Why are Christians preserved..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Good morning everyone. Could you please open up your Bibles to 1st Peter?

1st Peter chapter 1. Once again the Lord extends his grace and we can come together as his church and as his family to meditate upon this glorious book, this letter that was given to the Apostle Peter. So we are going to read again from verse 1 to verse 9 to get the immediate context, but this morning we're going to be focusing our studies and our attentions and our hearts and our minds in verse 5. I'm reading from the English Standard Version of the Bible. It's 1 Peter chapter 1 from verse 1 to 9.

These are the words of God. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ, and for sprinkling with His blood. May grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable and defiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Verse 6, In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, might be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. Beloved, as we have said many times, and I've said many times to you, the letter that we have here in front of us is perhaps one of the most theological, beautiful, and practical letters that the Holy Spirit has given us, the Church, through the ministry of the Apostle Peter. And I want you to have something in your mind, because the practicality of this letter is derived from the theology of Peter. And what Peter is doing in these initial verses, from verse 1 to verse 6, is taking us from eternity past into the eternity that is coming in the future, going through the application of our salvation.

He says that the present of the life of the Christian is defined by that which happens in the past, and also by that which is coming in the future. He has said that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ, and sprinkled with His blood. In the present time, those who are in Christ have been caused to be born again according to the abundant mercy of the Father. We have been caused to be born again. This is the begottenness that we have in Jesus Christ.

And this begottenness, the fact that we are sons in the Son, that we are sons of God in the living Son, Jesus Christ, is to a living hope and to an inheritance which is in the future And this inheritance is imperishable and defiled and unfading. We said that this living hope that we have connects our present reality with the future that is coming and empower us to live and to apprehend the reality that is coming in the future. So the apostle is taking us with our minds and with his mind from the past into the present time, the application of our salvation, of our becoming the sons of God in the Son of God. to that future that is yet to come. And the way that he finishes verse four is saying that this inheritance is kept for us in heaven.

that we are heirs of this inheritance and something that we said last week is that Jesus Christ is the heir of all things and because we are in Jesus Christ we become heirs of everything and then we know that this inheritance is kept in heaven. But I said to you that this letter is not only theological, but it's also a practical letter. And then here the apostle is going to start to give us the practical application of the theology that he has given us so far. And now he says that this inheritance that is kept in heaven is kept for us who are being kept or guarded also by God's power. through our faith.

He says that that inheritance that is kept is kept for us who are also guarded or kept or protected by the power of God through our faith. And then he says, to a salvation that is ready to be revealed. And the word that he uses here is kept. guarded and beloved. The main substance and topic of this verse is of course the perseverance of the saints, the protecting of the sons of God, the keeping of the sons of God.

Even the Apostle uses a very particular and important word to say kept or guarded. It's exactly the same word that the Apostle Paul uses in Galatians 3. when he is speaking that we were captive under the law, that we were imprisoned under the law and that we could not remove ourselves from the imprisonment of the law. But then when faith was revealed in Jesus Christ, that prison or that captivity that we have with the law was removed and we were free from that and we were passed into Christ. The Apostle Peter is using exactly the same word to speak of the perseverance of those sons of God who are united to Jesus Christ.

So this is a very important topic in the mind of the Apostle Peter, because yes, we know and we believe and we hold in the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints that the God who has started the great work in us, he's going to bring it to completion, that nothing can remove us from the hand of Christ, which is the same hand of God, because God the Father and God the Son are one and nothing can remove us from the hand Jesus Christ that we are eternally kept and protected and this is very important in the mind of Peter beloved two points why is this important it is important because if the inheritance that is kept in heaven is does not have heirs who are kept in time walking towards that inheritance, then that inheritance is of no value. If the heirs are not kept and protected, then that which they are going or they wish is of no value. So he is going to tell us that just as the inheritance is kept, we are also kept. But not only that, for the apostle, the fact that God has worked all of these things through eternity past into the present time and is giving us a glimpse of what is coming in the future becomes the foundation for the present Christian living of the saints. In verse 6 he will say, in this you rejoice.

in this you rejoice that this refers to everything that he has said that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father that we have been made children of God through the Son of God that we have a living hope and that we have an inheritance and that we are also kept and protected in this present time in this you rejoice. The Apostle Peter is going to use these verses from verse 1 to verse 5 to set the theological foundation to move into the practical aspect of this letter. So this tells me and should tell you that the gospel of Jesus Christ and what God has done from eternity past and has promised that he's going to do in the eternity that is coming is foundational for the present living of the believer. We are defined completely by that which happened in the past and this hope that is coming in the future, but now he's going to give us the last glimpse and he's gonna give us the last punch, theologically speaking, so that we can just move practical in our lives. That we are kept, that we are guarded.

Now we know that. Our brother has explained to us the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, and we believe and we understand all of those things. But let me submit to you, beloved, that if we do not understand what the apostle says here in verse 5, and then we do not understand how we are preserved unto eternity, unto salvation, and beyond that, why we are kept and why we are guarded by God's power unto eternity, then the assurance of our salvation, the assurance of our keeping and our protection that we have in God, will not deliver the fullness of its power And then when we go through tribulations and difficulties and temptations, we will remove the reality of the inheritance that is reserved for us in heaven very quickly and very easily. So it is the duty of the soul that has been redeemed by the power of the Savior to come into this book and be fed into our hearts and into our souls and to understand how the God of this universe keeps us and why he keeps us in Jesus Christ. So what is the apostle saying here and if I had to give you a summary as I always do in each one of these verses that will help us and have a framework to answer those questions of how we are preserved or how we are kept and why we are kept and beyond that understand the implications of our keeping of our preservation if I had to give you the summary of this verse I would say that Paul or Peter is speaking here of the providential power of God, pay attention to this, the providential power of God in keeping us or in protecting us or in guarding us unto final salvation.

And he does it by enabling us to persevere by faith. God providentially works in us by keeping us or protecting us, guarding us in this present evil age by His power, keeps us he preserves us and he does it by enabling us by making us able to persevere by faith the Apostle Peter says that is by God's power through faith that we are being guarded that we are being kept that we are being protected on to a salvation that is ready to be revealed. And I'm saying that this is the providential work of God, that it goes in combination with the faith of the believer. The providential power of God in keeping us by enabling us to persevere by faith. God is the one who has the power and we are the ones who provide the faith.

And this is why I'm using the concept of providential power. And when I use the word providential, what I mean, beloved, is that this that we call existence, this that we call universe and everything that we see, is not ruled by chance, is not ruled by fate or by destiny, but rather is ultimately ruled by God who is sovereign above everything. And He works in time and in history through creature means. So when I say providential, I'm speaking about the overarching ruling power of God who brings his creation to the ultimate goal, that is according to his will, through human means. And this concept of providence is found all throughout the Bible.

You might remember the story of Joseph in Genesis 15. Once we arrive there we will explain that in more detail. But you will remember when his brothers, they sold Joseph in slavery to Egypt. And then in Egypt, Joseph became the second one in power. And then when Joseph's family were having some issues and problems, they came to him looking for food and they wanted to survive.

And then when they realized that Joseph was the second in power and that he was not dead, but that he was alive, they feared because they thought that he was going to kill them. Then Joseph said something very important that teaches us a lot about the providence of God. The evil that you meant against me, God meant it for good, to bring about the salvation of many, that many will be alive. The evil of the brothers of Joseph was used providentially by the good of God to bring about something that God had intended in the past. This is the providence of God.

the providence of God, it is working that which he decreed and which he planned in eternity past. He had planned and he had determined that he was going to keep some people alive, and then he used the sin and the evil of Joseph's brother to bring that about. And our beloved Peter, he was very familiar with this concept of providence. When he is given his first sermon on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, he will say to the people of Israel, men of Israel, Jesus Christ, this man who has been attested to you by mighty works and wonders and signs that he performed through God, and that you know that he did all of these things, he was delivered up according to the definite plan and the foreknowledge of God It was delivered according to God's foreknowledge, and you crucified and killed. Peter knew this combination, this glorious combination of the decree of God with the work of humans in time.

So what I'm saying to you is that what the Apostle Peter is doing here, and how he's explaining to us the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, or our keeping and our protection, it is from a providential point of view. He says that we are kept by God's power, but this is done through the faith of the believer. God's power and the believer's faith come in this glorious and inseparable combination or union that helps the believer and empowers the believer to endure until the inheritance is finally given to the earth. But as I said to you, we will not understand the fullness of the power of this doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. If we do not know what is the power of God, or how God preserves us, and why he does it.

Because the reason why he does it is glorious. It's glorious. So the first question that we need to ask ourselves is, how does God in this providential combination, how does God keep guards the believers unto that final salvation. And Peter says that this is done by God's power. And when we speak about the power of God, this is a concept that is sometimes so abstract that is difficult to define.

You may think about many attributes of God that will define God's the power of God. And if we try to give an answer to this question of what is the power of God that keeps us and preserves us, we could speak of many things. We could speak of the love of God. We could speak of the sovereignty of God. We could speak of the almightiness of God, or the faithfulness of God, or the grace of God, or the mercy of God, or the knowledge of God.

All of those things we could say that are the ones that are used to preserve the saints, and we will be right. But I'm going to submit to you, beloved, that all the attributes of God and all the majesty of the power of God is not better displayed in any other place than in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ is that which displays who God is. In other times and in diverse ways, The Father spoke to our fathers, or God spoke to the fathers through the prophets. And in this last day, He has spoken to us through the Son, whom He appointed as the heir of all things, and whom He made the Creator.

Through Him, He created all things. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds everything with the word of his power. The majesty of God and all the attributes of God have been clearly revealed in the person of Jesus Christ as he is revealed in the gospel. The gospel is that power that keeps the believers unto salvation. Beloved, you might remember when Paul is writing to the Romans.

And he says that he desired to spend some time with the church at Rome, that they might have mutual benefit, because he was under obligation to preach the gospel to Greek and to barbarians, to the wise and to the unwise, and that he was eager to preach the gospel to them. And then he says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the King James will say, because it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Now he says something very important. In the gospel or in it, the righteousness of God is revealed. righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ beloved what I'm saying to you is that the way how God preserves us or the power that God uses to preserve us is the power that is revealed in the gospel and I'm going to show you that as Paul says the gospel is the power of God on to a salvation and not only a salvation that is given once but a salvation that it is preserved unto glory so take your Bible and please go to 1st Corinthians thank you very much for that 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verse 17 this is the same apostle Paul is speaking to the church at Corinth and then he says in verse 17, For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

For the word of the cross, that is the gospel, is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved is the power God the gospel is the power of God unto salvation and now he says to the church at Corinth that this gospel this message of the cross is power of God for those who are being saved go to first Corinthians the following page or the in your same page verse 21 look what he says The gospel is the power of God because the gospel reveals Christ himself, and Christ himself is the power of God. Verse 21, for since, 1 Corinthians 1, 21, for since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom. He pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. where Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.

Now pay attention to verse 24. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. The apostle is saying that it's not only the gospel of God, which is the power of God unto salvation, but this gospel is the power of God because Christ himself is the power and the wisdom of God. And then he's going to tell us how this power of God is related to our faith. Because, beloved, I said something to you.

I said, pay attention to this. I said that the summary of this verse is that the providential power of God keeps us, protects us, keeps us safe in this present evil age by enabling us to persevere by faith. So just as the decree of God in the sending of Joseph in slavery to Egypt was working together with the evil of his brothers, or just as the decree of God in sending Jesus Christ was working together with the evil of the Jews in killing Jesus Christ to accomplish its final purpose, So then, God's power, which is found in the gospel, also works together with the faith in the believer for the sake of that preservation. So how does the power of God affect the faith of the believer? 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

Turn your page and go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Verse 1, it says, When I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, for I decided not to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom. but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Why?

This is the purpose. So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but that your faith might rest in the power of God. The power of God that is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ is that which empowers the faith of the believer to persevere in this present evil age. God is the one who keeps us, we are the ones who persevere by faith. But why will the gospel be this power?

What is the reason why this gospel is the power of God unto that salvation, beloved? Because this power is not only for us to be justified. The gospel, the power of the gospel, changes entirely into the image of Jesus Christ. The gospel is that which justifies us. The gospel is that which sanctifies us.

The gospel is that which preserves us unto glory. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. And let me submit to you, beloved, that the perseverance of the saints, that the keeping and the protecting of your soul by the power of God through your faith, is foundational to the heart of the gospel. So I've told you how God keeps us with His power through the gospel of Jesus Christ, but now let me tell you why He does it. Why does God preserve us?

Is God interested in keeping us safe and guarding us in this present tribulation to that salvation that is ready to be revealed? Why does he do it? What is the intention in God behind the keeping and the preserving of the saints unto salvation in light of this power that is his gospel and the faith that believers have? And this is glorious, beloved, because Paul says to the Romans, pay attention to this, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. Take a picture.

Power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. So salvation is given through faith. The power of the gospel is dispensed unto the person through faith. Power of the gospel dispensed through faith for everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And then he says, for in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed.

And then he says, from faith to faith, the righteousness of God is revealed, is communicated in the message of the gospel. And this righteousness goes from faith to faith, and commentators have given different explanations to that, but I'm going to submit to you that the revealing of the righteousness of God in the Gospel, it is from the beginning of faith until the end of the faith, and then the Apostle will say, because the just shall live by faith, and it's not only an eschatological life that is given to the person, but it's a real life that needs to be lived It is not only that we are justified, we are also sanctified, and we walk towards that glory that is yet to come. The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel. So how is the righteousness or the justice of God revealed in the gospel? Because, beloved, if we understand how the righteousness and the justice of God is revealed in the gospel, we will understand why The preservation of the saints is essential to the message of the gospel itself.

Go to Romans 2. And the apostle is going to build upon this concept of the revealing of the righteousness of God in the message of the gospel. So go to Romans 2. We're going to be reading a lengthy portion here from verse 3 to verse 11. And here the apostle in chapter number two is going to speak about the revelation of the future judgment that it is to come when God reveals his judgment upon those who are not in Christ and gives them justice because of their sins and what he does to those who are in Christ.

And then speaking of the future manifestation of the righteous judgment of God, in verse three, the apostle says, Do you suppose, O men, You who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? Pay attention to verse 5. but because of your heart, an impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. So pay attention to what he says here.

The day of wrath It's also the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. I'm going to submit to you that for God is very important that this judgment is revealed publicly to all creatures as a righteous or just judgment. Verse 6, He will render that this is why this judgment is righteous. He will render it to each one according to his works. to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, He will give eternal life.

But those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek. But now pay attention to this. But glory, he says, it will be tribulation for those who do evil. But glory and honor and peace for everyone.

And then he says something that is very contrary to Paul's theology. Everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. It is only 10 or 15 verses after this that the apostle says that there is no one good that there is no one righteous that no one does good and now he's saying here that when the righteous judgment of God in the eschaton in the last day is revealed this judgment is going to be righteous because he will give punishment and wrath to those who do evil but then he will give glory to those who obey and those Go to chapter 3 and we'll understand a little bit more about this righteous judgment of God. Go to chapter 3. Chapter 3, verse 21.

How is then this righteousness of God revealed in the gospel? The apostle is going to give us the answer in chapter 3. 21, 26. But now, the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. The righteousness of God has been manifested.

I want you to see the importance for the apostle of the revelation of the manifestation of the righteousness of God, apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. Verse 22, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith." Now pay attention to this. This was the propitiation of Christ, the publicly portraying of Christ as a sacrifice.

This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that He might be the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ. Beloved, my words are not sufficient to explain here what I'm trying to say, what I have in my heart and what is here. But God is going to be glorified in the day of wrath. when he administers his righteous judgment, and he finds those who are by faith in Christ just, because he will be just and justified of those who have faith in Christ Jesus.

The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation, not only a salvation that is given in time, but a salvation that comes in the end of the times. Because there's going to be a day in which God is going to reveal his righteous judgment and is going to give everyone according to his works. And he is going to call us, the church, righteous. And this is not a fictitious or a fake or an empty righteousness. This is the righteousness of Christ that has been imputed to those who believe.

So then, in the righteous judgment, when he comes and he says that we are found righteous, his judgment will be just and righteous. nobody will be able to open his mouth and criticize the decision that the Lord has made for the church and for those who will pay their sins and who are storing up wrath until the day of wrath. It is in the best of the interest of God himself to preserve those who by faith can be united to Jesus Christ. Because by taking them to glory, he will be able to administer a judgment that is righteous and to give those who are in Christ the eternal blessing of the inheritance. Because his beloved son said, it is finished.

When he said it is finished, it was finished indeed. He propitiated entirely the wrath of God and did expiation for the sins of his people. The guilt of the church was removed and the wrath of God was entirely propitiated or satisfied. So then Christ Jesus made peace between the church and God himself. So then when God judges the church, he can say, you are righteous.

with a righteousness that is real, that is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. So it is in the best of the interest of God himself to preserve those who have been united to Jesus Christ by faith. Beloved, the perseverance of the saints is foundational to the gospel. And I will submit to you that if we have a gospel that does not persevere, those who are united by faith to Christ is not the gospel. It is a gospel that is empty of power because Paul says that blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ in the heavenly places even as he chose us before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless.

That is to be righteous. He chose us before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless individually, but also corporately as a church. He will say in chapter 5, the husbands are to love their wives just as Christ loves the church and gave himself for the church and has sanctified the church and is washing her with the water of the world and will present her, the church, before him, that is the eschaton, that is the last day without a spot, with no wrinkle, holy and blameless. just as each individual Christian has been chosen before the foundation of the world to be righteous in the eschaton in the last day, the church corporately has also been chosen to be holy and blameless on that particular day. That's why we understand that when the Lord Jesus Christ says, and this is the will of the Father who sent me, that everyone who he has given me, I might not lose, but I will raise them up in the last day.

This is the will of the Father, that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him receives eternal life, and the Son raises them up on the last day, on the Eschaton. So they will be recipients of the judgment of God, but because of Christ they will inherit the inheritance that is being kept in heaven, because Jesus Christ. This is why the Apostle Jude explodes in praises when he says, now to the one who is able to keep you from stumbling, the one who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless, righteous, without blemish, in the presence of his glory and then he will say with great joy God is the one who is able to keep us from stumbling, and not only that, He does it to present us before His presence, which is a presence of glory, because it's God Himself with great joy. To Him be honor and authority and dominion before all times and now and forever, because this God has given us what belongs to Jesus Christ, this eternal inheritance that is coming. So, beloved, Perseverance of the saints is foundational to the message of the gospel.

And the way that he operates and performs that power of the gospel in us is through faith. Just in the same way we are inserted to Jesus Christ by faith, Then we are to live our lives by faith. Faith is not only the legal instrument by which the righteousness of Christ is imputed and given to us, but faith is also the instrument by which we live our Christian life. Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ. And it's not I who live, but Jesus Christ who lives in me.

And the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Faith, beloved, is the instrument by which we live our Christian life, and beyond that, is the instrument that we use to persevere until the eschaton, until the last day, until the day of judgment, until the day of the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. So it is the power of God working in us through the faith that is attached to that glorious message of the gospel. So let me submit to you that what God protect us and guard us from is from attacks to our faith. Our faith is the one that is going to be attacked and is the one that needs to be guarded and protected.

And Peter completely knew these things. Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to have you. Satan has demanded to have you that he may sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith might not fail. Satan has demanded to have you, that he may sift you like wheat.

But the Lord Jesus Christ in his intercession says, I have prayed for you. Why? Because Christ could have kept him entirely just by his sovereign power. But he says, I have prayed for you that your fate might not fail. And then he says, and when you turn again from that trial that you go, go and strengthen your brothers.

It is the same Peter, 30 years afterwards, writing this letter that says to the church, beloved, Be sober-minded that watchful, that the enemy, your adversary, the devil is like a roaring lion who is seeking to devour. He's prowling around, seeking to devour. And then he says, he had gone through that same experience, resist him, resist him, stand firm in your faith. Faith is the glorious instrument that God has given us to resist the attacks that we will receive through this present evil age. And that faith, it is founded or rests upon the power of God that is found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is founded in the gospel of Jesus Christ. So faith becomes the instrument and the weapon that the Christian is given to resist the attacks of the devil. And why? Because, beloved, we are not fighting flesh or blood, but we are fighting spiritual forces. Go to Ephesians, please, so I can drink some water.

Ephesians 6. Ephesians chapter 6, beloved, pay attention to this, verse 6 through 10. It says, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you might be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness.

against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you might be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the radiance given by the gospel of peace, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. It is the faith of the Christian, the one that helps us to stand firm through the attacks and through the tribulations that we will have and go through in this present evolution. the endurance and the perseverance of the saint is foundational to the gospel because in that endurance the righteous judgment of God it is preserved and then when he is judging us he's going to say that our faith was the instrument by which we are found righteous because of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now beloved pay attention to this so then just as faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God and that faith is initially given in our salvation, the faith that justifies us, so then the faith by which we live our present life and the faith by which we endure unto eternity is also nourished and empowered by the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of God. This is the initial faith, but the substance and the power of this faith is the Word of God given to us through our time of tribulation or pilgrimage in this present evil age. That means that it's a duty and a responsibility of the believer in order to persevere until the end, to apprehend and to hold the Word of God as the substance and as the source of all the power that we need in order to stand firm in our faith and to keep walking up to glory. It is a corporate and it's an individual responsibility, each one of us, for the sake of our souls, required to be in the Word of God, in communion with God, so that faith might be strengthened, might be empowered.

and corporately beloved. It is huge responsibility, the one that we have, because we will have a stricter judgment. The one who pretends or wants to be a teacher will have a stricter judgment. So it is a calling to the church to pray for those who preach the word, so the word might be according to what is written. Because if it's according to what is written, it will go not only in the head and in the mind of people, but will go also by the power of the Spirit into the heart of believers and therefore their faith will be stronger.

A faith that it will be empowered by the gospel of Jesus Christ. I determine not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Because if I preach the wisdom that is from God and not the wisdom that is from my mind, then your faith will rest on the power of God. And then when you face tribulation, difficulties, and trials, you will have the shield of faith, a faith that has been given by God and not by wisdom of men. So God will preserve you, will keep you unto the eschaton, unto glory, unto the last day.

So he said that We have been run this race with endurance, looking unto Jesus Christ, who is the author and the perfecter of our faith, that He gave Himself for the joy that was reserved and kept for Him, and He died on the cross, just as our Lord Jesus Christ We are also called to run this race with endurance, looking to Him, Jesus Christ. He is the substance of the faith, not only to save us initially upon justification, but He is also the source of the power that we need to live our Christian life. It is not I who lives, but Jesus Christ in me, and we live this life by faith, If we do not know how we are being kept and why we are kept, we can misuse this doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, beloved, and we can make the mistakes that the church at Galatia made, that having received the Spirit by faith, they wanted to perfect their faith by the works of the law. Galatians chapter 3 and then the apostle says, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? It was Jesus Christ who was publicly portrayed as crucified before you.

So now that which is started by faith, you are going to finish it up by the works of the law. Same thing happens with the Christians. That which happened by faith, now that you may have a wrong understanding of the perseverance of the saints, are you going to preserve it and keep it by the works of the law? It is faith until the end. But the other side is that we might be slothful or lazy or passive.

because of this kept assurance that we have in heaven. So the author of Hebrews says that he desires that we may have a full assurance of the hope until the end of the day, so that we might not be a slothful, and that we may be imitators of those who, through faith, receive the promise that is given to them in Christ. When we know who is the God that we worship and why he keeps us, that will take us and move us to come closer to Jesus, the Christ, the one who saved us. So by his living and abiding words, we might be more like him and endure until the end. Amen.