Birmingham age-herald., 1895-05-27

text 1 Peter i, V: Who are kept by the power of God, through faith unto sal yation ready to be revealed in the last day"
 Peter had once defended these strangers from Pontus, Galatia, Cap padocia other places, and to whom he was now writing he had declared them not to be drunk, but wrought upon by the Spirit of God; and he here writes declaring the permanency and absolute efficiency of the Holy Spirits work upon believing souls. He says just be- fore using the language of the text: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto lively hope by the resurrec- ton of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and unde- filed and that fadeth not away re- served in Heaven for you" The thought of kept" is to remain" "to continue ito abide" ito stay" in one place and Tn the same conditions, and refers here to the abiding and permanent condition of the soul that has accepted Christ, by faith, to the regeneration of that soul, and asserts that they are kept "by the power of God" and not by mans finite power-a power which cannot fail to keep safely and surely every soul that exercises faith, and are thus born unto God, for says Peter. they are kept by the power of God through faith, ready to be revealed in the last day"
 There are two births-natural and spiritual Christ said to Nicademus, that ye must be born again. A re- generated soul may backslide, but 1t cannot be lost it would nullify Gods work and power, and there is no provis- ion, nor any need, in the divine plan for regeneration. A soul cannot be born over-and over again. So the safety and ultimate perseverance, of every true child of God dpnendS the nature of the work done and upon the nature of God. and the whole matter must rest upon Gods word-Psalms, Xxxvii, 2S For the Lord loveth judgment and for saketh not his saints; they are pre- served forever" Romans, viii, 3S-S9 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor municipalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord" John, X, 2S-29: And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out or my hand; my Father, which gave them to me, is greater than l, and no man shall pluck them out of my Fathers hand. Here we have Gods word declaring the absolute impregnability of the citadel of the soul that has been "born again.
 This safety depends upon the uncnang-
 
 merits of Christ and the advocacy of Christ Can this fail the trusting soul? If so it were a ficlle affair and d delu- sion. It does not depend upon man changing love- his finite power, his righteous living, nor upon anything ne may do; but you ask me if Christian a true one-may and can live in sin, and do as mean as any other man, and then be saved. I say he can't-in the sense that he will not. By their fruits ye I,a1l 1st,A tIaf1 Inh m fT "They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us; but they went out that they might be manifest that they were not of us" am thankful that my salvation depends not upon what l may do, but upon what Christ has done"
 The better life must grow and come out of the saved soul, but then it is inn perfect. All our righteousness is $ filthy rags Christ is our righteousness and has become the end of the law for righteousness to every one that be- lieVeth. We are dead and our lives are hid with Christ in God. An aspiring af- ter God is the inevitable result of regen- eration, and the regererated soul cannot be lost, since God keeps it. He does the holding out. He gives us, He says, the right hand of His righteousness. You cannot keep down the life in Christ. It will reach up toward God. and sin is not imputed to us; no account of debit or credit stands against us-it is all Christs. As the parent is responsible in law fon the damage done by his infant child, so Christ stands HIS, and our lia- bility is merged into His life and right eousness, and we need not perseVere- we are simply kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, and Christ is working in us both to will and to do" that which is pleasing to God, but which does not enrich God nor help us It pleases God makes us better and hap pier. and thus His purpose is being de- veloped within us.