There is a great burden on my heart today for a particular group of people. I meet them all the time….they are everywhere. They come from widely varied walks of life, from the affluent to the homeless. They may be young or old, from this country or another. But they have this in common — they believe they are saved, but they are not. “You shouldn’t judge people”, you may say. I appeal to the Scriptures which tell us that we can be known by our fruit. A saved life produces God-glorifying fruit. A saved life hates sin. Many people look back to the day that they said those “magic words” we call the sinner’s prayer as their hope for eternal life. However there has been no lasting change in their lives. They still love their sin. Yet because they said the “magic words”, they believe that God is satisfied and they’ll meet up with Him in heaven someday….but they have no love for Him here; no desire for Him; no yearning for holiness or hunger for His presence. Salvation is not merely heaven. Salvation is God Himself. The reality of HIM as the all-encompassing priority, focus and joy of our life.

So many have been deceived. While joyfully indulging in whatever makes them happy at the moment no matter what God has said about it, they demonstrate who actually is their Lord —- themselves. I’m not just talking about the drunkards, the addicts, and the prostitutes, but the good, moral, law-abiding citizens who fill up their lives with everything but God. Maybe He gets a Sunday service every now and then. Maybe a daily prayer or devotional. But HE IS GOD and He deserves every moment of every day, not just the crumbs that are left over after we’ve had our fill.

If you think you’re good enough for heaven, you are wrong. No one is good enough. If you think your religious activities will earn you heaven, you are wrong. We will never be saved by works. But what we can never do and never earn, God offers freely through the giving up of His Son to death on the cross for our sin. He paid the penalty that we deserved to pay that we might have His righteousness, which we could never deserve. There is no other way of salvation apart from Jesus Christ. NONE.

If people only knew Jesus…..really knew Him, they would gladly forsake all sin and everything else of this world to walk with Him. On that day when they step into eternity, so many are going to be surprised to hear those fearful words, “Depart from me you worker of iniquity, I never knew you.” There will be no remedy. There will be no hope.

My heart aches for you. And the heart of God pleads for you to consider your ways, turn from your sin and be saved.