East End

3-30-08

Text: James 1:22

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” In modern day Christianity we have raised a lot of hearers but very few doers. Christianity has become an a la carte religion. We pick and choose which parts of the Bible that we like and we discard the rest of it. This is also why so many people in the world say that Christians are the biggest hypocrites. It is true that there are some parts of the Bible that are hard to follow such as loving your enemies or blessing those who curse you. But Christianity is not like a buffet line, you can’t say I want a little grace, a whole lot of mercy, some salvation, but I don’t want any sin, judgment, or lake of fire. It doesn’t work this way and we as the body of Christ must wake up and understand this. We are loving people straight to the lake of fire because we are afraid of offending them with the truth. The Bible says, “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.’” No where in that text does Jesus say that you will always like the truth, but He said it will set you free. Free from what? It will set you free from trying to put up a façade for people, it will set you free from wondering are you good enough to go to heaven, it will set you free from God’s wrath and ultimate punishment. Only the power of God through the Word of God can show us just how miserable and putrid we are humans are. But it is that same power that convicts us of our sin and draws us to God so that we may obtain salvation. The message has not changed since the beginning of time, hell is hot and Jesus saves! Christianity is an all or nothing religion. Or as the late Dr. Adrian Rogers said, “He is either Lord of all or He is not Lord at all.” There is one God, one Lord, one salvation, one baptism, and one word of God which is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth! Read it, learn it, love it, and do it, this is the true path to righteousness and blessing. May we cling to the whole truth contained in the Word of God and seek advice only from the author of life, God Almighty! Have a blessed week.