“’Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.’ This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
“So Jesus again said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.’” (John 10:1-10 ESV)
In the Christian culture here in America today the truth of the gospel of Christ has been sideswiped (attacked, hit on the side) by another gospel, thus doing damage to it on one side of it, the side that speaks of what our part is in response to what Jesus did for us on that cross. They tend to either leave that part out altogether or else they attack it and dismantle it in order to deceive human beings that they have no part at all in their salvation.
So, can we be saved by our own “good works”? No! Can we do anything in our flesh to earn or to deserve our own salvation? No! But Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteous, and that we might now live for him and no longer for ourselves. He shed his blood on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our slavery to sin so that we will now honor him with our lives in becoming slaves of him and of his righteousness.
[1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 6:1-23]
Is it true that we are saved by grace through faith? Yes! But that grace and that faith are gifted to us by God, and they come from God, and that faith is persuaded of God, and it is not of our own doing, not of the will nor of the flesh of man. So we don’t get to decide what that faith looks like. God does. And his word does. And the Scriptures teach that we must die with Christ to sin so we can be raised with him to walk in newness of life in him.
[Hebrews 12:1-2; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Ephesians 2:8-10; Romans 6:1-23]
But we have these “thieves and robbers” who have entered into the gatherings of the church by “another door” other than through genuine faith in Jesus Christ, and they are the ones “sideswiping” the gospel of Christ and who are introducing a different gospel other than the one that Jesus taught and that the NT apostles taught. So these are also these strangers who we are not to follow, for we should be able to discern their lies from the truth.
So, what is the predominant message that these “thieves and liars” are bringing to the church in our day and time? Well, in America it is that we can make a profession of faith in Christ once, have all our sins forgiven, be on our way to heaven, and be assured that can’t be taken away from us, but regardless of how we live. So they are teaching assurance of salvation from sin based solely on lip service with no repentance or obedience required.
But there is more. They are teaching that everything has to be positive feel-good kinds of messages and that we should only say what feels good and not say anything people would consider negative or that might make them uncomfortable. And they are oversimplifying the gospel message on purpose to keep everything upbeat and happy and positive so that it doesn’t offend the ungodly they are trying to draw into their gatherings.
And so they focus on all the promises and blessings of God and on all the things that he will do for us but they leave out who the “us” are in this picture, for they disregard that all of God’s promises have conditions and stipulations that we must adhere to if we want to have the promises. And so they teach Scriptures out of their context in order to teach their diluted and altered gospel, and so many are claiming God’s promises falsely.
Take for example the following passage from John 10. They usually begin this quote at verse 28 and they leave out verse 27 and so they apply these promises broadly to anyone who gives lip service to the Lord regardless of the kind of lives that they are living. And so many who are living in deliberate and habitual sinful acts of idolatry, adultery, sexual immorality, lying, cheating, and stealing, etc., are claiming these promises for themselves.
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27-30 ESV)
But notice with me who the promise is for. It is for those who are listening to the Lord, not just with their ears, but attentively with their minds and with their hearts, and they are those who are following Jesus in obedience to his commands (New Covenant), which is what the whole of the New Testament teaches. They are the ones who have the hope of eternal life with God and who will never perish in their sins and who can’t be snatched away.
And another which is also quoted out of context is Ephesians 2:8-10:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
These liars and deceivers leave out verse 10 purposefully, because the message they give consistently is that God requires nothing of us other than to “believe,” which is not usually biblically defined, and so they teach no works are required of us and that we can’t do anything to be pleasing to God because he is already pleased with us, and that no repentance and no obedience are required of us for our salvation and eternal life.
But the Scriptures, in context, teach the opposite of that. They teach that if we say that we are in fellowship with God/Christ, but we walk in sin, we are liars. And if we say we know God/Christ but we do not obey his commandments (New Covenant), we are liars. And if sin is what we practice, and not righteousness, and not obedience to God, we are not born of God but we are of the devil, and we will not inherit eternal life with God.
[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
For Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
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