The Word of God comes to us tonight from John chapter 10, John 10 as we read together verses 22 through 30, a portion of our Lord's discourse about being the Good Shepherd. Verses 22 through 30, we read that in connection with our consideration of the fifth head of doctrine of the canons of Dort, which we'll turn to in a moment. Before we read God's Word together, let's bow in prayer. Father, as we come before You once again, in the context of this worship service, we do thank You for Your Word, Your Word of truth, Your Word which is so very precious to us, and may it always be precious to us, more and more so every day. And we come before You tonight with expectation, thanking You, praising You for calling us to worship, promising to speak to us through Your servant, weak as he is. We pray that You would bless him and bless us, open our hearts and lives, our minds that we might see the glorious truths that You have stored for us that we call the doctrines of grace. Hear our prayer for Jesus' sake, and in His name we pray, Amen. John 10, beginning at verse 22, hear now the Word of God. Then came the feast of dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area, walking in Solomon's colonnade. The Jews gathered around Him, saying, How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered, I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall 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 hand. I and my Father are one. There ends the reading of God's Word. May He add His blessing to our consideration of it tonight. And I invite you to turn with me in the back portion of the Soldier Hymnal to page 109. Page 109, as we consider tonight a portion of the fifth head of doctrine of our confession, the Canons of Dort, that we know is considered called the Perseverance of the Saints. We're going to read a number of the articles tonight. It would be good to read all of them. Lord willing, we'll read a number of them again next week, Sunday evening. But tonight, reading Articles 1, 3, 5, 6, and 8. Article 1, page 109. Those whom God, according to His purpose, calls to the communion of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and regenerates by the Holy Spirit, He also delivers from the dominion and slavery of sin, though in this life He does not deliver them altogether from the body of sin and from the infirmities of the flesh. And then Article 2 goes on to talk about our daily sins and weaknesses and fleeing to God. Article 3. By reason of these remains of indwelling sin and also because of the temptations of the world and of Satan, those who are converted could not persevere into that grace if left to their own strength. But God is faithful who, having conferred grace, mercifully confirms and powerfully preserves them therein even to the end. And then Article 4 talks about serious and grievous sins. Article 5, by such enormous sins, however, they very highly offend God, incur a deadly guilt, grieve the Holy Spirit, interrupt the exercise of faith, very grievously wound their consciences, and sometimes for a while lose the sense of God's favor, until when they change their course by serious repentance, the light of God's fatherly countenance again shines upon them. Article 6. But God, who is rich in mercy, according to His unchangeable purpose of election, does not wholly withdraw the Holy Spirit from His own people, even in their grievous falls, nor suffers them to proceed so far as to lose the grace of adoption and forfeit the state of justification or to commit the sin unto death or against the Holy Spirit, nor does He permit them to be totally deserted and to plunge themselves into everlasting destruction. Article 7 talks about God preserving them with His incorruptible seed of regeneration from perishing. He renews them. Article 8, Thus it is not in consequence of their own merits or strength, but of God's free mercy, that they neither totally fall from faith and grace nor continue and perish finally in their backslidings, which, with respect to themselves, is not only possible, but would undoubtedly happen. But with respect to God, it is utterly impossible, since His counsel cannot be changed, nor His promise fail, neither can the call according to His purpose be revoked, nor the merit, intercession, and preservation of Christ be rendered ineffectual, nor the sealing of the Holy Spirit be frustrated or obliterated. Those articles of the Canons of Dort, the fifth head of doctrine. Well, beloved, in Christ the Lord, from the time that we some time ago began to consider the doctrines of grace revealed to us in the Word of God and summarized in our confession, the Canons of Dort, from that very time, we have pointed out, we have seen two great themes. One flowing from the other. The first theme being the theme of God's sovereign and gracious work in the redemption of His elect people. That it's all of God. It is 100% completely all of God. His work. And then the theme that flows from that, the comfort and the security that this work provides, it gives to the Christian believer. Both of these themes have been consistent from beginning to end in each of these doctrines of grace as we have considered. For the true believer, you see, ours is the comfort not only of God's plan to elect and save a people for Himself and to include us in that plan. Ours is the comfort not only of His accomplishment of that salvation through the atoning work of Jesus Christ. Ours is the comfort not only of the irresistible application of that work by the Holy Spirit. All of that is to our comfort, but that's not our only comfort. Our comfort also includes the eternal security of that work, which we now consider in this doctrine of grace called the perseverance of the saints. The unconditional election, the limited atonement, and the irresistible grace poured out upon the totally depraved sinner, these doctrines, these truths of Scripture then imply the certain salvation of those who receive those blessings. It cannot be any other way. if what we have said, if what we believe from the truth of God's Word is indeed true, if it is indeed factual, which it is, then undoubtedly it results in the eternal salvation of those who receive those blessings. As someone has said, the saints in heaven are happier, but no more secure than our true believers in this world. Now think about that for a second. The saints in heaven are happier, but no more secure. Now we know that the saints who have already gone to be with our Lord in heaven are secure. They are definitely, eternally secure. But they are no more secure than our true believers in this world. We are as secure as they are. Now, on the one hand, Scripture is so saturated with the truth of the perseverance of the saints that we ought to be able to take our Bibles and read from numerous passages and say, Amen, and go home for the evening and be comforted and encouraged. For example, Philippians 1, verse 6, Paul says, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. And of course, the beautiful words of Paul in Romans 8, verse 39, that nothing, absolutely nothing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The Apostle John, of course, gives many references, almost countless references, of the fact that believers have been given that we have already received eternal life, that it is our present possession. And then, of course, the text before us from John chapter 10, that no one, absolutely no one, can snatch Christ's sheep out of His hand. Yet, beloved, in the midst of the truth of all of this, there is a sad reality and that is that this glorious doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is mischaracterized. It's misapplied by many. And as we look at the visible church, we must also confess that there is a seeming contradiction when it comes to this doctrine. And I believe article 15, which we did not read, helps us to understand why. It begins, The carnal mind is unable to comprehend this doctrine of the perseverance of the saints and the certainty thereof, which God has most abundantly revealed in His Word for the glory of His name and the consolation of pious souls and which He impresses upon the hearts of the believers. Satan abhors it. The world ridicules it. The ignorant and hypocritical abuse it. And the heretics oppose it. Now that contradiction that seems to come alongside of this doctrine is that there are those. There are those who have professed their faith publicly, who were a part of the church, and they have rejected everything they have professed. And they have fallen away. So some would say, how then could you embrace the perseverance of the saints? And the mischaracterization or the misapplication of the perseverance of the saints goes something like this, that the perseverance of the saints means kind of a once saved, always saved complacency. That if I stand up in church or if I stand up in a campfire meeting and profess my faith, If I make a decision for Christ that I am guaranteed to be saved, that I have eternal security, and the best part, and this is where the complacency comes in, that I can live like, that I can do whatever I want, it doesn't matter, I can live like the devil, and it will be okay because I have some sort of a guarantee after this life. Is that what we believe when we confess the perseverance of the saints? Absolutely not. Now, Arminianism, at the time of the Great Synod, mischaracterized the truth of the perseverance of the saints in this way and still today challenges this doctrine with that undeniable fact that visibly many do fall away. Arminianism teaches, maybe to say in a nutshell, that man can persevere if he decides to. Well, of course, that's consistent with all that they teach about the different doctrines that we have considered. But they also teach alongside of that, that man can fall from, that man can forfeit the true saving grace of God. And therefore, we might say that man can be a child of God today, that he can be a child of the devil tomorrow, that he can be born again and justified and sanctified and all but glorified because he has not yet reached heaven. But because he has not reached heaven, all these other things can be true, but even then, he can still become reprobate and perish eternally. Arminianism attacks God's sovereignty in many ways, but especially in saying with regard to this doctrine that God can't keep man. That God can't hold on to man against man's own will. If what Arminianism teaches is true, then we might ask, for example, well, why doesn't God take believers from this life before they fall away? I mean, if God is able to foresee that some will believe in Him by their own free will, then certainly God is able to see that some will undo their belief in Him by their own free will. God, therefore, does not do anyone any favor by leaving them in this life for a moment longer than their conversion if they have the possibility to fall away. Beloved, when the perseverance of the saints is understood properly in the light of Scripture, it answers to that mischaracterization and it clarifies that seeming contradiction and it is of greatest comfort to the believer because it not only encourages us, but it commands us to walk in the ways of God, and that is because the elect child of God is preserved by God. This fifth head of doctrine uses two words to describe this beautiful doctrine. Perseverance, as the title says, and preservation. Notice again Article 3, for example, by reason of these remains of indwelling sin and also because of the temptations of the world and of Satan. Those who are converted could not persevere in that grace if left to their own strength. But God is faithful who, having conferred grace, mercifully confirms and powerfully preserves them therein even to the end. Article 4 talks about God preserving true believers. Article 9 begins speaking of this preservation of the elect to salvation and of their perseverance in the faith. Perseverance and preservation. Really, these two terms are talking about the same thing, but from different angles, from different points of view, and one results in the other. Now again, as you can imagine, Arminianism, as paragraph 2 of the Rejection of Errors makes clear, says that God's preserving of the saint is dependent upon the perseverance of the saint. But of course, the truth is the other way around. Man's perseverance depends on God's preservation. Preservation focuses on God's work. It is the active power of God by which He preserves and holds His people in His presence. And perseverance then focuses on the same task, but from our side. We know that God preserves us, that God holds us with His hand, but we are then called to preserve in the faith with Jesus Christ in our walk with the Lord. Next time, the Lord willing, we will consider this fifth head of doctrine from our side, with regard to perseverance of the believer tonight, from God's side, preserved by God. So first of all, considering the identity of those preserved. Very simply, saints. who are the saints what is a saint now this is not new to us we consider this from time to time but in light of the mischaracterization and in light of the seeming contradiction it's good for us to be reminded who are the saints saints are not perfect people those perfectly holy and righteous because except for Jesus Christ when he walked this earth there are none there have been none there will be none Saints are not perfect people In the same way, saints are not those who are holier than the most Those who are super Christians, we might say They are not those who are holier than most Whether they are determined to be because of a life of good works Like the Roman Catholic Church Still, I heard the other day, 13 years after Mother Teresa's death They are still working on conferring upon her sainthood nor are saints those again thinking of those who are holier than most nor are they those that we might think of in the church older people those who have walked in the faith with the Lord for many years we admire them for their faith and they are saints but not exclusively the number of years of walking with the Lord does not determine whether one does not define one as a saint ironically the same older people and maybe that includes some of us here tonight. Some of these same elderly believers as they begin to realize that their lives may not last too many more years. And the more and more they recognize the truth of themselves, they tend to ask, well, who am I? Why would God do that for me? And really, they have a hard time even seeing themselves as saints. They are saints. But those are not the saints exclusively. Nor are saints all of the people in the visible church. Even though Paul uses the word saints in sort of a general way to refer to the church in Ephesus, we know that he is not talking about all of those in that church, but specifically he is talking to believers because he references them as the faithful in Christ Jesus. So who are the saints? Beloved, the saints who persevere are the very same people that we have been talking about throughout our study of the doctrines of grace in the canons. Saints are those who are elect of God. Those particularly atoned for. Those who recognize their total depravity, yet they are those whom God has irresistibly drawn to Himself. They are those who were once dead spiritually and are now very much alive spiritually. Saints are true believers, all true believers, from the moment one first believes by the grace of God to those who have lived in faith for most of their life for many, many years. And therefore, saints are not simply those who have stood up in church and made a public profession of faith. Saints are not simply those who have occupied a church pew for as long as they can remember, yet they have done so only out of custom or habit without really believing. Saints are those who publicly confess Christ and who worship alongside other believers, but those activities do not make one a saint. A saint participates in those activities, but not all who participate in those activities are saints. Saints are those who are elect by God for whom Christ died and who exercise true repentance and faith by the power of the Holy Spirit. And therefore, we are also able then to answer that seeming contradiction. Again, perseverance of the saints is challenged. Once saved, always saved, is challenged by those who say, well, I know of one who made public profession of faith and who appeared for some time, even a number of years, to be a Christian. But he or she has wandered away. And now they will have nothing to do with the church. Sadly, we all know of one or more like that, no doubt. And again, we are called to remember as hard as it is for us to acknowledge there are wolves in sheep's clothing, the Bible teaches. There are hypocrites in the church. As Jesus says in Matthew 7, Some will say to Him, Lord, Lord, and we have done all these things in Your name. or as we see in John chapter 10 with regard to the Jews of that day those who were considered to be in the church of that day simply there are some who don't belong to Jesus the apostle John dealt with this very problem in 1 John 2 verse 19 where he is talking about the Antichrist and he says they went out from us but they did not really belong to us for if they had belonged to us they would have remained with us but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. He's dealing there with the problem of people leaving the church, not just transferring their membership from one faithful church to another, but leaving, literally walking away from the assembly of the communion of the saints. He says their leaving was a demonstration that they never really belonged. If they had belonged, they never would have left. As we think about the parables of the wheat and the weeds that grow together until harvest or the dragnet filled with bad fish, remember, the weeds were never wheat. It's not as if they began as wheat and went through some sort of a transformation or metamorphosis and became weeds. No, they were always weeds. The bad fish were never good fish. This beautiful doctrine, beloved, is not the perseverance of the confessor. It is not the perseverance of the visible church member, but it is the perseverance of the saints who are so by the grace of God and who are those who are dependent upon the preserving power of God. And notice, secondly, the dependence of those preserved. They are preserved. They persevere not because of their own will, not because of their own good works, but their dependence is illumined by their struggle with sin. our sin, beloved, that we continue to struggle with is proof that it is not up to us, it cannot be up to us, that it is God who preserves. The Canons of Dort acknowledges the presence and the continuing conflict with sin in the life of the true believer. Article 1 says again, those whom God, according to His purpose, calls to the communion of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and regenerates by the Holy Spirit, He also delivers from the dominion and slavery of sin, though in this life He does not deliver them altogether from the body of sin and from the infirmities of the flesh. Article 2 goes on to talk about the daily sins of infirmity and blemishes that cleave even to the best works of the saints. And other articles talk about the grievous sins of God's people. And in some way, this is to be comforting to you and me as we struggle with sin. Oddly enough, it is to be to our comfort. It is also to be comforting to us as we continue to pray for our loved ones, maybe our children or brothers or sisters who have walked away. Now, we don't know for certain that they are like those whom John was talking about, saying that their walking away was a demonstration that they never really belonged. We don't know. And therefore, we are to be comforted in deed that only God knows. And to continue to pray for those whom we know and love who have walked away for a season praying that their situation may be like David or Peter. But we cannot deny sin's reality. Paul says in Romans 7 of himself, the good that I want to do, I don't do. The evil that I hate, the evil that I don't want to do, that's what I do. Children of God no longer live as slaves to sin. They are no longer dominated by sin. But they do fall into sin. And sin's consequences, which are many, include the fact that if left to ourselves, if it was left up to us, we would undoubtedly fall from grace. Sin does offend God, as Article 5 said. It does attack our assurance. It does cause us to lose our sense of God's favor. It does wound our conscience. But God will not allow it to truly, to actually, to eternally separate the believer from Him. He will not allow it because of the blood of Jesus Christ. That blood is not wasted. And instead, as Article 4 says, He confirms and preserves true believers in a state of grace. Amazing, isn't it? As Article 6 says again, But God, who is rich in mercy according to His unchangeable purpose of election, does not wholly withdraw the Holy Spirit from His own people, even in their grievous falls, nor suffers them to proceed so far as to lose the grace of adoption and forfeit the state of justification, or to commit the sin unto death or against the Holy Spirit, nor does He permit them to be totally deserted and to plunge themselves into everlasting destruction. And our God has given beautiful examples of this in His Word. As again, we think of David. And as we think of Peter. And the grievous sins that indeed they fell into. But David is able to say in Psalm 51, Lord, restore to me, what? The joy of salvation. He doesn't say, restore to me salvation. He never lost His salvation. He lost the joy of it for a season. but he never lost his salvation. He was preserved by God. Beloved, the dependence of those preserved, understanding our sin, understanding God's amazing grace. Even though we continue to sin and grievously offend Him, He continues to preserve. That dependence, that knowledge keeps the saint from complacency. It answers to that complacency as we'll hopefully consider next time, the Lord willing. The saints of God do not embrace the lie, once saved, always saved. Therefore, I can live like I want. Articles 11 and 12 consider those things. Instead, the believer is humbled as he recognizes his continual struggle with sin and that we not only depend on Jesus Christ alone to save us, but we depend on God's grace through the Holy Spirit to keep us. Indeed, regrettably, sadly, we can fall into sin, but praise be to God, we can never fall from God's grace because of it. That's the guarantee of those preserved in the third place. That guarantee is nothing other than the sovereign purpose and the grace of God. That guarantee is from the sovereign God Himself. His Word, the very Scriptures, what He has said that He has done and will do is our source. And again, this text from John 10 expresses this truth beautifully in the context of Jesus giving that beautiful sermon about Himself as the Good Shepherd that His sheep are secure. Indeed, our Lord was challenged In verse 24, the Jews gathered around Him saying, How long will You keep us in suspense if You are the Christ? Tell us plainly. Jesus answered, I did tell you as if to say, I told you plainly. But you did not believe. The miracles I do in My Father's name speak for Me. How much more plain can I be? You saw the miracles with your very eyes. I have told you. But you don't see. You don't understand because you do not belong to Me. They had not been the recipients of the irresistible grace of God. But my sheep, Jesus says, beginning in verse 27, My sheep, listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one can snatch them out of my hand. Beloved, what a glorious, beautiful promise of that gift of eternal life. A gift that has been given. A gift that has not been earned. A gift freely given. A gift that lasts forever. A gift that will never be taken away from Christ's sheep. And Christ's sheep will never be taken away from that gift. And even more, he goes on in verse 29, My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. Notice there that our security and God's omnipotence, that He has all power, are equal. Because our security is founded on God's omnipotence. Our security is only as strong as God is. He has all power. That means we have all security. As one commentator said, it would be as easy, boys and girls, listen to this, it would be as easy to pluck a star out of the heavens as to pluck a saint out of the Father's hand. Now, we all know that it's impossible to pluck a star out of heaven. And that's the point, isn't it? It's impossible to remove a child of God from the hand of God. And the beautiful result, beloved, is that Jesus has a relationship with his people. He says, they are mine. I know them. They know my voice. Beloved, the God of the universe knows us. He knows you. He knows me. He knows all about us. He has called us to be His own. The Lord says in Isaiah 43, I have redeemed you. You are mine. I have called you by name. And He holds us. He holds us in such a way that no one, nothing, will be able to snatch us out of His hand. The idea there is that nothing can remove us from Him and therefore take control over us. What a beautiful picture of being held safe in the arms of our Heavenly Father. And I trust we all understand this, whether as parents or mostly, because we've all been children. I remember that as a small child, especially in the midst of the middle of the night, in the midst of a thunder and a lightning storm. There was nothing more comforting than to be in the arms of my mom or my dad. What a beautiful picture of being held safe in the arms of the Father no matter what comes upon us. And this guarantee, beloved, that is ours is an expression of God's unchangeable purpose and love. Paul says in Ephesians 1 that we were chosen to be holy and blameless for that purpose. He says that we were predestined to be adopted. God's unchangeable purpose. In Isaiah 54, verse 10, the Lord says, My unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor my covenant of peace be removed. If God allowed true believers to be lost, He would violate His own character. He would violate His own word. It simply won't happen. This guarantee that we have is an expression of God's unchangeable purpose and love and an expression of His keeping power, His holding power, we might say. In 1 Corinthians 1, Paul expresses confidence in the Lord to sustain believers all the way to the end. Again, in Philippians 1, verse 6, Paul says, He who began a good work in you will carry it on, how far? Not just halfway. Not most of the way and leave the rest up to us, but it will be completed. Jude 1 says, To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ. The keeping power of God. And that guarantee is an expression also of God's gift of eternal life. As we said toward the beginning, John in so many places, 3.16, 5.24, 6.47, 1 John 2, to mention a few, he says we have eternal life. It's been given to us. We have the promise of it. It is our present possession. And the believer's present possession in Christ is a guarantee of that which will be His in the future in full measure. And that is our guarantee because of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul says in Ephesians 1, 13, Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of His glory. A seal was used to protect important and valuable documents and to prove one's authority, to point to one's authority. The Holy Spirit is a down payment to us from God Himself and a seal upon us that we belong to Jesus Christ. And therefore, beloved, we do not need to be filled with hopelessness as we struggle with sin. Because that struggle with sin and the sorrow and the hatred that we have for sin is to give us comfort, oddly enough, to give us comfort of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And comfort that you and I belong to Jesus Christ. Indeed, our sin is not to cause us to say, Oh well, I'm still safe. It doesn't really matter. But our sin is to drive us to repent of it, to confess it with confidence that we are forgiven in Christ Jesus. Sadly, we will fall in sin. But praise be to God, we will never fall from grace. This is the promise of God Himself. He will hold us. No one will snatch us from Him. Not even we ourselves can snatch ourselves from the grip of our God. indeed, once saved, always saved, for those who are in Christ Jesus. Our confidence is only in the power of God. There is no power greater. And ours is the guarantee in life. This guarantee in life, but also one day when we are called to face death. Our guarantee is that we will not be deserted by the God who has saved us, but that we will be delivered from this body of death into His glorious presence forever. Amen. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank You and praise You for the precious gift of eternal life, the assurance that You give to us that we don't just have this hope for today, a hope that can possibly be taken away from us or that we ourselves could possibly fall from. But it is a living hope. It is real. It is true. It is ours both now and forever. Indeed, sometimes it's hard to see. It's hard to fathom. It's hard to know it by experience when the experiences of life come down hard upon us and are difficult for us. And even as we struggle ourselves with the sin that continues to take part in us against our renewed will. Yet, Father, we believe Your Word that You are faithful, that You will preserve us to the end. And to that end, too, O Father, give us a spirit that desires to persevere in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Hear our prayer, O Lord. Guard us, guide us, direct us, protect us as we go forth from this time and forevermore. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.