Question – How could a God who is merciful and loving send someone like Gandhi to suffer terribly for all eternity in hell while if Hitler confessed his sins on his deathbed he’d spend eternity in heaven basking in God’s glory?

A couple of observation right up front. First – I would NOT say that the confession of sin on one’s deathbed leads to spending eternity basking in God’s glory. I think it is natural to confess your sins on your death bed – it happens all the time – everyone knows they have sinned and its unacceptable to God. However, confession of sin is NOT, in and of itself, saving – it does not make us right with God. Faith in the person and work of Jesus does. Confession to God is good:

1 John 1:9 (NIV)
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

but faith in the only One who can save is needed. We can be on our death bed, confess our sin but die in rebellion:

Acts 20:21 (NIV) – Paul speaking
I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

John 3:36 (NIV)
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”

John 11:25-26 (NIV)
Jesus said to [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; ²⁶ and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”

Now, perhaps this IS what was intended when the question speaks of Hitler confessing his sin. So, let me rephrase the question – How could a God who is merciful and loving send a very “good”, but Jesus-rejecting person, like Gandhi, to suffer terribly for all eternity in hell while, at the same time, if the Holy Spirit crushes Hitler such that Hitler understands his horrible, god-defying life and he in true, and complete helplessness turns to Jesus and his death as his ONLY hope for peace with God – Hitler is saved and Gandhi is not?

Here is the reality – God is completely fair. Each of us will spend eternity living on the object of our hope. So, we can hope in humanity, we can hope in Muhammad, we can hope in religiosity, we can hope in a cosmic oneness, we can hope in how caring or sensitive we are, or we can hope in the One who defeated death and sin on the cross. We ALL hope in something or someone because we ALL know we are sinful and that there is more to life than this life.

Jesus killed the power of sin on the cross for everyone who would trust him, and one day God will absolutely destroy every remnant of sin. Jesus can be your covering, Jesus can see you through the judgment.

We, however, tend to think humanly – its not right for God to save those who are great sinners AND its not right for God to leave someone who is admired for their “good” and “kind” intentions.

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We see that the profit Jonah had this very problem. God sent him to the capital of the Assyrian empire – Nineveh. Nineveh was a huge city of evil and godlessness and a hated enemy of everyone they had not defeated. The book of the prophet Nahum is consumed with the message of judgment and destruction for Nineveh. Nahum calls Nineveh the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder – never without victims. In the O.T. see that God called Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell them that God’s judgment was on the way unless they repent – and they did – and God had mercy – and Jonah lost it.

Jonah 4:1-3 (NIV)
But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

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Two thousand years ago, for the average Jew, the tax collector was on the top of the people-we-hate list. The tax collector was often a Jewish person who worked for the hated Romans. The tax collector could take more than the Roman requirement as “profit”. The tax collector was seen as a traitor amongst the people, unclean as a person because of contact and allegiance with the gentiles, and shunned by anyone who was anyone. Matthew, a disciple of Jesus, was a tax collector.

Luke 18:9-14 (NIV)
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men-robbers, evildoers, adulterers-or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Matthew 21:31b (NIV) – Jesus speaking to the chief priests and elders of the people
…”I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.

No one is EVER saved while they hang on to their own merit. Reliance on self is incompatible with reliance on Jesus – they are mutually exclusive.

1 Timothy 1:15-16 (NIV)
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

God saves the worst of sinners so that we can see the power of the cross. God saves the worst of sinners so we will understand this is God can save and is merciful – come repent and believe on Jesus the One who died so that you don’t have too.

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“Ten years into my prison sentence, feeling despondent and without hope, I was walking the prison yard on a cold winter’s night when an inmate named Rick came up to me. He introduced himself and began to tell me that Jesus Christ loved me and wanted to forgive me. Although I knew he meant well I mocked him because I didn’t think God would ever forgive me or want anything to do with me.

Still Rick persisted, and we soon became friends. We often walked the yard together, and little by little he told me about his life and what he believed Jesus had done for him. He kept reminding me that no matter what we had done, Christ stood ready to forgive if we were willing to turn from the bad things we were doing and put our full faith and trust in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross – dying for our sins.

Rick gave me a Gideon’s Pocket Testament and asked me to read the Psalms, which I did every night. It was during those times that the Lord quietly and gently melted my stone-cold heart.

One night as I was reading Psalm 34 I came upon verse 6, which says, “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.” At that very moment in 1987 everything seemed to hit me all at once – the guilt from what I had done, the disgust at what I had become – and I began to pour out my heart to God. In my cold cell on that dark night I got down on my knees and cried out to Jesus Christ.

I told Him I was sick and tired of doing evil. I asked Him to forgive me for all my sins. I spent a good while on my knees praying to Him and when I got up it felt as if the very heavy but invisible chain that had been around me for so many years was now broken. A peace flooded over me . I did not understand what was happening, but in my heart I knew that my life was going to be different.” – “Son of Hope”, David Berkowitz, 365 years in prison for a series of murders in New York between 1976-1977.

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So what does a horrible, sinful person look like when God saves?

John Newton was born in 1725 and was the captain of a slave ship. He transported thousands of slaves and no doubt was directly connected to the deaths of too many to count. A common practice on slave vessels, for example, was to kill those who would threaten the health of the “cargo”. Those who were found with disease would simply be thrown overboard. In doing this the ship would also be lighter and faster. A faster trip meant less cargo lost and more money.

God saw fit to rescue John Newton from his deep and horrible sin.

As God was working despair in Newton’s life he also brought the answer. The Holy Spirit worked through Luke 11:13.

Luke 11:13 (NIV)
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

John Newton went on to write hundreds of hymns and was important to William Wilberforce as he fought against the slave trade in England. He was known for his tender, loving care of children and his church.

One of the hymns that Newton wrote was Amazing Grace – Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

The death of Jesus for sinners is a death for those who need saving. Jesus saves those who are desperate for salvation. Jesus did not come to save those who believe they merit God’s kindness. He came to save the desperate.

Do you see yourself as a good person this morning? I’d like to pray for you – that God would open your eyes so you can see how lost you are and that you might cling to the One who can save you.

Are you a desperate and sinful person? God will save you. Repent of your sin and embrace Jesus as your only hope for life.