Expert: Rev C.Brian Ross - 11/27/2009

Question
Hello, Reverend Ross!

I have been a Christian for a little over a year and have been doing my own reading and study on the Grace of God. A few of my friends who are not Christians are starting to get interested and have been asking me some questions based on the Word. One of my friends however came up with a hypothetical question that I need help with.

I explained to him that we can only have salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ and without accepting him we cannot make it to the Kingdom of God which is clearly stated in the Bible. However if we repent of our Sins he is just to forgive us of our sins.

He said "If there is a person who decided to kill 10 or so people and the people he killed were not saved then they would not make it to the Kingdom, but if the person who did the murders repented later on he would get to go to heaven, how is that a fair and just God?"

I did not have a great answer at the time and looking for some help and guidance as I do the study on the Grace of God.

Thanks!

Answer
Hi Matt!

Thank you for your question, and welcome to the Family of God!  May I commend you for your personal study of the Word?  Would that every professed believer was following your example!  (I hope that that doesn’t sound patronising – it is certainly not meant to be)
This is the sort of question that sceptics like to ask, and I can understand your concern.  It also seems, to me, to misunderstand the concept of the grace of God – not that any of us can fully understand it, in this life.

Let us take a closer look at this person who has decided, deliberately, and consciously, to kill a number of people (and, sadly, that sort of thing does happen).  I would suggest that this would be powerful evidence that such a person has already removed themselves so far from God that he/she is not going to listen to the Gospel message.  Like Pharaoh of old, the heart is so hardened that even God is unable to break through the shell that the person has constructed.  Having said that, the thief on the cross beside the dying Jesus was assured of his salvation in the closing hours of his own life.  It would appear that, although a criminal (but not a murderer), his heart was still soft enough to recognise the majesty of the One who was being crucified alongside him.  However, I was taught, a long time ago, that one thief was saved so that no-one need despair; but only one so that no-one may presume!   I do, in fact, know a young man who committed murder, here in Scotland; was convicted and sentenced; was converted in jail; and now has a special ministry to people in the Name of Jesus.  As far as I know, the man he murdered had no saving knowledge of God – but his mother assured newspaper reporters that her son (in his mid-forties when he died) had attended Sunday School as a child.  He had, therefore, the opportunity to respond positively to the Gospel message – but seems to have failed to do so.
There are important lessons here.  Firstly, life, as we know, is all too fragile.  Not one of us knows for certain exactly when we are going to experience physical death.  Those who, in your friend’s illustration, were murdered had the same opportunity as anyone else to respond, positively, to God (Rom.1:18ff; 2:12).  This is why there is such a sense of urgency about the Gospel message.   Secondly, it is, indeed, possible to reject God’s working in our spirits for so long, that we become ‘unsaveable’.  The grace and mercy of God, in orthodox Christian teaching, are not totally divorced from His righteous judgement.  They cost far too much – even the life of the Incarnate Jesus – to be treated lightly.  Of course, your friend may be confusing the grace of God which, as I have already stated, is beyond our understanding (I certainly wouldn’t have chosen me!) with his human ideas of ‘fairness’!  It might be worth pursuing with him, from whence comes that idea!  I would recommend the book “Mere Christianity” by C.S.Lewis (better-known trough The Narnia Chronicles) if you wished to follow that particular course of action.

I am unable to say whether, or not, any of this will convince your sceptical friend.  However if he is a genuine seeker, rather than a sceptic, then we can pray that God the Holy Spirit will open his eyes to the truth of the Gospel.  The bottom line, of course, is in those words of the Psalmist, quoted by Paul: “No one is righteous, not even one” (Rom.3:10); and the question of Abraham – “Should not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen.18:25).

My apologies for having taken so long to respond (by my standards, anyway!).  Unfortunately, I am having problems with my internet connection and, just after I had received your question - and, thankfully, downloaded it for consideration - I lost the connection again.  I have had to wait until now to visit my daughter na duse her PC!

Blessings.

C.Brian Ross (Rev)