Heaven. Most people still believe it exists and most of those people assume that one way or another they’re going there. They’re not really sure how, they just assume that it will happen. It’s like they assume that heaven is everyone’s eternal default setting and you’ve got to do some really evil stuff to mess that up.
Default settings. Most everything we use in life has them. Your computer, your phone, your tablet, your TV; they are going to look a certain way, function a certain way, accomplish certain tasks unless you intervene to change them.
To many people that’s heaven – the place we’re all going unless we do something bad enough to change it. I have a problem with that, though. I wish that were true, but my problem is more of a confusion. My confusion with that assumption is that in Acts 16 we read of a man who as far as we know was just a “normal Joe.” He was a prison guard but there is no evidence that he was morally anything but your common man who came in every morning, did his job, and went home every night. Nothing is said of any great atrocity that he had committed. And yet before the night was over he asked a question that supposed his default was anything but salvation. The question he asked was “what must I do to be saved?” (vs. 30). In his current state he knew he was lost and there was something he had to do to reverse that course. Thankfully he and all his household did and were saved that very night.
Today a much different question is being asked. Now the question “what must I do to be saved?” has been superseded by the question “what must I do to be lost?”. Fewer people are convinced they are lost and in need of salvation. More people are convinced they are saved and just want to know what catastrophic events they need to avoid to keep from messing it up. That change in attitude is a problem. It’s a problem because Romans 3:23 informs us that as accountable human beings our default setting is we are lost. Our sin has separated us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2) and we can look forward to nothing beyond eternal death (Romans 6:23). And with that reality in mind ask the question “what must we do to be saved?” The answer is that we have to do something (specifically – believe in Jesus, repent of sins, submit to immersion, and live a surrendered life). But at the same time ask the question “what must we do to be lost?” The answer is NOTHING!
Don’t believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Don’t change your life. Don’t acknowledge any remorse or change of heart. Don’t be cleansed by the blood of Jesus. By nature of our sins we are condemned. Do nothing and we will be lost.
Don’t go through life assuming your saved by nature of your goodness. Outside of a submissive relationship with God no one is inherently good (Psalm 14:3). We’re all in need of a Savior. You want to be saved? Follow after Him and you’ll have your reward. You want to be lost? Do nothing and you will be.
-Andy