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Part 5
What more could God do than he did do to take away sin?
He gave his only begotten Son; Christ gave himself, that whosoever would
believe on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He pledges
himself to every soul who will believe, that he shall not perish. The
word does not read, as too often it is misread, God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might
not perish, but have everlasting life. No such thing. The next verse has
the "might" in it: "God sent not his Son into the
world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be
saved." It may be, too. When God gave his Son, in that gift
he established the eternal possibility that every soul in this world
might be saved. But there is where the "might" is. There is
where the "maybe" is. Because, whether any one is saved,
depends upon what he chooses. The Lord will not save us in spite of
ourselves. He has made it possible, in the gift of Christ, for every one
of us to be saved. It depends upon us whether we choose the salvation
that he has given; whether we will take the cross, and adopt the means,
that will make it certain to us.
But when one has chosen Christ, and believes in him,
there is no "maybe" about it any more. It shall be,
then. Then the verse comes in where the shall is, and
reads: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not [not, "might
not"] perish, but have everlasting life." Believing in Jesus
Christ takes away all the "maybe" that there ever was in it,
and makes it an eternal shall be. So, then, to every soul who
believes in Jesus, God says, I pledge myself that you "shall not
perish." To every soul in this world, wicked as he may be, God’s
message is that the has made the provision, he has established the
thing, and so firmly fixed it that just as certainly as a soul believes
in Jesus Christ, that soul "shall not perish." That is
a good offer. It is infinitely fair, and infinitely generous. It’s as
fair and generous as is God.
Destruction
of sin is the only way of salvation.
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