Compelled

i felt compelled to share "what must we do to be saved," and attempt to answer some typical questions of those trying to decide if they want to come to God, but the either lack the understanding that they need to properly MAKE the decision to serve Him, or they have not truly considered a real NEED for this type of life. Allow me to shed some light here, if possible.

Recentlty, the Lord has put me back in contact with some that i love. The other day, i felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to email one of them and ask the simple question, "have you ever been baptized?" That person's reply was no, because they never really felt like they were "worthy" to do so and weren't dedicated enough to Him. So, there is a burden on my heart to get the proper answer to this individual, in hopes that someday they will read it, study it, and begin to seek God with all of their hearts. There is another individual that is trying to seek the Lord in their own way, has many many questions...while i am unable to properly address all of those questions at this time, i want to address the ROOT of the questions in hopes that it helps THEM. :)

With that said, allow me to first start off by saying some things that will possibly hurt, and yet are a truth one MUST hear and accept in order to come to Christ. YOU ARE A SINNER, I AM A SINNER, WE ARE ALLLLLL SINNERS! I think we all inherently know this deep down, but for some reason, mankind is loathe to admit this. allow me to clear it up for you TOTALLY. if there is any question in your heart about "being a sinner, in need of a saviour," you will have no doubts when i am through, i promise! the reason that it is so hard for us to openly admit this, is because we want to actively believe that we are all naturally good somehow. Then there are SOME folks that BELIEVE that they are saved, because of some confession they made with their mouth years ago, yet they have continued in their sin, thinking that the Grace of God covers those sins. (Rom 6:1---if you ARE serious about seeking God in the fullest capacity, then you NEED to look up these scriptures while you read this, study it for yourself as you read), it is the ONLY way that you will gain any understanding. hearing it alone will not get you to heaven. The Word says, "God forbid" which means, "Away with such a thought!" 

Let's go to the oldest "moral law" known to mankind and is used and received by the three most popular and major religions of the world today: the Ten Commandments. I'm not going to teach on these, nor harp on them long, but they need to be introduced here. (Exodus 20:1-17) Here they are:

"And God spoke all these words, saying: 'I am the LORD your God…

ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'

TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.'

THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'

FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'

FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.'

SIX: 'You shall not murder.'

SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.'

EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.'

NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.'

TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'

ok, truly evaluate them...i have no need to explain them right now, even though we may not understand what all of them are. so guess what? anyone that has broken the law in one area, has broken them ALL. And to God's standard, the one who has lusted after someone else is the same as the ones that stole and murdered. so, just because you have never stolen, does not mean that you are in the clear, if you have ever wanted what someone else had...you're guilty, savy? With that stated, then, by God's moral standards of this law, we are all going to hell! because sin cannot enter God's presence and His Throne is in Heaven, where the Father dwells...so are we forever screwed then? are we ALL going to be cast into the Lake of Fire where torture and fear reign in our souls forever and forever? Not if you choose God's Way! God says, (Rom 6:23) "For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Some may ask, "that is a little drastic! is God REALLY like that", the answer is YES, He is, when it comes to His Standard for Righteousness...He demands Perfection!!! Those are the rules and they are non-negotiable. But the fact is this: He is merciful, not in the sense that He accepts our sin, He will NEVER accept our sins, EVER. But in the fact that He covers and washes them away.

I taught some kids this last weekend at our weekly bible study, and one of them told me that He could be saved if He just prayed. I had to tell the little fella that he was wrong, i also was forced to share with him that He had to choose the only way that God made, which is Jesus, or he would never make it into Heaven. (i said it nicely and simply, so don't freak out that i would tell a child he is going to hell, like i am telling you. the truth is, you don't really have to be that graphic with children, because they have faith and just believe what you tell them, it's adults you have to be blunt with sometimes).

I've had questions recently that are amazing and valuable questions about salvation, heaven, who's going, why wouldn't God see the intent of someone's heart because they did this right or that right...the answer here is the same to just about every question though. most people don't want to hear what i am about to say, but the bible says that the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things, who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9). Our intentions don't really matter, because if we have an evil heart, which we do...even the best of intentions are from an evil root. Folks, we were born into sin, whether we like it or not. if you don't believe me, think about kids. we don't have to teach them to be mean, we have to teach them to be nice. just put two 2 year olds in a crib with one toy and THEN tell me that we don't have a sinful nature, the proof is right there!!! so, it doesn't matter if you stole something as a kid, if you are gay right now, if you have imagined having sex with the one you are dating...you're a guilty sinner, and so am i! oh, and just so we all understand, there is nothing we as humans will EVER be able to do to earn God's favor, but accept Christ into our lives! NOTHING. Christ said this: (John 15:5) " I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." He gave this analogy, because...well, have you ever seen a branch living without a tree? just so, we cannot live eternally without Him. 

In the garden with Adam & Eve, God showed the proper covering for their sins. He took an innocent, sinless animal, and He killed it and took the skin, covering their nakedness. (Gen 3:21) The animal slain was Jesus Christ, He was Perfect, Blameless, God come in the flesh to save us FROM our sins, not IN them, (i'll explain that in a moment). the Nakedness that God covered was the "sin" that we have, and He covered it not for their sakes, although that made them feel more secure, but because God cannot be around sin, so He covered it with the only thing that would be acceptable, that of an innocent animal (Christ) slain FOR THEIR COVERING. (Heb 9:22)  And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. the lesson here is that God will only accept the shedding of the blood of a perfect person to cover our sins. since sin came into the world by man, it also had to be paid for with a innocent man's life, thus the need for Christ. 

There are some that also ask THIS question: "well, what if i did this or i did that, what if i meant well, won't He have mercy on me and overlook that?" The answer is NO. God's message is that He gives us the CHOICE to have life or death, but if we choose LIFE, it has to be on His Terms, and death is obviously OUR OWN TERMS. In Genesis 4, there is a story of Cain and Abel and the offerings that they brought to God. Cain brought the best of his crops, Abel brought the best of his flock. Cain's was rejected, Abel's was respected by God. Note: I said that Abel's OFFERING was accepted by God, not his person, not HIM, but what He brought to God. What Abel brought was what his father Adam had no doubt told him was acceptable, something that would take the shedding of blood. Cain brought what he wanted to bring and not what God had prescribed, thinking that God would still bless that, even though it wasn't what God had ordained as the Way back to Him. He even gave Cain the chance to change his ways and do it God's way instead of his own, but he refused, and instead killed Abel, his brother. 

The object lesson here is this: Just because we think our intentions are good, and it may be our very BEST efforts to do right unto the Lord, it will not work, nor will it be accepted by God. That is why Jesus said, "I am the Door, no one can come unto the Father, except by Me." (JOHN 10:9) He was saying, you can't go to heaven without Him, because He is the only One that God will accept in His presence. So guess what,if you receive Christ into your heart, allow Him to be your covering for sin, submit your heart and life to Him on a daily basis from now until you leave this earth, guess what God will see when you make it to Heaven? You? No, you with the Blood of Christ covering you from head to toe and not one spot uncovered. Even when you go to the book of Revelations, in the end, when we are in Heaven and Heavenly worship is taking place, they are worshipping "the Lamb," which God has many many names, but He chose to use this term, to show us and indicate the need for the shedding of the blood of an innocent lamb, which was a picture of what God would send, which was Christ. We can only come in by the Blood of the Lamb. 

I would like to take the time to explain this further, but i can see that the blog is getting lengthy, so i will continue on the next one in explaining what baptism entails for a believer, what happens in doing so, and where you go from there in your walk with Christ.

i hope this helps a little. i want people to know that even though i have been extremely blunt in explaining this, God IS a loving God. He loved us so much that even though we were totally doomed and cast out of his presence forever, because of what Adam did...He made a way for us to come back into His presence. And it wasn't that WE had to die the death that we SHOULD have, being a sinner...but Christ did it FOR us, because we never could have. We were not Perfect, nor could we have withstood what He did for us. Just know that. i hope you will join me on my next discussion about baptism, and how that plays the significant part of our salvation and accepting Christ in our lives.