The Heart of the Gospel - Pt 11

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” (John 6:60-65 ESV).

Again we return to the question of how we can be redeemed. Our natural inclination is to wonder what we have to do in order to receive this gift of God. So, today we will consider repentance. Our reading today says that coming to Jesus was “granted” by the Father. Notice, he is not saying merely that salvation is a gift of God. He is saying that the requirements for salvation are also a gift. When a person hears a preacher say, “Repent, and come to Christ,” he can choose to resist that call. He can disobey. He can say, “No, I will not repent.” But if God gives him repentance, he cannot resist because the very meaning of the gift of repentance is that God has changed our heart and made it willing to repent. In other words the gift of repentance is the overcoming of resistance to repentance. This is why we call this work of God “irresistible grace.” Resistance to repentance is replaced by the gift of repentance. That is how all of us came to repent. Thousands of truly repentant people do not know this. They have been taught the wrong concepts about how they were converted, and therefore they are stunted in their worship and love. Perhaps you have been one of them. If that is true, don’t be angry at your teachers; instead go to Paul’s second letter to Timothy and rejoice: God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:25-26 ESV). Let your heart overflow with thankfulness and brokenhearted joy at the new awareness at how amazing your repentance is. It is an absolutely free gift of God’s grace. This means God loves you more particularly than you may have ever thought. When the world seems to be crashing around you, rest in the knowledge that God has already given you the greatest of gifts. The pain of life, whether of your doing or not, cannot take your eternal home away from you. In fact, that very pain only gets you ready for it. I urge you to practice the philosophy of “one day closer.” For me, even in the midst of pain and difficulty, I can lay down at night having had a rough day and simply rest in knowing that I am merely one day closer to home!