God Has Shown…Part 3
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? (Psa 8:3-4)
The Question: Does God show a man enough to show him he is eternally lost, while not showing him enough to be saved? This question was handed to me in my senior year of high school. After I had been witnessing to one of my high school teachers in Stevenson, Alabama, he asked me one day: “Can the heathen who have never heard the Gospel be saved before you get there to preach to them?” Thirty years later a senior-age, Methodist, N.C. Senator asked me the same question. There’s a Bible answer for that question but it’s not in one verse.
Underneath this question are two other questions: 1. What is the salvation of a sinner based on? 2. What and how much does one have to know to be saved?” By “being saved,” I mean what must one do to go to Heaven when we die? If I had not been asked this question several times through the years I would not bring up the question here. Since the earth now has a population of almost seven billion people and many religions are now taking root in America, we cannot escape the question.
The question divides into two classes of people: 1. Those who have heard the Gospel message of Christ, that is, of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ; and 2. Those who have never heard of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul was the leading evangelist and theologian of the New Testament. He said this is what he preached in his ministry: And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house, Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. (Act 20:20-21)
When Paul and Silas were put in prison for preaching the Gospel of Christ in Philippi, an earthquake shook the prison doors open at night and the jailer was about to take his own life, assuming the prisoners had escaped. Paul commanded him not to hurt himself and the jailer was astounded. He brought them out of the prison: …and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. (Act 16:30-33)
Peter Preached the Blood of Christ. There are not two or twenty things that will save a wretched sinner from his sins. Only the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross will save one from his or her sins. Peter put it this way: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, (1Pe 1:18-20)
The Writer of Hebrews Preached the Blood of Christ. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (Heb 9:22)
God Used Isaiah to Preach His Message. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. (Isaiah 45:22-23)
Paul Upgrades Isaiah and Applies It to New Testament Times.
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10-11)
There is no conflict between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They are always one. When God the Father announces that all the ends of the earth must look unto Him to be saved, that’s final. Nothing in the Bible will conflict with that statement. In Isaiah, God the Father says that everyone on earth will bow their knee to Him and every tongue will confess to Him. He says there is “none else.” God the Son and God the Holy Spirit will not conflict with this statement, ever! It is a God-head statement. They are all saying the same thing in that one statement. If you pray to one, you are praying to all three. Important!
In the fullness of time (Gal.4:4) God sent forth His son…to redeem them that were under the law. What God the Father directed toward Himself in Isaiah, God now uses Paul to direct toward the slain and resurrected Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Can one no longer call upon God the Father to be saved? Must one call only upon the Lord Jesus to be saved? Would one be eternally lost because one called on the “wrong” person of the Godhead? You see where I’m going with this. The Godhead persons are one. There is no jealousy among the Godhead.
If one does not know that Christ died for their sins, they can see by the rising and setting of the sun, that there is a creator and can call upon that one, for “God has shown it unto them.” If one such sinner calls upon the creator, (“Whoever you are!”) that sinner has surely called upon the proper agent of salvation. If that sinner needs to know more, God will decide what they need to know and will show them. Salvation is of the Lord and He is ready to save a repenting sinner “from the ends of the earth.”
The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. (Psa 34:18) (More is said about proud and humble people before God.)
Romans 10:13 says: “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” That is a quote from the Old Testament: (Joel 2:32) and is true for people in Old Testament times and is true for people in New Testament times. (See also, Acts 2:21) It is also good for people who know very little about God and about praying to God, in ancient times and in modern times. It is a matter of gaining access to the blood of Christ that was yet to be shed for them or the blood of Christ that had been shed for them, using “what God has shown them.” Tomorrow we will go a little further. Ω
Read Through the Bible in a Year
MARCH 15, 2017 – WEDNESDAY
A.M. Deut 26-27 P.M. Mark 15:1-26
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)
Memory Verse This Month:
Let the words of my mouth, and meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. (Psa 19:14)
Song for Today:
At Calvary (3:31) – (Gaither Group)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vvMPD0iwGk
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