there's something again of the reality of the beauty and glory of what you've received in Jesus Christ when you trusted in him. It is the promise of the divine preserving power of the triune God surrounding, overshadowing, and guarding your life and carrying you all the way to the very end. This is part of the gospel promise. This is what Christ died and rose again to give you. Verse one, you will abide forever because verse two, the Lord surrounds his people from this time forth and forever. For those who trust in Christ, these are unshakable, unbreakable, unchangeable promises. Verse three goes on to explain how. What is God doing? Because so far we have the idea of a surrounding. Why is he surrounding his people? And why is this necessary for our preservation and perseverance, our active pursuit of Christ? Why do we need this divine protection? What is at the heart of this need? Look at verse three. We have a new image. A new image or a new picture. Now you have the whole land in view. And you have something called the Scepter of Wickedness. What's a scepter? Children, do you know what a scepter is? You ever seen a picture of a scepter? It's not something we, I actually don't know. I guess we were in the South Carolina State House and there's a sort of scepter in the State House. I think it's called the mace. It's in a case and it's a symbol, a golden rod, which is a symbol of the South Carolina Senate's power. That's actually a holdover, a carryover, from a long principle of using a scepter to represent kingly power. A rod or a scepter is often used in the scriptures to describe power. There's a very famous place in the Psalms, perhaps one of the most famous places in the Psalms, where we have this idea of the rod or the scepter set before us. And here it was, Rod of the Lord, Psalm 110, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. And then the Lord shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion, rule in the midst of your enemies. And there is the picture of the enthronement of Jesus Christ as he receives the scepter of the Father wielded jointly with the Son to conquer enemies in his reign even now. This is a different scepter. This is a scepter of the power of wickedness. And there's real power in wickedness. It's a rival power. And the promise of the psalm is that the Lord protects his people not just generally, but from the power and allurement of the kingdom of darkness. The rival power, represented by the scepter of wickedness, is the kingdom of darkness. And this is the imagery of evil and the power of evil in the present age and in the world. And what it also teaches us when we use the word of scepter of evil power, that it is power. And what's implied in the text is that it's a power greater than you would be able to resist apart from the preserving power of the Lord on his throne. The scepter of wickedness here is resting on the land. It shall not rest permanently. It is leaning on the land. It is encroaching. There's a warfare between the kingdom of light and darkness and the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of our Christ and the kingdom of Satan. And this scepter is an evil scepter. Isaiah 14, verse 5, the Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers. The idea of evil powers is in view here. You ever seen one of those war movies where you see the general or a group of generals around the table, often Second World War movies, and what they have is all those little flags, and they're putting them all over the map, and as their armies advance, they are marking out nations that belong to them and showing new front lines as the enemy powers encroach on the existing powers. And the picture here is that Satan is seeking to plant his flag to lay his scepter on the land, claim it for his own, claim this whole world. And the scepter here is threatening to lie heavy on Israel. And if you go to the New Testament again, this is the language of principalities and powers and rules of the darkness of this present age that we read about in Ephesians 6. How is this scepter of wickedness manifested? Iniquity, verse 3, the last word, immoral corruption and decay. The land has been allotted to the righteous. It is the inheritance of those who fear the Lord, the scepter of wickedness seeking to divide the righteous from their inheritance by the temptation and pushing towards iniquity or sin and rebellion. And you know what happened to Israel? What happened? They succumbed to this and they were taken away from the land. They lost their inheritance. They went into exile. The same picture I think is what Paul talks about in Galatians chapter 5 just before we have the passage on the fruit of the Spirit where he reminds us that The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. That wickedness and evil is incompatible with perseverance in true Christianity, when he lists adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, and a whole list of sins and the like, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. No inheritance. Evil is incompatible with perseverance and life in the land. The Kingdom of Darkness seeks to divorce you from your inheritance by tempting you to evil and to turn your back on the Lord Jesus Christ. This sin in the Old Covenant would pollute the land, pollute the hearts of Israel, and like Lot living in Sodom, would lead to the destruction of whole families. I think Lot is the only one. He lives in an evil city, and the world's corruption, pollution, and power, behind which is the kingdom of darkness and the scepter of wickedness, almost sweeps his whole line away. He appears to be the one believer in his family, at least from the fruits of his family. It has a deceptive power, this kingdom of darkness and evil, that tries to turn you away from righteousness and following Christ and descent. A power greater than you can resist. In Matthew chapter 24, when Jesus says, Jesus warns about the possibility of deception of false Christ, for example, he says, if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived. The scepter of wickedness, representing the kingdom of darkness, has a deceptive power so strong that the first man, Adam, who was not a sinner, fell for that deception. And if he fell, That scepter of wickedness for you is a clear and present danger. So we learn that it takes omnipotent divine power to prevent the corruption that is in the world due to lust from overtaking the Christian and bringing us back to a place of rebellion. We do not fear this because of the first promise, but God uses His Word to turn us back to Christ in repentance. It takes omnipotent divine power to prevent this corruption of the world from destroying the Christian. I just read from Hebrews chapter 6 that the danger of falling away is warned against in the Bible. One way God keeps us from falling is by warnings. And this is not complicated. He gives you a warning. He says, don't take that road. It leads to destruction. And if you're a believer, you say, yes, Lord, I don't want to take that road. I want to follow you. That's one of the ways he works in history. He warns you. A prior and primary way is he gives you promises and he says, here's salvation and life in Jesus Christ. This road leads to heavenly glory. And you say, yes, Lord, thank you. You've given me salvation and everlasting life. Lord, I never want to let you go. Promises help us in perseverance. The commands to walk and be blameless and to live obediently are commands which say, follow Christ and don't follow the world and the scepter of wickedness and the kingdom of darkness and iniquity and rebellion. And they are used by God, these commands. We don't earn anything by any legal righteousness before God, by obedience. But we hear the voice of Christ and He is calling us, here's the road to glory. Take it! The road in which you will become more conformed to me and more prepared for the glorification that I have purchased for you on the cross. Lay aside every sin that so easily entangles you, the writer of the Hebrews says, and look to Jesus. Run to him. Keep running. But the text emphasizes another reality. If those are ways, warnings and promises and commands, back to this idea that the deception and evil of the kingdom of darkness is so great, Don't underestimate the demonic influence of worldliness on you or your children. It's not a small thing. And it would destroy you. Unless God by his word, verse three, had not promised that that scepter of wickedness will not rest on the land allotted to the righteous. Lest they, the righteous believer, reach out their hands to iniquity. There's a preserving, intervening, powerful grace, a ministry of spiritual warfare. Christ is king, conquering all his and our enemies as he makes the path, blazes the path to glory. And he keeps us from temptation. And he calls us to watch and pray. And he gives us his word and his spirit. And he says this is a war. And the one who has blazed the path to heaven and given us grace and glory is Jesus Christ. He is the one who carries that shield of divine power that helps us to pass through the valley of the shadow of death so we fear no evil. He's the one who sends his holy angels to give them charge over us in spiritual warfare. He's the one who gives us the Holy Spirit and so the enabling grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and power. The principle here is God will never let the whole of humanity, the church, will never perish. He will bring it all the way to the end. It will never, not all of humanity will descend into this utter moral rebellion under the sway of the scepter of righteousness. It won't rest. It won't win. It won't take the day. Church of Jesus Christ will never disappear. It will remain a holy priesthood, a royal nation. Royal priesthood, a holy nation. The warning here for Israel was that when Israel would lose her morals, it would be indistinguishable from the world. The promises, like in Elijah's day. Remember, what is Elijah's grief? They're all worshiping Baal. The scepter of wickedness seems to rest on the land. There is no hope for Israel. All is lost. I and I alone am left. And the Lord says, no, there are still 3,000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal. The scepter of wickedness has not won the day because divine preserving power keeps Israel. This should drive us to prayer. Lord, your kingdom come. Your will be done. The Heidelberg Catechism says that that preserving grace needs to also be deep in our hearts. We pray, so rule us by your word and spirit that we might submit ourselves more and more to you, that you would destroy the works of the kingdom of darkness and build your church. This brings us to the final consideration of the psalm, the moral quality. than that is at the heart of the life of a persevering Christian. If promises, those who trust in the Lord, are like Mount Zion which cannot be moved but endures forever. And at the heart of this promise is the pushing back of this scepter of wickedness so that it doesn't rest on the land allotted to the righteous. What do you think the life of a persevering Christian would look like more and more? Here's the question. It will have a moral quality that more and more looks like our Savior Jesus Christ, holiness. Verse four, there exists those who are good. A prayer to good, O Lord, to those who are good and to those who are upright in their hearts. This is not some sort of Old Testament legalism, which is what some would think when they read that verse. Instead, this is connected to the promise of preservation. There will be those who don't bow the knee to Baal because God preserves his people. Lord, remember those who fight against sin, darkness and rebellion, and look on them for good. That's the prayer. Not inherently or naturally good. but rather the evidence that they live under this divine protection of grace, grace which transforms, which gives new hearts, those who are upright in their hearts. And this is language that David would use in Psalm 51 when he's saying, created me a clean heart, O God. This is the language of Ezekiel 36, the new covenant prophecy, the promise of the heart of stone being taken out, a heart of flesh being put in, Jeremiah 31, the law written on our hearts, this supernatural, A saving heart change that comes by the Holy Spirit that results in a new kind of life. Those who buy that grace and saving power continue in it following Jesus Christ. The psalmist says, Lord, remember your people for good. A lesson here. A persevering Christian is someone who's doing two things. You're never letting Christ go. And, if you understand the connection between your moral life and perseverance, you are more and more interested in a new kind of life lived for him. You're interested in personal holiness. You're not just interested in the way that we use the word interested, like I'm kinda interested in that, I'll get to it one day. No, I mean, I mean, at the heart of your life, there is a new passion And that is that everything I think, say, and do will not be by the suggestion of the world, the flesh, and the devil, but the Spirit working in the Word for the glory of my Savior Jesus Christ in everything, because I am running in such a way as to get the prize. So you'll be busy putting off sin by the power of the Spirit and putting on Jesus Christ. You will expect and pursue the steady moral transformation of the inward man. For out of the heart flow the issues of life. And you will believe that God will smile on those who live this kind of life and bless them with his goodness, not because they've earned it, because it is the fruit of his grace and glory that brings him glory. He will continue to bless. That's the life you're leading. That's the life that you can be confident in which Christ is taking you by the hand and leading you to heaven. That's persevering and preserving grace. So, if you're a Christian, where in your interest is the pursuit of holiness? What is the moral quality of your life? Are you satisfied with it? What influence does the scepter of wickedness have yet? Would you be content to have it in any way rest on your life or rest on Christ's church? Or do you want it gone forever because of the bitterness, sadness, and wickedness that it brings? Given the promise of eternal divine preserving power, Are you motivated to pursue holiness in the pursuit of perseverance? There's two hand-in-hand categories here. I said earlier, divine preservation, where God is the active agent. But renewed by the Spirit of God, we are not passive, we're alive. We're alive to God, we're alive to righteousness. We have been crucified with Christ, we've been raised with Christ, a newness of life, we're new creations. We truly live. These two principles come together. A little verse that Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter two. Come together and they pull together these two principles of divine preserving grace and the act of pursuit of holiness. Paul says, nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stands having this seal. The Lord knows those who are his. He knows his people, he's set his love on them, he gives them what they need. And let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. The two principles in one. Saving love and mercy and a passion to depart from iniquity. Two hand in hand categories taught here in Psalm 125. Salvation involves both. A heart made alive by the Spirit to new life, and a new life pursued by the believer by that same Spirit. You're conscious of divine enabling grace and power. And so what do you do? You search out the Word, you look for God's commands, you recognize the spiritual warfare, and you pursue Christ every day more and harder than you ever have before. Because this is the grace of perseverance. There's a hunger in you, consciousness of danger, an interest in bringing your Savior glory. Sometimes I talk to people, especially young men, it seems, and they always ask me, what is God doing in the world and in politics and all these other things? Well, he's ruling the world, including politics. He's never stopped and he never will. I'm not worried about it. But here's a question. What is the nature of his rule and his claim over your heart and your life? Don't you want to take that territory for His glory? You know, you've got Kuyper's great quote over all creation, not one square inch over which Christ does not cry mine. How about your heart and your life? All of it for Him. Not one square inch, not one moment not given to Him. Lord, help me persevere. This is, again, language of Hebrews 12. Laying aside every sin and every weight that so easily entangles us. I don't want any of it. Christ, Him only. that hunger in you to bring your Savior glory. The persevering Christian life looks like this, daily repentance, eager growth, conformity to Christ, growth in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and running a marathon that leads to glory. Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion which cannot be moved but abides forever. That's the promise, run in it. A warning, another sobering category in the text. Verse five, those who don't persevere. How do we understand this? There's a category of someone who's an outwardly says I'm a Christian but has never truly trusted Jesus Christ. It's an empty heart and an empty profession. What happens? To such as turn aside. Don't persevere. To their crooked ways. What's the end of that road? The Lord will lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Notice the moral quality. They will be cast away. There are those who For a time, Jesus said in the parable of the sower, they don't have true faith, they've never really trusted Christ. They've made an outward show of it, and the evidence will be faith without works is dead. And they will be led away with the workers of iniquity. They follow the crooked path, winding morally corrupt evil that means. Salvation is the opposite of this path. In Isaiah 42, salvation is described as a straight path to God. The crooked, wandering, morally corrupt path is to judgment and away from the Lord. Away from the land, away from communion, and away from God. Those who succumb to the scepter of wickedness, demonic power, and influence, love their own sinful flesh, and the world, the sober end, is to be led away from God and from Zion. What does this mean about the psalm? A few things yet. Believer in Jesus Christ, the comfort in this psalm is beyond natural human comprehension. In the Shadowlands of the Old Testament, it already tells you what Christ came to do for you. To fold you in by his death and resurrection and by the Holy Spirit's gift of faith in you into Zion. and give you an unlosable inheritance forever, forever. That's what the text says. And that comes by trust. You trust him. And having trusted him, you have the beginning, the middle, and the end of your salvation. If you've been afraid of not making it, where could you begin? Go back to your knees and say, Lord Jesus, I trust in you. I know it's not in me, it's in you. I give myself to you again, and I believe that you who begin a good work will bring it to completion. I hate every sin I've ever committed, and I don't ever want to do it again. Give me your grace and power. The promise of this psalm, you'll make it home. He will preserve you. The scepter of wickedness won't win. It won't rest on your heart, and it won't rest ultimately in this world. If He predestines you, He'll glorify you. Second, it warns the wanderer, if you're clinging to immorality tonight, it's dangerous. Very dangerous. It doesn't mean you're not a Christian. Christians can fall. But there's certainly a call here to persevere. And that means to let go and lay aside the sin. Recognize its source and power, the scepter of wickedness. Not be a worker of iniquity and say, Lord, I want to lay it aside. If that's not in you, it's dangerous, spiritually dangerous. The warning is that you'll be led away out of the land with the rest of the workers of iniquity Let your sinful habits go. Stop acceding to the kingdom of darkness. And if you run to Christ, you have the power, repentance by the Holy Spirit. Nothing that you need to persevere was not purchased by him and sealed to you by the Holy Spirit of God in you. Finally, the psalm ends with a note on triumph. Peace be upon Israel. What is peace? Well, no more warfare. The end of warfare. It means that the hope of this psalm is that the scepter of wickedness will one day be vanquished completely. That's the hope. That this warfare will end. This is the gospel promise that the warfare that rests on this present world will one day end. and that Satan will one day be finally defeated and that eternal life and everlasting bliss and glory will be given. The scepter will be lifted. This week we read with our family a little verse that I haven't thought enough about, but it's been in my mind. 2 Peter 3.13. Nevertheless, we, according to God's promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. The promise of the gospel is that there's a period of running and it ends in peaceful rest. It ends in the triumph and vindication of that whole kingdom. Have nothing to do with it now. It will end soon and aim for the blessed peace that is promised and given in Jesus Christ and will one day cover the earth in perfect glory and power. Let us pray. Lord God, tonight again, we thank you for such great and precious promises. We pray for the grace to live that persevering Christian life. You would grow our faith that we would hold to Christ more firmly, that you would strengthen us and give us more grace, as you have promised to give more grace. But we also ask for grace that we would be more conformed to the image of Christ, that as we see more of Him and the end and purpose of His cross work and victory over the grave, which is everlasting life for us, eternal life forever in your presence, or that we would be excited and interested in persevering to the end. We would recognize that you call us to leave everything that does not belong to your kingdom of grace and glory, every fruit of the scepter of wickedness behind. Would we help us to persevere in holiness and love and devotion to you? We thank you that you are the God who begins such a good work in us, and that our hope is that you will bring it to completion in that day of Christ Jesus when we, according to your promise, are ushered into that new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells forever. And we pray in Jesus' name, amen. But before you go, look up and receive the blessing of the Lord. 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, 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 the glory forever and ever. Amen.