How Lost is Man? - Remember the Titanic "1500+ LOST at Sea"

There is a certain finality to the word lost in the biblical theology of the lostness of humanity that seems to reach deep beyond some of the common conceptions of what it means to "get lost" or to "be lost in the wilderness". It is much more of a sense of the term lost in "lost at sea", such as in the meaning of 1500 plus lives lost at sea in the sinking of the Titanic. This is evidenced by passages like Ephesians 2: " you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked." DEAD. That means it takes a miracle, a resurrection, a new birth, something only God can do for us to be un-lost in the biblical teaching of the phrase. We are the walking dead prior to salvation, prior to a regeneration of our spiritually dead and unable to respond selves that can only be accomplished by the wind of the Spirit blowing where it wishes and resurrecting the shriveled up dry bones of a spiritual being that is left, putting flesh and blood and life back into our spiritual being.

So What?

This biblical perspective on the lostness of man is crucial if we are to think rightly about our evangelism. But it must be paired with the biblical truth about the means God uses whereby the spiritually dead are raised to life. Romans 10 discusses this. "How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." God has ordained that it be through His Church, the body of Christ, that the Word of God, the gospel, go out to men, and that hearing the Word is the means the Holy Spirit uses to bring about the re-birth. This means that if a man is to be saved, a man will be sent to share the Word with him. God will accomplish this, from start to finish, and it is our distinct privilege to be used of God for his great purposes. 

But what about...

One common objective to God's sovereignty in salvation is that it removes the motivation for us to go preach the gospel because, after all, God will accomplish salvation for those whom He has chosen no matter what right? Yes, He will. He will give a more faithful servant to His commands the privilege of sharing the gospel with the person whom He's chosen. The one who misunderstands God's sovereignty, thinking it removes the responsibility of His people to obey His commands to preach the gospel will miss out on the privilege it is to be the ambassador of Christ whose job is to share the best news that could ever be given to man who is lost in their sin. 

Actually...

If anything, the fact that man is lost (dead) without God's salvation and that God is sovereign over this regeneration of lost people should give us a greater drive to share the gospel. After all, that means we cannot screw it up. Don't mistake this for an excuse to do a crummy job and wimp out on a robust and full preaching of the whole counsel of God. Just remember that we are guaranteed success in what God intended the Word coming out of our mouths to accomplish. As Isaiah 55:10-11 says: "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."

Preach the Word!

So we can go forth in confidence, understanding that there is no higher calling than to be the ambassador of the Most High King Jesus, sent into this foreign land to declare the coming of our king, His wondrous salvation, and that His glorious hand is not shortened to save. His Spirit guarantees that as the Word goes out it will accomplish exactly what it was purposed to accomplish, for His glory and the good of His people. Soli Deo Gloria, to God alone be all the glory!