"Get Right or Get Left"

Politics isn't the only arena in life becoming polarized. A line also exists between "true" Christians and false ones.

We learn from the Parable of the Wheat and Tares in Matthew 13: 24-30 that Satan works to deceive the church by mingling his children (tares) with God's genuine believers (wheat).

Tares closely resemble wheat, but are poisonous to human beings. They are indistinguishable from wheat until the final fruit appears. Farmers would weed out the tares just before the wheat harvest. Until Christ returns, both genuine believers and false converts will be allowed to remain together--but God Himself will separate the two. Those who aren't right, will be left.

According to the Nelson Study Bible: True Christians are born again. The Greek word translated again can mean either "from above" or "anew". The new birth, or regeneration (see Titus 3:5) is the act by which God imparts spiritual life to one who trusts Christ. Without this spiritual birth, a person cannot perceive spiritual things (see 1 Corinthians 2:10, 13-16), nor can they enter the Kingdom of God.

In other words, the "natural" person or those without the Holy Spirit are barred from Heaven at death.

To remedy this deplorable situation, God sent His Son to die for our sins, in our place. God then raised Jesus from the dead. Belief in Jesus' resurrection and our own is central to the gospel. God will grant eternal life to all who believe Him.

Jesus said, "Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven. So don't be surprised at My statement that you must be born again. Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit" (John 3:6).

Genuine faith always produces change. Got Questions.org explains it this way:

When a person receives Christ, tremendous spiritual changes take place, and true converts will eventually produce spiritual fruit--the evidence of a changed life. And, ultimately, spiritual fruit is the test of true salvation.

False converts may be able to deceive themselves (and us) into believing they belong to Christ, but they certainly cannot deceive God.

A wise man once said: "Truly converted sinners have trusted Christ alone, display a love for God, His word, and His people. They turn from their sin, work to spread the Good News of the Gospel and wait eagerly for the return of their Saviour." -- Got Questions.org

"God's promise of entering His place of rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to get there. For this Good News--that God has prepared a place of rest--has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn't believe what God told them. For only we who believe can enter His place of rest" (Hebrews 4:1-3).

How To Go To Heaven

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