Eternal Security (A.W. Pink, 1886-1952) Part 2

CHAPTER - ITS MARVEL 
This is an aspect of our subject which has received far too little attention from those who have written and preached thereon. Amid all the dust which controversy has raised up, only too often one of the grandest wonders of Divine grace has been hidden from the sight of the theological contestants: alas, how frequently is this the case, that being so occupied with the shell we reach not the kernel. Even those who have sought to defend this truth against the assault of Papish and Arminian antagonists did not sufficiently hold up to view the glorious miracle which it embodies.
The security of the saint concerns not only the Divine veracity and faithfulness but it also exemplifies the workings of Divine power. The believer’s cleaving unto the Lord, despite all hindrances and temptations to the contrary, not only manifests the efficacy of God’s so-great salvation but displays the marvels of His workmanship therein. That the gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church of Christ, that Satan is unable to destroy a single member of it, that the weakest shall be more than conqueror through Him that loved them, should fill us with admiration and adoration.
All the blessings of the Christian’s life may be summed up in two eminent ones, for they include all the others of which he is the recipient from the moment of the new birth to his arrival in Heaven, namely, regeneration or instating him into life and the preservation of that life through all the difficulties and dangers of his pilgrimage to the safe conducting him unto glory. Hence it is we so often find them linked together in Scripture. Just as the work of creation at the first and then the upholding of all things by Divine power and providence are yoked together as works of like wonder ( Hebrews 1:2,3) so we find regeneration and preservation joined together as the sum of the operations of grace. “Hath He not made thee and established thee” ( Deuteronomy 32:6); “I have made and will bear, even I will carry and deliver you” ( Isaiah 46:4).
In Psalm 66:9 both are comprehended in one word “who putteth (margin) thy soul in life ” and “who holdeth thy soul in life, ” first imparting life and then sustaining it. So also in the N.T.: “I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish” ( John 10:28); “begotten us again unto a living hope... kept by the power of God through faith” ( 1 Peter 1:3,5): “sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ” ( Jude 1).
This great marvel of Divine preservation is enlarged upon and celebrated in Psalm 66. After saying “O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of His praise to be heard: which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved” (vv. 8, 9) the Psalmist pointed out first, they had been proved and tried “as silver is tried ” (v. 10), which denotes the sorest of trials ( Ezekiel 22:22).
Second, God had brought them “into the net ” and had “lain affliction upon their loins ” (v. 11): that is, He had so encompassed them round about with afflictions that there was no way of escaping out of them (cf. Isaiah 51:20). Third, God had caused men to “ride over their heads ” (v. 12): that is, they were delivered to the will of cruel enemies, who treated them as slaves. Fourth, they had gone “through fire and water ” (v. 12), which denotes the extremity of evils. Nor were these various dangers perils to their outward man only, but tryings and testings of their faith, as “Thou, Lord, hast proved us ” (v. 10) intimates. Yet through all of them they had been sustained and preserved. God had supported their faith and upheld them under His sorest chastenings.
Having blessed God on behalf of other saints and invited his readers to do the same, the Psalmist added a personal testimony, recounting the Lord’s goodness unto himself. “Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul ” (v. 16), which confession continues to the end of the Psalm. That testimony is not to be divorced from its context but regarded as the continuation of what he had affirmed in the preceding verses. It was as though he said, what I ask you to praise the Lord for is not something with which I have had no firsthand acquaintance but rather of that I have experienced in my own checkered history. The Lord put and held my soul in life during the many buffetings I have passed through. He did not suffer the waters to completely submerge me but kept my head above them. Give me an audience, ye fellow pilgrims, while I recount to you the wonder workings of the God of all grace with me. Let me review the whole of my wilderness journey and tell of God’s failing not to show Himself strong on my behalf: “I cried unto Him.. . blessed be God who hath not turned away my prayer nor His mercy from me ” (v. 20).
Ah, could not each child of God emulate the Psalmist in that. We are greatly interested and delighted when we read or hear of how different ones were brought Out of darkness into God’s marvelous light. We marvel at and admire the variety of the means and methods employed by Him in convicting of sin and discovering Christ to different ones. We are awed and rejoiced when we learn of how some notorious rebel was brought to the foot of the Cross. But equally interesting, equally wonderful, equally blessed is the story of each Christian’s life after conversion. If the mature believer looks back at the whole of his journey and reviews all God’s gracious dealings with him, what a tale he could unfold! Let him describe the strange twistings and windings of his path, all ordered by infinite Wisdom, as he now perceives. Let him tell of the tempests and tossings. through which his frail craft has come and how often the Lord said to the winds and waves “be still.” Let him narrate the providential help which came when he was in sore straits, the deliverances from temptation when he was almost overcome, the recoveries from backslidings, the revivings after deadness of heart, the comfortings in sorrow, the upliftings when borne down by difficulties and discouragements, the answers to prayer when things appeared hopeless, the patience which has borne with dullness, the grace with unbelief, the joys of communion with the Lord when cut off from public means of grace. What a series of miracles the Christian has experienced.
The saint is indeed a marvel of marvels: without strength yet continuing to plod along his uphill course. Think of a tree flourishing in the midst of a sandy desert, where there is neither soil nor water; imagine a house suspended in mid-air, with no visible means of support above or below; conceive of a man living week after week and year after year in a morgue, yet maintaining his vigor; suppose a lone lamb secure in the midst of hungry wolves, or a maid keeping her garments white as she ploughs her way through deep mud and mire, and in such figures you have an image of the Christian life. The new nature is kept alive between the very jaws of death. Health of soul is preserved while breathing a fetid atmosphere and surrounded by those with the most contagious and fatal diseases. It is like a defenceless dove successfully eluding droves of hawks bent on her destruction. It is like a man subsisting on a barren wilderness where there is neither food nor drink. It is like a traveler on some icy summit, with unfathomable precipices on either side, where a false step means certain destruction. O the wonder of Christian perseverance in the face of such handicaps and obstacles. 1. This is seen in the character of those who are chosen by God. We would naturally conclude that if He determined to have a people in this world through whom He would show forth His praises, that He will select the most promising and excellent: those of strong intellectual power, those of noble birth, those of sweet disposition, those of outstanding moral character. But His ways are different from ours. He singles out the most unlikely and unworthy ones to be the vessels of mercy. Thus it was in the O.T. era. Why were the Hebrews taken to be the most favored of all nations? Had they a stronger natural claim than others? Assuredly not. The Egyptians were a more intelligent race, as the monuments of their industry attest to this day. The Chaldeans were more ancient, more numerous, more civilized, and albeit exerted a much greater influence on the rest of the world. Was it then because the Israelites were more spiritual, more likely to prove amenable to the Divine government? No, for ere they set foot upon Canaan it was expressly declared unto them “Understand therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness, for thou art a stiffnecked people” ( Deuteronomy 9:6).
It is the same thing in the N.T. dispensation. “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, and things which are not to bring to nought things that are” ( 1 Corinthians 1:26-28).
How remarkable is this: the ones chosen to successfully resist Satan, overcome the world, persevere in the difficult path of faith and obedience and finally win through to Heaven, are the feeble, the weak, the base, the despised, and the mere nobodies. This has ever presented a stumblingblock to the proud pharisee: “have any of the rulers believed on Him? ” ( John 7:48). That the priests and scribes be passed by and publicans and harlots called to feast with Christ, that heavenly things should be hidden from the wise and prudent and revealed to babes, evokes the sneer of the learned “Christianity is only suited to old women and children.” And why is this God’s way? “That no flesh should glory in His presence ” ( 1 Corinthians 1:29), that the crown of honor should he placed on the head of Him who alone is entitled to wear it, that we may learn the marvel of perseverance is the result of sovereign and miraculous grace. 2. This is seen in the fewness of them. There is but “a remnant according to the election of grace ” ( Romans 11:5) even among those who bear the name of the Lord, and in comparison with the hundreds of millions in heathendom who worship false gods and the vast multitudes in Christendom who make no profession at all, the real people of God constitute such an insignificant handful as to be almost lost to view. One had naturally thought that if the Lord purposed to have a people on earth who should glorify His name that they would be conspicuous in size, commanding attention and respect. Is it not a maxim of worldly wisdom that “there is strength in numbers” and did not Napoleon give expression thereto in his satirical dictum “God is always on the side of the biggest battalions”? Ah, but here too God’s thoughts and ways are the very opposite of the world’s, for His strength is “made perfect in weakness ” ( 2 Corinthians 12:9) and the things which are highly esteemed among men are “abomination in the sight of God ” ( Luke 16:15). Turn, my reader, to Judges 7:2 and ponder anew the lesson Jehovah taught Gideon when He said, “The people that are with thee are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves!”
Not only have the Lord’s people always been in the minority but they have never included more than a fractional percentage of earth’s population.
Only eight were delivered from the flood. From the days of Noah unto Moses—a period of roughly eight and a half centuries—we may count upon our fingers those recorded in Holy Writ who gave evidence of spiritual life. It requires no courage or resolution to follow the tide of popular opinion, for one is likely to encounter less opposition when he is on the side of the majority. What a miracle that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob preserved their piety in Canaan when surrounded by the heathen! The principle which we are now engaged in illustrating was emphasized by Moses when he said unto Israel “The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye are the fewest of all people” ( Deuteronomy 7:7).
It is the same in this N.T. dispensation. Near the close of Paul’s life Christians were referred to as a sect “everywhere spoken against ” ( Acts 28:22). The Lord Jesus declared that His flock was a “little ” one ( Luke 12:32), which increases the wonder of its survival, and though in recent years the membership of the “churches” swelled to huge proportions, more and more it is now becoming apparent that with rare exceptions they were but nominal professors and that only a “few ” tread that Way which leadeth unto Life ( Matthew 7:14). 3. This is seen in God’s leaving them in this world. We might well suppose that since the Father hath set His heart upon them He would take them Home as soon as they are brought from death unto life. Instead they are left down here, most of them for many years, in a hostile country in the Enemy’s territory, for “the whole world lieth in the Wicked one ” ( John 5:19). And why? that they may have opportunity to manifest their love for Him, that despite ceaseless opposition and innumerable temptations to cast off their allegiance they will, by His grace, remain faithful unto death. We marvel that Noah was preserved in the ark, when the devastating flood without swept away the entire human race from the earth and when he was surrounded by all manner of wild beasts within.
Why was he not torn to pieces by the lions and tigers? or poisoned by the stench from the dung of all the animals? Though he remained there no less than a year, yet at the end thereof he and all his household stepped forth alive and well. Not less wonderful is the survival of the Christian in a world where there is nothing to help spiritually but everything to the contrary.
The believer may be compared to an individual who has thrown off allegiance to his king, has disowned his country, and refuses obedience to its laws, yet continues to dwell in the land he has renounced and hard by the sovereign he has forsworn. The grace of God has called us out of the world, but the providence of God has sent us into the world. We may therefore expect nothing but hatred and hostility from it. The world will never forgive the act by which we broke from its thralldom, renounced its sway, relinquished its pleasures and resigned its friendship. Nor can it look with complacency upon the godly, self-denying and unworldly life of the Christian, which is a constant rebuke of its own carnality and folly. First it will vail its opposition and conceal its malignity beneath smiles and flattery, seeking to win back the one it has lost. But when that effort proves unavailing it changes its course and with venomed tongue, tireless zeal and devilish tactics seeks by detraction and falsehood to wound and injure the people of God. We marvel at the three Hebrews not being destroyed in Babylon’s fiery furnace, but it is not less a miracle for a believer to persevere in the path of holiness amid the contagious sinfulness, seductive allurements and relentless persecutions of an evil world. 4. This is seen in the old nature being left in the saint. Since God is pleased to leave His people in this howling wilderness for a season, where everything seems to be dead against them, surely He will rid them of that which is most of all calculated to lead to their fatal undoing. If He requires them to be “holy in all manner of conversation ” ( 1 Peter 1:15), will He not purge them of all inward corruptions? If the sons of God are to be “without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, ” among whom they are to “shine as lights in the world ” ( Philippians 2:15), will He not remove all darkness from their understanding? And again we are made to realize how worthless is all human reasoning upon spiritual matters. Indwelling sin remains in the believer: the flesh is neither eradicated nor transformed. But how can we expect those with a sink of iniquity still within them to maintain a godly walk? Ah, therein we are brought to see again the marvel of the saint’s perseverance. If a lorry has to pass down a street where the buildings on either side are burning fiercely, would it not greatly augment the wonder of its journeying through successfully when we learned that the lorry was laden with barrels of gunpowder and dynamite?
This is precisely the case of the believer: there is that in him which is responsive to the evil without him. The world and his heart are in a confederacy against the good of his soul, so that he can neither eat nor drink, work nor sleep in safety because of enemies without and treacherous lusts within. For a holy angel to dwell here would involve him in no danger, for in freedom from all inward corruptions there would be nothing in him to which the allurements of the world could appeal. But the Christian has a stack of dry tinder ready to ignite as soon as the sparks of temptation alight thereon. O the policy and power, the strength and prevalency, the nearness and treachery of indwelling sin. It is something which cleaves to all the faculties: not only in us but part and parcel of us. It dwells there ( Romans 7:17) ever seeking our overthrow. Such is our native depravity that it is capable of transmuting blessings into cursings, making things lawful into snares and entangling us with everything we meet with. Ah, my reader, if it was a miracle when Elisha caused iron to swim (2 Kings 2), not less so is it when our affections are set upon things above and our minds stayed on Jehovah. 5. This is seen in grace’s dwelling place. In what uncongenial and inimical surroundings is the new nature set — in the depraved soul of a fallen creature. Not only is there nothing in man capable of nourishing the principle of holiness but everything which is directly opposed thereto: “the flesh lusteth against the spirit ” ( Galatians 5:17). Birds do not fly beneath the waves nor will fish live on dry ground because they are out of their native element: then what a wonder it is for grace to be preserved and grow in a heart which by nature is desperately wicked. Would trees grow if their seeds were planted in salt: why then should communicated grace take root and bring forth the fruit of the Spirit when planted in the midst of corruption? That is truly a miracle of Divine horticulture: a miracle which is far too little attended unto and admired. Well may each believer exclaim “I am a wonder to many ” ( Psalm 71:7) not failing to add “but Thou art my refuge. ” The Christian is a mystery to himself, an enigma to the unregenerate, who cannot understand his denying himself the things they delight in and finding pleasure in what they loath: but he is a “wonder,” a prodigy of grace, unto his brethren and sisters in Christ.
The miracle of the survival of the principle of grace in a human soul will be the more manifest if we contrast the present case of the believer with that of Adam in the day of this pristine purity. Grace was conatural with our first parents when their Maker pronounced them “very good;” if then they so quickly lost their grace when it was placed in a pure soil, what a wonder it is that it should be preserved in a heart which is essentially evil! When the Son of God became incarnate Herod moved the whole country in a determined attempt to slay Him: and when Christ comes into the heart the whole soul rises up in opposition against Him. The carnal mind, the lusts of the flesh, an intractable will, are all antagonistic to every breathing after holiness. The preservation of grace in the saint is more remarkable than for one to succeed in carrying an unprotected but lighted candle across an open moor in a boisterous wind. Yea, as the Puritans were wont to say, it is as though a fire were kept burning year after year in the midst of the ocean. Grace is not only preserved but maintains its purity amid indwelling sin: as gold cannot be altered in its nature by the dross or transmuted into the rubbish amid which it lies, neither can the new nature be defiled by the mass of corruption wherein it dwells. 6. This is seen in their exposure to Satan’s attacks. If there were no Devil at all it would be a miracle that any believer should persevere in the path of obedience while living in such a world as this. Surrounded as he is by the ungodly, ever seeking to allure him into their own sinful ways, carrying within him lusts which are in full accord with the evil around him, it is a wonder of wonders that he should remain steadfast. But over and above that, he is called upon to resist the arch-enemy of God, the mightiest of all His creatures, who is filled with enmity against him and bent upon his destruction. We are plainly warned “your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour” ( 1 Peter 5:8): how then shall feeble lambs hope to successfully resist him! We are told that when the woman brought forth the “man-child who was to rule all nations ” that, the red dragon “stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child” ( Revelation 12:4).
As the dragon acted thus toward the Head Himself so does he still seek to vent his malice upon the members of His mystical body.
Who is capable of estimating the power of Satan and the hosts of evil spirits he commands. And who can adequately describe the weakness and frailty of those called upon to withstand his attacks. If Adam in paradise with no lust within to entice and no world under the curse all around him, fell under the very first assault of Satan upon him, who are we to engage him in conflict. Fallen man could as well move a mountain with his finger as overcome the Prince of this world. Nevertheless of renewed men it is written “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in the heavenlies” ( Ephesians 6:12).
Satan with all his wisdom, his power, his myrmidons are marshaled and exerted in tremendous opposition to the interests of the children of God, as the histories of Job, of David ( 1 Chronicles 21:1), of Joshua, ( Zechariah 3:1), of Peter ( Luke 22:31), and of Paul ( Thessalonians 2:15) clearly show. We have often marveled at the deliverance of Daniel while spending a night in the lions’ den, no less a miracle is the Christian’s preservation from the continuous attacks of Satan and all his demons. “They overcame Him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony ” ( Revelation 12:11). 7. This is seen in the renunciations they are required to make. “If any come to Me and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.
And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after Me, he cannot be My disciple. So likewise whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple ” Who can be expected to accept Christian discipleship on such exacting terms as these! No wonder that man of all shades of theological opinion have invented terms which are easier and pleasanter to the flesh, yet such are only blind leaders of the blind.
Christ will receive none who refuse His yoke. God will not own as His people those who refuse to give Him their hearts. Sin must be hated, lusts must be mortified, the world must be renounced. A Christian is one who repudiates his own wisdom, strength and righteousness. A Christian is one who holds himself and all that he hath at the disposal of the Lord. As Abram at the call of God turned his back on the old manner of life, so those who are his believing children are made willing to sacrifice all their temporal interests, counting not their lives dear unto themselves. What a marvel is this that grace enables its possessor to pluck out right eyes and cut off right hands, yea which empowers timid women and children to go to the stake rather than apostatize. 8. This is seen in the Way they are required to walk in. It is a “narrow” way, for it is shut in on either side by the Divine commandments, which forbid all that is contrary to the Divine will. It is the way of “holiness,” without which no man shall see the Lord. It is the way of obedience, of complete and continuous subjection to the Lord, wherein my own will is set aside. It is a difficult way, hard to find and harder still to traverse, for the whole of it is uphill. It is a lonely way, for there are but few upon it. It is therefore a way which is entirely contrary to flesh and blood, which presents no attraction to fallen human nature. Yet it is the only way which leadeth unto life. That narrow way of self-abnegation is the one which Christ trod and sufficient for the disciple to be as his Master. He has left us an example that we should follow His steps, so that there is no following of Christ without walking in the way He went, and that way was one of sacrifice, of bearing reproach, of enduring suffering. “Whosoever will save his life (for himself) shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it” ( Matthew 16:25).
No cross, no crown. What a marvel it is for any sinful creature to voluntarily choose such a path, to accept the cross as the dominant principle of his life. 9. This is seen in the frailty of the Christian. We would naturally think that since God requires His people to overcome such formidable obstacles, perform such difficult tasks and wrestle with such enemies, He would make them strong and powerful. Surely if they are to maintain their piety in a world like this, discharge duties which are contrary to flesh and blood, resist the Devil and all his hosts, the Lord will make each of His saints as mighty spiritually as Samson was physically. If one of them shall chase a thousand and two of them put ten thousand to flight must it not be because of their superior might. How shall they endure opposition, overcome temptations, be fruitful unto every good work unless they be endued with abundant grace. But here again the Lord’s thoughts are the very opposite of ours. His people are so frail and helpless in themselves that He declares “without Me ye can do nothing ” and sooner or later each of them is made to realize this for himself. Apart from the Lord the believer is as weak as water. Power for the conflict lies not in himself, but in Another: “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might ” ( Ephesians 6:10). Peter thought he was strong enough in himself to overcome temptation, but he soon discovered that though the spirit was willing the flesh was weak.
But is there not such a thing as growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord? Certainly there is, but such progress is of a very different nature from what many imagine. Growth in grace is a deepening realization of where our strength, our wisdom, the supply for every need is to be found.
Growing in grace is not an increasing self-sufficiency but an increasing dependency upon God. Those who are spiritually the strongest are they who know most of their own weakness. It is the empty vessel which God fills. “He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might (of their own) He increaseth strength” ( Isaiah 40:29).
Surely none of us can hope to attain a higher measure than that of the most favored of the apostles: yet he acknowledged “when lam weak then am I strong ” ( 2 Corinthians 12:10). Here then is truly a miracle: that one who is compassed with infirmity, who is not sufficient of himself to think any thing as of himself ( 2 Corinthians 3:5)—and therefore still less able to do anything good—who has “no might” of his own, who is utterly helpless in himself, should nevertheless fight a good fight, finish the course and keep the faith. “God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. ” 10. This is seen in the fruits which the Christian bears. We have already called attention to the survival of the principle of grace despite the uncongenial soil in which it is placed and the foul atmosphere of this world where it grows, and equally wonderful is that which issues from it. This line of thought might be extended considerably, but space requires us to abbreviate. What a marvel that the Christian’s faith should be preserved amid so many trials and buffetings, betrayals by false brethren, and even the hidings of God’s face: that notwithstanding the most painful crosses and losses it affirms “yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” Not only have God’s saints remained steadfast under persecution, but after being “beaten” they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus” ( Acts 5:40,41), while others “took joyfully the spoiling of their goods ” ( Hebrews 10:34). What a marvelous fruit is this, to “glory in tribulation ” ( Romans 5:3), to “sing praise unto God ” ( Acts 16:25) while lying in a dungeon with backs bleeding. Such fruits are not the products of nature. To hope against hope ( Romans 4:18), to acknowledge “it is good for me that I have been afflicted ” ( <19B971> Psalm 119:71), to cry “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge ” ( Acts 7:60) while being stoned to death, are the fruits of Divine grace. 11. This is seen in their submission under and triumph of faith over the severest chastisements. It is natural to murmur when everything appears to go wrong and the face of Providence wears a dark frown, but it is supernatural to meekly submit and say “the will of the Lord be done.”
When “fire from the Lord” went out and devoured Nadab and Abihu because of their presumptuous conduct, so far from their father making an angry outburst at the severity of their punishment we are told that he “held his peace ” ( Leviticus 10:3). When the awful tidings was broken to the aged Eli that both of his wayward sons were to be smitten by Divine judgment on the same day, he quietly acquiesced saying “It is the Lord: let Him do what seemeth Him good ” ( 1 Samuel 3:18). When Job’s sons and daughters were suddenly stricken with death and his flocks and herds carried away by thieves, he exclaimed “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” ( 1:2 1), and when his own body was smitten with “sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown,” so far from losing all confidence in God and apostatizing he declared “though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him” ( Job 13:15). 12. This is seen in their perseverance in piety when deprived of all public means of grace. When the undershepherds are taken away what shall the poor sheep do? When corporate testimony breaks down what will become of the individual? When Zion is made desolate and the Lord’s people are carried captives into a strange land, will they not pine away? True this is an exceptional state of affairs, yet at various stages of history it has pleased God to deprive numbers of His people of all the external means of grace and preserve them as isolated units. It was thus at a very early stage.
Behold Abraham, the father of the faithful, dwelling alone amid the heathen, yet maintaining communion with the Lord. Behold Daniel in Babylon, in the face of deadly peril, preserving his piety. Some of us used to sing as children “Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone, dare to have a purpose true, and dare to make it known.” Is not our own lot cast in a day when not a few of the scattered children of God have to lament “I am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop” ( <19A207> Psalm 102:7)!
Even so, as God miraculously sustained Elijah in the solitudes of Cherith so He will preserve each of them. 13. This is seen in their deliverance from apostasy. What numbers have been fatally deceived by Romanism. What multitudes of the outer-court worshippers have been stumbled by the multiplication of sects in Protestantism, each claiming to take the Scriptures for their guide yet often differing on the most fundamental truths. What crowds have been attracted by the false prophets and heretical teachers, especially in America, during the past century. But though the real children of God may have been bewildered yet it drove them to search His Word more closely for themselves, for they know not the voice of strangers ( John 10:5). In our own day, because iniquity or lawlessness abounds the love of many has waxed cold and tens of thousands who a little time ago appeared to “run well” have gone right back into the world. Yet there is still a remnant who cleave unto the Lord, and the very fewness of their numbers emphasizes the marvel of their preservation. It is a miracle of grace that any “hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end,” never more so than in this dark day.
What an amazing thing it was that Jonah should be cast overboard into the sea, without a lifebelt and with no boat to rescue him, and yet that he was not drowned. Still more remarkable that he should be swallowed by a whale and remain alive in its belly for three days and nights. Most wonderful of all that the whale disgorged the prophet not in the ocean, but vomited him out on the land. So amazing is this that it has been made the favorite subject of jest by infidels. Yet it presents no difficulty to the Christian, who knows that “with God all things are possible.” We not only believe the authenticity of this miracle but have long been convinced it is a designed type not only of the resurrection of the Redeemer but of the preservation of the redeemed. The case of Jonah not only adumbrates a backsliding believer, but an extreme case of backsliding at that: showing that when a saint yields to self-will and forsakes the way of obedience, though he will be severely chastened yet the arm of the Lord will reach after and restore him to the paths of righteousness. 14. This is seen in God’s manifold workings in and for them. This necessarily follows from all that has been said under the preceding heads.
The perseverance of saints must be the consequence of the Divine preservation of them: since believers have no spiritual wisdom and no spiritual strength of their own, God must work in them both to will and to do of His good pleasure. His preventing grace: as the martyr observed a murderer on his way to the gallows he exclaimed “there goes John Bradford but for the grace of God.” From how many temptations and sins on which their hearts were set are Christians delivered, as David from slaying Nabal. Protecting grace: “mercy shall compass him about ” as a shield ( Psalm 32:10).
Quickening grace, whereby the principle of holiness is enlivened: “the inward man is renewed day by day” ( 2 Corinthians 4:16).
Confirming grace, whereby we are kept from being tossed to and fro: “Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God” ( 2 Corinthians 1:21 and cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:17).
Fructifying grace: “From Me is thy fruit found” ( Hosea 14:8).
Maturing grace: “make you perfect in every good work to do His will” ( Hebrews 13:22).

These and other operations of Divine grace are all summed up in that acknowledgement “Thou also hast wrought all our works in us” ( Isaiah 26:12) to which every saint freely ascribes and which alone explains the marvel of his perseverance.
CHAPTER - ITS SPRINGS 
We now turn to contemplate the most important and blessed aspect of our subject, yea, the very heart and crux thereof. The believer’s perseverance in faith and holiness is no detached and isolated thing, but an effect of an allsufficient cause. It must not be viewed as a separate phenomenon but as the fruit of Divine operations. The believer’s continuance in the paths of righteousness is a miracle, and miracle necessarily requires the immediate agency of God. Our present concern then is to trace this stream back to its source and to show the springs from which this marvel issues; to admire the impregnable foundations on which it rests. Only as those springs and foundations are clearly revealed shall we ascribe the glory unto Him to whom alone it is due, only so shall we be able to apprehend the absolute security of the saints, only so shall we perceive the vanity and uselessness of all the Enemy’s attacks upon this cardinal truth. The perseverance of the saints is assured by so many infallible guarantees that it is difficult to know which to bring before the reader and which to omit.
The doctrine for which we are here contending follows as a logical consequence from the Divine perfections: whatever is agreeable to them, and they make necessary, must perforce be true; contrariwise whatever is contrary to them and reflects dishonor upon them must be false. Now the doctrine of the saints’ final perseverance is agreeable to the Divine perfections, yea is made entirely necessary by them, and therefore must be true; and the contrary doctrine of the falling away of real saints so as to perish everlastingly is repugnant to them and reflects great dishonor upon them, and therefore must be false. That which we have here briefly affirmed will be illustrated in detail and demonstrated at length in all that follows in this and the succeeding section. Summarizing what we propose to set before the reader it will be found that the eternal security of the Christian rests upon the good will of the Father, the mediation of the Son, and the office and operations of the Holy Spirit, and therein we have a “threefold cord” which cannot possibly be broken. 1. The unchanging love of God. This argument however is one which can have little weight with those who have imbibed Arminianism and accepted their false interpretation of John 3:16; but they who perceive the Divine love to be a discriminating and particular and not an indefinite and general one will find here that which is sweeter than the honey or the honeycomb. If it were true that God loves the whole human race then, seeing a large part thereof is already in Hell, I could draw no assurance therefrom that I shall never perish. But when I discover that God’s love is restricted to those whom He chose in Christ and that He loves them with an “everlasting love,” then I unhesitatingly conclude that “many waters” cannot quench that love ( Song of Solomon 8:7). It would lead too far afield, for us to show wherein so many err concerning the meaning of John 3:16 or to evidence at length the discriminating character of God’s love: suffice it here to point out that “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth” ( Hebrews 12:6) would be meaningless did He love everybody—the next clause “and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth ” at once defines the objects of His affection. “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” ( Romans 9:13): therefore Jacob is now in Heaven, but his brother has received the due reward of his iniquities. “We love Him because He first loved us” ( 1 John 4:19).
God does not love His people because they love Him. No, we read of “His great love wherewith He loved us even when we were dead in sins” ( Ephesians 2:4,5): when we had no desire to be loved by Him, yea when we were provoking Him to His face and displaying the fierce enmity of our unrenewed hearts.
God loved His people before they had a historical existence, for while they were yet sinners Christ died for them ( Romans 5:8). Why, He declares “I have loved thee with an everlasting love” ( Jeremiah 31:3).
That love then derives not its strength or its streams from anything in us, but flows spontaneously from the heart of God, finding its deep wellspring within His own bosom. Since God is love He can no more cease to love than He can cease to be, and since God changes not there can be no variation and fluctuation in His love.
The object of God’s love is His Church, which is His special delight. From all eternity He loved His elect, and loved them as His elect, as having peculiar propriety in them. He loved them in Christ, chose them in Christ, and blessed them with all spiritual blessings in Christ ( Ephesians 1:3).
He loved them so as to predestinate them unto the adoption of children ( Ephesians 1:5). He loved their persons in Christ with the same love wherewith He loves Christ their Head ( John 17:23). He loved them so as to make them “accepted in the Beloved ” ( Ephesians 1:6). It is a love which can never decay, for it is founded on the good pleasure of His will towards them. God’s love to Christ knows no change nor can it to the members of His body: “and hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me ” ( John 17:23), declares the Savior, and He is speaking there as the Head of His Church. We are loved in Christ and according to the relation we stand in to Him, that is, as members to an Head—loved as freely and immutably.
Though the effects of God’s love vary in their manifestations, yet there is no diminution of His affection and none in its perpetuity. Men often love those who prove otherwise than they expected, and come to repent of the affection lavished upon them. But it is not so with God, for He foreknew all that ever we would be and do—our sins, unworthiness, rebellions; yet set His heart upon us notwithstanding—so that He can never say we turned out other than He thought we would. Had God’s love been set upon us because of some good or excellency in us, then when that goodness declined, His love would diminish too. “God foresaw all the sins you would ever have: it was all present to His sacred mind, and yet He loved you, and loves you still” (C.H.
Spurgeon).
The child of God may for a season depart from the paths of righteousness, and then will his Father visit his transgression with the rod and his iniquity with stripes, “nevertheless My lovingkindness will I not make void from him nor suffer My faithfulness to fail” ( Psalm 89:32,33) is His own declaration.
Because God’s love is uncreated it is unchanging. God does not love by fits and starts, but forever. Because it is founded upon nothing in its object, no change in that object can forfeit it. In every state and condition into which the elect can come, God’s love unto them is invariable and unalterable, constant and permanent. We may repent of the love which we bestowed an some of our fellows because we were unable to make them good: the more we loved them, the more they took advantage of it. Not so with God: whom He loves He makes holy. This is one of the effects of His love: to shed abroad His love in the hearts of its objects, to stamp His own image upon them, to cause them to walk in His fear. His love to the elect is perpetual because it is in Christ; they are joined to Christ by an union which cannot be dissolved. God must cease to love Christ their Head before He can cease to love any member of His Body. Then what madness, what blasphemy, to think of any of them perishing!
Over this blessed attribute of Divine love is written in letters of light “Semper idem ,” always the same. Those who are once the objects of God’s love are so always. If God has ever loved you, my reader, He does so today: loves you with the same love as when He gave His Son to die for you; loves you with the same love as when He sent His Holy Spirit into your heart crying “Abba Father;” loves you with the same love as He will in Heaven throughout the endless ages. And nothing can or shall separate you from that love (see Romans 8:38,39). A preacher once called upon a farmer. As he approached his residence he saw over the barn a weathervane and on the top of it in large letters the text “God is love.”
When the farmer appeared the preacher pointed to that vane and said in tones of rebuke “Do you imagine God’s love is as variable as the weather?” No, said the farmer, I put that text there to remind me that no matter what the direction of the wind. God is love! “His love no end or measure knows, No change can turn its course, Immutably the same it flows From one eternal source.” 2. The immutability of God. The guarantee for the perpetuity of God’s love unto His people is found in the immutability of His nature. From everlasting Jehovah is God: underived, independent, self-sufficient, nothing can in anywise affect Him or produce any change in Him. Says the Psalmist “Of old hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment: as a vesture shalt Thou change them and they shall be changed. But Thou art the same and Thy years shall have no end” ( <19A225> 102:25-27).
This is one of the excellencies of the Creator which distinguishes Him from all creatures. God is perpetually the same: subject to no change in His being, attributes, or determinations. All that He is today He ever has been and ever will be. He cannot change for the better for He is already perfect, and being perfect He cannot change for the worse. He only can say “I am that I am ” ( Exodus 3:14). Unaffected by anything outside Himself, improvement or deterioration is impossible. His glory is an unfading one.
Now in this immutability of God lies the eternal security of His people. “For I am the Lord, I change not: therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” ( Malachi 3:6).
If any of them were lost, “consumed” by His wrath, then He must change in His attitude toward them, so that those whom He once loved He now hates. But that would also involve an alteration in His purpose concerning them, so that whereas He has appointed them “to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ ” ( 1 Thessalonians 5:9), He must consign them over to destruction. How entirely different would such a variable and fickle character be from the God of Holy Writ! Of Jehovah it is said “He is of one mind, and who can turn Him? ” ( Job 23:13). It is because God changes not His people are not consumed: His love wanes not, His will is stable, His word sure. Because He is “The Father of lights, with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning” ( James 1:17) we have an immovable rock on which to stand while everything around us is being swept away.
The foundation of our preservation unto the end is the immutability of God’s being, whereunto His love is conformed, so that His everlasting Deity must undergo alteration before any of His children could perish. This is clearly the force of both Malachi 3:6 and James 1:17. In the latter the apostle speaks of “every good and every perfect gift ” which the saints receive from their Father, prefacing the same with “Do not err my beloved brethren. “The gifts bestowed upon the elect at their regeneration are not like Jonah’s gourd which flourished only for a brief season. No, they are from Him with whom is “no variableness ” either in His love or will. “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” ( Romans 11:29) or change of mind, and therefore they are never revoked. Let it be noted that those words were added to clinch the certainty of the purpose of God towards the remnant of the Jews according to the election of grace. Thus the immutability of God is the guarantee of the stability of His love and the irrevocableness of His grace unto us. 3. The irreversible purpose of God. Having set His heart upon a chosen people, God formed a purpose of grace toward them: “in love having predestinated them” ( Ephesians 1:5) and the immutability of His being insures the fulfillment of that purpose. The Most High does not determine to do a thing at one time and decide not to do it at another. “The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations” ( Psalm 33:11): because He has counseled everlasting glory unto His people, nothing can alter it. “For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it?” ( Isaiah 14:27).
There are indeed many changes in the external dispensations of His providence toward His elect, but none concerning the thoughts of His heart for them. “I am God, and there is none like unto Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand and I will do all My pleasure...1 have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it” ( Isaiah 46:9-11).
What a foundation is there here for faith to rest upon: the Divine will is inflexible, His counsels irreversible. “God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should repent” ( Numbers 23:19).
Consider the things which move men to change their minds and alter their purposes, and then mark how utterly inapplicable such things are to the Almighty. Men form a plan and then cancel it through fickleness and inconstancy: but God is immutable. Men make a promise and then revoke it because of their depravity and untruthfulness: but God is infinitely holy and cannot lie. Men devise a project and fail to carry it through because of lack of ability or power: but God is omniscient and omnipotent. Men determine a certain thing for want of foresight and because the unexpected intervenes they are thwarted: but God knows the end from the beginning.
Men change their schemes because the influence or threats of superiors deter them: but God has no superior or equal and fears none. No unforeseen occasion can arise which would render it expedient for God to change His mind.
In Romans 8:28 we read of a company who are “the called according to His purpose ” and what that signifies the verses which immediately follow tell us. It was a purpose they could neither originate nor frustrate. “For whom He did foreknow ” with a knowledge of approbation (contrast “I never knew you ”: Matthew 7:23) “He also did predestinate, ” appoint and fore-arrange. That Divine predestination results in their being effectually called out of darkness into God’s marvelous light and their being justified or accounted righteous before God because Christ’s perfect obedience is reckoned to their account. And then, so infallibly certain is the accomplishment of God’s purpose, the apostle added “and whom He justified them He also (not “will glorify,” but) glorified.” “God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel (the immovable fixedness of His design), confirmed it by an oath” ( Hebrews 6:17). What more can we desire: the Holy One must foreswear Himself before one of His own can perish. 4. The everlasting covenant of God. Having set His heart upon a special people God formed a purpose of grace toward them and that purpose is attested and secured by formal contract. By express stipulation the Eternal Three solemnly undertook for every heir of promise to do all for and in them, so that not one of them shall perish. “I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me” ( Jeremiah 32:40).
How comprehensive are those promises! First, Jehovah assures His people that there shall be no alteration in His good will toward them. To that it might be objected, True, God will not turn away from them, but they may turn away from Him, yea utterly apostatize. Therefore He here declares that He will put His fear in their hearts, or grant them such supplies of grace, as to preserve them from falling away. “Were they to return to the service of Satan, He could not continue to do them good consistently with the holiness of His character, but He will preserve them in such a state that He may hold fellowship with them without any impeachment of His holiness” (J. Dick).
This covenant of grace is made with the elect in Christ before the foundation of the world, wherein He became their “Surety ” ( Hebrews 7:22), undertaking to discharge all their liabilities and make full satisfaction for them. Accordingly God has promised the Surety “I will put my laws into their mind and write them upon their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people” ( Hebrews 8:10).
Those promises are of free grace, and there is no contingency or uncertainty about them, for they are “yea,” and “Amen” in Christ ( Corinthians 1:20). Mark how God Himself regards His engagement therein: “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips” ( Psalm 89:34). “He will ever be mindful of His covenant” ( <19B105> Psalm 111:5).
O what grounds for confidence, for joy, for praise is there here! Therefore may each believer affirm with David “He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure: for this is all my salvation and all my desire” ( Samuel 23:5). “For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee” ( Isaiah 54:10).
To summarize what has yet been before us. If any saint were eventually lost it could only be because the being and character of God Himself had undergone a change for the worse. His affections must alter, so that one whom He loved must become the object of His hatred. His purpose concerning him must change, so that whereas He appointed him to salvation He must consign him to destruction. He must reverse the promises made and the blessings bestowed upon him. His faithfulness must fail, so that His Word can no longer be relied upon. Thus it is obvious that the alternative to what has been set forth above is unthinkable and impossible. The wisdom of God requires that in appointing the end (the glorification of His people) He has also ordained that the means thereto are sufficient, and His power insures that those means shall prove effectual.
Every perfection of God guarantees that all His people shall get safely to Heaven. 5. The irrepealable promises of God. The “exceeding great and precious promises ” ( 2 Peter 1:4) which God hath made to His people have been likened unto streams along which His covenant engagements run, for they all go back to and have their source in that eternal compact which He made with the elect in Christ. Their Surety undertook to do certain things for them and in return thereof God agreed that certain things should be bestowed upon them on whose behalf He transacted. What those things were that God stipulated to impart unto those Christ represented are revealed in the various promises which He has made unto them. Those promises are God’s free and gracious dispensations or discoveries of His good will unto the elect in Christ in a covenant of grace. Therein, upon His veracity and faithfulness, He engages Himself to be their God, to give His Son unto them and for them, and His Spirit to abide with and in them, guaranteeing to supply everything that they need in order to make them acceptable before Him and to bring them all unto the everlasting enjoyment of Himself.
Those promises are free and gracious as to the rise or origin of them, being given to us merely by the good pleasure of God, and not in return for anything demanded of us: that which is of promise is opposed to that which is in any way demanded or procured by us ( Romans 4:13,14; Galatians 3:18). These promises are made unto us as sinners, and under no other qualification whatever, it being by sovereign mercy alone that any are delivered out of their fallen and depraved state. The promises are given unto them as “shut up under sin ” ( Galatians 3:22). These discoveries of God’s good will are made known in Christ as the sole Medium of their accomplishment and as the alone procuring Cause of the good things contained in them. “For all the promises of God in Him are yea and in Him amen” ( 2 Corinthians 1:20) —in and by Christ’s mediation they have all their confirmation and certainty to us. The foundation of our assurance of their accomplishment is the character of their Maker: they are the engagements of Him “who cannot lie ” ( Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:17,18)—heaven and earth shall pass away but His word shall endure forever.
The grand fountain-head promise from which all the others flow is that God will be “The God of His people ” ( Jeremiah 24:7; 31:33; Ezekiel 11:20). In order that He may be “our God” two chief things are required. First, that all breaches and differences between Him and us shall be removed, perfect peace and agreement made, and we rendered well-pleasing in His sight: sin must be put away and everlasting righteousness brought in. In order to this Christ acted as our Surety, our Priest, our Redeemer, and has become “our Peace ” ( Ephesians 2:14), being of God “made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption” ( 1 Corinthians 1:30).
He “gave Himself for the Church, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church” ( Ephesians 5:25,26).
Second, that we might be kept meet for communion with Him as our God and for our eternal enjoyment of Him as our Portion. From this flows the promiseof the Holy Spirit ( Acts 1:5; 2:33) that He would exercise unto us all the acts of His love and work in us that obedience which He required from and accepts of us in Jesus Christ, so preserving us unto Himself. This promise of the Spirit in the covenant is witnessed in Isaiah 59:21; Ezekiel 36:27, etc.
From the fountain promise that God will be our God in covenant relationship flow the two broad streams that He would give Christ for us and the Holy Spirit to us, and Out from these two main streams issue a thousand rivulets for our refreshment. From those two streams come forth all the blessings Christ hath purchased for us and all the graces that the Holy Spirit produces in the elect, by the first of which they are made acceptable unto God and by the latter of which they have an enjoyment of Him. All the promises of mercy and forgiveness, faith and holiness, obedience and perseverance, joy and consolation, affliction and deliverance issue from them, Thus it follows that whoever hath an interest in one promise hath an interest in them all and in the fountain head from which they flow. Have we a hold on any promise? that is by the Holy Spirit, and from Him to Christ, and thence unto the bosom of the Father. Hence also the most conditional of the promises are ultimately to be resolved into the absolute and unconditional love of God: He who promises to us life upon believing, works faith in us: “according as His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness”: 2 Peter 1:3. (Most of the above is condensed from John Owen, the Puritan).
Let us cite a few of the particular promises wherein the Lord has engaged Himself to grant such supplies of His Spirit that we shall be supported against all opposition and preserved from such sins as would separate any of His saints from Him. “For the Lord loveth judgment and forsaketh not His saints: they are preserved forever” ( Psalm 37:28). “They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abideth forever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth even forever” ( <19C501> Psalm 125:1,2). “Even to your old age lam He, and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made and I will bear, even I will carry and deliver you” ( Isaiah 46:4). “For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from them, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee” ( Isaiah 54:10). “He shall confirm you unto the end” ( 1 Corinthians 1:8). “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee” ( Hebrews 13:5).
The same Divine protection unto everlasting bliss is confirmed by many assertory passages as well as promissory. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” ( Psalm 23:4). “I am continually with thee. Thou hast holden me with Thy right hand: thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory” ( Psalm 73:23,24). “The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom” ( 2 Timothy 4:18). “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us” ( 1 John 2:19).
God must forsake His integrity before He would abandon one of His people. But that cannot be: “faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it ” ( 1 Thessalonians 5:24). “The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you and keep you from evil” ( 2 Thessalonians 3:3).
They who affirm that any of God’s children will perish are guilty of the fearful sin of charging Him with perjury. 6. The gracious acts of God toward His people. These are of such a nature as insure their everlasting salvation. In addition to His acts of electing them, making a sure covenant with His Son on their behalf and the putting of them into His hands with all grace and glory for them, we may mention the adoption of them into His family. This is an inestimable blessing, little understood today. It is a sonship-in-law, God bestowing upon His elect the legal status of sons. This is “by Jesus Christ ” ( Ephesians 1:5): since Christ is Son of God essentially and the elect are united to Him, they are the sons-in-law of God. Christ as God-man was set up as the Prototype and we are modeled after Him. As a woman becomes a mandaughter-inlaw by his son’s betrothing himself to her, so we are sons-in-law unto God an inalienable legal title—as the term “adoption” plainly signifies—by marriage union. It is by their relation to the Son of God that the elect are the sons of God. It is not by faith they become sons, rather does faith manifest them to be such. “Because ye are sons (not to make us such), God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father” ( Galatians 4:6) “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God” ( 1 John 3:1).
From thence flows all our dignities and honors: “if sons (Greek) then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ ” ( Romans 8:17). Is Christ King and Priest, so also are we “kings and priests unto God and His Father ” ( Revelation 1:6). Is Christ Jehovah’s “Fellow ” ( Zechariah 13:7)? so are we Christ’s “fellows ” ( Psalm 45:7). Is Christ God’s “Firstborn ” ( Psalm 89:27)? so we read of “The Church of the firstborn ” ( Hebrews 12:22). Even now are we the sons of God, but “it doth not yet appear what we shall be, ” it is not yet made manifest before the universe, “but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him” ( 1 John 3:2).
And why are we so assured? Because “Whom God did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren” ( Romans 8:30).
Because God predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself “according to the good pleasure of His will ” ( Ephesians 1:5)—by sovereign grace and not because of anything of ours—nothing can possibly sever or annul this wondrous relationship.
The justification of God’s people. This is also a legal act. It takes place in the supreme court of Heaven, where God sits as the Judge of all the earth.
The believing sinner is measured by the holy Law and pronounced righteous. Of old the question was asked “But how shall man be just before God?” ( Job 9:2), for the Law requires nothing less than perfect and perpetual obedience, and pronounces him accursed who continues not in all that it enjoins ( Galatians 3:10). Had that question been left for solution to finite intelligence it had remained unsolved forever. How could God show mercy yet not abate one iota of what His justice requires. How could He treat with the guilty as though they were innocent? How could He righteously bestow the reward on those who merited it not? How could He pronounce righteous those who were unrighteous? Such a thing seems utterly impossible, nevertheless Divine omniscience has solved these problems, solved them without tarnishing His honor, yea unto His everlasting glory and to our everlasting admiration. It is the setting forth of this grand display of the Divine wisdom which constitutes the supreme blessedness of the Gospel.
According to the terms of the everlasting covenant Christ became the Sponsor of His people. “When the fullness of the time was come God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law” ( Galatians 4:4).
To the Law the incarnate Son rendered a complete and flawless obedience thereby magnifying and making it honorable ( Isaiah 42:21): the Divine dignity of His person bestowed more honor on the Law by His obedience thereto than it had been dishonored by all our manifold disobedience.
Having perfectly fulfilled the Law, Christ then suffered its curse in His peoples’ stead, thereby blotting Out their sins. That perfect obedience of Christ is reckoned to our account the moment we believe on Him, so that believers may say “The Lord our righteousness ” ( Jeremiah 23:6). On the ground of Christ’s righteousness legally becoming ours, God pronounces us justified ( Romans 3:24; 5:19; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
And therefore because it is “God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? ” ( Romans 8:33,34). Those justified by God can never be unjustified. The righteousness by which they are justified is an “everlasting” one ( Daniel 9:24), the sentence of exoneration passed upon them in the high court of Heaven can never be revoked by man or devil. They have a title to everlasting glory and cannot come into condemnation. 7. The death of Christ. When Adam, the federal head as well as the father of the human race, apostatized, the elect equally with the non-elect fell in him, and thus they are “by nature the children of wrath even as others ” ( Ephesians 2:3). From that dreadful and direful state they are recovered by the mediation of Christ and the operation of the Spirit, the latter being a fruit of the former. We have briefly touched upon the mediation of Christ in the two preceding paragraphs, but as this is of such vital concern to our present theme, it requires to be considered in more detail. A large field is here opened before us, but we can now take only a brief glance at it. Once again we would point out that what we are about to advance can have little weight with Arminians, who erroneously suppose that the mediatory work of Christ was general or universal in its character and design; but to those who have learned from Holy Writ that the redemption of Christ is definite and particular, a specific ransom for a specific people, there will be found here a sufficient answer to every accusation of Satan and an assurance which none of the tribulations of life can shake. “Who is he that condemneth? ” the apostle asks: “it is Christ that died ” is his triumphant reply ( Romans 8:34). The force of that reply turns upon the fact that Christ’s death is a substitutionary and atoning one. “For the transgression of My people was He stricken ” says God ( Isaiah 53:8). “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” ( 1 Peter 3:18). “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed” ( Isaiah 53:5).
Jehovah laid upon Christ the iniquities of His people ( Isaiah 53:6) and then cried “Awake O sword against My Shepherd and against the Man that is My Fellow, saith the Lord of hosts, smite the Shepherd” ( Zechariah 13:7).
On the cross Christ rendered to God a full satisfaction for the sins of all those whom the Father gave to Him. Being a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God “to make propitiation (Gk.) for the sins of the people ” ( Hebrews 2:13). Because Christ was made a curse for sin ( Galatians 3:13) nought but blessing is now our portion.
All for whom Christ died shall most certainly be saved, because He paid the full price of their redemption. As a surety stands in the room of the person he represents, the latter reaps the benefit of what the surety has done in his name, so that if his debt has been paid by the surety, the creditor can no more demand payment from him. Since Christ made full reparation to God’s Law, making complete atonement for the sins of His people, then it would be a flagrant violation of Divine justice if ever one of them should be punished for the same. Christ has purchased His people by His precious blood, then can we suppose that God will suffer His most avowed enemy to rob His Son of any of them? Were that to happen, the Redeemer’s name would be rendered meaningless, for God Himself said “thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins” ( Matthew 1:21).
Were that to happen, it could not be true that the Redeemer “shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied” ( Isaiah 53:10).
Since all the believer’s sins were laid upon Christ and atoned for, what is there that can possibly condemn him? and if there be nothing, how can he be cast into Hell? True, none can reach Heaven without persevering in holiness, but since the atonement of Christ possesses Divine virtue and is of everlasting efficacy, all for whom it was made must and shall persevere in holiness. God’s wrath against His people was exhausted upon their Substitute: the black cloud of His vengeance was emptied at Calvary. “When I think of my sin it seems impossible that any atonement should ever be adequate: but when I think of Christ’s death it seems impossible that any sin should ever need such an atonement as that.
There is in the death of Christ enough and more than enough.
There is not only a sea in which to drown our sins, but the very tops of the mountains of our guilt are covered” (C.H. Spurgeon).
Therefore is God able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto Him by Christ ( Hebrews 7:25), yea, even though they have sinned as did Manasseh or Saul of Tarsus.
Christ has removed everything which could cause separation between God and His people. First, He has taken away the guilt of their sins, that it shall never prevail with the Lord to turn from them. Christ hath “obtained eternal redemption ” ( Hebrews 9:12), for them: not a transient and unstable redemption, but an abiding and efficacious one. In consequence thereof God declares, “their sins and iniquities will I remember no more ” ( Hebrews 10:17). How could He do so, seeing that the Redeemer was to “make an end of sins ” ( Daniel 9:24)—as to the controversy of them between God and those for whom He died. Christ has so satisfied God’s justice and fulfilled His Law that no sentence of condemnation can be pronounced against them, and therefore they must infallibly be saved.
Second, as Christ removed that which alone might turn God from believers, so He has annulled that which might cause them to depart from God: neither indwelling sin, Satan or the world, can so prevail as to make them totally fall away. Christ has destroyed Satan’s right to rule over them ( Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 2:14), and He has abolished his power by “binding” him. ( Matthew 12:29), and therefore are we assured “sin shall not have dominion over you ” ( Romans 6:14)—how could it since the Holy Spirit Himself indwells us! “Since Christ bore our sins, and was condemned in our place; since by His expiatory death the claims of Divine justice are answered, and the holiness of the Divine Law is maintained, who can condemn those for whom He died? Oh, what security is this for the believer in Jesus! Standing beneath the shadow of the cross, the weakest saint can confront his deadliest foe; and every accusation alleged and every sentence of condemnation uttered, he can meet, by pointing to Him who died. In that one fact he sees the great debt cancelled, the entire curse removed, the grand indictment quashed and ‘No condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus’ are words written as in letters of living light upon the cross” (O. Winslow). 8. The resurrection of Christ. It seems strange that so many receive more comfort at the cross than they do at the empty grave of Christ, for Scripture itself hesitates not to say, “If Christ be not raised your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins” ( 1 Corinthians 15:17).
A dead Savior could not save: one who was himself vanquished by death would be powerless to deliver sin’s slaves. Here is one of the chief defects of Romanism—its deluded subjects are occupied with a lifeless Christ, worshippers of a crucifix. Nor are Protestant preachers above criticism in this matter, for only too often many of them omit the grandest part of the Evangel by going no further than Calvary. The glorious Gospel is not fully preached until we proclaim a risen and victorious Redeemer ( <461501> Corinthians 15:1-3; Acts 5:3 1). Christ was “delivered (up to death) for our offenses and was raised again for our justification” ( Romans 4:24), and as the apostle goes on to declare, “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” ( Romans 5:10).
What avail would it have been that Christ died for His people if death had conquered and overwhelmed Him? Had the grave held Him fast, He had been a prisoner still. But in rising from the tomb Christ made demonstration of His victory over sin and death: thereby He was “declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” ( Romans 1:4); “For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that He might be Lord both of the dead and living” ( Romans 14:9).
Christ’s sacrificial work was finished at the cross, but proof was needed of its Divine acceptance. That proof lay with Him who was pleased to “bruise Him and put Him in grief,” and by raising the Redeemer God furnished incontestable evidence that all His claims had been met. The death of Christ was the payment of my awful debt: His resurrection God’s receipt for the same; it was the public acknowledgement that the bond had been cancelled.
Christ’s resurrection sealed our justification: it was necessary to give reality to the atonement, and to provide a sure foundation for our faith and hope. Since God is satisfied, the trembling sinner may confide and securely repose upon the work of a triumphant Savior. “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again” ( Romans 8:34).
Here the resurrection of Christ is presented as the believer’s security against condemnation. But how does the former guarantee the latter?
There is a causal connection between the two things. First, because Christ rose again not simply as a private person but as the Surety, the Head and Representative of all His people. It has not been sufficiently recognized and emphasized that the Lord Jesus lived, died and rose again as “the Firstborn among many brethren.” As all whom the first Adam represented fell when he fell, died when he died, so all whom the last Adam represented died when He died and rose again when He arose. God “quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us up together” ( Ephesians 2:5,6). “Risen with Christ ” ( Colossians 3:1) is judicially true of every believer.
The Law can no more condemn him: he has been fully and finally delivered from the wrath to come. Infallibly certain and absolutely secure is he by virtue of his legal union with the risen Savior. “Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more: death hath no more dominion over Him ” ( Romans 6:9), nor overme, for His deliverance was mine, the second death cannot touch me.
Second, because there is a vital union between Christ and His people. Said the Lord Jesus, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth on Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die” ( John 11:25,26).
Nothing could possibly be plainer or more decisive than that. Spiritual resurrection makes the believer one with Him who is “alive for evermore” so that he is forever beyond the reach of death. Well then may we exclaim with the apostle, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” ( 1 Peter 1:3).
Regeneration or being begotten by God is the communication to the soul of the life of the risen Christ. A faint yet striking illustration of this is seen in our awakening each morning out of slumber. While our head sleeps, every member of the body sleeps with it. But the head awakes, and awakes first, and with that awakening each member awakens also—after the head, yet in union with it. Thus it is with the mystical Body of Christ the Head was first quickened, and then in God’s good time His life is imparted to each of His members, and before any member could perish the Head must die.
Third, because as Christ was our Surety here so He is our Representative on high, and as He endured our penalty so justice requires that we should enjoy His fullness. Accordingly we read, “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work, to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever, Amen” ( Hebrews 13:20,21).
Note well the coherence of this passage. It is in His character as “the God of peace” He thus acts. Having been pacified or propitiated, God brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, not as a private person but in His official character, as the “Shepherd,” and that, in fulfillment of covenant stipulation and promise. In consequence thereof, God makes perfect (or complete) in every good work the “sheep,” preserving and sanctifying them by working in them that which is well pleasing in His sight, and this “through Jesus Christ,” or in other words, by communicating to His members the grace, the life, the fullness, which is in their Head. 9. The Exaltation of Christ. There is a little clause, but one of vast purport, which the apostle added to “yea rather that is risen again,” namely, “who is even at the right hand of God” ( Romans 8:34).
That brief sentence is frequently overlooked, yet is it one which also guarantees the safety and perpetuity of the Church. The ascension of Christ is as vital and cardinal a part of the Truth as is His death and resurrection, and provides the same rich food for faith to feed upon. As it was not possible for death to hold Him, so it was not fitting for the earth to retain Christ. He who humbled Himself and became obedient unto death has been “highly exalted and given a name which is above every name ( Philippians 2:9).
The head which once was crowned with thorns is crowned with glory now, a royal diadem adorns the mighty Victor’s brow. Christ is now in heaven as an everlasting Mediator, as a glorified High Priest over the House of God, as the sceptred King ruling with sovereign sway all things in heaven and earth, angels and principalities and powers being made subject to Him ( 1 Peter 3:22). And Christ is entered heaven in our nature, in our name, on our behalf.
The One who descended into the deepest depth has been elevated to the grandest glory. The crowning act of Christ’s triumph was not when He issued forth a Victor from the tomb, but when He entered the courts of celestial bliss, when the everlasting doors lifted up their heads and the King of glory went in ( Psalm 24:9). The raising of Christ was in order to His glorification. And it was in our nature He is exalted above all: the very hands which were nailed to the cross now wield the scepter of universal dominion. How well fitted then is such an One to succor and “save unto the uttermost!” As faith follows the descent of the Father’s Beloved to Bethlehem’s manger, to Golgotha, to the sepulcher, so let it follow Him to the loftiest heights of dignity and bliss. This “same Jesus ” who was rejected and degraded by Jew and Gentile alike has been “crowned with honor and glory ” ( Hebrews 2:9). The exaltation of Christ was a necessary part of His Mediatorship, for it is from on high He administers His kingdom and makes effectual application of redemption. The ascension of Christ is also an essential part of the gospel. “Who is even at the right hand of God. ” First, this is the place of honor and dignity. When Bathsheba appeared before Solomon we are told that the king rose up to meet her and bowed himself unto his mother, and sitting down on this throne he caused a seat to be set for her “on his right hand ” ( 1 Kings 2:19) as a mark of special favor and honor. After the royal proclamation concerning Christ “Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness: therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows; all Thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia, out of the ivory palaces whereby they have made Thee glad,” it is added, “Kings’ daughters were among Thy honorable women: upon Thy right hand did stand the Queen in gold of Ophir” ( Psalm 45:7-9), indicating the place of privilege and honor which is reserved for the Lamb’s wife. “The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob (God of covenant relationship), the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus ” ( Acts 3:13)—this was His mediatorial glory in answer to His prayer in John 17:5. Christ has “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high ” ( Hebrews 1:3).
Second, the “right hand of God” is the place of supreme authority and power. As we read in Exodus 15:6 “Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power.” “And set Him at His own right hand in the heavenlies: far above all principality and power, and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all” ( Ephesians 1:20-23).

Our Surety, then, was not only delivered from prison but exalted to universal dominion, “all power in heaven and in earth ” being conferred upon Him. Then how well suited is He to fight our battles, subdue our iniquities and supply our every need! Christ has been elevated high above all ranks of creatures, however exalted in the scale of being or whatever their titles and dignities, and all have been placed in absolute subjection to Him, as “under His feet ” signifies. Thus the entire universe is under His control ( “upholding all things by the word of His power ”: Hebrews 1:3) for the wellbeing of His people, so that no weapon formed against them can prosper. No wonder it is required “that all should honor the Son even as they honor the Father” ( John 5:23).
Third, it is the place of all blessedness. Our bounties and benevolences are distributed by our “right hand ” ( Matthew 6:3). “At Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore ” ( Psalm 16:11)—one of the great Messianic Psalms. “It is spoken assuredly of such pleasures as Jesus Christ by way of prerogative enjoyeth beyond all the saints and angels, He being at God’s right hand so as none of them are. It was the peculiar encouragement that Jesus Christ had, not to be in Heaven only as a common saint, but to be in Heaven at God’s right hand; and to have pleasures answerable, far above all the pleasures of men and angels...God doth communicate and impart to Him to the utmost all His felicity, so far forth as that human nature is capable of” (Thomas Goodwin), Thus in the “joy” that was set before Him ( Hebrews 12:2) Christ has the “preeminence” as in all things else. In accord with this third meaning of the expression, Christ will “set the sheep on His right hand” saying to them “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” ( Matthew 25:34).

Fourth, this setting of Christ at the right hand of the Majesty on high denotes the endowing His humanity with capacity and ability accordant with the exalted dignity conferred upon Him. It was not like an earthly king advancing his favorite to high honor, or even elevating his son to share his throne, but that God bestowed upon Christ superlative endowments (anointing Him with the oil of gladness “above His fellows,” i.e. giving to Him the Spirit “without measure”), fitting Him to discharge such an office.
This is clear from the immediate context of Ephesians 1:21, where prayer is made that we may understand God’s “mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenlies ” (vv. 19, 20). This fitting of Christ for His exalted position appears in Revelation 5. There a mysterious book is held forth, but none either in heaven or earth was found worthy to open it till the Lamb appeared. And wherein lay His fitness? The Lamb as it had been slain, possessed “seven horns and seven eyes ” (v. 6)—perfect power and perfect intelligence. “Who is even at the right hand of God. ” Here then is a further guarantee of the safety and perpetuity of the Church, and O what consolation and encouragement should it afford the tried and trembling believer. He went up “with a shout ” ( Psalm 47:5)—of conquest, leading captivity captive. His being seated in heaven is proof that His work is finished and His sacrifice accepted ( Hebrews 10:11,12). It was as the Head and Representative of His people Christ entered Heaven to take possession for them: “whither the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus” ( Hebrews 6:20).
It is in our nature and name He had gone there, to “prepare a place ” for us. ( John 14:2). Thus we have a Friend at Court, for “if any one sin we have an Advocate with the Father ” ( 1 John 2:1). His great authority, power, dominion and glory is being exercised on our behalf. The government of the universe is on His shoulder, for the wellbeing, security and triumph of His Church. Hallelujah, what a Savior! God has laid our help “upon One that is mighty ” ( Psalm 89:19). 10. Christ’s Intercession. “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” ( Romans 8:34).
Here is the grand climax. First, Christ made a complete atonement for the sins of His people. Next He rose from the dead in proof that His sacrifice was accepted by God. Then He was advanced to the place of supreme honor and power in reward of His undertaking. And now He sues out or asks for His people the benefits He purchased for them. The inexpressible blessedness of this appears in the above order. How many who have been suddenly elevated from poverty to wealth, from ignominy to honor, from weakness to power, promptly forget their former associates and friends.
Not so the Lord Jesus. Though exalted to inconceivable dignity and dominion, though crowned with unrivalled honor and glory, yet this made no difference in the affections of Christ toward His people left here in this world. His love for them is unabated, His care of and concern for His Church undiminished. The good will of the Savior unto His own remains unchanged.
The ascended Christ is not wrapped up in His own enthronement, but is still occupied with the wellbeing of His people, maintaining their interests, seeking their good: “He ever liveth to make intercession for them ” ( Hebrews 7:25). He knows they are weak and helpless in themselves, and are surrounded by those desiring and seeking their destruction, and therefore does He pray, “I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee, holy Father, keep through Thine own Name those whom Thou hast given Me” ( John 17:11); and He bases that request on the finished work by which He glorified God (v. 4). The plea which our great High Priest urges cannot rest upon our merit, for we have none; it is not in recognition of our worthiness, for we are destitute of such. Nor does our wretchedness furnish the reason which the Intercessor urges on our behalf, for that very wretchedness has been brought upon us by our sins. There are no considerations personal to ourselves which Christ can plead on our behalf. No, His all-sufficient sacrifice is the alone plea, and that must prevail. Christ intercedes in Heaven because He died for us on earth ( Hebrews 9:24-6).
If left entirely to themselves believers would perish. Temptations and tribulations from without and corruptions from within would prove too strong for them, and therefore does Christ make intercession on their behalf, that God would grant them such supplies of grace and pardoning mercy that they will be preserved from total apostasy. It is not that He prays they may be kept from sin absolutely, but from a fatal and final departure from God. This is evident from the case of the eleven on the night of His betrayal: not one only but all of them “forsook Him and fled ” ( Matthew 26:56). It was the prevalency of His intercession which brought them back again. That was made more especially evident in the case of Peter. The Lord Jesus foresaw and announced that he would deny Him thrice (and lower than that it would seem a Christian cannot fall), yet He prayed that his faith should fail not: not did it—it wrought by love and produced repentance.
That for which our great High Priest particularly asks is the continuance of our believing. Arminians seek to evade this by saying: Christ prays not for the perseverance of the saints in their faith, or that they who once believed should never cease from believing however wicked they may become, but only for saints while they continue saints; that is, as long as they continue in faith and love God will not reject them. But the very thing Christ does pray for is “that thy faith fail not ” ( Luke 22:32): for the continuance of a living faith, for where that is, there will be good works. And that for which Christ asks must be performed: not only because He is the Son of God (and therefore could ask for nothing contrary to the Father’s will), but because His intercession is based upon His sacrifice: He pleads His own merits and sues only for those things which He has purchased for His people—the things to which they are entitled.
That for which Christ intercedes is clearly revealed in John 17: it is for the preservation, unification, sanctification and glorification of His people. The substance of His petitions is found in verse 11, where (in effect) He says:
Holy Father, Thou art concerned for each of these persons and hast been viewing them with unspeakable satisfaction from everlasting: Thou gayest them Me as a special expression of Thy love: My heart is set upon them and My soul delighteth in them because they are Mine by Thy free donation. As I am going to leave them behind Me and they are weak and defenceless in themselves, exposed to many enemies and temptations, I pray Thee keep them. Let them have the person of the Holy Spirit to indwell them: let Him renew their spiritual life and graces day by day: let Him preserve them in Thy sacred Truth. That prayer will be fully answered when Christ will “present the Church to Himself a glorious Church ” ( Ephesians 5:27). 11. The love of Christ. Ah, what pen is capable of expatiating upon such a theme when even the chief of the apostles was obliged to own that it “passeth knowledge ” ( Ephesians 3:19). Such was His wondrous love that in order to save His people the Son of God left Heaven for earth, laid aside the robes of His glory and took upon Him the form of a Servant.
Such was His wondrous love that He voluntarily became the homeless Stranger here, having not where to lay His head. Such was His wondrous love that He shrank not from being despised and rejected of men, suffering Himself to be spat upon, buffeted and His hair plucked out. Yea, such was His wondrous love for His Church that He endured the cross, where He was made a curse for her, where the wrath of a sin-hating God was poured upon Him, so that for a season He was actually abandoned by Him. Truly His love is “strong as death....many waters cannot quench it, neither can the floods drown it” ( Song of Solomon 8:6, 7).
Mark how that love was tried and proved by the unkind response it met with from the most favored of His disciples. So little did they lay to heart His solemn announcement that He was about to be delivered into the hands of men and be slain by them, they “disputed among themselves who should be the greatest ” ( Mark 9:31,34). When the awful cup of woe was presented to Him in Gethsemane and His agony was so intense that He sweat great drops of blood the apostles were unable to watch with Him for a single hour. When His enemies, accompanied by a great rabble armed with swords and staves, came to arrest Him, “all the disciples forsook Him and fled ” ( Matthew 26:56)—and had writer and reader been in their place we had done no otherwise. Did such base ingratitude freeze the Savior’s affection for them and cause Him to abandon their cause? No indeed; “having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end” ( John 13:1) —to the end of their unworthiness and unappreciativeness.
Ah my reader, His people are the objects of Christ’s everlasting love.
Before ever the earth was His delights were with them ( Proverbs 8:3 1) and have continued ever since. As the Father hath loved Christ Himself, so Christ loves His people ( John 15:9)—with a love that is infinite, immutable, eternal. Nothing can separate us from it ( Romans 8:35).
Those whom He loves are the special portion and inheritance given to Him by the Father, and will He lose His portion when it is in His power to keep it? No, He will not: “they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels” ( Malachi 3:17).
When they were given to Him by the Father it was with the express charge “that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day” ( John 6:39), and therefore do we find Him saying to the Father, “those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost but (not ‘except’) the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled” ( John 17:12), and he was a devil from the beginning.
Consider well the various relations which believers sustain to Christ. They are the mystical Body of which He is the Head: “members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones ” ( Ephesians 5:30). They are “the fullness of Him that filleth all in all ” ( Ephesians 1:23) and thus He would be incomplete, mutilated, if one of them perished. They are laid upon Him as a “foundation” that is “sure” ( Isaiah 28:16), built upon Him as a “rock” against which “the gates of hell shall not prevail ” ( Matthew 16:18).
They are His “redeemed,” bought with a price, purchased at the cost of His life’s blood, then how must He regard them! Consider well the terms of endearment used of them. Christians are “of the travail of His soul ” ( Isaiah 53:11). They are His “brethren ” ( Romans 8:29), His ‘fellows ” ( Psalm 45:7), His “wife ” ( Revelation 19:7). They are set as a seal upon His heart ( Song of Solomon 8:6), engraved in the palms of His hands ( Isaiah 49:16). They are His “crown of glory” and “royal diadem” ( Isaiah 62:3). Since they are so precious in His sight He will not suffer one to perish. 12. The gift of the Holy Spirit. In contemplating the person and work of the Spirit in the economy of redemption we must needs view Him in connection with the everlasting covenant and the mediation of Christ. The descent of the Spirit is inseparably related to what has been before us in the previous sections. When the Savior ascended on high He “received gifts for men, yea for the rebellious also ” ( Psalm 68:18), and as His exaltation was in reward for His triumphant undertaking, so also were those “gifts,” chiefest of which was the Holy Spirit ( Acts 2:33). As Christ is the unspeakable gift of the Father unto us, so the Holy Spirit is the supreme gift of Christ to His people. Since Christ is Man as well as God, it is required of Him that He make request for whatever He receives at the hands of the Father: “Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen (the Gentiles) for Thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession” ( Psalm 2:8). “I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever” ( John 14:16).
The redemptive work of Christ merited the Spirit for His people. The Spirit was given to Christ in consequence of His having so superlatively glorified God on the earth and in answer to His intercession. It is due to His praying that the Holy Spirit not only renews the regenerate day by day, but that He first brought them from death unto life. This is intimated in the ‘for the rebellious also ” of Psalm 68:18—even while they were in a state of alienation from God. The dispensing of the Spirit is in the hands of the exalted Christ, therefore is He spoken of as “He that hath the seven Spirits of God ” ( Revelation 3:1) — the Holy Spirit in the fullness or plenitude of His gifts. To His immediate care is now committed the elect of God. As Christ preserved them during the days of His earthly sojourn ( John 17:12), so the Spirit safeguards them while He is on high. This is clearly intimated in John 14:3 where the Lord Jesus declares “I will come again and receive (not “take”) you unto Myself, that where lam there ye may be also” —they will be handed back to Him by the blessed Spirit. 13. The indwelling of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit was purchased for His people by the oblation of Christ and is bestowed upon them through His intercession, to abide with them forever. The manner in which He abides with those on whom He is bestowed is by a gracious indwelling. “God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of sons (that is, that we might have conferred upon us the legal status of sonship).
And because ye are sons (by virtue of legal oneness with the Son), God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts” ( Galatians 4:4-6).
What a marvelous yet mysterious thing this is: that the third Person of the Trinity should take up His abode within fallen creatures! It is not merely that the influences or graces of the Spirit are communicated to us, but that He Himself dwells within us: not in our minds (though they are illumined by Him) but in our hearts—the center of our beings, from which are “the issues of life ” ( Proverbs 4:23).
This was the grand promise of God in the Covenant: “I will put My Spirit within you ” ( Ezekiel 36:27 and cf. 37:14), the fulfillment of which our Surety obtained for us— “being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He hath shed forth this” ( Acts 2:33), for the dispensing of Him is now in the hands of Christ as we have pointed Out above. Thus it is that the inhabitation of the Spirit is the distinguishing mark of the regenerate: “But ye are not in the flesh (as to your legal standing before God) but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” ( Romans 8:9).
It is the indwelling of the Spirit of God which identifies the Christian, and thus He is called “the Spirit of Christ” because He occupies the believer with Christ and conforms him to His image. The apprehension of this wondrous fact exerts a sobering influence upon the believer, causing him to “possess his vessel in sanctification and honor,” “What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?” ( 1 Corinthians 6:19).
Now the Spirit takes up His residence in the saints not for a season only but never to leave them. “This is My covenant with them, saith the Lord (unto the Redeemer, see 5:20), My Spirit that is upon Thee and My word which I have put in Thy mouth shall not depart out of Thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of Thy seed, nor out of the mouth of Thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever” ( Isaiah 59:21): that was a solemn promise of the Father unto the Mediator that the Spirit should continue forever with the Redeemer and the redeemed. The blessed Spirit comes not as a transient Visitor but as a permanent Guest of the soul: “And I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever” ( John 14:16).
Since then the Spirit takes up His abode in the renewed soul forever, how certain it is that he will be preserved from apostasy. This will be the more evident from our next division, when it will appear that the Spirit is a powerful, active and sanctifying Agent with the Christian. 14. The operations of the Spirit. These are summed up in “He which hath begun a good work in you will finish it” ( Philippians 1:6).
The reference is to our regeneration, completed in our sanctification, preservation and glorification. First He imparts spiritual life to one who is dead in trespasses and sins and then He sustains and maintains that life by nourishing it and calling it forth into exercise and act, so that it becomes fruitful and abounds in good works. Every growth of spirituality is the work of the Holy Spirit: as the green blade was His so is the ripening corn.
The increase of life, as much as the beginning thereof, must still come by the gracious power of the Spirit of God. We never have more life or even know we need more or groan after it, except as He works in us to desire and agonize after it. Were the Spirit totally withdrawn from the Christian he would soon lapse back into spiritual death. But thank God there is no possibility of any such dire calamity: every born-again soul has the infallible guarantee “the Lord will perfect that which concerneth me” ( <19D808> Psalm 138:8).
Let us now consider more particularly some eminent acts of the Spirit in the believer and effects of His grace exercised in them. He empowers and moves them unto obedience: “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and ye shall keep My judgments and do them” ( Ezekiel 36:27).

The two things are inseparable: an indwelling Spirit and holy conduct from those indwelt. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God” ( Romans 8:14).
The Spirit guides into the paths of righteousness by a blessed combination of invincible power and gentle suasion: not forcing us against our wills, but sweetly constraining us. He directs the activities of the Christian by enlightening his understanding, warming his affections, stimulating his holy inclinations and moving his will to do that which is pleasing unto God. In this way is that divine promise fulfilled, “I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go” ( Isaiah 48:17), and thus is his prayer answered “Order my steps in Thy Word ” ( <19B9133> Psalm 119:133).
By His gracious indwelling the Spirit affords the saints supportment: “likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities” ( Romans 8:26).
If the believer were left to himself he would never see (by faith) the all-wise hand of God in his afflictions, still less would his heart ever honestly say concerning them, “Thy will be done.” If left to himself the believer would never seek grace to patiently endure chastisement, still less cherish the hope that afterward it would “yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness ” ( Hebrews 12:11). No, rather would he chafe and kick like “a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke ” ( Jeremiah 31:18) and yield to the vile temptation to “curse God and die ” ( Job 2:9). If the believer were left to himself he would never have the assurance that his acutest sufferings were among the all things which work together for his ultimate good, still less would he glory in his infirmity that the power of Christ might rest upon him ( 2 Corinthians 12:9). No, such holy exercises of heart are not the products of fallen human nature: instead they are the immediate, gracious, lovely fruits of the Spirit, brought forth in such uncongenial soil.
By His gracious indwelling the Spirit energies the believer: “strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man” ( Ephesians 3:16).
This is manifested in many directions. How often He exerts upon the believer a restraining influence, subduing the lusts of the flesh and holding him back from a course of folly by causing a solemn awe to fall upon him: “the fear of the Lord is to depart from evil, ” and the Spirit is the Author of that holy fear. “That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Spirit which dwelleth in us” ( 2 Timothy 1:14) —He is the one who oils the wheels of the saint’s obedience. “For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith” ( Galatians 5:5) otherwise the deferring of our hope would cause the soul to utterly pine away. Hence we find the Spouse praying to the Spirit for invigoration and fructification, “Awake O north wind, and come thou south; blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out” ( Song of Solomon 4:16).
The graces which the indwelling Spirit produces are durable and lasting, particularly the three cardinal ones: “now abideth faith, hope, love ” ( Corinthians 13:13). Faith is that grace which is “much more precious than of gold that perisheth ” ( 1 Peter 1:7)—it is its imperishability which constitutes its superior excellency. It is “of the operation of God ” ( Colossians 2:12) and we know that whatsoever is of Him “it shall be forever ” ( Ecclesiastes 3:14), Christ praying that it “fail not,” and therefore no matter how severely it shall be tested its possessor can declare “though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him” ( Job 13:15).
The hope of the Christian is “as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast,” for it is cast on Christ the foundation, from whence it can never be removed ( Hebrews 6:18,19). As to the believer’s love, though its initial ardor may be cooled yet it cannot be quenched, though first love any be “left” it cannot be lost. Under the darkest times Christ is still the object of his love, as the cases of the Church in Song of Solomon 3:1-3 and of Peter ( John 21:17) evidence. 15. The relations which the Holy Spirit sustains to the Christian. In Ephesians 1:14 He is designated “the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession” (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:22).

Now an “earnest” is part payment assuring the full reward in due season: it is more than a pledge, being an actual portion and token of that which is promised. If the inheritance were precarious, suspended on conditions of uncertain performance, the Spirit could not in truth or propriety be termed the earnest thereof. If an “earnest” is a guaranty among men, much more so between God and His people. He is also “the firstfruits ” of glorification unto the believer ( Romans 8:23), an antepast of Heaven, the initial beams of the rising sun of eternal bliss in the Christian’s soul. He is also the “anointing” which we have received from Christ (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:21) and this “abideth” in us ( 1 John 2:17). Again, He is the believer’s seal: “grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” ( Ephesians 4:30), that is, until their bodies are delivered from the grave. Among other purposes a “seal” is to secure: can then the treasure which the Spirit guards be lost? No: as Christ was “sealed” ( John 6:27) and in consequence “upheld” by the Spirit so that He failed not ( Isaiah 42:1,4), so is the believer. It is impossible for any saint to perish.

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