Sovereign Grace Bible Church
These are the sermons and teachings of Sovereign Grace Bible Church in Biggsville, Illinois. We exist to fulfill the Great Commission through the Great Commandment within Gospel Community.
Sovereign Grace Bible Church
The Enduring Perseverance and Eternal Preservation of God's Children
What does it mean to be secure in Christ? In this profound exploration of the Doctrine of Salvation, we unpack the beautiful truth of Enduring Perseverance and Preservation—the final component in our GRACE series examining core Christian beliefs.
The Christian journey mirrors our favorite comeback stories. Like Rocky ascending those famous steps with arms raised in triumph, our spiritual lives feature both breakthroughs and setbacks. But unlike Hollywood narratives, our victory isn't determined by our performance but by God's unfailing love. Romans 8:35-39 assures us that absolutely nothing—not tribulation, distress, persecution, or any created thing—can separate us from Christ's love.
We dive deep into the theological richness of Ephesians 1:13-14, examining how believers are "sealed with the promised Holy Spirit" as a guarantee of our inheritance. This isn't simply corporate language but an intimate promise—like an engagement ring signifying Christ's commitment to never abandon His people. John 10:27-29 reinforces this security with Jesus' declaration that no one can snatch His sheep from His hand, while Philippians 1:6 promises that God will complete the good work He began in us.
The tension between God's preservation and our perseverance creates a beautiful paradox. We're called to be "hyper-conquerors" (Romans 8:37) not through worldly triumph but by growing in love, humility, and sacrifice when wronged. Our practical application becomes both resting in God's promises and running the race with our eyes fixed on Christ. Just as a parent walks alongside a wobbly child learning to ride without training wheels, God ensures we'll reach our destination even when we stumble.
Connect with us to learn how this foundational truth can transform your daily walk with Christ, freeing you from performance-based religion to experience the joy of secure relationship with your Savior.
Today we're ending our last section of the Doctrine of Salvation in our series on what we believe, going over the core doctrines of the Christian faith, and so we made the acronym GRACE, and each letter stood for one aspect of salvation, and today is our last one, which is Enduring Perseverance and Preservation. And as you and I were growing up, there was plenty of movies about overcoming and the protagonist that has this slight uptick and then everything goes terrible. And then there's a comeback story and they push through and they make it all the way. I can just like see like Rocky going up steps or something like that, with, like, his hands raised. There is this beautiful piece of a story that you and I love when someone goes through something hard and comes out the other side victorious. And in a similar sense, today we're going to look at the Christian life and how the Christian life is that story. And how the Christian life is that story, it is one where it feels like there's ups and there's downs and yet at the end of this race, you and I will finish one way or another.
Speaker 1:Go ahead and turn your Bibles to Romans, chapter 8, verses 35 through 39. And if you don't have your Bible with you or you want bigger print. The slides that are in the packet you were given are all the slides that I'll be going over will be on that and all the supporting verses. So I'll read this text and then we'll actually go through all the other supporting texts first and then come back here and go verse by verse through this. But this is God's holy word. It says who shall separate us from the love of Christ. It says In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord, our Lord. In this text we see the unfailing, unending, unyielding love of God for you and me, and that there is nothing that changes that. However, in the Christian life, you and I, we are finite and fickle and we know how our love can change. My love for Christ is sometimes a blazing fire and other times it's a smoldering wick, and at those times I can judge myself and say do I really love God and what you and I do all the time, whether we mean to or not. Is we put God into a human box and say God must be just like me and if I'm having a bad day I'd be tired of me? Today, like I wouldn't want to say I forgive you again, like I've already messed up 12 times today. That's the limit, right? And so we have to look at the entirety of scripture and see what God's word has to say about the enduring preservation and perseverance of God's people.
Speaker 1:In Ephesians, chapter 1, verses 13 and 14, we see a pivotal text where it says In him you also, you Christian, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. So again we see that this is the truth, right, the gospel is not just a lifestyle, it is a message. No one's going to get saved because you're nice. But being nice, being kind, honoring, respectful, might open the doorway for you to serve the gospel to them, which is a word that needs to be shared. So when you believed what happened in that singular moment, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit verse 14,. Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. Now, this is a beautiful text where we see that God's love for us is one where he's already not only paid the price but he's put down earnest money to ensure that nothing happens. To promise us, to show us the security of our salvation is not in you and I earning something, in the same way that if you and I do we end up purchasing Turnbull's funeral home and trying to put a church in there that if we put money down, that ensures that we will get the building and be allowed to purchase it. However, there's nothing the building can do to make us buy it faster or be worth more to us. If we put the money down, we say I have already decided that this building is worth my time, my energy, my money, my effort, and so to prove that, I will already put some down. Now, to compare the Holy Spirit to three, four, five grand it seems a little bit inappropriate, almost, but that is the picture that we're getting. Is that God loves us so much that what he did was send his Holy Spirit down from heaven, where he was in eternal glory, enjoying all of life, to live inside people like you and me and to love us when we fail and to encourage us when we're stumbling.
Speaker 1:Now those words there the sealed and the guarantee are very particular words. The word sealed there had a lot of meaning back in that day. It would have been the old school wax seal of someone that was official, saying do not touch this, under law of Caesar, until it gets to where it's supposed to go, right, it's like when the IRS sends you something and like it's like you got to sign for that pupper and give them like your birthday. They do an eye scan, they ask you a couple of questions and you're like I don't, I don't want the mail anymore, I'm good. It is that level of serious. The Holy Spirit has sealed us with God's seal and if the government has a seal that carries authority, how much more would God's seal carry authority on you and me? Now, not only that, we have the word guarantee.
Speaker 1:There, between the word sealed and guarantee, we get a full picture, because sealed has this kind of corporate feeling. Right, god's put his stamp on you and no one can take you out of the process. You're like, oh, that's kind of distanced, but nice, it's secure. The guarantee here in the Greek actually is the same word that would have been used for like an engagement ring. It was the idea of I'm going to marry you and so here's what I'm going to give you. That signifies you are mine.
Speaker 1:And so what we see here is that God has not only sealed us with an official stamp that no one can break, but that, on top of that, the Holy Spirit is also this loving, affectionate symbol of Christ's unfailing love. Symbol of Christ's unfailing love. I will ensure these come to pass, and that is the guarantee of our inheritance, which we have not acquired fully just yet. Right? We have a lot of that language in the Bible the currently, but not yet right. You have all that you need in Christ, but you will have all of Christ when you get to heaven. And the same way here, this inheritance is a perfect inheritance that we get a taste of here on earth. That one day, when we are in heaven, we will acquire full possession of it and it will be the praise of God's glory. God will get the glory and the praise and the honor, and you and I will bask in the goodness of that moment.
Speaker 1:In John, chapter 10, verses 27 through 29, jesus has this message on the good shepherd who he is, and he says my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. Again, you'll see that there's no maybes, there's no ifs, ands or buts with that. It is just a pure statement. They hear me, I know them, they follow me. He says verse 28, I give them eternal life and they will never perish. Okay, again, let's talk about this.
Speaker 1:If we have eternal life and then it was possible for you to lose it, would it be eternal life? No, it wouldn't. If I gave you a, if we dug a well in your yard and we said this well is an everlasting well, your entire lifetime guaranteed, and 15 years from now it dried up, you would say you're a liar, that did not work, it didn't happen. We have to look at these promises of God. He says I give them eternal life. Not, they went out and got it, not, they worked really hard to get that eternal life. I give them eternal life. And then the negative and they will never perish. God knows how dense you and I can be sometimes. So he wants to say the positive and the negative. Not only will I make sure that you do, but I'm going to also make sure that you don't. Okay, and we have comfort in that because you and I need to be reminded. Then he continues and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
Speaker 1:Verse 29,. My father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. That's an absolute statement. And no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand. And the word picture I use for this whenever we preach through the gospel of John is you ever seen those kids? They're walking down the road and there's like a security and holding like mom's hand or dad's hand. But if you have like a three year old or a four year old that's holding mom and dad's hand all of you have like a three-year-old or a four-year-old that's holding mom and dad's hand all of a sudden they're like a walking ninja and they can like pull up on it and they're like kicking around and they're like whoa, like there's so much freedom. I am so secure, I can jump around and act like I'm a ninja, a gymnast that I really am not, and if they let go of me I'm going to get hurt really bad, but I'm so secure that I hold onto that and jump in the same way. Both God, the father, and Christ hold us and you and I need to act like the little toddler who has the freedom to say I'm safe, I am secure, I'm loved. We continue.
Speaker 1:Philippians, chapter one, verse six is the verse I was supposed to give Pastor Dan Ashton, but I gave him. Philippians 1, verse 21. So our kids got a good to live is Christ and to die is gain. Only the strongest will survive.
Speaker 1:Sermon first, in Philippians, chapter 1, verse 6, paul is talking to the church in Philippi from a prison in Rome. You got to remember. This is the church that started by a river, lydia's by a river and God opens her heart to hear the gospel and to receive it, and in that moment the church is born and they meet over there for a little bit and eventually are established. Paul writes to this church that started by a river, that had no official function of any kind, and later on he says I am sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. What a beautiful picture that it doesn't matter how we start exactly, it doesn't matter our context. You could be saved in a big town, small town, no town, any town. It does not matter. What matters is the Savior, not the situation. What matters is not our surroundings, but our Christ, and Jesus is the reason why Paul can look at the church in Philippi, which is not this booming church that was established on this super strong foundation where they had a synagogue building and all these different things.
Speaker 1:You can look at them, this rumbling band of nomads that are in this town, and say I am sure of this one thing God will finish what he started in you and my dear friends. That's the message to you this morning is that, no matter where you started, maybe even started this morning, no matter what you said to the kids on the way to church today, no matter what happened last night, no matter how many Sundays you fail to be here or are not here or you fail to read your Bible or pray, no matter what, god will finish what he has started in you. The pressure is not on you, and you and I will look at the words of Christ where he says come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I'll give you rest. And we're like oh, thank you, jesus, I'll take that back now because I got to work for this, okay, and we have this quick transaction with Jesus where we experience the grace of God and we're like, oh, it's so free. And then you wake up the next morning and you forget You're like, all right, got to put on the old garb real quick. Let's get that heavy shirt on you.
Speaker 1:And I must remind ourselves and each other that's why we need community, that's why we need accountability is so that we have people around us that say I know life's rough right now. I know you're failing, I know you're falling short, but your hope is not in doing really good in this life. Your hope is not in being the best Christian that you know. Your hope is in knowing Christ and that he doesn't change. No matter how much you and I change, he will never change.
Speaker 1:So growing up, I learned of two views of security, and you might have seen these before. There is conditional security and eternal security. These are the two views of salvation. Conditional security is the idea that salvation is not guaranteed but depends on the continued faithfulness and obedience of those being saved, the idea being that a person is not truly saved until they die in a saved status and it is possible for a believer to fall away from the faith and to forfeit their salvation. Now, to some of you that might sound like, yeah, I remember hearing that at one point in time or something like that. Some of you that might be completely AWOL and you have no idea what I'm talking about. And that's good, stay there, we're going to get to the good stuff in a second.
Speaker 1:But I remember learning this growing up and in school. In college I remember there was a moment where someone taught on this at chapel and the professor, the pastor, whoever he was was up front and he's speaking on this and he's saying pretty much you need to keep working to ensure that you're okay. And so someone naturally asked him okay, wait a second question. If I leave here and on the way to work, I get cut off by somebody and I flip them the bird and then all of a sudden I die in a car accident just immediately. I didn't get to repent about doing the sin that I just committed. Do I go to hell? And the college kid is like smirking like I got you. And then the professor looks at him and says no, you don't.
Speaker 1:And that was a true belief that some people had, and actually it was a belief that was prevalent in the church over the last 50, 60 years is this idea that you are responsible to keep up your salvation, and it's wrong. And what happens is we weren't taught how to interpret the Bible and so we'll see the warnings of the Bible right Like you read through Hebrews. Anyone read through Hebrews too early in the Christian life and you will get lost in the sauce. Leave it alone for a little bit. Grow in the gospel and then we'll go over Hebrews together. But in Hebrews there's these warnings that are just spattered throughout. It's like don't taste the goodness of salvation and then go away. And we look at them. We're like, yeah, he's talking to Christians. Like Christians you could taste the goodness and walk away. And we're like you don't understand In a church context.
Speaker 1:Not everybody in this room is saved. People have to still be warned. Not only that, there is nothing more important in your life than ensuring hmm, I have actually tested this. I've had people affirm they've seen fruit in my life and I can be assured of my salvation. Most people do not walk around with a strong assurance of their salvation, but it is a gift of life that you and I should strive for to be assured that I am saved, that God is doing a changing work in me and, again, the best way to do that is not short-term, it's long-term. Okay, closest friend, have you seen anything change in me over the last year? Right, have I grown in self-control? Have I grown in humility at all? Have I grown in love? Do I sacrifice more than I used to?
Speaker 1:And we have to look at the big picture because you and I, I mean it's like a weight loss journey. I don't know if you ever tried to do that and you like monitor every pound you lose. But if you do that sometimes you weigh every week you'll begin to hate yourself Cause, like on, like week two, you gained a pound and you're like, no, how'd that happen? We lost five last week. And then, like the next week, you like lose two pounds and you're like but that's only actually one pound, cause we gained one pound last week. And then you go through this like up and down. It's like Just weigh yourself once a month. You'll get way more like steady results if you just calm it down.
Speaker 1:But you and I are so performance anxiety driven that we're like no, no, I need to check on my sanctification every three hours. Okay, nope, I failed there and I was a terrible parent today, so I think we're going backwards. We're going backwards on the treadmill, dan, someone saved me. Pick me up now. We have to stop this foolishness. You and I weren't meant to look to ourselves. If you do that, you will always either go into the ditch of depression on the one side and anxiety, or the ditch of pride and puffed upness on the other side. I did so good today, the wife not so much, but I did pretty good today and we do this comparison trap.
Speaker 1:You and I were not made to perform on our own. There's a reason. Paul says I strive mightily right. So we're like he's working hard. Through what? Through the power of Christ, which works mightily in me, and we're like oh yeah, no, no, no. So Jesus is the engine, the gas, the oil, the car. I'm the driver, but also, if I fail, he'll keep driving the car. But I'm still responsible to make sure this car gets from point A to point B, and it's a lot like a toddler that's learning how to ride a bike with no training wheels for the first time. We're like they're responsible to not crash.
Speaker 1:Right, you can say you go, but there's this season, for just a little moment, where mom or dad walks alongside and ensures we're gonna get from there to there and hopefully not cause too much damage. So much greater is God's love for us where he brings us from point A to point B, even when we're teetering and tottering and failing like that. It's a bell, bell, bell, bell. Let's just leave it alone. That wind's coming in. Good, you guys have the slides, you'll be fine. Okay, okay.
Speaker 1:So we have this conditional security view. Right, keep up your salvation. Or else then there's the other view, which we would say is the biblical view, which says that once a person is truly saved through faith in jesus christ, their salvation is guaranteed and cannot be lost, even if they sin or turn away from God. So what we would say is that you and I could often be in a church setting or in a community setting and like someone like goes through a season where they stop going to church and they're doing bad things, and we're like you know that person's probably not even a Christian. It's like whoa, calm down. Like you and I don't know, they might be going through a season where God is going to discipline them in order that they come to repentance and come back to where they're supposed to be. We're not sure of what this is supposed to look like or look like exactly, which is why we do warnings, but we never pronounce a judgment. We might warn and say, hey, you need to stay away from this or that, but we never pronounce a judgment on someone's salvation in full.
Speaker 1:Second point there, god is the one who keeps us. The Holy Spirit seals us. Both Jesus and the Father have us firmly grasped in their hand and absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God. And that leads us to the two terms we have here eternal perseverance and eternal preservation. What does that actually mean? Well, eternal perseverance means that believers must persevere to the end in order to attain glory. And you'd say, okay, dan, you just said the opposite of what you've been saying this entire time, like I can't do it. But actually, christian, you're responsible to persevere in the faith, and I'll tie this together in a beautiful nutshell in a moment.
Speaker 1:Eternal preservation is the other end, which says that God promises to preserve those whom he has saved. And a good example of that is one of my favorite benedictions, which is in Jude 24 and 25, where it says Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory, with great joy to the only God, our Savior. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen. Jesus is the one who does it.
Speaker 1:Now let's go all the way back to Romans 8, and I'll tie this up for you. Romans, chapter 8, verses 35 through 39, paul says who shall separate us from the love of Christ? And this is actually in a string of questions that started in like verse 31. Paul is just letting them loose, but really this is where he ties it all together who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Because ultimately, that is what salvation is. It is God's love for us. Then he asks questions Shall, tribulation or distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword Right? He's listing off all of these different aspects of suffering and pain and persecution and saying can any of this snatch you away from the love of God? And then verse 36, he says, as it is written for your sake, we are being killed all the day long, we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. And if you're anything like me, the first 15 times I read that I was like, well, that's weird. I just kept reading. I was like verse 35 makes sense, 36 or something weird. And then we keep going and then it all makes sense again Verse 36. Let me help you out here.
Speaker 1:This is a quote from Psalm, chapter 44. And he's pointing back to this. And in the Psalm the psalmist is writing about being God's chosen people and he's like, okay, look, being God's chosen people, it feels like we're just dying all day, like we're just like sheep on a leash going to the slaughterhouse and there's nothing that happens. People keep beating us up. We keep being prisoners, we get taken over, people hate us, they take things from us. We can't win. We keep failing. We're just, we're dying.
Speaker 1:And that is Paul's reason why he went back to what the question he said. He said shall tribulation or distress persecution? Why? Because, as it is written, the Christian life looks like this. It looks like dying, which is why you and I can very easily look at this list. We might change the words a little bit, but the idea of suffering in this life, of persecution, of people hating, not understanding, understanding, not loving, judging and discriminating against us this is normal, because this is the christian life. It is denying yourself, it is dying to yourself. It's picking your cross up daily to follow our savior. But here's the beautiful thing is that you and I don't look at that and just we're not like oh yeah, jesus the taskmaster, go and be slaughtered. Go get them tigers Like Jesus is not the conquering king back in his throne room that says go forth, peasants, and attack that wall and all of you die. In fact he was the lamb that was slaughtered first and he laid down his life fully for you and me when we didn't even want it. And so he looks at us and says now you, if you wish to follow me, you must deny yourself. Pick up your cross and follow me For your sake. We are being killed all day long.
Speaker 1:There's this beautiful picture in John Bunyan's book, the Pilgrim's Progress, where they're showing a picture of the Christian life, and the one is picturing the Christian as a soldier that has all. There's all of this army in front of the kingdom of heaven, and the Christian soldier has to fight and almost die in order to gain the kingdom of heaven. And Pilgrim says what is this? And the interpreter says this is the Christian life. You must battle for heaven. And so if we look at all that again we say okay, again, no, comprendo, like I thought God does the work. Then there's this beautiful other side of the picture that Bunyan writes, where there's this fire that's supposed to represent the Christian life, and Satan is there pouring water time and time again over this fire, but the fire refuses to go out. And as you look at the picture and it zooms out a little bit, behind the wall, where the fire was at, sneaking underneath, is someone pouring oil under the fire. And that is the Holy Spirit living inside the Christian where, no matter what the devil does, no matter what this world does, our fire could not be extinguished. Not because you and I are greater than the water that he has, but because the oil of Christ in our lives, the Holy Spirit that we were promised with, keeps us in spite of ourselves. And so again, just like all the other parallel salvific truths, we kind of hold these two in two hands and say okay, so I am to take heaven by force, right, I'm to wake up daily and battle for the kingdom of God, and yet at the same time, I'm to just sit back and know, hey, this little light of mine will not go out. How does that work? Let's continue.
Speaker 1:Verse 37, paul looks at all this, the dying life of the Christian, all of these different persecutions and sufferings, and says no, in all these things we are more than conquerors. I love that. In the Greek, that is the word that we get hyper from and it's the word than conquerors. I love that in the Greek, that is the word that we get hyper from and it's the word hyper conquerors. You and I are hyper conquerors. What does that mean? Again, it's this extreme version of. We are more than that, but again, you and I, we grew up in this worldly mindset, so we're like a conqueror is covered in blood and takes over things and wins, and we're like no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1:What the Bible's talking about is a man who can conquer his selfish desire and, at the end of a 14-hour day, get down on the floor with his kids and play with them and discipline them in love and shepherd his wife and listen for hours if he has to, without breaking. That is a hyper-conqueror. A hyper-conqueror is a wife that sees her husband going a little astray, tries to correct. He doesn't listen and just says I will follow anyways, and we'll both get hurt by this. A hyper-conqueror does what the world can't do.
Speaker 1:You and I take the kingdom of heaven not by being awesome or by winning in all aspects of life, but by growing in the fruit of the spirit and being people of love and humility and sacrifice that when the world wrongs us, we say thank you because Jesus is enough for me. When the world hates us and says we don't want you, we say that's okay, I know the one who always wants me. You and I have to find our security in Christ and if we don't, we will never be able to perform as the hyper conquerors that God has said we are. We are more than conquerors, meaning we're above conquerors, because we are able to conquer even our own spirit, our own desires, our own lust and our own sin, and the world is a slave to their sin and the world is a slave to their sin. They are in the midst of the rat race of this world and can't help but listen to everything that Satan compels them to. We are more than conquerors through what? What's the channel through which we are more than conquerors? Through him who loved us. That's the power.
Speaker 1:So you and I, again, we have this Christian life and we forget to plug into the power source and we're like man, this battery of mine just keeps going empty. I keep trying to do this and we're like the guy. Okay, I've been working on my house for a long time, y'all know that, and I'll tell you, one of the most irritating things on a job site is when someone doesn't charge the battery for the cordless products. Because you get to the site and you're ready to go and you already worked as a pastor from 5 am to 2 pm and you're ready to attack this house and your mind sets in it and you go to use your tools and nothing can work. So then you got to wait 20 minutes to like charge it and then like, kind of charge the other one a little bit while that's going, so that's when it dies. You have another one that's kind of charged and you do that song and dance for an hour or two. I've done it.
Speaker 1:As you can tell, there is this frustration of I have a tool, I have a battery, it's not working. I have a battery, it's not working and you and me are the nincompoops in the Christian life like, hmm, I have God's word, I have Holy Spirit in me, but it's not going. What's happening? We're like, okay. Well, are you praying Christian? Do you think you could pray more? Are you reading god's word? Do you think you could read more often? Are you in christian community, or is it just the the hour hour and a half on a sunday morning and we sit there, we're like I'm starving to death, I'm dying, and we're like you eat once a week. I have no sympathy. We have community for a reason. We have the means of grace through which to live the Christian life.
Speaker 1:We don't plug in when we're like the teenager who's like nothing works, everything's dirty, and the parents are like get up clean, put it together, stop talking to me about it. You and I are that teenager in the Christian life. And then we'll cry out to God, god, I don't understand. Why am I struggling so bad? And God's like well, I've been here the whole time. I gave you the tools, I gave you people that are stumbling forward with you, and you just keep doing your own thing. And so we're like the parent that says, hey, when you go outside and you're playing at the beach or outside for a long time on a really sunny day, put some sunscreen on and the kid's like, okay, and then they go outside and they don't put the sunscreen on, they go play and have a wonderful day and they come back and they have to deal with the ramifications of their decision. You and I again do that with the Christian life.
Speaker 1:We look at this like the perfect love of God and we're like, oh, it's so comforting on a Sunday morning. And then Wednesday evening comes around and we're like, yeah, I am so busy with work and I just got in an argument with somebody again and my kids just disobeyed me for the 15th time. I'm going to pull my hair out. I don't know what the answer is. And we have like amnesia. We have spiritual amnesia between Sunday and Tuesday, and that's why you and I need each other. We need people that remind us the answer is not in me. Your husband can't be that cool. Your kids will never fulfill you. Your spouse will never do what you need them to do because you're trying to fill a God-sized hole with people and possessions and positions and it will never satisfy. Full satisfaction is only found in the love of Christ. Now look at this at the end here, verses 38 and 39.
Speaker 1:Paul goes through the gambit. I am sure he's not questioning, he's not unsure, he's not mostly sure. You know. It's like the worst thing in the entire world is when you're doing something really important and someone tells you like hey, I would do that. And you're like, okay, are you sure they're like. You're like, no, don't, don't ask me. Like you said, this is good, I'm trusting you right now. Don't give me an eh, give me a yes or a no, please.
Speaker 1:Paul doesn't do that to us. He says, I am sure that neither death nor life, right. So what's the greatest fear in life? Dying, right, you and I we haven't experienced what's. On the other end, the greatest fear is the unknown. That's why people are scared of the dark, or they're scared of the ocean. Me like deep ocean. No, I can't outrun a shark. That's like dangerous fear of mine, not that you can outrun a bear, really either, but like the ocean's scarier.
Speaker 1:Okay, neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers. That means angels or demons, right? So, like all of this spiritual stuff, you and I will make it like hyper-spiritual. We're like, yeah, the angels are like the good superheroes and the demons are like the bad superheroes and they could all just knock us around and do whatever they want to us if they wanted to. And it's like no angels are actually subordinate to humans when they are in Christ, nor things present, nor things to come.
Speaker 1:Okay, time, don't worry about time. Time will not take Christ away from you, not even time away from God's word, not even time away from God's people. God's word, not even time away from God's people, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, and he's trying to cover, like the space-time power continuum here, like nothing in all creation that's the best is when you're like talking to a dad or something like that, and they're like trying to say something to you and they're like not that, not this, not anything. Okay, nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Dear Christian, what can separate you from the love of Christ? Yeah, I'll say it again, dear Christian, what can separate you from the love of Christ? That's right. Nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. So you might say, dan, that's great. I feel the warm and fuzzies. Now I'm ready to go have some lunch. Thank you for the warm and fuzzies. God loves me. We're not done.
Speaker 1:You see, sanctification, growing a Christ-likeness, begins with knowledge, but application is where you and I actually have the rubber meet the road. So what do I want you to do? You can write these down. You do not have slides for this. I want you to do two things for me this week I want you to work on resting and I want you to work on running. Here's what I mean by that. A lot of people are like I'm not a runner, I'm with you. I'm with you. Hear me out.
Speaker 1:I want you to begin by resting in what you have learned about the security of your salvation. If you do not begin there, you will fail at the next step Again. This is a lot of the aspect of we start with our justification that we have been freed from the penalty of sin and through that we're able to now conquer the power of sin in our life, slowly but surely. I want you to begin by resting daily, reminding yourself to rest in the fact that God promises to preserve you to the end, even if you're a bad mom or a bad son or a bad worker. He promises to finish what he has started in you. And then, once you have renewed your mind in the resting, I want you to run. I want you to rest and I want you to run. And here's how I want you to run. I want you to run first and foremost with your eyes on Christ.
Speaker 1:Again, the whole idea of sports back in the day was keep your eyes on the prize. The reason that you and I deviate in this life and we're like how did I end up here? It's because we don't run in a straight line. There was this really funny thing whenever I taught through Hebrews at one point in time, a piece of Hebrews where it's about running the race of life, and I used the analogy with the teenagers, I was like, all right. So if I said, hey, go run a mile real quick, and I said, but I want you to look at your feet the whole time, who would be able to make it quickly? And, of course, like all the teenage boys are like I can do it. I'm like, okay, run across the gym real quick, looking at your feet, and they're all like everyone falls or they give up. You can't run. Looking at your feet, okay. Then we did an example Okay, run across the gym, but this time only look to your right, across your shoulder, and what happens? Everyone kind of you don't run straight. And we did the other side too, just for fun.
Speaker 1:If you don't keep your eyes on Christ as you run. You will go somewhere else and you'd be like I'm doing good things and we'll be like, yeah, you're not doing God things though you could serve with all your might. But if you're doing it so that Joe Schmo is happy with you, you have failed. You're doing it for the wrong reason, because as soon as Joe Schmo is not approving of you and you sacrificed all that time if they didn't say thank you, then you're going to sinfully be indignant and be like, well, I'm not ever helping out Joe Schmo again. He didn't even say thank you this time.
Speaker 1:We serve for Christ, we run for Christ. Keep your eyes on him. I want you to also, then. So that's your eyes with your mind. I want you to keep in mind Christ's supremacy over all. As you run this race, it is comforting to know the umbrella of God's sovereignty, of Christ's supremacy over everything, is covering you from beginning to end, that nothing will take you off course, that you will go to the finish line because God will ensure it.
Speaker 1:I also want you, as you're running, to daily remind yourself that Christ never stops praying for you. He is daily, hourly, interceding on your behalf, looking at God, the Father and saying I understand their pain, I understand their suffering. I understand their pain, I understand their suffering. I want you to hold tight to the promises of God, because when we hold on to the things of this world, we eventually realize they're either a slippery fish or a prickly bush. It will either escape you or hurt you. You must hold on only to the promises of Christ.
Speaker 1:I want you to commit to spending time with your Lord daily and to find an accountability buddy, because you and I are terrible at doing things consistently. We're terrible at it. If you don't have someone checking in on you, you will not be doing it a month from now. Lastly, I want you to come to Sunday mornings ready to enjoy worship and fellowship and accountability. You were made to enjoy a Sunday morning. You were made to enjoy a Sunday morning. You were made to enjoy biblical community, not to dread it, not to be anxious about it, not to be worried, like people are gonna look at me and my pregnant wife and our toddlers and be like, oh my goodness, what did they do? Like none of that. Come to enjoy. And, my dear friends, if we could just learn to rest and run, understanding the enduring preservation and perseverance that is required of us and is expected of us and covers us by golly. We might be a good church one day.
Speaker 1:Now, on this journey, if you don't look to your left and your right and know the people next to you, it's not going to be easier when there's 80 of you. So now is the time to get to know each other. Now is the time to build the community. Do it now, or later on you'll have even more excuses for not doing it.
Speaker 1:Let's pray, father. We come before you and we humbly ask that you would work mightily through your word, that you would change hearts and minds, that you would help us to become a people who rest in your grace, in your mercy, who understand that you are in control of everything, and we sit back and relax in that Thank you, lord, for your goodness and that, even when we're unfaithful, you can't help but continue to be faithful to us. Please help us in our weakness to not look to ourselves and to look to our performance, but to look to you and your perfection. Lord, we ask that you would empower us, through that security and through community, to run this race, to engage today. Just say today is the day that we will begin to fight to be who you call us to be and that the community around us would look in and say those people are different, that they would see us and know that we are yours by the way, that we love each other first and foremost. In Jesus name, we pray Amen.
