When Great Work Goes Unsaved

Imagine working on a super important project for work, or school, or let's say even just for fun. You put hours, days, maybe perhaps years of research into this depending on what it is. It doesn't really matter whether it's a spreadsheet, a slideshow, or even just a Word document. What matters is the time and effort that has gone into your task. You feel great about the great things you have done to get this project in order. The idea has flowed from your brain to your computer screen better than you could have ever intended it to. You have found the perfect quotes, pictures, and anecdotes to go with your ideas. You hit spell check and find that, as usual, there are no squiggly red lines under any words. Everything is spelled correctly. There are no green squigglies to indicate run-on sentences or fragments. Just as you begin to pat yourself on the back and reflect on how great you are, the screen goes black. Your computer begins to smoke. The computer just died and all of your work with it. You look down at the Lexar 16gb USB flash drive with the horrible realization. "I never saved."

Now for a moment picture your life as your work. Maybe you have lived a great life. Masters degree on the wall. You don't drink. You don't swear. You've never been to jail. Never even gotten as much as a parking ticket. You go work at homeless shelters a couple times a month and even swing by church on Christmas and Easter or to light an occasional candle or two. The final "period" of your work is the Ugandan refugee boy that you adopted last year. Your self righteousness is at an all time high. The world just looks at you and says, "man, that is one great person!" If there was a "spell check" of life, yours would be devoid of any red marks. You of course pat yourself on the back in agreement. The drunk driver that just t-boned your car isn't impressed. Now your computer screen goes black. Life is over. Your good works didn't save you as indicated by the flames, anguish and screams of torment. Hell is real and you and the other people who thought good was good enough are there, wondering why.

Hell is the destiny, sadly, for many people who the world would consider "good". This fiery Eternity is also the end result for people in works based religious systems. As sad as it may seem, being good and doing good works and being religious just won't cut it on our day in Eternal Court. We are not going to be able to bribe the Judge with our righteous deeds, kind acts, and religious fulfillment of duties on Judgment Day. The only way to satisfy God's wrath is the only Way He gave us. Jesus Christ. John 14:6 tells us, "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." He makes no mention of any other "way" to the Father. There is no "auto save". You are not going to Heaven because your mom is a Christian or because you fed the homeless. You are not going to get past the pearly gates by way of infant baptism, ashes on your forehead once a year or flying a plane into a building. All of those are religious "duties" and none are sufficient. Remember what Jesus told the religious people of his day after He gave the list of righteous activities they would display for him. "Depart from me, all you workers of evil." Why is this the case? Because it doesn't matter if you like to go to Church once in a while to make yourself feel better. It won't matter if you've fed every homeless person from Los Angeles to Amarillo if you have ever told one lie. Even a lie, which is minor in human estimation, is punishable by the Lake of Fire according to the Bible. If you use your eyes to look with lust, that is adultery according to Jesus. Hatred is murder according to 1 John 3:15. These are just 3 of the 10 Commandments. We are all guilty regardless of whatever good deeds we have done or how religious we are.

Now some are going to say, "doesn't the Bible say that faith without works is dead?" Well yes, yes it does. What this means is that you should do good things if you are saved so that you will be known as a Christ follower by your fruit, not because you will be saved by doing them. So how does one get saved? Repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross as the payment for your sins. God will accept no religious filler or bribes as a substitute for His perfect sacrificial Lamb, Jesus. Ten out of every ten people die. That is the ultimate statistic. Don't get to this black screen of life without being saved at the end. Ask forgiveness. Confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead. Repent and believe the Gospel. Read your Bible daily and obey what it says.

Job 34:25

English Standard Version (ESV)

Thus, knowing their works,
he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.(italics added)

George Street Sermon

This is a very encouraging story for you evangelists out there. Maybe you are not seeing any fruit from your laboring in the harvest field but that doesn't mean that there isn't any. Listen to this amazing story of one faithful man who used gospel tracts to witness to people. Also remember that Jesus, our example, did not get a decision when He witnessed to the rich young ruler. The ruler ran off, money still being his god. Keep up the work guys. The harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few. Don't quit!

Immediate Obedience

I was reading through the Gospel of Mark today and a verse jumped out at me. Mark chapter 5 verses 18-20 read, 'As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.' This man was saved from so much and he showed how much he appreciated his salvation from demon possession by being immediately obedient to the Lord. Are we saved from any less? Is being saved from the flames of Hell and the weeping and gnashing of teeth any less worthy of our faithful gratitude towards Jesus? Amazingly only about 2% of people saved from a terrible eternity in Hell go and tell people what Jesus has done for them. That's an amazingly low number of people who actually care enough about the lost to share the gospel with them. What's more amazing is the the 98% of "believers" who refuse to obey the 2000+ year old standing order of the Lord to go out and make disciples (Mark 16:15). It reminds me of the Songs of the Lukewarm Church listed on wayofthemaster.com and that modern gospel hit, "It's my Secret What God Can Do." Do you fear sharing because you don't know enough? Did this man in Mark 5 have time to read the Bible or take an online course before sharing? Did the woman at the well go through some extensive evangelism academy? Absolutely not! They were just so grateful to God that they just had to let people know what He had done for them. What's keeping you from doing the same? Stephen went to the grave to share the gospel in the book of Acts yet 98% of the modern day supposed Church won't even go next door to give their neighbor the Good News. I was in the lifeboat praising the Captain(Jesus) but not obeying His command to reach down and save the people drowning in the water just last year guys. It's a stagnant existence for a believer. Don't be like the pre-crucifixion Peter who followed Jesus at a distance. Be like the Peter in the book of Acts who preached the gospel and was on the front lines for the Lord. Don't be cold in this aspect of your faith. Be on fire with a passion for the unsaved. Be like our Lord and Savior who came to seek and save that which was lost. Let Him be your example. Don't wait for anything and let nothing get the way of sharing your faith with someone today. Obey Him immediately.

Revelation 3:16 (New International Version)

¹⁶So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Best explination of repentance that I've heard

Ah, repent. The big, scary, Christianese word that the world doesn't really comprehend. Here's what dictionary.com says. repent-to feel such sorrow for sin or fault as to be disposed to change one's life for the better; be penitent. That still may be too vague for some people to understand especially if no one has ever taken them through God's Law to show them why the need to repent. Now for the super-easy definition that I learned from one of the leaders at the Ambassador's Academy. She explained to a young man that someone is punching him in the arm. The puncher repeatedly says, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Sure the boy can forgive the person punching him over and over, 70x7 times even. However, what does the boy who is getting punched really want the "sorry" person to do? He wants him to stop doing what he is doing, to stop punching him. And that is what God wants us to do with our sinful lifestyles. Some think that they can say sorry and continue to live however and do whatever they want. That is simply not true. Repent is mentioned in some form or another 56 times in the New Testament often times appearing twice in the same Verse. I think God wants us to understand the need for turning from sin. Maybe you're reading this today and feel you are saved because you are resting on John 3:16. I would encourage you to have an active role in your relationship with Jesus. Show Him that you are truly sorry by not "punching" Him over and over with the same sin He saved you from. If you've stumbled upon this and are not saved by repentance and faith in Jesus and are not born again, please consider that there will be Judgment one day for every lie, theft, and lustful look. The punishment for these things is Hell. The bible says that Jesus died for those sins, then rose from the dead so that if you repent and trust in Him you will have everlasting life. I hope this is an encouragement for the lost and the lukewarm to get right with God, as well as for the soundly saved to share the need for repentance to their unsaved friends. God bless, SbP.

2 Corinthians 7:10 (New International Version)
10Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.