If you will take your Bibles,
turn all the way to the next book from the end, the book of
Jude, right beside the book of Revelations. Last week I brought
you a message on the perseverance of the saints. And in that doctrine
of perseverance, there must be an understanding, and preached
with it, in which I tried to do, but I didn't get into it
in detail, the preservation of the saints. The saints persevere
because God preserves them. Winston read it to us. Who are
kept by the power of God through faith. Kept by the power of God
through faith. Here in the book of Jude, he
opens this book up. Now, all of these epistles, general. You see that up there, the general
epistle of Jude? There are several general epistles.
Both of the letters of Peter, both the first and second epistle
of Peter, are general epistles. The book of James is a general
epistle. And the book of 1 John is a general
epistle, and so is this book of Jude. And so in writing to
the general public, he's writing out, sending these letters out,
kind of a to whom it may concern type of thing. And he's writing
this letter and he's sending it out to these churches and
to these little groups that he knew little about. And so he
addresses what he's saying, these comforts and promises and things
that he's going to talk about in this letter. He disguises
us. And you find that all through
the Scripture. He declares up front who it is that he's talking
to. Now watch this. He says, "...Jude,
the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them..."
To whoever. "...that are sanctified by God
the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ and caught. That's who he's talking to. That's
who he's writing to. John Doe can't pick this up who
knows nothing about God, who knows nothing about Christ, who
professes no faith. He cannot pick this up and come
over here in the middle and start picking out promises. These things
are written to them that are sanctified." That word means
set apart for divine use. Just like those vessels in the
temple, they were common and ordinary things, but God set
them apart for divine use and He sanctified them. And to touch
those vessels, I'm telling you, when natural hands touched that,
you remember the story of, was it Uzzah who reached up and touched
the Ark of the Covenant? God killed him on the spot. One
of Nebuchadnezzar's grandchildren or his son, I can't remember
which one it was, he took the vessels from the temple and had
a big party and he took those goblets that were used in the
temple and he filled them full of wine and was going to use
them in his big celebration and he looked and he saw a hand and
he started writing on the wall. You wonder where that phrase
comes from. I think you've seen the handwriting on the wall.
That's where it comes from, right there. His days was numbered
and God took him away. Here's what he's talking about.
He's talking about these folks that God, in sovereign election,
put in Christ before the world was, sanctified, common and ordinary,
nothing special in them. But God set them apart for His
reason and for His glory. And because He set them apart,
He preserved them. He preserved them. Boy, try as
they will, they couldn't do anything with that tabernacle. I don't
care who got it. The Philistines come over and
they've got to hold the Ark, and it was nothing but a curse
to them until it went back to Israel. We're preserved in Jesus
Christ. And those who are set apart of
God and preserved in Christ, made provision for in Christ,
He calls. Now that's what He's writing
to us. That's who he's writing to. And when he gets done writing,
warning. Oh, he fills this chapter full
of warnings about evil men who through their deceit can pull
you away and draw you away like he did Israel. Cora, Dathan,
and Abiram come in, and through their constant murmuring and
complaining and natural reasoning, they, well, Moses, you got two
million people out here in the desert. That's too much for you.
That's too much work for you. And so what we decided, we had
us a business meeting, and we all got around and we took a
vote, and the majority of the folks think that Cora, Dathan,
and Abiram And they elected me as their head, so I'm going to
tell you that we're going to take over your work for you and
you can have a part of it and we'll split the other three ways."
Moses said, everybody on the Lord's side line up right here.
Everybody that's with them line up right over there. And they
did. And God split open the earth
and took them and their wives and their children and their
cattle and everything that belonged to them to hell with their shoes
on. And all through this chapter,
he talks about that. The angels, think about it, the
angels in glory, who live in the presence of God, and Satan
spins his yarn, spins his yarn, and he draws them out, draws
them out. A third of them, right out of
the presence of God, a third of them. And old Cain, they've
gone the way of Cain. All through here, he gives these
warnings about these this deceit. He warns about the things of
this world that can draw you away. And when you get done reading
these things, if you read them to heart and the Spirit of God
presses them home to you, you'll see you can't keep yourself.
You can't keep yourself. It's an impossibility. It's an
impossibility. And he gets down here at the
end of his letter, look here in verse 24, Now unto him that
is able, to keep you from falling. And that's the only way you're
not going to fall. Unto Him that's able to keep you from falling,
not only that, but to present you faultless before the presence
of His glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God our Savior
be glory and majesty and dominion and power both now and forever. Can you say amen to that? Oh, I tried to show you last
week something of the perseverance of the saints. He that endureth
unto the end, the Lord said, the same shall be saved. We made
partakers of Christ, partakers of His life, His benefit, His
accomplishments, His intercession, if we hold fast the beginning
of our confidence, steadfast unto the end. And we talked about
the confidence and rejoicing. Our confidence is in Christ.
That's where it's at. I have no rejoicing in the flesh.
My flesh pulls me away from the things of God. My faith reasons
away the glory of the things of God. My flesh will always
have an appetite for this world. I'd a lot rather go fishing than
come in here. My flesh... Would God be thankful? He gave
me an interest to be here. And we talked about this confidence
and rejoicing. Our confidence is in Christ,
in His person, His work, His appointments of the Father. As
you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him,
rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith. The
only way you can be in the faith is to be in Christ and Christ
in you. And I did my best to show you
that Christ is sufficient to the whole of the work of faith.
In Colossians 1.17, he said, He is before all things, and
by Him all things consist. He is the head of the body, the
church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. Fullness
of purpose. and fullness of power and authority,
fullness of grace and truth, fullness of life. It's all in
Christ. It's all in Christ. He said, God hath made Him to
be unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And having made peace through
the blood of His cross by Him, He said, to reconcile all things
to Himself. By Him I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, And you that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
have he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to
present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable in his sight." That's
his sufficiency. That's his sufficiency. Now listen
to this. Here's the next verse. if you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel, which you have heard and which was preached
to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made
a minister." And then in the second chapter of Colossians,
he says this, Beware, lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after
the rudimentary principles, rudiments, that's what that word means,
basic principles of the world, and not after Christ. For in
him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye
are complete in him which is the head of all principality
and power. Christ is all. He's all. Now that's the good news of the
gospel. And He's sufficient for the work. That's what faith lays
hold of. It doesn't just see another religious
object. It doesn't just see another religious
fairy tale. It sees in Him the sufficiency
of God to save. And it sees in Him the willingness
of God to save. It sees in Him the power of God
to save. And it sees in Him the right
of God to save. Christ is all and He is sufficient
for the work. There is not one gospel for regeneration
and then another for perseverance. One gospel for faith and another
for daily walk. Colossians chapter 3. Paul just
keeps going through this book of Colossians talking about Christ
and His sufficiency. In Colossians chapter 3 verse
1, He said, "...if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those
things which are above, for Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God." Why? Because they're secured in His
person there. They're secured in His person.
They're received in Him. Ain't that what He says in Ephesians
chapter 1? We're accepted in the blood?
They are received in Him. They are preserved at God's right
hand. A high priest over the house
of Israel sitting in the appointed seat of God's favor and blessing,
interceding for us. Christ gets what He asks for
because He deserves it. He can plead the merits of His
blood and plead the merits of His righteousness and plead the
glory of His person. He can plead these things before
God. He's God with us. And Paul said, set your affections
there. Set your affections on things above, not on things of
the earth. Why? Because you're dead. That's what he said. That's why. You're dead. You start dying
the minute you're born. You start dying. We're dead.
That's what he said. It's sure, it's certain, it's
going to happen. It's going to happen. We'll put
it off as long as we can. We'll deny it and resist it,
but that's where we're headed. To the grave. You're dead, he
said. You're dead. And your life is hid with Christ
in God. That's about as hid as you can
get it out. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then
shall ye also appear with Him in glory. Paul told the Galatians, he said,
I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. And the life I now live in the
flesh I live by the faith or faithfulness of the Son of God
who loved me and gave himself for me. I don't frustrate the
grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, Christ is dead
and vain. He is sufficient for the work.
And this is what faith is all about. Now, in order for you
to have perseverance, there must be an understanding of preservation. The saints all persevere in Christ
because they're all preserved in Christ. That's why. That's
why. In our Sunday School lesson there
in John chapter 6, all that the Father has given me, all that
He sanctified are going to come to me. And when they come to
me, He said, I'm not going to cast them out. That's as sure
as you're going to get. Right there. Turn with me. Well, I've already read these
things to you here in the book of Jude. Preserved in Jesus Christ. I grew up on a little farm up
in northern Ohio. Kind of north central Ohio. And
it's good farm country. A lot of big corn fields and
wheat fields and soybean fields there. cold winters, but it's
a good place for farms and fruit trees and all that type of stuff. I remember back in the 50s after
the war, my dad always raised a big garden. He always had a
big garden. We'd go out there and I didn't
care much for working in it, When the things began to get
ripe, those strawberries and blackberries and raspberries
and all them things, we had a grape harbor and an apple orchard.
We had all these fruits and things there. We just had a little bit
of everything on that farm. And all during the season, from
spring all the way through, you could just go pick things outside.
I remember that so well. But I remember toward the middle
of summer and going into fall, I can remember my mother in the
kitchen canning. She was always canning something.
and green beans and all this tomato juice. She'd make applesauce
and all these things, and she'd can it. She had this big old
pressure cooker, and that little thing would sit up there and
jiggle for a while, and then she'd let the steam off of it
and take them out. But my favorite thing was sitting
around to listen for them jars to pop. When those lids cooled
to a certain temperature, they'd pop. You'd hear this little pop,
and you'd go over there. And what that pop meant was that
that jar was sealed. Whatever's in there is preserved. And you could come over there
in January and February when you couldn't even see out the
window from the snowdrifts, and you could open up a can of that
tomatoes, boy, and they'd taste like they were fresh wheat. Preserved. He said we're preserved in Jesus
Christ. Preserved. Oh. Back in the Council Halls of
Eternity, the Father chose to save a people for the glory of
His name. And He appointed a son to accomplish
the work and to stand on their account and in their room instead,
and to represent them before the glory and majesty of the
Godhead, accountable to God. Do you know what that means? Accountable to God. That's like
when the judge comes and gets you and you thought you got away
from it, but he comes and gets you and he brings you up before
him. I remember I got a little feeding ticket one time and I
went up to court and I didn't want Daddy to know about it,
so I didn't tell him. I was just 16 and I went up there to the
Catlixburg, Kentucky, up to the courthouse and I went in there
and he fined me something, whatever it was, it wasn't much, but I
didn't have anything. And I went out and I said, well,
I'm going to go home and get the money and I'll be right back.
He said, you ain't going anywhere. You owe this court $25. When
I see the $25, then you can go. Brother, God holds us accountable
and you ain't going anywhere until that account is settled.
Is that so? That's what the Scripture says. That's what redemption
is. You have to be redeemed from your sins. God holds you accountable
for your sins. We're accountable to Him. Those
sins must be paid for. God's justice must be satisfied. And we ain't going anywhere until
that happens. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
1. I'm talking about being preserved in Christ, sealed up in Him,
kept in Him. In Ephesians 1, it lays out all
through this chapter with great plainness of speech the work
of God in Christ. He starts out in verse 3 talking
about those eternal blessings of the Father that He blessed
us in Christ. That's where they were designed.
That's where they came from. That's where they were purposed.
That's when they become the will of God, unchangeable, uncorruptible. Verse 4, "...according as God
the Father hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love." This is in His purpose, in the purpose of God. This is God's decree. This is
His eternal counsel and will preserved in Christ in holiness. Preserved in Christ, unblameable. Preserved in Christ in love. Nothing is going to separate
you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are preserved in that love,
preserved unblameable, preserved in perfect holiness in Him. That's what these blessings are
all about. Having predestinated us, verse 5, unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good
pleasure of His will. He said, I'm going to make you
my son. Ask of me, He said, I'll give thee the heathen. The heathen. Oh, predestinated us to the praise
of the glory of His grace wherein He has made us accepted in the
blood. seeing us as fallen sinners, born in corruption, born in rebellion,
born in darkness. Sinners by birth, by choice and
practice. Enemies of God. Children of wrath,
even as others. But in Christ, we're made acceptable. Acceptable to God. And what is that acceptableness?
That's holiness. and being without blame before
Him in love. In whom, verse 7, we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sin according to the riches
of His grace. And I told you last week, grace
is God giving us what we do not deserve. And the riches of this
grace is calculated by the gift that He gives. He gives Himself.
And to the condition of those He gives it to. When you can
calculate that, you can calculate the value of this gift. Wherein, verse 8, He hath abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of His will, according to the good pleasure which He
hath purposed in Himself. This world does not know. Ain't that what He says in 1
Corinthians 2? He quotes that Old Testament
passage. And he said, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man those things which God hath
prepared for them that love him. This world does not know, believe,
or understand the purpose of God in redemption, the will of
God concerning all things, creation, providence, salvation. Why this
nation rises and that one falls? Why this man is honored and this
one despised? Why this city grows while this
one stays little? Why are these things? Like the
Lord asked Job, He said, I'll ask you these things. You're
a wise man. I'll ask of you and you tell me. And He started to
ask him about these things. The migration of the sheep and
the size of the mountains and who laid the foundations of the
earth. And what are these things all about? Answer if you know. He said, I hold my hand over
my mouth. He said, once have I spoken,
yea, twice, I'll never speak again. I don't know anything.
I don't know anything. This world does not know. Everything
in time and eternity exists to the end of this eternal purpose
of God. And it's an eternal gathering.
You can read about it there in Ephesians chapter 1. He's gathering
all things unto Christ that He put in Him. All things. Everything. Things in heaven, things in the
earth, things under the earth. All things are being gathered
to Him. While this world reels to and
fro like a drunk man and staggers this way and that by circumstance,
acting and reacting, defining and redefining all these things,
God's elect understanding, rejoicing that understanding that God's
providence is working. It's working. And it's working
for their good and His glory. That's what they've come to see.
They've come to see who God is. They understand. He said, having
made known unto you the mystery of His will. What's going on? What's going on? Why? Verse 10,
Ephesians 1. that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in Him. All of His counsels and decrees, all that He has purposed
to do, everything that God has willed to be done and in whom
He purposed to do it. And gathering in one all things
in Christ, things in heaven and earth, things under the earth,
put in Christ by the Father. Listen to this, verse 11. In
whom also, in this same woman that God has trusted creation
and providence and the glory of His eternal counsels and purposes,
in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated
according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after
the counsel of His own will. That we should be to the praise
of God's glory who first trusted in Christ. That's why we trust Him. Because
God trusted Him. He trusted Him first. He trusted Him from the beginning.
He trusted Him with things so far over our head we can't even
perceive them. He trusted Him with such power
we can't even imagine. He trusted Him with things visible
and invisible and principalities and powers and things present
and things to come and all things into His hand. Power over all
flesh was given unto Him that He might give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given Him. God trusted Him first. And now
we're going to be to His glory. And everything God is purposed
to do by His sovereign will and eternal design, He's trusted
to Christ, all of it. Verse 13, "...in whom ye also
trusted, after that ye heard the truth." after you heard the truth, the
gospel of your salvation, and whom also after that you believed
you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the
earnest, the down payment, the earnest money of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of
His glory." That's the pop. When faith comes in the heart,
that's the popping of the can. And I know it's been sealed.
So you can't know that. until God gives you faith. When
He gives you faith, you know that. You'll hear the pop. You'll
hear the pop. And you can rest then. That's
what faith does. Faith perceives this work of
God. It perceives His eternality. It perceives His power and the
beauty and the majesty and dignity of His character. It sees these
things eternal in God. And it perceives those things,
and it enters into them, and the imaginations and the understanding
is opened by the Spirit of God, and they begin to see. There
in 1 Corinthians 2, Paul said, I'm not going to play these religious
games with these guys. He said, because your faith must
stand in the wisdom and power of God. And he talks about the
utter impossibility of you knowing anything. He said if it was possible,
even the princes of this world didn't understand it or they
wouldn't have crucified the Lord of Glory. You can't blame it
on them being heathens because the Jews were involved. You can't
blame it on the Jews because the Gentiles was involved. It's
natural man. His mind is enmity against God. He hates God. He hates that light. He'll take that light and nail
it on a cross and so would you if you were in the same position. Faith perceives these things.
It understands these things. And it sees them fulfilled. It
sees in Christ the sufficiency of God to accomplish all these
things. All of these things. And it enters
into it in that Holy Spirit of promise. You understand those
promises and you enter into those promises and you rest in those
promises. And when you do, you're sealed. You're sealed. You were always
sealed. God sealed you when He put you
in Christ before the foundation of the world. You're sealed in
Christ when He comes and accomplishes the work. But He seals you in your understanding
and He seals you in your experience when faith is established in
the heart and that revelation of Christ comes. You hear the
popping of the can. You're sealed. Oh, God opens
your eyes and He opens your understanding and He opens your minds to see
the mystery of His will, to see His love, His everlasting love,
His grace, His eternal grace, His mercy enduring forever and
His kindness according to His will. And to be preserved is to be
persuaded in the mind and heart that the work is altogether of
God. You won't find a believer who
doesn't know that. How many times does John say,
and we know, and we know, and we know? How do we know? Because
God sent His witness into our heart that we might know. We are preserved by the eternal. Now, I want you to listen to
me. We are preserved by the eternal mediation of Christ. What does that mean? There is
one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Just one. One Mediator. Mary
is not a Mediator. The angels are not Mediators. They are ministering spirits
sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation,
but they are not Mediators. There is only one who can mediate
the will of God to you. Only one who can take the covenant
of God and make it with you. Just one. One mediator between
God and me and the man Christ Jesus. We are preserved in the
eternal mediation of Christ Jesus. God appointed Him and He in turn
mediates the good will of God toward God's elect in all that
is done. In His office is mediatory. It
takes in creation. It takes in all things. It takes
in poverty. It takes in all things. Paul
talks about over there in Romans chapter 8, the earnest expectation
of creation. It waiteth for the manifestation
of the sons of God being mediated by Christ. That's what he's talking
about. because creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly,
but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope. And
creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."
This is all part of that mediation of Christ. To mediate the will
of God in redemption, there must be a creation, a people, a situation
to expose their weakness and prove their responsibility and
accountability to Him. Everything in creation and providence
has to do with this eternal mediation of Christ. He accomplished the
will of God. Everything. I'll say everything
without exception. And God's people are preserved
by that eternal mediation. I believe in eternal justification.
Boy, that just makes men so mad. My God is eternal. He doesn't
do anything in time. Time has nothing to do with Him.
It has to do with you. It has to do with me. It has
nothing to do with Him. We were as much justified in
the mind of God in eternity as we were when He reached down
and pulled Christ out of that tomb. In the mind and purpose
of God. And Christ came and lived and
died and He was raised from the tomb by God because God eternally
purposed that justification in Christ. And because He raised
him from that tomb, He's going to come to those whom He justified,
and He's going to justify you by faith. He's going to make
you understand that justification. He's going to make that justification
personal. Personal. I'll tell you this,
when Mom took those jars out of that canner, they was canned.
But I wasn't convinced of it until I heard the pop. And you
were justified in the purpose of God before the world was.
You were justified when God raised Him from the dead. But I'll tell
you when you're going to know it when you hear the pop. That's
when you're going to know it. I believe in eternal justification
because we have an eternal mediator. I know He was slain in time,
but He's called the Lamb slain before the foundation of the
world too. Huh? I read about a book, that judgment. There are going to be several
books. But he said, and the book was
open, and everybody whose name wasn't found written in that
book was cast into outer darkness. And if you read back a few chapters
there in Revelation, you'll find out when that book was written,
before the world was. These things are eternal because
our God is eternal. Our great high priest entered
into the holy place with His own blood. He offered Himself,
Hebrews 9.14, through the eternal Spirit and obtained eternal redemption
for us. And then secondly, I know this,
we're preserved in Christ by the offices to which He was appointed,
prophet, priest, and king. He's a prophet to teach us. We're
not going to learn anything worth knowing until we learn it in
Christ. I'm telling you the truth. I've
been down the road. I've read all the books. I've
heard all the preaching. I've been in and out of churches
all my life, and I'm telling you this, there's nothing worth
knowing outside of Christ. It's vanity. That's all it is.
It's just vanity. Christ is our prophet and He
is our priest. He makes intercession. He takes
those things of God. He takes those things of God.
He represents men in things pertaining to God. Forgiveness of sins,
redemption, sanctification, righteousness, intercession, all of those things.
And He is king to rule over His kingdom. He rules. He reigns. I don't care what
you do, he's going to write it. He's going to write it. All the
people got together and they said, we're going to have us
a king. And I'll tell you who we're going to get. We're going
to get old Saul. Man, he's hands down the biggest one, finest
one, wisest one around. We're going to have Saul. God
said, my king is David. Y'all wouldn't even consider
him. That's my king. And they made Saul king and they
put a crown on his head and they done all kinds of things, but
Saul never had the heart of the people. He never had the rule
of the kingdom. Nobody ruled over Israel until
God's king sat on the throne. Now that's what happens in faith. He comes and God makes him to
be our king. He comes in and seats him on
the throne. Sovereignly. His choice. His
man. David, he said, is a man after
God's own heart. And then thirdly, we're preserved
in his accomplishments. One time, it said, in the end
of the world, he entered in and put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. It's gone. It's gone. You may remember him. You may
mourn over him. But God cast him behind his back.
That's what he said. He buried them in the depth of
the sea. He scattered them as far as the
east is from the west. They're gone. He put them away. Put them away. And that righteousness in whom
we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Oh, listen to this. But now, we need a righteousness. That's an accomplished work.
I know men in Israel was, they were going around in ignorance
trying to establish their own righteousness, would not submit
themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Righteousness
is an accomplished work. Justification is a work accomplished. Every soul for whom Christ died
was declared righteous by God at the resurrection of Christ. It says He was delivered for
our offenses and raised again for our justification. And seeing
that justification in Christ by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Sanctification is an accomplished
work. Listen to this in Hebrews 10.7. He said, Then said I, Lo, I come
in the volume of the book, it's written of Me, to do Thy will.
That's why He came. to do the will of God. Isn't
that what God requires of us, to do His will? We're to pray, not my will, but
Thy will be done. That's what He requires of us,
to do His will. Christ said, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it's written of me, to do Thy will, O God.
Then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first, He takes away that old covenant of the law. He takes
away all those old types and things. He takes those out of
the way. He takes away those old ideas of righteousness by
something that you do. And He establishes the second,
by the which will, now listen, Hebrews 10, by the which will
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. Sanctified. And all the old priests standing
and busying about in that temple daily and yearly with their duties
that were never done. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified, were preserved by his accomplishments. And we're
preserved by His ascension into glory. Paul said, we're raised
up and seated with Him in heavenly places. And we're preserved by
His reigning presence on the throne. The government is on
His shoulders. Paul said, don't get worried.
He said, all these powers that be, we're so worried about them.
I'm so worried about what this is going to happen, what's going
to happen over here and all these things. He said, these powers
that be, they're of God. There's one who sits on the throne.
He still appoints these men. He still appoints them. And we're preserved by the Spirit
of Christ in us. He said, Christ in you, the hope
of glory. I'll tell you what your hope
is when we talk about the Spirit of God. Greater is He that's
in you than he that's in the world. Now, He's not there talking
about the Spirit Himself, but the message of the Spirit, which
is Christ. He's called the Spirit of Christ. He puts in you that hope. He
puts in you that assurance and that confidence of Christ seated
on the throne. And He rules and He reigns. And
His presence is with us. Christ in you. And this is that confident assurance.
that Paul had with this great apostle. Listen to what he says,
and I'll close. He said, I am persuaded. Persuaded. He heard the truth. Yes, God unhorsed him. Yes, God
blinded him. Yes, God threw him down in the
path. But then he took him to a preacher, and the preacher
told him the truth. He preached the gospel to him.
And then he was caught up to the third heaven where Christ
himself taught him and equipped him to be an apostle. And he
said, I am persuaded that he that hath begun a good work in
you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. That's my
confidence, he said. That's my confidence. He said,
I know whom I have believed. He didn't say, I know what I
have believed, although he did. But he said, I know whom I have
believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I have committed unto him against that day. That's faith. That's faith. That's that preservation of God
unto him that's able to keep you from falling. Unto him that's
able to keep you by the power of God through faith. unto that
day. May God give us an understanding
of these things.