The Reformation: Its Causes and Its Theology  

Lesson 10: The Theology of the Reformation:  Perseverance of the Saints  

By John Orlando

I.  Definition

            A.  It does not mean – That truly born again people are not called to endure to the end, or  that all those who profess the Christian faith are certain of heaven.

            B.  It means – Those whom God has chosen, and for whom Christ has died, and whom the Spirit has made alive, will endure to the end.  Salvation is of the Lord, from first to last. 

            C. Best understood as the Preservation of the saints—God keeps His people from falling.

1. A Born again believer can never become an unborn again unbeliever.

2. God is the One who preserves and keeps His people; He does for us what we

could never do for ourselves.

II.  What is a Christian?

            A.  Disciple – A follower of Christ. 

            B.  The mark of true disciples – Abiding indeed. (John 8:31)

            C.  The mark of false disciples – they do not abide (1 John 2:19)

III.  Sheep and Goats (Matt 25:32-34; Acts 20:28; Eph 1:14; 1 Pet 2:9)

            A. The Sheep – God’s own special possession whom He purchased with His own blood. 

            B. The Goats – Profess to be sheep, but are frauds.

            C. Christ has set His love on His sheep from all eternity.  He gives eternal life to His sheep, and His sheep shall never perish.  Once they’ve been given eternal life, they can never lose eternal life, because God is greater than all, and God never fails.

IV.  The Finisher of Our Faith (Heb 12:2)

            A. God’s sovereign will - All that God has determined to save will be saved (Jn 6:37-40).

            B. God’s sovereign power - He raises His people from spiritual deadness to spiritual life, and He preserves His people by His sovereign power, to Him alone be all of the glory.

V.  Quotes

"The elect are not only redeemed by Christ and renewed by the Spirit; they are also kept in faith by the almighty power of God. All those who are spiritually united to Christ through regeneration are eternally secure in Him. Nothing can separate them from the eternal and unchangeable love of God. They have been predestined unto eternal glory and are therefore assured of heaven.” - David Steele & Curtis C Thomas

VI.  The Scriptures:  Ps 121:7; Jr 32:40;Mt 18:14; Jn 3:16, 3:36,5:24,6:35-40,47,10:27-30, Rm 5:8-10; 8:1, 30–31, 35-39; 1 Cr 1:7-9, Ep 1:5,13, 14, 4:30; Phil 1:6, 1 Ths 5:23-24, 2 Tm 4:18, Titus 3:4-7;Hb 9:12, 9:15,10:14;1Pt 1:3-5; 1 Jn 2:19, 5:4, 5:11-13; Jude 1,24; Hb 6:4-12; Rev 3:5       



               

VII.  Conclusion

To claim that Jesus could lose one of His sheep is to say that Jesus isn’t a very good Shepherd.  It is to undermine the power of Christ’s work on the cross.  It is to rob Christ of all of the glory for our salvation.  It is to say that He is less powerful than the sheep that somehow wiggle their way out of His sovereign, omnipotent grasp—clearly a contradiction in terms—sovereignty and omnipotence can never fail.

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