Preachers often say that everyone can be saved. We want people to investigate the claims of scripture, compare it to their lives, and “… rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm” (Joel 2:13). But there are three cases where someone who’s lost can’t possibly be saved. And knowing these may help you make the correct eternal choices.
First, lost people cannot be saved if they harden their hearts and will not listen to the Bible. Matthew 13:14-15 says, “And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them’” (Matthew 13:14-15). Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to listen to God’s command to let His people go. This ultimately caused his destruction. The number one power you have is the power over your own heart. Don’t close it to God’s precepts.
Second, lost people cannot be saved if they die lost. At death our deeds are sealed. Paul said, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). When the body ceases to live, you’ll then be responsible for what you’ve done in it. Furthermore, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus taught that those in torment cannot cross over to Abraham’s bosom or Paradise (Luke 16:23-26).
Third, lost people cannot be saved if they are lost when Christ returns. Jesus will come again and “we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). This verse is speaking of the righteous who are alive when Christ returns. But what will happen to the wicked? Paul again instructs Christ as coming “in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:8).
A lot of people are going to be lost (Matthew 7:13-14). But there’s no good reason for anyone to be punished for eternity (Mark 9:44, 46, 48). Stop resisting the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:51) and listen to the words of Jesus and He will become the author of your eternal salvation (Hebrews 2:14-15).
Kyle Campbell
