The Gospel, Perseverance & Assurance - Dropbox

Good News Fellowship
The Gospel, Perseverance & Assurance

Gospel Summary: 1 Corinthians 15:1–5

1 Corinthians 15:1–5
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the
gospel I preached to you, which you
received, in which you stand, 2 and by
which you are being saved, if you hold fast
to the word I preached to you—unless you
believed in vain...

1 Corinthians 15:1–5 (cont.)
3 For I delivered to you as of first
importance what I also received: that
Christ died for our sins in accordance with
the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he
was raised on the third day in accordance
with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared
to Cephas, then to the twelve.

The promise of salvation has the
necessary condition that the believer
hold fast to the gospel to the end.

What does it mean to hold fast to the
gospel?

Hold Fast
Greek: Katecho (kat-ekh'-o)
1. to hold back, detain, retain
a. from going away
b. to restrain, hinder (the course or progress of)
...
2. to get possession of, take
a. to possess
http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/katecho.html

To hold fast to the gospel refers to the
biblical doctrine commonly known as
“Perseverance of the Saints.”

Points on Perseverance
Point 1: The believer must persevere in the
faith to the end to be saved.
Point 2: God promises to persevere all true
believers.
Point 3: The person who does not persevere
was never truly converted.

Points on Perseverance
Point 4: Perseverance is God continuing the
saving work that He has begun in a believer.

Point 1:
The believer must persevere in the faith
to be saved.

Hebrews 3:5–6
Perseverance
5 Now Moses was faithful in all God's
house as a servant, to testify to the things
that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is
faithful over God's house as a son. And
we are his house if indeed we hold fast
our confidence and our boasting in our
hope.

Matthew 24:9–13
Perseverance
9 “Then they will deliver you up to
tribulation and put you to death, and you
will be hated by all nations for my name's
sake. 10 And then many will fall away and
betray one another and hate one another.
11 And many false prophets will arise and
lead many astray.

12 And because lawlessness will be
increased, the love of many will grow
cold. 13 But the one who endures to the
end will be saved.

Point 2:
God promises to persevere all true
believers.

John 10:26–29
Perseverance
26 but you do not believe because you are
not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my
voice, and I know them, and they follow
me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will
never perish, and no one will snatch them
out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has
given them to me, is greater than all, and
no one is able to snatch them out of the
Father's hand.

1 Corinthians 1:7–9
Perseverance
7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as
you wait for the revealing of our Lord
Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the
end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were
called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord.

Philippians 1:3–6
Perseverance
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.

Point 3:
The person who does not persevere was
never truly converted.

Hebrews 3:12–14
Perseverance
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any
of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading
you to fall away from the living God. 13 But
exhort one another every day, as long as it
is called “today,” that none of you may be
hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For
we have come to share in Christ, if indeed
we hold our original confidence firm to the
end.

1 John 2:18–19
Perseverance
18
Children, it is the last hour, and as you
have heard that antichrist is coming, so
now many antichrists have come.
Therefore we know that it is the last hour.
19
They went out from us, but they were not
of us; for if they had been of us, they
would have continued with us. But they
went out, that it might become plain that
they all are not of us.

Point 4:
Perseverance is God continuing the
saving work that He has begun in a
believer.

Romans 8:29–30
Perseverance
29 For those whom he foreknew he also
predestined to be conformed to the image
of his Son, in order that he might be the
firstborn among many brothers. 30 And
those whom he predestined he also
called, and those whom he called he also
justified, and those whom he justified he
also glorified.

Perseverance
1 Thessalonians 5:23–24
23 Now may the God of peace himself
sanctify you completely, and may your
whole spirit and soul and body be kept
blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he
will surely do it.

Assurance

Perseverance is one way believers can
examine their lives and gain assurance
that they are indeed saved.

Points on Assurance
Point 1: The Bible teaches us to examine our
lives in order to find assurance.
Point 2: The believer can have assurance
from the evidence of the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit who grants power over sin and
produces good fruit in them.

Points on Assurance
Point 3: The believer can have assurance by
evaluating his life according to the tests of
the book of 1 John (obedience, love,
righteousness, etc.).
Point 4: The believer can have assurance if
he perseveres in the faith and does not leave
his commitment to Christ.

Point 1:
The Bible teaches us to examine our lives
in order to find assurance.

2 Corinthians 13:5
Assurance
5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you
are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you
not realize this about yourselves, that
Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed
you fail to meet the test!

Assurance
1 John 2:3 - 3 And by this we know that we
have come to know him...
1 John 2:5 – 5 ...By this we may know that
we are in him...
1 John 3:10 – 10 By this it is evident who
are the children of God, and who are the
children of the devil...

Assurance
1 John 3:14 – 14 We know that we have
passed out of death into life, because...
1 John 3:19 – 19 By this we shall know that
we are of the truth and reassure our heart
before him;
1 John 5:2 – 2 By this we know that we love
the children of God...

Point 2:
The believer can have assurance from the
evidence of the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit who grants power over sin and
produces good fruit in them.

Romans 8:9
Assurance
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in
the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells
in you. Anyone who does not have the
Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

Romans 8:12–17
Assurance
12
So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to
the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
13
For if you live according to the flesh you
will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death
the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For
all who are led by the Spirit of God are
sons of God.

15
For you did not receive the spirit of
slavery to fall back into fear, but you
have received the Spirit of adoption as
sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
16
The Spirit himself bears witness with
our spirit that we are children of God,
17
and if children, then heirs—heirs of
God and fellow heirs with Christ,
provided we suffer with him in order that
we may also be glorified with him.

Galatians 5:18–24
Assurance
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are
not under the law. 19 Now the works of the
flesh are evident: sexual immorality,
impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery,
enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger,
rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy,
drunkenness, orgies, and things like
these.

I warn you, as I warned you before, that
those who do such things will not inherit
the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such
things there is no law. 24 And those who
belong to Christ Jesus have crucified
the flesh with its passions and desires.

Point 3:
The believer can have assurance by
evaluating his life according to the tests
of the book of 1 John (obedience, love,
righteousness, etc.).

1 John 1:8–10
Assurance
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have
not sinned, we make him a liar, and his
word is not in us.

1 John 2:3–6
Assurance
3 And by this we know that we have come to
know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not
keep his commandments is a liar, and the
truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his
word, in him truly the love of God is
perfected. By this we may know that we are
in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought
to walk in the same way in which he walked.

1 John 2:15–17
Assurance
15 Do not love the world or the things in the
world. If anyone loves the world, the love
of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is
in the world— the desires of the flesh and
the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is
not from the Father but is from the world.
17 And the world is passing away along with
its desires, but whoever does the will of
God abides forever.

1 John 3:7–10
Assurance
7 Little children, let no one deceive you.
Whoever practices righteousness is
righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever
makes a practice of sinning is of the devil,
for the devil has been sinning from the
beginning. The reason the Son of God
appeared was to destroy the works of the
devil.

9 No one born of God makes a practice
of sinning, for God's seed abides in him,
and he cannot keep on sinning because
he has been born of God. 10 By this it is
evident who are the children of God,
and who are the children of the devil:
whoever does not practice
righteousness is not of God, nor is the
one who does not love his brother.

1 John 3:14–20
Assurance
14
We know that we have passed out of
death into life, because we love the
brothers. Whoever does not love abides in
death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is
a murderer, and you know that no
murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 By this we know love, that he laid down
his life for us, and we ought to lay down
our lives for the brothers.

17 But if anyone has the world's goods
and sees his brother in need, yet closes
his heart against him, how does God's
love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us
not love in word or talk but in deed and
in truth. 19 By this we shall know that we
are of the truth and reassure our heart
before him; 20 for whenever our heart
condemns us, God is greater than our
heart, and he knows everything.

Point 4:
The believer can have assurance if he
perseveres in the faith and does not
leave his commitment to Christ.

John 8:30–32
Assurance
30 As he was saying these things, many
believed in him. 31 So Jesus said to the
Jews who had believed him, “If you abide
in my word, you are truly my disciples,
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth
will set you free.”

1 John 2:24–25
Assurance
24 Let what you heard from the beginning
abide in you. If what you heard from the
beginning abides in you, then you too will
abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And
this is the promise that he made to us—
eternal life.

2 John 7–9
Assurance
7 For many deceivers have gone out into
the world, those who do not confess the
coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a
one is the deceiver and the antichrist.
8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not
lose what we have worked for, but may
win a full reward.

9 Everyone who goes on ahead and
does not abide in the teaching of Christ,
does not have God. Whoever abides in
the teaching has both the Father and
the Son.

Conclusion
The promise of salvation has the
necessary condition that the believer hold
fast to the gospel to the end. This
perseverance is promised to be
accomplished by God for all genuine
believers. If a person does not persevere,
he was never truly converted.
Perseverance is God's continuing work of
salvation that He has begun in a believer.

Conclusion
Perseverance is one way the Bible
teaches believers to examine their lives
and gain assurance that they are indeed
saved. The believer can also have
assurance from the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit and the Bible's tests of true faith.
The Holy Spirit grants power over sin and
produces good fruit. The tests of true faith
are described well in the book of 1 John
(obedience, love, righteousness, etc.).