Blog Diyiin Bi

No, the title of this article is not paranoia, it states a fact. You see, every one of us, whether we like the idea of it or not, are leaders. That means someone is watching us, and will imitate what we do – whether we do good, or whether we do bad. It might be our friends, our younger brothers and sisters, our cousins – and even, sometimes, someone way older than we are. Those of us who are parents know that our kids will follow every bad example we set! (Wouldn’t it be great if they were as quick to follow the good examples we set?) And often, we will not know who is watching us.

Every one of us probably knows of someone who died unexpectedly and tragically. When a person is 98 years old, their death is not unexpected; but when someone who is 19 years old or 9 years old dies, that person’s death is unexpected and tragic. You see, though, not one of us is promised another breath. God could call us to our eternal reward at any moment.

Can you think of anything more tragic than dying without having made things right with God? I can’t, either. But I can think of something that would make dying without God more horrible. Imagine finding yourself in hell because you kept saying no to God, and then died. To make it worse, you look around and see people who are there because they followed your example! How horrible! Maybe you say that you don’t care what happens to other people. Well, according to the Bible, if you end up in hell, you will care. Let’s see what God’s Word says about it:

Luke 16:19 – 31: There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: (20) And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, (21) And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. (22) And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; (23) And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. (24) And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. (25) But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. (26) And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. (27) Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: (28) For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. (29) Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. (30) And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. (31) And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

The rich man suddenly felt called to be an evangelist in verse 27! Unfortunately, it was a bit too late for him. But if you are reading this, it is not too late for you.

The Bible is full of warnings about making things right with God, and doing so as soon as possible. 2 Corinthians 6:2b tells us, “…behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” The prophet Elijah, in 1 Kings 18:21, asked the Children of Israel, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.”

So, if you have not yet made things right with God, NOW is the time. Don’t delay – you can be born again no matter where you are, no matter what time it is, as long as you still have breath to pray. See the blog post What must I do to be saved? for how to be born again. Someone you love might be following in your footsteps. Don’t lead them to hell!

in His service,
Pastor Marv

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What does God expect of us when we are born again? This question has been debated for centuries. On one side of the argument, there are those who say, “Nothing.” On the other side of the argument, some say, “Everything.” As is usually the case, both extremes are wrong – but both have an element of truth.

No, we are not trying to please everybody by giving a wishy-washy non-answer.

The Bible tells us that we are saved by grace, not works. Ephesians 2:8 tells us, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” A gift is GIVEN, not earned. Yet the Bible is also full of things that we are to do or not do if we are saved. How do we reconcile this seeming contradiction?

The answer is really quite simple. There is absolutely NOTHING that you or I can do that will merit salvation. In fact, the definition of grace (read Ephesians 2:8 again) is “the unmerited favor of God.” When we were in an unsaved condition (before being born again) we were slaves to sin. Paul tells us, in Romans 6:16, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” The Greek word translated as “servants” is, literally, “slaves.” So if we are in an unsaved condition, we are OWNED by sin – actually, by Satan himself! A slave does what his master tells him to do. So we sin, living very unrighteous lives.

But – praise God! – we were bought with a price. (1 Corinthians 7:23a “Ye are bought with a price.”) That price was the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Since we were bought by Him, we are His servants (slaves), and we do what our new Master tells us to do. So we do not sin, but live righteous lives.

Does God, then, expect us to be perfect? Well, yes. And we ARE perfect in that we are no longer slaves to sin, but to righteousness. When God looks at us (talking about those of us who are truly born again) He doesn’t see all the times we failed, all the times we did something contrary to what He told us we should do, but He sees us as blood-bought and blood-washed saints.

If we are truly born again, the strongest desire of our innermost being is the desire to please God. Sometimes, though, we think we know better than He does…our own stubborn will pops up and we sin. Does that mean we are no longer born again, or even that we were not really born again in the first place? Not necessarily. But if a person has a consistant pattern of committing sin, knowing that what he is doing is displeasing to God, then probably that person was not really born again. And, if Hebrews 6:4-6 is still the Word of God, then it is possible for someone who really was born again to “fall away.”

(Hebrews 6:4-6 “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, (5) And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, (6) If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.”)

This passage is obviously talking about someone who was born again (only one who is born again can be made a partaker of the Holy Ghost), and is now on his way to hell (and thus needs to be renewed again unto repentance, which this passage says is impossible.) But – a person can’t LOSE salvation. In order to “fall away,” a person must THROW AWAY salvation, knowing full-well what he is doing, and with numerous very strong warnings from God, AFTER having been born again. To me, this means “once saved, almost always saved.” It is possible for a truly born-again person to fall away, but God makes it as difficult to do so as He can without violating our free will. In the end, it is our choice to serve God or not. I would go so far as to say that 97% of those people who apparently fall away were not really born again to start with, 2% end up not falling away (they “come back to the Lord” before taking that last spiritually-fatal step) and the remaining 1% are fools. Committing sin, even repeatedly, does not always mean that a person has backslidden (fallen away). It means that a person has taken his eyes off of Jesus, which can lead to backsliding if the person continues to supress the conviction that the Holy Spirit will place in his heart.

So…how much sin can we commit and not fall away? If that is your attitude – “how much can I get away with?” – then you are most likely not born again. (Or you are one of those fools…) Every one of us will sin. What is important is not that we can sin and still be saved, but rather, what we do about it when we realize that we have sinned. And we are told what to do in 1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

If you want to know how to be born again, or would like to print out an article to share with someone who needs to be born again, see the earlier blog post What must I do to be saved? All posts to this blog are copyright (c) by the author, but I give you permission to print that article in its entirety and use it in any way that will help to spread the Gospel message, as long as it is not used in a for-profit publication, blog, or other website, or otherwise used for financial gain. You may link to it with an atom or rss feed, or just use a hard link as is used in this article, even in a for-profit blog or website.

God bless you,
Pastor Marv

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