The Ends of the Earth

Oct 19, 2011 by desiringvirtue

First published September 10, 2009

“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” (Isaiah 45:22)

A couple nights ago Richard and I were reading Spurgeon’s sermon Sovereignty and Salvation. This was the third time I had read it and I plan on reading it again (many more times). Yes, it is that good, but really which Spurgeon sermon isn’t? The text he was teaching from was the verse from Isaiah quoted above. He first explains how the Lord brings glory to himself by proving time and time again that there is no other God besides himself. Idols have fallen and monarchies fail, but the One true God still stands. He then goes on to explain how simple the act of turning to the Lord is. God has made salvation as simple as looking to him and yet it is the hardest thing for a man to do. To do so means that you must acknowledge that the Lord is your only hope of salvation and that your eternity rests in his hands and not your own.

Toward the end of his sermon he addresses the who of this verse. Who does the Lord offer this salvation to; who can simply turn to the Lord, the only Lord, and find salvation to quench his thirsty soul? God says, “all the ends of the earth.” Spurgeon acknowledges that this certainly applies to the farthest, and most remote person on the face of our planet. We can surely go to them and tell them to simply turn to the Lord and be saved and they can be! Praise God that the Gospel is universal and meets the deepest needs of every nation, tribe, and tongue. But Spurgeon didn’t just stop there. He goes on to explain:

…I think “the ends of the earth” imply those who have gone the farthest away from Christ. I say, drunkard, that means you. You have been staggering back, till you have got right to the ends of the earth… you cannot be much worse. There is not a man breathing who is much worse than you. Is there? Ah! but God, in order to humble your pride, says to you, “Look unto me, and be ye saved.” There is another who has lived a lie e of infamy and sin, until she has ruined herself, and even Satan seems to sweep her out at the back door; but God says, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” Methinks I see one trembling here and saying, “Ah, I have not been one of these, sir, but I have been something worse; for I have attended the house of God, and I have stifled convictions, and put off all thoughts of Jesus, and now I think he will never have mercy on me.” You are one of them. “Ends of the earth!” So long as I find any who feel like that I can tell them that they are “the ends of the earth.”

His point of course is that God loves to take the vilest, most repulsive sinners, the ones farthest from himself and give them salvation. He loves to take them from their addictions, lusts, pain, or hypocrisy and bring them into a right relationship with him. He loves to change them and make them into something beautiful, something lovely, something full of joy and purpose. If we know this about our God, it should change the way we preach the gospel. There is no end to the Lord’s mercy; there is no height to his love for sinners. Who are we to say who is beyond the Lord’s salvation? The Lord has made it very clear that even “the ends of the earth” can be saved when they simply turn to him. Therefore we must offer him to every person no matter how far they are from the Lord. We must plead to every soul as Spurgeon concludes:

O, taste and see that the Lord is good! Now believe on him; now cast thy guilty soul upon his righteousness; now plunge thy black soul into the bath of his blood; now put thy naked soul at the door of the wardrobe of his righteousness; now seat thy famished soul at the feast of plenty.

No brother, sister, friend, uncle, aunt, cousin, mom, dad, grandparent, stranger, or co-worker is too far from the Lord to receive his mercy. You are not too far away. Look to him and be saved.

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