If those who preach: ‘Everyone is going to heaven,’ turn out to be right (which they most certainly are not), you will not hear a complaint from me. There will not be a happier person in heaven than yours truly. I have seen the blackness of my soul and I have seen the mercy of my God; how could I not have faith that Jesus saves?
Some of my brethren spend too much time judging others and too little time counting their blessings. I believe that we would all be amazed at the affect we would have upon strangers if they should come upon us continually filling the air with praise for all the blessings we have—especially heaven! We must work hard to eradicate any existence of a judgemental spirit. Far be it from us that the loving gospel be obscured by self-righteous overtones. However, especially given the nature of today, we must stop assuring people that they are saved, when clearly they are not!The meaning and manner of our words do matter. It is the Gospel that we are preaching—the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.It is the message of hope over sin. It first convicts a man of his eternally condemned state, then it offers him eternal deliverance. Rejection sustains the status quo—condemnation unto hell, acceptance seeks a new state—salvation unto heaven.
Having heard the apostle Peter preach that Jesus is Saviour, and having heard Peter accuse them of killing their only hope of salvation, the crowd, convicted of their sin, asked Peter: “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:37-38).“So then, those who had received his word were baptised; and that day there were added about three thousand souls (Acts 2:41).That is how you are added to the number of the saved. Now praise God from whom all blessings come…!
John Staiger
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