Dountoothers wrote:
I shared with him about the Lord but he said although he wanted to go to heaven when he died he knew for sure he would never go there, saying "it's too late now".
He seemed to know the truth but I guessed he felt he had done something so bad he could never be accepted by God...maybe a 'prodigal'?
Hello, Gwen.
The Lord is close to the broken-hearted. This man is broken and brought to his knees. It may be that he has never been closer to the Lord, yet he must make a decision.
What you are describing, however, as "he felt he had done something so bad he could never be accepted by God" is perhaps one of the last pillars of self-righteousness in him that needs to be broken. No man can come to God on his own merit, no one is good enough. But saying you are beyond redemption means that the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was not sufficient a sacrifice for your sin. This is self-righteousness which needs to be repented of.
When a sinner comes to the Lord, he must have realized that in his flesh there is nothing good, and there is nothing in his conduct that could in any way mitigate or divert God righteous judgment upon his rebellion. However, we have a propitiation for our sins in Christ, for the Father brought his wrath upon the Son, who bore the penalty for the sin of the whole world.
The issue is not about whether he wants or doesn't want to go to heaven (I don't know of a single person who, if he was told there were a heaven, would not want to go there). A selfish desire to go to heaven or to be saved cannot be a sufficient motive for a man to turn from sin and serve the living God. Many Pharisees went to be baptized by John, trying to "flee from the wrath to come" (or be saved), but there was no conviction and remorse over their sin, no [i]fruits worthy of repentance[/i]. And, the Lord has told us, many will try to enter, but will not be allowed inside by Him, because they never repented of their evil deeds (Mat. 7:23).
Here is how Paul preached the Gospel of the Kingdom:
Act 17:30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now [u]commands all men everywhere to repent[/u],
Act 17:31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.
Now Dean must know that he has a choice to make. He will either live the rest of his life on earth contrary to the will of His Creator, refusing to live in the light of his conscience and rejecting the truth, thus doing evil in God's sight, and incurring God's righteous judgment of his deeds one day through Christ. Or he will forsake that path of lawlessness and pronounce God Lord and Righteous Judge of his life, submitting to Him in all things. Only then, when he has repented of his futile life in the flesh, can he seek mercy at the feet of the Lord Jesus and hope to find forgiveness on God's terms. Repentance means that he must change his mind (as the prodigal son in the parable changed his), not express a vague desire "to go to heaven", "to be saved" or to feel forgiven or good about himself. Because as long as man is in the center of the picture and God on the fringe, man cannot be saved. Brother Reidhead said it well in [i]Ten Shekels[/i], "Is God for you a means or an end?" But how can he change his mind before he has considered the call to repentance and all the implications, and made an informed decision, just as the man in this parable:
Luk 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it--
Luk 14:29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,
Luk 14:30 saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'
Gwen, my advice is: don't try to "save" the guy. It is between him and God. Don't try to give him a "sense of hope", which may be deceitful. Speak the truth to him, however solemn. If you are not sure what to tell him--or whether and when to speak to him about God--pray and seek wisdom from the Lord first; don't go to Dean in your own strength just because you are so eager that he be saved and healed, or because you doubt whether he is ever going to be saved if you don't speak to him. God has not forgotten the man, and if he turns to Him in spirit and in truth, He will not leave him desolate.
Psa 34:18 The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And [i]saves[/i] such as have a contrite spirit.
I will pray that the Lord's will be done in this and that you may be found pleasing to God.
In Christ,
Slavyan
