Baseball season is about to begin. Soon there will be scalpers lined along the highway exists that lead to Royals Stadium in Kansas City. I see it every year. It's inevitable. I've never liked the scalpers. Though what they do isn't seen as illegal by Federal law, there's just something about how it is done that doesn't sit well with me. I suppose it's because it seems deceptive and a sneaky way to take advantage of desperate people. The devil is just like that. He is a scalper. He wants to sell you a ticket that's going to cost you the highest price ever- your soul! Millions of people have been scalped and have no idea they are holding a ticket to hell. NO IDEA! There are people in hell right now who believed in Jesus. Is that hard for you to believe? How can that be you ask? It's not so far fetched you know, even Satan believes in Jesus! He knows who He is. He can and has even quoted scripture. Frightfully many people, but specifically Christians, are preyed upon by an invisible and insidious enemy who has nothing to lose. He has an army of henchman who can play with your emotions and introduce thoughts directly to your mind! And you can bet they don't have your best interest in mind!
Have you or anyone you know ever been sold a bogus ticket in life? Perhaps it was for a concert you were all prepared to attend but you got burned? Listen very carefully, millions are in line right now with "a" ticket in hand thinking they will enter heaven. But they are holding "counterfeit tickets" that will have them paying with their lives. Satan has nothing to lose and has nothing better to do than scalp you! He has nearly the entire world believing doing good things is one way you can earn salvation ... just be good, don't do any harm, and mind your own business. Scripture, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is death" (Matthew 16:25). Millions of people believe that being a nice person who believes in God is "a way" to heaven. That's their 'ticket.' But it is not THE way! Why? They never really received Christ. They never gave Him their hearts. They never surrendered to Him and made Him Lord of their lives. They pay Him lip service but do not make Him the Headship of their spiritual lives, they remain spiritually detached from Him whether they are alert to this or not. GOD is not fooled (Galatians 6:7). Belief alone is not enough to effect salvation. Even Satan believes there is a God and had conversations with Jesus. We have to RECEIVE Christ into our hearts and keep Him there!
If we as Christians call Him God but retain headship over our own spirituality rather than surrendering to Him, we live a lie! Some make self an idol and worship the god of self over God Himself. I know messages like this are uncomfortable to hear, but I refuse to sell anyone a bogus ticket. If you reject the truth and grab the scalpers ticket, what will you reap? You will miss heaven! Are you hanging with unbelievers? Still walking with the world? Buying the deceiver lies that you can do this and not fall away? Who told you that you can commit sin over and over and it is forgotten if you continually practice it forever? Scripture tells us in 2 Corinthians Chapter 6, "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion has light with darkness? What agreement has Christ with Belial? Or what part has he who believes with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For YOU are the temple of the living God. As God has said, " "I will live in them and walk in them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." It's very clear, the one who BELIEVES IN CHRIST AS THEIR SAVIOR AND RECEIVES HIM surrenders to Him. They give Him their heart and make Him truly Lord of their life and He indwells them with the Holy Spirit. The Christian IS the temple of God because God is living inside them. The problem lies in the fact that there are those who never really get around to truly receiving Christ, but instead give lip-service. They may attend church, talk about Jesus, wear a golden cross about their neck, they might even have some scriptures memorized but that's as far as their faith goes. On the weekends they return to a life of sin. They've bought the ticket that promises if you say you believe there's a Jesus you're home free.
Will the scalpers' bogus tickets to heaven actually work? Satan is the biggest god of self! We must overcome the self-idol mindset in believing WE know the way w/o Christ, the path w/o Christ, the right idea w/o Christ, the magic ticket to heaven through the actions of good behavior or just saying we believe Christ exists! Revelation 21:7 says only they that overcomes shall inherit all things and be God's son. THEY THAT OVERCOME! Overcome what? ... the world, it's teaching's, it's lies that speak to our flesh and the false narratives that keep blinders over our eyes. If we only pay lip service to God but do not surrender and receive Jesus, giving Him our heart 100% and making Him the Lord over our entire life, then our "belief" is bogus and we are living a lie (Revelation 22:12-15). It's the same as accepting scalpers tickets to hell. Do some of you reading here today get the sense you've bought into the wrong destination? How do you get out of the wrong line which is going to the wrong event? How can you get a legitimate ticket to heaven FROM GOD? This is how:
Rev 3: 18 – 20 MESSAGE BIBLE the words of Jesus: "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white garments, that you may be dressed, that the shame of your nakedness may not appear, and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be zealous and repent. Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me." What gold is this? The gold of Jesus' character and purity via the initiation of the salvation process. And WHAT shall you give in exchange for this gold? Easy. You give Him your sin. Your selfishness. Your iniquity. Your filth and depravity. Your guilt and shame. Your future. Your past. Your being. ALL of YOU! You surrender. And by His power, He will reprove, teach, discipline, and guide you along the way until you become 24K. And HOW do you do this? By receiving Christ as Lord and Savior, surrendering to Him, giving Him your heart and making Him your head ( headship ). By repenting of your sin and asking Christ to forgive you, to cleanse you with His perfect, Holy Blood. Just look at the stupendous LOVE of Christ to suffer so horribly to make a way for you to receive eternal safety! You do not have to be spiritually separated from God. Jesus made a way.
It’s tough to get in trouble with God when you repent and approach Him. We have two choices only. There is no middle ground. We need the nature of Christ! One can die to self and live to God, recognizing the need to exchange our nature for the nature of Christ. Or: One can live for self and die to Christ. You can keep scalper’s tickets on the connection to hell if you want because even then, GOD gave you a free will. He will not force your hand. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. See Also John 1: 12: "Yet to all who received Him ( Jesus ), He gave the power to become sons of God, to those who believed in His name." Salvation is a "relationship" with God. On God’s terms! It’s HIS Kingdom! And Romans 10:9 " that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. But here's what you must realize ... true belief exacts change! If you truly believe these things in your heart YOU WILL WANT TO CHANGE. There will almost be desperation or anticipation to do so. And with the help of the Holy Spirit's power, you WILL follow through. What ticket are you holding? Until next time, -Pat-
my wife and i were just talking about this subject the other day. that, we've noticed a lot of christians who are trading in what they've been given through Christ for what you refer to as tickets that direct them back into the world. there is deception no doubt, but there also is deliberate rejection of the salvation "ticket" they once held. so many Christians need prayer because it seems their eyes have become darkened. thx, pat
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome Dan. Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great analogy! The devil is the biggest scalper of them all...how true!! He has made such a good job of making evil and depravity look pleasurable! God's gift, the freedom to choose, is being used to live out all kinds of ugly, wicked choices from child sex trafficking to the murder of infants minutes before birth!! How can people actually see these choices as "good" or "right"?!! And some people in the world abhor these as much as we do as followers of Jesus! But then, there are the everyday little things they live out that are also against God's Holy Word, that they don't see as sin at all. Actions and choices they don't consider sin because they are not blatantly so evil! They have been deceived in to believing that some sin, like murder, is way beyond their idea of forgiveness but the little 'sins" they may commit against others everyday, are certainly forgiveable, afterall, they really aren't THAT big of a deal! Oh satan is good at what he does!! Father, help us to be bold with Your love; help us be bold with Your truth that sheds light into the dark places so that others may be set free by the Light of World, Jesus! Amen!
ReplyDeleteThanks Pat, for another great teaching!!
Excellent, Diane! Thank you. I find that people are so much more easily deceived today. Satan's job has become easier. I agree with your prayer.
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