The Lost Found By The Gospel
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see
Sinners are "lost," or unsaved. Salvation involves a man being "found," or being recued from a lost conditon.
"For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19: 10)
"And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost." (Luke 15: 6)
The word "lost," in this and most passages in the new testament, denotes loss, or ruination, with the idea of being destroyed or perishing. But, it does not exclude the idea of being without a sense of direction or place, or of being in a strange and unknown environment and unable to find the way out. This is clear from Jesus' use of the term "seek" (search) with the word "lost." You look for people who have lost their way, and who are without knowledge of their location. The ones lost do not know where they are, and others also do not know where they are, and so become "seekers" of the ones "lost." In such a lost state, one is enveloped with fear and dread, and suffers loss of hope and assurance.
Jesus is the "seeker" of the lost sheep (elect). He is the one who goes looking for the lost and ruined sinner. Further, he never fails to find those who he goes looking for. Thus, salvation is an experience that is defined as a time when the Lord "finds" his sheep who are "lost."
The word "found" means to discover. The salvation experience may be described as two persons finding each other. God finds the sinner and the sinner finds God. God is not lost, of course, and finding God implies no such thing. But, the sinner in his lost condition does not know where God is located. The sinner is lost, not knowing where he is, but God knows where he is.
Most Hardshells will easily accept the fact that salvation (regeneration) is described in scripture as a time when the Lord finds the "lost." What nearly all of them deny, however, is how the Lord's finding of the lost is also a time when the lost find the Lord. They would also affirm that this phenomenon of the Lord locating and rescuing his lost sheep occurrs in "regeneration," but if so, then it occurs "non-cognitively" and "on the sub-conscious level," for that is their view of the "regeneration" experience. But, how can one seek and find something non-cognitively?
But, what saith the scriptures?
"But if our gospel be hid (unrevealed), it is hid 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." (II Cor. 4: 3, 4)
Paul equates, in this passage, "the lost," with "unbelievers," with those who have no revelation of the gospel. Do the Hardshells? Do they not rather teach that many who are unbelievers, and who have no revelation of the gospel, are nevertheless saved?
Hardshells interpret this passage as dealing with "conversion," of what takes place after "regeneration," in only a few of the regenerated, but certainly not in all of them. This shining of the light of the gospel revelation into the heart the Hardshells will not ascribe to "regeneration." By this interpretation one can be "regenerated" and yet have no light in them! How can they be "children of the light (or God)" but have no light?
"Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." (Isa. 55: 6, 7)
The Hardshells do not have a problem with regeneration being a time when the Lord finds the sinner, but they have a problem with regeneration being a time when the sinner finds the Lord. Some of them will even decry others who speak of a sinner "finding the Lord." They will say - "I didn't know the Lord was lost." But, this is fault-finding and nit-picking, demonstrating a cantankerous cultic spirit. Of course "finding the Lord" does not imply that the Lord is lost! Do the words of Isaiah not exhort all to "seek the Lord"? Does that imply that the Lord is lost? He says "while he may be found." Does that imply that God is lost? What it means, as I have already shown, is that the lost sinner does not know where the Lord is! He does not know where he is, himself, and neither does he know where the Lord is. But, when he "finds" the Lord, he discovers that the Lord also found him.
Notice how this "finding" of the Lord is connected with salvation, with "returning" to the Lord (repentance and faith, or conversion), with being shown "mercy" (justification) and given "pardon."
"I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name." (Isa. 65: 1 & Rom. 10: 20)
The words of the prophet are applied by Paul to the calling of the Gentiles, by the gospel, the Gentiles being formerly those who were not "seekers" of the Lord, and who were not "called by my name." But now, however, they have become seekers and finders of the Lord, by the gospel. Now they have become the people of God for they have been "called by my name," or "named the name of Christ." (II Tim. 2: 19) Doubtless this "finding" of the Lord is a cognitive experience, and involves enlightenment and a revelation.
"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." (Jer. 29: 13)
Jeremiah's message is the same as Isaiah's. Salvation is described as "finding" the Lord.
Jesus taught the same.
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." (Matt. 7: 7, 8)
The Hardshells, due to their Hyper Calvinism, and extremism concerning the Calvinistic doctrine of "total depravity," have denied that one can be a "seeker" before his regeneration. But, Gill, Spurgeon, and the old Baptists of the confessions did not believe this, for they often spoke of "seeking sinners," people who had not yet come to faith in Christ, who had not yet been saved or regenerated, as still being lost or unsaved.
The old Baptist writers of former centuries spoke of these seekers as being "awakened sinners." Did they mean that they were "regenerated"? No, they did not. They saw this awakening as a "prevenient" or "preparatory" work before regeneration/conversion. They saw this as occurring when sinners became aware of certain facts of the gospel, and became, to some degree, "convicted." Hardshells see conviction of sin as an after-effect of regeneration, and so would pronounce any and all who are convicted of sin, as saved. But, the 17th and 18th century Particular Baptists did not view mere conviction of sin as evidence of a saved state, but of a lost state. To be saved (born again, or spiritually quickened) one had to be convinced (convicted) not only of "sin," but also of "righteousness" and "judgment," per Jesus in John 16: 8. They taught that one must come to believe in the righteousness of Christ, and to trust in it.
I have asked Hardshells this unanswerable question - "when the Spirit tells a sinner that he is lost, or convinces him of that fact, is he telling him the truth?"
If the Hardshells say "yes," then the convicted sinner cannot be said to be saved. If they say "no," then they make the Spirit a witness of falsehood.
"For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry." (Luke 15: 24, 32)
These are the words concerning the "prodigal son," in the context of "lost" things (lost coin, lost sheep, and lost son). Actually, they are stories of not only what is "lost," but of what is both lost and "found." The deliverance of the prodigal from "lost" condition was equated with his being restored to life, to his resurrection from death. But, when was he "found" and made "alive again"? Was it while he was under conviction, at that time when he "came to himself," when he received a revelation of his condition, and became contrite? This cannot be because he was still a foreigner to his father's house, and still in the pig pen, and "perishing with hunger."
Yes, he learned some things while in the pig pen of sin, and such teaching is what eventually brought him back to his father and to his father's house. He learned that he was truly miserable and a failure, that he done wrong to his father in leaving, and that he was to blame for his condition. Is everyone who comes to realize this saved? Certainly not. Many examples from scripture can be given to further demonstrate the truth of it.
He also saw the way of salvation. I will return to my father's house. I will humble myself before him and confess my wrong and my guilt. I will beg for his mercy and hope for his restoration. He knew the plan of salvation. But, are all those who have become aware of the plan of salvation alive from spiritual death? Certainly not. Jesus says that the Father's teaching and drawing is what causes a sinner to "come" to him for life and salvation. The teaching and drawing work is preparatory to the salvation experience. (See John 6: 44, 45)
The words of the text say that the prodigal was "alive again" upon his return (repentance), when he was "found" and no longer lost and away from his father.
All the experiences of the prodigal prior to his return were only "preparatory" operations of God upon him leading him to "life" and deliverance from being "lost."
"And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us." (Acts 17: 26, 27)
All men are commanded to "seek the Lord" and this certainly includes those who are "lost," and who do not possess the Lord. They are promised success if they do so, as has been seen from the scriptures already cited. Again, "find him" is a term describing the salvation experience. But, Hardshells must deny that sinners "find" the Lord in regeneration, for this would make salvation cognitive, and involve the sinner being saved by faith and repentance, and they will not affirm this.
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