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The gospel
message isn’t that mankind strayed from Christ but from God, though many
make that mistake. Falsely, the message preached often is for the
believer to have a relationship with Christ. There is no place in the
scripture that such an idea is presented. The reconciliation that Christ
gives is reconciliation to God. Paul wrote in II Corinthians 5:17-21:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus
Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit,
that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God
did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled
to God. 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
In verses 18
and 19, Paul said that God through Christ God has reconciled the lost to
himself, and that the apostles were preaching the message of
reconciliation made possible by the life, death, burial and resurrection
of Jesus Christ. Not one word about Christ choosing us, or being
reconciled to Christ or having a relationship with Christ can be found.
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Jesus chose
the apostles and God chose Christ to be the way back to him as Paul
wrote in Ephesians 1:6: To the praise of the
glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
We are accepted of God when in Jesus Christ and the message is
that the hearer of the gospel who obeys will be his child. Since God
chose mankind to be saved in Christ, there is one choice left for
everyone to make. The lost must choose Christ by faith in order to be
saved. God won’t make that choice for anyone nor will Christ. Each one
must make that decision to obey the gospel or continue in unbelief and
remain lost.
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When the
gospel was preached on Pentecost, Acts 2:41 reveals the following:
Then they that gladly received his word were
baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three
thousand souls. Those that gladly received the word were
baptized. Gladly received means that they readily accepted the truth of
what they heard and obeyed the gospel with their new faith in the
message being shown by baptism upon hearing the word. They that gladly
received the word were baptized. They that didn’t receive the word
weren’t baptized. By no stretch of the imagination can it be said that
those who weren’t baptized would be saved. Neither is there any
indication that God mysteriously chose those who would be baptized. The
truth expressed here is that some made the choice to be saved and some
didn’t, at least on that day. The choice to obey or not to obey made was
made as a result of hearing the gospel.
So
then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
(Romans 10:17) That is the sole manner by
which God chooses those who will be saved.
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All have the
free will capacity to choose to obey upon hearing the word or they can
make the choice to continue in the lost condition. God promised to save
all who would exercise faith in his Son. As Peter said in II peter 3:9:
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise,
as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not
willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
God is showing patience toward his creation and wants no one to
perish. But he can’t repent for anyone. He can’t make the choice for
anyone either, though he chose all to be saved in Jesus Christ,
providing those who hear will obey the gospel message. Choose to be
saved or remain lost are the two choices presented to all humans. The
former is salvation. The latter is death. Choose salvation today because
the lost have already chosen death by not obeying the gospel.
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