Westminster Daily

Of the perseverance of the saints, part 3

CONFESSION OF FAITH CHAPTER 17: OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS 3. Nevertheless, they may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins;1 and, for a time, continue therein:2 whereby they incur God's displeasure,3 and grieve his Holy Spirit,4 come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts,5 have their hearts hardened,6 and their consciences wounded;7 hurt and scandalize others,8 and bring temporal judgments upon themselves.9 ---------------------------------------- 1. MATTHEW 26:70 But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” MATTHEW 26:72 And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.” MATTHEW 26:74 Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. (ESV) 2. PSALM 51 51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar. PSALM 51:14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. (ESV) 3. ISAIAH 64:5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? ISAIAH 64:7 There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities. ISAIAH 64:9 Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people. 2 SAMUEL 11:27 And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. (ESV) 4. EPHESIANS 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (ESV) 5. PSALM 51:8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. PSALM 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. PSALM 51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. REVELATION 2:4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. SONG OF SOLOMON 5:2-4 I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking. “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.” I had put off my garment; how could I put it on? I had bathed my feet; how could I soil them? My beloved put his hand to the latch, and my heart was thrilled within me. SONG OF SOLOMON 5:6 I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer. (ESV) 6. ISAIAH 63:17 O Lord, why do you make us wander from your ways and harden our heart, so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. MARK 6:52 for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. MARK 16:14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. (ESV) 7. PSALM 32:3-4 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah PSALM 51:8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. (ESV) 8. 2 SAMUEL 12:14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.” (ESV) 9. PSALM 89:31-32 if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes, 1 CORINTHIANS 11:32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. (ESV)

Of the perseverance of the saints, part 2

CONFESSION OF FAITH CHAPTER 17: OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS 2. This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father;1 upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ,2 the abiding of the Spirit, and of the seed of God within them,3 and the nature of the covenant of grace:4 from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof.5 ---------------------------------------- 1. 2 TIMOTHY 2:18-19 who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” JEREMIAH 31:3 the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. (ESV) 2. HEBREWS 10:10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. HEBREWS 10:14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. HEBREWS 13:20-21 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. HEBREWS 9:12-15 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. ROMANS 8:33-39 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. JOHN 17:11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. JOHN 17:24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. LUKE 22:32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” HEBREWS 7:25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (ESV) 3. JOHN 14:16-17 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 1 JOHN 2:27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. 1 JOHN 3:9 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. (ESV) 4. JEREMIAH 32:40 I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. (ESV) 5. JOHN 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 2 THESSALONIANS 3:3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. 1 JOHN 2:19 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. (ESV)

May not true believers fall away from the state of grace?

LARGER CATECHISM Q 79. May not true believers, by reason of their imperfections, and the many temptations and sins they are overtaken with, fall away from the state of grace? A. True believers, by reason of the unchangeable love of God,1 and his decree and covenant to give them perseverance,2 their inseparable union with Christ,3 his continual intercession for them,4 and the Spirit and seed of God abiding in them,5 can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace,6 but are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.7 ---------------------------------------- 1. JEREMIAH 31:3 the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. (ESV) 2. 2 TIMOTHY 2:19 But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” HEBREWS 13:20-21 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. 2 SAMUEL 23:5 “For does not my house stand so with God? For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. For will he not cause to prosper all my help and my desire? (ESV) 3. 1 CORINTHIANS 1:8-9 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (ESV) 4. HEBREWS 7:25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. LUKE 22:32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (ESV) 5. 1 JOHN 3:9 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. 1 JOHN 2:27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. (ESV) 6. JEREMIAH 32:40 I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. JOHN 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (ESV) 7. 1 PETER 1:5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (ESV)

Of the perseverance of the saints, part 1

CONFESSION OF FAITH CHAPTER 17: OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS 1. They, whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.1 ---------------------------------------- 1. PHILIPPIANS 1:6 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. 2 PETER 1:10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. JOHN 10:28-29 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 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 JOHN 3:9 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. 1 PETER 1:5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 PETER 1:9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (ESV)

Of good works, part 7

CONFESSION OF FAITH CHAPTER 16: OF GOOD WORKS 7. Works done by unregenerate men, although for the matter of them they may be things which God commands; and of good use both to themselves and others:1 yet, because they proceed not from an heart purified by faith;2 nor are done in a right manner, according to the Word;3 nor to a right end, the glory of God,4 they are therefore sinful, and cannot please God, or make a man meet to receive grace from God:5 and yet, their neglect of them is more sinful and displeasing unto God.6 ---------------------------------------- 1. 2 KINGS 10:30-31 And the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin. 1 KINGS 21:27 And when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly. 1 KINGS 21:29 “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son's days I will bring the disaster upon his house.” PHILIPPIANS 1:15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. PHILIPPIANS 1:16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. PHILIPPIANS 1:18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, (ESV) 2. GENESIS 4:5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. HEBREWS 11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. HEBREWS 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (ESV) 3. 1 CORINTHIANS 13:3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. ISAIAH 1:12 “When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? (ESV) 4. MATTHEW 6:2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. MATTHEW 6:5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. MATTHEW 6:16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. (ESV) 5. HAGGAI 2:14 Then Haggai answered and said, “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean. TITUS 1:15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. AMOS 5:21-22 “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. HOSEA 1:4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. ROMANS 9:16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. TITUS 3:15 All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. (ESV) 6. PSALM 14:4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the Lord? PSALM 36:3 The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good. JOB 21:14-15 They say to God, ‘Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’ MATTHEW 25:41-43 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ MATTHEW 25:45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ MATTHEW 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. (ESV)