From last week’s post: The Scriptures abound with references concerning the certainty of our salvation which God has given us in His sovereign grace. …. God is not only revealing His great salvation to us, but, in performing this, He is revealing Himself as the author and finisher of our faith. 

Outline and Proofs from the Bible (Continued)

5. While man is commanded to believe and remain faithful, the ground for the assurance of our salvation rests on the faithfulness of God to keep His promise to us.

• Psalm 89:1-2, 5, 8, 24 “I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens. And the heavens will praise Your wonders, O LORD; Your faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. O LORD God of hosts, Who is mighty like You, O LORD? Your faithfulness also surrounds You. But My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him, And in My name his horn shall be exalted.”
• Isaiah 54:10 “For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed, says the LORD, who has mercy on you.”
• I Corinthians 1:7-9 “… so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
• I Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
• I Thessalonians 5:23-24 “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”
• II Timothy 2:13 “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”
• Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
• I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

6. It is God who preserves His elect in the faith which He Himself has given to them.

• Psalm 37:28 “For the LORD loves justice, And does not forsake His saints; They are preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off.”
• John 6:37, 39-40 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
• John 17:11-12, 15 “Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.”
• Romans 8:33, 35-39 “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
• II Corinthians 4:14 “… knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you.”
• Ephesians 1:5, 13-14 “… having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, in Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”
• Philippians 1:6 “… being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
• II Timothy 4:18 “And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!”
• Hebrews 10:14 “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”
• I John 5:20 “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”
• Jude v. 1 “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ.”
• Jude vv. 24-25 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.”

7. Because God preserves us by grace in the faith, we persevere in the faith.

• Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
• Philippians 2:12-13 “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
• I Peter 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
• Jude vv. 20-21 “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

8. It is God who comforts us with the assurance that our salvation is always secure in His hand.

• Jeremiah 32:38-41 “They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.”
• John 5:24 “‘Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.'”
• John 6:39 “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.”
• John 10:27-30 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone 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 My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”
• Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
• Ephesians 4:30 “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
• II Timothy 1:12 “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”
• Hebrews 12:28 “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.”
• I John 2:25 “And this is the promise that He has promised us – eternal life.”

The Bible is replete with the assurances that what God has begun He is willing and able to finish. These are only a few of the many references to this work of God. If we rightly see that God (not man) is the one who has begun the work of salvation and worked faith in us, then He (not man) will be able to complete it. This is the very nature of God who reveals Himself to us in his Word.

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Blog post content is taken from Rev. Paul Treick’s book, Faith of Our Fathers, Living Still: A Study of the Five Points of Calvinism, available for purchase. It is posted with the gracious permission of the author.

If you’d like to read the blog series from the beginning, start here.