Don't Reject Salvation!

 

Don’t Reject Salvation!

 

“’I tell you that among those born of women there has not risen anyone who is greater than John The Baptist! Yet the one who is least in The Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he!’  All the people who heard Him, even the tax-collectors, by undergoing John’s baptism acknowledged that GOD was right; but the Pharisees and Lawyers, by not letting themselves be baptized by him, nullified for themselves GOD’s plan.” Luke 7:28-30

 

How easy it is to reject GOD’s plan! So easy, that even religious leaders who are supposedly teaching it totally miss it. This was not just a phenomenon in JESUS’ day, it is still happening today. How else do you explain JESUS’ teaching in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me; ‘LORD, LORD!’ will enter into The Kingdom of Heaven, only those who do what My Father in Heaven wants. On That Day, many will say to Me, ‘LORD, LORD! Didn’t we prophesy in Your Name? Didn’t we expel demons in Your Name? Didn’t we perform many miracles in Your Name?’ Then I will tell them to their faces, I never knew you, get away from Me you workers of lawlessness!”

 

“John said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we saw a man expelling demons in Your Name; and because he wasn’t one of us, we told him to stop.’ But JESUS said, ‘Don’t stop him, because no one who works a miracle in My Name will soon be able to say something bad about Me. For whoever is not against us is for us. Indeed, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you come in The Name of The Messiah – truly! I tell you that he will certainly not lose his reward.’” Mark 9:38-41

 

So how can those who are doing the works of GOD’s Kingdom, who believe they are GOD’s servants, not be saved? Those two passages seem to be at odds both parties are doing the works of the Kingdom of Heaven in JESUS’ Name. So why are the ones in Matthew rejected but the one in Mark is not? The fact is that we do not know if the man in Mark is a believer or someone using the Name of JESUS for his own purpose or gain. We see some of these in the Book of Acts, the seven sons of Sceva and others casting out demons in JESUS’ Name (19:13-17); the sorcerer in Samaria (8:9-25).

 

GOD uses those who are available – saved or not! In Romans 9:17 Paul speaks of how GOD raised up Pharaoh to set Israel free from slavery and demonstrate His Power to the nations. In Daniel we see how GOD used Nebuchadnezzar to judge Israel. All through the scriptures we see how GOD used nations and individuals to judge or bless Israel, individuals and other nations.

 

Motivation is very important, “The crucible tests silver and the furnace tests gold, but The One who tests hearts is The LORD.” Proverbs 17:3, GOD knows the heart of everyone and judges us accordingly. In the story of Ruth, Boaz is motivated by Ruth’s (a Moabite) love and dedication to her Hebrew mother-in-law, Naomi; even though both their husband’s were dead; to redeem Naomi’s husband’s family land for Naomi and Ruth. In Acts Cornelius, a Roman Centurion of the Italian Division, was sent an angel because he was a GOD fearing Gentile who blessed the people of Israel. The angel gave him directions which he followed and that led to Peter, who heard and obeyed The HOLY SPIRIT, to go and tell them about JESUS and Cornelian’s whole household was saved and filled with The HOLY SPIRIT (Acts 10).

 

That leads to obedience to the Will of GOD! “Samuel said, ‘Does The LORD take as much pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying what The LORD says? Surely obeying is better than sacrifice, and heeding orders than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of sorcery, and stubbornness like the crime of idolatry. Because you have rejected The Word of The LORD, He too has rejected you as king.’” This was spoken to King Saul of Israel because he did not obey GOD’s complete command about destroying the Amalekites and then blamed the people (1 Samuel 15:22-23). JESUS taught us the prayer that starts, “Our Father in Heaven, how Holy is Your Name, Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done in the earth as it is in Heaven…” (Matthew 6:9-10) GOD’s Will was JESUS’ primary goal during His life as The Son of Man, “Everyone The Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will certainly not turn away. For I have come down from Heaven not to do My Own Will but the Will of The One who sent Me. And this is the Will of The One who sent Me, that I should not lose any of all those He has given Me but should raise them up on The Last Day. Yes, this is the Will of My Father: that all who see The Son and trust in Him should have eternal life, and that I should raise them up on The Last Day.” John 6:37-40

 

Differences of context –  Matthew 7 is the end of The Sermon on the Mount that started in chapter 5, it includes the Beatitudes, The LORD’s Prayer and Seek First The Kingdom of GOD and His Righteousness. Matthew 7:13-29 are all on obedience and disobedience and their results.

 

In Mark 9:33-37 JESUS was teaching the Twelve about being a servant rather than being great, in verse 37, JESUS said, “Whoever welcomes one such child in My Name welcomes Me, and whoever welcomes Me, welcomes not Me but The One who sent Me.” Then in verse 38, John tells JESUS that they stopped a man from casting out demons in JESUS’ Name because He was not one of His disciples. In verse 39-41 JESUS replies, “Don’t stop him, because no one who works a miracle in My Name will soon after be able to say something bad about Me. For whoever is not against us is for us. Indeed who ever gives you a cup of water to drink because you come in the name of The Messiah – truly! I tell you he will certainly not lose his reward.”

 

JESUS goes on in verses 42-48 to teach about those who ensnare the little ones and that if you sin it would be better to cut off the offending part of your body and enter into Heaven maimed rather then enter into hell whole. He ends this teaching with the statement, “Indeed, everyone is going to be salted with fire. Salt is excellent, but if it loses its saltiness, how will you season it? So have salt in yourselves – that is, be at peace with each other.” Mark 9:49-50

 

There is a lot in this statement that I am not going to comment on for this teaching. But, “Everyone is going to be salted with fire.” As seen in Proverbs 17:3 fire is used to refine silver and gold, removing the impurities by heat. GOD judges our heart and salts us with fire to remove the impurities, but we can resist and become hard hearted and therefore unable to hear GOD’s voice speaking His Will. Or, we can be religious and dogmatic about keeping rules rather than obeying GOD’s Will. JESUS continually corrected the religious leaders of His day for their error in understanding, obeying and teaching GOD’s Word. “Even though He had preformed so many miracles in their presence, they still did not put their trust in Him, in order that what Isaiah the prophet had said might be fulfilled, ‘O LORD, who has believed our report? To whom has the arm of The LORD been revealed?’ The reason they could not believe was – as Isaiah said elsewhere–‘He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they do not see with their eyes, understand with their hearts, and repent, so that I could heal them.’ (Isaiah said these things because he saw The Glory of The Messiah and spoke about Him.) Nevertheless, many of the leaders did trust in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not say so openly, out of fear of being banned from the synagogue; for they loved praise from other people rather than praise from GOD. JESUS declared publicly, ‘Those who put their trust in Me are trusting not merely in Me, but in The One who sent ME. Also those who see Me see The One who sent Me.’” John 12: 37-45

 

Rewards – natural and eternal: Nowhere in JESUS’ teachings does He say that those who are saved have earned or completed the requirement of salvation! Nowhere in the New Testament does it say that we can earn our salvation it is a free gift from GOD by faith which He also gives us; study Galatians and Ephesians. GOD’s Will is for us to be saved and that only comes through trust in JESUS, John 1:6-14, 3:14-19, 12:44-50, 14:6-7, 17:1-5.

 

In Philippians 2:12-13, “So, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed when I was with you, it is even more important that you obey now when I am away from you; keep working on your deliverance with fear and trembling, for GOD is The One working among you both the willing and the working for what pleases Him.” In some translations ‘salvation’ is used in place of ‘deliverance’ and this has confused some, Paul gives some further explanation in verses 14-16, “Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure Children of GOD, without defect in the midst of a twisted and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the sky.” Our salvation is a gift from GOD by faith, and He gives us the initial faith to believe. Then we have to change our lifestyle to stop sinning and to live uprightly before GOD.

 

Salvation is not a reward, what JESUS was talking about in Mark 9:41, “Indeed, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you come in The Name of The Messiah – truly! I tell you that he will certainly not lose his reward.” He clarified in Mark 10:23-31 that in this life we do earn rewards for the present and for eternity. “JESUS said, ‘Yes! I tell you there is no one who has left house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children or fields, for My sake and for the sake of The Good News, who will not receive a hundred times over, now, in the present age homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and lands – with persecutions – and in the age to come, eternal life.” Mark 10:29-30 Be sure to keep your free gift of salvation while doing GOD’s Will!