When I say final salvation, what I mean is that God's people will be saved in the end. Older writings, and statements of faith would often communicate this by saying that God's people shall not finally fall away. And that word finally means in the end, even though we might fall in this world, even though you and I might indulge in sin that destroys us, we might make foolish, wicked mistakes that end our lives prematurely like Samson did, or destroy everything that we know and love like David did,  as he gave in to lust and sin with Bathsheba, and then tried to cover up his sin by sending her husband away to be murdered and taking that woman as his own wife.

God's Word has the moral failings of many, many men of God from beginning to end, even though we might fall. We shall not finally fall away. And what that is simply saying is that if we are in grace, we will stay in grace, and though this world might end up a very bad place for us because of our own sinful decisions, we will be with God and glory because that is what He has purposed. Another phrase that sometimes articles of faith and old writings would use is that we would persevere. God's chosen shall persevere in grace. Now let's emphasize the words there in grace. Persevering in grace means that once a person is in grace, that's where they stay. They can't get out of grace. And we'll see a statement from John 10 today that we are held securely in the hand of God the Father. We stay there. Once we are there, we persevere in grace. They remain in it. We can't get out God's grace if we're in it. We have been in it since before the foundation of the world. We are legally in it through the blood of Christ. We are vitally in it through the Holy Spirit, and we will remain in His grace. Until the end, we shall not finally fall away, but we will be glorified in it for all of eternity.

Now, in light of modern concepts such as lordship salvation, a lot of us have refrained from using that verbiage, persevere in grace, perseverance of the Saints, etcetera, Because rather than teaching persevering in grace, modern pastors teach perseverance in works. But the original phrase, the original term was persevere in grace. And again, what that meant was once you're in grace, you stay in grace and use that way. It's a great phrase. But to be very clear, we don't use that phrase as often today because the last thing we want to do is communicate lordship salvation to those who hear us. We don't want you to be deceived. We don't want your assurance to be robbed from you and taken away. We don't want you to be in distress and despair. We don't always persevere like we want to in good works. But beloved, because Christ has us clutched in His hand, you can't get out of grace. You will stay in grace, and that is what perseverance meant to Baptist at one time in our nation's history. In fact, here at Flint River, we have a copy of our original articles of faith etched in a 7 foot granite monument outside in our churchyard. And that statement exists on that monument because it is one of our articles of faith here at Flint River, the oldest Baptist Church in the state of Alabama. So once we are in grace, we stay in grace and we shall not finally fall away. This will culminate in the glorification of God's people.

Transcribed from Words of Grace, the radio ministry of Benjamin Winslett, pastor of Flint River Primitive Baptist Church near Huntsville Alabama.