The Gospel Car – October 23, 2022

THE STAIN REMAINS… FOR NOW, FOR ME

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  Romans 3:23

This verse in Romans explains why I and all men, women and children need Jesus. Moreover, this verse speaks to the righteousness of God when he finally executes his justice by judging those who deny Christ: Why? For all have sinned and fall short. I fell short, terribly! My ‘falling short’ left a stain of guilt and shame that I’ll gladly remember as long as I’m on earth, and with good reason. In heaven? No. My sin is utterly purged… even the stain is gone! Who’d mention it in heaven – accuse me of my sin – even its stain? Here, on earth, the guilt and shame was lifted – sins past, present and future. I thank God for that! However, some say the stain of sin was also removed… I agree, but just not here. On earth, I need that reminder. I need that reminder to keep me humble… watchful… mindful… thankful. Who knows? God’s providence may bring me into the presence of someone that I offended… out of my past… someone I grievously hurt and needed to ask their forgiveness. When they came upon me, I’d see their reflection in the stain of my sin. That reflection is enough for me to confess my sin… bear whatever consequences may fall. God’s forgiveness doesn’t alleviate earthly consequence or demands for restitution. Restitution is necessary to make right a wrong… it is vital to pursuing the forgiveness of another. As for the one offended and their response? While I hope they’d be gracious and merciful? That is not my call.  

AH! THOSE SEEKERS!

There is no one who seeks after God. (Romans 3:11)

There is no one who seeks God. Huh. That statement certainly flies in the face of some who call lost people ‘seekers’ … those who show up off the street and step into a church. I’ve heard reports about churches who’d cater to ‘seekers’ by not wanting to offend them by having too much of a ‘religious show,’ yet they didn’t spare a dime on equipping their worship team at the expense of the preaching of the Gospel, that is, Christ crucified. Thus, church leaders urged members not to bring their Bibles to church. Why? Well, apparently Bible hugger-thumpers are intimidating folks. Now, please bear with me. I must be cautious when I say this. Personally? I haven’t attended a church like that… well, for long. Oh, and the fact that some congregations have differing views from mine doesn’t exclude them as members of Christ’s body. The Apostle Paul had issues with some churches that he wrote to about matters of teachings. He didn’t say the churches of Galatia and Corinth weren’t Christians… no, not because heretical doctrines and gluttonous practices were present. Paul called them out – yes – but he didn’t deny them his right hand of fellowship. He prayed for them without ceasing – even as I should do. Of course, that’s not to say that if they didn’t correct their course it wouldn’t lead to eventual apostasy. No, I’d say that those who appear to be and are called ‘seekers’ are those God draws to him; such as the bride in the Song of Solomon cried out,  “Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.” 

However, if it is true that a church pursues those , I can’t think of any greater offense to God than for church leaders to discourage their members from carrying God’s Word into church, when Christ, God’s Son – the Word? – carried their sins to the cross.  

No, no, no… apart from God’s intrusion, That doesn’t mean that we didn’t hear something about this man, Jesus… or see a flash of light at some point. Yes, a flash of light such as we might catch when a car quickly turned down another street at night and the lights briefly caught our attention. Still, we saw the light, and yes, for a moment, our attention was drawn to it. But there the Gospel car went… down another street and to some other residence. What did we do? We brushed the incident off. We shrugged and thought to ourselves that the occupants were not meant to visit us. We might have even seen the Gospel car in the neighborhood before! Oh well, we sighed and our attention returned to the ugly evening news. Of course, if we knew who the driver was and the two passengers in the car, we would have chased after it. Sadly, we didn’t. Why? Because no one seeks after God, or his beloved Son, Jesus – that is, unless there was something that sparked in us when we saw the lights flash.

Oh, what to do, what to say about justice and mercy. On the one hand, all men deep within their hearts and soul know that they deserve God’s justice, judgment and damnation. We know for all have sinned. On the other hand, God, in accordance with the council of his own will and before all creation, decided to show mercy. However, as Jesus Himself told us and his disciples, for many are called, but few are chosen.  (Matthew 22:14) Some men insist that God is unfair… to judge billions and send them into eternal damnation when only a few are saved. Are you suggesting that if God showed no one mercy and condemned all, that would have been fair? I would say that – not like it. Why? The fact is though that God chose to show mercy for God loves us and is merciful. Whether he chose few, many or all that is his prerogative – though I’d say that saving everyone was out of the question. Why? Because God is infinitely as just as he is merciful and both his justice and mercy required satisfaction. Let’s just say the numbers of those who will face judgment and condemnation will require more sinners to sate God’s righteous vengeance than those shown he chose to show mercy. Why are many more sinners to be judged than the few he called to be his children? A billion finite beings, serving eternally in hell, does not come close to the sweet savoring sacrifice and cost that God paid for the few that he saved through the death of his Son on earth by human hands. His Son is infinite in being, men are not… Men are not gods, while Jesus is God… and he paid the ultimate price for those God chose to purchase. Nonetheless to answer the question while the billions opposed to the few? Let’s just say there’s an eternal balance in the scale of God’s justice, mercy and love, and the judgment of billions that he passed over to condemnation can never come close to the weight of his Son’s glory in eternity. As for the few, if God only saved saved that would have been sufficient to demonstrate God’s righteousness as ‘just and justifier’ of human kind for its not the one who is saved, but the Savior. The fact that he chose ‘a few’ is an abundance of grace.

So, where does this all lead? Well, if you see that Gospel car in the neighborhood, I recommend that you run out onto the street and hail it. By God’s grace, the Gospel car just might pull up in your driveway and someone might just come to your door. Then, you should wait for a knock and listen for the voice: Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)

Open the door, dearly beloved… open your heart and be saved.