08/14/2024
This is a "Profound" and "Sobering" teaching!!!
Even if you believe in Christ as God, dying on the cross and Christ raised from the dead, and Christ, being Lord of all things... That may not be enough to get you into heaven because...
James 2:19 TLB
Are there still some among you who hold that "only believing" is enough? Believing in one God? Well, remember that the demons believe this too-so strongly that they tremble in terror!
Matthew 7:22-23
Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles? 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.
So you can know about Christ and you can know that He lived a holy life and was born of a virgin, and that He died on the cross, and He rose from the dead, and He ascended into heaven and He reigns, and He is returning, that's not getting you into heaven.
Here's the key:
You must reject any of your own works as having any contribution to your salvation.
You must trust Christ for your salvation alone.
It doesn't matter how many times you went to church, it doesn't matter how many humanly good deeds you did, it doesn't matter how many times you took the mass, for example, the Catholic situation, it doesn't matter how many times you went to confession, it doesn't matter how bad you felt about the sins that you did, it doesn't matter how many rosaries you said, IT DOESN'T MATTER...none of those things, individually and all of those things collectively cannot save a person.
A person will be saved by faith in Christ alone.
Recognizing that in my flesh dwells no good thing,
Romans 3:10-12 TLB
As the Scriptures say, "No one is good-no one in all the world is innocent." 11 No one has ever really followed God's paths or even truly wanted to. 12 Every one has turned away; all have gone wrong. No one anywhere has kept on doing what is right; not one.
You can't earn your way in by being good. You can only receive salvation, when you know you're not good enough and cry out to be forgiven of your sins, by the sear grace of God, based upon the death and provisions of Christ on the cross.