{"id":25054,"date":"2019-02-19T03:30:07","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T11:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=25054"},"modified":"2019-02-15T13:42:36","modified_gmt":"2019-02-15T21:42:36","slug":"february-19-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2019\/02\/19\/february-19-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"February 19, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cBut I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Jude 1:5<\/p>\n

No \u201cGroup Salvation\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As a young believer, I wanted to learn all I could about God and the Bible. It was pretty simple\u2014go to church, a class, or a retreat, sit and listen, and soak it up. I was blessed to attend a truly Bible-teaching church with skilled teachers who ONLY taught the Word of God without embellishment or opinion.<\/p>\n

But I well remember times when I sat under certain other teachers who would make me feel a little uncomfortable about what I was hearing. Though I was young in the Lord, their teaching seemed \u201coff\u201d somehow. It wasn\u2019t exactly right when held up to God\u2019s Word. I may not always have known what was unsound about it, but usually my suspicions were proved correct as I read my Bible. I know now that the Holy Spirit was nudging me toward truth, refuting false teaching in my spirit, and giving me discernment. Jesus in me was not allowing deception to take up residence alongside Him in my mind and heart. Light and darkness cannot dwell together.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Scripture, Jude warned the early church about this very thing. It wasn\u2019t just an early-church problem, for indeed we all must\u201ccontend earnestly for the faith\u201d\u00a0<\/em>(Jude 1:3). In the Book of Exodus, the Israelites were in a huge group (some commentators estimate it was at least a million people) delivered from slavery miraculously by God. Yet the fact they were in a favored group did not guarantee ultimate salvation. Each of them still had to take responsibility for their own beliefs, even after having been in a group led by God all those years.<\/p>\n

When it comes to salvation, there is no safety in numbers. The group cannot save us. The right church cannot save us. Godly parents cannot save us. Even sitting under the tutelage of the right or wrong teachers cannot save us (nor condemn us), for each of us must contend for our own faith. Each of us can and must look into God\u2019s Word ourselves, \u201cto find out whether these things are so\u201d\u00a0<\/em>(Acts 17:11). Each of us must personally come to Him. There will be no excuses come Judgment Day, for God has revealed Himself to each of us through Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Miraculous deliverance is not the same thing as eternal salvation. God gets our attention any which way\u2026 but after that, we must believe and, as proof of our belief, demonstrate that belief (James 2:17).<\/p>\n

\u201cFather, help us contend earnestly for the faith. Give us wisdom against deception. We know and believe You have offered the gift of salvation by the death of Your Son, but we also know we must personally come to terms with it, for no group effort can save us. In Jesus\u2019 Name, Amen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

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