Many people come to Jesus Christ in their early adulthood. They stay in a church or two for some time and then something terrible happens. I false teacher begins to tell them that they must be perfect or God will not accept them. Do you know who this false teacher is? It is the Devil!
It saddens me that many Christians that I talk to in my ministry say things like: "I used to go to church but I got depressed. I just felt judged and condemned all the time. Not only that, but all Christians are hypocrites!" You see, I notice that first they describe a sort of "guilt depression" which ends in anger towards all Christians.
Why does this happen? Many people want to believe in Jesus and want to live forever in Heaven but they are not quite sure how to really get there. This is where the root of the problem is. They look at the Ten Commandments and realize that they fall short of keeping them. So they look to Jesus and wonder if He really can help them become "perfect". You see, this is the problem.
People begin to focus on themselves instead of believing and trusting in Jesus. In the historical past of the Christian faith many different practices occurred that people invented. They beat themsleves, they starved themselves, they became celibate all in the hopes that this would get them to heaven.
Today people are turning to liberal churches for salvation. They want a religion with basically no moral standard at all, or at least one that they can re-write. This is the other extreme, and the more popular form of "inventive salvation".
The Bible is simple and clear about who makes it to Heaven. First the Bible instructs us to put our faith and believe in the person of Jesus Christ. "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." [Romans 10:9,10]
So we see that we must truly believe. "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." [James 1:8] So if we truly believe in Jesus we will listen to what He says. Jesus said; "If you love me, keep my commandments." [John 14:15] Also, knowing that we cannot be saved by commandment keeping is very important. "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." [Romans 3:28]
So here are the characteristics of those who will be saved: "This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus." [Revelation 14:12] So we remain faithful to our Lord through belief in His word and second we obey His commandments through the strength that He gives us by the Holy Spirit. Our obedience is in response to His love.
We read; "This is love for God: to obey his commands." [1 John 5:3] So salvation is very simple! It is accomplished by, in, and through Jesus Christ alone and our faith in Him! The enemy will always attack this simple message. We read: "And the dragon [Satan] was wroth with the woman [Church], and went to make war with her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." [Revelation 12:17]
So it is not those who add special rules to their lives, or try and be celibate, or try and forget God's commandments all together. It is simply those who have found Jesus Christ and believe and trust in Him alone for salvation.
May you find Him today!
Written by, Eric W. King [March 1st, 2008]
Visit Eric's website at: http://www.adventist.7p.com/
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