The Lord Preserves Our Salvation

The Lord Preserves our Salvation

Psalm number 121 is a Song of Ascents, a song for those pilgrims who were on their way to Zion, to the City of God, to Jerusalem. It’s a song for any of us who are traveling on this Christian journey from here until our final destination, our home at the throne of God in heaven.

Let me read the Psalm, and today let’s focus on one phrase in verse 8. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore. Psalm 121:8

Such precious promises we have in this passage, such a rich encouragement for all of us for whatever season or stage we may be at in this journey. This talks about the security of the believer. We are secure now while we’re journeying on this earth, on our pilgrimage to Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. Now, “from this time forth,” or some of your translations say, “now, from now and forevermore.”

Secure—we are being kept by Him during our journey here on this earth, but also secure and being kept by Him from all of eternity. We are eternally secure. This whole psalm—but, particularly, in this last verse. We see God is our keeper. God is faithful. We see His eternal covenant with His people. He watches after His people. He keeps His people. He keeps them secure. We see His grace. And eternal life is a gift by the grace of God, and for it, to be eternal life, it has to be eternal.

On God’s ability to keep us—to keep us safe, to keep us in Christ, to keep us in the faith, to keep us on our way to heaven. He is the “perseverance of the Lord” with His saints. It’s really important. When you go to unholy places where you have sinned or you’re weak or exhausted or vulnerable, and you’re wondering, Am I really able to stay in Christ? I’m being pressured. I’m being tempted.

Many of us have been saved by the grace of God through faith. Praise the Lord! Now, sometimes whatever season or stage, you may ask this question, how can we know that our salvation is secured or not going to be lost? The answer is, it will be kept—not by us but by God. He is our Keeper. Our savior. But our salvation is a little different than the security of the believer. Today, let’s study three important ways, how God keeps, completes, and preserves our salvation.

God Keeps our Salvation:

The fact is, we don’t keep ourselves in Christ. He keeps us. We only keep holding on to Him, which we do because He keeps holding on to us. He is the one who makes our salvation secure both now and forever, as Psalm 121 says in verse 8.

Let’s read a few New Testament verses that expand on and emphasize this point. I Peter 1:3 says that “3 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, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefined and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (vv. 3–5). “According to his great mercy . . .” God initiates our salvation. God keeps our salvation. It’s of God.

Did you get the concept that there is a salvation waiting for us in heaven that God has bought for us by His mercy? We have been saved. We are being saved, sanctified. And we will be saved, we will be glorified.

And when we get to heaven, we’ll find that there’s a treasure that He has been keeping for us, our final, ultimate salvation. He’s been keeping it for those who, all during this life, have been guarded, kept, through faith, for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Titus 2:11 says that For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. God is keeping us. It’s all God doing the keeping, the guarding. It goes back to Psalm 121: “The Lord is your keeper.”

God Completes our Salvation:

The Apostle Paul says, “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.” - Philippians 1:6

If God saved you, then He is going to complete that salvation and complete the work of sanctification and transformation until the day we see Jesus Christ. Paul says, “I’m sure of this. I don’t have any doubt about it. I know it.” That doesn’t mean we don’t fail. It doesn’t mean we don’t blow it—but we can be sure that He who began the good work will bring it to completion.