John 10:27-30 & 6:39; 1 Peter 1:3-5; 2 Timothy 1:12 & 4:18—Romans 8:38, 39
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.—And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope 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 unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
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—And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.—For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): One of the outstanding glories of the Gospel is its promise of eternal security to all who truly believe it…It proclaims no feeble Redeemer, but One who is “mighty to save,” Isaiah 63:1; though the world, the flesh and the Devil, combine against Him, He cannot be frustrated. He who triumphed over the grave cannot be thwarted by any feebleness or fickleness in His people. “He is able”―which would not be true if their unwillingness could balk Him―“to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Him,” Hebrews 7:25.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): He tells us, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth,” Matthew 28:18…He has all power―that He might “give eternal life to as many were given Him,” for the more effectual carrying on and completing our salvation.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): There are in the world certain people who teach that Christ gives grace to men, and then tells them, “Now, you shall be saved if you will persevere; but this must be left to yourself.”
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): The words of Hebrews 3:14 strongly imply the possibility of falling from the grace of God and perishing everlastingly…Having believed in Christ as the promised Messiah, and embraced the whole Christian system, they were made partakers of all its benefits in this life, and entitled to the fulfillment of all its exceeding great and precious promises relative to the glories of the eternal world. The former they actually possessed, and the latter they could have only in case of their perseverance; therefore the apostle says, “If we hold fast the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end,”―meaning, to the end of our life.
ANTHONY BURGESS (died 1664): Were they not kept by God’s grace and power, they would every moment be undone both in soul and body. It is not our grace, our prayer, our watchfulness keeps us, but it is in the power of God, His right arm, that supports us.
A. W. PINK: Apart from the renewing and sustaining power of God—they would assuredly perish under the corruptions of the flesh and the assaults of the Devil.
ADAM CLARKE: There shall be nothing lacking on God’s part to support you—and bring you at last to His kingdom and glory.
JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): If we hold fast our faith unto the end. If―but not else.
C. H. SPURGEON: It is not your hold of Christ that saves, but His hold of you.
A. W. PINK: If left entirely to themselves believers would perish. Temptations and tribulations from without and corruptions from within would prove too strong for them, and therefore does Christ make intercession on their behalf, that God would grant them such supplies of grace and pardoning mercy that they will be preserved from total apostasy.
ADAM CLARKE: Our participation of glory depends on our continuing steadfast in the faith, to the end of our Christian race. If this were not held fast to the end, Christ, in His saving influences, could not be held fast.
C. H. SPURGEON: Will you please to remember that if you look to creature strength it is utterly impossible that you should persevere in grace, even for ten minutes, much less for ten years! If your perseverance depends upon yourself you are a lost man. You may write that down for a certainty.
A. W. PINK: The honour and glory of Jehovah is bound up in the final perseverance of the saints.
C. H. SPURGEON: Why? First, because He has promised to do it; and God’s promises are bonds that never yet were dishonoured. If He hath said He will, He will. Secondly, because Christ Jesus hath taken an oath that He will do it―and, therefore, because Christ is responsible, because He is the heavenly sponsor for all God’s people, they must be kept: for otherwise Christ’s bond were forfeited, and His oath were null and void. They must be kept, again, because otherwise the union that there is between all of them and Christ would not be a real one. Christ and His church are one—one body—we are “His body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all,” Ephesians 1:23. If, then, the whole church were not gathered in, Christ would be an incomplete Christ, seeing He would want His fullness. They must all be saved, for God the Father has determined that they shall be; nay, the Son has sworn they shall be; and God the Holy Spirit vouches for it that they shall be.
A. W. PINK: Now is the Father’s eternal purpose placed in jeopardy by the human will? Is its fulfillment contingent upon human conduct? Or, having ordained the end, will He not also make infallibly effectual all means to that end? That predestination is founded upon His love: “I have loved thee”―says the Father to each of His elect―“with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee,” Jeremiah 31:3. Nor is there any variation in His love, for God is not fickle like us: “I am the Lord, I change not: therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed,” Malachi 3:6. Were it possible for one of God’s elect to totally apostatize and finally perish it would mean the Father had purposed something which He failed to effect and that His love was thwarted…If the final perseverance of the saints be a delusion, then one must close his Bible and sit down in despair.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): If my confidence of my final salvation, and of my ultimate perfection, rested in myself―my own energy, my own zeal, my own purposes and desires―I know that I’d never get there. My assurance is based on this: that God, the infinite eternal God, is vindicating His own eternal character, through me. And if He started saving me, and then left it undone or unfinished, and I ever arrived in hell, the devil would have the greatest joke of eternity. He’d say “there’s a being that God began to save, and failed to complete.” It’s impossible, it can’t happen. There is no more monstrous idea than the idea that you can fall away from grace―that you can ever be born again, and then be damned! The character of God is involved, it’s impossible! It’s not merely to save me, it’s to vindicate His own being and nature.
A. W. PINK: Those whom He pardons, He preserves. Therefore each one who trusts in Him, though conscious of his own weakness and wickedness, may confidently exclaim “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,” 2 Timothy 1:12.
C. H. SPURGEON: Paul was fully persuaded of this great Truth of God…When you know that your Lord is able to keep that which you have committed to Him until that day, then you are firm as a rock.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: The thing’s absolutely certain, because God’s character is involved in it.
C. H. SPURGEON: Let us go forward into the future, however dark it is, with this confidence, that at least one thing we know—the love of Christ will hold us fast and, by His Grace, we will hold fast to Him—we are joined to Him by a living, loving, lasting union that never shall be broken!
