Hello My Friend,
Jesus continues His sermon on the mount to His disciples, He encourages them to pray often, He also gives them some warnings, not everyone that professes that they know Him will be in heaven. “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” – Matthew 7:11-14,21-23.
I remember when I first came to my church, I had been going there a few months and wanted to join. I was saved, but the only baptism I knew of was when I was born, if I wanted to join the church I needed to be baptized. Being baptized had nothing to do with my salvation, it was my faith alone in Christ that saved me, but being baptized did have everything to do with my professing my faith in accepting Christ as my Savior and trusting only in Him for my salvation. A lot of people have done a lot of things in serving God, they pray, read their Bibles, follow all the steps they think are necessary to live a godly life so they can go to heaven one day, but none of it means anything unless they enter that straight gate to receive Christ personally as their Savior. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:8-10.
As Jesus entered Capernaum multitudes showed up to get a glimpse of Him, some believed, some did not, but all wanted to see if this man they only heard about. Along the way, He was approached by a centurion, a leader of the Roman army. “The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” – Matthew 8:8-12.
God is not the God of those born in Israel or any other decent, He is the God of all who believe in His Son, only those who receive Him will be the children of God and join Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in His kingdom. Anyone that does not believe in and receive Christ will join the devil in hell and the lake of fire. You see, while Satan does try to play God, even he also is under the authority of God. When God tells him tells him to back off he must obey. As Jesus was sailing by boat to Gergesenes he was confronted by two men possessed by evil spirits.
“And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.” – Matthew 8:28-32.
Can I tell you that anyone can believe in the Scriptures, even Satan believes in the Scriptures, he believes and knows his fate. Does that stop him from being an evil, wicked, deceiver? No. He will continue sending many people to hell with him until the day Christ returns and He himself is cast into the lake of fire, never to bother anyone else again. Sadly, many people will be cast into the lake of fire with him because they never accepted Him. “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” – Revelation 20:10,14,15.
Jesus gave His life for each and every one of us, it is not by our works that we can get saved, it is by our believing in Him and understanding that only by trusting in Him alone can we saved. However, unless we make the effort to ask Him to come into our hearts and save us He will not save us. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” – Romans 10:13. Jesus is with all who call upon Him to save them, no matter how long it has been since they got saved, even if they walked away from Him. I tell my Sunday school class every week that when they ask Jesus to save them He grabs hold of them with His hand and never lets go. “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.” – John 10:28-30.
Today’s Prayer: Jesus, Thank Your for the sacrifice You made, You didn’t have to come here and offer Yourself in our place, but You did it anyway because You love us so much. Thank You for Your gift, may we all use it to not only be a witness and a testimony, but also give hope and faith to all we encounter as we choose You over the world. In Your name, Jesus. Amen.
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