Generally
speaking, human beings always have a higher opinion of themselves than is
deserved and they don’t like being reminded of their depraved condition. I’ve
been told by those “in the know” that criminals who are in prison hardly ever see
themselves as “bad” but they think of themselves as good people who have
committed bad crimes, even crimes of murder, rape, molestation, and so forth.
The Bible, on the other hand, tells us that we are sinners, depraved,
and lost. Before Noah’s flood God’s evaluation of man is revealed, as it is
written, “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5) Then came the flood but in Genesis 8,
after the flood, God said, “the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth;” (v.21) Nothing
had changed internally with man. When the Apostle Paul repeated several texts
from the Old Testament he wrote: “As it is written, There is none righteous,
no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable;
there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they
have used deceit; the poison of asps is
under their lips: Whose mouth is full of
cursing and bitterness: Their feet are
swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are
in their ways: And the way of peace have
they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes. ” (Romans 3:10-18)
The same Apostle revealed the condition of mankind in the 2nd
chapter of Ephesians we he wrote that those outside of a personal relationship
with Jesus Christ are, “dead in trespasses and sins”; “children of wrath”; “children of disobedience”; “without Christ”;
“without God”; and having “no hope”!
The Bible tells us as well that we can’t trust our hearts because “The
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
(Jeremiah 17:9) Job asks the question, “What is
man, that he should be clean? and he which is
born of a
woman, that he should be righteous? ” (Job 15:14), and again we find written
in Job, “How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? ” (25:4) The truth is that
every person born into this world is “condemned already”(John 3:18) and is
capable of the grossest of sins, as our Lord Jesus said, “For from within, out
of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
” (Mark 7:21-23)
The whole point being that if a person does not realize that he is
lost, without God, without Christ, having no hope, and condemned already, he will NEVER be found and reconciled to God. We must realize that comparing
ourselves with ourselves or among ourselves is not the answer. Comparing
ourselves to the STANDARD, Jesus Christ, is. If all we accomplish is an outward
reformation nothing will change inwardly.
Let me be clear. The Bible
teaches that for any person to be saved his name must first be written in
the Lamb’s Book of Life from the foundation of the world. That is, he must be
among God’s elect. (You may want to read some of my former posts here.) But having said that, I believe there is an innumerable
company of persons who have been misled by preachers of positive thinking, "name it and claim it", and "something good is going to happen to you", who
preach and write a multitude of words without ever mentioning the lost
condition of souls and the way to salvation! They preach “smooth things”
(Isaiah 30:10) and to whom Isaiah writes, “Woe unto them that call evil good,
and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put
bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20) Or they preach about personal reformation, healings, spiritual gifts, etc. but refuse to distinguish between the saved and the lost.
If preachers don’t speak the truth about the human conditions they are
not men of God! They are nothing less than false prophets! And they will be
held accountable to a Holy God who magnifies His word (Ps.138:2) (This probably includes one of your favorite radio or television preachers)
I believe that every gift given to Jesus Christ will come to Him as it is
written, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6:37) and that none shall be
lost but shall be raised up to be with Christ as the Bible says, “And
this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given
me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. ” (John 6:39). I
believe that each of these will come because he is drawn by the Father, “No
man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will
raise him up at the last day. ” (John 6:44; See v.65) And I believe this is in
fulfillment of the New Covenant as found in Jeremiah 31:31-34) and Ezekiel
11:19,20 for again John writes, “It is written in the prophets, And they
shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath
learned of the Father, cometh unto me.” (John 6:45)
And so, every one of God’s elect will
be saved, without exception, without fail, but at the same time so many people
are being led astray, thinking they are right with God when they are not,
possessing a false hope, which is no hope. And though I believe strongly in the doctrine of "Irresistable Grace" which means that, eventually, at some point, the elected one will come to Christ, I also know that this Grace can be resisted for a time. It's sad then, that so many preachers fail in their duty to preach the "faith once delivered", the good news of God's saving Grace, to lost souls who miss out on God's temporal blessings, here and now, even though they may be eventually and eternally saved.
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