Let me answer this question by saying that not only can a lost man love God, but that he must love God in order to be saved.

'And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.' - I Thessalonians 2:10

'Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.' John 14:23

'He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.' - Matthew 10:37
 

All of the above scriptures help us to answer the question. Loving God and His kingdom is essential for a lost man to be saved. A man must repent or turn from the world and all its charms and love God and his ways if he is ever to see God.

Some may ask why am I dealing with this question. It is because some think they cannot be lost because they love God. And those same people cannot find a place where they trusted the Lord Jesus to save them from there lost condition. This is what I call propping up on something you are doing to be saved. Loving God is a condition a person will find himself in before he is saved. Let me make this clear by saying that all saved people love God but not all people who love God are saved.

There is a great example of this in the Bible. We must look at the scriptures in order confirm what I am saying. In Acts 10:1-2 we find a man by the name of Cornelius. The Bible makes it very clear that this man was not saved. (Acts 11:14) In verse two we find five things about this lost man that some say are only found in saved men.

1. Devotion: The word devout here means to be zealous or ardent about something. These are words that describe a man that loves something. It also means to have a ready will to perform what belongs to the service of God. The reason that Cornelius was not saved was because of ignorance. Love for God was there before he even knew he needed to be saved.

2. Fear of God: Fear is not and end but a means to an end. Proverbs 1:7 'The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.' In the song 'Amazing Grace,' there is a line that says, 'Twasgrace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved.' Again, remember that all men who are saved fear God, but not all men who fear God are saved!

3. Household of God- fearers : This is a quality that even saved people wish they could say, that my whole house fears God and wants to serve him. However, here is a lost man who could boast of having a great family.

4. Giver: Cornelius was not one who gave a token amount to God, but it says he gave much alms. This is more than I can say for many who think they are saved. For there are many today who sit in our church pews and will not even honor God with their tithe.

5. Man of prayer: When I was growing up I was taught that God did not hear the prayer of a lost man, but that was wrong. Here is a man whom God always heard. I am also sure that his prayers were not to be saved, for he did not know that he needed to be saved. Thus, killing the idea that a person can know he is saved because God is answering his prayers. God has always been good to his enemies. After all, it is the goodness of God that leadeth thee to repentance.

So we see that a lost man can have some great qualities, but this does not mean that he is saved. Because of his ignorance about salvation, Cornelius could not be saved no matter how good of a person he was. Besides, goodness does not save a man anyway, it is God that saves. Abraham was a good man, but he could not boast before God, because even the best that man has is still filthy rags before God.

What are you leaning on for salvation? GOD or LOVE for GOD?
 

-Bro. Terry Owen