The Sovereignty of God and the Free Offer of the Gospel
You may remember that some weeks ago, actually months ago, we began a series of messages on the doctrine of salvation. We had several weeks looking at salvation planned. And then I said that we would look at salvation accomplished and then salvation applied. We had an interruption in that the last several weeks with the study of a biblical perspective on current events and such. But now we return to that series.
And because we have spent several weeks in that series looking at the sovereignty of God in salvation—salvation planned, the doctrine of election, and so on—I thought it would be helpful before we move on to salvation accomplished (that is, looking at the saving work of Christ and the cross) if we take a couple of weeks and look at the doctrine of the free offer of the gospel. I’ll explain more of that as we go along.
In Luke chapter 24 here, remember the context. We can’t read it all, but we have in chapter 23 the crucifixion, the death, and burial of Jesus. And then chapter 24, the opening verses, we have the account of His resurrection and the women who went to the tomb. We have Peter and John going to the tomb, wondering what to make of all this; it’s empty. And then beginning in verse 13, we have the account of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and Jesus speaks to them and opens the Scriptures to them. They finally recognize who He is. They then, at the end of this passage, run back to Jerusalem to tell the others what they’ve just experienced.
And then we’ll pick up the reading with verse 36:
As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace to you.” But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet, and while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, “Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Then he led them out as far as Bethany and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. And while he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God.
Let’s bow for prayer. Our Father, we’re grateful for the reminder of this wonderful event of history in which salvation was accomplished by our crucified and risen Lord, this thrilling account of His appearance to His disciples. And I pray that You will give us a clear grasp of the command that He left with us—with them and us—to proclaim this gospel of forgiveness to all the nations. We thank You that You are the God who saves. We pray that You’ll give us equally an understanding that You have enlisted us to proclaim that salvation and to invite others to come and be saved. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
I’ve mentioned here the setting and the context of the passage. It is a redemptive-historical turning point. Christ has come, the incarnate Son of God. He has given Himself in sacrifice for sin, offered in place of sinners. God has raised Him from the dead in acknowledgment of the success of His mediatorial work. He appears to His disciples, explains to them this is what was prophesied, this is what has been accomplished, and then He gives them their corresponding responsibility. And that is in verse 47: that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.
And there is a responsibility, a corresponding responsibility, to the hearer as well. The disciples are to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins, and those who hear are to repent in order to be saved. This is very close to what we find in the so-called Great Commission, Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 and following: “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.” He has accomplished His saving lordship in His mediatorial work. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” I am now universal Lord through My singular saving work. Go therefore and bring all people into subjection to Me. Make disciples of them.
Well, the question and focus then that we have this morning, and then next week as well, is that in light of the biblical teaching that we have been looking at regarding the sovereignty of God and salvation, questions often arise in inquiring minds—not just critical minds, inquiring minds—how does this relate then to the responsibility to evangelize? If God has chosen whom He will save, and if in fact it is God who does the saving and we can’t do it, well then what is the sense of evangelism? Should we just leave it to God altogether?
And in fact, with every resurgence of what we call Calvinism—this understanding of the sovereignty of God in salvation, historically as well as in the contemporary scene—every time there’s a resurgence of that, as there has been in our generation, there is with that a resurgence of what we call, and I think rightly call, hyper-Calvinism. And one of the characteristics of hyper-Calvinism is a hesitance and sometimes a refusal to proclaim the gospel to all and to invite anyone, anywhere to be saved.
And there’s a certain logic to their doctrine. There are some points of tension, and I’ve already alluded to some of it, but if God has chosen whom He will save, then shouldn’t we then just offer the gospel to those who are elect? Maybe we should look on their forehead and see if there’s an “E” stamped there for us to know. And if they’re elect, then we can offer the gospel to them. But should our offer of the gospel be broader than God’s saving purpose? And in fact, many have asked, would it be insincere to offer the gospel to those who are not elect? Is that really a sincere offer to say to them, “If you believe, you will be saved”?
There’s more reasoning to it. It goes with it as well. And we’ll answer more of these questions next week. But I do want to set them up so that you have them in mind as we look through some passages this morning. Another part of the reasoning is: God is a majestic, glorious, holy God. It would be beneath Him to offer Himself to people who will only refuse. That seems insulting, demeaning to God’s majesty. You keep that in mind as we look through these verses.
Another part of the reasoning or the objections can be the doctrine of human inability, total depravity. Men are bound and enslaved in sin, and apart from the sovereign work of God in their heart, they’re unable to believe, unable to repent. And so if they are unable to repent, unable to believe on their own, are they responsible to believe? Are they responsible if they’re unable?
Now this is an interesting point because it’s a point of agreement between—I’ll just mention this quickly—it’s a point of agreement, oddly, between Arminians and hyper-Calvinists. The Arminian looks at that and says responsibility implies ability, and therefore they come up with a doctrine of free will. The hyper-Calvinist looks at it and says responsibility entails ability, therefore they’re not responsible to believe. And they draw the opposite conclusion using the same evidence.
Many hyper-Calvinists have argued that sinners have no “warrant”—that’s their historic phrase—no warrant to come to Christ until there’s reason to consider that they have been invited. So if there is a great working of God in the soul with deep conviction of sin, if a Scripture verse that they have heard comes powerfully into their awareness and they are moved by that, well then there may be evidence of God at work and then you can consider yourself invited, but not until. And I’ve often thought that is an odd doctrine for a Calvinist of any stripe to believe: to turn people to looking to themselves for evidence of whether or not they are invited.
Well, that’s the question we want to answer here. And I want there to be no doubt in our mind—I don’t accuse anyone here of being hyper-Calvinist—but I think this question naturally arises in our thinking after looking at the doctrine of the sovereignty of God in salvation. And I should be careful to clarify the question then. This discussion does not concern mere what we call “decisionism,” praying formulaic prayers. We’re not going to be talking about the altar call. This discussion is not a discussion of whether or not God is sovereign in salvation. We’re assuming that. We’ve already been through that. We’re not discussing the question of whether or not it is the Holy Spirit alone who can open the heart to believe. We’ve already seen that, and we’ll see more of it in time to come.
The question at issue here is whether a sincere offer of salvation can legitimately be made indiscriminately to every man and woman anywhere and say, “If you come to Jesus Christ, He will save you.” Can we say that indiscriminately like that to anyone, and can we say it sincerely? If you fall asleep, I’ll give you the answer now. The answer is a resounding yes.
But what I want to do is to take you through a number of passages this morning. I’m sorry, we’re not going to expound a given passage this morning. I think it is worth our time for you to gain an understanding of the sweep of this theme in the Scripture. And so keep your Bibles handy. We’ll be looking at a lot of passages, two of which Pastor Greg has already read for us this morning. He did not steal my thunder; he added to it. It was great. I’m glad he chose it.
Now before we get into that, the first thing I want you to keep in your mind—and we’ll see this more maybe at the end and then more next week—when you have… this is just a tip on how to interpret your Bible and understand doctrine. When you have deductions drawn from doctrines in the Bible, you need to check those deductions and say, “Is that deduction from theology not only reasonable, but is it necessary?” And more in particular, “Is it supported by the text of Scripture?” And my argument will be that those arguments that they give against it, although some of them may be very reasonable, they are unnecessary and, in fact, contrary to the conclusions the inspired writers themselves draw from them.
The Old Testament
Well, we have it here in Luke chapter 24 to begin. Verse 47: “Repentance and the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” This is virtually identical to the Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28 verse 19. I don’t know any way to fulfill this command and this responsibility other than to offer the gospel indiscriminately to anyone, anywhere, and everywhere around the globe. It is our duty to proclaim the forgiveness of sins, to say that forgiveness has been secured in a Savior. It is your responsibility, whoever you are, it is your responsibility to hear this, to respond in faith, to repent of your sins and be saved. I don’t know of any way to take this verse otherwise.
And as I say, what I want to do now is give you a sense of the sweep of this in the Scriptures, and we’ll begin in the Old Testament. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 5. I have a number of these verses, so I have to be quick with each. We’ll just read verse 29, Deuteronomy 5:29: “Oh that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always so that it might go well with them and their children forever.”
In context here we have Deuteronomy: the nation of Israel is looking toward entering the land. Moses is proclaiming to them their responsibility to keep the terms of the covenant so that they will be blessed. And it reveals for us here God’s heart toward rebellious Israel. In the face of their continued rejection of Him, He passionately wishes that they would hear Him and so secure covenant blessings. Now God obviously had not decreed that they would. Their history proved that He hadn’t decreed that. They rebelled. But here God makes His desire known, and implied in that is a sincere offer of covenant blessing, even though it went unheeded.
Look at Psalm 2, one of my favorite Psalms. A very important one, the Psalm of the Lord’s Anointed. You remember the Psalm: the rebellion of the nations in verses 1 to 3; the response of God the Father in verses 4 to 6. Verses 7 and following, the response of Messiah about the kingship that God has given Him. And then we have the attending warnings, verses 10 to 12, to the nations. And notice how he sums it up. Verse 12: “Kiss the son, lest he be angry with you and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are those who take refuge in him.”
So here at the end of the Psalm, speaking of the installment of the messianic King, he turns to the nations and says, “Bow before Him, serve Him.” And in verse 12, the expression is used, “Kiss the Son,” do homage to the Son and bow before Him. That can only be understood in terms of a bowing of repentance and an expression of faith. And it is addressed here, notice, not to believers. This is addressed to the rebellious nations who are in rebellion against God and saying, “Let’s cast His cords from us. We won’t have Him ruling over us.” And to that rebellious world, the inspired writer says, “Kiss the Son and take refuge in Him.” The call to salvation is indiscriminate, and it is the responsibility of all.
Let’s look also at Proverbs chapter 1. Proverbs chapter 1. You might remember this from last year when we had our Zoom Sunday morning meetings during COVID. Proverbs 1, verses 20 and following:
Wisdom calls aloud in the street. She raises her voice in the public squares. At the head of the noisy streets, she cries out. In the gateways of the city, she makes her speech. “How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you. But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed, when I stretched out my hand, since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster. I will mock when calamity comes and overtakes you, when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. Then they will call to me, but I will not answer. They will look for me, but will not find me. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord, since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their own ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them. But whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease without fear of harm.”
You may remember this from when we looked at this last year, that this is Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly making their respective calls, and you have these people in the middle. Which way will they listen? And here we have God, Wisdom, passionately calling the foolish to come to Him and be blessed. Now it’s not over-reading this passage at all to look ahead and see these as the words of incarnate Wisdom Himself, the Lord Jesus, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And He says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” I think that is an intended echo of this in Proverbs chapter 1. So here again, we have God passionately calling the foolish to come and follow Him and be blessed.
Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1, verse 18: “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land. But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Again, here we have rebellious Israel in view. This is not a people who have a heart inclined to God, but God is calling them back to Himself nonetheless. And He calls, He reasons with them, He invites them, He even pleads with them to come, come, come and be blessed. And that even to people who are rebellious.
And then to the two passages that Pastor Greg read earlier. Isaiah chapter 45. Let’s just read verses 21 and 22:
Declare and present your case. Let them take counsel together. Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God beside me, a righteous God and a Savior. There is none besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other.
This is one of the passages in Isaiah’s prophecy that is famous for its insistence on monotheism—that God is the only God who is, and therefore He is the God to whom you are accountable. Because He is the only God who is, He is also the only Savior. And He presents Himself in just that way. He is the only one who can save, and that’s the salvation He offers. And it’s difficult to imagine a more indiscriminate offer than what we find here in verse 22. He invites all the ends of the earth to come to Him as Savior. God is accessible. He is accessible to all who will come. And He calls them and makes invitation accordingly. “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth.” That is simply everyone, everywhere, anyone, anywhere: look to Me and I’ll save you.
And then chapter 55, verses 1 to 7. I would love to take the following verses that Pastor Greg read earlier today—the reasoning that goes on beginning in verse 8, it’s just marvelous—but we have to hurry on. Verses 1 to 7:
Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters. You who have no money, come and buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me and eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest affair. Give ear and come to me. Hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples. Surely you will summon nations that you know not, and nations that you do not know will hasten to you because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.
And then we have it here:
Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him. To our God, for he will freely pardon.
This is just a remarkable passage because here we have this majestic God stooping to the level of a peddler on the streets. And He’s selling His wares. No, He’s not selling His wares. He’s trying to give them away. And He reasons with the people: “Why are you spending your money for that which can do you ultimately no good? And I’m giving it to you for free. Come to Me and have it. And your soul will be satisfied forever. Come and look to Me, hear Me. And I will give free pardon.” Again, we have God pleading, reasoning with them, even begging. Is that beneath God? Begging the wicked to come to Him for pardon. And that even to people who are rebellious. It’s a remarkable passage.
Ezekiel chapter 18 is another important one in this regard. Ezekiel chapter 18. And I’m going to read verse 23, and then verse 32, and then we’ll jump over to chapter 33 and verse 11. Ezekiel 18:23: “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?” Then verse 32: “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord, so turn and live.”
And then chapter 33 and verse 11: “Say to them, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” And then He calls: “Turn, turn from your evil ways. Why will you die, O house of Israel?”
Here we have—and we’ll talk more about this next time—but here we have a revelation of the heart of God. This great, majestic, holy God who is revulsing against all sin, and yet there’s a heart of compassion and He says, “I take no delight in the destruction.” He laments the destruction of the wicked. “I take no delight in destroying them. I take delight in the repentance.” And so He calls them accordingly. And that even though the call is unheeded and these people are eventually destroyed, He pleads with them to return to Him so that they could escape His wrath.
The New Testament
I’ve already mentioned Matthew chapter 11: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Let’s move on. Matthew chapter 22. Matthew chapter 22, beginning with verse 1. I think I’ll go through verse 10:
Jesus spoke to them again in parables saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come. But they refused to come.”
Now this would be Israel. They are the ones who had been invited.
Then he sent some more servants and said, “Tell those who have been invited that I’ve prepared my dinner. My oxen and fatted cattle have been butchered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.” But they paid no attention and went off, one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, “The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.” So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
So here we have in verses 1 to 3, we have the blessing offered to Israel, but it is refused. Then in verse 4, God sort of sweetens the pot. He says, “Well, don’t you understand? I’ve killed the fatted calf. I’ve made this banquet ready. Come, come and eat, join the banquet.” So verse 5, still it’s refused. In fact, they even killed the messengers. Verses 6 and 7, Jesus prophesies Israel’s destruction. And then verses 8 to 10: so now the offer goes out unrestricted to anyone everywhere. The call is passionate. The call is to the kingdom. It’s salvific. The call is unrestricted. “Go out anywhere, find those who will come and bring them in.”
Turn over a page, Matthew 23, verse 37, another well-known verse, Jesus here lamenting over Jerusalem that has rejected Him: “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you. How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.”
Now, whatever the identity of the people He’s addressing here—some have argued it’s Israel at large, others have argued it’s the leaders of Jerusalem—whatever the case here, we don’t need to concern ourselves with that. His claim is, Jesus’ claim is, that He stands ready to save, and He stands ready to save those who refused it. “How often I would have, but you wouldn’t.” If you come, I will have you. You won’t come. The implication is: that’s on you.
Again, Matthew 28, we don’t need to turn there. You’re familiar with it. I’ve mentioned it already. Let’s look at one in the Gospel of Luke, Luke chapter 15. You’re familiar with this passage because it is the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin, and then the lost son, the prodigal son, the famous parable. But what I want you to see is how these parables, which is really just one extended parable with three parts, notice how it is set up for us by Luke, chapter 15 and verse 1:
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him, and the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
Now this is particularly in Luke, but we see it in other places as well in the Gospels: the scandalous activity of Jesus, where He actually dares to eat with prostitutes and drunkards and sinners and tax collectors. And here we have the self-righteous Pharisees: “I can’t imagine eating with sinners.” Now why do you think Luke records that for us? It’s a scandalous thing. In its own setting, it’s a scandal. Why does Luke record it? For theological reasons. Of course He receives sinners. That’s why He’s come. That’s why He’s here. And so He tells this parable of the lost sheep. Sheep’s lost, you go out and get it. You bring it back and you rejoice. Lost coin, you sweep the house and you look for it. You go find it and you rejoice, you found it. And then the lost son who rebels and goes away. And finally he comes home and there’s rejoicing in the presence of the angels over every sinner that repents. Jesus tells these extended parables with that setup just to push the point that this is the heart of God toward rebel sinners. He invites them to come and He rejoices when they do. And Jesus lines up with God in that.
Well, we have to move on. Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2, here at Pentecost, verses 38 to 40, Peter preaching to the crowd says:
Repent and be baptized, every one of you, every one of you, repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children, for all who are far off, for all whom our Lord, our God, will call.
With many other words, he warned them and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this present… this corrupt generation.” Or we could translate it here, “Be saved from this corrupt generation.” Notice he addresses everyone indiscriminately. Every one of you, repent. Why? For the forgiveness of sins. God offers that to you on condition of repentance. So we have here a public sermon and it consists of a free indiscriminate offer to all who will repent. If you repent, you will be saved and receive the promised Holy Spirit.
Over just a page, Acts chapter 3 verse 19, Peter says, “Repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.” Again, an indiscriminate offer of salvation to those who will turn to God. And notice here, it is not an offer that’s given just to those who are already showing some signs of conviction or something like that. He calls the unrepentant to faith and he offers with that a corresponding promise of forgiveness.
Well, there are more. If you want to jot down Acts chapter 13, verses 38 to 41, also verse 46: he offers the blessings of the gospel to those, as it turns out, who refused it. He offers the blessings of the gospel to those who refuse it. And nonetheless, the offer is indiscriminate and it’s free. Acts chapter 17, verse 30: “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he commands now all people everywhere to repent.” Some of the hyper-Calvinists have reasoned with a verse like this to say, “Yeah, that’s right, God commands repentance, but he doesn’t invite sinners,” and they draw that distinction. But what is the command to repent but a command to repent in order to be saved and receive forgiveness? The command to repent entails the offer of forgiveness. That’s the way it was set up back in Luke 24, where we started, verse 47: “Repentance for the forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed to all of the nations.” The command to repent entails the offer of salvation.
There’s one that I just have to have you turn to: Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10, verse 21. Here he’s dealing with the problem of Israel who was promised so much and they have turned in unbelief against God. They’re not receiving the blessing at this point. But notice how God speaks to them in Romans 10 verse 21: “But concerning Israel, he says, ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.'” There’s an echo here of the prophet Isaiah in chapter 64. It’s just an astounding picture of God as standing there with arms outstretched to rebellious people, offering to save them if they will just come. The call goes unrequited—they don’t come—but here He is offering it nonetheless to people who refuse Him.
Let’s do one more. 1 John 3. 1 John 3, verse 23: “And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ.” This verse was the text that Charles Spurgeon used in a famous sermon entitled, “The Warrant of Faith.” In the mid-1800s, there was a resurgence of hyper-Calvinism among the Baptists in Britain. It was the same as what had been a century earlier that Andrew Fuller had combated. And now Spurgeon is taking a stand against it and preached this famous message. And this was the text he took: “This is his commandment that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ.” It’s as plain as it could possibly be. Here is your warrant to faith. God commands it. Believe in Jesus Christ and be saved.
Conclusion
Well, these are not all there are. There’s more to see. But I wanted you to see a sense of the pervasiveness of this in the Bible—that at the heart of God towards sinners is not at all what is misrepresented often to be. Calvinists would think that God is unfeeling, uncaring towards sinners, but all through the Bible we see Him offering Himself and even to those who refuse Him.
Now there’s more that we have to do with all of this. There are questions we have to answer next time. We have to look through some of that theological reasoning that they have and all of that. But we have seen enough already to say this: don’t let your theological deductions take you beyond the Scripture. Or let’s just be more plain about it: you can go to any man, anywhere—any man or woman anywhere—and with full confidence say, “If you will come to Jesus Christ, He will save you.” That’s the offer of the Bible everywhere.
Yes, we must warn them. We must warn them and tell them that without Christ, you are lost. Your sin has incurred His wrath. You should be condemned. And in fact, God will condemn you if you continue as you are. But we must also go on to say, “You may be saved if only you will.” God has said He will have you if you will come. This Judge whose law you have violated, whose majesty you have defied, whose wrath you incurred—this Judge has a heart full of compassion and He’s offered peace. He has sent His own Son to die in place of sinners and He offers Him to you. “Come, bow before my Son and be saved. I’ll have you.”
We might well wonder why God would have any concern at all, any kind of compassion for a rebel sinner. It’s astonishing. We might even say this at a given point in witnessing: “It’s astonishing that God hasn’t cast you into hell already.” And He will, if you continue to refuse His offers of grace, He will. But with an amazingly compassionate heart, God holds out His arms, even while you defy Him. And He pleads, and He says, “Why, why, why will you die? Come and be saved. If you come, He will have you. If you refuse Him, He will condemn you to eternal destruction and you will have no one but yourself to blame. And for all eternity, you will remember that you were offered a Savior whom you refused.”
God says through the prophets, “Give ear, listen up, come to me, hear me that your soul may live.” Amen.
Let’s pray. Our Father, it is important for us to see this aspect of Your self-revelation, that You’re a God of compassion towards sinners. What an amazing thing that You would give such attention to us and go to such lengths to save us. I pray that You’ll grip our hearts with this understanding of who You are, and may it serve as an incentive to take the gospel with confidence to anyone who will hear and offer Christ in hopes of salvation. We pray in His name. Amen.
Let’s conclude our service this morning by turning in our RBC songbooks to number 52. We’ll conclude by singing the gospel song. We’ll sing this twice through. Let’s stand as we conclude our service. Let’s sing.
♪ Holy God is love beyond measure ♪
♪ perfect man to bear my blame. ♪
♪ On the cross he took my sin. ♪
♪ By his death I live again. ♪
♪ Thank you and holy God. ♪