Have You Received The New Birth?

1st Peter 1:18-19 and 23, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: ...Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”

I ask you now friend... ARE YOU SAVED? Have you been born-again by the Holy Spirit of God? Salvation is so simple that most people pass right over it in favor of a Satanic substitute. Human nature tells us that good people go to Heaven and bad people go to Hell. This type of wrong reasoning appeals to the human sin-nature. Man in his wicked pride tends to believe that he must be worthy of eternal life, that he must attain to higher standards of living to qualify for salvation. The hardest part about winning people to the Lord is first convincing them that THEY ARE LOST!

And so, Satan knows that if he can sell you on a substitute for God's plans of salvation, then you will have a false sense of security and go to Hell. This is why we read:

Luke 13:23-27, “Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.”

Have you been born-again? It's very simple to be saved. If you acknowledge that you are a guilty sinner in God's holy eyes for breaking His commandments, and you BELIEVE that Jesus Christ died on the cross for YOUR SINS, and was buried, and bodily resurrected from the dead three days later, then you are saved!!! John 11:25-26, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith. God will not save anyone who is trying to be saved, He will only save those who are trusting to be saved.

Please DON'T ADD anything to believing the Gospel, or you will not go to Heaven. I've been hearing lots of theological garbage on religious radio about repenting from your sins to be saved, and then continuing repenting for the rest of your life or you're not really saved. This is a false plan of salvation rooted in human effort plus partial faith in Christ, which DOES NOT produce the new birth in Christ Jesus. The phrases “turn from sin” and “repent from sin” are not even found in the Bible. Biblically, repentance is the realization and admission that I am a dirty sinner in God's holy eyes. Without repentance, no man would ever come to Christ to be saved (John 3:20). Repentance is not optional for salvation, it is a change of mind that must happen, otherwise we would never come to Christ at all. 

Galatians 3:24-26, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” 

Please beware of the counterfeit plan of salvation being promoted in apostate Neo-evangelical churches today! Any plan of salvation which places even the slightest responsibility, obligation or effort into man's hands is of the Devil. Either God does all of the saving, or you're not saved! Our text verses speak so clearly from Romans 10:3-4, “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” The proper mindset of a genuinely born-again Christian is that we are saved solely by GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS!!! Our part is simply to BELIEVE the Gospel and no more. How we live afterwards has no bearing on our eternal life, because eternal life is a free gift from God. God will chastise and scourge disobedient children (Hebrews 12:6-8), but they are still His children!

It is like getting on an airplane. Let's say I buy you a ticket to travel from Chicago to Los Angeles. It is my gift to you as your friend. You owe me nothing. All you have to do is accept the free ticket and get on the plane. That is the same with God's free gift of forgiveness of sins and eternal life, you simply receive it. How you behave on the airplane has nothing to do with arriving at your destination. You may insult the other passengers, give the stewardess a hard time, throw your meal on the floor, cause trouble and even land in handcuffs, but you will still arrive in Los Angeles. Likewise, you may choose to live in shameful sin as a child of God (1st Corinthians 3:11-15). You will not enjoy Heaven as much as others who faithfully served the Lord, but you will safely arrive at your destination in Heaven. Jesus paid for your free ticket! Simply receive it and you are good to go!!!

Please make sure you're saved! Ask yourself the question: “Why do I think I'm going to Heaven when I die?” The answer should be–It is because I realized one day from the Scripture, that I was a guilty and needy sinner in the sight of a holy God (Romans 3:19-20), and I received Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for my sins (John 3:16), believing that He died, was buried, and bodily resurrected three days later from the dead (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). That is my only hope! 

The Word of God defines “the Gospel”:

1st Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” 

That is the Gospel—Christ DIED on the cross for our sins, He was BURIED, and He RAISED UP the third day according to the Scriptures. All the theological garbage that we're hearing on religious radio today; such as, “trust Jesus” or “Invite Jesus into your heart” or “Commit your life to live for Christ,” are NOT the Gospel. I fear, as did the apostle Paul in 2nd Corinthians 11:3-4, that many churchgoers have adopted one of these similar pseudo false plans of salvation. Thus, they have religion without truth, and churchianity without Christianity. Jesus said in John 3:3, “YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN”!!!

Repetition is the key to learning. That is why I keep repeating The Gospel. The “Gospel” truth is that Christ DIED for our sins on the cross, and was BURIED, and bodily RESURRECTED 72 hours later for our justification. If that is your only hope for Heaven you are saved! You don't get saved by praying a sinner's prayer, you get saved by believing! It is certainly appropriate to pray a sinner's prayer to accompany one's believing heart, but it is not required. You need to know that, because praying never saved anybody! WE ARE SAVED BY FAITH IN THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!!!

Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born again! The Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) religion is a perfect example of what I am talking about. I have read much of their religious literature, which is interesting, but totally devoid of the saving Gospel of free grace. SDA's errantly teach that you must obey ALL God's Commandments to get to Heaven. Are you going about to establish your own self-righteousness? Or have you, as the Holy Bible commands in Romans 10:3-4 and Philippians 3:9, submitted yourself unto God's imputed righteousness, which is solely by faith in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Many Independent Baptists Have Been Deceived By The Devil

Is your church a religious cult? Sadly, most Christians would never consider a once fundamental Bible college like Bob Jones University (BJU), as being in the same boat as Seventh-Day Adventists, but they sure are! Dr. Steve Pettit (BJU president since 2014) teaches the same errant view of Lordship Salvation as SDA kingpin Ellen G. White. It is tragic that BJU is considered headquarters for thousands of Baptist churches all across the world, including the Harvest Baptist Church on Guam, where I attended for a year in 2014, but was wrongly forced me out for sharing the truth that Lordship Salvation is another gospel. Harvest's pastors and congregation are all guilty of bidding Godspeed to dangerous false prophets (2nd John 1:11); namely, Dr. Steve Pettit and Pastor John MacArthur, to name but a couple devil's in the pulpit today. 

I read a helpful article today, about why when presented with FACTS, people instead look for ways to prove their deceptions and errors. I presented facts to Harvest Baptist Church on Guam, but they are loyal to Bob Jones University no matter what. 

Psalms 118:6, “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?”

Psalms 56:9, “...this I know; for God is for me.”

Please read the excellent book: 'I NEVER KNEW YOU: THE COMING GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT AND HOW YOU CAN AVOID IT!' (an excellent .pdf book defending of the Gospel, by Michael P. Bowen; This book will help clarify the simplicity that is in Christ & expose fifteen popular false prophets today, like Ray Comfort, Rick Warren, Beth Moore and Billy Graham).

“'Pray to be saved. Ask the Lord to save you.' This is what I heard a minister say to a convicted sinner who came forward for prayer at the close of an evangelistic service. Nowhere in the Bible are men told to pray to be saved. There are examples where men did pray and were saved. Men are told to repent, to believe, to obey the Gospel, but the Bible never says to pray for salvation. It does say that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, but nowhere does the Bible command men to pray to be saved. I think I know why, God, who made the human heart, knew that it was not necessary to tell convicted sinners to pray. If a sinner can see Jesus Christ on the cross, it is as natural for him to pray as it is for birds to sing or flowers to bloom. 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.'” —Dr. Bob Jones Sr., “Comments On Here And Hereafter,” chapter: Prayer And Praise, page 163; Bob Jones University Press, Inc., © 1942