A Crucifixion Type Love

We Have Forgotten that the Way is Narrow. (Paul Washer)

After listening to this sermon my faith shook. But it’s a good thing. It was not my faith in Christ that shook, but rather the faith I had in myself and in my own deeds and in my own intentions. I don’t care what my intentions are any more, or at least I shouldn’t. I don’t want to compromise the truth for the approval of man. I don’t want to ameliorate the relationships I have with others before making better my relationship with Christ. 

So why am I shaken? Why am I so distraught by this realization? Isn’t this a fundamental truth of the gospel that I always knew and believed? Could I have possibly been led astray by my own carnality and self-righteous outlook? I remember when my Bible study teachers, small group leaders, pastors even, would bring up the question, “Do you believe you will go to heaven? Those of you who do, raise your hands.” or better yet, “Are you saved?”. The hands of the people who have already heard the typical response from the pastor would rise.. again the hands of the people who claim themselves to be humble either rise with uncertainty or stay down with fashionable ‘humility’, not knowing which answer is the more ‘humble’ one. This shouldn’t be true for the true Christian. We must not be putting faith into our intentions. There is no magical moment when you’re the first one to raise your hand when the question is asked. There is no magical or spiritual verse you have to recite that causes you to become saved. God is a holy God and the only way we’ll ever be exempt from going to the place we deserve to go is by the blood of Christ Jesus alone. The cache is that we must believe in that Jesus. You don’t need to prove to anyone else that you are saved, because often times the things you do and the smile you wear and the compliments you trade might fool others and even yourself into thinking you’re saved, but it does not and and absolutely will not fool the Father.

Have faith in the Father, not your decision. You’re right, you don’t have to prove anything to anyone. You don’t have to prove to me that you’re living life as a Christian, I’ll already be able to see it by the fruit you bear. 

Put in Washer’s words, “(’Well I may not live like a Christian but in my heart I love Him!’) Do you know what the heart is? The heart, in Scripture, represents the very core essence of a human being. It is what a human being really is. When a man dies, he’s not there anymore. If you’re ever there when someone dies you just notice the body seems to just turn to clay; an inanimate thing. The moment that man breathes his last.. The heart is a representation of the centrality of everything you are, so this is what you’re telling me when you say “I may not look like a Christian, but in my heart I love Jesus”, what you’re saying is “Jesus Christ has changed the entire core of my being and the entire core of my being is dedicated and in love with Jesus Christ but it’s not going to effect any other part of my life.

Matthew 7:1-28