I talked waith a young man named john he says he is going to heaven because he is a good person so I took the time to unpack what scripture says about God and true salvation. John is not unusual person a large percentage of people who would call themselves Christian think they are going to enter heaven on their own goodness.
This is what Jesus says about our goodness," Isaiah 64:6 For all of us has become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment: And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, " sin" like the wind, take us away." John has been deceived into believing by our culture and our pagan Christianity in America that he is not going to face judgement for his sin this is not Biblical truth.
Quote from paper on regenerate church membership," Let’s look at how Jesus handled evangelism from the beginning of His earthly ministry. Jesus makes a very clear statement on evangelism, Matthew 5: 17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The word repent is a word that has vanished from a majority of Southern Baptist pulpits as well as a lot of others. This word does not mean to pray a sinner’s prayer and join a church in order to go to heaven. This word means grievances over the sin that is polluting your life. Your sin has offended the Holy God that has made you and God has showed you this sin and wants you to turn away because you now hate it. You see for the first time that if you where to die right now that God would be just in punishing a sinner like you in Hell because He is not only merciful but He is also just in every way. And for the first time you see you are helpless to the sin that engulfs your life and you want to cry out to Jesus and place your trust in him alone for salvation. This is the repentance that Jesus is speaking of.
This is the Gospel that must be preached again with a passion and zeal. This blessed truth must sound again from the pulpits like the church bell chiming from its tower on Sunday mornings. We must blow our voices like trumpets once again from the pulpits of our forefathers with a boldness of a lion and the gentleness of a lamb.
What about John the Baptist? His words are almost identical to the words of Jesus in Matthew 4:17. John says in Matthew 3:2 “Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand” this is the very same phrase that Jesus started with in his preaching ministry. But in verse eight of that chapter John adds something that has been forgotten that has lead to our need for regenerate church membership again. John states in Matthew 3: 8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” In other words our life must be consistent with our confession to follow Christ. We will live a different way than we used to live. Not only has repentance been lost but the fruit that comes from that repentance has been lost. But the first response that comes up when a person brings this subject up is “you are being judgmental”. If we can’t be judgmental about the fruit we see or don’t see in someone’s life than the lost church member will continue on the path that they are on. People use this statement in trying to escape their conscience and their accountability to God, for this is as useless as trying to run from the sun it’s always there and eventually you will have to face it."
Tommy
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