Esteemed suckas and fools, I’m back! This may be my last talk for a while, so enjoy it while you can. I suggest you print it out, frame it, and put it someplace where you’ll see it every day!
I’d like to thank each of you who persevered through my explanation of TULIP. Now, we gonna finish up by looking at the perseverance of the saints (or Pots). What we can figure out from all the other parts of the TULIP is that the people of God will endure until the end and not be lost, like that fool Murdoch when he doesn’t have a map. Sometimes even when he do have one. I’m gonna break it down like this:
I’m a Christian, so if God elected me, why do I have to do anything at all? Aren’t I already gold?
Shutup with that nonsense, fool! Jesus made it clear – “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples.” (John 8:31). Paul warns you fools in Galatians 5:19-21, “Now the works of the flesh are plain: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not enter the kingdom of God.” John says the same thing “And by this we may be sure that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He who says, ‘I know him’ but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: he who says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” (1 John 2:3-6). To make sure you ain’t confused like so many fools when they see Mr. T sneak up behind them in all his glory, I’m gonna spell one thing out: The Bible doesn’t call you to be perfect – Philippians 3:12-14 tells us that we ain’t perfect yet, but the perfection in Christ is what we need to be marching towards. Our lives need to be morally changed by Christ through his election.
OK, so ain’t you just sayin’ that someone can be elected, but then not follow Christ? I know a lot of people who said they were Christian but left the church.
No way, fool! The fact of the matter is, there are people who will profess to be elect in Christ but just ain’t! John talks about this in 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 be made plain that they all are not of us.” Jesus talks about it in his parable of the four kinds of soil – they fools are the ones who “hear the word, receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in a time of temptation fall away.” (Luke 8:9-14).
The Scripture breaks it down like this: God chooses you before the foundation of time, He calls you, gives you a new heart so that you can accept that call, and then expects you to walk faithfully in Christ until the end of your days. But he don’t just hope that you’ll do it, he makes sure that you will. 1 Peter 1:5, “By God’s power we are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Philippians 1:6, “And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 1:8-9, “Jesus Christ 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.”
Make sure of your election in Christ. 2 Peter 1:10 says: “Therefore, brethren, be the more zealous to confirm your call and election, for if you do this you will never fall; so there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Repent of your sins. Forsake them. Receive Christ’s Grace and know that your salvation is secure – “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his propose. 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 brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.” (Romans 8:28-30)