A little over 7 years ago, I was encouraging our oldest son up a long, steep hill to finish his very first 5K race. This Saturday, the roles reversed, and he was the one encouraging and pacing me in a 5K time goal I had been training for over the past 10 weeks. “Come on, you only have 3 minutes left to make it…” Then, “Two more minutes! Come on, you’ve got this!” And finally, “Just 200 meters to go!!!! Come on, let’s go!!!”
So many opposing thoughts went through my head in the last three minutes.
“I don’t have to do this. I could ease up and be happy that I trained so hard!”
“What?! No! I can do anything for three minutes!” (Ha! Not actually true, but whatever!)
“I should’ve listened to him when he told me to slow up in the first mile! My legs are on fire!! I’m absolutely spent!!!”
“I am NOT giving up now! I’ve disciplined myself for 10 weeks for this goal! The finish line is so close!”
“I can’t” thoughts. “This is too hard” thoughts. Labor and delivery thoughts! Ha!
“PERSEVERE TO THE END, KATE!!”
The final curve opened up to reveal the finish line. I gave it all I had, and I did it! The official results showed I finished with four seconds to spare!!!
I gave it 100% and I’m 100% confident I would have tanked without my son’s warnings, his encouragement, and his calling out times and distances to me.
I had my own running version of perseverance on Saturday, and while I will highlight some parallels between this experience and perseverance of the saints (the doctrine I’m exploring this week for Hebrews 5:11-6:20) the good news is that in the Christian life, our confidence doesn’t lie in how hard we’ve trained, how much strength we’ve gained, or in our mental grit and determination.
The believer’s confidence lies in God’s faithfulness to sustain His people and carry them to the finish line. He preserves those who are His, enabling us to persevere, and in His grace He gives us various means to do so.
As a reminder, I’m looking at a doctrine seen in each chapter(ish) of the book of Hebrews, a sermon-like letter written to encourage and exhort discouraged Christians (likely Jewish Christians) in the face of hardship and persecution. What we believe influences how we endure. These posts are a small sampling of things that could be said about each topic.
This will be a two-part post, breaking away from the structure of my previous posts. Today’s focus is that God is faithful to preserve His people. Next week we’ll explore the means by which He gives us to do so. (This is where my race illustration applies).
Chapters 5 & 6: Perseverance of the Saints
Hebrews 6:11-12, 19-20 Now we desire each of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the full assurance of your hope until the end, so that you won’t become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance…. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. Jesus has entered there on our behalf as a forerunner, because he has become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Here’s what Dr. Wayne Grudem says about perseverance of the saints (or, as it’s called in some Baptist circles, eternal security):
“The perseverance of the saints means that all those who are truly born again will be kept by God’s power and will persevere as Christians until the end of their lives, and that only those who persevere until the end have been truly born again.”
As mentioned in this post, there are five warning passages in the book of Hebrews. Chapters 5 and 6 contain one of these. Some of the warnings in the book of Hebrews can send a shiver of fear down the believer’s spine, wondering if they can somehow fall away from God’s grace.
Notice who the author addresses in his warnings, his descriptions of those who fall away, and the confidence in his recipients.
The end of chapter 5 describes his recipients as having become spiritually immature, and he is calling them to maturity. Notice how he speaks directly to them (he uses the pronoun “you”) in 5:11-14 and again 6:9-12. They are called out for their spiritual sluggishness (ouch, but thank you!) and are called back to “being imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance.” (6:12)
In the above passages, the author expresses a confidence in what God has done in the lives of these believers:
Even though we are speaking this way, dearly loved friends, in your case we are confident of things that are better and that pertain to salvation. (Heb. 6:9)
Additionally, he notes the firm and secure anchor of their souls: Jesus Christ! (see Heb. 6:19)
Contrasted with this is Hebrews 6:4-8, describing people who once seemed to be “enlightened” and “shared in the Holy Spirit,” yet have fallen away. They are described as fruitless (“producing thorns and thistles” v. 8… see also the parable of the soils in Matthew 13!), and the author uses the pronoun “they” instead of “you.” The pronouns aren’t the main point, but maybe something worth noting.
This is a hotly debated passage, but I think he’s describing people amongst them who have experienced the blessings and realities of Christian faith, but have not truly been born again.
Here’s what Grudem says regarding the word enlightened:
“The word enlightened translates the Greek term phótizó, which refers to learning in general, not necessarily a learning that results in salvation.”
Additionally he says, “…this enlightening simply means that they came to understand the truths of the gospel, not that they responded to those truths with genuine saving faith.”
The author of Hebrews doesn’t avoid the seriousness of the warning, but he’s not trying to leave his listeners paralyzed with fear. He expresses confidence in what God’s done and encourages them to continue demonstrating love, diligence, faith and perseverance.
Again, our confidence in the Christian life can never be anchored in our ability to persevere, but rather in the God who promises to preserve His people.
The warnings we see here do matter, though. In fact, they are one of the means by which He helps us persevere! We need reminders of that Anchor who is holding us, firm and secure. What a comfort when we are struggling and tempted to quit. Our hope is anchored in Christ, the One who’s already crossed the finish line. He’s entered the inner sanctuary on our behalf (6:19), and He will not abandon those who belong to Him.
Next week, I’ll look at some of the means through which God graciously helps us persevere and how I thought about them as I reflected back on my race.
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