Christian Perseverance (Heb. 10:23–24. (120)
Let us consider these biblical balancing because of those who says “He that endureth to the end shall be saved” apply not to them, but only to the Jews; and that while unfaithfulness on their part will forfeit some “millennial” crown, yet so long as they have accepted Christ as their personal Savior, no matter how they must indulge the flesh or fraternize with the world, Heaven itself cannot be missed. They said, “The person who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who died for all sin on the cross, and has accepted Him as his own personal Savior, is saved. And more, can never again, under any circumstances or conditions whatsoever, no matter what he may do or not do, be lost.” Such an unqualified, unguarded, unbalanced statement as that is misleading, and dangerous to the highest degree; the more so, it is unscriptural.
- The Lord’s people said that they are “Kept by the power of God through faith” 1Pet. 1:5 So are they also exhorted to “keep try heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life” Prov. 4:23; “Keep himself unspotted from the world” Jas 1:27; “keep yourselves from idols” 1Jn 5:21; “keep yourselves in the love of God” Jude 21.The apostles believed in no mechanical salvation. We read that they were “confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith” Acts 14:22. They exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord” Acts 11:23, yea, “persuaded them to continue in the grace of God” Acts 13:43. The beloved Paul said, “to know your faith, lest by some means the Tempter have tempted you, and our labor be in vain” 1Thess. 3:1. So, Peter warned the saints, “Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness” 2Pet. 3:17.
- The balance between Divine preservation and human perseverance was well presented by John Owen when he wrote, “It is true our persistency in Christ doth not, as to the issue and event, depend absolutely on our own diligence. The unalterableness of our union with Christ, on the account of the faithfulness of the covenant of grace, is that which doth and shall eventually secure it. But our own diligent endeavor is such an indispensable means for that end, as without it, it will not be brought about. Diligence and endeavor in this matter are like Paul’s mariners, when he was shipwrecked at Melita. God had before given him the lives of all that sailed with him in the ship Acts 27:24, and he ‘believed that it should be even as God had told him.’ So now the preservation of their lives depended absolutely on the faithfulness and power of God. Yet, when the mariners began to fly out of the ship, Paul tells the centurion that, unless the men stayed, they could not be saved v. 31. He knew full well that He would preserve them; but that He would do so using means. “If we are in Christ, God hath given us the lives of our souls, and hath taken upon Himself, in His covenant, the preservation of them. We should take heed of apostasy and falling away; as ‘let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall’ 1Cor. 10:12, ‘Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown’ Rev. 3:11 … consider what it is to ‘abide in Christ’: what watchfulness, what diligence, what endeavor, are required thereunto.
- Should we be asked, then do you no longer believe in the absolute and eternal security of the saints? Our answer is, we do, as it is set forth in Holy Writ; but we most certainly do not believe in that wretched perversion of it which has now become so current and popular. Christian perseverance is a continuing in faith and holiness, a remaining steadfast in believing and in bringing forth all the fruits of righteousness. It is persisting in that course which the converted one has entered: perseverance to the end in the exercise of faith and in the practice of godliness.
