What If I Am Lost?

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Salvation is always from some thing—saved from a burning building, from drowning, from cancer. And a great hero requires a great villain:

  • Superman had Lex Luther.
  • Batman had the Joker.
  • Sherlock Holmes had Professor Moriarty.
  • The Chicago Bulls had the Detroit Pistons in the 1980s/‘90s.

When Jesus came, the world did not need a political leader. Political leaders had come and gone, but the world was still lost. Man did not need a philosopher. The great philosophers—Aristotle (384 –322 bc), Plato (428–348 bc), and Socrates (470–399 bc)—had already lived, but humanity sat in darkness. The world did not need a reformer to adjust society’s wheels, levers, and pulleys.1 It needed something never seen before. When Luke recorded, “There is born to you this day . . . a Savior” (Luke 2:11), a wave of hope was felt across the land. In Jesus was all human nature, all divine nature, all past history, and all future possibilities (John 1:14).

A SECOND DEATH

Not only did man need a Savior two thou sand years ago, he needs a Savior now. Every person has a fatal spiritual condition called sin (Romans 3:23; 6:23). Sin is a spiritual . . .

  • Disease (Isaiah 1:6). Thankfully, Jesus is the great physician (Matthew 9:12).
  • Debt (Acts 2:38; Matthew 6:12; 18:24). Thankfully, Jesus is rich and paid it in full for us (Colossians 2:13). (Remission is a financial term referring to debts.)
  • Death (Ephesians 2:1). Thankfully, Je sus is life (John 14:6) and the resurrection (John 11:25).

Spiritual death is similar to physical death, but more painful (Luke 16:23). It not only separates from loved ones, it also separates from God (Matthew 25:12). Both types of separation remove all freedom to choose something better (Luke 16:26).

The problem is that most sinners do not understand their condition. Madeleine L’Engle’s novel, A Severed Wasp, offered a graphic image of human lostness. It is based on a George Orwell essay in which he described a wasp that “was sucking jam on my plate and I cut him in half. He paid no attention, merely went on with his meal, while a tiny stream of jam trickled out of his severed esophagus. Only when he tried to fly away did he grasp the dreadful thing that had happened to him.”2 People without Christ are dead in sin, but unaware, so they continue to consume life’s sweetness. Only when it is time to fly away will they grasp their dreadful condition.

Jesus is the world’s greatest hero. He saves man from his greatest enemy— death (Luke 24:45–47). Every person needs Jesus. No one can take His place.

  • A physician may save your life.
  • A lawyer may save your business.
  • An accountant may save your money.
  • A coach may save your athletic career.
  • A consultant may save your reputation.
  • But only Jesus can save your soul (Matthew 16:26; 1 Peter 1:8–9).3

Jesus conquered what had conquered us—sin, Satan, and death. He conquered death since “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive” (Ephesians 4:7–8). He spares saints from the second death (Revelation 21:8; James 5:20).

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE LOST

To be lost is to face insufferable shame. New England statesman Daniel Webster (1782–1852) was possibly the greatest orator America has produced. He was de scribed as “one who walked like a man, but spoke as a god.”4 When Secretary of State under Millard Filmore, Webster dined with twenty gentlemen at the Astor House in New York. He was reticent that night, so one asked him this question: “Mr. Webster, will you tell me the most important thought that ever occupied your mind?”

Webster passed his hand over his fore head, saying in a low tone, “Is there any one here who does not know me?”

“No,” said he, “all are your friends.”

Then Webster said so all could hear, “My gravest thought has been that I shall someday stand before God in judgment and give an account of how I have lived.” He talked of this for twenty minutes, then retired to his room.5

In the third year of Persian King Cyrus, an angel spoke of the final judgment, saying many that sleep in the earth “shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). Imagine standing at Judgment and having all of one’s sins read aloud before all the inhabitants of heaven. Then imagine being summarily dismissed to hell in their hearing.

Graphic language shows the humiliation in the afterlife: They shall “look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. . . . They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh” (Isaiah 66:24). When heaven’s inhabitants see how awful God’s wrath is, they will fall down and worship Him. How ashamed would we be to be at the center of that spectacle? (cf. Revelation 14:10).

To be lost is to face God’s unspeakable wrath. The Bible speaks of God’s fury. “God is angry with the wicked every day” (Psalm 7:11). He “will come with fire, and with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His re buke with flames of fire” (Isaiah 66:15).

In some ways, sinners already face God’s wrath, but the Bible speaks of something worse—full and eternal retribution. If one has not been delivered “from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10), then it will be “a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). The Spirit shall not al ways strive with man (Genesis 6:3). A day will come when the Almighty shall release His overwhelming wrath on un prepared sinners.

When God makes His power known (Romans 9:22), the unrighteous will wish they had never been born. The wicked will plead for pity, but God’s mercy will have ended. His enemies will be as chaff before a whirlwind and stubble before devouring flames (Malachi 4:1). Sinners will say to mountains, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come” (Revelation 6:16–17).

Isaiah pictured it, “I have trodden them in My anger, and trampled them in My fury; their blood is sprinkled upon My garments” (Isaiah 63:3–4).6

God’s wrath is like great waters behind a dam, rising higher and higher (cf. Revelation 19:15). One day the dam will break.

To be lost is to face unbearable hell (Luke 16:19–31). Hell’s frightening concepts are:

  • Beating (Luke 12:48).
  • Torments (Luke 16:23).
  • Separation (Matthew 25:46). The wick ed shall be escorted from the presence of God and all the saved (Romans 2:7–9; 2 Thessalonians 1:6–9).
  • Outer darkness (Matthew 8:12; 22:13).
  • Unquenchable fire (Matthew 5:22; Rev elation 20:10–14).

To be lost is to be everlastingly without Christ. Only Christians possess heavenly citizenship (Philippians 3:20). At Judgment Day, Jesus will tell sinners that He does not know them, and that they are unwelcome at His house (Matthew 7:23; 25:12). A sinner will be a sheep without the Shepherd (Luke 15:1–7), a traveler without a way (John 14:6), a hungry man without bread (John 6:41), a weary pilgrim without a resting place (Matthew 11:28–30), a student without a teacher (John 3:2; Mark 12:14), a soldier without a captain (Hebrews 2:10), a branch with out a vine (John 15:1–7), and an intro vert without a friend (Luke 7:34). Sadly, he will be a child with no inheritance (Acts 20:32), a criminal with no advocate (1 John 2:1), and a soul with no Savior (Matthew 16:26). Sinners will have no share in heaven’s treasures (John 14:1–2).

To be lost is to be permanently hopeless. Hope refers to a “joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation.”7

  • God has begotten us “to a living hope through the resurrection” (1 Peter 1:3).
  • Hope awaits in heaven (Colossians 1:5).
  • Christ in us is the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).
  • We are not to sorrow as others who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13).
  • Christ is our hope (1 Timothy 1:1).
  • Every man that has this hope purifies himself (1 John 3:3).

How pitiable to be hopeless! A Hindi physician once experimented on a criminal convicted for murder and sentenced to death. He was strapped down and it was explained that an artery would be severed resulting in his bleeding to death. They then made only a superficial wound, and poured warm water over his arm, which he thought was blood. He died with a few minutes, convinced the situation was hopeless.8

To be lost is to be eternally without God. The Greek word atheos (from which comes atheist), only found in Ephesians 2:12 in the New Testament, can mean “abandoned by the gods.”9 God eventually gives up on rebellious sinners (Romans 1:28–32) be cause they set aside His counsel, and do not accept His reproof, so He will laugh at their calamity (Proverbs 1:25–31). How sad to be abandoned by God!

THE URGENCY OF FINDING SALVATION

Sinners walk on slippery places every minute of every day and may fall any second (Psalm 73:18). The devil sees them as prey. The old serpent is coiled and hissing, with his mouth open to swallow them up. Black clouds of wrath hang over them. God’s bow is bent; the arrow is on the string. One day that ar row will pierce every sinner’s heart.10

A wise person rushes to prepare (2 Peter 1:10). No sinner can stand before One with power to pick the earth up and shake it like a blanket or roll heaven back like a scroll. Once the end comes, no changes can be made (Revelation 22:11). Paul said, “Knowing . . . the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Corinthians 5:11).

Gaining entrance into the kingdom is worthy of the most strenuous effort. James Denney said, “The kingdom is not for the well-meaning but for the desperate.”11 Men are bidden to seek (zeteo) the kingdom (Matthew 6:33), which means “Make the kingdom the object of your endeavor.”12 Men are said to press (biazo) into the kingdom (Matthew 11:12), a word sometimes used of attackers storming a city.13

The kingdom is worth any sacrifice. Jesus spoke in hyperbole of surgically removing body parts that hinder from salvation (Mark 9:43–48). The kingdom is equated with life itself. Compare Mark 9:43, 45 with Mark 9:47. In the first two verses life is spoken of; in the third the kingdom is spoken of, and the meaning is the same.14 The rich young ruler request ed guidance on finding eternal life (Mat thew 19:16). After his tragic choice, Jesus spoke of how difficult it is for the rich to enter the kingdom (Matthew 19:23).

God wants no one to miss it. He “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).

Endnotes

  1. Adapted from unknown source.
  2. George Orwell, “Notes on the Way,” My Country Right or Left, 1940–1943, vol. 2 of The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell (Secker & Warburg, 1968), 15.
  3. Author unknown.
  4. Original source unknown.
  5. Claude M. Fuess, “The Personality of Webster,” Dartmouth Alumni Magazine (November 1932), 13.
  6. V. P. Black, Great Is Your Reward in Heaven (Montgomery, AL: Faulkner University, 1988).
  7. Joseph H. Thayer, “ἐλπίς,” in Thayer’s Greek Lexicon (Biblesoft, 2011).
  8. Bernard Lown, The Lost Art of Healing (New York: Random House, 1999), 31–32.
  9. “ἄθεος,” Topical Lexicon, Biblehub.com.
  10. Black, Great Is Your Reward.
  11. Quoted in William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2, New Daily Study Bible (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002), Comments on Matthew 11:12–15.
  12. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon; BDAG (Bauer–DankerArndt–Gingrich), s.v. ζητέω.
  13. BDAG (Bauer–Danker–Arndt–Gingrich), s.v. βιάζομαι.
  14. William Barclay, The Mind of Jesus (New York: Harper Collins, 1960), 50–51

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