Crossing God's Deadline | Part 2

When you cross God's deadline, it's too late. You cross a deadline and God's gentle, precious Holy Spirit no longer speaks to your heart.

Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring the dynamic lessons and insightful teaching of Adrian Rogers. In front of every unsaved person, there's a deadline. God deals with sinners over and over again, convicting us in loving patience. In part one of today's message, we learn that God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit and through situations we face. God also speaks through his believers and through scripture, but sometimes when God convicts, we still rebel.

What happens if we continue to stiffen our necks to his direction? If you have your Bible, turn now to Proverbs 29, as Adrian Rogers delivers part two of Crossing God's Deadline. Ladies and gentlemen, the Bible teaches that in front of every unsaved man, there is a deadline. And if he crosses that deadline, he is just as lost, just as certainly doomed, just as destined for hell, as though he were already there and as though the iron gates of hell had already clanged shut behind him. It is possible for a man to commit a sin in this life. It is possible for a person to come in this life to a point which if he commits that sin and transgresses and goes beyond that point, he can never, no never, no never be saved. He will cross God's deadline.

Listen to the verse again. He that being often reproved, and hardened at his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed. He is suddenly destroyed. Destruction generally takes three forms. First of all, there is the destruction of the mind through strong delusion.

The destruction of the mind through strong delusion. Look, if you will please, in 2 Thessalonians, the second chapter and verses 11 and 12. Now here is what God's word says. Listen, one of the most amazing verses in all of the Bible. For this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. Now wait a minute, Pastor. Read that again. You must have misread it. God doesn't send anybody delusion, does he?

Yes, he does. Well, you say, I thought it was the devil that deceived people. I thought it was the devil that deluded people. But this verse says, for this reason, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. Why would God send anybody strong delusion? Well, he tells us that they should believe a lie. Well, why would God want them to believe a lie? That they all might be damned. Or as another translation, that they all might be condemned.

Well, it seems to get worse, doesn't it? God sends delusion so that people will believe a lie so that they'll be condemned. Well, why would God want them to be condemned? Well, continue to read, who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Now pay attention. When a person is presented with the truth, and when a person on the other hand has his unrighteousness and his sin, then he has a choice. And the opposite of truth is not error, but it is sin. Over here is truth and over here is unrighteousness. And the man must make a choice. He knows what God's truth says because that man has been often reproved.

And over here is his unrighteousness. And he says, I choose my sin. I choose this lifestyle. I choose against God. But when he chooses this package, this package of unrighteousness is wrapped up in delusion. And when he chooses this, God says, when you take the package, you're going to get the wrapping, which is delusion and deception. And God will see to it that he believes a lie. God himself, it is a part of God's righteous judgment. It is a part of God's poetic judgment. It is ironic that God sees to it that this man who does not want the truth, but has pleasure in unrighteousness, with that unrighteousness, the man is deceived, he is deluded, and God sees to it that he is. Now how does that work?

Let me illustrate what happens. Suppose I preach a message on stewardship, on giving. And the devil sees to it that a man who was here two years ago when I preached on that subject comes back two years later, and I'm preaching this message on stewardship. And that man begins to mutter and sputter and fume and fuss, and he says, money, money, money. That's all they ever talk about down there.

That church is money, a bunch of money grabbing, so and so. And he's just muttering, sitting there under his breath. He never stops to ask, is it true? He never stops to ask, does it come out of the word of God?

He never asks the mind of God about the matter. He goes out of church, and he says to his wife out of corners of the mountain, I am never going back there anymore. And so he just begins to fume, you know, and he's just all hot under the collar about it. Now, he knows what is right. I mean, he heard the truth, but he had pleasure and unrighteousness. And what is his unrighteousness? It is covetousness. His creed is greed, his God is gold, his motto is get all you can and can't all you get, poison the rest and sit on the lid.

That's the way he's wired. And it's just rotten sin. Well, is he going to have that sin?

Yes, but with that sin, he'll also have the delusion that comes with that sin. So he's sitting at home on Sunday morning, whiskers grown out. He's watching the sports channel on television.

He's got a six-pack of embalming fluid there by his right hand, carton of cancer there by his left hand. And he's just sitting there enjoying his Sunday morning, and about that time somebody knocks at the door, and it's two members from a well-known cult who have said we've come to tell you there is no hell. He says, come in, come in. And they come in and tell him a lie, and he believes a lie.

Why? Because he received not the love of the truth, but had pleasure and righteousness, and God has sent him strong delusion. Now he's suddenly destroyed. His mind is destroyed. His mental faculties are destroyed. You say he's sincere. He may be sincere, but he's sincerely wrong.

Now wait a minute. Not only is there the destruction of the mind through strong delusion, there's also the destruction of the Spirit by spiritual desertion. You say, what do you mean spiritual desertion? I mean that the Holy Spirit will desert such a man when he crosses the deadline. Did you know that it is possible for God to give up on a man? Did you know that God will not always send his Holy Spirit to talk to a man, a woman, a boy, or a girl? The Bible says in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 6, in a solemn warning, God speaking, my Spirit shall not always strive with man. My Spirit shall not always strive with man. Now God's Spirit does strive.

God is infinitely patient. He that being often reproved time and time and time and time again and God speaks and God woos and God warns and God pleads and God instructs and God reproves. But there comes a time when the Holy Spirit can be so insulted, so sinned against that you cross a deadline and God's gentle, precious Holy Spirit no longer speaks to your heart. Did you know that you cannot be saved unless the Holy Spirit of God draws you to Jesus Christ? Did you know that my preaching can never save anybody? Did you know that even the truth of the Word of God cannot save you unless the Holy Spirit of God makes that truth real to your heart?

Did you know that? Did you know that I can preach truth but only the Holy Spirit can impart truth? And Jesus said, no man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him. The Spirit of God must draw you to Jesus Christ. You must be brought by the Holy Spirit to Jesus Christ but there comes a time when the dear Holy Spirit of God may be so blasphemed that the Spirit of God will no longer speak to your heart.

Listen to these scriptures. Romans chapter 1 verse 24. Wherefore God also gave them up. Romans chapter 1 verse 26. For this reason God gave them up. Romans 1 verse 28. Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over. Twice it says God gave them up. Once it says that God gave them over. How does that work?

How does it really work? Well, number one, you see God must have spoken to you clearly and plainly and you must have deliberately and willfully rejected Jesus for this to happen. Let me illustrate what I'm talking about. An interesting passage in Hebrews chapter 6 beginning in verse 4.

Listen to it. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and that's the key, people who've been enlightened, people that God's Holy Spirit has spoken to. God is impossible for those who were once enlightened underscore the word enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift underscore the word tasted and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost underscore that word partakers of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the power of the world to come literally and the power of the ages to come if they shall fall away to renew them again to repentance seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame. Now the Bible says it is impossible to renew some people to repentance. It is absolutely totally 100% impossible that these people could ever repent and get right with God.

Who are they? These are people who were enlightened. Their eyes were opened. These are people who have tasted the power of the word of God. These are people who've been made partakers of the Holy Ghost. Now he's not talking about people who've been saved and then lose their salvation. He's talking about people who come up to the very brink of salvation who with their eyes wide open crucify Jesus as it were again. They refuse Christ. They trample beneath their feet the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and they know what they're doing.

I mean they do it after they know the truth. It's very similar to this. Have you ever been to the supermarket and gone back there to the back by the dairy counter and seen where they're giving away in some supermarkets little samples of cheese? You know they have little toothpicks and little bits of cheese and that's just simply to whet your appetite. You go back there and say, hey mister would you like a little sample of cheese and I go back there and taste that. Boy it tastes so good and you taste it.

Suppose you're a cheese hound and you really like cheese and you say I just really like that. Give me three pounds of that. So they wrap up three pounds and you carry it to the front checkout counter and when you get there you'll look at the register and it says $30 for three pounds of cheese. You say wait a minute.

Hold it. Is that for the cheese or the whole bill? No that's for the cheese.

$30? That's right. You know that came from lower Mongolia or somewhere. That's imported cheese. That's very rare cheese and if that's what you want it's going to cost you $30. You say well now wait a minute. Just put it back.

Put it back. I know what it is and I know how it tastes but I am not going to pay that kind of price for it. Now here's a person who knows exactly what it is that he's refusing. He's already tasted it and that's what the Scripture's talking about. He's tasted the power of the Word to come. His eyes are open. He knows what it is and with his eyes wide open he says to God no.

And when he does that he may step over the deadline. He may sow sin against the Holy Spirit that his eyes being open caused him to commit a sin that is more horrible are you listening? More terrible and more tragic than those who took those searing nails and pounded them into his quivering flesh. I am telling you that they commit a greater sin than those who nailed him to the cross at Calvary. The writer of Hebrews says that they crucify the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame.

Now here's the difference. You say what could be the difference than crucifying him the first time or crucifying him in our hearts the second time. When Jesus was crucified the first time, do you remember what he prayed?

He prayed what? Father, forgive them for they know not what they do, right? But when you crucify him after having been enlightened he can't pray that for you because you know what you're doing.

You know exactly what you're doing. You have tasted the power of the Word of God. You have been made a partaker of the Holy Spirit. You have been brought under conviction and you crucify Christ with your eyes wide open. You crucify him afresh and put him to an open shame and the Holy Spirit of God can be so wounded, so grieved that he no longer speaks to your heart. The old time theologians used to call that when the lights go out on the road to hell.

Oh, it's a tragic thing when a man not only has strong delusion but he has spiritual desertion. The Holy Spirit of God just deserts him. God gives him up. God leaves him alone. There's a passage in the Old Testament that says that Ephraim is joined to his idols. Let him alone. Just let him alone.

John, Mary, Susie, Bill, Ralph is joined to his idols. Just leave him alone and God and God gave them up. Strong delusion, spiritual desertion and then sudden death. Just like that you're going.

You see, when a man crosses the deadline, many times right after that he dies suddenly. There's an interesting passage in the book of Genesis that speaks of the ancient Amorites. And God said of them, the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. That's in Genesis 15 and verse 16. The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

Now the Amorites lived in Canaan. God knew who the Amorites were. And there was a measuring cup. And God was measuring their sin. And their sin had not yet come to the brim.

It was not yet full. And so God did not command that they be destroyed. But then there came another time in Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 17 where God says, Thou shalt destroy them utterly. Now God has a measuring cup with you. And one day your sin may fill that cup to the brim and God will say it's time for her to be destroyed.

It's time for him to be destroyed. Ladies and gentlemen, listen to me. When God judges your sin, God does not judge your sin primarily by the outward sin committed but by the inward light rejected. Do you understand that? And the Bible teaches that the greatest sin is the rejection of spiritual truth. It is greater than adultery. It is greater than fornication.

It is greater than arson, rape, and murder. The greatest sin is the sin of unbelief. God will not allow you to disbelieve his Son and trample beneath your feet his blood but only so long. And there comes a time when God's cup of patience and mercy is filled to the brim. And then it will be too late. It will be too late. Sudden death. Sudden destruction. And there will be no remedy.

Now there's one last thing and I'll be finished. Notice what I've said. There's spiritual direction. God speaks. He warns. He pleads. He speaks in many ways.

I've mentioned that. There's stubborn disobedience. People harden their necks. There is sudden destruction. First of all, mentally, there's strong delusion. Spiritually, the Holy Spirit deserts them.

And physically, many times, there's a sudden death. There is also a settled destiny. Listen to the verse.

He that being often reproved and hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. Is there a chance after death? Absolutely, totally not. Now there's some people who teach and preach that we have a second chance after we die to get right with God. That is false. That is heresy. And I do not want to leave that hope to you. Dear friend, if you want to be saved, you may be saved. If you need to be saved, Christ can save you.

And whosoever will may come. But I want to tell you with all of the urgency, emergency, function and unction of my soul, you will not come to the judgment bar of God and be able to throw yourself on the mercy of the court and say, God, I now believe. I have mercy, O God, and save me. If you want mercy, you may have it. If you want grace, you may have it. If you want forgiveness, you may have it.

But you must have it in this life. The Bible says, Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, today is the day of salvation. The Bible says it is appointed unto man once to die and after this, not a second chance, but after this, the judgment. The Lord Jesus in the sixteenth chapter of Luke told about two men who died, a rich man and a poor man, a beggar and a rich man. The rich man's name, we don't know. The beggar's name was Lazarus. The rich man died, the Bible says, and in hell he lifted up his eyes being in torment. And he saw Abraham and Lazarus in his bosom afar off.

And this man in hell cried out this way, Father Abraham, have mercy upon me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. And God spoke to him through Abraham and said, It is impossible. Between you and us, there is a great gulf that is fixed. And those who would pass from where you are to where we are cannot come. And those of us who would come from where we are to comfort you cannot come.

There is a great gulf fixed. And as a soul dies, so shall it be. In the Bible we read in Matthew chapter 25 and verse 46, And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous unto life eternal. And the same word that is translated everlasting is the word that is translated eternal. And if the life in heaven is eternal, then life in hell is eternal.

And God uses the same word to describe both. In the book of Ecclesiastes, the Bible says in verse 3, In the place where the tree falls, there shall it lie. Now, someone has written these words, As the tree falls, so must it lie. As a man lives, so will he die. As a man dies, so will he be, all through the years of eternity. The Bible teaches that there is no remedy. Listen, don't die without Christ.

Don't cross the deadline. I did some Bible study and I looked up this phrase in a number of different translations. Listen to them. One says, And he shall be without remedy. The other says, Never have another chance. Another says, He's beyond healing. Another says, He's broken beyond repair. Another translation says, He is suddenly done for. All of them say the same thing. There is a settled destiny.

I beg you, I plead with you, come to the Lord Jesus. One of the greatest preachers of our past generation was Dr. Joe Henry Hankins from Arkansas. He was preaching an evangelistic message. And when he finished the message, he gave the invitation and he saw a young man there right about in the middle part of the balcony.

And the young man seemed to be under conviction. He watched him as it looked like he was going to start out and give his heart to Christ and then he stepped back in. And the preacher stood and pleaded as I plead sometimes and said, Come to Jesus. And the young man took the songbook and closed it and put it down and wheeled and started out. Dr. Hankins said, Thank God he's coming, he's coming.

But as he went down those stairs, rather than coming through the doors and down to the front, he went into the foyer and on out into the street and left the revival meeting. In a few weeks, Dr. Joe Henry Hankins was called to the bedside of that young man who had been diagnosed with a fatal disease and who was dying. Dr. Hankins thought he recognized him and said, Son, I want to ask you a question. Were you in our services on thus and such a night? Yes, sir.

The young man did not know he had the disease at that time. Were you sitting in the balcony? Yes, sir. When I gave the invitation, did you have a desire to come and give your heart to Jesus Christ?

Yes, sir. Tell me about it, son. He said, Preacher, when you preached that message and gave that invitation, I wanted to get down there where you were and confess Christ as my Savior so strongly that I felt like I could jump over that balcony rail to get to where you were. Well, son, you didn't come. I saw you leave, but you went outside.

What happened? He said, Each time I started to come forward, I thought of my favorite sin, and I knew that if I came forward, I'd have to give up that sin, and there was a struggle in my heart. Finally, I made up my mind I would have my sin, and I closed my hymnal, and I left and went outside. I made up my mind I would choose my sin. The pastor began to weep. He said, Well, now, son, has the doctor told you how sick you are?

Yes, sir, you don't have to beat around the bush with me. I know I'm going to die. Well, son, I'm going to ask you to give your heart to Jesus right now, because if you're going to die, you can't have your sin anyway. Won't you give your heart to Jesus and ask him to save you? That young man said, No, I will not give my heart to Jesus. He said, Son, I don't understand it.

You said you wanted to be saved. He said, Preacher, there's something you do not understand. He said, When I closed that songbook and walked out of that church, something died within me. He said, I can't give my heart to Christ. Hankins said he pled with tears and begged the young man to come to Christ.

But he said, I cannot and I will not. He had hardened his neck against God. He had chosen his sin. He had stepped over God's deadline. And there was nothing waiting for that young man but certain judgment. But listen, he that being often reproved and hardens his neck shall suddenly be destroyed.

And that without remedy. This message today may be God's final call to someone today. As you've listened today, have you heard God speaking to your heart to turn from your sin and respond to his offer of forgiveness? If you are ready to surrender your life to Christ, pray with me right now. Father in heaven, I know that I've sinned and I know that sin separates me from you. But you sent your son on a rescue mission to die in my place to take the punishment that I deserved.

So right now, I surrender. I believe that Jesus did that for me and rose again to new life. And I received the gift of salvation that you're offering. Come into my life, save me, cleanse me, make me a new person. I trust in what the Lord Jesus did for me and not in myself. And I pray in his name.

Amen. If you prayed to receive Jesus just now, let us celebrate with you. Go to our Find God's Love page on our website where you'll find answers you may need about your newfound faith. Simply go to lwf.org slash radio and click the tab that says Find God's Love.

Welcome to his forever family. We can't wait to hear from you today. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message in its entirety, you can call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD.

Mention the title Crossing God's Deadline. This lesson is also part of the insightful series, A Word to the Wise. For the complete six message collection, call 877-LOVEGOD, or you can order online at lwf.org slash radio, or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. You may not know you can also purchase our new Bible studies much like this message in our online store. For information, just go to the website again, lwf.org slash radio. Today is the day to listen to God's conviction.

Give up your stubborn rebellion and change your destiny before it's too late. We're so glad you studied in God's word with us. Be sure to tune in next time for more from Adrian Rogers, right here on Love Worth Finding. One of our listeners sent a note with her recent donation, and I want to share her encouraging words. Thank you for the gift of Adrian Rogers. He has renewed my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

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