The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed by Lorraine Hannaford of Ontario, Canada from the tape, GC 1301-L, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 14."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE. ©1980. All Rights Reserved.

Question

I’ve been considered a newborn Christian for a very short time, say about six months, and I have a lot of knowledge to learn, I guess like everybody else. I have a hard time answering a friend's question.  I tell him how just God is and how He gives you all the chances, and He’s forgiving and loving and all of this for anybody. And [my friend] doesn’t feel he’ll ever deserve the right [to be forgiven].  But when it comes to the point where I just say, that he deserves the right to be a Christian, to go to heaven and have eternal life, then he says, "Well, if [God is] that just and still that liberal, what if Satan were to [seek], the same thing, would He give it to him?

Answer

I would just say this. If somebody says that they’re not worthy, seize on that. Because they’ve just made the greatest recognition possible. When somebody says, "I’m not worthy" you grab that and say, “You’re right!” “You are right!” That’s the whole point. And then when they say, "Well, but how can God do that and be just? If He’s so just how can he forgive me?" right? That’s what he’s saying? "If He’s so righteous and so just..." and the answer to that is, because He was so just, he had to take all your sin and pay for it Himself, in order to free Himself from the binding of his own justice to forgive you.

In other words there had to be a penalty paid. People say well, if God’s so just how can he forgive? That’s not the issue. God is so just that in order to forgive he had to pay the penalty himself. And that’s the key thing. And if a person cannot understand the graciousness and the love of a God who not only wants to redeem an unworthy soul, but wants so much to redeem that unworthy soul that He Himself takes on the penalty; if they can’t understand that kind of love, then his eyes are still blinded, and you need to pray for the Spirit of God to give him understanding.

He’s saying, "But will he accept the devil in the end." That isn’t the point, the point is him. Don’t let him get you off on something. People, whenever they talk about salvation or anything, they want to get philosophical about it, when they’re really not ready to deal with it. So he’s not ready yet. You just be there and hang in there and when God’s timing is right, boy, it’ll click, it’ll click. When the Lord opens a heart, that’s the way it is.

You know I always think about Acts 16, where you see Lydia, and I love it: Paul arrives and the Bible says, "...and the Lord opened her heart." Just like a flower to the gospel. And all she had to do was hear the message and she just took it in. So we do the best we can in presenting Christ, we don’t let people get off on philosophical arguments, just keep driving the point right back to the person. "What about you? Lucifer isn’t the issue with you. You’re the issue, with you. What about you? You’re not going to have to answer for the devil, but you are going to have to answer for you."

And by the way, the Bible says He didn’t die for the devil anyway. He died for the sins of men, not angels.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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