by Jordan Moore
The Apostle John wrote that God “gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (Jn. 1:12). Sadly, not all accept that right. Furthermore, not even all believers will be saved on the day of judgement. Consider these believers that will not be saved:
Believers who refuse to accept Jesus as Lord. Belief, in and of itself, does not equal a home in heaven. James says that “even the demons believe and tremble” (Js. 2:19). An individual can fully accept the facts about something, believe that something is true, and yet fail to respond to the implications of that truth. In the case of the demons, they fully recognize and respect that Jesus is Lord of all (Mt. 8:28-30) – just not for their lives. They refuse to submit to him as Lord. As such, those that maintain the same attitude on earth will reap the same eternal destination as the demons.
Believers who refuse to confess Jesus as Lord. There are many in the world that place their eternal destiny in the misinformed idea that simply believing that Jesus is Lord is enough. In fact, there are some that are completely convinced that Jesus is the Lord of their life, while in reality, He simply isn’t. He’s not their Lord because while though they may have accepted him as such in their mind, they refuse to confess Him as Lord with their mouth. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, rulers of the synagogue believed on Jesus, but were unwilling to confess him before men for fear of being put out of the synagogue (Jn. 12:42). A true follower of Christ will confess him before others, rather than keeping it to themselves (Rom. 10:9-10; Mt. 10:32). Frankly, closet Christians are condemned Christians.
Believers who refuse to obey Jesus as Lord. Acceptance of Jesus and confession of Jesus are both essential to serving Jesus. But if one is unwilling to obey Jesus – even if they’ve accepted Him in their mind and confessed Him with their mouth – they are on the path to destruction. Speaking directly to Apostles – men who believed in and were daily confessing Jesus – our Lord explicitly says, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (Jn. 14:15). What is it that separates our saving belief from the hopeless belief of the demons? Works. Obedience. James elaborates that “a man is justified by works, and not by faith only” (Js. 2:24). Man is certainly incapable of justifying himself – Jesus’s perfect sacrifice was and is the only hope for mankind. Unequivocally, HE saves us – but one cannot ignore the plain teaching that believers who do not obey and act out their faith will not inherit eternal life (Mt. 25:33-46).
Believers who refuse to maintain Jesus as Lord. Evidently there are some that – though they accept Jesus, and confess Jesus, and love Jesus by keeping His commandments – eventually “leave their first love” of Jesus and “have fallen” (Rev. 2:4-5). Jesus said these things about Christians in Ephesus and that if they did not repent and return to Jesus’ expectations of obedience, He would remove their place in eternal life (Rev. 2:5). Once saved Christians are not guaranteed salvation for all time. Jesus speaks of those who “believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away” (Lk. 8:13). The Hebrews writer warns faithful Christians that if they do not “exhort one another daily” that “an evil heart of unbelief” could enter in and they could be “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:12-13).
Believers who require more than Jesus as Lord. There were some in the first century that were saying that Jesus was not enough for salvation. They believed in Him, and they confessed Him, and they generally obeyed Him – but they placed greater expectations on others than Jesus did himself (Acts 15:5). Of those that proclaimed this message – a message different than the true Gospel message – Paul said, “let them be accursed” (Gal. 1:9-10). In various ways, even today, a similar message is preached – let it never be from our mouths.