God Is Holding On to You

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.” JUDE 1:24

 

PONDER THIS

Jude began and ended this book by talking about the eternal security of the believer. If he didn’t do this, when you read what’s in between, you may start thinking that Jude was talking about people who had lost their salvation. An apostate is not somebody who has lost his or her salvation. An apostate is someone who has received the truth, rejected the truth, ridicules the truth, and literally tries to replace the truth. But this person has never been saved. He or she is like Judas, who was never born again. But people who are truly born again, true children of God, can never again be lost souls—not because they hold onto God, but because God holds onto them.

How does it encourage you to remember that it is God who keeps you faithful and not your own effort?

How does this reality provide more motivation for faithfulness to God?

PRACTICE THIS

Write out a list of specific ways God has held onto you and refused to let you go throughout your life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

If He Calls, He Keeps

[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 to ensure 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 decisively on the reliability of our own resolve? Or does it rest decisively 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 do whatever is necessary to “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 in this way.

“[The Lord] will sustain you (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 completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely 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 1–2). (See the same reality in Romans 8:30, Philippians 1:6, 1 Peter 1:5, and Jude 24.)

The “faithfulness” of God guarantees that he will keep safe forever all whom he has called.

John Piper 

If He Calls, He Keeps

[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 to ensure 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 decisively on the reliability of our own resolve? Or does it rest decisively 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 do whatever is necessary to “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 in this way.

“[The Lord] will sustain you (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 completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely 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 1–2). (See the same reality in Romans 8:30, Philippians 1:6, 1 Peter 1:5, and Jude 24.)

The “faithfulness” of God guarantees that he will keep safe forever all whom he has called.

John Piper 

Do You Have True Stability in Life?

PRAY OVER THIS

“And He said, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’ Then he said to Him, ‘If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.’” Exodus 33:14-16

 

PONDER THIS

You can have provision and protection but still not have God’s presence. That should frighten you. You know a lot of folks just settle for eternal security. They say, “Well, I’m saved. I’m going to Heaven. That’s all right. I don’t want the intimate presence of God. As long as I’m saved. . ."

Don’t think that because you have the things you want you know God intimately. The Bible says on another occasion concerning the Israelites that God “gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul” (Psalm 106:15).

The problem may be that you are doing fine. You live in a beautiful home. Your children are healthy. They’re making good grades. You’ve got a job. You’re putting money in the bank. Your retirement looks good, and you’re satisfied. If that’s all you want, may God have mercy on you. You are satisfied. Moses said, “I don’t want Canaan, Lord, without you."

To know God intimately is stability. To know God intimately is a necessity. Don’t take prosperity, don’t take victory, don’t take a land flowing with milk and honey, don’t take anything else as a substitute for knowing God intimately.

Is intimacy with God something you desire? How do you pursue it?

What is the danger in associating prosperity with intimacy with God?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk to a friend in the faith and consider how you can encourage one another in pursuing intimacy with Christ.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God Always Answers with What We Need

PRAY OVER THIS

“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.” Matthew 6:8

 

PONDER THIS

Have you ever asked God for something and didn’t get it, but later your eyes were opened and you thanked God for that unanswered prayer? This is a silly illustration, but when I was a kid, I saw an old car that was being sold for $125, and I prayed for God to give me the money to get it. God didn’t answer my prayer. Somebody else got that car, the motor fell out of it, and I had to thank God that He did not answer that prayer. You see, prayer may be specifically denied. It may be strategically delayed, and it may be significantly different than you expected.

On a more serious note, I once fasted and prayed for something and did not receive an answer from God. One day, God spoke to me. He said, “Adrian, I heard your prayer a long time ago. You’re asking me to do something that I’m not going to do. You’re asking me to reach in and change somebody’s heart against that person’s will, and I don’t operate that way. But Adrian, I know the need of your heart. I know what you want. I know what you need. And your prayer is heard.” As I look back, I see how clear that was and how great our God is. If God doesn’t give us what we ask, He will give us something better and sweeter than we ask, if we ask Him in the wonderful name of Jesus.

When in your life have you wrestled with unanswered prayers?

Who can you remind of God’s love and of His ability and faithfulness to answer prayer?

PRACTICE THIS

Encourage someone you know who is wrestling with unanswered prayer. Ask your friend how he or she is doing and really listen. Then remind that person that God hears and will do exactly what is needed!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

As Secure as God Is Faithful

Those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:30)

Between eternity past in God’s predestination, and eternity future in God’s glorification, none is lost.

No one who is predestined for sonship fails to be called. And no one who is called fails to be justified. And no one who is justified fails to be glorified. This is an unbreakable steel chain of divine covenant faithfulness.

And so Paul says,

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

[He] 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)

These are the promises of our God who cannot lie. Those who are born again are as secure as God is faithful.

John Piper