The Lord Jesus gathered His disciples around Him and gave them some instructions about their ministry. He said, “What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Then He added, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. BUT whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” As one of the Lord’s Apostles, Peter heard those words, and I’m sure, he took them to heart. But it is one thing to purpose to serve and obey the Lord, and it is another to actually do it. It is a good thing that Peter’s eternal salvation from sin had nothing to do with his faithfulness in preaching upon the housetops or his failure when he publically denied Christ.
A couple years after those words from the Sermon on the Mount, the Devil came to Peter and whispered, “Let’s take a little trip, just you and me!” I imagine Peter replying, “Hey, I know who you are, and I will never take a trip with you!” Following the leadership of his Saviour, he basically said, “Get thee behind me Satan.” And Peter went on about his business for a little while, probably feeling good about himself for the victory he just had over the Devil. But the Evil One followed that Apostle all that day, wherever he went. He is relentless. And that evening, in the dark of the night, while Peter was standing by a fire with a group of strangers, Satan crept up behind him and said, “Let’s take that little walk now.” This time, because of his fear of the people beside him, Peter didn’t rebuke or refuse the Devil. Satan took that disciple down the road of denial, cursing and blasphemy.
Even though Peter denied Christ on the night prior to the crucifixion, Satan’s ultimate plan was thwarted. Despite Peter’s curses and rejection, the Lord Jesus refused to curse and reject Peter. Christ simply turned and looked in love towards His struggling and straying servant. A that point Peter’s heart was broken, and he fell into a full and bitter repentance.
Unlike the love we might have for the Saviour, the love Christ has for us is immutable and all-powerful. What can separate us from the love of Christ? In Romans 8, Paul makes a list of possible divine love-disrupters. But then he declares that nothing can separate us from the love of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. The love of Christ is as much a part of HIS nature as breathing is to our nature. And IF one believer should “accidentally” slip into Hell, he would hear voice of the Saviour, “Here I am! I’m coming to rescue you!” But no one can “accidentally” slip into hell, because that judgment is the deliberate act of God. “Love sent my Saviour to die in my place,” and that love continues to flow through His veins. Christ loved Peter, even when he denied His Lord before the servants of the enemy.
BUT what if the brother of the man Peter hacked with his sword a few hours earlier had seen Peter at the fire and creeping up behind him, stabbed him in the back instantly killing him. As far as Peters’s salvation in Christ is concerned, he would have still been redeemed and forgiven, even if had not yet had time to repent of his blasphemy. There have been notable heretics throughout history who have taught that unrepented sins condemn even the best of Christians. So priests had to be present at their deaths to hear their confessions and approve their repentance. Some people have waited to be sprinkled with water in order to have their last sins washed away. This is foolishness and false doctrine.
The man who is writing the letter we are studying is the same man who denied Christ. And he begins his epistle thinking back on a handful of God’s greatest blessings. He was among God’s elect, through the foreordination and foreknowledge of God the Father. He had been sanctified and set apart by Holy Spirit unto eternal life. By God’s abundant mercy he had been begotten again into a living hope. All of God’s children have an inheritance, “incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.” And just as our inheritance is reserved and guaranteed by God, so is the child of God himself – “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
The word “kept” in verse 5 is a military word and carries the idea of an armed guard doing its job. We find that same word twice in II Corinthians 11:32, where in the context, Paul said, “If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king KEPT the city of the Damascenes with a GARRISON, desirous to apprehend me: And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.’ In this word “kept” we have a picture of something defenseless in itself, but defended by an outside force. Like a beautiful garden in someone’s front yard, enticing rabbits, squirrels, deer and all kinds of animals to come and eat their fill. Ah, but this garden has an unseen electronic fence which protects it with sounds that human ears can not hear. Not a single enemy can enter the Lord’s garden. The child of God appears defenseless – and in himself he is – but “we are kept by the power of God.” Satan may do his best – and his worst – but the saint is forever sanctified in the sight of God. And that Christian may miserably fail even without Satan’s help, but his salvation is not based on his success at living the Christian life, or whether his faith is as firm as the Rock of Gibraltar.
Let’s take a brief and simple look at verse 5. I’d like us to use the three prepositions that we find here to guide our thoughts. The outline may be old, and been followed by a thousand different preachers, but it is still appropriate. These three tiny words are powerful prepositions of protection.
First, there is the word “UNTO.”
The Bible clearly declares: “we are kept by the power of God UNTO salvation.” The Lord Jesus said about us: “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” – salvation. Paul said, “The Lord has made peace for us through the blood of the cross” – salvation from sin. Hebrews says: Christ “is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him” – salvation. There are dozens of other New Testament verses which speak of eternally guaranteed salvation. Those scriptures and God’s people are both put into the vault of the Lord’s sovereign will and omnipotence. There is never any hint of the failure of the Lord, or of His choice to save.
But remember that in Peter’s day, those people didn’t have as much of the New Testament as you and me. They knew what it was to be saved from a fire or delivered from some potentially deadly disease. They could grasp salvation from an enemy and from the avenger of blood. But, for many of them, to be kept unto eternal salvation by the power of God needed some explanation.
In our day we have a different problem. Some people today are just too familiar with the word “salvation” – or they think they are. It has been discussed, described, glorified and joked about, until the edges have been worn off. And some men have taken pride in redefining the word. I read a statement the other day: “Men used to argue about the means of salvation, but now they argue about the meaning of salvation.” Many people consider “salvation” to be liberation of racially or politically oppressed people. Other religious liberals think of it as education or aide to underdeveloped nations. A lot of people think of it as freedom to act as they choose without the threat of punishment. Even some Christians picture it as an open door to sin and instantaneous forgiveness.
But God tells us what salvation truly is: It Is the shedding of the life blood of the Son of God that sinful men might have peace with God. Negatively, it is deliverance from the eternal penalty and guilt of sin. Furthermore, it is deliverance from the strangle-hold of sin. It is deliverance from the wages of sin. It is Christ’s bearing the wrath of God for us. It is the putting aside forever of any possibility of Hell for the believer. Positively it is our being enrobed with the spotless cloak of the righteousness of Christ. It is justification – the declaration by God that the sinner is now righteous. It is the extension of peace through the Lord Jesus to us who were His enemies. It is the blessed indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God. It is a birth and then adoption into the family of Jehovah. It is the eternal promise of God’s presence with us and we with Him.
And this salvation is the possession of every believer, right here and now. “God HATH saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” The Bible says that true Christians are currently partakers of a heavenly calling even while dwelling here on earth in their sinful flesh.
But, there is an aspect of salvation which is yet to come – and this is Peter’s theme. He is not talking about the forgiveness of sins and peace enough to fellowship with the Lord in prayer. He is speaking of a day when we are caught up together with Christ in the clouds to forever be with Him. He is speaking of a day when Christ shall appear, and we shall be with Him and like Him.
A baby does not begin to exist when he or she is born. That baby has already been alive for nine months prior to his birth. Therefore abortion is murder. At birth, only the conditions in which the child exists change. Before, he lived internally, and after his birth that life is lived externally. Before, he fed in utero though an umbilical cord, and now he feeds through his mouth and throat. Before his birth there wasn’t much for him to see, but now he sees more than ever wanted to see. Before, he could hear only imperfectly, but now a whisper can wake him. Now he learns things experientially and exponentially with every passing day. Similarly, when the believer leaves this world, it is like a birth. At death or translation, the conditions of our eternal life change, but not the fact that we have eternal life. And today, the child of God being “kept UNTO (a much fuller) salvation.”
And we are kept BY the power of God unto that salvation.
Think of the vast resources of God concentrated unto our protection and deliverance. Think of the vast power of God, period – the omnipotence – the omni-power of Jehovah. What energy is there in the storm – the hurricane, or the tornado with their 200 mph winds? What devastation is there in the volcano and the earthquake? What heat there is in the sun. What if man could harness and redeploy the energy of such natural phenomena and use them for good? These are just the blinking of the eye of the Lord. The real strength of the Lord is as a wall surrounding those whom He loves, protecting them and saving them.
This saving power of Jehovah is poetically described in various Old Testament scriptures. “The Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe.” “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him and delivereth them.” Remember how Elisha and his servant were surrounded by an army of God’s enemies? “Alas, my master! how shall we do? And (Elisha) answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” The picture falls short of the reality in our salvation. The Christian is not only surrounded by the armies of God. He is immersed in the Person of Christ Himself, our salvation. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are IN Christ Jesus.” The moment I fall from the position of a son of God, it will be the moment of death of my Saviour. The reason the caboose fails to reach its destination is because the locomotive has been derailed.
Christ is the power of God Who maintains eternal life. I am not kept by the faith that I have – my faith often fails. I am not kept saved by my continued repentance – although I should live humbly and repentantly. I am not protected or maintained by my own hands and works – they are corrupt and weak. And I’m certainly not maintained by chance.
I am kept by the unfailing power of God based upon the Person of the Lord Himself. The God who rolled back the Red Sea has rolled back the reproach of my sins – “Gilgal.” The God who destroyed the walls of Jericho, destroyed my stubbornness and unbelief. The God who cast aside the tower of Babel, cast aside the record of my sinful words. I am kept by the power of God until the day that I see Jesus face to face and then far beyond.
But there still remains the statement that we are kept by the power of God THROUGH faith.
Before considering that thought I emphasize again we are not kept by the power of God through obedience. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us…” “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” God “hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through FAITH unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
To a lot of people, faith is another subject heard so often that it has lost its impact. It has been heard so often that it is misunderstood by the bulk of humanity. How can we separate and differential between true faith and its false cousins? “What is faith?“ I answer with another question: “What is it to trust?” A person may believe in Christ without possessing even an ounce of faith in Christ. “Belief” may be nothing more than an activity of the head while “trust” or “faith” is an activity of the heart – or more properly, of the soul. Faith is reaching out and clutching the thing which is acknowledged and believed. Faith is often born out of necessity. Find a man of great faith, and you may have found a man who once possessed great despair. Find person of great faith, and you will find a person of little personal means. David says, “Out of the depths have I cried into thee,” and his was a cry of faith. A person without a need will never need faith in an outside deliverer. A man who rejoices to be kept by power of God is aware of his continual helplessness before the Lord. He is a sinner, spiritually dead, without strength and able only to say, “God be merciful to me…”
Peter correctly tells us: we are saved “through” faith, but not “by” faith. Faith is the valve which permits the life-giving blood to flow, but is not that flood itself. It is the key which opens the door for God to bless our sinful soul, but it is God who saves, guards and keeps us from the penalty for our sins, giving us a part in His inheritance.
If you have faith enough to trust Christ to deliver your soul from your sins, then you will find that your soul is firmly secure and untouchable by your spiritual enemies. When we are clinging to Christ, in repentance and faith, we are eternally saved and safe. As Peter suggests in this scripture, we have much for which to bless the Name of the Lord.
Where is your faith this morning? In what or in Whom do you trust? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved from your sins.” “Repent before God and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”