Psalms 118:24

       This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

                                                                          

                                               May, 2009                                       

                                                                                                                                                                                        

       It  was a late day at a small local

 church and this middle aged man, sitting not all the way in the back, but, closer to the back then the front, bowed his head and began to pray, the preacher begins to offer the call of salvation. The man had heard the message and was feeling guilty of how he had lived his life and treated others and how he really had no personal joy in his life. He felt now was the time to ask Jesus into his heart. So when the Preacher gave the call he did not hesitate he was the first out of his seat to walk toward the front of the church, he fell to his knees and began to cry. As he cried he was thinking about how he had treated his Mother and Father, his cousins and the neighbor down the street. He made a promise right there, he would do better. And thought he could go and mow his neighbor’s lawn next week to show him that he was trying to be a good Christian, after all that’s what Jesus would do. After the prayer, he wiped his eyes and followed the group of other new believers into the back room, There he received a bible and was told to write the date in the bible, so when the devil comes to try and tell him that he is not saved, he can point to that day and say “well devil you’re a liar because I asked Jesus into my heart on this date, at this time so I rebuke you”

 A few weeks had passed, he was doing a little studying and saw that Jesus said in the scriptures “If you love me, you will keep my commandments (John 14:15), he began to realize that he was still living in the world, he was still cussing, taking part in worldly pleasures like watching “R” rated movies and movies that blasphemed the name of the Lord, laughing at off colored jokes told by his co-workers and friends, seeing that there was a change in his life. He then remembered what he had read somewhere, that when you’re in Christ, you are a new creation (2Cor 5:17). Well, this disturbed him because he began to see that he had not seen a lot of changes in his life and that the small things that he did see he still really struggled to maintain.

 So the man went to the preacher that had given the salvation call he had responded to, and he began to share his concerns that he might not be truly saved, and that he wanted to seek out counseling to help him in this time of confusion. The Preacher sat him down and questioned him about his life, asked him how he was before he prayed the prayer and reassured him that he did not have anything to worry about. He said, you responded to the alter call said the prayer and made the decision to follow the Lord and that he was no different then anyone else. He was just another person that came into this decision with worldly baggage, and that he would have to be delivered from it. And not to be to concerned, the preacher told him that Jesus knows and understands that he still has “baggage” to deal with in life, He knows we are not perfect. The preacher said he should just deal with things the best he can and when the time was right, God would deliver him from these things, and to remember when the devil comes to show you that you are messing up, to point to that date in your bible and tell him to “get the behind me Satan” “I gave my heart to the Lord on this date and you have no power over me.”

 So for many years after that he got involved with the church and began to help others come to the Lord by having them repeat the prayer and write their dates in the bible and even though he was still hanging out with his old friends and laughing at their jokes and still living like the world. He became comfortable in the fact that even though he was, what they call a carnal Christian, that the Lord loved him and because of his decision that he made to ask Jesus into his heart he was fine, after all he prayed every night and asked Jesus to forgive his shortcomings daily and believing in what the preacher said about his baggage is just something we have to trust that Jesus understands and will forgive us for. He was fine.

 Well it has now been many, many years from that time he answered that alter call and he is very old and sick, and as he laid in a hospital bed not knowing how much time he had left, he was comfortable with the fact that he had lived a good Christian life and was looking forward to meeting, in person, the God that he had decided to serve. As the hours passed an old minister, who visits the hospital from time to time, to pray with those who were close to death, knocked on his door, he asked if he would like to pray. The man said sure anything for a man of God, so he invited him in. The old minister looked as though he had not slept in days. He was ragged and tired, with bags under his eyes, but yet still this minister had a peacefulness about him and a warm joyful and inviting smile. They said a small prayer and then the Minister asked him if he knew the Lord, the old guy began to give his testimony from the time he approached the alter until he came to this hospital, and how he had accepted the fact that even though he did try hard that the Lord had just accepted the few carnal things that he struggled with, and that because he came to him with this baggage that God understood and that he was looking forward to seeing his heavenly Father soon.

 The Minister hung his head low with a worried look on his face and asked, “Are you sure that if you were to pass away right now, that you would go to heaven?” And the man said, “Yes I am”. The minister asked if he could share something with him that he might find very important.  The old man said sure. The minister began to share with him that God is a Holy God “But the LORD of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness. (Isa 5:16) and that it was our sin that separated us from a God that was Holy and Just, and every thing he had said in his entire life, he would have to give an account for, and that all liars would have their part in the lake of fire.  The minister asked him if he had broken these commandments given by God and the old man said “Well sure, but I asked forgiveness and God is a loving God and would forgive me when I messed up”.  The minister asked “Why would God forgive that” and the old man said “because his God saved him when he said that prayer” and he pulled out that old bible that he had received those many years ago and showed the Minister the date that he had written there and the minister said that salvation is more then saying a prayer and writing a date in your bible, it is a supernatural transformation of the heart “The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD… (Psa 37:39) Then he went on and said “ For you must be born again to see the kingdom of God (John 3:5) The Minister said to him that it cannot be just a mental decision that a person makes but the move of God that call one to salvation, for the Bible says that a man can not come to Jesus unless the Father CALLS him, meaning that it is a complete work of the Holy spirit, not a decision one makes. He then said to the man “ you must pray to God and confess that you have sinned against him and from this moment on repent of your sins and Trust in the finished work of the Cross as your payment in full for those sins and then depart from evil, all evil “ Abstain from every form of evil” (1Thes 5:22)

 He said the evidence in your life that you truly are saved is the fruit you will develop in your life. Jesus said a good tree does not bring forth evil fruit and a spring cannot bring forth bitter and sweet water and that when the Holy Spirit has changed you, you would become a new creation and pass from death unto life. He spoke to this man for hours on the subject of salvation and in the end the old man still was convinced he was ok even though there was evidence in his testimony that he could have been deceived. Well, not too long after this talk the old man passed away and the time came that he stood before Jesus on Judgment day and he looked upon Jesus and fell to his knees and cried out that Jesus was lord and he was happy to have served him. Then as the book was opened Jesus looked at him and said in a voice that will echo for all eternity in this mans ears. “Depart from me, you worker of lawlessness, for I never knew you”! (matt. 7:23)

 What a terrible story. To go through life thinking you are safe from the wrath of God, only to find out that you did not truly know Him. The bible says that this will happen to the majority of the church today. Listen to what the bible says:

 

Mat 7:13  “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.

Mat 7:14  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Mat 7:15  “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

Mat 7:16  You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

Mat 7:17  So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.

Mat 7:18  A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

Mat 7:19  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Mat 7:20  Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

Mat 7:21  “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.

Mat 7:22  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’

Mat 7:23  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

 

2Ti 3:1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

2Ti 3:2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

2Ti 3:3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,

2Ti 3:4 Treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

2Ti 3:5 Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

 

2Ti 4:3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,

2Ti 4:4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

 

 I don’t know about you but these verses trouble me greatly, because it explains most of the Christian churches today, So examine yourself like the bible says and see if you are in the faith (2Co 13:5  Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?–unless indeed you fail to meet the test!) And if your not, Cry out to God that he will have mercy upon you and transform you into his child and give you eternal life.

 

 May God bless you and please visit: www.DZHENOU.org or www.AnswersInChristianity.com and click the link that says <Gospel> on the front page and it will open up what Gods requirements are, and as always we will continually, with Gods help, to seek and save that which is lost.

 

 

To Christ be all the glory of this article,

 

Gary Wheeler

Gary Wheeler