Looking Saved
Scripture: Rom. 10:8-10; Jas. 2:14-17,26; Matt. 7:19-23; 25:41-46; John 13:35
1 John 3:23-24; 1 John 4:7-8; 1 John 4:20; 1 Cor. 13:1-3
Introduction
The title of my message this morning is “Looking Saved”. Everyone sitting in this room will one die should Christ not come during our lifetime. When that time comes and we leave this earth, we will know immediately if we will spend our eternity with Christ. Until then we are left to do our best to “make it in”. I have heard older people say that they were “sending up their timbers building a home in heaven”. I have heard others say “I’m trying to make it into heaven.” For many years I did not understand what they were talking about for it seemed simple to me – accept Christ, get baptized and you go to heaven. I have found that it is not as simple as that. Yes I believe that we must all repent of our sins and accept Christ in order to be saved. But is that all we have to do?
This morning I want to address this from a “left field” point of view. How does one “look saved”? When we go to funerals, we evaluate the deceased as to whether or not he or she was a good person. We may never tell the family members what we “really” thought of the person because you are there to offer your condolences. In all of the funerals that I have attended, I have never heard anyone stand and say, “He sure did look saved.” Although it is never said, it is often thought about both of the living and the dead. So let’s talk about what it means to “look saved”.
People look saved when they:
• Give Tithes: If a person tithes to the Church, they look saved. It does not matter how they live, as long as they are tithing to the Church. Now if they tithe and give an addition offering (i.e. to the building fund), then they will have a very special place in God’s Kingdom. Do not misunderstand what I am saying, supporting the Church with your finances is very important, but that alone does not mean you are “saved”. You may look saved and that could be all you are.
• Church Attendance: If you attend Church every Sunday and Wednesday, all of the meetings, choir practices, outreach programs and everything else the Church has going on then you truly “look saved”. So what if you hate your spouse, hate your kids; hate your neighbor and everyone else you come into contact with. All of that does not matter because you are at Church every times the door are open so you must be saved. All of you know how I feel about regular Church attendance, especially during football season, but I must confess to you that coming to Church every Sunday does not save you although you “look saved.”
• Dress Code: If you do not get anything else right, at least when you come to Church you can wear a nice suit, button down shirt, tie, dress or long skirt and a hat for the ladies. If you wear this on Sundays, in a lot of traditional services, you look saved. Although we tell people to come as you are, God does not care; do we really mean it? In some or our Churches if a person does not look right, smell right or have “Church clothes” they cannot be saved because they do not “look saved.” Christians folk dress nice, are clean and they look prosperous.
Let me give you a visual picture for reference. Let’s say you are going to a friend’s house because they invited you over. When you pull up, you notice the manicured lawn; the nice paint job on the house and how it “looks” well kept. When you enter the inside, it “looks” very clean and neat – everything in its place. Now what you do not see are the cracks in the wall; the mess upstairs where you do not go; all of the stuff swept under the rug or under the couch, etc. You also do not see all of the fights that go on in the house. When you leave the house you have this image of a perfect house because that is what you saw with your eyes. The house “looked” good. It “looked” clean. When we look at one another, we only see the outer side, not the inside. That is why we can look saved and still die and go to hell. Unlike us, God looks on the inside; He can see what no one else can and that is the measurement of who we are.
There are four kinds of people in this world from a Christian point of view. Now this is my opinion only and I have no studies or research to back it up. However, since it is my opinion only, you have the right to disagree with me. Here are the four kinds of people:
• Saved and know it. A person who has given their life to Christ and they live their lives as unto Him. Christ becomes the center of their life.
• Going to Hell and Know it. This person knows that they are not saved and will end up in hell (if hell exists in their opinion). We have seen movie characters refer to going to hell because of the things they have or have not done.
• Saved, but others think you’re going to hell. This person is saved although others think the person is not. This person does not look saved.
• Looks saved, but going to hell. This individual “looks” saved but in the end they will end up in hell.
This morning I want to deal quickly with the last two types of people.
I. Saved, But Others Think You’re Going To Hell
Remember what I said earlier about how we measure a Christian and how we can tell if someone is saved? They must give money to support the Church; they must come to Church regularly and they must dress the right way. If a person does none of these things, then many would assume that they are not saved. Consider the following Scripture:
Romans 10:8-10 “But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that is, the word of faith which we are preaching. That is you confess with you mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
The first thing we notice from this Scripture is that the first step is to believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead. You must accept this in your heart first. This is a very personal choice that can only be made by an individual. All of the other things that we attach to being a Christians start here. Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Do you believe that He died for your sins and was raised from the dead by God the Father? Do you accept His forgiveness and choose to live for Him? This is where it starts and can only be answered by the individual. Because someone does not accept everything that some Christians believe does not mean that they are destined or hell. Also, just because someone does not attend Church, tithe or dress well does not mean they are destined for hell.
My grandfather on my father’s side seldom went to Church. As far as I knew, he had never given his life to Christ. One day I had the opportunity to talk with him. I talked with him about Church and why he did not go. From that conversation I learned how we as Christians are helping to send people to hell because of our attitudes. I talked with my grandfather extensively about Christ. In his bedroom, with tears in his eyes, he accepted Christ. He did not accept the “Church”, he accepted Christ. For the next few weeks his wife, who was a Christian and church going woman, was very concerned about him because he had not gone to Church. My instruction to her was to leave it alone, let god do His work. But in her mind he was not saved because he had not gone to church. It is very important that you understand that “going to church” does not save you – it your heart change. When you believe in your heart, you accept Christ in your heart, then you confess Him with your mouth. It starts in your heart.
II. Looks Saved But Going To Hell
This individual look saved but in reality they are going to hell. This may sound harsh to you, but follow along with me. Again, this is not a determination that I can make, but one that only the individual knows. We must accept the person for what they show us and leave the judgement to God.
The person who looks saved does the right things on the outside, but their inside is not right. Consider the following Scripture:
James 2:14-17, 26 “What use is it my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save Him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled”, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”
So does this mean that we have to work our way into heaven? What does it mean by “works”? Let look at two other scriptures that will make this scripture clearer.
Matthew 7:19-23 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”
Matthew 25:41-46 “Then He will also say to those on his left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in, naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also answered, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison and did not take care of You? Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”
Although these two scriptures seem to contradict one another they do not. James said that our faith is dead without works that become evident of what we believe. He based this belief on the teachings of Jesus. What did Jesus say? In the above two references, Jesus addressed those who did works and those who did no works at all. One group “looked saved” while the other group did not. Both groups were destined for hell. Was Jesus contradicting Himself when he spoke of those doing works ending up in hell as well as those that did no work at all? No, it is not a contradiction. In the first Scripture, Jesus is addresses those who are doing works that are not evident of what they believe. Although they did all of these things in Jesus name, they never accepted Him in their hearts and kept doing the iniquity that they were doing. In the second Scripture condemned those who “non-actions” were evident of what was in their hearts. What did these two have in common although on the surface they seemed opposites? Neither accepted Christ. Although one group “looked saved”, their actions were not motivated by a love for Christ.
There are few additional Scriptures I want to conclude with that will help you understand what both Jesus and James was referring to.
John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
1 John 3:23-24 “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”
1 John 4:7-8 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from god; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love, does not know God, for God is love.”
1 John 4:20-21 “If someone says, ‘I love God’, and hates his brother, he is a liar, for the one who does not love his brother who he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
In everything that we have discussed in this message the one ingredient that must be present in the lives of those who are truly saved is love. In the examples that we read in Matthew, the missing quality from both groups was love. Those who did works in Jesus name was not motivated by love. Although they did the works, they did not love Christ, or the ones they were serving. Their works were motivated by something else other than the true motivator – love. When Jesus address those who did no works, it becomes clear that they did no works because they only cared for themselves. They never reached out to others – regardless of the state of the other person. Again, Jesus spoke to their heart. In their minds had they seen Jesus they would have done anything for Him, but Jesus said by not doing it for their fellow man, it was the same as if they had not done it for Him.
I have one final Scripture and one final question.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.”
Are you truly saved or do you just “look saved”?
