Please rise now for the reading of God's Word and turn in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 17. This is found on page 758 of the Church Bible. Reading verses 5 through 8. Give all your attention to the reading of God's revealed truth. Thus says the Lord, Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness in a salt land which is not inhabited. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit. Now turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter 1. This is found on page 1188. We'll be reading verses 3 through 9, not 10. Again, hear the word of our God. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tested by fire, may be found to praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. whom having not seen you love, though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Thus far the reading of God's word, and let us remember that all flesh is like grass and all of its glory is like the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord abides forever. And all of God's people said, amen. Please be seated. Let us go to our God once again in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you again that we can come to you and your word, hear you speak to us by your word, and pray that you will teach and instruct us this morning, that you will illuminate us by your Holy Spirit, giving us those eyes and ears that we need spiritually to comprehend and understand and believe the truth of your word, and be fed and strengthened in the faith because of it, so that we might bear much fruit for your glory. For we ask this in Christ's name, amen. Reformed confessional theology is a statement of faith set within a story of faith. As statements of believed truths, confessions express the mind of God's people embracing God's Word. If we neglect the church's historic statements of faith, we end up with mindless and spineless Christianity, more fit to drift like a jellyfish than to swim against the stream of this world," wrote Joel Beakey. Now last week I had mentioned that the month of May was the 405th anniversary of the Canons of Dort, one of our subordinate standards. The Canons of Dort, the five heads of doctrine, which are set forth in that TULIP acronym, the so-called five points of Calvinism, are the full-minded, steel-spined response to the abominable heresy of Arminianism and its five points of protest. Now we know that the canons of Dort, all five heads of doctrine, hang together in a system of truth. And that last head of doctrine, on the perseverance of the saints, is the necessary conclusion of the four other heads of doctrine. Total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, and irresistible grace. Now I mentioned a number of times last week as we began this two-part series that the perseverance of the saints is the fruit of the preservation by God of those saints. Last week I mentioned that we would consider six major points, three last week and three today. Last week, we considered first the certainty of perseverance. This perseverance is not a questionable possibility, a I hope so kind of situation, but rather an absolute certainty because of the grounds upon which it is based. So we considered four grounds of perseverance, which establish its certainty. Ground number one was the father's electing love. God's eternal, unchangeable love in electing a particular people, his elect, his sheep, secures their future estate in eternal blessedness with him forever. And of course, this corresponds with the first head of doctrine in the canons of Dort, unconditional election, the U in the tulip. The second ground was Christ's merit and intercession. Christ's finished work of atonement, of satisfaction on behalf of his people, his sheep, and his continued high priestly intercession at the right hand of God also establishes the absolute certainty of perseverance in the faith of his saints. Now this corresponds to the second head of doctrine of the Canons of Dort, the L in the tulip, limited atonement or particular redemption, a redemption of a very particular group of people, God's elect. The third ground of perseverance that we looked at was the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Word of God. The presence of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God in the believer seals the believer as God's possession and guarantees the eternal inheritance. And this corresponds to the third and fourth heads of doctrine in the canons of Dort, total depravity and irresistible grace. And the fourth ground that we looked at of perseverance is the covenant of grace. God promises by oath in the covenant of grace, I will be their God and they shall be my people. Here we saw from descriptions of the new covenant in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and repeated in the book of Hebrews, that God will cause his people to cling to him and not depart from him. In other words, to persevere in the faith. Now last week also we considered three major objections to the doctrine of perseverance that John Owen had addressed in a 600 page book in dealing with this doctrine. The first objection was the reality of apostasy. And here we saw that anyone who had professed to believe and then fell away in apostasy was only a professor, not a true believer, a hypocrite, one who says one thing but is truly another. They are tares among the wheat or weeds among the wheat. As it says in 1 John 2.19, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that none of them were of us. Now God's elect, his sheep may fall into sin, even grievous sin, but they will not fall away finally and forever. They will always be restored. The second objection we looked at was human responsibility. And this addresses the notion that obligation implies ability. We saw this as a logical fallacy and therefore not true. This objection is a denial of the truth of total depravity or radical corruption that the fall of Adam brought upon the human race. And the third objection was the danger of antinomianism or lawlessness. Both Rome and the Arminians charged that the doctrine of perseverance would result in moral looseness or laxity, moral lawlessness. And again, we saw this objection fall flat when considering the scriptures and the fact that God never separates justification from sanctification. He always sanctifies those whom he has justified. So this morning now we will consider the next three major points regarding the doctrine of perseverance. And again, I'm drawing heavily from Joel Beeky's book, A Puritan Theology, Doctrine for Life. So this morning we shall consider the difficulty of perseverance, the necessity of perseverance, and then the means of perseverance. Now our text is from our New Testament reading, part of that, 1 Peter 1 verses 5 to 7, where it says, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tested by fire, may be found to praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So in this text, we see that believers are kept, that is, they are preserved by the power of God through faith. And remember, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, as Romans 1.16 says. And in this life, our faith will be tested by fire to purify it. And all of that will result to the praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So let us consider now our first point, the difficulty of perseverance. Now last week, I had quoted from the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 17, and continuing in there, after that chapter had stated the certainty and grounds of perseverance, it went on to identify the difficulty of perseverance in article two. I'll quote that, it says, nevertheless, they may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins, and for a time continue therein, whereby they incur God's displeasure and grieve his Holy Spirit, come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts, have their hearts hardened and their consciences wounded, hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves." These are the dangers to which believers are exposed to in this life. The Westminster Confession, Chapter 17, Article 2, had laid out the grounds of perseverance, which we had looked at last week, and yet here at the beginning of Article 3, it says, nevertheless, nevertheless, even with this absolute certainty, nevertheless, and Because of this word, there is no mistaken idea of perfectionism in this Reformed confession, but rather the frank admission that Christians still sin and sometimes sin grievously. But also the words, for a time, are added as a contrast to what was stated in Article 1, that believers don't finally fall away from a state of grace. Now this again should give tremendous comfort to any believer who realizes that he is involved in a serious and difficult spiritual warfare with his three main enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil throughout one's life. Now the confession goes on to cite the consequences of these temporary lapses into sin for believers. And again, the focus is not on the apostasy finally and forever of the unbeliever, but on the sins of believers who do not totally and finally fall away, but who do stumble and sometimes stumble very badly. Matthew Henry wrote, Is every fall a falling away? No. For though he falls, he shall not be utterly cast down, Psalm 37.24 says. May they be secure then? No. Be not high-minded, but fear, Romans 11.20. But may they be encouraged? Yes, he will preserve me to his heavenly kingdom, Paul said in 2 Timothy 4.18. These consequences of temporary lapses of the believer, such as incurring God's displeasure, grieving the Holy Spirit, being deprived of graces and comforts, having their hearts hardened, their consciences wounded, hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporary judgments upon themselves, all of those things should ultimately humble the believer and awaken him out of this spiritual slumber. Again, consider David and Paul that we looked at last week. After they had sinned and sinned greatly, they were convicted of their sins and they were brought very low. They were humbled. and were not the same afterwards. They were different people, but they both were restored to Christ. Thomas Manton wrote, More goes to the keeping of a saint here in the world than to the preserving of an angel, for the angels are out of gunshot and harm's way, but we are making our way to heaven almost every step by conflict and conquest. Sometimes I think we Christians here in the United States are really not aware of the seriousness and gravity of the spiritual warfare that surrounds us. I think we can be far too easily dazzled and distracted with all of the vanity fair that surrounds us. Christians in other countries where there is outright persecution by the state or other religions have a much better understanding of this warfare and what really matters in this life. So this life of preservation and perseverance is not a cakewalk. Our faith will be tried with various fires, and we may stumble, slip and fall into besetting sins. But praise God, He has promised to heal backsliders. As Hosea 14.4 says, I will heal their backsliding. Furthermore, God uses our backslidings to bring us to further progress in our sanctification. God actually uses our sins for our good, for sin humbles us and creates the fear of God in our hearts, the fear of falling away again. Now that's the difficulty of perseverance, all that we face as Christians in this life. Let's now consider the second point, the necessity perseverance. This is not optional. Last week I had mentioned a caricature or perversion of this doctrine of perseverance, the so-called once-saved always-saved idea, and that notion that a person could sin like the devil, deny Christ, have no faith at all, and still be saved. That is not what the Bible teaches. As we have seen, the certainty of perseverance is the fruit of God's preservation, and God will not leave his people in the bondage to sin. He sanctifies those whom he justifies. And although we may stumble here and there, we must remember what Spurgeon said, never let anxieties about sanctification destroy your confidence in justification. So as we walk our Christian walk of sanctification, we're gonna stumble and fall because we're not perfect in this life. But don't let anxieties about our imperfection ruin our confidence in the justification that we have in Christ, that we are robed in his perfect everlasting righteousness and accepted by God because of that. Jonathan Edwards stated, the want or lack of perseverance is as much an evidence of the want or lack of true conversion as the want or lack of conversion is a sign of the want or lack of election. In other words, if a person is not elect, they won't be converted and they won't persevere in the faith. Now, believers should find comfort and encouragement in the certainty of perseverance promised to them in God's Word, but they also must feel the weight of the obligation Scripture lays on them to persevere in their confession of faith, the practice of obedience to Christ, and the pursuit of holiness, wrote Beeke. Christians must be actively engaged in the work of persevering in the faith, while knowing that Christ is preserving them in the enjoyment of salvation. Our Heidelberg Catechism question 31 says, why is he, that is Jesus, called Christ? That is, anointed. The answer, because he is ordained of God the Father and anointed with the Holy Ghost to be our chief prophet and teacher. who has fully revealed to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption, and our only High Priest, who by the one sacrifice of His body has redeemed us and even lives to make intercession for us with the Father, and our Eternal King, who governs us by His Word and Spirit and defends and preserves us in the redemption obtained for us. Now in this question and answer of the catechism, we see the grounds of perseverance and our preservation by Jesus Christ as our prophet, priest, and king. And in the very next question, question 32, it asks, but why are you called a Christian? The answer, because by faith I am a member of Christ, and thus a partaker of His anointing, in order that I may also confess His name, may present myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to Him, and with a free conscience may fight against sin and the devil in this life, and hereafter in eternity reign with Him over all creatures. That's the two sides of the coin, God's preserving and we persevering. And our persevering requires that we be engaged in it. Here's a metaphorical example for you. Think about the journey the salmon make to go upstream to their place of origin to spawn. They have to fight against the strong current of the river. They have to face hungry bears and humans, yet they swim onward. A dead fish will just float easily downstream. There's no fight, no battle, no struggle, but of course there's no life. Now there may be times when it seems like we are drifting downstream, backsliding, But when that begins to happen, we must wake up, examine ourselves, identify the causes of our drifting away and start heading back upstream. Now, how do we do that? How do we do that? Well, that leads us to our final consideration, the means of perseverance. Beake writes, The perseverance of the saints is a certainty because it is grounded in the work of the three persons of the Godhead, the abiding truth of God's word and the unchangeable nature of the covenant of grace. The Puritan said that from our perspective, the perseverance of the saints is both difficult and necessary. Perseverance assures our active engagement to make diligent use of those means that God has ordained for the achievement of His saving purpose. This shows that there's no affinity with antinomianism or lawlessness. Edwards said that if Christians cease to take care to persevere, that very thing is falling away. Now God uses means, secondary means, which he has ordained for our use in this call to perseverance. So what are those means? The Westminster Confession, Larger Catechism, Question 54 states, the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to His Church the benefits of His mediation are all His ordinances, especially the Word, the sacraments, and prayer. So first and foremost is the Word of God, preached, read, studied, sung, meditated upon, prayed, and memorized. Secondary to that would be the reading and studying of books on the Bible, like commentaries, systematic theologies, books on particular doctrines, listening to sermons online or written sermons, reading those. Next, the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, which of course are dependent upon the word of God and are pointers or signs to the gospel. And again, as I mentioned earlier, since we will be having the Lord's Supper next week, the importance of preparing ourselves for partaking of that sacrament, that means of grace, so that it's beneficial to us and we're not just mindlessly floating through that process, but we need to be engaged. And next, prayer, which as our catechism says, is the chief part of thankfulness. Praying often, consistently, with full engagement of our hearts and minds. As Paul says, praying without ceasing. And then I would add too, fellowship. Fellowship with other believers. Notice, through such means that Christians maintain a living and active faith. Thomas Watson said, keep your faith and your faith will keep you. While the pilot keeps the ship, his ship keeps him. You remember what I read in our text in 1 Peter 5.7, that the elect are kept by the power of God through faith. These means of grace will strengthen and help our faith to grow. Beake writes, the quantity of faith is not as critical as the quality of faith. Weak faith, as long as it is true faith, will carry a man to heaven. Yet as John Owen so aptly put it, weak faith will never carry him comfortably nor pleasantly there. The least true faith will do its work safely, though not so sweetly. So again, it's for our benefit that we utilize these means of grace and we will have greater sweetness, if you will, in our Christian walk because of that growing and developing faith. So believers must strive to grow in their faith and the means of grace are appointed for that very end. It is when believers neglect these means of grace in their lives by failing to come to public worship on the Lord's day, failing to read and study the Bible and other books on the Bible, failure to partake of the Lord's supper, failure to have a daily prayer life, and to not fellowship with other Christians. When the believer fails in these areas, they will begin to drift downstream. They will be more susceptible to temptations and will more easily fall before their enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil. Hebrews 3.12 gives us a warning. It says, take heed, brethren, beware, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. We must also be wary of presumption. As 1 Corinthians 10.12 says, therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. It's easy to get a little sloppy in our use of the means of grace. Other things, a multitude of distractions can draw us away and we begin to drift and float downstream. Watson warned, take heed, beware of presuming. Fear begets prayer, prayer begets strength, and strength begets steadfastness. To watch and pray requires humility before God. He said, the lower the tree roots into the earth, the firmer it is. So the more the soul is rooted in humility, the more established it is, and it is in less danger of falling away. The only alternative to apostasy is perseverance to the end. Now, one of the things that God will use as a means to purify our faith, as I mentioned earlier, is suffering, trials, tribulations, afflictions. The fire that Peter mentions in 1 Peter 5.7, our text, the fires of life will test our faith. And as James says in James 1, 2-4, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but that patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. All of those trials, of course, are ordered by God's divine providence, and he will work them all together for our good and his eternal glory. The Puritans taught that God will preserve us by His grace, making our use of the means of grace effectual to the accomplishment of His purpose. But for anyone to expect to be preserved without using God's appointed means of grace is gross presumption, and it is to insult God and trifle with His grace. Beeky laments that the doctrine of perseverance is not rightly understood by many Christians. Today, as proof of this assertion, he says that the fruits of perseverance, which would be diligent use of the means of grace, perseverance in heartfelt obedience to God's will, desire for fellowship with God, yearning for God's glory in heaven, love of the church, all of these appear to be waning in the broader church around us. Watson said that a Christian's main comfort depends upon this doctrine of perseverance. Take this away and you prejudice religion and cut the sinews of all cheerful endeavors. The true doctrine of perseverance because of God's preservation enables the church to both walk in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, as we see in Acts 9.31. So over these past two weeks, we've considered the certainty of perseverance and some objections to it, the grounds of perseverance, the difficulty of perseverance, its necessity, and the means that God uses to cause us to persevere. So let us, brothers and sisters, make diligent use of the means of grace, to be diligent to watch and pray, regarding our walk with the Lord in our pilgrimage through this life. And let us also celebrate and rejoice in this 405th anniversary of this great gift of the canons of Doroth that God has gifted to his church by his sovereign providence. Amen? Amen. Let us pray. Our gracious God, we do give thanks to you for this truth revealed in the scriptures and put into a systematic form in the canons of Dort, one of our subordinate standards that we can use to confess the faith and teach the faith. And we thank you for this truth that you have, that you who have begun a good work in us will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. and that you've also provided the necessary means, the means of grace that we ought to use, that by using them, you will bless our perseverance, and we will persevere unto the end in spite of all the warfare that we encounter from the world, the flesh, and the devil. So we pray, Lord, that you would help us. If we're sleeping and floating downstream, we pray you'll wake us up. and alarm us if necessary, and bring trials and tribulations to wake us up, Lord, so that we don't continue to float downstream. And have mercy upon us in that way, and let those things purify our faith, make it grow so that we might truly bear much fruit for your glory's sake. For we ask this in Christ's name, amen.