Who Deserves Forgiveness?

Romans 6:23, 1 Timothy 2:3

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If you’ve ever darkened the door of a Sunday school classroom before you’ve probably heard of a guy by the name of Jonah. You know the guy that got swallowed by the big whale? Swallowed by the whale, inside of it for three days, and then vomited up onto the shore, I mean it’s such a memorable story, isn’t it? I want you to think about that story today and to think about what Jonah was supposed to do and why he didn’t want to go.

If you remember Jonah was supposed to go to the city called Nineveh. It was filled with heathen people, unbelievers from a different country, who had been persecuting the Jewish people as well. And God had told him to go and preach repentance there lest he bring his judgment against that city and destroy it.

Jonah didn’t want to go. He hopped on a boat heading in the opposite direction and that’s where he ran into the whale. But why didn’t he want to go? We might think that Jonah didn’t want to go because he was afraid of what would happen to him. What would they do to this strange preacher coming into their city? How would they mistreat him? How would they laugh at him or make fun of him? Those weren’t any of Jonah’s concerns. Rather the reason he didn’t want to go, the real reason was because he was afraid that the people would listen.

He didn’t want them to hear God’s word to repent of their sins and to be spared the judgment. Do we sometimes have that same mentality when it comes to people in our own lives? Or people we come in contact with? Kind of thinking that they’re just too bad they don’t deserve God’s good news of salvation. Rather they only deserve punishment for their sins.

Well what is it that we do deserve? Romans Chapter 6 it tells us “the wages of sin is death.” Yes they do deserve death and punishment for their sins but so do we. Thanks be to God though that he didn’t merely want to destroy people but he is a God of love and grace even for us. He tells us this in 1 Timothy chapter 2 versus 3 and 4 where he says this.

God our Savior wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.(1 Timothy 2:3)

He doesn’t want anybody to die in their sins. He doesn’t want anybody to have to face the judgment afraid but rather he wants all people to be saved. All people to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. When you think about those people in your own lives the people that maybe don’t deserve God’s grace. It’s especially for them that Jesus came as he came for us too who don’t deserve God’s grace.

So let us not be hesitant but share freely the good news of salvation to all sinners that we have a God of love who wants all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Amen.