The Deadly
Blindspot

[blindspo.jpg]

. . . Is it the leading
cause of Hell among
evangelicals?

IN THE LAST CHAPTER of 2 Corinthians, we
  find the Apostle Paul telling the church
  members at Corinth to "EXAMINE
YOURSELVES, WHETHER YE BE IN THE FAITH;
prove your own selves.   Know ye not your own
selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except
ye be reprobates?"
2 Cor. 13:5

God wants everyone to examine themselves as
to whether they are truly
saved.   After all, the Bible
says: "For this is good and
acceptable in the sight of
God our Saviour; WHO WILL
HAVE ALL MEN TO BE
SAVED, and to come unto
the knowledge of the truth."

1 Tim. 2:3-4

Jesus Christ gave a similar warning . . .
Jesus alluded to the necessity of self-
examination when He warned: "Strive to enter in
at the strait gate: FOR MANY, I SAY UNTO
YOU, WILL SEEK TO ENTER IN, AND SHALL
NOT BE ABLE.   When once the master of the
house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and
ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the
door, saying, LORD, LORD, OPEN UNTO US;
and he shall answer and say unto you, I know
you not whence ye are..."
Luke 13:24-25

Yet, in spite of God's warning about self-
examination, there seems to be an attitude of
self-denial among many evangelicals.   Most
evangelicals rarely practice self-examination.
In fact, many evangelicals get offended if
anyone even implies that they may not be truly
saved.

They seem to have a blind spot . . .
Many evangelicals have a hard time conceiving
the possibility that they may have made a "false
profession,"
and are not truly saved.   To them,

"Am I therefore become
your enemy, because
I tell you the
truth?"
Gal. 4:16

anyone preoccupied with "weeding out false
professions"
is making salvation out to be a lot
more complicated than it really is.   In their minds,
salvation is so simple, How could someone
possibly get it wrong?   Just believe in Jesus,
right?   Simply ask Him to save you, right?   Surely,
no one who refers to Jesus Christ as Lord, has
to waste time examining themselves, right?

        Not necessarily!
        Let's finish reading what
        Jesus said in Luke Chapter
        13, beginning at Verse 25:
        "When once the master of
        the house is risen up, and
        hath shut to the door, and ye
        begin to stand without, and
        to knock at the door, saying,
LORD, LORD, OPEN UNTO US; and he shall
answer and say unto you, I know you not
whence ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We
have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou
hast taught in our streets.   But he shall say, I tell
you, I KNOW YOU NOT whence ye are; depart
from me, all ye workers of iniquity."
  Luke 13:25-
27

According to the Lord Jesus Christ, the people
left outside the door will cry out to Him, "LORD,
LORD."
  These are not Atheists, nor Agnostics,
nor New Agers, nor any other non-believing
group.   These are people who claim to know
Christ, but in reality CHRIST DOESN'T KNOW
THEM!

My friend, as a evangelical, please don't sit
there assuming that false professions are
virtually impossible.   Please don't act as if those
who use the term "false profession" are
complicating salvation, and making it sound as if
they are the only ones who got it right!   Jesus
Himself warned: "Many, I say unto you, WILL
SEEK TO ENTER IN, AND SHALL NOT BE ABLE."

Jesus gives us another warning . . .
    If you still find "false professions" hard to
    imagine, take heed!   Jesus Christ, not
    willing that any should die and go to Hell
under a false profession, provides a more solemn
warning:

"NOT EVERY ONE THAT SAITH UNTO ME,
LORD, LORD, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father
which is in heaven.   Many will say to me in that
day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name? and in thy name have cast out devils?
and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I NEVER
KNEW YOU: DEPART FROM ME, YE THAT
WORK INIQUITY."
  Mat. 7:21-23

Please consider what you have just read.   Take it
to heart.   Open your eyes and burn that horrible
future scene upon them.   Remember these
sobering words from the One so many routinely
call "Lord": "Not every one that saith unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven."

Did they lose their salvation?
Many evangelicals will deny that the passage we
just read refers to false professions.   To them,
Jesus is describing a group of people who lost
their salvation.   But notice carefully what Jesus
told those poor souls: "I never knew you[.]"
   Christ doesn't say "I knew you once, but not
anymore."
  He said "I never knew you[.]"   Never
means NEVER; not ever, not at any time!

These people were never saved in the first place!
If they had been saved, they would still be saved
because once saved ALWAYS saved; you don't
hang on to Christ, HE HANGS ON TO YOU!
Jesus said: "And this is the Father's will which
hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me
I SHOULD LOSE NOTHING, but should raise it
up again at the last day."
  John 6:39
   Jesus Christ can make such a promise because
salvation does not depend on us; it depends on
HIM.   We can't earn our salvation, much less

hang on to it.   The Bible says: "For by grace are
ye saved through faith; and that NOT OF
YOURSELVES: it is the gift of God: NOT OF
WORKS, lest any man should boast."
  Eph. 2:8-9

People who believe that staying saved depends
on them are actually "working" at hanging on;
they ultimately are playing a part in their
salvation!   But true Bible salvation depends on
none other than Jesus Christ: "Neither is there
salvation in any other: for there is NONE OTHER
NAME
[not even your name!] under heaven
given among men, WHEREBY WE MUST BE
SAVED."
  Acts 4:12

Christ does ALL THE SAVING and that means all
the keeping: "And I give unto them eternal life;
and THEY SHALL NEVER PERISH, neither shall
any man pluck them OUT OF MY HAND.   My
Father, which gave them me, is greater than all;
and NO MAN IS ABLE TO PLUCK THEM OUT of
my Father's hand."
  John 10:28-29

"But what about so and so . . . ?"
Inevitably, some evangelicals will "know
someone"
who "lived the faith for ten years and
then went back to living a sinful life.   Surely,"

they'll say, "that person lost their salvation."

NO!   They were never saved in the first place!
The Bible describes such people as having never
been supernaturally converted: "They went out
from us, but they were not of us; for if they had
been of us, THEY WOULD NO DOUBT HAVE
CONTINUED WITH US: but they went out, that
they might be made manifest that they were not
all of us."
  1 John 2:19
   "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is A
NEW CREATURE: old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new."
  2 Cor. 5:17

My friend, if a truly saved person starts living
like the devil, God the Father, doesn't dis-
inherit him/her, He DISCIPLINES them, in
Fatherly love: "For whom the Lord loveth he
chasteneth
[disciplines], and scourgeth every
son whom he receiveth.   If ye endure chastening,
God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son

is he whom the father chasteneth not?   BUT IF
YE BE WITHOUT CHASTISEMENT, whereof all
are partakers, then are ye bastards, and NOT
SONS"
(Heb. 12:6-8).   No discipline, no salvation!

What makes a false profession false?
Let's consider why false professions occur in the
first place.   Go back to Matt. 7:21.   Jesus says,
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; BUT HE
THAT DOETH THE WILL OF MY FATHER which
is in heaven."

You may feel that "the will of the Father" is that
you believe upon His Son for salvation.   And
you would be HALF RIGHT!   John 3:16 says:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER
BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, but
have everlasting life."
  But lack of belief is not
the only thing that will cause you to perish in a
devil's Hell.
   Notice what else the Father wills of us: "The
Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as
some men count slackness; but is longsuffering
to us-ward, NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD
PERISH, BUT THAT ALL SHOULD COME TO
REPENTANCE."
  2 Peter 3:9

To fulfill the will of the Father, you must
REPENT as well as believe!   Jesus Christ
preached BOTH: "REPENT YE, AND BELIEVE the
gospel"
(Mark 1:15).   He went on to warn: "I tell
you, Nay: but, EXCEPT YE REPENT, YE SHALL
ALL LIKEWISE PERISH."
  Luke 13:3
   You must believe upon Christ WITH a
repentant attitude.   The Apostle Paul preached
that both were necessary for salvation.   He said
he preached, "From house to house, Testifying
both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks,
REPENTANCE toward God, AND FAITH toward
our Lord Jesus Christ."
  Acts 20:20-21

My friend, the number one reason there are so
many false professions is because few people
today truly repent when they call upon Christ to
save them.   Evangelicals, in particular, are
notorious for believing without truly repenting.

Repentance leads to self-denial . . .
Paul warned that in the last days people would
be, "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of
God; Having a form of godliness, but denying
the power."
  2 Tim. 3:4-5

Many evangelicals have "A FORM" of godliness.
They will talk about God, acknowledge God's
existence, and even speak out on behalf of God.
But when push comes to shove, they are
"LOVERS OF PLEASURES more than lovers of
God."

   They love the things of this world more than
God.   They love its music, its movies, its books,
its fashion, its video games, and so many other
worldly things that don't glorify the One who
supposedly saved them.

They might believe Christ is their Saviour, but
they won't repent and make Him their one and
only Lord because that would mean forsaking a
lot of the pleasurable entertainments of this
present world: "Then said Jesus unto his
disciples, If any man will come after me, LET
HIM DENY HIMSELF, and take up his cross, AND
FOLLOW ME."
  Mat. 16:24

Many evangelicals might be standing upon John
3:16, claiming that "whosoever believeth in him
should not perish"
but please don't forget that
God is also, "not willing that any should perish,
but that all should COME TO REPENTANCE."

Remember Jesus warned: "EXCEPT YE REPENT,
ye shall all likewise perish."

What about YOU?
When you called upon Christ and asked Him to
save you, did you surrender your self-will, asking
Him to be your Lord as well?
  Are you doing
what He says or are you busy rationalizing away
the verses you've just read because it doesn't
agree with what YOU feel is right?   Jesus said:
"My sheep HEAR MY VOICE, and I know them,
AND THEY FOLLOW ME."
  John 10:27

"Examine yourselves, whether ye be
in the faith"
2 Cor. 13:5

IF you were to die today, are you 100% SURE
you would go to Heaven?
  The Bible says
YOU CAN BE SURE (1 John 5:13).

BUT FIRST, you must realize that what keeps you
from going to Heaven are your sins, because:
"...your iniquities [sins] have separated
between you and your God,"
Isaiah 59:2.
In fact, in God's eyes YOU ARE A SINNER: "For
all have sinned, and come short
of the glory of God;"
Romans 3:23.

SECONDLY, you must realize that there is
NOTHING you can do to save yourself and earn
Heaven: "For by grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God: Not of works, lest any
man should boast."
  (Eph. 2:8-9).   Baptism, good
deeds, church membership, self-righteousness are
all examples of good works that cannot save you,
because: "Not by works of
righteousness
which we have done, but
according to his mercy he
[Christ] saved
us
,"
Titus 3:5.

THE ONLY WAY you can get saved is through
Jesus Christ.   He said: "I am the way, the
truth, and the life: no man cometh unto
the Father, but by me."
  (John 14:6).   THAT'S
WHY
: "...while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us
."
  Romans 5:8-9

THEREFORE: You must REPENT (change your
mind
); admit that you are a Hell deserving sinner
and can't save yourself.   And call upon Christ, and
Him alone, to save you.   "if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus
[REPENT], and
shalt believe in thine heart
[TRUST] that God
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved."
  Romans 10:9

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