[Sept. 2d, 1856.]
I. In what sense they are secure.
- From the condemnation of the law. 2. From the power of temptation. 3. From the dominion of Satan. 4. From everlasting death.
II. The grounds of this security.
Negatively. 1. It is not their own righteousness. 2. Not their own strength. 3. Not their own prudence. 4. Not their own fidelity. 5. Not the efficacy of the means of grace. 6. Nor the security of the asylum, i.e., the church, to which they have betaken themselves.
Positively. 1. It is the covenant of Redemption. 2. The work of Christ. 3. The indwelling of the Spirit. 4. The fidelity of God.
III. Inferences.
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Not that we may live in sin and yet be saved; because the security of believers is a security from sin. This is the great distinction between the doctrine of perseverance and Antinomianism. As it is a contradiction to say that God saves the lost, so it is a contradiction to say that he preserves those who indulge in sin.
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Not that we may neglect the means of grace. For the security promised is as much a security from negligence as from any other evil. The promise of God is to save his people from sin, to purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works, to make them diligent and faithful in the discharge of all duty; but,—
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This truth 1. Is adapted to fill the heart with abounding gratitude and love to God. The doctrine that believers may fall from grace and perish, supposes an entirely different theory of the gospel. It supposes that Christ makes salvation possible; that whether or not a man is saved, depends, (a.) on whether he chooses to believe, and (b.) on whether he will persevere in his faith. Both depend upon himself. The other theory supposes that the work of Christ secures the salvation of his people; that faith is God’s gift, and that its continuance depends simply on God’s fidelity. The one supposes that God loves us because we love him, and so long as we love him. The other supposes that his love is gratuitous and infinite; that we love him because he loved us; and that having loved us when enemies, he will continue to love us as friends. The practical effect of this doctrine is, therefore, to promote holiness.
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It is adapted to produce peace and a filial spirit. The man who is under a legal system, who stands in the relation of a slave to God, who feels that his standing depends on his good behaviour, of necessity has a slavish spirit. Whereas he who is under grace, who is a child of God, who feels that God’s love is founded on something else than good conduct, that he loves us because we are his children, and that holiness is the result and not the ground of adoption, by a like necessity has a filial spirit, and that spirit is a joyful, confident, peaceful spirit. He who thinks that his soul is in his own keeping, and that no promise of God secures its safety, must be in continual anxiety and doubt.
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The third effect of this doctrine is to produce alacrity in the service of God, and in working out our own salvation. The greater the doubt of success, the less the motive to exertion. If there is no hope, there is no effort; on the contrary, the greater the hope, the greater the cheerfulness and diligence. You assure a man that he will become rich or become great by the faithful and diligent use of certain means, and he will be faithful and diligent. If you tell him that he will be rich whether he uses them or not, or that there is a bare probability of success, you destroy in a good degree the motive to exertion. The case of the individual believer is analogous to that of the Church. What motive would there be to preach the gospel at home, or to carry it abroad, if we had not the assurance of the ultimate triumph of the Redeemer?
IV. How can we attain a sense of security?
As the Scriptures teach that whom God predestinates, them he calls, the only evidence of election is vocation, and the only evidence of vocation is holiness. Everything else is a delusion and fanaticism. It can only be by keeping ourselves in the love of God, that we can have a present sense of his favor, and the assurance of salvation.
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