I Will in No Wise Cast Out

“Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.”—John 6:37.

No limit is set to the duration of this promise. It does not merely say, “I will not cast out a sinner at his first coming,” but, “I will in no wise cast out.” The original reads, “I will not, not cast out,” or “I will never, never cast out.” The text means, that Christ will not at first reject a believer; and that as He will not do it at first, so He will not to the last.

But suppose the believer sins after coming? “If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

But suppose that believers backslide? “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away from him.”

But believers may fall under temptation! “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

But the believer may fall into sin as David did! Yes, but He will “Purge them with hyssop, and they shall be clean; He will wash them and they shall be whiter than snow”; “From all their iniquities will I cleanse them.”

“Once in Christ, in Christ for ever,
Nothing from His love can sever.”
“I give unto My sheep,” says He, “eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” What say you to this, O trembling feeble mind? Is not this a precious mercy, that coming to Christ, you do not come to One who will treat you well for a little while, and then send you about your business, but He will receive you and make you His bride, and you shalt be His for ever? Receive no longer the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption whereby you shall cry, Abba, Father! Oh! the grace of these words: “I will in no wise cast out.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon (from Morning and Evening, a daily devotional; formatting mine; also some minor language updating)

Don’t Get Organized, Get Enthralled

“…let us also lay aside every weight…and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).

Do you want to be productive? Don’t get organized. Get enthralled. Get smitten. Get on fire. Really want to do something. Want to do it bad enough that you are willing to say no to good things that will inhibit your doing what you really want to do.

Then work on organizing. Productivity systems will only help you when you know what you want to be productive about. Otherwise you’ll always have more books to read, projects to complete, emails to answer, people to meet than you can possibly organize. You’ll just shuffle stuff.

If you’re passionate, you will prioritize your time. If you’re dispassionate, you will dissipate your time.

I think the need of the hour is for more holy ambition, not more training in workflow systems. Listen to John Piper explain to children about how a holy ambition focuses us:

‘Holy ambition’ means something you really want to do that God wants you to do. Something you want to do so much that doing it keeps you from doing other things that you also really like to do. Paul really wanted to go to Rome for years¹. But he didn’t go because he wanted something else more. He wanted to preach the gospel in Asia and Greece where people didn’t know about Jesus. He really, really, really wanted to do this. We all that kind of desire an ‘ambition.’ And we call it ‘holy ambition’ when it is something God wants you to do.²

Jesus’ holy ambition is to call all his elect redeemed sheep (John 10:16). Paul’s holy ambition was to preach the gospel where it has not ever been preached (Romans 15:20). What’s your holy ambition? How are you seeking the kingdom first (Luke 12:31)? Is God calling you to do something that is compelling you to say no to good things that will only weigh you down (Hebrews 12:1)? Or are you finding your time dissipating?

Before the summer is over and time demands increase again, read A Holy Ambition. Read it to refocus on what God’s global priority is and to stoke your own holy ambition.

Jesus didn’t say much about organizing. He did say a lot about passion for what’s most important. Passion is a far better prioritizer than any productivity system. May this book help fan your holy ambition into a hotter flame so you will lay aside every unnecessary weight.

This post adapted from Jon Bloom’s post on Desiring God’s website here: http://ow.ly/cwS5A