3 Steps to Eternity

Romans 10:14 (ESV)
¹⁴  How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

I bought a new printer yesterday.  The purchase process ran in three stages: I gathered information about the printer.  I was convinced the information was correct.  I then made the purchase.

Faith is not to be directly compared with a product purchase, but the steps are the same.  We can see this laid out clearly in Romans 10:14.  The order is reversed, but we can see it there.  First we hear the gospel.  Then we believe it’s true.  Thirdly, we call on Jesus to save us.

So, what’s the point here?  Well, many people in the church have stopped short of the third step.  They think simple belief is enough, and I’m here to tell you it’s not.

There was a time when I thought Christianity was just a set of beliefs I needed to accept but didn’t really have to commit to.  I wasn’t persuaded enough, though, to make Jesus the Lord over my life.  I went to church every Sunday, I prayed sometimes, I read my Bible, I did work for the church, I was even baptized and confirmed but all to no avail.  Works are not a part of the salvation God offers.  Fortunately for me, after several years of blindness to my own misunderstanding, I came to realize there was more, and I opened the door to let Jesus take over.

In Acts chapter 8, We see a guy named Simon the Magician (Simon Magus).  He was called the Great Power of God, but he wasn’t saved either.  The Bible does says he not only believed but was even baptized.  Imagine that!  Then he asked if he could purchase the power of the Holy Spirit with money.  He got an earful from Peter pointing out Simon wasn’t saved.  His faith wasn’t genuine.  He hadn’t taken that necessary third step.

The point of this blog is to warn you in case you have stopped at the second step of faith as Simon did, that you might not have made the commitment to Christ.  I believe there are many people sitting in most, if not all, churches who think their future is certain, who think they’ve done their Christian “thing” and are certain they’ll enter heaven, but who don’t know there is both more expected and more involved. 

Commitment is required.  Without that, our faith would be empty.  We would be kidding ourselves.  We are lost.

The good news is that there is much more joy, happiness, and excitement in a committed life, a life committed to Christ, not committed to works.  Please consider your relationship with Christ.  It’s the difference between being a member of your local church and being born again.

Just a note for the church historians among us:

Ignatius (A.D. 35-108), a friend of the Apostle John, equated Simon with the devil himself.  When condemning someone who denied God the Father, Ignatius said, “…he has not continued in the truth any more than his father the devil, and is a disciple of Simon Magus,….” 

Early church father, Irenaeus (A.D. 120-202), said this about Simon:  “This man, then, was glorified by many as if he were a god; and he taught that it was himself who appeared among the Jews as the Son, but descended in Samaria as the Father while he came to other nations in the character of the Holy Spirit.” 

The early church did not have a warm place in their heart for Simon Magnus.

This blog is a special one. It is the 101st blog post we’ve made, the start of our second 100 posts. We began in June of 2017 and have had readers from all over the world look in. We’ve had folks from France, Australia, South Korea, Communist China, the Netherlands, the Philippines, and many more. We’ve had readers from Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, pagan, and Christian countries; all this in less than two years. God can make a few pennies into an international blessing. Praise His Name, and thanks to you all!