These my humble thoughts...
God's true goal is to establish a world of righteousness. A Utopian reign of Christ. Now in seeking ye first this awesome kingdom of Heaven, obviously the most important thing is being someone who can be counted on not to cause any of the problems which make this world corrupt. We need to bring our hearts into alignment with the kingdom.
I am of the mind that true salvation does not occur until you are willing to go 100% of the way for Jesus. It is also at this full level of understanding that falling away would have to be deliberate, such as to avoid persecution of death. Jesus will forgive sins, but the goal is to go from needing him on the cross, to being raised a new creature. It is indeed possible to be taught Christ and not have a genuine born again experience. In other words, once you know him, you know him.
It's not just about living a good life and making it somewhere in this world. Actually, salvation is for both the good son and the prodigal son, but the prodigal son is crushed by the weight of his many sins. What will he offer in exchange for forgiveness? He does not ask for status or heavenly rewards, but to serve. His conviction drives him that much harder. The father does not delight in punishment, but celebrates his conclusive state.
This message describes it well:
True Salvation Through Jesus Christ - John MacArthur | Refocusing our Eyes
God's true goal is to establish a world of righteousness. A Utopian reign of Christ. Now in seeking ye first this awesome kingdom of Heaven, obviously the most important thing is being someone who can be counted on not to cause any of the problems which make this world corrupt. We need to bring our hearts into alignment with the kingdom.
I am of the mind that true salvation does not occur until you are willing to go 100% of the way for Jesus. It is also at this full level of understanding that falling away would have to be deliberate, such as to avoid persecution of death. Jesus will forgive sins, but the goal is to go from needing him on the cross, to being raised a new creature. It is indeed possible to be taught Christ and not have a genuine born again experience. In other words, once you know him, you know him.
It's not just about living a good life and making it somewhere in this world. Actually, salvation is for both the good son and the prodigal son, but the prodigal son is crushed by the weight of his many sins. What will he offer in exchange for forgiveness? He does not ask for status or heavenly rewards, but to serve. His conviction drives him that much harder. The father does not delight in punishment, but celebrates his conclusive state.
This message describes it well:
True Salvation Through Jesus Christ - John MacArthur | Refocusing our Eyes
Well, the old theologians used to say that in the human heart, theres a God-shaped vacuum that only God can satisfy. The book of Proverbs says if you pursue riches, riches will never satisfy. The heart of man is never ever satisfied in those things. However, being satisfied with God, then you can enjoy all the things that God gives you, because you see them as coming from His good hand. If youre just pursuing riches, pursuing riches you know, the old Rockefeller story, You have so much, somebody said to him, how much do you want? And he said, Just a little bit more. If thats what you live for then youre never going to be satisfied, and ultimately, that is not going to satisfy your heart. God alone, Christ alone, satisfies the heart and then everything you have, even the smallest things, becomes a cause for joy and thanksgiving.
Jesus said, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself. In other words, abandon all your own ambition, all your own will, all your own direction, your own choices, and totally and fully submit your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is to say it is the end of me and I commit my life to follow Christ, whatever the cost, even if its a cross, and to obey Him. And that was not what the rich young ruler was willing to do. He is a classic illustration of someone who will not deny himself. He wanted to hold on to his own will, he wanted to hold on to his own pride, he wanted to hold on to his own money, he wanted to hold onto his own ambition, his own sovereignty, if you will, in his own life.
The competing issues are these, very simple: The gospel says: give your life to Christ and He rules. And if youre not willing to do that its because you want to keep the rule of your own life. The rich young man wanted his own life for himself. He wanted to control his own life. He had his choice sins. He had his choice religion and he wanted to hang onto control. Its that simple. Coming to Christ means you give up the control of your life and you yield it to Christ. Thats what kept him from salvation. He was unwilling to do that.
People are happy for you to believe in God. They think its great that you believe in God. People applaud the idea of believing in God. As long as that God is not the God of the Bible. Because once you affirm the God of the Bible, then you get the God of the Bible. Then you get the Law of the God of the Bible. You get the Commandments of the God of the Bible. You get the morality of the God of the Bible. You get the holiness of the God of the Bible the justice and righteousness of the God of the Bible and you get the punishment of the God of the Bible. So, you have to face your own sinfulness, you have to face the reality that you have violated the law of God. That youre headed toward judgment and eternal hell and in order to be saved from that you have to turn from your sin and embrace the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
Bottom line is men love their sin. People love their sin. The Bible says men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Now there are all kinds of gods that arent going to impinge on that, all kinds of religions, spiritual ideas, but not the God of the Bible. So, to say that you believe in the God of Scripture is then to say that you believe in the Law of the God of Scripture and the judgment of the God of Scripture as well as the salvation of the God of Scripture. Its that narrowness that offends the sinner because the sinner wants to hold on to his sin.
The rejection of Christianity is not intellectual. Its not some intellectual problem, I just cant get there intellectually. There are endless reasons, logical reasons, to believe in the God of the Scripture and the Scripture that God has written. Its moral. Its moral. They love the darkness because their deeds are evil, not because they cant process it intellectually, but because their deeds are evil and they cherish those.
We always say that people arent truly saved until they are truly aware that they are lost. See, thats why you cant just go in and say, Hey let me tell you about this wonderful message. Jesus loves you. God loves you just the way you are. He wants to bless you; bump you up a few notches on the scale of success. Help you hit home runs. Straighten out your slice in golf. Make you feel good about yourself. Give you Your best world your fulfillment your purpose. Thats not the gospel.
The gospel is: He wants to deliver you from your sins, which are going to condemn you to eternal hell. And until a person understands the reality of their lostness, and fully comes to grips with that, that they have sinned against God, violated Gods Law, that they cannot remedy that, that they are headed for hell, that they will never have any purpose in this life, any meaning in this life, and certainly in the life to come, apart from salvation through Jesus Christ. They dont reach a level of desperation, which drives them to a true salvation.