If you are a born-again believer, you should not be the person you were before you came to the cross. This is not to say that at that very moment we were transformed, but it was then that the Holy Spirit of God entered within you, and began to modify your thoughts, began the work of transforming you into the image of the Son of God.
The convictions that are placed within us cannot be applied properly in our words and actions unless we have a thorough and spiritual understanding of the Scriptures, and that will never happen unless you pick up your Bible and begin to study the truths within it. An hour on Sunday morning does not a profitable servant of the Lord God make, a mid-week Bible study that holds no debatable topics will be nothing more than another Sunday sermon, the Scriptures must be opened of our own accord, whether we feel like it or not, whether we think we have the time to or not, to do otherwise assumes a salvation based on feelings, and not the facts of the Spirit filled works. “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” (Matt. 7:16)
We are not speaking of deeds committed because the particular religious organization you may attend says they are required as proof, nor of the traditions that seem to permeate the majority of churches today, but of what the Word of God shows to the world what a servant of the Most High looks like, what Christ is to a lost world. In the area of works, man has attempted to follow his own path, believing his own righteousness to be worthy in the eyes of our Lord, he has set up certain rules and regulations that must be adhered to if God is to be pleased, but these places have strayed from far from what the Scriptures command of us, and have become no more than places of refuge where individuals can feel good about themselves for a short period of time. Show up on time, sing some songs, listen to the message, and step out of the church doors directly back into the world both physically and spiritually, the problem is, they forget to bring Christ with them.
The “feel good about yourself because I go to church” days are in full swing, but far too many who believe themselves to be saved belong to a church in name only, and not to the church of God, they are not part of the body. (Romans 8:9) Because you show up each Sunday morning, because you adhere to the precepts of the church that you attend, because you feel like you are saved does not mean you are saved, “without works faith is dead.” There are some who say that not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, (Heb. 10:25) is an action that infers salvation, and in part I would not disagree, but I do not know you, I can neither condemn or approve your actions, only you can do that, only you know whether or not your words and deeds reflect what the Word of God says a man of God is to be. But to some I say, you can fool yourself and even some of those around you, but you cannot fool God, for He looks on the heart. (1 Sam. 16:7)
The subject matter that flows through many of these letters to you is not one that I would have chosen for myself, but so it is with the individual who finally cries out with his whole heart, at the top of his lungs on a deserted road to the Lord “Use me.” You do not set up stipulations on this request, you set no parameters, you begin to do as you are commanded to do, you pray not only for the Lord to lead, but for Him to give you the heartfelt desire to follow, no matter the consequences. Moses was not swallowed by a fish, David did not have to watch his nation being destroyed as Jeremiah did, and although I have no right to even speak their names, I have been called to warn those who believe themselves to be saved to prove it, not to me, but to God.
Unless we meet in glory, we will more than likely never see each other face to face here on this earth, I condemn no man in this matter, in the matter of your salvation I hold no right to judge, but you do. “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” (1 Cor. 11:31) If you cannot look into your past and see anything more than church attendance, if you cannot see any fruits that have been wrought through you by the power of the Holy Spirit outside of yourself, then you must question what you believe to be the proofs of your salvation in Christ, we are known by our works, not our feelings, not our good intentions.
My friends, there are those who will not be allowed into the kingdom of God who cast out demons in His name, do not think that our Lord cannot see your heart, He knows His children, He has their names written in the palms of His hands. (Isaiah 49:16) I fear for those who profess the name of the Lord only within the confines of the congregation, those who rarely if ever read the word of God during the week, much less study and apply it, those who can give no proof of their salvation when asked to give an account of it. “But sanctify the LORD God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” (1 Peter 3:15) I feel great sorrow for those who feel as if they are being judged by the born-again believer when asked about the works the Spirit of God has used them for, and admittedly, a sense of disgust, for those who profess only with their lips are an abomination to the Lord, a hindrance to the furtherance of His kingdom, and a dishonor to His name, for they portray falsely what a child of God is to be.
Humility and obedience, that is the only path that the follower of Christ is to be on, for it is the one that He tread here on this earth. There are only two who know your heart my friends, you and God, and only you can be fooled, can be deceived. “Ye will know them by their fruits.”
