Perseverance of the Saints
Perseverance of the Saints
By
Daron Alleman
“The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?” --Jeremiah 17:9
One tragic consequence of man’s fall into sin has been his propensity to forget God. The danger to forget our Maker becomes even more acute after God has blessed us with His grace. Many times the language of our hearts is “My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth (Deut. 8:17).” But God graciously brings the sinner back to reality saying, “But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth (Deut. 8:18).” Perhaps mans tendency to forget Gods grace is found in the fact that we only see true grace in God and His Word. Discussing modern day man in his book The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination Loraine Boettner states, “In fact, a system of salvation by grace is so utterly at variance with his every-day experience, in which he sees every thing and person treated according to works and merits, that he has great difficulty in bringing himself to believe that it can be true. He wishes to earn his salvation, though certainly he expects very high wages for very sorry work.” Having swallowed the lie that our salvation in some way depends upon us it becomes a short step to the lie that the power to live, and maintain the Christian life, depends upon us. Having been derailed the crash becomes inevitable. The beginning symptoms of our apostasy are our joy-less and prayer-less lives, our lack of love for God and one another, and our avoidance of God and his Holy Word. This only makes sense as we have been alienated from the only source of holy living power, that being Gods Holy Spirit, and we have become self reliant. But again God graciously brings the sinner back to reality saying in Galatians 3:3, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” Historically the Arminian and Calvinist have answered that question two different ways;
Arminianism
5. Falling from Grace
Those who believe and are truly saved can lose their salvation by failing to keep up their faith, etc. All Arminians have not been agreed on this point; some have held that believers are eternally secure in Christ – that once a sinner is regenerated, he can never be lost.
Calvinism
5. Perseverance of the Saints
All who are chosen by God, redeemed by Christ, and given faith by the Spirit, are eternally saved. They are kept in faith by the power of Almighty God, and thus persevere to the end.
As we have seen in previous articles of this T.U.L.I.P series it is God alone who initiates our salvation. Therefore, it only makes sense that He alone is the one who enables us to finish what He has started. Like a master builder God always finishes what He starts! What sayeth the Scriptures?
“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 1:6
“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:23 – 24
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” – John 10:27 – 30
So brothers and sisters in Christ, I will see you in heaven, where we will eternally praise our gracious Lord Jesus Christ for all He alone has accomplished in our lives! To Him alone be the glory. Amen!