Jan 14 - Acts 10:34-35

Peter began to speak:

“God shows no partiality,

but in every nation anyone who

fears him and does what is right

is acceptable to him.”

Acts 10:34-35

Many people use passages like this to say, “all people will be saved.” The logic is:

•      God is loving. (True.)
•      God wants all people to be with him eternally. (True.)
•      Therefore, all will be saved. (And the question is: Is this conclusion true or false?!)

Now, it certainly sounds good and loving, doesn’t it? But we leapt to that conclusion by cherry-picking our premises and by skipping a few important Biblical pre-conditions.

The question is: What did we leave out of the formula above?

The answer is: Sin.

That’s the topic humans always want to leave out!

•      If the wages of sin is not death, then I’m free to do whatever I want.
•      But the consistent Biblical fact is that we need a Savior.
•      Why? Because we all sin and fall short of the glory of God …
•      and the wages of that sin is death …
•      and scripture repeatedly tells us that this death has eternal consequences.
•      Nevertheless, God in his love has given us access to an eternal gift that starts now and comes to fullness in the kingdom to come!
•      This gift is life.
•      It is a free gift.
•      It comes through God’s amazing grace.
•      And our access point to this life is faith through Jesus Christ.

That’s the consistent witness of the Gospels and throughout the New Testament – see, for example, John 3:16, Romans 6:23, Romans 3:23-28, and Ephesians 2:1-5.

So here’s how to respond when people misquote (or incompletely quote) verses like today’s. They’ll say something like …

•      “Well, the Bible says that people ‘in every nation’ will be ‘acceptable to him.’
•      And since people ‘in every nation’ worship a variety of gods and strive toward heaven in different ways …
•      this means, therefore, that all paths are equal in their approach to God.’”

Say, “That sounds good. But didn’t you leave out a few premises … even in that short little verse you’re quoting?!!!! What about the ‘fear’ the of the Lord? What about ‘do[ing] what is right’?”

•      To fear God is to respect what he respects and love what he loves. What matters most to God is obviously what caused him to make his biggest sacrifice and to send his own Son. If the wages of our sin demanded the death of his Son, can we fully love God, fear God, know God, or worship God without knowing, fearing, and loving Jesus? The only path to God that works flows through his Son!
• 
  
•      The second thing this verse calls us to do is “what is right”? Can we ever, permanently, and consistently do what is right? No! “We all sin and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). Indeed, “no one is righteous, not even one” (Rom 3:10). We absolutely cannot do right … at least, not on our own. But “Christ Jesus … became for us … righteousness” (1 Cor 1:27). He makes us right! And until we accept the life of this Savior, we have no life in us (see John 6:53).

So let’s go back to the first formula we outlined this today. And let’s fix it …

•      God is loving. (True. In accordance with scripture.)
•      God wants all people to be with him eternally. (True. In accordance with scripture.)
•      But sin separates us from God. (True. In accordance with scripture.)
•      But because God loves us so very much, he sent his only Son, to become our Savior by taking our sin upon himself. (True. In accordance with scripture.)
•      And whoever believes in him will have everlasting life. (True. In accordance with scripture.)

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who wants people

to know God’s love, God’s grace,

and God’s path to life

– here now and eternally