WE are all by nature sinners. Everybody admits that. We are all by nature lost sinners. This is not admitted by everybody. No one you meet denies being a sinner; but if you enquire if he is, or ever was, a lost sinner, the answer in most cases is, "No, I would not like to say that; I don't think I'm so bad as that." Here, then, comes a delicate distinction. A man gives in quite readily that he is a sinner; but as for being a lost sinner, he considers that out of the question. What is the difference between the two? How many sins make a sinner, and how many make a lost sinner? Does a person require to commit a certain number of sins before he becomes a lost sinner? Must he arrive at a certain degree of immorality, or live for a certain period a dissolute life, before he has any cause to think he is lost? This appears to be the opinion of many. They seem to think they are saved to begin with—that is, that they were never lost at all; and that they need simply to do their best, taking care not to do anything very bad, in case they might get lost! These views evidence an appalling blindness to the truth of the Bible. God's Word is clear and distinct on this point: every person is lost to begin with. There is nothing in the Bible whatever about a certain number of sins making a sinner, and a certain number more making a lost sinner. There is no such thing in it as gradually getting lost. "All have sinned and come short" (Rom. 3:23). Some may come further short than others, but all are clear below the mark; and there is an end of the question as to great sinners and little sinners; for God says "there is no difference" (Rom. 3:22). Instead of being saved to begin with, God's Word says we are "children of wrath" to begin with (Eph. 2:3): “far off" (Eph. 2:13); “enemies”
(Rom. 5:10); lying under condemnation (Rom. 5:18); and that the natural heart is "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked." Your integrity may be unquestioned, your character unstained, your morality "blameless." You may be living what is called "a Christian life," and yet out of Christ. Your history is written in one word, and that is, lost. There are only two kinds of sinners: saved sinners and Lost sinners. There are only the two places to arrive at. Friend, you are hurrying fast along one of these roads. Which one is it? W. S