God built his church, and only He can preserve her. The odds of her failing, crumbling, or being destroyed are ever high. We need only look at all that is arrayed against her. False religions, secular philosophies, direct opposition from individuals, systemic antagonism by governments, godless members, etc. These are but tools used by her arch-enemy, Satan, to attempt to pull her down. And where he fails to destroy, he employs them to render her ineffective. Except the Lord had been on her side, she would have been long dead.

David extolled: 

“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side—

    let Israel now say—

 if it had not been the Lord who was on our side

    when people rose up against us,

 then they would have swallowed us up alive,

    when their anger was kindled against us…

Blessed be the Lord,

    who has not given us

    as prey to their teeth!”

Psalm 124:1-3, 6

Try as he may, though, Satan simply cannot succeed. The Church has God’s eternal backing. He is a rock of refuge, a banner over her, a mighty warrior constantly fighting for her wellbeing.

The great Reformed doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints aligns with this truth. Anyone who is a true, regenerate member of this body also stands. Not because of some incredible spiritual stamina that he possesses. No. He stands because the Lord keeps him. Paul cried in 2 Corinthians 2:16, ‘Who is sufficient for these things?’ A few sentences later, he responds:

“Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God”

2 Corinthians 3:4-5

To think otherwise, to assume that the believer comes to Christ by an act of his own will and that he remains faithful by his own commitment, is to misunderstand both the depth of the problem and the height of God’s saving grace.