Almost Saved
by Sandy Simpson, 11/29/16
“To be almost saved
is to be totally lost.” – Adrian Rogers
There are many so-called “Christians” today who are
clearly “almost saved” by their testimonies and/or actions. But to be “almost saved” is to be completely
lost. A person who is drowning and
almost saved drowns. A woman who is
almost pregnant is not pregnant. King Agrippa said, “You are almost persuading me to be a
Christian (Acts 26:28)” but being almost persuaded is not enough to be saved.
The word “almost”
means “very nearly”, “not quite.” In light of this we may conclude that to come
close to the target, or “almost” hit it, means to completely miss the mark. (Shalem Evangelical Church Bush Hall Yard Gap, St.
Michael)
Here are
some excuses given by those missing the mark:
Well, I’m not as bad as all those Christians, what do I need to be saved from?
I’m having too much fun to give it up for that religious stuff!
I’m too bad, and I need to clean up my act before God will have me.
There’s just not QUITE enough evidence to convince me; there are just too many loose ends!
Hey, I am better than all those other people!
When I get to see Jesus, He will see my good stuff outweighed my bad stuff.
I’ve been baptized.
I have been in church my whole life, and still go every time the door opens.
I am a preacher, deacon, elder!
I take the Lord’s Supper EVERY Sunday!
Today I fear we have a whole new generation that is “almost saved” meaning still lost.
Some of you may have had spiritual touches upon the conscience and heart which you will never be able to quite forget and the responsibility of this will cling to you, though you have drawn back from godliness and your heart cries after vanity and lusts after its idols. This woman was actually out of Sodom and she was almost in Zoar, the refuge city, and yet she perished! How near she was to the little city of escape, I cannot tell, but she was certainly almost there and yet she perished. Almost saved, but not quite. (Spurgeon, http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols25-27/chs1491.pdf)
Of course there is no such thing as almost saved. One is either saved or headed for eternal judgment. One is either cold or hot. Lukewarm will not do.
Revelation
3:16 So
because you are lukewarm,
and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My
mouth.
In a sermon called “ALMOST SAVED – BUT ENTIRELY LOST!” by Dr. C. L. Cagan he ends by saying:
“You can’t be changed from a little devil to a real
Christian by simply coming to church. You can’t have a conversion by learning
things. Your heart is wrong. You are wrong inside. Your heart is “desperately
wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). You cannot change yourself from a goat to a sheep,
from a little devil to a real Christian. “With men it is impossible” (Mark
10:27). And with you it
is impossible. You need God’s grace! You need a miracle of conversion from God.
You are almost saved, but entirely lost. Without a miracle from God, you will
always be entirely lost – lost in this life and lost forever in the next
world.”
Yet we seem to have a
whole generation of young people who are more interested in what they want in
this life than obeying God, thus proving they love Him.
1 John 2:5
But
if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in
them. This is how we know we are in him:
He who is almost persuaded is almost saved, and to be
almost saved is to be eternally lost. - Rev. Brundage
Yet today we see a whole
generation no longer interested in the Lord.
Statistics reveal a huge disconnect taking place between our
children and their church experience. Nationwide polls and denominational
reports are showing that the next generation is calling it quits on the
traditional church. And it's not just happening on the nominal fringe; it's
happening at the core of the faith. In the first scientific study of its kind,
the "Beemer Report" reveals startling facts discovered through 20,000
phone calls and detailed surveys of a thousand 20–29 year olds who used to
attend evangelical churches on a regular basis, but have since left it behind.
(Ken Ham, Already Gone, https://answersingenesis.org/answers/books/already-gone/)
Yet when young people leave the faith or simply live their lives in sin as they please while calling themselves Christians, they are in danger of being “left behind”.