No Sneaks

 
TITLE:  No Sneaks
DATE:  August 5, 2019
TEXT:  -  Galatians 6:14  -ESV - 14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which[a the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
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Although I’ve met a great many people; and although I’ve seen these people be proud of a great many things, none of them has ever said, “I’m proud to be a sneak.”

I’ve met one or two fellows who were proud of how much liquor they could put away at a sitting; I’ve known a successful thief who was proud of his successes in avoiding the law as well as his success in taking valuables which weren’t his. I’ve known both men and women who boasted of their success at “loving ‘em and leavin’ ‘em.”

Over the years I’ve met some seriously self-satisfied scoundrels, scalawags, but I’ve never come into the company of an individual who was proud of his sneakiness.

On the other hand Jesus says He has met a great many people who prefer to be sneaky rather than being rescued by the Redeemer.

There are of course the multitudes who, for some reason or another just expect that they will be admitted into heaven.

No ,they don’t acknowledge Jesus as their Redeemer; they don’t have any faith in Him or anyone else. They just have come to the conclusion that god is a good guy and when they die, the Lord, or Whoever is in charge of the final festivities ,is going to be so impressed by them, He’ going to throw open the pearly gates and let them sneak in.

Then there are those who really don’t believe that they are going to be  entering paradise without having made some sort of effort.

They are of the opinion that some generic Supreme Being is fair and will offer heaven as a reward to anyone who has, most of the time, tried to live pretty good lives. No, they’re not saying they’re perfect, but are pretty sure they are better than average individual, and they’re absolutely positive the cut-off for heaven is going to be quite a bit below them. They believe they will be  sneaking into heaven by virtue of knowing a savior, and that savior happens to be themselves.

Those folks are going to have some surprises on too-late day. They will quickly come to know that God is real and He loves them. Sadly, they will also learn that God’s love alone is not going to cover their ego, their sins, his sad separation from his Lord.

They need something more. Because nobody is going to be sneaking their way into heaven, they need Someone more. They need the Christ, the Lamb OF God Who takes away the sins of the world.

Their welcome into heaven is signed in Jesus’ blood; their mansions prepared by His nail-pierced hands. .Because of God’s grace and love, they enter heaven not as a sneak, but as one of Jesus’ own-saved souls.

THE PRAYER - Dear Lord, You have saved me; You have called me by name, I am Yours. Today, I pray for those many millions who still are trying to rewrite Your invitation to heaven’s feast. Let them see that they will be welcomed by Your grace. In Your Name. Amen.

The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann. He along with three of his brothers perform on the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html