They will never perish!'
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"For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for
His children. It is kept in heaven for you, pure and
undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay!
And God, in His mighty power, will protect you
until you receive this salvation." 1 Peter 1:4-5
The elect are preserved in Christ, BEFORE they are
called by grace. They are kept by the power of
God from perishing in their unregeneracy.
Have not you been almost miraculously preserved in the
midst of dangers, and escaped when others perished by
your side—or been raised up as it were, from the very
brink of destruction and the very borders of the grave?
Besides some striking escapes from what are called
'accidents', three times in my life—once in infancy, once
in boyhood, and once in manhood, I have been raised
up from the borders of the grave, when almost everyone
who surrounded my bed thought I would not survive the
violence of the attack.
Were not these instances of being kept by the power
of God? I could not die until God had manifested His
purposes of electing grace and mercy to my soul.
But the elect are also kept by the mighty power of God
AFTER they are called by grace; for they are in the hollow
of His hand, and are kept as the apple of His eye.
I will not say they are kept from all sins. Yet I will
say that they are kept from damning sins. They are
kept especially from three things . . .
from the dominion of sin,
from daring and final presumption,
from lasting and damnable error.
They are never drowned in the sins and evils of the
present life so as to be swallowed up in them—for
it is impossible that they can ever be lost!
They are therefore preserved in hours of temptation,
for they are guarded by all the power of Omnipotence,
shielded by the unceasing care and watchfulness of
Him who can neither slumber nor sleep.
Looking back through a long vista of years, can you not
see how the hand of God has been with you—how He has
held you up, and brought you through many a storm, and
preserved you under powerful temptations? How gently
He sometimes drew you on, or sometimes kept you back?
"I give them eternal life, and they will never perish!
No one can snatch them out of My hand!" John 10:28
Having chosen us, God beget us with His word,
regenerates us by a divine influence, and makes
us new creatures by the power and influence of
the Holy Spirit.
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