How Christians Are Kept by the Power of God

How are Christians kept by the power of God?

Kept by God

How are Christians kept by the power of God? When Jesus was about to go to the cross, He prayed to God the Father to keep His disciples in the Father’s name. Previously, Jesus says He kept them but with Calvary approaching, He knew that the Father must keep them until He is raised from the dead. We cannot save ourselves any more than Lazarus could raise himself from the dead. Jesus didn’t tell Lazarus, “Okay Lazarus, blink an eye or move a toe and I’ll do the rest.” No, dead men cannot do any works or cannot save themselves. Salvation is fully a work of God (Acts 4:12, 16:30-31). It is not we but God “who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy” (Jude 1:24). The Apostle Paul was so sure he’d be in the kingdom that he could clearly state that “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” (Phil 1:6). God will finish what He began. We begin stuff we don’t finish, but God, Who began a good work in us, will bring it to completion…all the way into the kingdom.

Sealed by the Spirit

The Book of Ephesians is one of the best books we have about our security in Christ. God says you were sealed and someday will be safely delivered into the kingdom. We were dead in our sins and could not possibly choose Christ, so He intervened by His Spirit to quicken us to new life (Eph 2:1-5). Dead men cannot choose Christ. Men made alive by the Spirit can. The Apostle Paul says God “chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love” (Eph 1:4). We did not choose Him but He chose us as the Lord said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16a). Dead men cannot choose anything but to decay. It was “when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” (Eph 1:13). What the Holy Spirit seals cannot be broken except by God Himself and of course He would not change His mind about us. He changes not (Mal 3:6).

Kept by God

If we could lose our salvation, we would, if it were up to us. We are no match for Satan and his minions but when God steps in, Satan must step out of the way. Jesus prayed to the Father, “While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12). But somethings about to change: Jesus is going to the cross, so He says, “I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:11). Before Calvary, Jesus kept them but now, at Calvary, Jesus passes this on to the Father to “keep them in your name.” So we are kept by God Himself and the very power of God.

Glory to God

The fact that God must intervene or we’d never be saved and stay saved gives God all the glory for our salvation. We cannot boast or brag that we saved ourselves or that we added to our salvation. That gives us credit so we must give God 100% of the glory for our salvation and that means He must receive 100% of the credit for our salvation. It’s not Jesus plus what we do equals salvation. It is faith alone in Christ alone and being saved by grace alone. Even we can’t mess that up. We were born of God from above (John 3:3-7). Can we take any credit for our own natural birth? Did we choose to be born or the time and place? No! In the same way, God causes us to be born again. The Apostle John writes, “to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). We didn’t have that right. God did. It was not our will to be born physically…and similarly, it was not our will to be born again…but God’s and God’s alone! How incredibly comforting that is!

Facts Over Feelings

I cannot count the number of people who have contacted me that “feel” like they’ve lost their salvation, but if they could not gain their own salvation, how then can they lose it? How can they lose what they never gained in the first place? Feelings are vastly overrated. Feelings are the shallowest part of human understanding. We can feel like this or that will happen, but our feelings do not impact or negate what is true. We used to “feel” or believe that the earth was flat, but of course, their feelings were wrong. Feelings can deceive us and fool us very easily. That’s why we must stay in the Word of God. There you will find objective truth not based upon feelings. Our feelings are subjective and subject to error. Objective truth is always true, regardless of how we feel. Don’t trust your own feelings. Trust what the Bible says.

Conclusion

I pray you have put your trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If that has not happened yet, my friend, you are in real danger of hell fire. And I mean, in immediate danger. You’re one breath, one heartbeat…one accident away from eternity when it will be too late to repent. Today is the best day to believe (2 Cor 6:2) since tomorrow is no guarantee. If Jesus Christ came today, here is your fate (Matt 7:21-23). This is why I plead with you as you read this, repent today…and I mean right now. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. If you do not, you will face God’s judgment after death guaranteed (Heb 9:27) or at Jesus Christ’s appearance (Rev 20:12-15), which could happen at any moment.

Here is some related reading for you: Can a Christian Lose Their Salvation? A Biblical Analysis

Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^® (ESV^®), Crossway Bibles. (2007). ESV: Study Bible: English standard version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Tagged as: eternal security, God's power, Holy Spirit, Salvation