“GOD'S KEEPING POWER”

1 Thes. 5:23; Num. 13:25‑33; 14:4‑10; Josh. 14:6‑15

Many Christians believe, and are assured of God's saving power. They have, and enjoy, what has been called, the blessed assurance. In other words, they know that they are saved. The have become convinced of their salvation through the word of God, which says in 1 John 5:13, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” Ours is not a hope so, or even just a think so salvation. God clearly tells us, that He wants us to know we belong to Him! This is a great and wonderful truth that true believers in Christ enjoy, and want others to know as well! That being said, though many believers know, and are assured of God’s saving grace, far too few are as cognizant of His keeping grace. Though they have received God's saving grace, they are not yet fully aware of His keeping grace. They have not come to the full realization that He who is the Giver of grace to save, is also the One who keeps us in His grace. This is where we want to place our focus this morning. We want to see from the Bible, how we who have been saved by God, are also being constantly kept by Him. We want to enjoy that same knowledge that Paul prayed for believers 1 Thess. 5:23, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Or in the words of Peter in 1 Pet. 1:5 where he tells us we “…are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Let’s look at some OT examples of God’s keeping power first. Look with me at Joshua 14:6-15. READ

Verse 11 Caleb says, "I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in." Remember now, Caleb uttered these words after the 40 years that the Jews had been required to wander in the wilderness, for their unbelief. Incredibly, now at 85 years of age Caleb says that his strength was the same as it was in the day when he and the other spies had given their report. Though forty years had elapsed, he was still as strong as he had been in earlier days. This is because of God's keeping power in his life. He was as strong at this time as he was then. He was no less vigorous at eighty‑five than he had been at forty. There is only one explanation for this; he had been kept by God. Now obviously, Caleb is referring to his physical strength, but as we shall see, we can be sure that the same principle applies to our spiritual stamina as well. We know that none of us is able to keep ourselves in the grace of God. No one can guarantee that after they have been saved for any number of years, that they will be still be enjoying the same measure of faith they had at conversion. Simply because, we can’t maintain ourselves in the grace of God by our own effort; God alone is the one who will maintain us in His grace.

How is it that Caleb was able to experience God's keeping power in his life? Well, what does it say in in Joshua 14:14? We read there, speaking of Caleb, "He wholly followed the Lord God of Israel." Just how did he wholly follow the Lord? Turn over to Numbers 13. Numbers 13, & 14 give us the account of the twelve spies that Moses sent to spy out the Land in preparation to their going in to take the land of Canaan as God had promised. We’re all familiar with the story. Joshua and Caleb came back with a good report, and were all in favor of Israel following God in obedience, and going in to possess the land. However, because of the evil report of the other 10 spies which refused, they all were doomed to wander for 40 years in the wilderness. In Numbers 13:30 it says, "And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it." "We are well able to overcome." How could Caleb’s response be so diametrically opposed to all the others? Simply because, a person who wholly follows the Lord, is one who believes that God and all the promises of God are trustworthy. Who believes that God is with His people, and because of that, they believe that they are well able to overcome. Brothers and sisters, do we believe this? We can because as 1 John 4:4 promises, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: (why?) because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” Many people say they have faith, but far too often their faith is a vacillating faith. One that runs hot and cold. They have faith when everything is going well, but as soon as there is a challenge of some type that comes into their life they falter and waver. In Caleb's case it was not so; even when faced with the obstacles that he saw too, he said, "Let us go up at once." A person who wholly follows the Lord, reckons Him to be faithful and trustworthy, no matter what life brings their way, and is one who will do the will of God, and do it at once. The at once is important, because as one writer has said, “Delayed obedience is disobedience.”

What went wrong with the other the ten spies? Joshua and Caleb saw what they saw, but the Bible tells us that the other 10 looked at the inhabitants of the land, and saw that they were "men of great size" and their cities were "fortified and very large." It says, they looked at themselves too, and in their own sight they were "like grasshoppers." What was their problem? Their problem was that their eyes were fixed only on the difficulties that they saw, and they forgot about the popwer of God. And this is the reason why so many Christians fail to experience God's keeping power too. In other words, they can only see the difficulties. And, if we only focus on the problems we have, we too will surely find ourselves overcome by the circumstances we face.

A pastor once met one of his members in the Shop-Rite looking sad, and down in the mouth. The Pastor said to them, Hi, how are you?” The member replied, “Ok, under the circumstances.” To which the Pastor replied, “What are you doing there, under the circumstances?”

If we only look at the difficulty, we will surely not be victorious, nor will we find what God wants us to learn from the problem. God does not want us to focus on the mountains obstructing our path; He wants us to say to the mountains: "Be thou taken up and cast into the sea" (Mark 11:23). The fact is that the more we look only at the mountains, the higher and more insurmountable the mountain is sure to become. This is the reason that too many are not able to overcome their problems. This is because their eyes are always set on their failures. When our eyes are set only the problem, it more or less, guarantees we will fail. Because, we will be sure to miss the opportunity that God will provide to overcome. And so, many people are preparing themselves ahead of time for their own failure. And defeat is certain, if we are expecting to fail. That’s why so many times people fail. As soon as our focus is only on ourselves and our problems, we will surely fail. And so, if God is to deliver us from a particular situation, we must first direct our focus away from the difficulty, and keep looking to Him, and to His promises. We will find that we are courageous only as long as we keep Him and those promises in view. Once we do that, and see and believe in His promises, we will find that we will overcome!

Too many believers lack the faith that characterized Caleb; when problems come they find themselves focusing their thoughts on the seriousness of the situation, on the seeming insurmountable nature of the difficulties; instead of focusing the eyes on the promises of God. Numbers 13, 14 is a parallel passage to Joshua 14, and there we read in Numbers 13:beginning in verse 30-33, READ

“And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.” We need to have the courage of Caleb, and realize that with God we too need not fear "the children of Anak," because with God we too are "well able to overcome." As Paul put it in Rom. 8:31, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”

Amazingly, 40 years later, when Caleb was 85 tears old He requested Joshua to appoint Hebron as his portion; Hebron was a great city among the Anakim, and the great men among the Anakim still were there. But that didn’t deter Caleb. He wasn’t dismayed by the fact that the Anakim were "men of great size," nor by the fact that Hebron was "fortified and very large"; he was ready to go in and take it in the name of the Lord! The big question is: Are we trusting in ourselves, or are we, like Caleb trusting in the Lord? Anytime we find ourselves relying only on ourselves, then of course we will be pre-occupied with whether or not the Anakim are strong or weak and whether their cities are well fortified, but if our reliance is on God, then the question of our own abilities to meet the challenge will not arise. When we are trusting in God, there is no need for worry or fear. With god our victory is assured no matter how great the obstacles. There is another important point in all this for us to keep in mind. In Numbers 14:9 Caleb exhorted the children of Israel by saying: " Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not." What is he saying? He is telling them that they could go up, and easily overcome, and they didn’t have to be afraid of them. That’s an unusual way to put it, don’t you think? "they are bread for us." What does that mean? Well, bread is food. And when we eat we get nourishment, we get increased strength. As we know, the inhabitants of the land were admittedly "giants." However, in Caleb's eyes, heconsidered them food for God's people. In other words, when he considered God and His promises, he looked at the enemies of God as something to be overcome, to be annihilated. This should be true for anyone who has genuine faith in God and His promises. The one who honors God in this way, and looks to Him for his strength will lightly esteem all difficulties. There is no room for pride, or for self confidence, but rather instead a powerful God confidence in the face of all difficulties. Those who humble themselves before God will rest in Him and rely upon Him for the victory. One of my favorite promises in God’s word is Ps 41:11, “By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.”

So, whenever you face a seeming overwhelming difficulty, every time you find yourself in an impossible situation, ask yourself this question: Am I going to focus on the difficulty, and find myself sinking deeper into despair, or am I going to focus on the Lord and His promises for me? The believer who relies on the Lord for victory and allow His overcoming life to be manifested in them, will find fresh encouragement and increased confidence in God to see you through to the end. We’ve used the analogy many times before, but it bears re-emphasis again. Luke 4:4 says, “And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” Jesus also said in John 4:34, “Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” The word of God is food for our souls, nourishment for spirits. Our bread is not only the word of God, but our meat is also to do His will. And sometimes that bread may be the Anakim difficulties that are in our way. The difficulties, that we overcome only in and through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Some believers take the word of God as their bread, but never realize that doing His will is their spiritual food as well. When confronted with Anakim difficulties, they run the other way. The Anakim overcome them. But the fact is, the more we eat the Anakim difficulties that come into our life, the stronger we will become. We have considered Caleb as an illustration of this fact. Because he viewed the Anakim as "bread," as challenges to be confronted head on, he was well able to defeat them. Why was his strength the same at eighty‑five as it was at forty? Because no doubt, he had faced many Anakim difficulties during the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, that he had developed a strength and resolve which enabled him to show no trace of age. Not only was this true of him in the physical, but it was also true in the spiritual realm. Sadly, it is obvious that in some brothers and sisters there are many weaknesses in their lives. They are weak, and unable to face any sort of difficulty because they have not been strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might when their Anakim problems came along. Thankfully, there are others who have met and overcome difficulty after difficulty, temptation after temptation; because they know how to trust in the Lord no matter what He allows to come into their lives. They are full of spiritual strength because they have faced challenges and relied upon the zLord as they did. For the believer, every difficulty and every temptation that comes should be received as a means to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. It should be viewed as a God‑appointed means for spiritual growth and progress. The trouble is that for those that are weak in the faith, the first sight of trouble sends them into a depression and a quandary but those who trust Him can with James, “…count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 1:1-3.

To thank the Lord and to praise and Him for all our trials, without exception, is totally an unnatural thing for us to do. And yet, this is what God’s word admonishes us to do. But when we realize that every trial brings in growth with it, and as we accept our trials that way, we will find we are more and more richly nourished each time, because of them.

We must not forget that faith and trust are the key to enjoying God’s keeping power. Obviously, if we don’t trust Him, He will not be able to keep us. Just as we have experienced His salvation, we must also trust Him to experience His keeping power. This is what Paul meant when he wrote in Col. 2:6, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:”

Walking in Him means trusting Him each step of the way, and believing wholeheartedly in His promises. As we do we will be changed “from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Cor. 3:18. As overcomers in this life, we must never doubt whether our overcoming can be sustained, if we do we are discrediting His keeping power. We must daily believe that in each new day as we walk with Him, He will keep us by His keeping power. Every morning when we rise we should say to Him, "God, I thank You for keeping me yesterday, and I believe that today You will continue to keep me. I don’t know what temptations will come my way today, and I don’t know how I can overcome in my own strength. I cannot do anything; but I believe You will keep me." First Peter 1:5 speaks of being "guarded by the power of God through faith." God guards those who have faith in Him. We do not have to grapple with temptations and try to overcome them; the keeping power of God will get us through, and we must believe in His ability to save us from giving way to sin. If we implicitly rely on Him, even when we are unexpectedly assailed by temptations, an amazing thing will happen. In a way we cannot understand, our faith in Christ will protect us from all the fiery darts of the enemy. It is the shield of faith that will stand between us and Satan, so that his fiery darts cannot reach us.

Paul said, 2 Tim. 1:12, "I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” Paul did something that we must do; he committed himself to the Lord. If we believe in Him, we you must commit ourselves totally to Him. He can only keep those who have committed themselves wholeheartedly to Him. Too many believers fail to experience this blessedness of God’s keeping power, because they never put themselves into His keeping. They have never said, "Lord, I hand myself over to you and commit to You the keeping of my life." Brothers and sisters, have you placed yourselves in His hands? If you truly have, then you will be able to say with Paul, "I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”

If your life is truly in His hands, then the words of Jude 1:24 will be fulfilled in you, which promises: "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,” Praise God, He will preserve us not only from falling but also from the attacks of the enemy. Thank and praise the Lord, His preserving grace operates whether we’re aware of it or not. If we commit ourselves unreservedly into His care, we will marvel at the wonderful ways in which we are kept. When a sudden temptation comes that demands patience, we can without giving it a conscious, have all the patience that we need to meet the situation. Praise God, as the life we received from Adam spontaneously expresses itself, so also does the life we receive from Christ. We inherited our bad temper from Adam, and we can become angry without the slightest effort of will. We inherited pride from Adam, and we can become proud without any deliberate decision. In the same way, those who have received the life of Christ and committed themselves into His keeping can be meek without making up their minds to be meek, and humble without any effort to be humble. The same spontaneity that characterizes the life we have received from Adam, will also characterizes the life we have received from Christ. To work out what the Lord Jesus has given us does not require any effort on our part. If we trust in His promises and commit ourselves utterly to Him, we will be kept from this day to the day of His return, and we will be kept without blemish. Thank God, we have a salvation which is worthy of our trust and which will withstand every trial.

LET US PRAY