by Brad Jolly

I heard an author one day being interviewed.  He was talking about how the triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is full of love and acceptance and looks past our sin because it was dealt with by Jesus. It sounded ok at first,  but the more he spoke his message became very clear about his belief system.  According to this author’s viewpoint, everyone is a child of God and their sins are fully taken care of so that there is no condemnation for anyone.  The problem with this belief system is that it does not line up with the truth of the scripture.  Not everyone is saved.  The only way for a person to be saved (forgiven of their sins and be declared righteous before God) is to place their faith, or trust, in Christ as their Savior.

In Romans 3:21-26, the Bible tells us:

21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago.

22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.

25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past,

26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

God makes it very clear that the only way to come into a relationship with him (“made right with him”) is when we place our faith in Christ (v.25).  This involves us coming to the realization that we are sinners separated from a holy God and that we need Christ to save us based on his payment for our sins in our place on the cross.  This change of mind of realizing this truth and turning to Christ is repentance.  The author completely bypasses repentance as a requirement for faith.  If we are sick but don’t think we’re really sick, we will never go to the doctor to be made better.  The same is true spiritually.  If we don’t see our sin and the inseparable gulf between us and a holy God, we will never come to him to receive His salvation.  Only when we realize that we are in a bad place due to our sin and incapable of doing anything to fix it, that’s when we will come to Jesus to save us.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me”.  John 14:6

Despite this author’s message of universal love and acceptance from God, the truth is that only by grace through faith in Christ can someone be saved.

Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Not everyone is or will be saved, despite the fact that Christ paid for everyone’s sins completely.  Only those who receive Him by faith (John 1:12) enter into a relationship with Him and receive forgiveness, righteousness, and are made a new creation in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17).