Born Again, Left Behind

Many people believe that once they are born again, that is all that is necessary to make it to heaven. And it is true that once you are born again, your are part of the Kingdom of Heaven.

John 3:
3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
5. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

And again, as Paul says:

Colossians 1:
13. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

So it is through the new birth that one enters into the Kingdom of Heaven. But being born again is no guarantee you will make it in the rapture. Let us look at the parable of the tares. (Tares are darnel, a weed called "false wheat" because it looks exactly like wheat, but has no fruit. At harvest, it's sheaf of seeds stands tall because its seeds are small and bitter, while true wheat bows its head because it is weighed down by the heavy seeds it holds.)

Matthew 13:
24. Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
25. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
26. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
27. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
28. He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
29. But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
30. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
... 36. Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.
37. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
38. The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
39. The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
40. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
41. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
42. And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

The angels will gather all who do iniquity out of Jesus' kingdom, and will burn them in fire. By being born again, you have been given a great priceless gift. But if you squander that gift, and live a life of iniquity, you will be worse off than those who never knew the Lord. Peter speaks of this. (In the interest of space, I have dropped portions, ..., in order to focus on my main point. I recommend you read the entire passage from the Bible.)

2 Peter 2:
1. But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, ....
2. And many shall follow their pernicious ways....
... 4. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
5. And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6. And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
... 9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
10. But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government....
... 14. Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
15. Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, ...
...20. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
22. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

It is a dangerous thing to make a mockery of the Blood of Jesus. He gave his blood and his flesh to deliver you from sin. To abuse this great gift by pursuing a life of sin- it would be better to have never known the Lord in the first place.

But how does one turn from sin? It is very good that we can repent and ask forgiveness, but how does one stop sinning?

There is one answer Jesus gave for this. There is not room in this post to go over it in detail, but I will simply say this: You curse the tree of sin just as Jesus cursed the fig tree: Using faith. (Mark 11:13-14, 20-26.) Then the tree of sin will die from the root: the lust for that sin will die. When your faith grows up, it will kill the lust that drives the sin. It will cease to exist in your heart.

But how do you do this? You can use the same prayer Jesus used. When he found the fig tree had no fruit because it wasn't time yet, he said, "No man eat fruit of you hereafter forever." (The best time to kill a tree of sin is before it has borne any fruit!) Peter marveled when they went by the tree again the next day that it was dried up from the roots. Jesus told him, "Have faith in God," and proceeded to teach them how to use faith. You can use that same prayer, and that same faith.

You can say to the lust that fuels your sin, "No man eat fruit of you henceforth, forever! You are dead, in Jesus name!" And if you stand on this faith - believe it and speak it - until it grows up and bears fruit, your sin-hunger will die just like the fig tree did.

Does this mean you will stop sinning immediately? No, probably not. Faith takes time to grow. Even with Jesus, whose faith was mature, it took some time for the fig tree to die. So when your sin puts up a fight, you just repent, ask God to forgive you, and speak and believe all the harder that your lust is dead. That it died when Jesus died (Romans 6).

That way, when the rapture happens, you won't be born again but left behind.

When the Judge of the Rapture looks at the throne of your heart, will he find Jesus sitting there, or will he find iniquity sitting there?

Copyright © 2009 Burley Ward. All rights reserved