125. Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Pet. 1:5

[September 17th, 1854.]

The salvation of the renewed is secured by the power of God, and through faith.

Those here addressed are elected unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
They are renewed.
They have a living hope.
They have an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. 5. They are kept by the power of God. The attainment of salvation is difficult. The dangers arise,— 1. From our own corruption. 2. From the temptations of the world. 3. From the power and malice of Satan. Yet salvation is certain,— 1. Because they are elected. 2. Because they are renewed. 3. Because they are kept by the power of God. How are believers kept by the power of God? There are two forms under which the power of God expresses itself, viz.: his providence and his grace. The one is outward, and the other inward. Providence includes all the oversight and guarding which God exercises over his people. 1. In ordering their circumstances. 2. In protecting them from their enemies and persecutors. 3. In restraining and conquering Satan. Grace includes all the inward operations of the Spirit. 1. In teaching and revealing truth. 2. In sanctifying and consoling.
In sustaining under temptation, and thus preserving from apostacy.

How are believers kept through faith?

Faith is used in two senses, or two kinds of exercises are included under the term.

Acts of credence in the truth, an abiding conviction of the truth of God; a persuasion, i.e., of the truth of the gospel, and all that it reveals.
Acts of confidence in Christ. (a.) Confidence in his being what he is declared to be. (b.) Confidence in his protection. (c.) Confidence in his merit, and in the prevalence of his intercession. The soul may repose itself securely, assured that it is guarded as in a citadel. This protection is to be continued until the end. The salvation of believers begun here, is continued at death, and consummated at the Second Advent. Then their bodies are to be raised, and then the whole number of the redeemed are to be united.

Inferences from This Doctrine