SAVED FOREVER
Today's Guest Devotional is Written by Martin Davids
I’m sure you know the feeling. You’ve left the house and are probably some distance away when a worrying thought suddenly pops into your head. Did I turn the oven off before I left? You are pretty certain that you did but the more you think on it the more uncertain you become. Nearly always you were right that the oven is off (and are usually relieved to confirm this when you do get home) but that thought can be unsettling can’t it?
Today’s devotion was inspired by a question raised by someone in our home group recently. We were looking at the issue of the ‘unpardonable sin’ Jesus mentions in Mark 3:29 and the question was asked ‘Can a Christian commit the unpardonable sin’ and thus, by extension, be lost? Like the issue of leaving the oven on, have you ever been unsettled by that question?
Now I do not intend in this blog to get into the issue of the ‘unpardonable sin’ itself but rather look at series of promises made by Jesus that give a Christian assurance.
The verses I want to look at are found in John 6 starting in verse 35
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
There is so much we can unpack in just these 5 verses that it would take a whole sermon to do so but in this short blog I just want to focus on 3 things.
Given by the Father
Firstly we see the intent of the Father. God the Father gives a people to the Son. This is a powerful Sovereign act of God. It is not something we can mess up. Christians are a set apart people, chosen by the Father and given to the Son. This should provide us with great comfort – in our own strength we would never have come to Christ – but the Father in his great love and mercy has drawn us and given us to the Son.
Accepted by the Son
The next part of the verse is another part of this great promise. Those who are given by the Father are accepted by the Son. Jesus promises that he will never drive them away. Many come to the Son weak and broken. They come wondering if Christ will accept them. How wonderful it is to hear from the lips of our Saviour that no one is beyond redemption – he welcomes them with open arms. I’m sure you’ve heard the old analogy
“I asked Jesus – ‘How much do you love me?’ and he replied ‘This much’ and he opened his arms wide…….and died.”
Jesus will never drive away the repentant sinner - what a comfort!
Raised up to eternal life
What is the result of being drawn by the Father and given to the Son? It is the wonderful promise that we shall be raised and given eternal life. In context this is clearly referring to salvation – an assurance of our heavenly home. Jesus himself tells us that it is the will of the Father who sent Him that he lose none of those that are his. Just let that sink in for a minute – Since it is the will of the Father, and the very reason the Son came, was to keep all believers and raise them up to eternal life will the Son fail in his mission to do that?
Summing it up
Let us now draw together what we have learnt from these words of Jesus and apply it to the question asked at the start. Jesus tells us that the ‘unpardonable sin’ is something that cannot be forgiven – the guilt of their sin remains with them and since no sin (or sinner) can enter heaven the person who has committed it cannot be saved. Can this be said of the Christian? No! Why is that? Jesus assures us that His followers (Christians) have been promised and given to the Son. If they are given to the Son then he died for them and his blood washes away ALL their sin. Not only that, Jesus promises His followers eternal life in heaven with Him.
Dear Christian have you been struggling with assurance – have you ever been troubled that you may have committed the ‘unpardonable sin’? If you are a Christian then you can know that you have never, and can never, commit the ‘unpardonable sin’. Salvation is a work of the triune God – the Father gives, the Spirit draws and the Son died to accomplish that great miracle. You have passed from death to life.
Some of you may be asking, That is fine for me but what about my loved ones, could they have committed the ‘unpardonable sin’ - they seem so resistant to the message of the Gospel.” Note Jesus’ words at the beginning of verse 37. ALL that the Father gives me WILL come to me. Jesus doesn’t say ‘some’ ‘may’ come – NO! He is emphatic ALL that the Father gives me WILL come to me. C.S. Lewis wrote of his conversion this way
“You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.”
This should also give hope to those of you who have been praying for lost loved ones. Have you witnessed for years with no positive response from them? Are you close to giving up? Someone I know spent years witnessing to Mormons. People told him to give us – they are just too hard – too far gone. But he knew what Jesus promised in John 6 and he replied “There is no one too hard for God to draw.” He was right and he did indeed see fruit for his labour. They may come, as C.S. Lewis describes, as a “prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape?” But if they are given by the Father, come they will. When the Father draws – he “takes out a heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh.” And that heart will flee to Jesus. As Peter said at the end of John 6 “Where else are we to go Lord, you have the words of eternal life.”
Song for the day
Sometimes popular songs that we sing can become so familiar to us that we don’t take time to ponder the words. There is one line in the hymn that we all know well that ties into today’s message; the line being “My name is graven on His hands, My name is written on His heart” It is easy for us to think of Jesus dying for a nebulous group of future believers but when we really internalise what we learned from John 6 we see a personal aspect. If you are a Christian then as Jesus hung upon the cross he died for YOU personally. In those 3 hours on the cross he knew you by name (graven on His hands). If you allow me a bit of sanctified speculation, is it possible that in those three hours on the cross (I cannot derive this directly from Scripture) that our Saviour whispered up your name to the Father? Scripture does tell us however, that he now lives and intercedes for you (personally) before the Father. How truly humbling! Ponder that as you sing this song. It can be found here
Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea
A great High Priest whose name is love
Who ever lives and pleads for me
My name is graven on His hands
My name is written on His heart
I know that while in heav'n He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart
When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin
Because the sinless Saviour died
My sinful soul is counted free
For God the Just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me
Behold Him there, the risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless Righteousness
The great unchangeable I AM
The King of glory and of grace
One with Himself, I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ my Saviour and my God
One with Himself, I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ my Saviour and my God
With Christ my Saviour and my God
With Christ my Saviour and my God
Prayer for today
Holy and Sovereign Father
We give you thanks that you know us, your people, by name and have drawn us to your Son before the foundation of the Earth.
Lord we know our own hearts and recognise that we are unworthy of your love and mercy. Yet you have bestowed both on us in salvation and continue to do so every day. We pray that we live in light of that reality with gratitude and humility.
Help us to continue to pray for those who do not yet know you and not give up hope knowing that your sheep will hear the voice of the Great Shepherd and come to him.
We pray these things through the powerful name of Jesus
Amen.
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