I.        INTRODUCTION

A.      The gospel of Christ is the good news of God.  It is the best news that sinners will ever hear.

B.      However, the gospel can also be the worse news for sinners if they reject its message of salvation.

II.      GOD’S MERCY FOR SINNERS

A.      God is filled with abundant mercy for those who sin in ignorant unbelief.

                                                             1.      Notice Paul’s words concerning himself in 1Timothy 1:12-16:

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor.  Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.  It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.  Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.

                                                             2.      Paul’s point is that no one’s sins have exceeded his, so if God’s mercy was sufficient for his salvation, then it is also sufficient to save any person who has sinned in ignorant unbelief.

a.       Paul persecuted the church of Christ and thereby persecuted Christ Himself (Acts 9:4).  Even so, Paul received mercy from the Lord.

b.       Notice that Paul received mercy because he acted in ignorance.  He did not know what he was doing.  Likewise, God is merciful toward all sinners who act in ignorance.

B.      God sends His word to convict sinners of their sins so that they may be saved.  The gospel is an open invitation to all sinners calling them to repentance and God’s forgiveness.

                                                             1.      Christ gave the great commission of His word to the apostles in Mark 16:15-16 – "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.  He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.”

                                                             2.      The message of Christ’s gospel is effective for the salvation of all who hear it.  Paul said, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘But the righteous man shall live by faith.’” (Rom. 1:16-17).

                                                             3.      The word of God, the gospel of Christ, takes away man’s ignorance concerning God.

a.       Once we have heard the gospel truth, ignorance will no longer reign over us.

b.       Notice Acts 17:30-31 – "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

III.   THOSE WHO REJECT THE GOSPEL

A.      While those who accept God’s word by faith and obedience obtain God’s mercy and forgiveness, those who reject the gospel reject their only hope of salvation.

                                                             1.      When Christ sent His twelve disciples on a limited commission to the Jews only, He gave them instructions concerning those who rejected the message of the kingdom of heaven.

a.       Matthew 10:14-15 – "Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.  Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.”

b.       Notice that when the people of a city rejected the message of Christ, they made themselves worse than Sodom and Gomorrah.

i.         Sodom and Gomorrah are the historical standard of wickedness.  It is universally understood that the men of those evil cities will stand condemned in the day of judgment, and yet they are more tolerable than those who reject the gospel.

ii.        Shaking the dust off their feet was a way for the disciples to give a testimony about a disobedient city.  Even the dust of their ground was considered unworthy of the Lord.

                                                             2.      Years later when other disciples of Christ were carrying out His great commission, they still followed His directions for those who rejected the gospel.

a.       Consider the example of Paul and Barnabas at Antioch of Pisidia in Acts 13:45-51:

But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming.  Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.  For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth.’”  When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.  And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region.  But the Jews incited the devout women of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.  But they shook off the dust of their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium.

b.       This example shows that by rejecting the gospel, men reject their only hope for eternal life.  There is no other gospel (Gal. 1:6-9), and there is no other Savior (Acts 4:12).

c.        This also shows that the Lord’s ministers cannot dwell on those who reject the gospel.  They have to move on and take the gospel to others who have not heard.

                                                             3.      Those who reject the gospel not only lose their chance for salvation, but they also seal their condemnation.  Those "who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus…will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2Thess. 1:8-9).

B.      Those who are faithful for a time but later reject the gospel also give up their salvation.

                                                             1.      Such persons fall away from God and cannot be saved again as long as they reject the gospel. Notice Hebrews 6:4-6:

For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

                                                             2.      They also forfeit the mercy of God and His redeeming sacrifice, for they do not act in ignorance but in willful defiance and rebellion.  Consider Hebrews 10:26-29:

For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.  Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

                                                             3.      Their end is worse than their beginning, for rather than being guilty of sinful ignorance, they are guilty of sinful disobedience and contempt.  Notice 2Peter 2:20-22:

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.  For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.  It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

IV.    CONCLUSION

A.      If you are among those who have acted ignorantly in unbelief, then learn the truth from the gospel of Christ, obey His commandments, and receive the merciful forgiveness of God.

B.      If you are among those who have rejected the gospel, then realize that you have rejected your only hope of salvation and eternal life and change your mind and your life.

C.      If you are among those who have once obeyed the gospel but later fell away from the Lord, then repent and return to the Lord while you can.