Deeply flawed men who don't draw back

One of the great proofs of inspiration of the Bible is the unvarnished exposure of the failures and blemishes of its heroes. “Mere human authors would hardly do so as openly and consistently as do the divinely inspired Scriptures,” reasons Jordan.

“Noah and Lot, for just two examples, were not exactly paragons of virtue. You remember how Noah, in Genesis 9, called upon to speak for the Lord as a prophet, spent the night before like a drunken sailor? He’s known as the world’s first drunken sailor.

“And Lot. . . Well, those two girls of his, you know where they wound up in the cave in Genesis 19? Victims of incest, and two of the most wicked opponents the nation Israel ever had resulted from that incestuous relationship Lot had with his two daughters.

“These men were losers by outward appearance, and yet you know what they did? They heeded God's Word.

“By contrast, who does Jesus Christ deal with in Luke 17? A bunch of Pharisees who are only interested in the outward, and then there's a bunch of publicans and sinners who aren't paragons of virtue, but they believe God's Word. And if they believe God's Word, they'll get through.

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Oklahoma TV preacher Les Feldick once noted, “Most of the giants of the faith in biblical times were unlearned and ignorant men by the world's standard.

“The Bible is a Who's Who of shortcomings: Noah's drunkenness, Moses' speech impediment, David's adulterous ways, Peter's denials, Paul's repulsive appearance, etc.

“Nevertheless, God used these souls mightily ‘to the pulling down of strongholds,’ despite their failures. As it has been said, ‘God took a handful of nobodies and made them somebodies in His sight.’

“While we are an advocate of higher education, intellectualism is not a prerequisite to be used of the Lord. God has accomplished great things through those who merely had a willing heart. Timothy, for example, wasn't educated at the Ivy League schools of Jerusalem; nonetheless, God chose him to carry the torch of grace after Paul's martyrdom.

“ . . . Oh listen, the world out there, I know, thinks that we're a bunch of kooks, and fanatic nuts, and I know they do. And I just tell them, ‘Hey, live it for 70 or 80 years. I've got an eternity of the things that will make the best this earth can offer seem like an old pig pen by comparison.’ But you see they can't understand that we have simply responded to an extended love, and that's why He went to the Cross; it was love.”

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The Apostle Paul warns in II Thessalonians 2:10-12 that for those who do not receive “the love of the truth, that they might be saved . . . God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Jordan explains, “You see God gives truth, and when people don't want the truth, the Lie comes in and which one do they pick? When people choose the lie it's because they love the lie, not the truth. It's not because God pre-fixed them where they couldn't do differently.

The books of Hebrews, I Peter and James are specifically written to motivate Israel’s ‘little flock’ of believers to endure through the Tribulation. II Peter, I John, II John, III John and Jude are written to instruct them so as not to be seduced by the people who will try to deceive them away.

Hebrews 10:38-39 warns, “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”

Jordan says, “See the choice before these people? They can draw back from the truth, from the faith, or they can endure. Now if you go to Luke 17, you’ll see Jesus Christ apply that principle with two illustrations.

“He says in Luke 17, “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
[27] They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
[28] Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
[29] But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
[30] Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
[31] In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.
[32] Remember Lot's wife.
[33] Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

“Lot’s wife disobeyed God’s order not to look back as her family fled the burning city of Sodom and, as a result, she was turned into a pillar of salt.

"Lot’s wife took off lickety-split out of Sodom with Lot and her girls and then doubt came into her mind about whether she really wanted to leave her china, and the drapes, and the house, and the pictures, and the reputation and the friends.

“She stopped, and she turned around for one more look. What'd that verse in Hebrews say? When you draw back, you draw back to perdition. God’s saying, ‘Don't be one who is lured back.’

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“Remember in Numbers 11 how it talks about the ‘mixed multitude’ out of Egypt that ‘fell a lusting.’ They came out of Egypt and hadn't yet been into Canaan, so they had no idea what the corn of Canaan tasted like; they'd never eaten corn.

“But they had leeks, onions, cucumbers and garlic back in Egypt, and they'd had up it to here with the manna. Evidently manna didn't cook up so good. Just white bread. You get tired of that. To eat the same thing every day for 40 years—I'd get tired of it. I'd get tired of it after three days.

“They let their minds go back to where they used to be. All they had was faith to claim the new land but you know where they wound up? God found out who the mixed multitude was.

“He said, ‘There's a mixed multitude in Israel. I brought you out to bring you in. Who am I going to bring in? The believers. How am I going to find them? I'm going to let them sit out here in the wilderness—we'll find out who's going to endure and who isn’t.’ ”

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The great Chicago radio preacher of the ’40s and ’50s, J.C. O’Hair, pastor of the former North Shore Church which is today Shorewood Bible Church, once noted, “If you will fall in with God's present plan, submit to His will and turn the government of your life over to the Son of God. . . He’ll let you into all of the secrets that you need to know, and answer all the whys that He thinks you ought to know.”

O’Hair’s long-time associate, nationally renowned Bible scholar C.R. Stam, once wrote, “What then, is our greatest drawback in Christian service? Obviously it is our lack of appreciation of the infinite love of Christ. Why do we not serve our blessed Lord as Paul did? Because we do not share his sense of being loved by Christ. Mark well, we are not referring to our love for Christ, but to His love for us.

“Have you ever noticed that Paul says little or nothing about his love for Christ, while he is constantly talking about Christ's love for him? How can we overcome our natural indifference to His love? How can we cast off this evil drag on our Christian experience?

“Ah, the apostle explains this at length in Ephesians 3:14-21 . . . First, he says, Christ must dwell in our hearts by faith that we might be ‘rooted and grounded in love.’  We must draw our strength from His love as a tree, through its roots, draws its strength from the ground. All we do must be founded on His love to us, not a desire to gain His favor, or fear that we might displease Him.

“Thus alone will we be able to ‘comprehend,’ or appreciate, the breadth, length, depth, and height of God's great message of grace. And as we measure the dimensions of this glorious plan we find ourselves launching out into the depths of the love of Christ.”