May 6, 2020 – Click here to listen
I have a friend who calls himself an evangelist. I’ve known him for many years and even invited him to speak at Honey Lake Church in its early days. I couldn’t make the service that he conducted but after he spoke, several members who heard him asked me to never invite him again. Basically he told the congregation that few if any would ever see heaven because they did not follow the rules set forth in the Bible to the letter.
Not long after that he got enraged at me when I refused to agree with him that all Catholics are going to hell along with pretty much every other denomination that did not have the exact same belief system that he did. After that conversation he would not speak to me for about six months which was actually refreshing, because I don’t like to argue Scripture.
For some reason He thinks I will be one of the folks who winds up in heaven. Why, I don’t know. I sin like everyone else on the planet including him, but for whatever reason he has told me I’m one of the chosen few that will make it.
It is unfortunate that this guy goes around the country preaching what he does. Famed intellect C.S. Lewis wrote about this as follows:
It is right and inevitable that we should be much concerned about the salvation of those we love. But we must be careful not to expect or demand that their salvation should conform to some ready-made pattern of our own. Some Protestant sects have gone very wrong about this. They have a whole program of ‘conviction’, ‘conversion,’ et cetera, marked out, the same for everyone, and will not believe that anyone can be saved who doesn’t go through it ‘just so’. But God has His own unique way with each soul.
There is no evidence that St. John even underwent the same kind of ‘conversion’ as St. Paul. It’s not essential to believe in the devil; and I’m sure a man can get to Heaven without being accurate about Methuselah’s age. Also, as MacDonald says, ‘the time for saying comes seldom, the time for being is always there.’ What we practice, not (save at rare intervals) what we preach, is usually our great contribution to the conversion of others.
Mr. Lewis could have written this to my friend. I study the Bible every day and have done so for many years and one thing is certain. Salvation is the free gift of Jesus. It cannot be bought for any price and no act of charity or “being good” will allow us entry to those pearly gates. The Bible teaches that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And it is those of us who believe in Him that will enter heaven to be with Him for eternity.
So it is faith and confession that determines our eternal abode. James said in 2:17 So too, faith by itself, if it is not complemented by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
So the Bible does indeed state: that faith without works is dead . . . And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
The thief on the cross had no works and was the first to confess His sins and Jesus told him “This day you will be in paradise.” Jesus has enough mercy to accept even a “deathbed confession,” through faith, however, as C.S. Lewis points out, our actions outweigh our words. God loves us and does not want a single person to perish. To reach those loved ones for Christ, show them Christ-like love, mercy, and compassion and leave the judging and condemnation up to Jesus. Jesus remarked about the Pharisees, (the most religious people on the face of the earth at the time.)
Matthew 23:3
So practice and observe everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. All their deeds are done for men to see.