No 31

(In or Out?)

Whenever Jesus was with His disciples, he always used spur-of-the-moment events to teach them profound spiritual truths. One day, Jesus and His disciples were coming down from the mountain where, the day before, He had been transfigured in front of Peter, James and John and a man came to Him about his son who was demon possessed. The man said that he had asked Jesus’ disciples to cast it away and they couldn’t. So Jesus said “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” Luke 9: 41. Jesus ordered the demon to depart and healed the boy.

Later on John said to Jesus “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name; and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow along with us.”(v49). Jesus used this opportunity to teach His disciples and us a very profound spiritual truth about who is a Christian and who isn’t. He said to his disciples “Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us” (v50b). Jesus in one small sentence, showed His disciples exactly who is in or out of His Church. Of course, at this time in Scripture, the Church was not as yet an entity but we, on this side of the cross can use this statement as a determinative factor of who is in the Church and who isn’t. Jesus used a similar event when He cast out another demon in Luke 11:23 which says “He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth” .

In both cases, the Lord set the standard for future generations, such as our own, as to who is saved and who isn’t; who is in the Church and who isn’t. In layman’s terms you’re either in or out; black and white. There are no grey areas when it comes to salvation and membership in the Church of Jesus Christ. Ah, but the world would lead you to believe that there are grey areas and that all roads lead to heaven. This is a lie forged in the pit of hell and Satan has used this tactic continuously over the centuries; he wants people to believe exactly the opposite of what Jesus taught – “he that is not against us is for us”. In study # 175, we discussed a related subject; the question was – Is the Church ready to be raptured? Of course, the answer is yes, beyond the shadow of a doubt. Salvation and Church membership are things known only by two people – our self and God; it is in the heart and nowhere else.

We may be surprised when we reach heaven – Where is Harold? He was at church every Sunday and he read his Bible regularly. Or we may say – Evelyn is here? She never came to church and she never participated in any of the activities. Only God knows….