Leaving Beyond – Grounded In Scripture

“Maybe they are saved. Someone shared the Gospel with them. Someone gave them a Bible.”

We have a hard time, when someone passes, accepting the reality of hell. We don’t rejoice that they are there, but some go beyond Scripture and cannot allow their minds to accept the truth. So they will seek some way to ease their minds from facing the reality of that one’s eternal state.

I read something earlier and shared it. In part it read,

“But beware: the more truth one receives and rejects, the greater the condemnation. There are degrees of punishment in hell, and the hottest places are reserved for those who trample the Son of God underfoot. Let every hearer take heed—not merely to fear the wrath to come, but to flee to the only refuge: the true Christ of Scripture. Repent while there is still time to repent.” ~ Crystal Rose Wilson

It went on to say,

“Hebrews chapter 10 adds another passage to these. It says, ‘Of how much greater punishment shall the one be thought worthy who has trodden underfoot the Son of God and counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing?’ In other words, if you hear the Gospel and reject it, you have a greater judgment than one who didn’t hear it. There will be greater and lesser degrees of punishment in hell. And so the record is kept of every person’s life so that the judgment and the punishment can fit the iniquity.” ~ John MacArthur

A dear sister in Christ at church once shared of taking the Gospel to someone in their final moments. She did not try to super-spiritualize the story, nor did she pretend that there was an outcome of her own imagination. She cared desperately for that lost soul, and she gave them one more opportunity to hear the Gospel. They gave no indication that they responded. She then shared something I hadn’t heard someone be so honest in saying after such a moment: she said that she understood that upon them hearing the Gospel, it would either result in their salvation by God’s grace or it would stand against them in judgment because they heard the truth.

We’re far too often just not that honest.

“Faith is not a product of our own making; it is a gift of God to be received by grace alone.” ~ John MacArthur 

I recently heard someone try to comfort themselves by saying that they had shared the Gospel with someone (though it was a very watered-down version of the Gospel) and that they were confident it meant that person had to have been saved at some point thereafter because “God’s Word doesn’t come back to Him void.” Oh friend, that is a gross perversion of what that means, and if it were so, then every person who has ever heard the Gospel must be in heaven. We know that is not true. We must stop lying to ourselves and to one another.

“The Gospel produces fruit, but it is God alone who makes it effectual.” ~ Martin Luther

While some who hear the Gospel will die in their sin and will face the just wrath of God—and will be judged far greater for having heard the Gospel and rejected it—this must not silence us! We must not cease proclaiming the Gospel with sincere love for each one, even though the results may not be what we desire. And we must stop lying to ourselves: no, not every person we share the Gospel with will be saved. But we must not alter the truth of the message to make it acceptable to man so we get the results we want, leading many into false conversions, who will still stand in judgment hearing, “I never knew you.” The results are up to God. That should give us confidence! We are commanded to tell them; God is responsible for the results.

“Duty is ours; results are God’s.” ~ Charles Spurgeon

Friend, proclaim the Gospel and leave the results to God.

Grace and peace, y’all.

Soli Deo Gloria

April J. Buchanan