Good afternoon once again. You would turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Philippians chapter 1. Let's stand together and read verse 6. Let's read together the word of the Lord. Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Let's pray. Our Father, high above the whole world, may your name, O God, be hallowed in this assembly. May the kingdom of your Son be advanced in this hour. May your will, oh God, be done here on earth in this hour as it is in heaven. We pray, God, that you would speak to us through your Word, O God, and that you would change us by your Word, that you would encourage us, Lord, by your Word, that you would convict us by your Word, instruct us by your Word.

For we ask it in the name of your son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's be seated. Spurgeon once said, if there's any doctrine that I've preached more than any other, it is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. And what I want to want us to look at this afternoon is that doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, also known as the doctrine of the preservation of the saints.

We read just a moment ago the passage from Philippians chapter one where the apostle Paul says that believers can be confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it will continue it will perform it will continue it until the day of Jesus Christ. That is until the day that Jesus Christ returns. In other words, God who began that good work of grace in your heart is going to complete the work that he began. Paul lays the ground of the final perseverance of the saints in God, not us. God is the one who begins the work, and God is the one who carries it on to completion.

Jesus talked about a man in Luke chapter 14, who was laughed at for beginning to build a tower that he couldn't finish. He didn't have sufficient to complete it. This man began to build, Jesus said, and is not able to finish it. And the people mocked the man for it. But what God begins, God finishes.

We all have projects that we begin and maybe we don't get them done or we're still working on them but God finishes everything that he begins. That which he began in his people he will bring to completion at the day of Christ's coming. Now, someone might say or have an objection and say, well, I believe that God is able to complete Whatever he begins, but how do I know that he began a work in me personally? One reason is because you ask the question Spiritually dead people don't tend to ask questions like that Because there isn't any spiritual life in them to to prompt any concern for their spiritual state in response to passages like this. True believers, on the other hand, hear passages like Philippians 1 6, and they want to be sure.

They want to be sure that this is talking about them. They want to know beyond any doubt that those comforting words are spoken to them personally. If that's you today, I would encourage you to view the very longing of your soul for assurance that God has begun a work in you as evidence that he has. As evidence that he has. As evidence that he who began a good work in you is continuing it.

Again, Spurgeon, quote, the faintest, gracious desire is the work of God. The faintest gracious desire is the work of God. He goes on, which will ultimately blossom into the fragrant flower of earnest prayer and a humble faith. It's the work of God in you. This is the work of God in you.

You've heard me go through this before. It's been probably a year or so since I have it. I'll quote Dr. Sproul, the late Dr. Sproul when he was once asked a question by an audience member, said, how can I know that I'm saved?

How can I be sure that I'm saved? And R.C. Sproul said, well, let me ask you three questions to help you flesh it out. Number one, do you have perfect love in your heart for the biblical Jesus? Well, no, I don't love him perfectly.

And then I go to the second question, well, do you love Christ as much as you should love him? And he said at this point, if they didn't answer yes to the first question, they aren't going to be able to say yes to the second question. And so whatever assurance they might have had is starting to dissolve away. And then he said, I say, well, let me ask you a third question, and this is the crucial question. Do you love the biblical Jesus at all?

Do you love the biblical Jesus at all? Do you have any affection in your heart for the Christ of the New Testament? And if they say yes to that, I can say, okay, how can you possibly have any affection for Jesus unless you were born of the Holy Spirit. As Fro goes on, I know that I couldn't love Jesus unless I was reborn. In other words, unless God had given me new life and a new heart.

He goes on, and I couldn't be reborn unless God had sovereignly chosen to give me the gift of regeneration. And so there my theology supports my confidence that God will finish what he has started and I can have my full trust in my salvation." Brothers and sisters, Jesus once mildly rebuked his disciples with these words. Remember where he said this? He said, Oh ye of little faith. Oh ye of little faith.

They were out on a ship, remember, and you know the story, the storm comes up and Jesus is down below in the deck of the boat and he's sleeping through it all. And his disciples, they're terrified. And they go down and they wake him up and they say, Lord, we're, we perish, we're about to die. And Jesus says, oh, you have little faith. And he rebukes the wind and the sea, and it all grows calm instantly.

My point in bringing this up is this, Jesus said those words to disciples, to the apostles. Jesus was talking to saved people when he said, oh ye of little faith. Brothers and sisters, little faith is still faith. Little faith is still faith. Remember the father in Mark chapter 9 who comes to Jesus.

He's got his demon possessed son with him and this man's faith was very weak. Remember what he said? Do you have faith? And he says, Lord, I believe. Help down my unbelief.

Help my unbelief. I believe, but help my unbelief. He was admitting it wasn't where it needed to be. I've got faith but it's small. It's okay to admit the weakness of our faith to God.

It's okay to say, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Our faith may be weak but there isn't any weakness on God's part. Our faith may be weak, there's no weakness on God's part. The same power that initiated the work of grace in us is the same power that will see us through to life's end. 1st Peter 1 5 says that we are quote kept by the power of God through faith and to salvation.

Do you believe that? We are kept by the power of God. We're kept by the power of God, not our own power. Do you believe that it is not your strength or faith that keeps you, but that you are kept by the omnipotent power of God? And that no matter how weak your faith is, and no matter how unstable or wavering your faith may be at times, that you're kept by the power of God, not your own power, and would be kept by His power through faith under your final salvation on the last day?

In other words, do you believe God's word? Will you take God at his word when he gives us, gives you these encouraging words? It's okay to answer, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. The reason that We who are trusting in Jesus persevere in faith to the end is because we are preserved by the power of God to the end. If it were left up to us, every one of us would fall away.

Every one of us would fall away. But because the salvation of believers is of God from start to finish and not us, we couldn't fully and finally fall away even if we wanted to. Have you ever thought of that? We couldn't fully and finally fall away even if we wanted to for being held by the power of God, sustained by the power of God. He who began a good work in you will complete it.

He who began a good work in us will complete it. Brothers and sisters, God isn't going anywhere. God isn't going anywhere. Oh, He may permit a child of His to slip into sin for a time. He may allow us to drift like a boat on the waves from the shore for a time in order to show us our hearts, in order to humble us, in order to show us our need for Him and how we need to rely upon Him, not only day by day, but moment by moment, but because He isn't going anywhere, neither are we.

Because God isn't going anywhere, neither are you. God is holding onto you more tightly than you're holding onto Him. God is holding onto you more tightly than you're holding onto Him. God is holding onto you more tightly than you're holding onto Him, infinitely more tightly. Brothers and sisters, Christ is the anchor for your soul, not you.

Christ is the anchor for your soul, not you. Your ship is tethered to that anchor by a cable that you can't cut, by a cable that you're not capable of cutting, God's love for you. Our Baptist Confession says, believers can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end and be eternally saved. That really sums it all up. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is also as I mentioned a moment ago known as the doctrine of the preservation of the saints.

The saints of God persevere in faith to the end because they are preserved by God to the end. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 24 to the church at Thessalonica, the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless under the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Faithful is he who calls you.

This is the last part of the verse. Faithful is he who calls you, who also will do it. Who also will do it. The same thing he says in Philippians 1, 6. He who began that good work in you is gonna bring it through to its completion.

Who will do it? God, who is faithful, will do it. This isn't, of course, the false doctrine that says, well, just let go and let God. No, this is a doctrine that says, you can't let go, because he won't let go. You can't let go because he won't let go.

It's not based upon you. In John 6.39, Jesus says, and this is the Father's will who has sent me, that of all which he has given me, I should lose none, but should raise them up again at the last day. Believers can take God at his word. Hebrews 13 five, He has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Do you believe that?

Do you believe God's Word? Will you take Him at His Word? We get these notions in our minds, these seeds of doubt that are sown by the enemy of our souls. Notions like this, we hear the words, Jesus says, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. And then our minds run to something like, He may never leave me, but what if I leave Him?

Jeremiah 32, 40, I will make an everlasting covenant with them, but I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, and they shall not depart from me. Those who have trusted, truly trusted in Christ can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace. David, you know, in the Old Testament, he fell into sin, serious sin. But when he was confronted by Nathan, he repented his sin and he's restored. Peter falls, I would say even further.

Peter falls beyond what he never imagined possible, publicly denying Jesus with cursing and swearing. Three times denying him, But one look from Jesus as he was coming out of the palace there and Peter's in the courtyard has just denied him. One look from Jesus already beaten somewhat. One look from Jesus and Peter goes out and weeps bitterly for his sin and he's restored of God and he's used of God greatly. The incestuous man in 1st Corinthians 5 who's living in sin with his father's wife is cast out of the church.

He is quote, delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh in hopes that his soul may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. That's the biblical language. He is delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Why? In hopes that his soul may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Then you get over to 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 and this man is repented. He's repented and Paul says the church should receive him back and forgive him and should comfort him lest he be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. We don't want our brothers and sisters in the Lord to be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Is it good to think on our sin from time to time and to be brought to tears? Yes.

Is it good to do as Peter did and to come under such conviction that we go out and we weep bitterly? It says he wept bitterly. Yes, it's good. Is it good to remain in that state or that place? No.

Looking to Christ, understanding what He did. He died for our sins. He took that very sin that we committed upon Himself, bore it on that cross, bore the wrath to us, suffered in our place. We come to trust His Word and His mercy and the mercies of God. To stay in that pit is not where we're to stay, but to believe the Word of God.

Christ died for our sins, and He rose again. He saved me. He saved me. The goal of church discipline is a repentance. Paul taught that to them in 2 Corinthians, too.

That's the goal. The goal is not to cast someone out of the church like this man who was sexually immoral so that we just, well we put him out and we delivered him to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. No, but in hopes that his soul will be saved, that he'll return. In hopes that he will repent and then we receive him back in just as we would want to be received back in if we were the ones who had fallen as far as that brother or sister had fallen. True believers who slide or fall into sin, even serious sin, will never remain in sin or forever depart.

Why? Christ's intercession. Christ's intercession for sinners, for believers, for sinners who have come to Christ are children of God. Christ's intercession guarantees that believers can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace. Christ's intercession was the cause of Peter's restoration.

He said to him, I prayed for you that your faith fail not. And his faith did not fail. And because he intercedes for you, and because he intercedes for me, our faith will not fail either, who are truly the children of God. Brothers and sisters, God is the one who first brought tears to your eyes for your sins. No one comes to that place where they're humbled before God.

They see their sin. They're sorry for their sin. They're penitent. They feel the weight of it and the guilt of it, and they're brought to tears for their sins and their only hope is Christ. No one comes there unless God brings them there.

And the one who first brought tears to your eyes for your sins is the same one who will one day wipe every tear from your eyes. As we read in the book of Revelation, he brought those tears to your eyes. He will wipe every tear from your eyes. He who began a good work and you will complete it. In that passage from Jeremiah, God with an oath assured his people, whom he was in covenant, that he would not turn away from them whom he had graciously and eternally saved, and that he would never allow them to totally or finally depart from him.

God's decrees are immutable, unchangeable because God is unchangeable in his nature and attributes. Malachi 3.6 says, for I am the Lord, this is God speaking, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. This is God speaking to the true sons of the Father, the Israel of God, who are of the faith of Abraham, that upon the foundation of his immutability, that is his unchangeableness, the objects of his love are assured that they will not be consumed, that is, eternally cast off but kept secure by his omnipotent hand. We can have confidence in the promise of God that what he's begun, he performs and continues to the end. That he who has begun a good work in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Psalm 37, 28 says, for the Lord forsaketh not his saints. The Lord doesn't forsake his people. They are preserved forever. Do you believe God's word? Do you believe his word?

The psalmist said in Psalm 125 verses one and two, they that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion which cannot be removed but abides forever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even forever. We close, Jesus died for us, He lived for us, He died for us, He rose for us, and He prayed to the Father, He ascended to the Father and He prays for His people. He intercedes for His people. Even as He prayed for us in John chapter 17 that all those that were given to Him would be with Him forever.

Jesus' prayer will not go unheard. You will persevere to the end if you're a believer today because you're kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. He who began a good work in you is going to complete it. He loves you. He loves you.

He loves you. And he proved it by sending his son to die for you. Let's pray. Father Jesus said, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Speaking of your children.

And he said, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father who gave them to me is greater than all and no one is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. And we trust Your Word. We trust Your Word. Fill us, O Lord, with assurance, confidence in Your Word, and assurance, O God, that Your Word is true, that You, O God, who began that good work in us, is going to complete it, carry us through even to the day of Christ's return.

For we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.