Most everyone knows that a cork placed on the top of the water will float on the surface. If it is pressed down ten, fifty, or even a hundred feet below the surface of the water, and released, it will rise again. But those who know say that if it is pressed down two hundred feet, it cannot rise again. The pressure of the water is too great.
So it is with life. The lower a man sinks into the depths of sin, the greater the difficulty he has in rising again. The longer one stays in the depths of sin, the less the probability of his ever rising again. The constant pressure of sin can be so great that it can damage the conscience of a person to the point that he refuses to hear God’s call through the gospel, and thus cannot be raised from the depths of sin. Paul wrote of some who would be “speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron”. (I Tim.4:2)
Again, we observe that the earth’s gravitational pull keeps us from floating out into space. One can go ten, fifty, or even a hundred miles up into space, and the earth’s gravity will pull him back. However, one can go so far that he is beyond the pull of gravity, and thus, float around in space helplessly.
So it is with life. The farther away a man goes from God, the Bible, and the church the greater the difficulty he has of ever returning again. Jesus said that he would draw all men unto himself (John 12:32), and “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day”. (John 6:44) Yet one can go so far into sin, or error, that God’s drawing power (the gospel) loses its effect. The danger is so great that New Testament Christians were warned about it. “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened….if they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put him to an open shame”. (Heb. 6:4-6)
During World War II the pilots of the fighter planes knew how far they could go with their fuel supply and still get back safely to the aircraft carrier. When the fuel was half gone they knew they had to return immediately. If they did not, the point of no return would be reached, and they would crash into the Pacific before they could reach the carrier.
We all know people who are just floating around aimlessly beyond the drawing pull of the gospel. We know those who have sunk so far into the depths of sin that they likely will never rise again. They have passed the “point of no return”. Let us all determine such a fate will never happen to us, and use our influence to help those who have strayed from the fold, lest they go too far to get back home.
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