Kept

I want you to look this morning.
I'd like to read beginning here with the first verse. Take a
reading down to verse 8. Listen carefully. Peter, an apostle
of Jesus Christ to the strangers that are scattered throughout
Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according
to the full knowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a livelihood by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith
in the salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein
he greatly rejoiced, though now for a season, if need be, he
are inhibitous through manifold temptations. that the trial of
your faith being much more precious than of gold would perish you,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto the praise
and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having
not seen ye loved, in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing,
ye rejoice with joy unspeakable. and full of glory. Let me read verse 9. Receiving
the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Now
the persons whom Peter addressed were in great need, I think,
of comfort. And I believe that he was writing
to them in order to console them, in order to comfort their souls. Now they were strangers, we're
told, in verse 1. Strangers scattered far from
home. And they had in consequence that
they were strangers and that they were scattered out in the
world and were not at home. They had to suffer many trials
and therefore they needed plenty of consolation. Now the people
of God are not at home. We recognize that our citizenship
is in heaven. And we know that we're in this
world in about the same position, such as our position in a spiritual
sense. We are strangers and pilgrims
in this world. We're foreigners and soldiers
here below. And as I said, our citizenship
is in heaven, and we require the word of comfort for while
our banishment lasts, while we're still in this world, while we're
still kept from our heavenly inheritance, We look for tribulation
in this life. We look for trouble. We look
for affliction. The Bible says that in this world
we shall have tribulation, but in the Lord Jesus we'll find
peace and we'll find comfort in Him. And the scripture says
in the book of Acts that through much tribulation Shall we enter
the kingdom of God and so through much trouble we're going to enter
we're going to follow the path at least As we may trials and
many troubles as we ascend God to glory now the Lord Jesus said
if you were of the world The world would love his own but
because you're not of the world But I have chosen you out of
the world therefore the world hateth you Love there isn't anything
I don't believe that brings down the hatred of the world upon
the Lord's people any more than the fact that the Lord has chosen
them out of the world and separated them unto himself. They've been
sanctified by God the Father and the Spirit of God in that
they've been called out of the world and they belong not to
the world and they're in the world but they're not of the
world because the Lord has chosen them out of the world. brought
out here in verse 2, that these folks were elected according
to the foreknowledge of God, the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. Now it is true, beloved, that
they were strangers in this world, as far as the world was concerned,
and they were scattered in the world, undergoing many trials
and afflictions, but yet they were the elect of God. They were
the chosen people of God. They belong unto the Lord. So
too, my brethren, us being chosen out from among men to be the
peculiar people of God, we must expect to be, in this world,
partakers of the cross, because the Bible says the servant is
not greater than his Lord. And so we are one to go many,
many trials in this life, and I believe that the word of consolation
that Peter here gave to these of old, these in olden times,
that this word of consolation is also fit for us, and I believe
it will furnish us with a great deal of comfort today if we'll
meditate upon it. Now, my subject today is the
subject of being kept, or kept, as we find it in verse 5. You
are kept by the power of God through faith under salvation,
ready to be revealed the last time. I'm constantly looking,
as I read the word of God and meditate upon it, for something
to drive away the gloom of this life. I'm constantly looking
for something to lift my own spirit, my own soul, and to encourage
my heart. Well, as I look at this chapter,
and especially from verse 3 down to verse 5, my heart was indeed
comforted and consoled, and I hope this morning that I'll be able
to pass on a little something to you that will drive away whatever
clouds of good that might be hanging over your soul this morning,
and that you would receive a blessing today in your heart and that
you would be comforted and helped and edified. Now, therefore,
let's look a little bit at these words of consolation as they
was given. And I want to just point out
a few things here and then spend the most of our time on this
subject of kept, being kept by the power of God this morning.
But first of all, I would have you to know here in verse 3,
where the Peter says, blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy, according
to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now, here he mentions
abundant mercy. Well, beloved, you know, anytime
I read about mercy in the Word of God, it gets my attention.
Why do I say that? Because no other attribute could
have helped me in the condition that I was in when I was in a
lost condition but mercy. And if mercy had refused to help
me in the condition that I was in, I would have been lost today,
still separated from God, and I would have no hope in my soul
of eternal heaven. But as I read this, I thought
about how that we are by nature, and about the justice of God
condemned, and how that holiness frowned upon us, and if we were
left in the state that we were in, in the state of nature, how
that the power of God finally would cast us into eternal darkness,
And how have we been lost forever and ever? And the wrath of God
would have been poured out upon us for all eternity. And I thought,
beloved, it's from the mercy of our God that all of our hope
begins. The abundant mercy of God. That's
where our hope begins. Now, I recognize that there are
some who do not feel that they need mercy. But, beloved, we
are all, this morning, if we recognize ourselves to be, as
the scripture tells us, guilty and deserving of the judgment
of God, that we certainly are candidates for the mercy of God.
And that's where the hope of the sinner begins. It begins
with God's mercy, this attribute of mercy. And Peter talks, and
in our case, his mercy has been abundant mercy. And I believe
that anyone who has truly experienced the bringing out of darkness,
being brought out of darkness, into life, having been brought
out of their death into the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, anyone
who's experienced salvation in their soul, I believe that they
have experienced this abundant mercy that Peter here speaks
of. We were defiled with abundant
sins, is that not right? With abundant sins, and only
the multitude of his loving kindness could have put away those sins,
those abundant sins. So Peter here speaks of the abundant
mercy of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then
he went on to say, with begottenness again unto a lively hope. To a lively hope. One of the
first displays of divine mercy toward the sinner. is the experience
of our being born again, of our being forgotten by the Lord. To be born again, I believe,
is a wonderful thing. Certainly to be born once is
a wonderful thing, but to be born once may be a subject for
eternal bewailing if a man is never born a second time. To
be born once is to be brought into the world in sin, to be
brought into the world in a state wherein if we're left in that
state, we're bound to go to hell, but listen, to be born a second
time by the Spirit of God will be the theme of a joyful and
unending song for a child of God to be begotten unto a lively
hope. This is a blessing that's or
exceeds anything which the natural man can dream of, and that is
to be born in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes upon the
chosen, upon the elected God, in the hour appointed, and creates
in them a new heart and a right spirit. in a supernatural manner,
brings a new principle that is implanted into the soul, a new
life is created within the soul, yea, the child of God has a lively
hope, a living hope that finally they shall be forever with the
Lord. Now the next thing I see is this, and that is by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. This hope is begotten in us,
and it's through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
have a risen Savior, and I believe that this ought to chase away
from us all the gloom of this life, beloved, if you meditate
upon a risen Savior. Our best friend is not dead. The best friend of a child of
God is not in the tomb. The best friend, the great helper,
the omnipotent Savior, today is not lying in the tomb. The Lord Jesus Christ is risen
and He's seated at the right hand of God. Yeah, the scripture
says He ever lives, He ever lives to make intercession for us.
No sound of greater gladness can be heard in the Christian
Church than this. The Lord is risen. The Lord is
risen indeed. Now, the love of Jesus Christ
alive is the author of all of our hope. Every hope that we
have is because He is alive, that He's not dead, He's alive,
He's living. And so I want you to be encouraged
by this, you have a risen Savior. Now the next thing, and I'm passing
over these rather quickly in order that I might get to my
subject, is an incorruptible inheritance. I want you to see
that. Now, we've been begotten again to a living hope of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance
in verse 4, that is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not
away. And this inheritance is reserved
in heaven for us. Now God has given his people
a new life. God has given his people, made
them into a new creation. And if a new life, if a new creation,
then there must be possessions and a place suitable for that
new life. A heavenly nature requires a
heavenly inheritance. Heaven-born children must have
a heavenly portion. Now this inheritance as to its
substance is said to be incorruptible. Now the substance of everything
earthly, by degrees, passes away. You see rusty metal, and you
see rotten timber, rotten boards, and all this is an indication
that everything here, it passes away. And by degrees, it just
passes away. But we're told by the substance
of this inheritance that it is incorruptible. Now even solid
granite, I'm told, will rot and crumble eventually. Forever and
forever shall the blissful portion of the sanctified soul be theirs. God is going to see to it that
the inheritance that he has pledged that his people would have, that
this inheritance would be one that would last forever, that
it would be incorruptible, that it could never rust, that it
could never rot, that it could never in any degree pass away,
but it would be incorruptible. Heaven and the streets thereof
are spoken of in the word of God to be made of precious stones
and pure gold, and this is because they're imperishable. The inheritance
of heaven is imperishable. Its beauty Because we're told
here, it fadeth not away, its beauty will not fade, the beauty
of our inheritance. And the garden of paradise shall
never cease to bloom, and the wreath of victory that the saints
of God shall wear shall never, never wither from their brows,
always. God's people shall have this
inheritance which is incorruptible, fadeth not away. And then the
next thing we see is that it's reserved in heaven for us, and
that speaks of the security of this inheritance. Now, below
the heaven is not to be scrambled for like land in a land rush. Have you ever saw a movie, like
out in Oklahoma or some other places, back years and years
ago, when they had land rushes and people rushed to be able
to stick out there, piece of ground, they'd run over each
other, and it was a mad scramble to get there first, to be able
to stake out their piece of ground. Well, beloved, heaven is not
to be scrambled for, for the portion of each saint in glory
is given to him by lot, even as was Canaan of old given to
Judah and to Reuben and Manasseh and Malachi. It shall be given
to God's people. Now, there is a place in heaven,
and I shrink back from saying it, maybe as I ought to, but,
beloved, there's a place in heaven for me. For me. which none of
you can ever feel. None of you can ever feel. And
this is secure in heaven. There's a heart there, which
no stranger can strike upon, and a crown which no brow can
wear, but this brow, in glory, because this inheritance is a
secure one. It's held there by the Father,
it's reserved there in heaven for us. And isn't that glorious
that we can rest here, brother? Nothing that we're going to have
to get out here and stake it out ourselves. But the Lord has
it reserved for His people. And so, will each of you have
this same inheritance? You'll have your own inheritance. your own appointed inheritance. Scanty may be your portion here,
and hard may be your lot, but the undefiled inheritance will
more than make amends, beloved, for all of your poverty and all
of your difficulties, your trials, and your bereavements here in
this life. And then I come now to the security. This inheritance is kept for
you. I've told you that. But also,
you, beloved, are kept for the inheritance. And that's what
I want us to look at this morning. We're told here in verse 5, who
are kept. Now, this inheritance is incorruptible, undefiled,
faith's not a waste, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time. Now, this word kept here is a
military word, and it signifies a city. that's garrisoned and
defended. Think of a city, if you will,
that's besieged. That is, I believe, an emblem
of our condition in this world today. The enemy keeps up the
fire day and night on this city and sets the city on fire, and
even thus Satan bombards us with temptation and believers us with
all the hopes of hell. Now, the purpose of Satan is
to bring down the faith of God's chosen people. Now, Satan would,
if he could, he would rob us of our faith, he would rob us
of all our hope, and he would rob us of our comfort and our
consolation that we have in our hearts in this world. That would
be his purpose. But herein is the confidence
of the believer the confidence of God's elect chosen people.
Our captain has rolled us around. He has appointed salvation for
walls and for boards. And we are safe, though it may
appear that the enemy is very near, breaking down the walls,
and that Satan might very well, that he might pull down, as it
were, our faith and destroy it. We are safe, though all the devils
of hell surround us. We are garrisoned by omnipotence. We are garrisoned by the almighty
power of God. Each believer is kept by the
same power which bears up the earth's huge pillars and sustain
the arches of heaven. Every believer is sustained by
the same power that God uses to uphold all things. The believer
is sustained and kept by that power. The poet said this, munitions
of stupendous rock, our drilling place shall be. There shall our
soul, without a shock, our vanquished foe ensue. Now this keeping of
the Lord, I believe, is complete and continuous. It will never
end until we shall need keeping no longer. God's people will
be kept as long as they need to be kept. I've often told you
this morning that the reason that God's people are kept, I've
often told you different times, I'll mention it again this morning,
is because they need to be kept. If it had not been for the need,
Then, of course, the Lord would not tell us and spell out so
clearly in his word that we are a kept people, but it's because
we need to be kept. Now I'll leave this keeping started.
With God, from the time we were conceived, in the womb, and it
will continue on until we arrive safely in heaven. I believe God
purposed my birth. You remember God said to Jeremiah,
he said, before you were formed in the belly, I knew thee, and
before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee and
ordained thee to be a prophet unto the nations. God said, I
knew you before you were conceived, and I believe with God this keeping
At least, because we think in terms maybe as men would think,
I would like to say that I know this keeping begins with our
first beginning, with our beginning in the womb. And I believe it
remains, that God continues to keep and preserve his people,
even down until the time they're received into glory. There was
an old man, who I read about, who walked in the way of faith
for many, many years. And when he was about to die,
he was asked by his family, what would you like for us to put
on your tombstone? And what would you like for us
to put there? Well, after a long and thoughtful silence, the old
saint answered, just put the word kept. I believe that's a
good description of every true believer's life. We are kept,
as Peter here says, by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time. Let me say three things
quickly here about this. Number one, we are kept and preserved
in life by the power of God until the appointed day of our calling. I believe, and I've heard many
of the saints of God testify to this, and I can testify to
it too, and I'd like for you to turn to Jude, chapter 1, because
I believe that there is a reference to that here in Jude. There's this one chapter of Jude,
and it's verse 1. And I'd like you to look at it,
so I'll read it to you. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ
and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the
Father. Now, this word sanctified, don't
get scared by that word. It's not a word that ought to
scare you. It just simply means that it's speaking to those that
are set apart by God the Father, that God has set apart and preserved
in Jesus Christ. And you know that we were chosen
in Jesus Christ, there the world began, and you can understand
here how that we were preserved by that choice of God in Jesus
Christ. By the blood of Christ He kept
us and provided for us and protected us until the very end. that he
gave us life in his son Jesus Christ. There was a day when
I actually came to life in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was when
I was 16 years old. And in order that I might receive
this life, God preserved my life in the flesh and kept me in this
world and kept me in order that I might come to that hour appointed
for the Father when I would receive calling from sin and calling
unto God in Christ. And so this is what I'm talking
about. I'm saying that we were kept
even before we were born of the Spirit of God, preserved, sanctified,
set apart by God and His watchful care was over our lives. And I'm sure there are many,
many that can testify in a dramatic way how that God had preserved
them from sure and certain death here in order that they might
later experience salvation and that they might come to the new
birth. Now then, secondly, we are now kept and preserved in
the way of faith and life by that same power and grace of
God that preserved us till we were converted we are now kept
by that same power. Now there's some verses back
in the book of Jeremiah Chapter 32. And if you want to turn back
there, I'd like to read the verses 38 through 40. And these verses
are a real blessing to me. And I know that we are kept now. And that's what Peter was talking
about, kept since the time that we were converted. Since the
time we were born again, we were kept. Now, beloved, apart from
this keeping, there would be no way that we could persevere. No way that we could go on. We
would like the poet saying his sheep of Christ could fall away
My fickle feeble soul of last would fall a thousand times a
day and would not yours Well, I'm certain all of you would
agree with that but look at verse 38 through 40 and they shall
be my people, Jeremiah 32, 38, and I will be their God, and
I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me
forever for the good of them and of their children after them,
and 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. And this all speaks, I believe,
of the work of God and the souls of his people through almighty
power in order that they would be kept, that they would not
be abandoned in this world, but that they would continue on.
God said, I put my fear in your heart so they will never depart
from me. Now, I know, as the scripture
says in Ecclesiastes 3 and 14, I know that whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it nor
anything taken from it, and God doeth it, that men should fear
before Him." The work of God is an eternal work, and certainly
God is preserving His people with the same power now that
He preserved them with before. They were converted. Now, it's
true that we're more sensible and conscious of that working
now than we were then. I'm certain that, as I remember
some of my waywardness before I was converted, I certainly
was not mindful then that God was keeping me or that God was
preserving my life. But I am more mindful of it now.
I see it more clearly now that God is keeping and that God is
preserving my life. Now, the next thing is this,
and all who trust Christ, are kept in all their ways, in all
their ways by the power and grace of God throughout their pilgrimage
upon the earth. I want you to turn to Psalm 91,
and I want us to look at verses 9 through 11. Verses 9 through
11. And these verses were a real
blessing to me. And I want you to think with
me about these verses. Now let me read them. Verses
9 through 11 of Psalm 91. Because thou hast made the Lord,
which is my refuge, even the most high thy habitation, there
shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy
dwelling. For he shall give his angels
charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. Now then, as
we walk before God by faith, seeking the glory of God, doing
his will, serving the cause, of the Redeemer in this world,
we shall be kept from evil in all our ways. Mortals are immortal
here in this world until their work is done. Now this is very important for
a child of God to understand. The very angels of God are charged
by our Lord to keep us. We read this here in verse 11,
for he shall give his angels charge over thee. to keep thee
in all thy ways. Now, though the flesh is opposed
to us, and though Satan roars against us and plans our destruction,
though the world will charm us through trials and troubles and
through temptations it will vex us, yet, as the people of God,
we are kept because the Lord has given his angels charge over
us. Now, then, I want you to listen. I want to talk to you a little
bit about this phrase here, in all thy ways. For he shall give
his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. Now, the believer is kept in
safety. And wherever we are, whatever we're doing in this
life, if we're walking in the way We are guaranteed the protection
of his angels. And in Hebrews 1 verse 14, it
says that they are ministering spirits sent forth to minister
to those who are the heirs of salvation. That's the angels
of God. And so they have our protection. They're interested in us and
in what becomes of us. And they protect us in this life,
and they keep us in all our ways. What the psalmist means here
by thy ways, thy ways are the ways in which the believer walks
in this world. And you notice the word ways,
it's in the plural, and believers' ways are, let me try to give
them to you here quickly this morning. Just listen to me as
I try to give you the way of a believer. The way in which
they are kept. The way in which, the ways they
go, in which angels watch over them and keep them. Number one,
it is the way of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible
says that the justified man shall live by his faith. Beloved, the child of God, we
live before God. We live before God by faith in
the merits of Christ's blood and his righteousness. And every
day we just keep coming back to that. The children of God
never get past in the Lord Jesus Christ from the last day of December
beloved one year to the very last day of December the next
year they are constantly constantly coming back to Christ faith in
Christ they never graduate from that and you may say well I don't
want to seem like I'm making any progress I'm still just simply
trusting the blood and merit of the Lord Jesus Christ today
and I've been converted for at number of years The way of the
believer is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ day in and day out.
He's our song He's our hope the Lord Jesus is our own all that
we never get away from it And so the way the angel will keep
us when we're walking in the way of faith in Christ And the
next is in the way of obedience to Christ This is the way for
the believer. You remember that's nine and
six and When Saul of Tarsus was converted, he said, Lord, what
wilt thou have me to do? And Abraham, and I believe as
a believer, we should say with him, here am I. And when his master called him,
he said, here am I. And then Samuel, when the Lord
called him, he said, speak, Lord. for thy servant here at thee."
And with Isaiah, you know, when Isaiah, when the Lord said, who
shall we send, who will go for us? And Isaiah said, send me,
Lord, send me. And so I believe that the way
of the people of God is the way of obedience. It's the way of
binding the Lord. It's the way of submitting themselves
unto the will of God. It's the way of trust. Thirdly,
in the providential rule of Christ. Now, what one of the principles
of the faith of God's elect is, that Romans 8 and 28, and we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are thee called according to his purpose. And so the people
of God trusted the providential rule of the Lord Jesus Christ
that he does all things well. And the believer's heart attitude
in all things is one of submission to the will of God. His heart
said, it is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. Those were the words of Eli when
the Lord had said that he was going to destroy his sons. And when the Lord was going to
take away from him the priesthood and give it to another, he said,
It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. And so, look,
this is the way of the children of God. They're walking in the
way of submission. They're not rebelling against
God, complaining and murmuring all the time against God, but
they're giving up their will unto the Lord and attempting
to come to the place where they're so resigned to God and to His
ways that they have no will of their own, but they're waiting
for God to show them and afford to them the very way they're
to take. And number four, I believe that
the way that the angels protect the children of God is in the
way of honesty, and in the way of uprightness and integrity. And I'd like for you to turn,
if you will, to the book of Acts, chapter 24, and look at verse
16. 24 and verse 16. I do not believe
that I'll be a faithful preacher of the gospel unless I was to
cover these things with you today. I believe that there is a way
for the people of God to walk, and these are the ways in which
the angels will keep them. And the verse is verse 16. Acts chapter 24 and verse 16. Listen to it. And herein do I
exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense
toward God and toward men. Now this, I believe, is the attitude
of a child of God. I do not want to offend God,
and I do not want to offend man. I do not want to offend those
around me. I don't want to offend my brethren, and I certainly
do not want to offend God Almighty. And so we exercise ourselves
to have always the conscience, void of offense, toward God and
toward man. A believer is a man that is honest.
He speaks the truth. He walks uprightly in this world. Now then, fifthly, I believe
it's the way of consecrated service to the glory of God. It's the
way of consecrated service. Now, turn in your Bibles to Acts
15, Acts chapter 15, and look, if you will, at verse 26. Here's
a blessed verse, Acts 15. 26 I like this verse it spoke
to me, and I thought that I could use it very well as a proof of
text for this truth Men it says well, let me let me read verse
25 It seemed good unto us being assembled with one accord to
send chosen men unto you with our beloved marvelous and Paul
and Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now brethren, sisters in the
Lord, will you not agree with me that if one has hazarded his
life for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that surely, most
surely, he is living in the way of consecration to God. His is
consecrated service to the glory of Almighty God. And then Romans
12, verse 1 and 2, where the scripture says that we ought
to submit ourselves. Well, let's read it to you. It
talks about our bodies being a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto God, and so on and so forth. But turn and get there if you
will. If I can find it in my Bible here, I'm sure the Book
of Romans is still in this Bible. Romans chapter 12. and let me
read verse 1 and 2. I beseech you therefore brethren
by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice wholly acceptable of God which is a reasonable service
and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and
acceptable and perfect will of God. So this is the way of consecrated
service to the Lord. A believer is a person whose
heart and life is consecrated to Christ. It's not a perfect
consecration. I don't think Paul would have
said his consecration was a perfect consecration, but it is both
a sincere and a growing consecration unto God. And this is important
to see. that while we're not perfectly and wholly consecrated
to God, our consecration is one that is growing and it is sincere. And this is the way of one who
is being kept. That's his heart attitude, his
way. And then the next thing is that
it's the way of separation from the world. Now 2 Corinthians
6, if you want to turn there in your Bible, 2 Corinthians
chapter 6 and verses 14 through 18 these are verses that not
read very often in soft race churches, but I think they should
be read and These in the way of the people of God's way of
separation. Let me just read these verses
2nd Corinthians 6 beginning with verse 14 be he not a unequally
yoked together with unbelievers. This is talking about an unequal
yoke in marriage or an unequal yoke in business. For what fellowship
hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light
with darkness? And what concord hath Christ
with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For here is
the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell
in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. Wherefore? come out from among
them and be a separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you,
and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. And
so, look, what we have here is a clear, concise statement of
Scripture that supports that the way of God's people is the
way of separateness from this world. The believer willingly
Separates himself from the things of the world the ways of the
world the people of the world and the religion of the world
the people of God must be a separate people and then lastly it's the
way of the cross and I want you to look at this with me Luke
24 No, I'm sorry it's Luke 14 Luke chapter 14 And I want you to look at this
scripture, because it's a very important text. And I wouldn't
want you to miss my point here. It's the way of the cross, brother. And you just listen as I read
this scripture, and I'm sure that you will agree with what
I'm saying. Look at verse 25. And there went
a great multitude with him. And he turned and said unto them,
if any man come to me and take not his father and mother and
wife and children, Reverend sister he ate his own life also he cannot
be my disciple and Whoso does not bear his cross and come after
me cannot be my disciple now look at verse 33 so likewise
Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot
be my disciple salt is good and But if the salt hath lost his
savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for
the lamb, nor fit for the dumbheel, but men cast it out. He that
hath ears to hear, let him hear." The believer willingly, and what
this means to me is this, takes up his cross and follows the
Lord Jesus Christ day by day, regardless of cost or consequence. He seeks to do the will of his
Lord, putting all things in subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything,
his wife, as it is said here, his children, his brothers and
his sister, and his own life also has to be put into subjection
to the will of God. And so, beloved, the believer,
as he walks in the way of the cross, as he takes up his cross,
as he bears his cross, and goes after Christ, I believe that
he is kept by the angels of God and he is preserved in this life. Now then, I want to ask a question
and just say a few more things to you before I dismiss you this
morning. What about those who seem to
fall away, those who appeared to me Genuine repentant believers
and yet they Seemingly fell away You cannot be denied that many
do depart from Christ Many depart forsake the truth On the gospel
they fall away from the faith they seemingly leave the kingdom
of God in the days of our Lord's ministry remember in John 6 and
66 I where many of his disciples, the Bible says, went back and
walked no more with him. And in the early church, we know
that the apostles were frequently saddened to see men and women
whom they loved and held in high esteem as fellow believers depart
from the gospel. Some were driven away with persecution,
some drawn away by love of the world, some overcome with pride
and sin, and some taken in the stare of Satan by false doctrine.
Now, the examples are numerous in the Bible. Remember Judas?
Remember Ananias and Sapphira in the book of Acts? Simon and
Magnus? Demas, who love this present
world? Now, Paul said he's forsaken them, love this present world.
And the Atrophies, who love to have the preeminence? Hymenaeus
and Philetus, Alexander, Phagetus, these that had the false faith. the resurrection of Paschal reign
and so on. All of these are examples. Well, I believe that probably
every preacher, every local church, every believer can add to this
list. How many and for? What about them? Somebody says,
what about them? If God's people are kept by the
power of God through faith in Christ Jesus, if the angels are
assigned over them to keep them, well, what about all of these?
What about? What are we going to do with
these? How can we receive any comfort as long as we know that
there are some that have fallen away, that supposedly were supposed
to be kept? Now then you listen to what I
have to say. Do these examples of apostasy prove that men and
women who are truly born again by the grace of God can be lost?
Does it prove that? Certainly not. Now, That conclusion,
if you draw that kind of conclusion, would be contrary to the plain
statements of the Word of God and all the doctrines of the
Gospel. The multitudes who believe Christ, and you listen carefully
to me, never truly knew Christ. They never truly knew the Lord
Jesus. Those who believe the Church,
we're here are the church now i'm not talking about this little
church i'm talking about the church of the firstborn i'm talking
about the living body of christ uh... those who forsake the way
of faith never had truth saving faith in the lord jesus but these
apostates do stand as a beacon to warn and instruct all who
profess faith in christ and we should learn from them four things,
quickly, let me get to them. I'm not going to preach over
them, I'm just going to get them to you. Number one, anyone who can
leave Christ will leave Christ. You mark it down. If a man doesn't
have the fear of God in his heart, the point where he will not depart
from the Lord, he will leave Christ. He will. If you can leave
it, you will. Now, you just, you think about
that. I believe that is a profound statement. It is a true statement. There will be something happening
sometime between now and grave in every one of your lives that
if you can leave Christ, you will be tempted to do so, and
you will leave Him if you can. You'll leave Him. Unless there's
an almighty power and grace in you that keeps you from departing
from Him. that's the first thing I learned
from this. Number two, that there is such a thing as a false faith
by which many are deceived. And we ought to take heed to
ourselves. Do we truly believe in the grace
of God? Do we truly know the Lord Jesus
Christ, or are we deceived? Are we deceived? All right, and
the third thing is this. that salvation is by the grace
of God alone. If it was up to any man, all
would depart from Christ. All would go back. None would
be preserved. None would be kept. And the fourth
thing is this, that the one, the ultimate proof of faith is
perseverance. It's perseverance in faith. The Bible says, he that endureth
to the end shall be saved. The test of time is the sheer
test of faith. Experience, profession, deeds,
feelings, knowledge are nothing apart from perseverance. We are made, Paul said in Hebrews,
partakers of Christ only if we hold fast the beginning of our
confidence, steadfast unto the end. Now, look, this is so important
to see this. I had to deal with this. I could
not bring to you a message on this subject without talking
about these who, it appears, were not kept. And I'm telling
you this morning, that the true people of God, the elect of God,
the chosen of God, are a kept people. I have labored that. I have attempted to show you
that, that the angels of God are given charge over them to
keep them in their ways. But it's those who persevere
in the faith of the gospel. Now, I'm not saying that a man
cannot slip. I'm not saying that a man, the
scripture says, the righteous man falls seven times and the
Lord lifts him up. But I'm talking about somebody
that turns away, like these that I suggested in the scripture,
and they die in the state that they are in, such as Ananias
and Sarai. You remember the Lord killed
them because they lied to the Holy Spirit. Judas, he denied
the Lord, went out and killed himself. He died in that state. And there are many who start
in the ways of the Lord. They do have troubles, they have
problems, and they slip, and they fall, and they're picked
up, and the Lord lifts them up, and the Lord lifts them up, and
the Lord lifts them up, and maybe seven times. And I believe that's
symbolic. I don't think it means just that
the Lord will just lift you up seven times. God knows He's lifted
me up more than that already. And so I know the Lord will lift
up these people over and over again. But if a man dies in that
state of rebellion, and dies in that state of indifference
toward God, and having forsaken the Lord and the truth of God,
mark it down, brother and sister, he just never had it. He just never had it. And I know
many, dear soul, who have fallen, and the Lord, the scripture has
abundant proof of that also. Many fell into great sin. And
the scripture says, the Lord will not forsake his people for
his great name's sake. The Lord will lift up his people. The Lord will secure his people. But if a man dies in that state,
what would it be, brother and sister? I mean to have forsaken
like demons. Love this present world and forsook
the apostle Paul and turned away and wouldn't follow with him
and wouldn't suffer. The offense of the gospel within,
to die in that state. Well, I think it means eternal
worldliness, that's what it means. I think it means to have missed
the true calling of the gospel. I want to read this poem before
I close here by Albert Midland. And it has to do with a certain
perseverance of God's elect. Listen to it. Where God begins
His gracious work, that work He will complete. For round the
objects of His love all power and mercy meet. Man may repent
him of his work and fail in his intent. God is above the power
of change. He never can repent. Each object
of his love is sure to reach the heavenly goal, for neither
sin nor Satan can destroy the blood-washed soul. Satan may
vex and unbelieve, the same one may annoy, but he must conquer,
yes, as sure as Jesus reigns in joy. The precious blood of
God's dear Son shall never be spilt in vain, the soul on Christ
believing must with Christ forever reign. And so that's exactly
my conviction, brethren. We are kept by the power of God
through faith in Christ Jesus, and that is this morning that
which drives away the gloom and drives away and does console
my soul to know that we are kept by the angels of God, and we're
kept for the power of God. We're garrisoned about by omnipotence,
and we're kept. Wonderful, wonderful truth. Well,
may the Lord be pleased to give you a blessing from this. I hope
He does. It's been kind of a struggle
to preach this morning, but I hope that we've been able to receive
something that will be of lasting benefit to our souls. Let's stand,
and we'll

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