Perseverance

“In spite of àll the devils there will be saints” -Joseph Hall, Puritan (1574-1656)

This is one of my most favorite quotes from the puritans. I’m so thankful that God, in His infinite wisdom and love, makes sure all that are his will endure in this life to the end. If it were set up in a different way, and God left us on our own after saving us, I could only imagine I wouldnt last one minute before folding and giving up.

The doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints states that the Elect of God cannot lose their salvation. Because salvation is the work of God the Father; Jesus Christ, the Savior; and the Holy Spirit, it cannot be thwarted. None whom God has called will be lost, they are eternally secure. Also see Westminster Confession for a broader explanation with scripture references https://www.apuritansmind.com/westminster-standards/chapter-17/

Strangely this doctrine is met with ridicule by some. Their stance is that if you are saved now you can lose it. They have no assurance that they will be saved tomorrow or even five minutes from now. This shows their ties still to Rome. The Catholic church teaches one can never truly be assured of their salvation because they may commit a mortal sin. Mortal sin is a grave sin committed willfully, with intent, and if not repented of before death will lead to damnation.

The Church has been given a Saviour, and the Bible explains what He did. 1 Peter 2:24 states ” Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed”. Those sins must be all sins of His people. If they were just past sins then Jesus only bore our partial sin and only paid a partial payment. Also it was a legal transaction as stated in Colossians 2:14 “canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

So its clear that our legal debt, the debt we rightly owed to God, was paid in full on the cross by Christ. So we should have complete assurance that our eternal salvation is indeed eternal. Christ came to do the will of the Father and he did not just make an attempt at doing His will. He satisfied God’s wrath against us. Jesus did not fail to do the Father’s will.

With that satisfaction met we are not only adopted as children of God, but we are given a guarantee that we will remain as such. John 10:28 “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” Many will say that we can take ourselves out of His hand, however Romans 8 38-39 states “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Notice the “anything else in all creation”, that includes ourselves. We cannot remove ourself because we belong to Him, and the Holy Spirit dwells inside us to further conform us to the Son.

As the old hymn goes, “Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow”.

Christ paid my debt and in return I owe everything to Him. My life, my thoughts, works, desires, love, family, worship, ect… I will fail many times giving Him what’s due Him, but my eternity is secured. My path will be rugged and the burdens will be many, the cross I’m told to carry will be quite heavy, but I am not left alone to do this. I can always rest knowing “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6. I cannot sin my way out of God’s hand, He is the one holding me and working through me. He will keep me because I can’t keep myself.

It’s a great joy knowing my assurance doesn’t lie in me but in Christ. It’s not my works but His. And it’s a great comfort to know that even in my lowest season, my most dull attitude, my most graceless state , God is and will continue to work in me. He will never lose one of His sheep. There may be times that I stray but He will bring me back to the fold. He will uphold me with His righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10). I can be confident that I will endure because it is God alone who preserves me.