JUST THINKING: The Irrevocable Gift
I was just thinking about a song I have loved for most of my life. The first stanza is, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. O, what a foretaste of glory divine? Heir of salvation, purchase of God. Born of His Spirit, washed in his blood,” So much truth is found in “Blessed Assurance!”
An Unnecessary Struggle
I am in my 61st year of ministry, and one of the saddest occasions I have experienced is ministering to people who feel they have lost their salvation. Their struggle is a recurring one — an unnecessary one.
Faith is the key to victory in such struggles. Faith enables fact to override feeling. One must believe God’s Word to be true. Paul wrote: “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). Grace means we receive it, but we do not deserve it. Faith means we believe despite not fully understanding it. Gift means God gave it freely, and we did not earn it.
An Unimaginable Experience
Jesus said to Nicodemus, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). He then stated, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Seventy-nine years ago, I was born into the family of Jesse and Marjorie Mitchell. I could have later said, “I think you adopted me. I am not really your son.” However, a birth certificate with a seal would have verified my birth. As a teen, I could have said, “I’m leaving. From this day, I will never be your son.” Yet, had I died far from anyone knowing my past, a DNA test would have proven me to be their son. Once a Mitchell, always a Mitchell. A fact!
When people doubt their salvation, it is due to feeling, not fact. The fact is that once a person is born again into the family of God, the individual has an everlasting relationship. Salvation cannot be lost!
An Irrevocable Gift
By inspiration from the Holy Spirit, Paul wrote: “God’s gift and call are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:29). We are saved by the grace of a Sovereign God whose Son died once for all. We are saved by a gift — the undeserved present of everlasting life. That gift which God gave is one that He will never take back!
In my days as a lifeguard, I rescued several struggling swimmers. I never heard, “I am glad I was able to help you get me back to safety.” No, but I received from them, “Thank you. I was sinking and couldn’t get out by myself.” That is the way God’s rescue works. He did all the rescuing because we couldn’t do it ourselves.
A Blessed Assurance
If any are struggling with faith in the fact that salvation is everlasting, just remember that God cannot fail. Through the death of His Son on the cross, He has rescued you from sin’s condemnation. “Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession — to the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:13-14).
Blessed assurance! Heir of salvation! Purchase of God! Born of His Spirit and washed in Christ’s DNA! Once in the family — always in the family!
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Dr. Tom Mitchell
Dr. Tom Mitchell pens a column titled, Just Thinking, in which he addresses many topics relative to the Baptist Missionary Association. His Trailblazers series provides biographies of many BMA trailblazers from the past.
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