A Jot from John
This is an old statement. I have heard it all my life. It is what people say about certain people who belong to the Lord. In fact that which caused me to be thinking on it recently was a conversation I had with a friend. He told me that a certain brother, whom we both knew, was out of duty. What did he mean by that statement? He meant that the man would not attend the services of the church as he should, and that he was not otherwise living as a Christian ought to live. He was not doing his duty in serving God.
There are a lot of people out of duty. I have never been able to figure out how to get some of them to again become faithful to the Lord. When I talk with them they readily admit that they are not serving God as they should. They admit it and then go on and do nothing about it. Do you suppose they believe they can be saved ‘out of duty’? Many times these people will make promises, but they usually have no intention of fulfilling them. It is an easy way to get rid of a preacher who is anxious about their souls. You probably know someone who has promised you many times within the past few years that they were going to start attending services and living as they should. But those promises are meaningless. Somehow you can’t give up. You still insist when you see them that they should be living as they should. They admit it and promise to do better. But you are forced to turn away with no hope at all that they will ever be any different than they are right now. You know they do not fully realize what they are doing to their souls. You know they are not thinking of what sorry examples they are as parents. You know that they will regret what they are doing, with bitter tears, in the years to come, but what can be done about it? They are out of duty.
The answer may be in these verses. 4 “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame (Hebrews 6:4-6). We know that impossibility here is not with God. Nothing is impossible with God, except it is impossible for him to do wrong. The impossibilities, therefore, are in man and not in God. It is impossible to renew them again to repentance. They won’t repent. They are out of duty and won’t do that which is right. They refuse to do the will of God as children of God should. All their promises are just empty, meaningless words. Thus they not only are guilty of forsaking the Lord but also of lying about it. One sin leads to another, hence it becomes impossible to get them back.
Isn’t it a shame that people would mistreat God? Isn’t it pathetic that parents would be improper examples for their children? Don’t they know there is going to be a lot of weeping and wailing in the judgment day? Then it will be too late to do right!
John B. Daniels, Associate Minister
