The equation works with any family member that one might choose. Let's see....I'll go with father. Here's the situation....you were raised in a loving household and provided with everything that you need....your father was there for you to put food on the table.....to answer your questions......to help in sports......everything! You grew up....uh....let's say that you are around 30 years old right now....and then let's continue on from there..
A strange and fantastical thing happens to you. Through whatever means.....you come to be born again......you see your sin and you see where not only yourself but all men are going unless something is done about it.....and you see that something was done about it......it happened at the cross on Calvary and in an empty tomb about two thousand years ago. For some reason the very words in the Bible that you may have read or heard many times over the years all of a sudden passed through your thick skull. Now momentarily....maybe even longer....maybe even for a few years....you were so overwhelmed with joy that you didn't feel it necessary to contemplate anything else. Now that would indeed be too long but it happened and now you are starting to realize some other realities.....let's go on from there.
This father who provided so lovingly for you for so many years and who without him....who knows where you would be today.....what about him? Let's go over some possibilities....one....you get two free passes when when you become a Christian so you can give them to you mother and father! No...that's not it. Hmmm! Two....you have watched your father for thirty years now and if anyone knows him it is you.....and since you know him and how nice and hard working and caring that he is....then God....who is so much more knowing than you.....must certainly know this also....and therefore your father will be wind up in heaven....even though he has never mentioned the name of Jesus....exhibited any outward love of the gospel or of God.....nor have you ever seen him just sit down to read the Bible....or even mention the Bible? You know the answer to this very well.....it's not an answer that you want.....so you keep it as far back in your mind as is possible......and simply never let it see the light of day. You do this because you love your father so much......or so you tell yourself. Let's go on from there.....
You finally come to the point that all Christians should come to sooner or later. You look at this loved one....or these loved ones....and you face the fact that they too must be born again also.....just like you were.....or they will go to....hmm....I'm not sure that one can say that word in America anymore. Why in England just a week ago a judge put someone in gaol.....that's old English for jail....and then threatened to put any newsman in gaol who even reported what he did! Someone called this 'Soviet style' justice and they were right. There are all kinds of things that we cannot say in America anymore. They are not putting us in jail yet.....but they will take away our livelihood if they can. Let me see if I can sneak this one past the censors....if your father....or any family member that you love....never becomes born again.....then "there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." That's all that you should need to know....that your loved one will weep and gnash their teeth when they stand before the glory of God and are judged.
Now I could describe this in other words than 'born again' but a century of easy believism has made these other phrases utterly ineffective......one example might be.....'unless they became a Christian' (not nearly specific enough) or 'unless they have a personal relationship with Christ' (kind of close...but no cigar) or 'unless they believe in Jesus Christ' (absolutely true but so incomplete and easy to do that pretty near everyone uses it today if asked.) Folks, you do not have to use the words 'born again' but if you understand the enormity of what one soul regenerated is then you would never let your loved ones rely upon anything less!
I'll get very personal here for a minute. I loved my father. He passed away in November of 1979. I was lost in my sins at the time and therefore utterly useless to him in the matters of his eternal soul. I visit his grave site occasionally.....he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery....and I walk away more determined than ever to pray for those family members that I love....who believe that an amiable personality is enough to enter God's eternal rest.
Discipleship comes with a cost. The least of this cost is that you may become a persona non grata on occasion.....because you mention Jesus Christ so often. Letting your loved ones alone.....without at the very least constant prayer for their salvation....without at least trying to verify if they have any of the obvious signs of being 'born again'.....one of which would be a dependence on the Word of God as one would cling to a floating lifesaver thrown from a ship in stormy seas....this may just be refusing to pay even that little cost....and in the ultimate sense....this is not love as it should be.
Consider this....a dream maybe.....you are lost.....hanging by a thread over you know where.....that thread begins to unravel.....a Christian passes by.....you always gave him the impression that you were a Christian even though you didn't even have the slightest idea what that really was...."tell me about Jesus Christ" you plead.....but he cannot hear....."tell me the gospel of salvation!"....you look up and the thread continues to unravel...."what must I do to be saved" you shout....but no one responds.....because they are not listening....they 'love' you but just assumed that you are safe.....for you go to church.....the thread then breaks and you fall......it gets colder and colder.....the evil all around you makes your skin crawl.......you shout......"Nooooo!"......and then you wake up. Now the next time that you think about loved ones....remember this dream......and see if you can so easily avoid the issue because you just.....assumed.....that they are not lost and hanging by a thread....when if you are honest then you must admit that they never gave evidence to the contrary.....and you never even looked for any evidence anyway.
A strange and fantastical thing happens to you. Through whatever means.....you come to be born again......you see your sin and you see where not only yourself but all men are going unless something is done about it.....and you see that something was done about it......it happened at the cross on Calvary and in an empty tomb about two thousand years ago. For some reason the very words in the Bible that you may have read or heard many times over the years all of a sudden passed through your thick skull. Now momentarily....maybe even longer....maybe even for a few years....you were so overwhelmed with joy that you didn't feel it necessary to contemplate anything else. Now that would indeed be too long but it happened and now you are starting to realize some other realities.....let's go on from there.
This father who provided so lovingly for you for so many years and who without him....who knows where you would be today.....what about him? Let's go over some possibilities....one....you get two free passes when when you become a Christian so you can give them to you mother and father! No...that's not it. Hmmm! Two....you have watched your father for thirty years now and if anyone knows him it is you.....and since you know him and how nice and hard working and caring that he is....then God....who is so much more knowing than you.....must certainly know this also....and therefore your father will be wind up in heaven....even though he has never mentioned the name of Jesus....exhibited any outward love of the gospel or of God.....nor have you ever seen him just sit down to read the Bible....or even mention the Bible? You know the answer to this very well.....it's not an answer that you want.....so you keep it as far back in your mind as is possible......and simply never let it see the light of day. You do this because you love your father so much......or so you tell yourself. Let's go on from there.....
You finally come to the point that all Christians should come to sooner or later. You look at this loved one....or these loved ones....and you face the fact that they too must be born again also.....just like you were.....or they will go to....hmm....I'm not sure that one can say that word in America anymore. Why in England just a week ago a judge put someone in gaol.....that's old English for jail....and then threatened to put any newsman in gaol who even reported what he did! Someone called this 'Soviet style' justice and they were right. There are all kinds of things that we cannot say in America anymore. They are not putting us in jail yet.....but they will take away our livelihood if they can. Let me see if I can sneak this one past the censors....if your father....or any family member that you love....never becomes born again.....then "there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." That's all that you should need to know....that your loved one will weep and gnash their teeth when they stand before the glory of God and are judged.
Now I could describe this in other words than 'born again' but a century of easy believism has made these other phrases utterly ineffective......one example might be.....'unless they became a Christian' (not nearly specific enough) or 'unless they have a personal relationship with Christ' (kind of close...but no cigar) or 'unless they believe in Jesus Christ' (absolutely true but so incomplete and easy to do that pretty near everyone uses it today if asked.) Folks, you do not have to use the words 'born again' but if you understand the enormity of what one soul regenerated is then you would never let your loved ones rely upon anything less!
I'll get very personal here for a minute. I loved my father. He passed away in November of 1979. I was lost in my sins at the time and therefore utterly useless to him in the matters of his eternal soul. I visit his grave site occasionally.....he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery....and I walk away more determined than ever to pray for those family members that I love....who believe that an amiable personality is enough to enter God's eternal rest.
Discipleship comes with a cost. The least of this cost is that you may become a persona non grata on occasion.....because you mention Jesus Christ so often. Letting your loved ones alone.....without at the very least constant prayer for their salvation....without at least trying to verify if they have any of the obvious signs of being 'born again'.....one of which would be a dependence on the Word of God as one would cling to a floating lifesaver thrown from a ship in stormy seas....this may just be refusing to pay even that little cost....and in the ultimate sense....this is not love as it should be.
Consider this....a dream maybe.....you are lost.....hanging by a thread over you know where.....that thread begins to unravel.....a Christian passes by.....you always gave him the impression that you were a Christian even though you didn't even have the slightest idea what that really was...."tell me about Jesus Christ" you plead.....but he cannot hear....."tell me the gospel of salvation!"....you look up and the thread continues to unravel...."what must I do to be saved" you shout....but no one responds.....because they are not listening....they 'love' you but just assumed that you are safe.....for you go to church.....the thread then breaks and you fall......it gets colder and colder.....the evil all around you makes your skin crawl.......you shout......"Nooooo!"......and then you wake up. Now the next time that you think about loved ones....remember this dream......and see if you can so easily avoid the issue because you just.....assumed.....that they are not lost and hanging by a thread....when if you are honest then you must admit that they never gave evidence to the contrary.....and you never even looked for any evidence anyway.
