John 10:28-29 "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (29) My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."
"And I give unto them." As I read these verses this morning, my
thoughts are going back and forth between the idea of a free gift and the fact
this gift is eternal. These two verses follow a line of action that
originates in the Lord Jesus Christ. He calls us out from the state of
being dead in trespasses and sin. We could not bring ourselves out of that
state on our own. So the very fact that He calls us from death to life is a
free gift. That calling is effectual, that is, the calling of God is effective
in our lives. May I say that God never tries to do anything. He never fails
when He begins an action. He never stops halfway and then leaves the finishing
to mortal man. He calls. We follow.
We can all agree that when that last day shall come, there will be a calling
home. Job, the saint of old, said it in this manner: "Thou shalt call, and
I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands."
(Job 14:15) I understand Job is talking about the moment when we take our
last breath on this earth. The Lord takes us home to be with Him at that
moment. I also understand that same principle, that same working action, takes
place when we are born again. When the Lord brings us from spiritual death to
being alive in Christ Jesus. He has a "desire to the work of His
hands." He calls. We answer. And He gives. It is never merely a
possibility of eternal life. We are secure in the finished work of our Lord and
Saviour, Jesus Christ.
How did we get into the hands of Jesus? Let's look back at our text this
morning to see the answer. We read in verse 29, "My Father... gave
them me..." Our Heavenly Father gave us unto the Lord Jesus Christ because
of His great love for us. When did God start loving us? Did we come to a
place where we were loveable? Did we do enough good deeds that God would begin
to love us? Did we make a proper decision to place ourselves in His love? Let's
allow the Word of God to answer these questions. "The LORD hath appeared
of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore
with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." (Jeremiah 31:3) What kind of
love does God have for us? He described it to Jeremiah as an "everlasting
love". Is this everlasting only in the future? Or, does everlasting reach
all the way back to the beginning? "Before the mountains were
brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from
everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." (Psalm 90:2)
I submit to you this morning that if you can find the point in time where God
began, then you can find the time when God began to love you. God has
always loved you and me, even when we were unlovable. "But God
commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us." (Romans 5:8) So the answer is found in these few verses.
God loved us when we were completely contrary to His nature. He loved us so
much that Christ died for us. That love has always been in the heart of God. He
loved you even before He created this world. He gave you to His Son and His Son
laid down His life for you.
Though I realize this devotion is quite lengthy, I have one last thought on
these verses. If God is love and if He is everlasting, then His love is from
everlasting to everlasting. Jesus stated that security by saying,
"no man is able to pluck us out of" His hand and "no man is able
to pluck us out of" our Father's hand. Paul stated it in this manner,
"Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus." His
love is everlasting. I am so thankful that God loves me, even in my
weakest state. He still loves me. Praise His Holy Name!