"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." Jude 1
Some time ago, Gertrude Baumgarter of Chicago lost a one and one-half carat pear-shaped diamond ring valued at $150,000. As she prepared to leave a party for home, she slipped the ring off her finger and dropped it into her handbag, thinking the diamond would be safer there than on her finger. Then, she lost the handbag--ring and all. Her attempts to keep the ring safe proved to be ineffective.
God has a safe plan to keep His redeemed people in the security of His protection. The word "preserve" in Jude 1 means "to take care of, to hold firmly, to watch, to keep, to show personal interest." God is personally interested in each believer and has provided for each individual needs by His marvelous grace.
"Preserve" is also in a construction that means the believer does not keep himself saved and safe. Rather, the Lord keeps the believer in safety and holds him firmly in His hand. The believer is kept in the Father's Name.
"And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you, Holy Father, keep through your own name, those whom you have given me, that they may be one, as we are." John 17:11
The Lord Jesus prayed for us, and the Father always answers the prayers of the Son. God's preserving program keeps the believer safe from the devil, the evil one. The word "evil" has reference to the devil in his wicked works against the believer. The grace of God keeps us from Satan's grip because our life is hidden with Christ in God, the safest place in all the universe (Col. 3:3). While the believer sleeps in peaceful undisturbed rest during the night, the Lord watches over His own with constant and tender care.
"He will not suffer your foot to be moved: he that keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he that Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." Psalm 121:3, 4
The believer is anchored in the assurance of God's sovereign will, grounded in the eternal God. Salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus is settled in our holy God and cannot be damaged by sin's destructive power. Salvation is unfailing because the omnipotent God stands behind it, guaranteeing that its fulfillment cannot be jeopardized by angels above, man on earth or demon under the earth.
Upon the stormy sea, a captain may be forced to abandon his ship, but our Savior says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." God has promised to guide us safely to Emmanuel's land.
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