I FOUND IT

I FOUND IT

“For this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found. And they began to be merry. “ “But we had to be merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found." Luke 15:24, 32

has been found  Not I found Him. We used to have a known preacher in our town that had a weekly article in the paper titled “I found it.” His theology was Armenian and he thought one could get saved and then lose what he had discovered. Many verses argued to the contrary but he was set in that train of ideas. Your Theology changes when God finds you instead of you finding God. He obviously saw many he thought had found it and later walked away. The two verses above argue to the contrary on his thoughts about salvation.

The love of the Father's heart, our Lord gives us the Divine estimate of the contrast between the condition of those who are away from God, and those who are restored to Him. The contrast is a double one, dealing with the experience of man, and the experience of God. Given the man away from fellowship with God - he is, in his own experience, dead - in the experience of God, he is lost. Given the man restored to God - he is, in his own experience, alive - in the experience of God he is found. The man away from God is dead. There is a sense in which he still lives; but everything is less than the real, withered at the heart, and unfinished - and he lacks entirely the deepest things of life, which are those of the spiritual and eternal powers and joys. To God that man is lost. In his loss God is defrauded. And we miss the deepest note if we fail to detect the tone of Divine sorrow in the word. The man restored to God is alive. There may be many things which as yet he is excluded from, but everything is touched with life, strong at the center, and satisfied; and he lives in the profound peace and power of the abiding. To God that man is found. In his restoration God is enriched. And again we miss the deepest note, if we do not catch the glad ring of the rejoicing heart of God. The whole truth about life is here. The man lost to God is dead. The man found of God is alive.

And besides if you think you see a believer walk away from God, Hebrews gives you instruction on your efforts to have them return. “and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame.” Heb. 6:6.  You only can put Christ on the Cross once according to God.