Preface: Maybe it's a parent.....or an adult child....or a spouse....or a sibling. They may go to a church....they are probably nice people....but they never....and I mean ever.....volunteer any concern for the gospel....or the bible....or mention Jesus....and this over probably many years if not a lifetime. Now....we say that we love this person.....and indeed we might even give our own life for them. That's love....but we would never....once again ever.....question them in any way to see if they show any outward evidence of being a Christian. We just don't do that to we people that we....love....for it might offend them. I would not make the charge that the person in question is not loved....but I would question if the son of the parent....or the parent of the adult child....etc....understands how a person becomes.....saved.....and what born again means. The above is not an isolated example.....for it is pervasive in the church today. If one does understand how a soul goes from deadness to eternal life.....how the dead heart begins to beat....how the name is then written in the Lamb's book of life....etc...etc....and still ignores the danger to their loved one's soul.....then yes.....I would then question whether the person loves themselves.....more than their parent or adult child or spouse or sibling. We may not know for certain if a loved one is saved or lost....but if they are truly loved ones.....then we do not ever take the chance. We observe and question and butt-in....or at the very least pray until the tear ducts are bone dry....until it appears at least probably that our loved one will not be told by Jesus...."I never knew you, depart from me..."
I have to use the analogy of my own mother and father. I don't want to get this personal....but it is the most powerful way to make the point. My father died in 1979 at the age of 58 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He was....to use this often used phrase....the nicest man you would ever want to meet. I was 29 when he died....and not a Christian....so I was totally unable to help him on his eternal soul....or even know that he needed help. I am not aware of any attempt made to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to him in his last days....although I do not know of every minute that he spent in the hospital....so there will always be that hope to cling to. My mother died in 2015. I shared the gospel with her for over three decades. She showed no inclination to believe....until the last year or two....and that was in that all the hardness was gone. So that is my hope....and I cling to it!
I'm not sure why this is coming up so much in my life right now....that one has to be....Born again.....born anew....born from above.....regenerated....but it is....the most recent time only about two hours ago....in a telephone conversation with a good friend. I really do not like this battle. It should not even be necessary among Christians....but somehow it is. It seems that we have compromised the gospel on this. Oh it's not blatant. No genuine Christians deny that one has to be born again....but because they do not fully understand it....and because it is a difficult concept.....they avoid talking about it....and thus....in effect....deny it!
This issue can be addressed from many directions. One argument is that....since we cannot do anything about a loved one's salvation....that we just leave it in the hands of God. Hard to argue with that....the problem is not in that we have to realize that there are things along this line that we cannot do.....but that in the process we can deny the existence of the problem.
Another argument is that ultimately we cannot know the spiritual state of another person. Only God knows. This is true in many cases but not all cases....but beyond that....when we think about any loved one.....the grid that that love should always be on....should be their eternal salvation.
Martin Luther described justification by faith alone as that article upon which the church stands or falls....and that is essentially what we are looking at here also. No one is saved by their own works.....or how nice they were....or how bad they were not. We certainly do not have to comment upon whether someone who had died had been born again....but we had better at least ponder it in our heart....or we are putting ourselves in danger of compromising the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So why is this issue coming up in my life so often of late? Nothing has changed in my understanding of this gospel truth. I've posted on it often! I don't know the answer to that question....but I know this....we do not change on proclaiming that one has to be born again....and we do not alter it to be more palatable to the modern church....and we do not even avoid it. This may very well be the issue....or at least 'a' main issue....that will soon bring a winnowing in the church.
Note: You may want to Google a John Piper sermon on this subject....titled....What Happens In The New Birth.
