A Warning to the Intellectually Convinced - Devotional

GracetoYou.org ^ | 1993 | John MacArthur, Grace Community Church

[metmom]

"How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard" (Heb. 2:3).

Many people know the facts of the gospel but won’t make a commitment to it.

I will never forget a lady who came to my office, confessing that she was a prostitute and was desperate for help. I presented the claims of Christ to her and asked if she wanted to confess Christ as Lord of her life. She said yes and prayed, seemingly inviting Christ into her life.

Then I suggested that we burn her book of contacts. She looked at me incredulously and said, "What do you mean?" "If you want to live for Jesus Christ," I explained, "and you've truly accepted His forgiveness and embraced Him as Lord, then you need to prove it." "But that book is worth a lot of money," she said. "I don't want to burn it." After putting it back in her purse, she looked me right in the eye and said, "I guess I don't really want Jesus, do I?"

When it came to counting the cost, she wasn't ready. I don't know whatever became of her, but my heart aches for her and others like her.

I'm sure you know people like her—they know and believe that Christ is the Savior, they know they need Him, but they are unwilling to make a commitment to Him. Perhaps they even go to church and hear the Word of God. They are like the proverbial man who says he believes a boat will keep him afloat, but never sets foot in one.

Those people are the most tragic of all. They need to be warned—to be given a powerful shove toward Christ. May the Lord use you as His instrument for that purpose in the lives of many who are on the edge of a decision for Christ.

Suggestion for Prayer

Ask God to soften the hearts of people you know who understand the facts of the gospel, but haven't yet made a commitment to it.

For Further Study

Read Matthew 19:16-22. What kinds of questions should you ask of someone who appears eager to become a Christian?

[metmom]

Studying God’s Word ping

[bramps]

If you want to live for Jesus Christ,” I explained, “and you’ve truly accepted His forgiveness and embraced Him as Lord, then you need to prove it.”
**************************************

Did the thief on the cross next to Christ prove it?

[daniel1212]

"How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard" (Heb. 2:3). Many people know the facts of the gospel but won’t make a commitment to it. True, but as said and illustrated in my response before to John's attempt to make Hebrews addressing the lost, it is addressing believers. Yet as with Rv. 3:20 which also addresses believers, Heb. 2:3 certainly can be used in evangelizing the lost, as indeed How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation (Heb. 3:2)
for so great an eternity
at so great a cost
by the Great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, (Titus 2:13)
for so great a multitude
of so great sinners.

Glory to God, yet to too great a degree I neglect to render unto the Lord according to the cost - and benefit.

[Hebrews 11:6]

To Jesus’ satisfaction, yes.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Dr. Gary Habermas, whose life's work has been to prove [successfully] the Gospel's veracity and historicity, also has studied for two decades why people do not believe it, in conjunction with a Christian psychologist. Gary presented four lectures on the four main reasons:

"Dealing with Factual Doubt"

"Dealing with Emotional Doubt"

"Is God Ignoring Me? Making Sense of God's Silence"

"Tugging at Our Hearts: The Biblical Imagery of Heaven"

[bramps]

To Jesus’ satisfaction, yes.

*****************************

But to John MacArthur’s?

How many people are instantly transformed as John MacArthur would like the case to be in this story? I know I wasn’t. But if I had gone to John MacArthur like this prostitute did, like her I may never have stepped foot in a church again.

That’s if this prostitute, very ironically, even exists.

[Hebrews 11:6]

I have a couple of issues with MacArthur, but doubting his honesty--or insinuating such doubt--isn't one of them. (Perhaps we should start a new thread, "John MacArthur's Sins and Shortcomings.")

The Holy Spirit did not lead you to MacArthur, whereas He did lead her, and it is reasonable to infer that JM was obeying the Spirit by challenging her, as Jesus did the rich young ruler. We don't know his ultimate outcome, either.

How many people are instantly transformed?

Your point, that demanding instant transformation is generally unwarranted, is valid, while it ignores the specific exceptions such as JM faced. He had and took the unique opportunity to test her faith, which Jesus' parable of the four soils recommends, and he recounts it here to make an important point. Dr. Habermas makes the same point more formally and exhaustively in post #6, above.

[bramps]

My doubt stems from hearing many pastors ( I listen to many online) with messages containing ‘perfect’ biblical analogy’s that when checked turn out to be fiction. Nothing in this story could be fact checked but it has happened too often when I check that I can’t ignore the possibility. Especially when I disagree with his premise. Maybe I should shut up but then again maybe John MacArthur could have been more forgiving to the prostitute.

[Hebrews 11:6]

I can’t ignore the possibility

It is one thing to wonder or suspect but quite another, I'm sure you'll agree, to insinuate publicly that skepticism utterly without foundation. But I am neither your conscience nor the Slur Police, so I leave it between you and the Holy Spirit.

maybe John MacArthur could have been more forgiving

Recognizing his decades of Spirit-filled ministry, I am content to trust not merely his judgment but more importantly his sensitivity to the Spirit's leading in his conversation with her. I am aware of two occasions when his carnality overrode that, as I mentioned (as occurs with every believer), but without any concrete evidence or justification I find no warrant for public impugnment.