Perseverance And Assurance

 

 

Jesus Christ is my sole and all sufficient Savior.  I rest in His faithfulness alone.  If I had to trust in my own strength and ability to remain faithful I would miserably fail; actually, I already have.  I thank Him for His boundless and relentless mercy and grace.  All of God’s chosen children are His purchased possession.  I have been in His heart from before the foundation of the world and He has known me by name.  God called me to belong to Him through the gospel in the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.  He awakened me out of spiritual death, gave light to my blind eyes, opened my deaf ears and enabled me to speak His name so I would call upon Him.  The glories of His great salvation are unfathomable, infinite, holy, and intensely loving.

 

Jesus Christ alone saved me through His death and resurrection.  He will glorify me by His own power on that last day.  He it is who keeps me in His sovereign embrace – eternally.  I have been rescued completely, not partly, from sin and death.  I did not rescue myself.  I will not resurrect myself on the last day.  I cannot save myself.  I needed a Savior, as does Adam’s entire race.  Salvation belongs to the Lord!  To God alone belongs all the glory.  Psalm 115:1 says, “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your mercy and your faithfulness.”  Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one” (John 10:27 – 30).

 

I have included here a couple quotes from the book, Living For God’s Glory, by Joel Beeke.  These quotes are from his chapter on the believer’s perseverance and assurance.  May they strengthen and encourage you in your walk with the Lord.

 

1. “As Charles H. Spurgeon once said, ‘If God lights the candle, none can blow it out.’”

 

2. Quoting from a Hymn, Beeke cites:

 

“And behind the dim unknown,

Standeth God within the shadow,

Keeping watch above His own.”

 

3. “Spurgeon says: ‘It is a glorious truth that God will keep His people, but it is an abominable falsehood that sin will do them no harm.’”

 

4. The following quote is from the poet Augustus Toplady:

 

“My name from the palms of His hands,

Eternity will not erase;

Impressed on His heart it remains,

In marks of indelible grace;

Yes, I to the end shall endure,

As sure as the earnest is given;

More happy, but not more secure,

The glorified spirits in heaven.”

 

Jude verse 24 & 25: “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”