What MUST I do to be saved? That was a question someone asked in the Bible.
The Bible says Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and THOU shalt be SAVED.
Jesus said to be SAVED, YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN.
Bottom line, Saved people go to heaven. Forever.
Lost people burn in hell. Forever.
You could spend a lifetime trying to disprove this, find a loop hole, live in denial, or find alternative religions that promise you Plan B, C, or D. However, God cannot lie and if Hell were not a real place, Jesus would have stayed home. The Cross is the only place where the Love of God and the JUSTICE of God meet. Jesus said, Look unto me. Call unto me, Come unto me.
Salvation is in a PERSON. The Lord Jesus. Not in a PRAYER or PERFORMANCE.
Not in a PEW of church membership. Not in a POOL of Baptism.
This is my message for this blog post, but that above message is what I often preached on the street corner.
My friend Kevin Deagan is a local street preacher and he put it like this:
YE “M.U.S.T.” BE BORN AGAIN!
What is it you do not understand?
Is it the M?
Is it the U?
Is it the S?
Is it the T?
Jesus said “YOU Must be born Again”
I will preach It is not an option. It is not enough to go to church. It is not enough to get baptized. You need to be saved.
Saved people are born again people. Born again people are SAVED people. You cannot be saved if you never were born again. You cannot enter Heaven if you never were BORN AGAIN. To not be able to enter Heaven is to be condemned to Hell by default. There is no reincarnation to fall back on. There is no “snuffing out” of the soul as the Jehovah Witness’s or 7th Day Adventists wrongly teach.
I preached at a Sabres/ Toronto Maple Leaf game, It is not turning over a NEW LEAF. It is becoming a NEW CREATURE.
At the Sabres/New Jersey Devils game, I preached, You don’t choose the devil’s team, you’re BORN ON IT! That is why Jesus said YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN!
Therefore if any man be in CHRIST, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new! Says the bible.
It is THE requirement for Heaven. However, the Bible says in 1st Corinthians 2:13 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Before we are saved, we are that “natural man”. Born naturally in the world like everyone else. We need to be born again, born from above, and that is a supernatural birth.
The Bible says in Isaiah 1:8 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Unlike “religions”, God is not saying leave your brain at the door to become a Christian. On the other hand supernatural truths can be very hard for the human mind to understand. It is only after we get saved, does the light really go ON and we will say, “Ah, so that was what those crazy Preachers were talking about.”
New creatures are something we can understand. I preached a message once at the Buffalo City Mission on an unusual creature found in the ocean, called the Mimic Octopus. It can turn into the shape of many different sea creatures. It can look like a star fish, a jelly fish, or a fish to ward off predators or confuse prey. However, at the end of the day it is still an octopus. It might look like a star fish, it might fool the other star fish, it might even fool itself and cause an identity crisis. But it is still and always will still be an octopus. The title of that message was “Mimic Christians.”
When you are “lost” you are in a spiritual sense a pig. You are born with the sinful nature of Adam, our great great great (great, great, etc) grandfather. Jesus can trace his lineage to Adam, the first man. Note, we descended from Adam not Bozo the Chimp. We were created, not evolved. Adam really existed and all humanity started about 6,000 years ago. You can believe you came from monkeys or whatever evolution teaches, but that is a “belief” and it is only believable because it was a theory that excluded God right from the equation. If you ask me to design a term paper explaining how my Impreza that I drive came to exsist, but you forbid me from using the designers at Subaru, I could come up with some interesting ideas. If enough people liked my ideas and started publishing my papers, soon I could get people no longer looking to Subaru the next time they needed their car fixed by the dealer. And it would be a fictional fairy tale. But sadly, it would get an A+ in our God-rejecting universities.
If we inherit diabetes from our father, it might not be fair, but we still have to get treated or suffer the consequences. A pig loves the mud, feels natural in the mud, and when you give it a bath it runs back into the mud. Today many of us act civil, but it is really because we have external controls over us. Whether we are afraid to get caught, afraid what others think, or are worried others would find out, our “goodness” is more from fear. When people are in position to get away with their heart’s desires, watch out.
We watch the news and every crime is shown, from a bank robbery in Buffalo, to a DWI in Kenmore, to a rape in Tonawanda, to a murder in Lackawanna, and we think those must be the bad people. The bible says when we do good, evil is right there with us. How? Are we truly evil? It is more a matter of position. Whatever we do in a good/morals sense when we were/are “lost” is in Adam. Whatever we do if we saved that is “good”, is in Christ. Ever hated someone? The bible says you just murdered. God’s standard is what counts, not the Time Warner Cable News Anchors.
Someone said, if the “preaching rubs you the wrong way, turn the cat around.” Meaning, the natural man will be highly offended he is being called a sinner because he thinks he is a good person. If bible verses greatly upset you, that is because the Holy Spirit is revealing that God is right and you are wrong. Fight the urge to run FROM GOD and instead run to God in that moment. When you get saved, you become a new creature. From a mud loving pig to a mud hating sheep. Jesus said MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE. He is the good shepherd. “He that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out” Jesus promise. But you must come to Him! Ye MUST BE BORN AGAIN!
Think about it. If I stood up and read the Koran you wouldn’t get so stirred up inside. If I quoted loud from the book of Mormon, you wouldn’t flinch. Why is it only when the BIBLE is read in the open air that something in you rises up? And more specifically when it is the KING JAMES BIBLE? Would you be willing to admit that there is something to that book? The bible is alive folks!
And you also will never see the other versions of the bible (besides the KJV) preached with the same authority and power. The other versions are counterfeits They may all say HOLY BIBLE on the cover, but inside you will find missing verses, changed words, errors, and changed meanings. Things that say different things, are not the same!
I believe God called me to be an evangelist. Part of that calling is helping people understand why they need to be saved, how to be saved, and also use “natural” things of this world to explain something “supernatural to understand”. Jesus used parables and examples of the day to explain spiritual truths, and that is part of what I believe God wants me to do.
Today when I was driving to work, I had this thought. Many folks think because God is good, they will automatically go to heaven when they die. The thinking seems reasonable. They think that if God is good, then a good God would never send anyone to hell. However, I had this thought today.
I noticed a police car parked in the middle of the thruway. First, cars that were driving well over the speed limit all of a sudden were “model citizens” in the territory of the police car. Religion is external. You will drive better when someone puts external controls over you but how you naturally drive when no police are in sight is a better indicator of who you are.
You may go to church and sing about God and maybe pick up a bible on Sunday, but how you act at the job on Monday, how you act when no one is looking, is more representative of who you are. Most of us really haven’t been put to the test to see how wicked we really are. It is the grace of God if you have any sense of morality on you, and it is the culture and climate around you that puts any character in you. If you were instead born into a headhunter’s family, or if you had been born during the dark ages, or if you were born in a family of circus performers, your views on life and your behaviors would be completely different.
Our natural nature tends to go with the flow and follows the atmosphere of the culture around us. If the media tells you over and over that homosexuality is ok, and that adultery is ok, and fornication is normal, and drinking is wonderful, you will rise up in anger when confronted with the fact that the Bible does not change and someone dares to think for themselves. Cross culture, the Bible, without apology, defines that something is sin. The moral compass is written on our hearts, and provides some moral boundaries for a culture, but in general our sinful nature fights to sear that consciences, and justify our desires for wrong and appetite for the forbidden.
Here is the point I want to make about the police. You can call 911 and the police will come to your aid. You can invite the police over to help with someone breaking into your house. You can shake their hand, go visit them at the police station, and send them birthday cards. You could say the police are good, and mistakenly think this means you can live above the law. However, once you break the law, you now are now exposed to another side of the police officer. He might be “loving” in your eyes before but that won’t change that he must also administer justice. The same police officer that came to your house to arrest a burglar will arrest you if the next day you decided at a whim’s notice to now rob your neighbor’s house, you would be the one arrested.
The same nice police officer would arrest you, regardless if he was nice to you yesterday and regardless if you had a nice conversation with the officer yesterday. The officer must enforce the LAW BECAUSE HE IS GOOD not IN SPITE OF HIS GOODNESS. It is the corrupt cop who winks at your crime, who accepts a bribe and let’s you go. It is a corrupt society that takes the teeth out of the law and puts a mass murderer, such as the one in Norway in better living conditions than many working citizens.
Here is where Norway’s liberal views on society have taken them. This is taken from a news story of the murder conviction.
OSLO — Convicted of killing 77 people in a horrific bombing and shooting attack in July last year, the Norwegian extremist Anders Behring Breivik was sentenced on Friday to 21 years in prison — fewer than four months per victim — ending a case that thoroughly tested this gentle country’s collective commitment to values like tolerance, nonviolence and merciful justice. Mr. Breivik, lawyers say, will live in a prison outside Oslo in a three-cell suite of rooms equipped with exercise equipment, a television and a laptop, albeit one without Internet access. If he is not considered a threat after serving his sentence, the maximum available under Norwegian law, he will be eligible for release in 2033, at the age of 53.
That is a corrupt justice system.
Jesus is just, holy, and righteous, punishing sin where ever it is found.
Murderer Anders Behring Breivik will find justice from the true and living God though he didn’t find justice here. What is very sad is Norway has rejected Jesus and rejected the Bible. As horrible as it sounds. most, if not all, of the 77 victims could have died lost. They might be all in hell today even though it seems unfair. However, that is why Christians, truly born-again believers who know Jesus, are desperate to open people’s eyes.
To change people’s fates.
A final thought is religion is how you drive as soon as you notice a police car. True bible Christianity is the police officer is behind the wheel instead. And you are there for the ride with your hands off the wheel. You can’t take credit for the good driving, and you must fight the tendency to want to grab the wheel when you don’t know where the driver is going. But over time, you start to relax and let go more and more of the wheel, and you soon find He drove you to the destination you were dreaming about all along. Because it was his dream destination too. Once you stop fighting the wheel you soon find that His destination dream becomes yours. They become so interwoven, you don’t want to grab the wheel very often. Especially the last time you did you ended up in a ditch for hours.
Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Are you sure you are saved? Or are you still in the driver’s seat of your life?
You might not die like those 77 in Norway, but you cannot plead ignorance. If you are dying of a rare cancer where only one cure exists, you can ignore that cure. You can reject the cure. You can say, “there must be other cures” and wait for other options but none come. You can take it the wrong way, meaning if it is an injection, but you drink it instead, it might not work. You can take the wrong dose. And you can take a dose contaminated with poison or you can take a counterfeit drug. The IV bag could be labeled Chemotherapy but it could contain Sprite.
Jesus is the cure. But you must come to the RIGHT JESUS, the RIGHT WAY, at the RIGHT DOSE.
The right Jesus is the one of the Bible, not the 99 lb. white effeminate Jesus of Catholicism. That is a man-made Jesus. You must come the right way, coming to Jesus like a baseball runner goes to first base FIRST. Who’s on First? Jesus. The WHAT is on second and after. The WHAT is baptism, church membership, service. The WHO is a PERSON. Skip first, don’t go home!
The right way is FAITH AND REPENTANCE. I preach you can’t be a Red Sox fan and own Yankees paraphernalia. It is not “stop sinning and Come to Jesus!” However, it is being willing to turn from your sin AS GOD REVEALS YOUR NEED AND YOUR GUILT. Look to the law to convince you of the disease as someone looks at their lab results and MRI imaging to see they really have cancer. The bible says all liars shall have their part in the lake of fire. (See Revelation 21). How many lies make you a liar? It only takes one. See your guilt, repent (turn FROM YOUR THINKING WHICH LEADS TO WRONG ACTIONS and TURN TO JESUS) and your love for God will cause you to now fear sinning against Him because he will live inside you and your love for God will cause you to want to say no to sin. You aren’t saved because you don’t sin. But if you are saved, your life will prove you have different desires. If you go from a pig to a sheep you would naturally have new taste buds. You before hate hymns and love beer. Now you love the Bible and love hymns and spit out the booze you once loved. It is very natural because it is SUPERNATURAL. If you still love sin in the same way as “before you got saved” SOMETHING IS WRONG so check your salvation!!!!
Just like 1 murder wipes out a lifetime of building a reputation as a great member of society, so does 1 sin. We are condemned because of our sin nature. Our sin merely confirms that. God uses the LAW to show us we cannot save ourselves, and God uses it to show our hopelessness “YOU” who today needs to be saved, need to examine yourself, use the law to bring knowledge of sin, not make excuses for it. Then we want to cry out, “WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?” and now you can see WHY YOU NEED THE CROSS. And you can LOOK TO JESUS and what HE DID ALONE. Ye must be born again. You are born again when your sin can get finally dealt with, instead of excused. When your sin can be forgiven, you now get access to God.
God moves into the driver seat of the throne of your heart. You now have a new direction for your life, new desires, and a new destiny. Before you were dead to the God of the Bible and now you are alive to Him.
Yes, it was Adam’s fault! However Adam blamed his wife, the wife blamed the serpent, and we have been blaming everything else (society, abused as a child, etc) ever since. When Adam and Eve sinned, they ran from God and tried to make coverings because they suddenly felt guilty. We do that still today, running from the only God that can save us, and instead trying to cover for our sins with futile religious exercises to appease our guilty consciences.
A baby in a mommy’s tummy cannot comprehend what it is like to be born once. If you have never been saved, you can’t comprehend what it is like to be born again. But that doesn’t change the fact it is not an option. Jesus said YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN.
That might not make any more sense than telling a baby in the womb YE MUST BE BORN or you will never see your Earthly Father.
Ye must be born again or you will never see your Heavenly Father. It might not make sense now, but when you accept God and just come like a child you will as a by product get the understanding. The feelings, understanding, and the “good works” (which the bible calls fruits) come second. Don’t confuse first and second base.
Many miss Heaven — and end up in hell — because they are trying to figure it all out first. Or they think there is a loophole.
Jesus made a way. Jesus is the Way. Jesus is the WHO. Who’s on FIRST. Who you need. WHO will save.
WHO says YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN.
Why do I keep saying that?
Because
YE
MUST
BE
BORN
AGAIN.