The Salvation Badge

Say the "Sinner's Prayer" and you are born again!  Never to lose your salvation...once saved...always saved...

As countless scores of people come forward at church and stadium "altar calls" to give their life to Christ they are told they are now and forever changed...they are saved.

Are they?

One day Jesus was teaching a large crowd from a boat just off the shoreline:

Matthew 13

The Parable of the Sower

 “Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. ⁴ As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. ⁵ Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. ⁷ Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. ⁸ Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted! ⁹ Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

A few verses later, Jesus would explain the parable saying:

 ¹⁸ “Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds:

¹⁹ The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts.

²⁰ The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. ²¹ But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word.

²² The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced.

²³ The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”

So right away we see that only one in four actually receive the truth and are changed.

First, Jesus tells us... 

Matthew 7:13-14

¹³ “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴ Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

He then goes on to tell us that not everyone that thinks themself a Christian really is...

Matthew 7:21-23

²¹ “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. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Ouch!!  I certainly don't want to hear that.

So, how can we be sure that he knows us... that we know him?  John sheds some light by saying:

 

1 John 2:3-6

 ³ And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. (cf. John 14:15)⁴ If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. ⁵ But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. ⁶ Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.

Uggg...back to laws, rules and regulations.  But John doesn't stop there, he continues by writing:

A New Commandment

 ⁷ Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before. ⁸ Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.  ⁹ If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a Christian brother or sister,^[a] that person is still living in darkness. ¹⁰ Anyone who loves another brother or sister^[b] is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. ¹¹ But anyone who hates another brother or sister is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.

This is the very thing that Jesus, himself, said explaining...

Matthew 22:34-40

 ³⁴ But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. ³⁵ One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”  ³⁷ Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”


So right away we can see that we have a heart condition....

If we are honest.about ourselves..we are selfish and in love with ourselves.... this concept of loving others is HARD!

Jesus knew that we are consumed with SELF.  Right from birth we cry to be fed, cry to be held, cry to be changed....the world revolves around #1.

In fact, that is what the world teaches us.  Just a casual viewing of television bombards the viewer with adds telling us what we need and what we deserve.

But this is contrary to what Jesus says that is required to be his follower:

Matthew 16:24-27

New Living Translation (NLT)

 ²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. ²⁵ If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. ²⁶ And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?^[a] Is anything worth more than your soul? ²⁷ For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds.

So what about all those other people?  You know the ones that show up to church, profess to be Christians, but their actions...

God is not fooled!!

Jesus sums up these people this way....

Matthew 15:8

 ⁸ ‘These people honor me with their lips,
      but their hearts are far from me.


But I believe in God!!

James 2:19-20

¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! ²⁰ But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

Jesus continues to give us a clear distinction between those that belong to him (doers), and those that are just "pretenders"

John 15:5-17

 ⁵ “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. ⁷ But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! ⁸ When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

 ⁹ “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. ¹⁰ When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! ¹² This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. ¹³ There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. ¹⁶ You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.


So let's go back to those that went forward and said the prayer.  What was their reason?  SALVATION.  Who, in their right mind, wants to be cast into the lake of fire?  Everyone wants and expects to be saved!

Afterall... they said "the prayer"  so most certainly they got their salvation badge!!

Wow... what's your motive?  Get in the door but go on living your life the way you want to without regard to God's will and plan?

If you don't enjoy a relationship with God now - why are you looking forward to eternity?


We are given a pretty harsh and sobering warning for those that toy with God's grace and go on living like the rest of the world:

Hebrews 10:26-36

 ²⁶ Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. ²⁷ There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies. ²⁸ For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us. ³⁰ For we know the one who said,

   “I will take revenge.
      I will pay them back.”^[a]
   He also said,
   “The LORD will judge his own people.”^[b]
 31 It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
 ³² Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ.^[c] Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering. ³³ Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things. ³⁴ You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.
 ³⁵ So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! ³⁶ Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

Wow, that's not something you hear often from the pulpit.

I do agree that God knows who will truly will seek Him...follow The Way...

But we certainly can't make that determination.  As Paul told the church in Rome:

Romans 8:19

¹⁹ For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.

 

But, you ask..."I understand what you say about loving your neighbor, but how do I love this God that I cannot see?"

Matthew 25:31-46

The Final Judgment

 ³¹ “But when the Son of Man^[a] comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. ³² All the nations^[b] will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.  ³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. ³⁶ I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
 ³⁷ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? ³⁹ When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
 ⁴⁰ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,^[c] you were doing it to me!’
 ⁴¹ “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.^{[d] 42} For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. ⁴³ I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
 ⁴⁴ “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’
 ⁴⁵ “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’
 ⁴⁶ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”

Have you ever considered?

 

 

Genesis 1

³ Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. ⁴ And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
⁶ Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” ⁷ Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. ⁸ And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
⁹ Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. ¹⁰ And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
¹¹ Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. ¹² And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ So the evening and the morning were the third day.
¹⁴ Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; ¹⁵ and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. ¹⁶ Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. ¹⁷ God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
²⁰ Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” ²¹ So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³ So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
²⁴ Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. ²⁵ And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸ Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
²⁹ And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. ³⁰ Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. ³¹ Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

The story of creation.  If we pause and meditate on it for a moment, great awe comes over us.

Have you ever considered?



• The distance and positioning of the Earth in relation to the Sun in its rotation and its specific tilt make it ideal for life?
  
  In contrast, Venus has a surface temperature of 800 -1000°F. 

• That our atmosphere, is made up of various gases that act as a protective shield for the Earth and allow life to exist. Without it, we would be burned by the intense heat of the sun during the day or frozen by the very low temperatures at night.

• That the Earth is the only planet where oxygen has been found in abundance and has bonded to hydrogen to form water.  Without water, life would not exist.

• On Earth, carbon can be considered the most important of all the chemical elements, because it is the essential element in practically all of the chemical compounds in living things. Carbon compounds are what make the processes of life work. Beyond Earth, carbon-atom nuclei are an essential part of the nuclear fusion reactions that produce the energy of the Sun and of many other stars. Without carbon, the Sun would be cold and dark.
  
  Soil, from which God created man, contains: carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sodium, iron, copper, hydrogen, calcium and in tiny amounts all the other elements found in organic compounds. 
  
  In comparison, 99% of the mass of the human body is made up of only six elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. Every organic molecule contains carbon. Since 65-90% of each body cell consists of water (by weight), it isn't surprising that oxygen and hydrogen are major components of the body.

• Without plants, life would not be sustainable.  Plants take in CO2, cleaning our air, and give off oxygen, so we can breathe. Without plants we would not be able to breathe and our air would become very polluted.

What perfection!!

And doesn't it take more faith to believe...


Our position relative to the sun, our protective atmosphere, the presence of water, oxygen, plants, level of gravity, and the very formation of man is all random? That the elements somehow came together randomly to form life and became increasingly more complex, until we reached man?  They are even willing to set aside the natural laws of thermodynamics to accomodate their disbelief in an intelligent design.

^{ROMANS 1
18} But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. ¹⁹ They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. ²⁰ For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
 ²¹ Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. ²² Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.


Peter makes this observation in his second letter...

³ Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. ⁴ They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”
 ⁵ They deliberately forget that God made the heavens by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. ⁶ Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. ⁷ And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.
 ⁸ But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. ⁹ The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.
 ¹¹ Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, ¹² looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. ¹³ But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.

Jesus is Lord of all the universe!

Luke 19:37-40

New King James Version (NKJV)

³⁷ Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, ³⁸ saying:

“ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

³⁹ And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”

⁴⁰ But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

Thank You God for the food we eat,

Thank You God for the world so sweet,
Thank You God for the birds that sing,
Thank You God for everything!
Amen