Perseverance

Jeffrey Johnson's sermon, rooted in 1 Corinthians 9:23-27, explores the theme of perseverance within the Christian life, emphasizing it as an active, disciplined pursuit rather than a passive state of being preserved by God. Johnson begins by relating his personal ordeal with a kidney stone to the concept of enduring pain and challenges, setting the stage for a discussion on the necessity of perseverance.

The key points Johnson addresses include:

1. Definition of Perseverance: He clarifies that perseverance in the Christian context is not merely about being passively preserved by God’s grace but involves active, ongoing efforts by believers to live out their faith. This includes self-discipline, hard work, and a continuous struggle against sin.
2. Misconceptions about Christian Effort: Johnson counters the idea that faith alone negates the need for personal effort in living a Christian life. He stresses that while salvation is indeed by grace through faith, sanctification—the process of becoming more like Christ—requires active participation and effort from believers.
3. The Role of Discipline: Drawing parallels with athletes who train rigorously to win perishable rewards, Johnson urges Christians to exercise similar discipline in pursuit of imperishable spiritual rewards. He highlights the necessity of self-control and determination, challenging believers to engage fully in practices like prayer and Bible reading as indicators of their spiritual health and commitment.
4. Perseverance as Evidence of Faith: Johnson explains that how one lives out their Christian faith provides evidence of their salvation. Working out one’s salvation with fear and trembling, as Paul writes, is about actively engaging in spiritual disciplines, not earning salvation through works.
5. Grace and Effort: He concludes that while salvation and perseverance are initiated and sustained by God’s grace, this grace compels believers to work diligently in their spiritual lives. The effort is not to gain salvation, but to live out the reality of salvation that grace has already achieved.

Johnson's sermon is a call to active, vigorous faith that engages believers in a lifelong process of spiritual growth and maturity, emphasizing that perseverance is both a gift of grace and a responsibility.

Transcript

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I will turn to first Corinthians chapter nine. We'll be looking at verses 23 through 27. I appreciate all the prayers that were prayed for me this last week. Last week when I was preaching, I was going through a behind the scenes kidney stone. Someone asked me this morning, "What's it like to have a kidney stone?" I said, "It's like death." And so what I want to preach to you this morning is perseverance. Preach to you on perseverance out of this passage. Read with me starting in verse 23. "Now this I do for the gospel sake that I may be partaker of it with you. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus, not with uncertainty. Thus I fight not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection lest when I have preached to others I myself should become disqualified." So here is the pains that the Apostle Paul is taking on his own life in the perseverance of his own Christian witness. He's persevering but what does it mean? What is the the the P in the tulip? The perseverance of the saint means it's more than just the preservation of the saints and we know that God keeps those who belong to him. He preserves us. So in one sense it's God's preservation on our life maintaining us keeping us not allowing us to be ripped out of his hand. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. In Christ Jesus we are secure. Thank the Lord by grace and grace alone through the work of Christ. It includes the preservation of the saints but when we use the word perseverance it's not just simply God preserving us by his divine grace and we're passively receiving it doing nothing. The concept of preservation incorporates our active effort and maintaining, progressing. There's a side to the Christian life that requires your energy and requires your attention, your discipline. Some people want to take Christianity and take out all the work. Take out all the effort that there's nothing we can do, nothing we should do but just relax. Get on the easy chair, watch some television and then we should expect to go to heaven no matter how we live our lives, no matter if we fall and maintain a life of sin, if we fall into worldliness and idolatry, we fall into entanglements. It doesn't have to, we don't have to persevere, we don't have to work. This doctor of perseverance incorporates our effort. Now perseverance of the saints, what it doesn't mean, it doesn't mean that we work our way into heaven or we get in by grace and we maintain it by works. It's by grace getting in and it's going to be by grace staying in. It doesn't mean that we're justified by faith and sanctified by works. No, it's by faith alone through the whole process. But we're told to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We're told to make our calling elections sure. But what does it mean to work out your salvation, to work it out? It's not just being passive about it or indifferent, but working out our salvation is not the same thing as saying working for our salvation. You see, some would make Christianity so easy, there's no taking it by force, no discipline, no self-control in this process of sanctification. And that it's like the kid playing outfield, distracted by his girlfriend in the stands. The ball comes out to him and he didn't even see it and the ball goes past him. But don't worry, there's other outfielders to take care of it for him. And so he doesn't even know that he missed the ball. And then he comes in to the dugout, unaware that he blew the play. But the coach says, "Hey, don't, it doesn't matter just long as you're having fun. Long as you're having fun, it doesn't matter. Just as long as you're just enjoying the game, you don't have to pay attention. You don't have to try to be a good athlete. You don't have to work hard at this. You don't have to be disciplined as a athlete. Some would want to make Christianity in such a way. You don't have to really put any energy towards this. Just, you know, "Oh, you fell into some sin. Oh, you got distracted with this. Oh, you messed up here. You cheated on your taxes for 10 years straight." You say, "Oh, don't worry about that. You're just, just enjoy the Christian life. You know, don't have to worry about making some radical sacrifices. Don't worry about being disciplined. You see, the Christian life will be the evidence of our justification. Working out our salvation is going to be evidence that salvation has been worked in us. What does works have to do and the energy that we put into sanctification and preservation and perseverance have to do? Well, it's not 50% grace and 50% works. You know, it's not like, "Okay, God does His part and He works alongside of us and we're going to pull the weight equally. As long as He's pulling and we're pulling, then we can be saved at the great day." No, that's not 50% works, 50% grace. It's not even 95% grace and 5% works. It's 100% grace. It's all of God. It's 100% grace, but the grace of God leads us to work 100%. Now, our 100% are at least our best effort and our struggle comes out of the grace of God in our lives. This is why Paul says, "I've labored and I worked and I struggled and I put more energy than all the other apostles into this thing. I've worked harder than they are than all the rest. I've worked harder. I've put more discipline into this. I've struggled more abundantly, yet it wasn't I, it was the grace of God in me." The grace that we depend upon and we need that we live out the Christian life will manifest itself in our real self-control and discipline. Paul put it this way in Philippians 2 verse 12, "Therefore my beloved, as you have always obeyed not only in my presence but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Work it out, but remember this, it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." You see, this is the perseverance of the saints. Those who belong to Christ, if you're a child of God, you will persevere. His grace will keep you. But that doesn't give you a license to relax. That doesn't give you a ticket to not modify the deeds of the flesh. That doesn't give you license to sin. We do not abuse grace. We don't say more grace so sin can abound. No, grace will conquer sin in our life. Grace will get us up in the morning so we can pray. Grace will get us a disciplined life so we can read the Bible. Grace will draw us to Him and that will require your effort. That will energize you and we're to strive to persevere. We're to bring our body into subjection and we're going to look at the life that Paul has set before us and see there are four traits to perseverance. If you want to persevere, here are the four attitude concepts you need to have. The way you need to look at perseverance. The first thing you need to persevere is determination. You need to be determined. I'm not going to quit. I won't quit. We see this in verse 24. We must have the determination of an athlete that wants to win. Look at verse 24. "Do not know that those who run a race all run but only one receive surprise." Now he's not saying that only one Christian is going to make it to heaven so we're going to outrun each other. That's not the point. His point is he's not talking about the sports of today where everybody gets a participation reward for just showing up. Just putting your uniform on is enough to applaud you. No, that's not the attitude here. In a race, there's only going to be one winner and you have to have the mindset,"I'm going to be that winner. I'm going to do what it takes to outperform others. I'm going to do what it takes to be at my best. I'm going to watch my diet. I got to get up when everybody's sleeping and I got to get running. I got to run when no one's watching. I can't have a sloppy lifestyle and expect to win." I mean this is sometimes the motivation of Christianity, just a sloppy Christian lifestyle and think, "Well, God's grace is just going to relax." That's not the heart God wants us to have. He wants us to rely upon His grace and be dependent upon Him but He doesn't want us to be lackadaisical. It doesn't want us to be careless in our Christian wall. I mean, missing church because you oversleep."Oh, no big deal. All the ball rolled out past you." You know, that's why we have three outfielders."Oh, you can't overcome addictions. You know, you fell into that again. Oh, we all stumble in many ways. We're all imperfect. To err is human. No worry about that." See, this is not the right attitude. You know, an athlete can miss a day of training and still compete well. But can he miss a week of training? Can he miss a month of training? Can he miss six months of training? I mean, it's not legalistic to say, "I want to be disciplined Bible reader." That's not legalism. No, it might be legalism to say, "If you're not awake by 3.30 in the morning and you've read a billion verses and you've prayed for two hours every day." That would be legalism, of course. And knowing that, hey, there's days that you've got to get up and get places and you didn't read the Bible, God understands that. We're not placing or God's placing such rigorous things upon us that we have to do in order to be a Christian or to persevere. But also, we need to remind ourselves, say, if we're just not reading the Bible at all, we're not praying at all. And they go, "Oh, that's fun. I'm a Christian." Don't be surprised if you're relaxed and not putting forth energy and determination that you're slipping and you're falling backwards. You're going more towards the world than you are to Christ. We've all experienced it. I know I have. Well, you're getting distracted. And before you know it, you're just not as disciplined as you once were. You want as determined. What way should we be determined? It says in verse 24, "Run in such a way that you may obtain." That is, live the Christian life as determined as a determined athlete who wants to win. Have drive. I mean, don't set your eyes on the weakest Christian. Say, "Hey, I'm going to be like that." Put your eyes on someone like Michael Jordan who out-hustled everyone, who outworked everyone. He had athletic skill, but he was determined to win. He was driven to win. That's who you keep your eyes on. Put your eyes on Christ. How did he live his life? Did he skip his prayer time? Christ didn't skip his prayer time. He'd pray all night, multiple times. He'd pray all night and struggled in prayer. Keep your eyes on people like the apostle Paul. Matthew Heiner says, "The apostle compares himself to racers, but in the Christian race all may run so as to obtain. There is the greatest encouragement, therefore, to persevere with all our strength. Those who run in these games will keep to a strict diet. They use themselves, they get used to themselves, to hardships, and those who pursue the interests of their souls must combat hard with fleshly lust. The body must not be allowed to rule. The apostle presses this advice on the Corinthians. He sets before himself and them the danger of yielding to fleshly desires, pampering the body in its lust and appetites. Holy fear of himself was needed to keep an apostle faithful. How much more is needed for our preservation? Let us learn from hints, humility, and caution, and to watch against dangers that surround us in the body." So we must be determined. I'm not going to live a relaxed life of sin. I'm going to run. I'm going to run the race set before me. Hard. I'm going to take it seriously. I'm going to be determined. The second thing that we need to have to persevere is self-control. Look at verse 25, "And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things." Now they do it to attain a perishable crown, but we for imperishable crown. The word temper here just literally means self-control or self-restraint, controlling yourself. I mean you know what it is to try to be on a diet and you say, "I'm just not going to eat a lot of sugars or whatever it is that you're diet, you know, you're restraining from." The only way you're going to maintain a diet is self-control. Can you say no to yourself? No. Well yes, there's a temptation. Yes, there's a desire. Yes, there would be an immediate satisfaction to indulge in it, but do you have the the whereabouts to say no? No to the flesh. No to the desires of your body, the appetites of the flesh. Paul, Peter tells us in 2 Peter, "Add to your faith virtue and virtue knowledge and to knowledge self-control and to self-control perseverance." This is what we must grow as a Christian. We must grow in self-control. Every Christian disciplined, we call them Christian disciplines because every one of them requires self-control. Prayer, say my prayer life's not very good. Well I can diagnose that. It's lack of control. It's lack of self-control. It's hard to get out of that warm bed in the morning, isn't it? It's hard to make time. One, it might not be the priority, but two, even if it is a priority, it takes control, self-control. I'm going to be disciplined. I can do better than what I've been doing. Bible reading, it just takes some discipline to read your Bible. Sometimes you read it because you want to. Sometimes you need to read it because you need to. It's not all about our our feelings and our experiences. It's like, no, I didn't get anything out of that. Well do it again tomorrow. Do it again tomorrow and you might not see much growth immediately. You may not have some magical encounter with the Lord that day, but just keep going, keep going, keep going. It's called perseverance. Keep at it. You know, it's like going to the gym one time and saying, well that didn't work. Yeah, it didn't work. It takes self-control over a long period of time. The Christian life is the race. It's not all today. It's the preservation of it. It's being disciplined day after day after day. That's the method that God has created the Christian life to be lived. Talking about meditation or scripture meditation or scripture memorization. All these things take discipline. It takes a one-two, but one-two alone is not sufficient. I'd love to lose 20 pounds. I want to. It's not sufficient. I used to go to the gym a lot and I could tell you there's a often a a difference between the days I go to the gym that I'm determined and have the control, self-control in other days that I go in and had well wishes and I just come out with little or no effort put in. We want to progress throughout the Christian life. You can do it without discipline and it'll be the grace of God. But the grace of God will lead us into a disciplined life. In fact, God commands us to be disciplined in all areas of our life. Look at verse 25. Anyone who competes for the prize is temperate or disciplined in all things. Now this is true with the athlete. Think of some of the greatest athletes in the world. You're hard to read a biography of Michael Phillips, who won I think six or maybe eight gold medals and won a limping. It's like read what he did to get that. Go look at his life. It's a shame. It's a shame that athletes put more energy to win a gold medal than we do eternal rewards. They do it to win a perishable crown. It's a shame. Right? Martin Luther says, "I can't allow the farmers to outdo me." They get up early before the sunrise. They're out there working hard. How can they outdo me who's trying to work for the Lord? The Lord and the eternal reality is not more important than what farmers do. And so he looked at the farmers and it pushed him. It motivated him to get out of bed earlier to pray longer. So it takes self-control. It takes sacrifice thirdly. Look at verse 25. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for in perishable crown. You know what's the difference between a world-class athlete and a couch potato? You know what a couch potato is, right? The guy that eats Cheetos on the couch and watches TV all day. What's the difference between the two? Well, for one, the moment for the couch potato, the moment the now is the most important thing of life. Living for now. Living for the moment. This is the way of the world. This is the slogan of Satan. Live for today. Live for now. It's like a newly formed stream. Where does the stream of water want to go? The path of least resistance. Self-control, you have to have a destination in mind in order to say no to that, no to that, no to that. It's like the horse that puts blinders on. I'm going this direction and there's going to be obstacles in my way. It's going to be hard. It's going to be difficult, but I'm going to get there. I got to get there. So the difference is a vision, a direction. The one who doesn't live for tomorrow, but only lives for today, has no vision, has no destination that he wants to get to. This is the destination. Just enjoying the process, enjoying today, enjoying life. And if that's our attitude, you're going to sleep in, you're going to overeat, you're going to indulge the flesh, you're going to be blown about by every felt need that you have. And those who are controlled by their felt needs and senses, the appetites of the body, they don't do anything. They don't get anywhere. They don't have any place to be. So they just waste their life doing nothing and accomplishing nothing. If you're going to accomplish great things for the Lord, you're going to have to be disciplined. You're going to have to be controlled. You're going to have to sacrifice the immediate. You're going to have to say no to the Cheetos, turn the television off. You're going to have to get outside and work hard. And that's to win a perishable crown. That's to get something here done on earth. You think that is going to be any different than eternal things? We're to have a greater aim than athletes. Paul spoke of it is like I forget the things behind me. I don't even look at those things and everything that thought was getting to me, I count as loss. I suffer the loss of all things, but I'm not just sitting here doing nothing. No, he goes on to say that he is stretched forth, running hard as he can, stretching forth, doing all that he can to apprehend the thing that's apprehended him. It is true that you are secured in Christ. You're not going to lose your salvation if you're born again. But the way Paul put it is that which has apprehended me and Christ is not going to let you go. I haven't yet apprehended him. So Christ has a hold of your life. He's not going to let you go. That you can rest in if you truly do know the Lord. But do you have a hold of him? He has a hold of you, but do you have a hold of him? And Paul says, I am forgetting about everything else, but I've got to lay hold of the one who's laid hold of me. I have to apprehend the one who's apprehended me. That should be your number one desire in life. That should motivate everything you do. And that drive to know the Lord, to apprehend the Lord, to get him, to know him should call you and lead you and I to say no to this, no to that. No to this because these things are keeping us from our objective. How am I going to apprehend him if I'm apprehending these other things? If my hands are tied to this world, how can I reach and grab Christ? Well, I want the easy Christian life. I don't want to work. I don't want to be disciplined. This is not the life that Christ set up for us. It is hard. And I know some of you are struggling in a group like this pastorally. I know there's going to be 5%, 10%, 20% of you that you think I'm on the brink of breaking. I'm so tired. I'm so worried. I truly want what you're saying, Jeff, but I don't have the energy for what you're saying. Hold with me to the end. I'll give you hope. But some of you may not be that person. You're just on the brink of apostasy. You've started well. You're like the gospel that come in and there's thorns and thistles and cares of this world around you, but you didn't really come with joy first, but now you're so distracted you may end up just falling away altogether. Because deep down you see like the world is more exciting than Christ. There's a word for you as well. Coming. The fourth thing we need for self-discipline, self-control, preservation, perseverance, is we need this thing called self-discipline. We see this in verse 26 through 27. "Therefore I run thus not with uncertainty. Thus I fight not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I preach to others I myself should become disqualified." You see this is not wasted zeal. You know it's easy to get up and preach and say hey just be more fervent, be more fervent, be more fervent, and you get all hyped up on Sunday morning. You go home it's like what does that mean? And you don't even, it's not directed towards anything and it only lasted for Sunday morning and it was exciting and you get to say amen. But Monday morning when life got back real like what how do you apply that? All this is saying I'm zealous but it's not wasted zeal. I'm energetic and I'm determined but I'm not one that's just don't know what I'm doing beating the air. I'm not shadow boxing here. I'm not, I'm not, I understand the enemy and it's not outside of me it's my body. I understand the thing that's keeping me from running with more endurance and running more fervently and with more determination. It's my flesh. It's my own, I'm my own worst enemy here. I have an enemy to fight and it's myself and so I take my own fists and I don't aim them out of me. I bring them inside of me. I I direct them to my own body and I have to beat my own body to bring it in some subjection. I have a little boy uh that he's getting bigger but he won't say mercy when you play the mercy game with him. I get scared. I'm like fine fine but I want to bring him into submission in the play game. You're like say say daddy say daddy say mercy. It's like that guy's gonna die. I think you'll die before he says mercy. Um you know your body is I mean it's not your body, your physical body. It's the lust of the body. It's your five senses. Your body wants to be fed. You know your body wants to sleep in. Your body wants to live for for now. Live for this world. There's a proper place of enjoying this world for the glory of God but it's the indulgence of this world. It's the idolatry of this world right. That's what we have to struggle with. It's the thing that's keeping us back from the Lord. It's it's hindering our spiritual wall. Well you have to bring your body into subjection. Ever fasted? Fasting is a great discipline. Saying no to hunger. The Lord fasted. So well fasting is in the old days. Is it? It's hard but he says but I discipline my body to bring it into subjection so it obeys me. I don't obey it. My desires are in submission. I'm not controlled by them. They're not ruling me. The Holy Spirit is ruling over me. Now this is not just aestheticism. This is not sleeping on the floor, fusing your body. This is not what he's talking about. Just mere aestheticism. But we have to understand the body is the instrument in which depravity and selfishness operates. Paul put it this way. If we live according to the flesh you will die but if you by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body you will live. Romans 13 14 put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. You see this Christian life and preservation and perseverance includes mortification. It's picking up our cross and dying every day to self. Closhes 3 5 put to death your members which are on the earth fornication and cleanliness, passions, evil desires, covetousness which is idolatry. Put it to death. Stop scrolling eBay and Amazon just because you're bored. Put to death the passions of this world. Put to death your love for money. Put to death your love for fame and fortune. Put to death the pride of life. Put to death. Jesus put it this way. He says if your hand or foot calls you to sin cut it off. Hast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maim rather than having two hands and two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. If your eye calls you to sin pluck it out. Hast it from you. It's better for you to enter into life with one eye rather than have two eyes and they be cast into hell fire. You see there's no place for lazy Christianity. There's no place for it. Don't allow your understanding of grace to cause you to be lazy. The author Hebrew says in verse 1 of chapter 12"Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us also just as we see all the men of God men of faith of old just as we eyewitness their life because Moses or Abraham these great heroes of the faith let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us let's endure this let's keep going day after day after day how do you do that lay aside not just the sin but every weight you know if you're going to go on a race you don't put weight around your neck you don't burn yourself down you know can you imagine someone running a marathon holding a television no put the television down you can run faster no i'm watching tv here was as a hindrance to you well i can do both i can do both how often in my counseling session it's a i tell people all the time i say you're you're not a good christian you're not a good sinner you're in between two worlds here you want it you want to do both you want your sin and you want christ and it's hindering you choose choose who you're going to serve and you can watch your watch what you want if you want if it's not a hindrance to you but if it's a hindrance to you if it's a weight around your neck if it's slowing your progress down put it to death put it down sacrifice it yes the christian life does require sacrifice put to death worldliness worldliness is a snare the love of pleasure is a snare the love of money is a snare many get entrapped into these things and they never come out of them many who do not free themselves by the power of the gospel depart from the faith in a slow and steady decline have you ever met someone that walked with the lord fervently for a while endured for a season and now is completely completely back in the world and how did it happen very rarely is it a sudden moment i'm leaving often it's a slow digression and falling slipping and sliding into worldliness how do you persevere now here's here's some help for us how do we persevere it's 100 grace this is not pull yourself up by your bootstraps this is not just get more energy you know this is not just have more discipline in and of itself you have to get back to the gospel and root yourself in the fact that it's christ that has saved you it is he that has redeemed you but his grace doesn't just pardon your sin and thank the lord it's pardoned your past your present and your future sin thank the lord for that but the grace of god empowers you to live a holy life it's the grace of god that you you are what you are and so if you're going to go further and keep going you need to go back to grace are we so foolish to begin by grace that thing that we can be completed by works no it's by faith it's by faith through the whole process without faith is impossible and pleasing god without faith it's impossible persevere and believe the promises of god keep christ in your eyes and don't put your your your efforts and like it's all about me yes you have to put to death the deeds of the body yes you have to do that but you only can do that when your eyes are fixed on jesus christ it'll be motivated out of a deep love for his death and his death saves you and forgives you but his death also secures your preservation his death is what keeps you in the race his death is what keeps you fighting keeps you struggling i talked to a dear woman who told me told me god doesn't listen to me he doesn't hear my prayers he hasn't heard my prayers i don't know why i pray i pray for this i pray for that and all the prayers i'm praying are not being answered and i can hear the the weakness in her voice the weakness of her faith i could see how fragile she was and maybe that's you maybe you're that fragile christian that you want to persevere but you're having a difficult time at it well it begins by refocusing on the lord jesus the same dear lady said to me at another time back the next day she said that no matter what happens christ is sufficient if he doesn't answer a prayer he is sufficient and i thought to myself though that may look like the weakest christian one day may actually be the strongest among us you may feel fragile and weak and the coach is saying one more mile and you're going i don't have another mile in me i'm about to puke i can't go another mile but the coach is he withholds the presence of the felt presence of the holy spirit he may withhold answered prayers to put you in a position so that you will persevere and you you have say as the apostle says to jesus will you depart from me also and you come to say where else do we have to go you have the words of eternal life brothers and sisters that's perseverance it's not just feeling like you're more than conquerors it's not necessarily having living a life on the mountain tops and getting all your prayers answered perseverance is steadily by the grace of god keep going day after day after day after day and god is highly pleased with your faith he's highly pleased with your preservation by god's grace he will keep you though you feel so fragile so that's my word for those who are struggling but here's a stronger word too for those who are careless and on the brink of just dropping out all together not because they feel weak not because they're struggling but because they love this world you're in danger you're in great danger do not be fooled you will reap what you sow this paul says i do all this look at verse 27 when i've preached to others i've been evangelist all over it'd be one thing if i preached everybody many people were converted on my preaching but in the end i myself become a castaway one who is disqualified and rejected one commentator says this word means to be taken from the bad metals it means to fail the test it means to be discarded it means to be cast away taius 160 says they profess to know god but in their works they deny him being abominable disobedient and disqualified forever good word second Corinthians uses this word 13 verse 5 examine yourself as whether you are in the faith test yourself do you not know yourself that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you are disqualified we don't need to be presumptuous if we're not persevering in the faith it's not easy believism and this concept get your ticket punched one saved always save it doesn't matter how you live if you're living without any Christian discipline by the grace of god examine your soul make your calling election sure work out your salvation with fear and trembling i don't want any of us to wake up on the day of judgment and say hey i thought i was secure i thought i was good in all reality you sprung up you heard the gospel you sprung forth for a little while but you wilted away because of the thorns and thistles the cares of this world that would choke the life of god out of you if you would or choke you to death second timothy three eight says just as janus and jembrush resisted moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds here's the word disapproved concerning the faith let me close with hebrews 10 and 19 some passages in hebrews chapter 10 and see how these this text parallels everything that we have heard therefore brothers since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of jesus by the new and living way that he opened us he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh and since we have a great priest over the house of god let us draw near with a true heart full of assurance of faith that is we run with this assurance not as in us it's not our efforts it's not our works it's not our energy we run knowing that we have full assurance to run to god you can run to christ run to him run to him he opened the door for you to run to christ run right into his presence it's not how well you do it it's the fact that you're going to run to him by faith come come let us draw near with the true heart and full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering for he has promised us faithful let us hold fast because he is faithful let us endure because he is faithful let us keep going because he is faithful let us keep running because he is faithful verse 26 for if we go on sitting deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth there is no longer remains a sacrifice for sin but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries that is if you're going to just live a life of sin you say i'm not going to run to christ i'm just going to run to the world i'm going to run to whatever covetousness or idolatry or whatever is your sin that you indulge in i'm going to run after that and i'm going to say no to god i'm going to run to this world and you keep on sinning it's a very scary thing for you to do but then verse 35 says therefore do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of god you may receive what is promise for yet a little while the coming one will come and will not delay but my righteous one shall live by faith and if he shrinks back my soul has no pleasure in him but i love this verse and this is what i i believe is true with you but we are not those who shrink back and are destroyed we are not those who give up on the race we are not those that do not endure but of those who have faith and preserve their soul keep running saints keep running the prize is set before you don't grow weary in well-doing don't quit running until you've apprehended the one who's apprehended you amen