“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
--John 10:28
Perhaps one of the most well-known stories in the Bible is that of Noah and the ark he built. God told Noah that He was going to send judgment upon the earth in the form of a flood. But because Noah and his family were righteous, God told Noah He would save them and gave him plans to build a boat.
So on the day that the flood was to come, God said to Noah, “...come into the ark” (Genesis 6:18). And that tells us, of course, that God was inside that ark. The only way Noah and his family were going down was if God went down. And God wasn’t going down!
I’m so glad God didn’t say, “Noah, I’ll put a few pegs on the outside of that boat for you. And if you hang on faithfully until the end, you’ll be secure through the storm.” No, He said, “Come into this ark.” And Noah may have fallen down many times in the ark, but he never fell out of the ark!
Now Peter tells us that Jesus is our ark of safety (1 Peter 3:20). And if we are in that ark—in Christ—we can never fall out. So if you’re in Christ, rest assured that though you may stumble, you can never fall out of His grace, and you have eternal life forever!
REST IN THE ASSURANCE THAT IF YOU’RE IN CHRIST, YOU CAN NEVER LOSE YOUR SALVATION!
Wounded for Me
Wednesday, March 04, 2020
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”
Isaiah 53:5–7
William Ovens spent many years reaching children with the gospel in Ireland. It is said that on one occasion as he watched a parade to honor the veterans of World War I, Ovens was struck by seeing a soldier who was disabled from his injuries limping by in the procession. His gratitude for the sacrifice made on his behalf reminded Ovens of an even greater sacrifice, the one made by Jesus for our salvation. He later wrote:
Wounded for me, wounded for me,
There on the cross He was wounded for me;
Gone my transgressions, and now I am free,
All because Jesus was wounded for me.
We often speak of Jesus dying on the cross for the sins of mankind, and that is true. But this is not just a general truth. It is very specific to each of us. We find it much easier to speak of the price of sin in broad terms rather than remember that it was our personal sin that Jesus bore on the cross—not just “our” sin but “my” sin.
When we see our sin as the reason behind the nails and the beating and the pain and the blood and the sorrow Christ endured, it becomes much less appealing to us. He could have avoided all of that, but His love and mercy kept Him on the cross.
Today's Growth Principle:
We must never lose sight of the fact that Jesus died not just for everyone, but for our own sins.
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