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THOSE WHO WILL BE SAVED WILL REPENT?

As harmless as the switch of words seems in this photo, the one marked red is a monumental deception that has been responsible for gross “Christian” apathy and even crimes by supposed liberators. It is at the core of much supposed theological word games like that played by the serpent in the Garden of Eden, and it sucks the urgency and sincerity out of the Gospel mission. Its logical conclusions are numerous, and include the following:

1.       The power to repent will be given to those God has planned to save.

2.       Our commission to preach is just routine and eventually counts for nothing, and therefore there is no real need to prepare well for it.

3.       God has planned to save some and leave some, that is why some, and not all get saved.

4.       The only way to tell those who will be saved is to see those who will repent after hearing the word.

5.       The probability of those who do not repent right away being part of those marked for destruction is very high.

6.       We must not place much premium on those who fail to repent right away as being of any further concern of God’s.

7.       The church must therefore at best make itself a mere signboard in every community, and those who must be saved will know where and when to come.

8.       There must be something about those who repent that makes them superior to those who don’t, since God himself chose them to salvation. The supposed inferior people may then be discarded or treated with less love.

However, in very simple terms, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ bids us go preaching “repentance for forgiveness of sins to all nations,” indeed, “to every creature” (Luke 24:47, Mark 16:15). Being once sinners in every way as those we go preaching to, our compassion should be like that of people working to rescue closest relatives from a burning house – nothing less! We must not count ourselves safe from blame if their failure to escape the wrath of God can be traced to our lack of adequate effort. We must know the nature of sinful passions that hold people back and use our best efforts to wrench them free.

We must work so as to make a great harvest for great rewards rather than to just join a queue to harvest a few eager souls, if any at all. Such was Paul’s attitude when he allowed himself to be made all things to all people in order that he might win some by all means (see 1 Corinthians 9: 22). And he did not count his own salvation to be safe if he were to be apathetic or an insincere preacher of the Gospel (see 1 Corinthians 9: 16, 27).  Our good and sincere effort is urgently needed to bring in “the harvest”, yes, to “bear fruit” (John 4:36, 15:2). Otherwise, we are useless and in present danger of being cut off ourselves.

CONCLUSION

By our commission to preach, the very lives of sinners are in our hands and we better do our work well (See Ezekiel 3:18). If some do not repent, it should never be because we did not warn them well. It should never be that we somehow prejudged them and therefore were lax in our approach. It should never be that we became stumbling blocks to their being saved because we treated them shabbily or as our inferiors. No soul must be denied our sincerest effort, sustained intercession and overtures. We are partners with the Lord, and we should always be ready to make sinners repent and be saved.

#BibleBriefs

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