The Perseverance of God

Sunday Sermon
December 7, 2008
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Scripture

ESV Philippians 1:1-11 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Sermonic Point:
Although I'm imprisoned, God is not.

Sermonic Sentence:
The only reason you are alive today is that God is still working on you.

Sermonic Tension:
The Apostle Paul is in prison when he pens this epistle to the church at Philippi. (Verse 7)

I am saved. (Justification); I am being saved. (Sanctification); Moreover, on "That Day" I will be saved. (Glorification)

Salvation is a process.

Sermonic Background:
TULIP a mnemonic of the traditional five points of Calvinism: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the saints. These five points were adopted by the Synod of Dort in 1618.

CALVINISM a theological system associated with John Calvin (1509-1564) and later to his followers. Calvin first published his Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536. The formal principle of Calvin’s theological system is embodied in the Latin phrase sola Scriptura (Scripture only), the common call of most of the sixteenth-century Reformation. Especially importance to Calvinistic thought are the doctrines of the sovereignty of God and predestination. God rules all things in such a way that nothing happens “without His counsel.” This includes God’s destining some for salvation before the foundations of the world, not because of any merit or even foreseen faith, but simply by His free will and the unmerited grace which He extends.

J. I. Packer summarizes the five points as follows:
(1) Total depravity: Fallen man in his natural state lacks all power to believe the gospel, just as he lacks all powers to believe the Law, despite all external inducements extended to him. (2) Unconditional election: God’s election is a free, sovereign unconditional choice of sinners to be redeemed by Christ, given faith and brought to glory. (3) Limited atonement: The redeeming work of Christ had as its end and goal the salvation of the elect (4) Irresistible grace: The work of the Holy Spirit in bringing men to faith never fails to achieve its object. (5) Perseverance of the saints: Believers are kept in faith and grace by the unconquerable power of God until they come to glory.

A “High Calvinist” is one who accepts all five points. Other Calvinists accept or reject various points, although High Calvinists would argue that all five points are logically and scripturally necessary. For example, some Calvinists do not subscribe to a limited atonement, that Christ died only for the elect. See, for instance, Norman F. Douty, The Death of Christ (Williams and Watrous, 1978), who accepts four of the five points, but strongly believes that the Bible does not teach limited atonement. Some have argued that even John Calvin did not hold to limited atonement. Calvinists Moise Amyraut, Richard Baxter, John Bunyan, John Newton, John Brown, and many others accept a generalism called “hypothetical universalism,” the idea that Christ died for the sins of all and that all are capable of believing.

Sermonic Structure:

I. GODS PERSEVERANCE IS DEMONSTRATED THROUGH PEOPLE (Vrs.1,2)
a. Through His Servants
b. Through His Son
c. Through His Saints

II. GODS PERSEVERANCE IS DISCOVERED IN PRAYER (Vrs.3-6)

NLT 2 Kings 6:17 Then Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes and let him see!" The LORD opened his servant's eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.

NLT Luke 22:42 "Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine."

NLT Acts 16:25 Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.

III. GODS PERSEVERANCE IS DEFENDED WITH PASSION (Vrs.7-11)
a. I am passionate about the Grace of God
b. I am passionate about the Goodness of God
c. I am passionate about Growing in God
d. I am passionate about the Glory of God