God's promise does not say, "Everyone will be saved." It says, "Everyone who calls upon the Name of the Lord will be saved" (Acts 2:21). When we hear Peter's words as an urgent call to faith, we need not fear that, by emphasizing the call for decision, we are preaching a man-centred Gospel, which fails to magnify the grace of God. Many people refuse the grace of God. They persist with the idea that somehow, by their own good works, they might possibly save themselves. Their lack of a believing response to the Gospel does not change that the fact that the God of grace will hear and answer their prayer should they find it in their heart to pray, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner" (Luke 18:13).
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