Does it ever bug you when you hear a “professing christian” say, “I just asked Jesus to come in my heart and now I'm saved, or Johnny was an alcoholic but went he was three years old he asked Jesus to come in his heart so we know where he is.”?
I wanted to address some of these fallacies as they are on my mind. First off, getting saved is not “asking Jesus to come in your heart” trust me I know first hand.
Picture this.... little angelic me at age seven, did I mention that I would be classified as a fallen angel. Threatening my big sisters, who were picking on me, with a razor knife. Screaming like a banshee and then running away... well, at least to the edge of the yard. You know that evening, waiting for certain death in the laundry room from my father, feeling defiant rather than repentant, “getting saved” was the last thing on my mind.
Dad came in and started lecturing me and asking me why I kept doing evil things over and over and ended up leading me through the “sinners prayer”. My thoughts were, and I still remember them, were this is awesome!!! No spanking, Mom and Dad are happy and now I'm going to heaven.
I tell you that for seven more years I was just as lost and just as hell bound as before. I had no change, no desire for God, no compassion for others and thought only for myself. There is a lot more to my testimony but that is for another time. It took the death of another man before my eyes to awaken the hardened sinner inside.
Let me break it down, Jesus requires us to do four things. These things are only accomplished by the working of grace in our hearts, for as carnal men we are unable to do them. One, Repent. Two, Believe. Three, Confess. Four, Abide.
I expect that most who read this article will understand these things to be true having experienced them for themselves. I wish therefore to touch on the fourth. Jesus says, Abide in e, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” John 15:4
Drunk Johnny is in hell, no amount of lying from a man who calls himself a preacher will change that. Why? Abide in Me, and I in you.
The doctrine of eternal security is accepted across the reformed world of Christendom, but most only say, “Once saved always saved.” I would agree, however the true question is were they ever even saved? “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”
Are you abiding in Christ? He says very clearly, Abide in Me and I in you. This is a two way street. Are you spending time with Jesus, in his word, in meditation, in prayer? Do you think that God is going to live in you honestly if you haven't allowed him to purge your heart as he did the temple? If you feed only your flesh? No, if you do not abide in Christ. If you do not follow him, he will not abide. “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”
We cannot live without the vine Jesus and if we like Judas we grafted in but refuse the vine... If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. So as in Pilgrims Progress we see the young lad go to the very gates of the city riding across the river of death in the ferry called false hope let us be wary and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Thomas Smith
Thanks so much Thomas for sharing this part of your testimony and for allowing us to share it with our readers! May God's richest blessings be upon you and your precious family.
That's great!
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