Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, draw us to Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Text: John 6:37-40
“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 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.”
Devotion
Every sinner who comes to Jesus and stays with Him in repentance and faith is the Father’s gift to the Son. For: “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me,” but “no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (Joh 6:44). Therefore no one who seeks the Lord should brood over his election: that he wants to come to Jesus is the Father’s drawing him. But how can the Father draw him unless He seriously wants to give him to the Son? This statement: “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me” sounds wonderful to sinners seeking grace, and the following: “And the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out,” how many has this comforted! It has been a lifeline for thousands. It has drawn countless people out of the waters of sin into the city of God. They thought they had to be cast out because of the guilt of their many sins, for their stubborn opposition, for their hardness of heart, their faithlessness, their unbelief and selfishness: basically, their wicked heart. But He says: “the one who comes to Me,” whoever they may be, “I will by no means cast out,” by no means, but receive them and save them. That sounds so inviting that the poor heart must come. And will anyone be rejected? Search the Gospels from beginning to end. Can you find Jesus sending away one sinner who sought Him? And test it yourself! How could the Lord send away anyone who seeks Him? The Father sent Him to the world for the very purpose of seeking and saving the lost, and so, should He send away the miserable sinner whom the Father draws to Him? It is completely impossible. No, the Father’s will is His will even to death on the cross for us. O how firm and sure is our salvation! But this is just as high and glorious too: for it is the heavenly Father’s will that we should have “eternal life.” We shall see the Son and shall be raised incorruptible in eternal glory. Death indeed devours us, but it too is “swallowed up in victory,” so it can only carry us into the kingdom of victory.
Closing Prayer
Draw us to Your Son, dear heavenly Father, and give us grace to believe the love with which You love us, so we can conquer our unbelief, our sin, and our fear of death and see light in the darkness. Lord, You know our forsakenness and unbelief. Have mercy on us. Give us victory by Your Word. Give us a foretaste of eternal life, and grant us perfect sanctification on the last day. Amen.
Hymn
Courage now! My troubled spirit,
Confidence be in your mind!
For your pains and gross unmerit,
Comfort in your Jesus find!
Though surrounded all by ill,
Let them mock us as they will;
Though it seems God does not hear us,
In the end He still will cheer us.
Surely You will not reject me,
Sweetest Jesus, Friend for aye!
Though the fears of death infect me,
You will ever be my Stay.
Ne’er a deer has thirsted more
But I longed for You still more;
For the waterbrooks their longing,
I to be to You belonging.
Lord, my heart with joy is bounding
That I may to You come near!
From Your lips sweet words are sounding,
Words that bring salvation here,
Saving me from sin and care,
That Your glory I may share,
Honor by Your gracious sending
And the joy of heav’n unending.
Brorson: Dristig nu, mit bange Hjerte L 568:1.3.6 tr. DeGarmeaux;
tune: Freu dich sehr (ELH 256); alternate hymn: God, my Lord, my Strength ELH 204