Anchored in Truth™ Striving Not to Build 'Great' Churches, but 'True' Churches

2/20/2010

Posted By Ken Askew

Text: Malachi 4:1-2

Our accountability to God is an awesome obligation.  We are accountable to a just judge who has the right to determine the criteria for the judged.  There will be a day of reckoning; a theme that is oft neglected today.  Perhaps we neglect this truth because we are too busy coming up with new schemes to keep people coming through our front doors to make up for the ones who are leaving by the rear.  It resembles a Ponzi scheme at times.  But where there is no fear of God, there is no contrition or repentance.  And where there is no repentance, there is no salvation.

Two points from the text:  The destruction of the wicked is announced and the deliverance of the righteous is assured.

The Destruction of the Wicked Announced

There will come a time when the judge of all men will pour out his wrath on the wicked and unrighteous.  As a reminder, propitiation presupposes that God is just and man is guilty before this just judge.  Propitiation is found in the atonement of Christ.  It is by Christ’s atonement that the holy just Judge can and does cry out, “I am satisfied.”

The doctrine of hell forces us to wrestle with questions relating to the atonement of Christ.  The Universalists and the Arminians are consistent on the front end; they both believe that in the death of Christ, the claims of holy justice were satisfied for all men in all ages.  They part company though at the end  of the argument.  Universalists say that because Christ has satisfied the claims, that all me are going to be saved.  The Arminian would argue with the Universalist that the only way that the death of Christ is of any benefit to any man is if he believes in the lord Jesus Christ.  True enough; none who do not believe will be benefited from Christ’s death.

The Universalists and Arminians both have a problem.  How could a just God require double payment; once by Christ and once by a hell-bound sinner?  The Arminian tries to get off the horns of the theological dilemma by arguing that the death of Christ is sufficient for all but efficient only for believers.  But when we view the atonement in light of God’s eternal purpose and degree and fulfillment of God’s eternal plan, it is not a matter of sufficiency; it is a matter of efficiency.  Did Christ accomplish God’s will?  Was the atonement real or hypothetical?  “I like a ransom that sets captives free.”  “I like propitiation that satisfies.”  Matthew Henry says, “There is enough sufficiency in the blood of Jesus to save as many worlds of sinners as there are sinners in the world.”  That’s a lot of sufficiency!  But the question is whether the wrath of God as been satisfied for the non-elect; the lost.  The answer is no.

The recipients of the wrath of God are the stubble from our text and they will be “set ablaze.”  They are the proud and wicked.  Is there any stubble amongst us?  We number 16 million as Southern Baptists, but few populate our pews in worship.  Literally, one out of four Southern Baptists are missing completely; unaccounted for and not to be found.  The results of the wrath of God on the souls of unrighteous men; they shall be stubble.  The destruction and wrath of God is everlasting.  It is not simply “non-existence” as some would claim.  The wicked are going to be destroyed.

The Deliverance of the Righteous

There is coming a day when the lame man will leap for joy like a newborn calf let out of the barn for the first time.

Speaking from his wheel chair, Brother David told us that a day was coming when we’d have to give way and make room as he leaps physically.  All the while though, the Son has liberated his soul already; set free and delivered by the Son.
Truth Matters articles are available online at www.truthmatters.us.  Comments may be sent to kenaskew@me.com.