IS REPENTANCE NECESSARY FOR SALVATION?

This question is hot and central to the Gospel. Recently, Alan Chambers, the last president of the now defunct Exodus International, a ministry helping gays leave the gay lifestyle, raised this very issue. He claimed that unrepentant gays “believers” are fellow brothers in Christ and will therefore go to heaven:

·       Is there condemnation for those who are in Christ? There is not! There are people out there living a gay Christian life, an active Christian life. God is the one who called them and has their heart and they are in relationship with Him. And do I believe they will be in heaven with me? I do!

Although Chambers believes that gay sex is sinful, he does not believe that salvation requires repentance, but simply a profession of faith. However, Chambers isn’t alone in this belief. The dispensational theologian, Lewis Sperry Chafer, taught that even a refusal to repent did not impact the question of salvation. Instead, insisting on repentance for salvation violated the Gospel:

• Scripture is violated and the whole doctrine of grace confused when salvation is made to depend on anything other than believing. The divine message is not “believe and pray”…”believe and repent”…If they were as essential to salvation as believing they would never be omitted from any passage wherein the way to be saved is stated. (Major Bible Themes, 187).

In order to protect the teaching that salvation is purely a free gift of Grace, Chafer claimed that saving faith is only a matter of mental assent or agreement to certain truths without any need for commitment or repentance.

Although I respect his concern about upholding the nature of grace, I think that his attempt is misguided. How? Mental assent alone fails to measure up to the standard of Biblical faith. The demons can also assent to the truths of the Gospel, but this doesn’t save them. James claims that demons believe in “one God” but yet they remain unsaved:

• But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder. (James 2:18-19)

Their problem isn’t that they fail to give mental assent to certain truths. Their problem is that their faith isn’t a Biblical faith. It doesn’t contain any commitment or repentance. In fact, the demons probably know the Gospel better than most of us and could quickly acknowledge its tenants.

However, in opposition to this, dispensational theologian J.B. Hixson claims that the demons’ problem is not that they lack commitment or repentance but that they lack enough Gospel knowledge:

• The object of their [the demons’] faith – the proposition they believe - is the unity of God. No one, demons or otherwise, receives eternal salvation by [simply]

believing in the unity of God. (J.B. Hixson, Rich Whitmire, Roy B. Zuck, “Freely by His Grace,” Grace Gospel Press, 162)

However, to suppose that demons only understand that God is One is not Scriptural. Clearly, they understand far more. They show evidence that they believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He will judge them:

• When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. "What do you want with us, Son of God?" they shouted. "Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?" (Matthew 8:28-29; also Mark 1:23-24; 3:11; 5:6-7; Luke 4:33-34, 41: 8:28)

Nor should we suppose that this is not all that they understand. They even know something about the way of salvation through the Son:

• Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." (Acts 16:16-17)

Demons clearly have a lot of knowledge. They know Scripture (Mat. 4:6) and have the ability to deceive us (2 Cor. 11:14-15; 4:4; 1 Tim. 4:1). However, we are not saved purely by our knowledge. The Biblical concept of faith must include more than mere knowledge. And it does.

Jesus told a parable about two people – a Pharisee and a tax-collector – who went into the Temple to pray. Only the despised tax collector left “justified” – saved (Luke 18:9-14). Doubtlessly, the Pharisee could give assent to far more doctrine than could the sinner, but evidently, he lacked saving faith – one that includes repentance. Clearly, we are not saved by our knowledge of the Gospel alone. While the Pharisee was in denial about his own sin and was consequently unwilling to confess and repent, the tax collector was clearly repentant. Jesus explained that the Pharisee’s problem was not that he lacked the proper doctrine but that he had refused to humble himself to acknowledge his sin, and that made all the difference.

Let’s return to the original question: Is repentance necessary in order to be saved? While Chambers and the original dispensationalists claim that repentance is unnecessary for salvation, they face a landslide of verses claiming that it is necessary.

There are many evidences that a real Biblical faith and repentance are synonymous and therefore inseparable. They are opposite sides of the same coin. Therefore, most of what we say about faith can also be said about repentance. For one thing, they both come as gifts from God:

• For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephes. 2:8-9; also Rom. 12:3; Phil. 1:29; Acts 18:27; 16:14; 13:48; 3:16)

The same principle also applies to repentance. It is granted by God:

• When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life." (Acts 11:18; 3:36; 5:31; 2 Tim. 2:24-25).

Are they two separate gifts? Evidently not! We cannot have a willingness to trust and believe without also a willingness to turn from sins (repent). Indeed, they are a package deal and go together:

·       “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

Here is another indication that faith and repentance are inseparable. Repentance leads the way to salvation as does faith. There are many verses that mention repentance as the requirement for salvation without any mention of faith:

• He [Jesus] told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:46-47)

Jesus didn’t have to mention faith in regards to the “forgiveness of sins,” because a born-again heart turns from sin (repentance) and turns to God. They come to us as one single gift. Therefore, the repentant heart is a heart open to faith, and a heart that truly believes is a heart that has repented from the old life and has turned to the new. This represents only one turn – from sin and to God.

Consequently, many of Jesus’ parables mention “repentance” in regards to salvation rather than “faith.” Why is faith left out of the equation? It isn’t. It is merely the opposite side of the same coin. Repentance assumes the presence of faith and faith assumes the presence of repentance. They are inseparable. Therefore, in the parable of the Lost Coin, Lost Sheep, and lost son, repentance is in view without a mention of faith:

·       “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” (Luke 15:7, 10)

In many ways, Jesus equates repentance with salvation:

·       “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.” (Luke 10:13-14; 5:32)

The consequence for not repenting is judgment, same as not believing. Paul also contrasts repentance with “God’s righteous judgment”:

·       Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. (Romans 2:4-5; 2 Tim. 2:25-26)

Paul warned the Athenians that they must repent or face the judgment of God:

·       The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31; 20:21)

All of these verses suggest that we cannot be saved without repenting of the sins of which we are aware.

Paul directly connected repentance to salvation:

• Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. (2 Cor. 7:10)

So too Peter:

• Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, (Acts 3:19; also Acts 2:38; 8:22)

These verses are clearly referring to salvation – forgiveness of sin and reconciliation with God. Why is there no mention of faith here? Are these verses suggesting that faith is unnecessary for salvation? Of course not! However, if repentance is inseparable from faith – both being opposite sides of the same coin - then it would be unnecessary to say “repent and believe.”

Consequently, when John the Baptist and Jesus preached “repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand,” it was understood that this command also entailed a trust in God. Repenting from sin, while totally neglecting God, is a ludicrous idea. Likewise, trusting in God, while continuing to trust in our own sinful devices, is equally ludicrous.

The Hebrew Scriptures often mention “repentance” or “turn back” in the place of faith. In consecrating the Jerusalem Temple, King Solomon specified repentance as a condition for forgiveness and restoration:

• "When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and when they turn back to you and confess your name, praying and making supplication to you in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to their fathers.” (1 Kings 8:33-34; also see Jer. 24:7; Ezek. 18:30-32; Mal 3:7; Isaiah 1:27; 59:20)

A refusal to repent is a refusal to trust in God. Just imagine one of your congregants requesting that you baptize them, saying:

• Pastor, I fully trust in Jesus and believe whatever He teaches. However, I must be totally honest with you. I simply refuse to stop molesting little boys. It’s just too important to me. However, I understand that faith is simply mental assent to the truths of Scripture. Therefore, I agree that pedophilia is wrong, but I’m not going to give it up.  This, of course, is ludicrous. If someone trusts in Jesus, he will do what Jesus tells him to do! When someone refuses to do this, it means that he doesn’t trust in Him. Instead, he believes that he knows better about what is good for him than does Jesus. This is not faith but self-deception.

If you were to baptize him and extend him the right-hand-of-fellowship, you would then have to quickly retract it and bring church disciplinary charges against him. How ludicrous!

However, it would have been very different if the pedophile had said instead:

• Pastor, I don’t have the strength to quit molesting, but I want to trust that Jesus will help me.

In contrast, this is a cry of repentance and a willingness to follow Jesus! This is also a demonstration of faith.

Faith entails repentance and therefore, repentance is not an extra condition for salvation. Dispensational theologian Charles C. Bing defines saving faith (“pisteuo”) as merely “to be convinced of something” (101). However, this falls far short of the robust portrait of faith that we receive from Scripture. In Scripture we find that faith is not simply a decision to acknowledge certain precepts. Because the natural man is opposed to the light (John 3:19-20), regards the things of God as “foolishness” (1 Cor. 2:14), and, consequently, does not seek God (Rom. 3:10-12), a change of heart is required.

Moses confessed to Israel that “to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know” or believe (Deut. 29:4; NASB). However, Moses promised that God would “circumcise your hearts…so that you may love him” (Deut. 30:6). As Ezekiel revealed, faith is predicated upon a new heart and Spirit:

• I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:25-27)

This new heart (along with the Holy Spirit) – the pre-condition for faith – would not only produce assent to His truths, but also a love for God and a readiness “to follow my decrees.” It will also produce a willingness to turn from the old life (repentance):

• Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices. (Ezekiel 36:31)

In contrast, the “gay Christians” do not loathe their sins. Faith and repentance are a package deal. They are inseparable. They come from the same gift of a new heart. The reality of the New Covenant will not allow us to affirm a faith that lacks commitment and repentance. In the end, when God pours out His Holy Spirit upon Israel, they will not simply acknowledge a certain set of truths, but they will also repent of their sins and seek Him (Zech. 12:10 -13:1).  Jeremiah described this New Covenant reality: God would "put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33). As a result:

• They will always fear me [faith]…so that they will never turn away from me [repentance]. (Jeremiah 32:39-40)

Being born again – receiving and new heart and the Spirit – means that we will receive those truths that we had once hated and rejected. It also necessarily means that we will repent of our former ways, including our hatred of the light! It is impossible to believe if we still retain our former hatred of truth and refuse to repent of it. Faith and repentance are as inseparable as the heads and tails of the same coin.

Both repentance and faith open salvation’s door. In the Book of Revelation, Jesus informs five churches that that they must repent if they are to be saved. For instance, He promises the church at Laodicea:

• Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. (Rev. 3:19-20; also see Rev. 2:5; 16; 22; 3:3)

They were naked and Jesus told them how they could obtain “white garments” of salvation by means of repentance. Salvation was the issue. There can be little doubt of this. The church at Sardis had been encouraged that if they did repent, “I will never blot out his name from the book of life” (Rev. 3:5).

Telling people that they need not repent in order to be saved might be comforting, but it is a false and temporary comfort. Chambers is telling gays that they need not repent to be saved. However, he is condemning them to a false hope. Instead, the gay must be told, “If you refuse to repent, you are also refusing to believe and to trust in the Lord. If you trust in Him, you will do what He tells you to do. Since you are not doing this, it means that you haven’t placed your trust in Him. You must repent and trust in Him.”

Jesus warns the church at Ephesus that if they didn’t repent, He would remove their lamp-stand. However, if they did repent, they would “eat at the tree of life” (Rev. 2:7).

This is the very type of message we need to be telling the “gay Christians!” However, we shouldn’t underestimate the magnitude of the temptation faced by gays. Nevertheless, love requires that we call them to repent.

Repentance is not a meritorious work, as some dispensationalists claim. If repentance is meritorious, then it would give us a basis to boast – the very thing that God has intended to eliminate (Eph. 2:8-9). However, both faith and repentance come as the free gift resulting from a new heart. Nevertheless, both faith and repentance, if genuine, will yield the fruit of obedience.

There is an important distinction between repentance and good deeds. John the Baptist contrasted repentance with the good deeds that will be brought forth by true repentance:

• But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. (Matthew 3:7-8; Luke 3:8)

It is easy to say, “I repent of my sins.” It is entirely another thing to “produce fruit” that reflect a repentant heart. Although a change of heart regarding our sins (repentance) is key, the Pharisees were often in denial (Matthew 23; Luke 16:15; 18:9). Consequently, God gave the law to give us an objective measure in regards to our spiritual and moral standing. Bringing forth the fruit (good works) required by the law would reveal whether someone was truly repentant and regretted their sins (Rom.3:19-20).

Obedience isn’t repentance. Instead, obedience is the fruit of repentance. If we truly regret our sins, we will turn from them. At least, we will try. A good tree bears good fruit.

Paul made the same distinction between repentance and its fruit. In his defense before King Agrippa, Paul distinguished repentance from the “deeds” of repentance:

• “First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.” (Acts 26:20) 

Clearly, Paul did not regard repentance as a meritorious act or “deed.” Instead, true repentance brings forth deeds as does faith.

The ISBE defines “repentance” (Greek, “metanoeñoô”) as:

• Spiritual change implied in a sinner's return to God. The term signifies "to have another mind," to change the opinion or purpose with regard to sin. 

Seen in this way, faith-repentance represents a single turn away from sin and to God. They are opposite sides of the same coin, not two entirely separate activities. When I turned to Christ, I simultaneously decided that I no longer wanted my old life.

“Well, if faith and repentance are God’s doing, His gift to me, then it is not my doing!” Many wrongly conclude this way. Others will correctly observe that the Scriptures are filled with commands to repent and to have faith. How then can these be a gift?

Here, I think, is the easiest way to explain this. God must initiate this process by opening our heart, giving us faith and repentance. However, we will then want to walk according to this gift, according to God’s directions:

·       If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 5:25)

If we have this gift of the Spirit, we must nurture it. Likewise, if we have been given the gift of a tree, we must plant and care for it. The gift doesn’t stop with simply receiving it.

Admittedly, this analogy breaks down. How? Nurturing the tree is totally our responsibility. However, keeping “in step with the Spirit” is not our work alone. We have One at our side directing our steps.

Ah, the mysteries of our Lord!

MY YEARS IN CHRIST AS A LEGALIST

My first number of years in Christ was as a legalist. I believed in “grace” but also believed that I had to be worthy of it. However, it was becoming apparent to me that I was unworthy. This realization tormented me. I had given myself to the Lord, but I had no assurance that He had given Himself to me, an unworthy sinner.

I therefore sought to make myself worthy of Him. However, the harder I tried, the more it became apparent that I was unworthy. Even if He did save me, I couldn’t help thinking that He didn’t like me very much. Instead, it seemed that He liked others better, since He was blessing them more than He was blessing me.

As result of this thinking, I resented the very ones I was supposed to love. I even secretly resented God but wouldn’t admit it to myself.

This led to utter despair. I was so broken that hope became a rare luxury. However, in the midst of my brokenness, Christ made His grace real to me. I began to see that none of us are worthy. That’s why Christ had to die for me, the Worthy One for the unworthy.

Afterwards, I no longer could tolerate the “do better, try harder sermon,” which had so afflicted me. I just wanted sermons that would tell me that it is all about what Christ had done for me and not what I must do for Him.

However, as I became more confident in God’s grace, I began to see that the Christian life was more than just receiving Christ’s grace. A healthy lake must be stream-fed, but it must also surrender its water. Of first importance, I had to receive grace, but I also had to pass it on, responding obediently to it.

Immediately after affirming grace – “the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21; ESV) – James launched into describing our necessary response to grace:

·       But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. (James 1:22-25)

Being “doers of the word” isn’t an option. A true faith is an obedient faith, while a fruitless faith is a faithless faith, an imitation of the real thing. A real faith is a tree that bears good fruit (Matthew 7:17). If we trust in Christ, we will do as He instructs us.

As we grow in our understanding of grace, we become assured that if we confess our sins, He will forgive, cleanse, and readily appoint us a fresh start (1 John 1:9). This gives us assurance and gratefulness so that we can gladly serve Him, not because we fear that He will damn us but because we are confident that He won’t.

However, when we show no interest in being “doers of the Word,” we are deceiving ourselves if we claim that we know the Savior. According to James, a barren faith is a bogus faith:

·       What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14-17)

Grace doesn’t relieve us of the moral requirements of the law, now called “the perfect law, the law of liberty.” We still mustn’t kill, and we must love our neighbor as ourselves (Leviticus 19:18). Instead, we “uphold the law” (Romans 3:31), but in a new way:

·       You also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code [of the Mosaic Law]. (Romans 7:4-6 )

To not uphold what the law is to damage ourselves and those around us:

·       By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. (James 3:13-16)

We all have such temptations. Jesus was tempted in every way that we are, except without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He didn’t give in to the temptation, and we must not.

Being a “doer of the word” is more than just an indication of a true faith. It is also a source of blessing, as James had written: “He will be blessed in his doing” (1:25, above). We will also suffer if we turn back from the Word.

Grace is the good soil necessary to bring forth the crop. However, good soil without a crop is useless, while a crop without good soil is a fantasy. We were saved and endowed with God’s grace for a reason – “that we may bear fruit for God” (Romans 7:4, above).

Consequently, I think that we need those “try harder, do better” sermons, but they all must rest on the solid foundation of knowing the grace of our Lord. Without this foundation, we will be pierced by many discouragements and despair.

ARE GOD AND ETERNAL PUNISHMENT UNJUST?

·      

Many accuse the God of the Bible as being unfair and unjust. How? Because those who believe in Him are going to heaven and those who sincerely believe in other things and deities are going to hell!

Jesus told a parable that addresses the fairness issue:

·       “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.” (Matthew 20:1-2; ESV)

However, the master did not stop there. Throughout the day, he continued to invite all to come and labor in his vineyard. At the end of the work-day, he gave them all the same wage. However, those who have worked the longest were irate. Therefore, the master explained that he wasn’t unfair:

·       “But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.” (Matthew 20:13-16)

It seems that the irate parties left. They had been the first, but in an eternal sense, they had become the last. How? They stormed away from the master and had rejected any future hope of his mercy. They had, in a sense, damned themselves by their self-righteous attitude. Self-righteous? Yes! They despised the idea of mercy and generosity. Why? They felt that only the “deserving” were entitled to the full day’s wage. And who were the deserving? Only them!

Does this parable give us a picture of the final judgment? Will the damned continue to reject grace, even in the end? There is a lot of Biblical evidence that we already stand self-condemned, as had the first-comers. For one thing, we have already condemned ourselves in this life:

·       “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment [or condemnation]: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. (John 3:17-20)

Already, those who do not believe stand condemned. Well, who condemned them? Jesus didn’t come into the world “to condemn the world” (John 8:15; 12:47-49). From where, then, does our condemnation come? From ourselves! We have refused to believe, despite the overwhelming evidence in favor of the Gospel. Elsewhere, Jesus explained that even someone rising from the dead wouldn’t, in itself, turn the damned around from their fatal course of self-destruction (Luke 16:19-31). Why not? Primarily, coming to Christ is a matter of the heart. Ordinarily, we love the darkness rather than the light.

Does this same principle of self-condemnation also apply to the next life? It certainly is reasonable to conclude so. If, in this life, we hate the light so that we reject it in favor of the darkness, what will be the case in the next life when the light is more intense? Will the unbeliever flee? Yes:

·       But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. (Malachi 3:2; Psalm 1:5; 24:1-2; Isaiah 20:20-22; Revelation 6:15-16; Luke 21:36)

Why this terror before the Lord? This had been the reality for Israel before the redemption of the Cross. They could not endure the presence of God or even His voice:

·       Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, we shall die. (Deuteronomy 5:25)

What enables us to stand now? Only one thing – the blood of Christ poured out for our sins! However, this must be received by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). Without this, no one will be able to stand.

Instead, our inability to tolerate the light exposing our unredeemed guilt and shame will make us flee:

·       Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. (Revelation 6:15-16)

And will their final judgment not be presided over by God? Will he not have to separate the saved from the unsaved? Yes! However, it seems that only the redeemed will be able to stand before our Lord to receive His mercy. The others will flee away with the rest of the goats to be self-condemned (Rev. 20:11; Matthew 25:30-46).

But weren’t the first workers right in being irate? In a human sense, yes! We deserve a fair wage from our employer. However, the denarius that they had been given at the end of the day was a fair and agreed-upon wage. What then was the substance of their complaint? The first-comers had become irate with the master’s generosity towards those workers who had arrived after them. Consequently, they stormed off.

Well, why shouldn’t they have been irate that the master’s generosity was extended to the late-comers? The master explained that he had been fair and just with the first-comers and that he had a right to be generous to the late-comers.

Salvation is offered to all, even to those who haven’t heard the Gospel:

·       For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are WITHOUT EXCUSE. (Romans 1:18-20)

God is angry at humanity. Why? He has offered Himself to all. They all have been given irrefutable evidence of His existence and even who He is. Therefore, they are “without excuse” in rejecting Him.

But can’t humanity sincerely reject this God of the Bible? Not sincerely! Because of the magnitude of the evidence, they, all of us, are “without excuse.” None of us deserve anything from this Holy God but judgment (Romans 3:23; 6:23). What hope, then, do we have? The mercy of God!

The first-comers had witnessed the mercy of God, but they rejected it. Humanity is convinced that they do not need His mercy and that they are good and deserving people, entitled to whatever might be in God’s storehouse.

However, we should know better. When we invite our friends and neighbors to a party but do not invite the entire neighboring town, no one can accuse of injustice. Why not? No code of justice has been violated. Instead, we are free to be gracious and to invite just those we want to come to our party.

Israel knew that God was not unjust. God also plenteously revealed that their hope depended upon His mercy and forgiveness. Why? Because they were sinless and undeserving like everyone else, as Scripture continually taught:

·       “‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’” (Deuteronomy 27:26)

Unless we are totally delusional, we should realize that we have failed in many ways. Scripture makes this explicit:

·       Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you. (Psalm 143:2)

·       If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? (Psalm 130:3)

·       “If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin”…(1 Kings 8:46)

For Israel, these were incontestable truths. Their entire sacrificial system affirmed their sinfulness. Nevertheless, most had erroneously convinced themselves that they could earn their way to heaven.

Meanwhile, God cries out to this broken world:

·       “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. (Revelation 22:16-17)

We should know that we are desperately in need of His mercy. Our guilt and shame give ample testimony to this fact. However, instead of accepting His mercy, we are encouraged to merely forgive ourselves, even after we beat our wives. In this way, we are in denial that we have broken God’s laws and our wives. However, our feelings of guilt and shame continue to testify against us, no matter how hard we try to forgive ourselves. We can suppress these feelings, but they continue to condemn us.

In the same way that we flee from these feelings, we continue to flee from God and the light He shines upon us. If we cannot endure God’s scrutiny here, we will never be able to endure it in heaven.

We must give thanks where thanks are due! The first-comers never thanked the master for hiring and paying them. Humanity refuses to thank God for the air they breathe, the water they drink and the food they eat, the surrounding beauty and pleasures, and even for their lives. Instead, we have convinced ourselves, like the first-comers, that it is all owed to us.

Instead of crediting God for his gifts to us, we invent alternative explanations for the good things we enjoy – naturalistic explanations, the multiverse, and anything else that helps us to avoid the Light, as Biologist Richard Lewontin had confessed:

• We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs . . . in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated commitment to materialism. . . . we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counterintuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door. (Lewontin, Richard, Review of The Demon-Haunted World, by Carl Sagan. In New York Review of Books, January 9, 1997.)

We are “without excuse” when we deny God. It is like receiving a gift by UPS and refusing to look at the enclosed card to learn the identity of the giver, lest we might begin to experience any sense of our indebtedness.

Once we do this, we will avoid and reject this giver to whom we have refused to give thanks. Where then does the fault lie? Certainly not with the Giver!