Nevertheless not all have the same knowledge, and some are given more light than others through the communication of the gospel. To reject the gospel is a far greater sin than to reject the light of nature. It is impossible for men and women to reject gospel light without hardening their hearts to a very extreme degree. They reject an offer of mercy from the Lord which is utterly undeserved, and which constitutes his stretching out his hand to those who deserve to be judged immediately. To insult such kindness is to insult his last and final message to the soul. What can they expect next from the Lord? They have rejected an offer of mercy that in itself was far more than they deserved, or could possibly have expected.
God has put himself in the position of one who pleads with those who have offended against him. Because he knows that they will never come to him as they should, and plead for their own souls, he has come out to them. He has, as it were, reversed roles with them in his great longsuffering. This reaching out to the lost is itself an act of unfathomable grace, even if they do not respond to his offer. It is like a king who comes to rebel subjects, and pleads with them to submit to his rule. Why should he bother to do that? It is no advantage to that king if his subject do the sensible thing and lay down their arms, and it is no advantage to God if we humble ourselves and come to him for pardon.
This act of humiliation on God’s part risks being badly misinterpreted. By doing this, the Lord is in danger of being totally misunderstood, as if he was weak and unable to judge us. The wicked have never seen anyone else behaving in this way when the other party is in the right, when their opponent is quite capable of inflicting a blow which will despatch them to oblivion. They judge God by themselves. They themselves would never come like this to an enemy, and plead with him to behave reasonably for his own sake, and to act in his own interest and lay down his weapons. Since they would never behave in this way, they cannot believe that God is genuine when he does this. There must be some hidden reason why he behaves in such a way. Suspicion takes over because grace is interpreted as weakness. Grace is so much beyond the experience of the wicked that they cannot recognise it or believe it is real when they see it in others. How badly the lost misread God’s offer of mercy! God, who is the offended party, has acted as if it was in his interest to have us give up our rebellion against him, but the truth is that it is very costly for him to exercise grace towards sinners. It would be much easier for him to simply despatch us to hell in a moment. To save us, he must not only pardon our sin, and overcome our resistance, but he must then spend a lifetime working in our hearts to sanctify us and patiently teach us to obey him. When God comes out to the wicked to plead with them, it is a genuine offer, and because it is genuine, the insult is greater when it is pushed away.
We can understand how great is the evil of rejecting the gospel, when we think about how human beings behave in this situation. The Lord Jesus puts it so simply. This, he says, is no different to the practice of masters on earth, for every master requires more of a servant who has been more carefully trained, given more responsibility, offered a greater reward. They expect greater things from them in return. That opportunity is a privilege which the servant does not deserve, and he ought to recognise that. The master demands less of one who has not been given the same opportunities.