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ÒPreserved in Jesus ChristÓ

Jude 1

 

Here God the Holy Ghost tells us that all who are GodÕs, because we are from eternity Òsanctified by God the Father,Ó are Òpreserved in Jesus Christ.Ó

 

Kept

The word ÒpreservedÓ means Òwatched over,Ó Òguarded,Ó Òkept from loss or injury.Ó It is a passive verb. So the sweet message of God to our hearts in these words is this. — Because God has set us apart unto himself in Christ in eternal election, we are absolutely kept from any harm coming to us, because we are in Christ made the objects of His unceasing care.

      The words here might be translated, Òkept for Jesus Christ.Ó The Lord our God keeps his eye upon us all the time. He watches over, guards, and protects his elect continually. And this preservation is altogether His work.

 

Rejoice

Let all who trust Christ understand and ever rejoice in this blessed fact. — In eternal sanctification, we were set apart by God the Father in election in Christ, chosen in him. We have a place in his heart, who declares, ÒI have loved thee with an everlasting love.Ó We are from everlasting in his heart, in his hands, and in him. We are one with Christ! We are one with him as members of the body are one with the head. We are one with him as our covenant Surety and Representative before God. Being in him and one with him, we are preserved in him and by him, — preserved by him before we were called and preserved by him after we have been called. It is written, ÒThey are preserved forever!Ó

 

Unto Calling

All GodÕs elect are secretly preserved in Christ from eternity, preserved before their calling, and preserved unto their calling. We were preserved from condemnation and the second death. We were not preserved from falling with the rest of mankind in the sin and fall of our father Adam. We were not preserved from the depravity and corruption of human nature which all men have by birth from Adam. And we are not preserved from iniquity, transgression, and sin. We are all, by nature, Òchildren of wrath

 

Preserved Still

Yet, even in those days gone by, though fallen, depraved, hell-bent Òchildren of wrath,Ó Jude tells us, and all of Scripture teaches us, that we who now believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and all who shall yet believe on him were so completely and absolutely preserved, watched over, guarded, and protected by our God, by virtue of our union with Christ, that it was not possible for us to suffer any real loss or injury by all that we experience in time! We were, even in our wrathful state of unbelief, so preserved that the law could not execute the sentence of condemnation on us, sin could not damn us, and Satan could not destroy us.

      Then, after being called to life and faith in Christ, we are preserved still in Christ. Our Savior said, ÒI give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perishÓ (John 10:28).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don Fortner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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