"The Truth About Salvation"

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...."  Hosea 4:6a

Yesterday I asked the question, "Are you saved?" or "Do you just think you are?".  When I was growing up, you knew beyond a doubt that you either were or weren't.  There was no question to it.  And you knew why you were or weren't.  The reason there was no doubt, either way, is because I grew up in a time where there was solid foundational teaching of the truth of God's Word.  We were taught that it was black or white, right or wrong, truth or error, hot or cold, heaven or hell, and you either were saved or you weren't.  And we were taught that there was only ONE way to be saved. 

Today it isn't that way.  There is so much teaching that are "gray areas", compromising the truth of God's Word.  People are taught situational ethics, compromise, all love and no justice, all ways lead to God, just believe and you will be saved, just go to church and you will go to heaven, sin is only a concept, there is no eternal hell only heaven and we all are going there.  There are no absolutes being taught (for the most part), only a weak, fluffy gospel that tells you what you want to hear and makes no demands on you to live a true Christ-experience lifestyle.  As a result, people are believing everything but the truth and are perishing as a result. 

This alarms and concerns me.  The Bible says that people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.  The Lord has burdened my heart about this.  I hope, as long as the Lord directs me to address this subject each day in the devotional, to help enlighten, by the power of Holy Spirit, the eyes of your understanding so that you will know beyond a doubt that you are saved and not discover too late that you aren't.  You don't want to go through life believing that you are saved and then later when you stand before the Lord you hear Him say the most horrible words ever spoken, "Depart from Me, I never knew you.". 

The Lord God loves you and He doesn't want any to perish.  He gave His only begotten Son Jesus to die for you so that you will have eternal life.  Eternal life doesn't just automatically come to us because Jesus died for our sins.  His death was the payment/punishment that we owed and the salvation that came through it was a gift. (John 3:16)  But there is something that we must do in order to receive that gift. If we don't know what that is, we will perish.  Only the truth will set us free.  Only knowing the truth will save us. 

Have a great day.  We have to know the truth or we will perish.