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Your Only Roadblock to Heaven · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: We talk a lot about saving faith, but sometimes when
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  Speaker 1: you look at your own life and you look at
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  Speaker 1: your own mistakes, or you look at the messes and
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  Speaker 1: the mistakes of someone that you love, you worry is
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  Speaker 1: it truly possible for them or for you to be saved?
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  Speaker 1: Or is it too late? Has that door been shut
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  Speaker 1: and locked and dead bolted from inside with you on
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  Speaker 1: the outside. Is the path to salvation obstructed for certain people? Today?
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  Speaker 1: On ask Pastor John your only roadblock to heaven. It's
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  Speaker 1: Romans Month, which continues as we march through Paul's letter
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  Speaker 1: to the Romans in the month of March, and anonymous
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  Speaker 1: listener writes in with this question Pastor John in Romans ten,
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  Speaker 1: verses twelve to thirteen, one of our readings today, Paul
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  Speaker 1: clearly affirms that salvation is available to all, regardless of
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  Speaker 1: background or ethnicity. For there is no distinction between jew
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  Speaker 1: and Greek. For the same Lord overalls rich to all
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  Speaker 1: who call upon him. For whoever calls on the name
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord shall be saved. That's an ASB translation.
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  Speaker 1: So does this mean that anyone can get saved?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, there's the answer in the ESV. Just a few
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  Speaker 2: biblical supports for that resounding yes. In the ESV. The
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  Speaker 2: word whoever occurs in the Gospel of John thirty seven times,
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  Speaker 2: and I count at least seventeen of these relating directly
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  Speaker 2: to eternal life. For example, whoever believes in the Son
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  Speaker 2: of Man has eternal life. Or for God so loved
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  Speaker 2: the world that he gave his only son, that whoever
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  Speaker 2: believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
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  Speaker 2: And at least three of these. Whoever texts underscore the
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  Speaker 2: widness of God's mercy by adding the word everyone in
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  Speaker 2: front of whoever so pas ha pistuon in the Greek everyone,
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  Speaker 2: the one who believes, whoever believes. I have come into
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  Speaker 2: the world as light, so that everyone whoever believes in
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  Speaker 2: ME may not remain in darkness John twelve forty six.
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  Speaker 2: That same phrase everyone whoever occurs in acts and in
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  Speaker 2: Paul Here's x ten forty three to him. All the
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  Speaker 2: prophets bear witness that everyone whoever believes in Him receives
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  Speaker 2: forgiveness of sins through his name or Romans one sixteen.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power
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  Speaker 2: of God for salvation to everyone whoever believes or Romans
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  Speaker 2: ten thirteen, for everyone whoever calls on the name of
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  Speaker 2: the Lord will be saved. So the consistent emphasis of
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  Speaker 2: the New Testament is that the message of salvation is
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  Speaker 2: to be preached to everyone without distinction, and the consistent
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  Speaker 2: promise is everyone who believes will be saved. So back
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  Speaker 2: to the question, does this mean that anyone can get saved?
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  Speaker 2: And the very way the question is formulated implies a condition.
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  Speaker 2: The question is not will everyone be saved? That's not
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  Speaker 2: the question. The question asked us is can everyone be saved?
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  Speaker 2: And the word can suggest that the question is really
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  Speaker 2: something like this, is there an obstacle to anyone being
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  Speaker 2: saved that they can't overcome? And the consistent witness of
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  Speaker 2: the New Testament is that the only obstacle that stands
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  Speaker 2: in the way of salvation for any person is unbelief
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  Speaker 2: or unwillingness to believe. If you will believe, you will
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  Speaker 2: be saved. Is the message of the New Testament. The
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  Speaker 2: message is not if you will improve your life so
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  Speaker 2: as to merit salvation, you'll be saved. The message is
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  Speaker 2: not if you simply get baptized or take communion, you
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  Speaker 2: will be saved. The message is not that you have
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  Speaker 2: to belong to the right family or the right Christian
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  Speaker 2: church so that you may be saved. This is one
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  Speaker 2: of the main reasons that the message of the New
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  Speaker 2: Testament is called gossip. It's called good news. If we
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  Speaker 2: had to work for our salvation, or improve ourselves to
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  Speaker 2: be worthy of salvation, or belong to the right level
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  Speaker 2: of society or the right family, this would be hopelessly
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  Speaker 2: bad news for the world. But God has planned that
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  Speaker 2: the condition for salvation not be a performance, but rather arresting,
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  Speaker 2: a trusting, a treasuring of a person who is infinitely
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  Speaker 2: strong and good and wise and worthy of our trust.
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  Speaker 2: The good news is that God does not need us.
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  Speaker 2: He doesn't need any slave labor, he doesn't need any help.
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  Speaker 2: He is the giver. He's not dependent on us for anything.
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  Speaker 2: He has designed things so that He gets all the
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  Speaker 2: glory and we get all the help simply by receiving
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  Speaker 2: but trusting him. Now. It may be that behind this
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  Speaker 2: question is the question of the sinfulness of man and
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  Speaker 2: the sovereign grace of God. In election and conversion, the
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  Speaker 2: Bible does teach that apart from the sovereign gracious work
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  Speaker 2: of God, to overcome our rebellion. We are all hostile
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  Speaker 2: to God Romans eight seven. The mind of the flesh
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  Speaker 2: is hostile to God. It does not submit to God.
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  Speaker 2: It cannot by nature. We do not want to submit
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  Speaker 2: to God, and therefore trusting in God is something we
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  Speaker 2: absolutely will not do unless God changes us. So now
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  Speaker 2: the question arises, is this rebellion so strong that our
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  Speaker 2: refusal to submit to God amounts to an inability to
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  Speaker 2: submit to God? And the answer is not simple because
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  Speaker 2: the word inability can have two meanings, two different meanings.
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  Speaker 2: There's physical inability, where you are kept from doing something
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  Speaker 2: you totally want to do, and there's moral inability, where
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  Speaker 2: you are kept from doing something because you totally are
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  Speaker 2: opposed to doing it yourself you don't want to do
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  Speaker 2: it that bad. In other words, there is a kind
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  Speaker 2: of will not that also becomes a cannot, a moral cannot,
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  Speaker 2: and that cannot is only owing to a deep, blameworthy rebellion,
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  Speaker 2: an intransigent will not. If anyone says I cannot believe
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  Speaker 2: in Christ, the only way that statement is true is
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  Speaker 2: that his will not is so strong it keeps him
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  Speaker 2: from submitting to God. That's what we have to keep
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  Speaker 2: in mind when we talk about the biblical teaching of
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  Speaker 2: divine election from Ephesians one four elect before the foundation
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  Speaker 2: of the world, where God has chosen before creation, whom
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  Speaker 2: he will rescue from our rebellion and hostility, our intransigent
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  Speaker 2: will not. Election is not God's selection of certain individuals
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  Speaker 2: to prevent them from believing. It's just the opposite, is
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  Speaker 2: his selection of certain individuals to overcome their sinful rebellion
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  Speaker 2: and change their will not into a want to. It
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  Speaker 2: remains absolutely true that everyone whoever believes in the name
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  Speaker 2: of Jesus will be saved. That message goes out to
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  Speaker 2: the ends of the earth, and we lay down our
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  Speaker 2: lives to bring that message to all the unreached peoples
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  Speaker 2: of the world. And the fact that God is willing
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  Speaker 2: and has indeed planned to deliver millions of people from
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  Speaker 2: their bondage to rebellion, from their intransigent will not gives
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  Speaker 2: hope and boldness to all Christian missions. Deal Moody, my
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  Speaker 2: father used to quote this from Deal of Moody Allah.
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  Speaker 2: That's why I'm aware of it. Deal Moody. The nineteenth
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  Speaker 2: century of Angelus used to say that written on the
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  Speaker 2: outside of the gate of heaven are the words whosoever
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  Speaker 2: will may come. And when one looks back after walking
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  Speaker 2: through the gate by faith, he sees written over that
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  Speaker 2: same gate the words chosen from the foundation of the world.
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  Speaker 2: I think that's a good illustration, and the fact that
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  Speaker 2: God's sovereign grace is powerful enough to overcome human rebellion
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  Speaker 2: should give us great boldness and great hope in all
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  Speaker 2: of our praying for unbelievers and in all of our evangelism.
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  Speaker 1: The constant witness of the New Testament is that the
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  Speaker 1: only obstacle that stands in the way of salvation for
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  Speaker 1: any person is unbelief or unwillingness to believe. That is
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  Speaker 1: so good. Thank of estor John. And a related question
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  Speaker 1: that we hear if someone is not elect, God has
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  Speaker 1: not chosen them, will God prevent them from believing? There's
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  Speaker 1: a lot of careful things to say here about election
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  Speaker 1: and faith, and for those details see the Aspest John
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  Speaker 1: book on pages three fifty eight and three point fifty
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  Speaker 1: nine for an introduction to what's been said on the
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  Speaker 1: podcast here about that very important topic of election and faith. Well,
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  Speaker 1: we spend our very best years at work. We desperately
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  Speaker 1: want to believe that all that effort, all those hours
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  Speaker 1: that daily grind, all of it matters. Secretly, most of
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  Speaker 1: us are asking, am I wasting my life away right now?
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  Speaker 1: Is the work I'm doing truly what God intended for
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  Speaker 1: my life? Maybe there's something better. I'd send me a
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  Speaker 1: sign to know what to do next time. Stop waiting
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  Speaker 1: for that sign. I'm Tony Riggi. Will see you on
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  Speaker 1: Thursday