Are You Saved or Deceived?

Are you sure where you will spend eternity?  Do you think you’re a good person and because you do good things you will get to heaven?  Just because you do good things and serve in the church doesn’t give you eternal salvation.  Being part of a certain denomination, holding a church title, or having perfect attendance in church will not help you have eternal life in heaven.

There are many people who are religious and think they are Christians, but are not truly saved.  Satan deceives people into believing the lie that they are saved when they are not saved at all.  “The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.” – Rev. 12:9.

People can appear to be godly and still miss heaven.  They can be active in the church choir, teach a Sunday school class, be generous in giving money to the church and charities, and may look like a good person as they may well be.  They appear to have it all together, but God know the true condition of their heart.  An example is Judas who was a disciple and accepted Jesus, but later betrayed Him.

Jesus warns us in Matt. 7:21-23 – “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in haven.  Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!’”

You are not saved because you are a good person or have prayed the sinner’s prayer.  The Bible says you must repent and believe the gospel, stop sinning and obey God.  Then God may test your faith (Deut. 9:1, James 1:12, 1 Peter 1:7).  Remember even Jesus was tempted (Matt. 4:1-11).  If you withstand the faith you will be saved.  Jesus says, “Those who endure to the end will be saved.” – Matt. 10:22.

Ways unsaved people think they are saved:

I am a good person. – I’m not a murder, thief, adulterer or as bad others.   I know God is a God of love and would never send a good person to hell.

I have said the sinner’s prayer and accepted Jesus. – That is a very good thing, but there must be true repentance and a changed life.

I feel like I’m saved. – Singing praise music and lifting hands to God is not enough.  It’s not about feelings and emotions.  That is a deception from Satan.

I do good deeds. – Helping the needy and giving to charities is good, but you can’t earn your way to heaven.

I am religious. – Going to church and doing other religious things to please yourself and others under obligation is putting your confidence in people.  Doing things for show and not for God is not pleasing the Him.

I hold a title in the church. – I am a pastor, elder, or deacon.  Putting your trust in titles in life is pride.  God hates pride (Prov. 8:13).

I hold to my church’s traditions. – I am a Baptist, Catholic, etc.   We are not put our confidence in anyone but God.  Praying to Mary or Saints is against God’s Word.  There is only one God and one Mediator (1 Tim. 2:5, Ex. 20:3-5).

I am blessed with prosperity. – God is blessing me with financial security.  This is false assurance.  You are being deceived by Satan.

I honor God and I know His laws. - They honor God with their lips, but not their hearts. – (Matt. 15:7-9, Psalm 50:16-22).

Often it’s hard to tell a true Christian from a counterfeit one.  They often don’t even know they are not saved, because they have been so deceived.  Eventually the truth will come out.  There is only one way to salvation and it’s through Jesus.  “Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6.  “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” – Eph. 2:8-9.

A true believer is:

Born again (John 3:3).

Has a new identity in Christ (Rom. 6:6-11, 2 Cor. 5:17-21).

Has a changed heart (Jer. 32:39).

Obeys God’s word (1 John 2:3-6).

Lives a Godly life (2 Peter 3:11).

Pursues holiness (Heb. 12:14).

Fears God (Luke 12:5).

Stops habitually sinning (1 John 3:6-10).

Does not compromise with the world (Rom 12:2).

Overcomes Satan’s temptations and only believes God’s Word (1 John 5:3-5).

Has a servant’s heart (Matt. 23:11).

Denies self and follows Jesus (Luke 9:23-26).

Surrenders all to Jesus (Gal. 2:20).

Ready for His return (Luke 12:35-38).

Produces good fruit (John 15:8).

Does all things for God’s glory (1 Cor. 10:31).

Doesn’t believe anything contrary to God’s Word (1 John 2:27).

Has eternal life and will not experience God’s wrath (John 3:36).

So examine and test yourself.  “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.  Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test?” – 2 Cor. 13:5.

Test yourself by asking yourself these questions.  Do I love God and seek to obey His Word?  When I sin, do I feel sorry and turn away from my sin?  Am I growing to be more like Jesus with love, joy, patience, kindness, and self-control? 

If you answered ‘yes’ to these questions, you’re showing signs that God has made you a Christian and will never let you lose your salvation.  “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” – John 10:28.  “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our lord.” – Rom. 8:38-39.  “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” – Rom. 8:1.

If you answered ‘no’ to these questions, you can find out how to become a Christian by believing in the Lord Jesus.  Steps for doing that are found at the bottom of this page, “How to be saved”.

If you’re a true believer, you’ll keep turning from sin and trusting Jesus to help you overcome sin.  You will want to obey Him and His Word.  You will still sin, but sin no longer has to control you.

Join me next time for more studies.  Have a blessed day and thanks for visiting my site.  Hope to see you here again.  --  I encourage you to trust in Jesus.

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Is the devil real?

Are the devil and demons real?  Whether you believe it or not, they are real!  The devil is a powerful, evil spiritual being.  In Genesis he is the serpent or snake.  In Revelation he is referred to as the dragon.  Other names for him are Lucifer and Satan.  He is also called the destroyer, the enemy, evil spirit, the deceiver, the tempter, the accuser, the morning star, the angel of light, Beelzebub, the father of lies, the prince of darkness, and the prince of this world.

Satan was created by God, but is not equal to God. (Prov. 16:4)  We learn about him in Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14.  Lucifer was God’s chief cherub angel which is the highest ranking angel.  He had beauty, wisdom and talent.  God gave him a certain amount of power and authority, but he perverted that power.  He was filled with jealousy and pride and rebelled against God.  He wanted to be greater than God.  He sinned against God and was cast out of the presence of the Lord for eternity.  In Revelation 12:4, 9 we learn that 1/3 of all the angels were cast out with him.  Lucifer became Satan and the fallen angels became demons.  His fallen angels are called demons, evil spirits, and angels of the devil. 

Satan is a spirit and evil spirits serve and follow him.  He is out to deceive and devour everyone.  God gave him limited power.  He can only be at one place at a time.  He is not omnipresent like God.  He will never die and there is nothing you can do to destroy him.  Only God can and will destroy him when Jesus returns.  He is not sovereign like God.  He only rules over demons.  He is not omniscient.  He doesn’t know everything (1 Peter 1:12)

Satan is an imitator and always wanted to be worshiped like God.  He can mask himself as a messenger of God.  He is a liar.  John 8:44 tell us that he is the father of lies.  He should never be trusted or believed.  He lied to Eve to get her to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Satan is a murderer.  He is a sinner which is his nature.  He is a tempter.  He tempted Christ in the wilderness in Matthew 4.  He will try to tempt you.  His goal is to tempt every believer and pull them away from God.  He does this by causing the believer to doubt God.  He cause them to commit idolatry, to be prideful, self-righteous, and disobedient toward God.

He is a liar, a murder and a thief.  He has no authority unless it is given to him by God.  He is a hypocrite.  He is the enemy of humanity.  He despises the truth and tries to hide the actual truth about God.  He twists Scripture of his purposes. (Gen. 3:4-5)  He is out to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10)  He tries to destroy our hope and need for God.

He causes division, destruction, deprivation and doubt.  He tries to discourages, disrupt and damage Christians.  He tries to make you feel like a failure.  He wants you to feel guilty of past sins even though God has forgiven you.  Don’t listen to him!  Stay in prayer.  Stay in God’s Word.  Stay in fellowship with other believers.  Don’t give in to temptations.  Stand firm and be alert as you wait for Christ’s return. 

“Be sober-minded; be watchful.  Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” – 1 Peter 5:8.

 

“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” – Mark 14:38.

I hope this post has not been too depressing, but we need to know what we are up against.  No matter the troubles in this life.  No matter how much the devil deceives and spreads evil in this world, he will be defeated.  When Christ returns, He will throw the devil and all his followers into eternal destruction forever. (Rev. 20)  So take hope and be encouraged by this.  Evil will be defeated and Jesus Christ will reign forever.

Praises be to God!

Have a blessed day and thanks for visiting my site.  Hope to see you here again.  --  I encourage you to trust in Jesus.

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Do angels exist?

What are angels?  Do angels even exist?  If so, who are they?  What do they do and what is their purpose?  What does the Bible have to say about them?  Do we each have a guardian angel?

First, angels are not glorified human beings.  They do not marry or reproduce like humans (Matthew 22:30).  The word angel means messenger.  Angels are spiritual beings created by God sent to serve those who will inherit salvation (Hebrews 1:14). 

There are special categories of angels such as cherubim, seraphim, and the archangel.  It’s not clear when God created them, but we know they were created by the 6^th day of creation, because God was finished with His creation and rested on the 7^th day.  There are angels who carry out commands of God and those who carry out acts of wickedness by Satan.  I think this shows angels have free will. 

There is a big difference in these 2 groups of angels.  One is good and the other is evil so you can’t trust every angel.  The evil angels are those who have fallen since creation.  We read about the ones who fell in Genesis 6:2; Amos 5:26; Revelation 12:4 and that some will fall in the future (also called stars) as mentioned in Revelation 6:13, 8:10-12, 9:1.  Satan is the one who entices them.  They are wicked and work for Satan.  They are called demons, which I think sounds much better than calling them angels.  They can never be redeemed like humans.  Once they rebel against God they are banned permanently from heaven unlike humans who can be forgiven for sins and restored to a relationship with God.  This is because of God’s mercy and grace by sending His Son, Jesus to pay the price for our sins on the cross. Today we are going to talk about angels who are loyal to God. 

Angels don’t have physical bodies like humans, but they can take on the appearance of humans when needed.  Hebrews 13:2 tell us to entertain strangers because some could be angels.  They could appear as dazzling white and in blazing glory (Matthew 28:2-4).

Angels are intelligent, strong, powerful and superior to humans (2 Peter 2:11) and they never die (Luke 20:36).  They are subject to Jesus and are always ready to assist Him (Matthew 4:11; 26:53).

We know from the Bible they do exist, because they are mentioned in many places.  There are many of them, even armies (2 Kings 6:15-17; Psalm 68:17; Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 5:11).  There are legions of angels (Matthew 26:53).  Daniel 7:10 mentions thousands upon thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand.  Daniel 7 and Revelation 5 mention 10,000 times 10,000 angels and thousands of thousands of angels.  That’s over 100,000,000 angels. Revelation mentions 1/3 fallen angels, which means there were at least 50,000,000 demon angels making a total of 150,000,000 angels.  In Matthew 26 Jesus said He could have called twelve legions.  A legion is 6,000 making 12 legions 72,000 angels.  I think you get the picture.  There are many, many angels.

The Old Testament Law was given to men by angels (Galatians 3:19).  We read about them throughout the Bible.  They shut the mouths of lions to protect Daniel in Daniel 6:22.  The angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias about the birth of his son in Luke 1:11-19 and to Mary about the birth of Jesus in Luke 1:26-38.  Angels proclaimed the birth of Jesus to the shepherds in Luke 2:9-15.  They appeared to Mary Magdalene and the other women at the tomb in Matthew 28:2, 5.  They stirred the waters at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5:4.  An angel released Peter from prison in Acts 12:7-11.  I could go on with other mentions of angels in the Bible.

Angels are not named specifically in the Bible except for 2 angels.  The name of Gabriel, whose name means “strong man of God”, appears 4 times in Daniel 8-9; Luke 1:11-20; Luke 1:26-38.  Michael whose name means “Who is like God?” is mentioned in Daniel 10:13, 21, 12:1; Jude 1:9 and Revelation 12:7.  He is an archangel.  An archangel is considered to be the chief angel.  We may not know the names of all the angels, but God does Isaiah 40:26).  He knows the names of all He created.  He knows your name as well.  “But now, this is what the Lord says – he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel:  Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” – Isaiah 43:1.

Principle:  Angels are ministering spiritual beings created by God.

What do angels do and what is their purpose? 

These good angels are helpers and guardians.  They serve as messengers to communicate God’s will to men.  They carry out God’s commands with warnings, guidance, protection, comfort, and deliverance of God’s people according to His perfect will (Psalm 91:11; 34:7).  They strengthen and encourage (Matthew 4:11; Acts 5:19-20, 27:23-25).

Angels are beautiful and magnificent creatures.  Angels are worshippers and servants (Hebrews 1:3-14).  Jesus is King and angels are servants.  They are servants of Jesus and servants of Christians.  Jesus is over the church and angels do His bidding for the church.  We are not to worship angels.  God says we are to worship Him alone (Isaiah 42:8).  Angels are messengers and Jesus is our Savior (Hebrews 2:2-3; 9-10; 14-16).

They come together to sing and praise God (Psalm 103:20-21).  They bring messages from God (Acts 27:21-24).  They help God’s people (Acts 12:6-11).  They will gather God’s people at Christ’s return (Mark 13:26-27).  They will be agents of God’s final judgment (Matthew 13:39-42). 

Principle:  Angels are messengers and servants, but Jesus is Savior.

Does each person have a guardian angel? 

The Catholic faith believes each person has a special guardian angel assigned to watch over them, but there is no mention of this in the Bible.  However, we do know the Bible does mention angels as guardians (Psalm 34:7; 91:11; Matthew 18:10).  There is no doubt that God sends angels to help protect and minister to believers.  Even if we don’t have an assigned angel we have the assurance of God if we are His children through faith in Christ that He will work all things together for good (Romans 8:28-30).

Matthew 18:10 talks about “the little ones” and their angels.  These little ones could refer to all believers in Christ and could indicate that all believers do have guardian angels.  Notice it doesn’t say “angel, but “angels” indicating there is more than one angel who cares for and looks after God’s people.  Whether or not we have a special guardian angel we know that God knows our every need and is able to send His ministering angels to assist us when needed.  Rather than only one angel guarding us, God surrounds us with many angels to protect us and go before us and with us wherever we go.

Principle:  God sends His ministering angels to assist His people.

Next time we will talk about the other group of angels, the evil demonic ones who work for the devil.  

Have a blessed day and thanks for visiting my site.  Hope to see you here again.  --  I encourage you to trust in Jesus.

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