The Tragedy of the Lost Soul

 More than anyone else in this world, the Christian should understand the tragedy of the lost soul. The Christian has had new life given to them freely when he/she was saved. For me, it was like a whole new world had been exposed to me and it was. A new life was given to me and every other person who has experienced salvation through Jesus. Our spiritual eyes have been opened and life has been given to our spirit. The Holy Spirit came to live within us and has allowed us to see and understand who God is and to know He is real. But the unsaved person is lost. They are spiritually dead and can’t know anything about God. We can tell them about Jesus and the sacrifice He made for us but unless God, through His Holy Spirit, draws them to Him, they will continue to be spiritually dead.

Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world.  He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.   Eph 2:1-2

They are not only spiritually dead but they refuse to listen to anything concerning God. They continue to reject Him and mock Him and criticize those who have been saved. They call Him a fairytale and claim He doesn’t exist. They refer to Christianity as a cult and those involved are being brainwashed and are being falsely indoctrinated. They claim if you’re a Christian, you ignore or don’t believe in science. Now, that is a dumb statement. Any Christian who knows the creation account knows that God, through His Son Jesus created the universe in six days. When that is broken down, there is a lot of science there. He spoke it all into existence. He made something from nothing. But the nonbelieving naysayers reject this account and want us to believe that two objects collided in space and the result was a big bang and when the dust cleared, there was the universe. I think I’ll stay with creation by Jesus. But how can they believe when they are spiritually dead? We can’t expect these people to believe what the Bible tells us about science. Whether it’s creation by God or what God says to Job about His creation.

We should never attempt to argue any of these points since they will never believe or agree until they have been spiritually enhanced by the Holy Spirit. That’s what happened to each of us who are now saved. Before we were saved, we didn’t believe or even understand any of this or whatever the Bible says. We were lost souls stumbling through this life in our sin. We truly believed, as many still do, that we were in control of our lives and we didn’t need any kind of ‘religion’ to help us. How wrong we were. We didn’t have a clue about how wrong we were and those who are still lost don’t have a clue.

I remember a story I once heard about a young Christian girl who repeatedly told her elderly neighbor man about Jesus. He always told her he was fine and didn’t need Jesus. Finally, on his deathbed, she visited him one last time and urged him to reconsider. Then she quoted this Bible verse to him.

And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people.  Heb 9:27-28

The old man opened his eyes and said, “Judgement! I will be judged!” He then asked the young girl to pray for him and he was saved. We never know at what moment in time Jesus will save the lost soul. We pray for them and never stop praying for their salvation. In love and kindness, we continue to tell them about Jesus and His gospel message. But we must remember it is not us, the person, who does the work of salvation, it is God.

I read an article on a secular web site today about the gathering at Asbury University. This gathering is being called a revival and has attracted people from across the country. These people have traveled to the university to be a part of this revival. The article shared some details, made some dumb statements and as always when I read anything about the Church or Christianity on a nan-Christian site, I always read the comments which follow. This gathering was referred to as a cult gathering, a gathering of illiterates, and God referred to as nonexistent and a pie in the sky fairytale. Not one of those comments surprised me nor did they anger me. What else should I expect from non-believing people of this culture and this society? They don’t know God and have probably never been proper introduced.

They have grown up in a culture where church, Jesus or the Bible has never been a part of their family lifestyle. Maybe they are or were college students and were or are being indoctrinated and taught to believe God does not exist and for those who do believe He does, they are uneducated simpletons looking for a religious crutch to get them through life. So, after 20+ years of this type of indoctrination, what else should we expect from them? But that shouldn’t stop us from telling them about Jesus. They will hit a bump in their road of life and will experience serious issues and situations. These will leave them wondering how to deal with it or who to turn to. Be there for them and help them understand that Jesus loves them and has actually died for them. But they must also know He rose from the grave, defeating death and giving us eternal life with Him. He has the answer or solution to our problem before we even go to Him.

The lost souls of this world come in all different types of lifestyles. They are not all indoctrinated college students or professors. Some are every day people who believe they need no God in their lives, some are addicted to drugs and alcohol with no hope at all and need to hear about Jesus. And some are simply squeaky clean, good people who believe they are in total control of their lives.

Everyone knows the first verse in this passage but pay attention to the verses which follow.

 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.  And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.   JN 3:16-19

Jesus came the first time to save but when He returns again, it will be to judge. After death, everyone is judged. The believers will not be judged for their sin because Jesus took that sin upon Himself at the cross and when God the Father sees us, He doesn’t see our sin, He sees the righteousness of Jesus which He has covered us with when we were saved. But those who die in their sin, rejecting Jesus, will be judged for their sin. This will be their fate on the day the Lord judges all those who refused to accept Jesus and died in their sin.

I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.   Rev 20:12-15

This is not a fairy tale like so many now believe. The extreme suffering which follows the judgement is eternal and never ending. Hold your hand over an open flame, if you can, and imagine that torment forever. But here’s a fact which many, even Christians, don’t get. We all deserved this eternal torment. Not one of us deserved salvation but because of the love God has for us, His prized creation, He sent His only Son to die in our place to pay the price for our sin. And it is only by His grace and our faith in Jesus we are able to be saved from this eternal torment. One final point. Many claim this is a cruel god and how could he allow people to suffer this eternal torment? Sin cannot stand in the presence of God and many lost sinners would never want to anyway. He is a just God, not a fairytale god.

If you have read this far and don’t have a relationship with Jesus or don’t know Him as your savior, He is real and He is waiting with arms wide open ready to save you from the wrath of the Father and give you new life. You will no longer have to be a lost soul who has only to look forward to a tragic eternity. Ask Jesus to forgive you for your sin and He will save you. It’s that simple. This is a God of love and mercy. He is not a god with a cattle prod waiting for us to mess up. He is a forgiving God who loves us. Come now and be forever saved.

-Bill Petite