My grandpa recently passed away. I was fortunate to be there with him holding his hand when he breathed his final breath. I saw the moment in his eyes when he started seeing a different reality other than the one we know and I was there when he left his body to enter eternity. Somehow seeing that happen made the idea of eternity and earth being only our temporal home more real to me than it’s ever been. Moments after grandpa passed and we were all gathered around his bed mom said, “Let this be a reminder to all of us to always live our lives wholly committed to the Lord. Because once you get to this point that is the only thing that matters.”
And that is so true. Someday we will be the ones leaving this earth to enter our eternal homes. And at that moment the only thing that will matter is whether or not you lived your life for Jesus Christ. You can’t take your success with you, you can’t take your popularity with you, you can’t take your possessions with you, all of your fighting for fame, fortune, and earthly success will be null and void with no eternal value. And the reason this is stirring so hotly on the inside of me is because so many people wrongly believe that their eternal home will be heaven just because once as a child they went down to the front to say the salvation prayer. But I’ve got news for you – that isn’t enough.
So many people have formulated their ideas about eternity and heaven and their belonging there off of assumptions, human traditions, emotions, or off of what their deceived grandma, family, or preacher told them. But the Bible says, “the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.” (John 12:48) This makes it clear that the standards that God laid out for us in the Bible will be what judges us in the last day. What you believe is irrelevant, what is the truth is what matters. And the truth has been spelled out very plainly for us in the Bible. When we get to judgment day we will not be able to say, “Well God that’s not what my preacher (brother, grandma, friend, etc) told me. They said all I had to do was say a prayer and believe and I’d be unconditionally eternally saved!” God would then respond, “Well why did you allow yourself to be deceived? I made the truth very plain for you in my book. There is no excuse.” And that is the purpose of this message. To help you rightly prepare for eternity so that you don’t enter judgment day unprepared. I’m going to use the Bible to dispel a lot of the myths and man made theology that has been responsible for leading so many people astray without them even knowing it.
In high school I had a friend that used to brag, ‘Yeah I party on Friday and Saturday nights and then go to church on Sunday. It’s awesome! I get the best of both worlds.” This person sincerely believed that they were saved and going to Heaven. People think that if they go to church, believe God is real, put “Christian” on their religious views on FB, and tell people that they’re Christian that they are going to Heaven regardless of the lifestyle they live. And this is due to the twisted predominant western theology that teaches all you have to do is say a magical prayer and you’ve got fire insurance. Don’t get me wrong, that IS how we get saved. By believing in our hearts that Jesus rose from the dead and by confessing with our mouths that Jesus is our Lord. HOWEVER, that is the STARTING point, not the ENDING point like so many in our society believe it to be. That is simply the launching pad to launch us into our lifestyle of intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Many of these people that have never left the starting point are going to be in for the shock of their life when they get to the judgment seat and realize that they failed to do the will of the Father in Heaven. Matthew 7:22-23 says:
“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’”
Notice in this passage that these are church going folk Jesus is denying admittance into Heaven. They’ve gone on the missions trips, helped out with the outreaches, taught in Sunday school, even “Cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.” These people know how to talk the talk! They probably grew up in church and their parents were probably deacons. YET STILL Jesus says, “Get away from me.” And why does He say that? Because they lived a lifestyle of breaking God’s laws. Another translation says, “Depart from me, you who PRACTICE lawlessness.” (emphasis mine) Notice they were PRACTICING lawlessness. Indicating that they purposefully and willfully maintained habitual lifestyles of breaking God’s laws. These people knew how to talk the talk while they were in church, however when they weren’t in religious settings it was party hardy. If you keep reading in that passage it goes on to say,
“But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.” (vs 26-27)
Again we see from this that just knowing how to speak Christianese or even leading cell groups and Bible studies at the church isn’t enough to get you into Heaven if you’re not applying His words into your daily life. It says you’re just like a stupid carpenter building a house on a sandy beach that is incapable of protecting you from the storm. Not a good situation. So what DOES it take to be a Christian then? How DO we be sure that we are saved and going to Heaven. Titus 1:16 says “Such people claim they know God, but they deny Him by the way they live.” You can tell from this that being a Christian is about a lot more than just talking good talk. You’ve got to live it out everyday with your actions. Lets look at James 2:14, 17-20:
Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department.” Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove. Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?
This passage makes it clear that Christian is as Christian does. This scripture shows how some people think it’s enough just to believe that God exist. But James points out that even the demons do that! And it’s definitely not doing them any good! You won’t fare any better than the demons if you just simply believe that God exists and yet do nothing about it with your actions. Hey, the Bible said it, not me.
Maybe you’re a person that used to be very close to the Lord yet disappointments and hardships have managed to pull you away from your love for Christ. I’m begging you, PLEASE return to the love you once knew! Remember how your heart used to burn, the passion that would overtake you, how you used to feel when you were right with God and how wonderful it was. Don’t allow a false comfort in unconditional security put you into a numb stupor! It is possible to walk away from our salvation. The Bible says:
2 Peter 2:20-21 “And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life.”
Notice the part that says, “It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life.” If it is impossible to walk away from your salvation than how could a person be worse off after returning to sin then they were before they were saved? If salvation can’t be lost than how are people worse off than before? The answer is because a person can choose to walk away from salvation. There is nothing that can pluck us out of God’s hand, but we can personally choose to walk away from Him. The Bible says that it is the ones that “Stand firm to the end” that will be saved. Lets look at Matthew 24:10-13:
“At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
It says the one that stand firms to the end will be saved, thus implying that those that do not endure to the end will not be saved. It is the ones that endure all the way to the judgment that are victorious. Here is a scripture passage that I think greatly describes the current state of the American church. It also describes what is to come of those that stood till the end, the victorious ones:
Revelations 3:1-5 “…I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief. Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.”
Notice that it says that those who are victorious will not have their names erased from the Book of Life, again implying that those who are not victorious will have their names erased. (It also blatantly says this much in revelations 21) It also points out that the ones whose clothes are soiled with evil are the ones who walked away from what they first heard and believed. If God took time to specifically point out that He would not erase their name from the book than that means it can be erased. And we again see this truth in:
Hebrews 10:26-27, “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. There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies.”
This scripture use to scare me because I knew that I had still chosen to sin at times after being saved. So I’d get scared that I was doomed to Hell because there was “no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.” But after studying this scripture in the original Greek I found that it is referring to purposely making the choice to walk away from following God, and it’s NOT referring to sins committed inconsiderately, and from ignorance or from weakness. So don’t panic. You can still be forgiven. But this scripture does make it blatantly clear that it is possible to walk away from God. Again showing that while there is nothing that can pluck us from God’s hand, we can choose to walk away from Him. And another scripture shows the same thing:
Hebrews 6:4-6 “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.”
I am including these scriptures in order dispel the popular and deceiving man made theology of “once saved always saved.” Scriptures like these show it is indeed possible to walk away and forfeit your salvation. That scares some people. However, I want you to rest assured that if as you are reading this and you are having a desire to get your life right with God than you have not committed the sin talked about in the above verse. The Bible teaches that it is the Holy Spirit that draws the hearts of men to Himself. So if you are being drawn gladly accept because that means God wants you! There are a lot of requirements to even be able to commit the above listed sin and it is not one that is made accidentally! So don’t worry! You’re good. And to FINALLY answer the question I asked earlier, “How can we make sure we are going to Heaven?” Let’s look at 1 John 2 3-6 for the answer:
“We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”
That is how we can be sure we are going to Heaven. If we OBEY GOD’S COMMANDS. Jesus clearly said, “Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.” (Matthew 7:22) We are to live as Jesus lived. So I urge right now to take a few minutes and to search your heart and sincerely ask God, “Are there any areas of my life that are in contradiction to your word?” We must rid ourselves of compromise and realize that Christianity is not a game. Not a trendy addition or accessory to our life. Rather it is to BE our life. The bible says “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:14) Take some time to do some introspection and be sure that you are on that narrow path that leads to life. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me, my inbox is always open and I’m happy talk with you if you’d like someone to talk to. God loves you! He’s not trying to keep you out of Heaven, He’s trying to get you into Heaven! That’s why He sent me to tell you the truth. To be sure that you make it in! God bless you guys!
Living to touch God’s heart,
Chris Ulery
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