AP

‘He Is Able’ – Yes He Is!

Let’s think about one of the most beautiful verses in the whole Bible – Hebrews 7.25: Jesus is able to save to the utmost all who come to the Father through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.

Think about the disciples. They were just very ordinary people – like us – until Jesus called them, saved them and enabled them to do great things for Him.

     Peter denied that he knew Jesus on the night before He was crucified. But after Jesus rose from the dead He forgave Peter and made him a great leader of His people.

     Andrew was overshadowed by his big brother, Peter. But when we see him in the Bible, he is bringing people to Jesus, starting with his brother Peter, followed by the boy with the loaves and fishes, then the Greek people who wanted to see Jesus.

     John, who the Bible describes as ‘the disciple Jesus loved’, was once called ‘the Son of Thunder’ by Jesus because he was ambitious and angry against people he thought should have been following Jesus. But over the years he would become known as ‘the Apostle of Love’, a name which was justified by the tenor of his three letters.

     After Jesus was crucified, we see that the disciples were full of fear and scattered by the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. We see them not believing at first but then filled with joy at the Resurrection.

     And then we see them gathered together on the Day of Pentecost. Suddenly Christ’s promise was kept, and they received the Holy Spirit, evangelised those around them, and went out into all the world to preach the Gospel.

     What a great change came over them! They were no longer governed by the words ‘I am able’; rather their testimony was: ‘He is able!’ They went on to discover how true Christ’s words were when He said: ‘Without Me you can do nothing’; and how true Paul’s testimony was when he wrote: ‘I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.’

     We’re just ordinary people too, but Christ saves and empowers us today just as He did so long ago, with three of the loveliest words in all of Scripture: ‘He is able.’

1. What is He Able to Do?

He is able to help those who are tempted (Hebrews 2.18) by giving us strength to resist the devil. He is able to save to the utmost. (Hebrews 7.25) that is fully, freely and completely. He is able to keep us from falling (Jude 24), that is, He is always with us and watching over us. He is able to subdue all things to Himself (Philippians 3.21), that is, He is our ruler, leader and guide. He is able to keep what we’ve committed to Him until judgment day (2 Timothy 1.12), that is, He will never leave us or forsake us. He is able to do so much more than we can ask or imagine, over and above all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3.20).

     These six texts build up, one on another and taken all together they assure us of Christ’s mighty power to save, seal and secure His people and as we think about them, we can only cast our crowns before Him, lost in wonder, love and praise. What a wonderful Saviour is Jesus, what a wonderful Friend is He!

2. Only Jesus is Able to Save.

We are not saved by being as good as we can or by doing as many good works as we can. We should do good things, of course, and be good people but we can never be good enough to save ourselves. We can only be saved by the Lord Jesus’s sacrifice of His perfect and sinless life on the Cross to pay the penalty for our sin. When the Lord does save us, our testimony will be:

            ‘I do not work my soul to save – for that my Lord has done,

             But I would work like any slave for love of God’s dear Son.’

3. Jesus Really is Able to Save.

Jesus is the One who is holy, blameless, undefiled; the One who perfectly kept the Law of God, the eternal Son of God, the sinless Lamb of God, the One who as our Great High Priest offered Himself, suffered and bled and died in our place and for our sake.

4. Jesus is More Than Able to Save.

Jesus is able to save to the utmost all who come to the Father through Him, whether our sins are many or few, small or great, His death on the Cross will cover them all, His blood shed on the Cross will wash them all away and make our black, sinful hearts ‘as white as snow’.

5. History has Proved Him Able to Save.

The dying thief on the cross beside Him; Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor of Christians; any rebellious sinner; any doubting soul; any wicked person – in fact, all those who will acknowledge that they are sinners and will ask for mercy on account of the death on the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Anyone who believes on Him will be saved because He is able to save.

6. He is Still Able to Save.

The Bible says: ‘The arm of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save’ (Isaiah 59.1). Jesus is alive and He is at work in us still today. So whoever we are, whatever we’ve done, however far we’ve drifted away from God, He will have us back; Our Lord Jesus remains able to save to the utmost all who come to the Father through Him.

The Bible tells us that if we ‘confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we shall be saved’ (Romans 10.9).

Let Us Pray:

O Lord our gracious God and loving Heavenly Father, we thank You that You sent your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, into this world so that all who believe in Him would not perish but have eternal life. Draw us to Yourself through faith in Him we pray. Make us conscious of the seriousness of our sin, give us true sorrow for our sin, and grant us the assurance that we belong to Him and we will live with Him in Glory forever and ever. And we ask this in His mighty Name. AMEN!

– Bob Thomas