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Does this title startle you?
Can anyone get that close to heaven, and yet hear the Lord say,
"I never knew
you: depart from me"?1
However, this will be the terrible result of many in our churches today who are
professing Christians, often with responsible positions; but who have had only a
head acceptance of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Tragically enough, even teachers, preachers and religious workers
are not exempt from the
possibility of this chilling indictment.
Unfortunately, a head knowledge [intellectual knowledge] of the Lord Jesus Christ, fully knowing and giving mental assent to the Plan of Salvation, without also a heart acceptance that brings the personal relationship that the Bible demands, avails nothing to any man. Listen to Paul's heart cry concerning Israel as he spoke under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, "For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge."2 He was speaking about misdirected efforts, energies expended in the strength of the flesh but not under the direction of the Holy Spirit. The lack of power today in many of our churches as well as the lack of power today in the lives of many professing Christians can be laid directly to this.
It is vitally important that you make sure it is not just head knowledge and mental assent you have given to Jesus Christ. He needs the complete surrender of your heart and life, so that you may be truly born again.
Are you sure of your personal relationship to Him? Why not settle the question in your heart once and for all right now?
by Paul W. Empet
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About the heart, Romans 10:8-10 says,
"The word is nigh thee,
[even] in thy mouth, and
in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved.
For
with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
(Romans_10:8-10)
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Dear God,
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About the heart, Deuteronomy 30:10-16 says,"If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it." (Deuteronomy_30:10-16) |
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2 Romans 10:2: "{2} For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge."
3 Romans 3:10-18: "{10} As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: {11} There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. {12} They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. {13} Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: {14} Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: {15} Their feet are swift to shed blood: {16} Destruction and misery are in their ways: {17} And the way of peace have they not known: {18} There is no fear of God before their eyes." Romans 3:21-23: "{21} But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; {22} Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: {23} For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"
4 John 14:6: "{6} Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
5 1 John 5:12: "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."
6 Romans 10:9-10 "{9} That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. {10} For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
7 1 Samuel 16:7: "{7} But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart." |
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"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions --
it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ
and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable
riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith --
and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works,
so that no one can boast."
(Ephesians_2:4-9_NIV)
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Related Links:
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In Memory of My Mom
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Reflections
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It is only as we see ourselves in the mirror of God's Word as without excuse and without hope,
utterly lost and undone, that the truth of the Scriptures convicts us, for the Bible
clearly reveals that this is how God sees man.
The Bible also tells us that
"He that hath the Son hath [eternal] life; and he that hath not
the Son of God hath not life."
