One of my all-time favorite quotations is found in a biography of Jesus entitled The Desire of Ages. Jesus and his disciple are at sea when a horrific storm overwhelms them. Jesus is sleeping and his disciples, some of whom are experienced sailors, have lost hope. Seeing Jesus sleeping in the nets piled in the front they cried out to Him, “Lord save us: we perish.” Now comes my favorite quote. “Never did a soul utter that cry unheeded.” Page 335
Obviously God does not rescue all from disaster when they ask for help. People on airplanes and ships that are going down pray and yet they die. This must have eternal implications. I have long believed in the benefits of death bed conversions. Jesus is so driven to give people eternal life He takes us any way He can get us. He is not picky. If this is true and I believe it is, just like the thief on the cross they have no time to build a Christ-like character. This leads us to understand that salvation is, was and always will be, 100% based on what Jesus did for us on the cross.
This does not mean once saved we need not work on character building. See Galatians 5 for the need to use our freedom in Christ for good resulting in the fruits of the Spirit. The result being what James says, “faith . . . if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” and what Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them. (the redeemed)” Matthew 7
This brings me back to my above favorite quote. Jesus hears our cries no matter how loud or muffled, how articulated or silent. He loves us. He wants to save us. Oh, how surprised we will be to see who all is saved.
Written by Roger Bothwell on July 6, 2016
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