Back in the 1970s, I taught a high school Sunday school class at First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. One Sunday, a young man visited my class, and I had an opportunity to talk with him about salvation. I will never forget his response. He had a scheme figured out that he thought would enable him to continue sowing wild oats and yet avoid hell. He wanted to be saved from eternal punishment for his sins, but he had no interest in being saved from the life of sin he was living. He thought he could have what he considered to be the best of both worlds.
Here was his plan. He knew that Christ was coming really soon. He also understood that when Christ returns, there will be a seven year interval between the rapture of the saints and the return of Christ to earth. So he had decided he would continue living a life of sin until the day when a multitude of Christians suddenly and mysteriously disappear. He would then know that the rapture had occurred and his party time was almost over. He would then have seven years in which to pray a prayer of faith and thus avoid eternal judgment for his sins.
I pointed out to this young man that he was taking a great risk. He could, after all, suddenly die at any time. He responded that he knew a degree of risk was involved, but he thought the potential benefits were worth the risk. In terms of what was at stake, the risk was great, but in terms of the statistical likelihood that he would die young, the risk was small. That was a calculated risk he was willing to take.
I told the young man that he was making a terrible mistake, but beyond that, I didn't know what to say. The problem with the young man's scheme was not his logic but his assumptions. I was limited in my ability to respond because I then largely shared his assumptions. Not that long after this encounter, the Lord used yet another encounter to motivate me to re-evaluate my own assumptions. I believe I came as a result to a sounder understanding of Biblical truth. If a young man were to come to me today with this same scheme, here is what I would say:
"Young man, you may fall over dead anytime, but we both know that is statistically unlikely. There are, however, other more serious problems with your plan. The first is your understanding of faith. You are assuming that you can come to God at your own convenience. You are mistaken. It is your duty to come to Christ in faith, but you are too enslaved to your love of sinning to do so. You will not come unless God first puts within your heart a desire for deliverance. The ability to come to Christ in faith is a merciful gift which God sovereignly grants (John 6:65; 3:3,5; Acts 16:14; Eph. 2:8). Your current concern about your eternal destiny may mean that God's Holy Spirit is convicting you of your sin and pointing you to Christ as Savior. If your response is to resist this work and make excuses for delay, God may very well judge you by withdrawing His Spirit from you. You may never again in this life be concerned about your salvation. God may in justice give you over to a debased mind (Rom. 1:28). If you today hear God's voice, do not harden your heart lest you fail to enter God's rest (Heb. 3:7-11). Today is the day of salvation and the accepted time (2 Cor. 6:2).That's what I would say, knowing what I know now. How would you respond?"Your second error is your assumption that the return of Christ is just around the corner. When I was your age, I was convinced by the writings of Hal Lindsey that Christ would soon return. I thought that Christ would return within a generation of 1948 and that a generation is 40 years. A little math reveals that my confident expectation was a miscalculation. I hope you will learn from my mistake. Yes, Christ is returning, but through the centuries many have dogmatically asserted that their generation was the one in which this blessed event would occur. All such speculations have been wrong. Did you know that some Americans were so confident that Christ would return in 1844 that they abandoned all their earthly possessions and left their crops in the field to rot? Do not use current speculations about Christ's coming as an excuse for postponing your coming to Christ for salvation.
"I personally no longer believe that I will live to see the return of Christ. Hal Lindsey said that my generation is the 'terminal generation.' The pioneers of the modern missionary movement said that Christ will in this age spiritually conquer the nations through the preaching of the gospel. Both cannot be correct. I have come to agree with the men of vision and hope. On May 31, 1792, William Carey preached a sermon on Isaiah 54:2-3, with the message, 'Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.' As a result of that sermon, the pioneering Baptist Missionary Society was formed. Its first secretary, Andrew Fuller, wrote in 1812, 'A work is begun that will not end till the world be subdued to the Saviour.' Those who share Carey and Fuller's grand expectations for missionary success, envision much work yet to be done before Christ returns.
"Your third error is your assumption that the lost who are alive at Christ's return will have time for a second chance between the rapture and the second coming. You may have heard this all your life, but this is a modern theory which originated in nineteenth century England among the followers of John Nelson Darby and Edward Irving. There is no verse in the Bible which clearly teaches any significant length of time between the rapture and the second coming. There are, however, Scriptures which point to these not as two distinct events but as different aspects of one event, the return of Christ. For example, consider 2 Thessalonians 1:3-10. Paul there refers to the day 'when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who ... do not obey the gospel.' This is the judgment which you hope to avoid. You are relying on the rapture as a 'heads up' to get ready for the day of vengeance, which you assume will occur seven years later. Now look at verse 6 where it says 'it is a righteous thing for God to repay ...' The Greek word translated 'repay' can refer to the giving of a reward (Luke 14:14) or to the rendering of judgment (Romans 12:19; Heb. 10:30). Paul uses it here to refer to both. A literal translation of the Greek is 'to repay to them that afflict you tribulation, and to you who are afflicted relief with us in the revelation (apocalypse) of the Lord Jesus from heaven with mighty angels.' This verse speaks of God's dispensing judgment to the wicked and relief to the saints through a single end time event. There is no significant time gap here between a coming to relieve the saints of all earthly burdens and a coming to judge the world in flaming fire. The coming to reward the Christians at Thessalonica and the coming to judge the wicked who were persecuting them are merely two different facets of the one second coming, not two events separated by seven years. You have no reason to expect a second chance once Christ begins the rapid series of connected actions which will constitute the second coming."
Quotation from the "Prince of Preachers" ...
How often I have been told of late that the world is all going to rack and ruin, and that all that we ought to do is to try and man a lifeboat and save a few strugglers, hastening ourselves to leave the wreck before she breaks up! Well now, I am not so desponding as that. I am of opinion that, by God's good grace, we shall tug the old vessel off the rocks, and that the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ, for the Lord hath sworn that all flesh shall see the salvation of God. I cannot believe that this dispensation will be wound up as a tremendous failure, that the gospel zealously preached everywhere shall result in only a few being saved, and that the whole economy shall go out in darkness as the snuff of a candle is extinguished. Nay, I look for better things. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before Him, and His enemies shall lick the dust. The isles shall bring Him tribute; Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts, yea, all kings shall fall down before Him. I cannot help believing that the gospel yet is to be triumphant. I look for the coming of Christ. Let Him come when He may, our hearts will leap for joy to greet Him. But for this dispensation to end without success would almost seem to me like thwarting the purposes of God. It is not His way in the world. He has entered into battle with Satan deliberately, choosing poor feeble instruments like ourselves to confound the forces confronted against Him; and if He should withdraw His troops from the field, or come Himself to the front and take up the fight single-handed which His chosen legions could not conduct, it would look as if He had not wisely foreseen the engagement, or had needed to alter His plans to compass His ends.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, sermon on John 8:12, The Light of the World, published on Thursday, October 19th, 1916.