Why?

Why should a person think they are ‘saved’...if they are not surrendered to the Lordship of Christ? Did Jesus not pose that question to some when He asked: “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord’...and not do the things I say?” (Luke 6:46)

Did someone tell you that you could easily sign on for the ‘convenient plan of salvation’ where you just acknowledge with your lips, and ‘say you believe in your heart...that Jesus is the Son of God’, as you “accept Him in your heart as your personal Savior” so you could go to heaven when you die?

Is that really ‘a thing’...where one can have ‘Christ as Savior without making Him Lord’ of their lives? And may I ask...’who told you that’? (Gen. 3:11)

What do you think Jesus meant when He declared: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’...shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of My Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 7:21)? Don’t you think there has to be more to ‘doing the will of God’...than just ‘saying you believe in Him’?  The 'demons do that...and tremble'! (James 2:19)

What are we to do with those other statements we find woven throughout scripture that speaks to the same thing, like where Paul warns that ‘those who continue to live according to the flesh (nature) will die’ (Rom. 8:13)? Or how about where he makes the case, after sharing quite the list of all those ‘evident deeds of the flesh nature’...”that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal. 5:19-21)?

We can see clearly that when asked by His disciples as to what the ‘signs of His coming at the end of the age’ might look like...Jesus began first with an emphatic warning: “Take heed that no one deceives you...for many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ’ and will deceive many.” (Matt. 24:4-5)

Have you ever stopped to consider how often we are warned in scripture to ‘be not deceived’? James echoes that warning, even adding to whom he is writing that to: “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” (James 1:16). Sounds to me as if ‘brethren’ can be deceived, does it not to you? And we know who the ‘brethren’ are given what Jesus said in Matt. 12:50 – “Whoever does the will of My Father in heaven...”.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes: “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” (5:6). He also wants to make sure they are all on the ‘same page of understanding’ when he adds: “For this you know...that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” (5:5).

Not to dampen your spirits right now, but look what else he threw into the mix there, talking about how such things like ‘foolish talk, coarse language, obscene stories/jokes’...should not even be ‘named among us’ (5:4).

Oh, but someone told you that after you ‘accepted Christ’...that you are now a ‘child of God who fornicates’ or covets; sort of like that statement I heard someone make several years ago...”I’m just a saint who sins”.

Again, may I ask....’Who told you that?” (Gen. 3:11).

What are we supposed to do with such passages, as found in 1 Cor. 6:9-11, where Paul writes: “Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves (be deceived). Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

I believe his message is clear...You may have once lived like this and done such things...but you don’t live like that anymore because now you are ‘obedient children’, as Peter points out in 1 Pet. 1:14-17, reminding us that we are now called to be ‘holy in all our conduct’.

God has no problem with those who ‘once lived like this’...when they ‘use to conduct themselves according to the world, fulfilling the lusts and desires of their flesh and minds and were by nature children of wrath as the powers of darkness worked in them who lived this way’... but they don’t live like that anymore. (Eph. 2:1-3).

Do you know who He really has a ‘problem with’? Those who continue to live that way while professing to be a ‘Christian’, suggesting they know or love God...but by their actions they ‘deny Him’ (Titus 1:16). And do you know what many of those folks will hear as their ‘last departing words’ from Jesus? “Depart from Me...you who continue to practice lawlessness’ (sin) Matt. 7:23). It’s not really going to matter much or count for anything in your favor...all those ‘great things' you might have done ‘in His name’, either. (Matt. 7:22; 1 Cor. 13:1-3)

2 Timothy 3:1-7 might read a tad differently now for you as you hear Paul’s warnings of how ‘perilous times will come in the last days...’ as he points out where much of this sinful-carnal nature will be widespread...all the while people seem to have some outward ‘form of godliness’...’denying the power’ and ‘always learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth’.

So what is it...with all the widespread deception that seems to be in abundant supply during these ‘last days’(on multiple 'fronts')...that seems to be coming in like a ‘flood’? How many of you have been overwhelmed with the ‘back and forth’ that stems from all the political unrest surrounding various tragic events that are taking place of late? You see a handful of videos here, then read other commentaries there, and you don’t even know what to make of it all or who to believe. It almost makes you want to throw your hands up in the air...and then bury your head in the sand and scream out: “No More!”. 

What if I told you this wave of deception and lies was no accident, and actually part of a larger ‘scheme or design? May I invite you to join me tomorrow...to hear more?