Your Only Roadblock to Heaven - Ask Pastor John

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEvarqWleQA

Video from Desiring God

Your Only Roadblock to Heaven - Ask Pastor John

Audio Transcript

"We talk a lot about saving faith. But sometimes, when you look at your own life and your own mistakes, or you look at the messes and mistakes of someone you love, you worry: Is it truly possible for them, or for you, to be saved? Or is it too late? Has that door been shut and locked and deadbolted from the inside with you on the outside? Is the path to salvation obstructed for certain people? Today on Ask Pastor John: your only roadblock to heaven.

It’s Romans month, which continues as we march through Paul’s letter to the Romans in the month of March. An anonymous listener writes in with the question. “Pastor John, in Romans 10:12–13, one of our readings today, Paul clearly affirms that salvation is available to all, regardless of background or ethnicity: ‘For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”’ That’s the NASB translation. So, does this mean that anyone can get saved?”

Whoever Believes

Yes is the answer. In the ESV — just a few biblical supports for that resounding yes in the ESV — the word “whoever” occurs in the Gospel of John thirty-seven times, and I count at least seventeen of these relating directly to eternal life.

“God has designed things so that he gets all the glory, and we get all the help simply by receiving, by trusting him.”

For example, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36), or “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

At least three of these “whoever” texts underscore the wideness of God’s mercy by adding the word “everyone” in front of “whoever” (pas ho pisteuon in the Greek: “everyone, the one who believes,” “whoever believes”). “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46).

That same phrase — “everyone,” “whoever” — occurs in Acts and in Paul. Here’s Acts 10:43: “To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who [whoever] believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Or Romans 1:16: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who [whoever] believes.” Or Romans 10:13: “For everyone who [whoever] calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

The consistent emphasis of the New Testament is that the message of salvation is to be preached to everyone without distinction, and the consistent promise is that everyone who believes will be saved.

The Only Obstacle

So, back to the question: Does this mean that anyone can get saved? The very way the question is formulated implies a condition. The question is not “Will everyone be saved?” That’s not the question. The question asked is “Can everyone be saved?” The word “can” suggests that the question is really something like this: Is there an obstacle to anyone being saved that he or she can’t overcome?

The consistent witness of the New Testament is that the only obstacle that stands in the way of salvation for any person is unbelief or unwillingness to believe. “If you will believe, you will be saved” is the message of the New Testament.

The message is not “If you will improve your life so as to merit salvation, you’ll be saved.” The message is not “If you simply get baptized or take communion, you’ll be saved.” The message is not that you have to belong to the right family or the right Christian church so that you may be saved. This is one of the main reasons that the message of the New Testament is called gospel; it’s called good news. If we had to work for our salvation, or improve ourselves to be worthy of salvation, or belong to the right level of society or the right family, this would be hopelessly bad news for the world. But God has planned that the condition for salvation not be a performance but rather a resting, a trusting, a treasuring of a person who is infinitely strong, good, wise, and worthy of our trust.

The good news is that God does not need us. He doesn’t need any slave labor. He doesn’t need any help. He is the giver. He’s not dependent on us for anything. He has designed things so that he gets all the glory, and we get all the help simply by receiving, by trusting him.

Rescued from Ourselves

Now, it may be that behind this question is the question of the sinfulness of man and the sovereign grace of God in election and conversion. The Bible does teach that apart from the sovereign, gracious work of God to overcome our rebellion, we are all hostile to God. Romans 8:7 reads, “The mind [of] the flesh is hostile to God.” It does not submit to God; it cannot. By nature, we do not want to submit to God, and therefore, trusting in God is something we absolutely will not do unless God changes us. So, now the question arises, Is this rebellion so strong that our refusal to submit to God amounts to an inability to submit to God?

The answer is not simple because the word “inability” can have two different meanings. There’s physical inability, where you are kept from doing something you totally want to do, and there’s moral inability, where you are kept from doing something because you totally are opposed to doing it yourself. You don’t want to do it that bad. In other words, there is a kind of will not that also becomes a cannot — a moral cannot — and that cannot is only owing to a deep, blameworthy rebellion, an intransigent will not. If anyone says, “I cannot believe in Christ,” the only way that statement is true is if his will not is so strong, it keeps him from submitting to God.

“Election is not God’s selection of certain individuals to prevent them from believing; it’s just the opposite.”

That’s what we have to keep in mind when we talk about the biblical teaching of divine election from Ephesians 1:4 — elect “before the foundation of the world” — where God has chosen before creation whom he will rescue from our rebellion and hostility, our intransigent will not. Election is not God’s selection of certain individuals to prevent them from believing; it’s just the opposite. It’s his selection of certain individuals to overcome their sinful rebellion and change their will not into a want to.

Sovereign Grace

It remains absolutely true that everyone who (whoever) believes in the name of Jesus will be saved. That message goes out to the ends of the earth, and we lay down our lives to bring that message to all the unreached peoples of the world. The fact that God is willing — and has indeed planned — to deliver millions of people from their bondage to rebellion, from their intransigent will not, gives hope and boldness to all Christian missions.

D.L. Moody — my father used to quote this from D.L. Moody a lot; that’s why I’m aware of it — the nineteenth-century evangelist, used to say that written on the outside of the gate of heaven are the words, “Whosoever will may come,” and when one looks back after walking through the gate by faith, he sees written over that same gate the words, “Chosen from the foundation of the world.” I think that’s a good illustration.

The fact that God’s sovereign grace is powerful enough to overcome human rebellion should give us great boldness and great hope in all of our praying for unbelievers and in all of our evangelism." from the Transcript

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of Desiring God and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Foundations for Lifelong Learning: Education in Serious Joy. Read more about John.

#extraordinarygod