A Warning to the Intellectually Convinced - Protestant Caucus/Devotional

"How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard" (Heb. 2:3). Many people know the facts of the gospel but won’t make a commitment to it.

I will never forget a lady who came to my office, confessing that she was a prostitute and was desperate for help. I presented the claims of Christ to her and asked if she wanted to confess Christ as Lord of her life. She said yes and prayed, seemingly inviting Christ into her life.

Then I suggested that we burn her book of contacts. She looked at me incredulously and said, "What do you mean?" "If you want to live for Jesus Christ," I explained, "and you've truly accepted His forgiveness and embraced Him as Lord, then you need to prove it." "But that book is worth a lot of money," she said. "I don't want to burn it." After putting it back in her purse, she looked me right in the eye and said, "I guess I don't really want Jesus, do I?"

When it came to counting the cost, she wasn't ready. I don't know whatever became of her, but my heart aches for her and others like her.

I'm sure you know people like her—they know and believe that Christ is the Savior, they know they need Him, but they are unwilling to make a commitment to Him. Perhaps they even go to church and hear the Word of God. They are like the proverbial man who says he believes a boat will keep him afloat, but never sets foot in one.

Those people are the most tragic of all. They need to be warned—to be given a powerful shove toward Christ. May the Lord use you as His instrument for that purpose in the lives of many who are on the edge of a decision for Christ.

Ask God to soften the hearts of people you know who understand the facts of the gospel, but haven't yet made a commitment to it.

Read Matthew 19:16-22. What kinds of questions should you ask of someone who appears eager to become a Christian?

Exactly. It’s been very difficult for me to rid myself of wrong ideas from my youth that came from either bad Bible teaching or my misunderstanding of what I was taught.

I was under the impression growing up that if you said the sinner’s prayer to God and really meant it, you then receive eternal life as a gift. And believers are not supposed to sin, but there is no sin that will cause you to lose eternal life because it is eternal. It sounds good because the Bible does teach that eternal can be received now, it is obtained freely and not earned, and the believer is secure because God keeps him or her. However, this formula lacks much of the essential message of salvation. Jesus did not merely come to take away the consequences of our sins. He came to take away our sins. This means justification/regeneration, sanctification, and glorification are all part of the same package (although they do not happen all at once when we believe).

Romans 6:1-2 NKJV
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

Romans 11:27 NKJV
For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.

If we believe that Christ literally and truly died on the cross as a man, and that He rose again from the dead, it should not be surprising that God can change lives. Why should we suppose that a person is forgiven and cleansed of sin supernaturally by God but somehow he or she is not supernaturally changed to have a new heart that is able to seek God?

Matthew 9:6 NKJV
“But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

While this miracle of healing was used to substantiate the reality of Christ’s forgiveness, changed lives are perhaps an even greater miracle and evidence.

Anyone can claim that sins have been forgiven. Many religions and Christian denominations/sects assert that following their doctrine/message will result in forgiveness of sins. Yet they disagree about how this is accomplished. So, shouldn’t there be evidence to substantiate these claims?

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