The angel told Joseph regarding Mary:
[Matthew 1:21] She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people FROM their sins.
Has Jesus saved YOU from your sins?
Or are you still living in sin?
Jesus saves people FROM their sins, not IN their sins.
John the Baptist preached the following:
[Matthew 3:2] Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
So did Jesus:
[Matthew 4:17] Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Have you repented?
How did your life change after that?
John the Baptist preached the following:
[Matthew 3:8] Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
[Matthew 3:10] Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Jesus preached the same:
[Matthew 7:18-19] Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Are you bearing good fruit? Or are you just a believer.
This is a salvation issue. Fruitless trees are thrown into the fire.
John the Baptist said about Jesus:
[Matthew 3:11] He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
God told John the Baptist regarding Jesus:
[John 1:33] This is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus told his disciples before being taken to heaven:
[Acts 1:5] You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
[Acts 11:16] John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Have you been baptized with the Holy Spirit?
When?
Jesus said:
[Matthew 5:7-8] Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Are you merciful? Are you pure in heart?
This is a salvation issue. These things are not optional.
Only believing is not enough.
Jesus said:
[Matthew 5:28-30] Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
Do you believe these words of Jesus?
Do you understand that masturbation and porn will take you to hell?
Or do you think think this doesn’t appy to you because you believe in Jesus?
Jesus said:
[Matthew 18:8-9] If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.
[Mark 9:43-48] If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire … where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
Do you believe sin will take you to hell?
How radical are you in resisting sin?
Jesus said:
[Matthew 5:44-46] Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. … If you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
[Luke 6:32-33] If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
Do you love everybody, including your enemies?
Or are you good only to those who are good to you?
Jesus said:
[Matthew 6:3] When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing… And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
[Matthew 6:6] When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
[Matthew 6:17] When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others… And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Do you give to the needy? How much of your income?
Do you pray? How much compared to looking at your phone?
Do you fast? How many days a month?
Jesus said:
[Matthew 6:9-15] Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name … Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Have you forgiven everyone?
Is there anyone you refuse to forgive?
This is a salvation issue.
Jesus said:
[Mark 11:25] Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Have you forgiven everybody?
Or do you still have grudges in your heart?
This is a salvation issue.
The end of the parable of the unforgiving servant:
[Matthew 18:23-35] His master summoned him and said to him, “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.
Have you forgiven everybody?
This is a salvation issue.
Jesus said:
[Matthew 6:19-21] Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, … but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. … For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Do you lay up for yourself treasures in heaven?
How do you spend and invest your money?
Do you only care for yourself and your family?
Jesus said:
[Matthew 6:24] No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
How much time and energy do you spend thinking of your career and how to make money?
And about the things of God?
Jesus said:
[Matthew 6:31-33] Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Do you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness?
Or are you still anxious about the cares of this life and bearing no fruit for God’s kingdom?
Jesus said:
[Matthew 7:13-14] Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
[Luke 13:24] Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
Are you striving to enter through the narrow door?
Do you believe that only a few will find the way that leads to life?
Will you be one of them?
Jesus said:
[Matthew 7:21] Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
[Mark 3:35] Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.
John said:
[1 John 2:17] The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Are you doing the will of God?
Only those who do the will of God are saved.
Those who don’t are on the broad road to destruction.
Only believing is not enough.
Jesus said:
[Matthew 7:24] Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
[Matthew 7:26] And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
Are you doing what Jesus said?
Or do you just believe in him?
Only believing is not enough.
Jesus said regarding the end-times persecution:
[Matthew 10:21-22] Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
[Matthew 24:9-13] You will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. … But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Will you endure to the end and not deny your faith?
This is a salvation issue.
Only believing is not enough.
Jesus said:
[Matthew 10:32-33] Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
[Mark 8:38] Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
[Luke 12:8-9] Everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.
Do you acknowledge Jesus before others?
Or are you ashamed of him and his words?
This is a salvation issue.
Jesus said:
[Matthew 10:38] Whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
[Luke 9:23] If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Are you carrying your cross?
Are you following Jesus?
How exactly?
From the parable of the sower:
[Matthew 13:5-6] A sower went out to sow … Some seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.
Jesus then explains:
[Matthew 13:20-21] As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
Will you endure to the end? Or will you fall away when tribulation or persecution arises?
Only those who endure to the end will be saved. Thos who endure for a while won’t.
Only believing is not enough.
From the parable of the sower:
[Matthew 13:5-6] A sower went out to sow … Some seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
Jesus then explains:
[Matthew 13:22] As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
Will you endure to the end? Or will the things of this world choke your spiritual life?
Those who get sidetracked by the things of this life won’t be saved.
Only believing is not enough.
Jesus said:
[Matthew 13:41-42] At the end of the age the Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
[Matthew 13:48-50] At the end of the age the angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Are you righteous or evil? This is a salvation issue.
If you sin wilfully, you are evil and will end up in the fiery furnace.
Only believing is not enough.
Jesus’ parable of the treasure:
[Matthew 13:44] The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Jesus’ parable of the pearl:
[Matthew 13:45-46] The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Do you understand what these verses mean?
Have you had a moment of total dedication in your life?
Have you surrendered all?
Jesus said to the religious people of his day:
[Matthew 15:7-9] You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”
Is your heart close to God?
Or do you only pay him lip service?
Jesus said:
[Matthew 15:18-20] What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.
[Mark 7:20-23] What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.
Are you doing any of the above?
If yes, you’re not going to heaven, even if you believe in Jesus.
Only believing is not enough.
Jesus said:
[Matthew 16:27] The Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
Do you believe Jesus will repay you according to your works?
Are you ready to stand before him?
The story of the rich young man:
[Matthew 19:16-23] A man came up to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” … Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor … and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.”
How attached is your heart to wealth and comfort?
If Jesus told you to give them up, would you do it?
From the parable of the wedding feast:
[Matthew 22:8-14] The servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.
Do you have your wedding garment on?
Do you live a life pleasing to God?
This is a salvation issue.
When asked which is the greatest commandment in the Law, Jesus gave the following answer:
[Matthew 22:37-39] You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Do you love God with all your heart, soul and mind?
Do you love your neighbor as yourself?
How do you show this love?
Jesus said:
[Matthew 23:13-15] Woe to you, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in … You travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
Isn’t this a good description of many missionary activities?
Jesus giving the great commission:
[Matthew 28:19-20] Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
Are you a disciple? Or only a believer?
Do you observe all that Jesus commanded? Or only what you like?
Jesus said:
[Mark 16:17-18] These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.
Which of these signs accompany you?
If none, have you wondered why?
Jesus said:
[Luke 6:46] Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
Are you doing what Jesus says?
Or do you only believe in him?
Jesus said:
[Luke 11:7-11] Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. … If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
Have you asked the Father to give you the Holy Spirit? Did he do it?
Or do you believe you get the Holy Spirit the moment you believe?
Jesus said:
[Luke 13:2-5] Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Have you ever repented?
This is a salvation issue.
Only believing is not enough.
Jesus said:
[Luke 13:6-9] A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.
Are you bearing fruit? What fruit can God find in your life?
This is a salvation issue. Fruitless trees get cut down and thrown into the fire.
Only believing is not enough.
Jesus said:
[Luke 14:28-33] Which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? … Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Have you counted the cost of following Jesus?
How much are you willing to do for him?
Give up your own desires and ambitions?
Die for him?
Jesus said to his disciples after his resurrection:
[Luke 14:28-33] Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
Have you come to repentance?
Repentance is a condition for the forgiveness of sins and therefore for salvation.
“Faith alone” is a lie. It’s repentance and faith.
Faith without repentance is the faith of demons.
Jesus said:
[John 3:3-7] Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. … Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
Have you been born again?
Do you know what it means?
Jesus said:
[John 3:36] Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
Do you obey Jesus?
Are you doing what he commanded?
Or do you just believe in him?
Obedience is a requirement for salvation.
Only believing is not enough.
Jesus said to a man he had just healed:
[John 5:14] Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.
He said to the woman caught in adultery:
[John 8:11] Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.
Have you stopped sinning? Or do you think it’s impossible?
If it’s impossible, why did Jesus tell these two people ‘sin no more’?
Jesus said:
[John 5:28-29] All who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
How are your works? This is a salvation issue.
Do you understand that judgment is by works and not ‘by faith’?
What you do determines your eternal destiny.
Only believing is not enough.
Jesus said:
[John 5:39-40] You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
[John 6:35-37] I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. … All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
Have you come to Jesus? Do you know him?
Or do you just intellectually know the Bible?
Jesus said:
[John 8:34-35] Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Has Jesus set you free from sin? Or do you still practice sin?
This is a salvation issue.
Jesus said:
[John 14:15] If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
[John 14:21] Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.
[John 14:23] If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.
Do you love Jesus? Do you keep his commandments?
If you don’t obey Him, you don’t love Him, and your faith is useless.
Also note that God’s love here is conditional.
Jesus said:
[John 15:1-6] I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away … As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. … If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
Are you abiding in Jesus? Are you bearing fruit?
This is a salvation issue.
Only believing is not enough.
Jesus said:
[Matthew 5:10] Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
[John 15:20] A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
Paul said:
[2 Timothy 3:12] All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
Are you experiencing any persecution or opposition?
Why not? Could it be because you’re not living a godly life?
Peter preached the following on the day of Pentecost:
[Acts 2:38] Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Have you repented?
Have you been baptized?
Have you received the gift of the Holy Spirit?
Only believing is not enough.
Peter said:
[Acts 3:26] God, having raised up his servant (Jesus), sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.
Has Jesus turned you from your wickedness?
Or are you still doing wickedness?
Peter said:
[Acts 5:31-32] God exalted Jesus at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.
Has God given you the Holy Spirit?
Do you obey God?
Philip preached the Good News in Samaria and many believed and were baptized.
[Acts 8:12] When they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Then the apostles came from Jerusalem.
[Acts 8:14-17] When the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
Receiving the Holy Spirit is a separate experience from salvation.
Did you receive the Holy Spirit?
Paul asked a group of believers in Ephesus:
[Acts 19:2] Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?
How do you answer this question?
Why would Paul even ask such a question if the Holy Spirit is automatically received when one believes?
This is what happened later.
[Acts 19:4-6] On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.
Have you had a similar experience?
[Acts 10:1-2] At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.
These words describe Cornelius before he became a Christian.
How do you compare with Cornelius?
- Do you fear God?
- Do you give to the poor?
- Do you pray continually?
Paul preaching in Athens:
[Acts 17:30-31] The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness …
Have you repented? Or do you think it’s something optional?
Paul preached repentance and faith:
[Acts 20:20-21] I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, … testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Have you repented toward God? Or do you just believe in Jesus?
Paul did not preach ‘faith alone.’ He preached repentance and faith.
Faith without repentance is worthless. It’s the faith of demons.
Only believing is not enough.
Paul testifying about his calling:
[Acts 26:20] I declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing *deeds* in keeping with their repentance.
Have you repented and turned to God? Can this be seen from your deeds?
Paul did not preach ‘faith alone.’ He first preached repentance!
The inspired words of Paul, the grace teacher:
[Romans 1:29-32] God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Do you practice any of these things? Then you deserve to die, and you will certainly die if you don’t repent and stop.
Only believing is not enough.
The inspired words of Paul, the grace teacher:
[Romans 1:29-32] Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
Have you repented?
Repentance is a requirement for salvation.
Those who refuse to repent will experience God’s wrath.
You’ve been lied to. Only believing is not enough.
The inspired words of Paul, the grace teacher:
[Romans 2:6-11] God will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.
Salvation depends on what we do, not only on what we believe.
God has the same standard for all. If you know God’s standard but live in the same sins as those who don’t, not only will you not be saved, but you will receive a greater condemnation.
Wake up! You’ve been lied to.
[Romans 5:8-9] God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
[Romans 6:1-2] Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
[Romans 6:6] We know that our old self was crucified with him … so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
Have you died to sin? Or are you still a sinner?
Has your old self crucified with Jesus? Or are you still enslaved to sin?
If you still sin willfully, you haven’t died to sin. Your old self is still alive, you are still a slave to sin, and you are not justified by the blood of Christ, regardless of what you believe.
Your ‘faith’ is something that only exists in your imagination.
[Romans 6:16-18] You are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
Have you become obedient from the heart?
Have you been set free from sin? Or are you still a slave of sin?
Do you believe sin leads to death? Or not anymore if you believe in Jesus?
[Romans 6:20-23] For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. … But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Have you been set free from sin? Or are you still a slave of sin?
Can you have eternal life without sanctifying yourself?
Do you believe the wages of sin is death?
[Romans 8:3-8] By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, God condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. … For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. … Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Are you walking according to the Spirit? Or according to the flesh?
This is a salvation issue.
[Romans 8:13-14] If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Have you put to death the deeds of the body?
Are you led by the Spirit of God?
This is a salvation issue.
[Romans 11:22] Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.
Are you continuing in God’s kindness? This is a salvation issue.
Unconditional salvation security is a lie.
Paul preached conditional salvation.
[Romans 12:17] Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all … Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God … Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
[1 Thessalonians 5:15] See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.
[1 Peter 3:9] Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
How do you treat those who treat you badly?
Do you take revenge or rather forgive them?
[1 Corinthians 6:9-11] Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Are you righteous? Or are you still doing any of the things mentioned above?
If you are in the above list, you are unrighteous and on your way to destruction, no matter what you believe.
Those who are saved no longer live in any willful sin.
The inspired words of Paul, the grace teacher:
[Romans 2:13] It is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
[1 Corinthians 7:19] Neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.
Do you keep the commandments of God?
Or do you think that’s legalism?
[1 Corinthians 14:1] Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.
[1 Corinthians 14:39] Earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.
Do you earnestly desire the spiritual gifts? Why not?
Do you earnestly desire to prophesy? Why not?
Does your church allow speaking in tongues? Why not?
Do you speak in tongues? Why not?
[2 Corinthians 5:9-10] So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
[2 Corinthians 5:15] Christ died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
Do you make it your aim to please Jesus?
Do you now live for Jesus? Or do you still live for yourself?
[2 Corinthians 6:14-18] Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? … God said, “… Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”
Are you separate from unbelievers?
Or are you still unequally yoked with them?
If you want to be accepted by God, you must forsake ungodly partnerships.
Paul said:
[Galatians 2:20] I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
How about you? Can you say the same about yourself without sounding like a hypocrite?
[Galatians 5:16-18] Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But IF you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Are you walking by the Spirit?
Are you led by the Spirit?
The inspired words of Paul, the grace teacher:
[Galatians 5:19-21] The works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Do you do any of these things? This is a salvation issue.
If you are on this list, you are on the broad road to destruction, regardless of what you believe.
God has the same standard for all.
[Galatians 5:24] Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Have you crucified the flesh with its passions and desires? Or are you still driven by them?
If you haven’t crucified the flesh, you don’t belong to Christ and you’re on the broad road to destruction.
[Galatians 6:7-8] Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
Are you sowing to the Spirit? Or to your flesh?
This is a salvation issue.
[Ephesians 2:1-5] You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.
Has your life changed after you believed?
Or are you still disobedient, walking in trespasses and sins?
Those who have been made alive together with Christ no longer live in willful sin.
[Ephesians 5:5-6] You may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Are you any of the above?
If you are, you won’t go to heaven, no matter what you believe.
[Ephesians 4:1-2] I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.
[Colossians 1:9-10] We have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him.
[1 Thessalonians 2:11-13] We exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
Are you walking in a manner worthy of God?
[Colossians 1:21-22] You, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.
Are you holy and blameless and above reproach?
Or are you still alienated and hostile in mind?
[Colossians 3:5-10] Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self.
Have you put off the old self and put on the new self?
Or you are still walking in any of the above things?
This is a salvation issue.
[1 Thessalonians 4:3-7] This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the pagans who do not know God … For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.
Do you sanctify yourself?
Do you abstain from sexual immorality?
Do you control your own body in holiness?
If not, you don’t know God.
[1 Thessalonians 5:20-22] Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.
Do you believe God still speaks through prophets?
Why do so many refuse to quote this verse in full?
Because they do despise prophecies.
Are you one of them?
[2 Thessalonians 1:7-9] When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, he will inflict vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.
Do you know God?
Do you obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus?
The gospel is not only something to be believed but also obeyed.
This is a salvation issue. The disobedient are not going to heaven.
Only believing is not enough.
[1 Timothy 2:11-13] If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.
Will you endure to the end?
If you deny Christ during persecution, will you still go to heaven?
The false teachers will say, ‘Yes!,’ but the Bible says, ‘No!’
Salvation is conditional. Only believing is not enough.
[Titus 2:11-12] The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.
Have you renounced ungodliness and worldly passions?
Are you living an upright and godly life?
Or do you think that’s optional?
Lessons from the Old Testament:
[Hebrews 3:18-19] To whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
[Hebrews 4:6] Those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience.
[Hebrews 4:11] Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
Do you obey God or just believe in him?
If you are disobedient, you won’t enter heaven.
Disobedience is unbelief.
[Hebrews 5:9] Being made perfect, Jesus became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.
Do you obey Jesus or just believe in him?
This is a salvation issue.
Only believing is not enough.
[Hebrews 10:26-27] If we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
Do you live in any willful sin?
If you do, you’re on the broad road to destruction.
Only believing is not enough. You must repent.
[Hebrews 10:37-39] My righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
If you deny Christ during persecution
- You have no real faith.
- God has no pleasure in you.
- You will be destroyed.
- You will lose your soul.
[Hebrews 12:14] Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Are you striving for holiness? Or do you think it’s optional?
This is a salvation issue. If you don’t sanctify your life, you won’t see the Lord.
Only believing is not enough.
[James 1:12] Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
Do you love God? Do you remain steadfast when you are tested?
Salvation is only for those who love God.
Only believing is not enough.
[James 1:22] Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Are you a doer of the word? Or just a believer?
Only believing is not enough.
[James 2:14-24] What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? … So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. … You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? … You see that a person is justified by works and NOT by faith alone.
“A person is justified by works and NOT by faith alone.”
Who will you believe? Martin Luther or Apostle James?
What have you done for God lately?
[James 4:4] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
[1 John 2:15-16] Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
Are you a friend of the world?
Are you trying to fit in and be accepted by the world?
Do you love the world or the things in the world?
Then you are on the broad road to destruction, even if you believe in Jesus.
You’ve been lied to. Only believing is not enough.
[1 Peter 1:17] If you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.
Do you believe you will be judged according to your deeds?
Or do you think God will give you a pass just because you believe in Jesus?
If you believe this, you are completely deceived.
[1 Peter 4:1-2] Since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.
Have you ceased from sin?
Are you now living for the will of God?
Or are you still doing your thing?
[1 Peter 4:17-18] For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?
The gospel is not only something to be believed, but also obeyed.
Do you obey the gospel? Or do you think it’s optional?
Are you righteous? Or are you still a sinner?
This is a salvation issue.
[1 John 1:6-7] If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But IF we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Are you walking in the light?
This is a salvation issue. The blood of Jesus only cleanses those who walk in the light.
If you live in any willful sin, you walk in drakness, not in the light, and the blood of Jesus doesn’t cleanse you.
Only believing is not enough. You must walk in the light.
[1 John 2:3-6] And by this we know that we have come to know him (Jesus), IF we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
Do you keep Jesus’ commandments? Or do you think that’s legalism?
If you call yourself a Christian but don’t obey Jesus, then you don’t know him.
Please come to your senses and repent before it’s too late.
[1 John 3:6-8] No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.
Have you stopped all willful sin? Do you live a righteous life?
If you live in any willful sin, you don’t know Jesus and you still belong to the devil.
Please come to your senses and repent before it’s too late.
[1 John 3:9-10] No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
Have you stopped all willful sin? Do you live righteously?
If not, then you’re not a child of God but of the devil, regardless of what you believe.
Only believing is not enough. Come to your senses and repent.
[1 John 3:24] Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
[1 John 5:2-4] By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.
[2 John 1:6] This is love, that we walk according to his commandments.
Do you keep God’s commandments? Or do you think that’s legalism?
If you don’t obey His commandments, you don’t know Him and are not His child.
Only believing is not enough. Come to your senses, repent, and start obeying Him.
Jesus said to the church in Sardis:
[Revelation 3:4] You have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
How clean are your garments?
Are you worthy of Jesus?
Jesus said to the church in Laodicea:
[Revelation 3:15-16] I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. … So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
Are you lukewarm?
If yes, your soul is in danger.
Only believing is not enough.
Jesus said:
[Revelation 3:20] Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Can you hear Jesus’ voice?
Have you opened the door to him?
Jesus is talking to Christians here, not to unbelievers.
The final judgment:
[Revelation 20:12] And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. … And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
Do you believe you will be judged according to what you do?
Or do you think your works don’t matter because you believe in Jesus?
The words of Jesus:
[Revelation 21:7-8] The one who overcomes will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.
Are you in the above list?
Those who live in sin or who deny Christ during persecution won’t make it.
Only the overcomers will be sons of God and inherit eternal life.
God speaking of the New Jerusalem:
[Revelation 21:27] Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false.
Do you live a clean life? Do you do anything that is detestable or false?
This is a salvation issue.
Jesus said:
[Revelation 22:11-12] Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy. Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.
Are you righteous and holy?
Do you believe Jesus will repay you according to your works?
Or do you believe righteousness and holiness are optional?
[Revelation 22:14-15] Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
Do you sanctify yourself? Or are you still doing things that God hates?
This is a salvation issue. Only those who sanctify themselves will eat from the tree of life.