January 30: What about unbelievers?

Steve Smartt is pastor of Moultrie Baptist Church in St. Augustine.

It never even occurred to me as a young person who grew up hearing the Gospel, that judgment for sin resulting in eternal damnation would not be a reality. In fact, I was so convinced of that inevitable truth that there probably wasn’t a day that passed beyond my conversion that I did not seek the forgiveness of God for the sins of that day in fear of His wrath.

I have since come to realize in Scripture that grace is deep and salvation is secure for those who have placed their trust in Christ alone. Still, I am grieved that the reality of an eternal hell is sure for those who reject Christ and choose to live their lives under their own rebellious authority. There is no matter of argument that could possibly be convincing enough to deny God’s wrath being finalized in the judgment of eternal death for those who reject Him.

This matter surfaced a few years back in our neighboring convention to the north. The Georgia Baptist Convention was faced with the disturbing reality that one of the presidents of their colleges being funded through the Cooperative Program was promoting a doctrine of universal salvation. In other words, this president of a Southern Baptist college was asserting that eventually all would be saved regardless of how they responded to Christ in this life. At the time, I was serving on the staff of Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga., where Nelson Price had a strong and established pastoral ministry of conservative theology. The convention messengers appointed him to chair the committee that would investigate and pursue correction and reconciliation. Looking back, I applaud both the convention and the committee under the leadership of Dr. Price for their stand against this heresy. For as we see in this week’s study, all who reject Christ shall not be saved and will certainly face God’s wrath throughout eternity.

We closed last week’s study with a very sharp word of caution through the parable of the ten minas to those who live in this rebellion. Referring to those who rejected the nobleman’s coronation as king, Jesus says that the man responded, “But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me” (Luke 19:27). If this parable is to be seen for its allegorical application where Jesus is the nobleman, we are the servants, and the unbelievers are those who reject his kingship, how can anyone question the intensity of God’s wrath stored up for those who reject Him?

Now we again follow a parable of Christ with allegorical overtones. He begins by explaining how the owner of a vineyard leased his land to tenants who abused the messengers sent to collect what was owed to him. Their rebellion was a statement against the authority of the landowner (20:8-12).

When the landowner sent his own son to collect the debt, the depth of their corruption led them to anticipate finally overthrowing the owner’s authority by killing his son. “So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him” (15). Jesus then presents the question and provides the answer: “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others” (15-16).

Anyone who will not accept God’s authority over them by refusing to accept salvation through Christ will experience the judgment of God in His wrath. For that reason, we who do believe must understand the gravity of this certain condemnation that they bring upon themselves, and never grow weary in proclaiming the identity of the Son.