“Come to Me…all you who are weary and heavily burdened….and I will give you rest…take My yoke upon you and learn from Me…for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls…” - Jesus (Matt. 11:28-29)

“When a person turns to the Lord…the veil of darkness/blindness is taken away” (2 Cor. 3:16).

“But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” – Jesus (John 5:40) 

"How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” – Jesus (Matt. 23:37)

Now behold, one came to Jesus seeking eternal life…But when the young man heard what Jesus had to say, he turned and went away sorrowful… (Matt. 19:16,22)

That last passage I listed there is from the story of the rich young ruler, found in 3 of the 4 gospels. In Mark’s account, it actually reads that this man ‘came running…and knelt before Jesus…’ (Mark 10:17). I find that interesting because in the story we looked at yesterday detailing what happened with that tormented man filled with demons who had an encounter with Jesus…we are told that he too…came ‘running’ to Him (Mark 5:6).

But as you compare the two stories, despite both men at first…‘running to Jesus’…we will learn of two different outcomes, where one was set free and back in his ‘right mind’ …begging to continue on following Jesus (Mark 5:15-16). The other turned away grieved and sorrowful because he discovered he was not quite ready to ‘lay it all down’ and follow Him.

If you would, you might underline that phrase in Matt. 19:22 –‘when the young man heard that saying’…because friends, this is where I believe much of the church world and many sincere but mis-informed ‘believers’ have fallen short when declaring the gospel to a hurting world. And when I say ‘fallen short’…they have failed to ‘declare the whole counsel of God’ (Acts 20:27).

The other day I was heading out when 2-3 members from a local church were canvasing the neighborhood passing out pamphlets and inviting folks to visit their Baptist church. One of them said something about ‘knowing the Lord’, or something to that effect and I responded with a passionate affirmation that I did know and love Jesus so much, and that we were actually attending another church at the time. One of the men smiled and nodded while the other handed me a card telling me I should ‘visit their church’, which I thought was odd. They moved on, and as I got into my car, I looked at the card they handed me and on it was ‘4 easy steps’ to take in order to be ‘saved’. There was 2-3 verses included and a short prayer to repeat and then I could ‘know I had eternal life’.

I’m about to walk another ‘thin line’ here…but I bet many of you have heard that old adage that states: “If it sounds too good to be true…then it probably is.” That phrase is often shared to warn us from salesmen who are ready to ‘tell us what we want to hear’ in order to influence our decision making. Where that ‘thin line’ comes in to play here has to do with the unfathomable love and mercy that God extends to any and all…who ‘call upon the name of the Lord’. (Acts 16:31; Rom. 10:9; John 3:16). It really does almost sound ‘too good to be true’…where we who have ‘all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’ (Rom. 3:23)…could find ourselves back in good graces with our heavenly Father, regardless of our past lives and poor choices. And there is plenty of biblical evidence to show that this is indeed…the ‘good news of the kingdom’, packaged in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The prodigal son and the Samaritan woman at the well are two prime examples (John 4; Luke 15).

But I would be remiss if I failed to warn you that there are many out there ‘spinning other gospels’ that are counterfeit (Gal. 1:6-9; 2 Cor. 11:3-4). Some of those ‘other gospels’ come with a ‘different spirit’ that might even seem to give ‘witness’ to what you are hearing, sort of like what one experiences when a greedy ‘snake-oil’ salesman has you convinced that what they are selling can do anything and everything you would ever need or want.

Yet, where many get it wrong is when they fail to inform (or we fail to hear)…’all the sayings of Jesus’ when it comes to receiving this ‘eternal life’. It is sometimes referred to as ‘reading the small print’, as we like to say …that has to do with ‘conditions’.

So let me say it again, and let me say it loud and clear: This gospel will not ‘work’ for you until you come to a place of total heart surrender to Jesus; period. Repeating some ‘prayer’ might be a decent ‘start’ or beginning, but let’s not forget that “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven…” (Matt. 7:21). Those were Jesus's words, not mine.

I’ve shared my own personal testimony many times on how I first ‘came to Jesus’ back in 1980. After many weeks of conversing with a gentleman who was instrumental in sharing the gospel with me, I finally agreed to meet with him and take that first step, praying in the front seat of his pickup truck and ‘asking Jesus into my heart’. I also point out when sharing that story…that there were no tears, no ‘warm, fuzzy feelings’ or anything else that would have been described as some ‘spiritual aura’ that overcame me. Just a simple short and sincere prayer, and then off to work we went… where I was saddled with a flood of negative and doubtful thoughts, having me question what I had just done. But I also like to share that there were more than just a few incredible experiences that followed in the hours, days, and weeks after uttering those first words in ‘coming to Jesus’. I had much to learn, and still do today.

But here is where we tend to complicate things. Many would want to set up camp and argue the case that in that moment I first prayed and ‘invited Jesus into my heart’…that at that point…I was now ‘saved’. Others would make the case that I could not be ‘saved’ until I was ‘baptized in water’; and yes…there are other groups who would insist I could not be ‘saved’ until I had ‘received the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues’. Shall I go on, or do you get the idea here?

Perhaps we would all do well to take a step back and leave it up to God to determine who is ‘saved’ …or not; then maybe redirect our zeal and passion to learning what it means to ‘follow Jesus’ and ‘abide in Him’ so that we ‘endure to the end’, because those are the ones Jesus said ‘will be saved’ (Matt. 24:13).

And here’s one last morsel of thought for today: In the story of that rich young ruler, we are told that he turned away, making the choice to not follow Jesus and receive eternal life because it was too costly, and he was unwilling to lay all his wealth and possessions down. This leads me to wonder how many of us have failed to truly experience and then learn to walk in God’s peace that passes all understanding…because we’ve been holding on to ‘man-made church doctrines’, taught to us from early on which sadly have made the word of God…of non-effect. (Mark 7:9,13).  It might be time to lay some of those 'beliefs' down as well.  Let's not forget it was some strong doctrinal beliefs that so many of the Jews had that prevented them from seeing...and knowing the One they professed to believe in (John 1:11).  Join me tomorrow?