We are saved by grace through faith and not works, lest we boast. Everything from God is by grace. If it is by work, then it cannot be by grace because work earns a payday. Again, everything in the Kingdom of God is paid for by the grace of God and not the works of men. There are works, the privilege of being a citizen in the Kingdom of God. We are rewarded for excellence but not payment for work rendered. We cannot add anything to the finished work on the cross.

I do not believe a person can lose their salvation like you do a set of keys. I do, however, think we can neglect the gift of salvation as if it has no value to us, thus opting out or surrendering all the benefits that come with the death and resurrection of Jesus.

We don't lose our free will at the new birth. We must live a lifetime of surrendering our will to be done in so much that the Father's will is done. Around 1948, the church age changed seasons from the Philadelphia church age to the Laodicea church age or, as I call it, the Lackadaisical Church. Like the year's seasons, Spring is scheduled for March 20th, but it may come early or late, and both winter and Spring coexist for a while. So has the Church of Philadelphia and Laodicea.

In the last few generations, we have transitioned from a brotherly love church to a self-loving church. We went from the greatest generation who laid down their life as a sign of greater love to a generation of self-love. We saw a generation who shed their blood for freedom in WWII and today's generation who are shedding their freedom for blood in the streets of America.

We, the people of the United States, have neglected our Constitutional freedoms until it is barely recognizable. Many people of faith in Jesus have also neglected a great salvation so that they no longer look like they know Christ.

Neglect isn't total abandonment until it is. Over time, we value less and less of what we once highly valued, whether it be a marriage, car, house, health, nation, or even our salvation bought with the high price of the blood of our Lord and Savior.

We are deceived by the lackadaisical and self-loving generation to believe that being saved is as simple as repeating a few words placed in our mouths but never chewed upon or digested. A mouthwash gospel that is spit out as soon as we get to the parking lot. Jesus, too, will spew out those who didn't eat His flesh and drink His blood. The truth is we receive grace by faith to be saved and grace by faith to live the saved life. Anything less is not saved!

The day I got saved, I felt I needed to tell someone. So, I called up this person who I thought would be excited. When I told her I got saved, she said saved from what? And that is what I like to ask many self-ascribed Christians over the years. What have you been saved from because I don't see it?

Now, we don't do the part of the angels where they separate the wheat from the tares. Nor do we play the role of Jesus, where He separates the sheep from the goats, and we don't play the role of God, who knows the heart. According to scripture, we separate ourselves from those who have a confession of faith but are not living it nor care to. My job and yours is to rightly divide the Word of God.

We have been told that we are a Christian nation and that most are saved, just not discipled. Read my earlier newsletter, where I explained that you must be a disciple to be saved. There isn't a gap between believer and disciple. There isn't a gap between making Jesus our Savior and making Him Lord at a more convenient time. Jesus only saves those who call Him Lord and do what He says.

I don't think Paul was worried that a neglectful Christian wasn't experiencing all the benefits of a Prime-Time Member. Paul stated that if you don't value salvation, you won't get salvation in this lifetime or eternity.

If Paul's preaching isn't enough, then Peter proclaims that if the righteous are scarcely saved, how about the ungodly and sinners? Peter states that we must remain in the faith even during persecution and suffering; not many do. Jesus became sin so that we could become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. But as John states, we are made righteous by Jesus, so live righteous in Jesus as we are righteous in Jesus. And this takes more grace than we thought at first. No one knows just how much of a sinner we were meeting Jesus for the first time. The longer we are in His presence, the more we see the difference, and the more we cry mercy and grace!

But the sinner and the ungodly are not looking for more grace because they have only misplaced their salvation. They have the stamp of approval. They RSVP'd, so there's no reason to pursue what you already have. So they think.

But we have been misled by the lackadaisical church that used to meet in Philadelphia several times a week with weeklong revivals throughout the year. Church optional and on occasion. Repentance optional. Giving and sharing optional. If you are not pushing into the grace of God to transform you into the image of Jesus, what have you subscribed to?

Jesus said wide is the gate of destruction, and many are on that path. Narrow is the gate to eternal life; many will try to enter, but few find it. Why are there only a few who find it? How narrow is this path?

God gave me a picture of how narrow this path. It is a single file! No one can enter with a partner in agreement. Consenting adults breaking God's ways is still a sin. You will not be able to enter. God gives grace to the humble who repent and resists the arrogant who wipe their mouth as if they haven't just kissed sin.

A few weeks ago, God gave me a living picture of this narrow path that is single file. I went to the airport to fly out to Denver. Everyone had to empty their pockets before entering. Everything had to be scanned to see if it would harm those on the other side. Then, one by one, each person had to walk into a scanner themselves, lifting their hands above their head as if surrendering. It was as if God was shining a light in my heart to see if any offensive thing in me would cause harm or ill to the citizens of the Kingdom of God. If iniquity were found, I would be disallowed entry. Only the surrendered to Jesus will be allowed entry.

Jesus gave a parable of all parables describing four plots of land that represent the hearts of man. The Word of God was stolen from the first heart, so they could not be saved because they sought no understanding. The second heart received the Word of God with joy, but when trials came to test it, they got offended and gave up the seed of truth to the enemy of our souls. The third heart pursued God but fell short because of the deceitfulness of riches and all other pursuits vying for time and the heart. Only the fourth heart, one out of four, received the everlasting Word of God to be saved. One out of four!

How many are saved? We have the parable of the ten virgins. Ten stayed pure from the thing of this world. But only five were wise enough to take extra oil to endure the darkness of the end days. The oil is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The oil is the love for the Word of God that gives us light to walk in a dark world so that we may be saved in the end. The 50% saved here might be of the 25% saved in the parable above because they didn’t see the need for more light into the ways of God. Read the story of Gideon and you will see God’s division.

Becoming born-again is a new start, not the end goal. Born again means we get outside help on the inside. God no longer dwells in the Jewish Temple that was destroyed in 70 A.D., but God lives in us to help us from the inside out. We are saved in spirit, being saved in the soul, and will be saved in the body if we persevere in the faith. Born again is not a one-time treatment for a disease that has permeated all our beings. We must stay in the care of the Great Physician until sin goes into total remission, which happens at death for those who trust and obey.

We must be born again to enter the Kingdom of God. We get assurance that we are saved, but with a caveat. We must stick with the plan and the Planner. Our assurance is not in an experience. Many have experienced God but do not walk with Him. Our assurance is not in the Apostles Creed or John 3:16 or whatever confession of faith we make. Our assurance is only staying in fellowship at the feet of Jesus in His grace by faith. Many have been like Martha and left the feet of Jesus to do life, and in so doing, they have lost their peace and are full of frustration. By all accounts, Martha joined her sister Mary at the feet of Jesus; what they were given is not quickly taken by this world. For a time, Martha neglected a great salvation. She valued something more than Jesus.

How many are saved? Jesus became a stumbling block for Jews so that few were saved, and the door was opened to the Gentiles to make the Jews jealous. But even gentiles haven't responded in abundance. Enough Gentiles are being saved that the Jews are being provoked to look a second time at Jesus. But it seems God will have to wait for the millennial reign of Christ, where the Jews are graphited back into the Olive tree and ten Gentiles will grab one Jew and say let's worship the Lord. But in our age, few are going, even less in this Laodicea church age.

Once again, we have been deceived like Eve in this generation because we have not sought the Lord. We are living on second-hand revelation and hearsay. We want Moses to go in our place, and we will do whatever he says. But we have someone greater than Moses; we have the begotten Son of God, Jesus, as a go-between. And Jesus has made it possible for us to go with confidence and boldness into the throne room of God to receive the mercy and grace we need today. We have been taught that the harvest is a revival where people are saved. But that is only the first part of the harvest. The second part of the harvest is where the winnowing takes place.

Winnowing is the separation of the chaff from the grain. Winnowing is discipleship. And discipleship is the separation of the flesh from the Spirit. If you want to harvest grain, then you must remove the chaff. If you're going to harvest a new creation, then you must learn to walk in the Spirit so that you don't carry out the desires of the flesh. Revival yes. And discipleship, yes.

There are three harvests in Israel, according to the Bible. The barley harvest is ready at Passover. Barley is easy to harvest and separate. You throw it up in the air a few times, and the chaff comes off. You then use a staff to break off any stubborn chaff. Those whom the Holy Spirit leads separate quickly from the things of the flesh.

https://www.wikihow.com/Harvest-Barley

The wheat harvest is ready for Pentecost. This grain is harder to separate from the chaff as it needs a tribulum board or a threshing board. We are commanded not to grow faint when God chastises us as sons and even scourges us. We need grace to stay the course. Or we can opt out of the correction of God, but in doing so, we are neglecting a great salvation.

https://www.britannica.com/technology/tribulum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threshing_board

The third harvest is ready for the last and greatest harvest and Holy Days of Israel; grapes are harvested for the drinking of wine in the feast of Tabernacles, God with us. The final harvest is this side of the millennial, where God tabernacles with us. He is our God, and we are His people. Do you know how we get wine? Wine comes from stomping on the grapes. Are you willing to be stomped on to remove any iniquity found in you? Do you trust God enough to squeeze you through that narrow path? Wine brings joy, but chastisement in the moment brings sorrow.

The bottom line is that not many will make it because of the stumbling block of grace in faith in Jesus, the cares of the world, the pursuits of other things, and for the born again—the offense that causes them to neglect such a great salvation.

I don't know anyone who the lackadaisical church age hasn't influenced. If this is you, as it has been me, draw close to God, and He will draw close to you. We are saved by grace through faith and not by works of our own doing. We are His workmanship in Christ Jesus. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith if only we allow Him to complete us. Going through the eye of a needle is impossible with man, but with God, all things are possible for those who believe.