What is a Christian: By Destination

Father, thank you for today. Thank you that we can gather together to study your word. Lord, 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 in 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 a good preacher. I'm always sweet and soft. I'm like soft serve ice cream. And she laughed and said, not really. But that's okay.

But it was a great time celebrating the life of someone who knew they were going to go home and be with the Lord. When I visited Helen last week in the hospital, she was ready to go home. That's one thing about the believer.

They're always ready to go home when God's going to call them. 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 great encouragement to me. I went there to pray with her. I went there to be with her, her husband.

Only to realize that she encouraged me a lot more than I could ever encourage her. She was about to embark into 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's the reason we've embarked on this 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 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 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 claimed 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 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 and 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 holy 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 delight? 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. Dr. 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.

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 dishonoring to the Lord Jesus Christ. This 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 their 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 wanton 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 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 10:33, 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 2 Timothy 2, verse number 12, if we deny him, he also will deny us. Why? Because God is faithful to his word and 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, number one, his decision, Luke 9:23.

If any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. That's the invitation to salvation. That's the gospel as Jesus himself presents it.

And a person who has made that decision is best defined in Philippians 3, verse number 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 2 Corinthians 5:17, that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.

Old things have passed away, behold, 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 16:16. 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 dedicated. They are dedicated to live for Christ, Philippians 1:21, for it to be 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 3:1-8. 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 5:9.

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's a friend of the world is an enemy of God. And last week it was the fact that a Christian is known by determination.

First Corinthians 2:2, 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 a Christian, what defines a Christian, what a Christian is made of simply because they're 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 solidified by five 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 always good to be in the know.

So the Bible says, these words in Romans 8:28, 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 we know that all things work together for good And have been called according to his purpose. Paul also said in 2 Timothy 1, verse number 12, I know whom I believe. And am 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 1 John chapter 5, verse 11. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life and this life is in his 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 whole epistle in 1 John is about the moral test, the doctrinal test, the relational test, three main tests that he gives over and over again in chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, and chapter four and then says these things are written that you may know that you have eternal life. If you take the moral test, 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. The doctrine of eternal security is such a pivotal doctrine in the life of the Christian.

And it's solidified by five principles. Let me give them to you. My eternal destiny is solidified, number one, 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 number 24.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who 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 number 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 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 1, verse number 6, being confident of this very thing that he who began a good work in you will complete that work. And Romans eight tells us that once you have been called and because you've been predestined, you will be justified and all those that are justified will ultimately be glorified.

That's the promise that God himself gives. Romans 11:29 says that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. God's not gonna say I called you, you came to me, but now I'm rescinding the call.

God doesn't do that. Simply because he's made a promise. That great verse in John 3:16, that God so 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.

Number two, 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 1 Peter 1, verse number 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 2 Timothy 1:12 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.

Number three, the purposes of God solidify your eternal destiny.

Ephesians chapter 1, verse number 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 has a plan, has a purpose.

The purposes of God are always accomplished because he's all powerful and he made a promise. Paul would say in 1 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. Number four, the prayers of Christ solidify your eternal destiny. Over in John 17, Christ said these words in verse number 11, I am no longer in the world and yet they themselves are in the world and I come to you, holy father, keep them in your name, the name which you have given me that they may be one even as we are, we are.

While I was with them, I was keeping them in your name which you have given me and I 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 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 one with the father as he is one with the father.

Over in Hebrews chapter seven, verse 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 7:25, 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 1, 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 his 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 sixth principle because the sixth 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 it's a doctrine that 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 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 face 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.

They will be abounding in their work with God. 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. This is so telling about the new covenant and the guarantee that all true believers will never apostatize the faith, never defrock the faith, never become agnostic or atheists, and never turn away from the Lord fully.

And finally, Jeremiah chapter 32, verse number 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 gonna do something unique and special with my people Israel. I'm gonna 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 number 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, I 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 in our 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 32:40 is an absolute fact, they will not turn away from me. They will not.

And this is 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 number 40. And plus a slew of other verses.

Let me give them to you. Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1, verse number 21.

And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, this was your unbelieving life, yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshy 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 was reclaimed 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 you to himself? If you continue steadfastly in the faith. Because if you don't continue steadfastly in the faith, it's evident that God has not reconciled you to himself. Listen, the perseverance of the saints is a doctrine 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. Now, look at what the Bible says.

In the book of 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says, now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel, which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, verse 2, by 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 preached to you unless you believed in vain.

That's very telling. He makes it very clear. I made known to you, brethren, the gospel.

I preached 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 number 4. For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, said 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 apostatize 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 number 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 the 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. And in Revelation 14, it's all about the tribulation of saints who've gone through a horrific ordeal on the planet, but they never turned their back on the Lord even though they were persecuted and were killed because of their faith.

Jesus said in Matthew's gospel, the ninth chapter, I'm sorry, the 10th chapter, the 22nd verse, these words, Matthew 10:22. Let's start with verse number 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 Christ is 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 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 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 2:19. 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 us. One 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 dies, but in the lifestyle that he lives. Because he continues in the faith. He's not like the weedy soil in Matthew 13 or the rocky soil in Matthew 13.

Those soils that jump onto Jesus' bandwagon and live the 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 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 one who followed Jesus simply because that was the thing to do. And Judas was one 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 kingdom project that would benefit him and to some degree, for three years, day in and day out, he was with the Son of God.

He preached the gospel. He performed 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 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 wanna associate with the world more and more, the lure of the world pulls them in, it keeps dragging them in.

That's because the life of Christ is not in them and they so easily won't go the way of the world. They are determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him alone. And crucified because it was through 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.

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 that 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 life of holiness because you said be perfect as your father and mother in heaven is perfect. Be holy as your Lord God himself is holy. May that be 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.