Universalism #4 - The Universalistic Approach To Repentance

Universalism #3 - The Universalistic Approach To The Nature of God

Universalism #2 - The Universalistic Approach To Redemption

Universalism #1 - Its History

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In our last post we visited the Garden of Eden and mentioned the character and nature of God, which Universalists ten to twist. Let’s revist and consider the first false statement that the Serpent told Eve, which still echoes today in the doctrine of Universalism.

After asking Eve to clarify what God said, Satan’s first response back to her was, “You will not surely die” (Gen 3:4). According to Universalists we will not die - all will live in heaven. The leaven of that lie from Satan is still weaving itself through past and present history - and it weaken our need to trust Christ. Therefore we must understand the Biblical view of repentance, salvation, and faith.

The Bible clearly demonstrates that the first word of the gospel is ‘repent’, and the second is to ‘believe’ (Mark 1:15). The New Testament’s message is simply ‘repent and believe’.

John’s first message was that of repentance (Matt 3:1-8). The first message of the Saviour, Jesus Christ was to repent (Matt 4:17). Likewise, the apostles preached repentance (Matt 6:7-13). The first message on the day of Pentecost was to repent (Acts 2:3 and Paul’s first message was to repent (Acts 20:20-21). Why would the message of repentance be so predominately pushed in the New Testament, if, as the Universalist’s say, all men unbeknownst to the them are saved anyway. As we saw earlier, the push of the Universalist is to quote extensively the scriptures that say all men will be drawn to Christ. However, I have never seen a comment on Acts 17:30,

“Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the righteousness by the man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

All men are called to repent. All men are called, but not all will respond. This is what the Universalist fails to recognise. Gary Hand on his website ‘On Doctrine’ says this of the beliefs of Carlton Pearson, who is becoming more and more the spokesman for this ‘movement’. The theories that Pearson puts forward in his article ‘Jesus: The Saviour of the World’ seem somewhat at odds with the words of the New Testament, including the verse just mentioned in Acts;

1. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross and His resurrection paid the price for all of humanity to have eternal life in heaven, without any requirement to repent of sins and receive salvation.
2. Belief in Jesus Christ is not necessary for a person to go to heaven. Salvation is unconditional, granted by the grace of God to every human being.
3. It is presumed that all of humanity will have its destination in heaven, whether they realize it or not
4. All of humanity will go to heaven regardless of their religious affiliation, including those who believe in false religions or adopt any other form of religious persuasion, who who have no religious persuasion.
5. Only those who have ‘tasted the fruits’ of real intimacy with Christ and have ‘intentionally and consciously rejected’ the grace of God will spend eternity seperated from God
6. There are persons in some type of hell, but the emphasis is ‘to get away from the picture of an angry, intolerant God.

All of these points that Universalists adhere to are in direct contradiction to the very essence of scripture. My friend and mentor, Kevin Conner once told me that Genesis 1 to 3 are about the creation and fall of man, while the rest of the Bible is about God reaching out to a rebellious mankind through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. Only few will accept. If Carlton Pearson and the underlying beliefs of Universalists in relation to Jesus Christ, salvation and the eternal states are true then all Christ did on the Cross is null, void, and put to shame. It is a mockery of the worst kind.

According to the beliefs outlined in Universalism the following is not truly needed for all will end up in heaven;

1. The confession of sin

 

Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom Jehovah does not charge iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. I confessed my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgression to Jehovah; and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah. (Psa 32:1,2,5 MKJV)

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

2. A Godly sorrow for sin

Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner. (2 Cor 7:9)

3. The forsaking and turning away from sin

He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy (Prov 28:13)

4. The hatred of sin

Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in our own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. (Ezekiel 26:31)

Even with a cursory glance at the above four or five scriptures one can see that the requirement for salvation is acceptance of Christ before death. Eric Landstrom in his article ‘All the All’s All Covered’ writes, despite the urgings of universalists, a systematic look through the Bible in its entirety reveals that there is not one verse that shows:

1) The sins of the wicked being forgiven in the after life.
2) The wicked repenting in the after life.
3) The wicked accepting Jesus Christ in the after life.
4) The wicked avoiding judgment in the after life.
5) The wicked having sin “conditioned” out of them in the after life.
6) The wicked getting out of the lake of fire.
7) The wicked getting their names written back into the book of life.
Nor can we find anywhere that God repents of His judgment on the wicked in the afterlife or that His judgment is anything short of final and fixed for all eternity.

Under universalism, the neccesity of repentance is downplayed and the cross is cheapened to some cosmic salvation for all. The scriptures clearly teach that repentance of sin, belief in Christ and a turning from sin is required as evidence of salvation. A careful search and understanding of the scripture show that it is not some automatic destiny that has been written out because of God’s kindness, as Universalism would have us believe. Repentance is a necessary qualification for salvation in Christ.