Getting it Wrong

TITLE: Getting it Wrong
DATE:  September 5, 2019
TEXT: 1 Timothy 2: 3-61 – ESV - This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man[a] Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all

Not more than a month ago, a prominent young Christian pastor, and songwriter, confessed he is losing his faith. He listed some of the causes... problems he says the church avoids addressing. Well, this week we are picking up his challenge and speaking about these stumbling blocks. And today we are looking at a question which has bothered many. Our doubting Pastor would like to know:

• How can God be love yet send four billion people to a place, all coz they don’t believe? No one talks about it.

Most of the time, when you hear this question, you will also hear an expression of human superiority over the Creator. When that happens, the question is usually worded something like, “I have a hard time putting down a sick dog who is terminally ill; I have difficulty setting a trap to kill a mouse in my basement; but the Triune God has no such conscience problem sending an unbeliever to a place where they would burn forever.

The world has seen some terrible people over the centuries, but not even the worst would do something like that to BILLIONS of people.

Believe it or not of all the questions our pastor asks, this is the easiest one to answer.

It is easy to answer because he starts at the wrong spot... and therefore he ends in the wrong spot.

He begins with an angry God sending billions of people to hell. Is that the case? Were Adam and Eve in their perfect Garden headed for the fires of hell. No, not at all. They were designed to live forever. That plan was interrupted when they chose to take control, kicked God out and then followed Satan.

It was their sin, not the Lord Who sent them to hell.

Indeed, almost from the moment God found out, He put into effect a plan to rescue sinners from their self-imposed destruction. The passage above is clear:

1. God wants all people to be saved.
2. To make salvation a reality, Jesus gave His life as a ransom which will rescue all who repent and are brought to faith in Him.

​Let me put it a different way.
In the beginning, God gave us perfection, but we rejected Him and His plan. The result of our rejection was damnation.

To rescue us, the Lord said He would send His Son to carry our sin; fulfill the laws we have broken and resist temptation. Then when He has spent a lifetime doing just that, His friend would betray Him and the people He had come to save would nail Him to a cross. Rather than walking away from such ungrateful people, the Lord Jesus conquered death and said, “I want all the world to know heaven is open.”

God sends people to hell? On the contrary, He welcomes people into heaven.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, how strange that we so easily reverse the salvation story. How pleased Satan must be to make You the bad Guy. Help us see clearly all You have done to rescue sinners such as me from damnation, In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

The devotion for today was inspired by various recent news articles. For further reading you may wish to go to this address: https://www.christianheadlines.com/contributors/michael-foust/hillsong-s-marty-sampson-i-m-genuinely-losing-my-faith.html and the article written by Michael Foust .
The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann. He along with three of his brothers perform on the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html