Irresistable Grace

How do you sleep at night? Did you tell everyone you met today about Jesus? Will there be people you talked to today who may never hear the good news because you didn’t say anything? Or if you did say something to someone, did you come on too strong and just end up pushing them further out of reach? So how do you sleep at night?

I don’t know about you, but I sleep just fine. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not perfect in these things either, even though I know that we need to fulfill the Great Commission. I know that we need to tell people about our awesome saviour, because no one gets to the Father except through Him. I also know that I can’t save people, no matter how polished my presentation.

However, the other side of the coin is also true. I don’t need to worry about saying the wrong thing and pushing this person away forever. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard someone comment, “What if an unbeliever sees/hears this? People might turn away from Christ forever because of you!” I know we as Christians mess up and prove ourselves unworthy all the time when we should be living and speaking in such a way as to adorn the gospel of Christ, but the Bible is clear that if God has set His saving love on you, He will get you!

In John 6:37-39 Jesus says:

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.

How can Jesus say that all that the Father gives Him shall come to Him? Foreknowledge? Yes, He does know the future perfectly, but I think it’s more than that. He is a powerful, perfect Saviour, and He is able to save whom He wishes.

Psalm 115:3 – But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases

Psalm 135:6 – Whatever the LORD pleases, He does

Isa. 46:10 – “I will accomplish all My good pleasure”

Eph. 1:11 – Who works all things after the counsel of His will

In fact, it’s the Father’s will that Jesus lose nothing of that which He gave Him. If Jesus doesn’t save all of them, or if He loses even one that was saved, He would be in violation of the Father’s will. That just can’t happen!

Am I saying that God forces people to be saved against their will? No, I’m saying that because we were dead in trespasses and sins, that God mercifully raises us up to spiritual life. Would anyone contend that Jesus raised Lazarus against his will? No, just like Lazarus was physically dead before Jesus raised him, we were spiritually dead before Jesus raised us.

Another analogy is that of Lot and his rescue from Sodom. Gen. 19:15-16:

When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city."
But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the LORD was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city.

While the analogy is not perfect, would Lot have complained that the angels seized his hand to bring him and his family out of Sodom?

God changes hearts. Salvation is of the Lord. All that the Father gives the Son will come to Him in saving faith. Even the faith is a gift from God. God removes our rebellious hearts of stone and replaces them with hearts of flesh (Eze. 36:26) so that now we desire to come to Him. He changes our wills so that we want to obey the gospel.

1 Cor. 1:26-31 - For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;

but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,

and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,

so that no man may boast before God.

But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."

The alternative is that the dead, slave-to-sin person, who is a natural man and can’t receive the things of the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:14) , somehow conjures up faith and repentance. According to the Bible, this is impossible. Faith and repentance are gifts from God. I think we all start out thinking that it was all our decision, but eventually it should become clear that it was God in His mercy Who saved us.

Phil. 1:29 - For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake

Gal. 5:22 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith

2 Pet. 1:1 -  Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:

2 Tim. 2 24-26 - The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged,

with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,

and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

It's interesting to me that although this seems to be the clear teaching of the Bible, I did not see it before. Like the reformers would say: "semper reformanda", always reforming.