Begin raised in a Christian home, I’m proud to say I’ve been in church
all my life. From the time I was small I
heard stories of God and Jesus and the disciples. Believing in Jesus was easy. He was the one the Bible was about. He was the one with the five loaves of bread and
two fishes. He was the one that died on
the cross. But salvation didn’t come to
me at the time I believed Jesus was God’s son.
Believing that He was God’s Son didn’t happen at any certain point in
time, but through a life of being taught who He was. Salvation came when I realized not who He
was, but who I was.
There’s a huge difference in intellectual belief in Jesus and believing
IN Jesus. Thousands upon thousands of
people have walked an aisle, signed a card, joined a church, repeated a prayer
and said they believe in Jesus. Oh, I
would love to write 10,000 pages on the evils that are occurring in churches
under these false pretenses of “saving” people.
Nowhere in God’s word does it say “repeat this prayer after me”. No one ever was saved that way! Nowhere in His Word does it say you have to
join a church, or sign a membership card.
What the heck are we doing letting people that preach this kind of doctrine
into our churches? Are we that blind to
the evil that they present?
I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard someone ways “Oh, you should
take your youth to Judgment House!” or “Heaven’s Gates and Hell’s Flames will
show them what hell is like, and they’ll want to be saved” - or just pick your
fear maker of choice! When the Bible talks of fearing God, this is NOT the kind
of fear it means.
Would someone please tell me where in God’s word a man was ever saved by
this kind of fear? And if this kind of ministry
is true, where are all those that repeated prayers and signed cards now? Are the pews full of changed lives? No.
Instead we have thousands upon thousands of people walking around thinking they’re
holding on to a “get out of hell free” card when in fact, they will stand before
God one day and hear, “I never knew you;
depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”(Matthew 7:23).
I’ve heard people even make the stupid comment that “yes, but if even one is saved – it’s worth it.” Really?
It’s okay if 99 go to hell if you truly make one believer? Consider that
when you stand before God and He requires their blood at your hands. We cannot deliver 99 to Hell and be justified
by sending 1 to Heaven. Do you think God
does not also love the 99?
And if these methods truly save people, I ask you, where are they
now? Are they changed? Do their lives prove they are following God’s
will, or can you even tell a difference in their lives and that of a
non-believer? No! They are walking around professing to be
Christians, yet living like a non-believer.
How many times have you heard non-believers use this kind of “Christian”
as an excuse for not believing? “Well, so-in-so says they’re a Christian, but I
know I’m a better person than they are!
If that’s what Christianity is, I don’t want it!” Now it’s not just 99 going to Hell, it’s one
more for each they deceive. Is it still worth it?
I’ve been in services like this where young people will come forward,
tears streaming down their faces, repeat a prayer, sign a card, and you never see
them again. Yes, they confessed Christ
with their mouth, but not their heart! True
believe in Jesus Christ doesn’t work that way.
True belief in Jesus Christ ignites a fire inside that will not go
out. It’s a hunger and thirst to know
more about Him, to be changed by Him, to allow Him to rule your life. Unless He changes your life, you are not
saved. That’s what Matthew 7:15-20 means
when it says “by their fruits you will know them”.
There is a common misconception that belief in Jesus will save a
person. I’m sorry if that’s what you’ve
been taught, but that’s just not true. Now
– hear me out on this! It’s time we
stopped believing what we believe just because that’s how we were raised. We must determine in God’s word what His word
really says, and believe it from our hearts instead of our traditions.
First, let me clear your minds of the “Oh my God!” thought that what I’m
professing is that you are saved by your good words. No friend, that’s not what I’m saying at all. Salvation is always a matter of God’s grace,
and nothing you can do of your own good deeds.
Being raised in church, being a pastor’s kid, being the song leader,
teaching Sunday School, helping the poor, visiting the imprisoned - that’s not going to save you! None of that
will get you into Heaven. If you could save
yourself, wouldn’t it have been foolish of God to send His own Son to die for
you? Do you think God would let Jesus, His only Son, suffer and die in vain?
Let’s back that up with God’s word.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says “For by grace you have been saved
through faith and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Gifts are free, wages are earned. Salvation is a gift! It’s the gift of eternal life “in Christ
Jesus our Lord”. It comes through faith.
Romans 3:23-24 reiterates that in saying “for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God, being justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”. All have sinned. Grace, God’s mercy through
faith, is free. You can’t earn it. Romans 3:28 says “Therefore we conclude that
a man is justified [made right with God] by faith apart from the deeds of the
law.” Your deeds won’t save you.
Signing a card, repeating a prayer, joining a church, teaching Sunday
School – are all deeds! Faith in Jesus will
save you – God’s grace will save you.
But faith is stronger than just intellectual belief.
Consider
what James said in James 2:18-19: “But
someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith
without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the
demons believe—and tremble!” Are demons saved? If all it takes to be saved is to belief in
Jesus, then they are. But of course,
they are not!
James
says that salvation takes more than just believing in God. Demons believe. But their lives are not changed by that
belief. They’re still demons! Faith
changes you. Faith shows up in your
life. Faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
For by it the elders obtained a good report”(Hebrews 11:1-2). If there is no evidence in your life of the
unseen change inside, I urge you to consider your status with God.
There’s a reason they call it the ‘rebirth’
and being ‘born again’. Salvation
creates a new life. The old you must die
so the new you – the you who is given life by your faith in Christ – the you who
receives the Holy Spirit that will live in you – can live. True salvation will leave you changed. True salvation places the Holy Spirit in you
(1 Corinthians 6:19). How could you possibly
not be changed when the Holy Spirit lives inside you?
True salvation will give you a desire to walk
with God, to not disappoint Him, to be the child He loves. No, you won’t be perfected at the point of
your salvation - but you will be changed in your desire to live for Him. Justification, which is salvation, happens
not over time – but at once. Just as you
have a birthday and time of birth, you will have a rebirth day, a time and a
place that you can remember when you prayed to God, in faith, believing with
your head and your heart that Jesus is the Son of God, crucified and killed so
you could live. It is the day you see
who you are, and see your need for a Savior, and accept Him as your Lord.
But let us not make the mistake of calling Him
our Lord, proclaiming that we have new life, and yet thinking we can continue
living the old lifestyle. Matthew 7:21
says “Not
everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but
he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” You tell me what that means if it doesn’t mean we are to be true
followers of God’s will. We are to make
every attempt to kill the sinful nature that is in us.
Romans 6:12-14 says “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should
obey it in its lusts. And do not present your
members as instruments of
unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the
dead, and your members as
instruments of righteousness to God. For sin
shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
It’s about presenting yourself to God, living the new life He has given
you. It’s being made ALIVE FROM THE DEAD
– trading a life of sin for a life of righteousness. It’s about letting Him change you, getting to
know Him intimately through His word, praying, confessing (yeah, you’re still
going to sin!), and pushing through to live as a new creature anchored in
Christ.
Here’s another big misconception. Most people who are not saved just don’t
think it’s all that important to take God’s word seriously today. After all - you’re not dead yet. But I ask you to consider this: How many people
have you known who knew the day they were going to die? Do you believe God gives them a “get out of
Hell free” card just because death was unexpected? Listen carefully. There are no “get out of Hell free”
cards.
Revelations
20:10-15 tells of the time to come, which I believe is coming soon. It’s the
time in which satan will be cast into Hell, along with all his demons - who
believe in Jesus. It says that there “they will be tormented day and night
forever and ever.” Day and night. Forever. Eternally, suffering.
But they
won’t go there alone. At that time, God
will sit on the throne in Heaven. John says
“I saw the dead, small and great,
standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which
is the Book of Life [which contains the name of every born again believer]. And
the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written
in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades
delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one
according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was
cast into the lake of fire.” You
either have a second birth, the rebirth of salvation, or you will have a second
death. Which do you prefer?
Let the reality of your impending death take
hold of God’s words and your heart. If
your name is not in the Book of Life, if you have not been saved through faith
in Jesus Christ, you will be judged by your works. “All
have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God,” is what it says in Romans
3:23, and you are included. There will
be no getting out of hell free. Your fate
is the same as satan and the demons who “believe in Jesus”. Without the rebirth, your destiny is the
wages of sin - death (Romans 6:23), the second death, and hell will be your
eternal future.
Don’t be scared into salvation – but be changed
by who He is and His great love for you.
He chose to send Jesus to save you even before the earth was
created. Revelation 13:8 says that Jesus
was “the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world”. He loves you
even before you took your first breath with a love that is incomprehensible. It’s not a love based on how you act toward
Him. It’s not a love that’s based on how
you treat others. It’s not even a love
based on how you live. He loved you more
than His only Son. He choose to make
Jesus leave the riches of Heaven to become a poor carpenters child, to wander
the earth from town to town, just to be tortured and killed – all so that you
could be given new life, and live with Him.
You are God’s greatest desire.
You are His Passion.
1 John 4:10-11 says this of God’s love: “In this the love of God was manifested
toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we
might live through Him. In this
is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be
the propitiation for our sins.“
Regardless of what you may have claimed in the
past. Regardless of any prayer you
repeated, card you signed, church office you held, or any aisle you may have walked. Today, take the time to pray in faith to Him,
and accept His love so that you can “live through Him”. Nothing else is so important that it should gain
priority over this. Nothing else will begin
an eternal change in your life.