Four Questions For Thoughtful People

 

Will you give thoughtful consideration to these four questions? Will dare think about what you have been taught to believe for just five minutes? If you will, I am confident that what I have to say in this message will shake your religious refuge to its very foundation. I pray that God the Holy Spirit will be pleased to do just that, that he will tear down your refuge of lies and build you upon the Rock Christ Jesus, the only true Foundation.

 

1.   If God loves all men without exception and some are not saved, what does the love of God have to do with anyone's salvation?

 

Nothing! If that were the case, God's love would be fickle, changeable and meaningless. It could give no comfort to anyone. But God says his love is saving (Jer. 31:3, 38-40). Thank God, he does love many! But he does not love everyone (Rom. 9:13). If the omnipotent, almighty God loved everyone, everyone would be saved.

 

2.   If it is the will of God that everyone be saved and some perish in hell, what does the will of God have to do with anyone's salvation?

 

Nothing! His will would be frustrated, defeated and reversed. But God says his will is absolute, unalterable (Isa. 14:24). Salvation comes only by God's irresistible will “So then, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy” (Rom. 9:16).

 

3.   If Christ died to redeem everyone and some yet die under the wrath of God, what does the blood of Christ have to do with anyone's salvation?

 

Nothing! If Christ died for those in hell as well as those in glory his blood is of no value at all. It saves no one. It does not wash away sin. It was shed in vain! But God says all for whom Christ's blood was shed shall be eternally saved by it. He declares that every sinner for whom his Son died at Calvary shall be forgiven, justified, and forever freed from all possibility of condemnation (Isa. 53:10-11; John 10:15, 25; Rom. 8:34).

 

4.   If God the Holy Spirit calls all sinners alike to life and faith in Christ and some die without faith, what does the Spirit's call have to do with anyone's salvation?

 

Nothing! If his grace can be resisted it is not the distinguishing factor in salvation. But God says it is (John 6:63; I Cor. 4:7). “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.” It is God alone who makes the difference between those who are saved and those who are lost. And the difference made is a matter of pure, free, sovereign grace.