“Hard Questions”
2
Chronicles 9:1
The entire
religious world (Baptists and Papists—Charismatic and
Non-charismatic—Protestants and Pentecostals—Fundamentalists and
Liberals—Russellites and Campbellites—Mormons and Methodists) asserts
dogmatically that “God loves all people without exception, wills the salvation
of all without exception, Christ died to redeem all without exception and the
Holy Spirit calls all without exception.” If these things, so commonly and so
universally embraced, believed, and taught throughout the religious world, are
true, here are four hard questions that must be answered.
1. If God loves
everyone without exception, What does the love of God have to do with anyone’s
salvation?—–Absolutely nothing!
If God
loves all men alike, when you tell me that God loves me, you’ve told me
nothing. The love of God is totally insignificant and absolutely meaningless.
If that is the case, then there is no
distinction between God’s love for the saved and his love for the lost.—He
loves people who are suffering his wrath in hell just as fully as he does those
who are glorified in heaven!—Either that is the case, or God is mutable,
changeable, and fickle, like man’s!
There is no power in the love of
God to save and keep his own. His love really doesn’t matter.—It is nothing but
a helpless, frustrated, defeated passion in the heart of poor God!
There is no comfort in the love of
God.—How can anyone derive even the slightest comfort from a love that is
helpless and useless? If God loves the damned, it is impossible for anyone to
find comfort in his love.
And there is no motivation in the
love of God.— If God’s love for me is the same as his love for Judas, Pharaoh,
and Cain, why should I love, serve, and seek to honor him?—Indeed, if the
difference between me and those who are damned is me, God ought to serve me! He
ought to praise me!
Such notions concerning the love of God
are as absurd as they are unscriptural and blasphemous. God’s love is special,
distinguishing, and saving (Jer. 31:3; Rom. 9:13; 1 Cor, 4:7).
2. If the Lord God
wills the salvation of all and some are not saved, as is the case, what does
the will of God have to do with anyone’s salvation?—Absolutely nothing!
If that were the case, God’s will
would be just as irrelevant and meaningless as yours’ or mine. But that is not
the case. He declares, “I will do all my pleasure!”—“Our God is in
the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased!”—“Whatsoever the
Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the sea, and in all deep
places!”
3. If the Lord Jesus
Christ shed his blood for all alike, if he died to redeem and save all men and
some go to hell anyway, what does the blood of Christ have to do with anyone’s
salvation?—Absolutely nothing!
If, as is
universally asserted, Christ died to save all men and some are not saved, then
that blasphemous absurdity must follow that Christ died in vain for some, his
blood was a meaningless waste, he suffered and died for nothing, his death
really has nothing at all to do with anyone’s salvation!—Horrid blasphemies
these are; but they are inescapable conclusions that must be made, if we
entertain the notion that Christ died
for the multitudes who are in hell.
If
Christ died for all men without exception, if he shed his blood to save the
entire human race, then the shedding of his blood must be an atonement that
does not atone!—A redemption that does not redeem!—A ransom that does not
ransom!—A deliverance that does not deliver!—A sin-offering that does not
satisfy!—A propitiation that does not propitiate!
Thank God, our Redeemer is not such a
failure, but glorious and successful!
He, with his own blood, “hath obtained eternal redemption for us.”
4. If God the Holy
Spirit is gracious alike to all, if he calls all alike, if his power is
exercised upon all alike for the saving of their souls and some yet perish in
unbelief under the wrath of God and are forever lost, what does the power,
grace, and call of the Holy Spirit have to do with anyone’s salvation?—Absolutely nothing!
If the Spirit of God strives to
regenerate and save all men alike, if he seeks to bring every man and woman in
the world to life and faith in Christ, and some are not saved, then it must be
concluded that he has no power to give life to anyone, no grace to regenerate
anyone, and no ability to save anyone!
To say that God loves all people alike,
that he wills the salvation of all, that Christ died to redeem and save all,
and that the Holy Spirit strives to save all is to declare, “Salvation is not
of the Lord at all, but rather it is the response and work of man that saves!”
It is to declare, “God has done all that he can do, but salvation is altogether
up to you!”
The
Word of God teaches otherwise. It is written, “Salvation is of the Lord!” “So then, it is not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.”