As I considered this text for today’s lesson, it gave me cause to think of man’s ability to be saved in a different light than I had in the past. Let us consider what brings us to this passage. Peter and John are entering the temple at the "beautiful gate", as was their habit, in order to teach the Gospel. Upon entering they take notice of a man "about 40 years old" that had been crippled from birth. The man was begging alms as had been his manner of living for his entire life. Peter sees the man and tells him "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." (Ac 3: 6). Immediately the man not only gets up to walk, but dances while praising God. This is a little different that the present day "miracle workers". There is not a period of recovery, not a slow staggering as the man becomes accustomed to walking. No, God’s miracles were always complete and instantaneous. Legs that must have been atrophied from 40 years of not walking were now muscular enough to dance. This miracle was not secret. Everyone in town knew that this man was a cripple. Peter, in keeping with his character, took this opportunity to preach Jesus by whose power the miracle had occurred. The High Priest, Annas, and others of the priesthood were perturbed with the preaching, but according to our text, could not deny that a notable miracle had been done. Their response is to command Peter and the others not to preach Jesus.

It occurs to me that the priests in our text are hopelessly lost. I confess that I had never thought of anybody as being hopelessly lost. In truth, these priests aren’t hopelessly lost in a sense that Jesus didn’t die for their sins. Or that they don’t have the same opportunity to respond to the Gospel as anybody else. God is just as unwilling for them to perish as any one else. But the hardness of the hearts of these men make it impossible for them to come to repentance. Even when confronted with a notable miracle, their response is not to turn and believe the Gospel, but rather to try to suppress it. It would seem impossible for them to be saved, and they’re not the only people in Scripture that would seem such.

In Matthew 12: 22-24 we find this account of Jesus casting out an evil spirit:

Matthew 12
²²   Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.
²³   And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David?
²⁴   But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.

Real similar to what happened in the text in Acts isn’t it? These Pharisees would seem hopelessly lost. Jesus so much as says so:

Matthew 12
³¹   Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
³²   And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

The hardness of their heart as evidenced by their statement shows their unrepentance. They were allowed in Scripture to challenge Jesus on two levels.

Deuteronomy 18
²²   When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

Jesus was doing the signs, that could not be denied, so challenge could not be made on this level.

Deuteronomy 13
¹   If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
²   And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
³   Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Every time Jesus was challenged on His Scriptural authority, He is found flawless. Knowing this the Pharisees in our text choose to speak against the Power through which Jesus did the miracles. Certainly unforgivable in this context, as it is apparent that these men will not repent, regardless of any evidence that might contradict them. Later this group and their affiliates try to suppress the Word of God by having Him nailed to a cross.

When speaking of the hopelessly lost, certainly Pharaoh comes to mind. The King of Egypt in Moses’ day ignored the evidence of 10 plagues, and was finally forced to let Israel leave their bondage, only after the death of the firstborn of all of Egypt. That included his own son. Afterward, as Pharaoh sees Israel wandering (apparently aimlessly) south along the Nile, he has a change of heart. He pursues Israel in order to destroy them. Rather than repent, he seeks to suppress God’s Word by killing Moses by the Red Sea. Rather, it is Pharaoh who meets his death, unrepentant, hopelessly lost, beneath that water.

I believe that we can number Ahab and Jezebel among the hopelessly lost. In first Kings chapter 18 we find the prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel. He seeks to have a "contest" between Jehovah and Baal. This is in the presence of King Ahab and the sons of Israel. Two sacrifices are to be prepared. And in turn, the prophets of Baal are to call upon their god to consume the sacrifice with fire from heaven. They cried out to Baal all day even into the evening and nothing happened. Elijah then prepared his sacrifice, laid wood on the altar, laid the sacrifice on the wood. So that there would be no misunderstanding, Elijah dug a trench around the altar, then poured water on the sacrifice until the trench was filled with water. Then Elijah called upon God to consume the sacrifice with fire. The fire came down. The sacrifice was reduced to ash, as was the wood, as were the stones that composed the altar. The flames even licked up the water in the trench until it was dry. The sons of Israel were convinced. They began to proclaim "Jehovah is God!" They put the prophets of Baal to death. Ahab returns to Jezreel by chariot to give Jezebel the news. Elijah outruns the chariot on foot. Ahab and Jezebel, rather that turning to God as a result of the evidence, decide to have Elijah killed. Once again trying to suppress the Word of God.

It would seem that an unrepentant heart can really stand in the way, or even make impossible one’s salvation. The questions before us then are; What causes an unrepentant heart? and What should our approach be as Christians to the unrepentant?

Several things my cause one to be unrepentant. I believe that one of our examples, Ahab, can give us a clue. In 1 Kings chapter 22 we find Jehoshaphat the King of Judah, approaching Ahab, King of Israel, to join forces against the Syrians. Jehoshaphat suggests that they consult a prophet as to whether or not they will be successful, before going into battle. Ahab inquired of 400 prophets who advised them to go ahead with their plan.

1 Kings 22
⁷   And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him?
⁸   And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

Whatever the Lord had to say was never good news to Ahab.

So it is today. Some people don’t find the Gospel to be good news. We tell the homosexual that they need to give up their homosexual lifestyle because it is sinful (Lev 18: 22, Rom 1: 26&27, 1Cor 6:9). We need to understand that to the homosexual, this is not good news. They might have too much invested in their lifestyle, to give it up in order to serve God. We cannot change the truth of the Gospel, but we should recognize that some do not see it as good news. The same applies to the unmarried heterosexual couple as well. I was speaking with a brother in the not so distant past. Trying to get him to return to being a faithful member of the church. He’s gotten involved in an unmarried sexual relationship with a woman. A live in relationship. He is not willing to give up that relationship, or the unmarried structure of that relationship to return to the church. At least he recognizes the need to repent, but at this point he would seem hopelessly lost.

We can see then, whether heterosexual, or homosexual, that one can be too invested in their sin to allow repentance. They’re hopelessly lost under the circumstances.

One can become unrepentant because they have too much invested in a system of religion. For Jezebel, Baal worship was all she knew. The priests in our original text had no other marketable skills than to be Jewish priests. This is how they made their living. Recently, as I was door knocking I came across a man. When I told him who I was and why I was there, he said that I must not have noticed his bumper sticker. He was Chairman of some kind of benevolence society for the Lutheran Church. It was as if to imply that had he been an "ordinary" Lutheran, he might be interested in the Scripture that I had to share. He, however, was a "special" Lutheran. He then came out in front of his house, and watched me knock every other door on his street. He wasn’t a very intimidating figure, still I wander if he wasn’t trying to suppress the Gospel. In truth, I believe that many denominational ministers have to much invested in their religious systems to preach truth. Otherwise, how can they read Acts 2: 38 and preach that baptism is not for forgiveness of sins? Or how can they read Mark 16: 16 and say that baptism is not necessary for salvation. The only reason that comes to mind, is they could not remain a preacher within their denomination and preach the truth. Under the circumstances, they’re hopelessly lost.

So we can see that this hopeless situation of the unrepentant heart has existed throughout time, and will no doubt continue to exist until the end of time. How shall we approach this as Christians. Let’s go back Acts chapter 4 and look at verse 29.

Acts 4
²⁹   And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,

The church prayed for courage to preach in spite of the threatenings, in spite of the hopelessness of the situation. We need to continue our preaching even if their seems to be no hope of a conversion. In Matthew 13 verses 18 through 23 Jesus explains the parable of the sower. I would put the hopelessly lost in the class of soil that is labeled as being by the roadside. The seed of course is the word of God. The seed thrown by the roadside was plucked by birds before it could take root. It never had a chance. That didn’t stop the sower from throwing seed on it anyhow. I guess you never know when you might find a square inch of good soil, even by the roadside.

In Matthew 19, we find the account of a rich man that comes to Jesus asking what good thing he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus names several of the ten commandments, to which the man responds that he has done all of those. Jesus then tells him to sell all that he owns to give to the poor, and to follow him. We find that the rich man "went away sad because he had great wealth". Hopelessly lost, if he were saved he would have gone on his way rejoicing. Jesus’ disciples also see the hopelessness of the situation. They ask "Who then can be saved?" Jesus tells us something very important in verse 26 "With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible." God still has power to save even when men see the situation as hopeless. The Gospel is still the power of God unto salvation. That very word of God has turned around some seemingly hopeless situations. Not the men preaching, although preaching is how the Word is spread, but the Word itself is powerful enough to bring about repentance unto salvation. Consider the evidence of:

Acts 6
⁷   And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

A great company of those very same priests that seem so hopelessly lost in chapter 4 are now obedient to the faith. As hopeless as the situation was, God manages somehow to save them. The Gospel is indeed powerful!

If we think clearly about it. Anyone who is lost is in a hopeless situation. If you are lost, wherein is your hope? We’re told in Romans 3: 23 that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Due to sin, we all are in that hopelessly lost state unless God forgives us. Acts 2: 38 states:

Acts 2
³⁸   Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

This is God’s provision that makes it possible for us to obtain the forgiveness which was made available to all men through the sacrifice of Christ for our sins. In Mark 16: 16 Jesus said "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Jesus said that it was necessary to be baptized to be saved. If you’re not forgiven of sins, you’re lost. If you’re not saved, you’re lost. If you’ve not been baptized for the right reason. you’re lost. If you’re lost, your future could not be any more hopeless than it is today. Please don’t be so invested in a religious concept that you won’t make it right today.

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