The Gospel Car – October 23, 2022

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

While this verse particularly explains why men need to believe on the name of Jesus – if they are to be redeemed – the verse also speaks to the righteousness of God in taking his ultimate justice in judgment. Why is that? For all have sinned. No man has ever lived who has not sinned. Our guilt reminds us of that. Many carry as much guilt as the man called Legion who carried a multitude of devils. For those who may think they are without blemish, we are told in 1 John 1:8, If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Thus, all men expect and will know the judgment of God’s righteousness. We expect God’s justice and judgment – just not today. We won’t be judged, of course, if God chose to show us mercy. Curious, about his mercy. While all men know inwardly – by the light of conscience and guilt – that judgment will ultimately come, nothing in our conscience told us that God intended to send his only begotten Son. That came later as a result of the Great Commission. Now, I suppose there is a light of conscience unto redemption to the extent that we could have lived the best we could by its light – even as Enoch lived by faith, walked humbly with God and did what was right in God’s eyes (Genesis 4-5, Hebrews 11:5.) But even if we lived as Enoch, Enoch’s election and heavenly transport was a matter of God’s grace; not something that Enoch earned. Enoch’s faith was entrusted in God’s righteousness, not his own.

No, no, no… apart from God’s intrusion, There is no one who seeks after God. (Romans 3:11) 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.