I’m in a quandary today. I’m hurting inside seeing all of the sin around us, and seeing the signs of Christ’s imminent return in the Rapture of the Church all around us in that sin.
How many people need salvation?
How many think they’re saved, but really aren’t?
How many pastors are going to find themselves “left behind” to wonder, “Why didn’t you take me, Lord? Did I not teach in your name, did I not prophesy in your name? Why didn’t you take me?” Were they really saved to begin with? There are more than a few out there, I’m sure.
Jesus was clear in Matthew 7:13-14:
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
He’s describing the way to Heaven, and the number of people who will actually make it – aren’t as many as pastors would have us believe.
The “narrow gate” is the narrow path that we all hear about – doing what is righteous and good in God’s eyes. The “wide gate” is for those who are not doing what is right in God’s eyes. A lot of people can get through the wide gate – but only a few, can get through the narrow gate.
This leads me to believe that not everyone who shouts “Lord, Lord” – will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. In fact, Jesus tells us that too – in verse 21 of Matthew chapter 7, he said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
So, what’s good and right in God’s eyes? What is the will of the Father?
Salvation through the shed blood of Jesus – for the remission of sins. You can be forgiven of your sins. John wrote in chapter 3, verses 16-21:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
Pastors stop after the first sentence – the rest of the passage is just as important, and this is where most “sinner’s prayers” fall short.
When one prays the sinner’s prayer, if there’s not true repentance and true belief, then there’s no salvation. “Just repeat after me…” they say, but if you’re just mouthing the words to feel better, and you don’t truly believe – then you really need to question your salvation.
The ONLY way to salvation, you must confess your belief that Jesus is LORD, and that He died for our sins, that he was raised from the dead on the third day, and you BELIEVE with all of your heart, you will be saved.
You are NOT saved by baptism (infant baptism or otherwise), or by doing good works (you can’t earn your way to heaven), or by praying into heaven (there is no mention of reference of purgatory in the Bible). The purchase of Mass Cards (indulgences) don’t cut it either.
Allah, Buddah, Mohammed can’t help you – nor any other god other than the True God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Only HE can save you. Your works are nothing to God. In fact, the prophet Isaiah said as much:
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. (Isaiah 64:6)
This is why Jesus said that not everyone who shouts “Lord, Lord” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. There are a lot of pastors, priests and rabbis out there doing just this – trying to be pious, but they’re not saved – and if they’re not saved, they’ll be left behind at the great rapture of the Church.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans:
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Romans 10:8-10)
Are you ready to meet Jesus when He comes? He could come in five minutes, an hour, tonight, tomorrow, He could come at any time – we don’t know when. You’re not promised tomorrow, and if you’re left behind, it will be a chaotic time for everyone.
You think this Coronovirus garbage is bad? Look at the featured picture of this post. Cars, busses and trains crashing because drivers are gone. Imagine planes falling from the skies because their believing pilots are gone – along with some passengers.
In the twinking of an eye. 11/100th of a second.
I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:50-52)
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)
So, I ask again, are you ready?
The #Heb10 Church 