1 Peter 1.3–5
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
According to his great mercy,
he has caused us to be born again to a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled,
and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
5 who by God’s power are being guarded
through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
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As His children, we have this inheritance that has been promised to us. The great news is that this inheritance is in a type of “trust fund” that is designed to protect us from squandering it by our own sinful actions and carelessness. This future inheritance, which includes our eternal future, is being kept under lock and key, guarded by God’s power, and it can never perish or be defiled or fade.
My inheritance is kept in heaven so that I can’t get my filthy, sin-defiled hands on it. I can’t lose it, destroy it, weaken it, tarnish it, void it, or trade it, and it is not conditioned on my ability to keep up my end of the bargain. What God has started in the Spirit will be finished by the Spirit (Galatians 3.1-6), and I can rest assured that He will complete the good work that He began in me (Philippians 1.6).
When God writes
our names in the Lamb’s
Book of Life,
He doesn’t do it
with an eraser handy.
He does it for eternity.
-R.C. Sproul
Paul makes it abundantly clear in Romans 8.38-39, where he says, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It’s an impressive list of forces, and none of them have the power to rob me of my salvation. To make it indisputably clear, Paul even finishes with an all-encompassing “P.S.” when he essentially says, “and in case I forgot to mention anything else, nothing even in all of creation can separate us!” Paul wants me to be convinced of how sure he is!
The reality is,
if we could lose our salvation,
we would lose our salvation.
But thankfully, Jesus Himself also says, “I give them eternal life, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand (John 10.28-29).” That is one big promise! Paul and Jesus make it clear: no one – not even my own self! – is strong enough to snatch me out of the strong hands of God. If I am His, I am eternally His. This is the best news I could ever hope for!
Read Again Out Loud and Make it into a Prayer:
1 Peter 1.3–5
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Blessed Assurance
Fanny Jane Crosby, 1873
Personalize and Read or Pray Aloud:
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, perfect delight
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blessed;
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
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Pray Aloud:
Father, I want to see Your Name
lifted above all other names
in ________ life.
I am asking that Your Spirit
would be at work,
that Your Kingdom would come
and Your will would be done
in ________ heart and life
as it is in heaven.
Would You please give __________
truth that grabs them, encourages them,
and guides them to trusting in You.
Help me to forgive those
that have sinned against me,
and remind me that You have forgiven me
for all of my own sin against others.
Lead ___________ out of temptation
and towards Your truth.
