Kept By the Power of God

Kokavkrystallos · May 29, 2024

First portion is by Andrew Bonar, and I added to it a third point at the end:

1 Peter 1:5

ARE there any believers here who are afraid that they will some day bring disgrace on their profession ? Let them study these words. 'Kept' is the whole history of a believer's life. It tells us we are very weak, for we need to be kept; but, at the same time, it is a most comforting word, for it tells us we are worth keeping. God counts us a treasure worth keeping. It has wonderful power to give energy to believers. Rightly viewed, it bears on the interests of holiness in a wonderful manner. There may be ups and downs in the degrees of our faith and of our love, but we cannot be lost, for we are 'kept by the power of God.' The word throws emphasis on the mighty power that grasps us and keeps us; it is 'garrisoned by the power of God.' It is God's own power that encompasses us. None shall pluck us out of His hand.

'What from Christ the soul can sever,
Bound by everlasting bands?
Once in Him, in Him for ever,
Thus the eternal covenant stands.
None can pluck us from the Strength of Israel's hands.'

I. We are kept by the power of God.

We are in the arms of omniscience and omnipotence, for it is literally 'kept in the power of God.' We are lying upon that power, and we need it all. The power of the devil is tremendous, the power of the world is tremendous. Its current often carries us away. No wonder if we sometimes say, 'I shall one day perish.' We are 'kept by the power of God.' If you want to know the workings of that power, read Eph. 1:19-23. What a defence! better than ten legions of angels; and yet we have that too. But Jude says, 'Keep yourselves.' We are to keep ourselves, but how? 'By faith.' God keeps us by making us keep ourselves 'by faith.'

II. We are kept by faith.

God's part is to put forth His power; our part is to put forth faith. God enables us to have faith, and He keeps it in us continually, and not all the power of hell can pluck that faith out of our heart. It never decays. We get power continually from God to go on believing from day to day. Our faith will not vanish. It may grow weaker, but it will not disappear. If we give way to unbelief we are letting go our hold of the chain that fastens us to the omnipotent arm. Faith implies that our eye is daily looking to the Cross of Christ - not looking to our feet, not looking about at what might terrify us, but 'looking unto Jesus.' We think of the righteousness He gives us, every day. We think of the blood shed to put away our sin, every day. We think of the new and living way opened to us by Christ, every day. Faith is always looking, not only to the work of Christ, but to His Person. 'He ever liveth to make intercession for us.' He lives to keep His vine and water it every moment. All the way along we may say

'There is life for a look at the Crucified One' -

new life, every day. We are on the battlefield still, but we may sing

'God is our refuge and our strength.'

When sickness comes we may feel ready to fail, but He will keep us. When death comes we may not be able to think at all, but it does not matter. He will keep us. Preparation for death is almost an imagination. A believer does not prepare for death at all. Christ does it for him. The believer prepares for life. Beware only of slipping back. If you begin to think about yourself, about your frame of mind, about your cares, you may slip; but you will not fall. He who restored Peter will restore you. The fishermen in Brittany have a prayer they use when their boats are going out: 'O our God, keep us, for our boat is very small, and the ocean is very wide.' We shall be 'kept' till the salvation is revealed, and that may be at any moment. It is all ready - like a statue all complete, only waiting to be unveiled. God will keep us till then for our inheritance. He will not have an unlet house in New Jerusalem, no mansion where the grass grows before the door. Each mansion is reserved for some one. Our inheritance is 'reserved in heaven for us.'
Transcribed from Reminiscences of Andrew A.Bonar D.D.

I'd like to add a third point here:

III. We are kept by the will of God -

Ephesians 1:3-6, " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
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,
To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."

Now don't skip over the part that says we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. People love to hear a message on how God will keep them, but take it as license to sin, and those that do probably have not truly known Him. And those who do fall back into sin that are truly His will not have peace with it, and it is not a good place to be at all. You don't even wanna go there. It's not worth the temporal pleasures of Sin, which turn every time to a nightmare.

Pauls opening line in several of his epistles is "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God"

Philippians 1:6, "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"

Proverbs 2:8,
"He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints."

Psalm 121:3,
"He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep"

He that keepeth Israel. You know Israel has never been destroyed? Other nations have fallen and are no more. There are extinct nations. There are extinct empires. You may have an Egypt today, but it is not the Egypt of the Pharaoh's. You have a city of Rome but not the Roman Empire. You have the nation of Greece but not the Greek Empire. But Israel, miraculously, after being scattered and oppressed, is a nation once more, with her original language that the Scriptures were written in, and her belief in Yahweh the LORD whether or not some still reject Yeshua. That goes back to around 2000 BC, or over 4000 years ago.

What's even more miraculous is the time Israel was reborn as a nation - 3 years to the month after Germany was defeated in WW2. Hitler had tried to wipe out the Jews. Oh, HalleluYAH, He that keeps Israel does not slumber or sleep! We can take comfort in this very thing; that Yahweh has kept Israel from the time of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Though He has chastised them sore for their backsliding, and will do same to us if we are as obstinate and obtuse in our ways, He will keep us.

BBAS 64 · May 30, 2024

Good day,

Adding John Gill:

Who are kept by the power of God,.... This is a description of the persons for whom the inheritance is reserved in heaven; they are not only chosen to salvation, and begotten again to an inheritance, but they are preserved unto it; their happiness is very great; their inheritance is safe in heaven for them, and they are kept below, amidst a thousand snares and difficulties, till they safely arrive to the possession of that: they are kept, not in and by themselves, the way of man is not in himself; nor in the hands of angels, for no such trust does God put in them; but in the hands of Jesus Christ, where they are safe, and out of which none can pluck them; on him, as a foundation, and in him, as a strong hold; they are kept in the love of God, and on his heart, from whence they can never be separated, and in the covenant of grace, out of which they will never be put; and in a state of justification, and shall never enter into condemnation; and in the family of God, for, being sons, they are no more servants; and in a state of grace and holiness, in the fear of God, and faith of Christ, and love to both; and in the path of truth, from whence they can never finally and totally fall: for though they are not kept from the being of sin, and the workings of it, and slips and falls into it, yet from being destroyed by it; and though not from Satan, and his temptations, yet from being overcome by them; and though not entirely from unbelief, doubts, and fears, yet from final unbelief; for Christ prays for them, that their faith fail not; and from a final and total falling away from grace into sin: and they are kept thus, not by their own power and might, or that of any mere creature, but "by the power of God"; meaning, not the Gospel, nor the Spirit of God, but the perfection of his power; by which they are kept, as with a guard, or in a garrison, as the word here used signifies; not only angels encamp about them, and salvation is for walls and bulwarks, all around them; but God himself, in the perfection of his power, is a wall of fire to them; he is round about them from henceforth and for ever; their place of defence is the munition of rocks; his name is a strong tower, where they run and are safe:

it is added,

through faith; some versions read it, "and by faith", as the Syriac and Ethiopic; by that faith which is of the operation of God, of which Christ is the author and finisher, and shall never fail, it being supported by the same power the saints are kept; through faith in the power and faithfulness of God; through faith looking to Christ, leaning on him, and living upon him; by faith getting the victory over the world, and every other enemy, and being more than conquerors, through Christ. That to which the saints are kept is, "unto salvation"; salvation is already obtained for them, by the obedience and sufferings of Christ, and is applied to them in conversion, by the Spirit of Christ; but the full enjoyment of it, which is here intended, is reserved for them in heaven; and to this they are kept, being heirs of it, and shall certainly possess it: and which

Kokavkrystallos · May 30, 2024

BBAS 64 said:
Good day,

Adding John Gill:

Who are kept by the power of God,.... This is a description of the persons for whom the inheritance is reserved in heaven; they are not only chosen to salvation, and begotten again to an inheritance, but they are preserved unto it; their happiness is very great; their inheritance is safe in heaven for them, and they are kept below, amidst a thousand snares and difficulties, till they safely arrive to the possession of that: they are kept, not in and by themselves, the way of man is not in himself; nor in the hands of angels, for no such trust does God put in them; but in the hands of Jesus Christ, where they are safe, and out of which none can pluck them; on him, as a foundation, and in him, as a strong hold; they are kept in the love of God, and on his heart, from whence they can never be separated, and in the covenant of grace, out of which they will never be put; and in a state of justification, and shall never enter into condemnation; and in the family of God, for, being sons, they are no more servants; and in a state of grace and holiness, in the fear of God, and faith of Christ, and love to both; and in the path of truth, from whence they can never finally and totally fall: for though they are not kept from the being of sin, and the workings of it, and slips and falls into it, yet from being destroyed by it; and though not from Satan, and his temptations, yet from being overcome by them; and though not entirely from unbelief, doubts, and fears, yet from final unbelief; for Christ prays for them, that their faith fail not; and from a final and total falling away from grace into sin: and they are kept thus, not by their own power and might, or that of any mere creature, but "by the power of God"; meaning, not the Gospel, nor the Spirit of God, but the perfection of his power; by which they are kept, as with a guard, or in a garrison, as the word here used signifies; not only angels encamp about them, and salvation is for walls and bulwarks, all around them; but God himself, in the perfection of his power, is a wall of fire to them; he is round about them from henceforth and for ever; their place of defence is the munition of rocks; his name is a strong tower, where they run and are safe:

it is added,

through faith; some versions read it, "and by faith", as the Syriac and Ethiopic; by that faith which is of the operation of God, of which Christ is the author and finisher, and shall never fail, it being supported by the same power the saints are kept; through faith in the power and faithfulness of God; through faith looking to Christ, leaning on him, and living upon him; by faith getting the victory over the world, and every other enemy, and being more than conquerors, through Christ. That to which the saints are kept is, "unto salvation"; salvation is already obtained for them, by the obedience and sufferings of Christ, and is applied to them in conversion, by the Spirit of Christ; but the full enjoyment of it, which is here intended, is reserved for them in heaven; and to this they are kept, being heirs of it, and shall certainly possess it: and which

Perfect! I've read a little of John Gill.

He also states this regarding adoption, which goes along with being kept,

"The efficient cause [of adoption is] God. None can adopt any into the family of God but God Himself. None can put any among the children of God but He Himself. None but He can do it, Who says, “I will be his God, and he shall be my son” (Rev 21:7). God—Father, Son, and Spirit—are concerned in the affair of adoption.
There is a marriage-relation between Christ and His people: He has betrothed them to Himself in righteousness and that forever. He is their husband, and they are His spouse and bride. And as when a man marries a king’s daughter, he is his son-in-law—as David was to Saul—so one that marries a king’s son becomes his daughter. Thus, the church being married to Christ, the Son of God, becomes the King’s daughter (Psa 45:13)."

Kokavkrystallos · May 30, 2024

Nehemiah 9:30-31 I was reading this morning, and felt it would go along with this:

"Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.
Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God."

Sometimes today God will give a person over to a chastisement, for a season, but will not utterly consume, or destroy them. This is not the same "giving over" as is written in Romans 1, where God gives a people up, and gives them over to their lists and a reprobate mind completely, and the wages of their sin is death, for they have completely forsaken God.

Still, having been through such trials, it is a most horrid place to be in life. It ends up with everything from financial difficulty, to health problems, family problems, potential legal problems, and worst of all your mind just isn't right. You are constantly seeking things that never satisfy completely because many of them are sin, and even things that are not sin become sin because you can get obsessive, and the entire time your problem is that you have forsaken the LORD to do your own thing, and He shall not give thee peace till thou return to Him.

fhansen · Jun 6, 2024

Thank you this was good. It shows the correct balance between God, who's always there, always trustworthy and true in doing His part, and man, who's constrained by God to play his own part responsibly as well.

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Kept By the Power of God

Kokavkrystallos

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BBAS 64

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Kokavkrystallos

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Kokavkrystallos

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fhansen

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