Refrigerate After Opening – The Saturday Morning Post by Pastor Ted Stahl

Good morning! Have you ever seen the warning on a jar of food, warning you to “Refrigerate After Opening”? You would think that with all the preservatives used in processed food today, they would last forever. Preservatives like Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Nitrite, and Butylated Hydroxyanisole.

Yummy! (As a rule of thumb: if you can’t pronounce it, you probably shouldn’t eat it).

Refrigeration is a good way to preserve food. Although, when that big storm blew through and knocked out power for a week, I was told that my house smelled like Armageddon. And when we got home, we found it did! All the food in the refrigerator needed to be thrown out. I guess some of these man-made preservatives did not work too well under extreme conditions.

There is only one perfect preservative. He is the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us, “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30)

If you could lose your salvation, it would not be a perfect salvation, it would not be God’s salvation. It would be a salvation based on what I do, and not on what Christ did. Look at what King David wrote, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” (Psalm 121).

Jesus even told us, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:37-40).

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” And, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (John 3:16-18 and Romans 10:13).

What kind of preservative do you have?

Peace. (John 19:27-30)