Bible Readings:
Mark 4:1 – 20
Jude 1 – 25
Sermon Outline:
John 6:37–40 (NKJV)
37All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
38For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
39This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
40And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 10:27–30 (NKJV)
27My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
28And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
29My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
30I and My Father are one.”
I The promise of God’s preservation of His own people
Romans 8:28–30 (NKJV)
28And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
29For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
Romans 8:35–39 (NKJV)
35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
38For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
39nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
II The means of the perseverance of the saints
1 Peter 1:3–5 (NKJV)
3Blessed 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,
4to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
5who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Canons of Dort, Fifth Head of Doctrine – ARTICLE 12 (1618 – 1619)
This certainty of perseverance, however, is so far from exciting in believers a spirit of pride, or of rendering them carnally secure, that on the contrary it is the real source of humility, filial reverence, true piety, patience in every tribulation, fervent prayers, constancy in suffering and in confessing the truth, and of solid rejoicing in God; so that the consideration of this benefit should serve as an incentive to the serious and constant practice of gratitude and good works, as appears from the testimonies of Scripture and the examples of the saints.
Historic Creeds and Confessions (electronic ed.). (1997). Lexham Press.