Greatest Hindrance to Salvation

To state the obvious, the greatest hindrance to salvation is of course SIN. But are there certain sins which are worse than others? Not according to James 2:10 “For whosoever keeps the Law [as a] whole but stumbles and offends in one [single instance] has become guilty of [breaking] all of it.” Even a “liar” is doomed to the dreaded “lake of fire” in Rev. 21:8. So we can safely say that Rom. 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” is absolutely correct, for not ONE of us is guiltless! This is why, we so desperately need a Saviour, to stand on our behalf, as no-one is able to be righteous enough on his own! Jesus, took our place of punishment, when He died on the cross, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom. 6:23

But there are some sins which are worse than others because they have deeper consequences attached to them! There are some which become generational sins and will therefore affect three to four generations (Exod. 20:5). We could list a whole lot of different sins and their consequences, for example, the sin of slander is one of the “seven deadly sins” found in Prov. 6:16-19. They are known as the “seven deadly sins” because the consequences to these will actually cause a premature death!

But for now, I want to focus on the sin of unforgiveness, as it is possibly the deadliest. Even a Christian who dies with this sin in his/her heart will not be forgiven (Mark 11:26) and could lose their salvation. Certain Christian doctrines teach that once you become a Christian you will never lose your salvation. In certain aspects that is true, but because we have been given a free will, it is possible to choose to backslide or to apostatise or to deny Christ amidst severe persecution.

So, forgiveness is very important to God, because we ourselves have been freely forgiven of SO much. How then can we dare not to forgive others? A deeper study of unforgiveness will reveal many different aspects and consequences to this sin. Just recently, a friend of mine was deeply hurt by her son. It caused her great pain, which then resulted in her becoming ill. Fortunately, she sought Christian council and dealt with unforgiveness and resentment. We looked at the seven stages of unforgiveness when it is left unchecked.

This was certainly a detailed study, for example one aspect is guilt. Did you know that guilt is unforgiveness towards yourself? It is as equally important to forgive yourself if you want a healthy mental outlook on life and experience freedom. But I noticed there was one side of unforgiveness not many realise! What about unforgiveness towards God? Not that God needs our forgiveness as He is perfect and righteous in every way! But in our limited, human understanding, we blame God when bad things happen, and we cannot understand why God has allowed such things! It has been said, correctly so, that an atheist or agnostic will often think this way! Something terrible has happened in their past, and they blame God – they say, “How can there possibly be a God of love, when He has allowed this to happen to me?” They therefore completely deny the existence of God. In actual fact, they have “blocked” and shut Him out, refusing to allow Him any access into their mind or hearts!

Another friend had a situation earlier in his past. He had a son, with his partner. She then decided to leave, when their son was only six years old, and moved to another continent. He was unable to do anything about it, as he had no legal rights, as they were not married. He completely blamed God for taking his son away from him (not through death but through separation) and has adopted the atheist point of view! I am not even allowed to mention the name, God, when we are talking! When I look at this situation from a completely different angle, I can see that he, was to blame, and not God. God has said that if we obey, we will be blessed, but if we disobey, we will be cursed (Deut. 30:15). When we choose to do things our way (which will often involve sin), things will not work out for the best…the opposite is true when we do things God’s way, blessings will overtake us (Deut. 28).

I too, experienced deep pain as a child, but for some reason was spared from hating God! I intuitively turned to Him instead, from an early age! Not to say that I have been saved from the terrible consequences of what happened, but God’s hand of protection has somehow kept me from total destruction! You see, we are to run TO Him, NOT from Him – this I can honestly say is KEY to every difficult situation we face in life! There will be MANY, MANY times when things happen that are totally out of our control or understanding! We will feel lost, confused, unloved, betrayed, abandoned, alone and afraid! But again, the key is to turn TO Him in those situations, as He truly is the only answer and help in times of need!

Please, I am not saying I know the answers to many disturbing and horrific things that happen in this life! And there will always be things that are beyond our human understanding – we will never know all the answers this side of eternity. But one thing is also for sure, we have an enemy, Satan and he is the ruler of this world, and he is the one to be blamed for all the evil that is rampant upon this earth! Choosing to blame and ignore God will by default make you a follower of Satan! Which will also mean that when you die, you will be taken to the place that has been prepared for Satan and his followers! Whew, that is quite a statement, but unfortunately a true one at that! Why not turn to Jesus, right now, today, and be forgiven and accepted freely, into the kingdom of light. And become born again, into the family of God, and be an heir of salvation, and an heir to all the blessings He has for you. Not to mention, the gift of eternal LIFE, in a beautiful indescribable place called heaven!

If you are ready to accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, see the salvation prayer in the previous post. S.J.

See The Ark of Salvation:

See Sinner’s Prayer prayed by Evangelist Perry Stone

See Mad at God:

see https://www.thehopeline.com/mad-at-god-2/

Dr Charles Stanley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs2tk76sZn8

S.J. You Tube: https://youtu.be/XTPxWJpV5uI