Saving faith is the desperate
thrust of a helpless soul upon the arms of an almighty saint. Are you doing what Jesus, who
speaks the words of the Father, are you doing what he says? Seek
first the Kingdom of God? Are you taking every step necessary
to stop feeding your lap in God's name? Why? Why? Why? Why? Will you sit through another
service? Stand by a signpost that points
you away from hell and the wrath of God and to heaven and life
and forgiveness and hug death to your breast. Oh, the madnesses. You are a vile, filthy, helpless,
Hell deserving wretched son or daughter of Adam. You know nothing
of true repentance and therefore of true and saving. Or you just
occasionally have a little whimper in the closet when your conscience
gets so active you can't fit in it. And you whimper and cry
and ask God for a little help and then you go right back with
your hand and your eyeball firmly attached. Oh yes, once in a while
you take a dull paring knife and scratch your hand. And occasionally
you scratch around your eyeball but you haven't begun. Off and
cry! You better listen to the words
of Jesus. Not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, shall enter. If he
that does the will of my Father in heaven, if he by the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the flesh, he shall live. If you live after
the flesh, you'll die. The cross does not give us a
minor shift or two with regard to a few of our ethical and moral
and religious values. The cross radically disrupts
the very center and citadel of your life from self to Christ.
And if the cross has not done that, you're not a Christian! My friend, faithless, young or
old, you're not a Christian! until the cross has radically
disrupted the very center and citadel of your life and brought
you from a life of commitment to serve self, whether it's religious
self, moral self, proud self, covetous self, lustful self,
prideful self, unforgiving self, lazy self. It doesn't matter
what are the focal points of the reign of your self. If you've
gone to the cross in union with Christ, it's been shattered. I want you in that day, when
you stand with me before the judge of the world, to have him
say, come, you're blessed. Come, you're blessed. I don't
want to look at you standing there saying, Lord, Lord, Lord,
Lord! I named you in earth! I named
you before the elders! I named you before the church!
I named you in prayer meeting! I named you in witness! And Lord,
now, Lord, Lord! Did I not this? Did I not that? I don't want to hear him say,
Depart from me. I never knew you. You work for
a man. You never were made a doer of
the will of God. You learned enough and you learned
what to say properly enough to be accepted for what you professed
yourself to be on earth. But now the day of judgment has
come. And the truth is now to be known.