DON'T USE
YOUR HEAD!!

"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."
  Matthew 7:22-23

What a tragic event is described here in
Matthew Chapter seven.   Jesus is providing
a glimpse into the future with a warning to
us all.   The persons described here are not
atheist nor even agnostic, but rather they
actually believed they were saved.   Yet, the
Lord Himself reveals their lost state when
He says, "I never knew you".   How could
they have missed it?   After all, salvation
simply requires repentance and faith.   We
can't earn our way to Heaven and that is
why Christ came down to earth to die in our
place.   Our sins have been paid for.   We
can be saved and know for sure that we are
going to Heaven if we admit our guilty lost
state, repent and believe the fact that Christ
has paid it all.

The Bible spells it out when it says, "That if
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus...."
  Confessing that Jesus is Lord over

our lives reveals an attitude of repentance resulting in a change of our minds from doing our own will to
doing God's will.   "...and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved."
  Romans 10:9   Believing that Christ has died and resurrected acknowledges that we are trusting
in His payment
for our sins and not in our own works or good deeds.

So with salvation so simply laid out by God, why do many people miss it?   One possibility is HEAD
KNOWLEDGE
.   Head knowledge is a term that describes someone who believes in their head, while
Romans 10:9 says "believe in thine heart".   Many have the head knowledge and believe in their heads but
not in their hearts.   But what's the difference?   Rather than go into a definition of head knowledge, we will
look at various examples and contrast the difference between head knowledge and believing in thine heart.

Head knowledge is when your friend reminds you that you will die one day.   You believe it, but you don't
go out and make immediate plans because you feel there is no great urgency.   Believing in thine heart
is when your doctor says you only have two days to live.   You go out and make all the necessary
arrangements since now it has become real to you and desperation sets in.

Head knowledge is when you are flying in a plane and you believe that there is a possibility that it will
crash but you go on enjoying the flight nevertheless.   Believing in thine heart is when halfway through
your trip the pilot comes to where you are sitting and tells you that there are only two minutes worth of
fuel left in the plane.   You no longer can enjoy yourself because of the eminent danger that has now
become real.

From the previous examples we see that head knowledge normally involves believing that something can
happen, whereas heart knowledge involves knowing that something will happen.   For example, when
making a profession of faith:
* With the head a person believes they could go to Hell but with the heart a person knows they are
   going to Hell.
* With the head a person believes they can be condemned but with the heart a person knows they
   are condemned already.
* With the head a person believes they can be lost but with the heart a person knows that they are
   already lost.
* With the head a person believes they can offend God but with the heart a person knows they
   are God's enemy.

Sometimes head knowledge can bring a person close but still not quite there:
* With the head a person believes they have sinned but with the heart a person knows he is a sinner.
* With the head a person believes they have disobeyed God but with the heart a person knows that
   they have to repent.
* With the head a person believes God is displeased with him but with the heart a person knows they
   deserve God's wrath.

Sometimes head knowledge misses the whole point entirely:
* With the head a person will ask God to solve his problems but with the heart a person will seek
   God's forgiveness of his sins.
* With the head a person will ask God for help but with the heart a person will ask God for mercy.

THEREFORE:

Head knowledge is when you find out from God's Word that your rebellious sinful state against a sovereign
holy God has condemned you to eternal separation from God in a devil's Hell, but you make a profession of
faith at your own convenience!!   Believing in thine heart is when you know that what God says is the truth
and realize you are a heartbeat away from dropping into Hell.   You stop at nothing to get right with God.
Desperation sets in.

AFTER ALL:

If God's Word is to be taken as truth and if what He says is to be treated as reality, then how can anyone be
calm and collected when they read that because of our sins:
*   We are lost.   Matthew 18:11
*   We are Hell bound.   II Peter 2:4- 6; Revelations 20:15
*   We are condemned already.   John 3:18
*   We are God's enemy.   Romans 5:8- 10
*   We are to receive God's wrath.   John 3:36
*   We are sinners.   Romans 3:10-23
*   We can't save ourselves.   Ephesians 2:8,9

The natural reaction should be one of dropping to our knees and begging for mercy and forgiveness from a
holy, just and sovereign God.   Yet, many who profess to be saved never had that experience.   A person who
believes in his heart that they are condemned and hellbound already should logically react like a person who
finds himself in a burning building.   That person will desperately want to be saved.

The following examples will further indicate what head knowledge is.

A woman one day told me she needed to get saved.   Upon asking her "saved from what?", she answered
"from a problem filled life".   She did not realize the imminent danger that she was in.   She was more
concerned with the state of her present life than with the fact that she was hellbound.   A profession under
that condition would have just been head knowledge.

A man one day told me that he believed he was going to Hell and that he needed to be saved.   Yet, he was
willing to wait another week before he got it settled.   There was no urgency, i.e., head knowledge.

Another person acknowledging his belief in being condemned kept looking at his watch.   Apparently
keeping an appointment was more important than getting saved.   There was no desperation, i.e., head
knowledge
.

Yet another person believing that they were rebelling against God and worthy of His wrath, might keep
asking what they would have to give up, hoping that it would not be something they truly enjoyed doing.
There is no repentance and once again head knowledge.

The examples go on and on and in each case the person simply says he believes, but does not act accordingly.
The bottom line is that one either knows it is real or he doesn't.   So, anyone who has made a profession of
faith should examine himself.   Was it only head knowledge???   If reading this has created any doubts in
your mind, please read through the plan of salvation immediately following.   Should they still persist, please
feel free to contact the address on the back [bottom] of this tract.

GOD'S PLAN OF SALVATION

FIRST THE BAD NEWS:

1.   We must realize that we are lost, sinners that are spiritually dead.
* "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."   Luke 19:10
* "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" Romans 3:23.
* "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."   John 3:3
* "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."   John 3:6

2.   As spiritually dead, lost sinners, God's judgment and wrath are upon us.
* "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:" Hebrews 9:27.
* "For which things' sake [sin] the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience [sinners]:"
Colossians 3:6.

3.   Our good works can't stop this judgment and wrath.   God demands death as payment for sin.
* "Not of works..." Ephesians 2:8,9.
* "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:" Romans 3:10.
* "the soul that sinneth, it shall die."   Ezekiel 18:4
* "For the wages of sin is death;" Romans 6:23.

NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS!!

4.   God is willing to accept someone else's death in our place.   That someone is Jesus Christ.
* "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself
a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."
  I Timothy 2:5-6
* "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."   Romans
5:8

5.   Jesus has bought salvation for us and now God can offer it as a gift by grace.
* "Ye are bought with a price;" I Corinthians 7:23.
* "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."
  Ephesians 2:8,9

How does someone accept this gift?   Through repentance and faith.

REPENTANCE: means to change your mind and adapt an attitude of not rebelling against God.
FAITH: means to simply take God at His Word, i.e., believe the verses you have just read.
* "Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord
Jesus Christ."
  Acts 20:21
* "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."   Romans 10:13

6.   Upon being saved and born again spiritually, we become converted to a new creature in Christ.
* "And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter
into the kingdom of heaven."
  Matthew 18:3
* "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things
are become new."
  II Corinthians 5:17

CALVARY BAPTIST
CHURCH

2030 West Main Street
Valley City, North Dakota 58072

Speaking the truth in love
Ephesians 4:15

701.845.9220

Schedule of Services


Sunday Morning Worship . . . . . 10:30 a.m.
Sunday Evening Service . . . . . . . 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday Bible Study . . . . . . . 7:00 p.m.

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