“For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” (Matt. 13:15)
Man is sinful. God is righteous and holy, to enter into the kingdom of God and remain for eternity in His presence, man must be righteous, with not one speck of sin. Man cannot do this on his own, he has no ability through any works that he may attempt to become righteous. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” (Eph. 2:8)
The Almighty knew this and has prepared a way for us to be with Him, through the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, there is no other way. The message is simple enough, it requires no special talent on our part, there is no formula that must be followed, no traditions or works to be done first, and nothing that must be performed besides believe.
We have ears to listen with, but we can cover them up so that we will not hear, we have eyes to see these truths, but we blind ourselves to them, the verse stands as truth, “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matt. 7:14)
I ask you this question today if you indeed have heard and seen, if you are truly a child of the Most High God, heir to the kingdom of heaven by the shed blood of the Savior, have you covered your mouth? If you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, are you telling others about Him, are you leading them to the cross, do you speak to them about Him whom you call Lord? If not, why not?
I have been led to write these words on this subject more times than I can count, those who profess to be saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, yet do not speak of Him in public, who do not seek for the lost, who will not raise His name to the wicked, yet call themselves Christians. They have what they consider faith, but the fulfill James 2:26, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
They seem to praise His name, but not openly, not in public conversations, they have a form of godliness, but by their inactions in this area, they deny the power thereof.
I have also written these following words more times than I care to remember, they attend church once a week for an hour or so, and perhaps even occasionally the midweek Bible study, and then consider that the fulfillment of their obligation to the Lord. But beyond all that is this, they believe themselves to be saved. Yet on the street they will not speak His name, they cover their mouths, in the workplace they cover their ears to the sins around them, and they intentionally blind themselves to the rampant evil that is approaching and is even now here. They complain but will not stand.
I have also said this far too many times, that if indeed a person has a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, then that person will speak of the Lord Jesus.
I ask you again, can you tell the difference between a good person and a saved, born-again believer by their works alone? If they do not profess that anything they do they are doing for the glory of God, then how are you to know if they are serving mankind or the Most High? Can a man be saved and not speak of Christ? That is the real question.
I offer you this truth, sinners, lost, unrepentant sinners, can perform acts of love, they can be kind and compassionate, they can shed tears of joy as well as those of sorrow, they can feed the homeless, they can give drinks of water to the thirsty. But not one of them will do as Mark 9:41 says, “For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.”
If you do not tell anyone that what you do, in fact all that you do, your entire life is for the glory of God through the power of the Holy Spirit for the love of Jesus Christ, you may not be saved. You may be a “good” person, but you have not been born-again.
