“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved.” (John 10:9)
When my wife, Robbie, gives her testimony, she recalls having a drug problem as a child. Then she explains, “I was ‘drug’ by my parents to church, camp meetings, revivals, crusades—you name it. If Jesus was there, then my parents were there.”
She does enjoy quite a heritage. Her mother is as godly a woman as you can find, and her dad has a true servant’s heart. Both have been faithful to their church over the years. Mom played the piano, dad was a deacon, and Robbie admits that she never really thought of herself as lost. “How could I be,” she once remarked. “With parents like that, my name just had to be written in the Book of Life”
Fortunately, Robbie finally realized that salvation isn’t something that comes your way because your parents are saved. But it took one of her friends, who loved her enough, to tell her over lunch at McDonald’s one day that she was lost. It not only stunned Robbie, but it also drew an angry response. “How could that be,” she asked. “I’ve been going to church all my life.”
Robbie’s friend, and a good dose of conviction, convinced her that she really didn’t know the Jesus that her parent’s knew. It was there in that parking lot at McDonald’s that she gave her life to the Lord. Now that’s a “Happy Meal”!
The truth is there are a lot of church goers out there who think they’re going to heaven just because their parents, or grandparents, know the Lord. They’ve been in church all their lives, know all the songs in the hymnal, and can quote Scripture with the best of them. But that doesn’t mean they’re saved. Sadly, there are more than a few in your church every Sunday, who like Robbie, need a friend to look them in the eye and ask them if they really know the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul thought he was going to Heaven, too, only to later realize that he was as hell bound as he could get. He didn’t find Jesus in the parking lot of a McDonald’s, but he did meet Him on the way to Damascus, where he was headed to kill those whom he felt were betraying God by becoming Christians. It was on the Damascus Road where Jesus looked him in the eye and said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4)
Jesus used Paul in a mighty way. In fact, He told Ananias not too very long after Paul had his salvation experience, “He is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.” (Acts 9:15)
Paul not only understood what salvation meant, he also understood what it took to get there. In his letter to the Church at Rome, he boldly declared, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
That’s a spiritual truth that will never change. Every Christian must travel the same Roman road. Simply stated, you must confess that Jesus is Lord, meaning you must realize in your own heart that Jesus died on the Cross to save you from your sins; and that on the third day, God raised Him from the dead, so that he could go and prepare a place for us.
If you’ve never followed Paul’s instructions, then you don’t know the Lord Jesus. But that can all change, right now. Look at the sin in your life and ask Jesus to save you from it. Remember, confession is good for the soul.
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