GOD WANTS ALL TO BE SAVED.1st Timothy 2:4. The Gospel of God about Christ's death, burial, and resurrection provides the benefits we need to be accepted by a Righteous God. God justifies a man who is not righteous because the basis of saving us is the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf. He paid the price of death for our sins and was raised by God so that we might be justified through Him. The infinite and final work that Christ has done is credited to those who believe in Him.
The blood of Christ is the reason God can declare an ungodly man righteous. God's grace alone is what causes that declaration. Our faith doesn't add to Christ's work in any way. Faith is how we receive the benefits of that work, and it is counted for righteousness because it gives God all the credit for salvation. Faith in Jesus Christ involves accepting God's truth as true. We rely on God's testimony about Christ and salvation through Him alone. We believe God's Word that what He has said has been accomplished, and it is done for us. We rest in what has been done; the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. The Father's testimony about His Son is true and has taken place.
This sacred work has already been accomplished and is, therefore, available to all. Nothing more can be done to make it more genuine than it already is. God's righteousness is based on faith in Christ, unlike any legal righteousness man tries to achieve by himself through law-keeping or other efforts.
No one lives a perfectly good, holy, or righteous life. We all lack any merit within ourselves to be acceptable to God, but through His mercy—pure, holy mercy—and that alone, we can be brought to Him by trusting in our Lord Jesus Christ. God declares that those who place their faith in Him are legally righteous. The righteousness of Christ is credited to those who trust in Him. His righteousness is counted as ours because He has freely given it. By His grace and through the redemption paid by our Lord Jesus, we have been freed from the slavery of sin and gained the freedom of new life in Christ.
Measuring time is only relative to God. It is like a single grain of sand on a beach. God exists above time. He waits patiently because He has a purpose He wants to see fulfilled. Human beings become impatient because we operate within a limited time frame. All human opinions are insignificant if they oppose God's plans. He will accomplish what needs to be done through the fiery purging of righteous judgment. Divine intervention has occurred before; that is what the flood was—divine intervention. The holy God governs all things and events. Christ has not yet returned, but believers trust that God keeps His promises, and our Lord will come again. We must remember that God is patiently waiting for others to repent.
God operates within time but is not limited by it. He is always able and willing to act. He follows His own perfect schedule and does not rely on human advice for timing. He waits for people to have a "change of mind"—to repent and turn toward God, placing their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The lost must come to Him, making room for genuine repentance and accepting God's word with humility and faith. Each individual must create space for salvation through repentance and faith in Christ.
There is no doubt that "the day of the Lord" will arrive. It is a promise. History has shown that God has acted in the past, and we must trust that He will fulfill His promise in the future. He will come like "a thief in the night." Suddenly and unexpectedly, what He has promised will occur. There will be no warning. A false sense of security causes people to become complacent about sin, punishment for sin, and the coming judgment.
The coming judgment should inspire the Lord's people to actively seek the lost and remain aware of their own spiritual condition. Believers can become so comfortable about the Lord's return that they look at the world and current events without urgency—reminding us that the lost need salvation. When God brings judgment upon the earth, the fire stored within the heavens and the earth will be unleashed by God Himself, not by humans with a button to press. God will handle His own judgment. He will not allow a president, prime minister, or world ruler to take on what He has reserved for Himself.
There is no difference or distinction between Jews and Gentiles regarding the fact that sin has been passed on to all. The difference between a great sinner and a small sinner is not significant. The fact is – “all have sinned.” Being greater or lesser is not the issue. "All have sinned" and have fallen short of God's righteousness. We have all sinned because one man sinned, and death has come to all people. But that is not the complete explanation of the problem. Every individual since then (except the Lord Jesus Christ) has fallen short of God's glory.
We are not in a position to blame Adam for our sin because we have also fallen short of what God intended. We are ruined by sin through the fall of Adam, and we continue to fall short of God's glory daily because of our own sin. Only through and in Christ can we find redemption and deliverance from sin. Whether religious or not, Jew or Gentile, small or great, famous or infamous, we all fall short and can only be considered righteous by God through faith in Jesus Christ.
God desires that everyone be saved, but that doesn’t guarantee it will happen. Only those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. Salvation is available to all because Christ died for the sins of the whole world, but only those who believe in Him will receive the benefits of His sacrifice for our sins. God also wants those who have come to know the truth to grow in faith and understanding so they won’t be misled by false teachers.
Only God Himself can save a soul and prepare him for heaven. The Savior was given so that we might be born again and become a new creation in Christ Jesus. To address sin and its consequences, He became our sacrifice—our willing substitute. Because of all that the Lord Jesus did on our behalf, we receive eternal life through Him. It is not through our efforts that our souls and lives are saved, but by God's sovereign will, who saves and adopts us through His grace.
For someone to be lost to God, they must refuse the knowledge of the truth by turning away from the light of God’s Word and rejecting what God has done for us. Some will not come to know the truth because they believe there is no God. Others choose to go their own way; they don’t believe the Bible is truly God’s Word and will not accept what it says. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Still, others desire independence and don’t want their lives to depend on God and His sovereign grace, so they choose to walk by sight and reject a life of faith.
God, in His mercy, still freely offers His salvation to everyone. Some who believe they don't need grace choose to live on their own, not realizing they wouldn’t be alive without God's love for them. God recognizes their worth and potential, and if they turn to Him, He will forgive all their sins. God's plans for us are far greater than we understand or imagine. His salvation and truth go far beyond our knowledge. When I do His will, I find a purpose that begins here in this world and continues into the future.
God wants us to be saved from the consequences of sin in hell and the lake of fire. He also desires to save us from sin’s power now, so we won't be influenced by Satan’s deceptive lies and miss out on the abundant life He has for us. He has saved us for important reasons that we'll only understand when we reach heaven. Later, perhaps we will see why He allowed difficult times that helped us grow in grace and deepen our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, nurturing our spirits.