What is a Christian: By Destination

Father, thank you for today. Thank You that we can gather

together to study your word or we are a blessed people to be

able to look into the Word of the Lord and to understand what

it is you have for us. And our prayer tonight is that

you would continue to open our hearts and minds to behold the

beauty of the Lord. Help us to see things as they

really are, as You've intended them to be for our lives, that

we might truly follow and serve You with all of our hearts.

We thank you Lord, for this opportunity you've given to us.

May we redeem this time that we might be used of you in days

ahead for the glory of your Kingdom until you come again, as

you most surely will, in Jesus name, Amen.

This morning I had the opportunity to preach at the

memorial service for Helen Macias.

It was a great time. Interesting that someone came up

to me afterwards and said wow, you were just so sweet and so

soft. To which I said, I am always

sweet and soft. I'm like soft serve ice cream.

And she laughed and said not really, but that's OK.

But it was a a great time celebrating the life of someone

who knew they were going to be go home and be with the Lord.

When I visited Helen last week in the hospital, she was ready

to to go home. That's one thing about the

believer. They're, they're always ready to

go home when God's going to call them.

They, they never are reluctant to leave.

They don't necessarily know all that's going to happen once they

pass from this life to the next, but they know that their

destination is heaven and they cherish that opportunity And

uniquely that when you go visit someone who's dying, they become

the encourager more than you are the encourager.

Those who know the Lord become the great encouragers at the

time of death. And Helen was a a great

encouragement to me. I went there to pray with her.

I, I went there to be with her, her husband, only to realize

that she, she encouraged me a lot more than I could ever

encourage her. She was about to embark in the

glory. I'm not.

But she was, and she knew where she was going to go.

I wonder if you know for certain that if you were to die today

that your destiny would be in the presence of our Lord.

I wonder if you have the ironclad assurance, without any

reservation or hesitation, that heaven is your destiny, because

all believers truly have that. But it's interesting to note

that there are many people who are professing believers who

think they're on the way to heaven but will not end up

there. That's a tragedy that that's the

reason we've embarked on the series about what is a Christian

so that there wouldn't be any confusion in your mind or those

you come in contact with about their eternal destiny.

But there's always been a question over the years, ever

since the birth of the church, about people who who think

they're Christians, but in reality they're not.

Over 250 years ago, it was Jonathan Edwards who was the

preacher that instigated the Great Awakening.

And in the 1730s and 40s, he was the main instrument of God to

preach the gospel and to bring about the great revival in

America. After the the peak of that

revival, Edwards wrote a treaty concerning religious affection

to deal with the problem, not unlike those that we face today.

The matter of evidence in true conversion.

Many people want the blessing of salvation, especially eternal

security, but nothing more. In the explosive drama of the

Great Awakening, it seemed as though conversions were

occurring in great numbers. However, it didn't take long to

realize that some of the clean conversions were not genuine.

While various excesses and heightened emotional experiences

were common, scores of people didn't demonstrate any evidence

in their lives to verify their claim to know and love Jesus

Christ, which led critics to attack the Great Awakening,

contending it was nothing but a big emotional bath without any

true conversions. Thus, partly in defense of true

conversion and partly in to expose false conversions,

Jonathan Edwards took up his pen and began to write a treaty

concerning religious affection. He came to this simple

conclusion. The supreme proof of a true

conversion is what he called holy affections, which is a zeal

for holy things and a longing after God and personal holiness.

He made a careful distinction between saving versus common

operations of the Holy Spirit. Saving operations obviously

produce salvation. Common operations of the Holy

Spirit, he said, May sober, arrest and convict men, and may

even bring them to what at first appears to be repentance in

faith. Yet these influences fall short

of inward saving renewal. How can you tell whether the

Holy Spirit has performed a saving operation, as the

principal evidence of life is motion?

Edwards wrote, So the principal evidence of saving grace is

wholly living, he said. True salvation always produces

an abiding change of nature in a true convert.

Therefore, whenever holiness of life does not accompany a

confession of conversion, it must be understood that this

individual is not a Christian. In the very year Edwards's

treaty was published, popular teaching asserted that, to the

contrary, the only real evidence of true salvation is a feeling

based on experience, usually the experience at the moment of the

alleged conversion. And that teaching introduced the

prevalent but erroneous concept that a person's true spiritual

state is known by a past experience rather than a present

pursuit of holiness. So 250 years ago, Jonathan

Edwards was concerned that the fact that there were multitudes

of people professing Christianity, but very few of

the multitude expressing true Christianity. 200 years later,

Harry Ironside became the pastor of Memorial or Moody Memorial

Church in Chicago. He wrote these words.

Perhaps someone may ask, but does it make no difference to

God what I am myself? May I live on in my sins and

still be saved? No, assuredly not.

But this brings in another line of truth.

The moment one believes the gospel, he is born again and

receives a new life and nature, a nature that hates sin and

loves holiness. If you have come to Jesus and

trusted Him, do you not realize the truth of this?

Do you not now hate and detest the wicked things that once gave

you a certain degree of the light?

Do you not find within yourself a new craving for goodness, a

longing after holiness, and a thirst for righteousness?

All this is the evidence of a new nature, and as you walk with

God you will find that daily the power of the indwelling Holy

Spirit will give you practical deliverance from the dominion of

sin. Doctor Ironside would face the

same problem that Jonathan Edwards faced, the same problem

that the writers of the Gospels and the Epistles faced, that

people would profess a relationship with Christ but

live contrary to that profession.

Profession. Some 50 years later, Jeffrey

Wilson would pick up his pen and write these words.

Today's Christianity is in a state of disarray and decay, and

the condition is deteriorating year by year.

The truth of God's Word has been watered down and compromised to

reach a common denominator that will appeal to and accommodate

the largest number of participants.

The result is a hybrid Christianity which is

essentially man centered, materialistic and worldly, and

shamefully dishonouring to the Lord Jesus Christ.

The shameful degeneracy is due in large part to the erroneous

gospel that is presented by many today around the world.

He's right. You listen to preachers on the

radio and on TV and they present to you a pseudo gospel and it's

not even recognizable. And people by the droves believe

in that kind of gospel. In fact, it was said that all

who say they have accepted Christ are enthusiastically

received as Christians, even if they're they're supposed faith

later gives way to a persistent pattern of disobedience, gross

sin, or hostile unbelief. Now, can that possibly be true,

that someone who professes Christianity can live in want

and sin in rebellion against God and live in unbelief?

One writer even said it this way.

It is possible, even probable, that when a believer out of

fellowship falls for certain types of philosophy, if he is a

logical thinker, he will become an unbelieving believer.

Yet believers who become agnostics are still saved.

They are still born again. You can even become an atheist.

But if you once accepted Christ as Savior, you cannot lose your

salvation even though you deny God.

End Quote that that is a blatant lie that is not true.

Can someone actually be labeled an unbelieving believer?

Can someone actually who says they believe in God all of a

sudden become agnostic or even an atheist?

But because he professed Christianity or because he had a

past experience at one time, there will be some preachers

that will confirm them in that state.

Yet Jesus said these words. Matthew 1033.

Whoever shall deny me, I will deny before my Father who is in

heaven. That's what Jesus said the

Apostle Paul would write in Second Timothy 2 verse #12 If we

deny him, he also will deny us. Why?

Because God is faithful to His Word.

It will keep His Word. And so 11 weeks ago, we embarked

on this journey to help people in our church understand exactly

what a Christian is. That's the question we've

answered, and not to its fullest extent at all, but at least

we've given you some principles that will help you understand

true Christianity. A Christian is known by #1 His

decision. Luke 923 If any man come after

me, let him deny himself, take his cross and follow me.

That's the invitation to salvation.

That's the gospel as Jesus himself presents it.

And the person who has made that decision is best defined in

Philippians 3 verse #3 that we are the marked ones.

We worship God in spirit. We glory only in Christ Jesus

and put no confidence in the flesh.

And the person who is defined that way is described in Second

Corinthians 5/17, that if any man be in Christ, he is a new

creation. Old things are passed away

beyond all things have become new.

The believer is described as being in Christ, and Christ is

in him. And the person who is a true

Christian is marked by the fact that they have a declaration

that they without hesitation make.

Matthew 1616 Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living

God. Every believer knows that Jesus

is God in the flesh. Every cult denies that Jesus is

God in the flesh. And Christians are are

dedicated. They are dedicated to live for

Christ. Philippians 121 For to me, to

live is Christ, to die is gain. They're dedicated to living only

for Christ and not themselves. They also live a life of

denunciation. Colossians 318.

They denounce anything that will cause their members to fall into

sin, and so they are involved in the principle of mortification,

putting to death those members that would cause them to turn

away from the Lord. That Christian is also known by

his devotion. Second Corinthians 59 Paul said

we make our ambition to please the Christ.

The Christian is devoted to pleasing, not man, not even

pleasing himself, but pleasing the Lord.

That's his devotion. And then the Christian is known

by his disassociation, for he refuses to associate with the

world anymore. James 4/4 says that whoever is a

friend of the world is the enemy of God and last week it was the

fact that a Christian is known by determination.

First Corinthians 22 where Paul said I determined to know

nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

The Bible is very clear about Christianity.

The Bible is very clear about what describes the Christian,

what defines a Christian, what a Christian is made of simply

because they are in Christ and Christ is in them.

Tonight, as we come to the end of our study, a Christian is

known by destination. They know where they're going.

They know for certain that if they were to die today, they

would spend eternity with the Lord Jesus.

It's very important because that destination is is solidified by

5 principles, and those five principles then are seen in one

principle. So you might adhere to the five

principles that solidify your eternal destiny, but if the one

principle is not seen, then you're not a true believer in

the Lord Jesus Christ. So important to understand this.

It's it's always good to be in the know.

So the Bible says these words in Romans 828.

For we know that all things work together for good to those who

love God and are called according to his purpose.

Christians know that that's something they can be assured

of. So Paul would say, we know that

all things work together for good because we love God and

have been called according to his purpose.

Paul also said in Second Timothy one verse #12 I know whom I

believe, and then persuaded that he is able to keep that which

I've committed unto him. Until that day Paul didn't say I

know in what I believe, although he did.

He says I know in whom I believe, and I'm absolutely

persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed

to him. And then John would say these

words in first John chapter 5, verse 11.

1 John 5:11

And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life,

and this life is in the Son. He who has a Son has life.

He who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of

the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

And John's, the whole epistle in first John is about the moral

test, the doctrinal test, the relational test, three main

tests that he gives over and over again in chapter 1, chapter

2, chapter 3, and chapter 4. And then says, these things are

written that you may know that you have eternal life if you

take the moral test, if you, if you take the doctrinal test, if

you take the relational test and you pass, then you know you have

eternal life. But if you flunk, then you don't

know you have eternal life. Just that simple.

And so we come to a place where the believer is known by his

destination. He knows where he's going.

He has the ironclad assurance that heaven is his destiny.

Every believer has that assurance.

If you don't have that assurance, it could be you're

not a believer. It could be that you really

don't know the Christ. Because if you know Christ and

you understand true Christianity, the assurance of

your eternal destiny is secure in Jesus Christ our Lord.

That the doctrine of eternal security is such a, a pivotal

doctrine in in the life of the Christian and it's solidified by

5 principles. Let me give them to you.

My eternal destiny is solidified #1 by the promises of God.

Our God is faithful. He's true, He cannot lie.

He makes a promise, He keeps it. John 5 verse #24 truly, truly, I

say to you, Hugh hears my word and believes him who sent Me has

eternal life and does not come into judgment, but is passed out

of death into life. That's a promise, and your

eternal destiny is solidified by that promise.

He would say in John 6 verse #37 All that the Father gives me

will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not

cast out. Verse 39 This is the will of him

who sent me, that of all that He has given me, I lose nothing and

raise it up on the last day. God makes a promise.

All that come to me I will not cast out.

Then again in John 10 verse 27, my sheep hear my voice, and I

John 10:27

know them, and they follow me, and I give eternal life to them,

and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of

my hand. What a promise, and that promise

solidifies my eternal destiny. Paul would say in Philippians

one verse #6 being confident of this very thing, that he who

began a good work in you will complete that work.

And Romans 8 tells us that that once you have been called and

because you have been predestined you, you will be

justified. And all those that are justified

will ultimately be glorified. That is the promise that God

himself gives Romans 11/29 says that the gifts and calling of

God are irrevocable. God's not going to say I called

you, you came to me, but now I'm resending the call.

God doesn't do that simply because He's made a promise,

that great version John 316, that God still loved the world,

that whoever believes in him should not perish but have

everlasting life again. It's a promise that solidifies

my eternal destiny. Then of course, in John 14,

Christ said to his men that in my Father's house are many

mansions. If it were not so, if it wasn't

true, I would have told you. And so I go and prepare a place

for you. And if I go and prepare a place

for you, I will come again, and I will receive you unto myself,

that where I am, there you may be also.

That's just a beautiful promise. So your eternal destination is

solidified by the promises of God #2 it is solidified by the

power of God. God can keep his promises

because he's all powerful and He can always accomplish what He's

promised. So the Bible says in first Peter

chapter one verse #3 blessed be the God and Father of our Lord

Jesus Christ, who according to His mercy, His great mercy has

caused us to be born again to a living hope through the

resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an

inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and

will not fade away, reserved in heaven.

For you who are protected by the power of God, your inheritance

that's imperishable, that is undefiled, is kept by the power

of God, and God is the almighty God, the all powerful God.

And so your eternal destination that's been reserved in heaven

is kept by the all powerful God. Jude 24 says.

He is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand

in the presence of His glory, blameless.

With great joy. He's able to do that.

That's why Paul said in Second Timothy 112 that he knew in whom

he believed and was persuaded that his God would keep him and

protect him to the very end. Because the power of God

solidifies your eternal destiny. Because the promises of God

solidify your eternal destiny #3 The purposes of God solidify

your eternal destiny. Ephesians chapter one verse #3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has

blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places

in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of

the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in

love. He predestined us to adoption as

sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind

intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His

grace. God's plan as a purpose.

The purposes of God are always accomplished because He's all

powerful and He made a promise, Paul would say in First

1 Thessalonians 5:23

Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 23.

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may

your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame

at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to

pass. Again, the promise of God, the

power of God, the purposes of God to cause you to stand holy

and blameless in His presence solidifies your eternal destiny

#4 The prayers of Christ solidify your eternal destiny.

Over in John 17 Christ said these words in verse #11 I am no

longer in the world, and yet they themselves are in the

world. And I, I come to you, Holy

Father, keep them in Your name, the name which you have given

me, that they may be 1 Even as we are, we are.

While I was with them, I was keeping them in your name which

You have given me, and that guarded them.

And not one of them perished, but the Son of perdition, so

that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.

Verse 20. I do not ask on behalf of these

alone, but for those also who believe in me through their

word. So as Paul, I mean, as Christ

would pray on the eve of the crucifixion for His men in their

hearing, He was also praying for those who would one day believe

in His name, that we might be 1 with the Father, as He is one

with the Father over in Hebrews Chapter 7 verse 25.

Hebrews 7:25

Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near

to God through Him, since He always lives to make

intercession for them. So in Hebrews 725 there's a

promise that He will keep us forever because He lives to make

intercession for us. The prayers of Christ are always

answered in the affirmative. Why?

Because His will is God's will, for He is God.

He is one with the Father. So when the Lord prays that you

would be kept and protected, you are kept and protected that you

might be with Him in glory. So the destination of the

believer is solidified and secured by the promises of God,

the power of God, the purpose of God, the prayers of Christ, and

fourthly or fifthly, the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians one verse number #14 or verse 13 in him you also,

after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your

salvation, having also believed you were sealed in him with the

Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge or a down

payment of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of

God's own possession, to the praise of is glory.

In other words, the presence of the Holy Spirit is a guarantee

that we will ultimately receive the inheritance that God has

given to us. So when you look at those five

principles, you realize that our security, our eternal destiny is

solidified by what God himself does.

Yet you must understand the 6th principle because the 6th

principle will help you understand whether or not you

really truly believe the first five and that the first five

really apply to you. And that is, although your

eternal destiny is solidified and secured by the promises of

God and the power of God, the purposes of God, the prayers of

Christ, the presence of the Holy Spirit, that eternal destiny is

seen in the perseverance of the Saints, The perseverance of the

Saints. It's a great doctrine.

It's one that's not talked about much, but the doctrine is simply

states that your faith will always endure, always your faith

because it's God-given. It's a gift from God is a faith

that is not fragile, nor is it a faith that is temporary.

It's a faith that's a grace gift from God to those who believe in

him because you can't believe unless God has granted you the

the gift of grace or the gift to believe or the gift to repent or

the gift truly of faith. And that faith that he gives you

is not a fragile faith, but it's strong because it's based on

what God has said and who God is.

So no matter what happens in your life, you continue to

continue on in the faith. That's what Hebrews 11 is all

about, the Great Hall of faith. None of those men or women had

fragile faith. Their faith was strong,

especially in the face of adversity, in the vase of

suffering, in the face of hardship.

I mean, if your faith, the faith that saves you, doesn't work

when things are bad, what good is the faith that you have?

But the faith that God grants you works best in adverse

circumstances. The faith that God gives you

works best when there's turmoil and hardship.

The faith that God grants you is tested and strengthened through

trials and suffering because that faith is not fragile.

That faith endures all the way to the end.

The perseverance of the faith is the doctrine that says I might

fail, but I will never fail fully or finally.

Peter failed, but he did not fail fully or finally.

Why? Because of the perseverance of

the Saints, the truth, the doctrine that says all those who

believe in Christ will continue and always believe in Him.

They will be steadfast. They will be immovable,

immovable. They will be abounding in their

work with the Lord because of the faith that He himself has

granted to them. So important.

So let me show you in Scripture where this is.

By the way, listen to the words of Jeremiah chapter 32.

Jeremiah 32 · chapter mention

This is so telling about the New Covenant and the guarantee that

all true believers will never apostasize the faith, never

defrock the faith, never become agnostic or atheists, and never

turn away from the Lord fully. And finally, Jeremiah chapter

Jeremiah 32 · chapter mention

32, verse #40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them

that I will not turn away from them to do them good.

And I will put the fear of me in their hearts so that they will

not turn away from me. That's a new covenant promise.

God says I'm going to do something unique and special

with my people, Israel. I'm going to make a covenant

with them, and I will do them good, and I will put the fear of

me in their hearts. Remember Psalm 130 verse #4

There's forgiveness with Thee, that thou mayest be feared.

Only the believer fears God. The unbeliever does not fear

God. Why?

Because God puts the fear of Him in their hearts.

And because the fear of Him is there, they will not a guarantee

turn away from me. God's children never turn away

from Him. They don't throughout the years

of our church's existence. 31 of them, to be exact.

We have baptized a slew of people are baptismal people who

have made a profession of Christianity, who have stated

that they gave their life to Christ.

Some of them were young in their teenage years, some of them were

even in their 20s and 30s, and some even beyond that.

And how do you know that the person who makes that testimony

of saving faith truly is saved? Time and truth go hand in hand,

do they not? Of course they do.

And so many times over the years, we've had high school

students, college students make a profession of faith only to go

off to college, only to get married and go off and do

something and completely turn away from the Lord.

That tells you that they simply made a profession of faith but

never truly believed in Christ. Because the guarantee of

Jeremiah 3240 is an absolute fact.

They will not turn away from me. They will not.

And this is a great a great test for you as parents when you look

at your children who have grown up in the church and they have

made a profession of faith. Maybe they were baptized in the

church. Maybe you supposedly LED them to

the Lord in your home while they were young and they've grown up,

but they've gone off to college, they got married, and they

turned their back on the Lord. They were not saved to begin

with. They just weren't because of the

guarantee of Jeremiah 32 verse #40 plus a slew of other verses.

Let me give them to you. Colossians, chapter 1.

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

Colossians chapter one verse #21 And although you were formerly

alienated and hostile, and mine engaged in evil deeds, this was

your unbelieving life. Yet He has now reconciled you in

His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before

Him holy and blameless, and beyond reproach.

If indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and

steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that

you have heard, which is proclaimed in all creation under

heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister, this is the

way you once were. But God has reconciled you to

Himself. And how do you know that God has

reconciled to Himself if you continue steadfastly in the

faith? Because if you don't continue

steadfasting the faith, it's evident that God has not

reconciled you to himself. Listen, the perseverance of the

Saints is a doctor that says you do not earn saving faith by your

perseverance, but your perseverance evidences saving

faith. Very important to realize that

because you keep on keeping on, you don't earn saving grace.

You give the evidence that you've been saved by grace.

You see that? That's what the doctrine of the

perseverance of the Saints is all about.

Look at what the Bible says in the book of first Corinthians

15. Paul says, Now I make known to

you, brethren, the gospel which I preach to you, which also you

received, and which also you stand first to, but which also

you are saved. You heard the gospel, you were

saved by the gospel. If he says you hold fast the

word which I preach to you, unless you believed in vain,

that's very telling. He makes it very clear.

I made note to you, brethren, the gospel.

I preach to you the gospel, the gospel in which you stand, if if

you'll fast the word of that gospel, unless of course, he

says you really didn't believe at all.

Your belief was empty, It was futile, it made no difference.

How about this Romans 15 verse #4 For whatever was written in

earlier times was written for our instruction, set through

perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures,

we might have hope. Now may the God who gives

perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind

with one another, according to Christ Jesus.

You see, God grants you the gift of perseverance.

The reason you persevere, the reason you don't defrock the

faith, the reason you don't apostasize the faith is because

God has granted you not just the gift of faith and not just the

gift of belief, and not just the gift of repentance.

He's granted you the gift of perseverance.

Perseverance is a gift that God gives to His own.

That's why they don't turn their back on their God, because they

love Him so and they persevere to the end.

Revelation 14. How about this defines the

perseverance of the Saints? Revelation 14 verse #12 here is

it says the perseverance of the Saints who keep the commandments

of God and their faith in Jesus Christ.

There it is. There's the definition of the

perseverance of the Saints. They obey the commands of God

and they keep their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now their faith is kept by God because God is a protector of

their faith. But at the same time, they

evidence that their faith has been protected by persevering no

matter what the situation, no matter what the circumstance.

In a Revelation 14, it's all about the tribulation of Saints

who've gone through an horrific ordeal on the planet, but they

never turn their back on the Lord, even though they were

persecuted and were killed because of their faith.

Jesus said in Matthew's gospel, the 9th chapter, I'm sorry, the

10th chapter, the 22nd verse, these words, Matthew 1022.

Let's start with verse #21 brother will betray brother to

death, and the father is child, and children will rise up

against parents and cause them to be put to death.

You will be hated by all men because of me.

But it is the one who has endured to the end who will be

saved again. Endurance doesn't save you, but

endurance is the evidence that you have been saved.

And then later in Matthew 24 as crisis in the Olivet Discourse,

he says these words. He says many false prophets will

arise and will mislead many because of lawlessness is

increased. Most people's love will grow

cold, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.

You see, those are just a few verses the Bible speaks of

concerning the perseverance of the Saints.

It's imperative that you understand that, that the true

believers will continue in the faith.

They will not turn their back on the Lord.

Oh, there will be times of mishaps and there will be times

of doubt and there will be times of sin and there'll be times of

of rebellion against God. Those things happen.

Yes, they do. But they're not long extended

periods of time where you completely turn your back away

from the Lord and walk away from Him.

Why? Because you're kept by the Holy

Spirit. It's the power of God that saves

you and keeps you. It's the promises of God that

guarantee your eternal destiny. And therefore you're willing to

persevere all the way to the end no matter what, because it

evidences the fact that you truly have been born again.

True believers will always persevere.

Professing Christians who turn against the Lord only prove that

they were never saved to begin with first, John 219.

They went out from us, but they were not really of us, for if

they had been of us, they would have remained with us, But they

went out in order that it might be shown that they all are not

of us. John made it very clear that

those who left the faith were never really part of US1 Author

said that no matter how convincing a person's testimony

might seem, once that person becomes apostate, he or she

demonstrates irrefutably that the testimony was hypocritical

and the professed salvation was spurious at best.

The Christian's destination, he's known by that and that

destination is seen not when he died, but in the lifestyle that

he lives because he continues in the faith.

He's not like the, the weedy soil in Matthew 13 or the rocky

soil in Matthew 13. Those soils that jump on the

Jesus bandwagon and and live the hip, hip, Hooray kind of life

for a season. And then when persecution and

affliction come, they fall away. Or because of the deceitfulness

of riches and because of the cares of this world, they fall

away because they had no root, they could not stand, therefore

they fell away from the Lord simply because they they were

never saved to begin with. It's so important that you

understand true saving grace and the power of the gospel that

somebody who's a believer truly is a new creation.

Judas was that classic example of an apostate.

Judas was was one who followed Jesus simply because that was

the thing to do. And Judas was one who who truly,

truly believed that Jesus was the Messiah and why he stayed

with Jesus as long as he did. I'm sure he thought there was

something in the the Kingdom Project that would benefit him

to some degree. For three years, day in and day

out, he was with the Son of God. He preached the gospel, he

before miracles like the other apostles did.

He looked and acted and sounded like every other disciple.

But he was not. Satan is a master of deception.

And there are people, yes, even people in our church who look

and sound like everybody else and they have everybody fooled.

They've lived a life of deception or they have been self

deceived thinking they're on the way to heaven.

But in reality they are not because the life they live is

contrary to the life that Christ has shown us in His Word.

We must not affirm them in their rebellious state and tell them

you had a past experience. You had a past prayer.

I was there when you walked the aisle at the crusade.

I was there when you you made a profession of faith at your

baptismal. No, what proves a person's

destination is their holy lifestyle.

They love the Lord. They serve the Lord.

They had made that decision to take up the cross and follow

Christ. They have one devotion to please

only the Lord, not man. They are completely dedicated to

living for Christ because they know that when they die, it is

gain. They disassociate themselves

from the world. You find those people who want

to associate with the world more and more.

The lure of the world pulls them in, keeps dragging them in.

That's because the life of Christ is not in them.

They so easily won't go the way of the world.

They're determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him

crucified because it was to the personal work of the Messiah.

They are saved and their destination is secure based on

what God has done, and their destination is seen because they

persevere all the way to the end.

Let's pray. Our Lord, we thank you for today

and all the things that you've taught us over the last several

weeks. Our prayer is that they would

stick with us. You would help us as we seek to

look at our own lives and those closest to us especially that we

might instruct them and teach them in the way that they should

go, that your Bible is clear about the perseverance of the

Saints. They will keep on keeping on, no

matter what the difficulty or hardship, the tragedy or trial.

They love the Lord and they want to serve the Lord.

Their life is not wrapped up in this world, but in the world to

come, the world of God's glorious Kingdom.

My prayer is for everyone in the room.

They would know for certain that Jesus Christ is their King and

their Lord and their Savior and that in obedience to you, they

truly, truly serve the living God and they strive to live a a

life of holiness Because you said be perfect as your Father

in heaven is perfect. Be holy as your Lord God himself

is holy. May that be our our drive, may

that be our desire, may it be our ambition and passion to live

a life that reflects the beauty and holiness of our great God

and Savior Jesus Christ. Until you come again, as you

most surely will, in Jesus name, Amen.