EVENING
SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/31/2025 10:14 PM
My
Worship Time Focus: “Intro to ‘The Saints
Guarantee’”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Jude 24-25
Message of the verse: “24 Now to Him
who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence
of His glory blameless with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through
Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before
all time and now and forever. Amen.”
Now
before I begin to quote from John MacArthur’s commentary on this introduction
to these last two verses in Jude’s letter I have to say that these two verses
to me are the best conclusion to any of the epistles found in the New Testament. I think that it will take at least two days
for me to go over this introduction, and then I will begin to look at this last
chapter in MacArthur’s commentary on this letter by Jude, and then, Lord
willing we will begin to look at 2 Timothy, and I think that will be another
great study from God’s Word.
“All of the doctrines of salvation
are absolutely essential and profoundly precious to the redeemed. But the doctrine of eternal security, more
accurately known as the perseverance of the saints, stands out as the most
marvelous of them all. The glory of the
other aspects of salvation—such as justification, regeneration, conversion, and
adoption—could not be fully appreciated if salvation were not forever. Without the assurance and confidence of
eternal security, the Christian life would give way to doubt, worry, and fear
as believers wondered if the other doctrines were permanent. And the thought of giving up everything to
follow Christ would hardly seem worth the cost if all might be lost in the end
(cf. Luke 9:23-25). Yet, because of the
doctrine of eternal security, we as believers can rest assured that nothing can
rob us of that saving faith that will ultimately produce an ‘eternal weight of glory far beyond all
comparison’ (2 Cor. 4:17).” Now
please take the time to re-read this paragraph as it is a very, very important paragraph
to dwell on.
“If it were up to us alone to
maintain our salvation, we would surely lose it. As those who still struggle with sin (1 John
1:8-10; cf. Rom. 7:15-23; 1 Cor. 1:11; 5:1; 11:18; James 1:14-15; 4:1-3), we
would repeatedly forfeit our righteous standing before God. Even the apostle Paul acknowledged his
continuing battle against the flesh, exclaiming, ‘Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this
death?’ (Rom. 7:24). He recognized
that he could neither gain nor maintain salvation through his own self-righteousness
efforts (Phil. 3:4-14)
“Thankfully, true salvation is not
based on works as believers, but rather the work of Christ. It is His righteousness that covers those who
trust in Him (Phil. 3:9; 2 Peter 1:1).
We need not worry about keeping, or losing our salvation because it is
not based on our deeds. Instead, it is
based on the unchanging person of Jesus Christ (cf. Heb. 13:8). The plan (Rom. 8:29-30), promise (Heb.
10:23), power (Rom 1:16), and provision (2 Cor. 5:21) from God Himself
guarantees our eternal destiny.”
Ok I will stop here, but I want to
repeat how important this introduction to these last two verses in Jude are,
and how important is the introduction that MacArthur gives here, so please take
the time to re-read it and then, Lord willing I will finish it tomorrow
evening.
8/31/2025 10:36 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment