Wherefore come out from among them,
and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
and touch not the unclean thing;
and I will receive you, 2 Corinthians 6:17
There were 5 wise virgins and 5 foolish virgins Matthew 25:1-13
We are not talking about saved vs unsaved
I know this thought does not work
for those who believe in eternal salvation
The truth is, Jesus spent much time telling us
how we can lose our salvation
Here are a few:
Not doing the will of the Father Matthew 7:21
Forgive or you won’t be forgiven Mark 11:26
Not confessing Jesus before men Luke 12:9
Being ashamed of Christ AND His words Luke 9:26
Deliberate, willful sinning Hebrews 10:26
Taking the Mark of the Beast Revelation 19:20
Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit Matthew 12:31
Crucifying the Son of God afresh Hebrews 6:6
Christians can be in an Ivory Tower
of their beliefs, doctrines, denominational tenets,
then you are not truly communing with the Lord,
but instead, having the seemingly perfect Christian life
built on man’s doctrine or
built on what you think it means to be a good Christian
That will get you nowhere
It might get us somewhere in the world,
but God is not fooled by our efforts toward Salvation,
nor is He pleased
Counting our merits,
going to church,
going to bible study,
helping the poor,
tithing,
giving,
praying,
helping others,
all of these have merit if done unto the Lord,
however, we can hang our hat on none of them
The only way to get into the Kingdom of God
is if Jesus opens that door for us
Salvation is by Jesus’ grace and mercy
Of course He sees our intentions and our efforts,
our kindnesses, compassion, goodness, love, etc.
That does not give us Eternal Life
Jesus’ work on the cross
and the fact that God raised Him from the dead
and our belief and acknowledgment of that work
done by our Lord and Savior
as well as His grace and mercy is what we are dependent on
If we spend our time on other things
and believe we have ourselves ready, we’re missing it
Our readiness depends on His work in our lives
Being ready is a moment by moment preparation,
keeping your eye on the ball all the time
Praying without ceasing,
listening to and remembering the Lord in everything we do,
keeping our flame hot for the Lord,
our lights bright,
our hearts and minds prepared
The second we lay down that mantle,
is the second we become not ready
It is not like building a house
where you can complete it
and rest on your laurels/doctrines/knowledge/successes
There are no resting on our laurels with God
It is a continual process, daily
We never fully arrive
Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast,
that no man take thy crown. Revelation 3:11
You think you have read the Bible through
and know as much as you should by this time in your life?
You are deceived
Do you want to know a good example
of what you should do and not do?
It is all laid out in this parable:
And he spake this parable unto certain
which trusted in themselves that they were righteous,
and despised others:
Two men went up into the temple to pray;
the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,
God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican, standing afar off,
would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote upon his breast, saying,
God be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other:
for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased;
and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Luke 18:9-14
In other words, don’t think you’ve got the cat in the bag
it doesn’t work like that
Our God is an all-consuming fire
He is a jealous God and we do not rest
or stop carrying our cross for anything
Keep going toward that upward call
Don’t get complacent
See Ezekiel 33: 10-20
If the wicked turn from their wickedness,
they will not be remembered or if the righteous stop doing righteousness,
none of their righteousness will be remembered:
When the righteous turneth from his righteousness,
and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby.
But if the wicked turn from his wickedness,
and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby. Ezekiel 33:18-19
Oh, wait, you might say, that is Old Testament, so it is
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Hebrews 13:8