1. ASSURANCE & PERSEVERANCE Quote : “ASSURANCE & PERSEVERANCE are 2 Biblical doctrines that should be considered side-by-side, otherwise the Biblical view may be distorted. ASSURANCE without perseverance can degenerate into presumption; and PERSEVERANCE without assurance can become salvation by human effort, not God’s grace.”

2. ASSURANCE & PERSEVERANCE HEBREWS 12:1-4 ESV “1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

3. ASSURANCE & PERSEVERANCE EVIDENCE OF THE POWER OF GOD AT WORK HEBREWS 33-34 through faith they conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

4. ASSURANCE & PERSEVERANCE EVIDENCE OF THE GRACE OF GOD AT WORK HEBREWS 11:36-38 : still through faith, “..they were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated– wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.”

5. ASSURANCE & PERSEVERANCE FOLLOW THEIR EXAMPLE HEBREWS 12:1 “….let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely,…” AMP = “…let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us,…”

6. ASSURANCE & PERSEVERANCE PICTURE OF PERSEVERANCE HEBREWS 12:1 “…and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…” Note words used in AMP “..and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us,..”

7. ASSURANCE & PERSEVERANCE HE GETS US THROUGH - ASSURANCE HEBREWS 12:2 “…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter AMP [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

8. ASSURANCE & PERSEVERANCE THE BATTLE HAS BEEN WON HEBREWS 12:3-4 “3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” JESUS DID IT FOR US!!