[Biblemat] S) THEY WERE BELIEVERS, BUT LOST!

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  Here is a study from my files.
Use to the glory of God.

THEY WERE BELIEVERS, BUT LOST!

       Many honest, sincere religious folk believe that when a per-
son believes, he or she is at that moment saved from sin.  The
problem with that is that the Bible does not teach it!  It is true that
one must believe in order to be saved.  As Jesus said, "Except
ye believe that I am He, ye shall die in your sins" (Jno. 8:24).  And again 
God said, "And without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto Him; for 
he that cometh to God must believe that 
He is, and that He is a Rewarder of them that seek after Him" 
(Heb. 11:6).  But faith alone will not bring you God's promised
spiritual blessings.

       Take time, just here, to read:  (Jas. 2:14-24).  Something more than 
faith is required.  That faith must also produce obed-
ient works, as we submit to the Will of God.  Abraham is good
proof of that.  And also note what James said in the Scripture
mentioned above:  He said, "Ye see that by works a man is justi-
fied, and not by faith only."  (2:24).  In fact, there are many examp-
les in the Scriptures of people who believed, but were not saved.
Let's look at some of them:

Faith Gives One Power To Become A Child Of God: -- "He came
unto His own, and they that were His own received Him not.  But
as many as received Him, to them gave He the right or power to
become children of God, even to them that believe on His Name." (Jno. 
1:11,12).  God's Word makes it clear that one who
beleives thereby has the right to become a child of God -- but he
still must exercise that option.

       Faith gives one the power, or right, to become God's child.
But you cannot become something you already are.  Those who
believe are given power, or right, to become children of God, but
they are not children of God at the point of faith.  There is still
something for them to do to become a child of God.  As the Bible
says of Jesus Christ, "Though He was a Son, ye learned He obedience by the 
things which He suffered; and having been
made perfect, He became unto all them that obey Him the Author
of eternal salvation" (Heb. 5:8,9).

Faith Is Rewarded In Obedience: -- We must never minimize faith
as one of the requirements for our salvation (Heb. 11:6).  But look at the 
rest of Heb. 11 to see what kind of faith is necessary.
With all of those great "heroes of faith" in Heb. 11, can you find
a single case where a promised blessing was obtained before
that faith was manifested in obedience to God?  "By faith Abel
offered a sacrifice" (vs. 4), "By faith Enoch...pleased God" (vs. 5)
"By faith Noah...prepared an ark" (vs. 7), "By faith Abraham,
when he was called, obeyed" (vs. 8).  All through the rest of that
chapter you will see the pattern repeated.  People were told by
God, what to do.  They believed God, and they did what He said.
Further, there is not an instance in all of the Bible where faith was 
rewarded before obedience.  God's blessings are not given
at the point of faith, but rather when that faith is demonstrated in
obedient works that God Himself requires.

Jewish Rulers Believed, But Rejected Christ: -- During His per-
sonal ministry on earth, Jesus found those who believed, but yet remained in 
a lost condition, "Nevertheless even of the rulers many believed on Him; but 
because of the Pharisees they
did not confess it, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:
for they loved the glory that is of men more than the glory that is
of God" (Jno. 12:42,43).  Here were many believers who were not saved, for 
their faith was not strong enough to lead them to
confess Christ.

       Jesus said:  "Every one therefore who shall confess Me be-
fore men, him will I also confess before My Father Who is in heav-
en.  But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My 
Father Who is in heaven" (Matt. 10:32,33).  The
Jews earlier had agreed among themselves, "That if any man
should confess Him to be the Christ, he should be put out of the
synagogue" (Jno. 9:22).  So, although many of the rulers believ-
ed on Jesus, yet theiri craven fear kept them from confessing
Him.  Surely, they were not saved at the point of faith.

People On Pentecost Were Not Saved By Faith Only: -- In the
first gospel sermon, after the death and resurrection of Jesus
(Acts 2), the apostle Peter told the Jews, "Let all the house of
Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made Him both
Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye have crucified.  Now when
theyheard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto
Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do?"
(vss. 36,37).  By Peter's preaching, those people realized they 
were lost.  That they were "pricked in their heart" when they heard the 
message that God "hath made Him both Lord and 
Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified" shows that they believed.

       God's answer to them, by the mouth of Peter, was: "Repent
ye, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ unto the 
remission of your sins" (vs. 38).  Their respon-
se?  "They then that received his word were baptized: and there
were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls"
(vs. 41).  In spite of all the efforts of false teachers to discount
this example of conversion, it remains in God's Book as a clear-
ly revealed pattern for any today who would seek to be saved.
Those three thousand were not saved at the point of faith.  Their
faith had to be shown in their obedience to the Lord.  And it was:
"They then that received his word were baptized: and there were added unto 
them in that day about three thousand souls"
(Acts 2:41).  Their faith led them to respond in obedience to the
Lord.  Acceptable, saving faith, will do the same thing today.

King Agrippa Believed, Yet He Was Still Lost:-- While the apostle
Paul was a prisoner, he was allowed to make his defense before
King Agrippa.  He really didn't try to defend himself, but used this occasion 
to preach Jesus as the Christ.  After referring to 
the Old Testament prophecies, Paul asked, "King Agrippa, believest thou the 
prophets?  I know that thou believest.  Then
Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a
Christian.  And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but
also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether
such as I am, except these bonds" (Acts 26:27-29).

       Agrippa left that meeting without making any change in his
life.  There is no record in the Scriptures that he was ever "fully
persuaded" to become a Christian.  But note that Paul said, "I
know that thou believest."  Now, who will contend that Agrippa
was saved while being "almost persuaded" to become a Christ-
ian?  The final picture of Agrippa, as revealed in Scripture, is that 
of a man still out of Christ.  He was not saved at the point of faith.  He 
was an unsaved believer.

Cornelius Was Not Saved At The Point Of Faith: -- Cornelius is 
described thus in Scripture: "Now there was a certain man in
Caesarea, Cornelius by name, a centurion of the band called  the
Italian band, a devout man, and one that feared God with alll of
his house, who gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway" (Acts 
10:1,2).  Many people would say that such a
good moral and religious man was already saved, but God knew
better.  He sent an angel to tell Cornelius to send for the apostle
Peter, "Who shall speak unto thee words, whereby thou shalt be
saved" (Acts 11:14).

       When Peter arrived, he said, "Of a truth I perceive that God is
no Respector of persons; but in every nation he that feareth Him
and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to Him" (Acts 10:34,
35).  That is still true today.  We must "fear Him" and "work right-
eousness" to be pleasing to God.  Peter then concluded that ser-
mon in the same way that all the conversions in the book of Acts
is recorded, "And he commanded them to be baptized in the 
Name of the Lord" (Acts10:48).  Please note that is exactly what
Peter preached on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2).  Cornelius was
not saved at the point of faith, but he was saved when his faith
led hm to do what the Lord said.

A Lesson From Believing Demons: -- James writes very succinc-
tly on the subject of acceptable faith:  "What doth it profit, my
brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but have not works? can that faith save 
him?...Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead 
in itself.  Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith, and I have works,
show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I by my works will
show thee my faith.  Thou believest that God is one; thou doest
well: the demons also believe, and shudder.  But wilt thou know,
O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren?" (Jas.  2:14-20).

       Read that again, and notice that "the demons also believe,
and shudder."  Now, do you really beleive that faith alone saves?  The 
demons' faith was strong enough to make them 
tremble (or, shudder).  Were they saved at the point of faith?
Personally, I would rather follow the example of Abraham than 
to cast my lot with the demons!

       The only faith that saves is obedient faith.  Go back and read
again the entire eleventh chapter of Hebrews.  Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, 
Moses and all those others named in that chap-
ter were justified by faith.  And, in every case, the pattern was the same: 
they heard what God said, they believed God, and so
they did what He said.  Friends, it is still that simple today.  Go
back and read again Acts 2:36-41.  Those people heard the gos-
pel, they believed, they repented and were "baptized in the name of Jesus 
Christ unto the remission of sins."  Faith alone
was not enough for them, they still had to obey what the Lord
said.  It is still true today: "Ye see that  by works a man is justifi-
ed, and not by faith only" (Jas. 2:24).  Friends, don't be misled.
The only faith that saves is obedient faith.  Listen to the Lord and then do 
what He tells you.  There is no other kind of faith 
that will save.   --------------- Clem Thurman in Gospel Minutes, Vol.
57, No. 30, July 25, 2008.   </HTML>
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