"Wondrous Love That Welcomes All"
Mar. 2, 2019
(Jesus said) "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out."
~ John 6:37 (ESV)
Jesus spoke this wondrous promise in despised Galilee. The greater part of His public ministry was spent in that forlorn, forsaken country which the proud citizens of Jerusalem avoided as they kept their distance from a plague. Yet in Galilee, the spurned homeland of unclean half-breeds, our Lord performed some of His mightiest miracles, preached some of His most powerful sermons. He might have appeared before Caesars in Rome, scholars in Athens, celebrated churchmen in Jerusalem; but to emphasize for you and me that He came "to seek and to save that which was lost," that He is, in truth, the "Friend of ... sinners," the Son of the Highest made man for us, He deliberately sought to teach, comfort, and save those whom others shunned. Today, proud men may pay no attention to you; yet the God of Galilean grace never overlooks even the lowliest and humblest, the underprivileged and overtaxed. The less interest men show in you, the more devotion the Savior can shower upon you.
"Can this really be true?" Some of you ask, thinking of the broken promises by which men have led others astray. Now, if our text, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out," was merely a human pledge your doubts and suspicions would be justified. Too often leaders have been exalted as apostles of righteousness when, in truth, they prove themselves guides to grief. Truly, this is the age of broken covenants and shattered pledges, when men think it's smart to deceive and destroy their fellow men.
Believe with all your heart, however, that Jesus never fails, that the Son of God always keeps His Word! Modern pulpits may question Christ's Gospel, present-day unbelief deny it, hell-bound scoffers ridicule it, but our Savior's truth remains. The heavens above must disappear, the earth beneath us be destroyed, the universe about us dissolve, before the Almighty's glorious guarantee, "My Words will not pass away," (Matthew 24:35b) is broken. Where has a single assurance given by our blessed Redeemer ever failed? Where has anyone who came to Jesus in trusting faith ever been cast out? I challenge you skeptics to name a single sinner who has penitently and trustfully made his way to the cross without being received and restored.
Do you feel your sins too many, too injurious to your neighbor, too depraved and vicious, to let you even crawl to Christ? Do you begin to wonder whether you have a chance to be saved? Push all this aside! Take God at His Word! For you, the changeless, errorless Teacher of truth promised, "whoever comes to Me I will never cast out." Can you not see, then, that you must take Christ and His cross earnestly, throw away all human errors and delusions which seek to keep you from the Savior? There is no sin, no charge raised by your conscience, no indictment directed by hell, for which your Redeemer will reject you.
Rather than doubt, let the triumphant hymn be your song: "Just as I am, without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me. And that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come!"
THE PRAYER: Heavenly Father, remove our doubt and despair, and remind us of Your love-a love that welcomes all into your glorious fold. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
From "Wondrous Love That Welcomes All," a sermon excerpt from Dr. Walter Maier, the first Speaker of The Lutheran Hour. Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
Jesus spoke this wondrous promise in despised Galilee. The greater part of His public ministry was spent in that forlorn, forsaken country which the proud citizens of Jerusalem avoided as they kept their distance from a plague.
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