REGENERATION IS PERMANENT

PHILIPPIANS 1:3–11

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus

(Philippians 1:6).

God does not abort what He conceives and brings to life. Rather, those whom He brings to new life, He preserves and keeps alive, carrying out His intended goal. As Paul tells us, God will complete the work He has begun in us. Now if it were up to us, we would not persevere to the end. We would find every possible way to lose our salvation. But when God makes us new, He does so for a purpose, and He does not allow us to thwart His purpose.

Peter’s Faith

The great example in the New Testament of God’s preservation of His people in spite of their sin is Simon Peter. Remember that Peter was the chief spokesman for the disciples. On one occasion, Jesus asked the disciples what the crowds were saying about Him, and it was Peter who confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).

On that occasion, Jesus praised Peter’s faith. He called such faith “rocklike,” and said He would build His church upon it (Matthew 16:17–18). Jesus made it clear that this faith did not originate with Peter, but “this was not revealed to you by man, but by My Father in heaven” (v. 17).

What God starts, God finishes. It was this same Peter whose rock-like faith fell apart at Jesus’ crucifixion. Confronted by a servant girl (not by the CIA or the KGB, but by a little girl), Peter denied his Master with curses (Matthew 26:71–72). Jesus had predicted that this would happen: “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat” (Luke 22:31). But Peter did not fall into perdition. Rather, he wept bitterly when he realized what he had done. His sin did not thwart God’s plans for him.

How could this be? Because Jesus had also said, “But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32). It is the continual intercession of Jesus Christ that calls us back when we sin, and guarantees that God’s good work in us will be completed.

CORAM DEO

What makes our regeneration permanent is not our perseverance, but God’s preservation. Ultimately it is not how diligently we persevere, and persevere we must, but how well God preserves us in faith. If you are in doubt about your eternal security, hear God’s assurances as you read 1 John.

For further study: John 6:35–40; Hebrews 6:13–20; 7:23–28; 1 John 3; 5:1–3

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