Beyond the Reach of God
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Have you ever had something escape you, because it was just out of your reach? I would guess we’ve all experienced this in multiple ways. I think about athletics, and how the ball or the puck can be just beyond the reach of the player. This can be the play that decides the game!
Maybe you took a fall, and it happened partly because when you reached out to hold something and steady yourself, it was just out of your reach. Maybe you have dropped a dish, and because it was beyond your grasp, it fell and broke.
This idea can also be applied more figuratively. We might say that a job promotion is just beyond our reach. Or we might try to call or text someone about something, but we were unable to “reach” them. In all these examples, when something good is just beyond our reach, we often think back to that critical moment with regret! We remember how close it was, and we think of all the difficulty and pain that would have been avoided if that thing had not been beyond our reach.
As I said, I think we have all experienced this situation in one form or another. That is part of being human and finite. But did you know that in a sense, God also experiences this sort of thing? There are things that, in a way, are beyond His reach as well. And when that is true, it brings an infinite amount of regret. In a just a few moments, we will consider what it means to be beyond the reach of God.
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Good morning, and welcome to Truth for Today, a weekly radio ministry of Bible Baptist Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. My name is Ethan Custer, and I serve as the assistant under Pastor Mike Custer, the regular host of this broadcast. We at Bible Baptist Church desire to be a spiritual blessing to you however we can. Our building is located west of I-29 at 6367 Gateway Drive in Grand Forks. We meet several times each week to worship God, and our purpose in life is to obey and please the Lord Jesus Christ in all that we do. Our source of truth and guide for living is the Authorized King James Bible, the Word of God in the English language. In it He offers solutions for every one of life’s problems! If we can help you in any way, please let us know. We desire to have that opportunity. I’ll be giving our contact information at the end of the broadcast, so I hope you’ll stick around.
Probably every one of us knows what it means to have something beyond our reach. That is why helping each other is so important, because what is beyond my reach may not be beyond yours, and vice versa. We can be spared a lot of regret if we’ll help one another.
We are accustomed to things being beyond our reach, because we are flawed and limited people. But God shouldn’t have that problem, should He? There is nothing is beyond His reach, is there?
Consider the power of God displayed in the words of Jesus Christ in John chapter 10.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.
When a person is forgiven of their sins by God the Father and is given the gift of eternal life, they are God’s child FOREVER! It is impossible to lose your salvation. Once you are saved, you are always saved. Christ tells us that the saved—His sheep—are in the Father’s hand, and nothing can take them out. God is all-powerful, and He is fully capable of guaranteeing your eternal destiny! Do you know Christ as your Saviour today? If so, you may rejoice in having received the guarantee of a home in Heaven.
However, even while God has all power and is able to keep a sinner’s salvation eternally secure, Scripture reveals a condition that we might say is beyond the reach of God. There is something even God cannot fix; there are people even God cannot reach! As we examine this idea, I hope that you will listen carefully, and allow God’s Holy Spirit to show you truth. If you are in this condition today, I hope you will be honest with yourself about it. Otherwise, you will remain out of the reach of God.
First, I want us to consider a very sad declaration that Jesus Christ made to the Jews of His day. We read Christ’s words in Matthew 23.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
As we’ll read later, these verses follow a lengthy, exhaustive excoriation by the Lord toward religious Jews. But in these last verses, His tone changes from reproach and anger, to regret and grief. It is such a sad statement on what might have been, and what would be instead.
Remember, Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is fully God, Who was sent to earth to live as a man among sinners. He is sinless, and He shed His blood and died for sinners, rising again from the dead after three days, so that sinners could trade their sin for His righteousness, and be pardoned by God and receive the gift of eternal life. Jesus Christ is the Creator, according to John chapter 1. He is omnipotent, which means He has all power. There is nothing too hard for God, as we read in Jeremiah 32:37, which says:
Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?
With these things being true, how could Jesus Christ express such regret, as though He was unable to bring about good results? We regret circumstances where the good outcome was just beyond our reach. But the Son of God is speaking in very similar terms here! Is there something that is beyond His reach…beyond the reach of God? What does this mean?
To help us gain some perspective on these verses, let’s go to the Old Testament.
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save;
Neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God,
And your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
This is an important detail to note! Through the prophet Isaiah, God is making it clear that HE is unchanged. He is still infinite—He is infinitely knowledgeable, infinitely powerful, and infinitely loving. He is infinitely holy, and infinitely just. He has not changed, and never will. Malachi 3:6 says, “For I am the Lord, I change not...” However, there is a limiting factor.
God has not changed, and His power has not been diminished, but there is still separation between sinners and God. Though God is all-powerful, it is possible for sinners to be beyond His reach. It is possible for God’s help to be unavailable, for God’s love to be distant, and for God’s forgiveness to be powerless to pardon you. And the reason this is possible is sin.
You might say, “How can sin be the reason for this? Everyone sins, and many people are still going to Heaven. Why does God forgive some sinners, but not others?” This is a good question, and it is one that Scripture answers for us.
First, we must understand that salvation does not come through works that we accomplish. Salvation only comes through the work of God.
Jesus, in speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well, said this:
Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
The Bible is clear that we cannot save ourselves. If we could, then Jesus Christ died on the cross in vain. Why would we need to come to the Father through Christ, if there was another way of salvation, through our own works?
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Salvation is God’s work, and in that work, He forgives us and cleanses us from the filth of our sin. That is the blessing of forgiveness—we don’t have to pay the penalty that we justly deserve as a result of our sin! With this being true, how can our sin put us out of the reach of God?
Could it be that the severity of our sin puts us out of the reach of God? Or perhaps it is the frequency of our sin? Yet the apostle Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
Paul, speaking of himself, writes this to Timothy!
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.
So Paul first describes many kinds of heinous sin, and says that the saved people in the church at Corinth used to be those kinds of sinners, but they had been forgiven and cleansed by God through Christ. And then he says in 1 Timothy that he is the chief of sinners, but that he also has been forgiven because of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. So if horrible sinners, and even the chief of sinners can be saved, how is sin the reason that a person may be beyond the reach of God? If sin could put us beyond the reach of God, wouldn’t it have been true of these individuals?
So far, we’ve talked about how sin brings death, but life comes through Jesus Christ. We’ve talked about how salvation is the gift of God, not the result of man’s works. We’ve talked about how forgiveness of sins can apply to all kinds of sinners. But there is one thing we haven’t yet talked about, and that is how the gift of God is applied to one’s life.
Romans 10:8-13 says this: “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Salvation is God’s work. We cannot do it; we cannot earn it. Salvation can only come because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross. However, although sinners cannot do God’s work, sinners can refuse God’s work. Did you hear the prerequisite to salvation that was mentioned in these verses? That prerequisite is faith. Salvation cannot be earned by us, but it can be refused by us…because it must be accepted by us. And we accept it through faith.
All gifts are this way. Others may try to give you gifts at your birthday or at Christmas, but those gifts don’t become yours unless you accept them. God offers us the gift of salvation in its completeness. We cannot complete or finish the work of salvation, but we may reject His gift of salvation. We reject it by refusing to believe what God has said, and by refusing to believe in what He has done. And as long as we refuse to put our trust in God’s Word and in Christ’s shed blood, we put ourselves beyond the reach of God.
Earlier, we read the regretful and mournful words of Christ, as He spoke on what might have been, had the Jews of His day allowed Him to save them and help them. It was their unbelief that put them beyond God’s reach. Listen as I read what Christ spoke in the verses preceding this in Matthew 23.
And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
There is a lot there, but I hope you were able to follow the Lord’s train of thought. He began this passage by comparing the outcome of those who exalt themselves, to those who humble themselves. He then immediately begins condemning the religious practices of the scribes and Pharisees.
Think of the Jewish scribes as being experts on the Scriptures. Since there were no printing presses, the scribes copied the Scriptures by hand. They knew it better than just about anyone! The Pharisees were the religious leaders. We might call them the clergy, and they were occupied with pious living, and directing others how to live according to God’s Word. However, both the scribes and the Pharisees had a major problem: their heart was not right with God.
The Lord Jesus Christ began this passage by revealing the hypocrisy and pride of the scribes and Pharisees. They held the people to a higher standard than they held themselves. They pretended to be unselfish and sacrificial, when they were actually greedy and cruel. They focused on superficial and minor areas of religion, and neglected deeper and more important areas of worship to God.
As Christ goes on, He begins to get to the real issue: that issue was the unbelief of these men. We find this beginning in verse 29.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
The history of the nation of Israel is dotted with their wicked and violent behavior toward prophets—the men sent by God to preach truth to the people. Too often, the wicked and idolatrous Jews would not want to hear God’s Word to them, and so they would take their anger out on the prophet, often by killing him, or at least imprisoning him. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day were quick to condemn that past behavior, and claim that they would not have persecuted the prophets if they had lived in that time! Yet the only begotten Son of God was walking and preaching and healing among them, and all they could do was look for ways to discredit and destroy Him.
What was the deepest problem with these Pharisees? Was it their hypocrisy? Was it their greed, or their pride? No, the biggest problem was their unbelief. They refused to believe that God was at work among them, and that Christ is the Son of God. They refused to believe in the truth He preached, and in the supernatural works He was doing. They refused to repent of their sin and humble themselves before God, trusting in Christ alone for salvation. They refused. And so Christ said in regret and grief, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
Friend, God isn’t stopped by the power of your sins. There is no sin that can overpower God! God is not repulsed by your wickedness. His love is greater than all the corruption our sin can possibly bring! Instead, God is stopped by our unbelief. He has given us the freedom to choose to believe in Him and accept salvation, or choose to reject Him. He has given us that choice. Because we have that choice, He has chosen to limit Himself when we reject Him. He is strong enough to overpower us, but He gives us the option to either accept His gift of salvation or reject it, and He will not overstep those boundaries. When we refuse to trust in God’s mercy and grace to save us, and we refuse to believe that Christ can and will cleanse our sins in His blood, we are putting ourselves beyond the reach of God. The unlimited cleansing power of Christ’s sinless blood cannot reach us. God desires to save us, and wants for us to be His children, but we prevent Him making us so when we refuse to put our faith in Christ alone for salvation.
Listen again to Isaiah 59:1-4.
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save;
Neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God,
And your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
For your hands are defiled with blood,
And your fingers with iniquity;
Your lips have spoken lies,
Your tongue hath muttered perverseness.
None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth:
They trust in vanity, and speak lies;
They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
Do you see where the blame is laid here? “YOUR iniquities have separated between you and your God, and YOUR sins have hid his face from you...” “None calleth for justice…they trust in vanity, and speak lies...”
We are sinners, and sinners sin often. But there is a way for sinners to be forgiven and delivered from their sin. But that way is ONLY available through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Just like the Pharisees, there are many pious, devout people who do not believe in Christ alone…and those people are not children of God. They are not going to Heaven. Like the scribes, there are many people today who are experts and scholars in the Scriptures, but they have never put their faith in only Jesus Christ for salvation…and they are without forgiveness and eternal life.
Just like in the first century A.D., God is desiring to save sinners. He desires to shelter and protect His people. It is His desire…is it yours? Christ said, “How often would I have gathered…and ye would not!” What a sad statement—that God was ready to reach out and bless sinners, and they refused Him!
Have you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation? If so, when did you do it? It doesn’t happen automatically, or by accident. It is a purposeful choice. Salvation is described by Jesus as a new birth, and like our physical birth, it happens at a moment in time. When was the moment you were saved and given eternal life by God? If it hasn’t happened yet, won’t you trust God? He desires to save you. Don’t put yourself beyond His reach.
If you have any questions about this broadcast or about other truths from the Bible, we at Bible Baptist Church would be glad to visit with you! You may contact us in a number of ways. First, you may contact me via email by writing to truthfortoday@bbcgf.org. You may also find our website at www.bbcgf.org. Bible Baptist Church is located at 6367 Gateway Drive in Grand Forks, and we have regular Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening services. You are welcome to attend any of them. If you would rather watch the livestream of our services, or if you would like to watch archives of past services, you may find them on our website as well.
Thank you for listening today! Please tune in again next week at this same time for more truth from God’s Word, on Truth for Today.