God’s third deadline

Persons who continue to backslide put their lives in grave danger. In I Corinthians 5:1-5, Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, Greece, condemning sexual immorality. Further, Paul references a member at Corinth who was sleeping with his stepmother. Paul said he had already passed judgment on the man and requested the church “to hand him over to Satan for his body to be destroyed.”

This topic of God handing over a recalcitrant sinner to Satan for destruction of the flesh was preached forcefully and repeatedly by Dr. J. Harold Smith, who became famous for his sermon entitled “God’s Three Deadlines.” According to Dr. Smith, the first two deadlines can be crossed by a sinner, but not the third deadline, which is the “Sin unto death.” Deadline 3 involves a person who places himself or herself in grave danger by continuing to violate one of God’s commandments such as adultery. When the third deadline is crossed, God turns that person over to Satan for destruction of the flesh. Soon thereafter, that person’s life is snuffed out. Anyone can learn more about these deadlines by reading Smith’s book entitled, “God’s Three Deadlines.”

Such was the case of King Solomon, son of King David and Bathsheba, Solomon was the third monarch to rule Israel. Considered the wisest man of his day, Solomon is credited with writing Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. When Solomon became king, people with significant problems would bring them to him for adjudication.

One incident that’s singled out in the Bible was the story of two harlots who lived together. Each had a baby. One mother suffocated her baby by unintentionally sleeping on top of it. After that baby died, the remaining child was claimed by both women. So they came to Solomon to make a ruling. Since each woman said she was the baby’s mother, Solomon ordered the baby cut in half so each mother would receive half of the child. That’s when the real mother spoke up and said, “Don’t kill the child; give it to her.” By this response, Solomon knew the identity of the real mother, so he gave the baby to her.

King Solomon unified the empire, built the temple and accomplished many great things. But, later in life as he grew older, the once great and wise king began to backslide. Having 700 wives and 300 concubines, Solomon succumbed to the influence of his foreign wives and began worshipping idols and false Gods. In doing so, Solomon disobeyed the first commandment in which God warned: “You shall have no other Gods before Me.” In the end, Solomon, who was once wise and respected, died after living a wicked life.

If an individual is running from God and feels helpless in abandoning his/her sinful ways, this individual should think long and hard before continuing in this vile sin because his/her life may be on a short leash. When God delivered the Commandments at Sinai, He issued ten prohibitions (Exodus 20:1-17). The seventh commandment states: “You shall not commit adultery.” Any person who continues to disobey this commandment or any other commandment issued by God is guilty of sinning away the day of grace and is in grave danger of losing his/her life.

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