Bob Cassell, Messenger
From the lips of the Son of God, it was declared, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost” (Luke 19:10). Notice the source of this seeking. Is it from desperate, lost, and blind humanity? No, they are too busy to stop, look, and listen concerning their lost condition.
Be it known unto you, Jesus Christ is the unique person of the Godhead who came to this sin cursed earth to seek and save those who are lost. He came to pay the full penalty for all sin and to draw unto him those for whom he died. Is it not obvious that those who are lost are separated from God and are under condemnation. Perhaps they do not have a clear understanding of the gospel of the grace of God and do not realize that salvation is centered totally in the finished work of Christ on the cross.
The gospel is the good news of God from the portals of heaven. Bad news comes when man holds onto his own way, keeps his head down, and thinks all will be well in the end. He cannot comprehend how a loving God can cast his creatures into hell. It follows as surely as you are reading this information… there is a way that seems right for a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death (Proverbs 14:12). Why has an individual been so occupied and consumed with their own affairs that they don’t realize they have been enveloped by a dark cloud of indifference and unbelief and are not even aware of it.
The God of the bible knows all about this condition. He knows all about you even down to the number of hairs on your head; but even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: for YOU are of more value than many sparrows (Luke 12: 7).
Have you given any consideration to where you now are and more especially to where you will be in a mere one hundred years? Of an absolute certainty, you will be in eternity. Can you consider, even for a fleeting moment, the importance of thinking beyond the present to eternal and heavenly realities. Just for a moment, think with me about the meaning of eternity. You may be assured that you will be in eternity and will live forever because you have a temporal body and an eternal soul. The soul within you will never die and will exist somewhere. The essential question is where will that somewhere be? It will either be heaven forever or hell for an eternity. How long will eternity last?
Think with me for a moment about the rock of Gibraltar. It is composed of solid granite and resists wear forever. Suppose that once a year a small sparrow lands on this large granite rock, whets its beak once, and then flies around the world. How many years will it take for this little sparrow to whittle this giant rock down to nothing? A long time? Yes, and at the end of this time period we will just be sitting down for breakfast in eternity. Those who scoff at God’s truths and the gospel of saving grace, which is centered exclusively in the Lord Jesus Christ, will still be gasping for air and writhing in torment forever and forever in the lake of fire.
May I remind you there is a gospel of free grace that offers an exclusive salvation to those who are being sought. However, and this is a big HOWEVER, it is hidden to them because their minds have been blinded by Satan, the god of this world.
But if our gospel be hid, it is hidden to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them (2 Corinthians 4:3,4).
As these truths in God’s word apply to those who are not saved, it follows that all who are not saved are lost.
Individuals do not become lost, or unsaved, because of anything they do. They are totally lost until they become totally saved. In a lost condition those who are lost will continue doing what they are doing and have always done. The good news is that Jesus Christ came into the world that people might be saved from their lost condition.
God in his holy word gives a picture of the present condition of a person who is lost. They are dead, not alive, in trespasses and sins. And you has he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Even when we were dead in sins, has he quickened us together with Christ by grace you are saved (Ephesians 2:1,5).
Physical death means separation of the spirit from the body. Spiritual death means separation of the spirit from God and the full realization of the second death. Which means everlasting separation of the spirit and body from God. To be dead in trespasses and sins is to be spiritually dead and alienated from God. The very reflection and realization of these words brings a chilling, sobering, and woeful reality to my soul.
The word of God does not speak of sin only in the form of gross immoralities such as murder, drunkenness, rape, adultery, and the callousness of humankind. You may be assured, all that does not measure up to the perfection and holiness of God is sin.
Notice how it is defined in his word. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). This penetrating statement includes even the most moral, good, and refined in all of humanity. What it means to be dead in trespasses and sins may be seen from the changed attitude of Adam toward God after he had committed the first original sin. No sin had ever been committed in the perfect environment God had created. As federal head of the human race, Adam was the first to sin, and what did he do after he sinned? He hid himself from the presence of God among the trees of the garden because he was afraid and said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself (Genesis 3: 10).
You know and I know that those who are lost and spiritually dead are afraid of God. There is something mysterious within the heart, though frequently dormant, that causes the unsaved to fear a face-to-face encounter with the true and living God.
As a young and rebellious sailor, who had been drinking cheap wine, I was required to stand watch in many dark and scary places. I was afraid of a sudden appearance from God who, I thought, would probably vaporize me. Little did I realize that, as God in love sought Adam, God likewise in love seeks those who are lost to come to him and to be in union with him through the only mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).
Those who are lost are without Christ, having no hope, and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12).
To be without Jesus Christ is to be without the only means of having eternal life as declared in his word. I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes unto the father but by me (John 14:6).
To be without Christ is to have no hope for an eternal future in heaven. To be without God is to be without the creator and sustainer of humankind and the entire universe. It is to be far away from him who is the beginning and the end.
Now in Christ Jesus you who were sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13).
Notice it is in Christ that you have standing and position before a righteous and Holy God. Those who are saved have been called out of darkness into God’s marvelous light that you should show forth the praises of God who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).
Those who are unsaved are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart (Ephesians 4:18).
Humans may be very intellectual but can be in darkness regarding spiritual matters for a good but damnable reason.
The god of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them (2 Corinthians 4:4).
The unsaved are called the sons, or children, of disobedience (Ephesians (2:2). This is true because they obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thess.1:8).
Being disobedient and rejecting the Son of God they are by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3). He that believeth not the son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him (John 3:36).
These declarations from the word of God are not designed to make you feel good or to believe that you are well pleasing before God, but rather this is God’s own description of your condition before his holy presence and is totally accurate.
The next message inside the Castle, will elaborate on this deplorable and lost condition and will contain within it a means of escape to a place where there is perfect standing and position before him with full assurance and no fear. In contrast, all unbelievers are asked the vital question of How shall we escape if we neglect his so great salvation (Hebrews 2:3).
Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
If you are lost, you must be saved. You must be saved because you are condemned, but there is good news… there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit (Romans 8:1).
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23).
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13).
The only true God stands ready in this moment of time for you to simply place all of your trust in his blessed son, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. If you think you are waiting on him to act, you are incorrect. He has already acted and by his righteous actions has paid the full penalty of all sins that you owe.
At this critical moment in time, by his marvelous grace, you are free to respond by receiving the finished work of Jesus Christ as a non-meritorious gift. Eternal life is a gift from the Son of God, and you may have this gift by calling on or receiving him as your exclusive savior. It is futile to render or offer to God your best efforts in order to appropriate his so great salvation. Your best efforts are defined as filthy rags in his sight and are rejected.
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away (Isaiah 64:6).
Salvation is a free gift from God and can only be received by man. If works are offered for this gracious gift these filthy rags from man will be rejected immediately by a Holy and just God.
For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8,9).
