How Can We Know?

“Quicken me after Thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of Thy mouth.” -Psalm 119:88 [KJV]

 

As justified sinners, washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, and clothed in His righteousness imputed, and in consideration of all our remaining sins and weaknesses, how can we know that we will not eventually totally forsake Christ and abandon Him and His truth? We can know for certain, first, because HE WILL NOT LET US GO (John 10:27-30). 

 

He keeps us by His grace and power. The idea that God would not infringe His sovereign will and power upon us so as to impede upon our “free” wills or our inherent goodness is not only absurd but totally unscriptural. Left to ourselves we would never be saved and would never continue with Him. 

 

Secondly, we can know for certain that we will never totally forsake Christ because we are thoroughly and eternally washed clean from all our sins in His blood, and we stand justified before God in His righteousness imputed. This means we cannot be charged with our sins (Romans 4:6-8; 8:33-34). The world sees this as a license to sin, but not God’s true children. The third reason we can know for certain that we who are truly saved could never totally forsake and abandon Christ and His truth is the quickening (life-giving) power of the Holy Spirit in our new birth. 

 

Not only has God the Holy Spirit given us a new heart and a new spirit, He also personally indwells us. He will never leave us, and He will never take back what He has given us; “for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Romans 11:29). Having been quickened by the Holy Spirit, we will always “keep” (-guard and give heed to) His Word of truth in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

—preacher Bill Parker

Eager Avenue Grace church Sermon Audio link:

https://www.sermonaudio.com/broadcasters/reignofgrace/sermons 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Putrid Cup of Tolerance: When Evil Poses as Progress

"Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: He preserveth the souls of His saints; He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked." -Psalm 97:10 [KJV] "Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil." Thomas Mann's chilling words pierce through the fog of modern moral relativism like a shard of ice. It's a warning that echoes through the blood-soaked pages of history, a truth we ignore at our peril. The Seduction of False Neutrality We live in an age where tolerance is held up as the supreme virtue, the golden idol before which we must all bow. We're told to accept everything, question nothing, and embrace a faux-unity that sacrifices truth on the altar of political correctness. But what happens when this tolerance becomes a blindfold, obscuring the stark reality of evil lurking in our midst? Like a ravenous wolf, evil doesn't care for our carefully crafted social constructs. It doesn't respect boundaries, it doesn't play fair, and it ce...
Read more

According to God's Good Pleasure...

"According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." -Ephesians 1:4, 5 [KJV] It is a very solemn but a very true assertion, that no man can quicken his own soul; and it is an equally solemn, we might almost say, a tremendous truth, that the gospel only comes in power to those whom God has chosen unto eternal life.  Indeed the one flows from the other; for if no man can quicken his own soul, it necessarily follows it must be of sovereign grace that it is quickened at all. Once you allow the fall, and acknowledge that a man is by nature so thoroughly dead in trespasses and sins that he cannot raise himself up out of this state to newness of life, then the doctrine of election necessarily follows.   A living soul may reason thus: "Am I quickened? Yes. Di...
Read more

Christ Alone Be Magnified!

"He MUST Increase, but I MUST Decrease" -J OHN 3:30 [KJV] This was spoken of the Redeemer by His forerunner John. And it is not to be considered as the language of complaint or sullen agreement as if he would say, "I dislike it; but it is unavoidable. It is my grief; and I must bear it." No. It was as agreeable to his feelings as it was firm in his belief. And it showed a fine and a noble soul in John. The spirit that is in us lusteth to envy. We love to be distinguished above others. We wish to rise, even by the fall of others. It is trying, even to a good man, to withdraw, and see a successor filling his place better than himself, and, as the honors he has worn are transferred to another, to say, "He must increase, but I must decrease." It is not an easy thing to go down well, or for a setting star to exult in a rising sun. But it was thus to John. He knew his rank and approved his place. He was the servant, not the Master: the friend, ...
Read more