They Shall Never Perish

John 10: 27-29

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand."

Have you ever wondered if it is possible to lose your salvation?

I've avoided posting on this topic in the past, because, well, some people might consider it controversial. But I've changed my mind for two reasons. First Scripture speaks clearly about it, and on those grounds it should not be considered controversial at all, but rather obviously settled and decided. And second, it is a timely topic for a dear friend of mine whose family is suffering from a sudden loss.

This verse is the quintessential text that removes all doubt about whether it is possible to lose genuine salvation. I'll cut to the chase: it absolutely cannot happen. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

(The big theological term for this, by the way, is "perseverance of the saints.")

Our key phrase is this, "neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand." It is reiterated almost immediately as "no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand."

What that means for us is that there is no thing, no person, no power at all that can take away the property of Jesus Christ. That property is the sheep. Those sheep are Christians, all of the Christians that have ever lived or will ever live. For every Christian, the following three things will take place: they will hear the voice of the Shepherd, He will know them, and they will follow Him.

Once this has happened, it is a done deal. The very power and authority of God are the criteria by which we can be certain of it. We can see that in the words, "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all." God is greater than all. The word "all" in this verse even includes the sheep themselves. That means that even if they wanted to, the sheep could never remove themselves from the hand of the Father. He is the one whose authority and power are at stake. And we've already established that His power and authority trump anything, anything else.

Albert Barnes, whose commentaries I regularly read, said it much better than I ever could:

"It would be impossible for any language to teach more explicitly that the saints will persevere."

(Now you see why I gave you the big terminology, 'cause that's the language that the commentaries usually use.)


So what does all of this mean for us, or for our loved ones? Well, first let me say that not everyone who calls themselves a Christian actually is one. But in the case of a genuine conversion, a genuine calling, there is nothing that can undo what has been done. Even if the person goes on to fall into a terrible pit of sin, or experiences a great rebellion against God, it doesn't matter. If they are one of God's sheep, those offenses are totally forgiven.

The point of this post is not to lay out what means we have for determining if a conversion is genuine. That is a topic for another time.

The point today is that if the conversion was genuine, it is for all of eternity. If you need a few more verses to convince you, take a moment to read through these.

John 6:37

"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out."

John 6:39-40

"This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

Isaiah 43:13

"Indeed before the day was, I am He;
And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand;
I work, and who will reverse it?"

This is a serious issue, my dear reader. Imagine living in terror of losing your salvation. Imagine what it would be like to seriously believe that it could somehow all be taken away, and you could end up in Hell because you managed to "mess it up" somehow. Do you really think that God is so arbitrary with His sheep?

Well, I'll tell ya, if it was up to our ability to stick by God's side, the situation would not be nearly so secure. But the beautiful thing is that none of it depends on our ability to stick with God. All of it depends of His promises to stick with us. And He is in the business of keeping His promises.

Isaiah 43:1

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name;
You are Mine."

Planting and Watering

1 Corinthians 3:6-8

"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor."


I have never considered myself a "planter," or an evangelist of any kind. I don't think that I'm relieved of an obligation to declare the gospel; it's just that it's not a natural gift of mine. Some people are incredibly gifted in evangelism, and we tend to think of the evangelist as the ones with the glamorous side of the equation. At least I tend to think so.

The image of a missionary in a foreign country proclaiming the Good News and winning dozens of souls is highly romantic indeed. And there are people who literally do that. I'm just not one of them. But note in the verses above, that watering is an important job, too. That's what my passion is--watering, as in nurturing, encouraging, learning and teaching with other Christians.

We see that God is the one who is responsible for the outcome-Paul is the one who planted, Apollos is the one who watered, but God was divinely in charge of any growth that occurred. What a privilege it is that God even uses us at all. He could just make it happen, but He has chosen us as His divine instruments to accomplish His plan. And above and beyond the privilege of just being of use to God, there is more in store at the end, but we will get to that in a minute.

As I read these verses, another scripture immediately sprung to mind.

Isaiah 55: 10-11

"For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But is shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."

Notice that again we have the "watering" analogy, only this time God is the actual waterer. And the tool He uses to accomplish what He pleases is: His word. That is exactly what He still uses to accomplish what He pleases in the hearts of men. And sometimes, He uses one of His servants (that would be you and me) to proclaim His word and bring forth the increase/bud. (I say sometimes He uses us because, certainly, God could drive someone to pick up Scripture and read it without the influence of another person.)

But here is the amazing part for each of us, whether we are called to plant or to water.

Just to make the point fine, let me add here that God's word for us is the Bible, and the Bible alone. I don't want to cause any confusion on that score.

OK, did you notice the last part of the passage from 1 Corinthians? "And each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor" The part that I found so encouraging is that our reward is based on our labor, not on the outcome of our labor. See the difference?

One Christian may work diligently and be blessed to see massive fruit from the work he or she does. She may write books that get published, and receive dozens of letters thanking her for her godly influence every week. Or, he may see entire communities or families come to Christ and be thanked by them in this life.

On the other hand, another Christian may toil away without seeing much progress, without enjoying any outwardly apparent success.

But it doesn't matter what each of their outcomes are, because God takes responsibility for the outcomes. We are to do the work regardless of the outcomes. And in the end, it is not the results that get rewarded, it is the labor.

We can see this principle again in Matthew 25:23, when Jesus says during the telling of a parable, "well done, good and faithful servant." He doesn't say, well done good and successful servant. Nope, He says, well done good and faithful servant.

What a relief! And what an amazing twist. God is responsible for the outcome, and we get to receive a reward just for doing the labor.

Death Be Not Proud

John Donne's famous poem, Death Be Not Proud, expresses exactly what I have been thinking about all day. Because just as Christ rose from the grave, in a bodily resurrection, so will we all who have faith in Him.

"Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so"

Or how about the Corinthians 15:55?

"O death, where is your sting, O grave where is your victory?"

We spend a lot of time at Easter thinking about Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, and justifiably so. But I'm not sure I have ever heard an Easter sermon that elaborated on the fact that because Jesus rose again from the dead, we will as well. Imagine the comfort of that. Of knowing that your loved one, if he or she belonged to Christ, will rise up in a glorified body one day. Of realizing that even more than ascending to Heaven to be in the presence of God, there will be a time when each of God's children will be given a new incorruptible body that will never die.

1 Corinthians 15:13

"But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised."

Stated in the positive, what that verse means is if Christ was resurrected from the dead, than so will we all be resurrected from the dead.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

"But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus."

Don't be confused by the word sleep in that verse, it is just a way of referring to death that was common among the people who lived at that time.

The point of this blog has never been to frighten people with the prospect of Hell, but I feel like today is an appropriate time to mention the reality of its existence. I'm like most of you. The idea of it makes me very uncomfortable. I feel a strong urge to cover up the stark reality of Hell. It just seems too naked to trot out in polite company sometimes. But you should know that the Bible is explicitly clear about its very real existence.

Matthew 25 talks about God separating the sheep (believers) from the goats (non-believers), and in verse 46, their respective fates are summed up this way.

"And these (the goats) shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life."

The words in parenthesis are mine.

So as we wind up this Easter weekend, take heart, fellow Christian. Death has been defeated. It has lost its ability to terrorize and consume us. Again in the words of John Donne,

"One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more, death, thou shalt die."

I seriously couldn't have said it better myself.

Psalm 73

In case you can't tell from my recent posts, I have been reading through the Psalms. Some of them are so relevant and applicable to my life, and to our culture in general, that I am left in awe of how true it is that God's word is living and active. (Hebrews 4:12)

I have literally underlined almost the entire 73rd Psalm in my Bible, with notes like "Wow!" and "our culture to a T" written out in the margin. The Psalm is written by a man who has struggled with how unfair life seems. He sees wicked people prosper, living lives of ease and richness, oppressing those around them, and seeming to get away with all of it.

Here is how he describes these wicked, but prosperous people:

Psalm 73:4-9

"They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.
they are free from the burdens common to man;
they are not plagued by human ills.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
From their callous hearts comes iniquity;
the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.
They scoff, and speak with malice;
in their arrogance they threaten oppression.
Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth."

Yikes! These people are: prideful, violent, callous, full of iniquity, evil, conceited, scoffers, speakers of malice, arrogant, oppressive and boastful. And what reward do they receive for living such lives? Pretty ample reward it would seem. They have no problems, they are healthy and strong, free of burdens and human ills. That hardly seems fair does it?

I see people who fit this description almost every day of my life. If not in person, there are plenty of them on TV. Gorgeous, gifted, wealthy, selfish people. People who seem to have everything, and deserve none of it. I, like the Psalmist, used to really get hung up on what seemed to be totally unfair.

Here is how he describes the contrast in verses 12-14

"This is what the wicked are like--
always carefree, they increase in wealth.

Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure;
in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.
All day long I have been plagued;
I have been punished every morning."

There you have it. The wicked seem to get everything, those who are innocent and pure in heart only get a raw deal. The Psalmist didn't like this contrast much either, in fact, he tells us in verse 2 that it almost caused him to slip and lose his foothold. In other words, lose faith in God.

Ahh, but then a change takes place. Our Psalmist does a very wise thing. Instead of relying on his own sense of right and wrong, he seeks to understand the situation from God's point of view. I love the way it is described in verses 16-17:

"When I tried to understand all this,
it was oppressive to me
till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny."

He enters the sanctuary of God, and then he understands what the real outcome for the seemingly prosperous wicked will be. He goes on to describe it in verses 18-20, and believe me, it is not a pretty picture. You certainly would not be envious of these people anymore.

So what does this mean for me, and for you? Are we supposed to take some kind of sick pleasure in knowing that wicked people will eventually "get what's coming to them?" Hardly. The idea of anyone perishing should never cause us to gloat. It should cause us to feel exactly the opposite, grieved and stricken at what awaits them. But that can be hard to do if you look at them through the eyes of this world.

Instead, try to see them as they really are. Not rich and healthy and beautiful, but impoverished and barren and doomed to destruction. The sexy blond driving a convertible Mercedes? A wasting corpse. The star athlete with the world as his oyster? A shriveled beggar covered with sores. If you can see them through those eyes, you will not struggle with envy. You will feel exactly what you should feel--great compassion. And hopefully, that compassion will motivate you to reach out, and offer them true prosperity, and true life.

Psalm 73: 23-26

"Yet I am always with you;
You hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

I Will Cry To You

Psalm 61:2-4

"From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For You have been a shelter for me,
A strong tower from the enemy.
I will abide in Your tabernacle forever;
I will trust in the shelter of Your wings."

Maybe I notice things more when I am sick, or maybe there really is a lot of pain and sorrow going on in the lives of those around me right now. I'm not sure which one it is, but I can hardly think of anyone I know without running straight into a wall of tragedy. It seems like everywhere I turn someone is going through a horrible time. And I don't mean minor ordeals, I'm talking about life shattering situations.

So what do we do with all of this pain and suffering? For the non-believer, I honestly don't know. There is no way to make sense of it. Pretending it isn't happening or somehow doesn't matter will only get you so far. Shutting down your heart and refusing to feel pain only works until the pain strikes directly at the center of your own life. Shaking your fist at God and complaining that life is unfair might make you feel better, but it still leaves you stuck in the same position. Like I said, I honestly don't know what the answer is for the non-believer.

But for the Christian, the answer is very clear. God is in control of the situation. That doesn't mean that there will be some kind of fairy tale ending, at least not in the eyes of the world. Christians still lose children, Christians still go bankrupt, Christians are deserted by their spouses, they lose jobs and homes and health. They get robbed and picked on and treated unfairly. They watch parents lose their mental health, becoming cruel and angry strangers. They see their children suffer with incurable diseases.

Psalm 62:8

"Trust in Him at all times, you people;
Pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us."

The only thing that we can do is cry out to God, pour it all out before Him, and trust. Its tempting to do exactly the opposite--to wallow in our situation and stubbornly refuse to seek God for comfort. But if you are a Christian, God promises that there is a higher purpose. He doesn't just put us through misery for the sake of seeing us suffer. No, God always has something good in store for His children.

Psalm 66:10-12

"For You, O God, have tested us;
You have refined us as silver is refined.
You brought us into the net;
You laid affliction on our backs.
You have caused men to ride over our heads;
We went through fire and through water;
But You brought us out to rich fulfillment."

Don't miss something crucial about this passage. It is God who has done these hard things. That may seem hard to swallow, but if it wasn't from God, then that means He was not in control of the situation. So yes, God did put the author through terrible tragedy, but did you see the purpose at the end? Rich fulfillment. My Bible footnotes offer the alternate translation of rich abundance. Either way, that is what God has in store for His children.

So while we are never promised an easy life, we do have two things to hold on to in the midst of difficulty. First, that God will be our refuge and strong tower if we will run to Him. He will shelter us under His wings. Second, that we will emerge from the fire as silver that has been refined, brilliant and shining, purer and more precious than before the refining took place.

And overriding both of those promises is an even more comforting promise. All of this pain and confusion is temporary. In retrospect it will seem like a vapor. Because in eternity we will enjoy perfect happiness, perfect peace, perfect joy, perfect health, pure perfection all around. That is our ending, or rather, our lasting beginning.

The Measure of My Days

Psalm 39:4-6

"LORD, make me to know my end,
And what is the measure of my days,
That I may know how frail I am.
Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my age is nothing before you;
Certainly every man at his best state is but a vapor.
Surely every man walks about like a shadow;
Surely they busy themselves in vain;
He heaps up riches,
And does not know who will gather them."

The past four years of my life have been nothing short of revolutionary. So much has changed in me and about me that I would be hard pressed to detail all of it in any format that you would be willing to read. That is how much change there has been.

I'm planning to share my testimony next month in my MOPS group, and because of that I have spent a lot of time thinking about what, exactly, precipitated all of this change in my life. The big answer or course, is that God is responsible for all of it. But God has used circumstances and events to shape and mold me, because that is often how He chooses to operate. He could have thought change toward me, and it certainly would have happened. But instead, He chose the messy way--pulling me through things I would never have chosen for myself. If I were to look backward, I would see two long ruts along the way. Those would be the heels that I dug into the ground in resistance to God's shaping and pulling. But guess who prevailed? And thank goodness.

If I had to pinpoint just one thing that dramatically impacted my relationship with God, and thus my entire being, it would be the day I glimpsed my own death, and kept breathing. Now, I'll admit that I am being a tad dramatic, but not entirely. The day my first child was born, I could easily have died. If God had not graciously orchestrated events to unfold exactly as they did, it is not unreasonable to suppose that I would have bled to death.

I won't go into all of the details here and now, but suffice it to say that I suddenly and totally unexpectedly began to hemorrhage while my husband and I were on a road trip. A hospital was less than 15 minutes away when I started to bleed. But if I had convinced my husband to stop and eat lunch when I wanted to, we could have been much farther from help. God is certainly a God of details.

I have thought for a long time that it was the horrible months that followed that particular day that brought about great change. And there is no question that they did. But in retrospect, I think it was an awareness of the measure of my days, and the inherent frailty involved in that, that caused me to see this life as so passing, so transitory, like a shadow and a vapor. Tied up in that realization is a letting go of the things that I used to spend so much time, energy and emotion pursuing.

This letting go, did not happen easily or even very quickly. But it began on the day that I saw for the first time, with startling clarity, and unavoidable certainty, that my days are as handbreadths. I no longer want to busy myself in vain. I want to busy myself with things that matter, things that are true, and things that are eternal.

If I had died that day, I know that I would have gone to Heaven, because I was already a Christian, and had been for almost all of my life. But I had never done anything in this life, besides believing God, that would have eternal consequences.

But I didn't die. My days were not finished, they were given new meaning. I want them to matter. I want them to matter more than anything I have ever wanted before. Not because I want or seek anything for myself, but because I want to glorify God. I want to serve Him. Here is my heart's desire:

Psalm 40:7-10

"In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is within my heart.

I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness
In the great assembly;
Indeed, I do not restrain my lips,
O LORD, You Yourself know.
I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth
From the great assembly."

I'll admit--sometimes this newfound passion frightens me. Sometimes I wonder if I am on the verge of becoming that woman that people avoid or find obnoxious. I have no desire to be that kind of woman. But listen, if that is what God has in store for me in order to bring Him glory, show me the dotted line. My pen is poised and ready.

Nanny

Just a quick post. I have a lot to get done today. My grandmother died last night, and I'm trying to get things done before we go out of town for her funeral. She was old and very sick and we have been expecting her to go for several months now. My mom called me with the news.

I am so sad that she is gone. She was not always an easy woman to be around, but she was a powerful force and her presence will be missed. I know that she loved me very much, and I loved her too. Apparently when I was a toddler, when my parents made the announcement that they were leaving the country to go on the mission field, my grandmother tried to convince them that I should stay in America with her.

I don't know that much about her childhood, except that it was difficult. Her parents were divorced, in a time when divorce was still considered scandalous and disgraceful. Her father married a woman pretty close to her age and lived across the street from my grandmother and her mom. That must have been a tough way to grow up.

When I was in elementary school, and we were back in the states, Nanny lived on a lake. She taught us how to fish one summer. I'll never forget how she demonstrated the perfect way to cast a line. It apparently was perfect, because she pulled in a huge bass on her first cast. We were all delighted, and of course none of the rest of us caught a fish all afternoon!

Nanny loved to garden, and I'm sorry to say that I didn't get any of her green thumb. Even when she moved into an apartment, and left her beloved lake house, her small balcony was filled to overflowing with beautiful plants.

Nanny was a Christian, and I keep wondering what heaven must be like now that she is there. When I got the news that she had died, it had been less than an hour since she went. I tried to think about what she must be experiencing right that moment. But my human imagination failed me. I only know that it must be wonderful, and that she is glad to be released from her frail and suffering body here in this life.

I'm so thankful that I will see her again. And when I do we will both be in glory together.

Farewell Nanny. You taught me a lot about life. I love you. I will miss you. But I know I will see you again.


When peace, like a river attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

O Lord, haste the day, when the faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll,
the trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Crown Me Lord, Crown Me!

James 1:12

"Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him."

1 Corinthians 9:25

"And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown."

Revelation 3:11

"Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown."

2 Timothy 4:8

"Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing."

Let me tell you, jewelry is something that I understand. I absolutely love beautiful jewelry. I always notice the jewelry that other women are wearing, and I love to wear it myself. I like the real, expensive kind; and the fun, inexpensive kind. I even have jewelry girlfriends. We always make a point of admiring each other's accessories when we see each other. It is all in good fun, no jealousy of any kind involved.

Less than a year ago, I had my wedding ring reset in a sparkling new setting. When I first picked it up, I was almost ashamed by how extravagant it was. But the jeweler promised me that I would get over that feeling quickly. He was right. I did. Here I am, it has not even been a whole year, and I am already planning ways that I can improve my wedding ring. Yes, the same one that I thought was too much jewelry less than a year ago. Talk about a naturally sinful heart. I don't need a better example than that!

Believe me, I don't consider this something to be proud of. Rather, I am pretty embarrassed to admit it. I do at least realize that no matter how much jewelry I have, it will never be enough to satisfy me, if that is what I am trying to get satisfaction out of.

I figured out a while ago that I was unable to be satisfied by anything but the riches of Christ. God was merciful to me in an odd way. He gave me everything I thought would bring me satisfaction relatively early in my life. And I was still desperately striving for something more. That is, until God decided to get my attention. Now, everything but Christ seems pale and shabby.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I still live in the flesh and am plenty influenced by it. But I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. And I don't want nothin' else but Him.

Even though my earthly jewels will ultimately fail to satisfy, I look forward to the jewelry I have waiting for me in heaven. The kind that you wear on your head. The crown kind. I want to do whatever is necessary in this life to ensure that I will have crowns aplenty in the next. I am not kidding. The thought of spending eternity admiring the crowns on the saints around me, and not being delighted with my own, is appalling!

I'll pay the price, I'll endure the trial, I'll take the test, Lord. I see how fleeting it all is down here anyway. I want my jewels laid up in heaven. Lots of them. Really. Put me to work!