May 29th, 1930

We promised again last week that we would try to write some more this week on falling from grace. So we will try to write a few more lines on the subject. This week we will begin with Jude 1, which reads as follows: Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called. In this text we find that Jude, the inspired writer, was addressing his short letter to “them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called.”  It was the work of God the Father to sanctify them. To sanctify means to make free from sin; to cleanse from moral corruption and pollution; to purify; to make sacred or holy; to set apart to a holy or religious use, etc. It was the work of the Father to set them apart to a holy or religious use. The Father had chosen them, and set them apart to salvation, or to be saved. Sanctification is “the act or process of God's grace by which the affections of men are purified, or alienated from sin and the world, and exalted to a supreme love to God,”  etc.-Webster. It was the act or process of God's grace by which they were sanctified. God did that work by His grace. The Father had chosen them to salvation, and set them apart to that end; and by His own act in giving them the divine life, He had planted in their hearts a love for Him. Thus they had been sanctified, set apart, exalted to that high state or condition, in which they were brought to hate sin and to love God and holiness. These people were not only thus sanctified, but they were “preserved in Jesus Christ.”  To preserve is “to keep or save from injury or destruction; to guard or defend from evil; to protect; save; to save from decay by the use of some preservative substance, as sugar, salt, etc.;-to prepare so as to prevent decomposition or fermentation, as by seasoning, canning, etc.” -Webster. As these people were preserved in Jesus Christ, they are kept from injury. If they are kept from injury, how could they sink down to eternal night? If one should sink down to eternal night, would he be kept from injury?

Would it be an injury for one to sink down to eternal ruin? If it would be an injury for one to sink down to eternal ruin, and if they are kept from injury, then they are kept from sinking down to eternal ruin. They (the Lord's children) are kept from destruction, as to preserve is to keep from destruction. As they are kept from destruction, then they are kept from sinking down to eternal ruin. The inspired writer says they are preserved in Jesus Christ. Did he tell the truth? If he did tell the truth, then how can one of God's children ever be lost in eternal torment, or everlasting destruction, seeing he says they are preserved, and being preserved is being kept from destruction? No man on earth can ever show that one of God's little children will sink down in eternal ruin without first proving that the inspired writer did not here tell the truth. We are inclined to think this would be hard to do. They are not kept from destruction by their own power, nor by the power of the preacher, nor by the power of the church, nor by the power of any set of men, nor by the power of any institution on earth. They are kept by the power of God. See ((Pet 1:5) (I Peter 1:5). God has the power to keep them, and does keep them from destruction. He keeps them through all the trials and conflicts of this life unto salvation. He keeps them “ready to be revealed in the last time.'' Since they are kept by the power of God unto salvation, and He has the power to keep them, then not one of them will sink down in eternal ruin. As God has the power to keep them, and He does keep them ready to be revealed in the last time, then they will all finally be saved in heaven.

As to preserve is to save from destruction, and the Lord's children are preserved, then they are all saved from destruction. Not one of them, then, will ever be destroyed in an eternal hell. They will never sink down in everlasting destruction. They are saved from that by the Lord Himself, the inspired writer having told the truth. To preserve is to guard or defend from evil. The Lord Himself guards them and defends them from evil. Satan may tempt and torment them; but the Lord guards them; He defends them. If one of them is ever lost, it must be because the Lord is not able to defend them against Satan, the great enemy of their souls. But the Lord is able to defend them. As He is able to defend them, and does defend them, because He preserves them, then they are securely and effectually protected, defended, from the vicious attacks of their greatest enemy. Being thus defended it is impossible that one of them sink down in everlasting ruin. To preserve is to save from decay. As they are preserved by the Lord, then the Lord saves them from decay. Since they are saved from decay by the Lord of glory, then not one of them can ever perish in eternal torment. All the rottenness and decay that might be or can be caused by sin will be removed from them. They shall be finally made whole, without spot or wrinkle. They are saved by the Lord, and kept from the awful results and consequences of sin. They are preserved; they are kept from decay. They will all finally live with God and Christ in eternal glory. To be preserved is to be kept from decay by the use of some preservative substance. They are kept from decay by the use of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has taken up His abode in their hearts. The Holy Spirit is a sure preserving substance, and by Him they are kept from ruin and decay. The love of God is shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost. The love of God is a sure preserving substance. By it they are kept from decay unto eternal glory. Sometimes the sisters say, “I lost my reserves;”  or, “my preserves spoiled.”  That is a mistake. Perhaps they lost their fruit; perhaps their fruit spoiled. Why did the fruit spoil? Because they did not have it preserved. They had tried to preserve the fruit; they thought they had the fruit preserved, but they were mistaken. The Lord is never mistaken. He never has thought He had one preserved and was mistaken about it. If He has thought He had one preserved, it was sure that way, for “as I have thought, so shall it come to pass.”  He is never mistaken; He never makes a mistake. If the good sister had  preserved the fruit it would not have spoiled. The Lord has preserved, and does preserve, His people; hence they do not spoil. They will not sink down in eternal ruin. To preserve is to prepare so as to prevent decomposition. The Lord's people are preserved in Jesus Christ. They are so prepared by the Lord for final salvation as that they are prevented from decomposition. As they are so prepared as to prevent decomposition, then they will never be decomposed-they will never decompose. As they will never decompose-having been so prepared as to prevent decomposition-they will never be finally lost. Not one of them can ever sink down into eternal night. They cannot so fall away as to be finally lost. In order that one of God's children so fall away as to be finally lost, he would have to decompose; he would have to decay. But they are preserved-kept from decomposition or decay. Therefore, they are kept from finally falling away and being lost. They are not only preserved, but they are “preserved in Jesus Christ.”  The sister may have her fruit preserved; but she may have it in a vessel that may be broken. If the vessel should be broken, then her preserved fruit is lost. But Jesus Christ will never be broken or destroyed, and God's children are preserved in Him. Since they are preserved in Him, then not one of them can be lost-unless they are cast out of Him. But Jesus has said that “him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”  That is, he shall not, in any case, under no circumstance, be cast out. They are in the hands of Jesus and in the hands of the Father. No one is able to pluck them out of the hand of Jesus, and no one is able to pluck them out of the hand of the Father. See (John 10:28-29). Since they are preserved in Jesus Christ, and shall, under no consideration, be cast out, and no one is able to pluck them out, then they cannot possibly be finally lost. How safe and secure the Lord's dear children are! The storms of persecution may rage; sorrow may sweep down over the soul like billows; temptations may assail them on every hand; poverty and distress may be their portion here in this world of sadness and sin; all the powers of darkness and the demons of the under world may be arrayed against them; but they are still safe and secure, for they are “preserved in Jesus Christ.”  He is the anointed Saviour. He was anointed to save them, and He saves them. The angel of His presence saves them. Lift up your heads; take comfort in the sweet assurance that your troubles and sorrows will soon end, and eternal joys will soon be yours. We will try to write some more on this question some time-perhaps next week.

C. H. C.