Kept by the Power of God unto Salvation!

"Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not." -I John 3:6 [KJV]

Beware, O my soul! of licentious spirits, who make Christ a minister of sin, instead of a Saviour from all sin. For such are strangers to the sweet experience of abiding in Christ, whereby sin is dethroned in the heart, the power of it subdued in the life, and holiness maintained in the soul. To abide in Christ, is to continue to believe in, and rest upon Him, as the dwelling of our souls. “Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations” (Psalm 90:1.) This is the claim and confession of the faithful. 

Ask a believer, “where dwellest thou?" he will reply, On my own freehold, my Father’s patrimony, where my treasure is—IN Christ. Such an one sinneth not. What! never sin in thought, word, or deed? has he no sin in him? This state is the earnest desire of his soul. Verily, he doth not abide in Christ, who doth not long for it; but so far from being in it, that every believer feels he is a lump of sin; knows that nothing but sin dwells in his flesh; finds, if left to himself, he can do nothing but sin. Yet he sinneth not. 

(1st.) He abides in the truth. He cannot so sin, as to lie against the truth, and say, “I have no sin.” (2d.) So as to reject the record of truth, that eternal life is in Christ, and make the God of truth a liar. For he believes, that free remission of sin, and full justification unto eternal life, is by the blood and righteousness of Christ only. (3d.) As a new creature in Christ, he sinneth not. He lives above the power of sin, hates all sin, walks contrary to sin, and strives against every sin. (4th.) He sinneth not, as under the law of works; for he is under the grace of Christ. 

Though sin lives and rages in his flesh, yet he lives not in sin. He is dead to sin; sin reigns not over him. Of every evil, (let who will abuse it, at the peril of his soul) he may say with St. Paul, “It is no more I who do it, but sin which dwelleth in me” (Romans 7:17.) (5th.) He sinneth not, as the ungodly do, or as he himself did while unregenerate. Then, the whole man, spirit, soul, and body loved sin, wilfully and habitually committed sin, with enmity against God; but now, the least sin is his grief; the very motions of sin, his distress. 

Lastly, he sinneth not, to the damnation of his soul. For there is (not one) condemnation against him, as he is in Christ Jesus. And he is kept by the power of God unto salvation. O, precious abiding faith! Victory over every enemy is sure. “For we are more than conquerors, through Christ Who loved us” (Romans 8:37.) Stand up, my soul, shake off thy fears, And gird the gospel-armour on; March to the gates of endless joy, Where thy great Captain Saviour’s gone. What though thine inward lust rebel? ‘Tis but a struggling gasp for life; The weapons of victorious grace Shall slay thy sins, and end the strife.

William Mason (1724-1797)

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