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Pastor Lars Larson, PhD                                                                                                            FBC Sermon #627
First Baptist Church, Leominster, MA                                                                                         September 4, 2011
Words for children: Jerusalem, end, coming                                                                                 Text: Matthew 24:1-14

The Gospel of Matthew (91)
God’s Judgment upon Jerusalem

Our current progress through Matthew:

I.  Prologue (chs. 1, 2)
II.  The Kingdom Comes (chs. 3-7)
III.  The Works of the Kingdom (chs. 8-10)
IV.  The Nature of the Kingdom (chs. 11-13)
V.  The Authority of the Kingdom (chs. 14-18)
VI.  Kingdom Blessings and Kingdom Judgments (chs. 19-25)
            A.  From Galilee to Jerusalem (chs. 19, 20)
            B.  The King enters Jerusalem (chs. 21-23)
            C.  Fifth Discourse: Kingdom Judgment, the Olivet Discourse (chs. 24, 25)
                        1.  Signs of the “End” (24:1-31)

*****************

        Last Lord’s day we were limited in the number of us present because of the hurricane passing through the region.  Nevertheless, we continued in our study of Matthew’s Gospel, addressing several matters that I thought would be helpful, but some of these were not directly related to the meaning of the passage before us.  However we did give some background information regarding the contents of our Lord’s Olivet Discourse, which begins here in Matthew 24:1ff and continues through Matthew 25.  In order for us to all come “up-to-speed” on these matters, I will need to repeat a few details this morning, but we will do so in an abbreviated fashion, before we proceed to consider this very important passage regarding God’s judgment upon Israel and Jerusalem and the second coming of Jesus Christ.

            C.  Fifth Discourse: Kingdom Judgment, the Olivet Discourse (chs. 24, 25)

         The subject of this discourse is the fall of Jerusalem and the end of the age.  This passage is very difficult to interpret and there are widely different opinions on how it should be understood.  I think all interpreters would agree with the description that we placed on this chapter, which we have described as…

                        1.  Signs of “the end” (24:1-51)

         But the difficulty comes when we attempt to answer the question, “The end of what?”  Most would argue that this chapter is chiefly about the approaching “end” of the church age, which will culminate in the second coming of Jesus Christ, which, of course, the Scriptures amply affirm will occur.  For example, we read in Jude 14 and 15,

“Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

And we read of the Lord coming to gather His people together to be with Him in eternity.  Paul wrote,

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thess. 4:16f)

And certainly the Lord speaks of His second coming in the latter portions of Matthew 24, in which we read our Lord’s words,

         “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.  37For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  38For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  40Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left.  41Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.  42Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.  43But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.  44Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Matt. 24:36-44)

But the question needs to be asked, “Do all the words of our Lord contained in Matthew 24 speak of the times just before the second coming of Jesus Christ?”  The answer must be “No.”  Nevertheless, many do view all of Matthew 24 to be speaking of the end times.

         I believe that many difficulties may be resolved if give close attention to..

                        a.  The setting for the discourse (24:1-3)

         1Jesus left the temple and was going away, when His disciples came to point out to Him the buildings of the temple.  2But He answered them, “You see all these, do you not?  Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
         3As He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?”

         The immediate setting of our Lord’s speech was the questions posed to Him by His disciples.  As they were departing from the temple mount out of the city, the disciples drew attention to the great buildings of the temple.  They were greatly impressed and probably very proud and satisfied at the greatness of these buildings and the greatness of the Jewish people to which they attested.  But our Lord dismissed their wonder at the buildings, for these buildings would not be standing for long.
         Our Lord first declared that these buildings would be destroyed to the extent that not one stone would be left standing upon another.  When the party arrived at the Mount of Olives, which is perhaps a quarter of a mile from the city wall, the disciples came to Him and asked Him several questions: (1) “When will these things be?”  And (2) “What will be the sign of your coming?  And (3) What will be the sign of “the close of the age?” 
          I suspect that when the disciples asked these questions of our Lord, they assumed that they were asking of events that they believed were simultaneous with one another.  To them, the temple that stood before them would be destroyed at the coming of the Lord, and at the close of the age.  Of course we have the advantage of history.  We know that the temple was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70 but that the Lord has not yet returned the second time.  These events for us are two separate events, and so we need to understand Matthew 24 with our understanding of history. 
         The great difficulty of this chapter lies in two areas.  First, the popular and majority opinion of Matthew 24 is that the message of the entire chapter speaks of the times just before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  Many seem to disregard the context totally of our Lord’s foretelling of the destruction of that temple.  Also, they seem to be totally unaware of the fact and importance of the Roman siege and destruction of Jerusalem that took place in the 7th decade of the first century.  The second difficulty in interpreting this passage is determining which of our Lord’s words should be understood as referring to the events of AD 70 and at what point He began to speak of His Second Coming.  Every effort to identify the shift in our Lord’s intention contains difficulty, as we shall see.
         Actually, there are three major interpretations of Matthew 24.  The footnote in the Reformation Study Bible describes these:

         There are three basic interpretive approaches to this discourse: first, all or most of ch. 24 (at least through v. 35) is concerned exclusively with the destruction of Jerusalem, and the “coming” of the Son of Man (24:30) is the exaltation of Jesus in heaven.  Second, all of the sermon is about the Second Coming of Christian judgment.  Third, the sermon combines the destruction of Jerusalem and the judgment of the world in such a way that it is difficult to separate the references to the events surrounding the fall of Jerusalem and the Second Coming.(1)

         The first position is known as a full preterist position, which asserts that every detail of this Olivet discourse speaks to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 and that it does not prophecy of the second coming of Christ.(2)  The problem with the first position is that if this were true, then the Lord failed to answer the disciples’ question.  For they clearly asked when His second coming would occur.  Verse 3 records their question, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?”
         The second interpretation of the Olivet discourse, which understands all of the Olivet Discourse as a prophecy of events at the end of the church age just prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ, is also very problematic.  For this position would also have our Lord failing to answer the question of His disciples.  They asked when the temple buildings, which were before them, would be destroyed as Jesus had foretold them.  To say that all of Matthew 24 addresses events at the second coming would leave their question unanswered.
         The third position, the one which I hold, understands the Olivet Discourse to speak both of the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 and of the second coming of Jesus Christ at the end of the age.  The problem with this position is identifying at what point the Lord shifts from speaking of the first century events and of His second coming.
         There is also a fourth interpretation of the Olivet Discourse, which is much like the third.  It holds that our Lord was speaking of the events of Jerusalem’s destruction in AD 70, but that event was also a foreshadowing of similar events at the end of the age.  In other words, the same kinds of things that occurred leading up to Jerusalem’s overthrow would occur again in Jerusalem at the end of the age just prior to the second coming.  Although I am sympathetic with this view in some regards, namely because I highly respect those who hold this position, nevertheless, I find that interpretation of Scripture that calls for the double fulfillment of prophecy is very problematic.(3)
         The various interpretations of Matthew 24 may be divided into two categories, the futurist position and the fulfilled position.  Ralph Woodrow described the two positions in his book in which he devoted a chapter to the interpretation of Matthew 24.

         Christians who hold the FUTURIST interpretation apply the verses about deceivers, wars, earthquakes, famines, and pestilences to our time -- as things leading up to the tribulation period which they believe will be the last seven years of this age (after the rapture).  The abomination of desolation is regarded as an idol of the Antichrist (or the Antichrist himself) to be set up in the holy of holies of a rebuilt Jewish temple at Jerusalem.  When this happens, according to this position, the Jews will flee into the mountains, for then shall be great tribulation.
         The FULFILLED interpretation, on the other hand, holds that the deceivers, wars, earthquakes, famines, and pestilences were things which Jesus said would soon happen--things that happened before the destruction of the temple.  The abomination of desolation, by comparing the parallel accounts (i.e. in Mark 13 and Luke 21), was Gentile armies that surrounded Jerusalem to cause it desolation.  Upon heeding the warning of Jesus, the disciples fled from Jerusalem and Judea.  What Jesus called “great tribulation” referred to the judgment that fell upon the Jewish nation, resulting in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD.(4)

         Let us consider the details of our Lord’s words.

                        b.  Events that are not signs of “the end” (24:4-14)

          4And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray.  5For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.  6And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.  See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.  7For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  8All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
         9“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.  10And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.  11And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.  12And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.  13But the one who endures to the end will be saved.  14And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

         Most would read these verses and look at them as “signs of the end times.”  They read in the news of a great earthquake and conclude that the end of the age must be near.  They hear of many wars and rumors of wars and think that they indicate that Christ is at the door and will appear shortly.  But our Lord makes it clear that these things would occur but that they are not signs of the end.  He said to His disciples, “See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet” (24:6).  No, He was not giving signs to identify the end times, rather, He was telling His disciples directly of the kinds of things that they themselves would experience and He was telling all of His disciples throughout this church age of what they will encounter as they sought to live for Him. 
         Let us consider what our Lord said:

                                 1.  First, our Lord warned His disciples of deceivers (24:4f)

         We read, “And Jesus answered them, ‘See that no one leads you astray.  For many will come in My name, saying, “I am the Christ,” and they will lead many astray’” (24:4f).  This is understood by all the commentators to be our Lord’s warning against false christs, ones who come and claim that they are the Christ, deceiving many.  The futurists will cite fanatics down through 2,000 years of church history who have claimed to be the promised Christ, deceiving their followers.  Those who hold the fulfilled position regarding Matthew 24 cite a number of false christs that arose between the time our Lord voiced these words and the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. 
         Josephus, the first century historian, wrote of a false prophet named Theudas, who persuaded many people to follow him.  He led them to the Jordan River because he claimed that God was going to cause the waters to part for him and his people to go over on dry ground.  Josephus also wrote of events during the rule of Felix, who is mentioned in the Book of Acts.  Josephus told of Felix executing imposters “every day.”
         The book of Acts records the false prophet, Simon Magus.  It is said of him, “But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great” (Acts 8:9).  We read that he “believed” and was baptized.  But it became clear to Peter that he was never truly converted (Acts 8:21).  Tradition contains stories of Simon and how he was a great deceiver in the early churches.  Irenaeus, who wrote in the second century, said that Simon had later claimed to be the Son of God and the creator of angels.  The writer, Justin, told of Simon traveling to Rome where he was proclaimed to be a god because of his magical powers. 
         The Book of Acts also speaks of Paul encountering a false prophet on one of his journeys:  “When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus” (Acts 13:6).
         False teachers and false christs arose in the first century and they have arisen ever since.  They are common in our world today.  Although our Lord was warning His disciples specifically of the dangers that they would encounter in their lifetime, nevertheless, the danger is present and therefore the warning is applicable for all His disciples through all the centuries of this Christian era.

                                 2.  Second, Jesus told of the common occurrence of wars and calamities in nature. (24:6-8)

         There will be many wars that occur, but these are no signs of the destruction of Jerusalem or of the Second Coming of Christ.  Verse 6, “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.”  This is what is common to human history.  Jesus said, “See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.  7For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  8All these are but the beginning of the birth pains” (24:6b-8).  We live in a fallen world and war has characterized the human race since the early days of history and will continue to do so throughout this age.  “Wars and rumors of war” are no signs of the second coming; they are the common experience of human history.  The same with “famines and earthquakes.”  They have always occurred and will continue to occur in history.  They are not signs that the end is near.  These kinds of things occurred frequently between the time that Jesus spoke these words, around AD 30, and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.  Here is an excerpt from Ralph Woodrow’s book:

         The Bible tells us about famine “throughout all the world…in the days of Claudius Caesar” (Acts 11:28).  Judea was especially hard hit.  “The disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea” (verse 29), taking up collections of food for the saints there (1 Corinthians 16:1-5; Romans 15:25-28).  Historians such as Suetonius mention famine during those years.  Tacitus speaks of a “failure in the crops, and famine consequent thereupon.”  Eusebius mentions famines during this time in Rome, Judea, and Greece.
         Along with famines, Jesus mentioned pestilence; that is, plagues, the spread of disease, epidemics.  Famine and pestilence, of course, go hand in hand.  Suetonius wrote of pestilence in Rome in the days of Nero which was so severe that “within the space of one autumn there died no less than 30,000 persons.”  Josephus records that pestilence raged in Babylonia in Ad 40.  Tacitus tells us of pestilences in Italy in 66 AD.
         During this period, Jesus said there would be also earthquakes I many places.  Tacitus mentions earthquakes at Rome, that “frequent earthquakes occurred, by which many houses were thrown down” and that “twelve populous cities of Asia fell in ruins from an earthquake.”  Seneca, writing in the year 58 AD, said, “How often have cities of Asia, and Achaea fallen with one fatal shock!  How many cities have been swallowed up in Syria!  How many in Macedonia! How often has Cyrus been wasted by this calamity!  How often has Paphos become a ruin!  News has often been brought us of the demolition of whole cities at once.”  He mentions the earthquake at Campania during the reign of Nero.  In 60 AD, Hierapolis, Colossae, and Laodicea were overthrown.  Pompeii was greatly damaged by earthquake in 63 AD.  There were earthquakes in Crete, Apanea, Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos, and Judea.(5)

         The convulsions of nature that we witness are due to the fact that the created order itself was adversely affected by sin that man brought into the created order.  We read in Romans 8:

19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.  20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  22For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  23And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” (Rom. 8:19-23)

         Now, when our Lord says that “these are but the beginnings of birth pangs” (24:8), it might be the case that He was intimating that the intensity and rate of recurrence of wars, earthquakes, and famines would increase in frequency and severity throughout the church age, just as a pregnant woman’s labor pains become more frequent and severe as the birth of “her child” approaches.  But this understanding would be an assumption, for the Lord does not say directly that this is what He intended by this metaphor.  Perhaps He was simply saying that just as birth pangs precede birth, so wars, earthquakes, and famines precede the day when this world will come to an end and the new creation will be come. 

                                 3.  Jesus’ disciples would suffer persecution and even death, but those who persevere will be saved. (24:9-13)

         9“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.  10And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.  11And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.  12And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.  13But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

         When His disciples heard these words of the Lord, they no doubt saw them as applying to them.  Peter would later give a similar warning to the church:

         1But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.  2And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.  3And in their greed they will exploit you with false words.  Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. (2 Pet. 2:1-3)

         Our Lord mentions the word “tribulation.”  Most see this word and immediately assume that He was speaking of an end time tribulation period that most evangelicals believe will occur over the course of a seven year span just prior to the second coming of Christ.  But our Lord was not speaking of an end time tribulation period.  He was speaking of tribulation that is the common experience of His followers while they attempt to live for Him in a fallen world that is hostile to Him and His people.
         Again, our Lord spoke of tribulation that these who were listening to His words would experience in their lives.  Now certainly, by extension, all disciples of Jesus Christ ever since who have encountered persecution could look to these words and see that their own experience was not unusual or unexpected, but our Lord’s words were given directly to His disciples.  They would experience these things before the day when their beloved Jewish temple would be destroyed.  Nevertheless, these words have application for all His disciples in all times.

                                    4.  The gospel will be proclaimed throughout the whole world (24:14)

14“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

         What end?  The end of the temple and Jerusalem?  Or, the end of the age with the second coming of Jesus Christ?  Most evangelicals assume that He is referencing the end of this church age when He will return a second time in glory to judge the world.  But in my opinion this “end” is clearly referring to the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jewish temple.  But one might retort, “But was the gospel of the kingdom proclaimed to the whole world before AD 70? 
         Many argue that before the Lord returns the gospel will be preached to all people groups.  Some advocate that we should be concerned about missions and support them so as to bring about the second coming of Christ.  They say that there are currently 6,000 distinct people groups with distinct languages who are scattered throughout the world.  6,000 of those people groups have not yet had the gospel proclaimed to them.  It is argued that we Christians need to reach these 3,000 unreached peoples in order that the Lord may return, “After all, did not our Lord say, ‘And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come”?
         But probably what our Lord was speaking about was not that every people group that would ever exist in any part of the world would need to hear the gospel before the end of the world would occur, but rather He was announcing that the gospel would spread widely into the Gentile world before the Jewish temple and the Jewish system would be effectively destroyed.
         And so, I ask again the question, “Was the gospel of the kingdom proclaimed to the whole world before AD 70?”  Consider Paul’s words in Colossians 1:

         3“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.  Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing--as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant.” (Col 1:3-7)

         There was a sense in which, spiritually speaking, the end of the old covenant of the Jewish temple and sacrificial system occurred when Jesus died upon the cross.  The veil in the temple that kept the worshippers of God from the presence of God was torn from top to bottom.  But in another sense, the old system lingered on even in the minds of the early Jewish disciples and apostles until the temple was destroyed in AD 70.(6)  Although the Lord had brought an end to the exclusive right of the Jewish nation to receive and enjoy the blessings of God’s covenant, the early Jewish Christians never did abandon their Jewish exclusiveness; that is, until Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed by the Romans in AD 70.  Then and thereafter Christianity became viewed as a world-wide movement comprised of all peoples of all the world.  What Jesus was saying was that before the destruction of temple would happen, the gospel will have gone forth and would have been accepted by the Gentile world, and then the end would arrive of Jerusalem and its temple. 
         This idea of the gradual passing and then the end of the exclusive right of Jews to the kingdom is suggested in the book of Hebrews.  The writer spoke of the new covenant which Jeremiah had foretold in the Old Testament (Jer. 31:31ff).  It would replace the old covenant that God had made with the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai.  We read of this in Hebrews 8:7-13:

         7For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.  8For He finds fault with them when He says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 9not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.  For they did not continue in My covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.  10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  11And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."  13In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete.  And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

         This epistle of the Hebrews was written before the fall and destruction of Jerusalem.  The writer was urging these Jewish Christians to abandon fully their former Jewish ways and beliefs, for Jesus Christ had come and fulfilled all that which had existed before which pointed to Him through types and shadows.  The writer describes the Jewish system as gradually “growing old and ready to pass away.”  It was not long after these words were penned that the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple had taken place.  The obsolete old covenant with its ceremonial observances in the temple had come to an end.  That which was obsolete was replaced by the new covenant that Jesus Christ had instituted with His people.
          We have seen today that all of our Lord’s words to this point in His Olivet Discourse were directed specifically to His disciples and what they would encounter as they lived for Him in their fallen world.  Jerusalem would fall and the temple would be destroyed, but it will be in God’s timing.  They were to endure in faith and obedience to Him throughout the wait and on through the destruction that would transpire.

*************

The Perseverance of the Saints

         A major lesson to be learned from this passage is contained in Matthew 24:13.  Our Lord taught His disciples that they would encounter much difficulty and much hostility in their efforts to live as His disciples.  He taught them, “But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (24:13).  Here our Lord presses upon His followers the very important doctrine of persevering in the faith.  God has promised salvation to overcomers, that is, to those who continue to believe on Him through all of life’s challenges and difficulties.  When we speak of the believer’s perseverance in faith, we speak of both man’s responsibility to guard his own heart and manner of life, but we also speak of the truth that it is God’s grace alone that keeps His people in the faith throughout this life.  Here before us, we see man’s responsibility to “overcome” all obstacles and endure all difficulty in order to be saved everlastingly.  Elsewhere in Scripture, however, we may read of God’s purpose and power to keep His people in faith in Him. 
         From the vantage point of God keeping His own, the biblical teaching (doctrine) of perseverance may be expressed in this way:

      Those who are the elect of God, who are recipients of God’s effectual call, having been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, led to repent of sin and believe on Christ for salvation, shall never fall away so as to perish, but will be kept by the power of God unto the salvation which is reserved for them in heaven.

         This doctrine of perseverance does not mean that everyone who professes to believe or believes for a while is saved eternally.  This has reference to the elect of God, true believers who are truly born again, whose lives bear evidence of the presence of saving faith.  Consequently, the common expression, “the eternal security of the believer” is somewhat a misnomer.  Perhaps better, “the eternal security of the true believer” would be better. 
         Perseverance in faith and obedience is the grand distinguishing mark of a true child of God.  It is described in our confession in this way:

1.  Those whom God has accepted in the Beloved, and has effectually called and sanctified by His Spirit, and given the precious faith of His elect, can neither totally  nor finally fall from the state of grace, but they will certainly persevere in that state to the end and be eternally saved.  This is because the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, and therefore He continues to beget and nourish in them faith, repentance, love, joy, hope, and all the graces of the Spirit which lead to immortality (John 10:28-29; Phil 1:6; 2 Tim 2:19; 1 John 2:19).

And though many storms and floods arise and beat against the saints, yet these things shall never be able to sweep them off the foundation and rock which they are fastened upon by faith.  Even though, through unbelief and the temptations of Satan, the sight and feeling of the light and love of God may for a time be clouded and obscured from them (Psa. 89:31-32; 1 Cor. 11:32), yet God is still the same, and they are sure to be kept by His power until their salvation is complete, when they shall enjoy the purchased possession which is theirs, for they are engraved upon the palm of His hands, and their names have been written in His Book of Life from all eternity (Mal 3:6).

2.  This perseverance of the saints does not depend on them - that is, on their own free will.  It rests upon the immutability of the decree of election (Rom 8:30; 9:11-16),  which flows from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father.  It also rests upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ, and upon the union which true saints have with Him (Rom 5:9-10; John 14:19).  It rests upon the oath of God (Heb 6.17-18), and upon the abiding of His Spirit.  It depends upon the seed of God being within them (1 John 3:.9) and upon the very nature of the covenant of grace (Jer. 32:40).  All these factors give rise to the certainty and infallibility of the security and perseverance of the saints.

3.  The saints may, through the temptation of Satan and the world, and because their remaining sinful tendencies prevail over them, and through their neglect of the means which God has provided to keep them, fall into grievous sins.  They may continue in this state for some time (Matt 26:70-74), so that they incur God's displeasure, grieve His Holy Spirit (Isa 64:5-9; Eph 4:30), suffer the impairment of their graces and comforts (Psa. 51:10-12), have their hearts hardened and their consciences wounded (Psa. 32:3-4), and hurt and scandalize others.  By this they will bring temporal judgements upon themselves (2 Sam 12:14).  Yet they shall renew their repentance and be preserved, through faith in Christ Jesus, to the end (Luke 22:32; 61-62).(7)