Hebrews 13:20

Heb. 13:20. Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.

Two citations of this text occur in "Efficacious Grace":

§ 58. That expression, Romans 1:7, and 1 Corinthians 1:2, and elsewhere, called to be saints, implies that God makes the distinction. Compare this with what Christ says, John 10:27, "My sheep hear my voice." Verse 16, "Other sheep have I which are not of this fold; them also must I bring; and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." 1 Corinthians 1:26-28, to the end; "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of, etc. That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus," etc. Romans 11 latter end. Hebrews 13:20; Hebrews 13:21; 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, "Who then is Paul, or who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. I have planted, and Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase - We are laborers together with God; ye are God's husbandry; ye are God's building." According to the Arminian scheme, it ought to have been; I have planted, and Apollos watered, and God hath planted and watered more especially. For we have done it only as his servants. But you yourselves have given the increase; the fruit has been left to your free will: agreeably to what the Arminians from time to time insist on, in what they say upon the parable of the vineyard which God planted in a fruitful hill, etc., and looked that it should bring forth grapes, and says, what could I have done more unto my vineyard?

2 Corinthians 3:3, "Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tables of stone, but on the fleshly tables of the heart.": They were the epistle of Christ, as the effect of the Spirit of God in their hearts held forth the light of truth; of gospel truth with its evidence to the world; as the church is compared to a candlestick, and called the pillar and ground of the truth. This is agreeable to those Scriptures in the Old Testament, that speak of writing God's law in their hearts, etc. Add to this chap. 4:6, "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath sinned in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Corinthians 5:14-18, "If one died for all, then were all dead; that they which live, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away: behold all things are become new: and all things are of God."

Later, continuing in the same discussion:

Hebrews 13:20; Hebrews 13:21, "Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work, and to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever, Amen." See Ephesians 1:19; Ephesians 1:20, and 1 Corinthians 1, latter end. Hebrews 12:2, "Jesus the author and finisher of our faith," compared with Php_1:5; James 1:5-8, "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask it of God, that giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering; for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven of the wind and tossed. For let not that man think he shall obtain any thing of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." So that, in order to a man's having any reason to expect to be heard he must first have faith, and a sincere, single heart. And what that is which the apostle calls wisdom, must be learnt from James 3:17; James 3:18: "The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace." In James 1:5, etc., above cited, God is spoken of as the giver of this wisdom; and in the following part of the chapter, he is spoken of as the giver of this and every benefit of that kind; every thing that contains any thing of the nature of light or wisdom, or moral good: and this is represented as the fruit of his mere will and pleasure. Verses 16, 17, 18, "Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures." See John 1:13; John 3:8.

Also, this verse shows that the ground of the saints' perseverance is their God's preserving them:

When Satan earnestly strove again to enslave and destroy the Jews, after their return from their captivity it was given as a reason why he should be disappointed and the people surely preserved, that they were as a brand plucked out of the fire, Zechariah 3:1; Zechariah 3:2; so they that are redeemed by Christ from bondage and captivity to sin and Satan, are as brands plucked out of the fire, in a far more eminent manner. Because Christ has not only completed an atonement for sin, but also a righteousness for us as our surety, and is openly justified and confirmed by God the Father, the Judge of all; therefore the apostle expresses himself as he does, Hebrews 13:20.

Heb. 13:21