As I was saying, we went to this banquet, and they said, oh, yes, go to table so and so. So we walked over casually to so and so, waving at people we knew, shaking a few hands. And right there, there it was. There's my name and Wanda's name, that place. No one could sit in that seat but us, her and me. You say, well, what are you getting at? You see that TH-469 down there? T.H.' 's Trinity Hymnal in 469 says this, while everlasting love displays the choicest of her stores. While all our hearts and all our songs join to admire the feast, each of us cries with thankful tongue, Lord, why was I a guest? Why am I a guest? Why was I made to hear your voice and enter while there's room, when thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come? T'was the same love that spread the feast, that sweetly drew us in, else we had still refused to taste and perished in our sin. There's two more verses, but that makes the point. There's a place reserved, and that's what this verse is saying to me. According to God's great mercy, He has caused us, believers, to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, reserved in heaven for you who, by God's power, are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Now, I could have a prayer and we could just go drink coffee and say, well, we got that down. Yes, sir, perseverance. But let's pursue this a little more. Paul says in Philippians 1.6, I am sure of this, that He, capital H-E, He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. I'm gonna be involved in that, but if God were not at work by His Spirit, bringing me to that point. I wouldn't make it otherwise, nor would you. John 10 27, and we really could expand on this and I may, but this is Jesus speaking, this is the great shepherd discourse. My sheep, and Jesus is not talking about fluffy, furry, wooly little animals, he's talking about you and me and other believers, all believers, my sheep hear my voice and I know them. And I give them eternal life. The Greek word there is aionios. We're gonna talk about that in just a moment. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. And no one will be able to snatch them out of my hand. Now the verse goes on from there to say, the father who gave them to me is greater than all. And no one can snatch them out of his hand. So we're doubly protected. Jesus said, no one can snatch them out of my hand. And no one can snatch them out of the Father's hand. It's just, it's a wonderful concept. It doesn't depend on me. and I am so thankful that it doesn't. Now, I have obligations. I have responsibilities. We all, too, as normal children, are responsible to obey their parents. God's children are responsible to obey Him and to glorify Him. A note on this word aionios. It occurs 45 times in the Greek New Testament. And depending on which translation or version that you're reading, the word can appear as eternal or everlasting. Now, in terms of eternal, which means without beginning and without end, technically that can only apply to God. Only God has no beginning and no ending, just eternal, everlasting being in existence. That's God. Everlasting, sometimes when it's mentioned, and this is hair splitting, but it means without beginning. For example, when Paul speaks in Ephesians about God's eternal purpose in Jesus Christ, that's a purpose that had no beginning. God was not sitting around in heaven and one day said, I've got an idea. It doesn't happen that way. Someone put it this way once. Did it ever occur to you that nothing ever occurs to God? God's mind, God's purpose, God's plan has no beginning. It's everlasting. It's eternal in that sense. It's everlasting. The third way that everlasting can be used means without end. Now, I had a beginning. You did too. All of our beginnings were practically identical. Different people involved but, you know, things come together and bang, there you are. And you go from like two cells to ever how many there are today. And we're told how many die every day and how many are replaced every day. It's absolutely amazing. It's astounding. I had a beginning. You had a beginning. But in Jesus Christ, you have no ending. The life he gives us is everlasting life. And that's why I put in parentheses in the previous slide, and I don't know how to back the slide up. Let's see if I can do that. Oh, yeah, there we go. I put the little word Ionios in brackets. Some translations of this verse say, I give unto them everlasting life, which I think is a precisely more correct word. Because I have not always existed. I had a beginning. And so eternal goes beyond that. But I have, thanks to Jesus, everlasting life. So technically, Christians are not given eternal life, I say here, but everlasting life. The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 17, Paragraph 1, is concerned with, can we lose that gift of life? If salvation is understood properly, biblically, the answer to that is no. However, somebody in any given room of individuals, someone is thinking, but Ray, I know of someone who made a profession of faith, got baptized, joined the church, and then sometime later, could have been a few years, could have been a decade or more, they left the church. They turned away from Christianity. They even renounced Christ. So how do you explain that? I don't have to. The Bible does. Yes, sadly, that happens. Perhaps you know someone like that, or you know of someone like that. But in spite of appearances, such a person was never truly saved. The proof of it is that they left. 1 John 2.19 says, 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, it might be made manifest that they were not of us. This is God's inspired word. The apostle John writing says, he wants us to know that this can happen. People can come in and they think like, oh, this is a neat looking group, you know. They sing and they have parties and they have meals together and they go along with it for a while. They go through the motions because they think that's what they're supposed to do. It's what is expected of them. But then after a while, the newness wears off and they get to thinking about, you know, what they're doing and other things have more of an attraction and they just go back to where they came from. That's very, very sad. And in the book of Hebrews, and I don't have that in my slides, but he warns people in that condition. He said, it's impossible for a person who's done that to be restored because they were never of us. This is what John is telling us. He said, they were not of us. So, we don't want to be in that group. Now, let's look at a biblical example of perseverance. I have asked three people to read. Would the person with Mark 14, 26 through 31 kindly stand? Lift your voice to the four corners of the room and let us hear this text. Okay, Mark 14, 26 through 31. And when they had sunnah him, they went out to the Mount of Olives, And Jesus said to them, you will all fall away where it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. Peter said to him, even though they all fall away, I will not. And Jesus said to him, truly, I tell you, this very night before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. But he said emphatically, if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And they all said the same. Thank you, Scott. If you don't know Scott, introduce yourself to him. He is the gentleman who opened the door for our pastor and Trey to go into the high school and middle school and and participate in the fellowship of Christian athletes preaching the gospel and so forth and Scott has been bringing some of those students to our evening services and so we're just delighted that he's here today. He also has begun attending the Saturday morning men's fellowship and that's an encouragement to us as well. So here we have Mark's account this is after the Passover that Jesus observed with the disciples prior to his arrest and trial, and he instituted the Lord's Supper and said, do this in remembrance of me, and so then they went out, but he told Peter that he was going to deny him. No, never, never. Who has verses 66 to 72? Four corners. And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came. And seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, you also were with the Nazarene, Jesus. But he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what you mean. And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, this man is one of them. But again, he denied it, and after a little while, the bystanders again said to Peter, certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean. But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know this man of whom you speak. And immediately the rooster crowed a second time, and Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. And he broke down. Thank you. Please be seated. There's a third reading that we're not going to look at right this moment. I want to expand on this other one. What does this incident that was just read to us and recorded by Mark, what does it teach us? What just happened? Okay. The text doesn't say temporary, but thank you, that's a good comment. It is a commentary, and we know it to be true. But here's a man denying Jesus, denying that he knows him, that he has anything to do with him, calling curses upon himself to prove to them that I didn't have anything to do with that man. Where just moments ago, maybe an hour earlier, he was vowing, if I have to go and die with you, I'll not deny you. This teaches us that a believer can deny the Lord. It teaches us that a believer can have a lapse of faith. It's not always a denial verbally. We hear about believers, sadly. We hear about ministers, ordained ministers who have a successful ministry, a thriving church, radios, books. And all of a sudden, it's all gone. That's terrifying. That has always been terrifying to me as a man and as a minister. If that can happen to that guy, as famous and popular and well-received and powerful as he was, it's terrifying. But it can happen. A believer can deny the Lord and have a lapse of faith. What else did these verses that we heard read teach us? Yes. Fear is powerful, very powerful, and it can come from various angles, but here's the point I'm after. This teaches us that one's lapse of faith does not take God by surprise. How do we know that? Jesus said, here's what's going to happen. What is prophecy? It's telling forth God's Word, telling forth the truth. Hey, here's what's going to happen. No, that'll never happen. It did. Doesn't take God by surprise. Our lapse of faith doesn't take God by surprise. It also teaches us that one's lapse of faith does not derail God's plan. Peter's denial didn't send the whole course of salvation off the tracks. Things were working out exactly as God had planned. Fourth, it teaches us that a believer's lapse of faith does not undo his salvation. We'll get to that in just a moment. That Christ has prayed for our restitution. Rod, here's the third selection of reading. Amen. Okay. Christ has prayed for our restitution. Christ is our intercessor. He is our mediator. He is praying for us even now. I know some of us have a hard time even conceiving that, but that's what Scripture says. We're Bible believers. Scripture tells us that that is happening. Here's a perfect example of it. Jesus not only told Peter that he was going to fail, But he told him that he was going to be restored. He said, when you have been restored, strengthen your brothers. And so that's the next point, that God can use our lapse experience to strengthen others. How many people here have ever read Psalm 51? I hope I see every hand in here go up. And what is Psalm 51? It's David's confession after his sin with Bathsheba and after the little prophet What's his name? Nathan. Put that bony finger in his nose. Jesus, first he gave an illustration about someone taking a man's only lamb. And he said, who is this creep? You know, I'll take justice on him. And he said, you're the man. And boy, the Holy Spirit stabbed David in the heart, and we know the rest of that story, but then sometime after that, not much time after that, I'm sure, but he wrote Psalm 51, pleading for the Lord's forgiveness. Restore unto me. He didn't say, restore unto me my salvation. He said, restore the joy. He destroyed the joy. He sinned against God, built a wall between himself and God. That can happen. So this is a rehearsal. What does the word perseverance mean? It means the ability to keep doing something to its ultimate intended goal despite obstacles, difficulty, or apparent failures. And we will all have some degree of failure. I hope no one here denies the Lord. I have not denied the Lord and I'm not bragging, I just, I hope I never do. I can't imagine it, but believe me, I've sinned. I've made mistakes, I've offended people, people that I had no business offending. Maybe I've offended some of you, if so, I apologize. You come and tell me, that's Matthew 18. Come and tell me and remind me and I'll make it good if I possibly can. It just means keep on keeping on by God's ability. So, does the word perseverance occur in the Bible? Yes, one time. The Greek word is proskartoresis, proskartoresis. Did I get that right? Proskartoresis. One time, Ephesians 6 to 18, and here's what it says in the King James and the English Standard Version. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance, standing firm, stubborn, Never giving in, never giving up, all those words that we read earlier. Just keep on keeping on. Watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. So that's where that word occurs. However, there's another word very closely akin. Hupomone is found in 45 verses, and depending on which translation or which version of the scriptures you're reading, You'll find this word, hopamone, translated as this, patience, endurance, continuance, steadfastness, patient waiting, consistency, and on it goes. All these words are conveying the concept of perseverance. And I'm going to show you an example. 1 Thessalonians 1.4. If this works, I'll show you an example. Oh, did I show you all that? That's our illustrious leader with his new miter. That's not what I'm looking for. Hold on a minute. It's got to be here somewhere. I will find this. I think, yeah, here's what I have to do. I have to go here. Now, this is, I use Bible Hub. I like that. And one thing it does is if you call up a verse, it will show you not all, but quite a few translations. Okay, so the verse we're looking at is 2 Thessalonians 1.4. Here's what it says in the NIV. Therefore, among God's churches... By the way, as you know, Paul wrote 1 and 2 Thessalonians. He was on a second missionary journey, Thessalonica. He had difficulty there. They ran him out of town. He went down the road to Berea. They received him. That was a great deal. When he got to Corinth, he wrote back to Thessalonica to make sure because he didn't finish everything he wanted to tell them. So he's encouraging them. But he says, therefore, among God's churches, we boast about your perseverance. There's the word. and faith in all the persecutions and trials that you endure. The New Living Translation says that we boast about your endurance. And so instead of the word perseverance, he's got endurance. The ESV says your steadfastness. The Berean Study Bible has perseverance. The Berean literal translation has endurance. The King James Bible says your patience and faith. The New King James Version says patience and faith. New American Standard says perseverance. This is hupomone. It's a Greek word that carries that meaning, but it It carries other meanings, and you find it in many other verses, but I just wanted to show you. I could go on. There's at least 25 different translations here. I don't want to go back to that. Wait a minute. I want to go back to this. So, this hupomone gives us the same meaning. It's just enduring. It's against all odds. And the next question is this. In terms of our salvation, Does perseverance come from us? Don't answer the question. And here's why, because Daryl's going to do it next week. He has paragraphs two and three of chapter 17. And so I don't want to step on his territory. But I think I could see you're not you already know the answer. And the answer is that thankfully it doesn't depend on us doesn't depend on me or you. Now before I dismiss this a little bit early. Do you have any questions on this. Any comments on this. Yes. Others were watching. Very true. Others are watching. They're listening to our words and watching our behavior. And if the two don't coincide, there's a problem. So that's a problem already. But if we are doing what we absolutely should not, denying, that's a bad problem. Sometimes we deny by our behavior even when we say opposite. So that's a good point. People are watching. back on the Lord because we don't know which ones. That's right. Yes, I'm not implying that either. Even in 1st John, you know, when he's saying they went out to prove that they weren't obvious, he's not saying don't ever, you know, quit praying for them. He's not saying that. Yes? Yes. Yes. Yes, Peter couldn't see the whole plan and we can't either. Right. Yep, that was one of my mother's favorites. And I didn't think she was a sinner, but she knew she was. Any other comments, questions? All right, thank you for your being here today, and you've got a little extra time to go enjoy some coffee or something. Let us pray and we'll be dismissed. Lord, we do thank you for this concept of perseverance. And yes, we're to strive to be obedient, and we strive to be an example to those around us of the profession and the confession that we make of Christ as our Savior. But we also know that we're flesh and we fail. And it is refreshing to see that it doesn't take God by surprise. Jesus knew what was going to happen, but he reassured Peter by saying, when you have recovered. And he said, I have prayed for you. And that's that's thrilling. That's thrilling to know that our Lord is concerned and that he is interceding for us at all times. Lord Jesus, we thank you for that. We can never thank you sufficiently for all that's involved in our salvation. We pray now that as we dismiss with these thoughts in mind and in heart that we would go into the sanctuary prepared to receive your message today from our pastor for whom we give thanks also. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.