Grace

Jeremiah Burroughs on God’s amazing grace

Tony Reinke BR > Reformation Heritage Books, Gospel, Grace, Jeremiah Burroughs

tsslogo.jpgSpeaking of my appreciation for the grace-centeredness of Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs (1599-1646), I am especially attracted to this comment he makes in his commentary on Hosea (republished last year by RHB). Take note of his biblical references (and don’t miss the final sentence):

“In one word, God is the author of all good, by his grace working it; the permitter of all evil, by his patience enduring it; the orderer and disposer of both, by his mercy rewarding the one, by his justice revenging the other, and by his wisdom directing both to the ends of his eternal glory.

This serves to discover the free and sole working of grace in our first conversion and the continued working of grace in our further sanctification. Whatsoever is good in us habitually, as grace inhering, or actually, as grace working, is from him alone as its author. For though it be certain, that when we will and do ourselves are agents, yet it is still under and from him. By grace we are what we are and do what we do in God’s service.

1. By grace our minds are enlightened to know and believe him; for spiritual things ‘are spiritually discerned’ (Jer. 31:33, Matt. 11:27, 1 Cor. 2:12-14).

2. By grace our hearts are inclined to love and obey him; for spiritual things are spiritually approved. He only, by his almighty and ineffable operation, works in us both right perceptions and good desires (Jer. 32:39, John 6:44).

3. By grace our lives are enabled to work what our hearts love; without which, though we should will, yet we cannot perform, no more than the knife which has a good edge is able actually to cut, till moved by the hand (Rom. 7:18, Phil. 2:13, Heb. 13:20-21).

4. By grace our good works are carried on to perfection. Adam, wanting [lacking] the grace of perseverance, fell from innocence itself. It is not sufficient for us that he prevent and excite us to will, that he cooperate and assist us to work, except he continually follow and supply us with a residue of spirit to perfect and finish what we set about. All our works are begun, continued, and ended in him (1 Thes. 5:23, 1 Pet. 5:10, Jude 1:24, John 17:15).

5. Lastly, by grace our perseverance is crowned; for our best works could not endure the trial of justice, if God should enter into judgment with us (Ps. 143:2, Isa. 64:6). Grace enables us to work, and grace rewards us for working. Grace begins and grace finishes both our faith and salvation (Phil. 1:6, Heb. 12:2). The work of holiness is nothing but grace, and the reward of holiness is nothing but grace for grace.”

– Jeremiah Burroughs in An Exposition of the Prophecy of Hosea (RHB: 2006) p. 624.

This weekend, spend some time meditating on God’s amazing grace and our freedom in Him.

Bonar: Living Upon the Son of God

Tony Reinke Abide in Christ, Fighting sin, Grace, Growth in godliness, Horatius Bonar, Legalism, Mortification, Sanctification, Self-strength, Sin in the church, spurgeon

tsslogo.jpgLiving Upon the Son of God
by Horatius Bonar (1808-1889)

[As a compliment to Sinclair Ferguson’s quotation from earlier in the day, this is an excellent example from one of my favorite authors of how the imperatives of Scripture should be wrapped in the indicatives of the Gospel. Notice by the end we have been called to endure hardships and pursue holiness. -Tony]

“I live by the faith of the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20)

Through the law we die; through the cross we live. The law kills; it kills even to itself: ‘We, through the law, are dead to the law.’ But this legal death produces or issues in a divine life; we die to the law, that we may live to God; we are crucified with Christ; yet we live; this crucifixion (or death) produces life; and yet this new life is not our own, — it is that of Christ; who dwelleth in us, and liveth in us, so that the life which we live in the flesh, we live by faith on the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us. This is the love that passeth knowledge; this is the gift that transcends all gifts.

Thus Christ is our life; its spring or fountain; its root; its storehouse or treasury. We live not upon ourselves, but on another; all that we have, and are, and hope for, is derived from that other.

1. We live upon His person. His person, like His name, is wonderful. It is both divine and human. It contains all that is excellent in the creature, along with all that is excellent in the Creator. His person is the great vessel of fullness, in which is contained all that is needed by the neediest of souls. It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. In Him is the perfection of all perfection, the glory of all glory. On this glorious person we live. We draw our spiritual life out of Him. We live by faith upon Him. In receiving the Father’s testimony to His person, we draw in the life which is in Him for us. We use Him. We partake of His fullness. The virtue that is in Him flows out to us. Out of His fullness we receive, and grace for grace, — like wave upon wave.

2. We live upon his work. The great feature in that work is substitution, atonement, propitiation. It contains many things; but this especially: ‘Christ died for our sins.’ He ‘gave Himself for us.’ He was ‘made sin for us.’ It is this aspect of His work that so specially suits us; for what we require is one to stand in our stead, to represent our persons, to bear our sins, to furnish us with a righteousness. His work upon the cross presents us with all these, — — His finished work, His accepted sacrifice, His precious blood, His completed expiation on ‘the accursed tree.’ On this work we live daily. It is a quickening work; a work the knowledge of which is life to the dead soul. To disbelieve that work, or to lose sight of it, is death; to believe it, and to keep our eye upon it, is life and healing. The sight of it, or the thinking about it (call it by what name we please), draws in life; we live in and by looking. This work contains the divine fullness provided for the sinner.

3. We live upon His love. It is love such as men saw on earth when He went about speaking the words and doing the works of grace. It is love (or grace) which comes out so specially from the person and the work; the love of Christ; love without measure; love that passeth knowledge. It is love, infinite, free, suitable, unchanging. The knowledge of this great love is life and peace. Jesus loves! ‘As the Father bath loved me, so have I loved you; continue ye in my love.’ How quickening and comforting is love like this!

We have thus spoken generally of what we get out of Christ’s living fullness. But let us now ask what this living upon Christ does for us. What do we specially get?

A. We get strength. In looking, we are strengthened with might in the inner man. Out of the depth of weakness we look, and are made strong. Connection with the person, the work, the love of Christ, communicates the divine strength. We lean upon His arm.

B. We get peace. The sight of Him whose name is the Peacemaker pours in peace. It is a peace-giving sight. We get peace by the blood of His cross; for He is our peace. Each fresh look communicates fresh peace, — the peace which passeth all understanding.

C. We get sympathy and consolation. He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. In all our affliction He is afflicted. He sympathizes with us; He goes down to the lowest depths of our sorrow; He comforts us in all our tribulation.

D. We get health. The sight of Him is healing. As we remember Him or think of Him, health flows into us. The fragrance of His name is medicine. To think of Him, is to inhale the health. Thus our cure proceeds; thus our diseases are banished.

E. We get holiness. Contact with Jesus is sanctifying. It is faith which brings us into contact with Him, and it is by faith that we are purified. We live by faith on the Son of God, and are by Him made holy. Thus it is that we are taught to hate sin, and thus we learn to seek holiness, and to delight in all progress therein. Christ says to us, Be holy; His cross says to us, Be holy; His love says to us, Be holy.

F. We get eternal glory. If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him. ‘Thou hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood,’ sing the saints in heaven, ‘and hast made us kings and priests unto God: and we shall reign on the earth.’ Oneness with Him in humiliation leads to oneness with Him in glory; the glory to be revealed when He comes again.

– Horatius Bonar, Light and Truth in The Life and Works of Horatius Bonar on CD-Rom (LUX publications: 2004), pp. 744-745.

Ferguson: Supporting the imperatives to holiness

Tony Reinke 2007 BOT MC, Abide in Christ, Election, Fighting sin, Grace, Growth in godliness, Imperatives + Indicatives, Legalism, Mortification, Sanctification, Self-strength, Sin in the church, Sinclair Ferguson

Ferguson: Supporting the imperatives to holiness

At the 2007 Banner of Truth conference this Spring, Sinclair Ferguson made the following note after reading Titus 2:11-13 (“For the grace of God has appeared … training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions”). He says,

“The great gospel imperatives to holiness are ever rooted in indicatives of grace that are able to sustain the weight of those imperatives. The Apostles do not make the mistake that’s often made in Christian ministry. [For the Apostles] the indicatives are more powerful than the imperatives in gospel preaching. So often in our preaching our indicatives are not strong enough, great enough, holy enough, or gracious enough to sustain the power of the imperatives. And so our teaching on holiness becomes a whip or a rod to beat our people’s backs because we’ve looked at the New Testament and that’s all we ourselves have seen. We’ve seen our own failure and we’ve seen the imperatives to holiness and we’ve lost sight of the great indicatives of the gospel that sustain those imperatives. … Woven into the warp and woof of the New Testament’s exposition of what it means for us to be holy is the great groundwork that the self-existent, thrice holy, triune God has — in Himself, by Himself and for Himself — committed Himself and all three Persons of His being to bringing about the holiness of His own people. This is the Father’s purpose, the Son’s purchase and the Spirit’s ministry.”

– Sinclair Ferguson, message from the 2007 Banner of Truth Conference, Our Holiness: The Father’s Purpose and the Son’s Purchase.

Along with Titus 2:11-13, Ferguson cited 1 Peter 1:1-2, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, Romans 8:28-29 and 15:16. Ferguson preached from John 15:9 the next day where Jesus’ call for fruitful disciples is wrapped in His call for them to “Abide in my love.” Ferguson challenges preachers to root the commands to be holy in the grace of our electing Father, the work of His Son on the Cross and the ongoing work of the indwelling and filling Spirit towards our holiness. The challenge is not to avoid the commands, but make certain our indicatives are strong enough to support them. Preaching from the indicatives assumes the preacher is first living daily in the indicatives of God in his private study.

Laboring after Assurance > 2

Tony Reinke Assurance, Calvinism, Grace, Joel R. Beeke, spurgeon

tsslaboring.jpg

Part 2: The Biblical Basis for Seeking Assurance

Today we embark on a study of personal assurance. To have assurance is to know with certainty in my Christian experience that I am known by God and adopted into His family through the gospel. It’s one thing to read in the Bible that salvation comes to those who repent and believe in Christ. But how do I know that God’s sovereign and saving grace has been poured out into my own soul? Because of its practical implications the pursuit of “full assurance” (Heb. 10:22) is one of the most important doctrines of the Bible. As Joel Beeke writes, “Many doctrines may escape a typical believer’s notice without serious consequence, but assurance is not one of them” (Quest, 281).

This study is connected with, but distinct from, a study on the perseverance of the saints. The doctrine of perseverance concerns God’s faithfulness to lead His children home without letting any of them perish. The doctrine of assurance, however, is more concerned with how I know that I am in fact one of God’s children (I’ll show later how these two are connected).

The diligent pursuit of assurance

The best place to begin this study of assurance is to open Scripture and see that we are in fact to labor and search after personal assurance. So my goal today is simply to let you read these passages for yourself with minimal comments. For the sake of space I have limited these passages to the New Testament.

2 Peter 1:10-11 … “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Hebrews 6:11 … “And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end”

2 Corinthians 13:5 … “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

1 John 5:13 … “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.”

These calls to assurance would be unnecessary if (1) Christians were not called to attain assurance and (2) if all Christians were naturally imbibed with this assurance.

Paul’s deep assurance

Related to these calls to assurance is the example of assurance demonstrated in the life and ministry of the Apostle Paul. He lived in a profound sense of personal assurance. Notice in these passages not only the sovereign power of God to persevere His children, but especially how convinced Paul is that he is in fact one of God’s children.

Galatians 2:20 … “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

2 Timothy 1:12 … “But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.”

Romans 8:35, 38, 39 … “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? … For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Ephesians 1:13-14 … “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

Paul’s words are a model of assurance for every Christian.

Dangers of false assurance

The seeking of true assurance is motivated by warnings in Scripture of those who have rested in false assurances to their eternal condemnation. If it were impossible to be convinced of the genuineness of our assurances these passages would drown our souls under doubt and despair.

Matthew 7:21-23 … “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

James 1:22, 26 … “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves … If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.”

James 2:17-18 … “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

Revelation 3:15-17 … “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”

“We know” in 1 John

But praise God, His children can know for certain they are saved! And if there was a single book of the Bible devoted to the Saints pursuit of assurance it would be 1 John. Listen to the wording as we are called to “know” that we are saved.

1 John 2:3 … “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.”

1 John 3:14-24 … “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”

1 John 5:2 … “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.”

And the purpose statement of the entire book in 1 John 5:13 … “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.”

It cannot be mistaken here that while we are saved by the Cross apart from any works, we are assured of partaking in the Cross by a life marked by change. These passages say to us, “take note of your own heart and labor after full assurance.”

Where has assurance gone?

We don’t need a Ph.D. in church history to see that a pursuit of personal assurance – the personal question of whether I am truly a child of God — is no longer a prominent theme in the Church today (and a reason why Puritan spirituality is so alien).

I think there are two reasons why.

1. The Gospel call has been separated from the call to Cross-bearing. It is fascinating to watch Jesus evangelize. Just listen to one example: “whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt. 10:38-39). This is no tit-for-tat salvation where we do good things and get life for our obedience. Rather, in Jesus’ call there is a union into Christ’s death (Rom. 6). This union to Christ means salvation and justification, but also self-mortification and self-crucifixion. The goal of the Gospel is total life transformation, beginning in sanctification here, and glorification at the first sight of Christ’s glory (1 John 3:2).

If, from the beginning, sinners were aware that Jesus was calling them to a radically new Cross-centered life, pursuing evidences of grace and assurance would be an obvious step of consideration. The Gospel carries with it God’s holistic transforming grace evident to others and powerful enough to form part of the basis of our personal assurance.

It may be that because salvation in Christ comes by faith alone that we also think assurance is by faith alone. When this happens, the passages above that call us to pursue full assurance are viewed as uncomfortable oddities to be avoided, rather than the means to great joy and delight and personal security in our Father.

2. A neglect or denial of God’s sovereign grace. Probably the most radical passage in Scripture on assurance comes in 2 Peter 1:10-11, “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities [virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love] you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Here Peter calls us to make certain our personal calling and election by the demonstration of godliness. Think about this for a moment… God’s children were elected from before the foundation of the earth and here we are called in our Christian experience to make this election certain (Eph. 1:4). God did not pencil us into His family until we wrote our names in Sharpies. Rather, the elected child of God will live a life that affirms God’s sovereign election! In our Christian experience we can know with certainty that we were elected in Christ!

But it’s not only 2 Peter that ties assurance directly to God’s sovereign grace (see also 1 Pet. 1:1-7 and Rom. 8:28-39).

The only way we can pursue our assurance of salvation is to know that God sovereignly preserves His chosen. Where an emphasis on God’s sovereign grace is not found, the pursuit of assurance will not be found either.

For example, Roman Catholicism teaches that “common Christians” will never know for certain they are children of God. At the Council of Trent Rome made it clear that none can know with any certainty that he or she is justified (6.9). It’s no wonder. God’s sovereign preservation of the Christian and the Christian’s assurance in this world undermines the foundations of mass, purgatory and the authority of the church as dispenser of sustaining grace. As Francis Turretin aptly noted, “For he who would be certain of his own salvation would betake himself neither to the patronage of the saints, nor to the merits of martyrs, nor to the absolution of priests” (Elenctic, 15.17.4).

But also for Protestants who believe that salvation can be lost, the pursuit of assurance would not make sense either. How can we ever find assurance in a salvation that we ourselves can undermine?

Theologian John Murray writes, “every brand of theology that is not grounded in the particularism which is exemplified in sovereign election and effective redemption is not hospitable to this doctrine of assurance of faith” (Writings, 2:267). The joy of pursuing personal assurance can only be pursued within a solid understanding of God’s sovereign election and perseverance of the sinner. Our fallible self-sustaining power would prove too flimsy a foundation to base any assurances.

Conclusion

The goal of assurance in the Christian life is not a labor of self-centered, self-righteous and introspective drudgery. The goal of pursuing assurance is a transcendent joy in our Abba Father who adopted His children in love! We are opening our spiritual ears to hear the witness of the Holy Spirit in our own spirits (Rom. 8:16).

Scripture (and especially 1 John) challenges me. I want to know with certainty that I am a child of God. I want to see the life-transforming effect of God’s grace in my heart and enjoy the humbling fact that I was elected from the foundation of the earth.

The act of pursuing assurance is one of deep communion with God that produces nothing short of a deep and abiding joy in the life of the Christian. This assurance is the “summit of intimacy by which the believer both knows Christ and knows he is known of Him” (Quest, 279). Next time we ask the big question … How do we labor after this “summit of intimacy” with Christ?

 
 

Review: Breathing Grace by Harry Kraus, M.D.

Tony Reinke BR > Crossway, C.J. Mahaney, Cross of Christ, Cross-centered life, Gospel, Grace, spurgeon

tsscertified.jpgBook review
Breathing Grace by Harry Kraus, M.D.

It’s a nice surprise to find contemporary books that clearly define the true gospel and insist I look again at the cross for spiritual refreshment. None have done it better than C.J. Mahaney’s Living the Cross Centered Life (my review was posted at takeupandread.com today). This weekend I discovered a new release from Crossway with a similar purpose.

Harry Kraus is a surgeon (currently a missionary surgeon in Africa) who has authored eight novels. His latest is a non-fiction book titled Breathing Grace. Kraus uses the metaphors from his medical background to illustrate the centrality of the cross and our need for daily grace. “Just as every cell (one hundred trillion in one human body!) requires a constant supply of oxygen, so every spiritual, emotional, and social aspect of our lives need a constant saturation with the gospel of grace” (22). Hence the title Breathing Grace.

Kraus presents the gospel clearly and accurately, using medical terms and exciting surgical situations. The medical stories are intense and, at points, a bit technical (“An arterial blush clouded the area lateral to the internal carotid artery, an indication of bleeding, a serious injury that was partially contained, a situation that needed stat attention before the artery free-ruptured, ensuring exsanguination and death”).

He argues that after conversion, believers continue discovering deeper levels of God’s holiness and their own sinfulness but often without a similar growth in the gospel. “When our understanding of the adequacy of the gospel doesn’t keep pace with our appreciation for God’s holiness or our own need, gospel debt results” (38). This “gospel debt” is then filled in with “false gospels” like trying to downplay our own sinfulness or making ourselves look better than we are. In other words, when we take our eyes off the gracious gospel in the Christian life we open ourselves to pride, man-pleasing and a host of other spiritually deadening diseases. The solution to these “false gospels” is a fresh return to the gospel. This excellent book points our focus back towards the love of God, to daily feed upon His life-giving grace.

Early on Kraus provides this concise purpose:

“This book is all about moving our concept of the gospel from grace notes to the major chord of our lives, something that undergirds the melody every day, every hour. This book is about moving our understanding of grace from one of God’s minor attributes to the central feature of his posture toward his children, the quality that governs his every action towards us on the road of redemption” (15).

This book contains references to the teaching of John Piper, many biblical references from the ESV and a study guide for personal reflection or group discussion. If you are looking for an excellent (and at times exciting) tour through God’s graciousness I would recommend Breathing Grace. Your spiritual life will be resuscitated by a renewed sense of God’s unconditional favor and — at the very least — you’ll more fully appreciate the dangers of acute arterial occlusions.

Title: Breathing Grace
Author: Harry Kraus, M.D.
Reading level: 2.0/5.0 > easy
Boards: hardcover (baby blue with silver embossing)
Pages: 170
Volumes: 1
Dust jacket: yes
Binding: glue
Paper: normal
Topical index: no
Scriptural index: yes
Text: perfect type
Publisher: Crossway
Year: 2007
Price USD: $19.99 from Crossway (available as an audiobook)
ISBN: 9781581348583, 1581348584

‘Of my own accord’: The Eager Redeemer (pt. 2)

Tony Reinke Biblical counseling, Cross of Christ, Cross-centered life, Gospel, Grace, Paul David Tripp, spurgeon

‘Of my own accord’: The Eager Redeemer (pt. 2)
by Tony Reinke

“For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” (John 10:17-18a)

Last time we discovered that Jesus must be more than a suitable Redeemer; He must also be a willing Redeemer. In the light of His willingness and eagerness we learn the depth of our Savior’s love.

The most common phrase of Jesus willingness to lay His life down for sinners is to say Jesus “gave Himself” for us (Gal. 1:4, 2:20; Eph. 5:2, 5:25; 1 Tim. 2:6; Titus 2:14). The phrase drips of volition and purpose and of knowing exactly what He was getting Himself into. This willingness is so precious.

Today we look specifically at John 10 and the consequences of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. I call this section “The Heartbeat of an Eager Shepherd.”

Personal pronouns

One striking feature of John 10 is the emphasis on the individual sheep. Listen to how personally Jesus explains the relationship between the sheep and the Shepherd. Jesus says,

“The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out … A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. … If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture … For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. … My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

We cannot miss the context of Jesus’ willingness to die. He was willing to die because He personally loved each one of His sheep. When we forget about the willingness of the Shepherd to die, we think of Him as a “hired hand” who came to die by the command of another, dying an impersonal death for some faceless, nameless sheep. Never! Jesus contrasts His own heart with that of a “hired hand” who does not care individually for the sheep (John 10:11-15). “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” Jesus lived and died for His specific sheep.

Couched within the willingness of Christ to redeem sinners is the demonstration of Christ’s love towards His individual sheep. Charles Spurgeon writes, “Love delights in personal pronouns … He died for his flock, and for each one of his sheep in particular; so that we may each one say to-day, ‘He loved me, and gave himself for me’ [Gal. 2:20]; and each one know that for himself, with special intent, the Lord Jesus bore the agony and bloody sweat, the cross and passion” (sermons, vol. 35).

If you are one of His sheep, know that the Shepherd Himself willingly gave Himself for you. He knew you, loved you, died for you, suffered for you, bore your wrath, and now protects you and comforts you! Christ was eager to redeem each of His sheep. Be moved by the personal pronouns.

Christ willingly pursues us

Notice what motivates the free willingness of the Son. The Father takes pleasure in the Son’s free offering of Himself (John 10:17). This alone is worthy of much reflection. The Father finds delight in Christ for His willing offering of Himself. Amazing!

Secondly, Christ is moved to eagerness because He loves His sheep. How do we become His sheep? If I understand the context of John correctly, there is nothing you can do to be one of His sheep. This designation rests upon the free, unmerited sovereign grace of God. Jesus said, “but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock” (v. 26). Belief or unbelief are not the determining factor. The determining factor was God’s electing will in placing us in one sheepfold or another. To put it another way, my faith, my obedience, my sinful wretchedness, my love, my character, my successes, my failures do not determine or undermine Christ’s love for me. His was an unconditional love for each sinful sheep in His care.

Because Christ loves depraved sinners like us, calls each of us by name, and willingly gives Himself, we can safely conclude: The Good Shepherd pursues each of His sheep. It’s here that we see the eagerness of the Son. He was motivated to pursue me willingly and of His own freedom. He pursued me. Say that out loud … “He pursued me!”

In Luke 15 the Pharisees came to Jesus and ridiculed Him for “receiving sinners.” They were wrong. Jesus does not receive sinners, He pursues sinners. He pursues sinners like a shepherd pursues a lost sheep (vv. 4-7), like a woman pursues her lost coin (vv. 8-10), like a father runs after his lost son (vv. 11-32). With binoculars and a flashlight in hand, Jesus runs in pursuit of sinners.

Horatius Bonar writes, “in his work of saving, Christ is aggressive and compulsory. He goes out in order to find them. He is ever on the outlook. He does not merely sit above on his throne, willing to receive the applications of those who come. He comes down amongst us. He goes to and fro in the earth; He walks up and down in it. His daily, hourly work is going in quest of sinners” (Light and Truth).

The willingness of Christ reveals the deep love of Christ for you and I. Willingly, eagerly, freely, and aggressively He is in quest of sinners like me. This is grace in its purest form.

Deepest love, deepest comforts

The willing pursuit of your soul by Christ is the source of all comfort in this world. There is no dark cloud that can hide the sun of Christ’s love.

Octavius Winslow writes, “Are you wounded? Does your heart bleed? Is your soul cast down within you? Is your spirit within you desolate? Still Jesus is love, is loving, and loves you. He has suffered and died for you; and, were it necessary, He would suffer and die for you yet again. Whatever blessing He sees good to take from you, Himself He will never take. Whatever stream of creature love He sees fit to dry, His own love will never fail. Oh, can that love fail — can it cease to yearn, and sympathize, and soothe, and support, which brought Jesus from heaven to earth to endure and suffer all this for us? Be still, then, lie passive and low — drink the cup, and let the surrender of your sin, your obedience, and yourself to Him be as willing and as entire as was the surrender of Himself for you. Then shall you, in a blessed degree, be ‘able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, filled with all the fullness of God’” (Daily Walking with God).

Conclusion

We must grasp the willingness of Christ. In His willingness we comprehend the depth of Christ’s love. He pursues sinners. If we are of His sheepfold — found resting in His righteousness alone, saved when He found us drinking from polluted cisterns and lost on the path of destruction — there can be no life situation too dark or too hopeless.

In one of my favorite contemporary books, Instruments in the Redeemers Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change, Paul David Tripp writes, “Biblical personal ministry is more about perspective, identity, and calling than about fixing what is broken” (p. 185). To say it another way, helping others see the willingness of Christ to endure the Cross and His relentless pursuit of His sheep may be one of the most life-transforming, problem-clearing, darkness-breaking truths you will bring to a counseling situation.

Dwell frequently upon Christ’s eagerness.