What is the best antidote against a believer’s fears and anxieties? What is most likely to cheer them as they look forward to the untried future and remember the weary past? I answer without hesitation, the doctrine of the final perseverance of God’s elect. Let them know that God, having begun a good work in them, will never allow it to be overthrown. Let them know that the footsteps of Christ’s little flock are all in one direction.
They have erred. They have been vexed. They have been tempted. But not one of them has been lost. Let them know that those whom Jesus loves, He loves unto the end. Let them know that He will not allow the weakest lamb in His flock to perish in the wilderness, or the tenderest flower in His garden to wither and die! Let them know that Daniel in the den of lions, the three children in the fiery furnace, Paul in the shipwreck, Noah in the Ark, were not more cared for and more secure than each believer in Christ is at the present day.
Let them know that they are fenced, walled in, protected, and guarded by the Almighty power of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and cannot perish. Let them know that it is not in the power of things present or things to come – of people or of devils – of cares within or troubles without – to separate one single child of God from the love that is in Christ Jesus.
– J. C. #Ryle