The Lord 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. (1 Corinthians 1:8–9) What are you depending on that your faith will last until Jesus comes? The question is not, Do you believe in eternal security? The question is, How are we kept secure? Does the perseverance of our faith rest on the reliability of our own resolve? Or does it rest on the work of God to “keep us trusting”? It is a great and wonderful truth of Scripture that God is faithful, and will keep forever those whom he has called. Our confidence that we are eternally secure is a confidence that God will “keep us trusting”! The certainty of eternity is no greater than the certainty God will keep us trusting now. But that certainty is very great for all whom God has called. At least three passages put the call of God and the keeping of God together. “The Lord will sustain (keep) 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” (1 Corinthians 1:8–9). “May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, he will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24). “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you” (Jude 1). The “faithfulness” of God guarantees that he will keep safe all whom he has called. (See also Romans 8:30, Philippians 1:6, 1 Peter 1:5, and Jude 24.) - Pastor John Piper
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 04:25:29 +0000