Difficult subject

Yesterday I spoke at St. Teresa Beach Community Church. It was filled beyond capacity and several people had to stand through the entire service and in fact some had to stand outside. It was heart-warming to see so many entire families taking time away from their short vacations at the beach in order to attend church on this very special day to worship their Lord and Savior.

Easter Sunday, the day Jesus Christ arose from the grave and conquered sin and death, is in fact my favorite day of the year.

I told them about speaking at a state prison not long ago and how I asked how many believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, who died on a cross for our sins, and three days later rose from the grave and today is sitting at the right hand of God. A dozen or so men raised their hands. Then I asked how many believed that since they believed that statement they would go to heaven. The same amount raised their hands. I then asked if they knew who else believed that. I said, “Lucifer and every fallen angel demon in Hell”. In James 2 it states, “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder”.

The demons believe, but are not saved. Let no one think that just because they “believe” in Jesus, they have a free ticket into heaven!

Jesus said in John 8:30: “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” And in Matthew 7:31, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven”. This should be worrisome to those who do not “abide in His word”.

No we are not saved by our works, but upon truly accepting Christ as our Savior we will naturally “want” to abide by God’s word the Holy Bible and in so doing will have “works”. In the verse above Jesus described a true disciple as someone who not only believes in Him, but as someone who does what He says. (At the conclusion of all four of the gospels after He had arisen and prior to ascending to heaven Jesus instructed us to spread the good news of salvation through His blood sacrifice. Have you obeyed that command and witnessed to others as to what Jesus has meant in your life?)

Yes we must confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord; we must confess our sins and ask forgiveness for them; we must repent, or turn away, from those sins; but we should also follow with a life of faithful service to Christ, confessing our sins along the way.

James said, “So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.”

True it is the blood of Christ through which we gain our salvation, but our good deeds are an affirmation that we are true believers.

Can we be good all of the time?

Nope!

Yep, that’s right even after we are saved we will still make mistakes.

Fortunately if we confess them, we can be forgiven. If it were not so we would never get into heaven because contrary to what some in the religious community espouse, we cannot lead perfect lives like Jesus even after we accept Christ as our Savior; “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”.

We must pray ceaselessly, study the Bible, fellowship with other Christians, have faith, and try our best to lead a good life. When we mess up, we go to God on our knees and confess our sins and ask forgiveness and we can be assured He will forgive us…

1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.