Does God Refuse to Forgive Some People?

Does God refuse to forgive some of you for God's eyes or to Then the righteous will answer, Jesus, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you?

And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the king will answer them, Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. Sister, you are, as I just said, precious in the eyes of the Lord Jesus.

You are one of His. If you've trusted in Him, and I pray, I mean, the church ought to, just as the Good Shepherd pursues the sheep and goes after them, the church ought to pursue you. And so as you're reaching out to these churches, maybe local in your area, if they're not responding, well, that's a terrible thing and maybe a sign that that's just not the right place.

And so I would encourage you to continue to seek out Bible teaching, believing churches. And may the Lord open those doors for you, sister. Let's pray for Miss Glover right now, that the Lord would comfort her in this time and be with her. Father, would you please minister to our dear sister? Lord Jesus, I give you thanks that you love her, that you care for her. I pray that she would have a sense of your special love and care for her. I pray that you would send people, Lord, to her, to her home, who believe and teach the truth, who can encourage her and minister to her and open up the scriptures with her. Would you please, Lord, be with our sister and encourage her and give her a sense of your presence and get her folded in, Lord, to a solid worshiping community. And I just ask, Lord, that you would surround her with good and godly friends. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

Man, that is tragic to hear her story, isn't it? Yeah, you know, I was just thinking, Bill, part of it, this is where the cults will often come in and swoop an individual up because the church is not willing to engage, to go into someone's home, to open up the scriptures, and then you get a knock on the door and it's the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormon missionaries or that kind of a thing. We have to be proactive, and especially in terms of caring for those who are a part of the body of Christ, who have professed faith, who have been baptized, but they can't come to church.

You know, maybe they're bedridden or sick or just homebound for whatever reason. It's our job as Christians to go in and care for them and to visit them, as Jesus said there in Matthew 25, and we will be held accountable for how we cared for our brothers and sisters in the faith. And so may the Lord be with our sister, and may the Lord be with the churches in her area that they might minister to her as well. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone lines are open if you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, theology, whatever you'd like to ask Adriel. Here's the phone number to call. It's 1-833-843-2673.

That's 833-THE-CORE. By the way, in a day when a lot of young people in our country and even not so young people are choosing to live together rather than get married, you might wonder what does the Bible have to say about the marriage, about marriage, the purpose of marriage, the goal of marriage, the design? Well, we have an excellent new resource that tackles that exact topic, and we'd love to get that in your hands. Yeah, the resource is called Why Would Anyone Get Married?

And it's sort of an interesting question, but it's one that people are asking today. It seems like more and more, you know, you do have cohabitation and people just thinking, what's the point? You know, why do I have to go and get married?

Why do that? Pledge yourself to another person for life. Doesn't that just seem boring?

You know, I've heard these things before. It's really important for us to recover the biblical teaching on marriage and the beauty of marriage, the dignity of marriage. There's a lot in here about marriage, also about just intimacy and some of the struggles there with married couples and ways to grow in our relationship.

So get this resource. Again, it's called Why Would Anyone Get Married? over at corechristianity.com. We'll make it available to you for a gift of any amount. You can find it by going to corechristianity.com forward slash offers.

Again, it's called Why Would Anyone Get Married? We have a lot of great resources, by the way, on our website, many of which you can take advantage of right now. So check it out, corechristianity.com. Let's go to voicemail we received from one of our listeners. This is from Viola. Pastor Sanchez, I love the way you answer questions and show compassion for those asking.

God bless you, Bill Meyer and all your staff. My question is from Mark 4-12, the second part where Jesus says, Lest at any time they should be converted and their sins be forgiven them. I'm puzzled because I thought it is God's desire that none should perish. But here it seems Jesus is saying otherwise. Please explain.

Thank you. Yeah, this is really a rebuke to the religious leaders. The very ones, you know, thinking of that question from Miss Glover, the very ones who were neglecting the poor and the needy, they were hypocrites. They were hypocrites and they were blind, blind by their sins.

So they didn't recognize that Jesus was the Christ. Now, of course, this is a quotation from the book of Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6. And essentially what you have here is God's condemnation of hypocritical, unbelieving religion, people who just sort of go through the motions of religion while rejecting the gospel, hating their neighbor, hating God, really. I mean, the religious leaders hated Jesus himself. And this is clear throughout the gospels.

And so what do we have going on here? I mean, he says, you know, he's answering a question the disciples ask, you know, why are you speaking in parables? He said to them, to you it has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those who are outside, everything is in parable. So that indeed they may see, but not perceive, may indeed hear, but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.

The ax was laid at the root. You know, John the Baptist says God's judgment was coming on these wicked priests and religious leaders. And God had reserved them for that judgment, for that punishment because of their persistent unbelief and rejection of the gospel. And you do see examples of this throughout the Bible.

It's one of the most sobering things, something that you're not going to hear preached a lot of places. But brothers and sisters, we just need to listen to what the scriptures say. I think of one example that has always struck me is found in the book of 1 Samuel, where you have this priest Eli with his sons who are exceedingly wicked, doing all sorts of evil.

In 1 Samuel chapter 2, beginning in verse 22, it says Eli was very old, but he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And he said to them, why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. No, my sons, it is no good report that I hear from the people of the Lord that is spreading abroad. If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him. But if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him? But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.

Wow. Talk about just a sobering passage. This is right in line with what Peter said in 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 9, where he says that the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. That was the religious leaders about whom Jesus was speaking, those blind guides as he describes them elsewhere in the gospel. That's why he says what he says there in Mark chapter 4, sister. The truth here, the takeaway is that God's judgment is serious, and especially on church leaders, ministry leaders, who reject the truth of the gospel and are just sort of peddling religion for their own gain, taking advantage of the sheep, abusing the sheep, so on and so forth.

There is a judgment that's coming. God knows how to deliver the righteous out of temptation, but to reserve the unjust for punishment for the day of judgment. That's what was taking place in 1 Samuel 2.

That's what's described in 2 Peter 2 right there, and I think that's what was happening in Mark chapter 4. God bless. Great question, and thanks for that response, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Just a reminder that you can call us right now for the next eight or nine minutes or so. We'll take your calls, 833-843-2673.

Let's go to Jason in Wichita, Kansas. Jason, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Well, like today, I was reading in 1 Samuel, I see that the, I believe it was right when Saul, when Saul became king, it says that the Spirit of God came powerfully upon Saul, and I have kind of an idea, but maybe this is the Holy Spirit. I just wanted to know if you could explain that to me, what that exactly means.

Hey, Jason, thank you for that question. Yeah, so the Spirit of God did come powerfully upon various individuals in the Old Testament under the Old Covenant, men like Saul. You know, the Spirit of God comes upon him and he prophesies. You think of the prophets in the Old Testament as well.

You think of the judges. Think of an individual like Samson. Oftentimes, the Spirit of God was associated with those priestly figures in the Old Testament, with the prophets, and even with the kings.

They would be anointed as a sign of God's presence, God's Spirit. And so that is, I would say, yes, the Holy Spirit coming upon Saul at various points in his life in order to give him this sort of supernatural revelation, this unction, so that he might prophesy. It's the same thing that happened with Samson when the Spirit of God would come upon him at certain periods in order to grant him this supernatural strength. It was God working in and through these figures in the Old Testament, in particular the prophets, the priests, and the kings. Now, what's so interesting is when we get to the New Covenant in the New Testament, we have the promise that God's Spirit is going to be democratized. That means it's not just going to be coming upon and filling the kings in Israel and the priests and the prophets. Now, all of God's covenant people are going to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And this was prophesied in Joel chapter 2, and it was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. And it's something Jesus himself foretold when he was in the upper room with his disciples as he was preparing them for his departure.

He says to them in John chapter 14 verse 15, If you love me, you will keep my commandments, and I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. Now, that's, I think, a distinctive promise of the New Covenant. The Spirit is not just going to be, you know, alongside of you, coming upon you. He is going to live inside of you. You're going to be sealed with the Holy Spirit, which is what the Apostle Paul says to the Ephesians. And so, really, I mean, we're thinking here about the way in which God's Spirit has worked throughout redemptive history.

And He has worked in unique ways, coming upon the prophets and the priests in the Old Testament, but sealing believers under the New Covenant, filling us, the whole church family, everyone, men, women, young, old, by the Spirit through the work of Jesus Christ. Jason, thank you for your question. God bless.

This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Sean in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Sean, what's your question?

Hi. My girlfriend had a miscarriage a few years back. And I just, my pastor said, I'm not going to see him in heaven because he wasn't baptized. And I just, I need someone to tell me that I'm going to see him again. Sean, thank you for that call. And I'm so sorry about the loss of your baby.

May Jesus comfort you with the grace of His Spirit. You know, sometimes people are afraid to say, because we're speculating here, I don't know if I can give you a firm assurance about whether or not you're going to see your child. I believe, Sean, that when you're in the presence of the Lord, when we're in the presence of the Lord in heaven, that those children who have died in infancy through miscarriages, that they're in the presence of God, that they do belong to Him. And one passage of scripture that I would go to is you think of what happened with King David when King David's child died. And David had been praying that the baby had grown sick.

He knew that the baby might die. He's asking the Lord to heal his son, and it just doesn't happen. And the baby dies, and the baby dies prior to receiving the covenant sign.

The covenant sign was given, you know, on the eighth day. The baby dies prior to receiving the covenant sign, then of circumcision. And yet David still says, I will go to my son.

He's not going to come to me, but I will go to him. Now, he could just be referring to death, go to the grave, but I think that there was this hope that he had that he would go to see this child, that one day they would be reunited. And that was prior to receiving the covenant sign of circumcision, or giving the covenant sign of circumcision to the child. And the reason I bring that up is because baptism in the New Testament, Sean, is a sort of fulfillment of what we have in the Old Testament with circumcision.

They're both signs of entrance into the covenant family, the visible church, if you will. But not being baptized doesn't mean an individual who wasn't able to be baptized for whatever reason is eternally condemned. Think of the thief on the cross when Jesus is speaking to him.

He says, today you're going to be with me in paradise. Well, the thief on the cross had never been baptized, and so I don't think it's proper for your pastor to have said that, especially when we have those examples like the one I mentioned with King David's son who had not received the covenant sign of circumcision and still the hope that he would go and see him. And ultimately, here's where you have to put your confidence in. It's not in, oh man, I didn't have my baby baptized. You put your confidence in the mercy of Jesus. You entrust your baby in the hands, the nail-pierced hands of Christ, who is full of compassion, full of mercy, full of love for you and your family, Sean.

And so I would say, brother, set your eyes on Jesus. Rest in him. He knows all things. He knew that this was going to happen.

It didn't surprise him. Each one of our days are marked out for us, even before there are any. Think of what the psalmist says. You've knit me together in my mother's womb.

God knew all of these things, and God is good and merciful. And he calls you to set your eyes on him, to rest in him. And I do believe that you have hope, brother, that when you're in the presence of the Lord, there will be a reunion of sorts. But ultimately, the hope that you have is just the glory of being in the presence of the Lord, who is full of mercy and grace for his people, for you, Sean. And so God bless you. Thank you for calling, and may the Lord grant you his peace. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Just a reminder, we have this excellent booklet available to you if you're married, if you're single, if you have young adult children or grandchildren who are considering marriage. This is such an excellent resource.

It's called Why Would Anyone Get Married? And you can find out more about that by going to corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Let's go to the phones. Kevin is on the line from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Kevin, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Yes, thanks for taking my call. The Lord led me to a couple of verses in the Bible yesterday, and one was in Acts 9, where Paul is lowered down the wall, and then he goes to Jerusalem and then tries to get with the apostles, and then they kind of reject him, and then Barnabas kind of, you know, vouches for him, and then they kind of accept him. But in Galatians, Paul claims before God that he did not go to Jerusalem, and he did not confer with the apostles. He wanted to make the point that man did not lead me, that God is leading me, and I didn't go for three years. I didn't go to Jerusalem for three years. So which one of those verses should we trust in?

Yeah. Hey, Kevin, thank you for that. Of course, when the Apostle Paul, in the book of Galatians, is talking about not going to the apostles and Jerusalem, what he's trying to highlight here is that he received the gospel directly from the Lord himself through a revelation, the revelation that he had on the Damascus Road. And so what he's trying to do in the book of Galatians, what he is doing is he's bolstering his apostolic authority, the gospel that he received not from men or through men, but from God himself. And then he goes on to say in chapter 2 of the book of Galatians that he did go to Jerusalem.

After 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them, though privately before those who seemed influential, the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles in order to make sure that I was not running or had not run in vain. In other words, the whole point that he's making in the book of Galatians is my gospel, this wasn't something that, it's not derivative. It didn't come from the guys in Jerusalem. God gave it directly to me, but when I went to Jerusalem, I went to make sure that we were on the same page, that the gospel that I was preaching, the gospel that the apostles in Jerusalem were proclaiming and preaching weren't two different gospels, that we were in agreement.

And indeed, that's exactly what happened. They realize that we are indeed on the same page. And he goes on to say in verse 7 of chapter 2, On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised, he goes on to say, For he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised, worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles. And when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave me the right hand of fellowship.

And so he's highlighting the fact that, look, this gospel that we proclaim, the truth of the Christian faith, wasn't invented by man, it was given to us through revelation, and the early church had unity around that message, the message of the gospel. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar. Or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.