WHAT ABOUT NONBELIEVERS?
Matthew
25:31-46
Matthew
25:31-32: “When the Son of Man comes in
His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His throne in heavenly
glory. All the nations will be gathered
before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates
the sheep from the goats.”
Ten year olds wonder about heaven. Climbing the stairs to their second floor fifth
grade classroom, Missy announced, “I’m going to heaven.”
Scotty yelled up from the stair bottom, “Yeah, God is
good!”
Brian said, “Everyone’s going to heaven.”
Missy shook her head, disputing, “I don’t think that’s
true.”
Brad agreed with Missy, “Yeah, No one who doesn’t believe
in Jesus can go to heaven.”
Cassie offered, “Everyone I know believes in Jesus.”
Brian disagreed, “I don’t believe in Jesus. But I believe that God is too good to allow
anyone He created to go to hell—if there is such a place.”
Missy and Brad said together, “Hell’s for real, Brian!”
Many people agree with Brian, though. God is love.
He wants everyone to live in heaven with Him (John 3:16, 1 Timothy
2:4). But many refuse to turn away from
sin. They reject belief in Jesus and His
offer of salvation. They live without
Jesus on earth. So God gives them what
they want: existing apart from Jesus forever.
That’s the total expression of free will. God loves everyone He created. And He loves us so much that we get to choose
whether we love Him—or not.
Missy added as thy entered their classroom, “Jesus gets
to judge who goes where.”
Missy is correct (Matthew 28:18). Everyone will spend eternity somewhere. And everyone gets to choose where they spend
eternity. There are two choices: heaven
or hell. People’s choices on how to live
and in whom to believe usually show others their eternal destination.
The “I didn’t get the memo!” excuse won’t work for people
entering eternal punishment. God does
everything possible to keep people from hell, EXCEPT violate their free
will. He provides everyone enough time
and evidence of His existence for them to decide what to believe while
alive.
Take
Home Nugget
But there are also believers in Christ who’re not sure
they’re really saved. They remember things
they did that they don’t think God will forgive. Hebrews 8:12 reminds us about God’s new
covenant [in Christ]: “For I will forgive their wickedness and remember their
sins no more.” See the lesson linked
below for how to have salvation assurance.
Will you take me to heaven if I’m not too
bad?
Will you really forgive the awful things
I did?
Heavenly Father, Jesus makes me very
glad
That He forgave and uncovered each sin I
hid!
J.D.
Griffith
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