Hopelessly Lost?
Articles by Dave Brown and Kenny Chumbley
There are two articles on this page, both of them on the subject of being hopelessly lost. The first deals with perception and reality; the second with the fact that our sinfulness can get to the point where it is irreversible. Both are very sobering and well worth the time spent reading them, especially if you are concerned about you own personal salvation.
Hopeless Because of Our Own Perceptions
by Dave Brown
Losing something is such a disgusting experience. It is such a waste of time to have to find it. And there is always that prospect that we may never find it, so it is extremely difficult to know just when to give up the search and to declare it hopelessly lost, and get on with life.
When would you say that something is hopelessly lost? Of course, if you give up looking for it, then there is not much hope of finding it except by luck (which often happens). But what is it in the sequence of events that will lead to your giving up the search? – let’s track the process. The general exercise is one that we know all too well. For example, a purchase receipt. We thought we put it down in either the normal place (if there is one) or in a place where we would obviously find it. But when we need it to exercise the guarantee we look in the expected spots, they it is just not there. So we think – “where could I have put them?” We retrace your steps and ask: “where did I have it last?” You look for it as systematically as you can from one place you were to another. It is certainly not hopelessly lost at this point. You resolve not to give up. So you keep on. Soon you forget that systematic approach, and you start searching everyplace you can think of at random. And you still cannot find it. This is getting very frustrating, but it is not yet hopeless.
As long as you have not searched in the place where the receipt actually is to this point, there is still hope of finding it. But what happens if you are convinced that you searched for it “up on the shelf” so you know they are not there, and so you stop looking there and go to other locations to search. But, suppose it actually is up on the shelf. You did not realize that when you put it on some books up on the shelf that subsequently to that, it fell down behind the books (maybe the wind or the cat did it, it does not really matter). So, there is absolutely no reason for you to ever go back again to look on the shelf.
We have now defined what it means for an object to be hopelessly lost. There is absolutely no way that it can be found because your are totally convinced that you have looked in that spot, and you are totally convinced that it is not there. Again, the exception might hold and you might just inadvertently find them sometime when you decide to clear all of the books off perhaps to clean the shelf. But until then, it will continue to be hopelessly lost.
Stated as a definition, an object is not hopelessly lost until you are totally convinced that you have searched for it in the place where it actually is, and you have resolved that it would be a waste of time to search for it there again (perhaps subconsciously). The receipt is hopelessly lost, and after a few hours you determine it is best to just try to turn it in without the receipt, or you give up worrying about it altogether and just keep it.
Can we apply this to the spiritual concept of lost as given in the bible? The following are two examples from the lips of Jesus:
Matt 18:11-13 – the story of the lost sheep:
“(For the Son of man came to save that which was lost.) How think ye? if any man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and go unto the mountains, and seek that which goes astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety and nine which have not gone astray.”
Luke 15:22-24 – the story of the prodigal son:
“But the father said to his servants, Bring forth quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring the fatted calf, (and) kill it, and let us eat, and make merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.”
While the word “found” appears in these stories, it is very clear that the opposite of lost in the New Testament is not as much “found” as it is “saved.” The person who is not saved is considered to be lost, and the concept of being saved from this lost condition might be comparable to being rescued from a fire. It is not that the firemen have to find the person inside – they know where he is – it is that the conditions he is in is so bad that people must risk their lives to save him.
Now let us turn our consideration to what it takes to be saved as opposed to being hopelessly lost spiritually. The New Testament is about very little other than how to become saved, and how to remain saved. This is encapsulated in Romans 1:16-17: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith.”
The gospel (New Testament) contains the information that we need to know to understand what salvation is all about. It is not something that we can figure out for ourselves (that would be a righteousness devised by man – man’s righteousness). What is revealed in the gospel is a system of righteousness devised by God (a “righteousness of God” – vs. 17). This is a way of life – the way of the cross, which seems foolish to the world. 1 Corinthians 1:21: “For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe.”
There can be no doubt that this is where salvation is to be found, and that we are lost until we find it. That the lost person needs to seek and find salvation is stated in Hebrews 11:6: “And without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing (unto him); for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and (that) he is a rewarder of them that seek after Him.” Note that there are two conditions stated here, the second explaining the what the first means; i.e., if you have saving faith you will seek after God.
Does this seeking after God ever stop? Can we say at some point: “I have found God, and so I am saved, and there is nothing else I need to seek?” If someone believes that such an attitude is consistent with God’s word, then they need to tell us where in the bible they can find such a concept. Obviously this seeking after God is something that we will want to do for the rest of our lives. This is consistent with the passage above from Romans 1 where it says “the righteous shall live by faith.” This is a quote from Habakkuk 2:4, and if you look it up you will see that this prophet of God was rebuking the children of Israel for taking comfort in their past rituals as opposed to living by what they professed to believe.
Let us consider a portion of what the commentator Barnes stated about Habakkuk 2:4:
In this was the good and bad of Israel. Ex 4:31: "The people believed." Ex 14:31: "They believed the Lord and His servant Moses." Ps 106:12: "Then believed they His word, they sang His praise." This contrariwise was their blame Deut 1:32: "In this ye did not believe the Lord." Deut 9:23: "Ye rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and believed Him not, nor hearkened to His voice." Ps 106:21,24: "They forgot God their Savior; they despised the pleasant land, they believed not His word." And God asks, Num 14:11, "How long will it be, ere this people belove Me, for all the signs which I have shown among them?" Ps 78:21-22: "Anger came upon Israel, because they believed not in God, and in His salvation trusted not."
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Clearly they believed at one point, but their rejection of God’s commands was a sure sign that they no longer believed, and they were punished accordingly (Heb. 2:2-3).
So can a person become hopelessly lost? Not without his own consent. Because as long as this person continues to seek after God, he has the promise of God that he will ultimately be saved. Luke 11:9: “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” If we do not find it, the truth of God’s word compels us to face the fact that we are not actually seeking it.
But suppose for a moment that he does stop seeking it? Suppose he has been convinced by someone that there is another way other than that given in the gospel. He stops seeking, thinking he has found the truth. But while the receipt he has found appears to be for his product, they will not be accepted at the exchange counter. That receipt is hopelessly lost at this point. Paul was so upset at this prospect that he proclaimed in Galatians 1:8-9:
“But though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema . As we have said before, so say I now again, if any man preacheth unto you any gospel other than that which ye received, let him be anathema.” That gospel – the legitimate gospel – is that which we have in the New Testament. It is easily found and easily understood (Eph. 3:5). And there is no way that we can throw away 99% of it and expect that one verse will save us.
When a person sincerely believes that he is saved when in fact he is not, then this person will no longer seek after God, and therefor there is no hope for him to ever be saved in that state. His only hope is to get back into God’s word and learn what is necessary for salvation.
I will gladly stand corrected if I am wrong, but the only place I have found where the bible tells us how to obtain saving faith is Romans 10:17: “So faith (cometh) of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” This is a profound statement that is validated (see Romans 12:2), which says that it is proven to ourselves and within ourselves to be true. For as we continue to study God’s word we begin to see its sublimity – the fact that it is impossible for it to have been conceived of, or written by, any man or group of men. And it does not require a cadre or priests to tell us what it means – we can understand it.
But that can never be recognized by those who are so convinced that they have found the truth that they stop studying and learning it. Or, from those who feel no reason to give the word of Christ a second thought. Indeed they may have an imaginary faith – but that imaginary faith can no more save them (James 2:14-26) than imaginary food can feed us or imaginary water can quench our thirst.
Hopelessly lost. What a terrible thought.
What are the conditions of salvation given by Jesus?
The Prairie Papers No. 131
Nancy’s Text
by Kenny Chumbley
[email protected]
“and there was no strength in him” -- 1 Samuel 28.20
[This second article, by Kenny Chumbley, brings out a different scriptural principle that should concern every one of us. For, while anyone can subject himself or herself to Jesus and be saved according to His Way, the longer we “sear our consciences as with a hot iron” (1 Tim. 4:2), the harder it is for us to bring ourselves to repentance. Is there a point at which this is impossible? It seems reasonable that when a given individual gives up all thought of turning to the Lord, he has in all practicality reached this state of hopelessness. But it is not irreversible.]
In Oliver Twist, Nancy is the girlfriend of the brutal Bill Sikes and part of the inner group of petty thieves and human debris clustered around the conniving Fagin. She is a prostitute with a heart of gold, who tries to protect Oliver from the life of crime planned for him by Fagin. But above all, she is a tragedy—a fictional representation of the terrible, deadly impotence that can seize the soul and destroy hope.
To help Oliver, Nancy realizes she must betray Fagin and Sikes, which will place her in extreme jeopardy. Nevertheless, she arranges for a secret meeting with two of Oliver’s benefactors. When they hear her story, they urge her to break free of the alley and gutter not return to Sikes. Even more, they offer to financially enable her to start a new life anywhere she would like to live.
But to their gracious offers she replies, “You can do nothing to help me. I am past all hope, indeed. . . . I am chained to my old life. I loathe and hate it now, but I cannot leave it. I must have gone too far to turn back.”
And so, she returns to Sikes. When he learns what she has done, he is outraged. Despite Nancy’s protestations of love and pleas for mercy, he beats her face “with all the force he could summon.” As she staggers and falls to her knees, her face covered with blood, he seizes a club and bashes her into a hideous, lifeless mass.
In 1 Samuel 28, King Saul, abandoned by God, seeks out a medium in the bizarre hope that he’ll be able to communicate with his deceased mentor, Samuel. Through God’s intervention, Saul does speak with Samuel, who tells him that within twenty-four hours he would be dead (1 Sam. 28:19).
It always puzzled me why Saul didn’t spend his last day on earth repenting, pleading for mercy, and vowing to do God’s will. However, what Saul did was to return to the battlefield where he was mortally wounded, fell on his sword, and died. When the Philistines found his body, they desecrated it, severing the head and nailing the remains to the wall of Bethshan.
What I now understand is that Saul didn’t respond to Samuel’s warning because he was past response. He is the classic example of the terrible effect sin has on the soul. We cannot put our self beyond the reach of God’s grace (Romans 5:20-21), but we can put our self beyond the point of responding to God’s grace (Rom. 6.16): “Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves (as) servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” [These are words written to the saved at Rome, not to those who had never known the Lord. This truth applies to all of us.]
We can, as Nancy realized, go too far to turn back. Prolonged sin, persistent sin, in the end, robs us of our conscience, good sense, and will. And to me, this is scariest thing about sin—it’s ability to drain me of my humanity to where I am completely insensible to the mortal/eternal peril I am in. In the Old Testament story, Saul’s lack of strength is assigned to the fact that he hadn’t eaten. Morally, his lack of strength was in allowing sin to chain him to his old life to where he refused to leave it.
If you’ve struggled with full-grown sin (James 1:13-15), or the “overflowing of wickedness” (James 1:21), such as an addiction or a hardened heart, you know firsthand how sin can grip the intellect and emotions. If you’ve stood by helplessly, and watched with a broken heart, as sin destroyed a parent, spouse, child, sibling, or friend, you know how Satan can batter one with all the force he can summon. In Oliver Twist, Nancy quotes no scripture, but she illustrates scripture.
I close with these insightful words from Barclay, “Sin begets sin. The first time we do a wrong thing we may do it with a hesitation, and a tremor and a shudder. The second time we do it, it is easier; and if we go on doing it, it becomes effortless; sin loses its terror.”
When sin loses its terror, we may have gone too far to turn back.
Kenny Chumbley
[email protected]
[To me one of the most fearful verses in the New Testament is 2 Peter 2:9: "the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment; ..." The bible teaches that Christians can be saved from any sin if they repent and seek forgiveness (1 Jn. 1:9). And, those of the world can submit themselves to the gospel and be saved by the blood of Jesus (Romans 1:16-17). But the more that men entrench themselves in sin, the less likely that it will be for them to have the will to change their ways and yield themselves to Jesus Christ.
Along with King Saul, Judas Iscariot is another example of hopelessness. What a tremendous illustration of God’s grace he could have been had he just found it within himself to go back and follow the Man that he knew was the Son of God. Peter and Paul were at one time equally as guilty as Judas, but they found it in their hearts to repent and ultimately become servants of Jesus. Romans 6:17-18: “But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered; and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness.” Did becoming “obedient from the heart to that form of teaching” make you abandon being a servant of sin? If not, it surely can.
If you have not surrendered your life to Jesus, could God be keeping you under punishment until the day of judgment? If you were saved and faithful at one point and then turned back to the world, could God be keeping you under punishment until the day of judgment? It is indeed a very scary thought to contemplate that you would be classified by God as being “unrighteous.” The solution is to wait not one more second to yield yourself to God’s plan of salvation today, and to obtain the strength that you need to overcome sin. 1 Corinthians 10:13: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it.” Do not let your life get to the point of hopelessness.] – comments by Dave Brown
What are the conditions of salvation given by Jesus?
Hopeless Because of Our Own Perceptions
by Dave Brown
Losing something is such a disgusting experience. It is such a waste of time to have to find it. And there is always that prospect that we may never find it, so it is extremely difficult to know just when to give up the search and to declare it hopelessly lost, and get on with life.
When would you say that something is hopelessly lost? Of course, if you give up looking for it, then there is not much hope of finding it except by luck (which often happens). But what is it in the sequence of events that will lead to your giving up the search? – let’s track the process. The general exercise is one that we know all too well. For example, a purchase receipt. We thought we put it down in either the normal place (if there is one) or in a place where we would obviously find it. But when we need it to exercise the guarantee we look in the expected spots, they it is just not there. So we think – “where could I have put them?” We retrace your steps and ask: “where did I have it last?” You look for it as systematically as you can from one place you were to another. It is certainly not hopelessly lost at this point. You resolve not to give up. So you keep on. Soon you forget that systematic approach, and you start searching everyplace you can think of at random. And you still cannot find it. This is getting very frustrating, but it is not yet hopeless.
As long as you have not searched in the place where the receipt actually is to this point, there is still hope of finding it. But what happens if you are convinced that you searched for it “up on the shelf” so you know they are not there, and so you stop looking there and go to other locations to search. But, suppose it actually is up on the shelf. You did not realize that when you put it on some books up on the shelf that subsequently to that, it fell down behind the books (maybe the wind or the cat did it, it does not really matter). So, there is absolutely no reason for you to ever go back again to look on the shelf.
We have now defined what it means for an object to be hopelessly lost. There is absolutely no way that it can be found because your are totally convinced that you have looked in that spot, and you are totally convinced that it is not there. Again, the exception might hold and you might just inadvertently find them sometime when you decide to clear all of the books off perhaps to clean the shelf. But until then, it will continue to be hopelessly lost.
Stated as a definition, an object is not hopelessly lost until you are totally convinced that you have searched for it in the place where it actually is, and you have resolved that it would be a waste of time to search for it there again (perhaps subconsciously). The receipt is hopelessly lost, and after a few hours you determine it is best to just try to turn it in without the receipt, or you give up worrying about it altogether and just keep it.
Can we apply this to the spiritual concept of lost as given in the bible? The following are two examples from the lips of Jesus:
Matt 18:11-13 – the story of the lost sheep:
“(For the Son of man came to save that which was lost.) How think ye? if any man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and go unto the mountains, and seek that which goes astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety and nine which have not gone astray.”
Luke 15:22-24 – the story of the prodigal son:
“But the father said to his servants, Bring forth quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring the fatted calf, (and) kill it, and let us eat, and make merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.”
While the word “found” appears in these stories, it is very clear that the opposite of lost in the New Testament is not as much “found” as it is “saved.” The person who is not saved is considered to be lost, and the concept of being saved from this lost condition might be comparable to being rescued from a fire. It is not that the firemen have to find the person inside – they know where he is – it is that the conditions he is in is so bad that people must risk their lives to save him.
Now let us turn our consideration to what it takes to be saved as opposed to being hopelessly lost spiritually. The New Testament is about very little other than how to become saved, and how to remain saved. This is encapsulated in Romans 1:16-17: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith.”
The gospel (New Testament) contains the information that we need to know to understand what salvation is all about. It is not something that we can figure out for ourselves (that would be a righteousness devised by man – man’s righteousness). What is revealed in the gospel is a system of righteousness devised by God (a “righteousness of God” – vs. 17). This is a way of life – the way of the cross, which seems foolish to the world. 1 Corinthians 1:21: “For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe.”
There can be no doubt that this is where salvation is to be found, and that we are lost until we find it. That the lost person needs to seek and find salvation is stated in Hebrews 11:6: “And without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing (unto him); for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and (that) he is a rewarder of them that seek after Him.” Note that there are two conditions stated here, the second explaining the what the first means; i.e., if you have saving faith you will seek after God.
Does this seeking after God ever stop? Can we say at some point: “I have found God, and so I am saved, and there is nothing else I need to seek?” If someone believes that such an attitude is consistent with God’s word, then they need to tell us where in the bible they can find such a concept. Obviously this seeking after God is something that we will want to do for the rest of our lives. This is consistent with the passage above from Romans 1 where it says “the righteous shall live by faith.” This is a quote from Habakkuk 2:4, and if you look it up you will see that this prophet of God was rebuking the children of Israel for taking comfort in their past rituals as opposed to living by what they professed to believe.
Let us consider a portion of what the commentator Barnes stated about Habakkuk 2:4:
In this was the good and bad of Israel. Ex 4:31: "The people believed." Ex 14:31: "They believed the Lord and His servant Moses." Ps 106:12: "Then believed they His word, they sang His praise." This contrariwise was their blame Deut 1:32: "In this ye did not believe the Lord." Deut 9:23: "Ye rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and believed Him not, nor hearkened to His voice." Ps 106:21,24: "They forgot God their Savior; they despised the pleasant land, they believed not His word." And God asks, Num 14:11, "How long will it be, ere this people belove Me, for all the signs which I have shown among them?" Ps 78:21-22: "Anger came upon Israel, because they believed not in God, and in His salvation trusted not."
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Clearly they believed at one point, but their rejection of God’s commands was a sure sign that they no longer believed, and they were punished accordingly (Heb. 2:2-3).
So can a person become hopelessly lost? Not without his own consent. Because as long as this person continues to seek after God, he has the promise of God that he will ultimately be saved. Luke 11:9: “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” If we do not find it, the truth of God’s word compels us to face the fact that we are not actually seeking it.
But suppose for a moment that he does stop seeking it? Suppose he has been convinced by someone that there is another way other than that given in the gospel. He stops seeking, thinking he has found the truth. But while the receipt he has found appears to be for his product, they will not be accepted at the exchange counter. That receipt is hopelessly lost at this point. Paul was so upset at this prospect that he proclaimed in Galatians 1:8-9:
“But though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema . As we have said before, so say I now again, if any man preacheth unto you any gospel other than that which ye received, let him be anathema.” That gospel – the legitimate gospel – is that which we have in the New Testament. It is easily found and easily understood (Eph. 3:5). And there is no way that we can throw away 99% of it and expect that one verse will save us.
When a person sincerely believes that he is saved when in fact he is not, then this person will no longer seek after God, and therefor there is no hope for him to ever be saved in that state. His only hope is to get back into God’s word and learn what is necessary for salvation.
I will gladly stand corrected if I am wrong, but the only place I have found where the bible tells us how to obtain saving faith is Romans 10:17: “So faith (cometh) of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” This is a profound statement that is validated (see Romans 12:2), which says that it is proven to ourselves and within ourselves to be true. For as we continue to study God’s word we begin to see its sublimity – the fact that it is impossible for it to have been conceived of, or written by, any man or group of men. And it does not require a cadre or priests to tell us what it means – we can understand it.
But that can never be recognized by those who are so convinced that they have found the truth that they stop studying and learning it. Or, from those who feel no reason to give the word of Christ a second thought. Indeed they may have an imaginary faith – but that imaginary faith can no more save them (James 2:14-26) than imaginary food can feed us or imaginary water can quench our thirst.
Hopelessly lost. What a terrible thought.
What are the conditions of salvation given by Jesus?
The Prairie Papers No. 131
Nancy’s Text
by Kenny Chumbley
[email protected]
“and there was no strength in him” -- 1 Samuel 28.20
[This second article, by Kenny Chumbley, brings out a different scriptural principle that should concern every one of us. For, while anyone can subject himself or herself to Jesus and be saved according to His Way, the longer we “sear our consciences as with a hot iron” (1 Tim. 4:2), the harder it is for us to bring ourselves to repentance. Is there a point at which this is impossible? It seems reasonable that when a given individual gives up all thought of turning to the Lord, he has in all practicality reached this state of hopelessness. But it is not irreversible.]
In Oliver Twist, Nancy is the girlfriend of the brutal Bill Sikes and part of the inner group of petty thieves and human debris clustered around the conniving Fagin. She is a prostitute with a heart of gold, who tries to protect Oliver from the life of crime planned for him by Fagin. But above all, she is a tragedy—a fictional representation of the terrible, deadly impotence that can seize the soul and destroy hope.
To help Oliver, Nancy realizes she must betray Fagin and Sikes, which will place her in extreme jeopardy. Nevertheless, she arranges for a secret meeting with two of Oliver’s benefactors. When they hear her story, they urge her to break free of the alley and gutter not return to Sikes. Even more, they offer to financially enable her to start a new life anywhere she would like to live.
But to their gracious offers she replies, “You can do nothing to help me. I am past all hope, indeed. . . . I am chained to my old life. I loathe and hate it now, but I cannot leave it. I must have gone too far to turn back.”
And so, she returns to Sikes. When he learns what she has done, he is outraged. Despite Nancy’s protestations of love and pleas for mercy, he beats her face “with all the force he could summon.” As she staggers and falls to her knees, her face covered with blood, he seizes a club and bashes her into a hideous, lifeless mass.
In 1 Samuel 28, King Saul, abandoned by God, seeks out a medium in the bizarre hope that he’ll be able to communicate with his deceased mentor, Samuel. Through God’s intervention, Saul does speak with Samuel, who tells him that within twenty-four hours he would be dead (1 Sam. 28:19).
It always puzzled me why Saul didn’t spend his last day on earth repenting, pleading for mercy, and vowing to do God’s will. However, what Saul did was to return to the battlefield where he was mortally wounded, fell on his sword, and died. When the Philistines found his body, they desecrated it, severing the head and nailing the remains to the wall of Bethshan.
What I now understand is that Saul didn’t respond to Samuel’s warning because he was past response. He is the classic example of the terrible effect sin has on the soul. We cannot put our self beyond the reach of God’s grace (Romans 5:20-21), but we can put our self beyond the point of responding to God’s grace (Rom. 6.16): “Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves (as) servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” [These are words written to the saved at Rome, not to those who had never known the Lord. This truth applies to all of us.]
We can, as Nancy realized, go too far to turn back. Prolonged sin, persistent sin, in the end, robs us of our conscience, good sense, and will. And to me, this is scariest thing about sin—it’s ability to drain me of my humanity to where I am completely insensible to the mortal/eternal peril I am in. In the Old Testament story, Saul’s lack of strength is assigned to the fact that he hadn’t eaten. Morally, his lack of strength was in allowing sin to chain him to his old life to where he refused to leave it.
If you’ve struggled with full-grown sin (James 1:13-15), or the “overflowing of wickedness” (James 1:21), such as an addiction or a hardened heart, you know firsthand how sin can grip the intellect and emotions. If you’ve stood by helplessly, and watched with a broken heart, as sin destroyed a parent, spouse, child, sibling, or friend, you know how Satan can batter one with all the force he can summon. In Oliver Twist, Nancy quotes no scripture, but she illustrates scripture.
I close with these insightful words from Barclay, “Sin begets sin. The first time we do a wrong thing we may do it with a hesitation, and a tremor and a shudder. The second time we do it, it is easier; and if we go on doing it, it becomes effortless; sin loses its terror.”
When sin loses its terror, we may have gone too far to turn back.
Kenny Chumbley
[email protected]
[To me one of the most fearful verses in the New Testament is 2 Peter 2:9: "the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment; ..." The bible teaches that Christians can be saved from any sin if they repent and seek forgiveness (1 Jn. 1:9). And, those of the world can submit themselves to the gospel and be saved by the blood of Jesus (Romans 1:16-17). But the more that men entrench themselves in sin, the less likely that it will be for them to have the will to change their ways and yield themselves to Jesus Christ.
Along with King Saul, Judas Iscariot is another example of hopelessness. What a tremendous illustration of God’s grace he could have been had he just found it within himself to go back and follow the Man that he knew was the Son of God. Peter and Paul were at one time equally as guilty as Judas, but they found it in their hearts to repent and ultimately become servants of Jesus. Romans 6:17-18: “But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered; and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness.” Did becoming “obedient from the heart to that form of teaching” make you abandon being a servant of sin? If not, it surely can.
If you have not surrendered your life to Jesus, could God be keeping you under punishment until the day of judgment? If you were saved and faithful at one point and then turned back to the world, could God be keeping you under punishment until the day of judgment? It is indeed a very scary thought to contemplate that you would be classified by God as being “unrighteous.” The solution is to wait not one more second to yield yourself to God’s plan of salvation today, and to obtain the strength that you need to overcome sin. 1 Corinthians 10:13: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it.” Do not let your life get to the point of hopelessness.] – comments by Dave Brown
What are the conditions of salvation given by Jesus?