There are many many people in this world who believe they are christians. . . but deny Jesus as Christ. They would say 'We do not deny Jesus, in fact we love him and we love God. Let us tell you our salvation story about our personal relationship with Jesus..."
These are the ones of whom it is written, "they are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality." They are friends, family, nice and good people in all outward senses of the word. They may not visibly display any (although they certainly slip from time to time) of the bad fruit of a sinful heart. Yet inwardly, to their oblivious heart (oblivious because their sin has blinded them to the truth) they are ferocious wolves. They destroy the true message of the cross and of Christ. They are godless men who change grace, (which is given freely without any man being able to earn it,) into a trap for people who may just be beginning to escape the world and sins deceitful desires, saying, 'I am a christian even though I sin." They have large congregations, accountability, bible studies, churches, and have become a great ally of sin and a stronghold against the truth.
All the while they seduce the unstable with honeyed words: "We love you, We love God, We are God's Children." They are a venomous brood that leads all their converts into greater sin and ultimately to destruction apart from the Life which only the one True and Living God, through Christ Jesus, can bring. They are utterly detestable to the Lord, and as it is written he will spew them from his mouth in the last times.
They say they have been saved, they beg and plead with themselves, absolutely convinced that it is not 'me' that is deceived. No, "It's the guy who wrote this, or somebody else." But I tell you that, "No," it is you. You are unwilling to come to the Light to be cleansed and purified, you continue to live in your sin every day. You make excuses for yourself saying, "Well I know that I am saved, I know I sin but I know that I died with Christ and therefore I will not be held accountable because Jesus' blood has washed me clean in God's sight." You nod your head to the historical accuracy of scripture yet you will not come to Jesus Himself to actually be cleansed. Do you not know that if you are in Christ you have, "died to sin; how can you live in it any longer? ... anyone who has died has been freed from sin."
There is a greater deception yet: with an insatiable lust for sin, people will continue and go out in bold arrogance, saying, "anyone that has died has been freed from sin... see! that means when your body has died you are free." Again, I tell you the truth: you are wrong. The body has been long accounted as nothing in God's eyes; it is the spirit and heart by which the Lord has judged man. Maybe this sounds too extreme, just the interpretation of a super-dedicated Christian, not for normal Christians. We all sin; there's no denying that. . . how could God possibly mean that you can indeed be free from sin. . . while on earth? But listen to Christ. . . don't resist the Holy Spirit. Why do you continue to deny his voice? To deny the Truth?
"What is the truth?" you might ask.
It is Christ in you. A faith that does not merely leave you with a hopeful/inspirational thought that makes you feel fueled or motivated through your days that when you die you will be with God. No! May it never be so! It is a faith that actually does Purify! Actually does Redeem! Sets free the captive! Releases from bondage and delivers from darkness into LIGHT!
You might also say, "who are you? You're just some guy, why should I listen to you? There are hundreds if not thousands of years of people who have believed the very same thing I believe and I am confident they are in heaven with God." As I write this I totally understand your perspective; know, however, that it is not I who is the judge. No, it is Jesus' words that will be your judge in the last day. Why do you call him Lord, yet do not obey his commands? And trying to obey his commands isn't even good enough. I tell you truly if you continue in this way, you who call him Lord will go before him, and He will tell you to depart for He never knew you.
We are truly and thoroughly hopeless and defenseless. We are condemned.
Unless, there is a Spirit, pure and sinless, that is born inside of you and utterly washes you clean, making you a new creature.
To believe in Jesus Christ IS to be set free. If you are not set free, if you are in bondage to sin, if you are a slave to your own desires, if you long for this world and its treasures, if you do anything independent from the gentle guidance of the Living God. . . then you walk the broad path of destruction. Enter through the narrow Way, I beseech you with the love of Christ, hear His voice within your heart and obey HIM. I am writing this to you my friends because I was once deceived in this way. I was once the greatest of offenders of Jesus Christ, appearing as an angel of light, yet my heart was filthy. My alleged love for Christ and my professed words of praise were a great offense to God, like filthy rags, yet I wore them like they were robes of righteousness. It is by the grace of God--beyond all understanding, comprehension, ability, and intelligence--that any may come into His glorious light and beautiful presence.
I write this to you, beseeching you: "Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." It is His light alone which can purify, His blood alone which is able to remove all our sin; come and be washed clean! Come, you who are dirty and unclean! Come to the waters and drink of the Wellspring of eternal life!
"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Corinthians 4:6) So that Christ is revealed in your heart; that you might be able to see and have the knowledge of the glory of God, to obey the Spirit of the Lord 'as to light shining in a dark place, until the Day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts.' (2 Peter 1:19) It is not meaningless talk that has no power, but is the power of a true and living God. As Paul spoke long ago, 'My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power.'
If you say and believe you serve the true God, Who is the evidence in your life?
