To Far To Turn Back?

In many areas of life, there are points that we reach that

make it impossible to return.

A. Airplanes especially point this problem out.

1. Take-off......point of commitment....either

fly or crash.

2. Long range flights.....point of no return....

don’t have enough fuel to return to starting

point.

B. Many times in business, one becomes committed

for the long haul.....can’t back out without

disaster.

God’s word speaks of this same kind of principle.

Luke 9:62 - 62. Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand

to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom

of God."

It certainly appears to me that God considers our decision

to become a Christian an irreversible one.

A. Not because God wouldn’t be willing to forgive

one who has strayed (as a lost sheep would)....but

that a person can make it impossible for God to

forgive him because he doesn’t want to return to

the things of God.

1. The yearning for the things left behind can

only indicate that one’s heart has changed in

regard to the things of God.

a. We have to ask ourselves this question...

“If God had not turned Lot’s wife into a

pillar of salt, would she have returned to

Sodom?”

1.) In my opinion....my answer would

be, “yes”....because her heart had

turned back to Sodom.

When we become a Christian, according to Romans,

chapter six....we die to sin....to the rule of sin in our lives...

in other words, we turn our back on the world of sin.

Romans 6:6-14 - 6. For we know that our old self was

crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done

away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin--

7. because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

8. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will

also live with him.

9. For we know that since Christ was raised from the

dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over

him.

10. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the

life he lives, he lives to God.

11. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but

alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so

that you obey its evil desires.

13. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as

instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to

God, as those who have been brought from death to life;

and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of

righteousness.

14. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not

under law, but under grace.

A. If and when we would turn back to the things of

the world that we renounced....is it like starting

over again or is it worse?

II Peter 2:20-22 - 20. If they have escaped the corruption

of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse

off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 It

would have been better for them not to have known the

way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to

turn their back on the sacred command was passed on to

them.

22. Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its

vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her

wallowing in the mud."

Why is it so bad to leave the Lord....can’t we just come

back?

A. Sliding away from God is the most dangerous

thing that any mortal can do.

I. Before we come to God, our sins were done........... in at

least partial ignorance and unbelief.

I Tim. 1:13 - 13. Even though I was once a blasphemer

and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy

because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.

A. God died for us on the cross while we were yet in

our sins.

Romans 5:8 - 8. But God demonstrates his own love for

us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

1. His great love for us made His sacrifice.....by

His standards............inevitable.

B. The reason that our sins.......as odious as they

were........could still sway God to shed His blood

for them.......was because they were done in

ignorance and unbelief.

1. I think that this is very well illustrated at the

cross.

Luke 23:34 - 34. Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for

they do not know what they are doing." And they divided

up his clothes by casting lots.

a. I would not presume to argue that He was

not speaking of those who were

physically killing Him.....but I also

contend that He was speaking of all