1 CORINTHIANS 16:13 STAND FIRM IN THE FAITH2026 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

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Date: 2026-10-10

Title: 1 Corinthians 16:13 Stand Firm In The Faith

Teacher: Jerry B Simmons

Series: 2026 Guest Speaking

Teaching Transcript: 1 Corinthians 16:13 Stand Firm In The Faith

00:00
So, if you brought your Bible this morning—hopefully you did—you could turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 16, and we're going to start there and then jump around quite a bit. I only get, like, once or twice a year the chance to speak, and so I hope you're in for the long haul. By the end, we'll be saying "good evening" to one another. Is that cool with you guys? We're going to stand firm in the Scriptures today. Just kidding. Okay, first: 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verse 13 says, "Watch: stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong." Watch: stand fast in the faith, be brave, and be strong. Now, we'll be talking about the different components of this as we spend time in the Word together, but my portion of this is this next piece: the "stand fast" or "stand firm" in the faith. And as I was praying over this and seeking the Lord about how He would have us to consider this idea of standing fast in the faith, this mental picture started to come up in my mind.

01:11
And, uh, if you could, I'd like to just ask you to imagine along with me for a little bit here. Imagine being at the beach. Now, I don't mean like right now, when it's all flooded and everything, but normal days. Imagine being at the beach. There's two pictures of being at the beach that are in my mind as I'm thinking about praying over "stand fast" or "stand firm" in the faith. The first picture that I'd like you to consider with me is the picture of drifting slowly. And I think every SoCal native knows exactly where I'm going with that and what I'm talking about, right? Every—every one of us have had the experience. If you've lived in Southern California, you've been to the beach, you know what it's like to go into the water and you're just having a good time. You're body-surfing, you're boogie-boarding, you're just, you know, standing in the waves. Whatever you're doing, no matter what you do, you get in the water a little bit, it feels like nothing has changed, that nothing has happened, but suddenly you realize you're 3 lifeguard towers down from where you started.

02:19
You're just having a good time. It doesn't feel like—in fact, you've perhaps even intentionally decided, like, "I'm not going to drift this time." But in the course of time, with the waves coming in and the way things happen, you drift. It's subtle. You don't necessarily notice. It's not something that you're conscious of, but suddenly you are very far from where you began. I read about this beach back east in Maryland, and the lifeguard patrol puts out some numbers, and they said that in a normal season—so just picture a summer season, right? Three months or so, 90 days—they will deal with from 1,000 to 2,000 lost-and-found people. 1,000 to 2,000. It's a couple hundred a day sometimes. That they're dealing with people who are at the beach, they get in the water, things are happening. You know, even if they're not in the water, the beach, of course, looks flat and the same everywhere.

03:21
It's so common for people to drift and then suddenly look around and have no idea where they're at or exactly how they got there. So that's the first picture. I think you got it, right? Slowly drifting is something that we face. Well, the other beach picture that I would have you consider is the suddenly shifting. The slowly drifting, but then also the suddenly shifting. And in my mind, this is where you're standing there in the waves, and perhaps there's some riptide that's pulling on you. But regardless of that, there is this wave that comes in, and it is easy to be knocked off balance. And sometimes the waves come in this way, and then sometimes the waves come in that way, and there's a sudden shift in the current, in the movement. When you're standing in the waves, if you think about standing firm, you would understand: standing firm does not mean you stand kind of upright and, like, just try not to move.

04:25
To stand firm in the midst of the waves, you have to brace, right? You have to lean in to the pressure that's coming. And if you don't do that, then, well, it's going to knock you around. You're not going to be able to stand firm by just standing completely straight and upright. That's going to be—you're going to be off balance. And so as the waves come, as the tides change, you have to adapt to the current that is coming, to the pressure that is mounting. I learned this from watching the karate kid. I think all of you should know I'm a fifth-degree white belt, so watch yourself around me, okay? Everything I know about karate, I learned from the movie. Mr. Miyagi took Daniel to the beach to stand in the waves, to learn balance, to learn this. Like, you need to learn how to prepare yourself because things are shifting. And he tells Daniel, "First learn stand, then learn fly." That's a terrible impression, you know, but first you got to learn how to stand.

05:30
If you ever want to do the crane kick, Daniel, first you got to learn how to stand. Let the waves hit you and stand firm through the midst of it. As we walk through this life, we are going to experience both kinds of dangers. As we think about standing firm in the faith, we're going to have to address both kinds of dangers. That the faith for us is in danger—the faith isn't in danger, but we're in danger—of drifting slowly from the faith. But we also have the danger of suddenly shifting. And we need to be aware of both so that we can prepare ourselves and guard against walking away from, straying away from, finding ourselves in a different place than the faith. This word, "stand firm," it's in the present imperative active. And not to get into the technical details here, but this means, literally, it could be translated this way: stand firm and keep on standing firm.

06:41
That it's not a "stand firm" like you laid the foundation when you built that building and then you stop laying the foundation. The foundation's done. Stop laying the foundation, now you just build on it, right? That's not the way this word is. This is a "stand firm," and you're not done yet once you've done that the first time. But there is this ongoing necessity. This command is ongoing: you must keep on standing firm. Stand firm in the faith. Now, as we talk about faith, I'm not going to talk about faith as in, like, steps of faith so much, but he tells us here to stand fast in the faith. You see that word "the" there? That's intentional, that's purposeful. Stand fast in the faith. The faith is used throughout the New Testament in a particular way. It describes a collection of essential doctrines.

07:47
The faith. He says, "Stand firm in the faith." Stand firm in these core truths of Christianity. Pastor Warren Wierzbie puts it this way: he says, "The faith is that body of divine truth given to the church." There's a collection of essential doctrine, a collection of truths that God has presented to His church, and this is what Paul is addressing here as he says, "Stand firm," or "stand fast," in the faith. That you need to grasp hold of these truths and be steadfast with them. Now, the faith. What is the faith? What is that collection of essential truths? I'm not going to try to walk through all of them. And there is, of course, some areas that we would have discussion about what exactly is included in the faith.

08:48
Many churches—I looked at the Calvary Chapel Norco website last night and I saw there's 7 statements in the statement of faith, and perhaps, you know, Pastor Jason would present that as, "Here is the core truth, the essential doctrines, the faith of Calvary Chapel Norco." And so you can look at those things. But for me, as I was preparing for this, there were 4 things that really were just on my heart. And so this isn't trying to be exhaustive about everything that is the faith, but 4 things that the Lord highlighted for me that are important for us to consider this morning. Paul says there's a need for us to stand firm in the faith. And so he gives the command, "Keep on standing firm," because these doctrines are under attack. These truths need to be reinforced in our lives so that we don't slowly drift, so that we don't suddenly shift. Stand firm means you don't move away from those essentials.

09:53
But it also means that you don't make traditions into commandments. And we'll see that as we dig through this together. And so I'm going to walk you through 4 points this morning, 4 things for us to stand firm in. And the first one, we're going to move 1 chapter back. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Would you turn there with me? 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And we're going to look at the first part of the chapter here for point number 1, and that is: stand firm in the gospel of grace. It's really first and foremost of the essential truths of Christianity, the essential doctrines that we must stand firm in, is the gospel of grace. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Let me read for you verses 1 through 6. It says this: "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preach to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preach to you, unless you believed in vain.

11:02
For I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." Verse 5. "And that He was seen by Cephas, or Peter, then by the twelve. After that, He was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep." Here in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Paul recounts for us the gospel. He tells the Corinthians, "I want to remind you of what I told you before." He's seeking to help them stand firm in the gospel of grace. Again, it's not just a foundation that's laid once. "I told you the gospel. I shared that with you. But also now I'm redeclaring it to you. The gospel which I preach to you, the gospel that you received. You've heard this. I've preached it.

12:03
You know it." And notice what he says in verse 1: "In which you stand." You stand in the gospel. The gospel is what gives you the ability to stand. You have spiritual life because you've believed the gospel. But I'm still going to tell you again. I'm going to refresh for you and redeclare to you the gospel. And notice in verse 2: "By which you are saved, if you hold fast." And so this idea of standing firm, holding fast, is what Paul is attaching here in chapter 15 to the gospel message. Stand firm in the gospel of grace. And he walks through it. Jesus Christ, being God, became a man. That is the first part, as we would consider the gospel. Jesus, the Messiah, the one promised long before, the Savior that would come.

13:10
Although He is God, He became man. Christ, he says, died for our sins. Here is the gospel. That God became man in order to die in our place, to be our substitute there on the cross, to pay the penalty for sin. He goes on in verse 4 to tell the next components. That Jesus was buried. He actually died. He actually breathed His last, and He was buried, but then He rose again on the third day. Jesus resurrected from the dead, authenticating the gospel message, authenticating His claims to be God, authenticating His life purpose and ministry. He is who He said He is. He is the Savior, the way, the truth, and the life. The Corinthians know this. Paul preached it. They received it.

14:11
But Paul says, "It's really important. I'm going to remind you about it. I need you to keep on standing firm in the gospel of grace." And so it was important for them to be refreshed and to revisit. It is important for us to be in this process as well, refreshing ourselves, reminding ourselves, retelling ourselves the gospel message, as well as those around us. It's the gospel, and it's the gospel of grace. Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 2: "By grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." This is a message that I must tell myself repeatedly, continually, to keep myself standing firm in the gospel of grace.

15:14
This is a message we need to remind each other of and tell each other. This is a message that we need to share with those who've never heard it, but then also those who have heard it. It's easy for us to kind of say, "Well, you know this," and just kind of, like, move along real fast. But also, you need to know the grace is the gift by which God has offered to us eternal life. It's not of works. Jesus, being God, became man, died upon the cross for our sins, was buried, was resurrected on the third day, not because of anything that I've done, and His offer of salvation through that has nothing to do with my efforts. It's by grace you have been saved. Because there is the danger of slowly drifting. Not that we would immediately wake up tomorrow and say, "I no longer believe in the gospel of grace." But there is that opportunity, that danger of drifting away.

16:23
Paul wrote to the Galatians in Galatians chapter 1, and he says, "Guys, I'm astonished. You're turning away from the gospel of grace." Galatians chapter 1, verse 6, Paul says, "I marvel that you turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel." This is not an impossible, never-before-seen-in-all-history kind of situation. The idea of turning from, or drifting away from, the gospel of grace. This is a reality that already in New Testament times, people faced and churches encountered. And entire churches, regions. The region of Galatia, there was a multitude of people there that were getting sucked into a different gospel. It's not something that we're immune to. It's not something that has never been seen before.

17:26
This is the reality. And so Paul says, "Stand firm in the faith." And I would remind you this morning, first and foremost, we go back to the gospel because there is the need for us to plant ourselves and replant ourselves and continue to root ourselves in the gospel of grace. For many of us, grace, of course, is a blessing, but we tend to slip into a very works-based mindset, and it is easy to get caught up in a legalistic approach to things. And we begin to try to relate to God on the basis of what we do and how we've been doing, and we stay away from God when we haven't been doing so good. And we need to come back to and be reminded of, continually, the reality and the truth of grace, that we would stand firm, that we would not be slowly drifting away. And it can happen. It can happen to any one of us.

18:27
Again, you enter into the water, you're pretty confident you haven't moved, but then you realize you're 3 lifeguard towers down. It changes over time. And so there is shifting. Different seasons of your life, it's going to change. In your single years, you're going to need to plant yourself and stand firm in the gospel of grace, but it's going to look different for you than in your dating years. And that's going to look different than in your marriage years. It's going to look different in this career path or that workplace. It's going to look different over time as your life changes and different seasons of life happen to you. You need to go back to the gospel of grace because as you're walking through these different circumstances of life, you're going to be facing different challenges to the gospel of grace. I would venture to guess nobody in here is really tempted to be circumcised today, right? It's probably not something you struggle with.

19:29
But that's where the Galatians were. Now, it's hard for us to imagine that. But we get sucked into, and we're tempted, and we're pulled toward things that they would have never imagined, and sometimes that we would have never imagined. In different parts of our life, we need to come back to this standing firm in the gospel of grace. Now, again, as the waves kind of push and pull and you have to adapt and adjust to what's happening, I would suggest, as we move on to the next point, there is a leaning into grace that can put you in a place that is unbalanced. And so you need to not only stand firm in the gospel of grace—here's point number 2—you need to stand firm in the authority of Scripture. Stand firm in the authority of Scripture. To help hold you balanced as you stand firm in grace, you also need to have the other foot planted in the authority of the Word of God. Let's jump back a few more chapters to 1 Corinthians chapter 5.

20:32
Still in the same book, Paul is writing to the church there in chapter 5, and he has to address some sin that is happening within the church. But in reality, what he's addressing here is the church is dealing with that sin, or lack of dealing with that sin. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 1, it says, "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you. And such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that a man has his father's wife." Paul says, "I'm hearing not good things, Corinthians. There is a sexual immorality situation among you. And it's not some secret hidden thing. It's not something that's not affecting the church. This is something that is part of the church life.

21:32
The church members are aware of it, and their response to it—Corinthians, your response to it—is not what it should be." In verse 2, he says, "And you are puffed up and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you." And so here in this situation where there is sin, ongoing continual sin, rebellion against God, the Corinthians, instead of responding with mourning at the command of God being broken, instead of responding to the situation in that way, he says, "You are puffed up." And so that's why I suggest it this way. That they leaned so far into grace that they became out of balance. That they were celebrating their tolerance. Look how well we tolerate and put up with and allow.

22:35
Look at how not judgmental we are. Look at how much we let slide. Look at this. And they were puffed up that this situation was going on in the church unaddressed. In verse 6, he calls it glorying. "Your glorying is not good," he says. "You're glorying, you're rejoicing, you're celebrating about your lack of addressing this issue." Paul here is calling the Corinthians, "Listen, you need to be subject to the authority of Scripture. The Word of God must apply to you, to your life, and to your gathering together as believers." In verse 3 here of 1 Corinthians 5, Paul says, "I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged." Paul says, "I have judged this matter." And many would say, "Well, don't judge me." Or, "Why are you judging? Christians shouldn't judge." And that's not exactly what the Lord has said.

23:39
We cannot judge heart and motives because that's beyond our capacity to see and understand. But we can judge actions, and we are called to judge fruit. And it's not really us judging or being judgmental when that is the case. It is an application of the Scripture. It's the Scripture that judges the thoughts and intents of the heart, right, Hebrews? The Scripture is the authority that judges every one of us. And as we evaluate actions by the Word of God, well, we are all held accountable to be obedient and submitted to what God has said. And so Paul calls them in verse 4, "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." He's invoking the authority of the Lord Jesus. You need to take action. You need to address the situation with the objective.

24:41
Verse 5, he says, "That his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." And so the motivation here is not, "Make that guy suffer, make him really hate his life, or make him pay for what he's done." The objective here is, "Apply the Scriptures, invoke the authority, be submitted to the authority of the Word of God, so that there is the opportunity for redemption and salvation and reconciliation." Stand firm in the authority of Scripture for your good and for their good. This is something that is part of, again, it's the planting the other foot of the gospel of grace. There is the gospel of grace, but the gospel of grace is not, "Accept Jesus and then you can live however you want in your life." That is not standing firm in the faith. The other aspect of standing firm in the faith is also be obedient to the faith.

25:48
In Acts chapter 6, as it was talking about the work of God as the church was growing and developing, in Acts chapter 6, verse 7, it tells us that the Word of God spread, the number of disciples multiplied, and it tells us that a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. They were obedient to the faith. And this was a big deal for the priests because you saw the religious leaders and their interactions with Jesus, right? But a great many of the priests, of the religious leaders, they didn't just kind of soften. Every generation is appalled at the next generation's choice in music, right? Sometimes you can find those who will kind of tolerate it. It's like, "Okay, well, it doesn't have to be like I have to call it the Antichrist because they're singing that song." But there's just like a tolerating of that, right? It's not like the priest just kind of tolerated, "Okay, it looks like this isn't really going anywhere, so might as well just kind of be friendly, be kind of good neighbors with these Christians." "Okay, they make some good points about Jesus.

26:54
Yeah, I could see that maybe." They weren't just kind of like softly, "Okay, let's just try to get along better. Let's try to coexist as Christians and Jews." No, they were obedient to the faith. They submitted their lives to the doctrine of Jesus Christ. This is how we stand firm in the faith. First with the gospel of grace, but second with the authority of Scripture. Think about the illustration that Jesus gave in Matthew chapter 7, the wise and the foolish builder. Jesus, in giving that illustration and painting the picture of the wise builder, he said, "This is whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them." It's not just the hearing of the Scripture. It's not just the hearing of God's Word that makes you a wise builder, that builds your life on a foundation so that you can stand firm.

28:00
But it's the hearing and the doing combined together. And in giving the illustration of the foolish builder, he says, "Everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them." And so really important to consider, the foolish builder hears Jesus' words and potentially even really likes them and maybe even clapped and said, "Wow, great word, Jesus. I really like that word. That makes me feel good." But hearing and then not doing, not submitting yourself to the authority of the words of Jesus puts you in the category of a foolish builder. And you're not building on a solid foundation. You're not going to stand firm. When the storm comes, you will be swept away.

28:47
Stand firm in the authority of Scripture. And here again, we face the dangers of slowly drifting or suddenly shifting. We have to keep coming back to, keep coming back to this reminder, this understanding. I must submit myself to the Word of God. I must be obedient. I can't just be a hearer only. I must know the Word, and I must live out what God has said. This week in Bible study that I was sitting in, we were reminded about Deuteronomy chapter 17, where God is outlining the instructions for Israel's king. At some point in the future, when they have a king, he outlines some instructions. And as part of those instructions, Deuteronomy chapter 17, verse 18, God says, "It shall be when he sits on the throne of his kingdom that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book from the one before the priest, the Levites." In addition to other instruction given to the king, God says, "Okay, for your future king, here's what the king must do.

30:08
Take the law, the Torah, the Word of God that was given to them, and king, you make your own copy of that." And by making a copy, I mean, get a pen, get some parchment, and start writing. Can you imagine writing out the Scriptures all the way through? Even just the first five books, it would be quite an endeavor. But God says, "King, that's what you must do." Now, here's the thing. The king was the highest authority in the land. God says, "Nope, not really. King, I'm going to command you. And you're going to be subject to what I say. And my Word is over you. And you need to write down my Word so that you know my Word and that you're reminded that you're subject to my Word so that you can follow my Word." There is no one who is outside of the authority of the Scripture.

31:09
Every single one of us, no matter how long we've been around. In fact, I would suggest the longer we've been around in the Lord, the more we need to refresh ourselves and stand firm in the authority of Scripture. Because we're in greater danger the longer we've been around of slowly drifting or suddenly shifting. And so we need to keep ourselves in a position of being correctable. I was thinking about what Paul wrote to Titus in Titus chapter 1. He quotes one of the poets from the area where Titus is ministering. And the poet said that these guys are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. And Paul says, "This is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply. Notice that they may be sound in the faith." Titus, if you don't rebuke them sharply, they may not be sound in the faith. So they may not be able to stand firm in the faith. But we want them to stand firm in the faith. And so, Titus, you need to rebuke them.

32:11
There needs to be correction under the authority of the Word of God, that they would not give heed to fables and commandments of men. Commandments of men. Now, there's a danger of not giving God's Word and God's commands the appropriate way. There is also the danger on the other side of giving the commands of men too much weight. There are commands of men and traditions of men and personal convictions of people around us that must not be equated with the Word of God. The Word of God stands alone, stands above all else. And we can find ourselves in error, disregarding and not being submitted to the Word of God. And we can find ourselves in error, submitting to the commands of God or honoring the commands of man. I think I just said that backwards. Rewind, you know what I mean. The commands of men, honoring those above the Lord.

33:17
That's what Jesus was dealing with, with the religious leaders of his day. In Matthew chapter 15, he says, "They worship me in vain because they teach as doctrines the commandments of men." The commandments of men, the convictions of men, the traditions of men is different than the doctrines of God. The religious leaders did very good at standing firm in their tradition. They stood firm in that really solidly. They were not moving, even though the Messiah, the Savior, got himself a standing in front of them. That's not the kind of standing firm we need to do. We need to do the kind of standing firm where we are allowed to be corrected, we're allowed to be rebuked, where we adjust our thinking and our actions and our behavior under the authority of the Word of God. Stand firm in the gospel of grace. Stand firm in the authority of Scripture. Paul tells the Corinthians later in the next chapter, 2 Corinthians 13:5, he says, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith." Test yourselves.

34:23
Check yourself out. Keep yourself in check. Are you in the faith? Are you submitted to the authority of the Bible? Are you doing what Jesus says? Are you holding fast to the gospel of grace? Moving on to the third doctrine for us to consider, the third essential of the faith. If you would, please jump with me to Acts chapter 14. Acts chapter 14, and here we're going to look at standing firm in the sovereignty of God. Standing firm in the sovereignty of God. We need to stand firm in the gospel of grace. Stand firm in the authority of Scripture. Thirdly, we need to be refreshed and reminded about the sovereignty of God. Acts chapter 14, verse 21 and 22 says this, "And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying, 'We must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God.'" We could talk quite a bit about the sovereignty of God.

35:50
But here for us to consider this morning, just kind of focusing on this one aspect. In Acts chapter 14, Paul is on the missionary journey, planting churches, preaching the gospel. He goes back to revisit churches recently planted. And now it's not an evangelistic mission in that moment. It's a strengthening mission to go strengthen the souls of the disciples. And notice that he's exhorting them to continue in the faith. They need the encouragement, the exhortation. There's going to be temptation. It's going to not necessarily be easy to stand firm in the faith. So he says, "Guys, I want you to continue in the faith." And one of the obstacles to that is going to be tribulations, difficulties, hardships in life.

36:51
It's going to be something you're going to face. And it's going to present to you an opportunity to make a choice whether or not you are going to stand firm in the faith. And this is something that continues to be a challenge for people. And it will be a challenge for us in our lives and sometimes multiple times at different parts of our lives. Life is full of all kinds of strange, weird twists and turns that you would have never seen coming. We're coming up. It's just a couple of weeks away now from three years ago when my father-in-law passed away. He was 63. It was sudden. We were not expecting it. It shook our family to the core. We were surprised. It was tragedy. It presented all kinds of hardship that we didn't prepare for.

37:51
There's no way you can prepare for it. But suddenly you find yourself in the midst of it. Again, there's the slow drifting and sometimes there's the sudden shifting. And life, 30 seconds, you get a phone call and your whole life can be transformed and changed in that 30-second phone call. It's kind of strange the way it is. Sometimes we're just kind of going on the course of life and it feels like we're just set and stable and nothing's ever going to change. And then 30 seconds happens and everything, everything is changed. And it really causes people to struggle in the faith. I can't believe in a God that fill in the blank. I had this experience. I had this tragedy. I've seen this atrocity. I can't believe. I used to believe in God until, and that is the testimony of so many.

38:56
There's headlines of things like that happening. Pastors and former ministers who they used to do this, but then they saw these things, they experienced these things, and they no longer are in the faith because they couldn't reconcile in their minds this tragedy, this injustice with a God who is sovereign. But it really should be no surprise to us. I'm sure you remember the words of Jesus in John chapter 16, verse 33, "These things I've spoken to you that you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation." It's guaranteed, tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Jesus says, "I'm sovereign." And so yes, you're going to experience difficulty. You're going to experience hardship. There's going to be challenges and twists and turns and things that you can't explain and you don't know why God allows.

40:01
But I have overcome the world, Jesus says. And you can rest and trust in the sovereignty of God. Sovereignty is a big topic. So I can't explain all of it right now, but Pastor Jason is really looking forward to explaining every detail to you later. Sit next to him for lunch, okay? God can do whatever he wants. He can't. He could prevent every accident from ever happening, but he doesn't. Why? You can ask him when you get the chance as well. We don't know exactly. God has his plans, but he can. He is sovereign. He is overall. He has authority to do anything, to set any standard. But he does allow life. And he does allow the results of the fall. And hurt and pain is the result as people sin and defy the Lord and walk in paths that are not from the Lord.

41:06
And he allows that. And he doesn't just strike everybody down with lightning the moment they defy him. So he can do whatever he wants. And I would suggest he actually does the things that he wants to do. But he also allows things that we don't understand and we can't explain and we don't know why he would allow it. But here's also what God does. And the sovereignty of God means that he is working through those events to bring about his own purposes. He is able, in the midst of the mess and the chaos that we make, to take that mess and do something meaningful about it or from it. And so the sovereignty of God is something that we will struggle with, especially as we have tragedies, injustices, as we see things unfold. It's going to be something that we are challenged in. And so that's why we need to stand firm in the sovereignty of God and refresh ourselves and remind ourselves of the truth, the promises that God has made.

42:14
I like what Paul says in 2 Timothy chapter 1. As he's talking about his sufferings to Timothy, he says, "For this reason I also suffer in these things. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him until that day." Paul says, "I'm trusting in the sovereignty of God. Although I'm suffering and I can't explain all the things that are happening to me and I don't know why God has allowed these things, here's what I do know. I know whom I have believed. And so I'm persuaded. He's able to keep what I've entrusted to him. I've entrusted my life to him, my soul to him. He's able to keep that. He's sovereign. He's going to work these things out." Charles Spurgeon said, "When we cannot trace God's hand, we must trust his heart." We can't always know the wise of God, but we can trust his heart. He will fulfill his promises.

43:16
He will accomplish his purposes, and it will be for our good. And we need to come really to the place of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, where they stood before King Nebuchadnezzar and the pressure was bow and worship or be thrown in the fire. And I really like their testimony to King Nebuchadnezzar. They said, "Look, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace, and he will deliver us from your hand. But if not, let it be known, O King, we will not serve your gods." We know God is able, and one way or another, he's going to deliver us from you through life or death. We don't know that part, but we know God is able. And even if he chooses not to deliver us from your hand, we're not going to serve you. We're going to commit ourselves and surrender ourselves to the sovereignty of God and let him work out what needs to be worked out through this.

44:20
And so to stand firm in the faith, we need to stand firm in the gospel of grace, stand firm in the authority of Scripture, stand firm in the sovereignty of God. And the last one, I'll wrap this up pretty quick. Stand firm in the responsibility of man. Stand firm in the responsibility of man. Again, it's the other shoe dropping. This is how we are planted firmly by holding fast to the sovereignty of God and also holding fast to the sovereignty or not sovereignty, the responsibility. We're not sovereign. Man is not sovereign, just to make that clear, the responsibility of man. God is sovereign and we are responsible for our choices and our actions. Colossians chapter 2, if you can turn there, we'll wrap it up here in Colossians chapter 2.

45:27
Colossians chapter 2, verse 6, Paul tells the church at Colossae, "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving." Then verse 8, "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of man, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ." And so here in Colossians, Paul is writing to Christians, he's writing to the church. You have received Christ Jesus, he says in verse 6. So that means that you are now responsible to walk in him, he says at the end of verse 6. You've received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk in him. Now it comes to action that you have to take. Yes, God is sovereign, but there is the temptation sometimes to just throw it all in grace, throw it all in God's sovereignty and say, "I don't got to do anything." And we take it out of balance.

46:43
We have a responsibility. We have the opportunity, the agency to choose whether or not to walk in the truth that we have received or to walk away from the truth that we have received. And Paul says, "Church, I need you to walk in him. Be established in the faith." These are choice words that you have to do. You have to make. You have a responsibility here. He says in verse 8, the warning, "Beware lest anyone cheat you." There is the possibility. There is the potential. You can't just think, "God's sovereign, so I'm never going to be presented with a false doctrine. It's never going to happen in my life and I will never be deceived." That's not the reality that we face. The reality is you must walk. You must develop an ongoing and consistent and regular relationship with God and walk in him. And you must establish yourself in the faith and grasp hold of the truths and learn them well and let them minister to your heart deeply.

47:55
In the hall of faith, Hebrews chapter 11, as the author recounts for us, these great men and women of old who believed God with their lives. The author says in Hebrews 11, they all died in faith, not having received the promises, but they saw them afar off. They were assured of them. They embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. He goes on to say, "And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come, they would have had opportunity to return." He says, "I want you to realize they had opportunity to return. If they would have allowed themselves to dwell on the past, to dwell on the alternatives, to dwell on where they came from, if they would have called to mind, but they didn't call to mind, they made the choice, 'I'm going to focus on what God has set before me, not where God has brought me out of.' They desired a better country, a heavenly country." And so we must realize and recognize there is a responsibility that I have.

49:08
It's why Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 15, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God." It's not going to happen automatically. It's not going to happen without any effort on your part. If you're going to be presented before God as an approved worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, it's going to be because you were diligent. And if you weren't diligent, you're not going to be presented that way before the Lord. You and I have a responsibility. In that same passage, Paul goes on to say there are others who have strayed concerning the truth and they overthrow the faith. They throw off those essentials. They've strayed regarding the truth because they weren't diligent. But you, Timothy, be diligent to present yourself to God as a worker who does not need to be ashamed. And so we need to stand firm in the faith. It's present, active, imperative.

50:09
You've heard it, you've known it, but now you need to keep on standing firm. Watch out for the slow drift. Watch out for the sudden shift. Watch out for the riptide or the monster floods. It happens. Life happens. And we're all going to be tossed about by the circumstances of this life. But we're all called to stand in the midst of it. In Ephesians chapter 6, as Paul gives us there the armor of God, he introduces the armor with a command, an exhortation to stand multiple times. Put on the armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Take up the whole armor that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all, at the very end, to stand. And then he says, "Stand therefore." This is an exhortation for every one of us.

51:10
In life, you're going to be thrown a bunch of curves. You're going to be pulled in different directions. There's going to be all kinds of different philosophies and ideas and doctrines. There's going to be challenges. There's going to be questions. There's going to be all kinds of things that we're going to face. And so let us make the choice. Let us endeavor to stand firm in the faith, stand firm in the gospel of grace, in the authority of Scripture, in the sovereignty of God, and the responsibility of man. Amen? Amen.

51:43
Let's pray. Lord, I pray for each one of us. Lord, reflecting on the words of the Apostle Paul at the end of his life, may we be able to say these same words, "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith." Lord, we want to stand firm in the truth, the incredible, gracious, and merciful truth that you've provided to us. Why would we ever wonder? Lord, it's a mystery, but it is the reality. And so help us, Lord, to root ourselves in you and to bring ourselves back to the truth, Lord, that we would believe all the way until the very end when we could say, "I fought the good fight. I finished the race, and I've kept the faith." Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

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