I have some good news and I have some not-so-good news. The good news is the power of the gospel to provide salvation for men and women based upon the shed blood and resurrected life of Jesus Christ (I Cor. 15:1-4). The good news is that this salvation also brings with it eternal life (Rom. 6:23). This salvation and eternal life is available to all who have been convicted by the Holy Spirit of their personal sin and believe in the name of Jesus for their salvation (John 16:8-11; Acts 10:43). The good news is that our sovereign Heavenly Father has chosen all His children according to the kind intention of His good will (Eph. 1). For those who are His children, we will have an eternity to praise Him for this good news and His great gift to us! Now for the not-so-good news: There is the sobering reality that not all who hear the good news will respond to our Lord’s loving invitation to receive salvation (John 1:12). The not-so-good news is that many people will simply not believe the simple and gracious news of the gospel (Eph. 2:8, 9). Their hearts will be hardened; their ears will be dull and they will not respond to God’s provision of eternal life for them (Isa. 6:10; Rom. 11). For those of us who have gladly received the good news of salvation, we can hardly believe that there are those who would chose a path that would lead them from salvation to eternal damnation (Rom. 9:27; Matt. 7:14; 22:14). Sadly, there is yet some more not-so-good news. It rests with those who are most responsible for declaring the good news. God is on the lookout for those who would faithfully proclaim the good news and warns those of consequences when they don’t (Ezekiel 33; I Co. 9:16). The Reformers and Puritans understood this need/warning very well. The precious lives of eternal souls were in the balance. But just as sadly is the response of those who would blatantly turn their back to the good news. Paul had both the boldness to face such people and a crystal clear assessment of their decision. In Acts 13 this incident is recorded: Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.” (Emphasis added) Sobering words: “…judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life.” Dear reader, pray that God’s grace will triumph your spirit of unworthiness!