6. I Will Never Cast Out

Some people stay away from Jesus because they doubt he is strong enough to help. Many more stay away because they doubt he is willing. John 6:35-40 speaks straight to that second group.

Start with the setting. Jesus has just called himself the bread of life, and he says, “whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” Then he admits something sad: “you have seen me and yet do not believe.” He is honest about people who walk away. Yet in the next breath he says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”

Notice two things. First, the promise has no fine print about what kind of person is coming. It is about the coming, not about how impressive the one coming is. Second, the promise rests on a mission. Jesus came down “not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me,” and that will is that he “should lose nothing of all that he has given me.” Jesus is not making up mercy on the spot. Receiving you is the job he was sent to do.

In Chapter 6, Ortlund brings in John Bunyan to ask why Jesus made this promise so strong. Think about it as you read the passage. A soft, hedged promise would leave a nervous person plenty of room to run. A firm one closes the exit. Jesus knows how our minds work, so he answers the fear before we say it out loud.

The chapter also surveys the reasons people hold back from coming. You can probably name yours. I have failed at this too many times. I am not sure my faith is real. I have been hurt so badly that it feels like God shut me out. That last one needs a gentle word. When suffering piles up, it can feel like being cast out. But the promise in John 6 is not a report card on how your life is going. It is a statement about what Jesus does with anyone who comes to him. Hard circumstances do not cancel it. If pain, grief or depression has made this feel out of reach, tell a pastor, counselor or trusted friend so you are not carrying it alone.

Finally, Ortlund points to Jonah 4:2. Jonah was irritated that God showed kindness to Nineveh, and he complained that he knew “you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” Jonah meant it as a gripe, but it is a wonderful summary of God’s heart. Ortlund’s point is that God’s mercy comes from his own merciful heart, not only from the cross. The cross is where that mercy does its costly work. It is not where mercy first begins.

So the question for today is not whether you are good enough to come. It is whether you will believe the one who said he would never cast you out.