All of us here believe the Bible testimony that the
natural fate of all mankind is a burning Hell.
Deuteronomy 32:22 For a
fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell,
and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations
of the mountains.
Psalm 86:13 For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast
delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
Luke 16:19 ¶ There was a
certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared
sumptuously every day: 20 And there was
a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
21 And desiring to be fed with the
crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked
his sores. 22 And it came to pass, that
the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich
man also died, and was buried; 23 And in
hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and
Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried
and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip
the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this
flame.
And that this is just
the holding place for a much worse fate…
Revelation 20:10 And the
devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire
and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever…14 And death and hell were cast into the lake
of fire. This is the second death…15 And whosoever was not found written in the
book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
And that the only way
out of that horror is to trust in Christ’s righteousness and not our own, to
live forever in Heaven with the God who created us.
John 10:28 And I give unto
them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand.
Philippians 3:8 Yea
doubtless, and I count all things but
loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I
have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
9 ¶ And be found in him, not having mine own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto
his death; 11 If by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Romans 6:23 For the wages
of sin is death; but the gift
of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So, the possibilities
are eternal life or eternal suffering. Street preachers will shout, “Born once,
Die twice. Born twice, Die once!”
So, we tell people
about the free gift of salvation in Christ.
Ephesians 2:8 For by
grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto
him, I am the way, the truth, and the
life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved, and thy house.
We believe that Jesus
rose from the dead and we believe what He said about Himself.
Romans 10:9 That if
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and
shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved.
But very few will hear
what we have to say, sadly.
Matthew 7:14 Because strait
is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life,
and few there be that find it.
Each of us who witness to others about our faith and
why we believe what we believe have come across someone who has said, “why do I
have to be saved?” To risk oversimplifying complex human justifications I think
there are two main types of person who ask this question.
The first type of person has lived an honorable life.
They may have served in the military, raised a family, followed traditional
morality, payed their taxes, obeyed the law, didn’t lie, cheat, steal, or
tolerate anyone who did. I know some atheists with a stronger moral code than
most Christians. Maybe they are a Freemason and do lots of good works. Their
works, while exemplary and even noble, are just based on the wrong thing and they are holding on to it as a
justification for their life. They may not believe there is a God or a Heaven but think in their heart that if there is they deserve His and its blessings.
I’m not going to foolishly tell them that if they ever
lied in their life they ought to consider themselves a liar or if they took a
pencil home from work they are a thief. We don’t think like that in this
culture and you don’t think like that. We typically think of a thief as someone
who has that as part of their character or just has a bad character as if that
was a fixed, definable thing in each person. They might even define themselves
by their sin. They don’t feel guilt about it. They don’t feel shame. They have
not repented of their wicked sinful nature or their behavior. Paul said that
unrepentant sinners shall not be saved, will not come to Christ unless they
reject what they are.
1Corinthians 6: 9 ¶ Know ye
not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived:
neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers
of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall
inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such
were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
But, let’s look at a
“good” person, by the world’s standard. This person has done nothing, they say,
that would merit them needing to be punished in Hell or saved from it.
But, they are missing
the point. The point is that we have inherited a sin nature. Who here has not stolen something or lied to someone?
Who here has not thought of someone’s
death in their heart? The problem is our sin nature not an individual sin or
careless pocketing of an employer’s pencil or a too long glance at the magazine
rack in the airport. Those things are just evidence of a much bigger problem.
In the old Perry Mason TV show from the 1960s they used to always have a defendant
on trial for murder whose character witness would insist that they were not
capable of murder. Of course, we know better. There is no one sin on earth, one
thing that we snort at when watching TV, that we are not perfectly capable of
doing ourselves.
You see, the problem is
in your heart.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who
can know it?
The human heart is not
just evil. It is desperately wicked. Do you know what that means? This is going
to trouble some of you because you don’t look at yourselves this way. If you
chanced to be out walking and happened upon a nightclub fire like some of the
famous ones we’ve had in past days, say, the Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston in
1942 during World War Two where in 15 minutes 492 people died and 166 people
were injured you’d see what desperate means. People crowded the exits and would
have pulled anyone trying to get out or trying to pull them out to their death
in total panic. They were desperate to get out but in their panic kept
themselves and others from escaping. Your heart is that desperate to be wicked.
You aren’t just prone
to sin, or just an imperfect person who does his or her best in life. You
aren’t trying to do your best but making a few mistakes along the way, with the
best of intentions. No, your heart wants so badly to do what it knows to be
wrong it takes a great deal of socialization, fear of public humiliation, and a
desire for approval from others to keep you from winding up on death row or being
a permanent resident of the rescue mission if you haven’t trusted Christ.
Admit it, you’ve been
angry without a cause, you’ve sought your own, just what you wanted regardless
of anyone else’s feelings. You’ve lied, cheated, stolen, and committed sexual
immorality all the while justifying it by some misunderstanding or unmet need.
You’ve murdered people in your heart, hated them and wanted them to die. I’m
not talking about telling the proverbial little white lie or stealing some
paperclips from work so I can make some kind of trendy argument to get you to
admit something you don’t really believe about yourself. I’m talking about what
you and I really are like.
I had a customer in
housing sales once who told me an interesting story. He was a good guy, a
little abrasive, but a skilled craftsman who loved his wife and family. He was
just pure Baltimore, if you know what I mean. He had heart problems. Once, in
an unnamed hospital in Baltimore he died on the operating table and had to be
revived. He became conscious cursing and screaming and talking about fire and a
Hell he didn’t believe in. When he was able to he apologized to the nursing
staff for his language. They shrugged it off. A nurse told him that they’d
experienced that even with sweet little old ladies at the end of their lives.
He thought it was funny and dismissed my efforts to suggest it was real.
You see, this person
you’re talking to, and it may be a relative, even a sweet, little old lady,
your mother maybe, is a vile, believe it or not, wicked, nasty sinner by nature
who cannot enter into the presence of God without Christ’s sacrifice and
resurrection.
Until most people can
wrap their minds around that they will just look at you like a cow looks at a
new gate. Good people are hard to convince that they are not good people. They
have the testimony of their hearts, their friends and family, their
accomplishments, their material success, and, yes, the testimony of their own
seared and twisted conscience.
They’ve got to be made
to understand that they are not being compared to other, lesser mortals. They
are being compared to Christ. In comparison to a sinless, righteous, perfectly
moral and obedient man to God, who happened to be God in the flesh at the same
time He was fully a man where would this good person you are talking to stand?
Imagine that. This good guy or good girl is being compared to God. They are
lost without His righteousness as theirs does not and cannot measure up.
It even happens with
religious people, people who say they believe in God. Remember,
James 2:19 Thou believest
that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
And their works, which
they trust in, while good and wonderful have no effect on getting them into
Heaven. Their works are dead works, on which they are banking their
justification, apart from Christ’s righteousness.
Hebrews 6:1 ¶ Therefore
leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection;
not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith
toward God,
Whatever they think
justifies themselves before God other than Christ’s righteousness is a lie and
a sham. If they don’t wrap their minds around that they are not going to be
saved.
Another person that is
perplexing is that guy or girl who has led such a rotten, miserable existence
and is usually in such awful trouble when you talk to them that they cannot
believe that they even could be saved if they wanted to. They are sick and
tired of being sick and tired. They hate themselves even while they continue to
mess up their lives and the lives of others. I’m going to focus on them. You good
people won’t understand what I’m about to say, you folks who’ve been good all your
life, exemplary, first-rate citizens. Only people like me will understand this.
Their wickedness is a
stench in their own nostrils and they’ve lost all hope of redemption. Their
family is going or gone and all sense of self-respect or self-value has fled
their disgustingly failed lives. Sometimes, the first person I mentioned is really
putting on a front and in his or her heart they are really the second person
but you might not find that out in conversation, or you might.
They’ll say they’ve
gone too far to be saved. But, they are missing something important, too. I
want to thank Jonathan Edwards, a great preacher of the 1700s for this and I’ll
use his words sometimes and paraphrase his words at other times.
King David wrote;
When this Psalm was written it was a time of great trouble and trial for David. This is very clear by what he asks and what he says;
Psalm 25:7 Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O LORD.
Psalm 25:18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.
Look at the argument he makes pleading for forgiveness.
He pleads for pardon for God's name's sake. He has no expectation of pardon for the sake of any righteousness or worthiness of his for any good deeds he had done, or any compensation he had made for his sins; though if man's righteousness could be a just plea, David would have had as much to plead as many powerful leaders of men. But he begs that God would do it for his own name's sake, for his own glory, for the glory of his own free grace, and for the honor of his own faithfulness.
David pleads the greatness of his sins as an argument for mercy. He not only does not plead his own righteousness, or the smallness of his sins; he not only does not say, Pardon mine iniquity, for I have done much good to counterbalance it; or, Pardon mine iniquity, for it is small, and you have no great reason to be angry with me; mine iniquity is not so great, that you have any just cause to remember it against me; my offence is not such but that you may well enough overlook it: but on the contrary he says, Pardon mine iniquity, for it is great; he pleads the greatness of his sin, and not the smallness of it; he enforces his prayer with this consideration, that his sins are very heinous.
But how could he make this a plea for pardon? I can answer that. Because the greater his iniquity was, the more need he had of pardon. It is as much as if he had said, Pardon my iniquity, for it is so great that I cannot bear the punishment; my sin is so great that I am in need of pardon; my case will be exceedingly miserable, unless you be pleased to pardon me. He makes use of the greatness of his sin, to enforce his plea for pardon, as a man would make use of the greatness of calamity in begging for help. When a homeless person asks for food, he will plead the greatness of his poverty and necessity. When a man in distress cries for pity, what more can he say but that he desperately needs help?—And God allows such a plea as this: for He is moved to mercy towards us by nothing in us but the miserableness of our case. He does not pity sinners because they are worthy, but because they need His pity.
Now, let’s put this into focus.
If we truly come to God for mercy, the greatness of our sin will be no impediment to pardon.—If it were an impediment, David would never have used it as a plea for pardon, as we find he does in the text.—The following things are needful in order that we truly come to God for mercy:
That we should see our misery, and be sensible of our need of mercy. They who are not sensible of their misery cannot truly look to God for mercy; for it is the very notion of divine mercy, that it is the goodness and grace of God to the miserable. Without misery in the object, there can be no exercise of mercy. To suppose mercy without supposing misery, or pity without calamity, is a contradiction: therefore men cannot look upon themselves as proper objects of mercy, unless they first know themselves to be miserable; and so, unless this be the case, it is impossible that they should come to God for mercy. They must be sensible that they are the children of wrath; that the law is against them, and that they are exposed to the curse of it: that the wrath of God abides on them; and that He is angry with them every day while they are under the guilt of sin.—They must be sensible that it is a very dreadful thing to be the object of the wrath of God; that it is a very awful thing to have Him for their enemy; and that they cannot bear His wrath.
They must he sensible that the guilt of sin makes them miserable creatures, fun they have in life; that they can be no other than miserable, undone creatures, so long as God is angry with them; that they are without strength, and must perish, and that eternally, unless God helps them. They must see that their case is utterly desperate, for any thing that any one else can do for them; that they hang over the pit of eternal misery; and that they must necessarily drop into it, if God have not mercy on them.
They must be sensible that they are not worthy that God should have mercy on them. They who truly come to God for mercy, come as beggars, and not as creditors: they come for mere mercy. for sovereign grace, and not for any thing that is due. Therefore, they must see that the misery under which they lie is justly brought upon them, and that the wrath to which they are exposed is justly threatened against them; and that they have deserved that God should be their enemy, and should continue to be their enemy. They must be sensible that it would be just with God to do as he has threatened in his Bible, to make them the objects of his wrath and curse in hell to all eternity.— They who come to God for mercy in a right manner are not disposed to find fault with His severity; but they come in a sense of their own utter unworthiness, as with ropes about their necks, and lying in the dust at the foot of mercy.
They must come to God for mercy in and through Jesus Christ alone. All their hope of mercy must be from the consideration of what He is, what He has done, and what He has suffered; and that there is no other name given under heaven, among men, whereby we can be saved, but that of Christ; that He is the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world; that His blood cleanses from all sin, and that He is so worthy, that all sinners who are in him may well be pardoned and accepted.—It is impossible that any should come to God for mercy, and at the same time have no hope of mercy. Their coming to God for it, implies that they have some hope of obtaining, otherwise they would not think it worth the while to come. But they that come in a right manner have all their hope through Christ, or from the consideration of his redemption, and the sufficiency of it.—If persons thus come to God for mercy, the greatness of their sins will be no impediment to pardon. Let their sins be ever so many, and great, and aggravated, it will not make God in the least degree more backward to pardon them. This may be made evident by the following considerations:
The mercy of God is as sufficient for the pardon of the greatest sins, as for the least; and that because his mercy is infinite. That which is infinite, is as much above what is great, as it is above what is small. Thus God being infinitely great, he is as much above kings as he is above beggars; he is as much above the highest angel, as he is above the meanest worm. One finite measure does not come any nearer to the extent of what is infinite than another.—So the mercy of God being infinite, it must be as sufficient for the pardon of all sin, as of one. If one of the least sins be not beyond the mercy of God, so neither are the greatest, or ten thousand of them.—However, it must be acknowledged, that this alone does not prove the doctrine. For though the mercy of God may be as sufficient for the pardon of great sins as others; yet there may be other obstacles, besides the want of mercy. The mercy of God may be sufficient, and yet the other attributes may oppose the dispensation of mercy in these cases.— So, it is important to consider,
That the satisfaction of Christ is as sufficient for the removal of the greatest guilt, as the least: 1 John i. 7. " The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin." Acts xiii. 39. " By him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." All the sins of those who truly come to God for mercy, let them be what they will, are satisfied for, if God be true who tells us so; and if they be satisfied for, surely it is not incredible, that God should be ready to pardon them. So that Christ having fully satisfied for all sin,or having wrought out a satisfaction that is sufficient for all, it is now no way inconsistent with the glory of the divine attributes to pardon the greatest sins of those who in a right manner come to Him for it.
God may now pardon the greatest sinners without any prejudice to the honour of His holiness. The holiness of God will not suffer Him to give the least countenance to sin, but inclines Him to give proper testimonies of His hatred of it. But Christ having satisfied for sin, God can now love the sinner, and give no countenance at all to sin, however great a sinner he may have been. It was a sufficient testimony of God's abhorrence of sin, that He poured out his wrath on Christ, when he took the guilt of it upon himself. Nothing can more show God's abhorrence of sin than this. If all mankind had been eternally damned, it would not have been so great a testimony of it.
God may, through Christ, pardon the greatest sinner without any prejudice to the honour of his majesty. The honour of the divine majesty indeed requires satisfaction; but the sufferings of Christ fully repair the injury. Let the contempt be ever so great, yet if so honourable a person as Christ undertakes to be a Mediator for the offender, and suffers so much for him, it fully repairs the injury done to the Majesty of heaven and earth. The sufferings of Christ fully satisfy justice.
The justice of God, as the supreme Governor and Judge of the world, requires the punishment of sin. The supreme Judge must judge the world according to a rule of justice. God does not show mercy as a judge, but as a sovereign; therefore His exercise of mercy as a sovereign, and His justice as a judge, must be made consistent one with another; and this is done by the sufferings of Christ, in which sin is punished fully, and justice answered. Rom. iii. 25, 26. " Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time, His righteousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."—The law is no impediment in the way of the pardon of the greatest sin, if men do but truly come to God for mercy: for Christ hath fulfilled the law, he hath borne the curse of it, in his sufferings; Gal. iii. 13. " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree."
Christ will not refuse to save the greatest sinners, who in a right manner come to God for mercy; for this is his work. It is His business to be a Saviour of sinners; it is the work upon which He came into the world; and therefore He will not object to it. He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, Matt. ix. 13. Sin is the very evil which he came into the world to remedy: therefore He will not object to any man that he is very sinful. The more sinful he is, the more need of Christ.—The sinfulness of man was the reason of Christ's coming into the world; this is the very misery from which he came to deliver men. The more they have of it, the more need they have of being delivered; " They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick," Matt. ix. 12. A doctor will not make it an objection against healing a man who applies to him, that he stands in great need of his help. If a physician of compassion comes among the sick and wounded, surely he will not refuse to heal those that stand in most need of healing, if he be able to heal them.
Herein does the glory of grace by the redemption of Christ much consist, viz. in its sufficiency for the pardon of the greatest sinners. The whole contrivance of the way of salvation is for this end, to glorify the free grace of God. God had it on his heart from all eternity to glorify this attribute; and therefore it is, that the device of saving sinners by Christ was conceived. The greatness of divine grace appears very much in this, that God by Christ saves the greatest offenders. The greater the guilt of any sinner is, the more glorious and wonderful is the grace manifested in his pardon: Rom. v. 20. " Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." The apostle, when telling how great a sinner he had been, takes notice of the abounding of grace in his pardon, of which his great guilt was the occasion: 1 Tim. i. 13. " Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious. But I obtained mercy; and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant, with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus."
The Redeemer is glorified, in that he proves sufficient to redeem those who are exceeding sinful, in that his blood proves sufficient to wash away the greatest guilt, in that he is able to save men to the uttermost, and in that he redeems even from the greatest misery. It is the honour of Christ to save the greatest sinners, when they come to him, as it is the honour of a physician that he cures the most desperate diseases or wounds. Therefore, no doubt, Christ will be willing to save the greatest sinners, if they come to Him; for He will not be backward to glorify himself, and to commend the value and virtue of his own blood. Seeing He hath so laid out himself to redeem sinners, He will not be unwilling to show, that he is able to redeem to the uttermost.
Pardon is as much offered and promised to the greatest sinners as any, if they will come aright to God for mercy. The invitations of the gospel are always in universal terms: as, Ho, every one that thirsteth; Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden; and, Whosoever will, let him come. And the voice of Wisdom is to men in general: Prov. viii. 4. " Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men." Not to moral men, or religious men, but to you, O men. So Christ promises, John vi. 37. " Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." This is the direction of Christ to His apostles, after His resurrection, Mark xvi. 15, 16. " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature: he that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved." Which is agreeable to what the apostle said, that "the gospel was preached to every creature which is under heaven," Col. i. 23.
So, finally, good
person or bad, hero or villain, admirable soul or monster, you need God’s mercy
as expressed in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and in His resurrection from
the dead and He will give it to you.
Now, one final word on
what you are being saved from. Eternity is a long, long time.
(Invitation to confess
Christ and be saved by Him)
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