Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: John 6:37-39 | Date: May 5, 2013 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

We began the series, you recall, with the study of total depravity, that is, looking into the subject of what Scripture says about the condition of man in his natural state. Every one of us, we saw, was born bound in sin, with a preference to sin, alienated from God, and not really wanting it otherwise. And so, left to ourselves, we were unanimously rejecting God. We saw then that God in grace did not leave us to ourselves, but He determined that He would save the world. And He would choose for Himself men and women from every tribe and nation and kindred and tongue under heaven, and thereby reclaim the rebellious world that had rejected Him. And so we saw the doctrine of election.

To accomplish the salvation that He had determined to give to His people, He sent His Son on a mission of mercy, a mission of redemption. And Christ the Son came and assumed to Himself all the responsibility for all of the sins of all of His people. And He took the punishment and the curse of our sin on the cross, thereby securing our salvation and removing every obstacle between us and God. To bring that salvation which Christ accomplished in His death into the experience of all of His people, He then sent His Spirit to work in us the benefits of Christ’s work, bringing us into union with Christ by faith.

We then are brought to experience this salvation, bringing us to faith, bringing us to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, as we saw last week, so that we come willingly. Whereas before we were rejecting Christ because of our inner depravity, we now come running to Christ in faith because our hearts have been opened to see the beauty and the value and the glory of the Lord Jesus. And now this morning we come to look at the subject of salvation completed.

We saw in the first point the need for salvation. We saw in the second point, unconditional election, salvation planned. We saw in the third point, salvation accomplished. We saw in the fourth point, salvation applied. And now, salvation complete.

Salvation Complete

I think it’d be helpful to start simply by reminding us there’s a sense in which we are not yet saved. Now, this will shock you. There’s a sense in which we are not yet saved. Now, we say we have been saved, and the Bible affirms that, and we can talk like that. But there’s another sense in which we have to say we are not yet saved. For example, the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 13:11, “now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed.” Well, you know immediately what that means. We have been saved, we have been rescued from our sin, but that salvation is not yet complete. We’ve not received the full benefits of it yet. It is still to come. And so we have other statements like in Hebrews 9:28, that Christ will appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

So there’s a sense in which we are not yet saved. And so the question that we deal with this morning is simply, will we make it? Will we get that far? Or might we fall away? Might we sin away our privileges? Might we finally stray so far from Christ so as to be condemned? Maybe some clever false teacher will come along and so confuse us as to draw us away from faith in Christ. Or, for that matter, our archenemy Satan himself. He’s certainly more powerful than we are, more subtle than we are. Maybe he will somehow lure us away and take us away from Christ. Besides all of that, what about our own weaknesses, our own tendencies to sin? We all recognize the remaining sin that is in us, and that is why we say we are not yet saved.

So given these weaknesses and our proclivity to sin, might we just stray away finally and lose it all? How will that salvation which Christ secured on the cross for His sheep ever come to fruition? Will we make it? How will we make it? And how can we know that we will make it? That’s the question that we deal with in this doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.

Definition Of The Perseverance Of The Saints

So let me start with definition again. When we say the perseverance of the saints, we mean simply that the saints—now don’t think of that in Roman Catholic terms. A saint in the Roman Catholic theology is one who lived and died and is so many years dead and has performed so many miracles in his lifetime that have been confirmed and now has been canonized, and he is a saint. A saint in biblical usage is every believer. Everyone who comes to Christ is set apart unto Christ and therefore sanctified, or sainted, if you will. You may address me if you like, Saint Fred.

So the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is simply that all of the saints—all of those who are set apart by the Spirit of God to the benefits of Christ’s saving work—will persevere and continue in faith until they reach their glorification in Christ. All of the saints will persevere in faith until they reach glorification in Christ. Put another way, all of those who have been chosen for eternal life will have it. Or put another way, those for whom Christ died will be saved. Or to put another way, those who have been brought to faith will persevere in faith all the way to glory.

God does not bring a man to salvation and then abandon him to his sins. God does not bring a man to salvation and abandon him to himself. My dad used to say it this way. I always thought it was so helpful: “It is called salvation, not probation.” God does not bring us to faith in Christ to save us, only to abandon us to ourselves and to our potential unbelief and sins. Rather, God delivers us from the dominion of sin so that we will not be so taken up by our sins as to be brought into condemnation. And in fact, God does not abandon us in our sin. God does not save us, and He does not keep us because of anything about us. He saves us and keeps us according to His own purpose, His own grace, and His own power. And by that same power that He saves us, then He will keep us.

So the perseverance of the saints is that all of those who come to faith, come to Christ in faith, will be preserved in Christ forever. They will not fall away so as finally to be condemned. Now, a couple of ideas here that need to be clarified. Two ideas are prominent in this. One, the idea of preservation. We are preserved in grace. The idea of keeping, guarding, protecting—the idea of preservation. But the other idea that goes with this doctrine is the idea of perseverance. That is, not only are we preserved, but we, the saints, persevere. We continue in faith and press on in following Christ.

Now, that does not mean, and I should clarify this, that does not mean that all who profess salvation are safe in Christ forever. Not all who profess faith in Christ are safe in Christ forever. There is such a thing as a spurious faith, a wrong faith, a faith that is not genuine saving faith. And so we believe very emphatically and firmly: once saved, always saved. But that does not mean that once he says he has believed, he is always saved. There are other distinctions, and we’ll see just a little of that as we go along. But not everyone who professes faith in Christ—it does not mean they’re necessarily in Christ. Stating the issue again quickly: those who are brought to Christ in faith will persevere in Christ and in faith forever. Let me say it this way: we agree that the saints must persevere. We agree with that. Saints must persevere. But we also affirm that the true saints will persevere.

Biblical Statements

Now let’s look at some biblical statements of that. This passage here, I decided to begin with this. We’ve seen this passage already several times in this series: John 6. Jesus is offering Himself as the bread of life for the world. And He gives the promise in verse 35, “You come to Me, you will never hunger. You believe in Me, you will never thirst.” The entire satisfaction that comes in trusting Jesus. But of course, they would not believe, verse 36. And so Jesus says in verse 37, “all that the Father gives Me”—that is His chosen ones—”all of those have been given Me by the Father. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me. They will come. And whoever comes to Me, I will never cast out.”

And it’s clear here that Jesus is not simply saying, those who come to Me, I won’t disallow them from coming. He’s speaking in the long term. Those who come to Me, I’ll never let them go. I’ll keep them forever. It’s a simple statement of Christ’s reception of those who come and His keeping of those who come, or the final perseverance of all of God’s chosen people. If there’s any question as to what He means here, look, read on in the passage. He says, “I have not come, I’ve come down from heaven,” verse 38, “I’ve come down from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me. What? That I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but raise it up on the last day.” He’s speaking of the final salvation of God’s people. This is the will of the Father that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day. All of them will make it to the resurrection of the just.

Turn over a couple of pages to John chapter 10. We’ll see where Jesus emphasizes this again. John 10. I love this passage for many reasons, not least because of this doctrine that’s taught here. We’ll begin with verse 24. So the Jews gathered around Him and said to Him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you’re the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, you don’t believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name bear witness about Me, but you do not believe because you are not My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

Now we have in the beginning of verse 28 a clear promise of our eternal safety in Christ. “I give them eternal life.” Now, when we read this expression, “eternal life,” we often think in terms of endless existence, endless life. And I think that’s entailed in it, but that’s not the full significance of this term in the Scripture. Everywhere in the Scripture, this expression, “eternal life,” is the life that is associated with the end time, the life of the resurrection. Can I use the big word? Eschatological life. And one of the great significances of the salvation that Jesus gives, He says, “I bring that life into the experience now.” Ahead of time, the life of the age to come has been brought into the experience of My sheep. The ones who come to Me receive already eternal life. Jesus deals with this in John chapter 5 as well. They’ve passed already from death unto life. They’ve already made that pass from death unto life because I’ve given them eternal life. And so they shall not come into judgment, Jesus says. Why? Because they’ve passed from death unto life. They’ve already received the life of the age to come.

So on one level, it’s not a question of whether or not we will make it. We may say in one sense, I’m already there. I have the life of the age to come already. He gives us eternal life. Well, notice how He expands on that in verse 28. “I give them eternal life and they will never perish.” I don’t know how it could be more explicit. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. That is, when He saves, He really saves. He doesn’t put them on probation. He doesn’t say, “I’ll save you until you…” “I’ll save you, but if you do whatever, fill in the blank, I’m going to let you go.” He says, “I save and I save forever and My people will never perish.”

Keep reading verse 28 at the end of the verse. “And no one will snatch them out of My hands. My Father who’s given them to Me, He’s greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” Here He’s viewing the whole thing specifically from the standpoint of protection, shelter, safety, security. Those that are given to the Son come to the Son. They hear His voice, and they come in faith. And having come, they are kept. And they will never perish. And they will not perish precisely because Christ says, “I hold them in My hand.” Not only that, the Father, who’s greater than all, holds them in His hand, too. They could never perish.

The whole atmosphere of all of this is that these sheep are Mine. And because they are Mine, no one else will ever have them. I will never let them go. I keep them for Myself. No false teacher will ever come along and lead them away so far that they reject Me. They won’t listen to them. My sheep hear My voice, and they come to Me, and I keep them, and they will never perish. No church, no priest, no pastor can ever declare them to be outside the bounds of grace. These sheep are Mine.

And you’ll notice the focus here. It’s an important point that’s reemphasized everywhere on this subject. The emphasis is not on the sheep themselves. He is not saying here, “My sheep, My people, oh, they’re the kinds of people that got true grit. They’ll hang in there. And they are so tough, they will work it out because of their goodness, because of their inherent strength,” or anything like that. He makes no kind of claim like that about His sheep at all. He simply says, categorically, they will never perish.

Well, aren’t they weak? Yes, they’re weak. But they will never perish. Not one of them will miss heaven. Well, might they not fall into sin? Yes, they will. But they will never perish. Well, what about Satan? He’s stronger than any of us. Yes, that’s right. But he’s not stronger than Jesus. And Jesus says, “I have My sheep in My hand, and no one can snatch them away.” More than that, God the Father has them in His hand, and no one will snatch them away from the triune God. And if you’d like to add to it Paul’s expression, they’re sealed with the Spirit as well. This is a work of the triune God to keep those who have come to Christ in saving faith.

As I love to sing, “The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes. That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.” What Jesus is saying here is what Paul summarizes later in Colossians: our life is hid with Christ in God. Now, it has often been argued that this doctrine of the security or the safety of the believer, even if it is true, should never be preached to the lost. And you have to be careful how you preach even to those who are saved, because you know what it’s going to do. It’s going to give them a license to sin. And they’re going to think, “Well, I’m safe forever. I can go do what I want and sin.” And evidently, Jesus hadn’t heard about that, because you see, Jesus not only proclaims this to the lost, He proclaims this boldly to His enemies. He even boasts of it. This is the way I save My people. I come, I call, they come to Me in faith, and I keep them forever.

Let’s go to Romans chapter 8, a passage that we saw earlier this morning. Romans chapter 8. It would be tough to look at this subject without turning to this passage at least for a minute. Romans chapter 8, beginning with verse 28. “We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. To those who are called according to His purpose.” For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. Now here He’s expanding on what He means at the end of verse 28 when He speaks of being called according to His purpose. What is the purpose of God according to which we were called? Well, He explains, verse 29, “those whom He foreknew He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” And we are already going to ask, could God’s eternal purpose ever be frustrated and fail?

Verse 30, “those whom He predestined, He called. And those whom He called, justified, and those whom He justified are glorified.” Moving on, verse 32, as we saw, “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” Alright, let’s follow His reasoning so far. God has set His love on those whom He would save, and so He predestined the eternal outcome of it. Way ahead of time, in eternity past, this purpose of God was set in place where He set the eternal outcome for those whom He had chosen. And He’s got this grand eternal purpose. At the very beginning, He predestined, set the goal for those whom He would save. He predestined them. Having predestined them, in time He called them to faith in Jesus. And they believed. They heard the voice of Christ. And having believed, He justified them. Those whom He predestined, He called. Those whom He called, He justified. And those whom He justified, He glorified.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we can work it backwards and ask the question, who are those who will be glorified in the end? Answer: it’s those who are justified. Same group. Who are those who are justified? It’s the ones who are called. And who are the ones who are called? It’s those who are predestined and foreknown by God. And now He asks in verse 32, God in working out that purpose sent His Son for them, and they bore the curse of their sin. Having given them His Son, could you imagine Him possibly withholding anything else? Having given them His Son to bear the curse of their sin, could He ever withhold forgiveness, sanctification, justification, glorification? Those for whom Christ died receive all of the attending benefits. Having given them His Son, they must be finally saved.

And so, verse 34, how is it we could ever be condemned? Christ has died for us. None for whom Christ died can ever be condemned. And so in verse 35, He raises the question, “Who shall separate us from the love of God, from the love of Christ?” And then, almost defiantly, he searches for possible contenders. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake, we are being killed all day long. We’re regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No. In all these things, we are more than conquerors.” I’m not quite sure what that word means, “more than conquerors.” I understand what it is to conquer. What is more than conquer? Not real sure, except that we’re going to win big. That’s the idea. “I am sure that in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that”—and let’s rule out some more—”neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, and in case I’ve left anything out, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God has set an eternal purpose. From eternity past, He determined that He would save His people. He has sent His Son for them. He’s drawn them, calling them effectually to faith in Christ. And He will save them to the very end. And nothing can interfere.

Well, we don’t have time to look at all of these verses. For those of you taking notes, if you would like, you can write down 1 Corinthians 1:8, where Paul says, “He has confirmed you to the end blameless.” Let’s do take the time to look at Philippians chapter 1. Philippians 1:6, “I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” He who began a good work in you. What’s that? Well, let’s go back to eternity past. That’s election, predestination. It certainly entails the death of Christ. It includes regeneration, effectual calling. All right, He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. What’s the completion of the work include? Certainly sanctification, perseverance, glorification. And how long will this continue? He’ll bring it to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. That sound like judgment terms? The day that we stand in judgment before God, this work will continue. And He will preserve. Having begun a good work will bring it to completion.

This is God’s work. And that’s Paul’s point here. We should understand that. Again, the idea is that God is at work. God, having begun a good work, will perfect it. God doesn’t spin His wheels. He doesn’t do something for nothing. Having begun a good work, that itself is the pledge that He will bring it to completion. You’ll see this reasoning again in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verses 23 and 24. I want you to notice Paul’s reasoning here. First of all, look at his prayer request. “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Well, now maybe, just maybe, that’s a little bit of emotional excess. He’s caught up in the heat of the passion of the moment, the religious passion. He’s prayed too much maybe. “Sanctify you completely, your whole body, soul, spirit, preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus.” Notice his reasoning in verse 24. “He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.” If God set out to do something, that itself is the pledge that it will be brought to completion.

Let’s look at least at one more. Look at 1 Peter 1, verses 3-5. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Every phrase here has to be unpacked, doesn’t it? Here He’s prepared this wonderful inheritance for us, and He says He’s keeping it for us. Well, someone might say, “Okay, He’s keeping it for us, but will we be kept for it?” Next, it’s “kept in heaven for you who by God’s power are being guarded, being kept.” How are we being kept? Well, one, by God’s power. Two, through faith. This is not a preservation irregardless of faith. This is a preservation in faith.

By the way, this is one of those passages you should keep in mind when you come across those conditional kinds of statements in the New Testament: “Now you are My disciples indeed if you continue in My word,” or something like that. Yes, the condition is real. But what God says is, “I save in such a way as to ensure the fulfillment of those conditions.” This inheritance is kept for us. We are being kept for it, through faith, for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last day.

Well, let’s look at one more, Jude. The book of Jude, just before the book of Revelation. Jude, the doxology at the end, verses 24 and 25. “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy. To the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen.” Jude has just written with warning against the false teachers, the apostates who have come into the church, that have made shipwreck of the faith. He’s denounced them in the most scathing kinds of terms. But he gets to the end and he says, “now to Him who’s able to keep you from falling.”

Now I’ve discussed this passage with people who think you can lose your salvation, Arminians. And you know what the answer is? You know what they want to say? “Well, it says He’s able to keep you from stumbling.” And of course, you want to say, that misses the whole point. A naked ability of God to do something without the clear intention of exercising that ability renders the whole verse meaningless. This is a clear statement where Jude is saying, amidst all of the unbelief and apostasy all around us, God has purposed to protect His people from making shipwreck of their faith. He’s able to keep us from falling. And He surely will.

Everywhere in the Bible, we have this emphasis on God’s infallible purpose of grace. Those whom He has purposed to save will be saved. On one level, I think the Arminians would be right to assume that the saved could fall away from salvation if their salvation had depended upon them in the first place. If they just happened to opt in on their own, and this is their purpose and not God’s, well, you could understand why they may think that you could opt out on your purpose now. But the whole thrust of this doctrine all through the Scriptures is that this is God’s work of salvation. It is His purpose, a purpose set in place in eternity past, a purpose for the accomplishing of which He has sent His Son and His Spirit to ensure the salvation of His people.

I’m going to take time to look at one more passage. I said we were done with that, but let’s look back at Jeremiah, chapter 32. Jeremiah, as you know, is the great prophet of the New Covenant. Through him, God promised that this old covenant made at Sinai having failed because of the sinfulness of His people, He is putting a new covenant in place, a new covenant by which He promises to give forgiveness to His people. Though they sin, He will forgive them. And in fact, He promises that He will write His law on their hearts so that they will follow Him. That’s chapter 31. But notice this expression of it in Jeremiah 32, verse 40. “I will make with them an everlasting covenant that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of Me in their hearts, so that they may not turn from Me.” Here is what God promises to give to His people. In the new covenant, He promises, not only will I forgive their sins, not only will I write My law on their hearts, but I’ll write it on their hearts so deeply that they will never stray away from Me. They will stay. And it’s promises such as these that give rise to similar kinds of promises in the New Testament, like 1 Corinthians 10:13: there’s no temptation taken you that will take you away, but God will, with that, make a way to escape so that you can bear it. Or, in the words of Jude, He will keep us from falling.

Implications Of All Of This With Regards To Christian Worship

All right, now, again, as we have done with the other points, before we close, some implications of all of this with regards to Christian worship. I hope you can see by now with all of these doctrines that they, if anything, ought to instill in us a profound sense of rescue. We were lost, helpless, and not only lost and helpless, but didn’t want help. God took the initiative and chose a people whom He would save. He sent His Son on a mission of rescue to secure their salvation. He sent His Spirit to draw us infallibly to faith in Christ. And now He promises to keep us.

You’ve heard this expression before. I’ve used it many times. Brothers and sisters, we are just wards of divine charity. An amazing kind of grace has overtaken us and interrupted us in our mad rush to hell. And God, in love and in mercy, has taken us to Himself to save us forever. And this ought to produce in us a profound sense of helpless dependence upon God’s mercy, a profound sense of rescue. What we see here today is that this rescue is complete and comprehensive. God does not leave us to ourselves.

And it ought to leave us with a deep sense of safety having been taken up by such grace. I’ve often thought it would be difficult for me to worship God as an Arminian. He saves me, lets me go. Saves me, lets me go. He says, “Here, I love you enough to save you from all of your awful sin.” And I sin again, and He says, “No, you’re out.” That kind of thought just seems unworthy of God, doesn’t it? Cruel, like He’s toying with us. Here He comes to me in all of my sin and rescues me from it. Oops, no, He didn’t after all.

I had a friend—he’s gone to be with the Lord now. I had a friend who had this kind of a discussion with someone reasoning the theology this way. Really effective, and in fact, it was in this case. He said when he and his wife were young, married, they had one daughter at home. They lived in a duplex house, and on the other side of the wall, his mother-in-law lived there. And he said one day, he said he would have discussions with her. She was, I think, from a Nazarene church, and she believed that you lose your salvation. They would have discussions about the doctrine, and she just would not believe it, that God saved forever. One day, he said, we were home and my daughter misbehaved. She disobeyed. I don’t know what the exact infraction was, but she was disobedient. And it was such that he spanked her for it. And of course, that tends to make a little noise. And sure enough, a little while later in the day, mother-in-law comes over. “I heard you spanking Susie,” whatever her name was, “Susie this morning.” “Yes, I did.” “Well, I don’t approve of that.” “Well, I’m angry with her. I sent her to her room. Furthermore, if the house burns down, she can stay there.”

And of course, she’s just appalled, not knowing that he was playing into his hands. “I can’t imagine a Christian father talking like that.” He looked at her and said, “Why would you be so surprised? That’s what you say God treats us that way, doesn’t He?” And the whole thrust of these kinds of passages we’ve looked at this morning is to say God is not that kind of God. And He does not save like that. He has loved us with an everlasting love. And the success of this thing does not hang on me. It hangs on Him. It is not so much my hold of Him, but His hold of me that keeps me.

Despite my daily sin, I can live each day in the full confidence of God’s continued love and safekeeping, the full confidence that He holds me in the palms of His hands and keeps me, and live each day in a blessed anticipation that He will one day complete this good work that He has begun in me. For the Christian, this has to have a profound impact on our daily walk with God in worship. We live each day not in fear—”Will I make it? Will I make it? Will I make it?” We live each day borne up by the promise that He will complete in us this work that He has begun. And out of this deep sense of rescue, it marks our daily devotional life every day, doesn’t it? “Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul.”

Sometimes think that the best hymns are those that are written to express this humble, helpless sense of dependence upon divine mercy. In my humble opinion, I think a hymn by Augustus Toplady just might be the best hymn ever written. Most people remember him—he’s an 18th century Anglican minister, hymn writer. Most people remember him because of his hymn, “Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me.” Another hymn that he wrote that is not as commonly sung today, simply called “A Debtor to Mercy.”

“A debtor to mercy alone, a covenant mercy I sing. I come with your righteousness on, my humble offering to bring. The judgments of your holy law with me can have nothing to do. The Savior’s obedience and blood hides all my transgressions from you. The work which your goodness began, the arm of your strength will complete. Your promise is yes and amen and never was forfeited yet. The future or things that are now, no power below or above could make you, your purpose forego or sever my soul from your love.”

The last stanza says, “My name from the palms of your hands, eternity will not erase. Impressed on your heart, it remains in marks of indelible grace. Yes, I to the end will endure, until I bow down at your throne, forever and always secure, forever and always secure, a debtor to mercy alone.”

Brothers and sisters, it is into the hands of this kind of mercy we have fallen. God has taken up our cause, and He has determined to save us forever. Our Father, what a gracious, wonderful God You are. We thank You that the salvation that You have given to us in Christ is complete, fully comprehensive. We’re thankful for the sense of security and safety that we enjoy in the hands of our Savior, in the hands of our sovereign God. We ask, Father, that You would work in us a deep sense of rescue, a deep sense of Your mercy, a deep sense of our helpless dependence upon You. And by that, we pray that You’ll make us better worshipers and more faithful servants. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen. You saints of the Lord. Number 70. Stand together and sing. “How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word! What more can He say…”