The sermon discusses the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, stating that believers cannot fully fall from the state of grace but will persevere to the end and be saved eternally. It explains that the perseverance depends on factors such as the immutability of God's decree of election, the free and unchangeable love of God, the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ, the oath of God, the abiding of the Holy Spirit, the seed of God within believers, and the unchangeable nature of the covenant of grace.

Our reading this morning from the Second London Baptist Confession comes from Chapter 17 of the Perseverance of the Saints, again this time paragraph 2. This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father, upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ and union with Him, the oath of God, the abiding of His Spirit, and the seed of God within them, and the nature of the covenant of grace, from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof." Last week we looked at what it means when we say the perseverance of the saints. The main point was that believers can neither totally nor fully fall from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere to the end and be saved eternally. These saints or believers are true believers who have been effectually called, who have been given the gift of faith, and who have now the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Today, we will look at what the perseverance depends on and what it doesn't depend on.

To start with, the perseverance of the saints does not depend on us. It does not depend on the free exercise of our will. Despite being effectually called, despite being regenerated and given a new heart, despite being freed from the bondage of sin, We are not free from sin and its effects. Encumbered as we are with the remnants of sin, with its sinful nature, we are not able on our own to persevere. Thankfully, our perseverance depends on God.

The confession gives us a number of reasons why a true believer can rest assured that he will not lose his faith. He will not totally nor finally fall from the state of grace. It begins with the foundation of the doctrine of the perseverance of saints, God's immutable decree of election. God has chosen from before the creation of the world those whom he will save, the elect. He has not done this because of anything we have done, nor from any foreknowledge of our faith, but solely from the good pleasure of His will.

We see this clearly in Paul's letters, according as he had chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will and to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." Ephesians 1, 4-6. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Romans 8, 29, but we should always give thanks to God for you, Brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in truth." 2 Thessalonians 2.13. God's election does not change. It is immutable.

For I am the Lord, I change not, Malachi 3.6. In the psalmist states, the counsel of the Lord standeth forever, Psalm 33.11. And forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens." Psalm 119, what God has decreed will take place. God does not have a plan A and a plan B. There is no backup plan needed.

God does not change. God's counsel, his plans do not change. God's word does not change. Those who are of the elect will be eternally saved. Jesus tells us in the Gospel of John over and over that none will be lost, none will fall away.

In John 6.37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. John 6.44, no man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day." In John 10, 28 and 29, I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my Father's hands." Not only will we not be snatched out of God's hand, but we take hold of the confidence Paul expressed in his letters to the Philippians, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1 6.

They, the saints, true believers shall persevere into the end and be eternally saved. God started this work of grace in you, it was intentional. It did not happen by chance or by luck. So rest assured that He will not leave it unfinished. This should give us great comfort and assurance that we will persevere.

Next, we read of the free and unchangeable love of God, the Father. We remember Jesus's words to his disciple that greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15 13. We see the same depth of that love from God the Father, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3.16.

God is immutable, unchangeable. Jeremiah tells us that the Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee, Jeremiah 31.3. How Wonderful it is to know that God loves us, that He has loved us with an everlasting love, a love that never changes. Dr.

Sproul has some comments on loving kindness here. The Hebrew word chesed is frequently translated loving kindness or mercy. It is what the story of Hosea is about. The ESV translated as steadfast love. Paul had this in view when he gave us the golden chain in Romans 8, 29 through 30.

Our salvation starts with foreknowledge and ends with glorification. For new here could also be rendered for loved. Those whom God for loved, He also predestined. God's love is the most astonishing thing about the Christian faith. It provoked the apostolic amazement of John, who exclaimed, see what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God.

And so we are, 1 John 3.1. This is a love that will not let us go because it is a love that is eternally and immutably loyal. Paul leaves us no doubt, for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Next, let's look at the efficacy of the merits of the atoning work of Christ. In our previous chapter, we focused on good works.

We learned that we have no merit from any works that we do. They are all tainted and of no avail. The only merit that will benefit us, that will justify us, is Christ's merit from His atoning work. Christ lived a perfect life. He was without sin, yet He suffered and died on the cross for the elect.

Not everyone, but only the true believers. We read this from Romans. Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Romans 5, 9, and 10.

Robert Shaw comments here, Christ purchased the church with His own blood, Acts 20, 28. And the iniquities of all his people were laid upon him. Isaiah 53, 6. And as their surety, he bore their sins in his own body on the tree. First Peter 2, 24.

He sustained the full infliction of the curse which they deserved and obtained for them eternal redemption. Hebrews 9-12. Now as a surety stands in the place of the person or in the room of the person whom he represents, The latter reaps all the benefits of what the surety has done in His name, so that if His debt has been paid by the surety, the creditor cannot demand the payment of it from Him. Let us apply this illustration to the subject before us. If Christ made satisfaction on the cross for the sins of His people, the elect, not for some of them only, but for them all, all the elect, as we are expressly assured, it would be contrary to justice to subject them also to the punishment.

But if the saints may fall from a state of grace and perish in their sins, satisfaction will be twice exacted, first from the surety and secondly from them. Either Christ did or did not make an atonement for the sins of His people. If He did not make an atonement for them, they must satisfy the debt for themselves. If He did answer the demands of justice in their place, it is impossible under the righteous administration of heaven they should by any cause or for any reason come under condemnation. The efficacy of the merit of Christ's atoning work assures the true believer that He will persevere unto salvation and not fall away.

It is also through the intercession of Jesus Christ that our faith will not fail. Again, Christ purchased the Church of God with His own blood, Acts 20, 28, and hereafter shall the Son of Man sit on the right hand of the power of God, Luke 22, 69. And He ever liveth to make intercession for them, Hebrews 7, 25. What does this intercession look like? Christ prays for us, each one of us.

Note his conversation with Peter, predicting his denial of Christ. "'But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." Luke 22, 32. Will his prayers fall on deaf ears? No. And I knew that thou, Father, hearest me always.

John 11, 42. We have more examples from Jesus's prayers for the disciples and other believers in John 17. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. In verse 11, I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one, verse 15. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word, verse 20.

Father, I will that they also whom now has given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou has given me. Verse 24. How wonderful and how encouraging it is to know, to fully understand that we have Christ, our high priest, interceding for us at the throne of God. It is by the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ and the union with Him that we do not fall from grace and that we persevere into the end. Next, it is through the oath of God that we persevere in our faith.

It is written in Hebrews 6, 16 through 20, for men verily swear by the greater an oath, for confirmation is to them an end of all strife, wherein God willing more abundantly to show unto their heirs a promise, the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil, whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made a high priest, forever after the order of Melchizedek." God confirms his promises with an oath. Robert Candlish, a Scottish minister from the 1800s, comments, The divine oath is all important and it's bearing on the security of the believers' hope. What is to give me confidence? Is it my own diligence or is it my own carefulness? No.

Both of these conditions are indispensable, but neither of them is to be relied on as giving assurance. But thou art in the hands of a God whose name and nature and character thou knowest. And to put an end to all debate in thy heart, he swears by himself to thee. He points to his essential perfection. He bids thee consider not only what he says but what he is, what thou in Christ has seen and found him to be.

And he tells thee that as surely as he is what he is, as surely is he liveth, so surely he pledges himself to thee, and must keep faith with thee." The next reason for our perseverance is the abiding of his Spirit. When we are saved, the Holy Spirit renews our heart, regenerates us, and we receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus told us, and I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you forever. John 14-16. In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit a promise." Ephesians 1 13. The Holy Spirit will strengthen us, guide us, comfort us throughout the rest of our lives.

How is it possible that with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the seal of the Holy Spirit with His abiding in us that we could ever fall away? The next reason is closely connected to the previous one. Our perseverance is sure because the seed of God within them. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God, 1 John 3, 9. God's seed abides in those who have been born of God.

For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. First John 5, 4. Furthermore, we know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him and the evil one does not touch him. First John 5, 18. Great blessings come from having the seed of God abide within us.

And one of those blessings is the perseverance of our faith. And finally, the unchangeable nature of the covenant of grace is given as a reason for the perseverance of the Saints. Let's start by refreshing our understanding of what the Covenant of Grace is and what we mean by its nature. Lewis Berkhoff states in simple terms, the Covenant of Grace may be defined as that gracious agreement between the offended God and the offending but elect sinner, in which God promises salvation through faith in Christ, and the sinner accepts this believingly, promising a life of faith and obedience. As to its nature, let's take a look at what is really going on here.

Ligon Duncan, a chancellor of the Reformed Theological Seminary, offers some clarifications for us on this nature. One, God sovereignly and graciously enters into and establishes the covenant of grace. He is not obligated to do so. He chooses to do so of his own determinate counsel. He chooses man, not man him.

Number two, God sovereignly and graciously administers the covenant of grace. Man does not bargain with God or choose his own terms. God is, as it were, the suzerain, the Lord, and the man, the vassal. God declares the nature of the relationship and its attendant obligations. Number three, God sovereignly and graciously fulfills the conditions of the covenant of grace.

Man, because of his sinfulness, cannot fulfill the conditions of the relationship and so God in His grace sovereignly elects to fulfill not only His own but also His people's obligations. Number four, God sovereignly and graciously sustains the covenant of grace. Even with the conditions fulfilled, there are still requirements in the covenant of grace—faith, repentance, sanctification, obedience. Man is responsible for these, but God, by His Spirit, empowers His chosen ones to fulfill these requirements. In conclusion, we might say that on the side of the fulfillment of the fundamental conditions of the covenant of grace, it is wholly monergistic.

Christ fulfills the law. He obeys it perfectly. He pays the penalty for our violation of it on our behalf. On the side of our requirements of the covenant of grace, what God requires of us, God's grace provides and the Holy Spirit enables faith, repentance, sanctification, integrity, obedience. God is sovereign and we are responsible.

There is a two-sidedness to this relationship, but we work as and because God works in us. Philippians 2.13. Now let's focus a little bit on the phrase, unchangeable nature. The psalmist states, my covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips, Psalm 89 34. John Gill comments on this verse, not the covenant at Sinai, but the covenant of grace made with Christ, and which stands fast with him, which is firm, sure, and stable, and as immovable as mountains and hills and more so.

Though his people profane his statutes, he will not profane his covenant. Though they violate his laws, he is a God keeping covenant with them and will not break his word with them. He changes not in his nature and perfections, nor in his love and affections, nor in his counsels and purposes, so neither in his covenant and promises. They are always the same and have a certain and unchangeable accomplishment. There is a performance of whatsoever is spoken by the Lord.

God spoke to Jeremiah, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Jeremiah 32, 40. God tells us that His covenant is everlasting. He tells us He will not break it nor alter it. Not only that, but God also says that they, the true believers, shall not depart from me.

We will persevere. We will not fall away. In Jeremiah 31, 33, I shall be their God, and they shall be my people. Paul, in speaking to the Philippians about their fellowship in the gospel, states that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Philippians 2 13 It is Christ who shall also confirm you unto the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ 1st Corinthians 1 8 Thus we see that the perseverance of the Saints or we can say the perseverance of our faith depends not on us or the free exercise of our will but on God, on the immutability of God's decree of election, on the free unchangeable love of God, on the intercession of Jesus Christ and union with him, on the oath of God, the abiding of the Holy Spirit, the seed of God within us, and the unchangeable nature of the covenant of grace.

Amen.