A Famous Actor's Greatest Fear
Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it (Ephesians 2:9, NLT).
Dear Friends,
There was a famous actor who died. Several weeks before his death, he appeared on a national television show and was asked, "Is there anything you are afraid of?"
"I guess I'm afraid I won't please God," the actor replied. "I would like to think I've done good things and have been a good person because I want to go to Heaven. But I'm not sure I'm going to Heaven."
Like this actor, millions of people are hoping that their good works will get them into Heaven. But salvation is a gift of God's love and grace -- no amount of good works can earn His favor.
Most false religions and cults have one common ingredient. They teach that one has to earn his salvation by "being good" and performing good works, especially works that promulgate that religion or cult.
But God's Word describes such works as "dead works" (Hebrews 6:1, KJV) and proclaims a radically different message: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9, KJV). Of course, although salvation is a gift of God which we receive by faith, we demonstrate our salvation by our works and good deeds.
There is nothing a person can do to save himself. Only God can save us, and that salvation is available only through the shed blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All other so-called routes to heaven are minus that one essential ingredient. All human effort is dead works, daring to presume that measly human effort can qualify us for eternity in the presence of the holy, perfect and pure Creator and Father.
The actor above could have even been a Christian because, according to many surveys, half of the church members across the United States, 120 million or so who will be in church Sunday, do not have assurance of salvation and 95 percent do not understand the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
A pastor came to one of our pastor's seminars and I gave him those statistics. He said, with a bit of impatience, "I don't believe those statistics. I know they wouldn't be true in my church."
I said, "Why don't you take your own survey?"
He agreed to do so. He went home and later came to see me and said, "You know, I have a church with fifteen hundred members. I've been the pastor there for fifteen years. I took my survey and I was amazed that 75 percent of my members were not sure of their salvation and almost no one knew about the ministry of the Holy Spirit."
Needless to say, the next two Sundays he preached on both, with a tremendous, positive response from his congregation.
This story is taken from Bill Bright's Letter
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